I got a late start today, I’ve only been awake for about four hours now in fact, and it’s because I was out late last night. I needed to get some last minute grocery items and with it being the holidays stores are going to be way crowded. Since Wal-Mart is open 24/7 logic dictated that if I go late in the evening, say around 1am, there will be very little people there. Right? Wrong! It took me two hours to get everything I wanted and get out of that store. I should have been out sooner, but waiting in line for almost thirty minutes kind of made my escape take a little longer.

Yes, I waited in line for thirty minutes. There was easily thirty people all congregated at the registers trying to check out and there were only two lanes open. Now, I might not be a rocket scientist, but wouldn’t you think that if the lines are backing up and curving around around in loops to accommodate the many people standing in line and their baskets (some had two even) that it might be time to open another lane despite the late hour?

Clearly logic escaped them. In the end, by the time I got out of there and got home it was well after 3am. Isis loved it though, standing in line with nothing to do, she got lots of attention and loving from the people around us. A worker even came up and brought her a little can of kitty food (Fancy feast) for the “good kitty waiting in line with her mommy”. Isis was eating it up, the food and the attention.

While shopping I saw something that disturbed me a bit. It wasn’t a gag gift or anything, it was in the candy aisle and meant to be given to kids or as stocking stuffers. They were little animals that when you pushed down on them they said “Merry Christmas!” and “Guess from Who?” and variations on those phrases. They also dispensed candy.

Looks kinda cute huh? But wait, where exactly does the candy come from….?

Hey, why is there a little bowl-like space behind the doggy? Oh, please, don’t tell me that…

Yup, the dog “shits” out the candy. Seriously, what the hell? Am I the only one who found the little mice, reindeer, and doggy candy dispensers that “shit” out candies to be disturbing and wrong to be given out to little kids and stocking stuffers for Christmas?

I have come to the conclusion that career services and services like Monster.com are just a waste of time. I’ve gotten a lot of potential employers who are impressed with my resume, it’s just a shame that the job in no way suits me or even fits me. Let alone the fact that I’m not even qualified for the job. For example, the other day I got an email about a company looking for people to fill the roles of a futures broker and a securities broker. I didn’t major in accounting or business, so why contact me? I have no knowledge of the extent of these jobs, let alone how to do them.

Just a few minutes ago I got another hit, this time from Mountain Pass Services – water treatment.

How does a CRIMINAL JUSTICE major appear qualified to them?

Hell, when I look at the emails it gives a list of requirements and degrees they’re looking for and CJ isn’t on there. I have to ask, why waste both my time and yours folks? WHY?! I’ve gotten inquiries from all over the place, just as oddball and completely not in my field and that I am in no way qualified for. It’s enough to drive you insane, if you aren’t already that is.

I got an email from NMSU stating that in a few months if I want to continue using their job service I’ll have to pay $30. Um yeah, why would I waste money on that?

Once upon a time I used to post all of my completed papers, essays, and reports on my website. My purpose was simple, perhaps my papers could provide a guideline for a student left in the dark with an unclear and ambiguous syllabus, or they could perhaps even yield more possible reference sources for a student to hunt down. Either way, I thought I was providing valuable content on my personal domain.

And then one of my professors stumbled upon my paper and accused me of plagiarism. Yes, I’m such a wicked thief I even stole from myself. Still though, after that incident I stopped posting my old work and vowed not to do it again until I had graduated.

Well, if you’re one of the people who once enjoyed this resource I provided, let me direct you to another source that you might find beneficial when composing your essays, research papers, and term papers. PeerPapers.com is a collection of contributed papers written by your fellow students. They have a wide wealth of papers that cover a wide range of topics in just about any field you can think of. From microbiology to cultural anthropology. If you’re lacking in inspiration on how to get your own paper off the ground, or what a teacher’s ambiguous guidelines might be hinting at, you’ll undoubtedly find much needed help at this site.

Of course, since these papers are all written by your fellow student they are subject to error of course, and may not necessarily met your own professor’s expectations so it is best to use these papers as a guideline at best. Any professor can easily find these same papers using google so I would highly advise against handing a paper from this site in as your own. This is something the owners of said site do not recommend either.

