Practice Makes Perfect, Heat and Girl Scouts

Once upon a time, I had a paper due for a class. This paper was different from other papers I had ever done. The class was a 300 level course and I decided it would be a good idea to start it the night before. For every paper I've written, I've given myself plenty of time to review review review. I try to get them looked over. Good lord, did I just not care about my grade?

No, I did. I knew I could revise it for a higher grade if I needed to though. Perhaps that was something that made me less motivated.

Today was the day we got them back. As you can probably guess, I wouldn't be talking about this unless I did a lot better than expected or a lot worse. I was expecting a B at best. I got an A-.
Um, excuse me what? How did that happen? I know that being ill prepared can land me in trouble. I had experience with that when it came to my HPHY midterm. Oof.

However, I think there's a reason that I was able to do so much better on my paper than my science midterm: Practice.

Y'see, I might not blog everyday, but I blog most days. Due to this, I've been getting a lot of practice at writing. Sure it's not the best writing, but it's still writing. It's still trying to convey my thoughts to a larger audience by making coherent writings.

Funny thing is, even before I got my paper back we talked about how some writers practice writing at least 900 words a day. I don't even remember what the conversation was about, but it's just funny that it happened to come up.

Honestly though, who am I kidding? I got that grade because of my bomb comparison of the main character in House of Mirth to Mean Girls.

Other than that, it's been so hot out! Good lord. I managed to get my mile in for the run streak at 10pm, and it was still 66 degrees out. How that happens in May in Oregon I don't know.
Also, today was the last day of the Discovery Program with the Girl Scouts! I can't believe it's over. We still have some technical stuff to go over, but other than that no more planning for programs. No more coloring. No more activities. Aw.

Time for me to head out. I've got an interview tomorrow. If only that meant a job. Hmm.

What skill are you constantly practicing over and over?

Running Breaks

I've got a feeling that time is going to fly by until I get to my big project deadlines. Goodness, I'm not ready to deal with all of this. Hmm.

Due to the fact that I was on a houseboat, I wasn't able to do much running. When you're out on a boat, you can't really... run. You know?
I was able to run on Saturday because that was the day we got there. After a squabble with my mom about getting my run in, I managed to do it before I got on the boat. Sunday, I was on the lake with no escape. And Monday... I was either on a boat or in a car until 9:30pm. You know what that means? That means I went two days without running.

Sure, not running for two days isn't crazy for some people, but I haven't done that since December. Of 2010. So it's a little disappointing to admit that.

For now, I'm back on the running track. The mini half marathon my sister and I were planning kind of fell apart, but I've still been doing some pretty good running. One thing I'd like to do is the RW Runner's Streak I read about in Ann's blog. I'd do more than one mile for some of the runs, but I think this would be a fun thing to do!

Other than that, not much going on. Just trying to get done with this term!

When was the last time you took an unexpected break from running?

Weekend Return

Alright I'm back.

Things I was not expecting this weekend: Having absolutely no connection to the outside world. If I had thought about that, I wouldn't have brought my computer. I was without service as well, so when I say no connection to the outside world I really mean it.

This weekend  I spent my time out on a houseboat with family and friends. Honestly, I didn't know who was going to go until a hour before I was picked up.

As for the trip itself, there's not much to say. I laid out in the sun. I laid out on a floating island device attached to a houseboat in the sun. I entertained a little kid with animal noises. I caught a fish. That's about it.

One of the most shocking things happened to me, or so I thought. I didn't get burned! I always get a sunburn. This is what I thought until I finally took a shower and felt my scalp burnt to a crisp. Whoops.

A good, do-nothing trip. Yup.

Now it's Tuesday, my brain is all off schedule, and I'm back to deadlines looming over my head. Week Nine, here we go.

What did you do for Memorial Day Weekend?

Sleeping Patterns and Midnight Showings

Remember how I said that I didn't care about sleep, I was going to stay up? Well, that finally bit me in the butt. Yesterday was the second day in my college career that I overslept. I know.
I think it's just because I've had such an effed up sleep schedule that my body finally decided to say "You know what? You're just going to sleep through your alarm."
It was very surreal at first too. I looked at my clock and chuckled. What? My eyes are off. Then I looked again... Nope. Rushing to class with no makeup, mussy hair in the rain is not great. What sucks the most about it is it was a class that I actually like, and I didn't want the professor to not like me. That might be out the window.

Got another rejection letter for a job today. Bah. By the looks of it, it seems like I'm not going to have a summer job. Which is bad, because I need money. I'm so tired of every job being a full school year job, or going into September. Honestly, I just need more connections.

