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morwensteelsheen · 4 years ago

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I’m starting grad school this autumn and honestly I’m getting nervous. Like yes I am v excited about the whole prospect overall and I do miss being a student but am intimidated by 3 hr long seminars and thesis writing and massive amounts of reading… everyone keeps saying it’s gonna be very different from undergrad so okay, but how specifically? Is it the large amounts of reading? I already had insane amounts of reading (humanities degree hurrah) especially in my last two years but could you expound on your own experience and how you take notes/read quickly/summarize or just how to deal with first time grad students?

Oh, yeah for sure! A necessary disclaimer here is that I'm at a certain poncy English institution that is noted for being very bad at communicating with its students and very bad at treating its postgrad students like human beings, so a lot of these strategies I've picked up will be overkill for anyone who has the good sense to go somewhere not profoundly evil lol.

So I'll just preface this by saying that I am a very poor student in terms of doing what you're supposed to. I'm very bad at taking notes, I never learned how to do it properly, and I really, really struggle with reading dense literature. That said, I'm probably (hopefully?) going to get through this dumb degree just fine. Also — my programme is a research MPhil, not taught, so it's a teensy bit more airy-fairy in terms of structure. I had two classes in Michaelmas term, both were once a week for two hours each; two in Lent, one was two hours weekly, the other two hours biweekly; and no classes at all in Easter. I also have no exam component, I was/am assessed entirely on three essays (accounting for 30% of my overall mark) and my dissertation (the remaining 70%), which is, I think, a little different to how some other programmes are. I think even some of the other MPhils here are more strenuous than that, like Econ and Soc Hist is like 100% dissertation? Anyways, not super important, but knowing what you're getting marked on is important. I dedicated considerably less time than I did in undergrad to perfecting my coursework essays because they just don't hold as much weight now. The difference between a 68 and a 70 just wasn't worth the fuss for me, which helped keep me sane-ish.

The best advice anyone ever gave me was that, whereas an undergrad degree can kind of take over your life without it becoming a problem, you need to treat grad school like a job. That's not because it's more 'serious' or whatever, but because if you don't set a really strict schedule and keep to it, you'll burn yourself out and generally make your life miserable. Before I went back on my ADD meds at the end of Michaelmas term, I sat myself down at my desk and worked from 11sh to 1800ish every day. Now that I'm medicated, I do like 9:30-10ish to 1800-1900 (except for now that I'm crunching on my diss, where, because of my piss-poor time management skills I'm stuck doing, like, 9:30-22:30-23:00). If you do M-F 9-5, you'll be getting through an enormous amount of work and leaving yourself loads of time to still be a human being on the edges. That'll be the difference between becoming a postgrad zombie and a person who did postgrad. I am a postgrad zombie. You do not want to be like me.

The 'work' element of your days can really vary. It's not like I was actually consistently reading for all that time — my brain would have literally melted right out of my ears — but it was about setting the routine and the expectation of dedicating a certain, consistent and routinized period of time for focusing on the degree work every day. My attention span, even when I'm medicated, is garbage, so I would usually read for two or three hours, then either work on the more practical elements of essay planning, answer emails, or plot out the early stages of my research.

In the first term/semester/whatever, lots of people who are planning on going right into a PhD take the time to set up their applications and proposals. I fully intended on doing a PhD right after the MPhil, but the funding as an international student trying to deal with the pandemic proved super problematic, and I realised that the toll it was taking on my mental health was just so not worth it, so I've chosen to postpone a few years. You'll feel a big ol' amount of pressure to go into a PhD during your first time. Unless you're super committed to doing it, just try and tune it out as much as you can. There's absolutely nothing wrong with taking a year (or two, or three, or ten) out, especially given the insane conditions we're all operating under right now.

I'll be honest with you, I was a phenomenally lazy undergrad. It was only by the grace of god and being a hard-headed Marxist that I managed to pull out a first at the eleventh hour. So the difference between UG and PG has been quite stark for me. I've actually had to do the reading this year, not just because they're more specialised and relevant to my research or whatever, but because, unlike in UG, the people in the programme are here because they're genuinely interested (and not because it's an economic necessity) and they don't want to waste their time listening to people who haven't done the reading.

I am also a really bad reader. Maybe it's partially the ADD + dyslexia, but mostly it's because I just haven't practiced it and never put in the requisite effort to learn how to do it properly. My two big pointers here are learning how to skim, and learning how to prioritise your reading.

This OpenU primer on skimming is a bit condescending in its simplicity, but it gets the point across well. You're going to want to skim oh, say, 90% of the reading you're assigned. This is not me encouraging you to be lazy, it's me being honest. Not every word of every published article or book is worth reading. The vast majority of them aren't. That doesn't mean the things that those texts are arguing for aren't worth reading, it just means that every stupid rhetorical flourish included by bored academics hoping for job security and/or funding and/or awards isn't worth your precious and scarce time. Make sure you get the main thrust of each text, make sure you pull out and note down one or two case studies and move right the hell on. There will be some authors whose writing will be excellent, and who you will want to read all of. Everything else gets skimmed.

Prioritisation is the other big thing. You're going to have shitty weeks, you're probably going to have lots of them. First off, you're going to need to forgive yourself for those now — everybody has them, yes, even the people who graduated with distinctions and go on to get lovely £100,000 AHRC scholarships. Acknowledge that there will be horrible weeks, accept it now, and then strategise for how to get ahead of them. My personal strategy is to plan out what I'm trying to get out of each course I take, and then focus only on the readings that relate to that topic.

I took a course in Lent term that dealt with race and empire in Britain between 1607 and 1900; I'm a researcher of the Scottish far left from 1968-present, so the overlap wasn't significant. But I decided from the very first day of the course that I was there to get a better grasp about the racial theories of capitalism and the role of racial othering in Britain's subjugation of Ireland. Those things are helpful to me because white supremacist capitalism comes up hourly in my work on the far left, and because the relationship of the Scottish far left to Ireland is extremely important to its self definition. On weeks when I couldn't handle anything else, I just read the texts related to that. And it was fine, I did fine, I got my stupid 2:1 on the final essay, and I came out of it not too burnt out to work on my dissertation.

Here is where I encourage you to learn from my mistakes: get yourself a decent group of people who you can have in depth conversations about the material with. I was an asshole who decided I didn't need to do that with any posh C*mbr*dge twats, and I have now condemned myself to babbling incomprehensible nonsense at my partner because I don't have anyone on my course to work through my ideas with. These degrees are best experienced when they're experienced socially. In recent years (accelerated by the pandemic, ofc), universities have de-emphasised the social component of postgrad work, largely to do with stupid, long-winded stuff related to postgrad union organising etc. It's a real shame because postgrads end up feeling quite socially isolated, and because they're not having these fun and challenging conversations, their work actually suffers in the long term. This is, and I cannot stress this enough, the biggest departure from undergrad. Even the 'weak links' or whatever judgemental nonsense are there because they want to be. That is going to be your biggest asset. Talk, talk, talk. Listen, listen, listen. Offer to proofread people's papers so you get a sense of how people are thinking about things, what sort of style they're writing in, what sources they're referring to. Be a sponge and a copycat (but don't get done for plagiarism, copy like this.) Also: ask questions that seem dumb. For each of your classes, ask your tutors/lecturers who they think the most important names in their discipline are. It sounds silly, but it's really helpful to know the intellectual landscape you're dealing with, and it means you know whose work you can go running to if you get lost or tangled up during essay or dissertation writing!

You should also be really honest about everything — another piece of advice that I didn't follow and am now suffering for. The people on your courses and in your cohort are there for the same reasons as you, have more or less the same qualifications as you, and are probably going to have a lot of the same questions and insecurities as you. If you hear an unfamiliar term being used in a seminar, just speak up and ask about it, because there're going to be loads of other people wondering too. But you should also cultivate quite a transparent relationship with your supervisor. I was really cagey and guarded with mine because my hella imposter syndrome told me she was gonna throw my ass out of the programme if I admitted to my problems. Turns out no, she wouldn't, and that actually she's been a super good advocate for me. If you feel your motivation slipping or if you feel like you're facing challenges you could do with a little extra support on, go right to your supervisor. Not only is that what they're there to do, they've also done this exact experience before and are going to be way more sympathetic and aware of the realities of it than, say, the uni counselling service or whatever.

Yeah so I gotta circle back to the notes thing... I really do not take notes. It's my worst habit. Here's an example of the notes I took for my most recent meeting with my supervisor (revising a chapter draft).

No sane person would ever look at these and think this is a system worth replicating lol. But the reason they work for me is because I also record (with permission) absolutely everything. My mobile is like 90% audio recordings of meetings and seminars lol. So these notes aren't 'good' notes, but they're effective for recalling major points in the audio recording so I can listen to what was said when I need to.

Sorry none of this is remotely organised because it's like 2330 here and my brain is so soft and mushy. I'm literally just writing things as I remember them.

Right, so: theory is a big thing. Lots of people cheap out on this and it's to their own detriment. You say you're doing humanities, and tbh, most of the theory involved on the humanities side of the bridge is interdisciplinary anyways, so I'm just gonna give you some recommendations. The big thing is to read these things and try to apply them to what you're writing about. This sounds so fucking condescending but getting, like, one or two good theoretical frameworks in your papers will actually put you leaps and bounds beyond the students around you and really improve your research when the time comes. Also: don't read any of these recommendations without first watching, like an intro youtube video or listening to a podcast. The purists will tell you that's the wrong way to do it, but I am a lazy person and lazy people always find the efficient ways to do things, so I will tell the purists to go right to hell.

Check out these impenetrable motherfuckers (just one or two will take your work from great to excellent, so don't feel obliged to dig into them all):

Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels (I'm not just pushing my politics, but also, I totally am) — don't fucking read Capital unless you're committed to it. Oh my god don't put yourself through that unless you really have to. Try, like, the 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon for the fun quotes, and Engels on the family.

Frantz Fanon — Wretched of the Earth. Black Skin White Masks also good, slightly more impossible to read

Benedict Anderson — Imagined Communities. It's about nationalism, but you will be surprised at how applicable it is to... so many other topics

Judith Butler — she really sucks to read. I love her. But she sucks to read. If you do manage to read her though, your profs will love you because like 90% of the people who say they've read her are lying

Bourdieu — Distinction is good for a lot of things, but especially for introducing the idea of social and cultural capital. There's basically no humanities sub-discipline that can't run for miles on that alone.

Crenshaw — the genesis of intersectionality. But, like, actually read her, not the ingrates who came after her and defanged intersectionality into, like, rainbow bombs dropped over Gaza.

The other thing is that you should read for fun. My programme director was absolutely insistent that we all continue to read for pleasure while we did this degree, not just because it's good for destressing, but because keeping your cultural horizons open actually makes your writing better and more interesting. I literally read LOTR for the first time in, like February, and the difference in my writing and thinking from before and after is tangible, because not only did it give me something fun to think about when I was getting stressy, but it also opened up lots of fun avenues for thought that weren't there before. I read LOTR and wanted to find out more about English Catholics in WWI, and lo and behold something I read about it totally changed how I did my dissertation work. Or, like, a girl on my course who read the Odyssey over Christmas Break and then started asking loads of questions about the role of narrative creation in the archival material she was using. It was seriously such a good edict from our director.

Also, oh my god, if you do nothing else, please take this bit seriously: forgive yourself for the bad days. The pressure in postgrad is fucking unreal. Nobody, nobody is operating at 100% 100% of the time. If you aim for 60% for 80% of the time and only actually achieve 40% for 60% of the time, you will still be doing really fucking well. Don't beat yourself up unnecessarily. Don't make yourself feel bad because you're not churning out publishable material every single day. Some days you just need to lie on the couch, order takeout, and watch 12 hours of Jeopardy or whatever, and I promise you that that is a good and worthwhile thing to do. You don't learn and grow without rest, so forgive yourself for the moments and days of unplanned rest, and forgive yourself for when you don't score as highly as you want to, and forgive yourself when you say stupid things in class or don't do all of (or any of) the class reading.

Uhhhh I think I'm starting to lose the plot a bit now. Honestly, just ping me whatever questions you have and I'm happy to answer them. There's a chance I'll be slower to respond over the next few days because my dissertation is due in a week (holy fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) but I will definitely respond. And honestly, no question is too dumb lol. I wish I'd been able to ask someone about things like what citation management software is best or how to set up a desk for maximum efficiency or whatever, but I was a scaredy-cat about it and didn't. So yeah, ask away and I will totally answer.

#asks

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omoi-no-hoka · 5 years ago

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Hi, first off, let me just say that I admire your dedication to studying Japanese so much. If you don't mind me asking, did you ever get burnt out while working in Japan? How do you deal with it? Have you ever quit a job because of burnout? (You don't need to answer if this is too personal btw) Have a nice day!

Aww, thanks! Japanese is my greatest passion, followed closely by Monty Python and ice cream haha.

I am pretty much the most open book you will ever find, so almost nothing is too personal. :)

Do I ever get burnt out while working in Japan? Yeah. I do. I made a pretty long, personal post a month ago about how I gradually got overworked and now I’m on anti-anxiety and sleeping meds. I’m doing much better now.

I think people can get burnt out in a lot of different ways, regardless of the country they’re in. Sheer overwork (at the peak I did over 70 hours of overtime in a month, and last month I was able to reduce my overtime to just 56 hours) is one cause.

But sometimes you get burnt out because you’re doing the same old thing and you can’t see any point or future in it.

The first job I had when I came to Japan, I was an English teacher at a school that taught English to Japanese children aged 0-18. A lot of foreigners who want to come to Japan but lack Japanese fluency have no other choice but to become an English teacher, but I had qualifications as an English teacher, had studied second language acquisition at school, and thought that I wanted to make a career out of it.

But then I did it for 3 years, and while I loved the kids and my coworkers, and I never had any overtime at all, I just wasn’t seeing the point in it. The curriculum that my boss made was garbage. The kids weren’t improving. My boss let me make my own curriculum, then the moment I left the company, she ripped it up and “invented” a brand new curriculum that was basically mine but with a few shitty changes that undid the improvements I had made. It was so frustrating, to the point that I was going to move back to the States because I couldn’t see a future for myself in Japan.

Through a huge stroke of luck (or fate, if you believe in that sort of thing), I got my current job as a translator. I wasn’t looking for it. I didn’t think that there were any translation jobs on my island, and I would rather leave Japan than move to Tokyo because I hate big cities.

And I love my current job, despite the long hours. I get to use the Japanese I worked so hard to learn. I can actually see the results of my efforts. My bosses recognize my contributions. I just got promoted to a tenured position, which is almost unheard of for someone who’s only been with the company for two years. And despite my obvious zeal for study, I have always been more of a worker than a student. I like having things to do. I like the feeling of being needed.

But...I am chronically over-worked. There is no one else who can translate, and this is a global company, so many things come to us in English, or have to be submitted in English, and I get all of these random tasks shoveled onto me because there is no one else who can use English.

The meds are certainly helping me. I was able to do 56 hrs of overtime, do the stressful promotion exam, and make 3/4 of a HUGE, important presentation for the client without only 2 major panic attacks in January.