The site is easy to navigate and the categories are positively bursting with resources. If you struggle with papers, this website, along with Citation Machine, should be bookmarked for reference.

I just got finished proof reading a friend’s paper and while the paper is exceptionally well written I couldn’t help but to raise an eyebrow at her sources. Here she is, a senior in college and all of her paper’s sources, sans one (her textbook) were from Wikipedia. *head hits desk*

Now, I’m not saying that Wikipedia is lousy and unreliable, I mean hello, when I talking about things readers might not be familiar with I do tend to link to Wikipedia articles after all. The articles are used to give you an idea of what I’m talking about though, not to provide you with material to write a thesis on.

Wikipedia is a great source to go to in order to get an idea of the topic at hand, but to lay faith on and use for academic research? Not so much. For example, check out this Wiki article that discusses cerebral palsy therapy.

Problems arise, do they not?

Some topics in Wiki are well researched and well documented, but a good majority, including many of her sources, contain controversial information or may even be worded in a manor as to suggest something inaccurate without explicitly stating so.

Just to make sure the Wiki information is correct and reliable, one should check the article’s sources and verify the veracity of the statements themselves. Of course, by doing so, then they don’t really need to pull information from the article do they?

That’s not to say that textbooks are all correct, you’ll always have conflicting views and opinions. But in a place where the information can be edited by any Tom, Dick, and Harry on the internet, well I really have to question the logic of trusting such a source for academic purposes.

What do you think of students and fellow classmates using Wikipedia for their sources of information? Is it okay if done in moderation and other sources are used as well or should it not be allowed at all?

A pity this contest wasn’t held while I was still in school. I would have made great use of the funds!

Proctor and Gamble along with daytime television series, As The World Turns and Guiding Light, have apparently teamed up together to offer this rather fantastic, and easy to enter, prize. To enter, all you need to do is watch either As The World Turns or Guiding Light on February 11th, 13th, and 15th and pay attention to which which character spoke the opening line to the show (excluding commercials, promos, or previews of course). Then you head on over to the official PGP College Education Sweepstakes website by 6pm ET on February 22nd and enter your answers. You need to have the answers correct for all three days to be eligible, although you do not have to watch the same show all three times.

It’s a fairly simple and straight forward sweepstakes that is open to anyone looking to win some money for their kid’s future. What I like best about this contest however, is how it’s set up. You don’t have to be a big fan of either shows, just watch, note who says the opening line, look online to determine the character’s name if you’re not familiar with the shows, and then enter your answers by the 22nd. You don’t have to sit there and watch the entire show, so no worries about not having the time, and you don’t have to be a fan either.

…but my mother is! www.CostCaptain.com is a website that only recently came to my attention, and sadly it was after I had already graduated. CC.com is a Microsoft authorized education reseller and what this means is they sell brand new Office 2007 and Vista to students (public, private or home schooled) as well as the staff of schools, libraries and research labs at discounted prices. Since my laptop only has that pesky 60 day trial period for Microsoft Office on it, it would be great to purchase it at a discounted price. Who knows, I might get my mom to buy it for me. Microsoft Office at only $129? Not bad at all. My mother could even upgrade from XP to Vista on the desktop for only $89. That’s really a pretty good price. If you qualify, all you have to do is provide academic eligibility and the product will be sold and shipped at the discounted rate.

Want a chance to win a $25 gift card for Bed Bath & Beyond? All you have to do is visit Kat’s blog and leave a comment on her giveaway post. Be sure to leave her a valid email address so she can contact you if you win. For a second entry you can also blog about this giveaway, like I’m doing and include the link in your entry comment or email it to her.

The contest runs from the 4th of January until January 18th at 8pm EST. You better hurry up and leave an entry comment though, Kat has the comments on her blog set to close after 3 days and this post was made on the 4th of January! Come Saturday, January 19th at 10am EST Kat is going to toss all of the names into a bowl and then draw the name on video. So hurry and enter and you might find yourself with an awesome $25 gift card. And considering this is for Bed Bath & Beyond, I know you’re going to want this.

Today is the twentieth which means that today is the day that everyone’s final class grades are posted online and can be accessed through their student account.