Speaking of summer, it's almost here. Gah! With that in mind, summer blockbusters are coming out. We've already had quite a few come out like The Avengers, and today Men In Black 3 came out.There's a trend that's happening with many of these movies, and that is the trend of midnight showings. Originally to me, these midnight showings seemed only meant for fandom favorites such as Harry Potter. Slowly it appeared that superhero movies wanted this too. Now Men in Black 3 has had a midnight showing!
I know why midnight showings happen. It's to get more people in watching the show. But for me, midnight showings feel like secret special things. Only the dedicated go to these things. However with more and more of them, it feels less... special. I know, it's a bit ridiculous to feel this way about the movies, it's just how I feel.

Anywho, I'm excited for all of the fun movies coming out. Then again, I haven't gone to the movies in awhile, so we'll see if I'll get to any soon.

Have you ever been to a midnight movie showing? What movies are you excited for this summer? I'm excited for the last dark knight movie!

Being Sorted

Sometimes you're awake for awakes sake. Tonight is one of those nights.

Truthfully, I'm only up because I've been avoiding starting a blog post but I wanted to do it tonight before it became Monday and I realized I hadn't done any in a long time. That tends to happen to me. And yes, that's probably the ugliest sentence I've ever seen too.

Last night I was up late writing as well, but that's because I was writing a play. Yep. I don't write plays. Especially since I have no creative drive in that sort of sense. However, no one else was taking over the job, so it was up to me to write something.
Remember how I've been saying I'm ready for summer to just get here?
Well, there are some things that are looming over my head that I'm just not ready to deal with yet. Like this project. And the big research paper that's going to go with this project. Hoo boy.

Still don't have a job. Every job that I've been applying to from the UO joblink that says it was JUST posted has told me, "Oh, we put that up a long time ago." According to the website, you put it up today. What is this?

Sooo... has anyone been to the Pottermore website? Have you been sorted? I finally moseyed on over to see where I would be sorted. I was not prepared for the whole back story thing (another reason why I'm up so late).

Soon, I arrived to the sorting hat. I started to get nervous, like for some reason a virtual hat would affect me in the real world.

I just didn't want to be sorted into Hufflepuff.

I wasn't. I was sorted into... Gryffindor? Me? Really? If anything, I'm a first year Neville version of Gryffindor.

At least I'm not in Hufflepuff.

What was the last type of personality test that you took? Did it fit with your personality?

What We Should Call Me and Doodling

Um, what happened to the sun? Today there was what seemed like a freak rainstorm. It poured. I suppose it's fine, because then we'll be able to appreciate all of the beautiful sunny days that are to come in the summer. Plus, after the rainstorm it was the perfect temperature for a run.

When I was on my run, I definitely was having a "Really?" moment due to earlier events. Like this:

Do you like Gifs? Because I certainly do. I don't know why, but they're so entertaining. Especially if you've ever been to the website What We Should Call Me. It's pretty much situations in life mixed with a gifs that fits the situation. Should not be as entertaining as it is.

My thoughts are all mixed up. You'll have to bear with me.

The other main thing on my mind is drawing. When I was in high school, art was my thing. I hung out in the art room constantly, I took independent art (and did the most work out of everyone, thankyouverymuch), and I thought that I would be doing art all through college. My favorite type of art was comic art, and my style has definitely been influenced by anime. Nowadays, it's a bit different, but that's besides the point. The point is, I've hardly been doing any art since I started college.
However, lately the art bug has bit me. I'm finding old characters and missing on the art thing. I'm also really wanting to do some fan art.
Art was such a big part of my life. What happened?

Two things:
1. The Internet
2. Actually concentrating in class.

Before in high school, I drew because I wasn't paying attention. Now, I pay attention just so I can pass my classes. As for the Internet... it's just so distracting! I dunno.

For now, I'm liking this doodling thing.
And really, it's never really gone completely away. Every so often, I've started doodling but right now it's getting stronger. Hmm. We'll see where this goes.

What habits from high school pop up with you from time to time?

Weekend Wrap Up

I'm slowly starting to clean/pack up things in my room for moving out, and it's making the room feel a bit... eerie. Just because it's so empty.

Grocery shopping is a weird thing to get used to. If I don't have certain foods in the house, I automatically turn to the closest type of junk food in my house. Why? Perhaps it's because I start to think, "Hey, if I'm not going to have this healthy type of food to eat in my house, that leaves me more junk food to fit into my meal." Yeah. The logic is not sound. Thankfully, I got my rear into gear and bought some fruit, veggies, and grains that I had been missing. I've had far too much sugar this weekend, and it made my body completely out of wack.

