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Baylorblondie007
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Name: Jennifer
Country: United States
State: Texas
Metro: Waco
Birthday: 6/9/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: GOD, music in general, soccer, softball, basketball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, rugby, psychology, philosophy, reading, thinking analytically, my friends, my church, green brains, my family, singing, playing the piano, composing, being a grammar nazi, the university of alabama (ROLL TIDE), hot wings, Baylor University, watching Gilmore Girls and the O.C. late at night, spontaneity, individuals with a witty sense of humor, millimols, and... of course... SLEEPING
Expertise: Alabama athletics, procrastination, bsing my way to As on great texts papers, making up songs given a subject and tuen in less than 5 minutes and, last but certainly not least, being absolutely ridiculous.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  baylorblondie007
Yahoo:  baylorblondie007
Member Since:
4/25/2005
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| February 26, 2008I said I'd update before all the Teach for America happenings occurred, so I figured I should get on that. February 21st has already come and gone. I was indeed chosen to have a phone interview this week. I scheduled mine for this Thursday, the 28th, at 4:20pm. I have read the articles they ask you to peruse, but I plan to spend more time working on them over the next two days making notes and highlighting points I think I may use for discussion during the interview. They also said I should take some time to look over my resume and be ready to discuss it. The interview is only 30 minutes long, and they said that sometimes they may have to cut your answer to get to everything. Therefore, I am trying to expect a lot of different questions and try to think of what some of the questions they would ask me might be. I read on the website that they want to make sure you have good problem solving and critical thinking skills, so I am trying to figure out what kind of scenario with a problem in the classroom they would give me so I can figure out how I would deal with it. Hopefully good, articulate responses will come to me when the time comes. I will find out March 7th if I am going to be invited for the final part of the selection process, a day-long interview taking place at the end of March/beginning of April. It can either be March 25th-28th or 31st-April 2nd. I'll either be in Houston, Dallas, Austin or Baton Rougue. If I get Austin, I'm hoping I could come make an early visit to Waco and maybe crash with one of you Baylor folks... we'll see.
In other news, mentioning Dallas reminded me of my Valentine's weekend. Lisa and I went to Dallas. Valentine's just happened to fall on our anniversary, so we celebrated both. We planned on going to the Melting Pot on the 15th at 5. Neither of us had ever been and were looking forward to it. However, because neither of us had ever been, we didn't know you needed reservations. It's a chain afterall. Even the nice ones generally don't require reservations, just a long wait. That's why we decided to go at 5. There was one couple there when we got there. However, they told us that they were booked for the entire night. That made both of us mad, but we ended up having a really good time anyway at this restaurant right next to our hotel called BJ's Brewery (I believe). I know it sounds like somewhere you wouldn't want to spend a valentine's dinner, but it was actually a nicer restaurant with a much more comfortable feel than the conservative Melting Pot. Plus, they had all their own microbrewed beers and special recipe drinks. Our waitress was also very nice, and my ribeye was the best one I ever had. So if you are ever in Addison, it's right next to the Courtyard by Marriot and really tasty. Afterwards we were planning to go to a club but decided to just go to walmart and get lots of junkfood and watch a movie and spend time together. Even that didn't go right though, as the walmart we found wasn't a superwalmart (as if they could have those in Dallas). We got Taco Bell instead. Then we realized the pay movies were $12.99 each, so we settled for regular TV. It was totally fine by me though since we still got to just enjoy spending time together. Saturday we went to the Cheesecake factory for lunch, which was delicious. We then went on a hunt for a Build-a-Bear with no luck. We went close to downtown and never found the place it told us about. Then we drove all the way back north towards Plano for what the GPS said was the next closest one. It took us forever to get back towards there, and Lisa ended up having to stop at Best Buy to go to the restroom. Then we got to looking in there and got some stuff we had been needing for a while. By this time it was getting close to 3pm, and the tickets for Medieval Times said to be there by 3:30 for the 5pm show. So even after all that, we made our way back into the downtown area for the show and got there around 3:40. We had a really good time with that. Neither of us had been in a long time. Even though our knight was the first one to get kicked out, it was a lot of fun.
The only other news I have to report is about the Alaskan cruise. My parents and I have now booked one on Holland America cruise lines for May 29th-June 6th. We are flying from Memphis to Seattle on the 28th and getting in around 3:30. We plan to spend that evening and the following morning at Seattle sites (as none of us have ever been there) before we head to the ship after lunch. It leaves at 4pm and comes back into Seattle June 6th at 7am. The ship includes stops in Juneau, Sitka, Ketichiken (spelling?) and Victoria. There is one day dedicated to looking at the glaciers and then some time getting to Alaska from Seattle. Flights were much cheaper to come back from Seattle on the 7th, so we are going to spend the other day making the short drive to Vancouver, B.C. as well. I'm definitely excited.
