My Little Corner

Apparently this is going to be the semester of writing papers–which feels like really annoying busy work. I wrote a paper on Friday night (yes, I stayed in on Friday night to do school work and I am so ready for these days to be over), re-wrote my research project paper on Saturday, and I am now reading 6 speech science articles (that take forever to read since it’s like I’m reading a foreign language and don’t understand most of what I read the first three times I read it) so I can write a paper for my mid-term. I’ve discovered that I’m ok with not knowing exactly how infants learn speech; I’m okay with just thinking "that’s neat" and moving on with my life. But alas, I must read a bunch of theories on infant speech perception. Guess I should stop blogging and get back to reading.

I found out today that my research paper is due by March 1st. Just a few more days/nights of looking at all this silly research stuff!!

Yucky research presentation is OVER! Hurray!! I think it went well on Friday but more importantly, it is done. All I have to do now is write the paper but things are definitely looking brighter all around. Now, I’m going to go watch the Oscars

The final countdown to finishing this research project has begun and it’s crunch time. I will be presenting on February 22nd–which is less than two weeks away. My paper doesn’t have to be done by then but according to my faculty mentor it is easier to pull the presentation from the paper than write the paper from the presentation. I’m not sure if I agree with that–I think I can make a pretty good presentation without having the paper written first. Anyway, back I go to trying to figure out what the heck I’m doing.

We got the results back from Formative Assessments at the end of last week and all I had to do was meet with one professor to go over a few minor things. Woohoo! Done with one thing. Now I’m just waiting on my Praxis results and I have to finish my research project in five weeks. eek!

My first week back at school was filled with tests. Formative assessments were on Monday and Tuesday and the Praxis was on Saturday morning. I think we’ll find out about FA sometime this coming week–whether rewrites or clarifications are needed. It would be really great if I didn’t have to rewrite any of the questions but I’m not sure if that’s ever happened. The Praxis was hard to judge whether I passed or not–apparently all I have to make is a 600. The actual score doesn’t mean anything; I just have to pass it. I don’t think I’ll have that score for another month or so.

I didn’t set an alarm this morning and that was fabulous! I love not having a set time to be somewhere in the morning and being able to just stay in bed as long as I want. That will not be the case tomorrow morning though. I’ll have to get up super early to be in Fort Worth by 7:30 for this semester’s clinical rotation. bleh. I think I have senior-itis again. Since I know that I will be done with school work and classes in a few short months (and since I was home for an entire month just hanging out), it’s really hard for me to be proactive and motivated. Especially when my assignments include writing in a journal about my feelings and reading about speech stuff. Our last two classes of our AuD program are Counseling (taught by a couples therapy psychologist) and Speech Science (taught by a really nice man but we just don’t care). You will find me sitting in a circle talking about feelings every Friday afternoon of this semester. Get excited.

Time for The Amazing Race!

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Happy Wedding (Abby’s, not my own–obviously)!

I finished my not-so-fun-very-stressful semester (with all As I might add)! I took last week off from doing school related things–like study for comps or work on my research project–to relax and start the stress of shopping for Christmas presents. Knowing where I’ll be for my externship has definitely been a weight off my shoulders and very exciting when I think about it. Well, now I must start working on studying for comps–excuse me "formative assessments 2008." Get excited.

I haven’t posted anything of substance lately. School has be pretty busy and externship stuff has had me pretty stressed. Last week was extremely crazy: got an offer on Monday, turned it down on Wednesday, set up an interview for December on Wednesday, had a phone interview on Thursday, got another offer on Friday, changed my December interview to today, and made a decision. I will be in Scottsdale, AZ at the Mayo Clinic for my fourth (and final!) year of my AuD program. I feel strangely calm about this–I’m taking that to be a feeling of peace, since I’ve been praying for direction and peace about this externship thing. It’s also sort of surreal–I’ve really made a decision (after I call Mayo tomorrow morning and let them know I’ve accepted). I know where I’ll be moving to after next semester. It’s exciting even if I’m feeling more calm about it at this moment. I think there’s also excitement because I’m having a hard time concentrating on studying for my final tomorrow…but that may also be the material the test is over.

As I was driving home today, I was flipping through radio stations when I heard Christmas music playing. Do I need to remind anyone that it’s only the 7th of November?