Quickly, Good News!

Hello, bloggity world! I have good news for you!

This week I got three grades back!

Art History test? A-

UGS Test? B

English paper? B+!

Hooray, it looks like I am off to a good start!

I must cut this bloggity short because I have to jet off to babysit, but I just wanted to share the news! If I have time later tonight or tomorrow I will share pictures from last night's APO adventure - BROOMBALL!

It's a SNOWDAY! And also Vlogday!

Today was awesome. Want to know why?

Today, it SNOWED! I thought a snowday DEFINITELY deserved a vlogday!



I hung around the main mall and saw a bunch of little snowmen! This one is "bevo snowman" (See? He has horns!)




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In other news, this weekend was super busy! On Saturday, I worked Merit Badge University with APO, which was essentially 1400 boy scouts descending upon the university and taking classes so that they can get their merit badges. It was CRAZY. And exhausting! I worked from 7am-6pm and by 9:30 I was in bed, crashed, and probably snoring REALLY loudly!

I took my last test of "round one" of test season, and I hope I'll get grades back soon. I know I got a B+ on my paper (Happy dance!) and I find out how I did on my art history exam tomorrow morning, so fingers crossed!

That's all for now!

Coffee Week

Hello, readers! I don't know if you knew this, but this week is coffee week. Well, at least it is coffee week for me.

I usually don't drink a lot of coffee. Actually, I rarely drink coffee at all. In the mornings, I think about making coffee (while I'm snuggled in my bed, pressing the snooze button for forty-five minutes) but rarely do I venture over to the corner with my coffee maker when I finally drag my arse out of bed. And on the rare morning when I do make coffee, if I drink more than a cup in a short space of time (say, twenty or thirty minutes) my tummy disagrees with me for the rest of the day. So instead of coffee, I usually skip straight to the juice. Or (though this'll change starting tomorrow) I grab a soda on my way out. (I'm giving up sodas for Lent. I'm quite determined to make it until Easter without cheating like I did last time, which saw a lot of "Ginger ale is totally not a soda, right?")

So back to coffee: For me, this week is coffee week. I probably brought it upon myself, though. I didn't do enough work this weekend, since it would seem my motivation took a vacation. While my weekend consisted of little-to-no homework, it was a productive weekend. I babysat Emma on Saturday morning, went grocery shopping, baked some healthy granola bars, (which I have been happily munching on my way to class each morning), I bought a bunch of fruit, which I cut up and have been snacking on. I also indulged and bought some red bell peppers, which, honestly, I could probably eat for breakfast, lunch AND dinner of any given day. They're delicious!

On Sunday I baked cookies for APO (sugar cookies, which turned out splendidly!) and took them to the Sunday Meeting and wore my super cute Valentine's day socks! (Thanks Mama!) After the meeting, I had a quiet evening. I made dinner, and I watched the new Disney Channel movie (yes, I am moderately ashamed,) but then as it ended and the credits rolled I realized... oh, snap. I have a LOT that I have ignored all weekend!

I hit the books hard. Well, harder than usual. I plowed through my Art History reading and started to (really) study the flashcards I made last week (my test is tomorrow, so that's what I'll be doing after I finish blogging and writing my paper) and I started to read the next play for my Renaissance Drama class (Arden of Faversham, by an anonymous playwright, though possibly Thomas Kyd. Kyd, you might remember, also wrote The Spanish Tragedy, which I breadboxed for you a few weeks ago!) but my roommates were being loud and distracting in their room (I believe they were playing World of Warcraft, which meant some raised voices directed at the game) and so, at midnight, completely fed up, I packed up my backpack and went over to Karynna's dorm to study with her. Surprisingly, I did get it done, but it took until 3:30!

So Monday became a coffee morning because when I woke up at 8:30, I felt like death who didn't sleep NEARLY long enough (getting half the sleep you usually do will do that to you). Monday evening became a coffee, well, evening too. After my classes were finished I headed over to the library to study with a friend for our test that we took this morning (more on that momentarily). We finished studying around 6:30, and when she left I stayed to write my first paper of the semester (well the first major one anyway), which took me about three hours to smack down. All I have left is to write an introduction and conclusion and do some editing before I turn it in tomorrow!

I believe this morning's exam for my UGS class, Science and Art, went pretty well. I was easily able to answer information about the different works of art and analyze the influence that the science of the time had on the culture, and so I am pretty confident that I at least made a B+. I left a few things blank (all of those artists, so I know that I need to study them better for the next exam!) but I am afraid to call it an A. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, you know? It's the first test of the class which is always the hardest one, simply because we, the students, don't know how the professor formats the test and what we need to study the most.

