All that's left is graduation

Exams are done, the grades are in. I just have to walk across the stage. I got 2 A's (German, Soc.), a B+ (A Cal), and a B (Anthropology). I can't believe I'm done! Everyone should come see me Saturday! Or at least come to the sweet after party ;)

I had a job interview yesterday with MCS (Laura's company). Apparently it went pretty well, at least Laura said that her boss said it did. Stephen went with me and afterwards we went shopping (I got a super cute new dress!) and went to dinner at craft, in the W hotel which is super nice and fun and delicious! I was so full! My favorite thing (although it was very hard to choose) was the monkfish, but it was so flavorful that I had to take a break after every bite. Also, we had these little blood orange snowcone things that were sooooo good. I guess when it comes down to it, I'm just a Florida girl, I love my oranges. Good food, good wine, good night! Also, just so you know, Stephen is the best! I love you!

So ready to be done!

I only have one exam left. Only one, and then I'm done! I am having a really hard time getting myself to study for this exam (ACal II) because I've already got the mentality that I'm finished with everything. It really is pretty bad... I think I'm just going to go over all the definitions (because a lot of the time test questions come from them) and make sure I know how to do everything on the previous tests (the only theorems we have to know are the ones that were on the previous tests, and they are a pretty good summary of the homework, so I think that should be a good enough review) I really don't think I can bring myself to study more than that. I almost wish we hadn't moved the exam back a day (I didn't realize I wouldn't be taking any of the exams I had scheduled today when we all asked Dr. Morgan to change the date). I just want to be done!
I did very well on my German exam, especially compared to how I did on the midterm. Yay for that!
None of my grades are up online. It is very annoying. Anthropology is the only one I'm really curious about, and we took that exam on Thursday. I think that's giving him plenty of time to grade them. My grade should be up!
Ok, I guess I'll study now.

Birthday Today

Today is Laura's birthday, she is 25. Happy Birthday. She ate shrimp all day. That is somewhat of a generalization...

My brother is here now. I haven't seen him yet though.

Stephen had a Cinco de Mayo party today. It was fun.

My German exam was this morning. It was OK.

My eye allergies were so bad today that I spent maybe as much as half of the day feeling miserable. Also my nose is really runny.

A less than exciting day...

I had to get up early today for an exam. Of course some people think it isn't early, but whatever, when you have a week where you don't have to be anywhere till 11 at the earliest, 7:30 is early. Not all of us work the early shift at the library ;) Maybe I'm lazy, whatev.
Anyways, my eyes are super bad today. I feel like crying just because it seems like maybe that would flush them out and they'd stop itching. UGGHHHHHH!!!
Anthropology exam is done. That's 2 classes down, 2 to go. Of course the ones I have left are going to be super hard. German (Saturday, if Dr. Good ever emails me back) and ACal(Tuesday). It's kind of funny because I was originally scheduled to have 3 exams on Monday, but now I have none. Fancy that. The German midterm was terrible, so I'm more worried about that one than ACal. It will be really sad to mess up my 4.0 German GPA, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting a B. Oh well. At least I'll have an A in sociology (by the skin of my teeth! I have 178.5 points and you need 179 for an A. Thank goodness for rounding!)
Let's see, what else...
I had the graduation lunch at work yesterday at Cheedars. It was a fun time having lunch with my fellow graduates (Judy, Tiffany, Kyle, and Isaac) and all the staff.
The night before I had dinner at Kyle's house. It was couples night, and there were 10 people there. We had some great fried food and played fun games.
That afternoon was the party at work. I think I heard it mentioned several times that it was the worst/lamest party ever. In the history of parties. There was food though so it was ok with me.
So yeah, it's been lots of days, with lots of food, I've been full pretty much continuously for 3 days. That's it. So long suckers! (I mean, goodbye friends)

Pomp and Circumstance

I bought my cap and gown today. It is pretty exciting, although it hasn't really hit me yet that this is it for college. I've only got 2 days of classes yet, and then exams of course. I think I'm ready to move on to being out in the real world. Well on some levels at least... It is weird to think that I only have to take one more math test ever. I think I might miss Dr. Morgan. After all, I've seen him about every other day for a year and a half now.

