vol. 10 no. 11 iss. 10

i must say that there is something about a amazingly beautiful day that makes me want to "write"...

i guess that my back porch is my favorite place to write... cause again... sitting in the same spot i have been for my last two blogs.. and i am enjoying this indian summer day immensely..

college. sucks. but i am trekking thru.. i have officially dropped math from my curriculum starting next semester.... and starting the skool of business here... so now i am less lost.. somewhat have a focus again in my studies.. in my life.. but we shall see if the same thing happens to me once i get further into the accounting classes... i hope not... and i must say that i will at least have a minor in math so my 60+ credit hours in that focus will not be a complete waste... that is about it on the college front... other than a short rant about how inconveniently placed fall break is... not only is it sooooooo beyond the need for a scholastic break... but when you return from it... there will be only two more weeks of classes before finals... that, i personally, will have already given up... fall break has only ever really brought me to a point of complete "i dont give a shit"... and then having to return to the same classes that i finally got a break from... sorry folks... i have already cashed out for the semester... at least this year im going into fall break with 1 A, 3 B's and 1 C...

one more bitch about college... this semester... i think that SIUe has officially wasted my time and money... i have a complaint about 4/5 of my teachers... and the 5th teacher... no complaints but the class itself is a waste of my time... a brie on my semester:
ENG309:: Animal Tales: assignments: read a ridiculous amount of stories/poem/essays on animals. then maybe we will have a quiz. Test: compare and contrast two stories from the bible size arsenal of stories we have read and you must quote from... so i have killed 1.5 40$ ink cartridges printing off all these readings.. apparently i am a B-worthy bullshitter to have passed that exam... but this teacher is making it a waste of my time to read.. with no apparent reason... cause the stories are not up for interpretation... just what he thinks... or what he thinks the author thought.. but then there is no incentive for my going to class... or for my reading... sorry english people.. but what a waste of time...
MS251:: statistical Analysis for Business Decisions: this class is not a blow off class at all... it is cut, dry to the point.. so much that if you calculate a bunch of things but screw up a value or your calculations... its all marked off.. no partial credit.. which even in my higher math classes is given... its either right or wrong.. fine.. i can deal... but the homewerk... now here is my problem... i failed a homewerk assignment which was the same as the week prior just with a different type of graph.. sorry we are werking in excel.. first week.. i got a 90%... went in changed bar graphs to line graphs... and got a 30%.. wtf mate? two things make this unfair... one: i was not given back the first assignment til after the second was due... not knowing that he did not like my font... two: when i went in to ask "wtf mate?" he said that he grades on "a general feeling of how well i think you completed the assignment." Each assignment afterwards i was deducted points for things that were not deducted from the previous homewerk.. and that i hadnt changed... so i started bringing in my homewerks to have him check them before i turned in... granted this took me 4 weeks to finally get around to... just for him to point out my mistakes.. but then give me 100%... saying that if he has to "re-grade" it... he will find more mistakes.. what a threat! lesson learned bring it in before its due.. get a 100% despite mistakes... but still... poor kids that dont know that in this class.. which has a failure rate of 40% or maybe that's its passing rate.. dont remember.. yay for a B thus far tho...
ECON111:: Microeconomics: this class is not a pain or anything.. just hard to get myself to go to it... it is the pre-req for ECON112 Macroeconomics which i have already taken and passed with an A, but does that excuse me no.. but this same reasoning has gotten me out of 3 other "gen ed's" according to SIUe...
Math321::Abstract Algebra: this is my final math course... thought i would like the teacher... thought i would like the class... and you know i might... if the teacher could teach the damn class... notes really dont touch anything on the homewerk.. we are left to figure shit out ourselves... half the class is repeating it... and they are failing.. she assigns three assignments to be due say.. thu... then I at least show up with it done... then she postpones the homewerk to be due tue.. cause half the class doesnt have it done... this is the theme of this class... do a bunch of homewerk... and then i wont collect it... screwing over my other classes mostly.. i dont sleep much during the week..
finally CMIS108::Computer Concepts and Applications: this is the biggest load of bullshit i have ever paid 600$ for!!!! Here is a class on Microsoft Office. objective: to learn Word, PowerPoint, and Excel... they advise you dont try to test out of it.. cause the passing rate of the test is 4%. again "wtf mate?" i feel bad cause i no longer go to this class... with in the first month.. i had 80% of the homewerk done.. i used the 75 minutes allotted as a study hall and did the homewerk... last week i finished the last 2 assignments when i showed up thinking we had a test... if i didnt need this class to get into the SOB at SIUe... i would have tried to be part of the 4% that pass that test.. but i guess its wasnt werth the gamble of elongating my college career...

