Letter of Intent

Well, here it is, the first GRADED English assignment. The last one was not graded. This was to answer three questions: What is the purpose of being in the online version of the course? What do I hope to learn from the class? Lastly, do I think I am ready for a fully online course? The answers are below. Funny thing I did yesterday too. I got a notebook and on the front of the notebook I wrote ENGISH just to spite my brain...

Nichole Hill

ENGL 111 WC3

23 August 2011

Letter of Intent

            The purpose for me being in the online course version of English 111, as opposed to the on campus version, is a work issue. I work full time at a software company as technical support and I am required to work, at minimum, forty hours per week or I will lose my full time status there. I cannot give up my full time status yet because I have three small children and a husband who retired from the Navy not long ago. Retired means unemployed in my book, but that is an argument for him and me. I was enrolled in the on-campus class but it conflicted with my work schedule so I requested to be moved to an online course instead. The purpose for actually taking an English class, of any type, is because it is required for my major. However, I love writing; any chance to tell a story that has not been told is exciting to me. I am a blogger for my paranormal research group and I blog for my family and friends on my personal site as well. The writing part of this class is not intimidating to me. I think what scares me is, I consider myself a halfway decent writer and hope to finish my novel one day, but I know I have so much to learn. I know I take criticism personally and I think it is an attack on me! I know that it is not but in my heart, I am scared to death for someone to tell me that I am a bad writer.

            This class will not be an easy one as I can see from the curriculum, but I will learn to write better and of course use appropriate grammar. I seem to have an issue with commas and run on sentences. They are not my friend. Every time I ask one of my journalist friends to edit my stories I get the same response, “Nichole, please watch your commas and run on sentences.” I am looking forward to showing them what I learned!

            I am completely prepared for a fully online course; I have a couple already with Southwestern Community College. I have taken many online courses from University of Phoenix and ECPI University as well. The style and procedures are a bit different from UOP online courses, which will take some time getting used to, but I am motivated and excited, yet nervous at the same time. UOP and ECPI, where I have attended before, have required APA formatting for all papers. I have never learned MLA style, and because of that, I have a lot to learn.

Earth-QUAKE!

Most of you have read or heard on the news about the earthquake that hit Virginia yesterday at approximately 2 pm EST. The quake/aftershocks were felt in 22 states. One of them being MINE! I was sitting at work, minding my own business, when I felt my desk start to move back and forth a bit, like a heavy footed person had walked past. I then looked about for someone shaking their leg which tends to wiggle the desks nearby but I found nothing and no one. Then I looked outside and the trees were shaking back and forth. I stood up and asked if anyone else could feel the building shaking. No response other than, "seriously Nichole? The building is not shaking" I was adamant about it. I KNEW what an earthquake felt like. Although I had only been through one in my life when I was in Utah, I NEVER forgot how it felt and this was an honest to God quake.

Fifteen minutes later our CEO emailed us to let us know that indeed it was, and I was right all along. Well, he did not come right out and say "Nichole you are a genius and we will listen to you forever," but he should have. In either case after the email was received I stood up again and said, "I TOLD YOU SO!" Maybe next time they will believe me and I am not as crazy as they think! Although I may still be crazy but I am hypersensitive to the ground moving beneath me.

Someone mentioned yesterday that since I was in the Navy I was used to feeling movement under my feet. I think she may be right. You have got to have sea legs when traveling on a ship, so what would be the difference if you had sea legs on moving earth under your feet?

My First English Assignment

I have an English professor, who has a Master's degree in English and apparently cannot spell or figure out the function of the auto correct feature in Word. This is the man who is going to be grading my papers for the next semester. Thank God I only have one semester with him because I cannot handle disorganized nonsense when it comes to my online classes. I just don't have the patience for anything other than what is expected of ME. Just tell me what you want to see and what you want us to read and I will get it done, is that too much to ask? Whew...I'm done ranting now...so sorry!

