dreamworld

It's Friday!!

Well, that's about all I have to say for right now. I'm almost done with my 3 hours of math tutoring for the day, and it's beginning to show. After awhile, I just become unable to talk about anything... it's as if the math warps my brain or something. Oh well. I think I might have actually helped people today! It's a tough thing, this teaching stuff. I never really realized how difficult it is to teach others. Really, you have so much power... either you can screw them up and therefore jade their entire opinion of you, or you can do a decent job... but in order to do that, you can't confuse them. And who am I to know what they understand?! It's difficult. But it's also a really valuable experience. I just hope that I'm actually helping them, instead of confusing them. Pah.

So I created a Facebook group for UND Karate today ;) Good use of time!! It's an invite-only group, so I have the thrill of holding all that power... along with Dave... and April... but anyways, you should check it out :) And, if you don't have the opportunity to be a Facebook junkie like the entire college population (minus Wheaton, mwah haha), you can check out our website through UND! Sweet! http://www.und.nodak.edu/org/aokarate/

Oooohhh... that was a strike of thunder...

Yeah, it's been thundering and lightning all day today. Not really any rain, except for a nice bit we got this morning. Perfect day to stay inside and tutor math students. :) AND... it should be a perfect weekend for a volleyball tournament! Also, if you want to play some DDR Saturday night, come by the J/F Lounge... we're going to hook up a PS2 to the big screen tv!!

For now... time to dodge some lightning and head back to ol' J3.

life as we know it

It's been a rough week... week-and-a-half, rather. I didn't realize how fast things would pick up after the start of school. But now I sit, pondering the wonderful possibilities that could fill this impending three-day-weekend... ahhh, what a good feeling. I'll probably first have to finish my Spanish composition that I didn't have done for Thursday, and then I'll have to get started on the assignment that should be due for Tuesday. After that, a little SHP work'll be necessary... and some OChem and a lot of Anat204 to study. Not to mention DiffEQ, the class in which we haven't even met our professor yet. Okay, well, I can cross my fingers and hope for a little fun. Doubt that Winnipeg will see me this weekend, but I guess I can live without it for now.

At least I have the satisfaction of a good job. Definitely tiring, but rewarding all the while. Time for explanation: I started tutoring in the Math Learning Center yesterday. I didn't realize how many people come to the MLC for help... and how many of them live and eat in the same places I do... just yesterday evening, I saw three of the people I helped... a couple in the lounge of my residence hall, and one at Terrace... it's going to be kind of weird having that connection to all these people :) Let's hope I'm doing a good job.

Umm... well. Time to work on revising my SHP commentary and data sheet. I'm liking the fact that the class gives me motivation to work and revise my portfolio, but I'm not exactly thrilled about having graded deadlines. I hope that once things settle down, I can actually finish my homework in time for all these due dates... instead of using the pity plea, which I've already used twice in the last two days.

So, what has been going on in your life, Jessica? A lot of different stuff, I guess. It's hard being involved in a zillion things and getting homework done as well. And it's also difficult to concentrate on homework when I'm not even sure how my personal life is going. Or where it's going. Plus, it doesn't help that these allergies I've been suffering through have now turned me into a horrible asthmatic for the past couple days. Asthma has to be one of the most embarrassing (and gross) afflictions to have. I mean, who likes to hear someone else wheezing and coughing up flem. It's hard to get sympathy.

Time for SHP work...

ha HA! back in potato land!

Poop! I'm really bad at this whole "staying on task" thing... I think I attempted to start this post about an hour ago, and I've been distracted by facebook and other wonderful things until now. Anyways, time for an update.

So, I've been in school for almost a week now. 4 days is pretty close to a week. And in those four days, I've gotten an amazing amount of homework already. I have to write a coversheet and some other junk for Sophomore Honors Portfolio class. Spanish comp requires a lot of reading and memorization of South America geography. I would have a lot of stuff to do for anatomy if the textbooks would only come in (which they haven't yet, damn publishers. And Barnes and Noble. I hate them all). OChem is pretty exciting... and I have a quiz already this Tuesday! Yikes! DiffEQ is pretty good, and I only have to write up this homework quiz thing for Wednesday. Comparatively, not so bad.

Things are really getting going. Honors is pretty much in full swing. APO will be starting up this Tuesday, as will Karate AND Emerging Leaders. (Yeah, uh, who decided to move the EL meeting time to Tuesday??!!) Tuesdays are starting to sound ridiculous. what else... I start tutoring at the Math Learning Center this Thursday... NRHH already started... oh, and Hall Gov starts up tomorrow evening. I'm pretty psyched, considering we had about 10 girls volunteer to be wing reps for J3 :) Amazing girls, they are. I'm convinced that J3 is going to be the best it's ever been this year.

Okay, now for more interesting things... so, apparently Stephie is pretty interested in this F3 guy, Ryan... well, more widely known as Opie... and, I've gotta admit, he seems pretty sweet. But you have to watch out for those boys... especially when they are interested in your sis...

I went to this random party last night and saw a bunch of people I haven't seen in a very long time... and the way in which I knew them was entirely unique from person to person, so that was pretty cool. Let's see... Ramsey was there... a guy I knew from EL last year... and another guy I worked on the JFS Quadbecue with. The party itself was particularly unimpressive, especially in how a number of the guys there kept pushing us to buy cups for the keg. Bleh. Not exactly how I imagined my first GF party would turn out ;) Anyways...

Time to make some oatmeal cookies, I think. Girls Night In tonight with loads of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies... a few chick flicks... what could be better? And Karate-Q tomorrow! I'm excited to see how Jordan's pies are, along with the rest of his esteemed cuisine. Update to come (sooner than before, I hope).

off we go again

So, there goes another summer. But it's really not "just another" summer. I think this one has been perhaps the fastest summer I've ever experienced... Honestly, I didn't even meet up with my Brainerd cousins... we didn't go on the houseboat trip... didn't go to Canada at all... but... it was still good.

5 o'clock is pretty early... That means I can sleep a max of 4 hours and 20 minutes, if I type this one really fast. And that doesn't account for waking-up-time and eating-breakfast...

Things to remember: laptop, camera, CDs, clothes, toothbrush... and... sanity. I better find that one quick.

It was a good evening :) Thank you to everyone who took part!! Yes, even the whipped-cream demons ;)

Time for bed, and then driving 6 hours to GF!

seattle, portland... and more

It's been a long time without an update... time to let you all know what I've been doing :)

Flying out first-class was pretty sweet. I'm not going to deny that. Getting free Toblerone and ginormous lounge chairs on a 4 hour flight? Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. But flying home and finding out that your chair is completely soaked through with .... something... (we're going to say it was water... that's what I'm hoping) yeah, that's not so awesome. Seriously. If you've got a first class ticket, you'd think that they would take care of something like that a little bit quicker than, say, 30 minutes??? Meanwhile, I'm halfway between standing and squatting, trying to avoid both the low ceilings of the window-seat-area and the wetness of the seat cushion. Ughh...

I climbed to the top of the tallest waterfall in the US! I hope I can get a picture of that up here. Maybe someday.

Umm... there was a lot of shopping... I saw the perfect shirt "Oh him? He's a friend." ;) But someone might get mad at me for wearing it... tee hee

And the most awesome tank top ever... "Made in the '80s" ... ON SALE!! Yes, now I'm going to wear it around everywhere :) Until it gets too cold for it in GF... which is about 4 weeks from now...

Okay, time for bed. I think we're going to Gay 90s tomorrow. And salsa dancing on Monday. After X-rays in the morning... yay! Night!

flying out

So, this is my last day of work this summer. I'm so glad to be done presenting my projects... it's been a long summer, but yet unbelievably short when I look back on it. Anyways. It's not quite time to get sentimental.

