Big news (some bad, some not so good...Oh, joy)

It is Monday morning, folks! (Or at least it was when I first wrote this). I think we are entitled to a small dose of pessimism on a cloudy Monday morning with a busy week ahead. However, I'll try to keep an open mind to optimistic thoughts, even in small doses.

I'll do that... just after I tell you about the disastrous, horrible, not good quiz I'd just made. Was it difficult? Yep, a bit. That was not the whole issue, thought. The subject was Collocations, a class I missed on the week I was at the Translation event. The matter is that I become an ILLITERATE person and a very confused old lady. That is not a futile statement, I promise you.

If you're not in the mood for such long bolts of lamentation, you can roll down the bar and go straight to the part in which I talk about the writing of our first essay assignment (*). However, if you're with an extra dose of patience and compassion, go ahead  :)

I came to class today giving me a lecture about how I should be more patient, more careful with tests. "Read all the test carefully, take you time to answer the questions", I kept telling myself during the drive to the university. I took the test on my hands, started answering the (not easy) questions. At some point, I was confuse by how some sentences had no error Collocations wise... I came back to the instructions at the top of the page...And I simply didn't notice the part that explained how some sentences could be correct - we'd should to correct the wrong ones. I think there were two correct ones... I was not able to find an error in them, but I thought it was just my absolute ignorance on the subject.

The conclusion? I cannot read anymore, guys. I'm stunned by my lack of skill on taking tests. I just don't know it is sheer stupidity, decrepitude or plain exhaustion. 

On the good side of too many scary news, I got my grade on the first quiz. Thanks God for that 10... or I should be in very troubled waters right now after the quiz I just took.

I'm here at the class, after the disastrous event I've just told you (yes, I now, I'm becoming a cry baby... the end of semester is near, be patient with me :). The assignment for the rest of the class was writing or editing the first argumentative essay (deadline on next Wednesday). I'd just posted it online to the teacher, so I'm here writing to you. It is a different experience, I should say - a nice one, as I look around me and see that I'm not alone. And now I'm becoming too cheesy, so let's move on the news. 

(*)

So, the big new is that I handed in my first whole essay last night. The subject we had to choose from a list of alternative on the Textbook. I opted to write about Internet surveillance on the US context (after September 11, the Patriot Act and the Obama 2013 espionage scandal). Even after researching the subject, reflecting on what I've read and outlining the ideas I wanted to debate on the argumentative essay, I'm a bit dissatisfied with the results.

I relate in a sort of contradictory way to writing assignments. I'm always in awe how some activities lead us to a very good writing - but those happen to me particularly in works of fiction. As I've told you in the first  post, one of my  most successful writings was a tale wrote in parts according to the teacher suggestions at each class. At the end, I wrote a short story without noticing it at first. It was a surprising and enjoyable experience.

On the other hand, though, sometimes I find it very difficult to follow the script of how to write an academic essay in English following a very strict set of rules. Portuguese has its own rules, of course, but I think the English rules are more strictly set. This aspect presents a very hard challenge to me, as I usually write running from the more strict way - I follow a poetic, even if academic, form of exposing my ideas. I'm even entitled to some cheesiness (not good, I know). It is not that it is better or such, but it is the way I started to develop my ideas through writing in m first graduate study in 2005. By transgressing some of the more formal writing rules, I could find my own way of thinking and of exposing those thoughts.

When I get the essay back with comments and corrections, I'll post it here. As Thiago told me, it is important to own our writings... and so I'll do that, even if I'm not convinced of its good quality.

I'm not sure if we'll ever be completely in peace with our writings. There's always some issues, questioning, doubts and concerns about how we presented our ideas, or even if that was what we really think about the subject we chose to discuss. Writing is a constant source of challenges, reflexion and a way to confront ourselves and our ideas. How we really see things becomes clearer on our writing, and it is not easy to confront such a exposure - not to others only, but to ourselves.

Now it is time to wait - for the quiz grade (...) and the essay comments. I'll keep you posted on that, be sure. And I'll promise to slow down the confessional tone on the next posts... 

It is just this Monday had a heavier weight .

Stay tuned (And positive! And happy! Even after this depressing reading...).

PS: I wrote this on Monday 21st, but I'm only posting it on Wednesday 23... Sorry about the delay. I was not wrong about a busy week ahead. I'm a bit less traumatized by my stupidity on the test (just a little bit, actually). And since then, one song don't leave my head: Cry Baby Cry, by The Beatles. The song lyrics has no relation with the whole story, but when I wrote that I'm a crying baby, the song came to my mind and didn't leave it since. So, cry baby cry/make your mother sigh/She's old enough to know better/So cry baby cry...

