Month: March 2005

Spring Break!

not that it’s much of a break, really. just working a lot. I have, however, posted some new stories: the golden cucumber, the bike trip, disappearing fratboy, coin collection.

all of those pieces were written for fun (and to fulfill a promise), so don’t try to take them too seriously.

and maybe if you all behave yourselves, I’ll reward you with a new poem in the next few days. don’t count on it though.

My Latest Finished Story Is Posted!

here is the much awaited “music”! hurry and read it to let me know what you think; I will be submitting either this story or “under attack” to the undergraduate literary contest on wednesday. cast your votes before it’s too late!!

in other news, I’ve learned that, without a doubt, I will not be graduating until spring 2006. it’s a rip-off, but the university requires that my most recent thirty hours of study be in their classrooms, so I must enroll in the russian 201/202 next year, along with a couple of upper level rhet/lit courses. the good news is: I will probably only take russian in the spring. that would make a light load 🙂 anyway, as I’ve said before (perhaps not online, but I’ve said it; trust me!): I’m not in a big hurry to go anywhere; I’d just like to be done with school. if I only have to take one course in the spring of ’06, I guess that wouldn’t be too horrible. perhaps I could even take the rhet 455 both semesters, which would simply entail a whole year of independent writing, essentially. I wouldn’t argue with that.

finally, I secured permission to post some other pieces online that I’d promised I wouldn’t publish without said permission, so I’ll get those up soon and let you know. until then, keep on keepin’ on!

My Dang Throat Hurts

I guess I’m getting sick. so I drank a cup of tea, and 1/2-3/4 of the way into it, I couldn’t believe it, but my throat wasn’t fixed yet. what gives?

anyway, I’ve learned today that I will officially be a member of the class of ’06. how pathetic. they’re not offering the intensive russian course in the fall, so I have to take two semesters. 🙁 the good news is this: parkland might be offering russian in the fall—an evening class. so I could take the fall off from school, aside from that russian course, work a lot of hours to pay bills and whatnot, and then take classes at the university again in the spring. I probably won’t take a full courseload in the spring, just the final semester of russian and an independent study in writing. the other possible option is taking an intensive first-year japanese over the summer and then two semesters of that next year. it would be extra work, but I know someone who could do my homework for me 😉

we’ll keep you posted on all of that. as far as the votes for the writing contest: so far I’ve received one vote for “under attack.” that’s the vote count. I’ll keep you posted on that, too!

637

That’s my FICO credit score. not bad, but not good….I’ll have to work on that. I’ve been really good ever since those first three college credit cards (RESIST, CHILDREN!)

but you can now view your credit report free! This is the website to go to in order to view your credit report. find out the source of the negative marks on your report, contact them, and offer them 60% of what you owe to settle. if you don’t have 60% to part with (or 70%, if that’s as low as they’ll come), then work out a payment plan with them. your credit report should reflect when you’ve gone into a repayment plan, hopefully one that won’t take too long to finish. and once you’ve cleaned it all up: fill out those credit card applications like crazy! wow! everything is FREE again!!

also, I worry that one of my new year’s resolutions might have had a negative impact on everyone’s fave fast food joint. . . the title of the article is “Who’s responsible?”, and I couldn’t help but think it was me. then I read the article and realized that it had been published last october. thank god. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if I thought that I single-handedly bludgeoned the giant, simply by deciding to no longer eat three double cheeseburgers (plain) four times a week. and yes, it would’ve been single-handedly, because I always drove with the other hand. but I digress.

Contest

oh yeah: there’s an undergraduate writing contest…and I want to submit one of my short stories. I’m thinking: growing pains, under attack, or perhaps a revised version of music (which is not finished/posted yet). I want some feedback from you people on this! read growing pains and under attack and then send me a message, and I’ll forward music to you so you can let me know which story you think I should submit (and, of course, if you think I should submit one of the others instead, you’re free to let me know that, as well). this is important! there’s a lot of money on the line!!