Semester

Can you believe this is my last semester of school? Ever? (Probably.) Jarom has no finals, but he does have a 30-page paper to write and then The Bar. (Yes. In capitals.) This is what my semester looks like…

Soc 339, Theories of Social Change. For whatever reason, this course was previously called Soc 429, and it still fills the requirement for 400-level courses. But it has no final exam, is taught by a really laid-back professor I’ve had before, and looks like it will be a good end-of-school-career class. I have it Tuesdays and Thursdays right around lunchtime. Downside: I’m usually busy getting the kids ready to go to the sitter’s house before I go, and although I pack lunch for them, I don’t get something for myself. Today I grabbed some honey roasted peanuts and a Jack Link’s beef steak (like a Slim Jim but more real) from the little store in the Wilk, but when I got to class I found out that “peppered” beef steak means PEPPERED. I took one bite and my mouth is still burning, 10 minutes later. (That’s right – I’m in class right now. The professor is out of the country until next week, so we’ve been having guest speakers tell us all about international internships and field studies, none of which I can do. So don’t blame me for being distracted.)

Soc 490R, Sociology of Suffering. I’m taking this from my favorite professor, the one who teaches the core theory courses. Total: 4 classes from him. This class is official titled “Sociology of Suffering: Nietzsche, Weber, Suffering, and the Moral Order of Modernity.” So far, fascinating. I have this Mondays and Wednesdays in the afternoon. Which means…no class on Fridays!

Soc 350, Introduction to Social Psychology. My very last required sociology class. I couldn’t get in to the section I wanted, so I’m taking this through independent study. Don’t worry, I have everything planned out so I’ll definitely finish it on time and graduate in April. (Hooray!!)

The big question, of course, is what happens after graduation? So far, we don’t know. I’d love if the answer is “Jarom gets a decent-paying job in or near Provo so we can just stay put instead of having to move,” unless of course it is decent-paying enough that we can move out of the basement. Finally.

Whatever happens, I can hardly wait until the semester is over!

Calendar

I’ve been thinking off and on about doing a calendar journal instead of (or in addition to) a typical journal. The difference? See the picture below of a simple calendar journal, where you have an index card for each day of the year, and write one short entry per day each year.

Originally I saw this on design*sponge, but another blog I read (Wit & Whistle) did a version as well. And the beginning of the year is of course the perfect time to start. I haven’t decided yet on how I want it to look…but there’s time, right?

So far this year:

January 1 – June has eye infection, boogers everywhere
January 2 – Family walk at Provo River trail. Pretty weather!
January 3 – Back to school but class cancelled
January 4 – Delicious quesadillas for dinner
January 5 – June learned she can crawl into her laundry hamper
January 6 – Friend’s 40th birthday party; my 1st time in a bar

[By the way, I’m using bigger index cards so I can write longer notes and fit more years on. This way, I can get 2012-2024 on each card. …From now until I’m 40!)

Curve

My physical science class has been giving me a headache. The tests are on a curve, mainly because the teacher insists that the average will be about 60% regardless of how he writes the test. I just took the second test over the weekend.

On test #1, I got a 68. Miserable, right? I think so. On the curve it was a B.

On test #2, I got a 74. I actually felt like compared to the first test, 74 was really not too shabby. And guess what? On the curve it was…an A!

Thank you, classmates, for understanding the material even less than I did.