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This icon fits sort of horribly well.

MY LIFE IS A MESS.

Thing 1: I got to college and on my second day of classes my brand new laptop died. I suppose this was partially my fault. I fell asleep with it on my lap, awoke to it in a pile of dirty clothes beside my bed, and then found later that day that the laptop's battery socket was so loose it couldn't recognize my adapter when I plugged it in. But this is not what I told the lovely people at HP when I sent it in, so they had me send it to them, where they will fix it for free (because I am still under warranty, because I'd only had the laptop for two weeks).

So, what this amounts to is me having an extended nervous breakdown as I keep reaching for a laptop that is not there, and needing to do work and not having a laptop to do it on, and etc etc etc.

loweryourwand has been very gracious and has let me use her laptop, but I don't like the fact that I'm basically on it all the time, yet it is hers and she has regular need of it.

Thing 2: I have this insane schedule that I think I'm going to have to prune even though, by God, I don't want to, because all of my classes are awesome (except Astronomy, which sucks, but it is a requirement, so I am stuck with it regardless of my personal opinions). Probably what will go is the complit class (Big Brother: The Poetics of Power). Already gone is Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greece. What will be left is:

1) Enchanted Imagination, which is an English seminar that focuses on the continuity of Romantic/Victorian fantasy into our modern equivalent (hahaha, watch me die happy).
2) Astronomy, which I hate, and its lab, which will suck even worse, hoorah! I will valiantly struggle through.
3) Victorian Poetry with the professor who taught Romantic Poetry last semester, and who I have a GIGANTIC ACADEMIC CRUSH on. Talk Tennyson to me, baby!
4) Literary Criticism, which is a requirement for English majors, and is taught by my current adviser, who is a dear, although he is currently frustrating me rather a lot with his fluid office hours which make it impossible for me to talk about my current schedule.

The issue comes from having so many English classes which emphasize survey and participation. Basically, all of my classes want me to read a ton and also write about it or present on it. And I am slow and lazy and do not know how to deal with the workload I'm looking at with Big Brother still on my plate. HOWEVER, I really feel like I'm limiting myself overmuch by focusing so closely on English, and on a specific kind of English at that.

And to complicate my feelings, I can't tell how much of this academic angst is being unnecessarily inflamed by my general panic over my laptop and if things will seem any more manageable when I am not a nervous wreck 24/7. This is why I'd really like to talk to my adviser, and why I am so very frustrated that he cannot seem to keep his hours straight. I am in desperate need of advising! >:(

Thing 3: In other news, I'm going to NYCC and I am very excited! I am also sort of panicking that it's going to take a whole weekend that I will need for the crazy amount of work that I'm doing, but I am trying to focus on the positive, which is Torchwood previews and free stuff.

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Gee, sorry you feel like you're having such a crappy time... You courses all sound amazing by the way - why is Astronomy a requirement since you're doing all that English-based stuff?

YAY NEW YORK NEW YORK! That's sooooo amazing, wow.

Torchwood is awesome - do you know when the next series is shown?

My college has gen-ed requirements, one of which is that we take a lab science. Astronomy is considered the lab science for poets, but it's still pretty annoying, and I don't have one of the easier teachers. Grrr.

Yeah, it's definitely great that I get to go to college in a major city where cool stuff happens all the time. :)

I do not know, but I bet I will be in a better position to answer that question in a week and a half!

Big Brother: The Poetics of Power

aoidhfafh

What I would do to take that class one day. ♥

But other than that: your laptop broke?! D: This is tragic! (And there's no sarcasm in this whatsoever.)

Yeah, it is a really cool class, and I really want to stay with it. It's taught by this adorable French professor (who's English, so it's the best of both worlds!) who is really overly excited to teach a class where he's not struggling to be understood by his students.

It's really tragic! I come to LJ whenever I have technological issues because I know you guys will understand. *wry grin*

xD We understand 'cause most of us have been in your position!

♥ I love Orwell so much. [: I suggest you (re-?)read 1984 (and anything he wrote else, actually), because he is awesome and his ideas always wind up punching you in the face.