I didn’t want to get up today, went to bed around 6am, and I just wanted to stay in my nice warm bed a bit longer, but then I remembered the significance of today and had to rush to the computer. I mean, it would totally suck if, by participating in the graduation ceremony I ended up jinxing myself and didn’t graduate.

My grades for the semester were A+, A-, A+, and……………C+

No I didn’t manage to score high enough on the final to walk away with a B in Physical Anthropology, after all of that hell it certainly would have been nice, But I did pass and apparently I just missed the B mark too. Of course, these passing grades all signify one thing…I should be expecting my diploma in the mail soon! I did it, I really did it, I graduated!! :D

And to top it all off and make my day into a really sweet one, do you know what my cumulative GPA was upon completion of my degree? 3.019. Yes, that’s right, I graduated with a 3.0! Considering I thought that I had never succeeded in raising my GPA above a 2.9 that was the real treat for me right there. I swear, once a GPA drops it’s so hard to get it back up! It dropped scary low one semester and I spend the rest of my college career trying to bring it back up. Psycho!

But anyway, it doesn’t matter now because I did it and with a 3.0 to boot.

I am no longer a “candidate for a degree” in Criminal Justice, rather I am now an official Alumni of New Mexico State University. We had our graduation ceremony today. The graduates had to line up outside, in the freaking cold, but I’m sure it was well worth it for our families to see us walk across the stage. I know my mom was thrilled.

My mother didn’t understand how to work my digicam so most of the shots she took on that one didn’t come out, but she took some with a disposable so when we get those developed I’ll post some. Also, when we get the professional photos I guarantee I’ll get some posted.

Photo of the cover of the commencement book.

Here’s a snapshot of the certificate they give us during the ceremony since the actual diplomas will be mailed after grades are posted on the 20th.

Here’s my page in the commencement book. Can you find my name?

Posing for a picture after the ceremony

My friend Mayra and I after the ceremony. Mayra actually graduated last year. Lucky girl!

From left to right: Alicia, Me, and Carlos…who protests the torture of KFC chickens. Don’t ask.

It feels weird thinking of myself as a college graduate, but there you go. I did it, somehow, and now I just need to get ready and move on to the next stage of my life, whatever that may be.

I fought my mom, but my mom won. What does this mean, you ask? It means tomorrow I shall be waking my ass up early in order to be dressed (semi-fancy to boot) and up at the Pan American center by 9am.

Yes folks, that means Joana is participating in the graduation ceremony. I really didn’t want to, not at all, but my mom used the one weapon that gets me every time – tears. Can’t stand ‘em, and as soon as she got watery eyed and sniffled I went online and reserved my spot and picked up my cap and gown. -_- She’s evil incarnate I tell you.

So of course she’ll be taking pictures with my new digicam, and I imagine we’ll be getting some professional ones taken as well – so lots of pictures to come! I’ll even have some pictures of me in a skirt. WHAT?! Yeah, I’m wearing this nice velvet-like skirt for graduation, paired with some kick-ass boots of course. Now, the next time I blog here I will be an official college graduate and an Alumni of New Mexico State University.

I had one class this semester that was mostly conducted online. The professor said, on Saturday, that she would have the grades posted by Monday. It is now Wednesday and no grades have been posted.

In my other Saturday class the professor stated the grades could be up that very evening or “tomorrow by the latest” he sent out an email on Monday stating the grades were posted for us. Problem was, there are no grades posted anywhere. I replied to the email pointing this out, but as of yet, I have yet to hear anything back from him. This is also the professor who lost my paper and forced me to re-crank it out.

My professor for Anthropology 355 stated we could email him for our final grades and that he would probably have the exams all graded by the end of that day (Monday). I emailed him on Monday asking what my final grade would be and I have yet to hear a response from him as well.

I swear, professors just know how frightened and paranoid we are about our grades and just want to tease us! Especially those graduating this semester.

The bright side of this post is the fact that, as of 7:30pm last night, I had completed my last exam and I am now finished! Woohoo! This is actually the first time in the entirety of my college career that I was finished with finals at the beginning of finals week. The closest I’ve ever come before is having papers due the week before finals, and I’m talking huge research papers that were taking the place of an exam. But I always had one class that had a final during finals week and it was almost always on a Thursday or Friday.

