I've been fiddling with the intro to my Shakespeare paper: (here's what I have so far)

“For those whom God to ruin designed. He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind.” -John Dryden

Shakespeare focuses on many different elements and themes in his various plays. One theme in particular that he often repeats and as the quote above describes, is the theme of insanity. This is expressed in two of his most famous plays: Hamlet and MacBeth, however while one uses insanity in a deep and complex manner, the other, reportedly Shakespeare’s darkest play is blunt and simple, respectively. Yet insanity is the common driving force that affects the characters, plots and ultimately is responsible for the chaotic tragic stories that unravel in the end of each. The questions then asked are whether insanity is good or bad, necessary or redundant in a tragedy? Would Hamlet and MacBeth be any more or less successful if their main characters were not affected by insanity? To elaborate, using John Dryden’s quote above, insanity and fate are linked, and used interconnectively in Shakespeare’s writing, therefore in terms of chaos and tragedy, insanity is good, and good insanity leads to a successful tragedy.

I found the best quote for my paper on insanity:

"For those whom God to ruin designed. He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind."
-John Dryden

I also like this Oscar Wilde quote about selfishness but I'm not sure it quite works with my paper on selfishness, but it's cute:

"A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses."

I've lastly been looking at quotes for my Health care debate paper and I've found a couple (but I'm not convinced about using any of them yet):

“Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”
-Ronald Reagan

"The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among human creatures."
- Abraham Lincoln

"I am going to screw the country, redistribute wealth, destroy the nation's healthcare system, and go around apologizing for everything that America has accomplished in the last 200 years".
-BHO

I've finished 4 entries for my reflective log. And I'm not going out tonight, instead I am working on essays and coloring as well as, watching movies on youtube. (as I mentioned easlier) I'm really liking my coloring, much more than the papers... which is not hard to imagine (one is creative and one is rigorous) But I will work on the papers, since I have more of those and they are time consuming. But here is an update on my coloring. :)

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween and for once all I'm really going to do is work and probably watch movies on Youtube. I need to go grocery shopping as well. So I'll probably do that sooner rather than later. But as I mentioned before I do have a lot of work and I'm running out of time. So I'm going to strive to accomplish my goal and get my list of things done this weekend, for once. In the long run I'll be happier because when everyone is rushing to write their essays over thanksgiving weekend, I'll be relaxing in Paris. :)

I'm so excited about my project for American Postmodernism. I get to color. I'm also watching a lot of fun movies like: Alice in Wonderland, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Matrix, as well as, looking at poetry, literature and art from the post modern era. Here are a few of the entries I'm working on at the moment: (I really like my Alice in Wonderland entry)

It is the busy time in the semester. However it doesn't seem as busy as normal, probably because I don't have garments to do and boards or art projects to construct. It's still warm here, I can still wonder the streets in town in my flip-flops. :)

I've also decided that I really like cooking and can't wait to have my own kitchen. I've made dinner for other people twice recently, once for the guys (Aaron, Paul, and Cheese) and once for Aaron and his girlfriend (Lucy). For the guys I made pasta, with spicy tomato sauce and cheese, steam heated some veggies, made some toast and cut up a baguette and melted cheese on top of it. Then for desert we had the left over cake that I made for Megan's Birthday when she was here and some cookie dough ice cream.

For Aaron and Lucy I made spicy Mexican fajitas. Aaron and I got 4 chicken breasts, 2 green peppers, 2 red peppers, 1 yellow pepper and 2 white onions as well as salsa and a packet of spices/tortillas. Aaron cut up the chicken while I cut up the peppers and onions, then I threw as much of it as would fit into my frying pan with a little olive oil and cooked it until everything tasted done. We had some left over peppers and onions, in the future probably 1 onion, 1 red and 1 green pepper would have been about perfect. It was good though, I am going to have to make these when I get home. :)

I did use some of the extra veggies and onions last night, I made pasta, and sauteed some of the peppers and onions with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. It was also good. :)

Unfortunately I keep burning myself when I cook, I've burned the my right hand a couple times on my fingers on either the frying pan or the toaster and today when I made grill cheese I burned my lip and one of my fingers on the cheese. :( Ah well... everything I've cooked thus far has turned out ok so that's always a plus. :) I also have gotten really good at scrambled eggs. I should try different things, expand my knowledge and I'm sure I will be making dinner for the guys at least once or twice more.

