Play by Play of my Score of the Day

With a little help from this blog post (yeah for former physics majors and their blogs!) I have discovered the beauty of self-encouragement through winning. On Tuesday, I had a massive paper (don't judge, people who write papers on a regular basis- I am a science major) due and so I had to encourage myself. My outlet for this was my Facebook status and so, in an entirely self-centered blog post that will hopefully be vaguely entertaining, I will give the play by play of my score of the day. Enjoy!

Score update- Sleep: 7, Paper: 7, Class: -1, Addie Jo: -15. ARG!
After attending an exciting basketball game and working a few hours on the paper, I decided on a 4 AM nap that lasted, unfortunately, until 11, causing me to miss my first class of the day. So, with 7 hours of sleep (which in any other situation would have been a positive), 7 pages at least lacking in my paper and 1 class missed, I was pretty much at a loss. 

And at half time, the score is: Mini-paper due today: 3, recovered keys: 15, INTERVIEW HAPPY DANCE!!!!!: 4, mailed letter and turned in forms: 5, Paper: 7 with promise, Addie Jo: 6.
At noon, I had completed my 3 page classroom management plan for my education class (I'm going to have a lot of pictures of stars, encourage questions and have many physics books and fun demos to play with), gone to the music department office and recovered my keys (of which there are 15, not counting the awesome keyrings I have) which had been locked in Hill Hall over Thanksgiving break in a story that is considerably less epic than the story of the lost key. Luckily, housekeeping found them and the world was better. Also, my former college roommate and I have awesome plans to go to Europe next summer through a travel scholarship. I had gotten the email saying that I had an interview, but she had not. I spent most of Thanksgiving being vaguely saddened by this (and my paper) but then she was informed via late email that she, too, had an interview. This prompted exactly 4 uncontrollable happy dances on my part. I turned in 4 pages worth of forms for student teaching and mailed 1 letter, feeling like the good adult-in-training that I am, and though I hadn't finished another whole page of my paper, I had started on a good run, hopefully to finish the paper. All in all, considering my last score, it was a great leap in my attempt to win over the course of the day.

Pre-symphony band update: Blog posts: 5, Citation websites: 3, Bible study: -9, Phone charger:1, outlets that I can plug my charger into: -2, Paper: 9, Addie Jo: -15.
I sat in the student union for a couple of hours writing my paper. I ran up against some writer's block and decided to take a break and read some more of this awesome blog. I got five posts under my belt in full-on procrastination mode. I then attempted to figure out the Chicago-style of citations at the request of my professor (also, how in the world are you supposed to cite Native American church websites and podcasts of their services? I don't know either) and 3 confusing websites later, I was still pretty much at a loss. I also skipped Bible study in my paper-writing roll (pre-procrastination) and I felt pretty terrible about letting down the 9 other girls in my group. My phone was on its last legs battery-wise, so I, being the brilliant and wonderful person I am, brought my charger with me to campus. The 2 outlets near where I was sitting, however, were cut into tiny crevices and they didn't permit my admittedly bulky phone charger to be plugged in. After a writing roll, my paper held steady at 9 pages, only putting me 3 under the required minimum (12-15 pages) which was looking like the goal at this point. So, after quite a roller coaster time, I was back at this morning's score.

At the start of my education class: Mini-paper: 1.5, Symphony band: -2.5, french horn mouthpiece: -1, sisters and friends: 4, awesome french horn playing: 6, Paper: 10, Addie Jo: -11.
Symphony band was a party on Monday. Most of the party comes from the fact that I am one of two french horn players and I'm used to sitting happily on 4th chair without very much effort needing to be exerted on my part. You can only be the root of the chord for offbeats so many times before you just give up caring. Now, though, it's almost like being first chair again, except the music is harder and everyone else is so much better than me. I printed off my classroom management plan, which was 1.5 printed pages (yeah saving trees by printing back and front!). I got to symphony band 2.5 minutes late because I forgot my mouthpiece at my apartment and had to borrow a friend's (Official news: Caresse Bridge is the most awesome person ever, the end). Over the course of the day, 4 of my awesome sisters had helped me through things, such as forgotten mouthpieces and stressful rehearsals. I also played french horn much better on Caresse's mouthpiece and felt like I sounded pretty awesome, which is saying something because I normally feel like I sound like a dying water buffalo. I also wrote up about another page during rehearsal (the woodwinds needed a lot of work, apparently), so all in all, a net gain of 4 for the hour of symphony band.

And heading into the late stages of the game with a study session at Caribou, the score: Education Class: 1, Paper: 12, Large Mocha: 4, Addie Jo: -7.
My education class got out an hour early, holla praise, and I headed over to Caribou to hopefully type out the end of the paper and have celebratory friend times with my former college roommate. Another couple of pages had been written during my education class (my eyes start to glaze over whenever the current student teachers start talking about their students. WARNING: Your eyes will start to glaze over next semester because I will be doing the exact same thing all the time. I will also be less social. I will also blog probs less than I already do. You have been warned, dear readers), putting me at the limit, but not done with my ideas, so a -1 in the convoluted point system I made up myself. I'm practicing for my career as an ACC ref. I purchased a large mocha for the low low price of 4 dollars, and considered myself as having stepped up in the world, another net gain of 4.

 In the home stretch: Coffee Spill Napkins: 5, Happy Dances: 3, Christine: 21, Avett Brothers Songs: 4, Paper: 12, Addie Jo: 16. Yeah!
As I sat in crowded Caribou, I had the beautiful grace to knock my large mocha onto my computer. I sprung into action, grabbing a handful of napkins and saving my page up and down buttons and mopping up my battery. Fingers crosses, the computer is still kicking. 5 napkins later and the only problem with my computer is that is smells vaguely of chocolate, which is not really a problem at all. My former college roommate arrived and we celebrated multiple times about our interviews, resulting in at least 3 more happy dances on my part and 20 smiles on Christine's part (21 by the time I had updated my status). As we sat and worked on things, Caribou started playing Emotionalism by the Avett Brothers, prompting a change in my About Me on Facebook. I felt bad, because this was the first time there wasn't a Bible verse (read: Jesus quote) in my About Me. Former College Roommate insisted it was OK. Jesus understands- He gave us the Avett Brothers. True story, Former College Rommate, true story. 4 Avett Brothers songs always make my life happier. The paper was stagnant at 12, but having reached the minimum, I was no longer freaking out. Good times, good times.

Final Score: Books: 10, Websites: 8, Footnotes: 78, Notebooks: 2, Cups of Coffee: 9, Pages: 14, Addie Jo: 125. VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the late hours of the morning, I finished my paper. I had used 10 books in my research, cited 8 websites, created 78 footnotes for my citations, written many pages in 2 separate notebooks, drunk 9 (large) cups of coffee, and ended with 14 pages. The sum total of this (each footnote definitely counts as a point, those suckers were pains in the kneecaps), I ended up with a higher score than any Carolina game, including the 2008-2009 season, which I am desperately missing. Good college basketball, where have you gone? At the same time, I felt a major sense of accomplishment and went to sleep for a few hours before heading to class intending to present my term paper, the work of beauty that is was.

 Editorial note: My professor began class on Tuesday by saying, "So I think we all agreed that the papers would be handed in on Thursday..."