So...


I'm done.


Like. Forever.



All of my papers have been turned in. All of my exams have been taken.


And in super cool news, before the exam today, my professor was talking about how he'd finished grading all of the extra credit papers from all of his classes and said that the best papers were from our class (go History of Prints). Then, he singled me out as having the best paper of them all. Wow. Flattering. He also mentioned how I hadn't missed a single class and proceeded to "bow down to me."

A little embarrassing, but I'm not going to lie, I love getting recognition like that.

Then after I took the exam and was handing it in, he asked me to send him a copy of my paper by email so he could use it as an example for the future. Sweet. He also lamented the fact that I'm not going to grad school (as my other art history professor had), but said I should keep in touch.

So, nice.


I am having a bit of trouble with determining when I "graduate." I'm not walking or attending the ceremony, but do I still consider May 3rd to be my "graduation?" Or, since I'm done with all the work I'll ever have to do for my undergraduate degree, have I graduated already? Certainly, it can't be when I receive my diploma in the mail...that could take months.

Eh, fuck it. I'm done, I've graduated.

Yesterday was a spectacularly brilliant, yet fairly uneventful day.


When I left for class at 8:30am, it was 56 degrees outside. Brrr! And it was lovely (and about the same temperature as back home in Chicago). It made me cheerful.

I handed in my final paper for American Cinema and because we have no final exam...it was our last class meeting ever. So I'm done with that class entirely. Hopefully I'll clinch an A for the semester. Additionally, class let out 20 minutes early, so I had plenty of time to run to the post office and drop off a Netflix, go to Best Buy to pick up Juno (which Colleen and I watched later that night), and even go to Panera during the lunch rush to get a sandwich to go. I knew I was in a cheery mood because the ridiculous lines and even more ridiculous people at the Panera did not make me annoyed, but rather amused.

I ate my lunch with due leisure at home before heading back to campus for Theory and Criticism in Art History. It was a note-intensive day, trying to cram in the last of the material needed for the final exam, while clarifying some of the material that got lost along the way. It was interesting, though, and there were many ideas that struck a cord.

After, I met with my professor to discuss my thesis. I was supposed to turn in a revised copy this week, but she said the draft I gave her two weeks ago was close enough to being finished that I don't need to give her anything else (it was completed, just not fully polished). She's giving me an A for the semester. Sweet. I still plan to revise it, and incorporate her comments, just for my own obsessive perfectionism.

Later, I went to my last lecture of Geography. We have an exam tomorrow (on the last day), and if I'm satisfied with my final grade at that point, I don't have to take the final exam next week. (I don't plan on taking the final exam regardless of my grade...I will be leaving at 2am that morning to drive up to Iron Mountain, Michigan for my cousin's wedding. So a 3pm final doesn't really work for me.)


What's really cool about all that? After tomorrow's Geography exam, I will have completed 3 of my 5 courses this semester...before finals week even starts. Sweet.

So I'll have the weekend to study for my two art history exams, which are Tuesday and Wednesday. And then I'm done. Forever. Whoa. A week from today and my college career is finished. Crazy.


Today, my only plans are to finish polishing my thesis and then study for Geography. I need an 83% on the exam to get an A for the semester. To this point, my scores have been 88, 87, and 94, so if I study hard enough, I might be able to clinch that. But if I end up with a B, I'll deal.

----

In other news, I adore Michelle Obama. Not gonna lie. Love her. I think she'd be a kick-ass First Lady. Hillary-Clinton-circa-1993 style.

There is no good way to use "harass" as an adjective.

"Harassing" just doesn't seem to fit right into my sentence.


I find this very annoying.

My long week is finally over.

On Tuesday, I turned in my completed draft of my thesis.

Today, I turned in my term paper, and then took my Geography test. I think both went very well.


So tonight? I am having a one-woman party with a bottle of cheap champagne (you know it's quality when it has a twist-off top) and watching a Law & Order: CI episode with Neil Patrick Harris playing a sociopathic killer (not my favorite role for him, but I'll take what I can get). Thank you, TiVo Wish List for picking up on that one.


When this is over, I'll probably put on a Netflix and get to bed by 11:30 or so.