Well, my coffee is gone and it's almost 4pm, which means that it is time for my break to be over and time for me to finish and edit my paper. Perhaps I will blog tomorrow about my Art History exam, and how it went!

Vlogday, Super Dork edition

It's vlogday! I feel like my life is less interesting this week, I'm just studying all the time. Blahh.



Today, I talk about the new book I just bought, Morgoth's Ring, by (who else, but my favorite Professor) JRR Tolkien! Also, if you're interested in seeing the other video I mentioned, click on the video (to take you to Youtube and not just watch it on the blog) and then click on the link in the sidebar.

Hope everyone's week is going well!

ETA: Oh, by the way! I have a new banner up top! I don't know if anyone has noticed it yet, since I keep forgetting to mention it. :) I like it. The longhorn is pretty awesome, don't you think?

Weekly "Honest Blog", classes, writing, and my English Major finally pays off.

Well, hello Sunday Blog! How's it going? How'd you get here so quick? What should I write about today?

Oh yes, I remember. Sundays are "Honest Blog" days, where I show yall my planner with the (maybe) effect of keeping me on top of my school work. So far, it's worked pretty well.

Here is last week (look how much I did!)


And here is this week!


As you can see, I've done quite a lot of it already. On Friday, I sat in the library until I'd finished like 75% of my work, because I knew how much this weekend wasn't going to belong to me. Most of my weekend belonged to APO, but some of it to Emma, and the rest to the Superbowl.

(Speaking of the superbowl... Way to go Saints!)

I have some catching up to do with reading the Jungle. I keep forgetting about it, because it doesn't feel like reading for class. It seems like it should be reading for fun, even though I know it's not. In any case, I have the free kindle version of it as well, and so everywhere I go I have the opportunity to read it. Maybe I'll hit the sack early tonight and start.

So, in other news, I went to UT's learning center to talk to a "learning specialist" and see what they have to recommend to me in the way of good study habits, which I have learned I lack. (High school was a breeze, UTSA was easier.) They recommended first off that I don't take so many classes so I made the decision to drop Linguistics. I've only had one day without it so far, and so far it's not that different. I've heard that taking 12 hours is blissful, though. I do get to ride the bus to class every MWF, though! The West Campus bus goes straight to the art building!)

The UTLC also signed me up with a "peer academic counselor" who I will be meeting with on Fridays after class. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can teach me! Apparently, they'll be teaching me good study and planning habits.

I've been corresponding (basically) on a daily basis with my dear friend Siobhan, who is kicking my arse for the first time in a long time in the creative writing department. (Since she's been largely inactive for the longest time, it's pretty easy to beat someone who's not producing anything! Haha.) Anyway, she's been on my case to produce something and produce something I have. (We started to talk about a new story while I was visiting her.) And so I give you...


An outline! I can't remember if I've mentioned my new story before (I just looked; I mentioned it in passing last week in the "breadbox spanish tragedy" post) but in any case, I have a solid chapter written. I've been writing it in little snatches of time, between classes or as my 15 minute break during long periods of studying.

I have plans for a three-part piece of fanfiction... In large part it has to do with a certain elvish prince (who else but my favorite, Legolas?) Really, that's all you need to know. But I'm hoping that it will be good. It's not going to be light and fluffy, which is my usual genre! Anyway, that's (most of the) outline for Part I of the as-of-yet-unnamed story.

(Secretly, I'm also hoping that it will be worth sharing with the blog. Most of the time I'm a tad embarrassed to share my writing with the blog, just because I don't think it's good enough!)

Today, at the Sunday meeting in the ARAPOUT (the weekly newsletter) the game on the back was a word game: How many words can you make out of "Alpha Phi Omega". My English major definitely payed off, because I came up with 58 words! My favorite was "phlegm"! I used to play that game all the time when I was in high school. I'd choose a random word on whatever book I was looking at at the time and then try and make as many words out of it as possible.

Anyway, I think I'm finished with this blog tonight. I hope everyone has a good week!

Old Books, Old Photos, New Fish, a Cold and VLOGDAY!

This blog comes to you in three parts!

Part one! I want to introduce a new friend.


His name is Jeremiah. He kind of likes to show off.


That blue is actually pretty close to his true color.

Marcel died the same weekend that Boo did. He committed suicide (fish do that sometimes), but that's okay. My day yesterday was sucky enough (It began with waking up late and ended with me spilling scalding tea all over my hands. I'm fine, only a little burn, but yeah. Bad day.) to warrant a trip to the petsmart to buy a new fishy. and thus... Jeremiah!

Part two! Vlogday! (As always, click the link to go to the blog so you can see the video!



Part three! here's the Gutenberg Bible I saw today...


and here's the First Photo Ever! (See? Super faded.)


