Wednesday, January 30, 2013

anxiety, grades and visual learning

ANXIETY
We're starting to talk about anxiety and bipolar disorders in Ab Psych!
Finally something a little more interesting than research methods.
Of all the mental disorders I'd say that anxiety is the nearest and dearest to my heart (so far).
I don't have an anxiety disorder (yet), but I am an anxious person, so I can relate to it better than most other disorders.
Speaking of which, I was invited to (possibly) participate in an anxiety disorder study.
I didn't get into the stress management study. :(
I wasn't stressed enough.
Seriously.
I did a brief eligibility survey when I arrived for the study and I did not meet the criteria for the study.
But they DID give me 0.5 credits for taking the survey.
5.5 more credits to go.
They were looking for people with stress that more seriously disrupted their functioning. 
Stress has never stopped me from doing things.
I probably just have a normal stress level.
Maybe I'll have enough anxiety for them to want to study it.
If not, they'll probably give me another 0.5 credits.

GRADES
I won't always tell you my grades (because they probably won't always be decent), but I got a 90% on my Ab Psych test!
It's just barely an 'A' (No 'A-' in this class. 'A' is 90-100%), but I felt even better about it when we were told that the class average was a 77%.
I think my studying will be a little more efficient the second time around, so hopefully I can keep the 'A' trend going.
We don't have our Personality grades yet, but the professor said we really "killed it" (the scores were really good).

VISUAL LEARNING
Gen Psych test coming up on Monday. At least it's just ONE test to prepare for.
I don't think I've mentioned that I don't really have homework.
I go to class, I read, I take tests and sometimes I get extra credit opportunities.
This is kind of detrimental for my student personality.
I'm a strong visual, experiential and repetitive learner.
(I like pictures, I like hands on, and I need to repeat it in some format to learn it (unless I'm fascinated by it).
So I kind of have to make myself take notes or draw pictures/visual reminders while I read, otherwise I'll forget the important stuff (which is really inefficient of me).
My hand really gets a workout between note taking while I read and note taking in class.
I am also quickly running out of pages in my 5 subject notebook (after only 3.5 weeks).
I am also sucking all of our fancy G2 ink pens dry.
I am also jealous of Ben because he is a fantastic aural learner.
If he hears it and he wants to  remember it, he does (for the most part).

Wow, it has come down to writing about how I learn.
I bet you're all enthralled.
Good time to stop.

P.S. Here is a really interesting article that Ben had me read about mental health, basketball player Royce White, and the NBA: Click HERE.

Monday, January 28, 2013

psych evaluation

Tests done! Whew!

Things went pretty well. 50 Multiple-choice questions and filling in bubble sheets is a new kind of testing for me. Bethel provided a little more of a "personal" experience. I had my fair share of essay writing.

Ab Psych was a mix of easy, medium and hard. I still think I did pretty well. My one shining moment was when I used my knowledge of the word "etymology" to figure out the definition of "etiology". Etymology is the study of "origins" of words (taught to me by Bethel College English Professor, Ami Regier). One option was "Cause" so I went for it, and it was right ("Et" actually means "and" in Latin, but I figured it must be similar to "origin", so it was probably "cause"...this all made more sense in my mind). Etiology is the study of causation (of diseases, in our case). All the studying was probably worth it for that test, but sometimes I felt like I was playing "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" with the answers and going for educated guesses. And those are critical thinking skills, my friends.

I thought Personality would be tougher. Not the case. Our professor realized that we still don't have a personality book on reserve in the library so he took out 10 questions that had to do with JUST the reading. We ended up taking the test on topics covered only in class. It was a breeze.

So I "should" have fairly decent grades in both. Glad we got those out of the way.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

scientific art



I have been a studying machine.
On and off all day. 
I feel like a nursing student with all of the cerebral vocabulary I've been memorizing. 
Again, I have no idea how hard these tests are going to be, but I've got enough test anxiety that I'm willing to throw a weekend away in order to be prepared for the first ones. 