I think I'm over being sick. Sort of. I'm still sniffling and sneezing, but it feels more like allergies than disease. It stinks that I can't just be back to normal. Thanks a lot Waco. I never had any sort of allergy problems before you. You are just a cesspool of allergy and disease!

I got a 92 on my anthropology test from last Friday. Dr. Arbuckle started the class by saying that the class average was a lot lower than normal so I wasn't expecting very much, but I was super excited when I got my test back to see that I'd scored the highest yet on this one. Maybe I'll be able to pull out the A if I do really well on the final. I'm not going to get my hopes up though because I sure can't remember a lot of the stuff from the beginning of the semester. What's really awesome about Anthropology is that Dr. Arbuckle decided that we wouldn't have any more classes this semester. Yay to Friday and Monday off!

It seems like there are more post worthy things that have happened since my last update, but I really can't think of them. I took a calculus test Wednesday, and it was ok. Probably about my average performance. Maybe an 80 at best.

This Saturday is Drew and Michelle's wedding. I'm excited because I've never been to a normal wedding before. I've only been to one, my cousin Christy. Hers was a very nice wedding, but far from traditional. It will be a new experience for me. I wish Stephen didn't have his cooking adventure this weekend though, so he could come with me. I'll have lots of other great people to hang out with though, so it will be fun. Ok, well, I'm off to study Sociology, I've got a test tomorrow. My last test of the semester, and I guess my last test of college, excluding exams of course. Weird...

Taking a bite out of crime

Today I reported a fraudulent online banking email to Bank of America. I feel like I'm doing my part to fight crime. I'm kind of like a super hero, or at the very least McGruff the crime dog.

Yesterday was Katie's recital and it was great! I'm so proud of Katie!!!

I've gotten word that all I need to do to get a job with Laura's company is turn in a resume. Now I don't have to worry about trying to make my library job sound important.

I've got a bunch of math to work on before I go to Mahler tonight.

I should be studying

This is how I'm feeling today. Still a little sick, but almost better, so I'm happy.

Tomorrow I have an anthropology test, I haven't really studied yet which is bad, and that is also what I should be doing now, but I'm notoriously bad at putting off that kind of thing, especially for a blow off class like anthropology. I think I will do alright so long as I skim all of the material.

Speaking of material... no wait, I can't speak of material right now. Just know that I got some awesome material. Also I made Stephen go to Joann's with me and I think he hated every minute of it. Sorry babe!

Tomorrow should be a busy day, and Saturday too, and Sunday... I've got lots of music related things to attend. Katie's recital, Mahler, Mahler again, and the Mu Phi spaghetti dinner, but that one is before the other ones. Hopefully I won't be so sniffly, because blowing one's nose in a concert is not really a good thing.

I got invited to a "Congratulations, you're graduating" lunch for work. I wish I was more excited about it, but none of my friends are graduating so... yeah. Oh well. Jamie keeps telling me I'm not allowed to graduate because there is no one out there who could ever replace me. Hey, if you'd pay me enough to live on I'd keep working at the library, but I don't think that's going to happen. Cleyera, you will have to take over for me in the crafts and cookies department. You too Katie Thompson.

Ok, I'm going to try and study now. And Kristen, I think you are perfect without pierced ears.

