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Why is it that when you give your best efforts towards weight loss, you gain two pounds.  Last week started off great, with a massive workout that burned 750 calories, followed two other sessions that burned around 500 each.  My intake of calories was moderate and under control.  I made sure to get my fruits and veggies in adding lots of them to the power smoothies which I now love, even though you more chew them than drink.  Then the weekend came.
I am enrolled in a finite math class and we have a test Monday  night, which reviews everything you have ever learned in Algebra, with some set logic thrown in for fun.  So as I sat there for hours studying, I would take breaks and eat to ease my the fuzzy feeling that was settling in my brain.  I really can't call much of what I ate brain food, except for maybe the nuts.  By Sunday I just couldn't take it anymore and gave into what I had been wanting all along, chocolate chip cookies.  Now I really can justifiably blame this on my daughter, who had been cramming all weekend for her microbiology class.  She looked up at me over her laptop and notes spread all around, and said with weary sad eyes, "Mom, can you make me some cookies?".  How could I not.  I suppose the making them isn't what really did me in, it was the consumption.  Boy were they delicious, a little undercooked, with walnuts, doesn't get much better than that.  Oh well, back to the free weights, and power smoothies.  It's a new week, and a new beginning.

My thoughts on reading

I have a habit, when I read, of guessing the outcome or ending of whatever topic I encounter.  I never read the end of a book, or article first, as some people do so they know whether or not they actually want to finish.  But I just can't help guessing the ending or what the point will be.  One thing an OCC professor taught me, to gain comprehension before reading a chapter in a textbook is to go to the end and find out what questions will be asked of the text.  It gives you a focus on what to look for, and what you are supposed to get out of the text and really helps you to read with focus, not just to get through it. 

Suggestions that are given in chapter one of our textbook, that I found useful when you are reading, are to highlight main points in the text, and to write notes in the margins.  It's funny how I see fellow students never dare mark their text, as they are trying to keep the book in as good of shape as possible, so it has the highest possible trade in value.   When you consider that the class costs more than the book you see that theory is a false economy, when what your goal is, is to learn, and marking will help you to understand and remember more out of the text.   So i say, mark on, and enhance your learning.

My writing history

I have a story that someday I will tell.  I would love to write about it, but I am not sure that I possess the necessary skills to put it down yet.  I am sure it would be a best seller though.  I have written newsletters and articles for the various jobs I have had over the years, and enjoy writing very much.  I have edited people's papers and helped my son to write an effective essay which landed him quite a nice scholarship.  I do love to write , and I love to read.  But I need more skills before I attempt such a feat.

My hope in this process of taking Composition 1 at OCC is that I will learn more skills, that will allow me to have the confidence to write a book someday.  Researching is not a strong suit for me, and MLA citing confuses me immensely, so I am looking forward to becoming smarter in those areas as well.  I would like to be able to state my views more clearly with less words, and in a more effective manner.  In a convincing manner, that will influence the world and bring them all over to my side.  Or at least be able to state my opinions with confidence.  I know it's a tall order for a 15 week class, but we all have to have goals, and start somewhere.