baby, it's cold outside

it's summer. last week we were all sweltering in hundred degree weather and mugginess that hit you like an anvil if you dared to step outside. it was bad. so why is it that i kept waking up last night from the cold, and i could barely drag myself out of bed this morning to shower because outside of my blanket was like antarctica? now it's really nice outside, but all of this weather changing is kinda ridiculous. especially when i don't have any sweats to put on because i already moved them into the apartment i'll be living in when i get back from the summer (my books are also gone and the empty bookcases across from my bed make me sad) and i'm left with shorts and t-shirts unless i wanna sleep in jeans.

anyway, so i wake up early today because i thought i had a million and three things to do before we left, but i grossly underestimated my ability to be productive and now i'm done with everything, my parents aren't home, my sister is still asleep, and nothing is on tv.

also, i realized that in all of my writings, i have a problem with starting too slow. it doesn't matter how long or short the piece is, i take too long to get to the hook. this was first brought to my attention when i entered sincerely, mr. nobody into that amazon contest a year or so ago. i realize that having been written in three weeks and practically unedited, i can't judge everything by it. but the same issue has since come up a few times with my shorter pieces, and i honestly don't know how to fix it. i've tried. so if anyone knows how to either bring the hook up or hint at the hook/foreshadow without hitting the reader in the face with it and could give me any advice, then i would be eternally grateful and forever indebted to you.

*Baby, It's Cold Outside - Bing Crosby

the confidence of a man who's never known defeat

since my academic career is, at long last, drawing to a close (or at least according to the admissions office, though i hope to draw it out a little longer) i have decided to share my secret to success. yes, i have a secret to success and you should all feel incredibly honored that i am sharing it with you. i assure you that i dont intend to sound condescendingly cocky or retardly cliche, though what i'm about to tell you could be interpreted as either.

so, ready for the big revelation?? here it is: if you go into a class with complete confidence that you're going to do well in it, then you will do well. no i am not saying just think positive, anything is possible, don't give up before you try, or any of those other motivational sayings. but, honestly, it makes sense.

say you start a class, and from the first day you walk in, you know that you'll do fine. you're not hoping that you'll do okay. you're not worried about the amount of work there is. you dont care that everyone else has marked the class as an automatic fail. you are completely certain that you'll pass, and not just barely scrape by, but really really pass. since you already know you're going to do okay in it, there's no need to stress. no need to get overwhelmed. everything seems manageable, because you know. a paper is just a paper. a test just a test. and then, because you are not blowing everything way out of proportion, you do do well.

and so that's it, i go into every class knowing that i'll be fine, and sure enough, i am. the hardest part is that you cant have doubts. at all. you have to go into every class as if you're walking into a class about basic addition. you already know that 2 + 2 = 4 so theres nothing at all to worry about.

*Let It All Out - Relient K