Falling Behind

Oh no, not me.  Our clocks!  We put our clocks an hour back this weekend which means we get an extra hour of sleep on Sunday morning.  I can hardly wait. Between you and me, I could use that extra hour of sleep and I am going to enjoy it.

I know there are some people who should find something else to do during that extra hour.  There are some people who scored as low as a 3 on our last Behavioral Science test and I suggest those people take that extra hour and read the textbook, or study or just ponder what this class really means to them.  It is a required course for all degrees at DCC, that's true, but it is still worth three credits and it is still averaged into your GPA, so maybe texting or sleeping or arriving late or only attending every other class is not such a great idea.  To those people I say, use your extra hour wisely.  You have to give it back in the Spring.

Besides sleeping this weekend, I plan on attending a lecture at the Arlington Branch of the Poughkeepsie Library on Saturday from 10-12.  Inda Edgehill (author of Queenmaker and other books) will be discussing how to write a historical novel.  This program is free and no pre-registration is required.  From the library website:  "Find out why, and how to write your own historical novel for fun and just possibly profit.  Learn how to balance fact with fiction; what you can change, what you can't and how to tell the difference."  This is exactly what we learned at Vassar this summer in the historical fiction class I took there so I am looking forward to learning some more about it.  I think these ideas work for any fiction writing since all fiction is a story of what happened, it would be smart to know how to write about past real events in a fictional way.

If you go, say hello to me.  Either way, enjoy that extra hour!

Eye Rolling and Other Projects and Events

Yesterday we had our Environmental Science lab in the library.  I know you just rolled your eyes! I did too when he first told us that this week and next week that is what we would be doing instead of lab, but you know what?  It actually worked out pretty well.  Starting in mid-November we each have to do a 15 minute presentation complete with a PowerPoint show and using at least 7 references on a particular topic.  Meeting at the library last night was actually a good way to spend two hours working on it.  It was quiet, I was forced to concentrate on one subject and not only did I leave with a couple of extra sources, I actually have an outline for both my speech and my visuals.  So unroll those eyes!  It was so worth it!  

I am doing my presentation on municipal landfills (the landfills with mostly household trash) focusing on Freshkills Landfill on Staten Island, where I lived before moving upstate.  I'll talk about the downfalls of it, the health issues and the plans New York City has to make it a part after closing it to new garbage in 2001.  The new park will be twice the size of Central Park!  I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I have lots of projects due, but they do seem somewhat spread out.  Let's see - -  a Russian Lit paper on Crime and Punishment due next Friday, a paper in Pop Culture to be announced this week, a huge paper for Behavioral Science due Thanksgiving and a reaction paper for Psychology based on a psychology book of my choice due in December.  Yikes!  Seems like a lot on top of the regular reading (which includes 80 pages of Anna Karenina by tomorrow), but somehow I am not panicking!  I have good starts on all these projects and I am trying very hard not to stress out about them.  Do I sound stressed?  Hey!  I think you were rolling your eyes again.  Yes, I am pretty sure you were.

Don't think I just do homework and projects at DCC.  No way! Tonight I am attending an author reading, George Saunders, at Vassar College.  Saturday the Poughkeepsie Library is giving a lecture on writing Historical Fiction, like the class I took at Vassar over the summer.  There are Lit Mag duties, and History Zone meetings (tomorrow).  There is PTK too, where our next project is to clean a portion of Salt Point Turnpike in November. So there is lots to do to keep my mind off these projects.  Some would say that they would keep me from doing my projects too (insert laugh here), but don't worry.  Have I let you guys down yet?  Have I?

You really need to do something about those rolling eyes of yours though.  You think we don't see them, but we do!  Enough!  

Sharing and Laughing

I am now officially an employee of DCC!  It is about time they started paying me for my time there!  It's only about $8 a week, but it's something!  Yesterday I started my one hour a week job of tutoring Environmental Science to another person in my class.  She could have just asked for help, but she went through Academic Services (which has lots of tutors for all kinds of subjects, and is also looking for tutor for all kinds of subjects).  Going through Academic Services made it a job for me.  It works out for me time wise though, believe it or not.  On Thursdays I get to DCC almost two hours early for my 7:00 class so we meet during that time. I was preparing for Environmental Science anyway, so maybe we'll both learn something in the process.  Hey, gas money is gas money.