This weekend, I might see a couple movies (I still haven't seen Stop-Loss, and tomorrow, Leatherheads opens). Then, Saturday and Sunday will probably be spent at Disney. My brother, his wife, and their daughter are coming down, so I believe my parents and possibly some of the other Florida family will be heading out this way as well. Yay.

Silly (or possibly not-so-silly) hypothetical question:

How do you write a conclusion for a 30-page thesis?



No, seriously. How do I sum that all up into a conclusion? What if I feel I haven't actually learned anything? What if the entire thing is total bollocks?




But yeah, you read that right. 30 pages. By the time I bang out a conclusion, I'm guessing it will be 32 pages (double-spaced, of course). Add in the footnotes (also double-spaced, because my professor has instructed me to do so), and we're looking at 38 prime pages.

Here's praying that my computers don't malfunction and my printer doesn't crap out...

For those of you playing along at home, you'll remember a few days ago when I lamented not being able to work on my film paper, comparing The Searchers with Silence of the Lambs.

Additionally, I noted that it was going to be difficult to find similarities between Uncle Ethan and Hannibal Lecter.


But I have made a breakthrough.

Uncle Ethan is not like Hannibal...he's like Clarice. Hannibal Lecter is more like Natalie Wood (I can never remember her character name...something like Annie or June). [Edit: her character is Debbie. Damn, I hate being wrong.]

You see, in the end, Ethan overcomes his hatred of natives enough to embrace his niece and not kill her, while Clarice is able to somewhat look past the sociopathic monstrosity that is Hannibal Lecter and begins to not only respect his genius, but to damn-near trust him. (I haven't seen the movie in a few years, but I believe that's what happens).

Hannibal and Debbie are both agents that allow Ethan and Clarice to see beyond something horrifying and revolting. Or something like that.


So yes. When I'm done with all my thesis shit, I'll rewatch both films (Silence of the Lambs should be shipping today from Netflix) and do an actual analysis.

Oh, goody.

I mentioned before how I watch TV only during meal breaks from writing my thesis and term paper, and just now I had It Could Happen to You on one channel, while A League of Their Own covered for commercials on another.

It kills me to have to turn them off...who doesn't love mid-90s chick flicks?


But I have been SUPER productive last night, and already this morning. My term paper is nearly finished, and it's to a point now where I can put it aside until after I finish working on my thesis.

You see, the term paper is due on Thursday, whereas the thesis is due Tuesday so you may think that I should have been giving the thesis priority. However, the term paper actually lays some of the important groundwork for the central argument of my thesis, so it was beneficial to work out all the logistic in one before plugging it in to the other. If that makes sense.

And so I have been adding to my thesis a great deal, taking largely from what I've already written for my term paper. I've also been editing my thesis to incorporate the comments my professor suggested.

I still have a lot to do, and only two days in which to do it. I'm more than a little nervous. There's a possibility I won't get it all done, but I hope not. I will be staying up late tonight (I'm sure of it), and then tomorrow I'm done with class by 9:30, so I'll have the entire day in which to write more.


And so I have used as my subject line for the post the immortal words of Will Ferrell to cover my bases and call upon all metaphysical beings to help me in completing this most difficult task. I really don't want to have to go into my thesis advisor and say "I know I had a month, and all of Spring Break...but it's not done." Yeah, I was irresponsible...but I was so done with this thing I wanted to shove a spork in my eye.

Well, I should probably get to work, because I don't have a lot of faith in Tom Cruise to help me get this shit done.

I've been procrastinating terribly because I decided to finally check out someecards.com.

I've noticed that they make hilarious Facebook bumper stickers, so I decided to go to the actual website. Their slogan is "when you care enough to hit send" and the cards are just hilarious.

I just sent out four.


You must check out these two...they are couple of my favorites:
- So topical
- Who doesn't love Passover cards?


Ugh...back to work.

My final film paper is to compare/contrast The Searchers (1956, dir. John Ford, starring John Wayne) and Silence of the Lambs (1991, dir. Jonathan Demme, starring [of course] Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster).


Seriously?

Ugh...I'm sure there's some brilliant analysis to be uncovered, but that's going to take some serious work.