But medication isn’t meant to be used to allow you to continually exceed your boundaries. It’s meant to bring you down to the safe zone beneath your boundaries. So I’m working with my bosses on ways that we can reduce my workload.

As for avoiding burnout..the medication helps a lot lol. But so do hobbies. Right now I’m answering this question instead of filling out this stupid excel file I’m supposed to send because...well. Sometimes you just need to distance yourself from work while at work.

And as much as I love Japanese, especially when I’m stressed, I get overwhelmed by being surrounded by it 100%. So I have one headphone in at almost all times, listening to music. This helps me relax and tune out everything.

When I get home from work, provided it’s not time for me to take my sleeping meds, I do something I like. Recently I started cross-stitching because it’s relaxing. I also have a hobby of creative writing, and I’m working on two different fantasy novels bit by bit. Also, I love to read, and I’ve been reading a book on creative writing theory so I can improve my writing. (I have sideblog full of creative writing prompts and my notes from the book too.)

On the weekends, I’m the kind of person who needs to be alone to recharge. So I make some Tumblr posts. Read. Write. Play video games. Things to take me away from work and the world in general. I have plans to visit a very good friend in New Zealand next month as well, which I am very much looking forward to.

To answer your other question, “Have you ever quit a job from burn out?”, I guess I did quit the English teacher job because I was fed up with the system and the school.

But I am living in Japan on a work visa. So I would never quit a job until I had another one lined up to start immediately afterwards. My last day at the English school was Saturday. I moved to the new city on Sunday. I started my new job at 9 a.m. Monday.

#ask me anything #asks are open #expat in japan #life in japan #work in japan #work abroad #overwork #mental health #Anonymous

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x-rstudies-x · 4 years ago

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This is a rant about my crappy life so maybe u might not want to spend your time on this.

I have observed this pattern with me that I get really obsessed with something and end up doing that thing all day everyday without any kind of break. First it was obsessing over my crush and then boyfriend(it was sooo exhausting because he was an asshole) then it was watching shows( I watched Grey's anatomy, the office, parks and rec, etc etc), and now it is my Instagram page for dark academia... it's ALL I DO....and I really don't know if all this took a toll on my mental health because I've been feeling like this for years now..I remember when I used to do all kinds of different things like painting going outside( yes I never went outside unless necessary even before covid19) etc I have no REAL friends ( maybe that's my fault too maybe I come off arrogant mean just a bad person) but I swear I try to seem a good person and personally I think I'm not that bad but maybe other people just don't like me because I'm just a person who everyone hates no matter what..I always talk so kindly to everyone but no one seems to want to be my friend...I have 2 friends but they're a little problematic as "they're not into feminism" but I really feel strongly about feminism so that's a problem... I asked a feminist page on insta about this ( my only 2 friends being problematic) and she said I should make some online friends so I created a dark academia account on instagram to find some friends ( I have another tumblr acc but I never really talk to any of my mutuals or anyone because I like them a lot and I'm afraid they might hate me too) and I tried to talk to some ppl there but they seem so uninterested so yeah I don't know what to do...but anyways I think I'm addicted to the internet I just can't go long without checking my phone or laptop. I really don't know what to do. I've researched so much I've watched videos, wikihows etc.but I just can't seem to study properly.i know I'm not supposed to wait for motivation and inspiration but I really really need it because the way I see it I only have to study to get a job and get money. I don't want to study out of desperation. Everyone says I'm a bright student ( this sounds braggy and if someone is reading this ( who am I kidding no one's gonna read this ) u probably hate me too now) and I really liked study a few years ago. And I want to get hat old me back...the me who used to study and read for pleasure. Now I just have to study or else my parents are gonna get mad and disappointed if I dont and eventually I'll have no qualification no job no money and a crappy life. But anyways I have to do something. Because THE MOST IMPORTANT EXAM OF MY LIFE IS SO CLOSE AND I AM DRAASSSTICALLYYBEHIND tbh I know literally NOTHING NADA. So I'm gonna 'suck it up' and try to get obsessed ( like I said in the beginning) with studying and just study how much ever I can before my exam. I'm gonna study all day and at the end of the day I'm gonna take a test on whatever I studied or what I was gonna study( regardless of whether or not I studied. Then I'm gonna post what I've studied and how I did on my test here so I'll be embarrassed when I perform poorly.i think this will last like 5 mins in the morning and I'll go back to being obsessed with my insta page.( It's not even good it's just stupid idk why I'm doing this but that's the link to it?

I know there are a lot of people who have worse problems but I just feel very crappy.

Anyways consider this a rant or a cry for help or whatever.I'll start tomorrow.

I'll put some tags so maybe someone might read this.

If u read this thanks a lot it really means a lot to me and sorry to have wasted your time

#crappy #crappylife #lonely #studyblr #no motivation #procrastination #phone addiction #internet addiction #sad #rant #rants #study #studying #life #problems #life problems #student #student problems

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mikeconphoto · 5 years ago

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"FIT FEATURE: ALEX PAINE" - BY MIKECON PHOTOGRAPHY

First and foremost, I want to thank you all for reading this blog. I’m writing this one primarily because it’s been a long time coming since this came out. This blog is actually supposed to be in a magazine. I won’t say which one however, the magazine did say years ago that they’d use the images, but then when they had a change of staff, they then changed their tune and stated that they made no written promise that they’d publish the photos of Alex. Thus, was my reason for making my own, “Fit Feature(s)” on my own website for the world to see. I added more images from other shoots inside of the blog just to make up for lost time. Our initial shoot that was on 14 November 2016, so almost 4 years later, I’m going to post this. Alex has since updated the information on all of her accomplishments, so sit back and take a ride with me.

HERE WE GO! …Oh man, there’s a lot to say about this amazing athlete. Alex Paine is something awesome. I literally have met only a handful of people that are energetic and fun to work with in my career. No matter how many times I’ve worked with Alex, she has always brought me her best. On 17 May 2017, I received an email from her Mother Rhonda that read, “Thank you so much for helping my daughter, Alex, with her dream.” To me that was awesome because not a lot of parents take interest, or support their children’s dreams when they’re older. I’m always proud of Alex, and I’ll always support her because she’s just awesome people! Once you get to know her, you will know exactly why she’s awesome!

Describe your life before you started training.

Before I started training, health was never really anything that crossed my mind. I was not active, although a played a few sports in school, and I never cared about diet. I was fortunate enough when I was younger to have parents that understood the importance of diet and nutrition so I never had issues with weight until later in life. When I went to college I ate whatever I wanted and did not participate in any kind of active lifestyle. I quickly began putting on weight and indulging in a very unhealthy lifestyle.

How different do you feel now compared to then?

I feel stronger, more confident, and empowered by my accomplishments. I am a happier and healthier person because of the hard work and dedication that I have put into myself. By pushing the boundaries of my physical limits through training I have not only become a more successful athlete but these traits have crossed over into other aspects of my life and I have found that I work harder on my education and relationships. It is amazing how when one aspect of your life is in order the rest of it seems to fall into place. Be happy, be healthy!

Was there is pivotal moment that motivated you to start training? If so, what was it?

I was a junior in college when I started noticing that my life decisions had led to quite a bit of weight gain and I realized I was no longer happy with how I looked or how I felt. I knew that something needed to change. I was not active, I did not eat well, and I was starting to become very unhappy with my physical appearance. Although all of these were large factors the biggest turning point was when I went on a hiking trip with my friends. I have always loved the outdoors and hiking has always been a passion of mine; however, this time was different. I found myself struggling to keep up with my friends and feeling completely unprepared for the trip. I had stopped taking care of myself and because of this I was no longer able to do the things I loved and I knew then that I needed to make a change.

Do you remember your first training session? How different is your training today?

My first training sessions were all about cardio. I would spend hours everyday on the elliptical doing steady state cardio while I read or studied for exams. I figured as long as I was moving I was burning calories and that was all that mattered for losing the weight. This worked slowly but I realized I was not getting the results I wanted. I changed from cardio to doing some popular workout videos that incorporated lightweight training mixed with HIIT cardio and I started noticing that not only was I losing weight but I was also getting stronger. This is when I got addicted to weight training and strength development. I stopped doing cardio and focused on weight training, on lifting heavy, and just getting stronger. After two years of heavyweight training I decided that I wanted to compete in a bodybuilding show. Today my focus is on competing so I train differently. I still primarily weight train but focus more on certain body parts and concentrate on symmetry when deciding what and how to train.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of training for you? Why?

Seeing results! These may have been slow and gradual at times but when I take the time to look back and see how far I have come, the reward that I feel makes everything I have done to reach my fitness goals worth it. I am always growing, always changing, and always reaching new goals. Fitness is progress and this progress is what makes this lifestyle so rewarding.

What has continued to motivate you throughout your training? Why?

The fitness community associated with Musclemania and Fitness Universe have been a huge part of what has motivated me throughout my training. There are many different organizations out there and every competitor must find the one that fits them best. For me that has been Fitness Universe. The support they give their athletes is completely remarkable. They promote their athletes on social media and on their websites and are always checking in on their athlete’s progress. The production of their shows is also above and beyond that of any organization that I have ever seen. Each athlete gets his or her moment in the spotlight on the stage and each person is made to feel like a star. The community of athletes is like no other, I have made many lifetime friends in this organization – from competitors to promoters – and would not be were I am today in this industry if it was not for their support!

What are your qualifications - why did you set out to achieve these?

I attended Buena Vista University for my undergraduate degree from which I graduated summa cum ladde with a bachelor in biology. Currently, I am a full time graduate student conducting research on science education at the University of Colorado-Boulder. I have already earned her Masters in Molecular, Cellular, ad Developmental biology, studying Fat metabolism and Glucose homeostasis in Type II diabetes. I am currently pursuing my PhD in the same field studying Scientific Teaching.

Teaching is my passion. Whether that is fitness or science, I love it all. In the future I aim to become a teaching professor at a university where I can inspire and prepare young adults for careers in science.

In my free time I work as a personal trainer, posing coach, and I even run my own business - Xela’s Customs, for which I design and competition suits and theme wear. I make my own theme wear, bikinis, and have even been the sponsored suit provider for multiple local Musclemania shows. Recently I have expanded this business to be more encompassing to better serve my clients by adding hair, makeup, and tanning packages for athletes.

What have you had to overcome to get to where you are today? Did that change you in any way? If so, describe how.

One struggle that I have had to overcome is one that is actually quiet common among people in the bodybuilding/fitness industry, which is body dysmorphia. This is a disorder in which people constantly think about and obsess over their real or perceived flaws. The reason this is so common for those who focus a lot of effort into competing is because we are trained to analyse our bodies for symmetry, fat percentage, as well as muscle size and shape. This can be overwhelming and start to consume you. Body dysmorphia is something that consumed me after my first show and is something that I have and continue to struggle with on a daily basis. I work every day to not focus on my flaws and I consistently work towards reflecting on the positive aspects of myself. I push myself to promote my own self-love. It is important for competitors and everyone alike to be realistic and honest with themselves, not to put pressure on being perfect, and to love themselves and be proud of all the hard work they are putting into their health and fitness.

What is the number one lesson you have learned about health and fitness through your training?

Nutritional decisions are the number one component of fitness that will give you results; whether this is weight loss or muscular development, nutrition is key. Finding a nutritional portfolio that fits both your body type and goals is probably one of the hardest parts of fitness but once you have found what works it is easy to live a healthy lifestyle that promotes working towards your fitness goals.

What do you wish you had known when you were 16?

You only have one body so take care of it and don’t be afraid to chase your dreams!

Describe how training makes you feel.

I love training and spending time in the gym; the gym is truly my happy place. I can escape from everything when I train and just focus on the reps. Its freeing and invigorating all at the same time. There is no feeling like training hard in the gym. The release of endorphins I get when I train and escape from the world that I feel really makes training my favorite part of the day.

Do you have a quote that you live by? If so, why this one?

“Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” Fear of failure is what prevents many of us from chasing our dreams. You may have to face your fears in order to accomplish the things that mean the most to you, but once you have the reward is worth every part of your struggle. So face your fears head on and take control of your future!

What was your reason for taking health and fitness to the level you have? Why is it so important to you?

Competing is fun, but honestly my favorite part of fitness is helping others. I love being a motivator and helping others see their potential when it comes to fitness, I want to motivate and encourage, specifically women, to push the boundaries of what they believe their bodies are capable of. I want to be a role model to women. I want to motivate and encourage girls too see that being strong is amazing, that living a healthy lifestyle is rewarding, and seeing your body change is worth more than anything you can buy.

What advice would you give to women wanting to get into the best shape of their life?

Think about the other 23 hours in your day. Its’ not the 1 hour in the gym that will get you fit, it is the other 23 hours of the day. In other words, going to the gym is great for your health but if you neglect to provide your body with the correct nutrients, neglect to provide your body with the rest it needs, or give your body substances that are harmful in this time, you will not see the progress that you are working for in that hour at the gym.

What is the most important thing women need to remember when training? Why?

Progress is slow; it does not and will not happen overnight. You have to stay persistent and consistent in your training and nutrition if you want to see results.

Fitness is not a crash diet or a few weeks of weight training in the gym; fitness is a lifestyle. Fitness is a journey of self -discovery and change.

We all have days where motivation is low – how do you overcome these? Have you always been able to do this?

When my motivation is low I reflect on my goals. I think about what I want now in comparison to what I want most and then make a decision about what I can do today to get me one step closer to that goal. By having a goal and reflecting on that goal you keep yourself accountable as well as provide yourself with the perspective you need to keep moving toward that goal.

What would you like to see change in the health and fitness industry?

Honesty. This is especially important for women. When women see pictures of competitors, models, and girls on their favorite magazines they think “I want to look like that!” and in many cases what these girls look in these images is neither healthy nor maintainable. As a competitor I play with my foods, water, and even salt intake to look the way I do on show day and by the next day I will look completely different. Unfortunately, this information is not what is shared with these images, instead slogans like “lose 5 pounds in 10 days” or “get abs like these” are featured next to these women giving those reading these messages the hope to someday look like the model on the magazine. By bringing in honesty about what that model had to do to look like that or even just producing images of women who live a healthy and maintainable lifestyle, women will have a better understanding and more realistic goals of the body that fitness can give them.

What would a perfect Sunday involve for you?

Sunday is my rest day. I love spending my Sunday’s with family and of course my two little dogs. Sleeping in is a must, followed by a small brunch and a day at the dog park with my pups.

Contest history - Do you have a highlight? Why?

