Ups and Downs

So I am getting more and more behind on my posts- my apologies. I have been playing a mad game of catch-up this past week with my readings. I have a few ups and downs to share.

Up- I figured out a successful way to "skim" my articles so I don't feel nearly as stressed with the loads of them that I have to read each week. I still get the same information out of them too!

Down- Well...kind of an up too. I unexpectedly went out this past weekend with a few friends. A couple of crazy nights and drunk conversations made for a great time, but the down side is it severely put me behind in my readings. Still learning that balance.

Up- Dr. Mike Orbe, a renowned scholar in the Communication Studies Department (my dept) is coming from Michigan to speak at TTU. I am really excited to meet him and have him sign my book. I am currently working with a professor on research to extend one of his theories, so it will be really interesting to strike a conversation with him over that.

Down- My $100 blow-up mattress potentially has a small hole in it. It nearly completely deflated last night and it was plain awful. If it deflates again tonight, I will be moving to the couch.

Up- JADE COMES TOMORROW!!! After two very long and agonizing months, she is coming for six whole days! We have a lot of plans, so my next post should be a lot more exciting and full of pictures of the cutest couple ever (us, duh!). Her visit also prompted me to do my first apartment cleaning (I know, it needs to happen more often) and so it looks and smells relatively clean!

Down- My sleep patterns have been awful- I am hoping to get those back on track.

Up- My lady will get to go to her first Red Raider football game, against Oklahoma (super big rival). Pretty excited about this black-out game.

Down- I hate leaving Zoey home alone most days. I do leave the radio on for her and pull the curtains aside, although I still need to get her some kind of window sill seat so she can sit and look out.

Up- I received my first paycheck! The downside is that nearly all of it went to bills- being an adult sucks! But it is nice to be able to buy something other than pasta and frozen vegetables.

I could probably go on for a while on my ups and downs, and they would probably stay consistently even too, but I will stop here. Look forward to next week!

Tips All Around

Here we are again, another week passed BUT, it is another week closer to seeing my lady. I am pretty excited for her to come back to Texas so I can show her off to all my friends/colleagues and take her to all these cool places! Lots of things planned for her week-long visit: Palo Duro Canyon, First Friday Art Trail, Department Tailgate and Tech game against Oklahoma, Cadillac Ranch, among other things but so far, it's a full schedule!

This past week has been a pretty good one. My Grad classes are developing some great conversations, which is one of the main reasons I was so excited to continue my studies; to have upper-level discussions! I've gotten a pretty good handle on my readings so far, one of my professors gave the recommendation of reading 3 different readings a day, splitting up the readings of each class amongst the days. That has certainly helped, although I still have not gotten to the papers yet.

My Public Speaking classes are coming along; I conducted a post-it note feedback activity in each of my classes where I had them, on one post-it note, write something positive about my teaching methods or the class, something they enjoyed or wanted me to keep doing. On another post-it note I had them write something I could improve on, something that maybe another professor does or has done that they thought I should start doing, or something that I am doing that I should stop doing.

It turned out to be VERY useful. I learned some pretty great tips from my students: leave blanks in some of my powerpoint slides to keep students more engaged and figure out what goes in the blanks, send out mass email reminders, periodically, with important upcoming dates, and to give more video examples of speeches as well as conducting more class activities. Not only did I get some great suggestions, but they said some awesome things about me: I am very down to earth and do a great job of relating to my students, treating them like people and not just students, I am energetic and keep them engaged, I even had one student say I was their favorite teacher! I think the most entertaining improvement that seemed to come up a bit was that I needed to improve my candy-throwing skills lol!

On Friday I let my inhibitions go to the wind for a night and joined a few of my friends/colleagues for a night out. It was just what the doctor ordered! I had a complete blast and am very glad I went, instead of staying in the entire night to read.

I have managed to find a pretty good study spot at J&B Coffee, they have a bottomless cup of coffee for $2.98 (with tax), just in my budget! I plug in my headphones and spread out in a booth with my laptop, books, notebooks, articles, highlighters, post-it notes...I think that is it haha. Unless I am already tired when I get there, I tend to get a lot done. I think I will be frequenting this place, so much so, I got a frequent buyers card, "Buy 15, Get One Free!"