Sadly, I really want to do it. I want to start right now (my professor just sent out the assignment via email a minute ago), but I have so much work to do on my thesis and term paper.


I am so over Orientalism...I want to start figuring out what Hannibal Lecter has to do with Uncle Ethan.

Just a short post to say that Guster is fantastic.

I highly recommend acquiring the album "Keep It Together" by whatever means necessary. ("Lost and Gone Forever" as well...you really should get them both.)

------

Also, paper is going very slowly. I can't seem to get my introduction to work, and it's messing up the whole flow. I should just leave it and try to make the body work and fix it later. Ugh.

Oh man. The past two days have been cah-ray-zee.

FIrst off, I did a little more procrastinating yesterday than I had anticipated. Remember, I had been working on finishing my History of Prints extra credit paper comparing Rembrandt to Whistler in terms of printmaking.

After my nap between classes, I later spent time chatting with Colleen and TiVo'ing through the American Idol results show (cutting it down from an hour to 10 minutes).

All in all, not a ton of procrastinating, but I still found the paper to be far more difficult to get out than I had originally anticipated. When I began writing, things were going pretty smoothy, but it went a little downhill. Anyway, long story short (too late), I didn't get it finished until 4:15am. OUCH.

And so I set my alarm for 6:30am, giving myself a full hour to proofread and edit the entire thing before printing off a final draft (and boy did it need it). I still managed to get to my 8:30 class on time and I wasn't falling asleep as I had foreseen.


In fact, I was really quite productive.
- I got to campus a little early and returned a few books to the library (I'm down from 10 to 7!)
- After class, I picked up my graded outline outside my theory and criticism professor's office, so I can use it to work on my term paper over Spring Break
- On my way home, I got gas (because the angry little light came on)
- At my apartment complex, I checked my mail and in addition to my two new Netflixes (Dedication with Mandy Moore and Billy Crudup and Silk with Keira Knightley and fuck all else) I got a postcard from the lovely Laura, who was in Portugal at the time
- Then, I went into the office to pay for electric overages ($0.57...yes, you read that right. I had to write out a check for fifty-seven CENTS).

So it was all little stuff, but still. Quite impressive, and on 2 hours of sleep as well.


Needless to say, I then napped, but only for an hour and a half. I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed, so I have since feasted on a Hot Pocket for lunch and have plans to make this a "movie day." I'll be hitting up Be Kind, Rewind in Winter Park before meandering over to the Enzian for Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day. Tomorrow morning, I'll be catching The Bank Job for $5, thanks to AMC's A.M.Cinema program, before heading to Spring Hill. Saturday is a mexican fiesta and poker night at my sister's, so awesomeness is bound to ensue!!

Oh, and did I mention?

I'M ON SPRING BREAK!!!


Other plans include getting a new cell phone, taking advantage of Bath & Body Works' $3 hand soap sale (and JUST as I was running out! Literally...my last soap just started to sputter), and using a coupon at Yankee Candle for a reed diffuser. The stupid wall plug-in things are total shite, so I'm thinking diffuser might be the best way to give a fresh, lasting scent to my humble abode. I might get it all done today...who knows?

I'm not sure why I found this so funny, but I really must post.

I was looking up a synonym for "sell short" because that sounds dumb in an analytical paper, and using the Mac "Dictionary" application (aka, the Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd edition), and stumbled upon this gem:

sell out, def. 2: they say he has sold out as an artist abandon one's principles, prostitute oneself, sell one's soul, betray one's ideals, be untrue to oneself; debase oneself, degrade oneself, demean oneself.


Ouch. I mean...prostitute oneself? Sell one's soul? That hurts.


In other news, I was going to use this short break between my classes to work more on my Rembrandt/Whistler paper, but I have a ridiculous headache and the computer screen is not helping. So methinks I shall lay down and close my eyes for a while, hopefully deter the throbbing in my brain so that I will be able to a) concentrate in Geography, and b) return home to finish up my paper without huge amounts of pain.

Rock.

So my thesis is...unfinished. And in need of a lot of work. But my advisor was positive and confident that I will be fine (despite the fact she hasn't read it yet). I'll get my draft back with plenty o' notes so I can work on it even more over Spring Break. Additionally, she flattered me profusely which helped my ego and gave me the boost to want to continue working on my thesis (because, dear god, after 8 weeks, I'm getting a little tired of it all).