My first assignment was a "getting to know you" type assignment. We had to pick a quote from a list that he had already given us and decide what it meant to Shakespeare and what it meant to us and our lives. So here it is. I tried to be funny, but that didn't work out as well as I had though because it seemed like I was just bitching about things again. I tried to be sad or moving and that didn't work either, so finally I just wrote about my kids. Funny how my kids are always my default to go to when I have nothing else I can do.

Here it is, exactly as it appears in MLA format, which I have NEVER learned since I learned in APA format for most of my college courses. With the exception of removing my professors name (to protect his privacy and anonymity) nothing else has been changed. Enjoy...or don't...whatever!

Nichole Hill

ENGL 111 WC3

(Bad speller name goes here)

22 August 2011

Getting to Know You: ENG 111, 114 Writing Diagnostic

I chose, "love looks not with the eyes but with the mind” as the quote I would write my interpretations about. I am pretty sure that Shakespeare was trying to explain the absurdity of love and why, when someone is being treated horribly or someone does an ugly and despicable thing, that there seems to always be someone else who still loves that person. That brief explanation is not why I chose the quote. It is the perfect explanation as to why I continue to love my children so unconditionally.

I have three daughters, all under the age of eight, who I think are possessed by some sort of hyperactive entity that refuses to let them sit quietly and be the little angels I used to have. While they can be annoying, loud, hyper, and just plain evil to each other and others, I still love them. It will never matter what sort of trouble they may get in or how much grey hair they force onto my head, I will always love them.

 I loved them when they lost my diamond earrings that their father gave me when he returned home safely from Iraq for the second time. I loved them when they broke my handmade porcelain doll my grandmother gave to me before she died. I loved them when they spilled so much paint on my brand new carpets that they had to be replaced, again. I loved them when they told on me to my sister-in-law about hating her meatloaf.  I especially love them now as they tell me goodnight and give me sweet kisses and toddle off to bed. I love my kids, all of them, no matter what evil may reside in their hearts or minds or bodies, they are still MY kids and I love them. When they finally put me in a nursing home I hope it was enough love for them to choose an expensive resort instead!

Sick + Baby = Unhappy Mommy

My baby, my little girl, my happy/never whiny friend Trista was sick.

We did everything we could think of to make her better but nothing seemed to work except letting nature take its course and hope that her small body and parts would work the ickyness out of her system soon. We had to take her to Urgent Care in town after about four days of dealing with her throwing up, high fevers, and zero sleep for mommy. She slept all day and all night.

By the way, the urgent care facility is basically a useless place that apparently can do nothing in the way of treatment or diagnosis. They can check for strep throat and/or send you to the Emergency Room. Which is what they did for little Trista. She cried and cried for mommy and I was stuck at work but once they told my husband to go to the ER I was out of here like a shot. The FNP (Family Nurse Practitioner) was the nicest, most professional woman I have met in a long time. She worked with pediatrics a long time before coming to the ER. She was so good with Trista, she even got her to smile, even though Trista looked and felt like death warmed over. She told us to just keep giving her fluids and letting her sleep and keep up with the Tylenol and she should be fine in a few days, it had to be something viral.

I was hesitant that no tests were ran, no IV of fluids were given and my little T was severely dehydrated since she refused to drink anything for days. We could get sips here and there but it was not enough according to my limited medical training. We continued to deal with her sickness for five more days until I was on edge and seriously considered taking her back to the ER. Then it happened. She woke up yesterday, and she was fine, no fever, no throwing up, she was happy again! The miracle of the human body amazes me more than anything, I felt like she was knocking at deaths door and then the next time I see her awake she is fine and playing with her sisters.

I is an college stu-dant

Yes, its official, I am a college student and I have the ID card to prove it. I have been told that I can now survive on Red Bull and Ramen Noodles for the next two years. I am fairly confident that I am able to do this but my family may kill me if I try to make them eat it as well.

Today was my very first day for English "Expository Writing". I have no idea what that means only I know I have to take it. I got up early and dropped the kids off at the bus stop and drove the 30 miles to the school. I know where the building is so I park the truck and make my way up the three flights of stairs. There is an elevator somewhere but I am now climbing the stairs out of spite. (Eff you elevator that I didn't know existed until AFTER I huffed up three flights.)