I leave for Washington today right after work... we'll see what kind of experience that is :) I'll have a 2 1/2 hour layover in MSP on both the flight out and flight back... but I am going first class, so I guess it makes it a little less horrible...

Oh yeah! Supposedly some peeps from UND are going to be up in Seattle the same weekend! Totally sweet!!

I have nothing. I'm exhausted from presenting yesterday. I just want to go home, and not have to clean out any more flasks.

ghetto superstar

See, you never know what will happen when girls' minds grow idle. That's probably why Rochester is such a dangerous place to live in. Out of boredom, we create games, such as "dance and run" (park at a gas station, grocery store, Blockbuster, or other well-lit, late night venue and dance until someone sees you and then drive away) or the ever-favorite chinese fire drill, except minus the running and plus our fantastic groove moves... yeah *wink* Brittney and Emily are my heros!! Oh yeah, and we AREN'T stalkers... even if we walk to this one guy's house at 11:30 PM, and then later stop by the restaurant he's supposed to be at... tee hee hee...

A success, indeed. It's amazing how much fun you can have without spending or drinking anything :)

Tomorrow shall be a fantastic waterski day... although that does mean getting up WAY early and piloting the boat the entire day. Oh well. Any excuse for hanging out with friends in the sun is a good one. Basically anything that doesn't involve being in freezing cold buildings is good. So... maybe I should tell the people who control the temp at Stabile to turn the freaking AC off. Or just bear it for 4 more days.

So, in case any of you don't know, I'll be flying out to Washington (first-class, cha-ching!) Thursday afternoon... Exciting!! I get to see real mountains for the third time in my life!! And the Pacific Ocean for the first time!!!! Exclamation points!!!!!!

Time for bed, and time to take off the whitestrips. Feel the burn, burns so good.

pee shivers

Hee hee... do you ever get the need to shiver after you pee? I don't know why, but I've always done it, ever since I was little. Tee hee hee...

Anyways... almost time to go back to school!! I'm pretty excited... although that's probably already apparent, since I've been talking about this for about... 3 weeks now... yeah, time for school again. And time to order some school shoes! Seriously, what the heck is wrong with shoe stores these days?! They have nothing!! Hear me? Nothing!!! What is a girl to do?? Well, probably what she did last year... yep, stick with the same old shoes that I've had for forever, and a half. Hmm... what does the internet hold...

Umm... well, that's taking too long. On another note... the other day I was driving out to Emily's house, and I started thinking about how Minnesotans on average are way better drivers than drivers in other states. Then about 5 minutes later, I realized I still had my right turn blinker still on. Haha, well, at least other Minnesotans are better ;)

Time for beddy bye! Wish me luck on my paper that I have to write for work... and pray for Emily, that her brain tumor isn't cancerous... please...

sugar high

Right now I'm way too hyped up on DQ ice cream to get any decent quality of sleep. So... what do I do? Yay for blogger.

Just finished carrying Emily's little sis out to the car... we watched Spainglish (which, btw, was fantastic... kind of makes me wonder why we all can't have guys in love with us like Adam Sandler... and why I can't have perfect morals like Flor...) and Sierra (as I would do if I were 4 years old) fell asleep within the first half hour, so we let her sleep in my room.

My current life is decidedly a combination of stinking crap that I have to deal with, some meaningless hints of worth (such as a few x-z slices on confocal showing excellent basolateral staining on a number of MD-1s and wt MDCKs) and the friendships that carry it all through...

Oh, I did manage to get new bedding for school :) I'm probably more excited than I should be for a few pieces of cloth... but it is green...

So, it's been decided that a list will be made among all girls as to the qualifications of a dateable guy. More on that after the weekend has had its course.

Talking about the weekend, I guess there's camping going on? Give me a call if you want to go waterskiing!! (And yes, I am perfectly able to drive the boat, thank you very much... grrr... boys...) Pero ahora, va a dormir!! Hasta luego...

Oh yeah, P.S., I thought this was a really cute picture that needed to be posted... For all y'all who missed out on the Roch fest street dance... this is what you were missing out on! Look at these babes, ow ow!

umm... okay

So it's been realized that I tend to only write blogs when I'm in bad moods. Probably not a good thing, especially for those people that I tend to be mad at/frustrated/disappointed with. And since I would only feel intense emotions like those for people that I'm close to and/or care about a lot, people who read this tend to get the idea that my friends are terrible. Well, they really aren't. And I should probably find a way to vent my feelings in some way that isn't so passive-aggressive.

More later...

On the way home from work, I passed this truck that had a sticker on it that read "SPORTSMEN FOR BUSH '04". That got me thinking... what if other, typically pro-Dem groups decided to make stickers symbolizing their support for GWB. Take, for example, lesbians. If I were a lesbian, I think I would still side with the conservative view of equal opportunity for all (for eg., less of the outrageous advantages awarded to minorities solely based on their skin color, responsible governmental spending, etc. etc.). But for some reason, I don't think the campaign slogan "LESBIANS FOR BUSH" has the same effect... *wink*

taking back saturday

It's been another one of those long, drawn-out weeks that makes you want to use the weekend for everything it's worth... Or be used by your friends for all it's worth. You know, either way.

So... umm... okay. Starting with ... Friday? Wasn't really that exciting... Well, I did happen to see my supervisors in random places, which was pretty weird. I had to pick up my bike from the repair shop after work that day, and it just so happens to be that my boss and two of my lab supervisors were enjoying HUGE mugs of beer outside Dos Amigos at exactly the time I walked by :) It was really interesting, because that's pretty much the first time I've actually seen them outside of the work setting. And even though they're REALLY OLD (tee hee, like, 29 and older), it was fun sitting with them and just talking about random things (like how Ed would look good wearing tiny bike shorts! weird!!)...

Party at Emily's on Friday, but nothing much exciting happened. Played some cards, half a game of pool... jumped on the trampoline, which just happened to have an enormously heavy kiddie pool underneath that we could not have possibly moved... needless to say, it looked like I peed my pants after awhile :)

Saturday... ah, Saturday. Picked up Emily and little sis Sierra and headed out to meet Jess in LC. Of course, we had to pick up something on the way (namely, ice and water), so we stopped at the Zumbro Falls BP... I grab my wallet and open the door to get out... and for some reason, this buzzing sound turns on. I check the lights and just figure that it must be because the CD player adapter is in the tape deck... so, we head into BP, buy ice, water and all that good stuff... and as we get back to the car, I realize that I don't have keys anywhere on me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I locked the keys in the van. NOT ONLY that, but since I wasn't paying attention last weekend when my dad told me exactly where the spare key is, I spent a good 20 minutes on my back under the van trying to find that damn box. And since our cell phones were locked in the car, we had no way of reaching anyone...

Well, that's where we were without the awesome help of the girl working at the gas station. She just happened to have a boyfriend who works towing trucks and would of course unlock the door for us :) Seriously, how many times do people come to your rescue like that? The rest of the ride to LC was a haze to me, because I kept thinking about how much of a miracle it is that there are still good people in the world...

Whereas, sometimes your own friends (and etc.) can let you down.

I mean, I know how much of a loser I am. Honestly. I don't need my own friends repeating embarassing stories to the whole world.

Also, it hurts to know that regardless of how many times I invite people out to do stuff, those same people would not in the world do the same favor of inviting me to something of theirs. I'm tired of being used for my hospitality. I know I'm not perfect, but at least I go through the effort of trying to keep up friendships. Maybe there's just something about me that I don't know. Like how I embarass my friends with how much of a dork I am. Yeah, that's probably it.

Have a good weekend, all. Don't try to reach me today (not that you would), because I've had it for this weekend. Time for some shopping by myself, and maybe a haircut too.

time to return?

