A Composition in Spanish

For my Spanish class, I had to write a fake blog post about something that was controversial or caused me confusion.  The purpose of this exercise was to explain an event that happened in the past using the different past tenses–imperfect and preterit–in Spanish.  I chose to write about my choice to vote for Charles Baldwin during the last presidential election.  I decided it might be kind of fun to share what I wrote with my readers who speak Spanish.  I hope it’s written well.

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Yo solía no hacer caso de las elecciones. No me gustaba el conflicto sobre política.  Siempre pensaba que nadie puede cambiar las opiniones de nadie.  Siempre pensaba que las discusiones políticas eran como luchas y no me acercaba a nada de política.

Durante la elección de 2008, hice un poco caso.  Me gustaron las ideas de Ron Paul y decidí que votaría por él.  Puesto que ni el Partido Republicano ni el Partido Demócrata apoyaron a Ron Paul, pensaba que no podía votar por él.  No presté más atención a la elección.

Pero, cuando hubo sólamente un mes hasta la elección, comencé de hacer caso de nuevo.  No me gustaron algunas ideas del senador Obama y no me gustó nada del senador McCain.  Pensé que votaría por senador Obama, pero me sentí como estaba votando por el menor de dos maldades.

Cuando faltaba una semana para la elección, me encontré con Charles Baldwin, el candidato por el Partido Constitución.  Me di cuenta de que Ron Paul apoyó a Charles Baldwin. ¡Que suerte!

En el día de las elecciones, voté por Charles Baldwin y escribí eso en mi foro.  Cuando leí las respuestas de mi elección, me quedé tan sorprendida.  La mayor parte de las respuestas dijo que gasté mi voto porque no voté por un candidato de unos de los partidos mayores.  Leerlas así, me hizo preguntar ¿qué significa gastar su voto?  O para decirlo de otra manera ¿por qué no gasta su voto cuando vota por un candidato de unos de los partidos mayores en vez de un candidato que no se compromete sus éticas?

New Semester

Yesterday, marked the beginning of a new semester of school.  This semester is going to be interesting, to say the least, because my days are so packed with classes, working, boot camp, and homework.

My first class starts at 7:00 am.  On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, my last class finishes at 9:50 am.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I only have the one class so I’ll be done at 7:50 am.  Right after class, I go straight to work and stay there until 6:00 pm.  Then, it’s straight to boot camp.  Corey and I will finally get home around 8:00 pm each night.  At that point, we’ll do homework and then go to bed.

I had all three of my classes yesterday, which made it nice because I got to see what they’d be like.  I’m taking Spanish, an intro to literature class, and a religion class.  I’m really nervous about my Spanish class.  I have retained most of the knowledge I learned as a child, but I’m extremely rusty when it comes to speaking.  I don’t like making mistakes and because of that, I get super nervous and can’t get out what I want to say.  Hopefully, that will ease with time.

This morning, I dropped my religion class.  I decided that since I don’t need to take any more religion credits, I didn’t want another class possibly counting against my GPA.  I also really don’t want to write any more papers regarding religion.  If this class were like Institute, I’d keep it.  But, since it’s like a full-blown class, there’s no point in making my life more stressful than it already is.  Plus, it gives me an hour between my Spanish and literature class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to do my Spanish homework.

I’m really looking forward to my classes this semester, even though it will be a challenge with my lack of free time.  I’m excited to brush up on Spanish and, hopefully, I won’t let it slip again.  I also look forward to learning more about literature now that I’m actually interested in it.  Hopefully, it will help me throughout the rest of school.

Random Ramblings

I’ve had three doctors’ appointments this week–one on Monday and two on Tuesday.  The first appointment was to have my bones scanned.  My gastroenterologist was worried about the density of my bones since I have a vitamin D deficiency.  According to the scan, my bones are still healthy so I don’t have to worry about osteoporosis for the time being.

The first appointment on Tuesday was with my general doctor.  I wanted him to take a look at my knee.  He said I have bursitis, which is an inflammation of the bursa underneath my knee.  For the next couple of weeks, I’m not supposed to jump, run, or climb stairs (or as little as possible since I live in a two-story townhome), and I need to be careful when doing lunges or squats.  Luckily, my boot camp instructors are working with me and still giving me a good workout.

My general doctor also decided to test my vitamin D, vitamin B12, and iron levels again since I’ve now been on supplements for a few months.  Yesterday, I got a call from the nurse.  My vitamin D and vitamin B12 levels are in the low normal range so I just need to keep taking my supplements and, hopefully, they’ll continue to increase.  My iron level, on the other hand, is still too low, which means I get to have iron infusions by IV once a week for the next four weeks.

