Jan. 12, 2008 - The Tornado Siren Sounds...

So, I've got my first week of Graduate school over with. And it is probably one of the most memorable starts ever to say the least.
I had my first class with Dr. Ed Hinck for Rhetorical Criticism. Things started with ten minutes to write a 1 to 2 minute speech on "Why I'm a Good Graduate Student." I wasn't able to answer this with any support to my claims. I wrote about my work ethic, my desire to learn, and my high expectations of myself. Then we had to trade papers with the person next to us. I handed mine to 'Justin' and he had 3 bullets. There was no speech, but his 3 bullets were focused on the support system and the resources he had in his peers and professors... not himself. I felt like an asshole after I looked at his outline. How selfish am I? Then we ended up giving our speeches. I made people laugh, which was a good thing I suppose. I know that I should be confident in myself, but I just felt like a vain, narcissistic bitch. We finished with speeches, and Ed went into going over our 25 page paper for the semester.
Then the hail started. And then the siren went off. We all looked at each other. Everyone with a bit of panic in their eyes. We all looked at Ed who sat there for a minute. Then told us we were going to keep going with what we were doing.
We got out of class (and avoided being buried under a pile of rubble or swept into the air) and it was just pouring. Started driving through campus on West Campus Dr. back to Broomfield and came to a rather large puddle. Didn't realize that that puddle was actually a small lake. I was nervous after I got into the middle of it that I might not be getting out of it with my little car. But I did.
Got back to my apartment and my roomie Laurie was putting towels on the windowsills. They were leaking quite profusely and running down the walls. Hmmm...
Stayed up for a while looking through speeches for my rhetoric paper.

Tuesday started very very slowly. Woke up around 10. Got out of bed a little after 11. Decided to finally go grocery shopping around 1145. Had 3 voicemails when I got out of there. My dad called and told me that the news said school was canceled. Melissa called and told me that lightening hit a transformer and school was out of power. So no class my second day. A bit bummed actually. Maybe later in the semester I would have been able to enjoy it, but not knowing anyone there made for a very very very lonely day. Spent most of it in my room by myself... feeling isolated, lonely, and a bit depressed. Didn't have my first Advanced Organizational Communication class with Dr. Lisa Patterson.

Wednesday I got up early. Actually did some productive stuff. Got a parking pass. Went tanning (cause our apartment complex offers free tanning in the leasing office, and my apartment happens to be right next door to the leasing office.). Met with Lisa Patterson about a position helping with one of her research projects. And then I had my third class. Quantitative Research with Dr. Lesley Withers. That was the first time all week that I felt overwhelmed. I didn't understand a single thing that was being talked about or the research things that I felt everyone else already had some understanding of. Then she went around the room and asked for us to tell her what we were planning on doing our research on. I was the only one who didn't know. Everyone in there had had COM 600... except for me. So COM 601 is going to be a bit more of a struggle for me than for everyone else. Seems like a reoccurring theme.

I came home Thursday morning. Dentist appointment at 11:30. Came home for a while. Went to drop my car off to have it looked at. Went back to the dentist to have my impressions redone (they broke my front teeth off of the first batch). Then my mother and I went to the hospital for the afternoon to be with my sister. She has been sick for a while now. She thought that her throwing up was due to her over eating and was really embarrassed. Then after getting sick on the plane home from Florida. Then spending all night Monday night up puking, and all night Wednesday night up puking, she was admitted to the hospital for gal stones. She had her gal bladder taken out on Friday. So the past two days I've spent at the hospital for the majority of the time.

I saw Margaret, Claude, and Matt last night for the first time in years. It's amazing how your best friends from high school can so quickly fall out of your life. But it was nice to see them.

And now today; today I've spent mostly reading. I'm starting to feel the pressure of grad school and the time constraints I'm dealing with. I opened my book last night to read chapter one of Rhetoric and found that chapter 1 is 137 pages of "The Purpose of Rhetoric". So now that I'm on page 35...

yeah.