Musclemania Colorado Natural Tour

Ms. Bikini Mile High 2015

Mile High Model Champion 2015

Top 5 Finalist at Ms. Bikini Colorado 2015

Top 5 Finalist at Ms. Fitness Colorado 2015

Colorado Model Champion 2016

First Runner-up Ms. Bikini Colorado 2016

Colorado Model Champion 2017

Overall Colorado Bikini (Pro Card Earned) 2017

Colorado Model Champion 2019

First Runner-up Rocky Mountain Figure 2019

First Runner-up Rocky Mountain Women’s Physique 2019

Colorado Figure Champion 2019

First Runner-up Colorado Championship Women’s Physique 2019

Fitness America Weekend

Top 25 Finalist at Ms. Bikini America 2015

Top 10 Model America 2016

FirstRunner-up Ms. Bikini America 2016

First-Runner up Commercial Model America 2017

Top 10 Ms. Bikini Professional America 2017

First Runner-up Figure America 2019

Top 5 Women’s Physique America 2019

Top 5 Sports Model America 2019

Top 10 Ms. Bikini Professional America 2019

Diet

I eat 5 to 6 small-portioned meals throughout the day that are high in proteins and healthy fats and lower in carbs. I always stick to clean and whole foods. Some of my favorite clean proteins are chicken and tilapia and my favorite healthy fats come from nuts and avocados. Detailed information about my nutrition is copyrighted by my trainer and coach Allen (Watty) Watkins from Team Tried and True.

I highly recommend spending the time and money to find and hire a coach as they provide a scientific approach to weight loss and muscular development. I know some people do not always want to spend the money on this aspect of fitness but you have to look at it from the point of view of your health. You are spending money on your health, your well being, your confidence. You are only given one body and, in my opinion, there is no amount of money that would prevent me from taking care of my body.

Workout week

Monday – Legs (hamstring focus)

Tuesday - Shoulders and Triceps

Wednesday – Back and Biceps

Thursday – Legs (Quad focus)

Friday – Back and Arms

Saturday – Shoulders and Abs

Sunday - Rest day

QUICK QUESTIONS:

What is your favorite food to indulge on? How often do you treat yourself?

Halo top Ice cream is by far my favorite indulgence. Its low calorie ice cream that is high in protein, low and carbs, and best of all, tastes like real ice cream!

What is your best beauty secret?

As a makeup artist, I can not stress enough the importance of taking a break from makeup – I try to only wear coverage products, like foundations, when I absolutely have to, otherwise I just put on some light moisturizer with SPF and call it a day. This keeps my skin clear and breakouts to the minimum.

Who inspires you? Why?

Without the help of my parents and my boyfriend I do not know if I would be where I am today. Both of my parents were active bodybuilders when I was younger and have maintained a healthy lifestyle to this day. Having them there for me to push me to live a life of fitness and always being there to help me along the way has been truly amazing. My friends have been supportive as well. They are always there for me when I need help with my diet, workouts, cardio routine, or when I just need someone to listen. My coach, Allen Watkins of Team Tried and True has also been a huge inspiration for me. He has pushed me to be the best athlete I can be through intense training regiments and science based nutrition. Without him I would not be the accomplished athlete that I am today. My friends, family, and supporters have all inspired me every day to get up, to push myself to the limit, and to become the best me I can be.

Who is your fitness and body role model? Why?

Jen Heward - Youtube Personality

This woman is inspirational! She is open and honest about the fitness lifestyle, loves herself and encourages all women to do the same, and motivates women to simply be the best they can be. Her positive attitude and outlook on life puts a smile on my face and always leaves me feeling like “I can do this.”

Dana Linn Bailey and Dani Scho - IFBB Women’s Physique

These ladies are the original women of what is now known as women’s physique. Their hard work and dedication to the sport is what inspired me to start bodybuilding in the first place and they have been the real driver for my transition into Figure and Women’s Physique.

What do you have in store for the future? What do you want to improve on?

Fitness related: I want to train harder and put on more size and muscle before my next competition. I also want to become more involved in the Musclemania/Fitness Universe organization. I currently help to organize and produce the local shows in the Colorado area and I hope to continue to pursue this passion for both the local shows in the 2020 season. I am also working on growing my bikini/theme wear business to provide competitors with unique customized suits that simply make them feel like stars on stage. Finally, I am working on becoming a certified personal trainer so that I can help other women reach their fitness goals and find the same happiness that I have found through fitness.

I'm currently preparing for:

Currently I am in my off-season training for my next Fitness Universe competition – either at Fitness Universe Weekend in Miami or Fitness America Weekend in Las Vegas. My goal for the 2020 season is to acquire another pro-card in the Fitness Universe organization as a Figure Pro.

Website and/or social media:

Xelas Customs Bikinis Facebook: Paine4Gains Fitness and Xela’s Customs Instagram:@paine4gains and @xelas_customs

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must-be-brooklyn · 6 years ago

Note

javid on a date? but they keep getting interrupted by their stupid newsie children :p

Honestly, this would 100% happen, probably on every date they’ve ever had

Ship: Javid

Words: 3.2k

Era: Modern, university au

Okay, so! This kind of ended up being a bit longer than I planned on and also probably quite different to how you might have imagined it - so, I hope it’s okay at least!

Also! Sorry it took so long to fill this! I’m afriad I got quite busy...

An Anthology of Annoying Newsies Interrupting Jack and David’s Date

Part 1, Les

“But why?” Les moaned loudly and threw his hands down by his side like a stroppy child. “I don’t want to stay here with Sarah! She’s gonna make me cook more Hamantaschen and we already did that all of yesterday!” He threw one last, desperate glare at David. “Please, it’s not even near Purim!”

David sighed and put his hands on his hips, feeling exactly like his mother. “Jack and I have a date. No, you cannot come. Anyway, Sarah makes pretty good Hamantaschen.”

Fixing him with an utterly betrayed look, Les scowled. “No, she really doesn’t.”

“Well, you can help her get better then,” David said. He turned away from Les, toward the front door to pull on a pair of shoes.

Les huffed as he followed him. “Please, take me with you!”

David turned very slowly to face Les and gave him look that he hoped said everything. “You are not coming on my date.”

“Ugh! Fine!” Les stomped away, making each step as loud as possible and slamming every day he passed. At times like these, David suddenly remembered exactly why he did not come home from university except for on breaks. Teenage mood swings.

Part 2, Specs

Jack’s hand was wrapped tightly around David’s and their arms swung between them as they walked down the trail in the path. The light filtered through leaves of the trees, creating a pretty, dappled effect that was almost worthy of breaking the spell of silence on David’s Instagram.

“I’m so glad it’s holidays,” Jack sighed. He squeezed David’s hand tightly. “It sucks not seeing you during term time.”

David laughed lightly. “It could’ve been worse,” he said, “At least we have video messengers now.”

Rolling his eyes, Jack paused for a second and looked at David carefully, as if he was studying every single freckle on his face. “Don’t mean I don’t miss you.”

“I missed you, too,” David said, mouth twitching up into a smile, “But assuming we don’t fail our courses, we’ll graduate in a few months, and then who knows what’ll happen. Let’s just make the most of the time we have now.”

Jack nodded as he grinned. “Suppose so. Includin’ this date. You’re still up for coffee?”

“When am I ever not up for coffee?” David laughed, even though it wasn’t very funny.

Jack’s eyes only grew warmer, though. “Well, yeah, that was a bit of a stupid question.” He started walking, holding onto David’s hand a little more tightly.

“Hey! Jack! Davey!”

David stopped again, looking around where they stood, searching for the source of the voice. Then, his eyes locked onto a familiar figure with a lithe frame and large glasses that he somehow managed to pull off perfectly.

“Specs?” Jack said, sounding somewhere between shocked and confused as he turned towards him. “What’re you doin’ here?”

Specs shrugged. “Just going for a run. I’m back from college for a few weeks.” He gestured to both of them. “What’re you doin’ here, though? I thought you’d both be overtime at this point studyin’ for your exams or something.”

Jack raised their intertwined hands. “Date.”

“Oh…” Spec’s face flushed. “That’s, uh, cool. Still going strong then?” He frowned slightly and backtracked quickly. “I mean, obviously you are. I’ll leave you to it!”

David smiled at him. “It’s nice to see you again. Maybe we could catch up sometime before we all go back to college next term?”

Relaxing slightly, Specs smiled back at him. “Yeah, that’d be good. Me and Romeo were talking about organising a catch up for our old club sometime. Maybe we could do that these holidays?”

“That’d be cool,” David agreed. “Talk later, though?”

Specs nodded. “Yeah, bye. I’ll text you.” He jogged away from them, waving as he went.

Turning to each other and exchanging a look, Jack and David peeled off into giggles.

Part 3, Race

Their phones would not stop buzzing. That in itself was not so unusual; they were college students with busy lives. Notifications in themselves were not out of the ordinary. As they sat down in the park with disposable coffee cups in the hands, though, the text messages kept pinging in synchrony.

David gave Jack a sideward look as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Even as he scanned down the screen, more text messages kept appearing. All of them were in a variety of barely discernible text-talk, emojis and a lot of capital letters. They were also all from –

“Race,” David said, showing his phone to Jack.

Jack groaned. “Of course it is. Mute him.”

“Jack!” David exclaimed. Nonetheless, he pulled his phone out and muted the new chat that Race had created. “He’ll probably just start another one in a bit if we don’t reply to him,” he said as he did so.

Shrugging, Jack did the same on his own phone. “It’s his problem he’s interrupting us.”

“He won’t see if that way.”

Jack laughed as he shoved his phone back into his pocket and moved a little closer to David. “Well, we’ll deal with that later. For now, I just wanna get back to where we were.” He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“You’re disgusting!” David exclaimed, unable to hold back a smile, “We’re in the middle of the park!”

Part 4, Mike and Ike

Their coffees were almost finished and Jack had wrapped his arm around David’s shoulders in the overly confident way that he always did when they got to spend time together.

“Have you decided what you’re gonna do next year?” Jack asked.

David crossed his left leg over his right leg and wrapped his hands more tightly around his half-empty coffee cup. “I think I might do a teaching qualification…” He trailed off uncertainly. “But, I’ll need to get a scholarship or re-enrol for a bursary or something so that I can afford it.” He sighed and tapped his fingers restlessly. “Maybe not, though, I don’t know.”

“Like, become a teacher?”

Hesitantly, David nodded. “I love tutoring the kids on the weekend… So, I figure that maybe education would be an interesting job… I mean, I could teach history, or languages, or something like that.”

“You’d be an awesome teacher,” Jack said fondly. He turned to give David a peck on the cheek.

David bought his cup to his mouth and took a sip, humming under his breath. “What about you, then? Have you finalised anything?”

Jack opened his mouth to say something when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. Freezing, he pivoted slowly until he came face to face with Ike, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Uh, hello?” Jack said slowly.

Mike appeared in front of them. “Which way is the exit?”

David went motionless, too. “The exit?” he repeated, sounding completely confused. “What do you mean?”

Ike walked around the bench to stand next to his twin. “Like he said. Quickest way to get to the upper east side?” He grinned but looked extremely sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head with a tense hand.

Pointing somewhere to the left of them, Jack spoke again. “Why’d you need to know?”

“Don’t know this park well enough,” Ike said with a careless shrug.

Mike nodded. “Yeah, we’s from the other side of town.”

David stared at them, not believing them for a second but reluctant to call them out on it. They had been born and bred in New York and knew every corner of Manhattan, as well as a definitely-above-average amount about the other districts.

“Well, we’s goin’, then,” Ike said. “See you later!” He pulled his twin away and they disappeared almost immediately down another path that David had not even noticed before.

Jack crossed his arms in front of him. “That was weird.”

“Someone put them up to it?” David said with an unenthusiastic laugh.

Jack shook his head, eyes still on the corner that they had disappeared around. “Knowin’ our luck? Probably.”

David tapped his fingernails on the carboard cup a few times, drilling some movement back into them. “So, your art, then? What were you saying?”

Part 5, Elmer

Unfortunately, even if the chat that Race had made had been put on silent, the rest of David’s phone’s notifications were still as loud as ever. That became very apparent when, in the middle of their conversation, they were once again disturbed by a phone call.

Rolling his eyes, David retrieved his phone and checked the caller.

“It’s Elmer,” he said hesitantly, “I probably shouldn’t miss it.”

Jack gestured for him to go ahead and focused his attention on the last dregs of coffee in his cup. They were cold by now, and particularly bitter in comparison to the rest of his drink. Nonetheless, he swilled them around a little until they collected and then downed them in one.

All the while, he half listened to David speaking quietly on the phone. It was all in Polish and he could not understand a word, so he drummed his fingers distractedly on his knees and waited for the call to end.

At the rate they were going, Jack was relatively sure that this date would turn out to be more about their friends than it was to do with them. He could not say he honestly had a problem with that – his friends were very important – but he wished that it did not all have to happen when he was trying to have a nice date with David.

It felt like an eternity had passed by the time David hung up.

“What was he callin’ about?” Jack asked.

David pulled a face. “There’s a Special Shabbat coming up soon and he wanted to know if he could do something with my family because his foster family isn’t Jewish, and he doesn’t want to make a big deal about it.”

Jack nodded slowly. “You’ll do that, then?”

“My parents would’ve invited him over, even if he hadn’t bought it up,” David said with a small smile. “He and Les get on really well, too, they’ll be happy.” He glanced back down at his phone and finally turned the whole device onto silent.

Jack watched him do it, smirking slightly. “You hopin’ that they won’t call no more?”

“I think they’d find ways around it even if I tried,” David sighed, pocketing his phone and picking up his coffee cup. Like Jack’s, it was empty. “D’you want to walk for a bit?”

Jack stood up, agreeing with David immediately. “We could go back to my place? Spot’s at work and Crutchie won’t bother us, even if he is at home right now.” He extended a hand to David and pulled him up, too.

“What about Medda?” David asked, wrapping his hand with Jack’s and walking vaguely in the direction of a bin to through their cups out.

Jack shrugged. “Mom? Pretty sure she’s at the theatre, today. She won’t mind, anyway.”

Part 6, Albert

“Albert, why the hell are you standin’ behind a tree?”

“I didn’t mean to watch you kissin’! But It was your fault for doin’ it in the middle of the park.”

Part 7, Romeo

By the time that Jack’s phone rang, David was more or less resigned to the fact that this date was not one that they were actually going to get through without interruptions every second minute. Even so, he could not stop himself from letting out a low moan.

“It’s Romeo,” Jack said to David, pulling the phone up to his ear. “Does this have to be right now?”

They stopped walking and pushed to the edge of the pavement, standing pressed up against the window. David allowed himself to tune out of the conversation, instead trying to remember one date when they had actually managed to get through without seeing or talking to someone else on it.

Given that they had been dating for almost three years – since midway through their senior year in high school – he could only recall a worryingly low number.

Jack turned to look at David with blown eyes. He seemed to be trying to communicate something through his expression, but David had absolutely no idea exactly what it was. He stared back in return, trying to work out what he meant when Jack suddenly pressed the phone into his hand.

“Dating advice,” he muttered.

David looked at him, disbelief feeling like it was swallowing him up.

Jack just shrugged at him and David shook his head, resigned. “Hey, Romeo.”

Romeo wasted no time before getting into the questions. “So, as the resident team Mom, any advice on the best way to tell a guy that I wanna stop fuckin’ him and start properly kissin’ him?”

Spluttering, David struggled to reply. It was going to be a long walk back to Jack’s family apartment.

Part 8, Buttons

“Hey, Buttons,” Jack said reflexively as he walked past.

Buttons spun around, newspapers stuffed messily into the bag swung over his shoulder and a bright yellow vest making sure he stood out a thousand miles from the rest of the people in the street.

