Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Halloween... I guess.

I think it's halloween, there are some strangely dressed people here at the University today. Which really isn't that weird.. there's quite a few of those drama-type people in this area of the U. I was excited about Halloween, the way the scheduling of my night class was, it looked like he was going to give us this evening off... but not so.. he decided to drag out his lecture last class. So Halloween.. it may be out there, but I'll never know. School from 8 am til 9 pm. Plus the extra time after my night class that I wait for Josh to finish his night class.. and meetings. SO I figure tonight I'll be out of here by 10 pm. Unfortunately I don't get to see all the tykes dressed up and banging on my door. Don't get to set up my tombstones, pumpkins, floodlights and fog machine. Unfortunate. Last year I enjoyed the fascination of the kids as they came to the door. I left a candy stash just inside the door.. in case some kids come by while we're out and a roomate answers the door. It's a sad night. I love costumes, and enjoy seeing the kids. They're adorable. Instead I get to listen to my prof talk for 3 hours, while not covering any of the course material (it fascinates me every week... he'll lecture for 3 hours on nothing related to the course... the whole course is learned from the textbook). You may ask... why do you attend class then? Well 20% of my mark comes from GROUP tests. Yes... group tests. We have one every class. We sit in our groups, we discuss the question (which is usually straight from the text) and then we write down the answer (oh.. and we can confer with other groups), with all our names. Great testing strategy. Other than that our tests are all WEBCT, meaning online, and multiple choice. Yes... I know what you're thinking... what on earth does this prof do? He doesn't have to mark anything. It's all done by computer, he doesn't really lecture.. he just stands in front of 100 students once a week and tells jokes and rattles on about different environmental projects that are going on in Alberta. I wouldn't consider him a great prof... but his actual lecture period is entertaining, just not related. So we go to class. Plus, I am one of about 5 students in the class that he knows, he would notice if I am not there. He was the prof that led the SouthWest Trip I went on this summer.

Tomorrow is a scary day. I have to present to my class for 15 minutes. All alone at the front with control of PowerPoint. It's the scariest thing for me. I feel sick, I fidget and I refuse to look at the group. I even shake. Presenting is not a good thing. The most I've ever done before is 5 minutes.. and usually that is with other people. I do know the content of my presentation thoroughly, but I am nervous that someone will ask a question. Actually in this class I know at least 5 people will ask questions. I'm scared that it'll be questions that I do not know the answer to. I am also one of the first 3 to present in this class, so I have no idea if I even approached this from the right angle. Guess we'll find out tomorrow. I already found a mistake in the handout that has been sent to the entire class already.

On the plus side, I have received 2 more orders for Christmas cards. One is a rush order that needs to be done for next week, so after tomorrow's presentation I will start in on them. :) Very exciting. There are only 55 days left til Christmas. And tomorrow you are officially allowed to decorate for Christmas. I don't think my tree will get put up for a couple weeks yet, since I have so much to do prior to that. But Christmas music is free to be played everywhere now... not just in my IPOD.

I think I should quit my rambling now. I have class again soon. This was a quick break, and I finally got another blog in.

I will leave you with the following image.....

3 comments:

LefthandedSocks said...

That is an adorible picture. Oakley is getting so big.

And that was quite the rant on the prof, I'm impressed

Anonymous said...

When I did go to class... he was dressed up as Elvis (no big suprise.. since he is an Elvis Impersonator)... and he sang to us all for like 30 minutes. He then proceded to quasi lecture for 20 minutes and let us all go home. What a waste of time.

bcmatt said...

Tamara,
I'm glad to see you have finally made a new post.
As your older brother, I feel it is my duty and privelege to offer you some advise. It is probably the phrase that I am most famous for and the only thing I have ever been quoted as saying; "Awkwardness is the spice of life". Tamara, you need to immensely enjoy your 15 minutes of shame at the front of that class. There are few things more enjoyable/painful to watch than someone that feels awkward. Give people the show of their lifetimes. Bring as many people in to this feeling of awkwardness as you can. Single people out with your awkwardness in creative ways. Give individuals in the class wide-eyed stare-downs of fear so that they long for your presentation to be over as well. Remember, the more awkward the experience becomes, the better the story will be afterwards; and afterall, isn't that what we all really want? Awkwardness is the lifeblood of a good blog entry.
Ok, that's my rant. Man, I better get some christmas lights up. I guess I missed my chance to put them up rebelliously early. I rely on you to keep track of my holiday seasons for me.