From Critical Thinking to Critical Injury

Hello world.  Happy Monday.  You know how the past couple of weeks I've been in a complete funk? Well I think I'm out of it.  At least for now, I'm feeling much better  I had a great weekend and I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed by my circumstance and life is good.  
I do however want to remind you about my new sponsorship program.  It's a "pay as you like" system where all you have to do is contribute to my college fund to get an awesome sponsorship package. Click on "Advertise" to learn more. 
As you most likely know, for the past few weeks I have been focusing on academic achievement.  As it's about half way through the month I figured it's time to check in. 

It's going great.  Seriously.  It's a miracle...I have basically spent every minute of the past two weeks working on homework, studying, and being completely immersed in school and it is paying off like you would not believe.  I wrote a six page paper like it was nothing.  It was like I couldn't stop the my brain from creating sentences.  I had done that much research on the topic and I was so ready. 
Here is a little PSA for everyone out there who is struggling like I was:   Take a deep breath and get to work.  It's gonna be okay. 
-I got a 26/30 on my Philosophy test...If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I have a serious dislike for philosophy. It's a critical thinking course and I want to critically injure my professor every week.  So getting a 26/30 is, again, a miracle.  -I'm two chapters ahead in one of my books -I finished this coming Thursday's homework last Tuesday.  -I'm on top of all my assignments for all my classes and I officially do not feel overwhelmed by the amount of work and reading I have. 
I hoping that my midterm grades look amazing and I will tear up with joy when I look at them.  I have never worked so hard for my grades in my life and I'm so happy that I did. When I started working on these monthly goals I didn't know it would work so well but  it's really working.  It has shown me exactly what I'm capable of in a lot of different areas.  It has shown me that I can be a great blogger, I can be frugal (okay so I sort of have to be frugal...) and that I can really do well in school and work hard.  It has been a tough month so far if I'm being completely honest but it's worth it and I know that. :) 
How are your new years resolutions going?  Did you make goals for this month?  Are you sticking to em? 


PS--Don't forget about my weekly link up "What's Up Wednesday"  This weeks questions are the same as last weeks.  You can start adding your links at midnight every Wednesday! Check out the guidelines here!

Help me...

Oh hey, Midterm.  What's up?  I can't believe that it's midterm.  Or March.  Or 2015.  Where did the time go?  It feels like every day is moving a little bit faster.  Are they taking hours out of the day or is it just me.  There might literally be less and less time to complete my work for each day.  I think I'm having what you might call a Quarter Life Crisis.  In fact, I think I might have a few of these before I even get to 25...This isn't the first time I've experienced this, but man this one is rough. 
In 2013 when I left school, it was because I couldn't pay for it.  The semester was ending and it was time to sign up for the spring classes but I couldn't because I still had a balance on my account.  I had just bought a car and I was about to be living in it if I had decided to stay in Las Vegas. So instead, I packed up my dorm room and I went home.  I lived with my parents, I worked like a dog at a new job, I played some serious Army and I was able to return to college in the fall of 2014.  I paid for most of it out of my pocket with all of the money I had saved from working day in and day out for months.  Now, here I am again at that same juncture.  I have this balance on my account, my savings is depleted, I can't work enough hours to support myself. It doesn't matter how many applications I submit, no one will hire me.  I can't even get a job folding clothes at a teeny-bopper store.  What is that all about?!  I play in a band on the weekends that helps me pay for my gas money and incidentals but some how it's just not quite enough to make the ends meet.    I have deicded to start a sponsor ship program here on my blog where I have a new policy:

Visit my Advertising page to learn more.

 

You are also welcome to donate to my GoFundme account without sponsorship, however you will still recieve a personal thank you note from me.

What's Up Wednesday Week 6

Welcome to What's Up Wednesday.  I'm so glad that you stopped by and I hope that you'll join is in sharing what we're all up to.  

This week we want to know...

What I loved about the past week//
What I'm looking forward to//

What my latest obsession is//

What I've been daydreaming about//

What I'm watching//

What I'm listening to//

What I'm craving//

What I'm doing this weekend//

What else is new//

This week we have a wonderful Guest Host! Elizabeth from Epise of Cake.  She is awesome and so is her blog.  She has linked up with a few times and I have really enjoyed getting to know her and I'm sure you will too! 

Just as a refresher here are the guidelines: They can also be found by clicking "link up" at the top of my page.

1. We would love it if you would follow your hosts:

Ashley ♦ Shannon 

2.  Please use the prompt and the graphic above in your post.  You don't have to answer all of the questions if you aren't feeling one of them, feel free to move onto the next! 

