Really?!

I'm taking the GRE in December in Dallas during break so I've been studying for the it for the past couple of days (there is a lull in my class readings at the moment but it's about to pick up again).

Couple of things I've learned:
1) I relied too much on a calculator in my math classes. We can't use calculators on the GRE and I've always been horrible at math (that's more James and Daddy's department than mine) so I've been studying math more than anything. During this studying I came to this realization.

2) Kaplan and I, we have different definitions on what word definitions fall under the classification of hard, harder, or hardest. Under their section of harder - talon: claw of an animal, especially a bird of prey. Ok? Seriously? That's a harder word?? Or am I just too much on the liberal arts side of things and know too much vocab?

3) Between Kaplan and Princeton Review, they suggest a ton of possible/most used GRE vocab words. Lots and lots of vocab words.

Oh the joys of standardized tests. And Graduate School applications, of course.

I've been working on my application for Texas Tech Grad School to get a M.A. in Museum Science (kinda weird - Master of Arts when Science is in the degree title). It's a work in progress, the biggest thing on the application, is my purpose statement. And of course, finding professors that can (and will) fill out recommendation forms.

But this is amazing that I'm graduating on time, so I cannot seriously complain about all of this.

Did you know?

That Adolf Hitler was an artist?

I kid you not. However, he was rejected by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (the Academy's controlled who would be big in the traditional art world). During the time he applied for entrance to the Academy was the Expressionist/Modernist movement in art. His paintings were too classical to be accepted.

The sad thing, because of his rejection by the art world he turned to politics. Well, the events he witnessed in World War I also helped too. We all know how his foray into politics turned out.

This rejection also led to another horrible act that he committed that you don't hear about...the burning of almost 5,000 pieces of modern or traditional artworks. (Almost like Fra Savonarola's Bonfire of the Vanities, horrible, tragic burning of tons of Renaissance paintings and writings in Florence's Piazza della Signoria.)

Just an interesting fact you don't hear about in history class.

I'm losing my mind.

What little I had left of my mind, that is.

This week has just been something else. I had a test on Monday. I've got a paper due tomorrow that took me forever to write because the words just wouldn't come out. My website is due on Monday. This website - lordy. It's stressing me out big time. This determines whether or not I pass this class. This class determines whether I graduate without having to take another writing course next semester. At this point, to register for a writing class would mean I have to show up in the teacher's office in tears to get permission to register for said course. So, yeah. It's kinda a big deal. And I don't like how big of a deal it is. Especially since there are no guidelines whatsoever for the thing. That just makes it worse. Am I doing too much? Am I not doing enough? I don't know.

There's some other things going on that are slowly adding to my stress too. I'm worried about people I care about. Some of 'em are going through a tough time and I'm just worried. Hopefully, things will get better. Hopefully.

I'm just slowly losing my mind. I need to get away from school, from the apartment, from everything. I'm glad I'm going to Atlanta this weekend. Even if I don't get to go to the concert with James tomorrow night, I'll get to see my family, and I'll get to get out of Tuscaloosa for a weekend.

LOVE.

In this red state...

...we may not have turned it blue, but we did turn a red nation blue!!

But, in this red state of AL, in my apartment complex, once the projected winner was announced on the news networks, people went out onto their balconies and started screaming. It may be because this is a majority of college students in this complex, and we've seen how the youth vote has gone, but it was amazing to me, in AL that there were so many people in my complex celebrating!

Can't wait.

JMC was very gracious in his concession speech and one can only hope that all of his supporters will be as gracious in their defeat and that the BO supporters will be gracious in their win.

Election Night Coverage

So the way to go in the Election coverage....Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 with both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. These two are doing a one hour special together and then I think they're doing their own shows tonight. I love these guys separately, but together?? They're amazing.

Other than that though I've been watching CNN like crazy this week. America's Best Political Team. I like them. Plus, my old roommate's uncle is on the network a lot. Which is kinda cool with the whole 6 degrees of separation thing. They're technology though - kinda scary. Did anyone see the holograph projection of the reporter in Chicago?! It was like 'OMG! I'm watching Star Wars IV! Princess Leia!' All she needed was the braided buns over the ears and a white dress. I kid you not. Check it out:



Enjoy.

Tomorrow - the end of the political ads! Happy Day! I'm tired of seeing the negative ads in the local AL races. Not even going into the negative ads in the national race.

Random ideas while taking showers are fun.

One of my history classes this semester is a writing credit class. Well for the final project we can pick our own topic as long as it pertains to the course (The Age of Exploration and Conquest) and we can choose to do a 15 page paper or a website. At first I was going to do the 15 page paper and my topic was going to be how the Spanish were able to conquer an Aztec empire made up of millions and the different theories that there are for that. Then when I was taking a shower the other night (I love how many ideas I get in the shower) I decided, if my teacher OK'd it, that I wanted to completely change my topic and format. I talked to my teacher on Friday, told him what I wanted to do, and got the OK as long as I sent in a new outline and bibliography over the weekend. So yesterday I started building a website on the Aztec Empire. This way, I can cover the things about the empire that I love, like all of the gods (they have fun names - Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopitchli, Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca etc.) and their technology - the sun calendar, and their building skills. I can also cover the Conquest by Cortes and various other parts of the Empire. I'm just sad that we aren't covering the Mayans in this class too. I would love to be able to include them in this website - especially when it came to building skills. James pointed me to Microsoft's newest version of Front Page so that I could look there for a program. There was good news on that - there's a free 60 day trial. I only need it for a little over 2 weeks so I don't have to go spend tons of money on a program.

It should be an interesting project. I'll post a link for the website when it's finished. I'm going to be able to publish on the bama.ua.edu server so I also don't have to worry about finding a host server.

GO OUT AND VOTE TOMORROW! You can't complain if you don't vote. :)