moussu.net Blog

… and i cite from one student, about two texts she was supposed to compare, one arguing FOR the legalization of drugs and one AGAINST: « I think they (the two authors) wrote the articles different because not all people like to read the same thing. »

… and from someone else: « I think these articles were intended for an audience other than myself because i found them very hard to comprehend and to pay attention to. »

« Throughout the article, different studies from different periods are used as sources to cite statistics that if you think about them and why they are used help you come to the conclution that they put them in there to help prove a point. When all it does in reality is take up space on the paper and makes it look pretty. »

I LOVE MY STUDENTS!

Life is okay again. Well, I have recommendations, at least. How many? I’ve sort of lost track. I panicked and contacted every professor I’ve taken a class from. I should end up with somewhere from 3 to 6 recommendations. I hope they put the extras in my file.

HI! I kept not being able to publish & post. So I was retyping and retyping. Finally, I see that tbe button has changed so I could have done it after all! Silly me. Well, I hope you have VERY WARM clothes!

Hey, how was the gym? I can’t believe the weather! That’s insane! Why, they should pass a law against that kind of weather. (It would work just as well as Utah’s English-only law, but hey).
Speaking of Utah’s English only law (which is something I do on a regular basis) My thesis is coming along! I have results! At least for one of the questions. Although there’s no point in graduating because my professors didn’t write recommendations!

that’s it: i’m going back to the gym! right now!! hope i can still move tomorrow morning!!!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest day in SIX years in Indiana. Today, we had a maximum of 1 (ONE) degree FARENHEIT (-16 Celcius), which i don’t think i’ve ever experienced, and i wonder what tomorrow will be! let’s check… ok… it says that we’ll have something that your dear friend/sister/teacher/daughter/granddaughter/niece/student miss lulu has NEVER seen in her 30 years of wonderful life: MINUS FIVE DEGREES FARENHEIT, which means MOINS VINGT-ET-UN DEGRES CELCIUS! with « wind chills: -20F; humidity: 60%; wind: 25mph. » Poor cows are going to freeze! Here’s my question: what is wrong with this place??? Last time I checked, I hadn’t moved to Alaska!!! This is what i think: either Bequi moves here, or i’m getting out of here asap! oh, and it also says « severe weather alert » … thanks for the warning! Bequi, Eggington and Henrichsen had better write you these letters or i’ll take care of it myself!!!

Maybe you are so tired because of the long vacation. It takes time to get back into the swing of things. I got an email from Purdue. They have all my application stuff EXCEPT for two recommendation letters. Dr. Eggington and Dr. Henrichsen didn’t mail them in! Dr. Tanner did, at least. I asked those three for recomendation letters around December 8th. This probably means that they didn’t send letters to University of Texas either. Waaaahh!

Can i just say this? I AM EXHAUSTED! i have only 6 credits, i eat well, i have relatively nice students who only require all my energy, i have just spent one month eating healthy and resting as much as possible… what is wrong with me??? if i don’t feel better by next week, that’s it, i’ll get checked for mono, cancer, aids, pregnancy, tuberculosis, drugs, what else?? oh dad, mom, MY NOSE IS OK!! i’m just so tired…

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Did I spend the day doing community service projects? No. Did I go to the candlelight vigil at the belltower? No. Did I stay home and write my syllabusses and lesson plans? No. So what did I do? Submitted my Ph.D. application to Purdue. Why? Because someone told me I had to, under penalty of death. And death is pretty harsh.

Did I ever say that I didn’t like dogs? In Utah, I called the cops about twice a week because of my neighbors’ dog which kept barking all day and all night while I was trying to write my thesis… do dog owners not think that their dogs can bother other people??? Here, I have an animal shelter right under my window and the dogs keep barking, but no one will do anything about it because our apartment buildings were built AFTER the shelter… Has anyone heard about sound proof windows??? And finally, last night, I got hit by a dog… that I was trying to pet, just to be nice, because I always give people a second chance, so I can give dogs a third chance… but this one jumped and hit my nose with his head, so hard that I almost fainted, had a nose bleed for a while, and got a purple-green-and -pumpkin-like nose with a couple of deep scratches on it! Wonder if it’s not fractured… I HAVE given dogs a third change, I guess… but I will not give them a fourth! Good thing we have a long weekend so my students don’t see my face… too bad though, I just got my voice back! What’s for next week???

Seneca said: it’s not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it’s because we do not dare that things are difficult!

*sigh*, i hope your VOICE returns soon.
and what about you NEEDING 3 kids? you left me with at least that many!

