Spring Break...

Supposed to be a very nice break, it is not so nice for me.

Well, I have finished all of my works for school, of course, and so far, I have been getting good news from my instructors!
I got A in my Leadership class, my Honors History class, my Music class, my Computer Science class, and my Honors English Seminar Class!! yaay...
I just got this good news from Mr. Lankford yesterday. So, I just need two more A's to make my 4.0 GPA this quarter. If I get B's for those two classes, I am screwed!
I have registered for next quarter's courses, and I'm going to take Music 8 Honors (Music of Multicultural America), Chinese 2 (Elementary Chinese), Mathematics 22 (Discrete Mathematics), Poli-science 1 (Introduction to Political Science in America), and CNSL 86LX (Leadership Lab). I hope I will be able to get my certificate in leadership next quarter, when I'm supposed to be graduated.

All of the sudden, 20 units do not feel like a lot anymore. All of the sudden, 5 classes do not burden me anymore. And I want to go back to school as soon as I can!
All of my friends are at Las Vegas right now. I do not know what they are doing, but I bet they are having fun! I was pretty sick a couple of days ago, and I think I am still not fully recovered right now. Hence, with all of my friends out of town, I do not have anything else to do. The weather is also not supporting me to get recovered!

But the hope that next quarter would be fun keeps me encouraged! I hope your Spring Break is not as bad as mine... How's your classes going on? Have you got any result yet? Good news?

-Loire-

Procrastinating?

It is after mid-night, and I have just had the chance to do my assignments. Believe it or not, I have 6 essays due next week, 1 mid-term, and 1 final. Those 6 essays are: Three 4-page essays for my History class, one 2-pages essay also for my History class, two 2-pages essays for my Economy class.

If anybody asks me for a reason why I cannot start doing my ePortfolio for the English Honors Seminar class, I believe those assignments can explain it for me.

Procrastinating?

Not really. Friday night, all of the Indonesian students in Foothill held a gathering; a potluck. So after I went back from school, I had to go to the store to buy some ingredients to cook. Then I cooked, got ready to go, and left. Finishing at around 9 o'clock, I started my project and assignment for the English Honors Seminar (I have not submitted it yet, for the reasons stated in the project). I slept by 2 o'clock in the morning.

Waking up at 9 o'clock today, I could not do anything. As I have expected since a couple of weeks ago, I will be sick by now. Indeed, the bad weather has worn me out.

Hence, I went back to bed, and woke up by lunchtime. I read some articles for my History paper, and my sister came from Oakland to have dinner with me and my brother. I, consequently, went with them. We talked, we had dinner together, and I had fun with them (even with my bad condition). As I went back from dinner, I read the articles for my History paper again. I am such a slow reader~

I finished just now, and thinking that I should really finish my assignments for the English Honors Seminar class. I reread the project and assignment, and I do the weekly blog.

Just like John Perry asserts, "Procrastinators seldom do absolutely nothing." This time, I delay doing my homework because of my illness and because I want to spend some time for socializing.

I think education is very important for me. As I have mentioned before, for me, life is a race. I want to do everything right, right now. However, allocating all of my time for education does not mean that I am doing the right thing. I remember very well what I wrote in my personal statement for the UC's:

"Being a smart person is not enough for me. I believe, to be a good person, I have to involve myself in my community."

I still believe this is one of my best qualities, just like Perry's.

Education is on the very top of my list right now, and I still want to get straight A's this quarter. However, education is not the only one important thing I have right now.

I hope, by the end of this week, I will be able to actually start working on my ePortfolio. And I hope I can get better...

-Loire-

P.S. : I actually finished this assignment at about 3 o'clock in the morning, but I did not have internet connection by then. That is why I just submitted it now.

Currently Listening Ken's Bar By Ken Hirai see related

Almost There

Another quarter is about to past and another yet to come. It is hard to imagine how quarter system makes things seem a lot faster, get things moving on. Some (like me, for one) will be graduated, while some other (like me, for one) will be transferred by the end of next quarter. Some people will continue their study at Foothill College. I cannot believe it has been two years since the first time I attended Foothill College.

By this time of the quarter, the Final Assignments have been assigned; the mid-terms have been returned back. People must have known by now how they are doing in their classes. My standing in some classes is not as good as I have imagined it would be (I think I am going to get another B this quarter). Everything still can be changed, however, if I do extremely well on the Final Exams. I guess I should stop procrastinating and start getting everything done. I just hope I can overcome this weather with good condition (I think I am starting to catch a cold now because of the bad weather these couple of days).

Every time I face hard times this quarter, I always say to myself that my schedule next quarter will be a lot better than this that I should get this quarter done quick and good, so that I can enjoy my last quarter in Foothill College. My classes next quarter is not that hard (not easy either), and I am going to take only 20 units. I cannot make it less than 20 units if I want to be graduated and transferred at the same time. I am going to take Music 8 Honors, Mathematics 22, Chinese 2 (for UC transfer), Poli-science 1, and another Leadership Class (in order to be able to get the certificate of completion).

