Winter Bucket List

As promised, here is my Winter Bucket List! I'm pretty excited about, too. Here's some of my reasoning behind putting each of these things on the list:

Go to a movie by myself - I used to think there was nothing lamer than going to a movie by yourself but then I tried it once and I loved it! It was extra relaxing to have only my own tastes to consult regarding what movie I would see, how early I would get there, where I would sit, and when I would leave. Don't get me wrong - I really enjoy seeing movies with friends, but seeing a movie by yourself is a different type of experience. I haven't done this since last April, so I think it's high time I do it again.

Go on a 30+ mile bike ride - This is more a way of making myself get in at least a little bit of shape more than anything. But also, I live right by a gorgeous trail that runs along a river and I don't get out on it nearly often enough. I'm thinking by the time March rolls around and the sun is out and things start to bloom, I should really take the time to go on a long, relaxing bike ride by myself.

Finish Intellectuals and Society - This book is a monster but I'm almost halfway through and I'm really enjoying it! I'm hoping to finish it up before the school starts again and my life gets crazy.

Start a new book purely for my own enjoyment - I used to love reading. There were very, very few things that could keep me away from a book. Over the last few years, though, most of my reading has been required for school and I've come to view reading as an unenjoyable chore. Lately, I've been trying to make a point of choosing books that I don't have to read so I can remind myself that reading is a truly enjoyable pastime.

Host a movie night - I've been hosting one movie night each month for the past few months and it's been really fun! I'm looking forward to hosting more in the New Year and I think we'll kick off 2013 with The Magnificent Seven - but that's subject to change ;).

Go ice skating - It's been years since I've been ice skating and it's one of my favorite winter activities.

Go wine tasting in a new region - I've never gone wine tasting outside of the Lodi region so hopefully this winter that will change. As much as I love Lodi wines, I really want to see (taste?) what other wine country regions in NorCal have to offer. Some regions I'm considering are the Santa Cruz Mountains, Napa, and the Mother Lode (Calaveras County).

Go to a hockey game - This is another thing I haven't done in years that I really enjoy. Stockton (about 1 hour south of Sacramento) has a minor league hockey team that I've gone to see a few times and it's always really fun (and the tickets are cheap!).

Go to a concert - Any kind of concert! In a large stadium or in a bar, I really don't care. I can count on one hand the number of non-classical music concerts I've been to in my entire life and that needs to change, pronto!

Host a casual dinner party - I did this a few years ago and enjoyed it. I know that hosting another one would be really fun.

Go to a new open mic night - There is one weekly open mic night in Sacramento that I've been to several times and I love it - but I've yet to try out any other open mic nights. I really need to gain more knowledge of the city I live in and I think listening to artists at various open mic nights is a good way to start doing that.

Go swing dancing - I've been swing dancing a few times and I'm not very good at it, so it always makes me nervous. But, this is one of those things I'll only get better at if I actually do it - hence the inclusion on my winter bucket list.

Take line dancing lessons - The fitness facility on my campus is offering Country Line Dancing as one of their group fitness classes this semester so I'm going to give it a try! I've wanted to learn line dancing for a really long time and this is the perfect opportunity to do so cheaply and in a non-skeevy environment.

Try a new restaurant - Again, I need to learn more about Sacramento. This will help me do that.

Meet John & Sherry of Young House Love - They happened to recently schedule a book tour stop in NorCal and my older sister gave me their book for Christmas. Given that and the fact that they're my and my sister's favorite bloggers, this had to be on the list!

Go beer tasting - This is something my friends and I have talked about doing for a long time but have never actually done. Maybe for my 25th birthday? We'll see.

Be a rocking Freshman Composition teacher - I was recently hired to teach English 1A (aka Freshman Composition) at my school next semester and I am SO EXCITED about it! My goal is to be a really great teacher.

Finish thesis prospectus - This has to happen or my whole life will be screwed! Haha, not really...but kinda really. I actually need to get this done within the next few weeks because it has to be approved within the first 2 weeks of the semester if I'm going to start my research this spring - which is my plan.

Start thesis research - This is pretty self-explanatory, but it's one that requires a lot of groundwork beforehand, since I have to get approval from the colleges I plan to do my research on and find teachers willing to let me come into their classrooms to find subjects.

Inside a Grad Student's Bag

School started this week, so I decided to organize the bag* I bought last summer before my first year of grad school. I put it through a lot last year, but it has held up really, really well. Since I was emptying everything out anyways, I thought it would be fun to take a look at what's in my bag for this first week of my second year of grad school. I *might* do this at the end of the semester, too - as long as the contents aren't too embarrassing. My bag is always full of junk by the end of every semester, so we'll see.

