Because I obviously can't get out of here, I guess I'll just write a post.  Seriously, I can't report myself as abusive and not even a nude photo of myself made others report me.

I'm in a public-speaking class this semester (it's called Fundamentals of Speech for reasons I'm not sure of).  The first speech we did was introducing ourselves and I told of my previous career goals and my current one.  One of my previous ones was to be a writer, but that didn't pan out.

When we did our group speech, two people I was grouped up with read my contribution and thought it was funny.  One asked if I had ever considered being a writer.  Umm, I actually mentioned that I did in a speech.  Funny, I remember the gist of both of their speeches.  Maybe I'm a good listener.  I know that when you're me, you have to learn how to keep your mouth shut, so maybe that develeped as a natural consequence.

In my last speech, the instructor had two criticisms:  I read what I've written too much and my personality comes through.  I guess I'm going to have to work on both.  The former is easier:  just say the gist by memory and forget about saying every little detail.  The second, I'm not sure about.  Perhaps do the speech without any emotion, vocal inflections, or the like.  I guess.

I'm actually going to reference my introductory speech in my next speech (the topic: the Dvorak keyboard), knowing fully well that no one remembers what I said.  That's why I think those stupid things where teachers ask everyone where they live, what their majors are, etc. are stupid; no one is going to remember what anyone else said by the next class meeting. 

Writing I suppose is fairly natural to me.  I have to write a 5-6 page paper for my Systems Analyis class by Thursday (I've all but finished).  The professor says it should be mostly charts and diagrams.  Well, I got 5 1/3 pages out of it with just pure text and now that I've added some charts and diagrams, it's just a hair below 9.  Systems Analysis requires a lot of diagramming.  After the first assignment, I gave up on ASCII art and downloaded Dia to draw the diagrams.  Then today, I realized that it has the Ganes and Sarson symbol set built-in and drawing all the differently shaped rectangles was unnecessary.  Well, I'm not going to go back and redo it properly.  But I guess I'll know how to do it for the next class that requires diagramming.

My only class today was Spanish I, which is a totally unnecessary course for me (I took it because it sounded fun, and it is) .  We got the results of our tests from two weeks ago (last week was Thanksgiving break) and of the 13 grades, 6 of them were an F.  He put up the grade spread, so that's how I know.  One of the grades was 93 1/2, the grade I always get, and I felt like saying that that was mine.  When he handed me the paper, I was like, "I knew it!  That's what I always get."  He replied, "At least you're consistent."

I'm going to call the bicycle shop tomorrow and see if I can get my bicycle fixed.  I've been totally without it for two months and partially without it for three. The events surrounding it makes me so mad.  I hate being taken in to class (especially since my father insists on pulling up right in front of the school; when I bicycle, I always go in the back, because I hate being stared it, and it's even worse when you get out of someone else's vehicle; not to mention how scary his driving is).  Dad refuses to fix it because "it's too cold to bicycle" (which I think is just an excuse; after all, it wasn't too cold two months ago).  I, however, am not going to take this lying down, or let the money I spent on winter bicycling clothes, gloves, face protection, etc. go to waste.  I'll just pay for a professional to do it.  Surely, they're not going to be all, "but it's too cold."  If they want to get paid, they'll do it.

I'm also going to have them remove the straps from my pedals (I heard they improved speed, but I'm sure they're what messed up my bicycle in the first place, since I ran into my first problems right after I put them on; I have a shaft-driven bike, so maybe they don't react to being pulled as well (that is, not at all) as chain-driven bikes) and put on the reflectors.  Today, the roads were only slightly brushed with snow; I'm sure I could have made it on bike.  I know by next semester (starting January 20), I'm going to have a bicycle--either mine repaired or a reparable chain-driven one purchased--and pedal in as frequently as possible.  I do, however, see it as a blessing in disguise that this has happened; I'll take off of bicycling until the end of the semester and then I'll have weeks to practice winter riding before having to actually do it twice a week (I'm taking most of my classes online next semester, so yippee!).