This coming week I am giving my classes a Jeopardy Review Day on Friday for their upcoming midterm exam on Monday; I am pretty stoked for this. Playing Jeopardy was a great way for me to review material in my own classes as an undergrad so I am hoping that they can get as much out of it as I have in the past.

Friday night my Qualitative Methods class is taking a "field trip" to Odessa, Texas to do some fieldwork at the high school football game. We are reading Friday Night Lights for this class and the entire book is based in Odessa, so it will be really cool to see the actual environment that I've been reading about. It will be nice to see my colleagues in a new environment versus the classroom.

As I look forward to my first payday, I anticipate more than half of if going towards bills- oh the life of an adult! Until next week my friends..

An Age-Reminding Weekend

Another week has passed and I am starting to get into a nice groove of things, at least I would like to think so. Teaching has been rather rewarding, my students seem to like me and respond as such. I certainly don't mind making good use of my array of ties! I feel all professional when I dress up and I think that adds to the teacher persona. I even had a student write on the back of his quiz (see picture below). It is also pretty awesome to see the ALLY Safezone Fliers attached to a few of my professor's office doors. I really like the layout they have going on there.

Aside from teaching, classes, and reading, this weekend I decided to remind myself of my actual age. I attended DayGlow, the World's Largest Paint Party, on Friday night with a colleague and friend in my department. It was SUCH a great time: Electronic music, lasers, acrobats and dancers, 400 gallons of paint spraying at you- oh yes, it was glorious. It definitely served its purpose of helping me realize that I am indeed only 22 and not the 34 I sometimes feel like I am haha.

Not only did I go to a "concert" on Friday night, but I went to my first Red Raider football game on Saturday. That too was a pretty great time. As depicted in the collage below, I sported my Texas Tech shirt on top and my Pirates longsleeve underneath; I couldn't help but cheer on both teams at the same time in my attire. The atmosphere was definitely different from Pirate Nation, as expected, but all in good ways. Both have their perks. I would say that the environment makes the people at Pirate Nation and the people make the environment at Raiderland. We played University of New Mexico and smoked them with a score of 49-14. I find it fascinating that TTU is the ONLY University with a LIVE mascot- we have a masked rider that rides on a black stallion through the field. Also, after every touchdown, they shoot fireworks into the sky. What a GREAT experience, I may miss my Pirates, but I think I will fit in just fine with my Red Raiders :)

I am definitely looking forward to future home games. I desperately needed this weekend of fun, although I am paying the price by having to catch up a little on my readings. It's a good thing I got ahead during the week!! Another week ahead, more assignments to give and more readings to complete. Welcome to Grad school! Please leave comments and such, I love reading them; they are a nice leisure break from the textbooks!

Getting into the Grind

I realize I am overdue for a post. As you can imagine (or may know), Grad school is nothing near easy. I am no where close to getting into the "nitty gritty"of the real experience, I am simply overwhelmed by the amount of reading required. Writing papers and research proposals has not been added onto the pile just yet.

So far, teaching is my favorite part of my week, mainly because it is the easiest! Haha I look forward to creating my lesson plans, powerpoint presentations, and coming up with different activities for each class. It's something that I have flexibility over and can express myself in the most.

Reading has been my biggest feat; articles haven't been SO bad, it's these books that just don't speak to me. I am still waiting on a few to come in from Amazon which is only slightly frustrating. Usually, I enjoy reading, but these books have nothing leisure about them. However, Zoey certainly likes to encourage me in my reading by keeping me company when I do read. Or it may just be that she misses me all day when I am gone! Perhaps a mixture of both?

I am doing my best to find "me" time and discover activities I enjoy alone (or with others). I tend to watch a lot of movies. This past Friday night I went with a colleague to "First Friday" in Lubbock. Every first friday, there is an art trail. It's really cool and a very community-friendly idea. Local artists, of all types, convene in one of many buildings along this trail. A trolly carries you from place to place so you can stop and look at all of the beautiful art and maybe buy something you fancy. THIS Friday I am VERY excited to go to DayGlow, the World's Largest Paint Party!! I think it will be a very nice reminder that I am still young and sometimes, I should act like it. Also, I will be attending my FIRST Red Raiders Football game on Saturday- very excited to see if it can live up to Pirate Nation!!

