Buh-Bye Fall '10

Latest article for the school newspaper was printed. Not very good, but it's practice.

The semester is almost over and, with only a few more papers to work on and one exam to prepare for, I feel myself slowly returning to my normal self. This break will be very much appreciated since my return to classes next semester will be more intense than this past semester. I'm trying not to think about it too much.

I'm worried that I'm not dealing with stress very well. It's taking a toll on my body, but I'm sure now that it's the reason I've been so apathetic about school these past few semesters. I don't want to exercise, which would be a great way to reduce stress, and I don't have anyone to have sex with, which would be my preferred method of stress reduction, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it.

Local woman lays down law

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — After months of chaos and compromise, Chattanooga woman Sarjen, 30, decided to enforce stricter rules in her suburban apartment home regarding her cousin, Joseph, 14, who moved into the apartment Aug. from Mich.

Photo of Chattanooga woman, Sarjen, at her wits end. Note
her disheveled appearance and angry expression.
Cameraman Mike had to dodge a fist after taking this photo.

     Sarjen, who had previously given the only bedroom to Joseph, took the room back and reorganized the apartment furniture. She cleaned the kitchen and sorted laundry as a start to what she called, "The new clean regime." 

      The regime was her carefully constructed plan to maintain a clean living space and would require regular chores by Joseph.

     "I love Joe," Sarjen said, "And these chore requirements aren't a punishment for his hurtful disrespect towards me, but a plan for a clean home that will make him happy and comfortable living here."

     There has been no word yet from Joseph on how he feels about the new changes. 

     "That's probably because he doesn't know about them yet," Sarjen added.

     In addition to the added chores, Joseph will lose computer and phone privileges until they have been earned. A new incentive program Sarjen calls, "Responsible parenting for the good of the child." Earning of these privileges will be outlined at a later date, but Sarjen feels optimistic about the success.

     "I don't know if things will work out with Joe living here for long, but while he's here I plan on finding things for him to do with his time besides staring at screens. He has so many opportunities for a better life here, but now he's going to have to earn them."

I Won't Be Flying Anytime Soon

"At the heart of the controversy over 'body scanners' is a promise: The images of our naked bodies will never be public. U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner.These are those images."

I want to write something about this... I'll be working on it.

A little something I read somewhere online today: 
Time magazine says that “It’s no secret that eating something tasty and having sex are pleasurable, anxiety-reducing activities. But researchers studying stress responses in rats found that sex and food could reduce anxiety even over the long term, for up to 7 days.”
Good news for people with significant others.


I have interviews to do today. I hate doing interviews because I suck at them. Wish me luck. 

Is This Crazy

I want to do some editing, so I've been looking on Craigslist for editing jobs and offering people with book manuscripts free editing in exchange for a recommendation. It's just an internship as far as I see it, although it's a lot of work. I think in the long run it'll pay off both in additions to my resume and in experience editing long works. Is it practical, though? I have a tough semester coming up.

I've been going over my book from advanced expository writing called The Well-Crafted Sentence. It's a great book for learning how to improve your writing style, and it helps pinpoint issues in writing that keep it from sounding fresh. I definitely recommend this book to writers who feel like they need to elevate the level of sophistication in their sentence construction.

I haven't been feeling motivated to read lately and it bothers me. There is so much to read and I feel like I'm wasting some great opportunities to learn new stuff, but sometimes a person just doesn't feel like reading and unfortunately right now is that time for me. I haven't been very hardworking at all lately, though, and I don't know why that is.

Chop Shop

After having two workshops in my fiction writing class, I now hate my fiction writing class.

I was corresponding with one of my classmates about it and I told him that I feel like an utter failure as a writer after our class rips up my work. He tried to tell me that it was just the nature of workshops, but I held to the belief that it's not. I've had several classes where we've workshopped writing and they've always helped me to see the flaws in my writing and turn my work into a better product.

This class is not like that. It feels to me that sometimes it's insecurity that's driving the students' harshness and lack of interest in helping out a fellow writer, but I'm not sure if that's what it is. Maybe they just aren't very experienced writers. The professor I really don't get though. He seldom gives actual positive feedback. And I don't think he's praised anything of mine yet. He should know that beginning writers need a little encouragement and that doesn't mean lying to them. Just let them know they don't suck at writing.

This is a rant, I know. And it sounds very much like I'm blaming everyone but myself, but I'm not trying to, really. I'm just trying to make sense of such a bad experience in a class that's about producing the type of writing I love. It's been disappointing to me, but I'm very thankful I have my feature writing class this semester. Workshops there have helped me produce writing that's suitable for mass media and has been printed in a newspaper. I've learned a lot and gained so much confidence from that class.

It's been hard for me to get to the revisions I have to make on my fiction story. I appreciated the suggestions I got, but I just don't feel motivated to produce more writing for fiction class. The writing is not satisfying at all. I don't like the feeling of putting so much effort into telling a story and then getting nothing from the reader but criticism and disappointment. I know what being a writer means; it means often hearing that someone doesn't like what you wrote. There is usually some safety among other writers, though, and I don't feel that at all with the fiction class.

I Luvz teh Kittez

Just cuz a fellow blogger posted a cute pic and I've recently fallen in love with these kitties... I give you LOLCat.

... and a couple for Theresa. :)