Speaking of which, I'm participating in a Stress Management Study for the psych department. 
I need 7 credits (7 hours) of experiment participation for my Gen Psych course (I have to do it in order to pass).  
I took a 1 hour (1 credit) online questionnaire for the department and now they'll e-mail me if I qualify for additional studies. I guess I'm stressed out enough for them because they invited me to do this study. I'll get anywhere from 4-7 credits. I'll go in for 2 hours on Tuesday and then 2 more hours in a month (so they can run the test again for reliability). I'll get to take the stress treatment if I'm chosen (it's random assignment, so we'll see if I make it all the way). 
I hope I do because it's interesting, PLUS I'd get to take care of all of my credits in one experiment. 
I'll probably do another 3 hours for extra credit in Personality. 
There are a TON of studies going on. FSU is a huge research school.

I'm going to bed so that I can get plenty of rest to conquer my tests and my stress.

Friday, January 25, 2013

fin de semana



Glorious weekend, you're here.
I don't know why I'm so excited. 
Although this weekend will bring a slight break from classes, I'll pretty much be in "study mode" for the duration of it. 
Personality and Ab Psych tests are on Monday over Chapters 1 and 2.
I'm not anxious because I don't think I'll pass them. I'm anxious because I want 'A's.
(I feel like Justine would understand me. If you know Justine then you'll likely understand that statement.) 
I'm a little exhausted with all of the information I've been cramming into my head. 
You have to realize that I've never had 4 classes that require massive amounts of scientific reading/information. I generally had 1-2 studio art courses every semester that I was at Bethel. 

You know what we did for our finals? 
Turned in our artwork. 

But seriously.
I'll be fine. 
I'm just releasing a little steam. 
If you read my blog you must carry my burdens with me. :)

In other news. 
The weather has been awesome. 
Highs in the 70's. 
Florida, I will put up with you for a little while longer. 

Have a nice weekend regardless of whether or not you are studying. 



Wednesday, January 23, 2013

overload

I love having all of my classes on just 3 days a week, but when I attend all 4 courses and attempt to study in between my brain starts to hurt.

I'm reading about neurons, neurotransmitters, and brain functioning. I can only take so much of that before I need a break.

I also hate when people are in public and talking about how they just got the flu. Why are they sitting next to me right now?

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

legend




Another perk of attending a huge school: free tickets to see musician, John Legend talk about improving education, supporting the arts and creativity and being a leader. Then he sang some songs and had all of the ladies in a tizzy. It was part of a lecture series for students.

I had quite an issue with my sinuses today. 
Spring must be right around the corner. 
Can't wait. 
Not.
I laid in the recliner and read my psych books the best I could amidst many cups of tea, a few ibuprofen and a Nettie pot rinse. Got a few errands and chores done as well. 

Back to school tomorrow. 
I'm starting to get a little nervous for my first tests in Ab Psych and Personality scheduled for Monday!
I know, already? 



Sunday, January 20, 2013

industrious me


Did I say I had a 3-day weekend? 
I actually have a 4-day weekend because I don't have class on Tuesday. 
I'm trying to take advantage of that. 

I haven't mentioned that my Gen Psych book hasn't come in the mail yet.
I bought it on Amazon, and the person who sold it to me mailed the WRONG book (a compositional writing book) and mailed my Gen Psych book to the WRONG person. So we both had to send them back so he could re-mail them to the correct person. He apologized, blamed the postal worker and said he would send me the book as soon as he got it back from the other person (and refund my $ for mailing it).
I "should" receive it sometime this week hopefully. 
This is the first time I've run into this kind of problem, and that's from 5 years of buying textbooks online. It's annoying, but I've had no problem studying from the copy on reserve in the library. 
Plus, they have a Starbucks in there. :)

So class ended at 11 am on Friday, but I spent 2 hours after that with Gen Psych. 
I'm planning on biking over to the library this afternoon to read some more (I'm kind of making up for lost time). 


