Week 15: Famous Last Words (For Me!)

(Image info: "Positive Thinker" by Leland Francisco (2011). Flickr.)

For my final Famous Last Words, I wanted to mention some personal things. My semester was the hardest I have ever had and this is my super senior year! I hope this can serve as a good message for people in the future or anyone in this class that might be struggling with the same things.

I started this semester in 17 credit hours. I ended this semester in only 6 credit hours because I dropped the other classes. I may only pass one class and am struggling to pass the other. Now, for the longest time I was always so very scared of failure. I thought it would be the end of the world. This semester has taught me that sometimes life has different plans for us than what we have for ourselves at the time. I am looking forward to my last semester here to get things back in shape and stay on top of everything!

My family and I struggled through a huge financial crisis this year and I was unable to stay in Norman for quite some time due to it. I did not have internet access back home and so I tried to stay on top of my class from the library, but eventually it just got overwhelming. There were a lot of situations that came up that I had not experienced before and it really wrecked havoc on my school semester.

Now, what has helped me get back up this month, is the help and support of my department and the Goddard clinic. They offer free counselling for anyone who is struggling in college for pretty much any reason! If you have anxiety, depression, fear, or anything about school, relationships, your life away from school, anything, you can speak with wonderful counselors over there for free. They legit are the reason I've been able to try to finish my semester out now that I am back in Norman with some stability!

So PLEASE! If you end up in any semester feeling like you are struggling to find motivation, feel anxious, or can't get out of bed. Or if you have problems with any sort of thing whatsoever, do yourself the biggest favor and get help. They can help you come up with plans to lessen your stress, anxiety, depression, keep up with school, tackle problems head on, and more. For me, I got so behind that I kept just putting off getting things together. I just gave up. But now I am trying to kick my own butt and finish with passing grades!

On that note, I hope everyone had a wonderful semester. I hope next semester is wonderful. I hope next year is wonderful. Keep your heads up, get through, because you will feel such a sense of achievement when you get that paper! And remember, sometimes it gets tough. It is okay to take a break, or slow down, and sometimes you might even mess up and feel bad. It's okay. Failure is not forever and it is not to be feared. It builds us up and makes us stronger. :) You will overcome.

Happy Holidays!

Week 14: Famous Last Words

(Image Information: "Sometimes, a hug is all what we need" by Jesslee Culzon. Flickr.)

I want to focus this Famous Last Words on everyone else in the class. While I ended up extremely busy with a tough semester and things happening that kept me from school, I want to say that I was so blown away by everyone’s writing this semester. The storybooks are incredible and I have read so many fun ideas that it really makes me happy that people were able to tap into their creativity and come up with such great ideas.

All of the storybook nominations for this semester were incredible. Kudos to each one of you, because you guys did awesome! Of course, the storybooks I read that did not make it to the nominations were phenomenal as well. From fantasy to riddles, to diaries and articles, from every genre and style and more, I think everyone did an amazing job. It really has made me want to dive right back into creative outlets like writing.

So I hope everyone was able to bring away something amazing from this class. Whether it be an appreciation for others art, for others introductions and life, making new friends, or tapping into their own outlets. It could be anything positive! Good job on all of your work and here is to the ending of a semester soon. I wish everyone good grades and a good future. I know that the year is ending but next year is a new year with even more exciting experiences to come. So be sure to remember this wonderful class!

I really wish I had taken this another semester to fully enjoy what I could’ve gotten out of it! Unfortunately, financially and personally I had a lot of struggles this year (family health) and I was unable to focus as much as I wanted to. But this overall was a super fun class!

Week 9: Famous Last Words

Well shoot! I was so determined to get ahead this week and then I had a family emergency that took me out of the state and I didn't have access to the internet... I guess these things happen sometimes so I'm not too worried but I'm really really REALLY glad there's so much extra credit opportunities in this class right now!

This week I start volunteering more with my internship. I am looking forward to spending more time working with the kiddos I get to see each week. I am nervous about being placed in a new area though!

Unfortunately my time with my photography studio has come to an end. It just became progressively harder to work and keep up with school, family, social life, and trying to prepare for the GRE and getting experience needed to apply for graduate schools and programs. I loved the experience I got with the company and I appreciate every moment I spent over the last year with them! It is definitely not the end of my photography journey but for now it's time to finish this last year with a bang in school. =) (Smiley face is so smiley.)

I've been wanting to get back into reading more. This class has gotten me used to reading so many fun stories that I've been looking into new books to buy. I love fantasy and romance genres, so if you have any suggestions feel free to let me know! I would love the suggestions and I will definitely check all of them out. I recently finished The Grisha Trilogy and I loved it so much.

Well, I hope I am able to catch up like I hoped! I appreciate seeing my family this last week and I am glad everything turned out okay. Midterms were alright as well so I can't complain about much! I hope everyone else is having a good semester and is able to keep up.

Reading is love.

(Image Information: "I <2 2 Read" by Kate Ter Haar (2013). Source: Flickr.)

Week 8: Famous Last Words

Last week I mentioned I was hoping to get ahead in my classes, but of course, procrastination is at it's finest for me this week! I have midterms coming up this week in my other classes, so I have to write a 10 page paper tomorrow (yuck) for my capstone. It shouldn't be too hard but I hope I can find the motivation to knock it out of the park early on! It's about psychology topics, so I think it will be pretty easy for me to do. Psychology is my major after all, and I do love the topics that come with it.