I'm thinking and I mentioned it to Aaron and Cheese that the guys and I should take a picnic (as in pack a picnic) and go out to Herne Bay in early december. :P It might be cold but it would also be nice to see it... lol.

Also I was thinking of making homemade chicken noodle soup at some point. But along those lines, maybe if it gets cold we could have a soup and grill cheese night. :)

But before I go planning too many dinner parties and social engagements (speaking of which at some point the guys and I are going to see Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the New Christmas Carol Movie that comes out November 5th) But as I was saying before I go planning too much I need to get this work load done. This weekend: I have 7 entries in my reflective log to do, 6 papers to work on, 4 articles to read, some drawing to accomplish and some movies to see. :)

So I think that is all for now I should definitely get back to work. (It's so hard to get motivated these days)

On completely unrelated note I did purchase from a street vendor a nice blue and silver belt today. :)

Also, Also on a further unrelated note... I had an amazing dream last night and even though I was woken up at 8am this morning I just went right back to sleep and back to the dream again. And it seemed so real if only it were possible. sigh...

Alas now I must insist that I do some work...

I booked my Hostel... for Paris.

Now I just have to decide what I am going to see in the 3 1/2 days I am going to be there. :)

List of Paris Attractions I want to see:
Louvre Museum (9 Euros)
Museum of Fashion and Textiles (8 Euros)
Arc de Triomphe
The Palace of Versailles (16 Euros)
Notre Dame Cathedral (7.50 Euros)
Bateaux Parisiens River Cruise (11 Euros)
Eiffel Tower (stairs to the second floor - 4.50 Euros, Elevator to the top 11.80 Euros)
Palace de Bastille (? Euros)
Champs Elysees
Red Light District
Moulin Rouge
Place Vendome
and probably many more which I will research later. :)

There is trouble in river city as the saying goes... you know like Harold Hill, Music Man kind of trouble... except mine is always the same, it's boyish trouble... sigh... what's a person to do... I suppose I should just forget about it, what do you say to that....

Anyway, I have booked my trip to Paris, all except for the Hostel/Hotel, I just haven't found a decent location-price ratio yet... I'm super excited though. :) Look at me telling you all about it when I haven't even told you when I'm going. Silly me... :P

I leave Wednesday November 25th in the afternoon. I take a bus to London, walk to the train station (Kings Cross... yes I will take a picture of Platform 9 3/4) and I catch the Eurostar around 6pm where I shall arrive in Paris around 9:15pm. I am staying until Sunday morning 11/29, where I will catch the Eurostar around 9:13am and arrive back in London around 11am. Then hang out until 5pm where I will catch the National Express bus back to Canterbury.

Still need to find a Hostel for Saturday.

Anyway... I just need to stop thinking about boys... and this weekend I'm going to research and write papers... :) Then next week is reading week. :)

I'm presently Planning my trip to France. :)

It is occurring the last weekend in November. I am going to take a Bus to London Wednesday evening. Catch the Eurostar Train at Kings Cross Station (yes I will take a picture of platform 9 3/4) and arrive in Paris at some hour of the morning on Thursday. :P Depending on the hour I might watch the sunrise over Paris. Then I will be spending Thursday and Friday with Liz and Adi. Saturday I shall probably be on my own, and then I will head back Sunday morning. Spend some time Sunday with Liz and Adi in London before catching the 5pm bus back to Canterbury. :)

It sounds awesome. :)

I want to try and see:
Eiffel Tower
Basilica
Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe
Notre Dame
Louvre
Red Light District
Versaille
and probably many more sights...

Hello again,

Wow I feel like I have not written to you in quite some time. Well Megan came to visit this week and I have now been to London twice. :)

Megan arrived last Saturday around 3:30pm and so I did a bit of shopping and browsing around beforehand. We then went to London last Sunday for Brunch with Jean and Adi, which was really nice. Brunch was excellent, though I do not think I will ever get used to the English breakfast... it is just too meaty. We then walked through Hyde Park which was massive and nicely manicured. I really liked the Serpentine, and we saw Adi's chairs which apparently you have to pay 1 pound to sit in, ridiculous. Adi then took Megan and I to see Buckingham Palace, which as you might imagine was gorgeous and had copious amounts of beautiful architecture. :) (All that gold) He left us at Piccadilly Circus, which is a huge multi-street intersection with a cute statue of a cupid type figure in the sort of middle which our guide this past Friday told us that it is the meeting spot of lovers. From here though, Megan and I made our way to the Pedestrian bridge which crosses the Thames and there we saw the London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament. We also saw where the Aquarium is and The art museum was displaying the Dali exhibit at the time, which would be cool to see. We then crossed another bridge and walked right next to Big Ben and Parliament, saw Westminster Abbey and then made our way back to Victoria Coaching Station (which is where we took the National Express Bus), via Starbucks of course.

