writing papers is a pain in the ass. no matter how many times I say it, the teachers still don't seem to hear me, so instead of agreeing with me and saying, gee, why don't we stop assigning stupid writing assignments, they just give more. is it so difficult to make an assignment somewhat enjoyable? yes, I get to write about my own linguistic development, which means talking about myself which is cool, but why must we incorporate the stuff we had to read in articles? didn't we get enough of it from talking about it for a good couple hours in class, discussing every little point? I feel like I'm just repeating the same dang stuff. I'm trying to make it semi creative/thoughtful but of course that takes time, time I really don't feel like dedicating to an assignment that invovles drolling out stuff we already covered...So of course last night I spent more time chatting, writing emails, and overall just doing anything and everything possible to avoid this assignment so that I'm forced to take the time between classes today to finish it. I'm not sure if it's more because I really don't feel like writing it, or because when I write, I tend to be rather anal about it and am not happy until the phrasing and arrangment is JUST HOW I WANT IT, no matter if it's a short, barely thought provoking little paper or if a huge research report--what I mean is, if I take all the time I would really need to take care of all the little details I want, it would take me a super long time to write it, and I don't want to spend that much time on it, so if I purposely limit myself by leaving it for the last minute, I force myself to be short and sweet and just get it done! ::sigh:: I'm giving myself one more hour to work on it. If I'm not done by then, that's just tough cuz I have better things to do than sit here and work on it...like work on other homework I have due this afternoon :P hmmm, A procrastinator's life is never dull.

To go along with, but to sort of give a counter to Tricia's blog, I think Blaise makes a great point (Blaise is one of the lucky few who apparently likes my blog enough to have it linked to her website, which by the way I think is a lot of fun, especially with the British accent sometimes ;) ) when she says:
"I didn't feel like writing yesterday, mainly because I had a very frustrating day at work but also because I was thinking not only about the September 11 attacks and the 3,000 who died but all the other tragedies like children dying of starvation in Africa or the thousands of people killed in Eastern Europe. I wondered what it would be like if we had a silence for all of the atrocities. Would it take days, weeks or even months of silence to remember all the dead?

I’m not degrading what happened in America, in fact I still tear up when they play the seemingly endless footage from every different angle of the planes crashing into the towers. I just think we need to look at the bigger picture – at putting an end to senseless wars, trying to prevent babies and children dying from lack of food when we have so much and protecting our planet from corporate raiders who are just out to take take take…. "

I agree with the fact that it was a horrible thing to have happen, and I did take a moment to pause and think about it during my first class at 9ish on Wednesday, and talked about it a bit with some friends. I'm not a fan of the way the whole thing has been exploited by business companies making money off of "American" parafanalia or the way politicians, ::cough:: BUSH! ::cough:: use it to their advantage. AND while I think being together as a NATION Is a good thing, I think TOO MUCH Nationalism is a BAD idea for a world that is so interconnected with so many cultures needing to work together in order to at least TRY to maintain an overall peace. AND, relatively, 3000 people is not that many, I don't mean to sound cold, but think of the THOUSANDS that have died in earthquakes over in Asia and the Middle East, plus even the THOUSANDS that died just in one day at Atiedam in the Civil War. Our country SHOULD remember those who have died, BUT, we also need to move on. Keeping the country in this state of mourning and FEAR is not a good way to go about global relations, nor is it going to help our economy any. Anyways, that's what I have to say on that subject.

Okay, Saturday I went to Minneapolis to visit friends and go to the Renaissance Festival, which I must say was pretty damn cool. Later Saturday night, we went to see some local bands at Uptown Bar and Cafe and I have to say that I was sooo impressed. The first band we listened to was Track 86, and they were pretty good, the singer had a sweet range from nice singing to rocking screaming. I was pretty well blown away though when I heard the next band, Down and Above (dna for short). I know Tricia already wrote about them a little in her blog Whimsical Doodles, but this was my first time at the MN scene, so I have to write about it too. I bought their CD, and I was not at all disappointed. I mean, not only are they three good looking guys, but they all have great singing voices that they blend awesomely. Their guitar/bass riffs rock and the drummer gets some sweet beats going on. On top of that they're all great musicians who are serious about their work but seem to have a lot of fun onstage too, and they were all nice enough to take the time to sign my cd case, which was cool of them. I've seen a few local bands, and they had some definate talent, but out of all of them so far, this one takes the cake and I really hope they make it. I know there's so much competition out there it's next to impossible, but they have a really good start and it seems the determination to make it happen too. So that's why I'm plugging them here, cuz they rock and they deserve it. If there was something I could do to help them out, I would totally do it. Right now the only thing I can do is give you all the official website of Down and Above which also contains a link where you can hear some of their music. Check 'em out :)