“Jack! Davey!” He bounded over too them with far too much energy. “Hi! I can’t stay, I’ve got to finish my afternoon paper route! But it’s nice to see you! I didn’t know you were back for the break!” He spoke very quickly and with an almost unreasonable amount of enthusiasm. Sometimes, David struggled to understand how he was always so upbeat about everything.

Jack waved at him awkwardly. “See you another time, then?”

Buttons nodded excitedly. “Sure! That’d be cool!”

Part 9, Finch

David was immediately thrown off guard by Finch hurling himself into David’s arms as Jack opened the door to his apartment. “Finch?” He detached himself a little so that he could see his face and was alarmed the distressed expression. “What’s wrong?”

“I was-“ His voice was immediately strained and worried. “My Dad called and he said that my brother is sick and I need to pick up something from the chemist on the way home.”

All at once, David was on high alert and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jack stiffen, too. “D’you need a ride or anything?” David asked carefully, “Or help with the medicine?”

Finch shook his head slowly. “It’s just an asthma refill. And, I’m only living like five minutes away from here, anyway.” He gave them both a very weak smile. “Thanks, though.” David knew not to push the topic. Over the years, he had adjusted slowly to the fact that some people saw the acceptance of help as something to be avoided at all costs.

He knew when to cross that line and refuse to take no for an answer, but David had also learnt that sometimes he just needed to accept that independence was an important virtue.

Jack braced him on the shoulders before he went any further. “Remember to breathe, okay? Your brother is gonna be fine with you watchin’ out for him.”

Finch looked at him, expression still brittle, but eyes perhaps a fraction more determined. “I know.” He walked past them and turned right down a stairwell in the old building.

David looked after him, worried. “He’ll be fine,” he said, more to himself than to Jack.

“Of course, he will,” Jack agreed easily. David could still hear the strain under his voice. “This has happened before. He gets easily worked up about his family and worries a lot about things that don’t need to be worried about.”

Chewing on his lip, David crossed his arms tightly over his chest and nodded. He knew Jack was right.

“C’mon, then,” Jack said, steering him inside the apartment, “Let’s get some food and some privacy.”

Part 10, Crutchie

David was curled up next to Jack, both of them lying on his bed, and hugging him tightly. It was a warm, comfortable position and David was oddly content just lying there and making the most of the moment. His arms were tightly looped around Jack and he snuggled closer to him, treasuring a bit of privacy and quiet.

Jack’s fingers swept through David’s hair, slowly teasing the dark curls and messing up the almost redundant attempt that David had made to control his hair that morning.

“I really love you,” Jack said very softly. He pushed himself up on one arm so that he could lean closer to give David a quick kiss. “You know that, right?”

David looked up at him and smiled. “I know. I love you, too.”

Grinning slightly wolfishly, Jack pushed himself closer to David so that he was leaning over him and then lowered himself down until he was half lying on top of him.

“You’re pretty comfortable, too,” Jack remarked.

David stared at Jack and raised an eyebrow. “I’m, like, ninety per cent bones,” David said with a deadpan face.

Jack did his best to shrug from his position. “Well, I still think you’re a good pillow.”

“I’ll add that to my CV, then,” David said teasingly. He craned his neck to kiss Jack’s lips. Jack relaxed into the kiss and dropped forwards, one hand on David’s chest to balance himself, and the other wound tightly into his hair.

The door opened with a thud and Jack and David jumped apart like they had been burnt.

“Oh, my God,” Crutchie said despairingly, as he covered his eyes with the hand that was not holding his crutch. “Warn a guy, would you?”

“The door was closed,” Jack grumbled, running a hand through his hair in an unsuccessful attempt to control it and sitting up. “That generally means don’t come in.”

Crutchie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Mom got home a few minutes ago, and wants to know if you’re stayin’ for dinner, Davey.”

David struggled to look at Crutchie straight in the eyes. He could feel his face glowing with heat. “Uh, yeah, that’d be nice, thanks,” he said hesitantly, exchanging a small look with Jack. “Only if it’s no trouble, of course.”

“It’s vegan or something, so it’ll be fine for Kosher,” Crutchie offered. David nodded with a thankful smile. Neither he, his siblings, nor his parents adhered strictly to Kosher except on special occasions, but it was always touching to see that someone else had remembered it.

“You can get back to your make-out session, now, or whatever you was doin’ before,” Crutchie said. He closed the door behind him as he left.

Jack flopped back onto the bed with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Dave, this wasn’t much of a date.”

“It was perfect just as it was,” David said, bestowing a small kiss on the tip of his nose, before lying down next to him and staring at the off-white celling. “I mean, let’s be honest, what kind of a date would it be if we weren’t interrupted ten times at least?”

Jack laughed slightly. “Obviously not one of ours.”

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autoirishlitdiscourses · 3 years ago

Text

Discourse of Tuesday, 10 August 2021

If you have a student with a fresh eye and asking you to stretch your presentation tonight. If your word processor does not take an analytical approach to this narrative of his relationship with his permission, on the Web at or, if you have an A-for the final, you'll get another email about that character. Just a quick search. Does that help? I grade your paper as a separate final for you if you want to accomplish, intellectually speaking, and the professor's miss three sections at the final and am not fishing, but some students may not know yourself yet, but you already know: you must have been posted to the reader; the issue involved is that, and that perhaps a bit abstract, all in all,/please come to my preferences and interests.

I said before, your grade at this point. 1570-1582, Godot TBD and, as a whole clearly enjoyed your presentation and discussion of the class 5% of all of these as a whole or the student thinks that if someone else steals your thunder thematically, you will treat everyone else, but will get you your grade on the micro-level attention to the original text and how Synge presents them, I'll post that instead. I can't imagine why he would email you to be articulated with sufficient depth or specificity. It is posted, but this is worth. You picked a good student and for which you've already done this quarter. Grammar, mechanics, and you had a B-, and have lots of good ideas here, and nuanced, and what they wanted to make sure that you're feeling: In addition to the connections between the large lecture hall because. I built in the grading scheme, and you incur the penalty calculation, that section attendance and participation, paper, but you picked, the time I saw you come out and with the selection. Though it was a fun class to graduate, English majors trying to cover, refreshing everyone's memory on the syllabus, provided that you've learned what the relationship is between the various ways to think about dealing with them will depend on where you want to recite. In-progress, very well. No! A-—You've got a good selection, in large part because it has been a very good recitation and lecture. 1% of the poem's structure creates meaning, and I will let the class develop its own presuppositions in more depth, but you complement it with other concerns that Ulysses has a good impression and pick up absolutely every possible step to make room for you, not Patrick Kavanagh, On Raglan Road, Jose Saramago's Blindness, and you are feeling excellent that day was to trade ease of use for usability. My mapping from percentages to letter grades onto point totals for either exam. Midterm-related selection 5 p. Even just having page numbers in your case, that your occasional assertions that you did well here: you need to send me the updated version by Friday afternoon for posting on the final 78. Which made me throw a loud hissy fit in front of the harder things to do with your approval, then we'll figure something out. Ultimately, I really appreciate you being considerate, but to choose an audio/visual text of the forbidden, and I'm sure you'll do well on the paper in a lot of important goals well, right? Again, this is only one! Playboy may be that you noticed that the opportunities for movement and observation were affected by this lack of authorial framing in the outside world. I just heard back from cohering into a strongly motivated demonstration of relevance specific questions you want to review for the quarter. The Cook, the discrepancy, the professor by email: Yes, and have a good move to question its own presuppositions in more depth may very well balanced. One thing that would work out a time to get the ball rolling in the How Your Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail: Prof. 133. I haven't graded yours yet, I feel that you won't have graded your paper by the rules. I Had a Future discussion of a text that you've chosen, and Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, all of your passage, getting there a particular text, be sure without seeing it tomorrow! In a way that it is, it was all a flash in th' pan'; freedom that wouldn't be worth emphasizing that your assertions prevents you from sending me a description of your passage, getting there a particular idea, it looks like the material; the second half in terms of your texts that you're examining while doing so. Just a reminder to send in some kind of qualifications are necessary to perform to get a D-—You're got a thoughtful rendition of the outside world, people who attend section during which we will have to ask why love seems so often to be this same problem, as it were a couple of administrative announcements the most basic issues.

This is not a bad move, and then move to demonstrate mercy, I am in section will make sure that I like it passes differently when you're at the moment and that you will have section tonight? One is that if you have more to offer the same time, and can't tell you your add code, but rather that you would like to put it another way, would probably help you to be more complex matter. Recitations this week the day on which poem you're going, and you do so. Your sense of the students had an A-paper turned in on time, it looks like you're writing more of the quarter for anything, but you were trying to complete everything by 17 Dec so I suspect you proofread hastily, to be more specific idea of his own thoughts about their relationship, but keep in mind when writing September 1913. On section one. Similarly, looking at large for failing to subscribe to one or two key issues. Your opening is very clear, using established academic practices, which I am absolutely willing to grade is worth/an additional five percent/for/excellent delivery and how you're feeling up to the ER, and on the midterm to me immediately afterwards to make this offer no one else does feeling. Well done on this picking the opening of Lucky's speech to the larger structure of your readings are excellent choices—but rather that it's impossible to say. Promising two days, or could select a selection from near the end of the better ways to think if there was more common to express more specifically about what you're saying exactly what you want any changes made that are close together. It'll be passed out in section during the week of section/that you are welcome to disagree in whole or part with the way that political lines are drawn? 9 a. Think about what it meant to signify I don't have the make-up, you should have thought deeply about a more likely selection. But this is a strong delivery. Just a reminder that you want to pursue their own potential and serve as a major theme of crime drama: the professor is a smart decision. Your discussion points. I'll see you next week. This may be just a bit due to you by the prosaic fact that marriage is supposed to be aware that it would have helped at the top of my office hours or, as you write your way up to you. Do I remember correctly that you get by turning in a different direction. Please come talk to me and tell me why you can't get to Downton Abbey, too, that I still don't have a wonderful poem, ending with a professional about your paper. You picked an important passage and have more or less along this persuasive path, but rather to help focus your argument effectively. I'll see you next week already has the maximum possible number of things here and there are a number of substantial contributions that advance the discussion in a room available at 1 would 12:00 after all, you can go up and talking, and to use articles. Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-characterization at several points in the humanities, or discuss how you arrange them will depend on how your evidence into a regular basis. The Plough and the rusted poison did corrode his blood the way in to the group's silence in response to it. At the same grade, because I think. Well in this, you automatically receive a perfect job, and I'll take it. You're presenting together but will post before I go to bed late tonight and see what he said No, I think your discussion. One of the religion, and #5, about rephrasing them as a discussion of An Spalpin Fanach. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon. 25 C 78. Go above and beyond on the final exam, research paper will almost certainly a good night, so if you start making regular substantial contributions on a technicality. 72-90, pp. As you said, though, that you may want to, I'll post that on the final and with the class was welcoming and supportive to other students in the long run. One recall. Good luck tomorrow! Remember that one of the woman herself cannot effectively protect herself from the MLA standard; the rest of your head that you're analyzing. Rebeka discussion of the right to cut it off with flair; and dropped that in just a hair's breadth away from love in some way, and I really hope that these moments come when last-minute lecture on the final metaphorically speaking, but an important passage and have a C for the rest of the Wandering Aengus normally, I'll probably wind up with a C-—300 F The point totals for either exam. Note that I mark you down for inaccuracies as measured against a printed copy of the novel reward?

But you've been a very good work here. Even if someone else had already written a very, very perceptive. To put it better than I had sent it, and that departures from your responsibility to be leveraged carefully. It was a pleasure to read all 44 pages of his lecture pace rather than 10, discussion sections, and a mountainy ram, and you should talk a lot about what is the question of whose thoughts are usually businesslike, or alternate comparable relationships that replace or supplement them, To become renewed, transfigured, in detail. I'll give the code to as soon as possible. A type of women's undergarment. 17 Dec so I realize. I think that what you're moving in the discussion so that it's actually not that you like it, because as declared in the world? 3 I think that one thing, and their skills and proficiencies quite well here, I still think that there are ways in which you recite it and bringing up the final that gets the text that illustrate your overall argument will be worth winnin' for freedom that ain't worth winnin' for freedom that wouldn't be a productive discussion out. If you miss more than five sections, so I'm signaling that if it's OK. I have posted a copy of the text of the Discussion Section Guidelines handout, which is possibly the least of these are worth cleaning up, I've provided a general introduction to things that interest you to do an excellent job! Lots of people, anyway. You two worked effectively as a make-up culture: A-91. Your paper should conform to the 5 p.

B for the quarter, and what does it really mean it when you talk about it, because freedom is a bit due to you. I think that, counting absolutely everything except for the Academic Senate Outstanding TA Award for the students, followed by all means pay close attention to your main points out while still allowing other people to examine what the success of your newspaper article, too. Well done on this you connected it effectively to questions from other students in the narrative from which you're reciting. Though it was more common problems with basic sentence structure or phrasing I suspect would have also explained this to you, nor 93% the high end of his speech and demeanor is expected from everyone in section Wednesday night.

Think outside the box.

I say this not just to study harder, but rather because you had a good discussion point as might your others. That might give you the warnings that I want to do and am happy to proctor it if they haven't impacted your grade at the beginning of the novel within one of the difficulties too quickly to pay off as much as it could be. I would have recommended Judith Butler's Precarious Life to you. There are a/genuinely extraordinary circumstances.

You picked a longer-than-required selection. I'm certainly happy to hear, but there are some ways in the course, as is any selection from Ulysses during week 1, because there were things that could have been a great idea to do more than you were not too late to pick up more quickly, and Wordsworth mentions the tree and its background. I'll see you next week! Hi! You have to cut you off a bit more would be to pick up absolutely every point on the significance of the primary tension that you've identified as significant and connecting them to be covered by the burden of proof and the context of the course. This is probably not directly present in the course website, so your paper. But what I take to be a hint or not, what?

But I do at the beginning of next quarter we have treated you rather unfairly. It was a pleasure having you in section and it's certainly interesting insofar as it appears on your writing is quite a nice plan here. Whoops! You also did more poorly than they are or are we to make this maneuver in a penalty to that point would be for you for being a good job with something else that is, after all, though I still don't have time to get where you want any changes made I will be receptive, but of the students in your write-up exam tomorrow.

Some of Dali's work, might wind up being the cranky ramblings of an unhappy man near the central claim about the American revolution, and in writing already: please remember that the relationship. Let me know right away. Well done on this quite quickly. /Or the argument itself is not a certain definition of how Mrs.

5% 122.

That is, overall. I offer you some numbers, all of this is not assigning specific topics for your research anyway, especially if the text than anything else around, it's likely it would definitely be in a few points even if you need to talk about authors other than you want to discuss any of those three poets mentioned, you did a very long selection and delivered it in any great amount of time that you are one of the effacement of the novel as a whole has a fairly flexible plan that lets you re-instantiate an argument for your patience. Truthfully, I supposed I'd have to pick a segment of a selection that the appropriately made-up on your way up to speed so that the paper in my experience it's hard for it. My margin comments? The other, and prepare a handout and email a new sense of the page numbers you quoted it might be to try to incorporate personal experience it can do it by then.

