Life sux

[Xazor Elessar]

I'll be in and out for a while guys -- I'm not feeling well and I've got a fifteen page literary analysis to write about Anna Karenina, one of the most dry pieces of literature one could ever hope to encounter (next to Little Women).

I'll post here and there -- but not a great deal. Later all....

Xaz'
|I

[Wei Wu Wei]

Last I checked you said you were in high school, right Xaz? And I see 15 page literary analysis. You're teachers are harsh. Unless you're in college and I didn't know. In which case, your teachers are still harsh, and I wish you good luck.

[Xazor Elessar]

It's for an Advanced Composition course. There are only twelve people in my school in this class and it's because we were recommended to it.

So yeah -- we have to write this for our fourth quarter grade. :\ It is major sucko -- :x

edit: spelling

[Marcus Telcontar]

:x

fifteen pages - I'd be pushing crap uphill to write that for somethign I want to write

[Xazor Elessar]

Yeah -- I feel completely drained. I think I have a case of burnout -- I mean, for real.

I'm actually getting sick from the lack of sleep and too much worrying, etc. :\ :x :(

I hate this stupid paper -- and this class -- even though I'm getting advanced credit for it. It's evil and it's made me loose a lot of writing desire for RP. :(

[Figrin D'an]

I feel your pain, Xaz. I wrote a 22-page paper on H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds for my AP English course when I was a senior in high school. I pulled an all-nighter the Sunday evening before it was due.


I've never actually read Anna Karenina, but if you need some tips on writting the paper in general, drop me a line. I'd be happy to help. :)

[Marcus Telcontar]

enforced overanalysis is the death of good literature :x

[Morgan Evanar]

Originally posted by Marcus Elessar
enforced overanalysis is the death of literature :x Fixed.

[Xazor Elessar]

:x That sux Figgy. :(

*huggles*

Thanks for your offer, I may very well take you up on it. :)

[Ryla Relvinian]

*hug* from one stressed writer to another... :)

You'll be ok, trust me. Pace yourself, write what you can, when you can, and don't be afraid to e-mail it to me for proofreading. Honestly. I won't mind. You'll look back on this project and realize that you have a leg up on most college students. And yes, if you ever take a class on that book again you can recycle the paper. :D

[Xazor Elessar]

:D

Thankies Ryla, I'll probably end up doing that. :) *hugz* I appreciate it a ton! :)

[Marcus Telcontar]

You know, this is the exact thing that annoys me about school and such. What relavence does this type of inflexible analysis going to have in later life? What is the point?

And dont tell me it helps with a job. That's total rot and I know that well. School taught me very little that is truly relavent and much I have never used again. It's a torture system, designed to break true creativity and build little droids that can be marched straight into the furnace that is corporate life.

which then spits you out and calls 34 too old. TOO OLD??? WTF?

I feel like throwing everything away and becoming a qualified mechanic. It's a crap lot better than the office, because I havent been happier for a long time playing with real hardware. That or developing the artistic streak I never knew I had until lately. Honestly, the whole enforced school / college have to go system blows.

[Ka' el Darcverse]

I had to write a 32 page thesis my junior year of high school on the effects of the Norman Conquest on the Military, Political and Economic structure of Anglo-Saxon England, this was for a British Literature class. And you know something it did teach me something, I'm currently an advertising major and I have to write up campaign problem solution sets like those that I will have to present to my bosses in the real world that consists of about 4 pages of relavent information and another 15 of utter tripe. I learned how to bs and stretch something that should only take a paragraph to say and turn it into a 2 page thesis statement for a future 20 page write-up. Don't believe me? You just read this paragraph were all that was necessary was to say, School sucks.

[Charley]

I wrote a 35 page paper on the strategic shortfalls of Hitler and the Third Reich, in my 11th grade history class. Was fun, except for having to read Mein Kampf, which is horrible.

[Seteth Morters]

ive had to write some horrible essays in my time. and it did teach me a few valuable lessons;

Lesson 1: after writing an essay on it, you'll never want to read the book again

Lesson 2: no teacher will ever read the middle pages of an essay, so you can talk about virtually anything on them

Lesson 3: if you write by hand, put a smiley face at the end of each page, to keep the mood light and the marks high

Lesson 4: pull the book apart into little bits, and write a paragraph on every relevant sentance. Five lines is usually enough to impress

Lesson 5: dissect one bit of the book to the most minute detail, and the rest can go hang

Lesson 6: size 14 font fills 2 more pages per 3000 words than size 12, and the change is barely noticeable on paper. USE IT.

