Peer Reviews

Peer reviews, what do I have to say about them? Well, not much. I do enjoy getting peer reviews because it helps to improve papers or essays. It helps to add length or even get rid of something that does add much to it. Still, I have trouble accepting advice or help from not only peers but from teachers. I feel that I do my paper the way that I do and that it is as good as it will get. Then once I have read the advice and stuff from others and read my paper or essay, I realise that what they told me will help, I will do it. I feel that it also helps to see how the paper or essay would be read or accepted by others. Will they enjoy it or is it boring? Did I mess up the references? All this helps to make a better paper or essay. All in all, peer reviews are good but it may take a while to "feel" that it is helpful. I need to get beyond the "I suck at this" attitude. Well this is all that I have to say on peer reviews. Hopefully, this isn't boring this week and that it is long enough to qualify as a blog this week.

The last six weeks

Oh, how do I feel that I have done over the last 6 weeks? Overall pretty well but stressed. This has been a difficult term to not only stay organized in, but also to not feel stressed about. Not only have I been out of work and had more time on my hands, I have also had final wedding details to do. I have also had to look for a job. Between all of this, I have family coming in and out of town, bridal showers, an annual family mini-trip to a car show, and a nephew who is continuing to need help in making progress with his sign language and cochler implant, not to mention a 2 year old son. For the most part, I have kept up with all of my school work. However there are some things that I could improve on. I need to read all of my assigned chapters each week and I also need to stop procrasinating on each part of the Final Project, for each class. I believe that if I can improve in these areas then I will more than likely feel less stressed. I also believe that I will feel less pressure once the wedding is over, I start work again and summer is over. I love summer because there is so much that we do but this year, I think that it is way way way to much going on. Well, I believe that this is all that I have to say on this subject. Until next week, y'll!!!!

Wedding stress

So I started out this weeks blog with the idea of talking about the influence of being in school. I realised that I do not have much to say on that topic, but the stress of my wedding in one month, I do. So hear I go. Planning a wedding always seemed like fun to me and is just about every girls dream, right? WRONG! Well the dream part is right, but the rest is not. Picking out flowers, favors, dresses, invitations, decorations, thank- you's and all the rest, IS NOT FUN!!!!!!! Cost is a big issue, at least with me. Over the years, I had come to realise that a wedding is just a big party and to me there is absolutly no point in spending tens of thousands of dollars just to marry the person that you love. Yes it would be nice but the fact is, with a 2 year old son, I just could not afford it. Plus I would rather spend that amount on a down payment for a house, so we could stop renting. Flowers are expensive, depending on what you like. Dresses, expessially wedding dresses, are expensive. Invitations are expensive. Favors are expensive and most of all food is super expensive. You need to decide what styles, what theme, where to have it, when to have it. You need to decide what decorations to have, where to have them and what to do with them afterwards. Once you have decided what you want, then is the process of payments. Then setting up arrangements for out of town guests, coming up with activities for them to do. Do you do welcome bags or hope that your guests will understand if you don't have them so you can save some money? Then you send out invitations and wait for RSVP's to come in by the deadline that was set for you by the caterer and the venue where you are having your wedding. When that deadline comes up, those who have not responded you need to call and (as rude as I think it is) find out if they are coming or not. At the same time that you are doing all of that, you need to either decide what decorations you are having and let your decorator know or start to make them. Here I lucked out and my maid of honors mom, jumped right in and took over. I am so thankfull that she did as she is very creative and has done a wonderful job so far. Dresses are a huge stress. Not only do you need to decide if you are going to have everyone in the same dress or if you are going to have them in the same color and let them choose the style that suits them best. Ordering the dresses early enough so that if they need to be altered, you have enough time to get it done. You also need to make the decision of are you paying for the dresses or are they? Invitations is another stress. Do you pay for someone to do it all and spend a crap load of money or do you do it yourself? I went with do it yourself and had to make the decision of the design. Once I had the design, we had to print and address and send. Many other people may have an easier time with wedding plans but between school, work, losing a job, finding a new job and trying to spend time with my son, it is stressful. Now the wedding dreams are starting. I dream about what can go wrong, my fiance marrying someone else in front of me, that I got the wrong dress, that some of my bridesmaid showed up naked, and many more. Here is my advice for the next person who starts to plan a wedding. Take your time, save where you can and get as much help as you can. Do not do it all yourself.

Interviews

Yeah so I know that this is not on topic with what was suggested we write about this week but I soooo need to vent. I have been looking for a job for the past few weeks and finally got some responses and interviews lined up for this week. I had two on Thursday, one at 9 am and one at 11 am. Again, I had two today, Friday, and again they were for 9 am and 11 am. Growing up I was taught to ALWAYS show up early for interviews as it shows good work ethic and punctuality. So I was 15 minutes early for my 9 am interview on Thurday. I know I would wait, which was fine with me; at first. With out the 15 minutes, that I knew I would wait, they left me to sit there for an additional 45 minutes, without letting me know or informing me that the manager was running late. After that wonderful wait, I finially went back to the front desk worker and let her know that I was still waiting for my interview. She goes "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell her that you were waiting. She just started another interview so it will probably be another few minutes." I said "OK." All the while thinking, "you have got to be kidding me! Because of you she probably believes that I was either not showing up or just late, which will look back for me." So after waiting for another 5 minutes, I finially got my interview. This interview was not the greatest but as it was for part time front desk work, I wasn't too concerned. My second interview on Thursday went really great. Again I was early, but I was able to get in right away. After a really good face to face interview, I performed a hands on massage for the manager. After the massage, she commented that it was a really great massage. She then continued on to offer me the position. I told her that I would need to think about it as I have worked for this company for 4 years (although at a different location) and would like to look at my other options. The manager stated "I totally understand why you want to look at your other options. Why don't you let me know by Monday?" I agreed that I would let her know. My third interview was at a salon. In all my years as a massage therapist, I never wanted to work at a salon but, after arriving and looking around, I started to realise that it may not be too bad. Again, I was early for this interview as well however, as I was waiting, they had me fill out an application, instead of just sitting around. I filled out the application, turned it in and was immediately brought back for my interview. Again this interview went really well. Again, I was offered the position, and told him that I would like a day to think about it as I was offered another position and still had one more interview to go to. He said that he understood and that he was going to give me his home, cell and office number so that I could let him know as soon as I knew. My fourth interview was a complete and utter JOKE! Again I was early and again I knew that I would wait. This time I waited for 30 minutes before the receptionist came to me and said "Dr. Kyle is not coming in today. Would you like to reschedule?" I looked at her and said "You are kidding me right? You have me wait for 30 minutes to tell me that he isn't coming in today and you are asking me if I want to reschedule? He or you should have called and told me this morning before I wasted my time by coming out here for an interview that was not going to happen." I do not usually turn down interviews but I was honestly beyond PISSED OFF and as I already had two job offers, I let it roll off my back like rain off a duck's back. So now I am faced with the decision of what job to choose. Do I take the job that is going to pay me $15 per massage that I do with benefits (that aren't that great) after 90 days or do I take the job that will pay me $12 per hour (no matter what) with no benefits? Being as I have a two year old son and my fiance and I make employment decisions together, I am not sure. I have no idea which one would be better for us for the next year while I finish school. This is one decision that I am not sure about. I know that I am a little off of my topic of interviews but oh well, what can you do?