Easter, jobs and our stupid lease

It's been too long since I've updated, and it seems like lots and lots of stuff has happened. So much stuff in fact, that I feel the need to make a brief outline before I start. I will spare you though and get right into it.
Last week was a short week, which is always awesome. Instead of the 4 day week everyone had, mine was only 3 since I don't have class on Thursdays. No class on Thursdays is awesome until you realize that Dia del oso is just a regular old Thursday for you. Oh well. Also, I got an 85 on that math test I mentioned. I'm cautiously optimistic that I may get a B+ in ACal II!
Friday morning I drove up to Dallas with Mom and Becky to visit the Hawkins (That would be my Aunt Kathy, Uncle Jeff, and cousins Andy, Alex, and Emily). Andy wasn't there since he goes to a heathen university and so he didn't have Friday off, and although we admire him for opting not to skip any classes we decided that in the long run, coming home and going to church with your family is more important than school. You should remember that next time Andrew Thomas! Anyways, it was fine that he didn't come because Aunt Becky was there instead. We went shopping on Friday, and I got some cute new tops, and then we came home for church. First we had a super delicious brisket, from Aunt Becky's recipe, along with a bunch of other tasty sides. Aunt Kathy had to wait till after church to eat, though, because she had to go play handbells. I think that is a sign that handbells must be no good, since they force you to skip meals. Saturday we did more shopping. Wait! I just remembered the most exciting part. So first of all it ended up getting really cold on Saturday and would you believe it! It started snowing! We didn't actually see any in Dallas but we ran into a little on our drive home. Anyways, we drove up to the outlet mall in Allen, mostly so we could drive through Plano and take a quick look at it. More on why we'd want to do that next, but anyways... At the outlet mall I got some cute shoes, a skirt and a purse. Fun fun fun!
So, here's the important news, I guess. I don't know how much you already know leading up to this situation, but it all started when Laura told us her company was opening up an office in Dallas (which turned out to be Plano, but whatever same thing) and that she might be transferring there. Then the other day I got a call from her saying that she was for sure going to be moving out here, within 45-60 days in fact! I'd been thinking about trying to get a job with her company for a while now but never really made up my mind one way or the other, but now I've finally decided. I'm sending in my resume as soon as I get it updated, and hopefully will get a position. The idea is that Laura, Heather (Laura's good friend from work, also transferring out here) and I will get a place together in Plano. So there you have it. I actually have some sort of plan for after graduation. I hope it all works out ok.
Now for some less than stellar news. Katie, Kristen and I just recently realized that our lease runs through July 31st instead of May like we thought. We were under the impression that it was a 10 month lease, but I guess this is a lesson (a very unpleasant lesson) for us in reading more carefully what you're signing. So now we are trying to find some summer subleasers. I hope we can find some.
Finally, today is the 11th, which means Stephen and I have been going out for 5 months now. Awwww.

The Mathematical Epiphany

I've been meaning to write about this for days now, and since it's been a week since I've written (wri'en) anything, I'd say it's about time. WARNING: If you don't want to hear me talk about math, skip ahead to the next section.

So here it is, a big part of my life: the mathematical epiphany. Please allow me to be a huge nerd for a while but this is one of my favorite things of all. For those of you who have never experienced this before, you're missing out, because it is awesome. The mathematical epiphany is that moment when, after mulling over some problem for what seems like forever, everything finally comes together, you see what you've been missing the whole time, and it all makes sense. Now I'm sure this applies to things other than math, but since math is all I really care about (or have been forced to care about for four years) I'm going to ignore all those other fields. Most of my math epiphanies are really 'duh' points but it still feels so good to finally understand. My favorite thing about them is how they tend to occur at the most random times. I'd say the majority of the ones I've experienced are when I'm getting ready for, or already in bed (that's one reason why it was so awesome to have a white board hanging over the bed), but it also happens at work or walking to class. I like to think that this is how all the big important proofs happened, that someone like Fubini had given up trying to prove that you can swap the order of integration, and then, later when he was out walking his dog it just came to him. Ok, so that's probably a bit of a stretch, but whatever. I think I'm done talking about math for now =)

Ok, you are now entering a (relatively) math free zone. As for what I've been up to in the last week, I'd say it isn't that thrilling. School has been school. I had a math test Friday, and I think it went well enough. We haven't gotten the grades back yet, but I'm betting on an average performance. We got to watch a western (well, to get technical, it was an Indianerfilm) in German last week, which was fun. I'm a sucker for cowboys and indians, even if the movie was full of fake cacti and Yugoslavian indians. My German paper is due tomorrow night at midnight, but I'm not worried about it. I've got it all planned out, and it's almost like I have the first draft done, even though it's really all still in my head. I've got a killer outline though.