In the zippered exterior pocket, I keep my keys and a flash drive along with a few snacks. Today, it happened to be a bag of raw almonds, a larabar, and some baby carrots. My arms are long enough that I can reach the contents of this pocket whether I'm wearing the bag off one shoulder or cross-body, and it's nice to have these specific things within constant reach.

 

The two end pockets are very straightforward: My Nalgene bottle and my cell phone.

Under the flap, there are 4 main pockets, 2 zippered and 2 pouch-like.

In the upper right zippered pocket, I keep replacement lead and erasers for my mechanical pencils, a deck of cards, and a headband. In the lower right pouch pocket, I have a variety of pens, pencils, highlighters, and markers as well as sticky flags and a small notebook that I use to track daily assignments.

In the upper left zippered pocket, I stow a set of earbuds, EOS lip balm (love those things! The mint is my fav), a baggy of advil, and yet another flash drive. In the lower left pouch pocket, I keep a package of Orbit peppermint gum (best gum ever!), a black notebook for jotting down random stuff, another small notebook for brainstorming topic ideas for papers, and a small bottle of hand sanitizer.

Inside the main compartment, there is a padded section where I keep my laptop when I need to have it and a narrower pocket in the front that I usually don't use.

When it's not holding my computer, the padded pocket usually has some empty manila envelopes, lyrics I've written that my brother has put music to, and whatever pieces of mail I just picked up from my parents or want on hand for easy reference.

The main compartment of my bag holds my tutoring and volunteer work notebook, my class notebooks and folders, my wallet, and, because I don't have any book reading assigned for my classes yet, my Nook with the awesome Jonathan Adler cover I bought for it, Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell (a book I just started reading), and Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey (a book I'm almost done reading). Not pictured because I was using it to take these pictures: my camera, which is usually in one of the elastic side pockets inside the main compartment.

It'll be interesting to see what this bag looks like come December 6th. I'd be willing to bet money it has at least one empty Hot Tamales box - my go-to study snack during finals every semester.

*Here's the current model of my bag. It's on sale for $67, which I consider an absolute steal! I paid full price ($90) for my version of it, by far the most I've ever spent on any bag, and it has been worth far more than every penny. I'm crazy about the current one, though. The color scheme and monogram are so awesome!

Discussion Post Wordle

I thought it would be fun to create a Wordle of the online discussion posts I wrote for the class I took last semester on researching teaching writing. I somewhat randomly chose about 75% of my posts for this and I think it turned out really cool!

Procrastination

I've always been a master procrastinator, but now that I'm in grad school, it's reached a dangerous level. In undergrad, it's fairly easy to get away with procrastinating - your assignments are shorter and teachers aren't looking for the depth of knowledge and understanding that they expect at the graduate level, and that only comes with investing hours and hours and hours into your readings and assignments. I try not to procrastinate, but honestly, unless I wait until the last minute to do something, I usually end up wasting a lot of time doing anything except study during the time I set aside for studying. Here's what usually ends up happening during my "study" sessions:

1. Get to campus and set up my supplies - books, pens, highlighters, laptop, water, coffee/tea, snacks, articles, etc.

2. Get on the internet to do "research" - also known as, check facebook, catch up on blogroll, send emails, check other blogs not on blogroll.

3. Realize that the noise I'm hearing is the printer - turn on Spotify. Play around on Spotify for 5-10 minutes trying to find the perfect study music for the mood I'm in (country usually ends up fitting the bill).

4. Log onto library and conduct search for articles (this takes about 5 minutes).

5. Remember that I need to respond to a friend's text. While on phone, also send texts to about 5 other friends.

6. Look at search results and realize nothing there is helpful. Conduct 5 more searches, which turn up a total of 2 helpful articles.

7. Email articles to self to print later.

8. Watch an episode of a TV show on Hulu or Netflix.

9. Finally start on actual project. Go home after an hour or two because I'm too tired to keep working and need a nap.

However, here's what happens when I wait until the last minute to do something:

1. Get to campus and quickly set up work station.

2. Start typing frantically.

3. Finish assignment, proofread, print, and head to class to turn it in.

The wait-til-the-last-minute method is a LOT more efficient but it always leaves me incredibly stressed out and I realize that if I discipline myself to remain focused during my non-procrastinating study sessions, my life would be much improved AND I would no longer have to worry about last-minute things coming up and preventing me from finishing my assignments on time.

Ironically, I'm writing this post while I should be finishing up an annotated bibliography that's due this afternoon.

Grad School is Bad for Your Health

The picture on the left is from early September, 2011, just after I started grad school. The picture on the right is from a few days ago, about 6 months after starting grad school. Note that in the first picture, there are no bags under my eyes. Note the bags under my eyes in the second picture. Also I have three grey hairs that were non-existent last August.