So I came up with an ingenious plan to keep me focused on my homework: forget that Facebook exists!

Well, in all honesty, that didn’t work so well. Facebook has been a serious distraction when I write papers. It’s dangerous how close I am to due dates when I haven’t even started assignments. I’m not using  my time effectively. So I need to do something to keep me from getting on constantly, and I came up with a plan:

Change my password. Obviously I couldn’t be the one to change it, because then I would know it, and that wouldn’t help the situation. So I got Alyssa to do it for me. She has the password to my account, I don’t: problem solved. I can no longer check Facebook unless she logs me on.

I could always ask for it back, and she could give it to me with enough begging, but I don’t want to be faced with not getting my homework done because of an internet website. Homework should definitely come first.

The end of the semester is here again…and busy as ever! It doesn’t seem like there is enough time in these last two weeks to do everything that needs to be done. The last week before finals, I have 3 papers and a presentation due-only one of which I’ve started. I expect to be functioning on very little sleep…

Plus, my boss scheduled me four days a week at Barnes and Noble. My entire Tuesdays and Thursdays are devoted to class and work-class at 11 (waking up earlier if I decide I need to do homework in the morning) and work until 11.

In the midst of it all, my bike got a flat tire-as if I needed more stress. I don’t really have time to go and get it fixed. Fortunately, I’ve been able to get rides so far, but I may be reduced to walking. On the bright side, I only have 5 work days left!

On Thursday morning, Brittany B. interviewed me for her TV Production class (not sure if that’s really the class, though). I was on camera. Wow. I’m not very comfortable with cameras (as my fellow blogger Ashlea can attest to since I actually helped her with a filming project just a few days earlier), so being in the spotlight, in front of the cameras, with her entire class watching was a little worse than awful for me. I got through it though! She interviewed me about my blogging, asking what I write about, if people recognize me, how my friends have reacted, and lots of other questions.

I managed to find time to register for fall classes-that was fun. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I’m done with class at 12:15! On Fridays, I’m done by 11. I am kind of in love with my schedule. I am also taking one of the new dialogue classes that is a part of the restructuring of the curriculum. If you haven’t heard about it, check out the Knight Writer, where you can learn a little more.

Also, we had our last poetry coffeehouse of the year. Quest, our literary arts journal, was published and offered to students. I took 6 copies. It seems like a lot, but one of my poems was published in it, and all of my family wants copies. It was Christina’s last night as President of the Poetry Club. Next year, I’m up. She gave me all of the information I needed to run the coffeehouses smoothly. I’m looking forward to it; I’ve never been in a leadership position before.

The same night, Brittany B., Alyssa, Kaileigh and I went to the play-The Boys Next Door. It was AMAZING, like Morgan said. Everyone did a great job. They put a lot of work into it; they even built an entire set (which I watched them take apart Saturday morning during brunch)! If anyone didn’t get to see it, you missed out. My favorite phrase since the play is, “Oh boy! Donuts!”

So, that’s an update on the past week or so. It’s been busy! Hopefully, the next two weeks will fly by so I can go home! I can’t wait…

Aly moved out of our room about two weeks ago. I meant to blog about it sooner, but I haven’t had a chance.  She and I hadn’t been getting along since before Spring Break, and more recently, she and Kaileigh had not been getting along. I know that advice is Morgan’s area of expertise, but I think this situation could provide help for other students dealing with the same issues. There are some things that you need to remember when you have roommate trouble.

Your first step should be to talk to your roommate about whatever problems you’re having. It’s easier to attempt to fix them yourself before involving others.

Talk to your RA and RD. They might be able to help. They might have you sign new roommate contracts to set boundaries in the room.

Try to keep things civil. For one, if you’re still living with someone you don’t get along with, you don’t want your room to have an uncomfortable atmosphere. Also, remember that this is a small school, and you’re going to see this person even if you or they move out. It’s easier to pass someone on one of the paths to class if things don’t end badly. So even if someone does move out, try not to be rude. Chances are  you’re going to run into your ex-roommate again.

Next, don’t start gossip. Plain and simple. No explanation should be needed.

Finally, if there were good times before you and your roommate started having troubles, if you were friends, try to remember that. It’s better than dwelling on everything that tore you apart.

