Road Trip!

So tomorrow I am leaving Oklahoma and heading to Louisiana: a Christmas Tradition.

What I have learned, because we almost always head down there, is that road trips can be fun, if you know how to do them. So here is a list of some awesome road trip activities that I grew up with and some that I still use.

1. Music is key. I could not get through any sort of driving in solid silence. Plus, I need to listen to new things, otherwise I go to sleep. If I pop in the Dane Cook CD I have heard 20 thousand times, I will most likely sleep and crash.
2. This is an oldie, but: Gameboys. They have saved me from total boredom of a drab landscape more than once.
3. Portable DVD players. You can’t watch them if you are driving, but for others in the car, they can be a lifesaver. Plus, the driver can listen to the movie.
4. Car Games. Yea they are sometimes corny, but they can be awesome if you are with the right people. My mom and I play a game where we count how many cars we see broken down on the side of the road. Me and Danielle play a game where we look for letters to complete the alphabet. Its hard to describe but its really fun.

So hopefully I can keep myself and all the other passengers in the car safe and awake. I have often resorted to yelling loudly to keep myself awake or singing songs in an Irish or Jamaican accent.

Feel free to use that.

-Kyle

High School vs. College: Finals Edition

Danielle’s sister, Jessi, is in high school. Therefore, I can make daily comparisons of how my schooling is so much better than hers.

1. First off, I get a whole month off for Christmas break. Win.
2. Then I get to take my finals and leave class. Jessi has to stay in class until class is over.
3. My professors don’t care if I go to class, for the most part. Jessi has to have her mom come check her out, otherwise she has to sit in a class all day where they don’t have anything to do because they already took their finals.
4. She has to go back to her first semester classes for a whole week after break. I don’t have to ever worry about that last semester ever again.
5. Because she has to go back to her first semester classes, she has to write a research paper over break. I have no homework. Biggest Win of all.

So, overall, college is better than high school. But everyone in college already knows that.

-Kyle

Tips and Such

I never learn. I really don’t.

Every year I have to sign up for classes early so I can get a good schedule. Well guess who procrastinates till there are no classes left. Its me.

So I got some tips for all those people who are new or who, like me, never learn.

1. Sign up for classes early. It really helps if you can choose a schedule that suits your specific needs. For me, that would be waking up around 12 and getting days off.
2. Use ratemyprofessors.com. It can really be a decider if you have a choice. Some teachers are terrible and can screw up your GPA.
3. Make sure you check your degree sheets if you have decided on a major. College isn’t like high school. You have to take classes that pertain to your major and not jut take up time.
4. Plan a break if you can. Having constant class and no lunch break really ruins a semester. But that’s just me. I like eating. If you can go without eating, by all means schedule through the day.

Maybe I can write about ratemyprofessors.com next time…

-Kyle

GRADES ARE UP!!!

So grades are up. If you didn’t know. I think that Tuesday is a wierd time to have them due by. Teachers are just coming off of their first weekend of winter break and two days after they have grades due.

I actually feel bad for the teachers. I wouldn’t want to come off of my first break and have to figure out a whole classes’ grades. That would not be fun.

But, then again, it kind of annoys me that teachers wait till the last minute to post their stuff. It is like they are starting to figure out grades by compiling everything we have done all semester. All that they should have to do at that point is put in the final scores.

Why does it take them till the very last second? Even if they had essays to grade, they should spend the weekend grading them so they don’t have to rush to read them at the last minute so they can post grades at 11:58.

But, when all is said and done, I got two B’s and three A’s. So I’m pretty happy this Christmas, overall.

So yea. Go check your grades.

-Kyle

Sweats and Early Classes

 

I am not a morning person. Anyone that knows me knows that I am not a morning person. I like to sleep till twelve. I want to rock and roll all night and sleep every day.

I would prefer having classes at 11 and later but I can get up for a class at 10 if need be. Waking up is probably the worst part of my day.

Well I did not sign up for classes early this year. I kinda got shafted and I have no one to blame but myself (and that is the worst person to blame). So next year I have a full semester of waking up at 8:30. Yea my world just ended.

I don’t like to take my showers the night before. I take them in the morning and it helps me wake up. But that conflicts with my hatred of waking up. So what I like to do is sleep in a little longer, and when I get up I just throw on some sweats and forgo putting on my contacts and put on my glasses.

Yea. Its not always appealing, but I would rather take a shower at 5 after classes than be pissed of and grumpy all day cause I didn’t get enough sleep. I like sleeping.

Sweatpants and glasses have saved my GPA. I think Confucius said that.

-Kyle

SIS vs America

I don’t know what’s worse: waiting to take the finals, or waiting to find out what you got in the class. Oh wait, yes I do. Waiting for your grade is WAY worse.

I may or may not have a class that I’m on the verge of failing, and of course, it’s THAT professor that doesn’t. Post. The effing. Grade. The suspense is driving me nuts, because most of my other grades are already posted. So why the wait? WHY?

