Presenting at URCAD

I feel as though I spend all of my time this semester apologizing for not blogging as much as I should, but I’m on a roll now, so SORRY I HAVEN’T BLOGGED IN AWHILE!

So much has happened in the last few weeks that I don’t even know where to begin!  Chronologically tends to work out pretty well, so let’s go ….

I finally presented at URCAD and it was WONDERFUL!  My research wasn’t completely finished, but the first part was presentable, so it was a good thing I did a poster because I worked on it until THE MORNING it was supposed to go up, haha.  I was super worried about doing the poster (like I spent all my time at work that morning wondering if I was going to throw up from nerves), but in hindsight, I don’t understand why.  It was a smashing success!  Everyone loved my poster, and although lots of people had GREAT stuff, my Will Ferrell research was by far the most popular among the average joes of students, haha!  I wouldn’t even have cared if no one came to my poster, but I really needed to get lots of feedback from people on the research.  Folks had such GREAT comments/ suggestions on things I should work on or questions that I had never even though about.  PLUS, my Mama came and I got to hang out with her for a little bit at URCAD -WOO!

Writing the first (but not rough) draft …

As avid readers of this blog will know, I am working on my departmental honors research this semester.  I am studying the ways in which masculinity is represented in Will Ferrell films and the ways that male undergraduates use quotes from Will Ferrell films in their performance of masculinity (whoo! long topic!).  The time has come to write my first draft of the paper.  Needless to say, I am NOT ON THE BALL!

Getting into the University of Iowa is a blessing and I am SO EXCITED about next year (even though I’ll miss UMBC).  HOWEVER, it also means that senioritis has struck with a vengeance!  Between CSI marathons on Spike TV and surfing around Iowa City websites, there’s not a lot of time left over to write, haha!  I just can’t quite seem to get my butt in gear!

Still, URCAD is next week and I REALLY need to have this DONE! I’m still waiting on IRB approval (’cuz I’m a lazy researcher and I didn’t send it in a timely fashion, lol) and until I get that, I can’t even begin the second portion of the research, let alone present on it …. oh well, c’est la vie!

As always, I’ll pull through just at the last minute and it will be wonderful (although probably not as wonderful as it might have been if I hadn’t caught senioritis).  SHRUG!

Campaign Team ASSEMBLE!

So I’ve been working on Steve’s campaign team for the past few weeks and I’ve got to say, it’s been really really fun. Everyone on the team has such great ideas and Steve has been working so hard to get everything done (on top of his homework … poor boy is so beat right now it’s not even funny). And even though my arm is EXHAUSTED from making dozens of TEAM STEVE and TEAM TOKS t-shirts, it’s AWESOME to walk around campus and see all the positive response from people who see the shirts — Everyone wants one!

One part of Steve’s platform is that, although he has his own ideas, he really wants to hear what the students have to say (especially those students whose concerns might not always be addressed). He’s really interested in making sure that every UMBC student knows how the SGA works and how their student activity fee is being spent.

SO along those lines, I’ve been wandering around campus in my Team Steve shirt with a huge posterboard, trying to have random people write down suggestions about things they would like to see happen next year. I thought it would be awkward, but it was really funny how easy it was after a while. It certainly didn’t hurt that a LOT of the students I talked to seemed to remember me from their Orientation program. I gotta say too, we got a lot of great ideas from people on those boards (everything from making smaller/ more frequent ProveIt! campaigns to different kinds of campus events/ attractions).

Oh There’s Nothing Halfway About The Iowa Way To Greet You!

Guess what! Guess what! Guess what! I GOT INTO THE AMERICAN STUDIES PhD PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA!

Woohoo! Grad School, here I come! I also have been offered a teaching assistantship to teach three sessions of Freshman Rhetoric, so that will help pay for school as well! I AM SO HAPPY! I can’t even describe how excited I am!  I spend a shameful number of hours each day browsing the university website and planning stuff for next year (what can I say, I’m a day dreamer by nature).

And call me a hypocrite, but I’m so glad that I came to UMBC as an undergraduate because I NEVER had a TA teaching a class (or even leading a discussion to be honest … at least not in my classes).  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am PUMPED that I’ll be teaching next year, but I already feel bad for my future students … not because I won’t be awesome … uh, obviously I will be … but because having a TA is NEVER as good as having a professor, I don’t care how great a TA you are.

So, long story short … Hooray for my wonderful TA-less years at UMBC and HOORAY for going to get my PhD in Iowa City!!!!! WOOHOO!

