On Being Tired

Oh boy, I'm tired. It's been a long day. I thought I would take a break from posting solely about class to reflect a little on life in general. I attended my high school football game tonight, and they won! Everyone thought the opposing team would get smoked, but it was close for a while. Muskegon High School (where I went) did end up winning, though. I'll be excited to see them in the playoffs this year. It's always nice to see familiar faces even though I get quite nostalgic.

Although I dislike eBooks, I could have used one today. I forgot a book I needed for an assignment and had to make a round trip back to get it. It wasn't the worst drive, but it still was a drive I made early this morning and gas is still $4 a gallon. A couple of my friends told me they would have skimped on the assignment, but I just can't do that. All I kept thinking was, "Am I done with grad school yet?" I really enjoy attending classes, but the pressure of homework and grades gets to me. I'm not a slacker and never will be; In fact, I'm just like my mother (yes, I am proud of that).

Anyway, I chatted with a woman today about volunteering for the March of Dimes organization, and I am really excited about it; I miss volunteering and I love non-profits. I already feel a little crazy working close to 30 hours a week, taking three night classes, and trying to have a life (and that might not seem like a lot for some of you, but you have to remember I'm 21 years old), but the truth is I like staying busy, especially in the winter. I wanted to help out the MOD in SOME way. I do miss having more free time to craft, though.

I spent a lot of time working on the paper today. I'm having fun with it, but one of the biggest pains is dealing with citations. I have written plenty of papers/articles in APA, MLA, and AP, but no matter how experienced you are, those picky style issues still take a TON of time. I had to do a thesis for undergrad and citing everything took hours. Not to mention a lot of professors have different standards and I have been told different things by some, so every time I start a new class I have to get familiar with what the instructor wants. As digital media expands, there are more topics/sources that aren't covered in the APA manual. Some of the items in the APA manual are vague. 

However, I'm lucky to have the 6th edition APA manual at my disposal, and for those of you who don't have it, two sites are pretty handy: Purdue OWL and Son of a Citation Machine. The citation machine is kept up to date and is a great tool, especially if you're not sure what the in-text citation should be. If you grab articles from ProQuest, you also can request citations and choose the format on the same page you access the PDF from. Don't forget the doi!