For Chili

Chili's been waxing poetic about students who are unhappy with their failing grades. She's copied emails so we can poke fun of and roll our eyes at the sheer lack of grammar skills. We're shallow, so what.

Do you remember the guy I told you about in my Psych class who said he failed a test because his lecture notes printed in the wrong order? This guy emailed THE WHOLE CLASS instead of the professor with the reason he could not attend class this evening. Now, I'd like to preface this by saying that I am in no way making fun of having a sick family member and I'm so aware of the potential Karmic Retributions that I almost didn't post this at all. That said, here's the email. Word for word, spacing just as it was on the email.

This message is regarding a family member on life support at the [redacted name of medical institution].Iknow we have a quiz on chapters 17&18 and Ihave to turn in my reflection paper.I do not want miss class but these are tough times for me and my family. I am willing to do any amount of extra credit or whatever you seem that I should do.

Seriously? Wow, just....wow.

Motivation

This week in Psych, we discussed motivation. This is my paper on the topic (rough draft.) Tell me, what motivates you?

Motivation. It propels us through the day. It can help a man with no legs walk, a deaf man compose beautiful music, a 35 year old woman go back to college. It's something that is usually so obvious, but when you ask someone to tell you a definition, they can't. Introduction to Psychology defines motivation as such: "Motivation refers to the various physiological and psychological factors that cause us to act in a specific way at a particular time." What that definition doesn't reflect is how a person's motivation changes throughout their life. We use motivation before we understand the word or its definition. As we grow and mature, our motivation changes. Personally, my motivation has changed too many times to count.

As a child, I was motivated by praise. The praise of my Dad, in particular would make me feel as though I were ten feet tall. My dad isn't very physical with his affection. I always knew he adored me, but he never actually said it. He never yelled, never got too excited, he was just a mild tempered man. When I could manage some sort of outward sign of his approval, it was nothing short of awesome. That need for his approval and affection never really went away, other motivators simply showed up to push and shove their way to the top.

In my early teens, my motivation started to lean toward earning tangible rewards. If I completed chores around the house, I was rewarded with things like teen magazines, music (cassettes!), video games, and clothes. My mother always reminded me that I had to earn these things, they were not simply given to me. Because I was too young to get a job, I worked around the house. Cleaning, doing laundry, mowing the grass, washing the dishes. To this day, washing dishes is my least favorite household chore.

Once I passed my driver’s test, getting my own car became my motivation. I worked at the mall and saved all the money I could. I tried to convince my Dad to sell me his 1972 Chevy Corvette Stingray, but he wouldn’t budge. He sold it simply so that I knew, for sure, I had no shot of ever even driving that car! The lingering motivation of having that car is still with me, especially considering he sold it and bought me a 1977 Chevy Caprice Classic with no muffler. Seriously, I was hoping for a chariot and ended up with a tank.

As an 18 year old college student, sadly, I was not motivated to succeed academically. I was motivated by things like making friends, partying with those friends, and making the most of being “on my own.” I pushed the people away who would remind me that perhaps I was not choosing a successful path. I took academics for granted and assumed I would succeed as I had in High School, attend class and succeed; no extra work required. College was more challenging, but I was not prepared for it and withdrew with such a feeling of failure.

As an adult, I am motivated by several things. They include, of course, the ones you would expect: health, money, and happiness. Thrown in there for me, though, are things like self respect, trustworthiness, excelling as a wife, mother, and friend.

Many people look back on their lives with regret and feelings of “what if.” Fortunately I do not have many regrets in my life. The single one I do have is soon to be remedied. I am back in college and will get my degree. This time will be different, the motivation is there. Finally.

Book meme

Lanie Painie tagged me pre-flu. My apologies for the delay. My thanks for easy blog fodder.

Here are the Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people & post a comment here once you post it to your blog, so I can come see.

My book is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

We are about halfway through the crossword. My attention has drifted. "Read that one again, child," says Grandma.

I don't normally tag, but if you haven't already done this one, feel free.

I'm going to go rest some more.

Update

"In my house, anyone who uses one word when they could have used ten just isn't trying hard."
~Martin Sheen as President Bartlet on The West Wing.

I have to write 5 two page papers for my psych class throughout the semester. We can turn these papers in anytime and I turned my first one in last week. I didn't really know what to expect from it. The directions are vague - 1 to 2 page reflection paper about something we talked or read about the previous week. No research, sources, etc. Simply critical thinking and applying something we learned in class to real life. I don't really do vague. Don't get me wrong, I can spew 2 pages on anything (which is probably why I like the above quote so much!) I turned in the paper and received a grade of 19 out of 20. I'm thrilled with that, though disappointed that I didn't get 20. God, I'm such a perfectionist. I realized, though, that I can NOT proof read my own stuff. I forgot how much I suck at it. I can proof the hell out of someone else's. But when I proof my own, I just don't see the mistakes, I read it as it should be, not as it is. I'm sure this isn't uncommon. Anyway, since R read it and missed a few things, I am tempted to just post the next one here and ask to have it edited. You game? I know you are!

Remember the first Psych quiz I was so worked up about? Well, we've already had another one....I'm doing really well in that class and have aced both quizzes! I have high B in Anatomy, but my exam in the lab this week should help bring that up. I am surprized how much I'm enjoying myself. I studied for about 5 hours on Sunday and so far I love it. I'm sure I'll be stressing out at some point, but for now, I'm doing pretty well.

Grammar Snob Attacks!

I know that you will be shocked when I tell you poor grammar drives be batshit crazy. (I know, you are sitting there shocked.)

Today, on the radio, I heard a dj say "I could care less." What they meant, of course, was "I couldn't care less." If they could care less, they likely wouldn't feel the need to tell you about it.

Another one that simply makes my skin crawl:

~Ain't. It is so not a word. For example: let's consider the word let's. It is a shortened version of let us. It is a contraction, if you would like to correct grammar term. Another example is don't. Don't=do not. Using these examples, ain't=ai not. So there. As my mother used to say, "Ain't ain't a word." There are all sorts of arguments against my position on ain't, but I stand by my opinion.

What are your grammar pet peeves?