Math is so naughty!

xkcd.com

I'm sure we can figure it out, right? ;)

*checks couch cushions*

In just two short (short) months I have to graduate from college, say goodbye to several people I have grown quite attached to, move my entire self (plus parrot) from Texas to Florida, find a place to live, get my textbooks, and start graduate school.

Oh, and also find the money to do it all.

Maybe there is a giant jar of cash hidden in my closet. Perhaps I have an aging distant relative, wealthy and wistful about the value of higher education (also hiding among my twenty ten gallon totes).

Ok, fine. I'll just sell all my stuff.

It isn't worth much?

Oh. Well. Damn.

>Play

Life is hovering a significant amount closer to the ground. I got in to Graduate School!

Hold Music

My social life is pathetic. My sleep is horrid. I spend all my time knowing I should be sleeping or studying, wishing I were out having fun, and doing nothing at all.

And the weather is beautiful, damn beautiful, for this brief moment between 'seasons.' What do I do with that? Sit outside alone? Go for a walk alone?

With no word from schools, everything in my life is paused, expectant, waiting for disappointment. On hold... beepbeepbeep... beepbeepbeep...

Spring Break and Summer Plans

I have been in Orlando on spring break since Monday night. Yesterday I got my birthday present at Fantasy of Flight, it was a ride up in an open cockpit airplane. There are pictures on my flickr, just click on this one for more.



Last night I finally checked my email, to find two acceptance messages from physics REU programs that I applied to for the summer. Even better, one of them is right here in Orlando, so yay for me! Now I just have to figure out what to do with my parrot and my apartment in San Angelo over the summer. Troy offered to let Rigel stay here, but he has a cat. As laid back as Athena is, I will never trust a cat around one of my birds. So if anyone in San Angelo is looking for a place to live over the summer, and would be willing to birdsit as payment on rent, talk to me.

More pictures and fun as they happen.
~TJ

Girls Rock!

I had fun today, helping Girl Scouts make electric guitars. Each girl got to make her own; it had one string, a hand-wound (by us, painstakingly) pickup, and an amplifying circuit. Plug it into your computer speakers, and rock until your parents take it away! The physics guys mostly made the circuits, which they soldered into card stock instead of circuit board, which I think is infinitely cool. I think it was fun for everyone, and I didn't once feel the need to strangle someone's child. See how I've grown!?!?!? Actually, these were really well behaved kids. Nobody got frustrated or upset, most everyone seemed interested, and they all left with a working physics toy. We had a couple extra guitar strings left after the kids were done, so I even got to make one for myself.

Of course, I've been up since 0630, in a failed attempt to go to the YMCA and exercise this morning. Turns out they aren't open that early. That's probably a good thing, because I was standing or riding my bike from about 0830 to 1700, and I'm so so very sore right now. Zero studying was accomplished today, for the record. Zero. 100% nothing.

Time on my hands...

Oh the wondrous things I can do with seemingly endless time on my hands. Yesterday, the weather was AMAZING! so I rode to the Hastings just before sunset (the store is actually on Sunset...but...whatever). The ride was beautiful, but I realized about two blocks away that all I ate that day was a PB&J at lunch. Everyone and their brother was taking the chance to BBQ in 80 degree weather. I nearly died of Burger Envy, so back at home I mixed up a prize-deserving Turkey Burger and settled down for a good beer and cookie movie night.

Today I did not venture out. The weather is sub-freezing, and I am wearing two layers of socks. Luckily, I was prepared for this unexpected shift. With comfort food. After an excellent (as always) episode of Big Bang Theory, I settled in with a bowl of turkey/spinach/tomato stew, a giant hunk of toasted french bread, and another beer. *totally ladylike burp*

The week ahead is busy (what? its Monday, you say? I call bullshit), with blood donation, my final Gardasil shot (one less one less), and hopefully my name change on Friday. First, I must waste tomorrow sorting through my totally disorganized stack of useless and/or very important papers. Ugh. More beer please!