I've been missing my lady pretty hard. We have been doing really well with this extra distance built into our relationship. Almost 15 months strong!! We depend quite heavily on our Skype dates, scheduled twice a week and our usual morning/goodnight text messages. With my schedule being so heavy in the office and with reading/teaching it is sometimes hard to catch a break for a phone call. She has been super awesome at being understanding of my demands and I do my best to compensate for all of that. We are shooting for her to visit in early October (events on the list so far: Palo Duro Canyons, First Friday Art Trail, and Llano Winery). Then the plan is for Thanksgiving to be in NC, as well as Christmas. All contributions to our travel costs are welcome :D

I'll do my best to post again within the 7-day week. I certainly cannot guarantee anything though. Have a great week and leave me comments!!!

Go Red Raiders!

So my first week is complete! And it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I think next week will be the real test though.

I am taking four classes (10 credit hours): Higher Education (class for my TA position), Qualitative Research Methods, Communication Theory, and Theories of Rhetoric. So far, I think my biggest worry will be Qual, although I am apprehensive about Rhetoric as well. For both Qual and Theory I have to write a research proposal, I have to read 10 books for Rhetoric, and Higher Ed is a course to help me along my position as a teacher. Needless to say, I have blocked off all of my time in my planner for not only class, teaching, office hours, and meetings, but to read and do work as well! I am super fortunate to have EVERYTHING in one, single building and on the same floor too!

I have successfully set up my office and organized it to fit my needs, I do spend a lot of my time there. I even have a chair next to my desk for students to sit in when/if they visit my office hours. With the advice of my mother, I put an inspirational quote up today (decorated and all); it says, "Believe you can and you're halfway there," from Theodore Roosevelt. I thought this was fitting to my every day :) I also have pictures of my lady, my mom, and my cat to keep me going throughout the day. Unfortunately, it gets incredibly warm in my office (I share it with three others), so I bought a little fan to cool me off- super great purchase!

I am pretty excited about the semester. My students are pretty fun, they keep me on my toes. Today I gave them their first reading quiz to ensure they are reading the chapter, I think that will set the tone for the semester- I mean business when it comes to their education! Haha it's also fun because I get to throw candy at them when they answer questions correctly. 

Zoey hasn't been super happy about me being gone most of the days. Therefore, when I am home, she is clung to me like a koala to bamboo and I am totally okay with that! I do miss her a lot of the days so it's nice to come home and have her cuddle up on me. 

Tech's first football game is tomorrow, which is super exciting. It's not a game that is part of the conference, but TTU still decks it all out!

All of the lamp posts had red and black streamers attached to them, including the entire balcony surrounding my building. I am pretty pumped to be involved in Red Raider Football. That is one thing I regret about Pirate Nation; that I didn't get more involved in the football culture there until the very end. I intend to make the best of it in my two years here. I even put a flag up above my desk at home :)

Until next week! PLEASE leave a comment of some sort, I know it may be a hassle, but it's reassuring to know people are enjoying me ramble haha! 

Ready for the Classroom

I'm not sure how successfully I can express how happy I am this week is over. Although it has been extremely useful with all of the information, training, and meeting the entire department, it was very tiring going at least 8-5 every day and cramming information in our heads.

I do feel much more prepared to enter my classroom, but it is still a little nerve-racking to think I will be teaching two different sections of Public Speaking. Making lesson plans is an entirely new concept to me and I need to work on getting more efficient with my time when making them. I have managed to reach out to a couple of people back in NC for tips and pointers.

My colleagues are pretty great, I have made some solid friendships thus far. I am excited to be working with/taking classes with/ studying with some of these people. I would say the overall theme for us is nervous, but excited! We have an amazing office space. Some people share with 1, 2, or 3 others. I happen to be in the only 4-person room. The upside though, is that not everyone will be in the office at the same time so it shouldn't be nearly as cramped. I went shopping last night for office supplies, pretty excited to get all of that setup!

We even got our own HOT PINK cameras to film our student's speeches with, pretty nifty -->






Having such a busy week has completely distracted me from my apartment. Today I spent the morning doing a sink full of dishes and tidying up where I've slacked. I also went grocery shopping, it'll be nice to live off of something other than cereal and snacks.

This coming week will be my first full week of classes (teaching and taking). Pretty anxious about it all, I 'm just ready to get in there and do it. I have a couple of meetings already- one of them is with Dr. Castle Bell (she is teaching my Communications Theory class) to discuss my getting on board a research project she is conducting. I will be analyzing the remainder of the data and ultimately will be one of three authors on it and could potentially present it at an upcoming conference. Doing BIG things!

