=== Spring Semester ===

     If you've never taken Spring classes at school, then oh my goodness... let me tell you about how different this semester is compared to last semester. My previous semesters have been much MUCH slower than this one. I didn't realize it at first, but I already have midterms coming up in about a week and my finals are only about a month later. I have assignments due almost every day with not much of a break between each one.

     It's definitely been really hard to keep up with everything and still help out around the house and with the baby. I want to be able to do a great job at work and around the house and with school all at the same time, but instead I think I'm tiring myself out and not doing an amazing job of anything. It's a tough position to be in; I know I want to do so much that I wouldn't sleep if I didn't have to, but I simply don't have enough energy to accomplish everything I want to do at this time.

     As an example: my blog. I have hopes and dreams and goals of wanting to post things at least every couple days in an effort to grow my site and viewers and also as a way of sharing myself with the world in a way which could possibly benefit others. Instead, I see myself only posting maybe once a week at best and the rest of the time I sit in front of my computer after work and fall asleep until I finally drag myself to bed. This unfortunately happens with homework some days as well.

     Combined with the busy-ness of how work has been at this time of the year, I can certainly say I'm looking forward to after June once I'm done with 99% of school. I'm looking forward to finally having time to think without feeling guilty that I'm not constantly working.

Have a great day everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Semester 3 Begins! ===

     Hard to believe the finals of last semester just happened a week ago and now here I am completing my first couple assignments today. I definitely wasn't expecting the final semester to begin so quickly but here we are starting the last leg of the journey (for the most part).

     It's been a tough road so far getting through all the classes. These days I don't have much energy to work with where I'm not physically exhausted. Some days I'm quite mentally exhausted as well, but for the most part I'm wanting to do so much and get so much done but I'm just not able to because my body wants to sleep. I know I'll be able to get through it all in the end, but right now it feels SO bad.

     Let's use tomorrow as an example. Tomorrow I want to work on my blog by making a post and promoting it. I also want to upload a video or two on my YouTube channel. I have hopes of wanting to play with the dog, steam clean the carpets, do a bit of writing, watch a show, work on school work, spend time with Carley, bake banana bread, go for a hike, play DDR, read a book, play a game on a console that I haven't played before, and probably more. There's so much I would love to do! Unfortunately I just don't really have the energy to do all of that in one day.

     It isn't all bad though. I'm sure I make it sound all awful, but seriously I actually think we're doing quite well at the moment. I'm super proud of myself for having made about $0.40 so far through my blog (which is a huge accomplishment for me!). And I'm still managing to find some time to do things other than be a vegetable or only work so much that I have no personality. Just give me a week or so from now and I think things might be a little better. Next coming month we're actually looking to be doing much better than we have been previously and oh boy I can't wait to tell you all about it!

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Semester Two Is Complete! ===

     After a long and hard-fought battle with three tests in one day, I managed to complete everything to my own satisfaction. As usual, I think I did great on my tests, but did I really? I've had this feeling before where I think I've done amazing or at least really good... and then I get my test back with a terrible mark because I didn't quite follow something correctly.

     I already know it's highly likely that I'll be re-taking one of my classes from last semester and I'm alright with that. I would obviously prefer that not be the case, but everything hit me so hard these last couple months that all it took was one bad test to ruin a class. Fortunately I have an amazingly super supportive partner in my life and thanks to her I know everything will be alright.

     I've only got one more final to do on the 21st which is a typing test. I'm looking forward to it because I love typing, but I'm also a little sad that I haven't been able to practice my speed so much this semester. I think my accuracy has gone up, but part of the problem I've had this semester has been that I'm always so cold, which makes it quite difficult to use my hands faster. If only I had some gloves or something that didn't inhibit my ability to use a keyboard and mouse.

     Well anywhos, besides all this talk about school and whatnot, I'll be having a fantastic Easter supper with my family today! Looking forward to visiting with family and eating food? ABSOLUTLEY! Looking forward to driving all the way to Regina on my day off? Not exactly... but that's alright. It's all worth it for family and food.