3.  Link up the actual post and not your blogs homepage

4.  Share the link up on Twitter, IG, and Facebook using #Whatsuplinkup 

What I loved about the past week//  I loved that I've been so motivated academically.  I have been able to get so much done.  I am excited to share more of my methods and I hope that they can help others in the future! 

What I'm looking forward to//  Did I ever tell you guys that I'm looking forward to spring break?! haha well I think we made this plan to go out to the Grand Canyon for a day or two, so now I'm looking forward to that specifically. 

What my latest obsession is// My mandolin.  If you follow me on Instagram you'll see I've posted a few videos of my playing recently and I just can't get enough of it. 

What I've been daydreaming about// I'm daydreaming about getting one of the jobs that I applied for a few weeks ago.  I haven't heard back from either one and I'm starting to get nervous...I want them so badly!

What I'm watching//  Don't laugh.  I'm watching The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix.  It's low budget and totally lame but I love it...

What I'm listening to// I've been listening to pretty much all bluegrass all the time.  I'm trying to hone my craft and listening to bluegrass is really helpful. 

What I'm doing this weekend// I dunno.  Trav and I talked about going to the shooting range.  That's always fun! 

What else is new//  Honestly, not a whole lot.  I'm working hard to keep my life from falling apart academically and monetarily.  So far the former is going better than the latter, but at least one things is good! 

Well, Until next time! Don't forget to add your link! 

Keys to Conquring College

A little while back, I started writing a lot about college. I wrote about things I wish I'd known before I started college a few years ago. I've also shared a few things like time management and how to survive the first day.  I've decided it's about time I continued on with the College Chronicles.

 

 

Today I want to talk strategy.  A lot of people think that college is going to be the hardest time of their life.  You're broke, up to your eyeballs in student loans, and trying not to fail out so you don't lose that financial aid.  When I started school, I was honestly kind of worried about how successful I would be.  High school was hard for me.  I had a hard time focusing, I constantly procrastinated, and I blew off a ton of my work.  Honestly, looking back, I don't even know why. It wasn't hard.  I was just a lazy bum.

 

So I was afriad I'd fall into the same patterns and fail when it came to college, but I was able to learn a few lessons and figure out how to succeed in college.

 

1)  Take notes in your lectures.  I know it's hard, but it is so important.  When it comes time to study for tests and midterms, you will be so happy that you took notes.  One of the best ways I learned to take notes was to follow along with the lecture in my book and makes notes in the margin as the teacher talks. I usually keep some paer near by or sticky notes incase I write too much, but it helps connect your notes to the reading and the lectures

 

2) Go to class. Some days you will just think "Well I don't really feel like it today" and you'll want to skip class. By missing class you could not only be missing some important information, but you could be losing participation points I missed two classes of one of my classes and I got behind really fast! Don't skip...

 

3) Try your best not to procrastinate. This might be the hardest one. When you have a syllabus, you can see your assignments weeks in advance.  It's tempting to think "That's not due for weeks!" But before you know it, the due date is tomorrow and you're preparing to pull an all nighter with some Red Bull and text books. If you do a little bit of the work at a time it feels less overwhelming and it's easier to complete. Even if you wait to write the paper the night before, at least to the work leading up to it earlier!

 

4) Understand what your teachers want from you. Some of your teachers want you to participate more and don't care as much about assignments. Other teachers won't bother to learn  your name and will only judge you on the quality of your papers.  Understand which classes need attention in different areas.

 

5) Do the required reading.  For one, text books are expensive.  If you don't use them, you're wasting your money.  And two, when you do the reading and then go to class, it's amazing how much more you'll remember after class.  It will make it so you have to study for tests less because you read on your own then you get a supplemental explanation from your professor. It is so worth the time to read.

 

6) Pace yourself.  This one might be the most important.  I learned the hard way that you can't sit down and barrel through 100 pages of reading in one sitting.  Designate times to do different class work/reading and don't overwhelm youself.  This will keep you from procrastinating and give you a little free time to enjoy the un-school parts of college.

 

So far, I've been able to acheive all As and Bs in college.  It isn't always easy, but if you pay attention to these tips and really apply them it will be difficult to fail.  College is an investiment in your future. It's worth it to apply yourself and really do well.  I just remind myself that I've paid a lot of money for my education, so I better make the most of it!

