Almost an entire semester later...

Sorry it's been a while, I know I've got such rabid fans and such like. I'm currently sitting at Aroma, studying for my Physics 419 final, but I don't really know what to study since the final is basically going to consist of three essays. Grr... Oh well, I think I've done all I can. I'm good a bull shitting if it becomes necessary.

Final tonight at 7, and then one tomorrow morning at 8, and them I'm home free for this semester! I can't express how amazing that will be. My worst finals were both on Friday, so those are done. Thank God. I'm really curious to see how I fared on them. The physics 325 one actually went better than I was expecting. I mean, I don't think I got an A on it, but I'm pretty sure I passed, which is a good thing. That astronomy one was a bit of a travesty, but I know that we were all in the same boat on that one, so yay. Anyway, I'm just ready to be done with these exams.

So, as I stated previously, I'm sitting in Aroma, thinking about changing gears and doing some linear algebra. I'm not too worried about that one, although I should study just a tad more, only because if I do well on the final I could potentially get an A in the class, which would be greatly appreciated. Anyway, speaking of which, I should probably go do that.

Sayonara.

Hola

Well, I thought I'd stop by again after Janelle's reminder in her last comment that I hadn't written anything for a while. Let's see... school started three weeks ago, although honestly, it feels like three months. It's pretty intense when you mix the learning curve, social adjustments, homework differences, generally harder classes... I think I'm getting into a groove, though, so that's good. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes all semester before I'm really adjusted. I've joined a group called the Society for Women in Physics, which is cool mainly for just meeting other people in the department, etc. I've found some people to study with, which is of paramount importance for doing the homework for PHYS 325, which is a mechanics and relativity class. Anyway, lots of differential equations to solve functions of motion and such. It's difficult, but once you realize where you have to go, it's not so hard get from point A to point B.

It is a little disturbing how much I'm not sure that I really want to do physics for the rest of my life. I mean, I think it's probably just that I've got a lot on my plate and am not yet very comfortable with the whole new deal. Whatever. Anyway, so I'm hopefully meeting with a professor under whom I can do some research next summer. He's basically a theoretical cosmologist, which is what I hope to get into. We'll see how it goes.

The remnants of Hurricane Ike just swept through the area. It rained all night and into the afternoon today. I was going to go to the gym this morning, but I can't even drive out of my garage because the streets are flooded. My backyard is half underwater. Oh well. I think most of the rain has passed now.

Waiting to get ready

So, Amy (my ex-roommate) is getting married today, so yay for her! I'm thinking about getting ready, but if I get ready too early, then I'll have to sit around all dressed up, and frankly, I'd rather sit around in PJs. Anyway, so that's about it.

I also remember that Josiah and Joy got married, so yay for them! I was looking at pictures on Phanfare, and they looked pretty nifty. I'm only sorry I couldn't make it. Oh well.

Well, that's about all I've got, so I think I'll take off then.

Big fan of procrastination

I mean, if there's nothing else to be done besides studying, at least I can always blog, right? But seriously, I have an essay to write and a physics final to study for, both of which are somewhere near the bottom of the list of things I'd like to be doing right now. But hey, at least this time tomorrow, they'll be done, right? And I'll be contemplating getting drunk. After all, that'll be it for me at Parkland. Bit of a landmark for me, really.

The avocados in my chicken wrap are slippery little buggers, aren't they?

Anyway, first order of business is this literature essay. I think I'm going to write about Ray Bradbury's "August 2026," but I'm not sure yet. Something about the voice of the author. Well, better get to it.

All homework, all the time

I've spent a good portion of my weekend doing homework. Did my literature midterm, which wasn't that bad except for the fact that I wasn't feeling particularly inspired. Oh well, happens sometimes. At least it's done. I have a physics exam on Tuesday. It's really up in the air as to how well I'm going to do. I don't know, I mean, sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. Especially optics. Screw sign conventions, that's what I say.

The exciting thing is that I think I'm going to get out of Parkland with a 4.0, which is kinda neat. Actually, I'm pretty proud of the fact.

I've been doing a little private tutoring for speech. It's actually a little exhausting. It's not coaching the delivery, it's the speech writing, which is annoying only because I feel like I'm doing a lot of the work, but I try to get her to get into it. Anyway, I'm doing that later this afternoon, right before I go to work. I think I'll go to the library in the mean time. I should probably study more physics, but my brain doesn't really appreciate that idea.