Early Saturday morning Ben went to investigate a state park about an hour east of Tallahassee.
I slept in, and then found myself back at the library with the Gen Psych book. Amazing to be in the library with SO few people.

My quilt received quite a bit of attention on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. 
I've finished sewing all of the fabric from my charm pack into big triangles (that are actually rectangular sections made up of 2 smaller color triangles in the middle and 2 tan triangles on the outside of the big triangle). 
I knew there wouldn't be enough to make a queen size quilt with just the charm pack, so I bought fabric last month to fill it out. 
Time to cut more triangles. 
Slow and steady wins the race. 

Ben is the best. 
He spent a very nice amount of his Saturday cleaning the house, without any encouragement from me. 


Neither of us had the inspiration to cook anything for Saturday supper, so off to Pho 7 we went for the usual. (It's been awhile since our last visit.)

We finished just in time to go see Django Unchained at the theatre. I can barely handle Quentin Tarantino violence and gore, but it was so well made that I managed to get through it. 
Seriously, a great movie. 
But seriously, if you can't handle gore, stay at home. 

We decided to hit up St. Mike's Pub afterwards. It's not the most popular place in town, which means there's always plenty of room to sit and chat.

We were both at church this morning, but I left after singing because I've been suffering from sinus pain all night and morning. Feeling much better at the moment. 

Last vacation until Spring Break. Better make the most of it.










Thursday, January 17, 2013

overexposure




I just returned from a fulfilling lunch with one of my old co-workers and her 11 week-old at Wild Greens Cafe
I had tomato basil soup, kale and potato quiche and a side salad.
They also bring you complimentary sweet potato biscuits. SO GOOD.
It's right down the street from All Saints Cafe, so I stopped in for THE BEST chai tea latte in Tallahassee. (My opinion.)

I'm struggling to get back to Personality reading right now because I've had a dull sinus headache since I woke up this morning.
Coffee and ibuprofen have not done the trick just yet, which is sad times.
But it is a beautiful, cool, windy and sunny day outside, so I'm about to get back on track. 

I've found that the great/not-so-great thing about taking 3 psychology courses at once is that a lot of topics cross over.
This is actually very helpful because I am getting some semi-unfamiliar concepts drilled into me. 
This is also not so helpful because I don't always need to have semi-unfamiliar concepts drilled into me. 
I've had the "correlation does not equal causation" talk 3 times now. 
Research methods. 
Psychodynamic theory. 
Behaviorism.
Reliability/Validity.
And on and on. 
But I think there will just be a high concentration of it at the beginning of the semester. 

I've had enough class that I can now safely say:

- I love, love, LOVE Abnormal Psychology. I even love reading the textbook. My teacher is not awesome, but because I enjoy it so much I don't even care. A challenging, interesting course to say the least.

- My Family Relationships: A Life Span Development Approach course is basically the state school version of Bethel's Human Sexuality course, meaning Larry Friesen and Ada Schmidt-Tieszen already taught me this stuff, only way more in-depth. LOTS of review on gender and societal relationships. The professor just had a baby 4 weeks ago, so she yawns a lot in class; not getting so much sleep with a newborn. 

- Personality Psychology is kind of 'eh' for me right now. The textbook is not very interesting. I think it's because we're very focused on JUST talking about personality. Hopefully the subject matter will open up a little more as the semester goes on. The teacher does a pretty good job of keeping my attention. His lecture style is very relaxed and tries to make it more discussion-oriented (at least the best kind of discussion you can have with 200+ people). Good information, although I'll have to work hard to stay focused.

- General Psychology is being taught by a clinical psychology doctoral candidate from Northwestern...and she's pretty willing to tell you she went there, and that she's a nerd. So basically, she might try to make this course harder than it needs to be just so she can prove herself, but I actually want to touch base with her at some point because she loves Chicago and we'd probably get along pretty well. I also think she does a really great job with her lectures. 