I'm slowly starting back on the responsibility train. I like that. True, it's taking a lot of work, but I'm getting there. Part of the FOUR BIG THINGS I NEED TO GET DONE list was buy a ticket for London. I've been looking at tickets and such for a long time, and tonight I finally grew a pair (plus the help of my mom) bought my ticket. Next part of that process? Figuring out where I'm going to be staying for the week and a half before I have official housing. Yeah.

This has just been an... interesting weekend overall. I had pretty much a mental breakdown yesterday, and it wasn't pretty. Maybe the overdose on sugar made my mental state unstable? Possibly.

Goals of the upcoming week: Spend as much time as possible in the library. I need to get a move on with these projects. Seriously.

What groceries do you run out of the fastest? For me, it's English muffins and frozen veggies. Also carrots.

Tired Days and Interesting Actors

Well. I certainly don't know what to make of today.

It involved a lot of napping. Like, a weird amount of napping. Tired all day. I have no idea why.
My body might be trying to get sick, and the tiredness was a way of fighting it. Who knows.

What I do know is that I am loving on movie stuff lately. Just the magic of movies in general. Part of this has to do with "volunteering" (also known as hanging around doing nothing) on the film club sets for a film club promo. The other part comes from watching the movie Hugo yesterday, which is pretty much a love letter to movies.

One thing that I love in movies is when an unexpected actor shows up. Sometimes a cameo, sometimes just an actor that you don't expect. For instance, on a run on the treadmill tonight I could have sworn I saw Melissa McCarthy pop up in Charlie's Angels 2. Not 100% sure, but I did find out she was in the first one. Huh. The main thing that I was watching on the treadmill though was Talladega Nights, and that includes Sacha Baron Cohen.

Now, Sacha Baron Cohen is an interesting character. As you might know, he currently has a movie that came out called The Dictator. All of his movies where he is the main character are a crazy type of humor. On the other hand, he shows up as a completely different characters in movies that aren't his own, such as Hugo. We're going full circle here people.
Personally, I think when he's not the main character he steals the spotlight when on screen. Yet, I've never been a big fan of his main character stuff. It's a weird position he's in. Plus, he's a good actor. I just don't know.

So I ask you: Are there any actors that you like, but you don't much like their work? I know things like Borat are his main focus, but I just don't like them. Still, I like him. Then there's the opposite effect, where you like their work but you don't think you like the person in real life. For me, that's George Clooney. I think he's brilliant, but as a person from interviews and such he sounds AWFUL.

I'm ready for a fresh start. Which I'm hoping Sunday will be. Have a nice night!

Burning a Hole in my Pocket

It's Friday, what? Keeping myself busy today! For the most part.

My internship that I've been doing is already half over, and we've only had three sessions! Despite being such a short amount of time, I've still been able to learn a few things. First of all, I've realized that I don't think I want to work with children when I grow up. Though all of my adult female relatives seem to think I'm good with kids, I've finally come to the realization that I'm not so great with kids. If I thought I was bad at holding a normal conversation, it's a zillion times worse when I'm trying to talk to kids. There are plenty of jobs without kids, and I don't think what I hope to have as a career does much with children.

The other main thing I've learned has to do with money. There are studies that talk about how when people get money that they are not used to getting, they tend to spend it more. I thought I was immune to this. Apparently I'm not.
No, it's not like I'm spending my whole paycheck as soon as I get it, I've simply been going out to eat much more. It also partially has to do with social settings though. If someone asks to go to lunch, I'm not very likely to say no. I've gone out to eat five times this month. That's ridiculous! I should be saving my money for big goals coming up! Strangely enough, I actually haven't spend more than the last few months though. I've spent less. Still 13 days left of the month though.

In other news, I just haven't wanted to deal with things in life lately. Like big things I need to do. If I ignore them, maybe they'll go away?... *Sigh* Nope. Got to get my rear into gear. Four more weeks of school. Four more weeks until I need a job. Oh dear.

What's your first splurge when you get money? As you can see, mine is eating out.

Food Logs and Recipe Skipping

It seems that every topic in my life lately has revolved around food. Let's talk about it shall we?

Running with extra weight is tough. How do I know this? Well, I'm about five pounds heavier than my lightest weight has been for the past year. Yes, I've finally gotten to a scale that works correctly to see that I've gone up. It's actually only a pound heavier than my beginning college weight, so it's not the craziest thing in the world. Do I know why I gained weight? Absolutely. Sometimes people think it's a one time event, but I can see the mistakes made over time.
The weirdest thing is that there are times during the day I look at myself and think, "I look good." Even at a higher weight. Then during the same day I'll have thoughts of "I look like a blob and ugly and GAH." Does anyone else have thoughts like this? As in, do their body image thoughts change in the span of a day sometimes? Or is that just me?