I’m glad it’s over now though, maybe I can stop stressing and start relaxing. I nearly cried when I was brushing out my bangs the other day. I have mostly been wearing my bangs parted to the side, but I had worn them straightened and actually looking like bangs for once, on Monday when I noticed a fearful sight. I had a small strip of gray hair in my bangs! It’s a couple of strands and it stands out when I wear my bangs down. On top of that my, finally, clear skin broke out badly too.

When I stress out, I apparently, really stress out. Can’t say I do things halfway.

And now, if you’ll excuse, I get to go play mediator between Isis and Denali again since they’re fighting over the cat bed in the living room and can’t seem to share. They’re as bad as children!

I did it! I went in, I took the final, and I know I got the minimum to pass the class at least. The best hint from people who took the class before was definitely to review past exams. Why? Because the first 50 questions were directly lifted off of our previous three exams, and by this I mean exact same question and answers as well.

I doubt I got all of the Hardy-Weinberg questions right and I’m sure there were a few questions in that first fifty that I might not have been able to find the right answer for when I was reviewing, but there were certainly enough questions afterwards that I knew that would have made up for it. In other words, I managed to get at least 50 out of 100 questions right which guarantees me a 50% on the exam, meaning I got the minimum to 100 points, out of a possible 200, on the final so I’ll keep my C in the class at least. If I managed to get 130 points though then I’m passing with a B. I’m hoping I got the B, but either way, I’ll just be glad to hear I passed.

That was the only exam I was concerned about, and even though I have another final tomorrow night, I’m essentially in the clear now.

I can already hear Pomp and Circumstance playing now.

I’m suffering from so much information overload right now it isn’t funny. The Anthro final is cumulative, however, the majority of the test is supposed to be over new material we covered since the third exam (not the practical) that we haven’t been tested on. Needless to say, as a result of the practical I put aside the reading in order to study for the practical exam. So now I’m playing catch up on the readings.

Also on the exam will be questions lifted from previous exams, questions from the movies we have viewed since the third exam, and anything he feels we should have paid attention to. In other words, anything is fair game. So I’ve read 2 chapters I needed to cover, gone over and corrected past exams and studied them, and I’ve reviewed my lecture notes covering the new material. I’ve got two more chapters to read and I still want to review my exams again and go over past notes on old material as well. *sigh* So much to do.

So I’m taking a small break to step away and let what I’ve read sink in. I thought I might go read some fanfiction or something to clear my mind, big mistake. I’m not going to say which story or author did it, but I read a fanfic just a few moments ago that was pretty well written, but it had some glaring issues that killed the joy. There is nothing worse than an author inserting their thoughts, notes, and comments in the middle of story. It kills the atmosphere that the author was creating to have them just jump in with useless commentary. I’m talking about doing something like this:

He looked up then, a smirk stealing across his face before being quickly replaced with that suave and collected expression that made my breath catch in my throat. “Well then, I guess we’ll have to settle this another way.” He paused, his gaze holding my own before moving to focus on a point behind me. I turned to see what had caught his attention and my eyes alighted upon an empty billiards table at the opposite end of the room. “What do you say, winner takes all?” (OMFG!! I was playing at www.borderbilliards.com and I had such a blast! I swear I’m addicted now, so yeah, I had to have them settle it all over a game!) “I’ve never played before…”

See what I mean, you’re getting into the story, feeling the flow of it and falling into the situation and then you’re jarred awake by an inane comment. And yes, that cruddy little scene was written by me. I didn’t feel right actually pasting part of the author’s story since I’m essentially flaming it. Know what I mean?

Have you seen this in fanfiction and original works before? I hardly ever saw it, and usually it was done by the kiddies too young to be making serious attempts anyway, but lately it’s a trend I’m seeing pop up more and more and I absolutely loathe it.

So I’ve still got a shot at passing Anthropology 355 and I’m gonna be hanging in there, studying my heart out this weekend, and taking the final on Monday. The professor answered my email asking about my class standing with some good news.

