La la la. Am in a strangely good mood. I think it's because I've lessened my GRE load...not because I've reclaimed my common sense. No, I've just decided to actually study for my French final...which I need approx. 50% on to get a 4.0 in the class. Common sense is out the window.

So, when it comes to math on the GRE...bring on the story problems. Everything else escapes me.

So, I'm coming home this weekend...would anyone want to see Spiderman 2 or another movie with me?

So, last night I was studying with my cousin. And she made a comment about how we are exactly alike except "I (Michele)am more conservative."
This upset me. Don't get me wrong, my political extreme of choice is still socialism ;)(I could never be separated from George Orwell!!!) But, compared to some of Becky's unorthodox views, I'd be considered conservative.
No, the thing that upset me, was her belief (and apparently her boyfriend's belief) that our personalities are the same. This is upsetting because, although Becky has a number of good qualities, I, at times, find her annoying.
I tend to find most of her conversation topics to be trite. She does this several-second-pause thing (in the middle of her sentences) when she talks which drives me insane, due to my preference for thinking and talking fast.
I love to read, watch movies, and exercise ...she doesn't (which leads me to wonder what she can possibly do with her free time).
I think the only thing we really have in common are the fact that we both work really hard in our classes, work ahead, and are neuroses freaks.
So, I've decided to try to change...I'm going to try to behave less obsessively. (*rolls eyes*...we'll see how that works for me). I have no idea how to change...except maybe if I'm more messy....
But, I don't want to be like Becky or my dad (in this sense...whose neurotic tendencies aren't flamboyant...but still present).

Down with organization! Go team chaos!

I found this funny.

Who were you in a past life? by Kat007
Name:
Birthdate:
Favorite Color:
Country:
You were most probably:	William Shakespeare
If not then you were:	A great but unheard of poet
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

The French oral exam was okay. I really don't feel like studying for the real exam though.

My super nice friend Leslie called to wish me luck this morning. Very cool of her.

Am going to the library to study with Becky. I'm not counting on getting much work done.

Sigh. Feel ignored.

Smart puppy!


French oral exam is tomorrow. I'm worried that I'll try to form sentences that are more complicated than what we've learned...or will break into Spanish (in which case my partner has instructions to kick me).

BEAUTIFUL outside! Don't want to study!

Who hates the GRE? I hate the GRE!!!!!!!

Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte, 1847 (Wrote under name Ellis Bell)

-Thinking one thing and saying another
-irony/sarcasm of narrator
-superstition
-marriage for wealth
-the nature of love
-being different from the norm
-catherine and isabel in Northanger Abbey
-influence of environment
-contrast between characters (similar situations, different reactions)
-country
-education and encouragement
-moors

I feel like the hamster on the wheel when it comes to work and GRE prep. I never get everything done and the next day is never any better.

I have an appointment to see a new guidance councilor tomorrow. Nervous. Bad counseling experiences. If THIS one tells me to take a year off, I will finally vocalize my opinions of the MSU counseling system and will vow never to seek help again.

Ohhh, it's been a crazy and good weekend.

Friday night I bought my dad's Father's day gift. It's the 2 volume collection of Farside. It has to weigh at least 10 pounds. It was fun carrying it down Grand River. I have a bruise. The book gave me a bruise.
I also had dinner with my friend Christie.

Saturday Britt was in town! Funness. I met her family, a nice group of people.
Britt's future apartment is awesome! If it wasn't so far from campus and if I could cook, I'd totally be all: "Hi, I'll be your roommate!"
I wish we kind of had more time to go into in depth conversation stuff. But hey, we still got our e-mailing.

Ohhh, also on Saturday I finished reading Walden while sitting by the river. I was amused. Plus, a random guy was practicing playing the guitar and singing several meters away. It was nice accompaniment to the birds.

I had church Saturday night. I helped Alan with the media center again. (Still no major CD screw ups! Yeah!) And on the drive home we had a good conversation, stemming from the sermon, about conflicts and how we handle them.

After that, it was off to do a little work and hang out with my cousin. We pretty much talked.

Today my parents came for Father's day. I got my car back! And my dad got his new one! Ohhhh, it's fun.
Yeah for being better for the environment! I was amused, because it does not actually have an ignition. Nope, my father's new car has a power button. I got to press it...twice. It also has a park button. You shift gears with a switch that looks a lot like a cigarette lighter. The car beeps when you back up. And the GPS voice tries to direct you home when your going to Barnes and Nobles...my father hasn't figured out how to change that...apparently the instructions for the GPS system is 150 pages...and he fell asleep last night trying to read it. Hee hee hee.
But never worry, there's a special little sheet with pictures briefly describing how to drive the car. For valet parking.
I didn't actually drive it, it's only it's second day on the road...I didn't want to be the first to almost kill it.