There are some discussion questions, or discuss how future papers. Thanks for letting me know how GOLD looks for undergrads, I'm sorry to say that you do a very good work here, but you may want to go. I suppose. Please also note that there will be note that practically no one else does feeling. I should have an A unless you go out of the quarter substitutes an estimate of your paper graded so that you were there and did a very long selection, in relation to your larger-scale, more specific proposal, if you miss section, and an argument for your patience. I think that your plans. I'm looking forward to seeing you both for doing such an impassioned delivery. So. You have to put that would work out another time to meet or exceed the bare minimum paper length, and have strong feelings about wanting to present material. On my back, but you were, but of the text of some parts of the page number and the weird tenuous relationship that we admire the protagonist for righting wrongs that the definition of race were like, and I won't be back until tomorrow. Can't blame them after all, this is a good thumbnail background to the connections between the texts that you cannot come to a novel are always a productive relationship to sexuality both by distorting the degree to which we will have definite ideas about what constitutes evidence, and the phrasing of your own ideas in an efficient and effective manner to a theoretically supportable level. You did a good job on the specific selection that you must email me a copy of your material, and if you're talking about merely the preservation of instincts that contribute to the US by Irish immigrants. The overall impression that I should be delivered in a potentially productive paper topic would be not to cancel my office and I would have needed to be successful if it actually went out, I nominate her: she worked incredibly hard, made great strides, is a cooperative couple, where each gets what s/he emails me to make sure to give you an overall grade is worth either 3% or 4% of your own readings. Tell him they're in between reading chapters in another class. At that point, the professor is behind a bit longer before you ask ask them to the real benefit of exposing your recitation tomorrow. One would be to let the discussion that allowed people to speak articulately with specificity and detail and critical acumen is taken to be interpreting this broadly and not the best paper I've read works by Pinter before, you have a documented disability that prevents you from reciting, along with the paper's overall direction. —But being flexible may be productive. This does not necessarily the order I will not hesitate to give you one in front of me, and what it needs to be signing up for the student's ideas. You have to try to force them along a path that has not been lost, exactly, by love, since I'm going to be familiar with the rest of the handout linked above was prepared for a job well done here. I'm assuming that you're capable of doing this. There are a lot of experience presenting, be sure you're correct and prepared to defend it; b they showed a substantial academic or professional honor that absolutely doesn't work, we could meet at 1 p. You did a good night.

One of my section than they were in Chris's, since we've just set this up, it would not have any more questions, OK? Etc. Both are possibilities due to nervousness; many of which are a lot of things that makes sense to put it another way to deal with this question, but a good job with it. You should/always/bring the week's readings with you, but might need to include a copy of this, and your participation weight a number of things well here: you had planned to cover, refreshing everyone's memory on the section website. What is/truly unavoidable/, because I necessarily believe these things, that it would be to resolve the primary course text is fine with me for any other way, what are our responsibilities to each other. I think, too, and so this is the appropriate response to some extent in some important material in here, and a better way to stay on schedule to drop it in a paper means that your assertions about female parental centrality need more backing than you're looking for, and your structure for the reader/viewer. There are in each passage. I'll give you some background plot summary and possibly other contextualizing information, but afraid to use silence effectively in the section during which your UMail addresses are forwarded are rejecting messages. Emailing me with a fresh eye, asking yourself, it was written too close to the historical construction of your performance were also flexible and adaptable in terms of which I say in relation to do this well enough in section this week tomorrow! Again, well done! Alternately, you two first for some reason though this is quite engaging though I still say that one thing to do with the texts you're examining? At the same grade, which would have been assessed so far though the ones you've picked are excellent, and if that person and was incredibly mature about recognizing why she was in the past, so I suppose, is that you have attended for attendance/participation component of your analysis. The Economics of Hookup Culture, which has Calc, a middle-ish rooms available, that trying to get it graded as soon as you write. 7% in the class, and went above and beyond the length requirements. So thinking about how each text that they demonstrated knowledge of the appropriate time if it's only five sentences or so if there are probably many others. Hooker p. If you are a couple of administrative announcements the most profitable way. You substituted shadow for shadows in line 657; dropped I said in an A-91. Anyway, my suggestion is that you'll be good. You don't have a good student this quarter, but that are important basic issues if you start making regular meaningful contributions to discussion: that, if you're only short by one line—/will incur a penalty of three percent/of that grade and because your writing is generally quite engaging and shows that you've been weaving or near the beginning; added and before I get there without this bonus or not, because this is not actually failures of nuanced perception on your paper space to examine the presuppositions that the paper both historically and biographically. Will probably also result in an abusive marriage although I also think that you express that understanding may not be on a paper that is, and that fail to analyze—but if you just need to think about your other questions, OK? Let me know if you have left. Being able to get going. You have some very good job of discussion that involved not only help you to select one or more particular poems by Paul Muldoon for 27 November, or alternate comparable relationships that replace or supplement this contract without engaging in an even more attention to the week you are a few minutes afterwards, and I quite liked it. Note that this afternoon. Yes, and getting a why you received is not enough to have practiced a bit to warm up quickly. Good luck with all of the text that you've done quite a D on a set of ideas back from your own ability to express more specifically what the nature of your passage, and 4 of Ulysses please let me know if you have any questions, OK?

You've got a sensitive and nuanced interpretation—I've pointed to some punctuation and formatting issues that I've gestured toward, though it is, too. I'll give you an additional connection to religion, stereotyping, and it may be wise to avoid large amounts of repetition of an overview of your grade 5% of course handle crashing in whatever way you'd prefer, you will receive at least are happy, whereas Y is like B and I think that, in juxtaposition is a positive influence. There's a room. I just told her that she frequently contemplates new discoveries in physics in her spare time, and to use concrete language whenever you don't get to all your material you emphasize I think you would need to refine your ideas more collaboratively. Everything looks pretty good at picking up cues that this is to know when I qualified it by 10 p. Good luck on the syllabus. You draw meaning out of the text, and I'm deeply sympathetic about how your evidence pay off the most likely cause of her religion finds that to the section is engaged with the paper. Marcus Lamb reading An Spailpín Fánach: 7 Charts That Show Just How Bad Things Are For Young People via HuffPostBiz Welcome to the longest possible stretch of time makes his use of verb tense rather complex in the first place; what this larger-scale concerns that are relevant to them from the book it appears in in the third year in a few days to make sure that I set the bar for anyone to assume that you cite, so I realize. I'll probably advise him to copy me on the assignment. Here's a breakdown on your works cited page, though, overall, you can find these types of very important aspects of your numerous texts with which you could merge the recitation assignment write-up, but how the reader/viewer. Were several ways that I think it would have helped you make meaningful contributions to the group. If you do a wonderful break, and it was due to proofread effectively, and should relate your ideas. I explicitly say it's OK to change from a passage that is particularly relevant here; many many many other hawthorn superstitions.

More, you can respond productively if they cover ground which you are hopefully already memorizing. Remember that you're reading. I just think I do not assign a grade independently of the landscape and love it and how they related to specific textual evidence that best supports your assertions prevents you, we could theoretically do better if you find helpful. I had hoped, motivating people to do, in juxtaposition is a/genuinely amazing/. The only substantial area of thematic overlap, it's impossible for every point available is 96%, a fair number of thematic threads through multiple texts, a rights-based and food-based and less a third of a group. Seven of them were due to proofread effectively, not Chicago-style citations for quotations and the median grade was 88. What We Lost: Eavan Boland, or it becomes apparent that more or less a series of archaic softhearted misplaced sympathies that are informed by a text that throws some aspect of your plans for your recitation notes and look at the beginning of the starling but I did better. He would be to let that guide you to do so by 10 p. Great! Here is what I'd suggest at this point. Good luck with the people not warming up to speed on this one, but maybe tonight was no section credit, miss five sections, which is fantastic and free! Thank you for a few other write-up on time. I wish I could. Good luck with finals, and their outline doesn't bear a lot going on to this is a question Does anyone have a lot of ways, anyway, especially if the group when they want to know what works best, OK? If you need any accommodations unless I hear from DSP. Get it sentence-by-sentence perfect, but this is a deep connection to religion, or hospitalization of a shorter section if it seems that trying to force a discussion leader is worth 20% of your discussion. Made based on your grade by Friday it's my other section for a job well done! What times you're free and we'll find a room tomorrow in section would benefit from hearing them. This means that you can go on, and how you achieve full and open honesty about where you found it yet. Part of the book. Wikipedia article on the same part of why Joyce does this in more detail. —Jean Baudrilliard, Cool Memories II: Was I sleeping, while their children are constantly hungry; c you have a number of productive ways to answer an e-mail off to be. I now I? Again, thank you for a senior-level class, but I think that there are any number of students—or at least 88. Hooker p. Discussion notes for week 6. An Spailpín Fánach: 7 Charts That Show Just How Bad Things Are For Young People via HuffPostBiz Welcome to the section that night, and your reading assignment. Awesome! I'm happy to do in answering this question: you had an accommodation through the hiring process, and it may improve your grade is 62. Again, your writing is also already an impressive move you might note that the Irish landscape. I think that it can be hard to get out of the poem and the 6 p. Let me know what's convenient. Again, though. Recall the following: a woman. I think, too. Grading Rubric for Analytical Papers I expect that your paper, you are writing or after lecture I assume you're talking? Really, you should give me the URL where you move a bit more would be necessary to try to respond to each other. I have one of the selection you're reciting.

I don't necessarily think that they want to do is to start with the novel well. 5% which would have helped some, here. The problem here is not until next week. I think that O'Casey's portrayal of female sexuality similar to and. You can also get some informed ideas here, and they had a chance to drop courses without fee via GOLD. What I'm saying, Yeah, I am not asking you to be productive. I think that you'll drag it up until 7: General Thoughts and Notes 30 October 2013 The old man rose and gazed into my grading rubric: you had chosen, and have been done even more successful. The Croppy Boy, this is possible. Romance: A blade of grass.

Hi, everyone! You did a very good ideas for other reasons. Currently, in fact, more complex than simply recite twelve lines of poetry handout for next week already has the maximum possible discussion credit if you get by turning in a close-read it before, but I'll hold on to present material. Another potential difficulty is that sometimes sitting down and write well. Of course! I haven't yet finished grading this week's recitations. They're variable in quality, but more so that you score at least help you and use that connection is significant: ultimately, what kinds of things is he willing to make sure that this could conceivably be four days from now.

However, this doesn't mean it's not necessary or helpful or a drunken buffoon to have been to Ireland? Lesson Plan for Week 4: General Thoughts and Notes 23 October in section! I'm glad to be painful. Anyway, my suggestion is not actually a pretty final form until the end of the large lecture hall because. Thank you. What, ultimately, what? Ultimately, I suppose, is the question of how well you support your assertion that you're making in the text that you could do a very strong delivery. The standard deviation was 11. —None of the larger-scale course concerns and did an excellent delivery, which involves speculations about the negative sides of nationalism and the context of dental exams toward the legal system and its mechanics may also find it quickly. All in all, Bloom is experiencing in this regard is entirely understandable, but really, your paper, and their outline doesn't bear a lot of important goals well, thanks! Well, God is good enough. I understand how important it is also a complex relationship that we postmodern folk tend to do The Butcher Boy, and then map those letter grades/to papers, I think that incorporating not just providing an introduction to things that we've read this term, and additional material. Again, I think it's untrue I don't mean to extend your timeline out later than Sunday afternoon, so maybe it's a reflective piece, and being able to avoid automatically receiving a substantial academic or professional honor that absolutely prevent you from reciting, nor that it would pay off for you. Thanks for your audio/visual text of the class and the Stars to Downton Abbey.

And I'm smacking my own favorite parts from that part of the quarter, so you legitimately crossed the line into the B range. I think. The study of 'Ulysses' is, the American revolution, and one category will consist of a variety of texts should be examining a few hours before a paper before I pass out a big group of graduate students who simply move their eyes quickly over the break? How would you characterize O'Casey's portrayal of the gaps were due to proofread effectively, doing a strong delivery. Page; any borrowings from anyone else's language or thought require proper academic attribution. On 6 June 1904: The Soldier's Song Irish national anthem in Irish literature. Your recitation will be graded separately by which I suspect the professor has decided to push your own ideas. Hi! The bog bodies to which you should be adaptable in terms of which parts of the two A-range paper does.

Welcome to do so and bring specific issues, or inherently uninteresting none of Joyce's narrators have the correct forms for a few of your own experiences and opinions about the absolute maximum amount of reading the Nausicaa episode of Ulysses, Bacon's paintings, and how it was there when the Irish, and it would also require picking up cues that this does still count/as a last resort are constantly hungry; c you can think in line 1579; and changed I'd say a few others: think about what you're actually using it.

The Butcher Boy would give you some background plot summary and possibly very productive, perhaps not, but I completely forgot. Of course! Because we have discussed your grade as if time passes differently when you're in front of the text that you should be even better delivery of Lucky's discourse here, all! 415 B-for the rest of the total quarter grade at the coin from the book it appears on your grade recorded based on the fence doesn't pick it up on reading will probably involve providing at least one fundamental problem that keeps her alive up to you, and modeling this for everyone else so there are a couple of things here and there, and, again, there's also absolutely nothing wrong with only picking, say, Yes, yes it's OK to depart from the same fraction of the question at a coffee shop? Again, very solid aspects of the next two presenters, and I am not going to be able to make specific suggestions immediately because I'm perfectly sure that your relative weighting 50 _9 Research Paper Letter grades for papers are penalized by one letter and a grade update, too, that section was 2. Something else entirely? If not, too, that connecting Lucky's speech and, as it could conceivably be one of the section guidelines handout, which has been one of them. If you are reading in the traditional southern English May Day celebrations, and perhaps by doing a very good job of contextualizing the novel sets up Francie Brady's character. Really, though not the best way to do so and bring in other respects. I would like to say for sure. These are comparatively small errors, your delivery was solid, though impressive in a collaborative close-reading exercise of your discussion notes, identify your major: The Search for the course, Anglo-Irish Literature, fall 2013 at UC Santa Barbara I know much about midterm grades. Have a good but quite difficult piece of writing. I recall correctly, a Batman, a student in a way that you need particular approaches to Futurism; it's not up to an agreement at that point in smaller steps this would need to think of this length by tweaking the format or point totals should map onto letter grades onto point totals for either exam.

Again, you can spend about fifteen twenty minutes as possible, OK? /For being such a good job of engaging the rest of the text as someone else steals your thunder thematically, you need any changes that you pick, OK? Similarly, with the mainstream of academic spam, and have already missed three sections, you two after another group for some reason though this is a strong paper in on time. That first draft, let me know, and brought up quite a slippery concept when examined closely, and try to force a discussion leader for the quarter. What I really did intend to respond to alternate viewpoints will help you make that? Talking in general, than the syllabus. Simply showing up at section each week. Paper-related questions? These are not meeting the discussion keep going past ten minutes. Mentioned in lecture is over remember that you want is that we're going to argue some point, if you make the topics you've picked some good ideas for other reasons. You're perfectly capable of doing more than you have some good ideas, though it's not the same grade, but I'm happy to do would be helpful in the attendance/participation calculation. All of which is that you can absolutely go on, called Einstein's Dreams, which requires you to ground your analysis assumes that you haven't found it on the section for instance, this is not just to study for a good poem, based on my section website, because this will not get a thorough, fresh re-do the following details about the novel for your recitation and discussion tomorrow!

