FUNDED! And Schoolness.

I AM FULLY FUNDED FOR IRELAAAAND!!! *dances*
Thank you all, so very, very much!!! It would never have been possible without you, I know that. And this will be an amazingtastical opportunity to explore. And have fun. And learn. And... just so very much!

Ok, here's a tentative schedule of where we're going/what we're doing:

Friday, March 6th: Fly to Dublin

Saturday, March 7th:  Arrive in Dublin around 5:30 AM, go to our hostel (Kinlay Hostel), drop off our luggage, take a nap in the common room or start your wanderings around town arriving back at Kinlay to have breakfast and then depart for Trinity College, visit The Book of Kells, visit the National Archaeology Museum of Ireland, free afternoon

Sunday, March 8^th:  Church at the LDS Findlay Building, Evensong service at either Christchurch Cathedral or St. Patrick’s Cathedral (TBD), free time until evening meeting (approx. 8pm)

Monday, March 9^th: Day trip to Blarney Castle, the Rock of Cashel, and Cork arriving back in Dublin around 6-7pm, free evening

Tuesday, March 10^th: Kilmainham Jail, the General Post Office, free afternoon.  You are welcome to join us for the ghost tour we will be taking that evening.  It starts at 7pm.  It should be around $30 per person.

Wednesday, March 11^th: Day trip to Limerick and the Cliffs of Moher.  We should arrive back around 6-7pm, free evening.

Thursday, March 12^th: Free day.  You are welcome to join us for the Boyne Valley day trip. The trip should be around $40 per person (like the ghost tour, we may get a discount depending on the number of people that would like to go). We should arrive back in Dublin at 6pm.

Friday, March 13^th: A full Irish breakfast at O’Neills Pub then off to the airport to fly back home.

Tentative, as always. I plan on joining on the Boyne Valley day trip; it goes through a number of important and awesome locations regarding ancient Ireland, such as Teamhair, the seat of the high king of Ireland.
I've also been reading a book called 'Of Gods and FIghting Men' by Lady Gregory. (via the gutenberg project) Getting a better idea about the old legends of Ireland~
I'll be looking into more recent history soon. But still along the subject of legends, there's going to be an exhibit at the Trinity College library while we're there that I'm REALLY excited about: It's called "Upon the Wild Waves: A Journey through Myth in Children's Books." Yes. This exists. This existssssssss.

I know that I won't ever be able to read through all the things of Ireland in the weeks I have left before we leave. But I will try to get some things in there that will just make it even more exciting. >W<
Plus, you know, school work. <w<'


SPEAKING OF.
Thank heavens I was keeping track of my credits throughout my years. I don't have to go to classes on Fridays, and I have pretty open afternoons otherwise. Which is good, because I'm doing both Senior Paper writing and working on a novel for Advanced Creative Writing. Good news: I'm making progress on both! The novel has... Hm. I don't rightly know. 20-30 pages written in the past month, mostly edited once. Still need to put them through another round or two of editing. And then, once that is more together, there's rearranging everything because of course the first draft is going to be all over the place and go too far into things that take too long, and not get to more important points until people no longer expect anything that exciting. BUT IT WILL BE. Because pirates. Dang it these are horrible pirates but really, they add a lot to a plotline. And by horrible I do not mean comedic. Unfortunately. Thank heavens I have a wonderful friend writing with me. We work on the details, characterizations, oh goodness I don't even know how many pages of interviews we've done so far, and then I go through and make it like a novel. Because it kind-of reads like a screenplay otherwise. Which is exciting, for us, but not the same. Maybe performed- NO. No. This would be entertaining in some parts to portray on stage, but problematic in others. Gosh. Anyway.

I am progressing in things! I'm taking a History class (Western Civilization I) because apparently that slipped through the cracks wen I was looking at things I needed to take earlier. But I'm also taking Parenting, which is entertaining and informative, as well as taking Intermediate Ballet again! Add in Snr Paper and Adv. Creative Writing, and that's my schedule! Sort-of. Still working with the clubs on campus. But I'm not the only head anymore. Still kind-of leading the effort getting things started again, but this time I will hand things off to other people. Because I honestly don't have the time or focus to go after all these things together at once, and I'm graduating after this semester! Wow! That's really soon! Gosh!
Agh. I need a job.
Looking in publishing industries.
So many places wants you to do unpaid internships first. *sigh* And then most are also in New York. *drums fingers*
But I am continuing to search. And go to job fairs. And look online.

Talk to you all laterrr!