.... huh. i wasn't an English major in college (ah hahaha, hello there biochem), but a lot of those sound like Barnard/Columbia classes. 0.o

also, dead computer = woe! :( i hope it gets fixed soon!

Oh biochem. I have friends. They make me depressed. Though I wonder what you mean by them sounding like B/C classes? Did you go to Barnard? (If so, I find it upsetting I don't know this about you!) Actually, now that I think about it, I thought you went to NYU?

haha, i did indeed go to Barnard! i was in Jaida's class, actually, although we never met- i knew some people who knew her, and i was introduced to SBP by one of our apparently-mutual friends. small world, go figure. :D what i meant was that a couple of those classes sound familiar- several of my humanities friends have bemoaned Astronomy- and if Enchanted Imagination is what i think it is (i.e. that fairytale/children's lit seminar that requires an application), i am DEEPLY ENVIOUS OMG.

WOW, THAT'S AWESOME. Actually, I took a class with Jaida last Spring which was just weird, mostly because I was afraid to introduce myself for fear I would come off the crazed fangirl/stalker.

I don't think it's exactly the same class because this is more general fantasy than specifically children's fantasy and there wasn't any application process. However, this class has Romanticism and La Guin, so I assert that it is even more enviable than the class you are remembering!

My condolences to you and your broken laptop. It's one of the shittiest things us modern people have to deal with. My external hard drive with all my movies, music and so on has also died on me a while ago, so I hear your pain.

Enchanted Imagination and Astronomy sound like to Hogwarts courses. lol!

And I'm insanely jealous about the NYCC you're going to. Tell us everything about the Torchwood previews and Eve Myles when you get back. :)

Oh, so that's where you've been.

Ok, my unsolicited advice is:
1. Drop BB. You can take it if it's offered some time when you're less crazy-busy (I'll even take it with you, yay!)

2. Don't worry so much about focusing too much on one thing. English is what you're interested in; you're a sophomore planning to major in English, so of course you're taking lots of English courses. Do you really think you're going to find something you'd rather study than English? And it's not like 2-3 classes on the Romantics or the Victorian era are going to make you an expert on those subjects; you're not just repeating the same material. The gen. ed. requirements are designed to make you well-rounded whether you want to be or not, so no worries there; you're taking Astro, after all. Then your major reqs will help you with the "specific kind of English" problem by forcing you to take Chaucer, etc.

Also, btw, I wouldn't say that keeping BB is exactly branching off from your English fixation. That's like if Marissa took just human genetics courses for years and then "branched out" by taking a plant reproduction course. Comp Lit = English Lit + translation problems, and in BB, we were looking at all the works in English anyway. Just suck it up and admit you don't want to take any classes that aren't about analyzing literature. Quit giving me a hard time about my East Asian focus when you're the same way and so~ totally~ jeal-jeal of how I've embraced it. XD XD XD

3. Once you drop BB, you'll have four classes and while that's difficult when three of them have a ton of reading and one of them is fucking Astronomy, it's doable. And, bonus, exactly zero (0) of those classes are Asian languages! Yay!

Excuse me for wanting to get the most out of my education by taking classes simply to diversify my interests. And anyway, I've never read anything (or anything by the authors) from BB and it's a class on a theme I've never pursued, which is what I meant.

And ANYWAY, I knew I would sound like a total hypocrite to you, but I hope you know I feel keenly that I am betraying my principles!

However, I do appreciate your no nonsense/sympathy approach to my insanity. You better watch out, or I might transfer all of my adviser-related neediness onto you instead of my unreachable actual adviser!

well, la di da, i'm elizabeth and i spend all my days analyzing everything like it's literature. but maybe i analyze literature too much? you know what would be good for me? taking a new class... something different... a class where i... analyze literature!

but you're right, it's a crime that you haven't read 1984. here's what we'll do. we'll watch all the movies on that syllabus. then those of us who apparently didn't go to high school a.k.a. those of us who haven't read 1984 will read that, and then we'll read brave new world (same thing as 1984, except more believable and therefore scarier, also more sex) and some other selections from his syllabus/my experience with literature with authoritarian themes (feel free to contribute as well) and we'll have our own little class! we won't have the benefit of PUsher's brilliance, but hey. i might have been able to connect that first line to The Waste Land on my own.

actually, watching the movies is probably worth doing. god, he had a good list of movies.