I'm feeling more and more like it's probably about time to head back to college...

No, it's not that I hate being around home. Nor is it that I don't enjoy being with my family, or having the chance to see high school buds. It's just that every day ends up being longer than the last... and it doesn't hurt experiencing the awkwardness of "hey" "hey" "how's college" "good" conversations with people I barely knew in h.s. (yet somehow as we have been released from the prison of century, are those we feel obligated to acknowledge... or maybe I'm just antisocial) ...

Just made some chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm... cookie dough is definitely just as good as the cooked kind... and it even has tasty salmonella sometimes...

Summer is more than halfway over. Well, the break of it, at least. Doesn't that make you want to take a road trip to Canada? It must be done.

Talking about things being done... time for cookies :)

everybody to the limit!

Everyone needs to come to Hok-si-la campgrounds this Friday for some awesome camping adventures! We're going to carpool from Emily's house at 6PM and hopefully show up before 7 at the campsite. Seriously, everyone should come, because it's going to be a blast. And a half. And Saturday we'll get to enjoy lovely Lake Pepin.

So, Independence Day has come and gone once again. I don't even have any cool pictures of the day. A shame, but nevertheless, a magical day indeed.

I want to wax my legs. The hair is now about 1/3" long. Yep, prrrretty gross.

The last 3 days I have been sleeping on the downstairs couch in a sleeping bag. I decided about a week ago that it would be a good idea to strip all the wallpaper off my walls and paint. Bad idea, when that wallpaper's been there for over 19 years. Yuck-o.

Talking about things that are yuck-o, I just noticed this nasty spider crawling on the floor.... I screamed really loudly... twice... why do I have to be such a wimp?? I even get all this negative reinforcement from my dad, but still I do it. I put my sister's UND folder on top of it and kind of mushed it with my foot a little. YUCK. I hope it's dead.

My ears are wet, I'm tired, and I want to go to bed. And Waseem is coming in two days. And I still haven't started painting yet. Ohhh man. Please, if you have time, pray that I don't get eaten by this gross spider that I may or may not have successfully squished under Stephie's folder. (Bleehehhhh, spider thoughts...) Goodnight!

capture-the-flag, reinvented

So, anyways. I have a lot to catch up on. Celebrating Steph's birthday was fun (especially pissing off her stupid boyfriend by stealing her away from him on Friday night, yay!). The wakeboarding's been pretty safe... slaloming too... although there was one fall last weekend that completely took my bottoms off :) haha, thank goodness for the murkiness of Lake Pepin!!

Time for work, but this is just the beginning. More excitement to come :P

childhood days

Yesterday I got a couple big reminders that life is impossibly short. After dinner, Suzy (my aunt) called to say that she was having severe chest pains, so she was wondering if I could hang out with Gabs (her granddaughter) while she and Jimmy went to the hospital. First off, it's shocking to know that someone close to you could be potentially in a life-threatening situation... I haven't heard back from her yet on how she's doing, but she had to stay overnight ... so it was definitely severe enough for the doctors to worry... Second, how can you expect to take care of a 7-year-old girl when something that serious is happening to her grandma? Gabs probably knew what was going on, but being the good sport that she is, she didn't show that she was scared. Man, it's hard enough trying not to be worried myself, imagine having to calm someone else??

Gabs and I did have some fun yesterday :) We took off in a rocket headed for the moon and then the sun and then Mars... I found out that male seahorses are the ones that have seahorse babies... (take that, boys) ... we bought some horses, zebras, and elephants with our leaf money... got some ice cream at DQ (where I got some weird looks from concerned parents... NO, I'm not her mother)... played around at Hoover Elementary, where I discovered how much my arm strength has diminished in its capability to swing me across the monkey bars... and watched a little Wallace and Gromit before Jimmy came to pick her up for bedtime. It was a good day :)

We'll see what the weekend holds... perhaps a little waterskiing (pllllease, Dad?)... some birthday celebration for Jess, Laura, and my fam... a work party for Kaori...most likely some awful, messed-up dreams, like the one I had last night... wishing that Emily wasn't so busy with soccer tourneys... yep, that's about it.

a bit distressed

Hmm... not exactly sure what to do at this point. We'll see... indeed, we will...

I still have the smell of Greek food on my hands... and on my breath :) I wonder why anyone even wants to hang out with me! It's not because I'm totally lame that I'm at home on a Tuesday night. Well, yes, maybe a little bit. But for real, I need to start getting enough sleep. Raid (my French supervisor at Mayo) has caught me more than once dozing off during one of his procedural lectures. ;) Shame on me. And shame on all you who keep me out late at night!! tee hee :)

I guess I have to stop talking about it and actually do it. Good night, y'all.

ski deprivation sucks

Well, it does. And so is my consistence on updating my blog. I'll work on that. But first I must complain... It will be at least 2 more weeks until I get a chance to do some real waterskiing. Rollerblading just does not cut it. Biking is a little better, but it is a distant comparison at best to the wonders of skiing on water. Yep. So...

I've been working for a full 6 days as of today, and it is definitely getting better. I did fall asleep in today's lab meeting, but really, it was the best I could do when I could hardly understand the acronyms they were using for the molecular receptors and compounds and stuff. Seriously. The next few months of dreams for me will be filled with R-Smads, DMEM, TGF-beta, Cre-LoxP Recombinase, MD-1 cells, Hygromycin, Neomycin, Trypsin, dnTP, Abl-GFP chimeras... do I need to go on? Didn't think so.

Steph's grad party was a grand success. Hanging out with the family (and extended family) was definitely worthwhile, as was finding out that Aaron Freeman will be going to RCTC next year ;) Poor Aaron. Well, I guess I'm really not all that sorry. Oops. I also got a chance to talk to Danny, which was excellent, as I haven't talked to him in ages. I think he may have gotten over the fact that I'm a horrible and cruel person. Anyways, this summer should be good. I hope.

I still have scrapes and bruises from wrestling Emily the other night... ;)

becoming the working girl

Work starts tomorrow. That means... I need to find either a pair of closed-toed shoes that I can wear with a skirt, or black shoes to wear with black pants. Sadly, I believe I have neither. And I need to find my passport. Or birth certificate.

This is really boring. Umm... I'm le tired. So I'm going to sleep. Good NIGHT!

need a car wash?

Well, you definitely wouldn't have to pay for one today. Yuck! Does it ever stop raining? God, this is me telling you that all of Olmsted County is fine, rain-wise. No more, please.

Ooh, lightning...

So, today I went in for my pre-employment physical. My first experience of peeing into a cup. Kind of weird, I have to admit. I couldn't even do it the first time... too dehydrated, I guess. Anyways. Too much information, I guess.

And another wonderful gynecology appointment... ehhh... enough said.

While I was inside Papa Murphy's getting a pizza for the fam, God decided to let it pour. I wish I was plastic-wrapped like that pizza when I walked outside. Bleehhhh.

Anyways. Time to drive Grandma Kaye somewhere to pick up her green card pictures. She's currently an illegal alien, but don't tell anyone. Silly Grandma Kaye ;)

let's get (a) physical...

I'm really grateful that I'm a girl. Thank you, Waseem, for letting me know all that I'm missing out on with male physicals... oh yes. I'm still not necessarily looking forward to it, though. "Necessarily" is interjected for the sake that it may be a 25 year old male pre-doc doing the evaluation ;) On that note, maybe that should be one of the reasons that I dread it, as well... thinking of Dani's experience with Pracs... Well, I guess the only thing I should be hoping for is that it's fast, also considering that I have another appointment to go to. What a basketcase of medical problems I am...