My dad made out like a bandit gift wise. I think he really liked my message in his card...he got a little emotional.

I just got back from seeing The Terminal with Leslie and her boyfriend. It was a good movie. I would have liked there to have been a little more history given on Tom Hanks's character. But I liked the end credits...it's done in signatures. Amusing.

As you can see, it's been a social weekend. Now I have to go and try to do some of my load of work.

Walden Henry David Thoreau (1845, but published 1854)
-transcendentalist with Ralph Waldo Emerson
-comparison to Native Americans
-clothes
-shelter
-sharing/borrowing
-walking
-food
-man=animal, adapts
-individual (go alone)
-being alive
-living simply
-ancients (classics)
-slavery
-view of Gov (No pay taxes, only people that bothered him...rather they run amok with him than the other way around)
-war (ants)

Pretty outside. Must go!

GRE
The Second Coming William Butler Yeats, 1921
-Explored spiritualism and mysticism, giving him his poetic symbols...he was good at communicating their power.
-Influenced by London, Sligo and Dublin...Irish nationalist, this lead him to search for simpler and more popular styles.
-thought end of cycle of history and at beginning of another "gyre"
-Reference to Russian Revolution of 1917
-"Things Fall Apart" is used for a title by Achebe
-Images of death and birth
-allusion to Jesus's cradle.






The Night Piece, to Julia More Robert Herrick

-repetition of "thee"
-Refer to supernatural (elves). Simile.
-Nature respects her and won't hurt her.
-talks about light and souls pouring into her (Is Julia a soul sucker? Hee hee)
-Weird Rhyme...AABBA. Vowel.

Upon...Julia's breast
-AABBCCDD...consonant.
-simile to plants, fruit, and precious stones
-sexual

So, the REAL freak out over the GRE has begun. Today I realized that my first test is less than 2 months away. I mean, REALLY realized it! 2 MONTHS! And I still remember NO math. I need to kick it up into high gear...now if only I had time to do that.

The test was bad...too many new irregular verbs. But, I think I pulled through. Plus, I'm going to do extra credit. I love watching French movies...except Hiroshima mon amour. I find characters who never make a clear decision very irritating. (Considering much of the media, I am often irritated with characters)

GRE Prep:

Ulysses Lord Alfred Tennyson (1842)

-Bad family life
-upset by death of friend Arthur Hallam
-Poet Laureate after Wordsworth
-Lived comfortably with wife Emily in secluded country
-linked scenery to states of mind
-brooding, poet of countryside
-expresses need to move forward and brave struggle of live
-blank verse
-mixes Homer and Dante's accounts (references Ulysses's quotes)

The way these pictures positioned themselves is really funny to me.

Didn't study enough last night for my test. My one hope was to get up early to study today. But cell phone alarm did NOT go off. Am extremely upset with it. Have turned it off.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HOLLY!

Spent most of French watching parts of movies. I want to see The Closet! I must find a good place to rent French movies...apparently I can somewhere in the library. I also want to see a lot of Audrey Tautoe's movies.
The rest of the class was spent trying to figure out the technology. All the boys except 2 went up to figure out the VCR and DVD player.
I was tempted to help...after all, my dad only had to explain the 3 remotes used in our downstairs theater once for me to get it...but too many people crowded around one TV can become its own problem.

So, I've started to read Walden. Thoreau and I do not agree on much. I also think if he were to *pop* come back to the land of the living in the modern day, he'd have a heart attack and die again.

THUNDERSTORM!

HAIL!!!!!!!!! It was well into the 70s this morning and there is HAIL outside! It looks like this before it hits my window:

GRE Poetry
She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways, William Wordsworth (1800)
-democrat during the French Rev...he became disillusioned
-close friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge
-enunciate principles of new criticism
-lived in Dove Cottage with sister Dorothy
-1843, appointed Poet Laureate
-ABAB CDCD, vowel
-Lucy is important to only him
-elegy, dirge
-nature
-none compare

Thursday night was fun with Leslie. I got WAY hyper. Good time.

Friday I went to see HP with my mom in the IMAX. It was actually my first time there. I think my dad's theater is only 1/16 its size.
I'm glad we went early. I week into the movie being out, and the show was still sold out. And my dad thought we were crazy for going early...Ha! He was wrong.

I saw Shrek 2. I want a huge poster of Puss in Boots making his pitiful-cute-kitty face.

