Tight Deadlines and Cosplay Blues

School has made me feel like I lost total control of everything in my life, including sleep. My professor for Intro to Ethics has made the deadlines for assignments, quizzes, and discussion posts extremely tight, giving me the impression that I have little time to get the work from my other classes done, especially Geology since it’s one of those Science credits (my last one) that I CANNOT afford to fail. I’ve taken three online classes in the past two years I’ve been at Broward College–Intro to Short Story, Total Wellness, and Creative Writing–and the professors sitting in front of the computer for those classes never gave me a hard time with tight deadlines for every assignment they wrote. Here’s what the assignment schedule for Intro to Ethics looks like.

If you pay close attention, the written assignments and quizzes are due every week. Since there is a discussion post to make every two modules (there are 6 discussions out of the 12 units), those are due every two weeks if not more.

Meanwhile, I have to do pretty much the same thing for my Intro to Mass Communications, only the professor doesn’t grade the discussion posts until everybody in the class has made a contribution to the discussion board. Also, I have to write an essay about what TV shows I watch–which you guys already know by now–and how I access them based on the chapter in the Mass Communications textbook on television. It’s not necessarily an academic essay because there’s no research involved, but rather an opinion/analytical paper. That’s due October 7th, if not sooner.

For Journalism, I have to write an article about a cultural arts event I went to by October 12th. It happened last Wednesday, and I managed to stick around long enough to interview the person in charge of the event, the artists showcasing their work, and the people attending the event because it was held around the same time as the Journalism class, which my professor had to cancel that day due to some obligation.

Geology… I just took the first exam on Thursday, and I found out via D2L that I got a 95%, which was very impressive because I never achieved that feat in my first exams for College Algebra, Statistics, and Biology. What’s stupid is that professor gave a 10-question assignment on plate tectonics two days before the exam that was to be due by midnight Tuesday. I spent a couple days grueling over finding the answers on the websites he provided in the assignment description, and I submitted it Sunday night, so I hope to God I did well on that.

To put this situation simply–and please excuse my French–I am fucking overloaded.

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Since Halloween is around the corner, I decided to cosplay the female version of Sora from Kingdom Hearts II this year. I Googled “female sora cosplay” for examples of people who attempted this cosplay, and half of the models were exemplary while the other half were just abysmal (I know cosplay is supposed to be fun and not competitive, but still). Then I came across this drawing.

I thought it was perfect. The only problem now is finding the materials to match up to drawing. I already have the crown necklace, black faux-leather fingerless gloves, and black shorts, so that’s a start. Everything else is gonna be a mission.

Last week, Jack and I scavenged all over the mall for a black cropped hoodie only to find it in the one store we least expected: Justice, a tween girls’ store. I tried on one of the hoodies in a size 10/12, and it was a perfect fit. It was surprising to see that some of the clothes that are manufactured pre-teenage girls still fit me at age 21. Unfortunately, I have to wait for another time to buy the cropped hoodie. Hopefully they’re not sold out by the time Halloween comes around.

On Saturday, I went to Party City with my mom and bought yellow suspenders to modify them into straps for my upper thighs and hips. The real problem was finding the red fabric to sew onto my blue tank top, which comprised of 94 percent cotton and 6 percent spandex. I found that red fabric in the form of a catsuit, but my mom got beleaguered by the idea of me cutting even a sliver of the catsuit just for the sake of my cosplay, even though that was one of the many ways to go about it.

I want my female Sora cosplay to look adequate, but simultaneously I don’t want it to come out like crap. How am I supposed to use my imagination for this creative endeavor if there are people and things–my mother and the increasing demands of my college professors–restricting it? I’m just gonna have to do the best with what I have and the time I have left before Halloween–one month.

#CollegeProblems: The Pain of Choosing Classes at the “Last Minute”

For the past two months, I’ve been dealing with the death of my grandfather, working on my first novel, studying for my driving learner’s permit exam, visiting New York with my stepdad, and trying to catch all 720 Pokémon–that’s basically nearly 20 years worth of those creatures, including their Evolved forms–in both Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Pokémon X, the latter which I got most recently. Unfortunately, there was one thing I forgot to do before I did anything else–register for classes for the fall semester at Broward College.

Last night, I asked my brother what Science class is best for me. My academic adviser told me that I have 12 credits left before I earn my Associate of Arts degree–I need three electives and a Science–and transfer to Florida International University. “When did registration for the fall semester open, Cristina?” my brother asked.
“April 29th,” I replied hesitantly.
I wished I hadn’t opened my big mouth because my brother got really upset at me for picking my classes at the “last minute”, even though the semester doesn’t start until August 24th. He told me for future reference that as soon as class registration opens I have to get on the ball and pick the classes I need immediately because the classes with the best teachers fill up in a heartbeat, especially in vast universities such as FIU. It’s not the selection of classes that I have a problem with, but rather the campuses I should go to and when I could attend such classes.

Two classes I picked–Intro to Mass Communications and Journalism–are at South Campus, which is close to home, and the other two–Intro to Oceanography and Ethics, are online. The only problem with Intro to Oceanography is that everything will be online except for the tests, which will be proctored at a campus half an hour from my place. That is something I don’t want to do because, unless I earn my driver’s license by the time school starts, my brother or my stepdad will have to chauffeur me there or I will have to take the bus. However, they said alternate testing options will be available (at additional costs), so I will have to talk to an adviser and ask them if I could take the tests either at the campus of my choosing or online. Another issue is whether or not I should take a lab for Oceanography. Each class I chose is three credits, which adds up to 12 credits, but the Oceanography lab is only one credit, making it 13 credits overall. Because I already took a lab for General Biology, I don’t want to overload myself by taking yet another lab for another science class, so I’m gonna talk to my adviser about that as well.

In the two years that I’ve been in college, I’ve never heard anyone tell me that “last minute” means “a month before the start of the semester” when it comes to class registration. Last night’s experience made me feel like I’m the most irresponsible college student in my family when that was NEVER the case. I may have chosen classes a month prior to the start of a semester before, but I excelled in all my classes just the same. This is my last semester in a community college, so choosing classes in a big university, according to my brother, will be a whole different ball game due to the fierce competition of getting the most hotshot professors for the classes required for my major.

AUTHOR’S UPDATE: I decided not to risk taking my exams for Intro to Oceanography at a campus farthest from my home due to transportation issues, so I switched to Geology since that class is held on the same campus as my other classes.