I make it up the stairs a bit winded and panting like a dog with my five hundred pound backpack on my shoulders. I am looking for room number 310. I walk past 309...then there is nothing, the doors lead outside and up to Oaks Hall. Okay? I walk back in the building and walk back to the 309 room and read the sign again, the arrow to 310 points down the hallway, but thats the bookstore and outside. Thoroughly confused and flustered now I break down and ask a student standing outside 309 where on earth 310 is because apparently I am retarded. He tells me it is inside of 309. I read the sign again and in very small print is the words "310-315 inside". Seriously? Argh....who does that? Its like they (whomever they is) has hatched this complex plan to infuriate the thirty-one year old college freshman.

Going Back to School...at 31?

Well, it is that time of year again. That time where I wonder where my life has gone? What happened to all that time I used to have left to finish the things I wanted? Jim, the hubby, has decided to retire for good. A stay at home dad he should be since he served his country 25 long years. He has seen things that most civilians never get to see. He is tired of being away from his family because someone told him he had to go. I stand behind him, he deserves to be home with the kids while I take care of him for awhile.

I did get to travel the world and see countries I never would have seen normally. I did get to spend four years fighting for my country and getting paid to do it! I would never trade those four years for anything in this world. I came home safe every time with my entire crew, which is hard to say for most of the military now. They were the best years of my life and although I may not have enjoyed some parts of it, I do think about the good times I had, the lifelong friends I made, and the awesome job responsibilities! Seriously, how many people can say they stood on deck and guided helicopters to land on a moving target? Not many in my now corporate world. Time flew by and I regret not continuing my career with the Navy. I always assumed I had plenty of time to head back to college once I got out, plenty of time to do the things I wanted to do like doing a job that I really enjoy. The time has come to either take wing and fly or stay where I am, angry and unsatisfied in my job and my life.

Anyway, that was a bit off subject, sorry about that. The point is, I am headed back to school....again. This will be my third and final attempt at finishing college with a degree that I can use. (Third time because NOW the military cannot drag my husband away to another country and me to another state!) I am going back for Nursing in the two year RN program, once that is finished I can quit the mundane job I have now and actually help people who really need it. I am unsure where exactly I would like to work or in what field of nursing. I have it narrowed down to either psych or emergency room or even labor and delivery (since I can no longer have kids of my own and I LOVE babies.)

Wish me luck! Things are slowly falling into place for me to start very soon. While nervous I am also very excited. I know I will be in classes with a bunch of young kids but hopefully I can make friends. Love to you all and keep me in your thoughts.

First Day of School

Friday was Lani's first day of school. I know! School starts early here. She was so excited for it to come, she asked me every morning for weeks when she would get to go to school. Ana got to attend the day before because the older kids did not have the half day schedule that the K kids do. Lani was upset she had to wait an extra day.

I woke her up early that morning and she launched out of bed and immediately ran to get dressed and brush her teeth. Here they let the K kids eat breakfast for free at the school. I got Ana up a few minutes later and then we all headed to the truck. She asked me to take her first day picture once we were all loaded up.

She had such a great day! She got to go on a treasure hunt with her class mates and find the gingerbread man. She got to learn how to eat lunch in the cafeteria. She also got to learn how to write all 13 letters of her first name! This is very exciting for me because it took Jim and I a MONTH to remember how to spell it. (Kealohahalani if you don't remember)

Her class is 95% Hispanic which means only 5% speak English. I am a little worried about this because the teachers do not speak Spanish and the kids do not understand them so they have to "dumb down" everything. Lani is advanced for her age group I guess because she can already tell time, knows her letters and numbers on site, shapes and colors, etc. These Hispanic kids do not know them in English so it gets difficult. I never thought that I would have to teach my kids to speak Spanish just to get through Kindergarten.

She is disappointed that she does not also get to attend school on Saturdays and Sundays. I promised her she could go Monday if she was really good!