Friday it was really stormy here in Waco. Around 4:30 the tornado alarms started going off, and since I was at work, we all got herded down to the staff room in the basement. It was not the most thrilling time, but it was fun listening to Cinnamon plan her dramatic escape (Something along the lines of running out yelling "Let me out of this hell hole!") We were probably down there for about an hour before the police decided it was safe for us back up on the third floor. After work Katie, Kristen and Sharon all went to the scholarship donors banquet, so I went over to Stephen's where he made me a delicious dinner.

Saturday night Stephen and I went out with a bunch of his friends (3 counts as a bunch right?) for dinner at Ninfas, and then hung out for a while at Stephen's house. Last night we went out again, Mexican again but this time at On the Border, with James and Landon.

Sunday after church I went to Old Navy with my mom and got some cute new clothes. Yay for me! All in all I'd say it was a good weekend!

You'd think that I broke up with my boyfriend or something...

I didn't by the way, and don't intend to. However, I have been carrying around a quart of icecream with me rather regularly since last night. That's because I got a delicious quart of peanut butter and chocolate icecream at Baskin Robbins last night, my favorite flavor, and in order to avoid forgetting about it in the freezer, I'm eating it up lickety split! I think peanut butter and chocolate must be my favorite food combination because I've been eating so much of it lately (peanut butter eggs (which are way better than just the cups!), the icecream, and I also made a huge batch of pb choc. cookies right before spring break). And I don't think I'm ever going to get over this love because I've been eating and loving this stuff for as long as I can remember. Ok, enough about that, plus my icecream is half empty, so I'm going to go put it away.

I'm glad to hear, well, read, that Cleyera is having less trouble over in Germany, or at least some of the issues are being resolved. I miss you Cleyera! I hope you're having fun and things continue to look up.

As for my school life, I had a quiz in math today, which didn't go all that well, but whatever, I'll manage. I'm doing better on the tests this semester than I did last semester, so I'm not to worried about my overall grade. I think I'm slowly, very, very slowly mind you, getting better at analysis. I think it's also just getting used to Dr. Morgan (I think he's so great most of the time!), and the class becoming and increasingly more laid back environment. We are so much less rushed to get through things than my previous two semesters, and I actually like the class most of the time. I just hate the homework!

I'm over halfway done with my German book. I really should say, the book I'm reading for German, because although it was originally in German, it isn't a "German book" because that is a term I usually reserve for textbooks. Ok, so TMI... moving on. Hopefully I will finish the book tonight! Then I can watch the movie tomorrow. What I really need to do tomorrow is clean up though, because I haven't really put anything back in order since I got back from spring break. Also, I need to remember to pick up a book from ILL today.

Today in Sociology we talked about what attracts people to each other, specifically, what men and women are looking for in a potential husband/wife. I think that class is so interesting sometimes. And fun! I highly recommend it. Take Dr. Dougherty! While I'm at it, I also love Dr. Good, and Dr. Arbuckle is really funny! Yay for my professors this semester!!

Ok, enough of my rambling on. I need to start thinking about getting ready to go to work. I'm so pumped about pulling off that tattle tape!

Score binders are very hard to cut

So I finally feel like I'm somewhat back to normal after my vacation. I've been super tired for days... I slept until about a half hour ago today though so maybe that's why I'm feeling more alert. Anyways...

Since I've gotten back it seems like nothing really has gone on. I'd say the major event of the last few days was going to see Christopher O'Riley on Tuesday night. I went with Katie and Stephen and it was a pretty good concert (especially since we got our tickets for free from Sharon. Thanks Sharon!) He played some Shostakovich preludes and fugues and a bunch of Radiohead transcriptions (which is why Stephen was at a piano concert). I liked the Shostakovich stuff better, I thought that there was just too much noise in some of the Radiohead stuff. It was still good though. All in all it was a fun concert! Also, Katie and I saw our backpacking teacher there! Weird! Oh and Christopher O'Riley has a terrible haircut. And we are making him into the new bell picture at the library.

