peer-reviews and ah-ha moments...

Happy Holidays Everyone....

This unit we are reviewing our peers rough drafts and having them review ours.  I like the idea of having my fellow classmates read over my paper and give me feedback. 
I sometimes can get my fiance or my sister or mom to look at my papers but not often.  I also feel that they are not the unbiased types when it comes to my writing.  They all say I write great. 
I think my classmates will be more honest with me and will give me helpful feedback since they are my target audience.  I want them to be able to understand the topic I am writing on but I do not want to bore them with what is common knowledge in our circle of academia.
This was an ah-ha moment for me.  :)  I don't know why I never thought about asking my classmates to look over my paper.  It does make sense though since we are all in or planning on being in health fields.
I must admit that I may be a bit more nervous about looking over their papers and giving feedback than I am about receiving their feedback.  I will keep in mind that I want to be constructive in giving them feedback and that I am not looking at grammar but at the layout and flow of the paper.
This is definitely new to me since I do not remember doing peer-reviews in high school.  I do remember grading other student papers in elementary though. :)

the last 6 weeks...

Well, i have been busy with school, of course, that is always. i am enjoying both my classes... 

Composition is still teaching me. even if friends and family think i am a good writer i know i can become a better writer... 

The supplements course i am taking is a little hard to keep up with because there is a lot of reading but i am managing.  i am still learning more about the micronutrients and herbs that i did not know. learning is always awesome...  

The baby i have been watching is growing like crazy. he is 4 months old now.  laughing, learning, and making poor old Jen slow down and relax.  it is kind of therapeutic knowing that for at least 6 hours a day i am not going to be able to do anything at all i need to get done.  everyone said this job would give me plenty of time to do school work but i think they forget that babies are actually quite busy little beings.  at least i have time to workout for about 20 minutes in the morning and a couple 20 minute, at least breaks, when i can check e-mail and check into my classes.  when i am lucky i get a discussion post or a blog done, like this one here, while i am "at work."  it is a nice job playing with a baby... 

I do not really want to talk about Christmas but i probably should.  my family is a bit "weird" about the holidays.  we have been for years.  see, my pap-pap (grandfather)was a real life Santa.  he passed out gifts to children who had no family to spend Christmas with.  he would come home around 11:30 on Christmas day after he was done.  well, he passed away when i was just 13 a couple weeks after our last Christmas together.  it just has never been the same since then.  my mother is a Scrooge from the day after Halloween until the middle of January.  sure, she gets the grand-kids gifts. it just seems we all stumble through the baking and gift buying.  the adults do not give gifts to each other, well, husbands and wives do get each other something for each other.  we just focus on the kids.  on Christmas day we do have a grand meal. we go all out when it comes to food.  it is just not a real festive season for us.  we work hard and we make sure the kids have a good time, but we all seem to just wait for it to be over...

Now, about my relationship.   it had been a hard time for me and my old man.  i think he has some seasonal issues also.  really, who doesn't have some kind of funk this time of year?  the shiny-happy-it's-snowing people are not "normal", i think ;).  so me and mine have been having some trouble the last few weeks.  we are just stressed out.  the place we been waiting on isn't seeming to happen.  we just want to get out of where we are.  i know we must be patient but,"come on already!"  so, we have been on edge but we know we can make it through this.  winter is long and hard every year.  i just know we would both like to be in our new place by New Year.  i would like to celebrate our anniversary in our new place.  3 years and we have made it through more than i thought was  possible.  i m still stupid-in-love with him.  i hope he realizes how much he means to me and that though this is not easy time of year for us or our families we will make it through and next year will come the snow will melt.  work will pick up more. we will still struggle but someday maybe we won't have to try so darned hard....

Have a safe and happy holiday season everyone....  

Remember it is not what you have but who you have in life that matters... 

Blessed Be

Academic Challenges and these Holidays

I have been going to school on-line for over a year now.  I have been an Honor student since my third term.  I have kept my grades up with much effort and it seems that effort grows regularly.  I took just one class over the summer in order to spend more time with my daughters since I only really get any time with them then.  Starting back to my 2 classes last term was a little trying after such a lax summer but I made it through.  Of course, this past term I got the lowest grade I had gotten here since starting.  I finished a class with only a 92%.  I was very upset but my family all made fun of me for this seems good enough to everyone but me. 

