Simple pleasures really can be the best. I was able to try out a new recipe in my slow cooker today. I low cooking with the slow cooker; it’s like leaving and coming back home to a present. I had some extra chicken left over and decided to bake it, shred it, and make avocado chicken salad for lunch tomorrow. Everything was delicious. I usually don’t cook that much because my incredibly rude roommates love to monopolize the kitchen. It was so nice getting to create something and have it come out nice. I’m now cuddled in bed with dessert, a glass of red wine, and Netflix. Even on an incredibly busy Monday, simple things like a warm homemade meal can make everything good.

So I’ve been seeing the name Noam Chomsky in the media a lot lately. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that at first I couldn’t remember why I recognized his name. Honestly, I thought he was dead. I guess it really wasn’t that long ago that he was in the forefront of psychology and speech but I guess anything before the 1950s feels really old to me. The weird thing about seeing Mr. Chomsky in the news and media is that he is being mentioned for things that have nothing to do with why he’s famous. I guess there is more to the guy than just a psychologist but still, seeing him speak out on politics kinda reminds me of when a celebrity speaks out on politics. They may actually know what they’re talking about, but it just makes me a little skeptical of their point. I think that a lot of times the world only cares what well known people have to say because they are well known. If Bob from around the corner said the same thing, he may or may not have an audience. 

Last night, I heard one of my roommates crying while talking on the phone. She made several subsequent phone calls which led me to the assumption that a family member had died. To say that my roommates and I are not close is an understatement, however I'm still a human so this morning when I saw her getting ready to go home I hugged her and told her I was sorry for her loss. It turns out her grandfather had died. I just realized that every year I've been in college, I've had a roommate that had a family member die between March-April. I'm starting to think I'm a bad omen. My boyfriend is going to be my roommate next school year and I'm pretty close with his immediate and extended family so fingers crossed this trend doesn't continue.

I have three different group projects coming up in my classes. I hate group projects. In theory they should be fine. If you have the right group of people you can create something wonderful, learn a lot, and share the load equally. I feel like by the time we get to college, group projects should be something that people know how to do. For some reason, it's very rare that I have a group project that goes well, even in college. I don't see myself s a natural leader, but I often times have to assume that role because otherwise nothing would get accomplished. If I get a bad grade, I want it to be because I didn't do enough, not because some else didn't do enough. It is very rewarding when I get to work with some who works hard and seeks to learn from the project.

I really needed a day like today. I was stuck inside until around 2:00 doing laundry and watching a web series on a man with ALS. After doing that for a few hours I was very happy when my friend asked me to come hang out with her. It was very nice out today so we were able to set up our hammocks and just talk. Around 4:00 we packed up our hammocks and went to Enews where a few of my boyfriend's friends were playing classical guitar. I left to go to a meeting, had great discussion, and got some dinner with a girl that I'm starting to form a closer friendship with. She also happens to have pet rats which I think is super awesome so I walked back to her apartment with her to meet her roommate and play with her rats. I then took a drive on the parkway before settling back in my bed to get ready for tomorrow. It's good to take time for yourself.

I opened up netflix last night for something lighthearted to watch before bed. I instead discovered that the Saw movies had been added to netflix and started watching those instead. Of course afterwards I had to cleanse my palate with a few episodes of the Power Puff Girls. As much as I hate horror movies, I find the Saw movies strangely entertaining if not needlessly gory. Although I probably should be doing some homework or laundry, I feel like watching the Saw saga is a much better use of my time this fine Saturday evening. Who knows, I might even get a little crazy and poor myself a glass of wine.

I felt like the rough draft of the literature review shouldn't be too hard. When we were in class discussing it I was like "yeah, I got this." No, I don't got this. I'm so confused! the more I worked on it the more confused I became. What is supposed to be included in the first couple of pages we do? This is only 2-3 pages out of several. So there will be more added on but we don't write from start to finish, we write parts of from each section. It's so confusing! How much of each section do I need to have done? There were so many criteria for each section I had no idea how to include all of it. It was like I had to much to write about while also having nothing to say.

We've probably all been there. As CSD majors we're constantly having to analyze the place, manner, and voicing of sounds. It was worse when in phonetics class. When we were just starting to think about PMV. But it has continued into pretty much any class where transcription is mentioned. I'll be sitting in the library, student union, etc. doing some homework or studying when I start to get these sideways glances from the people around me. It turns out I've been moving my mouth or making little popping sounds the whole time I've been sitting there. Obviously I'm assessing the PMV of a phoneme or trying to decide the phonological process used in an example. To the outside world it looks like I'm failing to carry on a silent conversation with myself. It can be several minutes before I realize that I have been experimenting with my articulators the same way an infant would.

I'm reading another book for my EBD class. It focuses on a "class" of diverse students; one is boy with angry and violent outburts, one is a 12 year old pregnant girl, one is a 7 year old girl with TBI, and one is a seven year old boy with autism. The boy with autism and the girl with TBI are very interesting in terms of there speech. The boy, Boo, exhibits delayed echolalia. I had heard of this term and knew what it was but hadn't heard of it in an actual situation. I would assume this is actually pretty common with children with autism. Boo is otherwise nonverbal. Sometimes he will answer questions using mitigated echolalia which is pretty interesting. Boo's receptive language improves every day although his expressive language is almost non-existent. The girl with TBI, Lori, has an above average IQ, speaks well for a child her age, is empathetic and emotionally astute when it comes to other people. Lori can't read at all. She can't recognize letters. She has a developed vocabulary and can comprehend stories that are read to her but her ability to draw a connection between phonemes and graphemes is completely gone.