The second appointment on Tuesday was with a sleep doctor.  I don’t sleep well at night.  It takes me forever to fall asleep and then I wake up umpteen million times during the night.  When I wake up, I don’t feel rested at all and I constantly feel like I’m going to fall asleep at work, which I’ve actually done.  He’s having me start a medication to see if it will help me sleep.  It’s not habit forming, which is good.  He’s also testing my oxygen levels to make sure I don’t have sleep apnia, or I should say a worse case than I already had because in 2005, I was borderline.

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I’ve been doing boot camp for five weeks now.  This is my sixth week.  So far, I’ve lost 12.8 pounds and three or four inches off my waist.  I’ve also lost inches off of my thighs, hips, and neck, but I’m not sure how much.  They don’t track chest measurements for women.  I want to start tracking that measurement (at home) because I really want to know if I’m losing inches there.  It would be a glorious day if I am.

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I feel like Tuesday was a waste of a day off of work.  I took it off so I could read Mockingjay all day. Guess what didn’t happen? I didn’t get to Mockingjay at all. I knew I was pushing it because I was only halfway through my reread of Catching Fire at midnight on Tuesday morning.  But, I figured I could get through the rest of the book mid-morning.  I was wrong.  With all the doctors’ appointments, boot camp, and car troubles on Tuesday, I didn’t finish my reread of Catching Fire until 9:00 pm.  I was so frustrated! But, I’m glad I took the time to reread The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.  I always forget how much I love a story until I’m rereading it.

At this point, Mockingjay is going on hold for a couple of days because I have the chance to read an ARC of Matched by Ally Condie.  My blog friend Natasha lent it to me at the book charity event last Saturday.  We’re going to a book blogger social this Saturday, which makes returning it to her easier since neither of us know where the other lives. I figure I’ll always have Mockingjay now that it’s mine, but if I don’t get Matched read by Saturday, I’ll have to wait until November 30 to read it.  Whatever you do, please don’t spoil Mockingjay for me, and I promise when I review Matched, I won’t spoil it for you!

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Yesterday, Corey started school for the first time in over ten years.  He was really nervous, but I think he enjoyed his classes.  Of course, he’ll know for sure how he feels once he’s gone a few times.

I start school on Monday.  I’m excited, but I feel like it’s almost on me and I need more time to get ready!

Random Ramblings

The most frustrating thing for me when trying to lose weight is when I don’t lose weight and I gain it instead.  I’ve been eating completely healthy this last week and I worked my butt off in boot camp. Yet, I still gained two pounds. I’m just trying to remember that it’s probably because of muscle gain, even still it’s disconcerting. I guess we’ll see if I lost any inches this week after our session today.  I really hope so because I have a hard time sticking with things when I don’t see results.

Update: I did lose an inch off my waist and a half an inch off my neck.  I do feel a little better now.

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I’m getting all my paperwork done for my financial aid for this school year.  I’m a little behind because Corey and I had to file our taxes late due to everything that happened last year.  I always forget how much paperwork it takes to get financial aid to go through.  It’s so daunting!  Luckily, my FAFSA application says I should not only qualify for subsidized loans this year, but I should also qualify for a full pell grant!

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I’m getting really nervous about my Spanish class this semester.  Sure, I’ve known Spanish since I was six years old, but I don’t speak or listen to it everyday.  I also haven’t really practiced in many years.  I try to speak it whenever I’m hanging out with my nephew-in-law Dave, but I just feel so rusty.  The last class I took was almost ten years ago.  What if I’ve forgotten everything I need to pass this class?  Fortunately, I remember most of the grammar rules, but my vocabulary is not nearly as rich as it used to be.  I know it’ll come back to me, but I’m still nervous.

Random Ramblings

I’ve been doing this boot camp thing now for a little over two weeks.  I got weighed and measured today, but I wasn’t found wanting.  (What movie is that in reference to?)  I didn’t lose any inches off my waist this week, but I did lose another 5 pounds.  So far, I’ve lost 11 pounds total since starting boot camp!

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School starts in less than four weeks.  I’m getting excited and nervous.  I hope I can figure out a way to work working out into my hectic schedule.  I know I won’t be able to keep up with the five-times-a-week boot camp, but I’m going to try to go at least two or three times a week.  I don’t want to stop now that I’m in the habit of being more active.  Even though I feel like dying each day, I actually feel good.  Go figure.

This semester, I’m taking three classes.  I’m taking Spanish to finally get my language credit out of the way.  (I love learning foreign languages, but I’ve been taking so many languages here and there that I’ve never completed the credit in one language.)  I’m also taking an intro to literature class since I never paid attention to literature in school.  I thought it might help me become better versed in the literature I need to know to do well in my major. Finally, I’m taking another religion class.  I don’t need to take anymore, but I wanted to take a class in between my Spanish and literature class so I signed up for one since there’s always space available.

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Thanks for all the feedback regarding whether I should split my book reviews on to a separate blog.  For now, I’ve decided to keep my blog in one piece.  I think with school starting in a month, I should keep things as simple as possible.  I might revisit the idea again in the future.