Honestly, my new semester goals are JUST to graduate. I've got hardcore senioritis. I'm tired. I just want to be done. C+ is my goal. Just kidding. Kinda. Once I graduate, my plans might be to start applying to graduate schools or... planning what I'm going to do afterwards. Not really all that sure. But, I know I want to be done with Rowan. Oh, I have an intership with the writing arts department (professor Kopp) next semester, I hope to do my best with that and to acquire some good tech skills/references! 

I feel like a lot of people think good/strong assignments are the ones where you have complete free reign over what you're doing. I don't always think like that. You would think that since I am pursuing a specialization in creative writing that I'd actually want to be creative with my assignment choices; BUT, I feel like I actually work better, or am better capable of doing well on assignments when I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Also, when I've seen examples of other work being completed via the same assignment request. 
I would like detailed explanations of exactly what the teacher is looking for. I would want an idea of what would be considered good and what would be considered unacceptable. Sometimes a grade scale is helpful. 
I feel like the least amount of direction I've been given is when there has been no assignment sheet at all. The teacher simply says what we should do and expects people to go do it. The best direction I've been given is in the Writer's Mind with Professor Maxson. The layout of his class does a good job of explaining exactly what needs to be done. He gives us a clear, thought-out assignment description and then shows us multiple examples in class. Very good idea!

Cosplay is a HUGE subculture. Why? I feel like it's clear, because anyone seeing it for the first time may find it weird. Anyone trying it for the first time might also find it weird. So it definitely doesn't exist in main stream - well, not really acknowledged, or it might be frowned upon if you do it as an adult or something - of course, unless you're in this subculture! Similar to anime fans, but can include gamers and other things like this. One thing that stood out to me right away was the fact that I didn't know who most of the people were dressing up as (besides the people dressing up as people from games), so I'm clearly not part of this subculture.

I think I want to consider these two subcultures:

Ullzang - Ullzang is a Korean subculture about looking cute. All about the make-up, big eyes, pursed lips~! Not everyone is into this in Korea. It seems like it would be a very expensive hobby. Lollitas - I feel like this subculture stemmed from anime. When people saw how cute and doll-like the characters in the anime were, they wanted to dress-up like dolls as well. It's almost like the ullzang version of US...well Japan, because that's where it stems from (hence anime). Although, I'm not sure ullzang actually stemmed from anime - I think Korean culture is highly based on being/looking/acting CUTE, which is where that comes from. 

Besides the fact that I actually forgot to hand in the Grading Contract....

I think I'm in a pretty ok standing with the contract I was supposed to have signed by now. As far as attendance, I think I may've only missed about 2 days in this class. I don't think that I have missed a blog entry as of yet (although.. sometimes I'm not sure if I can be 100% on that, when I go and look back I don't think I've missed any, but I feel like by the end of the semester... I will have missed at least one, somehow). I participate frequently in class discussions and I'm sure I've met the deadlines on assignments in this class so far. I tried to come at our first assignment from a different angle than creating a video (tried creating a project using html/css, which - for what it's worth - ended up looking like there wasn't much effort put into the creation but it took me some very long hours of trying to get everything to work properly and then didn't work for the presentation..sigh.). I think my efforts should have earned me at least a B+ ish, besides my missed days.
I think as long as I can keep up my attendance, I should be good on getting a good grade in this class!

What makes a subculture (the characteristics)? What subcultures are you a part of? What ones do you see most prominently on campus or in your community?
Brainstorm possible subcultures that you would like to investigate and do some preliminary research. Are they present on social media?

A subculture is "a group of people with a culture (whether distinct or hidden) which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong." The article also reads that, "The study of subcultures often consists of the study of symbolism attached to clothing, music and other visible affectations by members of subcultures, and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture." 
I think that I'm part of a few subcultures. My main subculture would probably be K-pop (Korean pop) fans. I am super into this community. We tell a lot of jokes that only K-pop fans will understand. We all listen (and obsess over) the same music and love the same stars. Most of us tend to lost contact with music coming out that's from our own cultures because we are so involved with the Korean pop culture - which involves never really listening to real radio or anything (always blasting K-pop). People can't really understand what we listen or dance to, so we might even appear to be alien-like! So I think that's a great example of a subculture I'm in. 
However, K-pop isn't super popular in the states (especially on the East Coast), so I don't see a lot of it here. The main subcultures I see here might be the "hipster" fad, or maybe even like anime fans. I wonder if sports fans, thought it's such a huge fandom, could be considered a subculture. Because people who aren't involved or know much about sports don't know what's going on when they watch it. Sports fans can have inside sports jokes as well.

I might want to investigate like, a Gothic Lolita subculture or something extreme like that. Seems awesome! :) I know for a fact that they have an online presence. Lots of people who are interested in Gothic Lolita find close-knit communities online so they aren't deemed crazy or weird in normal society. Almost like a behind closed doors thing. Although, that might not be exactly true. 

This semester is the first one that I’ve had to work and go to school at the same time, so basically I don’t have any days off. I go to school Monday through Thursday, and I work Thursday through Sunday. There is barely any time to complete my homework. It’s gotten to the point where I am looking for so much time to finish school work that even my breaks at work consist of me trying to find a quiet place to finish work. It’s quite exhausting.

Sometimes I try to drink tea or listen to calming music at night to decrease my stress levels. I try to avoid taking naps because I know once I wake up, I’m going to feel like I’ve wasted time and the restfulness will disappear instantly. When napping has the opposite effect, that’s when you know you have a problem. Lately, I’ve been trying to avoid not spending any time with friends or my boyfriend because I know that if I completely cut myself off from entertaining myself at all, it’ll only have the opposite effect and increase my stress levels even more. I want to be able to find a way to completely erase it. Sometimes, when I do homework ahead of time, I feel less stressed, but I barely have time to finish work ahead of time even when I take the time to plan out when I’m going to do the work responsibly. I need a vacation from both work and school – even if it’s short!