And not only that, but if the grades DO get posted on SIS sometime tonight, I’m not gonna know because SIS is only open until 6 on Saturdays. And whose brilliant idea was that?? Like, “hey guys, I have an idea, lets make our website like a business. We’ll give it hours and everything!” You know what I would have done if I were in that room? I would have said,

“Hey, Joe, that’s a great idea, except for the part where every student trying to get their business taken care of AFTER six o’clock on Saturdays is just S.O.L. Never mind the fact that they might have a job that makes them work until after six on Saturdays. You know what Joe? This is AMERICA. We do stuff when we want to do it. Why do you think that fast food restaurants are open “’till midnight or later”? Because they aren’t freaking communists, that’s why. They know that this is America: land of the free, home of the fat, and I choose to exercise my right to get fat on MY watch, dang it. This is America, fool, keep SIS open like McDonald’s! USA! USA! USA!”

Ok so maybe I wouldn’t have said those exact words, it probably would have been something like, “I respect your opinion, kind sir, and am glad that you feel free to express your ideas, but that, friend, is a terrible f—ing plan.”

And that’s EXACTLY how it would have gone down.

-Valerie

Where to Park…

I think this blog is long overdue. It probably would have been my first blog ever last year, but this year it hasn’t been that bad. But the problem still has to be addressed: Parking.

Last year, I went back home alot so parking was a constant thought for me. This year not so much, but parking is still pretty bad. So I would come back from a relaxing weekend after a 45 minute drive and then have to spend another 45 minutes driving around looking for a spot. Every now and then it would make my day just to not waste all my gas looking for a spot.

This year I have found the magic of Iba parking. There is always one open and it only a short walk to the back entrance of Kerr. I find it very convenient.

Of course I try to get the better spots, but I never spend too much time looking because it only frustrates me. Plus there is always the one person that doesn’t know how to drive and they drive down the middle of the road looking for a spot. Or somebody that doesn’t know how to work a stop sign and think its their turn all the time.

In conclusion: parking this year better, last year bad.

-Kyle

Ninja Squirrel Assassin

Danielle lives in a very wooded area. So, as to be expected, there are a variety of woodland creatures that live near her house. I have seen armadillos, wild turkeys, snakes and, of course, squirrels.

What most people don’t realize is that squirrels are actually: freaking ninjas. Oh yea. I found out their secret.

I was watching one today as it stood, almost motionless, on the corner of the roof before leaping onto a tree and then jumping onto the fence. Then I saw one run, full speed, up a tree and when it got to the top it vaulted to another tree. Then, on a moonless night, I saw one kill a dude with a throwing star. Yea. It happened. Well… not really. But it could have.

Can no one else picture a squirrel in an all black outfit, with its tail sticking up and those weird ninja socks that separate the big toe but not the other toes? Could you not see a squirrel standing on the top of an evergreen and jumping off while also disappearing as if it had never been there? Could you not see a squirrel going on “Ninja Warrior” and kicking Makoto Nagano’s butt?

I bet they stash nuts in a tree all year for training on theft and how to resist hunger. That is hardcore: collecting a bunch of food but then waiting to eat it. Squirrels on campus have gotten used to human presence, but in the wild they…are silent assassins. One sound and they scatter. Disappear into thin air like- Oh I don’t know mayb- NINJAS!!!!!!

Squirrels are friggin sweet and if you don’t agree, then tell me another animal that would be more suited to be a ninja. Not jaguars, which is the first one to come to my mind, because they can’t stand up on their back legs and look awesome like a squirrel can. Plus, I think they lack a discipline.

By the way, if you don’t watch “Ninja Warrior” you are really missing out.

-Kyle

I AM DONE!!

So I am done. I am currently residing at Danielle’s house and working at my old job for about a week before heading back to Louisiana for the holidays.

It still hasn’t hit me that I am done with finals. Maybe because I have one more petty assignment to do. I finish papers and essays and tests and one of my teachers wants me to fill out a chart. Really?

Finals suck, as I have said before, but what sucks even more is having to wait for your grades. If your final is on a scantron, then why does it take so long for teachers to have them graded? Run that through a machine and put them online. Its not like you have any classes to teach anymore.

I get the long essay tests that take forever to grade, but if you got a scantron, take thirty minutes out of your day to put some tests in a machine. I don’t think I’m asking too much.

Cause now I get to spend the first week of my break worrying about if I screwed up a question that altered my grade. So please teachers. Before going on holiday, put some grades up so you don’t have to do it later. 

I’m just saying.

-Kyle

Finals Week, the Future, and PANCAKES! FREAKING PANCAKES!

Finals week in the Village is a very interesting time. See, we’re all pretty much friends here, and we hang out all of the time, which is why it’s kind of weird to see everyone kind of clam up in their rooms for a week.

It’s like, all of the sudden, everyone on the floor turns into an antisocial lunatic, which really sucks when you’re the only one on the floor with no finals until Wednesday. It’s a very stressful, creepily quiet time.

Personally, I’m looking forward to the spring semester, what with my new classes at ungodly hours and NO MATH. Also, I can finally stop being a “freshmore.” That’s right, people, as of 3:30 on Friday, I will officially be a second semester sophmore. Then I’ve got summer school, another year, an internship, one more fall semester, and BOOM, fools, I’m peacin’ out.

But for now, it’s more studying, more stressing, more homework, more exams, and more PANCAKES! FREAKING PANCAKES! FREE! AT THE UNION! GET YOU SOME HOT, DELICIOUS, ADD-YOUR-OWN-TOPPINGS PANCAKES!

-Valerie