PPS: Gui, my beloved BeeFriend, told me just right now that I'm so, so tired, that I "brisei" on the quiz. He is just right as (almost) always <3

A little bit lost (and found)

Hello there!

Long time no see. The last couple weeks have been a bit hectic actually. The end of the dry season in Brasilia is not easy peasy, so there are always some health issues. Plus, there was a 2 days strike (much needed) at the university for budget and politics matters. Last week, I was out of town in a Translation event (Entrad 2019) at João Pessoa, a beautiful place at the northeast of Brazil. This way, I missed some Writing 3 classes.

Tons of coffee involved

Even consulting the Edmodo site for follow ups, I feel a bit lost by not attending classes. Right this moment, I'm trying to find out the topics for the first essay assignment (a big event in a writing class). I still have a week to complete the assignment, though, so it's all good!

There were some challenges in the trip academically speaking. First, on Monday, I had an online test. After a busy day and the opening event at night, it was a real challenge to concentrate in order to deliver a good test - this one for the other writing class I'm attending this semester. It is worthy to highlight that I got lost 2 blocs from my hotel (seriously), tripped on a sidewalk, hurt (just a bit) my recovering knee and was, for that, distressed to say the least (I'm getting really old - sorry for the tragicomedy, but it is an important part of the scenario :). So, deadline ending, I still had nothing ready... It was a matter of breathing slowly and trying to do the best with the short time I had left. 

"Killing me Softly..." is
the song theme  for this image

On Tuesday, my presentation was on the first day of seminars, early in the morning, and it was not easy. I usually don't get nervous on presentations, but I was a bit apprehensive on this one. And I was right to be anxious, because there were some issues on the session, with a bad response by one of the monitors about my work (and I was not talking about my master subject, which is very polemic). The sense of failure was not a small one, and the day followed in a tense rhythm for me. I'm grateful for my lovely roommate and my classmates on this day, they were very supportive <3

On Wednesday, another presentation, this time for a friend who could not attend the event. In front of two of very known Translation authors in Brazil (both quoted by my friend in his work), I had to play a puzzle with the mismatched pages of my friends paper - which I was reading as a presentation. I kept my cool I don't know how (this post is becoming a confessional journal, I know :). At the end, everything was okay.

On Thursday, the tension was still alive for my roommate's presentation, that went beautifully with a great response from the audience. At night, it was time to breath easily and celebrate.

Now I'm back to my busy routine and here I am, finally catching up on the tasks for the next week. 

The first one was to complete the exercises about Collocations - a subject that I'd have never studied before, one that carries many challenges for the writer. I'm glad to see that I'm not entirely ignorant on the matter, even if there's a lot to  improve still. I mean, a lot lot. 

As a reflection about writing, I'm also happy to overcome the challenges presented to this moment. The test on Monday was a writing challenge, as I had to summarize a 20 pages text in a short amount of time, feeling very tired and with an oral presentation early on the next day.  Yes, maybe I'm exaggerating the difficulty here, but I'm proud anyway :)

So, now I just have to figure out the essay topics and get my hands on the writing. 

That's it for now, folks. 

Stay tuned :) 

Greetings from Jampa (João Pessoa/Paraíba, 2019)

PS: Do you still remember that Amélie Poulain is the inspirational image for this (and the other 5) blogs that I sign? So, she was there, in Jampa, with the appropriate costume.

Amélie Cangaceira

PPS: More images from the Entrad trip:

A metalinguistic picture
CCHLA-UFPB (2019)

Find the cat...There's one right there!

The last view of a busy and challenging, but nice week

PPPS: Okay, so I just found out that Thiago, the teacher of the Writing 3 class, and the reason why this blog exists, saw my presentation on the Entrad event. As this has turned out a confessional post, I must say: "Thanks God", because I would be more nervous that I was. Said that, I should add that I'm actually really sorry for not noticing Thiago's presence on the auditory. I told him that I'm not usually anxious about presenting a work. It is not hard for me, and not because I'm too sure of myself. I really think those kind of events are a part of our education and knowledge construction. So I  talk about my work with an open mind and heart on those kind of events. This time, however, the experience was a bit traumatic. But it is a past sense, and all is well now - I can put the whole experience under another perspective. This way, I'm really grateful for such a good opinion. Thanks, Thiago, to take the time to see my presentation and giving me such lovely feedback!