Even though I don't need to be back at the campus until next Tuesday, every day this weekend

 I'll be working on things for my classes anyway.  I have projects due in November that I need to get a jump on, and the regular reading assignments to prepare for next week as well.  I am hoping this weekend to stop the laughter I hear from all the leaves in my driveway and on my lawn.  See, right now the leaves think they are winning.  They are just laying about in the warm sunshine catching breezes and having a grand old time.  But this weekend they better watch out!  They better find their parachutes because - BAM! - they are getting raked right off my ridge to fall all over again in a new spot.  Hahahaha!  Who has the last laugh now leaves?  Not so funny now, is it?

No leaves to rake?  Well, tonight at DCC there is lots going on!  Tonight from 6:00 to 9:00, the Gamers Guild will be hosting a Halloween Dance in the Greenspan Cafeteria.  Wear your costume and join the fun.  At 10:00, also in the Greenspan Cafeteria, there will be the annual showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  They are encouraging costumes for that as well. There will be rice and toilet paper too, just like the audience in the theaters did for this cult classic.  

While you are there, grab yourself a catalog for the Spring 2009 semester.  Registration is already underway, so register now.  Leaves and people in leaf costumes need not apply.

Enjoy!

Everyone Must Evacuate The Building!

That's what they told us when the fire alarm rang.  But it was only for exactly two minutes and then they let us all back in! Right in the middle of Behavioral Science too.  The professor didn't know whether to tell people to come back or not, but a few of us managed to come back.  (After all, I had to.  My Russian Lit class is in the very same room and my very next class!)  Those of us that did return were rewarded with review questions right off the already copied test we will be having next week.  

I missed the very beginning of Russian Lit anyway, though my books didn't.  When people starting arriving for that class a half hour earlier than needed, I ran to DCC's Writing Center where I was recommended to tutor next semester.  Part of being a tutor there means I have to take Advanced Composition and work in the Writing Center two hours a week, which I get lab credit for.  Great!  Sign me up!  But talking with the teacher made me ten minutes late for class.  I wonder if I was marked late since my books were obviously already there?  Makes no difference.  Next class I was told I was not allowed to speak so other people, who don't normally get involved in the discussion can get involved in the discussion.  Not fair!  We are going to be starting our discussion of Anna Karenina!  One of my favorite books too.  I know, I know.  Zip it!  But it has the best opening line ever written . . . 

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Just beautiful . . . 

Because of the Writing Center referral, I needed to register in person yesterday for Spring

 2009 classes at DCC.  I can't believe it's that time already and I can't believe because of a little card saying I could take English 218, I needed to wait half an hour to talk to a counselor who pretty much took the card, put in the computer that I was registered in that class and moved on!  Now that everything else is automated on the computer, you would think the referral process would be too somehow?  Either way, I was able to register for the classes I need to graduate in the Spring, and waiting the half hour was so worth it.  The end of my time at DCC is in sight.

Which means that classes like Environmental Science lab last night will be nothing be a

transcript memory!  Last night we analyzed dirt samples.  I filled a baggie with dirt from my compost pile.  My sample was a bio diverse community in a baggie.  It was full of all sizes of bugs that work to decompose the stuff The Guy and I throw in there.  We sifted it through various screens and did experiments with timing water flow.  It was kind of neat to see it all in action, but when it came time to clean up, my partner refused to just throw it away. She insisted they bugs needed to be back outside, so she brought them back outside.  I am sure they are decomposing the hill that DCC sits on right now.  I wonder if the DCC hill is tastier than my coffee grounds?  Nah, I bet not!

And will they have to evacuate during the next fire drill?

Could Be Texting Weekend Plans or Midterm Grades?

Now that we are past the midway point and people received their midterm grades, you would think that the texting during class would stop, but no - it hasn't.  In fact, the people who text in class (and you know who you are) don't even try to hide it any more.  I guess they figure since the buttons go click, click, click anyway, why bother.  Maybe since it was reflected in their grades (I hope), they figure it's no problem now.  Sheesh!  It is very distracting to the rest of us. Please knock it off!