For the remainder of my weekend I intend to read my assignments for my classes (some of them anyways), create my lesson plan for my first class on Wednesday, and go shopping for teaching clothes. Oh and rest- that's important! Zoey is really going to enjoy me being home so much since she hasn't seen me at all this past week. She did help me fill in my new planner last night while I did my laundry and watched Rent :)

Anyhow, stay tuned for my next post which will probably be next weekend, but we may both be surprised! As always, PLEASE leave comments, advice, thoughts, or anything of the sort. I love to see your feedback!

Canyons, Crafts, and Chances R

It's only been a few days since my last post, but SO much has taken place since then. Prepare yourself, this may be a long one!

Tuesday night we went to the Stars and Stripes Drive-In Theatre, which is only 10 minutes from my apartment (how convenient!) Turns out, we failed to look up the radar before going and there was a thunderstorm. Despite the inconvenience of continuously turning the power on to use the windshield wipers, it was pretty cool to see the lightning in the open fields. We went to see Bourne Legacy which was pretty good. I say this because both of us had not seen ANY of the previous three movies. We stayed about half-way through Ted until Ma started to fall asleep, so we went home.

Wednesday was a very eventful day. We had a nice breakfast and then headed to Canyon, Texas to visit the Palo Duro State Park. It was GORGEOUS! An absolute wonder that you can have such flat land and then ~BOOM!~ a drop-off of canyons. We took a number of photos and had a blast out there.

After the canyons, we went to Amarillo to check out the thrift stores which was a HUGE success. We managed to find exactly what we were looking for, plus a few other items. All for a grand total of $20, this includes three pieces of furniture. We then visited Cadillac Ranch. Now we were only told about the Ranch itself, not what exactly it was or the activities that took place there. Now we know- next time, bring spray paint! It was a very cool sight to see.

Thursday was rather relaxed, which was a nice change of pace. We shopped for some items to make crafts. We also hung out with my friend Aly for a bit. Had a nice pasta dinner and a couple glasses of wine. I purchased my first bottle of Viva Rosso (my favorite wine from the tasting on Tuesday) and am not ashamed to say I nearly finished it. For it to only be $10 a bottle, I have a feeling it will be my go-to drink of choice :)

Friday we reserved for "Craft Day." I was pretty excited to make some crafts, considering I got a portion of my crafti-ness from my mom. After a meeting with the Director of my Department to meet and chat and a refreshing haircut, I headed home to start on our projects. We made a candle using a carton, taper candle, melted wax, and melted crayons. This is something I remembered doing as a kid and always thought it was really neat. We also made sun catchers- an idea she got from Pinterest. These are simply made of pony beads. You melt them in pans and they solidify, then you hang them up and voila! We added chimes to mine so they would make a nice noise in all this Texas wind. 

Friday night we went to the bar, Chances R, for some good country dancing and to get the real "feel" of Texas (so Ma says). It was a lot of fun! After a few drinks we got out on the dance floor and did the electric slide and later danced to a few (non-country) songs, as well as the cha-cha slide. Had I of known how to two-step, I would have done so with Ma. Nonetheless it was a great night of fun, dancing, and best of all: people-watching!

Today is another lounge day, running a few last errands. We did check out Ransom Canyon, about 20 minutes away. Not as impressive as Palo Duro, but still a cool place to go and check out. There was a house that looked like an airplane! How cool!

I am attempting to mentally prepare for the long day ahead tomorrow. We will be leaving at 10am (central time) to drive 5 hours to Dallas to have a late lunch and then have her at the airport by 5pm for her 6pm flight. Once she is dropped off, I will head back to Lubbock, another dreadful 5 hours. Luckily though, Aly has agreed to go along for the ride so hopefully it wont be so awful. 

Next week is a full week of orientation (technically a class with homework and grading). I am excited to learn about how to teach and handle certain situations and such. I think this week will definitely help me feel more comfortable and welcome at TTU. It should give me a better idea of what to expect as a whole from classes I am taking, as well as classes I am teaching. Only great things to come!

Until next week! Please leave comments, words of wisdom, advice, love notes (only accepted from my lady), or anything you would like to share!