Last night I went to a musical. It's called "The Last Five Years." It was really good, I thought. It's a modern musical, with just two characters. I thought it was pretty thought-provoking.

I recently downloaded a song by Jason Mraz called "I'm Yours." It's his new single. I really like it. I also downloaded Coldplay's new single, and a song by Ryan Adams called "Come Pick Me Up." Good songs, all of them.

Hard to believe that I start at the U of I next month. Just one month! Crazy. I have no concept of how different it will make my life, I just know that it freaks me out a little. You know, I have a niche at Parkland, and I'm very comfortable there. It's difficult to imagine anything else. Ah well, should be good, in any case. Anyway, I'm trying to decide if I want to quit at Barnes and Noble and do the federal work study. It seems to me that it would make more sense, at least as far as taxes go, but I'm really loathe to finish there. Maybe I can still stay on for the Sunday night shift or something. We'll see. Maybe it would be good for me to make the break complete, new school, new job, you know? Scary shit.

Alrighty, well, my arm is tired, so I'm off.

I've got a minute or two

Well, things are progressing as usual, which is pretty good, I guess. Summer classes started last week, which is nice because I was going crazy with boredom. I mean, it was nice to not have to do anything for a while, but as usual, it was getting old. So, Physics 143 is fine. The pace is crazy. Literature 127 is nice, too, although truthfully I'm not a big fan of the short story.

Oh, gotta run. Sorry.

Dramatic Music on the Weather Channel

The worse the weather is, the more melodramatic the music. It's like watching a movie.

Well, here I am again. I just watched a strange little movie called "Hannah Takes the Stairs." I've yet to figure out exactly what the the point of the film was, but it was mildly entertaining, nonetheless. Another interesting film I saw recently was "Dedication." I think I liked it. Another one of those that it was difficult to say...

I think my cat thinks I'm boring.

Well, it's been a while since I posted last. Let's see... I passed all my classes. Got all A's, yay. I've registered for classes this fall at the U of I. I'm a little nervous because I've been hearing horror stories about classes/professors. I had a small panic about it actually. Funny that for as much as I've accomplished (not that much), I'm still desperately afraid of failure. I'm also uncomfortable with the fact that people that I know who are younger than me have already done useful things with their lives, and mine has been a morass of selfish un-doing-of-useful-things. Oh well.

It's true, though, you know. I sit here at home thinking that I should whiten my teeth, and while I'm all caught up in my own consequence, other people are out saving starving children in Africa. Well, we can't all be goddamn saints.

Well, I think I'm going to go to bed now.

I'm like my sister

Just an interesting thought since on the surface we're not that similar, my sister and I. But there are little things that add up to be a lot of things of ways we are alike. Anyway...

Well, I'm at Aroma trying to contemplate getting ready to study for finals. I'm just not in the mood this weekend, which is kind of sad since this is the only weekend that I have.

I really need to mow my lawn. It's gross. Actually, gross is the wrong word, as I'm sure you could guess. Weedtastic is probably more on par. Anyway, but it keeps raining on the days I think I'm going to do it, so that sucks. Today, there's like, hurricane force winds out there.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go get a new phone and a new iPod. I can't wait, it's going to be great.

Okay, so my Diff. Eq. class I don't really need to study for. After all, I have a 99% average in the class, I think I'll be okay. Chemistry, I need to just go over and make sure I remember all the formulae. Physics is the only one I really need to study for. I need an 82 on the final to get an A in the class, which is immensely doable, but I do need to study to do it. Argh.

Okay, stop procrastinating!

Wehell

I don't know what that means, so don't ask me.

Today, I took part in a speech contest at Parkland and won second place. Yay for me. Also, yay because I won $250 and I will now upgrade to a new iPod. Yay, I say to you again.

Um, in other news... I have a physics exam tomorrow. I'm not anticipating any problems, but you never know. It's basically over Ampere's Law, Faraday's Law, various and sundry magnetic fields, forces, and forty-two and a half right hand rules. Last physics exam of the semester aside from the final, so yay.

