Week 14, Famous Last Words

Alright so this last week was Thanksgiving week and I really wanted to finish up with this class this week so to pass that final hurtle, I'm writing this.

This last week a did a lot of reading on famous ceremonies that pertained to some Indian gods that were a little more obtuse than most.  There were even a few that I read twice but were under different names.  I really enjoyed this reading because the sections were fairly short and easy to read while also containing very relevant information.  It was a good way to learn about several gods in a short amount of time.

I actually haven't done any writing this last week since I"m pretty much done with the class, but I think I've done some really interesting writing in my spare time.  I like to write stories in my spare time and I've just been playing around with writing a medieval fantasy story, which helps me get out my creative side and keeps me from buying reading books at the bookstore.

So far in my other classes it has been going pretty slow.  I had to write a short five page paper for a low level politics class which really wasn't my style and it was really hard to just make myself sit down and write it despite having all the information together a week ago.  I submitted it ten minutes before it was due. :(  Then I'll have another short quiz for the same class this Tuesday which I think will continue in the same fashion.  However my Capstone class is where I really need to work hard because I have a 20 page paper and a presentation on said paper due in December for finals which I really need to get on top of.  I don't even have my subject picked out yet....I know dumb.

In other news though, I had to work through Thanksgiving so that all the lovely people in my city could have their Thanksgiving centerpieces and arrangements.  However I'm not upset about it because my boyfriend had to work too and really my job isn't that bad at all so it's forgivable.  Also there was holiday pay involved. :)

Week 13, Famous Last Words

Alright so this week I decided that since my other teachers gave me the week off from school that I would really push to get this class done completely for the semester. So I spent all of today, Tuesday, working on homework for this class so that I could at least get ahead so I'm not struggling to get everything done for this class plus the finals for my other two classes.

I think the one thing that I'm really sad about with the readings is that I wish there was more information about other characters instead of a whole lot of information just on the heroes of the stories. I know a whole lot about Rama and Arjuna and Yudhishthira but not a whole lot about Draupadi, Sita, or say all of the evil people. :(

So I don't think I really did any great writing this week. I feel like my brain is sort of burnt out and that its difficult to get even the most simplest forms of writing out. So I wen to the bookstore today to get inspired and ended up fumbling through the fantasy and fiction areas, where have all the good writers gone?!

I have noticed that due to this class I do find that I'm a lot more interested in the Indian culture now that I know some of their epics. I'm really interested in how the epics relate to modern life in India and if it's something that everyone seems to know or it is something that even they have to study.
Also I’m starting to really see why women in other parts of the world have such a hard time actually getting equal human rights. The inequality is basically ingrained in their culture and history. Women are taught from childhood storybooks that being a great wife is the most important thing in life.

frozen

Week 12, Famous Last Words

I think this week was really hard for me.  I think each week will continue to get harder as well, the closer we get to the end of the semester.  This time of year gets really hard for me because everything really starts hitting at once.  Luckily this class is fairly easy to keep up with, but I still have two more research papers to do in addition to some final presentations and a take-home final that I'm crossing my fingers on!

Also, me and my boyfriend just moved into an apartment for the first time this year so it'll be a lot of fun to decorate for the holidays and really get into the spirit. We plan on getting a real tree, albeit a small one, and then decorating our small apartment with odds and ends from the ever-awesome Hobby Lobby.  However the tree will be our only presents this year, that's what happens when you work at a grocery store. :(

On top of all that, this time of year gets very busy for the floral industry. People start wording table centerpieces for thanksgiving since they start having family dinners and parties. Then on top of that you have to start gearing up for the christmas holidays in addition to weddings every weekend! It's gonna get crazy! Luckily I have an awesome boss who understands my priorities to my college classes comes first and she tries really hard to give me those 40 hours every week without interfering with my school work, she awesome!  Just another year of working full-time and trying to graduate from college!  :)

Here's a picture of one of the holiday centerpieces that I did for a holiday show the other day.  These are two foot long rectangles of nothing but flowers.  They're really really cool to make and are usually used for head tables at say weddings or parties where there will be a really long table or multiple tables.  I think they're really cool as you can put pretty much anything in these and they'll look amazing!

Personal photo of a two foot long floral arrangement for a holiday party.

Week 10, Famous Last Words

Well this week I only had time for the second reading, which was much shorter than the first.  Something that I’ve noticed and from Claire’s posts I see that she has too, there seems to be a rather gendered view on the Indian Epics.  The stories I’ve read about women have always been about them as a wife,  as a mother, or something similar and less spectacular.  The only power they seem to have in their lives is how to take themselves away from their husbands by dying such as Sati and Sita, both married to powerful men, both giving their bodily forms up for their husbands.

This week I don’t really think I wrote anything spectacular.  I have neither the time nor the patience to sit down and allow the words to come flowing from my brain, through my hands, and onto paper or computer.  I generally don’t even have time to do the extra-credit work, but this week I got a little pep in my step and so now I’m doing extra-credit, which seems to be my best work this week.  I actually tried to sit down and do a little fantasy writing as a relaxation exercise, but I couldn’t get my head into it because I always feel the pressure of homework lingering over my head.  I always have this sneaky feeling that I’m forgetting to do something and even when I’m not in school I feel it too!

Well I’m only in three classes this semester and frankly it’s been really hard of late to leave my happy little home, drive the hour to get to class, and then actually attend class.  That’s one of the reasons I love this class so much, I don’t have to worry about my attendance.  I just do the homework; do the projects, all in my chair in my front room while watching something like Property Brothers or Fixer Upper.  So therefore I find it hard to show up to class and even harder to get my mind going for these classes where it seems like I’m studying the same things over and over again.  I guess I’m a lot less focused than I use to be.  Also it’s really hard to come up with an ethical essay and I think it’ll be really hard to come up with a fifteen page paper on one!

Something that I’ve noticed on Facebook here recently is the issue about the police officer arresting the young woman at the high school when she failed to comply with the teachers.  I think it’s complete crap he was fired, I think it’s complete crap that he was even called into the classroom in the first place, and I think the whole situation is complete crap.  Yes the girl was distressed from the loss of her mother and grandmother, but that does not give her the right to strike a police officer and ignore school policies and teachers.  She should not have resisted at all when the police officer tried to remove her from the room and he did not throw her.  Anyone who has tried to throw someone from that angle knows exactly how impossible that is.  The whole situation is completely out of context, and should never have happened if the teachers had taken the appropriate steps in the first place.  A police officer should not have been fired over this.  She was 17-18 years old and she knows how she is suppose to act. The End.

police officer