Megan came with me to all my classes, she found Shakespeare and Ethics to be the most boring probably... but that doesn't surprise me because the way shakespeare is taught and the fact that we are studying Romeo and Juliet at the moment (it is understandable) and ethics, well that whole subject is a bit dry so...

Speaking of classes... I have do some reading today for American Postmodernism, We are watching R&J tomorrow and taking notes, Ethics I need to look at Blackboard and probably read/take notes, British History I need to determin what I am doing my 2000 word paper on and what subjects I am using for my inclass essay, then I need to research. Same goes for Modern Britian, I need to decide my second 2000 word essay topic and begin researching.

Well anyway, this past Thursday, Megan and I spent most of the day shopping... though I did show her around the Cathedral which she like me thought it was extremely gorgeous. :) But we did accomplish getting gifts for people and I actually found gifts that people would probably really like. (so when I get my allowance not this week but next week I can go ahead and buy stuff again)

Friday I went to London again, with my group for our required field trip. And I have to say that it was not as cool as when Megan and I went, and I'm not talking about London... because London in my opinion is a really cute city. But traveling in a group is really not possible. So I look forward to going back on my own. I want to go to some of the museums since they're free. :) And I would love to do a bit of shopping here and there. I did get a cute Guardman Bear and I named him Phillip. :P lol.

I baked a cake when I got back from London on Saturday and Megan had made me dinner which was super sweet of her... and on a side note when I have a kitchen, cooking is really relaxing and enjoyable. (so far, everyone ... which is mostly Megan.... loves my Cooking) But anyway back to Cake, It was a chocolate Cake with Vanilla Icing and I used blue piping icing to write HAPPY B-DAY MEGAN and draw crazy designs around it. :)

We didn't do much yesterday, got to sleep in, had cake, Megan packed, we walked around town, Megan picked up some last minute things and then we trudged with her suitcases down to the Bus Station... After I put her on the bus... I came back here and relaxed. :) (She should be flying out in less than two hours, I have hope she has a good and safe trip home and I'm glad she came to visit. :) Thanks Megan for visiting.)

Anyway, that's all for now, going to get dressed then probably head into town.... return library books then do some browsing. :) Later, must clean, read, laundry, etc...

And by today, it is now yesterday and I mean today or (when I wake up after this nice thing called sleep) So in between my cleaning, figuring out plans for Paris next month, reading, and laundry I will write to you and hopefully work on writing captions to my pictures as well. :)

Goodnight.

So yea I have been to London now twice. It was very pretty, very pedestrian friendly which is nice. :) (since you all know how much I just like to walk)

Anyway, Megan leaves today (which is why I have been neglecting you this week) so in other words there are stories to record etc etc... later today.

By the way... I want to travel but I have 7 more papers to write and 1 creative project to do... However when I looked up plane tickets to Spain this morning (cause I failed to see Cassie in London yesterday :-( it was unfortunate) I can fly to Madrid, Spain on Ryanair for 35 pounds. But more about that later.

I also want to go to Paris when Liz and Adi go, and maybe Munich too... And I would like to make it to Scotland... and now I feel like I'm being stretched in so many different directions... But I'm definitely going back to London a couple times more... I can get a bus for 5 or 6 pounds each way.

But anyway that's all for now, I'll write more later this evening. :)

London was cute, more to say on that later. :)

Megan arrived today!

We are going to brunch tomorrow... She is very tired, so we are probably going to call it a night soon. :)

London in the morning... :) Then begins another week.

Ok so I did not finish the paper last night,

probably had too much to drink...

and therefore was really tired when we got in....

But, I did write some last night after we got back and I got up this morning at 7:15am (very surprising since I did not go to bed until 4:00am)

I have 700 words left to write, so I am doing good, just have to put 4 more quotes in, write explanation and transitional statements and then tweak my conclusion before I send it to Ken.

But No, I was not hung over this morning, as of yet... I never get hung over... but then I don't go to the drunken level of not being able to still think, talk and walk fine. I did however have 1 beer, 1 bottle of Ice (70cl), 2 glasses of wine, and 2 shots of JD.