First of all, I got an 89% on the practical exam we just took, one of the higher grades too I imagine, so I am exceptionally pleased with that because that is the highest grade I’ve gotten in his class to date! Nothing at all like my usual A-student self huh? The rest of the good news is this, because of the 100 points extra credit I earned I have a high C right now going into the final. In his class apparently it’s not so much the percentage you make on the assignments but the points you acquire. Even though I got low grades, I got the points. 117 out of 150 might be a 79% but it’s still over a hundred points. The grades are based on the total number of points a student has in the class and I have upwards of 600, which of the possible points thus far, puts me in the C range.

The final is worth 200, so if I get 100 points on it (a 50%) I’ll keep my C. But if I get 130 or more points on it I’ll get a B in the class. So I’m hanging in there, I’ve still got a prayer. In fact, I’ve got a pretty damn good shot because the worst of my exams has always been a minimum of 100 points. So send your thoughts, best wishes, and prayers my way please one more time. I’m going for the gold! Ganbare Joana, you can do this! YOSH!

Since last Friday, everywhere I went I took my laptop with me. It wasn’t so much that I just had to have it with me because the sensation of having one is still foreign to me, but rather because it was the best study tool. Last Friday Dr. McCrossin placed up forty exhibits of human ancestors and gave us a study sheet. We were allowed to walk around and view them to prepare us for the practical exam exactly one week away. On that following Monday he did the same thing.

That practical exam is today. Instead of the forty exhibits there will be only thirty, we have no idea which ones either. For one week, wherever I went so did my laptop and on my laptop was a document in which I had posted all of the information given to us in the study sheet as well as pictures I had taken of each exhibit. I have been reviewing them religiously, I made up silly things to make sure I remembered which species is what and what the cranial capacity and age of the skulls are. There are some now that are so embedded in my mind that I know them upon site, others I just have to remember the little ditty I made and BAM! it’s back in my head.

For example, to remember the cranial capacity of one of the Homo erectus craniums I remember that its sutures are no where near fused so it looks like it’s even divided into three parts. Three kick ass female characters…in the year….1225… and there is the cranial capacity. Make sense? To me it does, skull is in 3 parts, there are 3 female lead characters in Cleopatra 2525 and the theme song goes …in the year, 2525, three women have the will to survive… The 2525 part is close enough to 1225 to jog the memory. The Homo habilis “Handy Man” skulls are all old enough to drink, by their society’s standards. Huh? Yup, legal age to drink in most cultures is 18, the H. habilis skull is 1.8mya and the other one, which I have dubbed the mud monster because of its appearance, has a cranial capacity of 752ml. One of the sizes you can buy liquor in is 750ml. They’re really silly things, but they help and that’s only a couple of the funnier ones.

So, I’m jamming to Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell once again courtesy of Aly and reviewing before I take off to buy a pack of gum and take my exam.

Why gum? Some studies have shown that chewing gum reduces anxiety during tests by helping the student to feel more relaxed and comfortable. Other studies have shown that by chewing gum you are increasing the flow of blood to your brain by up to 25% which assists in your thinking and memory recall.

Hence why I’m picking up a pack of gum on the way to class and popping a stick in my mouth. Anything and everything is helpful, especially since I need to get an A on this exam and at least a B on my final (on Monday no less and cumulative to boot!) to pull off a passing grade. Assuming I did good on my paper, I won’t know what I got on it until today.

So everybody, please cross your fingers and toes for me. Send your hopes, thoughts, best wishes and prayers to me and here’s hoping I won’t be re-taking this monster of a class.

I want to apologize for my previous entry, I normally try to keep my depressive thoughts and insecurities to myself but last night fo some reason it just all came crashing down on me. Ironically enough it was triggered by the most innocuous of things – reading my mail. I was browsing though the days mail, which I had only just discovered since someone left it on my desk in my room instead of the usual place on the kitchen counter. I was in the process of separating the bills from the junk mail, because aside from the occasional purchase, that’s usually the only kind of mail I receive. How sad huh? After getting a nice stack of bills I began thinking about how I would pay them this time next next month and then I saw all the junk mail offering me term life insurance and advertising sales at various car lots and what not and I just wanted to cry.

So yeah, I let it get to me, bad Joana. It was great hearing everyone’s advice and assurance that it’s going to be okay. I guess what I have to realize and accept is that if I don’t manage to secure a job in my chosen line of work I have to be willing to take up a temporary one and accept that there is nothing wrong with it.