Steve Gilmore is running for SGA President!

Woot!!!  I’m so excited!  My friend Steve is running for SGA president (with Tokes Elegbe as his running mate) and I’m serving in his campaign team!  He is very experienced in the SGA and he’s got a lot of great ideas for next year.  I’m especially glad that he is working so hard to reach out to the entire campus and not just those of us who are already involved.

UMBC is one of those colleges that has a totally active student life, but you have to want to be active.  Steve and Tokes are trying to change that and get fresh ideas and fresh faces to be involved next year.  We’ve got great people already involved (I mean, I’m one of them … so obviously we’re wonderful, hehe), but there’s always room for improvement and I’m really glad that they’re working so hard to get the whole campus community to give feedback and suggestions!

VOTE GILMORE ELEGBE!

My Crazy Weekend

So I know it’s been forever since I’ve written and I’m sorry … I’m a horrible blogger )

BUT, I had a C-R-A-Z-Y weekend!!! My friend, Beth (from my semester abroad), came down with two of her friends from Ohio to visit. Her two friends are going to UB for Law School and I offered to let them crash at my place over the weekend. Poor things drove through HOURS of snow storms to come visit me!

Needless to say, I spent the whole week prior cleaning my room (no mean feat … ask anyone, or better yet, don’t, it’s embarrassing). I had to laugh too: my comforter got tangled in the washing machine and I had to spend an hour up to my armpits in freezing cold water trying to get it out! This was an INTENSE cleaning!

SO, they finally made it and we planned out our weekend. We all got up at the buttcrack of dawn and I drove the two girls into the city and dropped them off at UB. Then, stupid me, I took a wrong turn heading out of the city and ended up wandering around Baltimore for about an hour trying to get back to 95 South (which should have been easy, but I kept getting distracted because I was having so much fun hanging out with Beth again).

FINALLY, we get back to 95 South and head down to the Metro station at Greenbelt. We took the Metro down (which made Beth’s day, I’m sure, since she wants to move to DC and live happily ever after). Of course, my lack of real planning meant that we showed up at the National Portrait Gallery an hour too early …. Off to Starbucks for a late breakfast!

Then … WE SAW STEPHEN COLBERT’S PORTRAIT!!!! It was surrounded by college students … we were all on some kind of crazy pilgrimage or something!We took our pictures with him, wandered around the rest of the gallery for a bit, and then headed back to Baltimore to pick up her friends.

They all wanted to see more of the area, so I took them down to Ellicott City and we wandered around the town, going into the fun shops for a while. Apparently, Ohio doesn’t have tiny, cute towns with little shops! Who knew?! I love those kind of places, not to mention that Ellicott City has some great restaurants and bars (though it was a little early in the day for that, haha). They LOVED it!

After wandering around Ellicott City, we headed back to the Inner Harbor for dinner at Phillip’s because they wanted to have good seafood and see the Harbor and do all the touristy things (like try on funny crab hats and buy Baltimore-themed shot glasses).

After dinner, we went back to my apartment and got changed to go out. One of my roommates was celebrating her birthday, so we all went down to Federal Hill and barhopped (or at least, we started to bar hop, but really just spent all night at the Ropewalk).

There was even an open pool table and some nice guys paid for all of our games. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! Especially since I hadn’t seen Beth in almost a year (sniffle)!

They left pretty early Sunday morning and I went back to finishing up the homework that I’d put off, but all in all, it was a crazy awesome weekend and just made me realize how much I LOVE BALTIMORE!

Applying to URCAD

Now some of you may be wondering why UMBC loves its abbreviations … to be honest, I have no idea (it certainly doesn’t help that our very name is an abbreviation). SO, to make matters somewhat clearer, let me explain URCAD (it’s the least I can do).

URCAD = Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day

(What a mouthful! … hence, URCAD)

Now, I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it, but this semester, my research is on Will Ferrell films and masculinity.  I’ve been slowly plodding through, transcribing all of the movies (trust me, they stop being funny when you have to pause them every two seconds to write down what folks said, haha).  Still, this wouldn’t be so bad except that I’m going to have to present my findings at URCAD.

Truth be told, I love the attention that I will get at this event, but it is also terrifying to have the entire campus community come to see what I’ve done.  Let me explain:  URCAD is the one day each year when everyone who has done research and wants to show it off (or has to as part of their departmental honors program …. ahem) gives either a presentation or displays a poster board, explaining their research and fielding questions.

