Time of the year potpourri.

The time has come, the walrus said, to head back to Texarkana. The semester has finally ended, and I'm glad of it, but I admit that I feel like I could have done better. I certainly had some adjustments to do getting back into the swing of American university life. But I also did a kind of poor job adjusting back to a culture that has so many channels of cable and so many English-speaking friends on Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, you name it.

I am hoping that the classes I take this next semester will be a little more fulfilling for me. This semester's dry offerings were a struggle in and of themselves. Not to mention having to take a night class this time. That, my friends, is the bane of my existence.

That said, I took my last final yesterday morning, and I feel like it went ok. My GPA will probably be something B-ish this semester, but that's recoverable. I am honestly just happy that it's over, that I survived, and that I'm no worse for the wear. I hope that my interest is more piqued this next semester as I take Script Analysis, Cinematography, Stage Make-up, Oxford Tutorial, and Chinese (some more).

I'm excited about Oxford Tutorial. That's kind of the indicator that it's a new task that has yet to become weighty. I'll be starting the research that will carry me on through the rest of my college career in the Honors College. Right now my topic is still a bit amorphous, but it has to do with living against the grain in China.

I just remembered that I had made all these flashcards to review over this winter break. The Chinese characters I neglected really learning this semester were neatly Sharpied on the front, pinyin and English definitions were on the backs. Dang it. I'll get them if I sojourn next week back to Conway to craft with Kristen.

Speaking of crafty Christmas, the other day I set up a craft corner in the Starbucks (that's really Aramark) which is in the back of the library on-campus. I know just about everyone that works there, so I went to make them a Christmas dainty. It ended up being a Christmas tree constructed from a Venti-sized cup, coffee filters, stir-sticks, hot glue, and the shell beads from a purse I got out of a "free stuff" box in my building.

Yesterday I attended my friend, Whit's, thesis presentation. It met me with no real surprises, but it was a breath-taking work of honesty and openness in prose. I'm still gathering my thoughts on that experience, but it will not be discussed on this blog. I will say that I definitely admire her more now than I did before, and that's saying something. I also understand her more than I imagine she would expect.

That's all for this random odds and ends post.

T