So, wake up for a run, go to Mayo to get a physical, eat lunch (necessary part of day), go to another appointment at 2, and then... oh yeah, back to wondering what to do. I think I might be looking forward to being busy with work. Trying to fill up a day is difficult to do after spending 9 crazy months on homework, karate, EL, NRHH, NSCS, Honors Program, tutoring (crap, I still have to write something to them... s#$^h%#;%) and hanging out with wonderful J3ers. Anyways. Wow, yeah, I need to do that. So, moral of the story is, it doesn't matter how busy you are when it comes down to getting stuff done. I feel like I just don't have any motivation to do some of this stuff.

Poopy list to get done by... Thursday?
- Send letters to kids that I tutored this year
- Mail my available hours to UND, so I can tutor in the MLC (math learning center, whoo hoo)
- Also mail evals to Matt for the tutor program
- E-mail my boss to get more info on what I'm actually doing... and if I can get a week off for vacation? :) Wow, this may not be a good thing to do before I've even started working...
- Talk Emily into letting me play DDR with her soon
- Get a tan
- Get a life (well, at least something to occupy my idle mind, besides my lovely OChem book)

current mood:

Poop on everything. I mean it.

home at last

Yay!! I'm home!!!

Okay, enough exuberance. I'm almost all the way unpacked. And I've succeeded at rearranging all Steph's crap so I can have space enough for my toothbrush in the bathroom... yesss... So, it's almost safe to walk through my house, now. Apart from some illegal extension cords... a pile of stuff that has to go off to Goodwill... and my guitar in the middle of everything... yeah, there's still stuff to do.

Ahh, the simple joys of watching Zoolander for the billionth time... "I turned left!!"

What is it about being home that makes me want to fall asleep all the time? I think we have a carbon monoxide leak. Seriously... I get 11 hours of sleep two nights ago, and then 10 hours last night? And I'm still compelled to go to bed at 7PM?? What's wrong with me???

More later. Time to be a bum and watch TV. Time to get offline. Enough with the waiting.

a birthday worth remembering...

Ahh, what a Sunday it was... Thank you to all who remembered, and especially those who kidnapped me and carried me all the way down the hall to give me presents ;) tehehe... And I had a cake built for me! I didn't even notice any of the pieces of spatula in it, either :) Most importantly, though, I got to spend the day with awesome people that I have been absolutely blessed with getting to know these past 9 months.

Soon enough, I'll be home... Good, in that I get to spend time with my family... and see hills... and not smell the potato plant... But I will miss a lot of people. I guess I can't have everything, though.

Almost time to get a haircut. I'm going to try out this whole GreatClips-in-the-Union thing. I hope I don't see anyone I know walking by. :P More later on this new experience...

P.S. Thank you, April, for making me the queen of Santiago ;) You are the best!!

partial relief

Well, one big paper is done. I just hope my prof won't realize that I melded two completely different topics into one paper and didn't really successfully connect them. I'm tired of work. Bleh.

I found out that the lowest grade I'm sitting at is in Chem... an 86.3%... Pretty much impossible to get an A out of that, unless he curves it. Which he probably won't, considering he's an imbecile.

Different things are bothering me. I wish certain people could just leave me alone. And I wish that I could be home with my family. And that my birthday wasn't this weekend. C'mon, the DAY before finals? Seriously.

Time to take a nap... then I have to start on my second (and last) paper. Something about Ceropteris ferns, I believe. At least I've got that much.

a good use of 10 minutes

Ten minutes until Bio class... what to say... It's FRIDAY! We've discovered that it is also the LAST Friday of classes of the school year, since R&R Day is next Friday, and finals are the next week. So, with that in mind, I will be at home in exactly 2 weeks. Wow... feelings of missing UND and people already... What am I going to do with myself this summer?! Oh yeah, work. And lots of waterskiing!! Most likely I'll have to get started studying OChem as well. What a summer, indeed.

Well, before these 2 weeks blow by... JFS Quad-B-Que is tonight! And... picking out movies for Saturday's Honors Lock-in (which is going to be TOTALLY SWEET). Have to write that Bio lab report. And have to write about 5 more pages for my Brain class final paper. Blech. I ended up getting a really good grade on my presentation, though!! I'm pretty psyched about that.

Oh, sorry, I'm probably too positive with that comment. Don't worry, it's just the Prozac kicking in ;) (Mom and Dad, I guess I'm on Prozac, or at least some people at college here think I am) tee hee

Time for Biology. Apparently Dr. Carmichael gets very excited about golden frogs. Something about them doing the dirty. I don't know what to think. It's probably just April and her dirty mind making up stuff again. Crap. I'm going to be late. Bye!

gametophytes and placebos

Drrr... time to write papers again. A paper on placebos that I have to somehow make 5 pages longer. And... an 8 page Biology lab report on fern gametophytes. Needless to say, the rain outside perfectly embodies my attitude towards getting started. Yucko.

Chem lab final exam on Thursday. QuadBQ is this Friday. So is the last Calc test. Bike race and HPSO lock-in this Saturday. Birthday in 13 days... :)

Really, what happens when you're 19? I think we should make some restriction on something and only let people older than 18 do it. Then it would make it more celebrated. Heck, look what it did for 21st birthdays. What else happens when you're 21? Exactly. Nothing. You get to drink some alcohol. I never even took advantage of being able to buy nicotine products when I turned 18. Maybe I should celebrate my birthday by buying cigarettes for underage kids. (Yeah, if I ever tried smoking, I'd die automatically. Especially with this bronchitis.) So, what a better way to celebrate the turning of another year than by addicting a bunch of kiddies to nicotine!! Yay!

(Just so you know, I was entirely kidding... for the most part)

I "heart" Zithromax... and Albuterol... and ibuprofen. That's about all I have to say. Oh, and I have a new shirt. It says "Guster" on it, with crazy breakdancing people above the lettering. And now I have a magnetic dress-me Elvis set :) It makes me happy. Elvis currently is wearing a karate gi shirt and blue suede shoes. Nice legs...

I think that deserves a picture...



Check back later for updates to Elvis's outfit...

guess what!

I have bronchitis! And maybe pneumonia! But... on the other hand... I only got four wrong on my chem test. So as long as I do really well on the next two tests, I should be able to pull off an A.

Time to study :( And cough more.

like antibiotics and the flu

Sickness is really getting me down, lately. I came down with a fever of 103 on Saturday night, oddly enough only hours after I had come back from sweeping out a huge, unventilated basement in downtown GF that hadn't been cleaned since the flood. So... yeah. Thinking that perhaps mold spores were germinating in my lungs, Katie drove me in to the ER. I'm just glad we didn't take the advice of the Mayo Clinic HelpLine, who said that I should have called 9-1-1 right away. It turned out that I just had gotten the flu. Oh, but trust me, it still sucks mucho. Especially since I have asthma, which reacts with a "haha, I got you now" response to any sickness I happen to get. Fun times, fun times.

It turns out that my sis and I are in similar predicaments. Hopefully I'm not the one who is corrupting her... :)

Let's see... anything else besides the flu and corruption... I did my "Placebo Effect" presentation in class yesterday. That was interesting, considering I could barely talk and my mind was in a billion places. I would have gotten the results of my chem test if I went to class yesterday, but after making the arduous trek to and from Red River High yesterday morning, I was in little condition to make any other physical attempt at motion. I took a nap. And it wasn't even satisfying, due to the fact that I was coughing into my pillow pretty much the whole time.

I know, I know... feel sorry for me, blah blah blah.

What else... oh, yes, for certain individuals who read this and automatically think that I'm talking about you... well... I'm not. So there.

Time for Calculus class. And then maybe a delightful nap after that. Chem lab at 4... where I shall see my wretched test results. (Yeah... NOT looking forward to that... ) And... Relay for Life on Friday! Everyone should do it! Yay, go team!

sunshine on a dreary day

What a busy, awesome weekend it was...