I did really well on my midterm grades!  It looks like graduation is going to be possible next spring.  I met with my advisor and it looks like I'll only need four classes next semester to graduate!  Registration for Spring 2009 classes already starts next week too, so if you are thinking of taking classes at DCC (or any other school), now is the time to get a move on.  Visit www.sunydutchess.edu to get the ball rolling.

Know why I love DCC?  Here is an example.  Yesterday we were able to leave Environmental Science a little early, so I stopped to look at the new art exhibit at the Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery in the Washington building.  I am glad I did.  The art was spectacular!  It was all large scrolls of I think water-painted bamboo trees by an artist named Tien Ju He.  Most of the art was on loan by DCC's own history teacher, Dr. Norton who visited China during the summer with a handful of student.  It was such unique work.  It is well worth the visit to campus (or you can stop by when you go to campus to find out about registration for the Spring).

Let's see . . . weekend plans . . .well, there is the requisite ton of homework I have every weekend, but this weekend is less burdened than most.  Oh!  There is the Great Gatsby at the Bardavon tonight.  I'll be there with my free tickets that I picked up at one of the great lectures I went to about The Big Read this year.  Look for me and say hello.  There is also the monthly meeting at the Poughkeepsie Library on Bancroft Road on Saturday, 10:00 a.m. for writers that want to share their work, or just listen and comment on others.  Come on down.  I am running the meeting this month since the usual person will be away on business.  It'll be fun.  Sunday we are going to SUNY New Paltz to see their production of the musical, Company.  It doesn't hurt that we know people in the pit, so I am expecting a good show!  (Hear that Dave and Roger?  A GOOD show!)

In case you don't have tickets for The Great Gatsby tonight, you can see Mama Mia for free at 8:00 at DCC.  James and Betty Hall Theatre at Drumlin Hall.  I've never seen it, but people who have told me they loved it!  I heard you can see along too!  

What ever you do this weekend, make the most of it and . . . 

Enjoy!

Doing the Columbus

It's the new dance craze.  You put your hands behind your head and make a sail out of them and then you glide your feet around on a smooth floor until you look like a ship sailing on the ocean.  Grab your friends and you can have the entire fleet - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.  Take pictures of you and your friends doing the Columbus and send them over! 

So far the weekend has been great!  We saw Jason Mraz at Radio City Music Hall on Friday night and I have to say, it is probably one of the few concerts that The Guy and I go too that is

considered "pop music."  Jason Mraz wasn't always considered pop, but he has definitely made that cross over and it showed in the crowd.  It was full of young women who knew all the words and Jason played it up dedicating just about every song to the ladies in the audience. Regardless, he has an excellent voice and he and his band put on a great show!  I am so glad we went.

On Saturday I attended the reunion of ET students at Vassar College.  As predicted, the campus definitely had a different air with the leaves already changing and the students moving between buildings.  We had a nice lunch and it was really interesting to hear from each student how attending Vassar changed their lives, or their majors, and how that experience was influencing what they were doing now.  I agree.  It made me think that I could take so many classes so I can graduate in the Spring and move on to a four year school next fall.  During the program I learned how to get work done quickly and correctly and that certainly is playing a role today. Thanks ET!

Yesterday we took The Kids on the yearly hunt for the perfect pumpkins and the reddest apples.  I think we did well in both cases, but what the heck am I going to do

with a half bushel of apples?  Good thing The Boy likes to bake. Maybe he'll make us a pie!  I sure hope so.

Time to wake The Family for dance practice.  And a one and a two . . . 

Winter Recess

No, you are not reading an old entry. Winter Recess is the office name of the next few days on the DCC calendar. No classes until next Wednesday for some, but that means next Thursday for me. How come you never hear about trips to Cancun or Florida for Winter Recess? Maybe because it seems like we just got started, and we did, but midway is midway and who am I to argue with a week off from classes? Exactly.

Good thing too. I have to finish a paper for Russian Lit whose due date got extended to next week (Thanks Doc O'Neill!). I have a two page take home part 2 of a pop culture to complete. There are all those next chapters to read for just about every class and two projects to work on due about mid-November, but all that can wait another day.

