If at second you don't succeed...

I took the driving test again today. It took all of 2 minutes. I hit a cone while parallel parking. I would be considerably less upset if 1) I hadn't already passed that part yesterday, showing that I can in fact parallel park and 2) parallel parking were actually a useful skill. Seriously, how often do people parallel park? Why not a 3-point-turn? Why not a left turn at a major intersection? Now I wasted one more try at a license because I couldn't see the cones at all in the side mirror or out the window.

Boo to you, DMV and parallel parking.

Testing, testing, 1-2-3

I just finished my final finals week. It was a time of great testing and great papering. And it's almost over. Here are the results:

MUS 356 (Musical Theater, online): 14/15 on the final, and perfect scores on all the assignments that weren't tests. On the other tests, I got 5, 4.5, and 10, respectively. Those are all out of 15. My total for the class is a 73.5%. Solid C

MUS 354 (Hip Hop, online): Each exam for this course had 2 parts--the regular exam and the analytical listening exam. For the exams, I got 100/160, 80/160, 88/160, 168/240. For analytical listening, I got 27/36, 24/36, 24/36, and 18/72. That's 62.9%. Solid D.

HST 307 (Something about Africa, slavery, and gender): For the map quiz, I got an 80%. We had reaction papers that we had to write, but he would only collect them occasionally. This semester, he collected them once, on a week that I didn't write one (which was every week). So I got a 0 on that. Then we had 3 book reviews. I got 54/66, 50/66, and 56/66. That's amazing considering I didn't do the second one. That's how amazing I am/Dr. Hamel is. For the midterm, I got 209/250. There was no posted grade for the final paper, but I got a B- posted, which is higher than the C was expecting/hoping for.

SPA 202 (Spanish): My Spanish teacher was crazy and absent more often than anyone else in the class. The final was split up into 2 parts--the listening and the written--which had the first part in class on the last day and the second part during finals week. When we turned in the second part, we got a progress report. For participation, I got 83%. For the exams, I got an 81% (which was dropped), a 90%, and a 95%. I have 475% for quizzes which she never gave us, so that's cool/she's crazy. I got a total 98.5% for online homework, which I never did because she never assigned it (she said to go online and do a couple problems for each chapter, which I never did because nothing was concretely assigned). I got 100% on all of the compositions, grades that are higher than what I got on those assignments. I got 93% on my oral exams, which are higher than what I actually got. For the listening portion of the final, I got 34/40. I didn't do too well on the written exam, but with all those grades, I have about 114%, so I'm not really worried about this class, unless she looks at it and says, "Oh, I'm crazy, shouldn't be teaching at all, and these grades aren't correct. D!" But I don't think that's gonna happen, so I'm guessing an A.

The most recent test I took was not at all for school, but for a driver's license. I passed the written exam with flying colors (those colors are actually fairly close to the colors of a failing grade, considering I was 2 wrong questions away from not passing, but the colors were flying nonetheless). Then I took the driving test. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to parallel park, which was the first thing I had to do (of course). I nailed it on my second try. Then I drove around, and was told that I was going 30 in a 25 zone and didn't give myself ample time to stop at lights and signs and when I was turning, which resulted in me slowing down, and then slamming the brakes pretty hard. I think that was an over exaggeration, but I wasn't administering the test. Anyway, with all that, I was told that I need to take it again. That makes me :-(, but whatever. I'm confident that I can pass within the allotted 3 tries.


Any fun test stories?

A phone message

So, on Monday, I was talking to someone on the phone when my phone cut out. I was going to call them back when I got a text. I figure it was him trying a different way to get a hold of me. I read my text, and this is what it says:

"This is your really old phone speaking. You should get rid of me and treat yourself to some new hotness. I've served you well and need to be retired."

The number has a Phoenix area code, but it's not a number that I recognize. I'm thoroughly weirded out by this. Maybe I do need to get a new phone. Anybody wanna donate to the Buy J-Ra A New Phone Foundation, or the BJNPF?

