Spending Money! On shoes! Yay!

So, no purse. But I did buy some fun shoes this weekend. And blogger is actually playing nice and letting me upload pictures. Again. Hmmm...

Pair #1 I have been internet stalking for some time. Me and my friend Hezah have had some long conversations about them. Discussing their merits and what the different colors say. So I got these shoes...but in black (for some reason, the black color isn't on the website).

Aren't they totally impractical and fabulous! Although I need to practice walking in them because that folks is a 4" heel! I walked around them in my apartment and was teetering about like a drunk girl. So I'll need to get used to a heel that high before I release myself in these to the public.

Pair #2 are cute and more practical. And fun. And they are totally comfy. These I'll wear to school or just out and about...or everywhere really. And the color is fun.

Ha ha ha ha ha

Ha ha ha ha ha

I am all for #7. I think I will skip #8.

Five-fer Friday!

Woooo! It's back.

Now, I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging because I have been up to my eyeballs with metabolism. I had my lecture two weeks ago and I have been tutoring a student in the class as well. Plus I had to come up with questions for my part of the test and then grade those questions. So my brain has been devoted to remembering material I last paid attention to 5 years ago.

Today's five-fer is 5 thoughts I have about teaching(/tutoring).

1. I was nervous about my lecture. I don't get nervous about seminars/presentations, but I was nervous before my lecture. I think it was because with the lecture, I actually need to get across information to a group of people. Like...they need to retain it. Not just sit in a large room digesting the pizza they just ate while someone talks about research they probably don't care about.
2. Holy crap preparing a lecture is lots-o-work. I consulted so many different sources (textbooks, lectures, internet) in preparing my lecture. I mean, I was told in the beginning it is tons of work. But man, if I totaled the time I spent on this lecture it would probably have been 4 entire days. (But this was spread over about 3 weeks...and I only had one lecture to prepare)
3. Tutoring was a little nerve wrecking too. At this point, when a student in the class requests a tutor, it pretty much means they are not passing. This particular student requested tutoring just over a week before the third (out of four) test. While I did spend insane amounts of time relearning the material, it was very satisfying when they appeared to get something that they had previously been struggling with. Plus the tutoring was a good place to help hone teaching skills (even though it was to an audience of one). Just little things that I said in passing that were helping, or presenting material from the actual lecture in a different way. Oh, and I also got paid for it. That helps**.
4. Test questions are a little bit tricky. You don't want to be too easy. You don't want to be too hard. I found I had to ask a friend of mine if my questions seemed ok. I was thinking they were too easy, but I didn't know how objective I was being seeing how I knew what I was asking. I had a slight advantage too because my boss was making the other part of the test, so he said he would choose out of my bank of questions and if they were all too easy, he'd make them harder. Out of 6 questions I gave him, he used 2.5 on the test. I thought that was a fair amount giving I was only 1/5 of the section.
5. Grading questions makes you want to pull your hair out. It's easy grading for the people who get "short answer" type questions completely right or completely wrong. The middle people are the trouble makers. If you are giving partial credit, you have to determine how many points for what. And some people...what they write...boggles the mind. You read it multiple times and still can't make sense of it.

But even after all of that...I still want to teach. Knowing that in the real world I'll have multiple lectures to prepare. Entire tests to prepare. Entire tests to grade. This whole process was a really good experience to get an idea of what goes into it.

**To reward myself for being finished with my foray into teaching, I am treating myself to a hot stone massage. The tutoring is helping to offset the cost. Slightly.

Eddie Murphy is right...

I was all ready to get out of my desk chair and go set up some lab work. I am literally about to remove my headphones and get up....then what comes onto the 80's internet radio station I am listening to?

"Party all the time" by Eddie Murphy.

You just can't walk away from that.

My Precious....

Ha! I found you. You thought you would be squirrely and try to elude me. But no, I am persistent. I am a stalker (sometimes...and not in a scary way)...I will find you.

I was just going to buy me a pair of new cute flats. I blame Joy for this thought popping into my head. I saw a cute pair (not Cole Haan though...I'm not a copy cat--although they did have a nice selection of them in the store and they are really cute in person). They were casual enough to wear with just jeans and a tee, but I could also sneak them in with business casual. (don't ask for a picture because I couldn't tell you the brand name of them) On the display were a brown, tan and navy pair. I assumed they were low on the black pair. I asked the saleslady who kept wandering by me just begging me to ask for help. She said they didn't have black at this store but wasn't sure if black ones were made or not. Who doesn't make black shoes? You have brown, tan and navy...but not black? Saleslady was not helpful after that. She pointed to a pair of black flats by the same brand...that looked nothing like the shoes I wanted. She told me those tend to go over really well. I told her I liked the style I asked her about, not some other random ones she wanted to lure me into buying.

Anywho, after I left the shoe department in frustration, I went through the purses. I happened to notice the more upscale purses around the corner...and when I saw the shelves I knew this was where I had seen my purse the first time. I had been going back to the wrong department store! I quickly go over to the area where my purse should be...and lo and behold...there she is...plus her twin. I picked her up. I put her on my shoulder. I looked at all her innard pockets and such. I might have also hugged the purse.

I didn't buy it, but I think when I go to visit my purse again this week I will see how much it is (it might be on sale). If I am still gun shy about buying it, I will call the parents and tell them this is what I want for Christmas and see if they will go for it.

That's my purse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Hunt for the Elusive Chupacabra (or purse)

So, before I had mentioned this purse that I saw. And loved.

Joy demanded to see it...but I couldn't find it online. Neither at the department store I saw it in or on the designer's page. I just chocked it up to maybe it was a purse on the cusp of seasons (which would mean it should eventually be on sale, right?).

So, I know I have been a bad blogger, but you know, school has gotten in the way of my life. Things are calming back down. In this calm down I headed to the mall (to get some jeans that don't have serious holes in them). While at the mall, I decided I would go visit my purse.

The department store it is in is in the middle of renovations/remodeling/construction of some sort. This time the renovation/remodeling/construction was currently in the section that houses the purses. I found the temporary home for the purses. My purse was not there. At all. Not even close.

I am slightly worried. Is my purse gone? Or perhaps is it just not being displayed due to the lack of space? I don't know.

But this purse has turned into a mythical creature. I swear it is real....I saw it! I touched it! But I have no proof of its existence....and I can't find proof of its existence. I'm not crazy...that purse it real!

On the plus side, I did find some uber cute/slightly slutty shoes. I mean...if I am gonna wear some serious heels, I want my shoes to be a little on the slutty side. Like me! Hee! (that's not true, I'm not slutty! I swear!)