I had a math assignment due yesterday that I stayed up pretty late working on, and still didn't get completely finished. This is the story of my life, you know... I got enough done to turn it in though, so I'll catch it on the rewrite. I like trying to get it on my own the first time through anyways, so yeah. In other school news I really need to get working on my German paper! I only have a couple more weeks before it's due!

Last night Stephen cooked me dinner again, and as usual it was really good! We had stuffed pork chops, asparagus (both grilled) and macaroni and cheese (baked). Aside from the asparagus our recipes were courtesy of Alton Brown. Also, the pork chops were brined which made them super delicious!

Finally, although this falls out of chronological order, we started pulling the tattle tape out of all the videos at work. Not fun, especially when you go to work on it and a bunch of videos that are already done aren't crossed off the list, and the entire drawer you're working on is out of order. Whatever, I fixed it. Then I cut my finger open working on the Chris bell.

Update!

I got a 90% on my Sociology test. Yay!

Kind of like the Twilight Zone...

Remember this snippet from yesterday's entry?
"I think I might try and see if my oldest friend Theresa is still in Tampa, because I'd like to see her too. Last I heard she still was. We've been friends since preschool so I think it would be really fun to catch up for a while. "
Well as I was walking back from Antropology class today I thought "I think I will email Theresa now." So I come home, get on the computer and open up my email and WOW! There's an email from Theresa waiting for me! We haven't written eachother for months (maybe even close to a year) and then she decides to write me just as I decide to write her. That's weird right? Especially since she specifically asked if I would be in town anytime soon. Um, yeah I will! Anyways, I think we will probably end up getting together for lunch or something. Yay! I'm excited!!! Now if only Lyssette would email me back. I'll be sad if I don't get to see her while I'm there.

My stomach feels better today, and has been feeling better the last few days. I guess I've been eating better stuff, or at least foods that are easier on my stomach. That stupid old Stephen (awww, you're not stupid!) wouldn't let me eat Taco Bell for dinner because he said it would make me sick again. I guess that was a nice thing to do but I really wanted some nachos!

I've got a sociology test today, but I don't think it will be too hard. I didn't skip any classes this test period (well, maybe I missed one) and I think that is one of the main reasons I didn't do as well as I'd hoped on my first test, and I also think I have a better grip on the fundamentalist, conflict and symbolic interactionist perspectives of sociology, so I will be able to answer those questions better.

Ok, that's it.

Spring Break!