Next week, I have a chemistry exam, a math exam, and I think that's it. Oh, and a chem quiz and chem homework and math homework. Argh. Such is the last week of the semester. Then finals and I'm done! Woohoo!

Anyway, I need to go to bed. I worked inventory last night at Barnes and Noble and was there until almost 2:30 AM. Need sleep. Ciao.

Well, I WAS doing something productive...

I'm sitting here at Aroma (a coffee shop) and I was doing homework, namely reading my political science book, when I decided that it was decidedly unexciting. So, then I thought, wouldn't it be much more interesting if I instead wrote a blog entirely focused on me? You bet!

I know that all I seem to talk about is school, but what can I say, that's my life right now. Tomorrow is the chemistry poster session. I think I'll do okay. I think I may have said that last post. Man, I'm getting just plain uninteresting! I signed up for a speech contest which takes place on Thursday. The speech has to be about a charity, so I'm doing the American Diabetes Association. It's an easy topic for me. If I bomb, no skin off my nose, and if I win, I get $500. Either way would be cool :) Then Friday, I have a physics exam. Supposedly it's a hard one, but I think I'll be fine. I mean, I usually am, so that's nice.

Currently happening just down the road is the Ebert's Underappreciated Film Festival. It's a yearly thing here - Ebert (the film critic, you know?) was raised here and went to the University of Illinois. Anyway, supposedly there's famous people wandering about, although I've not seen any. Ang Lee, Timothy Spall, Rufus Sewell. Oh well.

I'm a big fan of the romance novel. Relatively entertaining with no cerebral output required. I have noticed, however, that they have an annoying tendency to make me mildly depressed. It may have something to do with the fact that there appear to be no fabulously rich, good-looking men lusting after me. Again I say, oh well.

I guess I should get back to reading about the fate of the environment and world health. Thank God it's the second to last chapter. I mean, it's mildly interesting sometimes, but I'm glad I'm taking it online. I spend about 1 hour a week on this class, as opposed to the at least three hours I'd spend just being in class if I was taking it on campus. Ugh. Anyway, I've run out of half scintillating things to say (although I'll admit it's arguable that any of this has been in the least bit spark-inducing.) Until next time, then.

Some of us have interesting lives

Note: I am not one of those people.

Today, I slaved away on my chemistry poster for a while because I had nothing better to do - seriously. I think it's going to be pretty cool, but certainly not uberamazing. The premise of the assignment was to show how chemistry relates to our major, going under the assumption that the vast majority of people who take the class are not actually chemistry majors. So, the topic of my poster is supernovae. I'm actually learning a lot, but I have to keep the info to a minimum or else it will get boring. It is, however, very colorful.

In other news, I found out yesterday that I will be getting a scholarship/grant that will cover all my tuition, fees, books, room and board. Hello! That's crazy! Finally, someone appreciates me! Besides myself! Anyway, I'm very excited about that, and can't wait to get started out at the U of I.

Three and a half weeks plus finals until the end of this semester. I've got A's in all my classes - again. I'm not going to lie, that's pretty awesome.

I watched the Biggest Loser finale tonight. It was pretty amazing. Go Ali for being the first female biggest loser!

Well, I think I'm going to take a shower and hit the hay (proverbial.) Sayonara.

Wake me when the semester's over

Argh. I'm ready for a break, that is so for sure. I know, I know, I just had one, but readiness for breaks is a self-perpetuating cycle. You have a break, you're out of the loop, you're tired, you need another break, etc., etc., etc.

Anyway, the point is that I'm a little tired and I don't particularly care for circuit analysis or first order linear differential equations and that makes me angry. I think I'm going to go shopping.

Just six more weeks and this semester is over. Then I get a month off (yay) before I have to go back to school for the summer semester. I have to say that I'm not particularly looking forward to Physics 143. I just have a feeling my brain won't appreciate it. The sad thing is that that class is a big portion of what I'll be focusing on in my career. Yay.

Well, I'm done writing, I just wanted to vent a bit about how much I'm ready for this semester to be over. Ciao.

I feel you, Johanna!

Despite the fact that the new incarnation of Sweeney Todd, starring Johnny Depp, was gruesome and violent, I am pleased to note that almost the entire thing appeared to be about me.

