It'sJust Like I Imagine Prison...Minus the Prison Sex

I am very familiar with standardized testing...I think I've taken nearly every possible test in my life minus the GRE's, which I took Saturday...well, sort of. But, GRE's aside for a minute, I want to talk about the testing facility.

I know they want to keep people honest, but really how much cheating can you do on these things...seriously?? I walk into the testing facility and handed over my ID and sign in. This I understand. But after that I have to go to another woman not three feet away who takes my picture (really? this is necessary?) and makes me not only sign a confidentiality statment but makes me write the statement out...IN CURSIVE no less. This is completely insane to me since anyone over the age of ten writes in a printing/cursive hybrid anyway. Then, I get escorted into another room (more like a hallway) that is no more than a foot away from the woman who just made me write a paragraph of useless information. This hallway is not just a room. I swear I had more security watching me than OJ. The back of the room is all glass and the paragraph lady has her desk on the other side of the glass. On the side of her desk is a TV with the picture cut into four with different angles of the hallway room. And then there was a microphone in there so every time someone coughed you could hear it via the microphone in the waiting room.

I ask you..is all that necessary? If I lie on my GRE's or cheat off of someone, won't I just fail out of school anyway? And what are you going to do with the picture of me? Will I show up on the internet somewhere on Jennifer Aniston's body (I give my full permission for this to happen by the way so if someone could make that happen it would be fabulous).

Oh...and after having everything short of a strip search, I don't even get to actually take all of the test...something about a "GRE Global Meltdown"....

***ahem ... Prison Riot?? ahem***

On the bright side, I came out with some pretty sweet new GRE tats....a bunch of vocab that I have no idea the definition of....

I'm Stumped...Seriously Stumped

It's true. I am. I'm overwhelmed almost to a crippling degree. I am in the mist of finals, which for me really just amounts to finishing up a paper I've written on organizational communication and socialization, which actually turned out alright. I'm happy enough with the topic I chose and think I could go farther with it if I decided to use it as a portion of my thesis if I decide to go that way. But just because its one paper doesn't mean that I'm lacking for things to do. I still have about four pages left to write on it and then I need to clean up the rest of what I previously wrote.

I am also in the mist of studying for my GRE's which is probably one of the more stressful things I've done. I've started studying for them but quite frankly it still stresses me out enormously. There is just SO much riding on this.

In addition, I need to decide which classes I want to take next semester. Now, here is my problem. I need to take a Mass Comm Theory class, but, it is only offered once every two years, and it was just offered this semester. So, it won't be offered again until the fall of 2010, which would mean that I would have a December graduation. This to me is unacceptable. I want to graduate in May!! So, I've found a class that is offered online through the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. I'm hoping that I can take that next fall and it will fit into my requirements and let me graduate on time (assuming of course that I'm accepted). But, this also creates another dilemma. Since I am a non degree student, I can only bring so many classes into the degree. I'm scheduled to take two classes next semester that I really want to take (future of news and health communication). If I take those two classes than I can't bring any more into the program when I swap to be a regular old grad student instead of a non degree one. So, either one of those classes won't count towards my degree of the Mass Comm Theory class won't. I'm trying to get it all figured out, but I don't want to take less than the two classes next semester because it will cause me to have to take too many classes next year while also doing thesis work and working full time. So many decisions!!

Work has been insane these last couple of weeks and is not looking at getting any less busy before Christmas, so I don't even have time to think there! I should be happy that I'm busy, and really I am, but everything all at once is just slightly overwhelming. It's hard coming home to homework and still having to think about what needs to be done at work as well.

Add in Christmas and I seriously want to scream. I still have to mail some presents and buy some other ones, and we're trying to cut down our Christmas list this year as well, so it is all very stressful. I have decided though that the Christmas cards just aren't going to happen this year. There is just too much to do and not enough time to do it.

The good thing?? Next weekend we're going to Quebec City. We'll probably only spend a night there, but it will give us both a little bit of a break, and quite frankly, I've been itching to go on a vacation for a while now. I usually can only make it 3 months or so before I'm ready to go and hit another country. I just get restless. So, this mini vaca will hold me over until the first of March when we'll go to Iceland.

Alright...I'm done whining...any advice??

Bad Decision? Maybe

I've made the decision that I will be applying to grad school for full time enrollment for September, which means I need to get everything together in December with my application needing to be in by January, which really doesn't feel that stressful to me, I don't think the application is that bad. But, it does mean that I need to take the GRE's, which kinda freaks me out. I'm certainly not the best test taker in the world, and there is a lot riding on my scores.

Regardless of how things turn out, I'm taking two classes this spring which will be difficult for me. I'm not a TA, I don't work 20 hours a week. I work 40 hours a week with a 10 hour a week commute. Add in homework and class time, and I'll be booked solid. I did the math, and unless I can find a summer class or two, and I'm not sure how likely that will be, I'll need to take two classes each semester and three classes another one (this includes doing a thesis class over the summer which I think will be possible because I'm guessing that is pretty much on your own).

Super stressed out about it...I've been told by my interim adviser that it isn't possible for me to graduate in two years since I'm working full time, which is actually pretty upsetting. But I'm determined and REALLY want to get it done in that amount of time. My biggest concern? Where in the hell am I going to find the time to write a thesis? I'm picturing myself in some foreign country (maybe I'd go back to my favorite place in the world, Bangkok), sitting on a beach or on a park bench, computer in hand writing an endless amount of pages! That could work right?

You Know It's Bad When...

It's a Tuesday, 7:10pm and I'm sitting on my couch, reading blogs and watching the true Hollywood story of Valerie Bertinelli.

It's not that I have anything against Valerie. I'm sure she's a fun girl, but has she done much since One Day At A Time? The show was well before my time, but I have to admit to seeing a show or two when my mother watched the reruns. (This was actually one of the better shows that my mother forced me to watch...anyone seen press your luck? Seriously, it's a miracle I have any social skills at all). So, I thought I'd give you all some little known facts about Valerie Bertinelli...

1. People really liked her bangs. No really, they made a point of saying this in her THS. I've rocked the bangs from time to time in my life. I had the claw bangs in the 80's and I even had bangs as recently as June (not claw bangs, more like Katie Holmes bangs) but decided because of the upkeep it was easier to grow them out, so I give props to Valerie for hanging in there with them so long.

2. She thought that Eddie Van Halen was cute. This is something that Valerie and I disagree about because I actually find him to be an ugly bastard.

3. Valerie tried to be the Yoko Ono of Van Halen. To this I say "you go Valerie". I don't like Van Halen so much.

4. Valerie Bertinelli wants to be like me!! She didn't go to college and wishes she did. I'm going to help you out with this one Val, I went to college and your doing a whole lot better than me, so I think you made the correct decision. But you know what, it's never too late, you jump up and enroll in your local college and get your degree, or perhaps an honorary degree from NYU??

While I'm on the subject, I'm feeling really good now because I just saw that Nick Verreos from Project Runway season 2 is in a Sears Commerical?! Good to know I'm doing better than someone....

And finally...

5. One of her series Cafe American (Valerie played an American working at a Paris coffee shop) was up against Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman in the same time slot. Dr. Quinn won. I didn't watch Valerie's show. I watched Dr. Quinn. I really liked Sully.

What's scarier than the sad state of my life? This website I found while searching for my fabulous picture of Valerie. Whoever created that site is seriously deranged...really.