J Sanders

Well, this past semester was horrible. Absolutely horrible. A combination of being sick, lazy, and overwhelmed I managed to get 3 Cs and an Incomplete. I need to buckle down this next semester.

Summer school update, yo!

Well, I did my study abroad in Italy which was all kinds of amazing even if I didn’t get any A’s out of it… I got a B in art history, which I am just going to take and run because my professor was evil evil evil. But I knew this about him already since I had him before and got a D. So hopefully, HOPEFULLY this B can replace that D. I hope so. And I’m pretty sure I got a B in drawing… I didn’t put in enough time or effort to get an A. If I do get an A I will be very surprised.

Anyway, second summer session and I did really surprisingly well! I got an A in ComDes I (yeah, I had to retake it since I got a C and that’s not allowed to graduate). So that’s replacing my C which has done wonders to my GPA! And by some miracle I got a B in astronomy! I really do not know how I managed to pull that off since my grades were so unbelievably scattered. On the tests I had 2 C’s, 1 F, and 1 A. So I really have no clue how I managed a B. But again, I’m going to take it and run because I didn’t like that professor much either. I loved my ComDes professor though, she was freaking awesome. Seriously one of the best professors I’ve ever had.

Anyway… next semester will be interesting! Ceramics I, Advanced Typography, Book Design, and Health Psychology. I signed up for Industrial Psych also but it doesn’t seem to be showing up on my schedule but whatever. I won’t be too torn up if I’m not actually in it.

I leave in 8 days! I’m so excited about it!

Semester in a nutshell:

Art History – Did really well at the beginning and kind of lost it towards the end. Got a B.

Multimedia – My professor was a total douche. I got an 89 and he wouldn’t give me the point I needed to get an A. I redid my last project twice and then he finally gave me the point because I bugged him so much. So I got an A. He’s still a douche though.

Editorial Illustration – B. I could have possibly gotten an A but I was so frazzled at the end of the semester that I couldn’t bring myself to spend all the time redoing all my projects.

Adolescent Psychology – A!! I worked super hard for this grade. I did a bunch of extra credit and when that didn’t bring it up to an A, I studied my ass off to get the grades I needed on the last test and the final to get the A. It was kind of an amazing feeling.

Geology – C. It all went downhill after the first test. Just everything, even the lab which I had been doing so well in it. Turns out rock/mineral identification, though boring, is the easiest effing thing in the subject.

But overall a good semester. Best semester I’ve had since I transferred. So that’s something!

My extra credit wasn’t enough to bump up my C, which was very disappointing.

Semester so far has been pretty decent! I didn’t do so well on my first adolescent psych test but there is a TON of extra credit opportunities that I am going to take advantage of. And I totally did AWESOME on my first geology test! I got an 88 and the class average was around a 71! I feel super smart. The only test I don’t know how I did on was art history and I should find out some time next week. I feel really great about the multiple choice part of the test but not the essay. And I’m not sure how I’ve done on my current art projects, I’m supposed to find out about one of them next week.

Hopefully this will be a good semester and I’ll get mostly A’s! I’m shooting for A’s but B’s would be okay.

The art department at my school offers a month long study abroad trip to Italy to study art history and drawing/photography. My parents were awesome and are paying for me to go! So come May/June this goal will be complete!

End of the semester and I did pretty good!

I got B’s in all of my classes except one. I totally bombed my abnormal psychology class. I just emailed her though to see if she added the extra credit I did, because I don’t think she did. And so hopefully if she adds my extra credit then I’ll get a B in the class, cause it is a high C.

Next semester should be good/hopefully easy. I’m taking: geology, history of modern art, multimedia I, editorial illustration, and adolescent psychology.

I’m off to a fantastic start this semester. Well, not fantastic. But it is considerably better than I have been doing. I just got an 89 on my first abnormal psych test. An 84 on my personality psych test and a 78 (boo) on my first communications test. And I think I’m doing relatively well in my art classes. So this is going great!