See I was a straight A student as a kid but didn't graduate due to life happening and not having a choice but to drop out.  I got my GED at the age of 25, for my birthday it was the only thing I wanted.  I didn't decide to come back to school until I was 33 and then there was no stopping me.  A month after I made up my mind that I wanted to continue my education I had come up with what I wanted to do, focus on, and set it up in no time.   I chose this school for more reasons than I feel like listing here but it has been a very pleasurable experience and I am far from disappointed with my choice.  

I just feel like I struggle to keep these A's going.  I try my hardest but about week 5 I always start wondering what I can do to keep from falling behind and end up stressed because I have a 94% and to me that just isn't good enough.  My family is supportive to the most point,  my fiance is happy for me but I know he misses all the time we used to have to do nothing which is now taken up doing research for a paper or trying to catch up on my reading assignments.  My kids are proud of me and that means more than anything.  

It is just like my life has become a carnival and I am a "one-man-side-show-freak".  I try to balance the laundry, dishes, dinners, family and friends and my part-time job that bores me to tears all on one shoulder and the school, the books, computer, printer, the whole darned www on my other.  

I know I sound horrible.... poor me with a low grade that isn't even low in anyone elses reality.  I have always been a perfectionist and over-analyze everything in my life.  

I am stressed over the holidays like everyone else in the world.  I have a family and kids and an old man and a dog.  I have a job and am looking at moving into a little bigger place soon as it's available.  I am keeping up with my classes but have no time for playing games or reading for fun lately.  Really if it was just me, my dog and old man life would be simplified.  If I didn't live so close to my nutty family that is full of issues and drama it'd be easier.  Of course then I would miss the crazy bunch.  If holidays didn't have to all come together at the end of the year we would all probably breathe easier.   

How many of us are just sludging along in knee high print-outs and dead high-lighters trying to remember if we ate lunch today and hitting the wrong button on the keyboard that just wipes out the whole 225+ words we just wrote and are now totally lost?

HAPPY FREAKIN' HOLIDAYS.... maybe after the New Year everything will seem lighter on us all...  :)

What would you do if someone used something you created without giving you credit?

Good question.... don't you agree?
Let's say I have created a great work of art, it is a painting of a field of daisies.  I then posted it on my Facebook profile for my friends and family members to see and admire.

I would hope that if anyone wanted to use it they would give me the credit for creating it. 

I think if some little girl found it and wanted to make a Mother's day card with it, I guess that would not bother me at all, especially since her mother would know she did not create it but only found it.

I feel like this because art is meant to be shared.  At least that is what I grew up knowing, we make things for others to enjoy for as long as the object will last.  Now with the Internet that can be forever.  My painting can be destroyed in a flood or fire but its Internet-saved-copy will live on forever.

On the other hand, if all of a sudden my painting is on the cover of a new some big star's album I would be suing if they had not taken the time to find out who did this painting to contact me and ask for permission.

The Internet does give us free reign of a plethora of artistically done work from every sector of the artistic world.  Does that mean we should take what we want?  No.  We still need to cite the creator or originator to use anything , whether it be words or images or sounds.  I know we all have images on our computers that are from others.  We do not even know where they all come from.  Like I wonder who does the sample pictures that came with the computer.  Where does all the clip-art come from?  Who made these?  How do I find out?  I would really like to know about using pictures from places like Photobucket,  how and who would I cite?  Can I use a YouTube video without it being plagiarism if I simply state, "this is not mine, I got it off YouTube"  and then state whose profile I found it on?  I know I can swipe a picture of my little sister and her family from Facebook and use it to make my mother a special family calender without asking if my little sister minds and she would be so happy.  I cannot take a picture of Aerosmith to put in a rock and roll calender that I am going to sell.  No, I think Steven Tyler would get rather irate and sue me for all I don't have, there goes the little reputation I may have.

Just think about what you do when you are using other people's words and ideas.  Plagiarism is a crime and is punishable.