Anyway I am going to finish my paper now and do my readings as well as eat dinner. :)

But first, I have to say: I bought a blue day dress today and a grey cardigan. :) :)

Got a good chunk of the paper done, I tweaked my Introduction and showed it to Erin, who said she thought it sounded better.

I wrote my social argument and I just need to tweak it a tad, wrote about 1/4 of my cultural argument, wrote about 1/4 of my political argument as well. I also wrote my conclusion but will tweak that later cause I need to re-write a good portion of it when I am done with the body. Also accomplished 1200 words so far, only 800 more to go as a minimum. :)

Celebrating Paul's Birthday tonight, I did dress up (I know shocker), I'm wearing my purple dress for the first time. :) I also bought him a cake and wrote on it with piping icing, Happy B-Day Paul.

But anyway when I get back tonight which who knows when that will be I am going to first of all scrub my face, cause I'm wearing makeup (yes I know another shocker) and then I am going to sit down and try and finish my paper...

So that I can read over it tomorrow morning and if I don't foresee any major problems, send it to Ken. I need to tweak my 500 word paper, this 2000 word paper, read and take notes for ethics, get the short stories/read/take notes on for American Postmodernism and make sure I don't have to do anything for Shakespeare. In other words finish all homework tomorrow, maybe do some shopping. Then clean and relax.

Saturday.... is all about the cleaning and relaxing, all homework must be done by Friday night.

I also need to remember to write that book title down and return it to the library on Saturday. I hope the weather is nice on Saturday, cause I want to take Megan around Canterbury if she is not too tired. Sunday we are going to London. :) I'm super excited. Anyway must finish getting ready... Will probably write more later. :)

Ok, so I was not as productive as I would have liked last night.

I did go out for 3 hours to celebrate Kathryn turning 21. We went to a little Japanese Restaurant called Yoshi, we ate lots of sushi and then made our way to a pub down by the West Gate called The Lady Luck Bar. I had one drink, we sat in there for maybe an hour, in which time we had one spillage... Mike hit the table and almost spilled everyone's drinks but fortunately there was only one casualty. However unfortunately it happened to be a glass of red wine, which kind of sloshed unceremoniously into a couple peoples' laps.

After The Lady Luck I dropped a couple people off at the Jolly Sailor and walked back to the house with the goal of writing a lot of my essay. However when I got back and read Erin's corrections of my introduction, which I did correct grammatically and I agree that it might need some tweaking idea-wise, I sat down to write some of the body and realized that I need to figure out what exactly I am saying...

I'm still hoping to have it written by the time I go out tonight or if not completely done by then, hopefully by mid-day tomorrow. Tomorrow I have my meeting with Chris about my BH paper and how I can improve the Dover paper which would be good. I also have to pick up some readings tomorrow and do all my readings/take notes tomorrow and Saturday morning. I have to find time to clean and I will probably do some laundry today.

But right now I'm going to examine how I can make my thesis clearer, maybe then I need to separate my souces into Social, Political and Cultural examples and then I need to research ideas for each topic and finally I need to sit down and try and write a cohesive argument.

So much to do... but I need to do it so might as well get it done.

1 more class and then it's another weekend. :)

To do today!
-Celebrate Kathryn's Birthday (Sushi tonight 6pm)
-Write most of my paper for MB
-Send my 500 words for Review to Chris if he will review it (must e-mail him after I'm done filling all of you in)
-Sleep

To Do List for Tomorrow!
-Finish paper for MB and send it to Ken for review
-Buy a Cake or make a cake for Paul
-Celebrate Paul's Birthday (his house sometime in the evening)

To Do List for Friday!
-Meet with Chris around 10:30am
-Finish editing papers and Print out in Ramsey if they are done
- Do readings and notes
-Relax

To Do List for Saturday!
-Clean Room
- Pick up Megan at the Bus Station
- Tour Canterbury
- Relax

To Do List for Sunday!
-Catch the 7:25 bus to London
- Brunch with Adi and Jean
- Relax

Then after all that we start another week.

I have music in my head but there is no one particular song, just chords.