That's all I've got for now. Have a great week everybody!
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| February 10, 2008An early morning/late night (as it is for me) to all of you! It's been about a month since my last post, so I thought I'd do an update. I don't have any particularly exciting or new news at all for the most part to report. Still, that's generally what I think at the beginning of the post and ramble for a while anyway, so I figured I'd try.
The substitute teaching/note-taking is going really well. I actually enjoy note-taking more simply because it is just like still being a college student but without any of the real worries like studying, taking the tests and writing the papers. Plus, I am in classes that I never would have thought to take on my own. One class, macroeconomics, is a class I always assumed I would hate. I'm actually really enjoying it and learning a lot. I'm also taking notes for an interpersonal communications class (very interesting), botany (not so interesting), intro to jazz (good music but not so good teacher) and abnormal psych (already took Baylor's version of it). I am also about to start tutoring the student I take notes for in abnormal psych. She didn't do particularly well on the first test, and I think I could help her out. Yay for more tutoring and more money in classes I like :).
Back to the substitute teaching. I like that a lot too, because I think it has been great for me to get some teaching experience. It has also helped me get a good idea about what I'd enjoy teaching more with Teach for America. I mean, I was planning on putting my primary interest as teaching high school English and still am. In the event I cannot teach high school English though, I think I'd really like doing English and/or Social studies with a 4th-8th grade emphasis. I was in a 5th grade class as the English/Social Studies teacher two times in a row and really enjoyed it. There was an intern in both classes, and both of them told me I would make a great English teacher. Even my British Lit prof told me about a week before I graduated that one day I would end up an English professor. She may well be right.
That's really about it going on for me. I finished my Teach for America application a week ago and now am just waiting to hear if I make the first round of cuts. I'll know February 21st, so keep your fingers crossed! If I do make the first round of cuts, I'll have a 30-45 minute phone interview sometime between February 23rd-29th. If I make it past that, I will have a day-long interview sometime in late March. I'll try to make sure I've done another update well before then. Other than that, the only other news is that I will probably be making a visit to Mississippi in March. SFA and NISD has spring break the second week in March. Lisa will be in Cabo doing her nanny job on the beach, leaving me by myself if I don't go visit someone. My parents are talking about us all going on an Alaskan cruise this summer (May 29th - June 6th), at which point we would book or not book while I'm visiting. That's all I've got for now, so have a good night/morning everyone!
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| My New YearHey everyone (if anyone is still out there)! So, seeing as how I haven't posted on here in forever, I thought I would start off with how things have already changed in the 15 days of this year. As of December 31, 2007, I was unsure of where I would have a job and what I would be doing next year as time was quickly running out on getting everything I needed for graduate school applications. I was also in NY by the Canadian border realizing how freakin' cold it was and that I probably didn't want to go to grad school there, which is all I was applying to. I was afraid I might have to go back home from not having enough money to live through the end of my lease, but how joyous 2008 has been so far.
First of all, as I already mentioned, I was in NY over the change of the holiday. I got to spend a great vacation with Lisa and her family up there. I got to go to Canada after the new year, so my new year started out with making me a more well-traveled individual. After I got home, the job situation really got fixed. I had orientation for substitute teaching on the 10th, and that very day I got an assignment that I will have until the 22nd. I have accepted positions to keep me full through the rest of January. I also got a job with SFA helping people in disability services. So now I have jobs I enjoy that pay me a lot more. I am also getting valuable teaching/tutoring experience.
I've also gotten back on track for what I want to do when the lease runs out in August. I really want to work with Teach for America. The application is due February 15th, and all I have left is one more of the essays (400-500 words), so I should have plenty of time to complete it with the thought that needs to go into it. I put my two top choices as the CA Bay area and Los Angeles. The reason I did that is because I believe I'll end up in California after my two year commitment to Teach for America will be over. It's nice and warm and sunny and has plenty of its own culture. Not to mention, it gives me all those benefits very few other states can offer me. All of Teach for America's programs have a certification program, so you will be certified in the state you teach after you complete the program. Some of them also allow you to get an optional Master's in the process, including both in California. So yeah, I would be well on my way there, teaching in Cali after I finish while working part-time on my doctorate. My third choice is Houston, simply because then I would still be close to some people for two years. Keep me in your prayers that things will work out with it!