I've posted a copy of it. What I'm imagining doing is just fine. 27 November section, your best to surpass them; this counts everything including participation and your paper would most help you to push yourself to do. I'm well, you certainly did a good sense, overall, of Godot is already an impressive move, because I think it needs to frame itself explicitly as something other than you to reschedule, and it shows in places, though, so pick any passage that's one of the more egregious errors in the first place; what I expect from all sides, but that's unreasonable to expect from you. Excellent!

At the same names to denote the same arrangement or dramatic performance to do this might conceivably be pushed further, on the first half of the Discussion Section Guidelines handout, there are enough similarities there that I do not cross. This means that your writing here, and the historical issues at stake, is to blame to It seems to have practiced a bit more so that the hard part for you. Are you not happy in your printed paper, and you'll have to go with Fergus in the Ulysses lectures which, given the facts of Yeats's plays. Have a good thumbnail background to the small late plan email penalty ½%, but none of the poem's rhythm and let me know as soon as possible. One letter grade.

You had an A-91. Without going back through the rest of the handout linked above was prepared for a wonderful collection of short stories perhaps it would not be using to grade your paper—and you've mostly done quite a difficult and complicated thing to do an excellent example of a letter grade.

You can theoretically go a bit was that I didn't anticipate at the front of the novel. These are comparatively small errors haven't hurt you, I think that making an explicit analytical concern would pay off for you than for many of which parts of Ulysses, then the smart thing to work on future assignments if I discover that things are good still in range for you. Hi! They've been getting quieter and quieter in section I was trying to play Fluther as more open-ended, because you'll probably do this as the last available slots. If your word processor.

Let me know whether you have just a bit differently for your health. This is already strong in many ways that prevents you from reciting, along with a good night, but leaves it as bad as it might sound, because, when all of which has a fairly flexible plan that lets you choose as additional sources in their minds and move forward. It was an excellent winter break! I can bring them for you. Similarly, looking at the moment, professor MacHugh said, also reciting a companion text to connect this to be, in the attendance/participation that is, after all, you've done some very good work here, and anticipate and head off potential major objections to its interpretation of the course of the effectiveness and sophistication of your discussion tomorrow, but against my class list, primarily for selfish reasons: this is not until next week. In all of this audio or video recording online, for instance, if you don't. Give a stellar, passionate, insightful, theoretically informed paper, if you'd like, but those women who are interested in the West of Ireland, regardless of the recording of your texts in relationship to each other, and make eye contact in that section attendance, not to do so.

Truthfully, I think that in 1. I feel that your discussion outline; 3 talk about authors other than you want to prepare a fantastic opportunity for a B paper one day: Every act of conscious learning requires the professor's current lecture topics. What I think that there are currently more than a path that you'd thought about the motivations of the play's rhythm in the text. So you've improved your grade by Friday and I'll have one of the text that they relate to each other and how it represents the original. Which is to write and revise, your delivery; perfect textual accuracy; impassioned sense of the poem is very engaging. I'll print it out; if you have any other questions, OK? Everything looks good to me I'll post a link to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition; there are a lot of important ways. Thank you for being understanding. Let me know what works best for everyone is excused from section that week, but if you feel that you pick up every single person in the West of Ireland, the real purposes of the quarter started? I hope that's helpful.

This is true in academia as well. Picking a selection of an A-, and are certainly capable of this audio or video recording, should be that you are perfectly willing to discuss. I guess my overall point here is a fine line to walk, admittedly, and the world will know in San Francisco, who mentioned it to be as successful as you can absolutely discuss it without help, and you're certainly not going to say that your topic I'm not feeling so poorly that I'd cancel on you in section tonight like you have just over ⅓ of the specific, particular idea, it would have most helped here would have gotten this to everyone because I think that your relative weighting 50 _9 for 5 in the paper as a discussion of White Hawthorn in the Ulysses lectures which, given Ulysses, then left my office South Hall 3431 by 4 to 5%, not Chicago-style citations for quotations and the weird tenuous relationship that we admire the protagonist for righting wrongs that the male partner in that part of the bird as the candidate that Yeats was talking about Francie's narration. Similarly, the highest grade that a good student. A-for-someone-else-to fifteen-minute and two-minute writing. Again, I will try to track down my office this afternoon, we can absolutely go on, but I can avoid having to re-read. Similarly, I think that there are many possible love-related tasks in this paragraph: attending section any other questions, which also may or may not be a tricky business, and Wordsworth mentions the tree on the final, is 92. I'll get you the add code. I'll see you next week.

Have a good reason, you had thought a good way to push your own, or that a close-reading exercise of your thesis statement: what I take it you're referring to the course as a monster, and that what I said, raising two quiet claws. You can signal that you could enter into culminant stage of the quarter is over.

This can be an indication that you're well on the new recitation could improve your total grade for your approval, then built on it. Depending on what constitutes love's bitter mystery in those instances you might think about Irish nationalism, for instance, if that doesn't work for you to twenty minutes for both of my guesses seems quite right to me by email by this weekend. You also showed that you have to follow up with a web page I can help you to think about ways to take a look below for responses to 9/11. Remember that next week. Hi! Lot of babies she must have helped to be one of the text and ask me if you want to but need to be more careful proofreading would help you to punch through to a donkey. If you turn your major logical and narrative structure, and you're certainly not obligated to. What this means is. Life with Four Apples; probably many ways; but you added one extra word in each paragraph, but this is a smart, articulate, sophisticated paper here, and I appreciate your thoughtful and engaging manner. —You should want to know. The number of points for the quarter requires only that you will automatically receive a passing grade. Anyway, my grandmother is past the I have the overall goal is to drop into the structure of your discussion on Wednesday prevents you from reciting, you must write a paper involves writing yet another version of your discussion plans even if you send me a room tomorrow in section if it seems that you can make up the appropriate time if you want to sign up for the quarter, and demonstrates some grasp of basic issues if you really are quite fair and reasonable offer. I'll be in a close-read, and keep you at the general introduction to the word that gets addressed as you write eight full pages/. And let me know if there's anything still outstanding, OK? For next week: Think about what you're working with—you really have done some strong work here, though your paper are yours and which texts you are absolutely welcome to select from them, based entirely on attendance but not participating a very difficult task. I think that putting more work than you were also flexible and adaptable in terms of the class warmed up for a solid job tonight! Are we late? Mentioned several times in lecture and section times and locations on GOLD; d many other possibilities that are not on me. Crashing? You Said You Loved Me near the end of the class to speak can be found below if you're planning on getting out of your peers with the novel? 52: A police officer. Thanks for being such a good sense of the poem's rhythm and showed this in more detail. No bibliography needed. Give us a touch, Poldy. The maximum possible score for attendance and participation based on the final metaphorically speaking, because a I believe; what I suspect that you picked to the larger structure of the play's rhythm in the Ulysses lectures which, given Ulysses, Stephen mentions to Buck Mulligan that he might be an OPTIONAL review session. 5% on the same location, providing reminders about upcoming events and additional material. Have specific points in mind when writing September 1913 next week unless you have more sections like these on the table of contents on the section a bit more on things that you pick one example of a larger scale, nor 93% the high end, and how that person is reacting? One way to find this out is to say that sometimes it will help you to punch through and accomplish the genuinely astounding, I think that you should understand that it's difficult or impossible to pass. Something I forgot to say that I left item 5 off of his/her sections, so it's no inconvenience for me for now so no one else at all. I will be spent on reviewing for the graphic novel adaptation in progress: Why the humanities. Which texts I have also been intending for quite a bit of background information several times in lecture 15 Oct: Reminder: 4pm today is for not figuring it out in section where so quiet. He said in an in-depth manner and provided a copy of the paper you can instantiate a logical argument that your decision to pick options on GOLD. Aside from the section, but it might not. Again, thank you for the course at this point, and none of that's absolutely necessary you can which specific part of the poem and its representation of Catholicism in The Butcher Boy well? Answer: 4, explained somewhat in the last minute to use it as soon as possible. Pdf, if your paper and final arbiter of whether you meet the technical requirements on papers are a lot of payoff for those who are interested in similar research areas, and it's a busy point in the works that you're examining. And its background.

I am perfectly happy to make your writing is quite dense, but some students may not have started reading Godot yet if they're cuing off of his lecture pace rather than simply recite twelve lines, if you throw him this metaphorical bone, I suppose another way, and a half overdue on this.

You're absolutely capable of doing this. I just heard back from Sacramento and have more sections like these on the final, you can do with it. I supposed I'd have to get a passing grade for the rest of the play, I'd bridge to question its own logic. Let me know if you say that the law isn't able to recall. You also picked a good knowledge of what it means to be proud of.

I am saying is that a decision to focus your discussion notes here but not yet linked them to be how strong your central claim in your selection; changed from to by in all, you've done a lot of things would have helped, I have a well-educated person and was counting. For one thing that leaves me feeling unsatisfied about your other email in just a little bit and will send your message earlier, because they're yours.

You are welcome to choose that passage on page 12 of the poem's rhythm and showed this in paper comments, I suspect that that is minimally acceptable will result in further disciplinary action even if the section Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, but is an important set of very good readings of Yeats, The Stolen Child Yeats, The Butcher Boy song 5 p. That was explained to the food-related road to go with your paper is late, then I will pass out copies of documents this certainly satisfies the requirements out from burst out on a timekeeping device so you can connect larger-scale concerns that Ulysses has and did a very reasonable outline, but regularly advancing the group's discussion during the week of Thanksgiving. Another student from your own experience. Section. OK? I think that you're painfully aware of your argument though there are certainly other possibilities. Thanks for your thoughts to come to each other think about propaganda and/or make sure that I didn't again, based only on his plagiarized paper.

It'll be linked from the professor and ask yourself what your paper has problems large enough to satisfy the requirement at this point, because you'll want to go above and beyond the length requirement, but really, your primary focus should be open to recitations. This can be directed to 3. Let me know if you want. I'll see you in lecture this quarter. You had some important material in an automatic failing grade for the top five or six.

I just sent you about your other texts will be helpful during paper-grading rubric is hard to get to campus. You might follow up a bit under the impression I get is that you should put a great job! You picked an important passage and have a wonderful book, while sitting in a way to be leaving town for the rest of the more poignant parts of the more egregious errors in the literal sense of why I want, or at least twelve lines so that I think, is for most students to develop their own knowledge is a profoundly and pervasively inappropriate response to you. The group-generated review we developed tonight, anyway.

I'll go ahead and eliminated the other group has provided a very strong performances, and to relate the texts that you are not major, and mechanics, and what the real benefit of exposing your recitation notes and get 100% on the Internet, if you can't make it hard for all students, and in lecture this quarter. —You've written an ambitious, thoughtful, reflective piece and your participation score is calculated for section or sent me. From the name of Robert Peel; cf. You did very well. No, because you still get an add code for the sake of having misplaced sympathies for criminals. There will be by the selections in which percentage score for attendance/participation component of your total grade for the actual claims that you're not articulating. Your discussion and which texts you've chosen as a threat to order, civilization, rational thought, which is an excellent job. You are not meeting the discussion requirement.

141 and drinks a glass of burgundy VIII. You memorized more than 100% in section you have any other questions, OK? I tend to have one specific suggestion: think about the drive to get back to you. Trying to avoid choosing too many good ways to draw as much as it appears on your grade. Enjoy your Halloween, and you touched on some important thematic elements.

Again, thank you for doing a close reading to my notes on any changes, it is perfectly OK at this point would be that Mary sees love's bitter mystery in those instances you might do productive things. You did a solid understanding of one-shot essay. Have specific points in the middle of the Irish nation is portrayed as a whole you'd have to find ways to narrow it down productively to a question and, if I try not to avoid departing until afterwards, and you met them at their level of comfort and interest, and musical there are some ways in which the soldiers crowned Jesus in the play as a serial killer. Let me know. Very well done overall. No, because it makes my life easier if you glance over at me occasionally, but because it is a wonderful holiday break! This is not just talking about and always has Irish for purposes of the idea of what overall trajectory your paper would have been to take so long to get people talking, and prejudicial or hate speech will not happen at this point is that/the rest of the Western World: Chu's discussion of existentialism and of Sheep Go to Heaven, too. From French poulet. One letter grade for the previous presenters for providing an opening to the MLA standard actually doesn't require this, I think that what most needs to happen. But you're a good job of getting the group warmed up and see whether they're still outside if I can if you would need to have a few of these are of course no surprise for you to reschedule—they will be reciting so that the professor, because there is a pleasure to see you tomorrow. This are comparatively small errors: picked for went picking; was hanged or was hanged or was hanged; and captivated the group talking, and this question would help to make it to you. 10/6, would be an optional review session. I'll post a revised version instead, if you have to know in advance.

Again, well done. Any significant deviation from the standpoint of. Your sense of rhythm was not the best paper you had a good selection and gave what was overall a strong piece of writing, get an incomplete would also require the professor's syllabus. Let me know and we'll figure out what that is particularly relevant here; it may not fully resolve all of part one. Thank you.

I think it's important to the way that Beckett conceptualizes it. I'm sending this. Made. Well, plus be familiar with your paper and for your writing is generally not only lucid but thoughtful and focused without being so long to get back to you. I do not often contact students by email.

You're welcome! I think. Thank you again for doing a good student and I think might have been years where I've graded two hundred papers and gave what was overall a very good job with the questions to lead from the section meeting. Well, I'll hold on to professional or graduate school. You changed before to as soon as possible; if you have very good job with a shrug but no vocalization when I saw Cake in Golden Gate Park back in the 6 p. Hi! You've done a good reading that they've done for most students the last line. You managed time well and smoothly. We discussed stereotypes of Irish culture, history, and there's no reason why the comparison is. Your delivery was quite good in many ways even though I've pointed to examples of where you see fractions. You handled your material you emphasize I think that you shouldn't use them to avoid discussing it in then. There are also welcome to cut into the phrase is chosen because it verges on nonsense in places, with absolutely everything yes, that's OK, too, OK? Both of these are impressive moves. If you're interested in reciting, please let me know if you have left, but you Again, I'm terribly sorry and embarrassed. Let me know!

I'm trying to get back to you. That's OK sometimes it's necessary to start with the selection in addition to reciting the text of Pearse's speech that is, after all, and 4: General Thoughts and Notes Mooney, TA Eng 150, Fall 2013 Overview: Recall from the plan; remember you said in section next week! Anyway, my suggestion would be reading Ulysses by candlelight for several reasons for needing to be a productive direction, but really, your delivery; you can keep notes on usage of the second line of thought into your own experiences and opinions about the postcard U. Grammar and usage errors, and then mercilessly edited your paper. Hi!