Hey! You know what would be fun and time-wasting?!?!? A survey!

Why are you single?
Until now, I've been way too busy with school. Now, of course, I have a little extra time on my hands...

If a stranger looked in your closet, what would they think?
Heh, my friends aren't allowed to see the unorganized parts of my house. You think I'd let a stranger see that?

What's bothering you right now?
Not too damn much, I'm a happy camper.

Do people underestimate you?
On occasion, probably.

Did you sing at all today?
*ponders....* no I don't think so

Do you miss anyone?
Yes I miss all my friends!

Do you wear a lot of black?
I look damn good in black.

Do you have a tan?
I do not tan. I burn, cry, peel, and return to pale. Unless tanning would be inconvenient, like when I'm wearing a t-shirt. Isn't that nice? Yeah, that's nice.

Can you sleep with no blankets covering you??
Nope, I need to at least be covered in a sheet, to feel surrounded, or I can't sleep.

How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
I need more than 4.

Did you wake up happy today?
yup

Whats the first thing you did when you woke up this morning?
Called my lil brother and wished him a happy burfday! Happy Burfday Matty Tom!!!!! (he hates that, I'm eevil big sis)

How old do you look?
I have no clue. I know I tend to act older than people my age, but I don't know about looks.

Whats the last thing you ate?
turkey spinach tomato stew and crusty french bread

Are you waiting for something?
Waiting for the World to Change

What were you doing at ten last night?
I think I was still watching a movie with Troy.

Did you cry today?
Nope

Last song you listened to?
All Along the Watchtower (BSG remix)

Do you hate the last person you had a conversation with?
Well no, it was widdle Matty Tom, my widdle brother!

Did you have a dream last night?
I tend to not remember my dreams very often.

Who do you go to when you need someone to talk to?
It depends on the subject; my friends are good listeners.

What language do you want to learn?
Korean is a fun, fairly easy language, and I wish I could remember some of what I learned back in high school. Russian would be nice to learn. I'm horrible with languages though :(

Any upcoming vacations?
I might visit FL for my birthday.

Are you afraid of falling in love?
afraid? no. disbelieving? yes.

How many windows are open on your computer?
Who uses multiple windows anymore? I have five tabs open in Firefox.

What are you doing after this?
I might get another ladle of soup, curl up with a book.

Where did get the shirt you are wearing?
Wow, this sweater I so old that I don't remember. I've had it since high school.

Do you enjoy late night phone conversations?
Not really, I don't hold phone conversations very well. IM me, okay?

Do you like to cuddle?
Why yes i do indeed.

When was the last time you saw number 3 on your top friends?
My #3 is Brandy, who I have not seen since Bridge Summer: 2001
Oh hey I lie! I saw Brandy last summer, when the UB folks got together in Krug Park. I'm a dork.

How tall are you?
5'2.5376 exactly

Which one of your cousins is closest in age?
We come in pairs, so my semi-twin cousin is Benjamin.

When was the last time you were disappointed?
Well i just found out my final grade in Instruments. I guess I deserved that B, but I'm still disappointed.

Do you like hugs?
I do, but I come from a family of not big huggers, so its awkward for me when people just HUG! HI HOW ARE YOU!?!?!? For example: everyone in Janae's family hugged me the first time we met, and it was weird, but nice, but weird.

Are you a loud person?
Only when I'm making an ass out of myself, I'm sure.

What color is your tooth brush?
It is probably blue, I bought a new one the other day.
(green, Sarah, really? You might want to replace that!)

Does it matter to you if your bf/gf smokes cigs?
It does! I will absolutely never kiss a man who has tobacco on his breath. The very thought makes me gag.

Dead Week

Today I rode downtown for the first time in a few months. I had to get my fingerprints done for my upcoming name change (bet you thought I was done talking about that), and on the way back to the school I lunched at Mr. T's Deli (yum!). On the way from school, I made a side trip for water. Then I made two trips to the coffee shop. So my legs are a bit sore. Ow. Dead Week is not nearly dead enough, given that I still have homework. There is something sad about studying at the coffee shop until they close...almost every night.