In other news, in case you were rabidly curious, I got a 98 on my linear algebra exam. The lowest score in the class was an 84, and I think the average was an A. All that goes to say that we are all fabulous geniuses.

I went to the optometrist today - that was cheery. Everything is fine, so I'll have to wait a whole year before I get to see my enormously good-looking eye doctor again. It's probably for the best, considering that he wears a wedding ring and I'd hate to tempt him with my Audrey Hepburnesque looks. It's tough being beautiful.

I found out that my roommate got engaged sometime between the last time I saw her and this past Sunday - a time frame of approximately 3 weeks. I guess they're planning on an August wedding. Good for them, except I think she may have forgotten in the kerfuffle that she still owes me a rent check. I can wait a few days. I am, after all, rich.

Well, I hope you all have been amused and entertained by my glorious use of irony scattered throughout this post.

Here we go again

I thought I'd post again because I'm bored and I just got up and don't want to face the harsh reality of getting dressed. It's a jungle out there, my friends.

In other news, I found out this weekend that I have been accepted to the University of Illinois! Yay, hurray! Anyway, I laughed giddily when I found out and then promptly burst into tears. I mean, I knew I was going to get in, but the reality of it is awesome. You know, it's something that I've been working towards for a while. It's a big step for me. Unfortunately, I dare not get too far ahead of myself because I've yet to finish out this semester as well as take a couple classes over the summer. So, it will be a while yet. Nevertheless, it's very exciting for me!

My cat, Dallas, has to be on a diet, 'cause when I took him to the vet, he said he needed to loose a few pounds. Dallas hates it. He feels so deprived. I know this because he told me.

I think that perhaps I will get dressed now since if I want a cup of coffee, I'm going to have to leave the premises because I am not equipped to make a satisfactory brew at this time. Hey, sometimes that's the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning :) Just kidding!

An for an update on my classes - you know you want it, don't lie - I haven't been as busy as I assumed that I would be. I mean, I do feel like I'm running hither, thither, and yon, but as far as actual time spent doing course work, it's not that much. Peer tutoring is fun, and of course I love the extra money. Chemistry has been pretty easy, but then I went and got an 87 on the first exam, which is fine, but it kind of sucked. It was the multiple choice that killed me. Grrr. I got a 91 on my first Physics test, which is awesome considering that I didn't actually get a single right answer. Thought that was a little ironic, but hey, I'll take it! I have a linear algebra exam next week, and I'm not really sure what to expect there, so hopefully I'll do ok. Anyway, enough about that.

Well, I think I'm outta here.

Say hello to my little friend

As my good friend Janelle has recently informed me, I have not written on here in quite some time. What can I say, you get busy, forget to do things... ah well. In any case, here I am, writing in this second week of the first month of 2008. Goodness, when did that happen? Time really gets away from you sometimes. Anyway, let's see, what has happened since I last wrote...

Well, obviously the fall semester ended. I really had to study for these finals, but it paid off. I made A's in all my classes. My Calc III class was hard - I had to do quite well on the final to get that A, so I guess the studying paid off. I've sort of been twiddling my thumbs for the last month, just working some and reading a lot. School starts up tomorrow, however, so I'm sure my days of leisure will soon be forgotten. This semester I'm taking Physics 2, Differential Eqs., International Relations, and Chem 2. In a few days, I can put in my application for transfer to UIUC, so that will be awesome to have done. I've nothing left to do but keep my fingers crossed. There is no reason they won't accept me, but just not knowing for sure is a little nerve-wracking. I'm sure it will all work out however. Once I'm actually there, I'll feel generally a lot better about everything - more secure, I guess. Anyway, I've just a couple more classes to do over the summer - Physics 3 and some gen ed., if I want the AS from Parkland, which I figure I may as well get. I figured out that by the time I'm done at Parkland, I'll have 75 credits. That's pretty much a semester's worth of credits over the normal two years. Anyway, enough rambling about that subject.

What else... Not much that I can really think of. I'm afraid that my universe operates on a fairly small scale. Between class, work, and my cat, well - there's not much else. To be honest, I know that once school gets underway, I'll be fairly busy. I've gotten another job as a peer tutor at Parkland, so that should be fun. I'm looking forward to it - I enjoy helping people and such. Anyway, I think that's all I have, so... there you have it.