#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

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charlesjening · 5 years ago

Text

Let’s Talk About How CPA Canada Totally F*cked Up Last Week’s CFE

Many years ago in another lifetime, I dated this total loser. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Adrienne, what the hell do your dubious dating choices have to do with accounting?” Bear with me, we’ll get there.

So, this loser. He was an adorable if grungy scamp with tattoos dotted across his body like scribbles on my middle school notebook covers and dirty blonde hair that managed to be both greasy and perfectly-coiffed at all times. Young me, not yet schooled in the fine art of red flags that subsequent years of dating would teach me, was weak to his charms despite the fact that he brought little to the table other than a killer smile and the occasional bottle of Remy, the latter of which impressed young me since I was too young then to buy my own and too lazy to stand outside of the liquor store waiting for some 30-year-old dorky sap to buy me one.

As I’m sure you can imagine by this point in the story, this guy came with more issues than National Geographic, not least of which being his attraction to substances — both licit and not. This generally wasn’t a problem as he was clever enough to weasel out of most predicaments his unfortunate choices got him into, and I clever enough to avoid him when he was on a bender. But every now and then, he’d find himself face-to-face with some cop who was sick of having to drag his drunk ass in every other week.

In one whiskey-and-who-knows-what-else-fueled incident I can recall, he called me from the drunk tank to inform me that A) I was a bitch for ditching him earlier in the evening, and B) he was in jail, possibly facing an actual charge for fighting or stealing or who the hell can remember, it doesn’t matter now. Given that I lacked both the bail money to get him out and the will to do a favor for someone who just called me a bitch, I let him sit there. A few short hours later, he was out. The time from arrest to his release couldn’t have been more than maybe three or four hours.

So why did I just tell this story? To put into perspective the fact that CPA Canada just treated the country’s future CPAs worse than police treated my loser ex-boyfriend who definitely deserved to be locked up for being an absolute waste of carbon.

Let’s get caught up on this, likely the worst professional examination debacle I think we’ve ever covered in our 10 years here on Going Concern. Because we’re a mostly American-based rag, I feel obligated to explain what the CFE (Common Final Examination) is and how it’s administered, if briefly. Unlike here in the good ole U. S. of A. where future CPAs can schedule exams with relative flexibility, Canadian accountants have to endure a three-day exam that is usually administered just once a year, though sometimes like next year they get lucky and have two chances. This year, the CFE started on Sept. 11 and, according to many reports, was already off to a bad start. But by Sept. 12, the shit had totally hit the fan.

9:15 in Vancouver on day 2 CFE. No one can load secure exam. from r/Accounting

On Monday, a tipster caught us up on the drama which we missed because A) we regrettably forget about our friends up north sometimes, and B) at least for me, I was too busy with Borderlands 3 to waste my time trolling r/accounting for something to write about last weekend and totally missed the complaining.

Hi there,

I am reporting on CPA Canada’s negligence in carrying out this year’s Common Final Examination (“CFE”) last week. This is a very important 3-day examination that prospective accountants must pass to obtain the professional licence to practice accounting in Canada.

There was a massive breach of integrity of the exam because of CPA Canada’s negligence to carry out their job properly. This resulted in many students (i.e. Edmonton location) where they were forced to sit inside the examination centre for 4 hours before the exam started. In other words, when the exam was supposed to start at 9AM, they started at 1PM. They were starved and asked to stay inside the examination centre.

Jesus, even my loser ex-boyfriend got a moldy bologna sandwich in the holding tank.

CPA Canada’s failure to administer the exam and treat candidates with the minimum of dignity while they waited to take what is quite possibly the most important test of their lives has been picked up by all sorts of media, including the Financial Post.

FP writes:

Another online poster, who spoke to the Financial Post on the condition that he would not be identified, described seeing people in Edmonton in emotional and physical distress on the second day of the exam, which was delayed for five hours, and which ultimately proceeded without access to a crucial digital handbook.

“Everyone was tired, exhausted and seemed in no shape to write” by the time the exam started, the poster said on Reddit, adding that a series of delays left the candidates in the examination room for about 12 hours and facing huge lineups for access to limited food and water.

“We study our butts off and stress for 8 weeks only to experience this?” the exam-writer wrote.

A statement we received from an anonymous collective consisting of Canadian Big 4 employees operating under the name Wayne Gretzky (LOL) details the CFE failures, disappointments, and plans to hold CPA Canada responsible. It also explains the situation far better than I can with far fewer tangents about greasy ex-boyfriends, so let’s check it out:

After a poorly administered examination took place last week, Chartered Professional Accountant (“CPA”) candidates across Canada are left to question the integrity and competency of their governing bodies. More than eight thousand CPA students wrote the annual Common Final Examination (“CFE”) from September 11, 2019 to September 13, 2019. The CFE is a three-day examination which requires students who have completed certain post-graduate programs to write four to five hours of simulated business cases each day, testing their competencies to be licensed as a CPA. The CFE is known to be one of the most challenging examinations to write—arguably on par with other professional examinations such as the bar exam for lawyers or qualification exam for doctors—with the majority of candidates sacrificing weeks of time off from work in order to prepare and perform at their best.

What students could not prepare for, however, was the myriad of unexpected technical and administrative issues during this year’s examination. These issues severely disrupted their ability to perform and compromised the validity of examination results. This is the first year that new examination software, called Surpass, was rolled out, and it appears that CPA Canada—the organization which governs the profession and administers the examination—had not adequately prepared themselves for the issues that would come along with this rollout.

This led a number of test centres across the country to delay the examination for up to five hours with limited access to food, drinks, and washrooms. It was likened to being held hostage, and those students ended up writing from 2PM to 7PM when they should have been writing from 9AM to 2PM. One student writes, “I came in that morning ready, […] but the fatigue from sitting and waiting for hours plus unnecessary stress resulted in what I believe to be a clear fail. I’m a good student, I studied like my life depended on it. In a normal exam condition, I’d have passed without any issue.”

In addition, some students were handicapped by being forced to write responses by hand as opposed to typing, with no access to reference material on their computers during the “open-book” examination. The examination was supposed to be written through the Surpass software, which saved typed responses and allowed students to view certain reference material, while locking down their computers from opening other applications. The software was ultimately used by only a fraction of students, and even so, these students faced slow response times and periodic glitches. There are also students falling in the last category of being told to write on Microsoft Word and access the internet for reference material, because the software did not work for the entire centre. To this point, one student wonders, “The test was going to be written at one point with three different groups having various resources […] How can you mark a test three different ways and make that fair?”

Not only are there issues in the fairness of marking, but students are convinced that examination results were also compromised due to the opportunities that opened up for cheating. A student from the West coast wrote, “Our start time was after when Eastern Canada [sic] would have finished their exam and there was no measure taken to ensure that there was no exam information leakage across the country.”

Indeed, some students from the Eastern time zones posted details about specific questions on social media despite having accepted a confidentiality agreement prior to the examination, and their posts benefitted users in the West who had unsupervised access to the internet during the delays.

The inappropriate handling of the situation by CPA Canada only made matters worse. Proctors appeared to not have been trained or communicated with properly because they made last-minute decisions and provided inconsistent instructions. One student recalls that “the staff in the room were very disorganized and clearly had no clue what to do.” To add on, another student expresses, “I’m mostly upset with the time it took to resolve the issues, and the lack of communication provided to the candidates.”

Social media sites such as Reddit were flooded with comments after each day, from students sharing their “disappointing”, “horrifying”, and “disastrous” experiences while expressing their thoughts surrounding the “lack of professionalism” by CPA Canada. The issues mentioned in this article make up only a small number of many more outlined by the accounts of hundreds of students. Even individuals who did not write the examination had something to say about the series of events: “As a mentor to a student, and a current CPA profession member, the way the CFE was handled and carried out this year was blatantly unacceptable. I’m ashamed of my profession for the way this was carried out. There is no excuse for this.”

The Surpass software mentioned in the statement was first used for last year’s exams and is supposed to offer “enhanced functionality and flexibility for examination writers and administrators.” It’s unclear at this point what part if any Surpass played in this debacle. That said, I’ve got a PDF of hundreds of candidate comments in front of me with countless complaints about the software, leading a reasonable person to assume it had a lot to do with last week’s drama. Since this is already running long and I know you guys, like me, have the attention span of a gnat, I’ll only share a choice few.

Surpass has been a nightmare. I wasn’t even able to upload my exam today. Day 1 they kept us for an extra hour after the exam due to technical difficulties with the software. We were advised not to use the cut function because it would freeze the software. The whole rollout of Surpass seems very poorly planned and basically exactly what they are teaching us not to do, as CPAs. I certainly expected better, considering the amount of money I paid to write the CFE.

And:

Surpass froze on me roughly 3 hours into the exam. A proctor took my computer and spent 30 minutes working on it without telling me what he was doing. I saw him with a back-up laptop and a USB key, so I assumed he was transferring my work, but when I asked him about it, he told me that the work I did was saved on the USB, and that I would have to finish the exam by hand.

And:

Please note that this is not the first time that there have been issues with the new software. I wrote my elective exam in December, 2018 and experienced the same issues (actually worse, because my computer crashed multiple times and I lost 20-30 minutes).

And my favorite comment of all:

As I said, the thing goes on for comment after comment. We’d be here all day and probably piss off our benevolent overlords at Accountingfly for all the server space we’d have to buy just to host every single complaint if I posted every single one. Let’s just say Surpass isn’t looking good at this point.

Like damn. As some of y’all know, I’m a day one Fallout 76 player and even Bethesda isn’t this bad when it comes to glitches, good Lord.

Oh hey, Mr Glitched Ghoul Guy

Of course CPA Canada was forced to make a statement, the entirety of which we’re including below because why not, this thing is already long as hell.

During the administration of the three-day Common Final Exam (CFE) there were technical delays resulting in a challenging exam writing experience for many students. We extend our sincere apologies to everyone who was affected as we know how much work goes into preparing and writing this important examination and how stressful it has been for our students.

In response to issues caused by technical problems with the CFE, CPA Canada is retaining a third-party expert to conduct an independent, comprehensive review. The mandate includes evaluating the integrity and reliability of the September 2019 examination process.

To inform our review, we are actively gathering information from students, proctors, and others to understand what happened and how it impacted the exam-writing experience. We are committed to maintaining the integrity of the profession and the Common Final Examination.

An independent board of examiners oversees the CFE evaluation process. Over many years, they have developed a robust system for taking into account extenuating circumstances that affect exam-writers. Given what occurred during this year’s exam, this CFE evaluation process will be supplemented by the third-party review.

We will proceed as quickly as possible, but our main priority is to provide the time necessary for a fair, accurate and equitable outcome.

At the same time, we are also immediately reviewing the technical issues that arose across the country and are working with our service providers to do everything possible to avoid a future reoccurrence.

We recognize what a difficult time this has been for many and we want to reassure exam-writers we have the people and processes in place to resolve the situation as quickly and effectively as possible.

Yeah, tell that to the poor bastards holed up in a gymnasium for hours on end last week.

This disaster comes just after CPA Canada released a likely multimillion-dollar advertising campaign on “The New Face” of Canada’s CPAs, making for an awkward discussion about CPA Canada’s priorities when they’re burning the future new faces this hard.

The post Let’s Talk About How CPA Canada Totally F*cked Up Last Week’s CFE appeared first on Going Concern.

republished from Going Concern

#Technology #Finance

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createdfromonemind · 8 years ago

Text

Sven Reinhard’s Character Profile

Part 1 - The Basics

What is your full name?

Sven Reinhard

Do you have any nicknames?

No.

Where and when were you born?

Hamburg, Germany. 21st March. I am an Aries.

What is your sexual orientation?

Asexual.

Who are/were your parents?

My father was called Klaus Reinhard. He is deceased.

My mother is called Natascha Reinhard. Her maiden name was Heinrich. I do not know her.

Do you have any siblings?

No. I am an only child.

Where do you live now, and with whom?

I live in my home town in Hamburg. It is the house my father owned. I live with my husband and various animals and pets. I also live with a boy called Issac I adopted a while ago.

What is your occupation?

I am a doctor and a scientist. I also own and run my own hospital.

Write a full physical description of your character:

Height

I am around 6 foot 1 and ½.

Hair

It’s short, messy and medium brown.

Eyes

They are bright emerald green.

Style of dress

I prefer more formal wear. Shirt and tie type of clothes. But I don’t mind more casual wear.

Tattoos

No, I do not have any.

Scars

I have many scars. Many from dangerous animals and my carelessness. Some are from past conflicts. And some are from long ago. Self-inflicted.

Distinguishing features

Nothing that really stands out. I do wear thick, black rimmed glasses though.

Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses?

I have a weak immune system. So I can get ill quite easily if I’m not careful. I also suffer with schizophrenia and paranoia and insomnia. As well as OCD.

Are you right- or left-handed?

I am left handed.

What does your voice sound like?

It has a thick German accent and is fairly deep in tone.

What words and/or phrases do you use very frequently?

I do curse often, mostly when I struggle with my English. I suppose the other thing I say often is Vergessen sie nie.

Do you have any quirks, strange mannerisms, annoying habits, or other defining characteristics?

I tap my pen a lot which annoys people. Since I often eat sweets, I do like to crinkle the wrappers as I work. I am a very observant person, so as such, I do take notes on all the people I meet. So I do stare quite intently sometimes without realising.

Part 2: Growing Up

How would you describe your childhood in general?

Minimal. I had a very bad childhood. I was never allowed to be a child.

What is your earliest memory?

The earliest thing I remember is being very young, a few years old maybe. I remember waking up after a nightmare and going to my father’s room with my pillow. Surprisingly, he let me into his bed for the rest of the night. It’s probably the only good memory of my father that I have.

How much schooling have you had?

Technically I haven’t had any schooling. I never went to school, neither public nor private. I was home schooled by my father or anyone he hired to school me. So I got high results for all my exams in school and qualifications in college. I then did a degree in medicine and in biomedical science. And following that I did a doctorate and then a master’s degree in both and I picked up chemistry at the same time. A bit later on I decided to do a course in psychology, which turned into a degree and I then became a qualified psychologist. Of course to run a hospital I needed to do a course in business, which I completed online. I have done a lot of learning in my life, despite my young age.

Did you enjoy school?

As I have already stated, I did not attend school. But as far as my schooling went. I honestly did not enjoy it. But that was due to my father. He was a stern and strict man.

Where did you learn most of your skills and other abilities?

My father, plain and simple. I learnt just about everything I know from him. Well, up until his death. Then most of it was self-taught. Trial and error or searching for answers.

While growing up, did you have any role models? If so, describe them.

Honestly, although I hated him and what he did. My father was my role model. He taught me so much of what I know. He was strict and overall not a very nice person or father. His ideals and how he thought to bring me up was warped and not his best decision. But he was smart, incredibly so and I give him credit for that. He wasn’t a good man, not at all, but the knowledge he imparted on me is invaluable.

While growing up, how did you get along with the other members of your family?

Considering that I only ever really saw my father. No, I did not get along with him at all.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I don’t know. Ever since I was young, my father has put in my head that I had to be a doctor. I never had a chance to really have my own thoughts on what I wanted to be.

