On my way to the dentist this morning I saw a flock of birds hovering in the air, flapping their wings mightily but being unable to move against the wind. I’m glad it feels like December in Indiana, though, because 65°F in November is whack.

1. Cat Power — Hate
2. Beth Orton with Ryan Adams — Brown Sugar
3. Judas — Humedad (de vuelta de las cenizas)
4. Los Juanes — A Dios Le Pido
5. NOFX — The Bag
6. Dead Kennedys — MTV – Get Off The Air
7. Bobby Darin — I’ve Got Rhythm
8. Thierry Blanchard — Mouaih Bon OK
9. Kiff’On — Kung-Fu Funk
10. Maria Dolores Pradera — Fallaste Corazon — ¡Le me gusta!

I’m sort of half-and-half on the socializing: the good is being surrounded by friends and the bad is waking up on a Tuesday or Thursday with a hang-over and Spanish class looming in an hour. One solution is to stop drinking during the week. I always have the option of not drinking, this I know, but then my tolerance for whiskey would disappear and I’m beginning to like my new tolerance.

I’ll need to refer back to this post in mid-September, when I’m burried in class work and unable to have a social life.

After uploading only a handful of images I’ve already used 10% of this month’s allotment. That simply will not do as I’ve over 3,300 images. That number only grows as each day passes. While not every single image is worthy of being shared with you all, I figure I will eventually post the bulk of them.

I don’t think I want to pay $24.95 a year for a “pro” account, but I do enjoy the simplicity of the service.

Are you a photo sharer? How do you like Flickr? Should I keep it or go with an open source option?

My head has been so far up my ass that I forgot to pay the cable bill last month. I logged on to pay today and saw that our last payment was back in August. I don’t know how I forgot to pay it last month, but I am extremely glad they didn’t shut off our cable internet.

What is it with this semester?

Then I thought about it a bit more.

There is nothing external I can change to get me out of my current funk. Although I haven’t mentioned it much, these thoughts have been coming and going over the past couple of months. I haven’t come to any conclusions, so I’m not sure where I stand.

I have been irked lately that this site is decidedly personal. I do not consider this fact to be negative, but it really isn’t the whole me. I talk politics and philosophy on a daily–hourly–basis, but have reached the point in this space where I leave the political me completely out.

I do not know what this will come to signify.

I have decided to drop the social studies education degree and complete my sociology degree. I’ve added a women’s studies minor, and will, quite possibly, added either a law and society or linguistics minor – I haven’t decided which one I’m interested in more. From graduation, then, I will either enter a transition-to-teaching program or graduate school to earn my Master’s; I haven’t decided which direction to take.

This decision came after spending several hours planning the next two years of my undergraduate study. Without minors, I could graduate with the sociology degree in May 2006. With a dual-degree of social studies ed and sociology, I would require at least three additional years in order to take all of the history and education courses.

The next two years of school are paid for through a scholarship, but the remaining years necessary for completing the education degree are coming out of my own pocket. I would much rather put those thousands of dollars towards a Master’s degree or a program to transition to teaching.

For now, I feel very comfortable finishing my sociology degree by May 2007 with at least one minor. Beyond that is still open for change.

And now, what shall I do with my free time?

I don’t think I will since I would only be giving myself an extra hour to do homework, plus I’d miss out on today’s participation, attendance, and group work points. Looks like I’m talking myself into going to class. I must be ill.

I’ve been trying to find time to get back to posting here on a regular basis, and for a couple weeks it was going well. I’m not sure if I have any valid excuses besides studying, which I really haven’t been doing much of, truth be told. It’s been hard for me to focus on my studies when it’s nice out and I’d rather be hanging out with friends, or do the reading assignments when I’d rather read something else. Luckily there are only four weeks of class left. FOUR WEEKS LEFT. I must push myself through until then.

This week is not shaping up well. I have two one-page essays for Spanish I need to start working on, one that was due last week sometime (I’m so bad!) and one that is due this coming Friday. Then I also have a three-page essay due Thursday for one of my sociology courses that I haven’t even started. I have math homework that I’d rather not do, but know I must, and an exam to start preparing for.

I work best under pressure, or so I will keep telling myself.

I have several options available to me to get to where I want to get, which is teaching:

1. Change my Degree Objective (CODO) and become a social studies education major, select one or more minors and specializations, graduate, teach
2. CODO and become a social studies education major, graduate, get into graduate school, get my master’s, teach
3. Stay a sociology major, graduate, get into grad school for master’s in education, teach
4. CODO and double major in sociology or history and social studies ed, graduate, teach
5. Any other combination you or I can come up with

The soonest I would CODO is the Spring 2006 semester. I plan on taking introductory education courses this summer and continue contemplating what the hell to do with myself.

Certainly there are no easy answers.