I’m not saying that all of these suggestions will work, or even that we followed all of them when Aly moved out, but maybe they will help you to avoid the stress that this kind of situation puts on everyone. College is hard enough without coming back to your room and knowing you don’t want to be there.

 The conference began on Thursday with a convocations session where Eleanor Wilner was the guest speaker. Later that night, we had a banquet as a welcoming dinner where Geoffrey Wolff delivered a monologue he had written. Brittany and I took pictures and made some new friends. We both wore dresses that were not appropriate for the 40 degree weather, but we were, fortunately, inside most of the time.

I read my paper Friday morning in front of a small audience of students. It wasn’t quite the excruciating 10 minutes that I made it out to be. Of course, I forgot to bring a bottle of water up with me, so my mouth was worse than dry, but other than that, the reading was fine. Unfortunately, Brittany and I were in different rooms at the same time, so we did not get to hear each other read. After our sessions, we ate breakfast and then went to hear a session where one of our new friends, David, read a story. It was an interesting satire on fantasy that he calls a mix between Harry Potter and Huckleberry Finn on crack. We mostly attended sessions that were poetry readings rather than research papers. It was definitely entertaining to listen to. They served us lunch (but ran out of vegetarian sandwiches, so I had to buy food) and Bret Anthony Johnston read the introduction of Naming the World. I have to say that he was the most entertaining of the three authors.

That night we attended a poetry reading and Brittany, of course, read two of her amazing poems. It was interesting to listen to students from around the country read their poetry, as well. The man in charge of the poetry reading said it was one of the best attended readings yet (though I have to say that it doesn’t compare to the poetry coffeehouses at Lynn; I just didn’t feel the same sense of closeness in the room).

Afterwards, we went bowling at a place called Fat Cats. Brittany had made us about 7 new friends from the conference, so there was a huge group of us. Four of them were a group of boys who had roadtripped all the way from Oregon and didn’t even have a place to stay for the night. We found out later that they slept in a park. Talk about dedication to literature!

On Saturday, we attended some more sessions. I think two of them were poetry and another one was with a couple of people with whom we had bowled. One girl read a paper about James Joyce’s Ulysses and T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” She kind of gave me the urge to read Ulysses, though, in general, I’m not attracted to Joyce’s writing. Another student in the last sesssion read a paper about a graphic novel called Fun Home. I had never before considered graphic novels as literature, but I would have to agree that this one was. It was a memoir by, I think, someone named Bechdale, though I’m not sure.

After all of the sessions were over, there was a question and answer period for the authors who had attended. People asked about publishing and living off their writing (which all of the authors agreed is not likely to happen; most authors hold jobs other than just their writing careers).

The conference (and Utah) was an experience. Although I was sometimes bored, I definitely don’t regret coming. Meeting all of the people I met and the experience of actually attending the conference was amazing. Now we’re sitting at the hotel waiting for the time when we need to go to the airport to catch our plane. I should probably go and catch up on the homework I’ve missed while I’m waiting…

So I haven’t blogged about this, but I thought it was about time to get down to it since I’m leaving on Wednesday. Dr. Morgan submitted my research paper for American Literature I to the National Undergraduate Literary Conference at Weber University, and it was accepted. This is not something I expected to be doing, but it is an honor nonetheless. The conference lasts from April 2-6, and it is in Salt Lake City, Utah. Brittany B. was also accepted for her poetry, so we both get to go. We will fly out together (at 7:00 in the morning!), stay in a room together, and come back on the next Monday (at 5:30 in the morning!). And Lynn University is paying for everything, which I couldn’t be more grateful for. I would never have had this opportunity if it weren’t for that fact.

As the day approaches, I get more and more excited and more and more nervous.  I’m going to be reading a paper that I wrote to an audience of people that I’ve never met. If that’s not nerveracking, I don’t know what is. And I’m going to meet so many people! I’m not the most social person in the world. In addition to listening to other students from around the nation read their papers, there will be three published authors at the conference who will be guest speakers. They are Geoffrey Wolff, Eleanor Wilner, and Bret Anthony Johnston. I think this is a great opportunity that Lynn has provided me with and I am going to do everything I can to get as much out of it as possible.

I won. Sam didn’t think I could do it, but I did. Of course, at 12:00 on the dot, the first thing I did was open a Three Musketeers and eat it, but I was successful.