Why are you doing this?

It's finals time, and intense studying is being conducted across campus. Being an English major, the material I have to learn is not so much facts and figures but thematic. I need to be able to understand trends in thought and relationships between writings that may span centuries.
Which I quite like.
My roommate, however, is not an English major, but she is in an American Literature course. In studying for her final, I noticed that she was reading the Cliffsnotes page for Emerson's "Self Reliance." Now, I'm not trying to bash people who use Cliffsnotes. I certainly frequented them in high school, and sometimes you need a starting point when approaching such an encompassing work. However, my question is, what really is your goal in taking this exam?
When I asked my roommate, her response was, "to get a goddamned A," and this probably isn't far from what most college students would say. To me, though, I would rather write something interesting and thoughtful rather than something my TA will be 95% sure I plaigarised from Cliffsnotes.
I realize that because I am an English major my goals in this area might be a bit highbrow, but I can't help but think that if you've invested the time and money to come to a university and take a course that requires you to write, shouldn't you want to do it well? Resorting to Cliffsnotes at the end of the semester says to me that you really haven't gained anything from the class at all.

The Art of the All-Nighter

My reasons for writing this blog are two-fold. 1) I've been undertaking a ridiculously large number of all-nighters recently, and 2) I should be using this time to write a paper for my ECON class, so of course I'm going to do this instead. Here follow my personal guidelines to a successful all-nighter.
1) Location
This is possibly the most important rule. Don't try to pull an all-nighter in your room, or especially in your bed. I recommend choosing a location that is far enough away from your normal haunts that you cannot easily return when you become faint of heart. In fact, it's best if you can establish a specific location for all of your all-nighters and build your habits. An especially good location will allow you to orient yourself in various seating positions without being too comfortable- you don't want to be lulled into a false sense of security.
2) Supplies
Bring everything you might possibly, conceivably need to complete your work. You can't allow yourself any extra excuse for not getting your it done. If you're considering bringing that extra large notepad of paper because you might need to do some large scale graphic organizing, do it.
3) Food
Snacks are important. You should have one snack on hand for continual munching/grazing, like cereal. It should be just heavy enough for you to stave off the hunger pains without feeling full. You should also have another snack on hand for a mid-night pick up. I recommend some type of fruit for the psychological benefit of feeling healthy even when you're foregoing sleep.
4) Drink
The drink you choose will have a large impact on your mood. I've found a lightly caffeinated tea to be the best option. Energy drinks or coffee provide too great an energy surge that doesn't last through the long haul- in addition to making you run to the bathroom too often. (Which brings up another point under location- make sure you have easy access to a bathroom.)
5) Distraction
This is a category that is difficult to qualify. On the one hand, in designing your all-nighter set up you should plan to minimize distraction by placing yourself in vastly uninteresting surroundings. On the other hand, though, occasional minor distractions are important to renew focus and to allow new ideas the necessary time to germinate inside your brain. Try playing solitaire or drawing a picture in MS Paint- but don't let it pull you too far away from your work.
Having ostensibly finished this list of guidelines, I should get back to my actual work. Unfortunately, in the great mystical scheme of things, I would much rather do the work I don't need to do than the work I do.

Hmm.... Right.

So much for blogging every day...
I skipped out of collegiate life last Wednesday and went back to my hometown. It was fantastic. My friends and I dyed our hair purple, which was interesting... It was purple when we first did it, and the next day, but now, a week later, the color has evolved into something closer to cotton candy pink. I still like it, though.
After that we drove into creeper-ville, aka East St. Louis, to attend the Family Force 5 concert, which was AMAZING. I like mosh pits, even though I am far too small for them and creepers like to move me around. But it was Family Force 5, and their live show outscores Skillet's live show, which is saying something. Perhaps it's because they have their own company dancer... No, I'm pretty sure it's just because they are through and through amazing.

It's Easter!