:)

[Xazor Elessar]

:lol @ Seteth -- I am going to use size 14 font, in fact, I was thinking about it today. :lol

I need to be really detailed in this paper -- it's a college comp class basically and we even have a college professor (who's a Ph.D in English) teaching us. He dissects everything and writes something next to each sentance, good or bad. :(

It sux.... :( *drags self off to write some more* :(

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Do you get to double space your paper? When I was stuggling to fill pages I always used Courier as a font, because although it conformed to the size 12 that most teachers demand, it took up a heck of a lot more space. Double spacing lines is almost always required in college papers, so I will assume high school as well? It enhances readability. Anyway, that adds twice as much length if they allow it.

[Xazor Elessar]

Yeah, double space is required. :) I just found that out the other day. :)

[Marga Alton]

Well you won't have to write as much then. Good luck on your paper that you have to right.

[Wei Wu Wei]

I heard that when you go for your doctorate and you have to write the paper of papers, there's this dude that goes and checks each page with a little transparency to make absolutely sure that you are indeed double spacing, that your margins are set to the right size, as well as your font. And if your margins are just a little to big or too little, they'll tell you to fix it.

[Ryla Relvinian]

He dissects everything and writes something next to each sentance, good or bad.


... which is silly because I haven't yet had that paranoid of a prof in my two years so far. Oh well, you can get through it. You've written some great posts here, just pretend it's one of those. Like, some diplomatic mission to an aristocractic 1870s Russian planet or something. :)

[Figrin D'an]

Double spacing sucks... it looks horrible. I think the MLA people were smoking crack when they made that decision. If I could get away with it, I would always use space and a half (1.5 spacing). You still get the readability that you do with double spacing, and it just plain looks better.

[Marcus Telcontar]

The only way i can survive essays is to take the pee out of the task at hand. Now, most lecturers get bored witht he same dross, so this is a dangerous technique - something different stands out.

But if you execute it well, top marks you can get. Still... what a bucket load of crap most essay tasks are.

[Blaine]

If you have enough time, write a paragraph or two a day (probably more for something that size x_X). It helps a hell of a lot. By the end you won't even notice when you have the 15 pages. I do agree, it's still a craptacular amount of pages. I'm sure it'll be worth it though.


You know, this is the exact thing that annoys me about school and such. What relavence does this type of inflexible analysis going to have in later life? What is the point?
If you have a good teacher, you can compare the story to real life situations. My English teacher does it a lot and gives me a lot to think about this world. When you're young like me, it tends to make you a bit more mature about 'certain' things and makes you even better at comprehending and communicating. Just what I think of it.

[Figrin D'an]

The whole "writing a page here, a page there" style never worked for me. The paper would be too disjointed. I would usually write all of my papers in one sitting, perhaps two if it was longer project. I always did better if I wrote it at the last minute as well (ie. the night before, the weekend before, etc.). In many cases, I wouldn't do rough drafts unless they were required. It was case of "grace under pressure," and it worked quite well.

Not that I'm recommending that formula to everyone... I've seen people crash and burn using it as well. Just depends upon the individual.

[Korge Jazzka]

I'm a massive proponent of the "last minute" method. My best work was done in the 11th hour, frantically.

[Taylor Millard]

I've done a 9 page paper in 6 hours before.

And a 10 page in 5.

I don't know what I got on the first one.

On the second I got a 'B'...and it was on the history of the Church of England.

But I do reccommend doing your work ahead.

[Xazor Elessar]

Originally posted by Ryla Relvinian
... which is silly because I haven't yet had that paranoid of a prof in my two years so far. Oh well, you can get through it. You've written some great posts here, just pretend it's one of those. Like, some diplomatic mission to an aristocractic 1870s Russian planet or something. :)

Thanks Ryla -- I think your advice there is actually awesome and it's helping! :D *huggles*

My paper is due on Friday -- or in 63 hours or so as my teacher likes to keep count. :\

I'M SCARED! *hides*

The whole thing about writing a paragraph here and there does not help too much -- I have to do it all at once or I'll become incoherent. :lol

Thanks for all the suggestions and hope guys, I really appreciate it. It's nice to come on here and see all this before I start in on the beast -- again. :lol

[Ka' el Darcverse]

Where as you run a risk of getting caught on size 14 font, I recommend spacing on multiples, and set it at 2.3, it will add and extra-page to every 2 pages of spacing 3 and is completely unnoticeable

[Cassidy Williams]

Ugh, I am so glad that I'm finished with assignments like these.

Don't worry too much about it...In the long run it really won't matter and when you look back it'll be nothing :)

For the time being however, just try and relax, take it one sentence at a time.

And ALWAYS remember what happens when you smile :D

G'luck!