Are you really going to tell me you don't spend a significant amount of time analyzing literature yourself? It is the core activity of the humanities. Even Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greece was going to be mostly analyzing literature (in a historical context, you know). The fact that I don't like languages or the hard sciences kind of limits me enough already, God forbid I want to branch out in theme if not in practice. *stubborn pout*

I like your idea of watching the films. If I do end up dropping the class, they'll probably all end up on my netflix.

why are you not home so we can woe together and commiserate? also it smells like a toxic wasteplant anywhere outside our room

also it smells like a toxic wasteplant anywhere outside our room

Thus, the reason I've not come back yet.

why were you not over here, hmm? just because you have a suite of your own doesn't mean you have to use it, missy. (e. certainly doesn't.)

Ugh, crashing laptop = major crap.

Enchanted Imagination! You actually got a lecture called Enchanted Imagination? And it's about the continuity of Romantic/Victorian fantasy into modern literature?!

NYCC!!! I'm going to be noble and fair and not explode with envy. Yes. *deep breaths*

O-kay. Re-posted (I can't edit) to get rid of a fucking rhyme (it's... late?).

Yes, I love when I angst about how my life is so great that I cannot deal with it's greatness. Really, I am excited and it just hasn't caught up with me yet. *wry grin*

Except for my laptop. Nothing about that is great or exciting. :(

Oh yes, I guessed that you're just too stunned by the overwhelming greatness;P I just got some problems with expressing it through my size 9 foot, firmly jammed down my throat all the day yesterday.

I'm so sorry:( Is there anything I could do to divert your mind? Well, besides making an ass of myself:) I can draw you a kitten:D Or Hal getting caught in the downpour:D That counts for making an ass of myself, hm? ;) *chokes on foot*

Haaa? I think perhaps you thought I was being sarcastic, or that I took offense? I was not being sarcastic at all! I was being self-deprecating, because this post is basically about my awesome classes that waawaa, I might not be able to appreciate to their fullest. I experienced no such foot, though I do like kittens! And wet Havemercy characters (damn

halcyonjazz for making me want that fundraiser calendar. D:< )!

:D

Unlike

halcyonjazz, I just walk the silly path of cute, but I'll do my best. Just give me some time to kick my scanner (is it some kind of hardware flu? everything's possible in January...) and I'll be back with Hal and his kittens. ^_^

I don't even know, ok?

And the huge version, if you're so inclined: http://pics.livejournal.com/cellophane_ria/pic/0004c08b
(it's locked, btw, but you're on the filter)

And who do you have to petition to have Marcelline in that calendar...?

OMG, SOOO CUTE.

AHH, I WANT TO HUG HIM AND YOU A LOT RIGHT NOW. THANK YOU.

And who do you have to petition to have Marcelline in that calendar...?

I don't know, but I approve!

Um, you're very welcome. Thank you! *embarrassment city*

I don't know, but I approve!
Maybe after Shadow magic is out...?
Hey, is it possible that this year there will also be ARCs for NYCC?

♥

Hey, is it possible that this year there will also be ARCs for NYCC?

I doubt it. NYCC's a lot earlier this year than it was last year. Also, Jaida and Dani aren't listed as guests this time around, and I think ARCs are mostly given out when the authors are there and they need something to sign. My fingers are crossed, but my hopes aren't up. :/

I know. But I'm crossing fingers anyway. Even if I have no way to be there:)

Stop hack the program!!!

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This icon fits sort of horribly well.

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*ARGH mouse fail!

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tutoring around, winter edition

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Re: tutoring around, winter edition

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Re: tutoring around, winter edition

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