So we’re about a month into the new semester. My classes require a LOT of work. I’m struggling some to keep up with all of my reading.

ComesDes III – My typography class is freaking awesome. It is really interesting and the projects are fun and I think I’ll do okay in this class!
ComDes IV – My poster design class is okay. I’m not exactly thrilled about designing posters. But I think I should do okay.
Communications – Stupid freaking required speech class. I have to give two speeches. Not looking forward to it. But my professor is super funny. So class is at least interesting.
Personality Psych – It is really boring thus far. We’ve gone over research methods and different types of data. It is basically a summary of the book… which is dullllll. But I think I’ll do pretty well because the information isn’t that hard to remember.
Abnormal Psych – It is slowly getting more interesting. We’re going to start learning about all of the disorders soon. It will be pretty easy I think because this topic really interests me and I’ve done a lot of outside reading so I already know most of what we’re covering.

I have gotten rid of a load of things. They are all packed up and ready to be sent off to the local woman’s shelter place. I feel really good to get rid of a lot of this stuff. It had just been sitting around collecting dust and some of the clothes I’m giving away have never even been worn. So now my room is clutter free and I feel a million times better and don’t feel so bogged down. And I’m seriously going to make an effort from now on to think about my purchases and if I really need more crap cluttering up my life.

So I have made tons of progress with this. Mostly because I am taking a lot of stuff to the apartment I am moving into next week for school. But I have gathered up a lot lot lot of stuff to donate. And have thrown a lot away. So I will totally be finished with this goal by next Friday. Because yeah… that’s when I’m moving and so I sort of have to be.

I’m still learning. But I know how to cast on, knit, and bind off. I’m having trouble with purling but I’ll eventually get it so… yeah! I now have an awesome new hobby.

I’ve finally started working on this. The secret is to make it a really big mess in the process of cleaning so you can’t stand seeing it that way. :P But this is good. I’ve thrown away stuff, I have put stuff that I can donate aside in a separate pile, I’m organizing things. This is good.

With a short break for summer school up until a week or so ago I will be resuming this task full force tomorrow.

I will probably just update this post so I don’t have to make a million other posts…

List of books on the list that I have already read at some point in my life:

3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White

15/200

I got Bs in my philosophy and government classes for summer I! So that’s good! Even though it doesn’t really bring up my GPA all that much. Hopefully will be doing loads better next semester and I can get my GPA above a 3.0 again.

So I am doing pretty well in my Government and Philosophy classes. I’ve got a really good shot at getting an A in government. I just have to get a 94 on the final, which I think is doable! And then I will most likely get a B in Philosophy because I messed up and got a C on the last test. Though it is possible for me to get an A, I think. I don’t know what my quiz/participation grades are so I can’t really figure it out. But yeah. YAY!

Grades were posted today. No real surprises.

Intro to Psych – I got a freaking 60 on the final so I got a B in the class. I would have done better on the final if it hadn’t only been 15 questions long. I mean seriously… stupidest thing ever.
Art History – D. No surprises since I pretty much only made Ds on the tests.
Algebra – Well… despite retaking 2 tests (he wouldn’t let me retake all 3) and doing all the homework and going to class and going to extra lessons and doing lots of practice problems I got a flipping D. Thank god it is my only math class I have to take.
3-D Design – I was really off on this one. I thought I was going to get a B but got a C instead. Cause my last couple of projects didn’t go so well. Oh well.
ComDes II – B. No surprise there. Because I didn’t put much effort into my projects. And he said that since it was his last semester teaching no one was going to get lower than a B. I really needed an A… but I guess I will just have to work my ass off to get As in my next two ComDes classes next semester.

Going to summer school. Am determined to get As to make up for such a crappy semester. Am taking Functions of American Government and Philosophy.

I’m supposed to see them perform again in July! I’m so excited!

I need to do this for at least 6 months before I can consider it complete. Because by then I should be in the habit, yeah?