I have the choice next semester of 13 or 16 hours. I've had trouble deciding whether to add an extra physics course to everything else I have to take in the spring. It is a 4000 level course, it isn't required, it will cost me an extra $400 in tuition, taught by Not My Favorite Professor, and VA won't cover the extra hours.

I decided to write my English professor to ask about how much writing/time the editing course would take up. I almost hoped she would say "Lots! Don't even think about taking 16 hours!!!"

Instead she said:
You actually won't be doing any writing at all. You will read 2
chapters each week and have a short editing assignment each time (1-2
pages to edit). At the end you will have a longer (10-20 page) editing
job for a client. So I don't really expect it to be that time-consuming.

Yay. Damn. Yay!

Thankfuls

Isn't this just wonderful? I have a 5 page paper due tomorrow at 8am, and I forgot to get the draft off the school computer. I am a moron. There are two tests tomorrow, one of which I am completely unprepared for. Completely.

Is it the last week of November already? Time to step back? Time to take stock of the things I am thankful for? Time to work off the 3 cups of coffee I've had tonight so I can wake up at 5am to type a paper? Yes.

A year ago I took a step in the right direction. It was painful, and frightening, and I failed. A year ago this week, I gave in to the fear and returned to a bad marriage. So I am thankful that this year I found the strength to do what was ultimately best for me. I knew it would pay off in the long term, but what I did not realize at the time was how good it was for me in the short term. Money might not be the root of all evil, but it is the fear of not having it that ties us to things and people who do us no good.

My first Thankful leads to my second. I allowed myself to be fooled into believing that permanent unity with one person would make me happy. Instead, I was shoved into a lonely little corner. Today, I am thankful for my friends: old and new, near and far. You keep me connected to the world. You keep me laughing. You don't keep me sane (I don't expect the impossible), but its hard to tell when I'm surrounded by such a wacky bunch of people.

Finally, as much as this semester has stressed me out, burnt me out, and turned me inside-out, I value the privilege which allows me to pursue higher education. I am thankful that I have the ability and the means to study physics. I have to keep reminding myself, in the thick of homework and papers and marathon study weekends blurring together, that I am doing this because I want to. I am living a long-held dream come true.

Which, occasionally, twists into a rather inconvenient nightmare....

Pardon me, while I whine.

I had a test yesterday, so I was up studying, but not too late.

I woke up sore and tired, and was really sore after riding my bike to school. Between classes, I bought coffee...oops, where's my debit card? Oh well, I have change... After the test, I started feeling faint and feverish while standing and doing a lab. When I rode home, I was completely zoned out and cranky. One glass of wine later, I was bundled up in bed, and my muscles finally relaxed enough so I could sleep for a few hours and sweat it out. That's my usual routine when I'm feverish.

I woke up because I got a call from an old coworker friend who asked if I had lost my ID's. What? Fuck! Some nice person turned them in to the police, and they called the base which oddly still had my old work number on file. I'm lucky they got ahold of someone who knew my cell, because I would not have even known my stack of cards were missing. They fell out of my back pocket while I was riding to school that morning. The 3 ID's were found, but they are stuck in the police evidence locker until Monday. The debit card is still missing.

My bank account didn't have any new transactions on it, and I was going to drive my route and see if the card fell out at a different place from the others. First, I thought I'd do the responsible thing and call my bank, to double check that there were no new transactions, that the "nice" person who turned in my ID's wasn't out giving his buddies free gas on my dime. Before I could get a word in edgewise, my card was canceled (NOTE TO BANK GUY: LAY OFF THE CAFFEINE AND BREATHE A MINUTE!!!)!