As for temp agencies, right now my school has me registered with Monster.com, which is where I have been getting my job offers from, most of the places though that are offering me jobs are in areas I would love to avoid. I’d really rather go work the graveyard shift at a stop-and-rob again than work a sales job that makes me go out there and bring in new clients. I’m fairly good at sales, but at the same time, I don’t like to push a product or service on a person in order to make the sale. So for me, it’s a very conflicting job.

But yeah, one step at a time. First I have to get through finals. First the killer practical exam on Friday than a killer final exam on Monday in the same class. Oi vey.

So after you’ve graduated what do you do, specifically if you haven’t had any job offers that you could actually follow through on? I’ve gotten offers for jobs that I would likely kill myself rather than go to every morning (sales manager and telemarketing) and jobs that have a whole range of requirements that I don’t meet anyway (so why ask me to apply?) but nothing I could do for a few years let alone make a career out of. Just nothing.

Where do I go from here?

I have a little nest egg to pay some bills, but it’s not much, especially since I’ve pretty much quit pay per post now.

What do I do now?

I’m not keen on going to graduate school because it really is pretty expensive and I’m not certain I want to spend another four or so years studying Criminal Justice.

I’m getting depressed and scared just trying to imagine myself just a handful of months from now and I can’t.

Come December 16th I’m going to have this nice diploma and nothing to do with it. I’m actually pretty scared here.

I haven’t been around too much this weekend because I’ve been busy studying for the next practical exam in my Anthropology class. For the review, on Friday, the professor set up forty stations, of which ten won’t actually be on the exam though we won’t know which, for us to look over. They had the questions, and in some cases the answers, as well as points of reference. I snapped a pictures of the most of the stations with my camera phone and I put them all into a word document along with the questions. I’ve been researching the answers and reviewing the material almost non-stop since then.

On Monday we can view them all again, and I plan on going back and getting the rest of the photos and checking up on some I might have gotten out of order. I really need to do good on this practical. It’s only worth 100 points though which bites, because the written exams are worth 150 and the final, which is sadly cumulative and will totally kick my ass is worth 200. On Friday though we are supposed to get our papers back which will great because I’ve been dying to see what I got. I usually do damn well on papers so here’s hoping that I got an A on it. I could really use that A. If I get the A on the paper, a B or A on this next practical, plus the 100 points of extra credit and I get a passing grade on the final I should be okay. *crosses fingers*

This is sadly the class known to flunk a lot Anthropology students and I just had to take it my final semester. If I don’t pass it, I’ll have to stay another semester, more than likely another year though because it’s only offered in the fall, in order to complete my minors. Truth be told, if that were to happen I would drop my minors and just take the major. But I don’t want to do that!

And I can now breathe a sigh of relief. My professor emailed me back, thanking me for bringing it to her attention. She will keep in mind what was stated, our presentation performance, and the overall meat of the project outline. While the presentation grade is directly influenced by each other, the outline portion will be graded based more on who contributed what. She had me get everyone to write their names next to the section we did too. No one was the wiser thankfully, because I really don’t want to start a fuss with the members over this.

When we turned in our bibliographies we had to note who was doing what and how the group functioned, I received full credit on my assignment, lots of positive feedback and comments, and a thanks for bringing things to her attention. That, coupled with the email and presentation really showed her the truth of what happened I hope.

That and when she sees that the meatiest portion of the outline with the most detailed information and sources is mine, well it’ll be obvious I wasn’t blowing hot air.

Either way, it’s over and I can rest in peace knowing I did my best effort despite the hindrance and that the grades will be fair.

Well, after some deliberation, I went ahead and fired off an email to the professor in regards to what my group is and isn’t doing. I explained the situation to her in full, how they want to make a music video, but don’t know how and are waiting to the last minute to put it together.

I was loathe to do it at first because hey, I did miss class a couple of times and subsequently missed out on in-class time with my group. But after I received a text message from one of the members at 9:07pm asking that we meet at the campus library at 5:30pm tomorrow, the night before it’s due, my reluctance vanished. I refuse to be penalized for what is clearly going to be a piss-poor end result.