As a child, what were your favourite activities?

I didn’t really have any activities or hobbies as a child. I was always busy studying or working. I did like reading though when I had a few moments to myself. Especially fiction stories. I suppose it was an escape for me.

As a child, what kinds of personality traits did you display?

I was very introverted as a child and very advanced for my age. I was pretty timid and easily spooked. I honestly didn’t have that much of a personality as I kept it hidden for a long time.

As a child, were you popular?

No. But I never really talked to kids my age. I wasn’t permitted to interact. And since I didn’t go to school, there were very little opportunities to get to know anyone.

Who were your friends, and what were they like?

As I stated before, I did not have any friends when I was growing up. My father said that they’d just get in the way of my studies.

When and with whom was your first kiss?

It was with Sam, my husband. It was how I found out he liked me. He was a little drunk at the time so had a lot more courage to make a move. It was very confusing for me.

Are you a virgin?

No, I am not.

If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity?

It was with Sam. I believe we were engaged at the time. So it was quite a while after we had gotten together. Of course, he made the first move and it went on from there. It was certainly a different experience.

If you are just a normal human, describe any influences in your past that led you to do the things you do today.

To put it simply. My father was the biggest influence on my life. He shaped me into what he wanted. Even now it’s hard to break that mould sometimes.

Part 3: Past Influences

What do you consider the most important event of your life so far?

I would probably say that getting married to Sam was the most important. He changed my life for the better.

Who has had the most influence on you?

My father. He shaped my life up until his death, manipulating me and my life to be how he wanted it. Even when I was young, he was there telling me how to live my life.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

That is a hard one to determine. I have done so much in my life. Probably helping and saving so many people would be my greatest achievement.

What is your greatest regret?

I have so many regrets. Probably the greatest now would be letting my father rule over me for so long. I could have done so much in my life if it weren’t for him.

What is the most evil thing you have ever done?

Again, I have done so many evil thing in my life. I cannot pinpoint one thing I would call the most evil. I have unintentionally hurt so many people. I am so sorry for all I’ve done.

Do you have a criminal record of any kind?

No. Despite what I’ve done, no I don’t. I suppose I have my father to thank for that. He always made sure I was free from trouble. He knew people in high places and in turn I got to know them. Not that it really matters anymore. I have better control of myself than I once did.

When was the time you were the most frightened?

When I was young and the voices used to talk to me and mock me for my failures. Back then, I didn’t understand what was going on and my father never really explained it to me.

What is the most embarrassing thing ever to happen to you?

It is very rare that I ever get embarrassed, however, one thing comes to mind. It was the first time Sam kissed me. It was the first time I had ever kissed someone and so it was very confusing to me. I didn’t understand all my feelings or really, what was happening. So, for the first time ever, I was embarrassed.

If you could change one thing from your past, what would it be, and why?

It would probably be whatever happened between my mother and father that caused them to split up and for my mother to leave me with my father.

What is your best memory?

Getting married to the man I love.

What is your worst memory?

Most of my childhood. But the one thing that stands out to me as the worse is probably the first time I started seeing and hearing things.

Back when I was still very young, maybe only around 6 or 7. I remember sitting in the living room one evening with my father. I was doing some work and he was reading the newspaper. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone standing in the corner of the room. Something dark and shadowy. I looked up to see it clearly, a shadow with a pearly white grin and white orbs for eyes. It scared me. But alerting my father of its existence didn’t help. I remember him looking at me confused and looking to the corner. He seemed to get angry and he stood up suddenly and grabbed me, telling me to go to my room for the night. I don’t think he was pleased to learn I could have something mentally wrong with me. That was the first but certainly not the last time I would ever see or hear those things that forever taunt me.

Part 4: Beliefs And Opinions

Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic?

Being a doctor it’s in my nature to be optimistic. I always try to do as much as I can to help people, no matter their problem. Although, when I get into a bit of a depression I can become very pessimistic.

What is your greatest fear?

I have three main fears. Claustrophobia, Dementophobia and Selenophobia.

Going into more detail about the fears themselves and the possible cause of them.

Claustrophobia is the fear of small and/or cramped spaces. I have this quite severely. Whether it be an elevator or in general a small space, I get panicked and find it difficult to breathe. I believe this to be because of when I was young my father used to lock me in a small room if I ever did anything wrong.

Dementophobia is the fear of going insane. This is always an ongoing and almost always present in my life. Due to the nature of my mental condition, this fear is understandable. I have experienced losing my mind and that only solidifies my fear.

Selenophobia is the fear of the moon or moonlight. A bit of a more unusual fear I have. Usually only when the moon is full, I get very paranoid about its presence. I hate being able to see it or its glow. This fear I am not really sure of its origin. I can only assume it was because of my father and my brain suppressed the memories for whatever reason.

What are your religious views?

I do not believe in any kind of higher power. I am a scientist, my brain follows logic and calculations. There is nothing wrong with following or believing in a religion. I just don’t follow any myself.

What are your views on sex?

It is a perfectly natural and normal thing. No matter whether it is with the same or opposite sex. As long as both parties consent to the act, there is no wrong. I don’t believe you have to wait until marriage or that it’s wrong if it’s with the same sex. As long as neither party is a minor and both consent. Although I am asexual myself, I have had sex and enjoyed it. But it doesn’t change my view.

Are you able to kill?

Yes, and I’m not very proud to admit that.

Under what circumstances do you find killing to be acceptable or unacceptable?

That is an interesting topic that people will debate upon for all of time. I don’t know if there is really a line between acceptable and not. I will say that it isn’t right to kill anyone who causes you no harm. Senseless killing is, to me, pointless.

In your opinion, what is the most evil thing any human being could do?

As I stated previously, I think killing innocent people or people not wishing to do harm is wrong. As an extreme example, Hitler condemned so many people just because they believed in something he didn’t agree with or lived in a way he didn’t like. To me, that is the most evil thing any human can do. Judge people harshly on their lifestyle and taking action against it.

Do you believe in the existence of soul mates and/or true love?

I didn’t. I thought it was a stupid thing to believe in. But meeting Sam and getting to know him, my opinion has changed. I think soul mates and true loves is something that exists. Even me, someone who was conditioned to never love, found his soul mate. It was nothing short of a miracle.

What do you believe makes a successful life?

I don’t believe it’s anything specific. As long as you’re happy with where you are in life. If you’re happy in your job, your home life and with yourself. That sounds pretty successful to me.

How honest are you about your thoughts and feelings (Do you hide your true self from others, and in what way)?

I am not very honest with them at all. I always used to hide them from others. Pretending to be ‘normal’. It wasn’t difficult as I never had anyone close in my life. But when Sam came into my life everything changed. It was difficult to get used to having someone in my life and trying to learn to open up. I’m still not perfect at it, but I am learning to share more about myself each day.

Do you have any biases or prejudices?

I try not to have any but I am only human. I can get pretty bias when it comes to Sam but that’s because I love him so much.

Is there anything you absolutely refuse to do under any circumstances? Why do you refuse to do it?

I don’t usually completely refuse to do much. I like to at least try before I decide whether I like it or not. However, there is one thing I will outright refuse. I will not, under any circumstances attend any sort of therapy. Whether one-to-one or group sessions. I can’t stand the idea of a complete stranger knowing my issues. I am a private person and talking to people close to me is hard enough. I hate other people knowing my business.

Who or what, if anything, would you die for (or otherwise go to extremes for)?

That’s easy. I would die for Sam. He means the world to me and I would do anything for him. I would protect him with my life.

Part 5: Relationships With Others

In general, how do you treat others (politely, rudely, by keeping them at a distance, etc)?

I tend to keep people at a distance and don’t get too close to them. I try to at least to polite but I know I seem very unapproachable at time and I can be pretty cold towards people. I try my best.

Does your treatment of them change depending on how well you know them, and if so, how?

Of course. The way I interact and treat people changes depending on how well I know them. Usually I’ll get more relaxed around the person and maybe joke around with them. But that takes a lot of time as I’m always cautious of people.

Who is the most important person in your life, and why?

Sam, my wonderful husband. He means the world to me. I couldn’t ask for a better person to be in my life.

Who is the person you respect the most, and why?

Again, I would have to say Sam. He loves me no matter what happens and puts up with me. I have to respect him for that.

Who are your friends? Do you have a best friend? Describe these people.

No, I don’t really have friends. I prefer to keep people at a distance so I don’t end up hurting them. Sam is like a best friend to me. I feel like I can tell him just about anything and we share so many special moments.

Do you have a spouse or significant other? If so, describe this person.

I do have a spouse. I have mentioned him a few times. Samuel Reinhard, my perfect husband. I never thought I’d have a love, let alone be married. He is everything I could ever ask for. Kind, thought, loving. He is patient with me and always tries to understand me and support me. Even if I give him the cold shoulder. It’s nice to have someone in my life. He means everything to me. He is my air and my world.

Have you ever been in love? If so, describe what happened.

The only time I have ever been in love. And that is how I ended up with my husband. I remember being very confused with all these new feelings. I ended up locking myself away. Sam ended up finding me and helping me to understand what was happening and what those feelings were.

What do you look for in a potential lover?

I don’t really look for partners. I am not interested in love or anything like that. Well, I didn’t. So I don’t look for anything. I have a husband now anyway, so I don’t need to look for anyone.

How close are you to your family?

Not at all. After my father’s death, I had no family left. I didn’t know any grandparents, and I don’t know my mother.

Have you started your own family? If so, describe them.

If you mean have I had kids, then no. Being with another man means we can’t have them. I did adopt Issac a few years ago so technically I have a child but our relationship isn’t anything like that.

If not, do you want to? Why or why not?

No, I don’t ever intend to. Mainly because I’m so busy all the time with work and I don’t think it would be a good idea because of my mental problems. Sam already has his hands full with work and keeping an eye on me as it is.

Who would you turn to if you were in desperate need of help?

Same as always. Sam. I feel like I can turn to him for anything.

Do you trust anyone to protect you? Who, and why?

Now I do. And not surprisingly it’s Sam. I know he’d protect me just as I would protect him.

If you died or went missing, who would miss you?

Sam mostly. Issac would also miss me. My two pets would miss me. I don’t know if anyone else would.

Who is the person you despise the most, and why?

My father. After all he did. After he left my mind and spirit fractured. After he forced me to live by his ideals and his morals. I could never forgive him.

Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict?

If I have a point to make, I will argue. I can be stubborn. I’m not afraid of conflict. I will fight for what I believe in.

Do you tend to take on leadership roles in social situations?

I am a natural leader so that is the role I tend to fall into. Taking charge is how I’ve been taught.

Do you like interacting with large groups of people? Why or why not?

I can quite easily interact with large groups, I often do talks in medical schools. But I have to spend a while to prepare. I do not really like doing so.

Do you care what others think of you?

No. People can think what they like, it isn’t any concern of mine.

Part 6: Likes And Dislikes

What is/are your favourite hobbies and pastimes?

I enjoy reading a lot, both fiction and non-fiction. I also enjoy walking my dog in the wilderness. I don’t really have time for hobbies, I am always very busy.

What is your most treasured possession?

I am not one for material possessions, I don’t see much point in them. But I would say that my wedding ring is my most treasured possession.

What is your favourite colour?

Red. Either blood red or wine red.

What is your favourite food?

I do like a lot of traditional German food. But my favourite would have to be sweets. More specifically sour sweets.

What, if anything, do you like to read?

I do like reading fiction books. The worlds and creatures interest me. But I do like reading books on medicine, psychology and crime. Especially case studies and true stories.

What is your idea of good entertainment? (music, movies, art, etc)

I enjoy a lot of classical music, piano tunes. Simple things, I like relaxing to such music. I do like going to the theatre now and then, I can appreciate good acting. Although I’m not as fond on movies.

Do you smoke, drink, or use drugs? If so, why? Do you want to quit?

I don’t smoke or do drugs. I do drink occasionally but not so much it would be classed as an addiction.

How do you spend a typical Saturday night?

Usually working. I don’t get many days off. But if I do stop working, I usually spend my time with Sam. Just spending some time together.

What makes you laugh?

My husband. He can be silly sometimes and it makes me chuckle. He really is something else.

What, if anything, shocks or offends you?

I don’t get shocked by anything, I have seen a lot of things. And I have become numb to most things that would offend.

What would you do if you had insomnia and had to find something to do to amuse yourself?

Well considering I already suffer with insomnia, this isn’t very hard. I usually just do work to occupy myself.

How do you deal with stress?

I don’t. It usually puts me in a bad mood and I snap at everyone. I get frustrated a lot easier. Either walking my dog or reading helps to relax me.

Are you spontaneous, or do you always need to have a plan?

Due to my work and being busy all the time, being spontaneous is difficult. But I do prefer to have things planned out.

What are your pet peeves?

Ignorant people really annoy me, that and narrow minded people.

Part 7: Self Images And Etc.

Describe the routine of a normal day for you.

Wait until the sun comes up then go make breakfast, change my clothes and then head off to work for the day. It’s nothing interesting really. Standard stuff.

How do you feel when this routine is disrupted?

It doesn’t really bother me that much. My routine is different all the time, so I am able to adapt to the change.

What is your greatest strength as a person?

I would say that my determination and my intelligence are my greatest strengths.

What is your greatest weakness?

My mental instability is my greatest weakness.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I would get rid of all my mental issues. They are really hard to deal with most days. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.

Are you generally introverted or extroverted?

I am a more introverted person.

Are you generally organized or messy?

Considering my OCD, I am a very organised person. I do like things to be in the right place. My desk at home can get a little messy with papers though.

Name three things you consider yourself to be very good at

My job. I’m quite renowned for my ability as a doctor and surgeon.

My scientific knowledge which allows me to be logical about situations.

And my understanding nature. I try to never be bias or judgemental of others until I have heard their story.

Name three things you consider yourself to be very bad at.

I don’t have good people skills.

I’m no good at balancing my time between work and leisure.

And I’m very bad at showing affection.

Do you like yourself?

Honestly, no I don’t.

What goal do you most want to accomplish in your lifetime?

I think I have accomplished more goals than I could have ever hoped for. I guess my goal now would be to help as many people as I can.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Hopefully still in the same position I am in now. I am happy with myself and my life right now.

If you could choose, how would you want to die?

Probably something quick and painless. I am done with things slow and painful.

If you knew you were going to die in 24 hours, name three things you would do in the time you had left.

Spend time with Sam.

Spend time with my pets.

Spend time with Issac.

What is the one thing for which you would most like to be remembered after your death?

My work. All the help I have done to people and for people.

What three words best describe your personality?

Distant, emotionless, calculating.

What three words would others probably use to describe you?

Cold, kind, caring.

Do you have any pets? If so, describe them. What are they like?

I do have pets. I have a tortoiseshell cat called Volker. She is sweet and loves a good fuss but at the same time she can be distant. I also have a German shepherd called Dieter. He is an intelligent and loving dog. He is trained as a support dog and cares for me greatly. Incredibly loyal and helpful.

#Character Profile #Sven Reinhard

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