Now I have no way to access my monies, until I can get my cards out of jail. *pouts*

I was going to bake this weekend: Pumpkin Cheesecake, Chocolate Chunk Cappuccino Almond Cookies, and Macadamia and White Chocolate Cookies. *pouts*

Ok, I'm done pouting. I guess I can use the time this weekend to clean my house without re-dirtying it the same day, and studying for my Modern test.

Mine is an evil laugh!

I put together my schedule for the spring semester, and HOLY COW there is a light at the end of the tunnel. After spring, I'll only have 4 physics courses remaining, which is 13 credit hours. I still need 6 hours for my English minor, and maybe geology, but still:

LIGHT. TUNNEL. END. RIGHT THERE! AHHHHH!!!!!!

*descends into evil cackling*

My "fun" in college involves drinking excessive amounts of coffee...can you tell?

Life, School, and Food

Things are stressful but proceeding roughly according to The Current Plan 2007-2010(c).

I read a comic today (Zits, I think) and the kid said:
"The only thing that bothers me about school is that its so...well...DAILY." I think that's where I am right now. I'm at school from 8am to 6pm some days, plus homework.

Today I went to donate blood and was told I had too low iron, which really brought home that I am not eating as well as I should: too much quickie cafeteria food and coffee. I went and bought some real food.

Hi, its me.

It occurred to me that its been ages since I posted an actual blog, not some link or photo thing.

HI! I bet you missed me. Right....

College is kicking my ass, but I'm fighting back. I'm continuing to ride my bike everywhere, which at this point consists of the 4 miles to school and back and the mile or less to the coffee shop nearly every day. I'm healthy, save for a filling that might be chipped and a nagging need to sneeze alot. Who knows why. Money was/is tight, but it will be better now that MGIB went up again this last month. I'm happy to not be in a position to lose a mortgage or anything right now, and this rental apartment is pretty stable. I even had enough (uh...hopefully...) to buy some new clothes last week. I have zero love life, feel free to decide for yourself if that goes on the plus or minus column right now, because I think I could care less.

Rigel is spunky and sweet mostly. As always, I wish I could spend more time with him. I spent the weekend in Big Spring, TX with Janae and her family/friends; it was a nice change of pace to get out of Turd Burp and meet new peoples.

I'm looking forward to Halloween and Thanksgiving, because I haven't baked anything from scratch in nearly forever.

I think that really is it. Exciting, huh?

I'm hungry....*wanders off*

Yay. Math :(

So yeah, this week has sucked. I had two tests set for today in my two hardest classes, with the same professor. I was all set to drop one. Luckily, and he didn't tell me this before, but I can split the tests on two days. Unfortunately, I studied like hell for Math Physics, and had my ass kicked by basic addition and subtraction. Absurd.

Anyway, my life is not my own this weekend. I'll be writing a paper tonight, studying for that other exam tomorrow, and writing a lab report on Sunday.

Also, I just posted a bulletin, which always serves to remind me how dull my life is. Yay.

Kinda Sad

A comment on my proposal assignment: Beautiful

The page: Table of Contents

Conclusion 1: I am a Tech Writing Genius^(tm).

Conclusion 2: That is really sad.

Uh, Um, Like...Fuck.

Now, I was about to pedal my happy ass to the bike shop to pick up a cargo net, and maybe then take a dip in the pool to celebrate 130 miles on my bike so far and a hellish assignment behind me. Then I realized, that distant rumble? It is electricity falling from the sky. Fan. Tastic.

So anyway, the hellish assignment was a formal proposal, which I chose to do over bike parking and stuff on campus. Five pages, not including the cover letter, table of contents, appendices...were due this morning. I had three and a half days to do research, come up with a real proposal, and write all the damn documents (10 MS Word files later...). I also got dubious honor of being one of only two people presenting my PowerPoint slides this morning. I was up until 1am. I gave up on including any images in the document or the presentation.

Oh the presentation. It was probably painful to watch, but they would be surprised to know that I actually showed improvement in public speaking. Why, I didn't talk insanely fast and quiet, or even run out of breath completely. I was just all "um...where was I again, what was i about to say here, oh look awkward pause!" Amazingly, I still got a 95%, probably on consideration the painful patheticness of my nervousness and the fact that I had no time to practice between writing the paper and preparing the slides.