I was angry at my mom this morning. She read a book throughout the church service. I didn't say anything during...just silently sat and stewed. But, in the end, as always, I couldn't hold my tongue. At the restaurant afterwards I informed her my views on her behavior:
She was setting a bad example for the children that sat next to her (She responded with the fact that they were drawing. I reminded her of the fact that the children were under the age of 10 and she was not)
I also threw around the word "hypocritical" since when I was young, I was never allowed to read when she took me to mass.
The only thing I didn't include, was the fact that I felt she was being disrespectful.

My dad informed me that I was in the right. He was amused because during my speech the waitress came and took our orders and after she left I said "I have more to say" and continued on my rampage. He said I should write letters. He wants me to write a letter to the Governor for him. *Rolls eyes*

Anyway, my mom never actually apologized, but she did buy me stuff at Urban Outfitters. Strangely enough, my dad had suggested that my mom and I go in. I was very surprised since my mom had bought stuff for me about a month ago.

Ohhh, also, I attempted to get some GRE math help from my dad over the weekend. He's the kind of teacher that says "This stuff is easy. You'd be an idiot not to get it. Any questions?" Thereby making you an idiot if you do have a question.

Now on to ignorable GRE stuff:

Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen (1818, a year after death)
-Role of parent (tyranny, (dis)obedience)
-"every(woman)"
-irony
-(dis)regard for novels
-gender roles and roles in marriage
-marriage for $/property
-knowledge of narrator
-narrator's occasional use of first person
-intertextuality (Mrs. Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho)

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Thomas Gray (1751)
-Gray believed that "the language of the age is never the language of poetry". He often uses archaic diction and distorted syntax.
-approximately 10 syllables/line. ABAB CDCD...consonant
-Poem begins at dusk.
-Lots of nature is mentioned
-Portrays the death of the poor and implies that everyone dies, there is no point in seeking glory.
-Cromwell, Milton, and Hampden are mentioned
-"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen // And waste its sweetness on the desert air"
-Much of the last 1/3 of the poem is a quote of a friend of a dead poor person.
-The dead long for a friend to register their work and note their absence.

Ohhhh, so the rest of last night put me in a much better mood. The church thing was fun. We went over how to share the gospel. I totally knew where to find a verse about why God is waiting to end the world. Go 2 Peter 3:9!!!! I so totally read it that morning!

I caught up with my good buddy Yi...who I hadn't heard from in two weeks. I had started to convince myself that she had died in a tragic accident and no one had bothered to inform me. Thank goodness that theory was disproved.

After the intense Bible talk, we were Baskin-Robbins bound.

Reeces peanut butter with chocolate chip cookie dough on top=very good.

Then after that I spoke with Holly. Always good. She disturbed me with a comment about our ages that I will not mention. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Is all I have to say about the matter. I don't know about her, but I may choose to stay 19.

Let's see...today I took another one of my accidental naps and in an hour or so I'm off to hang with my friend Leslie, who graduated and I haven't seen since the end of the winter semester.

Oh yes, of course, how could I forget, here's more GRE prep. (IGNORE IT!)

To His Coy Mistress Andrew Marvell (1681? after his death)
-He was a friend of Milton
-Love poem (he also wrote religious, philosophical, and political)
-Conflict between flesh and the spirit
-CARPE DIEM
-speaker is witty and urbane
-fantasy vs reality
-motifs of time and space (in fantasy can be on other sides of world from each other)
-couplets, 8 syllables. Rhyme "es vocal"
-religious allusions to Jews and the last judgment and well as to Joshua and the sun being stopped
-sexual
-state=dignity
-transpires=breaths forth
-In fantasy, have eternity, can wait. In reality, if die, can't be together. Answer=don't wait.

Am leaning towards being in a bad mood...induced by heat and insanity of stupid printer.

Stupid printer.

Need AC...am going home for weekend to be in wonderful AC.

Sigh. Need to relax after church thing.

Upon Julia's Clothes Robert Herrick, 1648
-delight in beauty of surfaces
-follower of Ben Jonson
-clothes are given property of liquids
-brave=splendid, glorious

Meeting my dad's co-workers went well. He brought 3 of them...so there were no awkward silences.

So HOT!!!!!! I would like to live in a pool. That would make French class interesting.

So, French quiz tomorrow...need to do better on this one than I did on the last one...may actually study.

Yet another GRE thing:

To the Memory of My Beloved, The Author, Mr. William Shakespeare, and What He Hath Left Us Ben Jonson, 1623
-he used satire
-was a friend of Shakespeare
-rhyming couplets-consonant
-10 syllables/line
-Shakespeare is still alive because people still explore his works
-he mentions the ancients...muses
-Shakespeare transcends time
-Mentions authors of Greek tragedies and comedies who have been cast aside
-Mentions Shakespeare's place of origin
-Metaphor of Shakespeare as a swan and star
-"shake a lance" is pun on Shakespeare

Hotness out Batman.

