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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 6:12:03 GMT -5
I still haven't read The Great Gatsby? And I had never checked out a book from our school library/spent any time in its stacks until halfway through this (my fourth) semester, even though I go behind the circulation desk every day to clock in for work. What did I check out? An annotated copy of Alice in Wonderland. I'm a fan of getting academic article previews online, bullshitting evidence from what I assume is in the paper after reading the preview, and still citing it like it's an in-print source.
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 5:40:37 GMT -5
Work. Even if it's 10-hours/week, work. It gives you a chance to meet people outside your major (especially if you spend all your days in one building like I do), it gives you experience (which employers are going to look for when you're done, especially with a broad major like English), it gives you time AWAY from books and your studies (trust me, that can be beneficial in the long run) and extra money is not bad. College life is expensive. Yes, this. And another benefit: you won't be a spoiled brat. I hate to say it, but I've noticed something that holds true probably 90% of the time. People who either have a job during college or have ever had a real job are much more bearable to be around. They're also better at time management and, usually, professor interactions. So, yes, please get a job!
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Tattoos
May 31, 2011 18:44:51 GMT -5
Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 18:44:51 GMT -5
Money is ALWAYS the issue. And yes, they were expensive. Well, the tree especially. Unless any objections crop up, I'll post them tomorrow when I get to work. The internet is a bit too slow at home to handle photo upload
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 18:43:08 GMT -5
@ Olive: Maybe I will keep my door open- though people may be annoyed by the music floating out. I always had music playing through my amp, and no one seemed to mind. In fact, it'd often start conversations.
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Tattoos
May 31, 2011 18:16:57 GMT -5
Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 18:16:57 GMT -5
EEE! EEE! THIS IS MY THREAD. WHY DID I NOT START THIS THREAD.
I just got my fifth a few weeks ago. I'm ok with posting photos of all of them, but a couple would involve a little bit of... underboob? so if anyone is uncomfortable with that, I won't. Let me know!
I started when I was 16, with a scorpion and the symbol for Scorpio on my left hip bone. Cliche, I know, but I still don't regret it.
The next is a black and grey tree going up my right side, from my hip to my ribs, and pretty heavy. In the branches I have the lyrics "You were only waiting for this moment to be free," and there's a blackbird behind the tree.
Not long after I turned 19 I got a bass clef on my left shoulder blade, but at first glimpse it looks like a cresting wave, reminiscent of The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
My last two have been in the past couple months. Two amazing, amazing people and friends died at the end of January. One of them had a giant owl across her entire chest, so I got a smaller one lower down on mine, that looks like it's taking off from the tree. Reminds me of how free she was.
The last one is of the guy... and no, not a portrait, those kind of creep me out. He was a diver in high school, and the girl that took died took a photo of him mid-dive: jeans, corduroy jacket, hat, and all. He looks so damn relaxed, even though he's staring straight at the pool of water that he's hurtling towards. He was like that with everything in life, and even acknowledged that he was probably going to do something stupid and die young. I still wish he hadn't been right.
So, that's all for now, although there are plans for three more. A Shakespeare quote, a Heinlein quote, and a Nietzsche quote. I just need the money >.<
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 16:58:04 GMT -5
Honestly, I'm an only child, so I was used to having space all to myself. I positively dreaded dorm life, especially the roommate aspect. So, for the first semester, no one in my dorm knew I even existed. No, I wasn't locked up in my room, I just... wasn't around. Ever.
Second semester, I got to make friends in the hall. And I'm so glad I did! They're some of my favorite people now, even though they're the kind of people I never would have gone out of my way to be friends with. I stayed in the same hall the next year because I enjoyed them so much. One of the suggestions I already had on my list was "keep your door open," because it's so much easier to make casual friends that way.
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 14:56:41 GMT -5
I wish my high school had assigned really long term papers, so we'd be more prepared for them in college. We instead got taught the five paragraph essay or two page essay for the AP Exam. I'm happy I'm not alone in my frustrations and I hope that the school that hires me will allow me to include more research papers in all grades and levels! I had to write a research paper in 8th grade, and it wound up coming out to... 27 pages, I think? And yes, this was in a regular public school. Needless to say, most kids hated that teacher, but I think it really was helpful in the long run, even if a lot of it was in-text quoting. It was a good style for a broad research paper. Each kid got a word (mine was "imagination") and she had an outline of what sources you had to use at different points, and how to pull a thesis from all of it. Very well done.