Let's think real hard about what you think I would do on my first day of Winter Recess? That's right! The Guy and I are going to a concert! Whoo-hoo! Rock-n-Roll! (Hold hands up in rock and roll manner.) Today's featured artist is Jason Mraz at Radio City Music Hall. I am thrilled for two reasons. First, it's Jason Mraz and second, I've never been inside Radio City. I know! It surprises me too considering all the concerts I've been to.

And then on Saturday we are having a Vassar ET Reunion at Vassar College. Vassar has promised us a nice lunch and I think of us ET students from the summer will be there. I can't wait to see everybody again.

If the ET program was a chance for us to feel what it is like at a four year school, then I think this reunion is really just an extension of that. Now we will see the campus with the leaves changing and full of students - the way a campus is supposed to be I suppose. Should be fun, but see, now that is another day used up from break and another day I won't get those assignments done.

Good thing I don't have classes for a week. Now if I can only convince my boss to give us Winter Recess as well.

Literature from all Countries

Quick post today, as I would really like to spend some time working on a paper that is due on Friday. It's for Russian Lit using Fathers and Sons (or Children) by Ivan Turgenev (or as they say in Russia, Отцы и дети). I am taking a very minor character and showing how she not only was used for an introduction to a main character, but she was a sharp contrast to the character she introduced so the new character is almost a welcome sight. Or something like that. I need to work on it some more.

Week has been very busy with midterms and all. It is also my busy time at work or there has been a constant moving on my part at all locations! Even home. As we speak (or write), the laundry is going and The Cat is crying to go out. Go, go, go!

I wanted to remind you all that PTK, in conjunction with the Women's Activities Committee will be manning tables in Drumlin Hall for Breast Cancer Awareness. We'll be collecting donations for the American Cancer Society, so stop on by! For just $1, you can receive a nice button showing your support! Every little bit helps.

And for all you Big Read fans, tomorrow night, Thursday, October 9 at 7:00 p.m., DCC will be hosting a lecture entitled The Great Gatsby and the Obscene Word by Professor Barbara Will of Dartmouth College. She'll be discussing "F. Scott Fitzgerald's complex sense of what it means to 'belong' in America." I hope to see you there. I already told my Environmental Science teacher I would be about 45 minutes late that day so I could attend this lecture.

Which reminds me, I better get back to that paper. The teacher hosting this event is the same teacher that I owe this paper to! О брат!

The Second Half Sometimes a Good Laugh

The title of this post was inspired by the clever Metro North conductor The Guy and I had both on our way into New York City on Saturday night and our return home.  He was hysterical.  He spouted such diddies as "Watch the gap. Don't take a spill in Peeskill," and "A long way from the Major Deegan, the train's next stop will be in Beacon."  Made the trip seem much quicker both times.  

The Guy and I were in the City to see Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.  What a great show.  We had seats in the first row and we could see just above all the heads of the people standing in the front of the stage.  We met a couple that came all the way from Florida just for the show, and believe me, their trip was worth it.  It was just fantastic!  

On Sunday I attended a lecture at the Mid Hudson Library Auditorium given by Dr. Peter Antelyes of Vassar College who led a discussion on the role of the narrator in American Literature focusing on Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby and part of the Big Read going on now in our area as well as nation wide.  It was a great lecture and discussion. There will be more events happening as part of the big read, including a lecture at DCC on Thursday night that is open to the public.  For more information, visit the Poughkeepsie Library website at www.poklib.org/BigRead.htm.  I am sure you will find something you can join in to be part of the celebration!

But don't think I just partied all weekend.  I have a midterm Monday night in Psychology (which I studied for on the train between poetic train stops) and I am still plowing through Crime and Punishment (which I also read between the poetry).  There was more homework, but I don't want to overwhelm you as I sometimes feel thinking about it all!  

Now I want to read the Great Gatsby too!  I have not read it yet and think I will put by my bed to read at night.  Have you read it as part of the Big Read or otherwise?  Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below or sending me a note at cathyfurlani@gmail.com.  I'd love to hear what you have to say about Nick Carraway as a narrator.

