Teaching, and more on Prozac

Evening everyone. 

Today's been a pretty good day for a number of reasons. It's always a good day when my work pays off. Last week I managed to break up my studying into multiple days and it really paid off when I took my midterm today. I think I did pretty well, out of the 50 questions there was only a few that I was pretty unsure about. I even corrected a couple dumb mistakes so that was good.

I usually don't review my answers after I take a test. The reason being is that I know that if I do so I'll end up second guessing myself and more likely than not changes a good answer into a bad one. Therefore it's wiser for me to not look over the test. I didn't expect the econ test to be this morning because I'd wrote Wednesday on my calendar. I luckily did study this weekend so I think it paid off.

Also, I got a 9.5/10 on my finite test. I'm really stoked about that because that means I'm actually getting this material. The probability stuff can be so difficult to wrap your head around for some reason. I'm still managing to keep up considerably well in a class I thought would be a nightmare for me. I'm not looking forward to Statistics at all. I want to take a guitar class but there doesn't appear to be much offered. It's a shame they cut the guitar program a couple years ago.

I didn't make many changes to my synthesis that I printed out tonight. I thought the paper was really good to begin with. I'm not looking forward to getting my critique back tomorrow, yet I'm not worried about it. English 102 is a prerequisite to Technical writing, which I'm going to try to get into tomorrow. I'm going to go apply for my major tomorrow. 

I had my second lesson with Hassan this evening! It was so exciting to see his improvement over the last week. He practiced every single day this last week for at least 40 minutes. I feel like practice schedules really are the key to success.

I got my finite math homework done and even made a video that I had been thinking about making for awhile. 

This is a video I made about prozac. I was meaning to do an updated video about anti-depressants because I had previously made one about Wellbutrin... which turned out to be pretty awful. 

peace.

What the Hell are the chances of that.

Today's been a good day.

I got up this morning knowing I had to get my books so I rushed over to the bookstore after getting ready. I dealt with a complete lameass at the checkstand that I felt like I had to walk through the transaction.  I just wanted to buy my accounting book and my business law book, and then go to the second line that had a huge lineup to do the rental on the math one. It ended up being a big holdup so I decided just to use the credit line to buy the books. Right now the money that overdrew my account today is now going onto the credit line that my Dad will pay off later.

They were around $350. Expensive, so I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it. I'm going to wait for that transaction to process for the next 10 hours or so before I put the money from my savings into my checking. I'm now at $1400. That means moving here in total cost me about $200, between the things that I've needed to buy and the groceries, etc etc... That's so creep, imagine how much it would cost up in Bellingham, atrociously expensive! I'm so happy to be here.

I woke up Jason after I bought my books. He partied last night and texted me drunk asking me to come this morning. Though I knew he'd forget, I showed up anyway. Last night while Jason was out with his friends I decided to go to Shavonne's house and visit/have dinner. Russell printed me out a map that proved to be very handy all day... especially when I was trying to find Jason's building. 

Jason and I were originally going to go rock climbing together and I was pretty stoked to go but I still had my biggest task of the day in the back of my mind. I had to go out and find these bulletin boards to I guess officially "open" my business. I really hope I'm able to fill up my 9 spots relatively quickly. I'll schedule a couple more (assuming some are going to drop) and go out and pull the signs. Next time I lose some students, I'll repeat the process so that I maintain a controlled number. I'm hoping I get a different mix of ages and music styles.

peace. 

OH!!!! Now that I'm back from working out I remember the weirdest thing that happened to me today! I saw Jack, hahaha. It was so funny, Jason and I were walking back to my place when a... lacrosse, I don't know, lacrosse or cricket-- ball rolled out in front of me. I just happen to feel like being polite and picked it up and tossed it back to the person that flicked it into the street.

There's Jack, standing in the courtyard of the math building. He's like, "Oh hey Emily!" I couldn't believe it. I acted very friendly toward him. He told me he was going to his lacrosse match soon. I told him good luck. I told Jason, "First love." even if yesterday I'd told him I never had been. I guess love is truly what makes a person crazy, and since Jack made me crazy and confused for three years, I figured it was the best representation for that situation. 