now that my reviews are written for the teacher eval's...

i really dont think i have much more to say... my life is pretty much all skool these days.. that and some awesome tv series... ((which if you have HBO start watching Boardwalk Empire its my sunday highlight)) and thanks to the ladies that live across the street that have the NFL ticket.. i get to watch the bears lose week after week due to the lack of an offensive line.. which is why Boardwalk Empire is my sunday highlight...

a few fun facts:: groovy loves skunks sooooo much that she was one for halloween... mags and i went as the blues brothers.. and won the costume contest... today is absolutely amazing!!!!! my dryer takes way too long to actually dry laundry... my backyard looks god awful due to an infestation of moles... and my computer is going to die so i guess thats my cue to stop boring you...

rb

vol. 10 no. 04 iss. 09

yet again.. here i sit on my back porch in the same spot as my last blog...
this time with really not much to say... just needed a break from math logic and reasoning... figured.. might see what my fingers can get out of my head..

i have one more month of my first year at university... and i cannot wait for it to be over.. to then prob take summer skool to jump start my new major...

things i have found out recently... i no longer like math... well... i love the arithmetic aspect of math... and that is about it... so after thinking that i had what i wanted to do with the rest of my life set in my head when i moved here... i yet again have found myself really without direction having recently given up on math in sec ed.. so i figure i'd give accounting a try...

also in looking back.. i am kicking myself for having taken 4 years to come back to a college career... math is not like riding a bike.. you dont just remember it when you pick up a pencil... and hell i might even be able to blame the 4 years at ernies for destroying my memory... but i'd just like to blame being out of practice.... but i must also add that maybe math and i were not meant to be life long friends.. who knows if i had moved on like the perfect college student whether or not i would have chosen to give up on it then as well.. no way to tell now..

also in coming back 4 years later... being 25 and in level 200 even 300 classes.. i have joined the "returning to skool" group... the ones that are just older than majority of the class.. though i at least am not an obvious member... but when classmates are planning their 21st birthdays and are discussing how to score a case for the weekend... i just feel old... and when it finally comes out that i am 25... the surprise on people's faces is still a surprise to me... i guess i just look like im 21.. but then i still act 21 from time to time... such is life.. eh?

further... i still feel as though i am suppose to be where i am... the dog and i have settled in southern illinois pretty nicely... and what little feelings of being homesick that i experienced in the fall have almost completely vanished... unfortunately even with some really awesome times had back in aurora... i still have to coerce myself to go home.. the 4 hour drive can be a bit of a drag... then having something.. anything to do in aurora... i cannot just sit at my parents house like i can my own house here... there isnt a bar other than the full moon that i enjoy really going to... and thats only during the week.. not weekends... i must add that the last few times i have been home... i have not only made plans.. sometimes double booking myself.. but having things to do.. having people to see makes the 4 hours trip werth it... and has made me happy to have been home.. sadly... i still have many people whom i have not seen since i moved that i want to... but to make up for that.. i have seen people of which i have not seen in YEARS... hell some pre-Ernies era of my life... and sometimes i feel reluctant to come back to my home here... but when i do finally get in the car and make it to my home... i feel relieved to be here.. and not back there.. confirming my belief that i am meant to be here...

before i make it seem like southern illinois is perfect and im living in a nirvana.. i gotta add that im still too new to have any kind of feelings/history/baggage 25 years in one town can stack up... i really have no complaints about here other than the gigantic bugs... grasshoppers the size of half dollars... spiders too... then not as gross but still wtf... slugs 4-6 inches long... also.. with being so close to anheiser busch.. i would figure beer would be slightly cheaper.. not at all.. woodman's still the best prices.. other than that.. the people down here are quite nice.. we have found a ernies/mike'splace/fullmoon down here that we do enjoy and now kind of now all the bartenders and regulars... and we feel very welcomed by them.. so that is pretty awesome.. yay for people who like to drink as much as we do!!!

so anyways... skool can kinda suck... but lets see what next year brings... moving was a great idea! maybe soon i will love going back to aurora for a visit... and cheers for new faces and old faces!!!!

rb





i also have to admit being down a further south... im surrounded mostly by country... and am starting to really like it and collect it... save me? need suggestions other than country/western to listen to...