April and I started it off excellently on Friday evening by practicing Tiger Crane in the J/F lounge for the talent show :) Of course, one can only handle so many strikes to the forearm in one evening, so we spent a good 2 hours or so working on the intensely impossible borderless goldfish puzzle. I'm sure the people who walked by were wondering what the heck we were doing putting together a jigsaw puzzle on a Friday night... tee hee...

That night I also realized how many lovey-dovey couples there are in Johnstone/Fulton. Gag me. I mean, seriously. Let the guy have some fun and do your laundry alone for once, girls! You're not married, so why are you doing laundry together? Puh-lease.

Saturday... oh, Saturday. Very exciting times, indeed. I woke up early for my now-routine (except for this morning) jog along the Englestad/coulee bike path. [Just a note to all you California-ites out there: it was absolutely beautiful in Grand Forks this weekend! I don't understand why anyone would ever want it to be more than 65 degrees, unless you're going to go swimming. Oh, yeah, I hope the people who are in charge of heating the buildings are reading this. Why does do we need to keep the dorms at 80 degrees throughout the day??] Okay, back from that unneeded digression. After running, I studied for about 4 continuous hours for Biology (test = today). The plan was to study for Chemistry (test = Wednesday), too, but that's incredibly impossible when I have the impression I need to study as much as possible for Biology. If I was in the mood to complain, I would probably say something about how professors are sadists for putting tests for common freshman courses within days of one another. Hey, but I'm not going to be the one to do that ;)

Discovering that, in fact, the downstairs clock was incredibly off, I raced off a little before 4 to the Betty to serve dinner to the Rocky Mountain Elks Foundation or something like that for an APO fundraiser. But instead of the moderately difficult 4 hours we were initially told that it would take, we soon discovered that we would be working a full 6 hours. Forget having fun afterwards, amigos. Well, unless you are willing to sacrific natural processes, like sleep. Upon coming home, I found out that I had missed out on a fantastic viewing of Star Wars I... And also that I had an interesting cell message from the one and only Mr. Saman. So after April and I figured out what we were going to do for the talent show, I went to investigate this call. Who would have known that watching Enemy of the State with two liberals and staying up talking until 7 in the morning would have been so great ;)

Even more amazing is the fact that four hours of sleep managed to get me (mostly) throughout all of Sunday. Okay, so I took a nap for an hour before dinner (pizza, which basically killed my stomach). And I was kind of cranky. Hey, but at least I can pass it off as something else, even if it wasn't. Yay for being a girl!

And now I'm here. Done with my Bio test. Typing an unnecessarily long post. That basically no one will read. But that's okay! Wow, it was a great weekend. Maybe the next few days of tests will take care of this overly-positive/joyful attitude I have. Until then...

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new beginnings

Spring. Tis the season at last to begin again. For me, this has been symbolized by my mom's package arriving today with a brand new pair of tweezers. Tweezers are wonderful, magnificent things. Trust me, all you boys who read this. And to have one after trying to live without one for a good 3 weeks is a splendid feeling indeed. Okay, enough with this nonsense.

Realizations have been brought forth, as well. Certain people have been very good at helping me understand the futility of my overdriven attitude. Maybe I just need to relax. Still, some things I haven't come to understand yet. There's no way to really describe it in the context of this blog, however. It's still too much of a weight on my mind to trivialize it to mere writings on a page. More later, perhaps.

I think it's time for summer. Agreed? Agreed.

waking up

I think this is the earliest that I've been up this entire school year. Yes, ladies and gentlemen... I woke up at 6:30 today. (exhuberant applause ensues) I know, I know... An amazing feat... we'll leave it at that. Nevertheless, I'll probably get crap for even mentioning it. Anyways.

Now that you're all totally lost in my early-morning ramblings of above, I'll leave you with this message: Umm... okay, later. Bye!

for myself

Why do I have to go to events only to realize that no one really cares that I'm there? This is kind of how I felt being at the Student Government banquet. Why have I spent a good six months in an organization where I'm not even recognized for my work? Is there some kind of secret to success that I'm missing, something like partying with them on the weekends or getting accepted into their social elite? Or is there just something I'm missing in the way I am? Am I not "girl enough" for them? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?? I had always thought, when I was younger, that there were no impossibilities in life. Here I am, 18 years of age, yet unhappy. Why should I be nice to everyone when I just end up getting ignored and crapped on in the end? (Figuratively, of course.) Depressing thoughts for a Saturday night.

My cousin got married today. The last one of the Gengler boys. That means that there are... 6 more of us who have still not been married on my dad's side. Cousins Tracey, Angie, Laura, Erica, my sister Steph.... and me. It's strange to think that Laura will probably be getting married before I'm done with medical school. Heck, everyone is probably going to be married by that time. Except for me. Oh well. 7 years is a long time, no matter how you put it. Plus, boys are overrated. Take for example, tonight. I go up to Fulton 3 to say hi to the guys there, and all they do is give me a glance and continue with their video games. Stupid video games. Stupid boys. Waseem actually talked to me for more than a minute, so he gets kudos for that. But then he went off to a frat to drink. So minus 1000 kudos. Back to zero.

I sit here, typing this pathetically lame blog, listening to Guster in hopes that their music can bring me out of this stupidness. I could be studying Chemistry. I could be cleaning my room. I could even be getting a head start on the newsletter for next week.

Not a chance.

Time to read a book. For fun, for once.

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through the clearing smoke...

The last 42 hours have been possibly the most stressful that I have experienced in a long time. Not only did I fail to get a good start on my placebo paper Easter weekend, nor have the time to write a 500-word scholarship application, it seems that possibly every aspect of my life is tumbling down. Well, I really shouldn't say that. I had an awesome time with my family this weekend. However, coming back here was a difficult task, due to the fact that I didn't have nearly enough time to reconnect with my family, and that a number of things here have been stressing me out.

Hey, but I have to look on the bright side: I bought a new swimsuit... ON SALE... at wonderful Target :) Can that get me through this week?

The difficult stuff is out of the way. I stayed up until 4:30 this morning finishing my "Mind over Matter: The Placebo Effect and its Applications to Everyday Medicine" paper. Tutoring was nearly fatal, but I did make it through without messing up the kids' concepts of special triangle ratios too horribly (at least, so I think). The application is done and turned in, although technically 5 minutes after the deadline. And now, all I have to do is finish about four sections of Calc 3 homework by Friday and go to a student government banquet tomorrow night. So, stay tuned... by evening tomorrow I should know if I got the scholarship or not.

For now, I'm going to make up for my meager 2 1/2 hour sleep time last night with a full night's rest tonight. Hope everyone had a fantastic Easter!

my life as a tour guide

Stephie and Mom are coming tomorrow! Yay!! I'll have to brush up on my skills of a tour guide. It shall be splendid.

Oh, how will I ever survive April. Spring break was a welcome reprieve, but now I just can't seem to get myself back. Yay for Easter. The holy weekend of home-cooking and overwhelming amounts of candy :) And God. Yes, Jesus too.

Time to take a shower. This is what I get when I wake up late for tutoring.

adventures of spring break

I finally have time to update!! Of course, that means that spring break is officially over (for me). However, I've come to terms with that fact, and truthfully, it's a good thing that now I can settle into routine once again. But before I start catching up on the papers and studying that I really should be getting to, let's figure out how I've spent the last week and a half!

Where have I left off... Oh yes. It has been awhile, hasn't it. Last you have heard, I found out that I did well on my Bio test. Yes... then, I discovered that my confidence should not have perhaps extended as greatly to my other classes. The Calc test turned out alright, but that is probably more to do with the fact that I got lucky with a lot of my guesses. Let's just say that I have a lot to restudy for the final. Chemistry... was a LOT harder than I expected. And the worst thing is, I don't even know what grade I got on the test!! aaahhh!!! Well, enough complaining.

