Today's class spent time discussing the GUPS part of revising papers. I thought it was really beneficial information to go over. Many little things, such as comma necessity/placement and I vs. me/he vs. him type situations, were things that I was unsure about, and now I feel like I have a better grasp on grammar and punctuation.
However, I must confess that every previous time we corrected single sentences during class time, I always think it makes things a lot easier and leave class with every intention of applying that method to correcting my own paper. But do I really do that? Unfortunately, not really. I just revise it as a whole, instead of piece by piece, and I really think the latter way would allow for better/more improvements to be made.
This time I'm really determined though, especially since this paper is focusing on revisions, to actually go in sentence by sentence and make sure the GUPS are all used correctly. :)

The sixth paper is giving me some trouble :/
I'm choosing to rewrite my 4th paper, and I'm trying to improve it by using a new thesis. And thats not really the tough part, but it's more the journal part of it. My corrections aren't really just corrections on what's already written, but large movements, alterations, additions, and subtractions. So, its not like writing, "Paragraph 2 Line 4-I did this, because of this," but my supporting paragraphs are just based on some of the things I talked about in my fourth paper, and a lot of the things I used in the original paper aren't pertinent to my new thesis. So the structure of my content is all different...But I think I'm doing it alright, its just a lot of work...I'm not complaining per se...just sharing my thoughts/frustrations about this paper.
But it's the last paper for the course...Wow!
The semester flew by like crazy. I really can't believe it.

But I'm gonna cut this short so that I can go to bed. :)

I just realized that I haven't mentioned something about class in my blogs yet. We're doing a Secret Santa!
I love secret santa's, even though I don't really talk to anyone in the class(which is a fact that I hate), so it's not like a really personal thing, it's still fun. It really puts me in the spirit too-I love giving presents, and I really hope my person likes theirs :)
Ah-I can't wait to go home for Christmas and exchange presents with my friends and family. I'm really into crafts and stuff like that, so I'm big on homemade stuff, and I always have so much fun making the presents, and then that joy gets furthered by seeing the reactions of my friends and family.
I love when those people give me homemade presents too. They just mean so much more than anything you could find in a store. The thought and love and personal touches that go into homemade things is really unique and rare...Thats why when my mom asked me over Thanksgiving break if there was anything I really wanted for Christmas, I couldn't think of anything, but I told her to make me something. If I get something made by her, that'll mean even more because my mom isn't exactly into crafty things as much as I am, so it'd be extremely special coming from someone who wouldn't normally dive into an artsy project.

Hmm, I always find myself connecting this stuff to the things I've learned from class, and especially from Nissenbaum's book, and I'm thinking about how when Christmas became a domestic holiday, consumerism and materialism rose due to the purchasing of presents. It's really a shame that people didn't just embellish upon those household items that were previously given to wassailers, but instead searched outside of the home to provide gifts for their family members. I can't even imagine what a different atmostphere Christmas would have if it was centered around a tradition like this rather than one of purchases. Had this been the case, then many arguments and discussions, such as Professor Showers's blog, would probably never need to exist. And on that note, I think I'm going to go check that out, and think of some ways to provide a response that would be useful to others reading the blog.

This week is really not going too well for me...I hate missing class, especially when its to lay around drinking hot tea and feeling crappy. Things are so much different being at school than how they ever were before. Its really weird to not be like, "Mom, I don't feel good today...Can I stay home?" And and have it be completely your responsibility to choose what to do. But I guess that comes with growing up, even though I still feel like I'm about 13.

Anyways, I decided that I should check the Outbox for class to see who my partner for the 6th paper was, because it wouldn't be right if someone didn't get peer feedback just because I wasn't able to make class. Turns out that I could only find his journal though, so now I'm not too sure what to do.
I'm really not enjoying this paper too much. It's just a lot of work the way I'm approaching it, because I don't think I addressed the right thesis in my 4th paper, so I'm using a new thesis, and basically writing a new paper, but using some of the same supporting evidence. I don't know if what I'm doing is right, especially because rewriting instead of just doing corrections means that my changes are more complex than just altering stuff in a paragraph or rewording or something.
Oh well. Guess I'll find out after its handed in when I get my grade back.