Putting the "rap" back in "crap"

I have a confession: I used to listen to rap music. Please, don't look at me that way. I can't say that I was a victim of my surroundings because I don't feel like I was a victim of anything. When I listened to it, I actually enjoyed it. There was just something fantastic hearing Tupac tell about Brenda having a baby. I enjoyed listening to Bone Thugs-n-Harmony mourn for those they lost in "Tha Crossroads." I still love looking back at Queen Latifah screaming her rage about the frequent uses of "bitch" and "ho" when referring to women. I miss those days.

Unfortunately, rap is like any other musical genre in that it changes over time. Where Tupac used to rap about how bad life in the ghetto was, rappers today would rather glorify the drug use, drug dealing, promiscuity, and crime that keep people down. Where Bone asked, "can somebody, anybody tell me why we die?" rappers today would rather "leave in a body bag, but never in cuffs." While Queen Latifah asked for some respect as a woman, we have rappers today talking about making "females crawl;" and that's the edited version.

Even recently, we had a movie about the tragic life of Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, which didn't seem to think anything of his hesitation to vow faithfulness at his wedding, of his lack of hesitation to break said vow, or even of him selling drugs to a pregnant woman, because that's the way things are in the ghetto. One of my favorite rap lyrics from one of my favorite rap artists says, "It's sad 'cuz I bet Brenda doesn't even know just 'cuz you're in the ghetto doesn't mean you can't grow." Mr. Shakur didn't think that you had to remain where you were. That's not the message we're hearing today. Today, we're hearing about sex, drugs, and crime, with very few of those messages containing any amount of repentance, regret, or a want for others to learn from these mistakes.

And songwriting has been replaced by adding ridiculous sound effects (see M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes). Clever rhyming has been replace by repetition of stupid lyrics (see Akon's "Right Now"). People are even taking the need for talent out of music by letting a computer sing for them (see anything by Akon or T-Pain).

But, that's all my rant about secular rap music. It's a little comforting to know that there are still some people who want to rap about something better than themselves. With that, I leave you with music videos for the only 2 songs I've ever bought on iTunes. Enjoy!

I'm just trying to be a better version of me for you

I don't really tell people this, but if I sense that I'm being annoying, I'll back off and give the annoyee some space. (If I sense I'm being annoyed, I'll give me some space, but that's neither here nor there). I don't want to annoy people, so if I think I am, I figure I'll just go away and the annoyingness will be averted. Problem solved.

But I don't want to back off. I want to be less annoying. Some people think that you shouldn't let what others think of you dictate your life, but I say that other people have to live with or around you, so you should at least consider them.

So, I'm trying to be an old dog learning new tricks. I want to start washing my dishes when I'm done with them. I want to put my clothes away so they're not all over the place. I want to become someone easier to live with.

If I have done or habitually do anything annoying to you, please let me know (I'd rather take it as a private message rather than a comment on the blog). Seriously. Tell me. Otherwise, I'll keep doing it.

Love, peace, and hair grease!
J-Ra

Praying

Some days just seem to need prayer more than others.

Our nation is under new leadership
I have a friend in the hospital
I have a friend whose child got a bone marrow transplant
I have a friend who simply needs some prayer right now
I need prayer

God instructs us to pray continually, and sometimes He just lays it on us to let us know that we cannot handle things on our own. And, through Jesus Christ, the God-man, we have a direct line to Him.]

So, why wait until the national day of prayer (whenever that is) or See You at the Pole? We should be praying now and always. That's what's going to bring about change. Besides, talking about someone is less effective than talking to God about someone.

Philippians 4:6-7
"...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

2 Chronicles 11:14
"...if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

GO CARDS!!!

Now, I've never claimed to be a Cardinals fan, but I will root for any AZ team going to their sports' respective championships. So, it looks like I'm going to be watching the Super Bowl for the game.

LET'S GO CARDINALS!

And to think, last year I said, completely sarcastically, that they were going to the Super Bowl.