I wish it was spring break already. I'm getting pretty excited. I'm glad we're going to fly there instead of drive, although I'm sure Katie and I could have made the drive fun. I've started making a packing list in my head, I really should write it down, but I never think to. Oh well, that's what Saturday is for. I'm super excited to get to see Laura, Mike, Melvin, and Baghira! I guess I'm more excited to see the people than the animals, but Melvin is really fun so I'm only a little less excited to see him. I wonder if he wants to go to the beach with us. I'm hoping I can get in touch with my good friend Lyssette before we leave so hopefully we can spend some time together. I sent her an email, but she hasn't responded yet and I'm not sure how else to contact her. I think I might try and see if my oldest friend Theresa is still in Tampa, because I'd like to see her too. Last I heard she still was. We've been friends since preschool so I think it would be really fun to catch up for a while. Laura said she was taking Friday off so we can party Thurday, Friday and Saturday nights! Woo! I think we'll go to Busch Gardens at least one day, and the beach as much as we can. And here I thought I didn't like the beach... silly me. It's one of the things I miss the most living in Texas. I'm going to have to get used to driving a manual again though, since we'll have Laura's car to get around in. I hope I don't get lost in Tampa! It's been such a long time since I've driven there. I can't wait till this week is over!!!!
In school news, I had an antropology test yesterday, which I think was easy, but of course I thought the first one was easy too, and I got a 68 on it. Yuck. I have a sociology test tomorrow, which should also be easy, just as long as I study tonight. I also had a meeting with Dr. Good yesterday about my German paper. I'm feeling pretty good about it now that she's given me some advice. I'm writing on the book and film versions of The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum and she said if I felt like I had enough information I could do the introduction to the film with her when we watch it in class. That would be extra credit for me, which would probably be a good thing to have since I did so miserably on the midterm. (Well, it was a 70... which I guess is only pretty bad, not miserable). I think I'm going to write the paper in German, since we have the option of writing 6 of our film response papers in german, or 3 film responses and our big paper in german, and it just seems like a better idea to do the big paper in german since I have more time to work on it that way (I hate having to get a decent german draft of my response papers in the 2 days we have to write it!) I might be sending you a draft of it, Cleyera, if you don't mind! But that's still a little ways off.
In non-school related business, I've been having some stomach problems for the past few days. I think it's some sort of heartburn thing, but the result is I've been burping for days. Nice big, loud ones, like a big gross guy. Isn't that pleasant? The condition seems to have improved as of yesterday, and I hope it stays that way. I think I was just eating too many rich foods or something... It was bad enough that I was carrying Tums around with me in my purse though.
I bought a new pillow for my bed yesterday, since mine were pretty flat. Stephen cooked me dinner last night (fish and asparagus) and as usual when we cook dinner at his place, we don't get to eat till like 10 o'clock, so I was over there pretty late. I was really tired, too, so I ended up falling asleep on the couch while he cooked. It was a pretty good dinner once it was finally done though. Morgan invited Stephen and I to go to the rodeo in Houston tonight, but I had to say "No thanks" because of the Soc. test tomorrow. It would have been fun, but the timing was just no good.
That's all for now, I've got to see if I can get my discussion board postings in before I head off to work.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

I feel like I haven't really been doing much of anything worth mentioning lately, so why am I writing a blog entry? I don't know. I guess it's so Cleyera can know how much more fun and exciting her life is now that she's in Germany. Guess what Cleyera! It's still boring in Waco! I hope you are getting settled in, we'd all love to hear something from you, you know!

I didn't have math on Friday, which was awesome. They closed the science building for some big scientist party (well, I guess it's a convention, but I figure when you're a scientist, a convention is probably the best party you're ever going to get). I have two tests this week, Antropology and Sociology, and they shouldn't be hard just as long as I study, which I didn't for the last tests in these classes, and I've learned my lesson. YOU DO HAVE TO PUT AT LEAST SOME EFFORT INTO STUDYING FOR ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY! Anyways... I've also got a short little paper due for Soc. tomorrow, and a meeting with Dr. Good about my German paper. I think this week won't be too tough and then I'm off to Florida! Yay!

I went shopping with my mom yesterday for a new suitcase (I got 2, and they are purple and beautiful!) I also got 2 new shirts at gap outlet in hillsboro. I'm glad to have a decent sized suitcase for Florida. I'm pretty excited about the trip. I'm excited to see Laura and Mike, and I hope I'll get to get together with my old friend Lyssette. I hope I can get a decent tan at the beach but as we all know, it is far more likely that I will just get burned. Oh! That's something to put on the Florida list: sunscreen.

Well, I think I'm gonna finish my coffee and get a shower before I get back to reading my anthropology.

Blah blah blah...

Today is the day that Cleyera is off to Germany. I hope you have a great flight and a great 5 months overseas Cleyera!

My life is slightly less exciting. I had a horrible, rotton, really hard midterm in German Film class yesterday, maybe I did ok, maybe not. Who knows.

I also have piles and piles of laundry to do, I'll probably get started on that today and finish up sometime next week... Lucky for me I have a couple places where I can do my laundry for free and stay for extended periods of time without wearing out my welcome.

In other news Stephen and I went to dinner with Rick and his wife, Trish last night, and that was pretty fun. Now I think it's time to play some diner dash before I go off to class.