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 14:51:38 GMT -5
I absolutely love the book, having first read it for fun my freshman year of high school. When I had to read it for a class, I despised how it was taught, and how the teacher portrayed Holden. I feel like a lot of the distaste for the character stems from the anti-Holden vibes that teachers give out when the teach the class. Reading it when you are experiencing a tiny bit of that same confusion on your own allows for a connection with the character, and a positive view of the book. Reading it while you have a 45 year old woman telling you that Holden is a cry baby and spends the book complaining about the character can easily ruin the experience. For the record, I read it as a summer fun book right around that time in my life, what with parent's recently divorced and slowly coming out of the closet. I still disliked Holden. Even though my then-girlfriend loved the book.
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 13:26:46 GMT -5
Oh, and join a club. Seriously. Do it. Try a club like Humans vs. Zombies if your campus has one, or anything that's silly and involves people running around looking ridiculous. Yes, our campus does HvZ, and I'll highly recommend it! Of course, since projectile weapons are banned (nerf guns and squirt guns included), all you can do to a zombie is... throw a marshmallow at them... but it's still fun!
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 13:25:28 GMT -5
Darn it, my college refuses to let you opt out of the freshman seminar course... I'll definitely try to avoid Saturday classes. I love weekends. Honestly, I know some people who really enjoyed their seminar, and I'm hoping to make this one enjoyable. I just had an extremely unusual and terrible time with mine. It was not the norm.
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 13:05:15 GMT -5
I'm about to be a freshman! My main question is, what is the stupid thing you did freshman year that you wish you'd never done? If you don't regret anything, just general advice? Haha. That's a great question, but one I probably shouldn't use for the class... since the only thing I regret about my freshman year was taking the damn Freshman Seminar course, hah. That, and a Saturday class. DON'T TAKE A SATURDAY CLASS.
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 12:59:17 GMT -5
What do you wish someone had told you? Alternatively: if you're about to be a freshman in college, what do you really want to know?
I'll be a T.A. for one of our "Freshman Seminar" blocks in the fall, and the room will be filled with English majors. I'm trying to come up with a sort of "tips and tricks" type-list-thingy to give a presentation on one day, and I know that my personal experience/perspective doesn't encompass all of them.
So, if anyone and everyone could please take just a brief moment to tell me at least one thing you wish you knew/would like to know/would tell to other freshman, I'd really appreciate it!
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 11:30:18 GMT -5
Yes, that Eddings. I told you, I went on a Fantasy binge... Eddings is one of my Fantasy literature heroes, as cheesy at it sounds. I love how he could put out so many books when I've only met two people, including those on the internet, that has ever heard of him. Yeah. My ex had gotten me started on Salvatore (Drizzt was basically his father figure growing up... oh my), and after I got through... 17 or 18 of his books? He turned my onto Eddings, and I whipped through The Belgariad and The Malloreon. I stopped there because that's all that my ex owned, but when I stopped at Barnes & Noble I noticed his other series... I had to walk away before I wound up reading them all at once, because the semester was starting and I had other things to get to. So I turned to Asimov's Foundation trilogy next. Never did find time to go back to Eddings...
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 10:06:32 GMT -5
It's sad that so many people play predominantly D&D. It's not even a good system It may not be a good system, but it is widely known and easily accessible, so it makes sense that it's where many people start.
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Post by Olive on May 31, 2011 10:03:20 GMT -5
The Beatles Creedence Clearwater Revival Jefferson Airplane U2 Van Morrison The Animals The Allman Brothers Band The Pogues The Byrds The Animals Most of them are from the 60s. Has anyone ever heard of them besides me? All of them (except Allman Brothers, I admit I don't listen to them all that often) would fall somewhere on my list. <3 The Pogues!!! But, I can't bring myself to make a list, because I wouldn't be able to stop myself from going back and adding one whenever I realized that I forgot it, and soon enough the list would take over the whole page...
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