(If yall want to look at those, they are both in the lobby of the Harry Ransom Center here on the UT campus. The HRC is on the corner of 21 and Guadalupe.)

Also in class, I got to look at (but not touch, which required an immense amount of restraint!) copies of old medical books from the Renaissance. One was Andreas Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica ("On the Fabric of the Human Body", which has pictures like this) and I think the other was LeonhardFuchs' De historia Stirpium ("On the history of plants"; has pictures like this).

The Spanish Tragedy, for Non-English Majors

(Actually, this is The Spanish Tragedy, for Anyone. The original play was written in the sixteenth century. 'Nuff said.)

Inspired by my idea yesterday, I sat down and "breadboxed" the first act of The Spanish Tragedy. For those of you who are unfamiliar with "Breadbox Editions", they are shortened, amusing versions of books, plays, movies, usually written in script form. Google your favorite movie and add "breadbox edition" to the end of it, and someone has probably wrote one!

Because this is my blog, I want to share with you what I wrote!

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The Spanish Tragedy, Breadbox Edition

Act I

Scene i

Andrea: Hi, I’m a ghost. I died in the war against Portugal.

Revenge: Hi, Ghost of Don Andrea, I’m going to hang out with you on stage to the side.

Andrea: Cool. Did I mention I’m a ghost?

Revenge: Yeah, you did.

Scene ii - Court of Spain

King [of Spain]: Isn’t it great we won the war?

General: Yeah, except a bunch of people died.

King: Yeah, but we won!

General: It was pretty epic, now that you mention it. Plus, we took the Prince of Portugal and are ransoming him!

King: Great, we won AND we get the ransom money!

Hieronimo: My son, whom I previously ignored, fought and beat that Prince Balthazar dude. He’s a cool guy. Suddenly, I’m glad he’s my son.

Horatio: Yeah, that was me. I captured the Prince.

Lorenzo: Actually, it was me.

Horatio: I knocked him off his horse.

Lorenzo: But I sweet-talked him into surrender.

Balthazar: To be fair, they both beat me.

King: Okay, Lorenzo gets the Prince and Horatio gets his stuff. Sound good?

Both: Great.

Scene iii – Court of Portugal

Viceroy [of Portugal]: OH WOE IS ME. MY SON IS DEAD AND WE LOST THE WAR! Falls off throne

Alexandro: Uh, I heard he was still alive.

Viceroy: No, no, no. He’s dead. I’m sure of it.

Villuppo: Yeah, I saw them drag his body to their tent. He’s totes dead.

Alexandro: Actually, I really don’t think-

Viceroy: YOU JUST WANT MY CROWN!

Alexandro: Uh, I don’t actually-

Viceroy: TAKE HIM AWAY!

Villuppo: Bwah ha ha! I have deceived my king AND betrayed my enemy! What a good day it is.

Scene iv – Court of Spain

Bel-imperia: Tell me, Horatio. How did my beloved Don Andrea die?

Horatio: Well, he was, uh, fighting Balthazar. And Balthazar killed him. I took his scarf so I can wear it and be reminded him every day for the rest of foreverrr.

Bel-imperia: That was the scarf I gave him! You know… you’re kinda hot.

Horatio: Thanks… uh, you’re pretty good-looking yourself. Exit.

Enter Lorenzo and Balthazar

Lorenzo: Hey sis.

Bel-imperia: Hey bro.

Balthazar: Whoa, you’re kinda hot.

Bel-imperia: Yeah, I know. But I’m taken. Drops glove.

Horatio, entering, picks it up.

Horatio: Here you are, sweetums!

Bel-imperia: No, keep it.

Horatio: Hokay.

Lorenzo: Don’t worry, Balthazar. She’s totes into you, dude.

Horatio: Hey, the king is coming.

Enter King, Castile, and Ambassador.

King: See? We haven’t killed him – he’s in one piece.

Ambassador: I suppose I should tell the Viceroy that he’s not dead…

Balthazar: I am slain… by Bel-imperia’s beauty!

King: Barf. Save it till after the feast. Where is Hieronimo? He was going to entertain us!

Hieronimo: Here’s a story about an Englishman, because this play panders to the English, because the play was written by an Englishman.

King: Really? How interesting.

Hieronimo: Yeah, it’s true.

King: Alrighty, well, I think it’s time to hit the sack.

Scene v

Andrea: What?! Where’s all of the revenge? Blood? Gore?

Revenge: Be patient, grasshopper. Revenge will come.

Andrea: Hmph. It better.

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Who likes it? Who wants to see Act II?

Kudos go to my dear friend Siobhan, who reminded me today why I love her so much.



She ripped the first chapter of my new story to shreds. I love it when she does that.