I like Easter as a holiday. I like hunting for eggs and Peeps and other Easter activities. I also like going to church. Easter is fun!
But Easter is a largely social holiday. On any typical Easter day (at least in my family)we go church in a big gang. We always go to the sunrise service, which involves waking up way before the sun comes up, sleepily eating scrambled eggs and toast in a kitchen crowded with aunts and uncles and cousins, fighting for use of the bathroom, having some sort of crisis over what to wear to the super special Easter service, piling into several vehicles and arriving at church in a massive convoy, and then standing outside in the chilly pre-dawn weather for the sermon. It's good times.
After church the convoy moves back home and the Easter dinner preparations begin. The adult females crowd into the kitchen, the adult males pack into the living room for some kind of sports television, and the social outcasts from both of these adult groups take the children outside and conduct a massive Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Prizes are awarded, candy is eaten, and at least one child will cry over finding hardly any eggs.
After the children have been exercised enough to allow them back in the house (and after dinner is ready) everyone crowds around the massive dining room table and eats a fantastic dinner of ham, rolls, salads, asparagus, mashed potatoes and other delicacies. After dinner everyone collapses into various positions of fatigue and reminisces over slides of old photos projected onto a sheet hung on a wall in the living room.
You'll notice that throughout this description of a typical Easter in my family, I frequently used adjectives such as "packed," "massive" and "crowded," which were chosen for their ability to describe large groups of people.
This Easter, however, I was alone.
I did not go back home for Easter, and as such I spent it in a very different manner than that to which I am accustomed.
I woke up at approximately nine thirty and decided to sleep until ten. At ten I got out of bed, showered, and took a multivitamin for breakfast. I then sorted my laundry and started it through the long cycle of washing. I even decided to wash my sheets and bedding. After everything was in the washer I took my rug outside and shook the dirt out of it. It was hard to lift my desk up so that I could pull the rug out from under it. I swept my floor, but because I couldn't find the usual broom that is in our floor closet I had to use a small hand held sweep. It was awkward. I put my rug back in place. I transferred my laundry to the dryer, washed my dishes, and cleaned off my desk. I disinfected the doorknobs and cleaned our microfridge. I brought the laundry up from the basement, remade my bed, and put away my clothes. I ate lunch. I took a nap. I awoke from my nap groggy, confused, and hungry again.
As you can see, this Easter has not been particularly noteworthy for its feelings of community and family bliss. In fact, it's been a bit lonesome. I haven't even eaten any peeps.
I am, however, going home on Wednesday. I expect this to be very exciting and will report on its results soon, as in Thursday, when I get back.

Grammar Fail

Missed a day yesterday. Feel much shame.
Went to mall. Made purchases. Am happy.
Now eating Poptarts, which I suspect are the original manna.
Going to read East of Eden tonight. Very excited!
This is a short post.
Goodnight.

It technically is Thursday, so...

I've been organizing my music player for the past half an hour or so, and to my great surprise I discovered Gold- 80's British Hits on it. I did not put this music on my player. I do not recall owning this album. I almost deleted it, but then I opened the folder to see what constituted 80's British Gold. I really wouldn't have any way of knowing, seeing as I missed the 80's by a whole three months.
And funnily enough... I actually like most of the music on the album. I even was looking at buying a few of the songs online. How funny that I actually owned them without ever realizing...
And after a few minutes more reflection on this, I realized that my parents own this album, and that it somehow must have been transferred onto my player at some point. I even recall that we listened to the album on our recent family vacation, but I scorned it for my own personal player. How very foolish I was. The songs, sensing my initial scorn for them, must have entered my subconscious and forced me to search them out on YouTube. A very subtle revenge, I must admit.
In the morning, I am going to wake my roommates up with 80's British Gold. They are going to hate me. I am going to love it.

The Meow from Above

And now for the parachuting cat story.
In southeast Asia (I am inclined to say the Bangladesh area, but then again I confute Tibet and Nepal, so don't trust me on my geographical accuracy), malaria was highly prevalent and also widely considered to be a bad idea. So DDT (the wonder drug) was brought in and sprayed liberally EVERYWHERE. And malaria pretty much disappeared, which is good.
But everyone in this area has thatched roofs. In these thatched roofs are wasps that build their nests there and eat all of the other bugs that would otherwise be eating the thatch. The DDT killed all of the wasps and the other bugs went on munching until all of the thatch roofs started collapsing into the houses, carrying the bugs with them. The geckos that live in the houses (in order to keep the bugs out) were then treated to an enormous feast of DDT laced insects. The DDT slowed the geckos down enough so that the local cats were able to catch them, and the DDT in the geckos killed all of the cats. The abundance of dead cats lying about in the streets actually led to an outbreak of the PLAGUE. I'm really not kidding.
So the UN looks at this situation, scratches their collective head and says, "Huh. I really thought that DDT stuff was going to help. Now what do we do?" Their solution? Parachute in more cats.
I really like the UN.