3 day weekend is almost here!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

veggies




This is Warm Quinoa Salad that I made the other night. 
Ben ate a bowl and said, "Well Suz, you did it again."
By "it", he means: find another amazing recipe on Pinterest. 
I would have quite a few more cooking blogs bookmarked if I didn't have Pinterest. 
I'll have to post a few more recipes that have turned out well. 
It's been great/convenient for our health. 
Once I found that wedding dress, things got a little more real and I am now making a much more conscious effort to eat well. (Which means leaving some fabulous tasting food behind for a little while.)

Lots of veggies, protein and exercise. 
Some fruits. 
Less sugar, bread and dairy. 

Biking to school has made the exercise portion much easier.
It's actually SO much easier to bike to school than trying to find a parking space, walking to your class, walking back from your class, and then trying to leave the parking garage when tons of other people are also trying to leave. I'm pretty grateful that I'm only a 15 minute bike ride from the Psych building. I show up a little sweaty, but it's freezing inside, so it evens out. 

I had Story Group tonight. I hadn't seen some of those ladies since November! It felt so good to share my wedding dress/new school adventures with them. They're so helpful and supportive of me. 

I'm just plugging away at school work. There is a ton of information in my Psych courses, so I'm already pretty diligent about reading and going over things so I don't forget. I already have a test on January 28 for Ab Psych. 

Random note:
I don't think I mentioned that I sat in gum during my flight back to Tallahassee. 
(Some people have all the luck.)
Turns out after you've picked most of it off of your pants you just need to slather some PEANUT BUTTER on there and scrap away at it with a butter knife. 

FYI. 
Just in case.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

front row seats




The best part about going to an enormous school: 
free tickets to huge sporting events

I still can't really get into football. 
I've tried.
I still don't care.
I never played it so I have little connection with that adrenaline rush you get from slamming into someone and causing degenerative diseases in your body later on in life.
 I'll go to games or Superbowl parties for the food and socializing, but that's about it. 
But basketball I can actually get into. 
We weren't in the front row, but we WERE 2nd row in the student section. 
Florida State played the University of North Carolina, coached by Roy Williams (who used to coach the KU Jayhawks).
I think way to much money and adoration goes into sports in this country, but this was a tense game and it felt pretty good to scream and throw your hands in the air with hundreds of others when Michael Snaer cashed a three. 

Just been reading a TON of psychology. Pretty great, actually. 
I need to prepare for a busy day tomorrow, so on to Monday!

Friday, January 11, 2013

january heat?




It was hot today. 
Shorts and tank top weather.
Am I complaining?
Heck no.
By hot I mean that it's 79 right now, and it's supposed to stay in the 70's for another week or so. 
I'm soaking it in because next January is going to be  a little drastically different.
Ben will likely be thrilled. I will likely be depressed. 
Week 1 of 'back to school' is complete!
I think I'm going to learn some interesting information in these classes. 
My only frustration is that my Ab Psych professor (who is actually a grad student) puts too much information on slides, lectures too much additional information and then doesn't give you enough time to write down all of this information. Luckily, she posts the power-points, so I'm about ready to go back through the powerpoint/book to try to get all of the information I missed. I think she kind of wants us to print the power-points and write things in, but I learn more from taking my own notes. If only I had time to think about the information while I write these notes. Ugh. I'll figure it out. 

Jen's birthday party at 7 tonight.

North Carolina vs. Florida State Men's Basketball Game tomorrow afternoon.