My dad is visiting today and he's bringing one of the dentists he works with. I'm worried about their being a lack of conversation topics...and she might make me speak Spanish...blah!

Ignore this:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou, 1969

-approaches to parenting
-determinism vs free will
-religion and opinions of it...and behavior
-wanting to be different than you are
-the depression and WWII
-small town vs big
-child vs adult (understanding)
-names
-supernatural vs reality
-control/being own master
-being prepared for menial jobs
-quest for knowledge and its connection to success

Good day today. It was pretty and I sat outside. I mastered using a scanner. French was easy and I got some work done.

The rest of this entry can be ignored. It's all GRE prep stuff.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, 1875-1877
-Making decisions for yourself
-political parties
-historical time
-women's roles and perceptions of men (increased independence)
-marriage
-country vs city
-spiritualism
-treatment of favorite daughters
-perceptions of doctors and medicine
-foreign language use
-ways to find happiness
-similarities between peasants and upper class
-children's ability to perceive--sense hypocrisy
-I went insane at page 288

The Passionate shepherd to His Love Christopher Marlowe 1599,1600
-"Come live with me and by my love"...repeated...and in last line changes to "Then live..."
-Consonant, form AABB CCDD...XXYY ZZYY
-8 syllables in each line
-Rely on nature
-Offer to provide from nature to meet modern needs
-Materialism
-Conditional if, then statements

Ohhhh, so I did end up seeing Harry Potter on Friday night. My super-cool-buddy-from-church Jordan randomly showed up at my door. We bought tickets, then walked around campus. He had a very interesting holiday weekend. It was good reconnecting with him. He just graduated...and he's actually considering taking a job in Detroit.
Wah! Everyone leaves.

Anyway, I was so excited about the HP action, and catching up with Jordan...I kinda blew off my cousin, Becky. Oops. She was okay though, she hung out with another friend. But I felt bad...so, I made it up to her. We hung out Saturday night.

Also, Saturday night, I was informed by a certain boy that I am "quite interesting when I'm not joking or being sarcastic." WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! I'm always sarcastic and joking! (Defense mechanism) So, that leads me to conclude I'm either not interesting at all or that he's drawing to draw me out of my defense-ridden-shell (never happen).

I told Becky about said incident. She thinks he was hitting on me. I disagree.
Double wah! Confusing boys.

Now on to the good HP stuff:

-I thought Malfoy was too wimpy.
-Those kids have grown! It took me awhile to realize Neville had not been replaced by another actor.
-I imagined Lupin and Peter to be different.
-A little more explaining couldn't have hurt.
-It was good.

Woah. It's June. It just really hit me.

My test wasn't too bad. I should have studied more though.


I have a similar reasoning process to Bucky's.

Well, I feel that I've been left behind. I still haven't seen Harry Potter. And as of yet, I have no formal plans to.

Yeah! Weekend!

Must stop taking 3 hour naps. Not good for progress on work.

So, quiz today in French. After it, I had the thought, "I can handle this. No need to study."
Then the TA goes over the answers. Yep...3 wrong. *Roles eyes* This lesson in humility is brought to you by me.

So much work to be done. So much lack of motivation.

Okay, so I got an e-mail last night. I have a big decision to make. I had plans to have you guys help me decide...I would have forced you to use my tag board (Ha ha ha) but I've made my choice.
A bunch of church friends are going to a midnight showing of Harry Potter on Thursday. I so wanna go...but I have my marvelous 8 AM class on Friday. Now, although I usually give into being sensible and reasonable...Harry Potter is enough to overcome my sensible tendencies...but I have a big test on Friday in my wonderful class. I'm not sure it'd be very wise of me to take a test with a listening part on about 3 hours of sleep. But I really want to see my precious Snape in a dress! I could just pull an all-nighter! Yet another college experience I've never indulged in.
So, I was all prepared to be screwed over for my test and enjoy some fun bonding and Christian/college experiences. But then, I got up for class this morning on a mere 6 and 1/2 hours of sleep. I thought I was going to die. I don't I'm the kinda gal that can live on 3 hours of sleep or none. Sigh. I really wanted to go at midnight.
Just call me sensible, responsible, and dependable too.

So, I did nothing for the entire long weekend. Now I have that irritating stressed out feeling. Stupid feeling. I'm such a tool for the system. Phoey.

Today was pretty amusing in French. We're going over clothes and colors. As a group we tried to make the worst outfits possible.

Chris is a tall blond guy, who looks like he was once a football player. Today he discussed purchasing a small red dress for himself in front of the entire class.

We also looked at some paintings. "Renoir's people tend to be enjoying themselves. Now the guy playing his flute may be having a good time, but we can't really tell."