Additionally, she said she'd be happy to be a reference for any job or program I might apply to...and she's going to be on the lookout for paid internships/other opportunities that might be good for me.

Rock.

Additionally, for the first time in a long while, I have been laughing aloud at "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report." Methinks its because my stress levels are WAY down after I turned in my American Film paper and partial thesis. Granted, I still have my History of Prints extra credit paper (8 pages due Friday), but I'm taking tonight off to watch some TV, Into the Wild (which I rented from Redbox for FREE), and just chill out.

Oh man.

27 Dresses is really good.

Now, it could be that I went in with pretty low expectations. It seemed like a good set-up, but there have been so many "romantic comedies" lately that have just been disappointing, so essentially all I was hoping for were some good shots of James Marsden.

And it was pretty typical...on par (or a little better, in my opinion) than something like The Wedding Planner or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Hopefully it will play all the time on TBS and Oxygen.


In other news, I was RIDICULOUSLY productive today.

Like...Golden God status.

Last night, I wrote my American Cinema paper on immigration in The House of Sand and Fog. Then realized that there were some requirements (like supporting my arguments with social context) that I didn't do at all. So this morning, I doubled the length of my paper by adding all of that in (with scholarly sources to support it). Boo-yah.

After which, I did not one, but TWO webwork assignments for my Geography class. Keep in mind, these take over an hour per assignment to read through the chapters and find all the answers.

Plus, I went to Office Max to buy a binder for my Geography course packet (because my cheap fucking school gives you 100 hole-punched pages with a rubber band around it...and charge you $34 for it).

Then, I went to see 27 Dresses with Anna. And I learned that numbers are alphabetized by how they are written out (for example: 16, 23, 27, 2 is in correct alphabetical order).


Now, I know that I should be either a) watching Earth and Water by Deepa Mehta for my thesis, or b) reading a bunch of articles and research for my thesis so I can start compiling an outline.

But instead, I'm watching last night's "Daily Show."

Eh...you win some battles, you lose some battles. And my thesis is TOTALLY losing out tonight.

(Oh, and I'm still planning on Gasparilla and Alanis Morissette/Matchbox Twenty tomorrow.)

I'm done with my paper!

:-D


Actually, I was done about an hour ago. The final edit went well...I think it's a pretty solid paper.

It's still too long. I only managed to get rid of about 4 lines, so it's 9 and 1/4 pages. Plus a page for endnotes and a page for works cited. Technically, it's 12 printed pages.


Unfortunately, I can't slack off or relax just yet. Always more work to be done, you know.

On the agenda for today:
- Class (at 2:30pm)
- Write one-page response for Women in Film (super simple...it's "What is the Production Code?")
- Study for Anthropology Exam (at 10:30am tomorrow)
- Study for Chemistry Exam (at 12pm tomorrow)

Then I'm good for a while. I have a 19th Century Art exam next Monday, and I should start studying for that soon, but I figure I can take a couple days off, mostly to catch up on my TiVo'ed shows. It's getting pretty full.

It's done! (-ish)

And too long! (I saw that one coming)


So I'm at 9 and a half pages, double-spaced (meaning half-way down page 10), and theoretically, I should shave a page and a half off.

I don't know if that's going to happen, but I do still have to edit it (once tonight before bed, and a second time in the morning before class).

Unfortunately, editing always takes me a couple hours for this length of paper.


So the hard part is done. Now I just have some major revising to do.

Yay!

Now: sandwich and editing.

I'm taking a small break.

Paper is...acceptable. Not great, but going.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through, so I just need to pound out one more single-spaced page on Mary Cassatt, then write a conclusion and I'll be done.

I'm a little nervous for it, but I think it's pretty solid and it is for "extra credit" anyhow.



Also, I can't seem to get John Mayer's "3x5" out of my head. And while I love the song (I extolled it's virtues a day or two ago), it's really distracting.

As is my roommate Jane, but she's trying so hard to be quiet so I can work...it's pretty cute. She's showering now and will be going to the grocery store soon, so I should have a good hour or so of peace and quiet.

Time for more work!