Spring break was a total blast. I rode down to the cities with probably two of the craziest girls in the J3 wing, and that was awesome in itself. We rode a giant rocket. How cool is that. Pictures may come later, but I do have them as proof.

And... unbeknown to me, Carol was planning all this time to spend her spring break in Boston as well! (Although for mightier reasons than me; she spent her whole week working in a food bank for AIDS patients and their families.) Carol and I had a lovely evening getting lost in the shopping districts of Boston... although, after we split up to head our separate ways home, I managed to get even more terribly lost. After wandering around for 45 minutes in the dark alleyways of the warehouse district of Cambridge, I finally figured out that I had gotten off at the wrong T stop and was still very far away from anything I could recognize. Talk about scary. (Don't worry, Mom and Dad! I called up Josh eventually, and he saved the day.)

I'm pretty sure that I have lost a few pounds this trip. Being away from the freedom of all-you-can-eat dining centers will do that to you. Well, and I walked pretty much everywhere in Boston. I think that on average, I walked 3-4 miles every day. That is especially impressive, taking into account the fact that pretty much everywhere I went, I wore my backpack filled to max capacity with boring placebo/mind-body medicine books. (Yeeessss, I'm still working on that paper... in fact, I have one that is due this Wednesday that I haven't even started on... eeeek!) Grr... why can't I stay on one topic.

However, all the walking and lack of eating has still not given me the ability to fit into that wonderful size 4 clothing. I went shopping at Old Navy yesterday, and somehow, my body constitutes a size 8 in pants sizing?! Freaking clothing industry. I know it's just a number, but what is the industry's deal? Are they trying to make everyone go on a diet here?

Okay, now I'm done ranting. All in all, it was an excellently full spring break. I had excellent food, I breathed fresh air (which is more than I can say about the poopishly-corn-smell I am currently experiencing through my open window), I got a greater sense of how lucky I truly am, and I got to spend it all with my cousin and other wonderful people. The plane experience was even awesome; I met some girl from Ukraine flying in to play piano in Missouri, I sat next to a female chemist on one of my plane rides, and I'm pretty sure that the guy I sat next to flying into the Twin Cities was flamboyantly gay. It was a fantastic trip, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Except with caffeine pills, so I wouldn't be so tired all the time!!

Talking about time. Bedtime! More later, perhaps.

greetings from green belt-dom

What a full weekend this has been! To imagine that in just a few days, I'll be flying off to Boston... :) I'm so excited!! Anyways, time to play catch-up...

My Biology test went super well! It was on evolution and species, which is one of the most boring things that I have ever studied for. Also, there were some things in there that were incongruous. For example, our textbook teaches us that a reducing atmosphere, combined with the "bubble theory" (which states that bubbles formed on the edges of lakes/water bodies and evolved into simple cells) made the first cells of life. But how can that be, when it has been found that there was no oxygen or ozone in the early life of the earth? How do you make water, except with the combination of two hydrogens and one oxygen? Sounds kind of fishy to me.

As you might infer by the title of this post, yes, I am now a full-fledged green belt in American Okinawan Karate! I tell you, it is so much more awesome to be a green belt. Just going to sparing class today made me feel like, WOW... I am a green belt. And I know karate! And I can kick other people's butts! (Except if they are Rhiannon, Chad, Martha, Amanda, or Dave :) And April, sometimes.)

The Honors Formal was hella-tight, for sure. The music was pretty diverse, which made me happy. Some people complained that there wasn't enough swing, but I personally have a hard time with swing, so I was happy with what we had. The food was most excellent, as well. And having random people look at you like, "wow, you look awesome!" is super cool too.

Time for hall gov! More later...

i don't know how to take this one...

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

So, I guess this is where I'm destined to end up. Just kidding. Anyways, here's a quick update on my life:
- I guess I'm now the president of the APO pledge class, since no one was volunteering. I hope it's not going to be too much work. Oh yeah, and apparently the first social event is BYOB (bring your own beer) so... well, you get the idea. I'm going to Purgatory anyways ;) (But no, that doesn't mean I'm going to drink. That would be stupid. And I could get arrested for it. And beer tastes bad.)
- Tonight is "How Well Do You Know Your Roommate?" game night, so April and I get to rock out with our awesome knowledge of each other. Totally sweet.
- Both the Honors Formal and the Karate belt test is coming up in a week... yikes!
- And the day before all that, I have a Biology test. (Necessary random interjection: BIOLOGY LABS SUCK! I do not want to draw one more stinking amoeba or mushroom gill!! Freaking A!) Okay, now I'm better.
- April's birthday is also the Wednesday of that week, so I need to figure out a fantastic birthday present. There's little chance that I can beat out Amanda's awesome present to Martha last year (she hung up her bras all over their room and on top of Martha, still sleeping in bed). But, you know, what can you do.

Matt didn't show up for his mentor meeting with me today, so this is why I have a lovely hour to spend wasting time in the Union computer lab. PLUS, I have pretty much everything else taken care of for this week... I went grocery shopping this morning, so I have a new supply of Tootie Fruities, string cheese, and cinnamon apple sauce awaiting my return in my room... and I cashed my paycheck (an incredible $34 for a whole month! golly gee!) and karate monies (this is the power I get as the financial officer of the UND American Okinawan Karate Club... sweet.)... AND the room is so amazingly clean, it's scary. I better get to work making it normal again. Lunch first, though.

Oh yes, pray for me from 4-7 tonight, please... I have Chem lab. :(

applications galore

We have entered the busy season of job applications, scholarship deadlines, and spring break plans. Or lack of spring break plans. You choose. But in this chaotic time, I have had the opportunity to dine with wonderful people who can keep me grounded. This evening's dinner was a prime example of that. We were sitting with some people who had just come from mass at the Newman Center, and the topic of conversation drifted to the origin of man, and who was really at fault for Original Sin. However, what really got my attention is when we started talking about purity. For instance, in the beginning, Adam and Eve had no idea they were naked. When Adam looked at his new wife, all he saw was a wonderful proclamation of God's love. He had no lust for Eve. In the same way, Eve's only thoughts toward Adam were those of the purest love. One person at our table contended that in the same way, we must lose this fascination with lust, with drawing out the "sexiness" in ourselves to please our husbands/wives. I sat and thought about this. So, every time that we submit to seeing our partner for the attractiveness he/she represents, we resist seeing the Godly love within them. How can we truly love one another when we focus on the physical aspect? Anyways, this is something that is on my mind, and will most likely continue to be for awhile now.

Other things on my mind... Well, I put in my application for a summer job today. SMURF, here I come! And I took a Bio quiz online... I missed one question because of pure stupidity. Oh well.

Time for karate! Love, me

... whew

You probably do not understand the mental relief I am experiencing at this very moment. Wednesday, I've decided, is definitely the day which my academic week leads up to. But enough complaining from me.

There are a number of things I'm currently contemplating for next year.