I had one of my meetings today and the paper seems clearer now. Which is good. :) But I still need to sit down and write it before Saturday. I wrote my 500 word paper as well but I still need to edit it. I also have a meeting for that class on Friday so that we can discuss my last paper and how I can improve this paper, which should be good. :)

Dinner at Dr. Boyer's residence tonight (6pm) I'm not going to stay super long, cause I want to work on the papers. Then I have my 3 classes tomorrow and then it's the weekend again. Goal is to be done with papers by Friday evening. (Maybe with the exception of correcting after peer review)

Thursday we are celebrating Paul's Birthday... I think I should make him a cake or something. We'll see, I would then have to locate all the ingredients and the English really don't believe in baking anyway... But I may ask him what his favorite kind of cake is. :)

So list of things to do for the rest of the week:
Write 2000 words on a comparison between GB and the US on National Identity
Edit my 2000 words and have Ken edit it too (send it to him by Thursday or Friday)
Edit my 500 words and maybe have someone look it over after I talk to Chris about it on Friday
Bake Paul a cake if he gets back to me and I can find all the ingredients (for Thursday evening)
Clean my room
Return Library book and Pick up Megan on Saturday
Go to London on Sunday.

About to start another week. This will be my fourth week here. Somehow it seems like it is going by really fast. And I don't know how I feel about that...

I accomplished a few things this weekend. I researched quite a bit, set a meeting with that Professor for Tuesday at 3pm so that we can discuss my topic and where I am going with my paper. I also wrote a very rough draft of my 500 words on Dover and will revise it greatly once I get back my paper on Thomas Becket tomorrow. I also finally took out the garbage in my room. I need to run the sweeper and put away things.

Megan comes in a week!!!!!

I need to write my two papers, finish all other homework, clean my room, do my laundry and figure out where I am going to put her all before she gets here..

Hmmm....now that I finally got a burner to work, I am going to make pasta for dinner and then take some more notes, maybe watch a movie and then go to bed. :)

Ok now I am going to complete my Shakespeare notes and begin writing my 500 words on Dover, now.... lol. At least tomorrow is Sunday and not Monday... look on the bright side. :)

Epic Fail!

Food Time did not turn into Motivation....

Food Time instead turned into Social Time which turned into Let's go to the Grocery Store Time... and completely forget about focusing... Now I have returned and should probably once again Focus! for real.

I need to focus, why can I not focus. Food time. Then more focus... hopefully.

Stressing out over the week to come, I need to write a 2000 word paper on Britishness, Britain's National Identity and what it means to be British as compared to what is means to be American and the U.S' National Identity. And I also need to write 500 words on Dover but then you already knew that...

I also need to clean because Megan is coming in 1 week exactly... I'm so excited! I have been thinking lately and this may be the stress talking... but I will be really glad to go home, don't get me wrong I love England and I want to travel but there is just something about home and seeing the people that matter most in your life that makes it better. I'm not homesick and this is an amazing opportunity but I think when it is all done and we are on that plane back to the other side of the pond it will be sad but it will be happy too. :)

Sad because I really do love it here, and I want to come back some day when I'm not weighed down by academics and I can actually take it all in like a sponge.

But it will also be nice to go home, sleep in my own bed, see my family and friends. :)

*Be able to call people again and not worry about how many minutes I am using...

See my cats again.

By the way I think I know what I am going to base my senior collection on... Architecture, and specifically Architecture I've seen on this trip and today in the Library I found a book by pure happenstance called The Fashion of Architecture and it's a look at how Fashion and Architecture relate and how each influences the other. :P

Anyway I should get back to the present workload, I still have a year to go before my senior collection...

I also need to improve my sewing skills, I was telling this to Erin earlier and yes I know Practice, Practice, Practice... but I'm not good at practicing... I need someone to make me practice. Hopefully after I get home in December I can sit down and devise a plan.... I should make a list of projects that I should do... or I should get a sewing book with lessons in it and just do every single lesson until it's perfect. I don't know does anyone have any suggestions?

Still sick, though I don't feel particularly bad right now... I do cough a lot and my nose is still stuffy and when I take a deep breath in, it sort of rattles in my chest and my voice is still frogy. But what I am saying is that it is not as bad as it was a couple days ago.

How encouraging I'm sure...

On a positive note I did send out 5 more postcards today, I have 5 to send out tomorrow and 5 to send out Saturday. :)

My goal for today is to accomplish 3 subjects of homework: Shakespeare, American Postmodernism and Ethics, so I suppose I should get working on that instead of procrastinating here...

Alice is having a house party tonight, hopefully I'll be coughing less by then.