Have a great day everybody! I'm going to get food today! :D

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Long Weekend Ahead! ===

(Posting this on April 14th, wrote this on April 12th)

     I can't tell you enough just how excited I am for the coming long weekend. I would like to say I'm going to catch up on sleep, but instead I'll likely be keeping myself busy with all my media, our baby, and preparing for my next round of classes coming up. This semester wasn't so bad, but I'm thinking I'll change a little bit of how I've been studying. I obviously haven't been able to work on my classes quite as well as I would have liked due to having our baby recently, but I also think I haven't been focusing very well on the work I've been trying to learn.

     I've noticed that even though it takes a little bit longer to get through any textbook reading and things of that nature, I retain and understand the work much better when I type it out. I tried writing out my work once upon a time, but that's a little bit TOO slow. Typing on the other hand, does two things for me. It excercises by brain by making my hands work and learn to type better and more consistently with greater accuracy, and it allows me to focus better on the words in front of my face rather than skimming through everything to find anything that pops out at me.

     As fun as it is to save time and cut corners, I think there's a healthy balance to doing some things a little bit slower rather than trying to get everything done as fast as possible. I think learning something slowly than speeding up as you get better at something is a much better way to go until you're able to do a task or activity quickly without having to give it much thought. The first semester, I took things a little slowly and I think I did well; the second semester, I tried to cut a lot of corners an messed a few things up which may mean I'll have to retake a class at a later time. This coming third semester, I'll be going for a middle-ground sort of approach where I will take things slowly as necessary, and hope to pick up speed as things go on.

     So besides thinking so much about school and my finals which are happening tomorrow, I'm looking forward to having the next three days off followed by a calm Sunday of work. Maybe Carley and I will get ourselves some fresh air and perhaps I'll use the time to make more posts or upload more videos. I love having time to work on hobbies and things.

Have a wonderful day everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Midterms February 2017 - Part 2

     I haven't received the marks for my midterms yet, but I'm sure I've done really well. It feels great to be able to do so well on my tests with everything else going on at the same time. I haven't been able to put as much work into studying as I would have liked, but I'm confident that I've managed to pull through anyways. One of the advantages I have is that a lot of this work I have already learned through high school, or previous courses I've attempted to take, or just from being proficient with computer programs in general. I think this semester is going very well for me and hopefully next semester will continue like this as well.

     One of my goals in this year of my life is to learn to do some things so well that it's all muscle memory. So much so, that I'm comfortable doing things without having to think about it, but just doing it at a comfortable pace. Then, once I'm able to do that will come the speed of being able to do those things without having to think so much but still pushing myself to continue doing so just a little bit faster each time.

     Typing is a great example of what I mean. Previously, I have proven myself to be capable of typing at a very fast rate, but I get slowed down by having to use backspace a lot. So what I'm hoping to be able to do is have a much higher accuracy rate by slowing down a little bit and getting used to hitting things right the first time. It's honestly a little bit tough to force myself to slow down rather than going as fast as I can and performing the same as always. It takes a little bit of change to be able to improve. Sometimes that means doing something a little bit worse than before; in the end, you do better than before.

     This is something I would like to do better at with other things as well. Obviously I would like to have this amazing muscle memory when it comes to video games, but perhaps I could put enough practice into my violin to do so, or making crafts, or writing, or even just thinking in a certain way. I have noticed that I lose a lot of productivity to getting sidetracked or taking time to think about things for a while... but what if I was able to think and keep going at the same time? There's a lot of thoughts I've had about this sort of thing; knowing I can do better and be more productive in a lot of things. It's so easy to just sit and watch a show and not do anything of value in that time, but what if I could keep myself going instead of falling into that rut of non-thinking? Strange how some midterm tests make me think of these things.

Just something to think about. ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Midterms - February 2017

     It is my second semester and the next round of tests are fast approaching. Am I ready? Am I prepared? I think I have some more reading and practical applications to do to be sure, but so far I think things have been going well. It's tough trying to balance work school and home life all together. Once school is done though, it will all be worth it. So long as I can keep myself on task, I'm on track for getting myself a better-paying job to support my family. With that comes happiness and comfort for us. Work and family will be a solved puzzle at that time. Then all that's left is my personal success.