Fall Semester Starts

Fall 2014. My last fall semester as an undergrad. Craziness I say.
But! I've not got the time to think about that! Because I've got three clubs to keep going as well as my classload to uphold. Yaaaaay~

Random point of interest: I have my first smart phone. Received about a month or so ago. Still learning ins and outs, and it will by no means replace my laptop. But even within the first week of school, I am appreciating its versatility and usefulness. Like a calendar! And alarms! And a slew of sticky-notes! (I used to paste them all over my computer. Now I have an app for that. XD) And email access!! I can get into my school email and send emails to professors and staff and people while not at my laptop! Like between classes! It's fantastic. (now if only you could log/sign off on Android... But once you're on, you're on unless you take the entire account off the device. XP)

Good news: there are tons of incoming freshman who seem to be enthusiastic about a number of things! Here's hoping that extracurriculars are some of them!
I know that the Doctor Who Club has gotten a great influx of members, our last meeting with the president of the club was proof enough of that. (being the premiere of the new season probably helped) Alas, our president is heading to China for the semester, so I'll be looking out for all that, but there are plenty of people actually interested in positions, so there will be delegation occurring! 8D Hoorah!
The Underground, creative writing club, hasn't met yet, but first week of school is a bit hectic for that. We'll be getting together the following Saturday afternoon, though. Hopefully there's a good turnout there too.
And finally The Review! Literary magazine! I'm editor-in-chief again this year~ Buuut most of our staff has graduated/travel studied/left. So here's hoping for a good turnout there too! We're having interest meetings this and next Thursday, for general interest and staff. *crosses fingers for much staff too*
The Paladin, the school newspaper, needs recruits too. I'm trying to send people their way too, because over half their staff graduated or left. :/ And they publish every two weeks or so.

As such, I have already mad quite a few posters and ads of different sorts. :3 Such is the extracurricular route. Get to learn with Photoshop again.

(maybe we'll have enough people to have an actual specified PR person do this kind of thing... not that I don't enjoy it! But... I have a lot of other things to get done too. -w-' )

And let's hear it for actual classes too!
I'm taking about 6 classes: Intermediate Ballet, Writing Popular Fiction, Contemporary Issues, Statistics, Senior Paper Research, and Family Process. Also an Institute course: Teachings of the Living Prophets, where we go over the most recent General Conference talks (or at least some of them). So far, they are all interesting! I was most intimidated by Statistics, and although I'm still going to be wary because of online components and such, I think that I'll be able to grasp everything readily enough. Family Process is actually likely to be the one more challenging this year. It's with the same teacher I had Marriage & Family with last year, and while it was a fun course, it was definitely a challenging one.
My senior paper research class may end up being a mix of research and actual writing, for a number of reasons. For one, I generally like writing and researching simultaneously, although of course there's always re-writes an edits, etc. But also, I believe I already have a topic picked out. Our first class meeting and I seemed to get it approved; but now I feel like I need a deeper thesis... (or even a thesis period)
My intended topic is the portrayal of mental illness in To Kill A Mockingbird vs. Jane Eyre. Without even starting to write, I can list of nuuumerous qualities and points of interest and such. I've even got a little area for notes in my phone on the ideas. But... I don't feel like simply close analysis is going to be good enough. Sure, I can do the 20 page paper simply on comparing and contrasting the two portrayals, pointing out how they differ and what that conveys. But... Why is that important? Yes, it's intriguing and fun and speaks volumes about the popular/general view of mental illness in society at the time... but I want to make it applicable today. Somehow. *sigh* That's what this 'research' period is for, I suppose.

In other news, I got approval from my Contemporary Issues professor to use psychiactrictimes.com as a source! 8D He asked us to find a reputable news-type site for information regarding issues today. I've been a part of PsychiactricTimes for at least a year or so now, and they always have tons of interesting articles. I'm sure that it'll be a great resource for this semester. >3 *excited*

And! Friends all over are getting mission calls! And my roomie/friend just got engaged! And stories are making progress, for myself and for many others I know!

That reminds me: the Writing Popular Fiction course is just once a week, for a three hour block. But it will totally be worth it. And it's with Orson Scott Card. So yes, I'm looking forward to learning how to write better, and to help others as well. It seems like it's going to be like a workshop type class, so this will definitely be interesting. And fun. Because writing is always exciting. CB (yes, even those papers that I procrastinate and feel I could do without.)

So! I'm going to go off and do some homework, possibly. Or just read an awesome essay on fairies/fairy stories by Tolkien a friend pointed out to me. Or maybe I should finish cleaning around my desk... Hm. Well, the TARDISes there will be staying until the club meeting tomorrow night at the earliest...
Ah well. I'll figure it out.

Talk to ya again!