Sound intimidating?  It is, but it is also the time when we really get a chance to understand what each other’s majors really mean (come on, admit it, you have no idea what American Studies really is … even if you’ve read my blog and think it’s about Star Trek, you’ve only understood a fraction of what we do).  That’s the real beauty of URCAD.  My friends could sit me down and spend all day trying to explain why understanding the life cycle of a worm matters, but it’s usually not until URCAD that I can see it alongside all of their peers’ and get how it all fits together.

So … yay for URCAD!

And boo for having to fill out my application form … sigh!

UMBC Men’s Basketball ROCKS (Part II)

Yesterday, UMBC Men’s Basketball kicked some Albany BUTT!!!  Wooooooooooooo!!!!  It was a really really really fun game too!  Remember when I thought there were a lot of people at the game during Wintermester?  I was wrong, LAST night it was crowded.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many people at a game (even our homecoming game)!  EVERYONE was there, my friends, my bosses, my professors, alums … EVERYBODY!

The only sniffly part of the game was when I lost at the Half-Time Simon Says competition … :’-(   It’s been too long since I was a child I guess, I’ve lost the knack!  I didn’t know the girl who won, but she got $100 cash (so CONGRATS if you’re reading this)!

Seriously though, what a game.  We were ahead the whole time (duh, we rock), but near the end, I swear they were just fouling us left and right!  Poor sportsmanship, that’s what I call it!  Anywho, on top of our own points, it certainly didn’t hurt that they just kept basically giving us free throw points.  For real, GREAT GAME

First Week of my Last Semester

It is my last semester here at UMBC and that is a confusing feeling. I am really excited to be so close to the next stage of my life, but I’m also really uncertain about what that next stage will be (at least in the near future … I’ve got my long-term goals worked out, but what happens next year is, at least at this point, out of my hands)! It’s just bittersweet.

I love being at UMBC and I love all of my professors, staff, and friends here and I don’t want to leave the comfortable routines we’ve developed, but at the same time, I am READY to get a move on! Blame it on too much moving around as a child, but I am feeling RESTLESS!

On the bright side, I went to my classes yesterday (I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursday, YAY!) and they are going to be great, I can tell! PHIL 100 was PACKED … standing room only, because so many people were on the hold list trying to get in. They were mostly freshman tho (I can tell) and so they’ll have plenty of time to take the class in future semesters. The professor is so cool too, all of my friends recommended him, and I’m glad I listened because he seems really fun!

My AMST 372 was also pretty full, but we’re probably going to switch to another room so we can have better discussions. Or at the very least, we’ll rearrange the desk I guess. This class is going to be a LOT of work (American Studies always is), but hopefully a lot of fun too. I so rarely have classes with my friends, but I recognized a lot of people in the class and a couple close friends are taking too. Did I mention we get to bring in food in class?! Since the class is about food, we get bring in foods to talk about …. HOORAY!!!

I’m also taking a class on Baltimore Album Quilts. It’s sort of a material culture class and it’s also a skill class, so we’re actually learning how to make our own BAQs (too bad it’s been forever since I’ve had to hand sew anything, haha!) and it’s going to be a lot of fun. Just looking through the quilting magazines the first day, I realized that quilting is a lot cooler than just Granny’s old bedspread!

All in all, a really great start to the semester. Here’s to hoping that the semester stays this chill! YEAH RIGHT!

Vermont – UMBC JUST POUNDED YOU … doggie style!

I just got back from the men’s basketball game against Vermont … we totally kicked BUTT!!! It was also absurdly crowded … especially for a Wintermester game! It was such a fun game too. The pep band was sounding great, the pom/dance team rocked (as always), the cheerleaders had their new uniforms and looked killer, and the baton twirler made baton twirling look COOL … and we got to sing the Fight Song about 4 of 5 times (hooray!)

Stand up and cheer, UMBC!

Forward we go to another victory!

Retrievers be bold, we back you as we stand!

Black and Gold, the best in Maryland!

(dum dum dum dum!)

Rise up and Sing!

Stand up and Roar!

Make echoes ring from the mountains to the shore!

Baltimore’s pride, our alma mater grand!

UMBC, the best in ANY land!

 

U! M! … B! C!

U! M! … B! C!

U! M! … B! C!

1-2-3

Go Big Dawgs!

Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!

I’ve been so busy last semester, I barely had time to go to games — I’d forgotten how much FUN they are!  ESPECIALLY WHEN WE WIN!!!  Well, enough reveling in our victory, time to finish that homework I’ve been putting off all day, haha!