Good Luck

This is the final blog post.

Wow!

Crazy to think time has gone by this fast. Thinking back on how it all started and working towards the final paper, I think there are many improvements I could have made. I think I had a rough time with topic choice. At first I thought I knew where I was going and didn't do the research on my topic till later, and then I realized that it wasn't the topic for me after it was almost too late. That's a lesson learned. I had to scramble at the last second to find the right topic and resources to make my perfect final paper. So, my suggestion to everyone is start as early as possible. Week one doesn't even sound bad. Ha ha. I also think I can improve on my word choice. I don't think I am too boring or bad, but I would like to make it more formal than what I am doing right now. I just can never think of the right word at the moment I need too. Length requirements are always a challenge for me, but I don't know how I can fix that so I guess it will always be a struggle. Ha ha. Good luck to everyone in the future to come, and I have enjoyed class with you all!

- Lauren

The Finale

We are at the end! All in all, if I had to choose between feeling tired, accomplished, or nervous, I would say that I feel all three of them equally. I feel accomplished with my final paper. It is not completely done yet, but with what is done so far I believe I am on the right track. It is not good enough to be a published article, I know that, but I have come along way in the past year with my writing in a good way. After turning in any major paper you get jitters. Especially when it is a major part of your grade. So of course I am nervous. Tired is a given for anyone. Especially for most people in college that have a job and children to take care of along with schoolwork. It keeps you busy that is for sure! Ha Ha. I feel good though. I must share that my goal for my college experience was to keep an "A" in all my classes, and so far I am in my 4th nine weeks classes and I am still at my goal. Setting a goal this high really keeps me on my toes, and once you accomplish your goals it makes you feel like you can do almost anything. Goals are great motivation!

- Lauren

My Last Day On Planet Earth

Hello everyone,

I know you are all probably wondering why my heading has such a strong meaning. I just came home about 15 minutes ago, and I have to say I feel lucky to walk through my front door. It is snowing here in Pittsburgh, and on my way home from the movies my boyfriend and I literally did a 360 turn on the highway and almost hit the bank. I have never been so scared in my life. My heart felt like it was on the outside of my body. I couldn't breath; I wanted to cry, and I honestly felt like I had died and left Earth. The crazy thing is I was only doing at tops 20 miles per hour. After I got back onto the road and made my second attempt to get home, I spun out again! I keep wondering if this is supposed to be a message to me. All I know is I am very thankful to be here right now.

- Lauren

Peer Reviews

Hello class,

Peer reviews is something I like, but at the same time I also have my insecurities about. Sometimes I'm not confident about my paper, I feel somewhat nervous or embarrassed to show other people. However, the comments and peer overlook of the paper also helps you to see where you need to improve and what areas they feel are good. It is nice to know what someone else sees instead of just having your thoughts. That really doesn't help the paper. I guess well have to endure it this unit whether we like it or not! Ha ha.

- Lauren

Everything is One Big Mess!

Hello everyone!

So, as I said in an earlier post, I believe this nine weeks has been one of the hardest for me since I have enrolled in Kaplan. I do not know why, but it is. And, at this time in our classes we have our final projects to look forward to and completing the outlines or drafts for this unit! Also, with the bad weather that has hit the area I have lost two days of work so far. Not only do I not make enough money to begin with, but now that I am sixteen hours short how do I pay for things? It is very, very frustrating! Then, I did not even get my income tax filed yet so I will not be seeing this money for a while (which I desperately need). Is this how a new year is supposed to start? Oh, and on top of this, my so called diet only lasted three days! Ha ha. Some motivation, right. I do not know. I just keep praying that within the next month I will be feeling like a brand new, unstoppable woman. Hope everyone's lives are at least even a smudge better than mine!

- Lauren

My Punishment

I know that this is a little of track, but I think it is something I need to talk about. So, Friday night western Pennsylvania got hit with a major snow storm. We were expected to get at least twelve inches of snow and ended up with over twenty inches! At first we all expected to have a snowed in weekend party, but the snow was so heavy it took out power everywhere. We went from Friday night at 11:30pm till Monday at 5:0pm with no electricity. We had a generator that ran one room heater and the temperature in our house was at fifty-five degrees for three days. It was one of the worst weekends in my entire life. Some people are expecting to have to wait until Friday. Temperatures are in single digits at night. How are you expected to survive something like this? It really makes you evaluate and appreciate everything you have much more once you experience something like this. Do not take anything in life for granted.


-Lauren

School and My Life

How is school influencing my life? Honestly, it is very frustrating. I would have to say this is my hardest nine weeks of all. I think I am just starting to become very wore out from my crazy schedule. Although, I get it done. It's important to me to keep up with everything and make the best of my education so I can have a happy life. From being in school and being at my halfway mark, I seem to be very happy. Maybe it is because I have something to look forward to like graduation, a new job, a degree, a new home, etc.! So overall, even though there are times I want to scream, I think school is doing amazing things for me and my life!

- Lauren

Final Project

Hello everyone,

Well first off, I am really, really stressed about this final project. I am usually so much more prepared than I am now. I first was going to write my paper about the effects of caffeine on the human body, but I found nothing that interested me in the articles I found. So, I changed my topic. I still do not know if I can write about this but I wanted to write about obesity in children. This was a topic that was presented with others in my Comp. 1 class, but instead I chose to write about plastic surgery, even though this topic also interested me. So, I guess well see where this goes.

I saw that this week we are to talk about plagiarism. Citing a source scares me, not because I do not want to give them credit, but because I feel like I am going to do it wrong. I think plagiarism is equivalent to theft from a store or person. How would you feel if you told your best friend an idea you had to create something(an invention) and they thought it was so amazing that they took it and submitted and took all the credit. You would feel betrayed, furious, like all the hard work you put into it has just been taken away and there is nothing you can do about it! It's horrible!

- Lauren

What do I think about Kaplan online?

Hello fellow classmates and Professor!

I must say that I love being a student with Kaplan online. I know that it takes more focus to get the required tasks done because you are not in a classroom environment, so it is clear that you must have dedication. For me, I like it better. I feel that I can get things at my own pace. I do not have to drive and have a required time to get to class and participate. It fits into my lifestyle much better than on campus schooling would. I think that some people judge online school as laziness, but it really is not. I have had people say to me, "That means you can use your book to take tests, and how do you even learn when you don't see your professor or talk to them?" You could cheat, I guess, but you would still fail because of time restraints, and this is the reason for them. We have discussion boards and seminars because this is our learning and interaction of our topics and lessons. You have to be dedicated and give 100%. It is just like any other college in my eyes!

- Lauren

New week - What is going on with me?

Hello everyone,

So this is the start of unit 2, and for some reason I do not feel motivated. I do not know why? I feel like I might be overwhelmed with everything, but it is not like my busy schedule has changed at all, and we even have no seminar so I should be excited. I usually have a set schedule to get everything done on time, and I am just getting no where. It's like I am trying to get things done, but in reality I know what I want to accomplish is so far down the line that I am upsetting myself. I don't know how to bring my spirits back up. I just had to get it all out.

- Lauren

First Time!

So, just as it is for most of you, this is also my first time blogging. Except I already know what I want to blog about, or should I say ask of all of you. I am really nervous about what my final project topic should be and I need some ideas. Maybe once you all help me get my brain going I will create a poll! How exciting! Let me know what you all think!

<3 Lauren