Jason was like, "Oh, you don't like him?" and I'm like, "YES. I HATE him. I mean, no, I don't hate him. He just makes me very frustrated." Jason and I left it at. I did, however, call my Mom when I was back cooking lunch (I made shredded chicken burritos, which were delicious by the way) to tell her about my 'what are the chances of that' experience.

I had only thought about Jack once since I got here, I didn't anticipate seeing him this early on however. I'm glad I instinctively was very friendly toward him.

Zen Guitar Studio

Hola.

I found my roommate, and I'm super stoked. Her name is Kristen and she's alright with my weird musician lifestyle. She's a transferring Junior like me and she's majoring in psychology. She seems serious in her studies like I am, which is a major plus and it's even her first time moving out from her parents house too. I don't know what she'll think of me, but I'm hoping we get along well. I'm sure everything will be fine. She's an athlete, so maybe we can play sports together occasionally. I haven't played basketball in forever and I am in no mood to ever be competitive with anyone anymore so it might actually be fun. She'll probably kick my ass.

I finally posted my Fear of the Dark video. I'm stoked that it got such a positive response, 50 hits in the first couple hours of upload! I'm assuming that's just my youtube subscribers, so cool. I feel like I have my little piece of fame, even if it's silly. I'm hoping it can get me more clients in the long run, make some money with lessons to buy food and not cut too terribly into my savings.

Okay I have to promise myself here and now that I will allow myself to spend money in Ellensburg. I have too, it's going to be expensive to move out and this is why I've saved so much this summer.

Here's my freaking amazing logo. I don't really care if it looks like a massage parlor, it's mine and I love it. 

I guess my main sales pitch with the logo is that guitar can help you relax and center yourself. Jacob saw this and said it made me sound like a hippie, or something, I don't know. Katelynn said if she saw this logo she would expect the instructor would be Asian but my name is very clearly printed under the logo and Emily Wilson is definitely not an Asian name.

It's only 3:45 pm, Katelynn was over yesterday and we hung out and had a good time. I told her that these days are going to be the days that I miss living here. We walked through town and I realized how much I really do despise living here though. Though it's always been a safe place to live, I feel like I should get out in the world. It's funny to think that I'm going from a small town to a place that isn't by any means huge but I don't think I would want to live in a big city, either. 

Yup, things have been going really good. I've got 28 days until I get out of here and I can't believe how much this year has flown by. It was a pretty good year at CBC, definitely easier than my first year there. I really wore out my interest in Japanese culture and language. I will always have some connection with that subculture, but I'm so over it. 

I go through pretty drastic phases in my life that take over my spare time. I guess the guitar is my new phase, but I can't let it take over to the point that it interferes with my studies and what's important. The guitar is really important to me too, though, because it's going to make me some money if I'm able to get students to teach. 

Jacob recently hired his old bandmate to be an accountant. He he, with my business I'll be my own accountant and I won't have to pay anyone! But still, it makes me excited that Jacob now has an employee. I want his business to do very well after I'm gone, I hope that my videos can help him get students. I'm sure he appreciates that I'm taking the time to make the progress videos. 

My lesson yesterday went really well. We sort of B.S.'d about stuff that we don't normally talk about. I told him that he's been a huge benefit in my life because his lessons have helped me so much, and he responded, "How?" I didn't really know what to say. He continued, "Because you know Emily, when it comes down to it everything in life is about impressing others. It's depressing but true... Why are you learning this? Why do you put on makeup in the morning? It all boils down to this."

It's so true, though I don't know if it's necessarily depressing. Man is responsible for his or her own life. I feel like by learning a skill I am trying to portray my discipline as a human being. I don't know how much it is to impress people, but I suppose every musician has a number of reasons that they do what they do. 

All I know is right now, I have practiced a total of 351 hours since I started getting lessons. That's 14 days in four months. 

You hit your first milestone at 1,000, then at 5,000 something else will "click," then at 10,000 you have successfully mastered the guitar. I want to someday get 10,000, but it's a long road and I will just chunk away at it as I go. 

I need to find some songs to learn! My goal this week is to learn a few easy songs to better prepare me for giving lessons for wide ranges of music. I don't know what I'm going to learn though, ugh I need a random song chooser or something.

peace.