Happy Friday, y'all.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

broken projector

The broken projector in the psych auditorium really stunted my note-taking abilities today.
I got most things down.
Day 2 of class was FAR less stressful than Day 1.
I wasn't going to be dropped from the class if I didn't make it on time.
I knew where all of my rooms were.
I felt more comfortable on my bike, even going up the hills (so foreign to partial-Kansans).
I was also much more physically prepared for biking instead of walking to class (cement torture on my knees).
And because my day was so much easier on my physical and mental state I don't feel like I'm going to fall asleep at 7 pm.
I now only have 2 more classes this week, and they'll be done by 11 am on Friday morning.
Nothing going on tomorrow. I don't actually have homework yet.
I DO really need a job, don't I?
We'll see what I can come up with.
Target is no longer hiring. I checked out some minor childcare jobs on the FSU website today. Might try Publix yet.
Also might announce it at church. Our church, for some reason, has a pretty good track record of finding people jobs.



Monday, January 7, 2013

class time



I successfully made it to all 4 of my classes today. 
Here is the room that I will be spending 75% of my class time in.
I feel a little overstimulated, anxious and exhausted (from biking and walking 100% more than I normally do), but I'm still pretty excited about learning some serious Psychology.
I'm also pretty grateful that I only have to deal with undergrads for one semester and then move on to join my grad school buddies in August (aka, people who don't brag about their drinking/police escapades, or wear leggings as pants).
No class tomorrow. 
Rest stop and then we'll get moving again.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

seminole 4 life

I start class TOMORROW!
How bizarre I feel right now.
I ordered most of my textbooks this afternoon and somehow managed to successfully sign up for all 4 of my classes:
Psychology of Personality,
Abnormal Psych,
General Psych and
Family Relationships: A Life Span Development Approach.

I'm very interested in that last one. The psych ones will all take place in a huge auditorium with about 219 other folks. The Family one will be in a different building close to Ben's music building with about 200 other folks because it is actually found within the Family and Child Sciences Department, not psych.

Family and Ab Psych are M, W, F morning. Gen Psych and Personality are M, W late afternoon.
Awesome.
What a schedule.
Looks like I'll need to find myself a part time job. Not sure what's available, but Target and Publix are looking promising (mostly because I plan on quitting said job in 3 months and I would not mind having discounts at either of these stores).

I'll let you know how it goes.


Friday, January 4, 2013

christmas 2012


 Field.

Of course I tried to pick just a few pictures, but that always turn into more.
Regardless, these were some of my favorite Christmas shots. 

Our flights went smoothly yesterday. It's amazing how much more comfortable I feel in airports since we moved to Florida. 
Unless I decide to make another trip home before May, I'm officially done with the Tallahassee Regional Airport.

Today I went to the gym and am currently cleansing my body with tea, vegetables and fish. 
(I ate about 1/2 of a pumpkin pie the day before leaving SD. Oops.)

 I also successfully registered for 2 of 4 classes that I need to take this spring. 
One is full and the other is for "majors only" so I e-mailed a special request to the professor. 
Hopefully he won't give me a hard time. 

Even though things feel a little unsettled at the moment, it's kind of nice to be "home".

 
Em and Dorothy amongst the debris.

Explaining, or conducting.

Christmas morning, South Dakota.

Ethan and Jenny.

 Hoarfrost.

Paula, Tom and the children.

 New Year's Eve, Zen Zero in Lawrence with friends. 
Beautiful Massachusetts Street lights.

Cousin Hannah.
(I have many more pictures I could put up. She's precious.)

Cousin Camille and Hannah gnawing on zweibach.




Thursday, January 3, 2013

back to the beach

Today's the day!
Back to Tallahassee to see if anyone has broken into our house.
I should be flying in around 11 pm. Ben is going to skip his flight from Atlanta to Tally so he can attend the Jazz Educator's conference. Frank lives in Atlanta so he's bringing Ben back on Saturday.

We've had the best 2.5 weeks. We've seen more friends and family than we've ever seen in this amount of time, our families have spoiled us rotten and we got our snow and cold fix.

I didn't really want to go back for awhile, but I think we're ready for 5 more months of Florida.

Classes, wedding prep, packing up and moving. I am so excited.

Fun Christmas pictures to come!


(Instagrams from Love Garden music store in Lawrence on New Year's Eve and a lovely polka dot scarf gift from Em Piper Root.)