     I want to have a successful hobby. Or rather... I want to make my hobby successful. I believe any hobby can be made successful with enough hard work and dedication. That is why I continue to blog and make videos and put myself out there. Because I have had some success with what I have  done and I'm sure I can do even better if I just put my mind to it and take more action to promote myself further than I already have.

     This course I'm taking for school right now is a door to open many possibilities in the future. I only need to prove my hard work and determination to show others, but more importantly myself, that I have what it takes to pull through and overcome the obstacles ahead of me no matter what path I choose to travel.

     Nearly half a course completed, only half more to go. ^_^

~ Kyle Welyholowa

First Semester Finals

   Well, that wasn't so bad. I wasn't sure how I would do this first semester. It was my first whole semester back in school since high school. Now I know I could have done better than I did, but I'm actually quite happy to have only failed one class. Sure my other marks weren't as high as I probably would have liked, but I'm thinking it will be much easier now to focus on school this coming second semester now that I'm living in Moose Jaw with Carley who's working full-time.

   I managed to fail math. I've never been awesome at math, so I'm not too heartbroken over it. Obviously I would have liked to pass the class, but I'll get through it when I get the chance to take it again. The extra time to do it again, this time in the comfort of a closer home, will be good for me I think. I'll be able to take the time to go through my textbook and get math practice in. Especially since I don't have to worry about making money while I'm trying to learn school things.

   I guess I don't really have a lot to say today. Mostly I'm just really happy to be done my first whole semester. That's a milestone for me. It's been a while since I've actually accomplished something useful outside of my room or having a girlfriend. So here's hoping us moving here was the right choice. I know it will make my life in school easier, and I know Carley is really happy to finally have a job... even if it's a little hectic for her right now.

~ Kyle

Understanding how to Learn.

     So I got an assignment for a class last week that was presented online as a recorded video due to my teacher not being there for that class. I found it much easier to follow along with what was going on because any time I missed something I was able to pause the video or rewind it and catch up. It makes me think about a couple things.

     First, I wonder if I would be doing a lot better if I were able to go over all my lessons as a video that I were able to pause and rewind... I'm thinking of buying a large SD card to put into my phone so I can record all my classes. I think I would then find it much easier to understand everything outside of class if I were able to go over the lesson as though it were happening again. Not to mention I think that actually might be a much easier way of keeping all my classes organized. I'd be able to upload them all onto my computer and rename them as their lesson names in the proper order. The more and more I think about this, the more I actually like the idea. I do in fact believe that is what I'm going to do next semester. Record everything using my phone. Yeah, definitely.

     Second, I think.... actually I don't remember what I was thinking of secondly. I probably just went over it because of how much I like the idea previously as I was typing it out. So I guess that's what I'm going to do next semester. So long as I'm allowed to, that's what I'm going to do. That way I'll be able to pay full attention to the lesson rather than furiously writing down notes as I go along, hoping to keep up and somehow understand what needs to be done at a later point in time.

     So now I understand what I need to do next semester to be more successful.

~ Kyle

Where School Takes Me.

     The realization begins. Such a short time left until the first work-term. I only hope I can get through my finals in one piece and make it into the next semester. I find myself getting nervous about what is coming up for me. I know I can make it through this. It’s both scary and exciting for me at the same time. Scary because I’ll be getting into something I’ve never done before. A real job with important responsibilities. Exciting because I’ll finally be getting out of the minimum wage job market.

     I find myself having difficulties focusing on much else other than my thoughts right now. I hope this is all worth it in the end. I can’t deliver food for the rest of my life. Well… I suppose I could, but I wouldn’t want to. I mean, I actually want to be able to support a family one day. That’s just not reasonable doing the kind of work I’m currently doing. So I’ll follow my path to it’s end and see what it brings me. One day when this is all over with, I’ll look back and laugh at how silly I was for worrying about everything.

~ Kyle