What is up Week 5

Whoa...did we seriously make it a whole month doing this weekly link up?!  I'm super proud of that.  It's hard, but so rewarding.  I'm loving getting to know new bloggers and reading all these posts with all sorts of different stuff that's well...up.  

Before adding your link, please visit this page for the guidelines!  Today we have a new awesome guest host with us! Meet Elizabeth!

She blogs over at The Blooming Air Force Bride. Head over and see what's up with her!  

What I loved about the past week// I loved that I finally got to eat Cafe Rio...For the first time in a few weeks I allowed myself to indulge.

What I'm looking forward to// I am looking forward to the end of the semester.  Are we there yet?

What I'm nervous about// I'm nervous about everything.  I seriously get nervous about nothing and everything all the time...I should probably look into that.

What I've been daydreaming about// I am still dreaming about the beach.  All I want to do is slather on some sun screen, lay in the sand and forget about school for fifteen minutes.  Is is Spring Break yet? Photo taken in 2009, Don't freak about the hair...I'm also day dreaming about those shades...Where did they ever get off to?

What I ate for dinner last night// I had some taco bell...Bad idea. 

What I'm doing this weekend// All I know for certain about my weekend is that I have to work just like all the other weekends.

What else is new?  Not a whole lot is new for me this week! I'm working hard on lot of my school stuff and staying focused So I guess that's good!  What are you up to?

*Next week we will be adding some new questions! Here they are for your convenience! Hope you'll join us!*

What I loved about the past week//
What I'm looking forward to//

What my latest obsession is//

What I've been daydreaming about//

What I'm watching//

What I'm listening to//

What I'm craving//

What I'm doing this weekend//

What else is new//

Because I Suck at Staying on Task

Because my goal for this month is to focus on academics, I've figured out a few ways to increase my productivity to make staying on task a little bit easier
1. Task timers I have heard a lot about people using apps that kick them off of Facebook if they use it for too long, so I looked into those types of apps and I found a task timer.  It's amazing. *All I did to find this was search the Google Chrome Apps for time management*

You choose how long you want to spend on each thing and it will start a timer for you.  When I started editing that screen cap, I started the timer.  I'm now on the clock! I have to finish all my blog work with in the designated amount of time now which leaves time for other things.  Like many other things though, you have to allow it to work.  Once the time is up, it's up!  I'm also looking into apps on my phone that will do the same thing. 
2.  No Netflix

Like none.  Seriously. Netflix eats up all of my productivity.  If i just don't open it up, I'm fine! I get lots of stuff done, but the second that Netflix window pops up I may as well throw in the towel.  My work for the day is over... I've put up reminders to keep me from even going there! 

3.  Minimal Travis Time...

This is the saddest part.  We are both so busy with school, it's important for both of us to be really focused.  It is really not fun to be so close and have to spend so much time apart, but we have responsibilities that we can't just forget. So I just look at that picture a lot instead of being sad about it. 

How do you keep yourself from getting distracted? Is it hard to stay productive? It can be quite a challenge for me, but I'm sure that these things will help. 

P.S- Don't forget about What's Up Wednesday! It's tomorrow. All you have to do is follow the prompt and add your link. We would loove to have you! This week we have a few new questions and a new guest host, so be sure to stop by and check it out. 

Academic Achievement

 

For the month of February, my focus was "Better Blogging" I was a little bit skeptical when I started out on it, but I'm really happy with how things went.  I wasn't able to do exactly what I set out to do, but regardless of that, I made some real progress.

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't spend any money on sponsoring other blogs, but I was able to use Facebook Groups a little more, I worked on using the scheduling features on social media, and the link up is a success.  I made a few new blog friends and I've honestly been pretty happy about the way things are going.  That means we can call this months goals a success.  I'm going to continue working on all those goals and I'm working on growth and progress.

This month, I'm working on...

 

 

My goals associated with this are as follows:

 

1// Procrastinate less! February was pretty stressful becuase I accidentally put off some stuff I should have done a while ago...If I work harder not to procrastinate, maybe my life will be better.

 

2// Focus on quality. Anyone can write a crappy paper and turn it in. I need to work hard to produce quality assignments that I can put in my portfolio and be proud of.

 

3// Manage time better! So I'm already pretty good at time management, but I end up spending hours and hours on one thing and then I have spent my entire day on one assignment and I haven't worked on anything else.  I need to change that.

 

4// Keep my eye on the prize. I have been struggling with the fact that my teaching license is so far away...I just need to remember that these are all steps to getting there and I'll be there before I know it!

What are your goals for March?