Have I mentioned how ready I am for the semester to be over! I am definitely looking forward to Christmas break already! I say that every semester though, because I always look forward to breaks haha. School gets so hectic and I am working at the same time, it gets to be overwhelming.

The good news is that I have been able to relax a little bit. I am getting back into the gym and I hope I can get a good routine in, because I really miss some weightlifting! Eventually I want to get back into figure skating but right now I feel like I just don't have the time. Maybe next semester. 

Hitting the Gym!

(Image information: "Hardcore Stormies Hit The Gym" by W_Minshull. Source: Flickr.)

My storybook is coming along nicely, I think. Each week I am pleased with it and I am looking forward to writing my next story. I have already found an image I want to use, so the creativity is already happening! It is always nice when it comes to you naturally. Writer's block can be a hard thing to overcome. I read a lot of people's blogs and think wow, they have an awesome story and writing. I wonder what they do to overcome any block they have. Do you have any tips?

All in all, I'm feeling good about school and work. I'm just ready to sleep for days!

Week 7 Famous Last Words

Wow! So this semester has been going by so fast and before I knew it, I was behind! I am going to be going into hyper mode this week to get ahead again. I am definitely hoping to get at least one week ahead in this class so I can keep up without panicking. I guess that is one downfall to being a procrastinator!

I have to say that I love the storybook ideas for this class. I am super happy with my topic selection, the princesses and sad endings. I know that most people long for happy endings but I am good at writing those not so happy ones, so I stuck to my strengths. In fact the recent story I added to my storybook, The Poetess Princess, was by far one of my favorite writings for this semester... It just came to me and that is the best way to write, when you really feel the inspiration and the motivation!

Storybooks.

(Image Information: Books by Chris (2008). Web Source: Flickr.)

Unfortunately I really need to learn to not use so many commas. I think I go overboard with them! Everyone has been very kind in their comments and that has made me very happy that people are interested in my storybook, so I am hoping to brush up my skills so I can please everyone with emotional stories! Hopefully I can find more princess stories that will allow me to be creative, because I am very picky with which stories I choose so I end up spending a lot of time going through them. Maybe that is where I get my inspiration from though, because I always end up picking a story that touches my heart and allows me to come up with twists!

So far I have read a lot of very interesting storybooks from other students and I am really excited to read more. It is a fun project and I hope everyone is enjoying it because not a lot of classes at OU let us be this open and creative!

Week 5: Famous Last Words

I decided that I should really discuss the importance of this class in relation to my other courses and my future goals. I am thoroughly enjoying this class because it is allowing me to expand my creative outlets, especially writing and I feel as if I am able to let my imagination roam again. This is so important because currently I volunteer with children and also work with children in my photography, so being able to explore creativity and imaginative arts helps me connect with those kids as well.

Everyone remembers being kids. We were SO thoughtful, creative, fun, and imaginative. The daunting experience of college can sometimes keep us logical and analytic and I feel as if I really lost touch of my creative side for a very long time. After getting involved in photography, writing, reading, and art again, it is really helping me enjoy this outlet.

I am hoping to get more involved in arts in school. I have been looking around for opportunities around campus that will open my creative thinking more, but I am not sure where to look further. I have started reading more in my free time, especially fantasy based genres, but I think I would like to be able to socialize in a creative scene. I considered enrolling in some form of art class next semester with some of my free time or even pursuing musical talents.

This blogging and writing has really made me interested in furthering my writing capabilities. I am exited to create new and entertaining stories, so maybe I should consider a class next semester about creative writing. I get a little bogged down when I hit a slump and get into "writer's block," so I think it would be beneficial to continue searching for these opportunities I've been pondering. It is just a few options!

The artist's tools.

(Image Information: Artist Toolbox by See-ming Lee (2009). Web Source: Flickr.)

Week 2 Famous Last Words

Note to self.
(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons 2007.)

This last week of class, I really enjoyed writing about Apuleius's Cupid & Psyche, because it opened a creative gateway for me to explore the personality of Venus and develop her character further. I love the villain type characters! To get into a writing groove, I always pick stories or rhymes that stood out to me in the first place. It's always easier to write when you already have a good feeling about what you're basing it off of. I like to pick stories that could have advanced with different endings or rhymes that leave a lot of room to expand on, using broad statements or trying to change figurative wording to literal wording. I am very particular about the writing style I use, mostly third person active voice. I have always used this style to 

write stories.

I feel like I am really getting a lot of good vibes from other people's storytelling! I love reading the creativity people can bring forward and the twists that they come up with. It always intrigues me to see what kind of writing style other people use, because I feel as if I am not very strong at other styles. 

I had a bit of a tough week this week and I feel like I really need to make sure I get into a good habit and routine of completing everything in a timely fashion. Between school and work, it is easy to lose my sense of time and that trips me up often. Overall, I am really enjoying this class and I think it is really serving as a creative outlet for my writing and my art. It's a lot of fun to be able to put twists on stories and I have really missed writing fun things! I am hoping that each week challenges me in new ways and I am able to put forth excellent work.