Things on my mind...

There are several things on my mind and I want to get some of them out...so I'm going to put them here :-P

1. I'm actually looking forward to writing my last Civil War paper
   
2. I'm ready for Spring Break
3. Reign Over Me is a really good movie
4. I want to write, but I don't know what to write about
5. I had an interesting dream last night...a little strange
6. Tomorrow we have our first shot at severe weather for the year
7. I can't decide if my meds are working well enough or not
   

1. My last Civil War paper actually looks like it will be interesting to write. The last time I was looking forward to writing a paper for a class was this time last year when I had to write one for my class on the American Presidency. That paper was supposed to be 10 pages minimum and it ended up 13 pages I think in the end. I also ended up with an 89% on it, my highest grade on a paper in college :-P This particular paper now also promises to be interesting. "In an essay of no more than 1500 words, explain and contrast the coverage of an important issue or event in any two North American newspapers from the same week during any year between 1848 and 1867. Your newspapers may be from the same place or from different places." I had initially thought to do the Dred Scott decision, but in the end I think I'm going to do the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. I'm also planning to pick one newspaper from the North and one from the South as I think that will give me a more interesting look. Of course, this paper means I'll end up spending some considerable time at the State Historical Society building over spring break (that's where the newspapers on microfilm are)

2. Even though I have nothing due this week and no tests either, I'm ready for Spring Break. I'm definitely ready for a week of no classes.

3. I went and saw Reign Over Me (the new Adam Sandler/Don Cheadle movie) last night with my parents. It's a fantastic movie, funny and heartbreaking at the same time. It also has a fantastic cast - Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland even has a bit part. Fair warning though...it's rated R for a reason - the language is terrible at times. If you can deal with that, you'll love the movie. Oh, and if you're thinking about not seeing it because it's an Adam Sandler movie, go see it anyway. I'm not really an Adam Sandler fan, but I loved him in this movie.

4. I want to write something...fanfiction, an original story, a song, a poem...anything. But I'm not sure what to write. I do have one fanfiction idea rattling around in my head, but I think it needs to simmer some more in my head first I think (I'm that way for a lot of things...a lot of things need to develop and simmer in my head before they can come out well in reality).

5. I had an interesting dream last night. I don't remember all of it, but I do remember some of it. That's unusual in and of itself because I usually dont remember any of the dreams themselves. Most times I just know that I dreamed but dont remember what the dreams were. I dreamed that I was up for three MTV Movie Awards. I also remember that just a few days before the awards I didn't have a date and no one to go with me, so I called my friend Allison (who lives in New Zealand) and asked her to come with me. I remember talking to her dad on the phone since she was unavailable at the time. For some reason I also remember walking around downtown Madison on campus, and then the next minute walking around a really nice hotel that couldn't possibly be located anywhere near Madison. I haven't actually "spoken" with Allison or anyone in her family since...let me think...it must have been December of 1993. Prior to last May, I hadn't even communicated with Allison since we were 11 or 12. *Shrugs* It was just strange all around.

6. Tomorrow we have our first shot at severe weather for the year. They say an isolated tornado isn't out of the question. It's a little early yet in the year for any nasty spring storms. However, it's the right temperature for our usual spring storms. Where I live, we're right on the edge between a slight chance for nasty severe weather and a moderate chance for nasty severe weather. This time of year, it's still likely we'll get some storms and rain out of the deal. For some reason though, I associate the worst storms around here with mid to late summer and then the very early part of fall. In mid to late summer we get the nasty pop up storms that can be VERY nasty, but they aren't the type to redevelop once they move through and it's very hit or miss as to whether you actually get anything out of the deal. Our worst spring storms come when you get warm temps like now and then a cold front moves through that drastically changes the temperature. However, that's not the case this time...there's a front moving through, but it's going to stay relatively warm still. Apparently it's going to stay warm all week and give us a shot at thunderstorms all week too.

7. I have an appointment with my pdoc over spring break to look at how my meds are working. I'm having mixed feeling as to how effective it really is. I definitely know it's working because I can tell when I've forgotten to put the patch on in the morning. However, I'm constantly comparing my meds to how well the adderall was working before the side effects got me. The adderall really helped me concentrate and realize when I was getting distracted. But the side effects got me and that was that. Gah!

So that's what's on my mind today. I also decided I was doing absolutely no studying today. Of course that means I'll have to study tomorrow but I'll deal.

I really should have known better . . .

Honestly, I should have known better than to take four Humanities classes in one semester. Five weeks or so into the semester and I'm drowning in reading and homework. I'd love to be able to not read some of it and do well, but it's all relevant and important. Three of the four classes are actually really interesting, but I'm still drowning in homework. The four classes I have are:

• PS 417 - The American Judicial System: one of the interesting classes, but a fair amount of work, especially now with an exam on Monday, Oral Arguments on the 5th, only to be followed by starting on the 5-7 page term paper
• Hist 247 - History of American Business: Another of the interesting classes. I've studied American politics and American history and now I'm looking at how business fits into that picture throughout the history of America.
• Hist 333 - The Renaissance: This is the less interesting class. The professor makes up an outline for lecture, and then completely doesn't follow it. There is no structure to her lectures and that means I inherently get less out of them. The book she assigned for the class is actually really interesting, but lecture sucks. Thankfully, my only grades are exams where she gives us the possible questions in advance
• Hist 393 - The Civil War Era, 1848-1877: This is the most interesting of my classes and the most work. The professor is really good and so are the readings he has assigned. There are a lot of assignments that are meant to make sure we're reading, but the assignments add to our understanding of the period, rather than just checking to see if we're reading.

Unfortunately, Im going to spend a majority of this weekend studying, plus I have a lesson to prepare for Primary. Gah! At least it'll be a good weekend to stay inside, with the weather being warm enough to rain, but just cold enough that it could sleet if it wanted to.