I think I am also going to start working on campus next quarter. There are two reasons why I want to start working on campus. The first reason is, obviously, because I want to get some money for myself. The second reason is because I want to add something else in my ePortfolio, which by the end of this quarter, I believe, will be ready. I did not know anything about ePortfolio before I added the English Honors Seminar class. This class has taught me a lot more than I imagined it has. Doing the assignments little by little every week, I, unknowingly, have received so much from this class. I hope what I have learnt in this class will be useful for my entire life, because I know now that ePortfolio is very useful. One day, people will not have to meet me in person to know who I am. People will be able to see me, and what I do online, by looking at my ePortfolio. I will try to include as many details of me as possible, without giving out to much, knowing how dangerous virtual live is.

This is almost the end of the winter quarter, the most stressful quarter for me. I hope I can finish it well. It has been hard, and I am breathless; but the wall is not that high anymore. I almost can see the top... I will reach it!

-Loire-

I Made It...

Finally, one hard part of this quarter is finished. I took two mid-terms this week. I do not know whether I did well or not in those exams (finger crossed), but I will know what I get tomorrow. I did what I can, I allocated as much time as possible for each of the subjects I would be tested on. Also, I still did not forget to "give myself a break."

Responding to Scott's comment on my last entry, I really did not think that the assignments for English Honors Seminar class were so depressing. I believe the code name "Honors" is the sign that we have to do more; maybe by allocating more time to it or maybe other things. And, of course, I already exclude the one hour class time when I wrote about studying.

Maybe it is because I am not a very fast reader. Sometimes I have to read the assignments more than once in order to comprehend what the assignments want me to do. Moreover, sometimes, I still cannot understand (or more like: unsure if what I understand is right or not) what the assignments are, that I have to read my peers' comments before I start my own. I know, it is kind of cheating, but sometimes (not most of the times) I just need some inspiration to write. Also, after I am done writing, it always takes me more than half an hour to reread and revise my essays or comments. This has been my habit since I took English 1A. I always used to write my essays two weeks prior to its due date, because I would need to go to the writing center (sometimes twice or three times per essay), and revised my essays again and again. Sometimes, my final draft for my English class looks nothing like what I wrote the first time. This is why English classes, and classes that require written assignments, always take a lot of my times; even though I enjoy it.

To tell the truth, this English Honors Seminar class always takes me at least six hours to complete the assignments (including class hour). Moreover, when there are a project, an assignment and a weekly blog; takes me even longer to finish them all. However, I am not protesting about this. Other students might only need three hours to do all this alright. And I still think that the assignments that Dr. Scott Lankford gives are still very reasonable.

Back to this week, I finally finish my five-page essay for my Honors History class. I do not know if it is good or not, we will see the grade later, but it ended up being a ten-page essay, instead of five. I do not know how to make it shorter than that!

My teacher gave me two books to discuss, and I think ten pages to discuss two books is quiet reasonable, is it not?

I did my mid-terms, finished my essays, and asked for tutors help for my online assignments. I think I did so much this week, looking back at how I was so behind last week. This is when a goal setting comes in handy to have in an ePortfolio. I have not done my ePortfolio yet (not even started), but I believe, occurrence like this would probably happen to everybody. And it is good to be motivated (knowing that we are behind), and feel good after we accomplished our goals.

Come on guys! Next month we will be on the beaches spending some good times! Keep the spirit high!

-Loire-

Give Me a Break!!!

In the middle of the hardship of the middle of the term, sometimes it is best to give ourselves some break time. I, for instance, have a five pages essay due next week, two mid-terms this week, a take home quiz due on Wednesday, and a whole bunch of online assignments. I know I am behind, and if anybody wants to say that I am crazy, I would more than likely support that statement!

It is not like I have no plan at all to handle this situation beforehand, but plans sometimes do not go as smoothly as we wanted them to be. As I have mentioned before, I always have things planned. I make a schedule for myself to study as organized as possible. However, honors courses sometimes require more than two times the class period to study. The Honors seminar program, for instance, has only one unit. However, most of the time it requires more than three hours to read and comprehend, then write and revise. Also, mathematics and other science classes often require a lot of practice, and I am a type of person who will not be able to be distracted when I am practicing those subjects. One time, I was supposed to study for two hours for my mathematics class, but ended up spending more than five hours in the library practicing without food, without words.

I was able to finish my mathematics homework, but left my other stuff behind. Indeed I went out of my own schedule, or plan, but it was not for a bad reason.

I have to catch up with the other subjects that I am behind at. However, I still give myself 15 minutes breaks every now and then (not very often, really) when I am studying. I think it is a pretty good idea to give ourselves some time to relax, instead of stressing out. After having a break, I feel myself more ready to take some more information, or do some other things better than before. And even more, I, personally, can feel more motivated after leaving all my school stuff behind for awhile.

Here, I also want to share a short quote from a song by R. Kelly, "World's Greatest". I am not quite sure why, but I find this song motivates me:

"I'm that star up in the sky, I'm that mountain peak up high. Hey, I made it! I'm the world's greatest. And I'm that little bit of hope when my backs against the ropes. I can feel it, I'm the world's greatest"

Maybe believing that I am the world's greatest makes me feel like I can do whatever I want to do. Even tough there is only a little bit of hope, I will make it!

Say! How do you guys doing?

-Loire-