I certainly got enough riding in, though, pedaling all over campus to look at the placement of bike racks, getting an interview with the campus police chief, coordinating pretend involvement from the bike shop, and pricing fliers.

Uninspired Tidbits

I think it is time to start learning what kind of music I like. I think I'll put some effort into that. We'll see.

I finally got ahold of the people holding my bird's new stuff hostage. There was a(nother) huge mixup in the shipment. They are sending a 110% refund. I now have to find someone else who sells Clicker training stuff. Frustrating.

I think Rigel understands "stay." It totally worked today, I could tell he really wanted to fly to me while I was in the kitchen, but didn't. Such a good boy. He deserves new toys so much.

There's plenty of food, but nothing to eat. I must plan actual meals before shopping. Must. As much as I like what I eat, the same thing is getting kind of old.

I made granola the other day. I was surprised by how simple it is, nothing special at all. Definitely not worth the arm, two legs, and my ex-husband's left testicle that it costs at the grocery store. Next stop, home-made granola bars.

It has been suggested that I change my last name to Dax, instead of going back to my original. *ponders*

In the last two weeks, I have biked 54.10 miles. I have gone grocery shopping twice. The first time was for the barbecue, and I hauled a bag of charcoal in my left pannier, groceries in the right, and an extra bag on my right arm. Stopping was educational.

The summer class is going well, minus some annoying group project stuff I will never do again. I think I'm pretty good at this technical writing thing.

Sonic's chicken strips aren't that good, definitely not worth over a dollar per strip.

I shouldn't drink cherry limeade before bed. I am tired, but wide awake.

Eh. That is all.

Technical Communication

We watched this today. The assignment was to write a memo about whether or not this is a "technical communication." I think I'm going to like this class.

Randomness

I ordered many new things for Rigel online a few weeks ago, and I e-mailed them to say WTF DUDES?!!?(nicely) Turns out, the order fell behind someone's desk and they just found it. I get a 10% off (or was it $10?) coupon, and it will be here by Friday. I just say, the Clicker Training stuff and fun toys cannot get here soon enough! squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack squack Poor birdie is sooo bored!

Oh yay! I just realized today is Tuesday, not Wednesday, and I have one more day to clean my house for the bug spray people. I love those people.

I'm tired, despite doing nothing at all yesterday and getting 8 hours of sleep.

Yes, I am really selling my car. Please buy it. Please.

Bla Bla Bla....

Still no word on my final grade in Physics 2. Suck.

I had to replace my driver's side seatbelt, which was going to cost an arm and three legs. Luckily, I go to the same place all the time and they are super-nice and I saved $40 off my bill. While waiting for them to diagnose the problem on Monday, I discovered the new River Valley Coffee and Cafe downtown. I was so hungry for breakfast that I would have eaten cardboard, but luckily this was much better AND YOU MUST GO THERE AND EAT! Yesterday while waiting for them to finish my car, I stopped by D'Vine Wine for the first time. I was unaware that they made their own wine on site. I had a Wine Rita....a frickin' wine smooooothhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee.....it was very good. Then I had to walk back to the coffee shop for some lunch.

For today's activities, I started with a yard sale "organized" by the apartment management. By "organized" I mean they told us what day to do it, and maybe put up signs. Participation was low, and I didn't get out there until 9:30 so I missed some sales opportunities. I made $35, which will go to buying grass mat or bamboo window treatments for my living and dining rooms. I'm off to goodwill now, to drop off some unsold items, and then to Tuesday Morning to find those window treatments, and then to the grocery store for some sour cream for tacos. Mmmm tacos.....I'm so hungry....

***
Eh. I forgot the box of stuff for Goodwill, and there were no good window coverings at Tuesday Morning

But the tacos were totally good, and now I'm full.