-- vice president for HPSO (Honors Program Student Organization)
-- being a part of the Honors Committee
-- active member in APO (Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity)... that's if I make it through initiation ;)
-- being in NRHH (National Residence Hall Honorary
-- remaining a wing rep for J3, treasurer of the UND American Okinawan Karate Club, and Emerging Leader
-- joining HOT (Hall Orientation Team) to help people move in next fall
-- running for Residence Hall Senator (there are currently 2 people running for 3 positions... only question is, how much of a commitment it is)
-- active member in NSCS (National Society of Collegiate Scholars)
-- actually making it to the Undergrad Med Association meetings
-- getting a job with Altru or a research position at the med school
-- becoming more active in College Republicans (don't make that face, Mom ;) )

Now you may have more of an idea what's been fleeting through my mind the last week and a half. Anyways, more update later, time for breakfast!

i truly apologize

I am eternally sorry for the sorrow I have created in others' lives by not updating my blog in a whole week. But understand me, I do have good reason. Part of the reason why I'm leaving a completely sucky blog right now. But I promise, once I turn my paper in tomorrow at 3, life will be good. And you'll get your freaking update, Jos. :) Bye!

sunday morning drive

I promised an update and, alas, it is here. This week could possibly be a stressful one, as I have a Chemistry test this Wednesday (two chapters, of which I've just started the "suggested problems") and a Calculus test on Thursday... yikes! This wouldn't seem so bad in high school, but when a quarter of your grade rests upon a single test, things are a little different. Moral of the story: I probably should be studying instead of updating my blog right now. Ha. But that's not going to happen. Besides, I've done a fairly sucky job of keeping this up-to-date as of late. Is this because my life is that much more boring than usual? Possibly. Nevertheless, it's not an excuse. On with boring the readers of this petty blog! ;)

So, oh yes. It was indeed an interesting weekend. Mardi Gras Night at the Newman Center! I was seriously expecting Jesus to come in and overturn the tables. Heck, but it was all for charity... so... gambling in church is good by those counts? ;) tee hee... Amanda, April, and I decided we were unquestionably too much of poor college students to go in for the complete $5 charge for all that gambling... so, we bought drinks for 50 cents instead and played Trivial Pursuit: Genus Edition. And I made a $1 donation towards their cause. So therefore I'm almost a good person.

Later that night... yes... so, I decided to go out driving with Dan to practice driving his manual drive grandpa truck... However, we were driving in the parking lot of a city park at 2AM, and two cop cars showed up. YIKES! This is the first time that I have ever been pulled over, and guess what I didn't have... yep, you guessed it... my driver's license. To further the horror of the event, the officer had to tell me to step on the brake pedal so I wouldn't keep rolling back into his car. And when he asked me to step outside the truck, it took Dan about 2 full minutes to successfully instruct me how to step on the emergency brake. I spent almost 10 minutes in the back of an unmarked police car as the officer kept trying to look up my name and license on the database. In my opinion, this was definitely not the coolest way to learn how to drive a stick-shift. Stupid manuals.

It really is about time for me to either go to bed or study some Chemistry... but... it looks like I might actually be going to Switzerland this spring break? Yay for Natalie ruining Derrick's plans to go to New Orleans!! Also, April and I have beautifully decorated our room... perhaps I should get a picture of it...


lovely...


and more lovely! and they're not falling down!! which they tend to do every 2 hours! hee hee...

Oh gosh... as I was uploading the pictures of our new room lighting, I came across the wonderful pictures of our melted-ice-cream delights party. Martha had put boxes of fudge bars and ice cream sandwiches outside in the snow to keep cool for her party, expecting (with good reason) that it would most likely stay below freezing. Out of all the weeks of winter, this happened to be the one with 40 degree temps... needless to say, the low-carb fudge bars did not survive well...


umm... I think this picture is self-explanatory.

I love food

So, that was entirely too long of a time to keep from updating. Then again... it was a rather busy week. Here's an attempt to sum up the last five days...

On Friday, I found out that I definitely did not understand intersections of 3-D planes enough to bluff my way through our quiz. Oh, well. At least I can accept responsibility for it. On a better note, I found out that the Honors coordinator thinks that I should run for vice-president of HPSO (Honors Program Student Organization) in a couple weeks... which would be TOTALLY SWEET. That means that I would probably be working with Sarah (as she is the potential prez for next year). I think I have a picture of her somewhere around here... we took pictures in prep for our side ponytail fundraiser, and hers was definitely the best, so I put hers on all the posters :) Yay!

I don't know if I explained the fundraiser ... nope, I didn't. Basically, we're collecting a dollar from everyone we know, and by the end of the week, we'll have a bunch of money to give to the American Heart Association in remembrance of the father of a girl who was on J3 last year (he died of heart disease in September). And in thanks for all the donations, we'll be wearing side ponytails on Friday!

So that's basically been my life the past few days. Friday night was pretty exciting ;) We (Amanda, April, and me) decided that we were way too cool to go out, so we stayed inside, did a little homework, and then invited Jeremy Bold over for some intense speed Scrabble scrimmages. Saturday night... was promising to turn out similarly, but then we received an out-of-the-blue call from Dave and Kurt. Finding out that they had nothing to do either, we ended up watching "Shaolin Soccer" (which, imho*, is an awesome movie)and making some brownies :) Oh, and I guess we sat around in the J3 lounge for awhile (as you can see below; wonderfully decorated by April, Amanda and yours truly). Dave looks like he's on drugs, but you must understand that this was about 2AM.


Chillin' in the J3 lounge at around 2 in the morning...
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After a good amount of chill-age, April did a little gaming over at Kurt and Dave's, while I attempted to better master the skill of driving a manual (namely, Dan's little grandpa truck) :) However, that plan was quickly thwarted by vicious security guards who couldn't understand why I would want to learn to drive in such an open place as the Columbia Mall parking lot. Poop heads. Anyways... I guess some other people could use driving lessons, as well... :)


It's amazing what some people can do with their cars.
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You know, you really have to give this person credit for doing whatever he did to get his car like this. This is what Dan and I saw on our way to church this morning. :) Tee hee hee


Look! Here's proof that there are black people in North Dakota! (P.S. Kurt is super cool)
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After church, we proceeded to have a lovely dining experience at Wilke! This is our friend, Kurt. We love Kurt! In fact, the * above signifies that I used one of his "super cool" 1337 terms (imho = in my humble opinion). Perhaps more tutorials will follow.

Anyways, it is time to celebrate the end of Martha's teenage years (yes, she's turning the big 2-0!) But before that happens, April and I have to run out to Wilke to snag some foodies for our fridges, since our single remaining meal pass would go to waste otherwise. Talking about foodies... we made chicken and pasta with a cream sauce yesterday!! Well, I mostly did it, but everyone was helping with cutting the bread, grinding the cheese, making the salad, buying the groceries (THANK YOU, DERRICK!)... All in all, an excellent production. Oh geeze, that makes me hungry. Food!

something's missing...

No, I haven't lost my keys, camera, or anything else again. What I'm missing is something more... what am I looking for... something more internal, like peace of mind... or peace of spirit... Anyways, the meaning of telling you all this is perhaps to explain why I haven't felt completely "centered" the last week or so. I know that I need to let God into my life more, but it's difficult for me to let him take all that power from me. What can I say? I'm a control-freak (as anyone who has been in the kitchen with me is sure to know) and it's hard for me to let someone else handle my life for me. Even if He knows all the answers. Even if He could do such a better job than I could. Do you get an idea of how hard this is for me, God? Anyways, that's probably what I'll be praying about the next few days...

Biology lab is in about 1/2 hour, so that's kind of a downer. I have a quiz, because aparently being in Hon lab requires you to take a quiz before starting lab each time. Blah blah ...

I'm still in the process of finding a job for this summer. Hopefully Ed will have some suggestions for me, so I can apply for the SMURF program. I don't think I have enough experience to apply for SURF, but I guess I can always apply for it next year. One thing is for sure... fire-hydrant painting is probably not going to get me very far in the med school application process ;P

Time to head off for lab, but hopefully I can come up with something more interesting to add to this post later. Like... how I learned how to drive a manual on Sunday night?!