Anyhow, I must blow dry my hair and quickly get up and leave for work. Have a wonderful day everyone!
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| Back to XangaHey everyone - if anyone is still out there. I just thought I'd let you all know that after my 6 month hiatus from Xanga I have decided to start using it as my blogspot again instead of Myspace. I'll write again soon with something more than just a 'hey'.
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| HEYYYYYYHiya folks. So, it's been a reallllly long time since I posted on here. In case some of y'all didn't know, I have been making posts on myspace instead. I thought I'd at least post some things on here about this semester though for those who would be interested on reading it here.
#1) This Semester's Classes:
They have been alright. I have surprisingly enjoyed political science more than expected, because my professor tries to make it interesting and is VERY attractive. The class discussions are as I expected them to be though. The only people that speak up are people that need to shut up, because they wouldn't listen to anybody else if their life depended on it. At least it is a semi-interesting, easy class. Plus, the girl that sits 2 seats from me, Jill, is really nice. I usually don't meet people I actually talk to in those required classes. Technoligical and Professional Writing is completely different from what I thought it would be. I hate the class and don't like the teacher, but at least it's fairly easy. We just write papers about stupid topics and hopefully make a good grade on it. The only grade I know for sure on my papers so far though is a 93. Hopefully that means I'll get As on the rest and make an A. My advanced stats class is harder than I originally expected. I made a 99 on the first test and thought it would be a breeze, but I made a 75 on the second test. Somehow we got into a bunch of calculations instead of interpretations, and we all know I'm bad at math. At least now we're getting back to interpretations of all of the multiple regression and ANOVA stuff and how it fits into the general linear equation model. I know I am just thrilling you all. It's actually not a bad class. The teacher can get boring, but he is nice. Plus, I need to know this stuff for grad school anyway. My great texts in dramatic literature course is alright. I have liked a lot of the plays we have read and probalby never would have read the vast majority if not for the class. I have found a new top author in Pierre Corneille from it as well. The teacher is a cool person, but the assignments are rather vague. I'm just hoping to get an A from that one too. Finally, my Psychological research has been pretty fun. I like reading the stories and coding, but now we have gotten to the stressful part in picking some of the research and writing a paper. I have three weeks to come up with all this stuff, so wish me luck, especially since it is 100% of my grade!
#2) Important Decisions made this Semester:
Number One: I want to go to graduate school for sports psychology. I figured that out last semester, but I was still thinking I would do Clinical or Quantitative stuff if I didn't get into a sports psych program right away. What I have decided to do instead is to make sure all of my school stuff is directed towards sports psychology no matter what. Most of the Sports Psychology programs are doctorate's in clinical or counseling psychology with sport psychology interest. Therefore, instead of applying for other clinical or quantitative programs, I have decided to apply to some master's programs in clinical and counseling and then try again for a PhD with the Sports Psychology emphasis if I don't get into one of those the first go around.
Number Two: I am going to London to study abroad next fall at Middlesex University. While I am there, I will talk Biological Bases of Behavior, Systems and Theories of Psychology and Sport and Exercise Psychology. It will count for two of the psych classes that I need and for 15 hours of advanced credit. I am taking Sport and Exercise Psychology just because. It is not something in the psych program at Baylor, but it will count for Psychology of Coaching in the Human Performance department and add to my advanced hours. I am expecting it to help me get a head start on that whole sport psych thing for grad school. Anyway, when I come back in the Spring, I will have to take one more psych class (developmental psychology), one more great texts class, british lit, an HP and the Sensation and Perception Lab (Sensation and Perception lecture is what I am getting credit for with Biological Bases of Behavior). That pretty much plans out the rest of my undergrad career. Those classes I'll have left account for 11 hours, so I will probably add a voice lesson (undergraduate voice) and one more random class that sounds interesting like human sexuality or music theory to have 15 hours. I might take undergrad piano too and have 16.
#3 Plans for the Summer:
I had a meeting when I went home for spring break with Dr. Mike Oliver at the Behavioral Health Center (part of NMMC). He never actually said I got it, but that's pretty much what he implied. I had to fill out an application where they get references and do a background check, so I guess that's why he couldn't say for sure. I am supposed to call at the end of the month and find out for sure. Either way, I will be in Tupelo for the summer. I will be working on GRE things and grad school apps and hopefully be doing this internship too, but I hope to actually see some of y'all Tupelo High folk before we all graduate from college and none of us are ever in Mississippi anymore.
Ok, that concludes my short summary of the major events of this semester and what will soon be taking place. I hope you all have great weeks and a fantastic end to your semester. I'm OUT. | | |
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