Insulted Again!

In my pop culture class we were discussing how some comedy shows such as SNL or The Daily Show present the election. Is this real news? Have these shows become news themselves by doing this? Who is watching these shows? One girl said that it is only for young people and that folks her parents' age (my age!) would never watch The Comedy Channel. That is the second time this semester someone in that class said that people my age don't have a sense of humor! I had to yell out, "I cannot believe that I have been insulted again in this class!" I would have thought I taught these whippersnappers something by now. Here is some news - I do watch comedy shows such as SNL and The Daily Show. The only difference is that I don't base my opinions from the news they present. I read the newspapers and watch real when I can.

Oh brother!

In Russian Lit we are watching Crimes and Misdemeanors by Woody Allen and comparing it to Crime and Punishment. They both have crimes and morality questions about life, but not sure I am seeing the comparison. Maybe after we watch the second half next week.

Today is a Lit Mag meeting to tell new members (who I hope to see lots of at 12:00 in Hudson 402G) how the club works and bribe them with pizza to help us out. Then I need to run to the PTK Orientation for new members as well. Another pizza lunch awaits as well tell potential new members there how PTK works. And all this on my lunch hour! Good thing they will feed me twice - I am sure to be twice as hungry.

Tonight's free movie is Get Smart at 8:00 at the James and Betty Hall Theatre in Dutchess Hall. I've wanted to see this one too. Mmmmm . . . Hey Guy? What are we doing tonight?

Maybe we better rest up. Tomorrow we are off to NYC to see a concert at the Theatre in Madison Square Garden. We'll be seeing a band called NickCave and the Bad Seeds , which certainly are not newcomers to the scene, but finally have an album that is part of pop culture. So there (blows raspberries) you young whippersnappers in my Pop Culture class. I most certainly do know a thing or two. You would be very surprised.

Enjoy!

Mid-Semester Crisis

Teachers are already talking mid-terms!  Time sure flies when you are having fun, but mid-terms already?  I am not sure if the math works out (mainly because I haven't tried to count the weeks yet) or it is just a convenient time to call it mid-terms because of the break we get around Columbus Day weekend.  Either way - I have plenty to do!

In Psychology (mid-term on Monday!) we continue to discuss the various theories about the stages of life.  We discussed Erikson, Piaget and Kohlberg and to me, they all seem precisely on target.  Maybe more so because I remember The Kids going through various stages and I am going through the adult stages myself, but they all seem pretty accurate.  Who knew that our individuality was not so individual after all?  I don't know whether to be relieved or not.  I kind of like being an individual. . . 

In Russian Lit, where we will not be having an official mid-term but a paper is due next Friday, we are working our way through Crime and Punishment.  What a great book, wonderfully written with such great psychological undertones.  Can I apply what I am learning in Psychology to this book?  Not yet.  We are not discussing abnormal behaviors yet and this book is sure full of them.

In Pop Culture (mid-term next Thursday) we are beginning a unit on the parody of the up coming election by shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show and the like.  Is it their fault that the candidates are giving them so much material to work with?  I think not.  There is sure a lot of funny stuff around.  By studying this, we hope to see how all this ties into Cultural Studies where we, as active consumers, have a say about what is going on.  Stay tuned . . . .

In Environmental Science we discussed ways we can help the environment.  The class balked at me when I told them that we use push mower at home.  I think that some of the young people in that class didn't think those things still existed.  Well, they do!  Oh, mid-term Thursday night.

In Social Problems yesterday, we had our mid-term, or should I say, some of us took the mid-term.  There were so many people out the professor debated out loud whether to give the test on Thursday instead.  People jumped right on that and agreed, but some of us were ready to go. I mean, I stayed up late on Monday night studying for it!  So a handful of us took it, and the rest studied quietly.  I'll be the one studying quietly on Thursday.  Now, I bet when I get the test back I'll think I should have waited too  . . . 

I think after all these tests and papers, I am going to need that extra long weekend we get for a break.  All I have to do is make it through next week and then I'll have five days straight with no classes.  I'll gladly take it.  Bring it on! (The break, not the exams.)