UND life, in pictures

Dave plans his attack on the unsuspecting April after a long hour of karate class.
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Here, we have a delectible assortment of brains, courtesy of Hon: The Brain class... Look at those girls, what hotties!
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For all you poor souls who haven't had the opportunity to visit my humble abode, here's a taste of what you would get...
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... and the other side of the room. Mom, please ignore the unmade bed; it is a freak occurance that I didn't make it this day ;) tee hee
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a result of getting that camera cord in the mail...

April doesn't look very happy... tee hee :)
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An intense game of Scrabble, as you can see.
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sleepless in North Dakota

So, I haven't made any muffins quite yet, but fear not: I will probably have to cook at least a couple meals for myself this weekend. I guess having breakfast every morning kind of screws up having the opportunity to eat without needing to care if I'll have enough passes to go through the weekend. Oh well. But I guess that's good news, since I'm actually going to be using all my meal passes this week. (Mom and Dad start cheering)

Today is definitely one of those days where you can feel the insides of your nose start to freeze. Wait, let me rephrase that. The insides of your nose freeze as you step out the door, and by the time you are halfway through the quad, your legs have lost all feeling, your cheeks have started to wonder why they allowed you to move up here, and the inside of your partially frozen nose is now fully frozen solid. It's also one of those days where the gas tank is a block of ice and the antifreeze loses its ability to do anything and instead just makes a frozen mess on the windshield of your car. Thank goodness I don't have a car today. Last night, I believe the temperature was around -30. That's without windchill. Yeah. Saturday is supposed to be about -51 with windchill, so I guess I should be thankful for now.

Things are going well scholastically up here. I'm actually doing my Calculus homework, even though we're going through the material at an impossibly slow pace. I may go crazy, but at least I'll get a good grade in the class :) Chemistry'll be coming up here in about half an hour, so for now I'm just enjoying the nicely heated library.

Oh! So, it turns out that I will be tutoring this semester, and even the same two kids. Except this time... it'll be at 8 in the morning! Bah!! Good way to start out a Wednesday morning, eh? That's what I thought.

And... I'll have to get some actual research experience before I send in the application for the SURF (student undergraduate research fellowship) application, since they require 2-3 letters of recommendation from my research advisors... I only have one real experience, and that was in high school. Needless to say, it'll be an interesting couple of weeks leading up to that February 1st deadline!

It's going to be an interesting weekend, what with Martha and Amanda being away at the FOCUS conference until Monday... Maybe I'll talk April into making muffins with me :) Meanwhile, I'm going to totally get started on some of that Calculus homework. Flippin' sweet!

i'm back!

Okay, so I'm finally settled and feelin' the UND vibe again here in Grand Forks. Life is good. Dealing with a little PMS, but that's life too. Break was truly a perfect blend of rest, family, and some crazy times with friends. Especially the rest. I think in that last week of break, I probably got a full 10+ hours of sleep somewhere throughout every day. Okay, so I took a lot of naps in the middle of the day, but I do sort of have the excuse of coming down with some icky virus sometime after New Year's Eve. Recuperation, you know.

Anyways, due to the fantasticity of the break, I think I'm definitely ready to take on my new semester in an academic duel of the century. Just kidding. Hopefully this 15 credit load will be enough. I seriously can't find any classes that I would want to take that are, like, 1 or 2 credits. Maybe I'll sign up for a partial semester "Books You Should Read" honors class. Take that back... umm... I do still have to figure out when I'm tutoring this semester. That'll be difficult, seeing that I don't really have a vehicle, and Dan (owner of a fantastic Grandpa-truck) has flight lab when I have 5-6 hours of no class in the middle of my Tuesdays and Thursdays. AND... I'll have a mega-load of Emerging Leaders stuff (supposedly) this semester. And I should take a CNA (certified nursing assistant) certification class, which will add in a good 6 weeks of additional work into this spring. On top of that, I have to figure out where I'm working this summer? Yikes!

Enough of that jib-jab. It's excellent to be back, forgetting the fact that I have to pay for everything out of my own pocket once again. MAJA is now reunited, and that is good. I get to be made fun of by Derrick again. Yeah, so I know, you don't bury survivors. Poop on trickery. ;) We're in the process of Northern-izing Russ again, as his time in Kentucky has affected his speech. Poor fella.

Well, I think I've blabbered on enough for this blog. Next blog: muffin making? :) April has already made fun of my muffin pans. We'll see who has the last laugh when I take those wonderful bakery creations out of the oven, and eat them... by myself... mwah ha ha




Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?

staying up late

This is a message to all you younguns out there: Get your sleep.

Personally, I LOVE sleep. But for some reason, other people out here do not. Let's go through the past... week? for proof... We'll see if I can get more days in there; at this point, I haven't a clue how talented my brain is going to be at that.

Yesterday night: Invited Josiah, Wole, and Emily to sleep over... I guess when people know they're going to be sleeping over anyways, they forget that sleep is an integral part in that. Just because everyone else is staying up until 6 AM doesn't mean that you have to do it too. Unless it's your house. My mistake there. I mean, my sister was up taking a shower and getting ready to go to school before we went to bed.

Sunday: Everyone came over here again, but of course we had to pick up Wole (no matter how many times you ask us for rides, Wole, it's not going to convince us to buy a car for you). So we spent some good time sliding down Wole's driveway (COMPLETELY iced over, fun! Except for nearly scraping the palms of my hands off on the ice). That was a fun time, and I got to see some people that I haven't seen much of this break. So, everyone ends up staying around until... 4 AM or so. I nearly convince them to just sleep over, but they were concerned that their parents would worry... aww...

Saturday: Did not have anyone over, and didn't do anything with friends! Weird! Definitely had quality family time, however. Got to watch "Garden State" and "Eternal Sunshine" with Mom, Dad, and Stephie. "Garden State"'s definitely the more excellent of the two.

Friday: New Year's Eve celebration at Emily's house!! Stayed up ALL night long, and then proceeded to go home at 7:30, sleep until 10:30, whereupon my parents woke me up with promises of walking to Dunn Bro's, which we ended up not doing anyways. Really feeling sick this day. Throat was all crappy and yucky... bad headaches... flashing between hot and cold spells... Too bad I didn't have any school to miss, because then all my pain and suffering could have been justified.

Thursday: Hmmm... oh yes... movies at Emily's, where I fell asleep around 1AM, woke up at 2:30 and found out people wrote on my face again with magic marker (yeah, well, they'll go to hell anyways :) j/k). I kinda drove home in a huffy after that. It's sad that this was a good night's sleep (in respect to the other days of this week).

Wednesday: Okay, so this is where my memory kinda craps out... Oh geeze, I completely forgot. We went up to the cities this day! Went shopping at Mall of America, bought a $130 Airport Express for Peter Fritz (which he finally paid me back for, like, yesterday), hung around at Dan's house and watched "Early Edition" (do you remember that show? I love it! I kind of forgot it even existed until we flipped on the TV and it was on. Wonderful television.), and went to Stargate Night Club. The club was pretty fun, except for the drunk creepy guys. And the nasty smoke smell. It was good company at the club at least... Good protection from the creepy guys.

Well, that's about as much as I can list off for now. Today I get my digital camera!! I'm very excited about that!! So, in no time at all, I will get to post lovely pictures of temperate North Dakota on this very webpage. Aren't you excited? I know I am :) Let's see... what else happens today... Emily is leaving for Malibu today (traitor :) tee hee). I'm in the midst of cleaning up everything. So that's pretty exciting... Probably have to take a shower somewhere in the next few hours... I probably should go on a run, if I can motivate myself enough to follow through with that... I guess that's about it for today. I have only 5 more days left, so I should definitely be enjoying every last second of it. However, I'm going to say that staying up until insanely early hours in the morning is not going to be included in that. Cross my fingers for good sleep and family time? :)