Week 10: Oh. My. Goddessness.

Hello everyone! I've missed seeing you guys and having our in-class discussions. The forum posts are great and all, but it's just not the same! (Maybe it's because of the lack of surprise candy...) I know we are all managing the best we can, and I am so proud of all of us for sticking with everything during this crazy time! From browsing the post titles, I can safely assume that a lot of you are not really doing okay, and I am completely with you on that, but we've got this! In that fighting spirit and in contrast to the sad boi posts I've been seeing (in addition to my messy and depressy forum comments oops), I am going to do something scary and brave and different on here! I am going to actually write my "goddess list" for this week's post. Please know that this will be incredibly painful for me, and if this blog post stops abruptly like mid-sentence, assume that I have passed out on the floor. If any of you saw my comment to the "goddess list" forum post, I basically said "sike nah" to the idea and responded, "actually I am garbage." But I will try this, because I know I (as a proud pessimist) could use some positivity, and this blog could too! 

Here goes nothing... 

1. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! 

2. Okay, now that I have gotten that over with, let's see. I ~suppose~ I am a good writer, at least when I'm not inserting gifs and made-up words into my writing. However, I am now debating this, because it is extremely hard to write and concentrate with the Michael Scott "No" gif on repeat right above what I'm typing. Maybe that wasn't such a good writing decision. 

3. I am an overachiever (but also a procrastinator?), which hurts my soul and my sleep schedule a bit (i.e. writing this at 5am), but the overachieving part comes in handy when doing assignments, papers, and projects. My work is always my very best and as "perfect" as my crazy perfectionist ass can get it. 

4. My singing voice has been described as "angelic" and "pure," which is everything I'm not, but oh well. I forget the fact that I have a nice voice in the music department sometimes, because I am forced to sing a lot of opera arias and classical music that just doesn't fit my voice. I am more of a folk and jazz singer, but no one really knows that. I was going to sing a solo, "The Scarlet Tide" from Cold Mountain, and accompany myself by piano for a concert this semester, but alas, my bad luck has struck again! Ugh, POSITIVE VIBESSSS! 

5. Before quarantine times, I carried three jobs and 22 credit hours with ~grace~, which can be translated to in my pajamas in class and not GAF (giving a f--art (yes, I am a child)). Plus, I am MADE for this quarantine life, hunny. You thought I was lazy, but I was just breaking in my pajamas. ;) 

6. I am a proud mother to a hairy child named Pepper. She is potty-trained, eats well, and her head is much smaller than her body. I allow her to be authentically herself. She is all kinds of sassy and sways when she walks, exuding feline confidence with each step. I aspire to be like her honestly, so I'm so proud to have raised such a fearless woman. Plus, she's like also simultaneously a bat and a dog, so she's wonderfully unique. 

7. I have "pianist fingers," which is cool because the rest of me is quite sausage-like. No self-hate, just spitting facts here haha. (Thanks, Viv, for the idea btw!) 

8. I can no longer see Michael Scott, and my brain has resumed optimal 2% functioning. Let's see...I can be witty? 

9. According to one of my Food Lion managers, I am "the best closer ever." She then followed it up with, "I know it's because you're literally OCD, but I love you for it." Come to Food Lion on a Thursday or Friday night after 10pm (except this week because I had requested off for concerts that I no longer get to be in OOF), and you'll see me scurrying around the registers sweeping, arranging and facing sodas, and stocking each register with a pen and counterfeit detector marker. Everything would be organized the same way at each register, because I'd literally die otherwise. 

10. Lastly, I am a goddess, because even through all of the self-loathing and societal conditioning to hate my body, I am still able to come up with a list of positive things about myself and that's POWERFUL. ~iF i CaN dO iT, yOu cAN tOo!~ 

Doing Well in Online Courses

Hey all! I hope everyone is home safe and well. I know a lot of people are stressed out about the mystery of online classes. I usually take online classes anyway while taking in person classes because... well... I like them. While I am still nervous about being completely online, I still feel like I could maybe, possibly, potentially help somebody with some tips I've learned on how to do well in online classes!

1. GET A PLANNER/CALENDAR/STICKY NOTE WALL! 

A big thing that has always helped me is to mark down every single due date. For every due date, I also mark down which day I'll start working on the assignment. This helps me set more of a schedule for myself. 

2. DO ONE THING AT A TIME.

If I start doing work while also watching Netflix on a tiny screen, I lose my concentration pretty quickly. If I sit down with a snack and try to read a chapter while eating, I have to re-read the same chapter three times. I'm not sure how great you all are at keeping focused, but I am awful. I've found it super helpful to do school work when it's time for school work, eat when it's time to eat, and watch Netflix when it's Netflix time. (Also, set a Netflix time! Leisure/relaxing is still important.) 

3. REWARD YOURSELF!

A good way that I trick(?) myself into doing school work is by setting little goals. "Once I get 3 pages of this paper done, I'll go have dinner." "After I take this test, I'll go watch an episode of New Girl." It motivates me & puts me in a better mood to finish whatever I started!

4. JUST START.

I can't tell you how many times I put off a project/assignment, think about it night and day, stress over getting it one, and then once I start... it is WAY easier than anticipated. If you can just get yourself to start, you'll be golden 9/10 times. 

5. SPLIT UP TASKS.

I am a person who likes to "sit down and do it all at once." I've said that phrase a thousand times. This semester, I've tried to change it up a bit. When I'd have a big project, I'd do half one day and half the next. It feels SO NICE to wake up and think "I only have to do the second half of that project today!" It can also be helpful to write out which parts of a project you'll do on certain days. It takes a big scary thing and breaks it up into tiny, less scary parts. 

6. STOP PROCRASTINATING. 

Easy as that, right? Just stop :-)… just kidding. It is HARD to stop procrastinating! I am definitely top 10 procrastinators of all time. If my professors knew how many assignments I finished the night before class, they'd probably stop telling people that they "can't do this assignment the night before it's due!" That being said, I've found what works for me. Every time I look at an assignment/pile of laundry/dirty dishes and think, "I'll do that later..." I ask myself, "when?" If I can't pinpoint a time that I'll be able to do it, I just do it. If I can't think of a legitimate excuse for why I can't do those things right now, I force myself to do it. Truth is, I'm NEVER going to be "in the mood" to write a long paper, watch an hour lecture, wash dishes, or fold laundry. I'm not going to wake up and "feel like it." It's always going to suck. But if I don't do it now, it's going to suck tomorrow too. I'd like to shorten the suck.

That's it, that's all I've got. I hope everybody does well in their courses. I bought stock in Zoom last night so the next time you see me, I'll be rich. Good luck!