Happy birfday i hope your voive returns soon

still no voice… 4th day… went to see the doctor yesterday and got antibiotics… she said that the more i try to speak the longer it’ll take for my voice to come back! GREAT! It snowed tons yesterday, and it was 15 degrees F all day! Crazy place! HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBEKAH! Don’t worry, you aren’t 40 yet, you’re still young I’ll call you as soon as I’m actually able to speak on the phone, but I always think of you!!! And all the others!!! Have a great day everyone!!

that’s it, i’ve done it, i’m 30!!! now i need a job, a husband, 3 kids, and a dog (could always steal one from the animal shelter under my window!) and my life will be perfect. … well… instead i’ve got 30 b-day cards from Bequi, a calendar of the Beatles, a call from my sister who hasn’t forgotten my b-day this year, money from Singapore from my teacher, and 50 new students… who would dare to complain after that??? life is wonderful, thank you to all those who have helped make it that wonderful once or more than once! when I think that my parents became parents for the first time 30 years ago, i understand that I’m still VERY young! At least I haven’t become a parent 30 years ago! tonight, sushi was delicious, the company was great, and i’m hoping that tomorrow i’ll have my voice back! great day!

i’ve got a crazy friend!!! what did i do to deserve such great friends???? Bequi, you should have seen me this morning, looking through the pile of mail that accumulated over the month i was gone and finding, among 200 late bills, your many cards, and reading them, one after another… and laughing my head off in my kitchen… you are so nice, i can’t believe it!!! i’ve tried to call you many times since i got back but it doesn’t work… has your number changed? i don’t even get an answering machine! I WANT TO TALK TO YOU!!! you’re an amazing friend and I miss you way too much!!!!!

i’m back indeed! with a bronchitis… things went well for my trip: i was in business class, then my friend dan picked me up at the airport and drove me to my hotel downtown, then I spent the next morning emptying all my bank accounts, and finally, i drove back to beloved lafayette. i have lost my voice though… and called my family at 1am by mistake instead of 1pm… and slept with my contacts… and called my aunt at her old number (she changed 3 years ago!)… it’s either the fever or I’m loosing my mind. it’s good to be in my own bed again!!! classes and work start on monday the 13th… for now, i’m going back to bed!

Welcome back! (er, are you back yet?)
How’s the jet lag? When do classes start? Why am I not asleep yet?

I miss you too! I can’t seem to concentrate. I should be grading diagnostic tests (the breakfast is tomorrow).

Did Tracy ever tell you her story about her French teacher? He was from France and all his female students were in love with him. He had been there for about two weeks when one student in the class said, « Ko mo tal ey voo » with the worst farmer accent you can imagine (he was trying his best). The teacher screamed, threw all his papers from his desk up into the air, and ran out of the classroom. Never to be seen again.

�hola!
So, yesterday morning I woke up to my clock radio playing the song « I Get Lost in Your Eyes. » Later, I put my contact lenses in, only one is somehow gone. But I know it was in my eye, but I can’t find it and my eyelid feels funny and finally I find it folded up under my eyelid. It was lost in my eye. Dude! My radio was foretelling the future!

weekend in chicago with sister cancelled–am depressed–am 8 lbs fatter–snow and cold finally in switzerland, YUCK–happy birthday Daniel–will consequently go back to indiana around the 10th of january–need to be alone–have spent a wonderful day with wonderful friends–miss my bed–need sushi desperatly–love switzerland–am happy for noemi and iwan you know why–don’t want to teach 50 students–don’t like myself much since here–feel older and selfisher by the minute–will exchange 5 lbs of wisdom for 5 years of youth–miss judy and bequi the most–need someone to carry my suitcases home–will turn 30 on the 13th–need to sleep more–love you all–etc.

salut c’est noemi

So what’s the deal with the PhD application essays? I’d be tearing my hair out over them except, what a waste of hair dye that would be! UTexas wants « a graduate research paper, a significant chapter of a master’s thesis, or the entire thesis » one list says just sending an abstract is okay. I hope I can, since I HAVE NO SIGNIFICANT CHAPTER YET! Well, I think it would have to be chapter 4, right? I can write an abstract with preliminary results, if I can come up with those results in the next week. Along with teaching and OPI testing for TTTC. Woe is me! Okay, not too much, just somewhat.

Oh, I am working on PhD applications . . . to University of Texas and . . . Purdue! (since I heard so much about it from a certain friend of mine). The catch is that they put the wrong code on the application, so my GRE scores got sent to who knows where and now the deadline has passed (it was January 1st). Well, I made a valiant effort, at least. I have two more schools to worry about–U Texas, Austin (Jan 15th) and University of Colorado, Boulder (February 15th).

Congrats on the A in Syntax! You knew I signed up for Japanese 101, right? Well, then I dropped it due to, well, you know. Then I had the bright idea of signing up for a graduate level class on persuasion (comms 615). But now I somehow ended up teaching three classes (when will I learn to say no?) so I don’t have time to take any classes or else I will never finish my thesis.

�Hola!
I didn’t disappear off the face of the earth–I just flew to DC, then drove across most of the United States, then spent a week at my parents’ house and then a few days at my sister’s house in Colorado and now I’m back in Utah. How’s that for a one sentence summary of my life? So, you’re not going back to Indiana till after your birthday?

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2003 EVERYONE!!! Rebekah, are you still talking to me??? I miss you, sorry I haven’t written… Paris was wonderful, I had to buy a new suitcase yesterday to carry all the stuff I bought there and in Switzerland! I’m flying back to the US on the 9th of January and spending a few days in Chicago with my sister for my b-day… I’ll write more soon on this thing, be patient, I’m still recovering from my syntax class… where I got an A, by the way