Ever since we dropped our cable service a few months ago, we have been watching far less TV. It was a smart move. We went from having the TV on 12 hours a day, just as background noise, to filling the subsequent silence with a child’s laughter and Rush. Now we only have about 9 channels: 2 of them are spanish, 3 of them are PBS stations, one of them is a non-stop weather station. We have 2 of the major networks: NBC and CBS, I believe (depending on the weather), but we don’t have Fox. I guess when Fox decided to battle the cable providers earlier this year, they unanimously decided to shaft those who chose not to pay for their TV. Whatever. I can live without ever watching American Idol.

Normally, the only thing I am worried about seeing is The Office on Thursdays. That can be the only time I turn on the tv, after 12 pm, during the week. If I can see the Office, I am happy. Sometimes it’ll stay on for some 30 Rock, but for the most part, I tune out when it’s over. Other than that, in the morning Deven and I watch Dinosaur Train and Word World. Sid the Science Kid is retarded, I am sure of it.

There it is. An intimate detailing of our television viewing habits. No wonder no one reads this blog. I buy a domain name to make this easily accessible, I dress it up really pretty with a pre-made design, and NO ONE comes here.

But, no, really, what I wanted to blog about was Glee, and how don’t I understand half of the people who watch network tv, except for the half that watches The Office and 30 Rock. Those people, I get. But at this point, all of that is kind of redundant.

As I said earlier, no Fox, so that means if I want to watch anything on that network, it has to be online. It took me a whole to finally get around to watching Glee, but I REALLY, REALLY WANTED TO SEE IT. It look so awesome; a show full of silly stereotypes all about the second-geekiest club in high school (2nd to Chess, third if your school had a Latin club.) SO much potential for awesome, if it is done right. But alas, it fucking wasn’t.

I watched it for the first time the other night on Hulu. I had to watch the 12rth episode, since Hulu only keeps the latest 5 episodes online. I wasn’t as lost on the plot as you think, since this show is so hot, everyone buzzes about it. So I knew about Jayma Mays and that guy that looks like a sad, old Orlando Bloom, and the nerdy annoying chick, the pregnant chick, and the not pregnant chick. Totally up to date on everything.

Sadly, for all my knowledge, NO ONE TOLD ME IT WAS A MUSICAL. I knew it was a musical in the sense that it was a Glee club and there would be performances at assemblies and competitions, but not that people would break out into awkward musical numbers. The worst part of the musical numbers, is even when they are supposed to be spontaneous, they are so very rehearsed and pre-recorded. They don’t even try to hide the fact that they use filters and auto-tune when the kids are just hanging out in the choir room and just decide to start SINGING. Seriously, the ill-fitting, over-done musical numbers are what really kills it for me.

It reminds me of High School Musical, only with worse 2-dimensional stereotypes and more adult humor. It does. I admit it.

The show is not funny. Well, not my kind of funny, anyway. It tries to be, to the point of being contrived. But it could be worse.

Jane Lynch, aka, Sue Sylvester= SAME GODDAMNED CHARACTER IN EVERYTHING. Is this woman an actor? I can’t tell.

Jayma Mays = Annoying.

I want to love Leah Michelle so very badly. She reminds me of a little Idina Menzel, whom I adore. I am stopped short of licking the screen every time she comes on because her character is horrendously 2 dimensional.

The shows only bright side = Chris Colfer. The second this kid opened his mouth, I was laughing hysterically. You just can’t get much sassier and…gayer. And the best part is how natural it seems for him. I’m just saying. Not that it would matter, the kid is just awesome because he is awesome, but…you know…

So there it is. It’s another thing everyone else I know loves, and I hate. Like Led Zeppelin and Barack Obama. No wonder I don’t have any friends.

It is amazing that, after the last 2 days, I am actually sitting here willingly writing a blog post.

Yesterday was horrible. It wasn’t supposed to be, and it certainly didn’t have to be, but it turned out that way. I did it all to myself because I must really, genuinely hate myself.

I got up yesterday with the intent of taking my c-test, which is basically the one and only exam you take in English Comp I. This is how the whole crazy grading system works: You have to write 5 assigned throughout the course, and on those papers you don’t  actually get letter or number grades; your papers are either accepted, or need edits or revisions. Once you have written the first 4, you can take the c-test, which is where you sit in a computer lab and write an analytical paper in response to an article. On that, if the paper is accepted, you get a number grade. The number grade doesn’t really matter all that much, all that matters is the paper is accepted. If it isn’t accepted, you can take the test again. Once all of your 5 assigned papers are accepted and you have taken the c-test, you are basically done, and you have a c in the course. If your GPA matters to you,  you can  write 2 more papers to secure an A in the course.

My intention, at the very beginning, was to get an A. I had no idea what the hell I was getting myself into. I took English Comp I because it was a required course for my degree. I didn’t realize at the time, having not really participated in an actual high school English course, that I hated academic writing as much as I do. I am good at it, which feels good to say. My teacher has loved every paper I have turned in. I love that I am good at something I hate so much. I hate the expectations that are involved in academic writing;  what you are writing has to adhere to a certain format. I love writing, hence why I have this blog, but I am definitely more a literary writer. I am naturally a bit more colloquial (in other words, I haven’t had much training.)

Anyway, I went to take my c-test on Saturday morning. On that day my paper 5 was also due, and was not finished. That was the first mistake I had made. My paper 5 was an issue-research paper, and the topic I had chosen was so much more difficult than I had imagined: paid organ donation. I was just going to take the test, which I had been told takes about 3 hours, and then come home and wrap the stupid paper up. I skimmed over a sample c-test, made sure I didn’t have too much to drink, and went for it.

The article I had been given was actually not that bad. It was extremely simple, but for some reason, I couldn’t wrap my head around identifying the organizational patters, or how to demonstrate the main purpose. I was extraordinarily overwhelmed. I went in at 11, thinking it wouldn’t take me until 4 to finish the stupid paper, but by 3 all I had was an introductory paragraph.  Time was ticking and I had nothing. I didn’t know what else to do, so I handed in what I had, because the thought of having to sit in that room any longer made me crazy. I blew the c-test. That alone meant that any hope at getting an A in the course was shattered.

I didn’t have time to mope because my paper 5 was still due. I knew I couldn’t finish it on my own, so I went to my brother’s house and asked if he could help. My brother, if I haven’t already pointed this out before, is was one of greatest human beings alive. Seriously, he deserves a medal just for being who he is. He agreed to help me round up better sources than I had gathered. I thought we would have the paper done by 8 at the latest, but that wasn’t happening either. When it came to gathering sources for the arguments in opposition to Paid Organ Donations, there was next to nothing. What does that tell you? Thats a whole other blog post.

Anyway, I didn’t finish the paper until 1 am. AFTER the due date. So that’s blown.

All of this forced me to reevaluate my plans for this class. I decided to not pursue anything beyond a C in the class. I still need a lot of practice in analyzing articles, and I am not going to be ready in time to write the B paper. I was really devastated when I came to this realization. I had such high expectations for myself, as always, but I need to put some things into perspective. I hate writing papers, it’s almost ALWAYS torture for me. Why would I willingly put myself through more of this? At the end of the day, if I get a c in this class and a b in my math class, it really isn’t going to hurt my GPA that much. I will still have plenty of opportunities to bring that back up before I apply to the Sonography program. And really, does this grade change that my teacher liked my papers? Does it change anything in my life at all? Does it make me any less of a person? Does it really matter at all? No. Not in the least bit.

So there you have it.I am going to retake the c-test and be done with it. The relief is tremendous.