The main point is that I need to cut down on the junk and stop eating so much in general. I know I'm eating more junk than needed, and more food than needed in general. A problem that I tend to see with people who gain a large amount of weight is that they don't see what's going on. They might know and just avoid it, but they don't see it whatever the case may be. I see it. And I'm going to do something about it.
Which makes the timing of my next assignment for Human Physiology strangely perfect. I have to track my food for three days for class. Yup. Another one of these. I've had to do these for classes before, and it always makes me try to eat healthier. I know that health teacher is judging me. I can feel it. Alright, maybe she's not judging me, but maybe she'll think better of me if my diet is good. Because she really cares about what a college student does with their life.

Finally, yesterday was Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! Did you know? Because I did not before yesterday, but someone posted about it on Facebook. Cookies obviously had to happen.

I've made plenty of chocolate chip cookies before. I've been told I'm quite skilled at it. This was just another batch right? Well, not exactly. This time, I went SANS RECIPE. I know. Madness.

I tried it. I mixed things in when it seemed like there wasn't enough of an ingredient. I baked some testers. The result? A pretty buttery cookie, quite chewy, could use a teeny bit more sugar cookie. Decent in my opinion. Then again, I never know how to judge my own cooking. Sister dear, if you're reading this I'm going to ask you if you want some cookies. I have a bajillion, and as said before I need to work on my quantity of eating. Ayup.

On a random end note, I need my tweezers bad and I can't find them. My eyebrows are ridiculous.

What recipes do you feel confident about doing sans recipe?

All Nighters and Moving for Success

Well. My scholarly attitude has certainly gone down the drain. Last night I had to write up an essay for a class, and it was the most ill-prepared I've ever been for a paper in my life. Oh the shame. Usually I finish papers up early, give myself a chance to get them reviewed. Nope. Not this time. I was prepared to stay up all night if I had to. I had the caffeine. I was ready for an all nighter. Luckily, I was able to get about four hours of sleep. Sounds bad, but considering what I was expecting I think it's okay.

For Mother's Day a few of my family members got together and did a Mother's Day BBQ for all of the moms. While there, I talked to one of my cousins who is working and getting her Master's degree. The conversation moved a bit towards the "What are you going to do after school is over" questions. Somehow the question of where I was going to live after school got out. I explained that I'm thinking I'm probably going to head to California for awhile simply because the type of career I'm looking for is happening over there. To this comment I received, "Oh, I could never move that far away from family". She then continued on about how our family is so close knit, and why it would be so difficult to be far away. Here's the thing. As I've talked about before, I adore my family. Like my cousin said, we're very close knit. However, I know that for the type of career I'm looking at it's going to be hard to find work in Oregon. That might be changing slowly due to so many productions in Portland lately, but I don't know 100%. What I do know that job-wise, I might need to move.
Still though, when my cousin was commenting on how she couldn't be away from the family, it was almost if she was saying I didn't love the family as much. I know she wasn't saying that, but you know when you get that feeling that someone's saying something in the subtext? Yeah, it was that feeling.

Who knows? Maybe I'll get a job right out of college here in Oregon. Maybe I'll try it out somewhere else and come back. What I do know is that I won't limit myself to where it's safe. I love my family, and I know they be happy for me even if I had to move. Hey, my parents would probably be excited that I had a job.

Only a reading for tonight, which is fantastic. All I want to do is be lazy today. I do need to go on a run as well, but... we'll see what becomes of that. I'm really tired. I'll run in the evening.

Would you move away from home for a job? What's the farthest you've ever lived away from your home state/town?

Love Ya Mom!

Orthorexia! Yes, that was it! I just couldn't remember. Anywho, hello.

Today was Mother's Day as most of us know. Hopefully you were able to spend some time with your mother.

I know that there are times where my mom and I don't agree. Sometimes we can annoy each other, or stress each other out. But you know what? I love my mom. I always want to know her opinion, and I try to talk to her as much as possible. (though in her mind, it's much less than it actually is.) My mom has helped me out so much in life, and I don't think I'll ever be able to repay her. Then again, it's a mom's job, right? Ha.

Well you know what? I'm not addicted to drugs. I don't have a kid. I'm going to school to get a degree and doing a fairly good job at it. I think that proves you're doing a good job.

Speaking of school though, I am struggling with the motivation this term. Four more weeks until summer. Four more weeks. Just four more...

What did you do for your mom for Mother's Day?

Eating Habits to the Extreme

I've always been fascinated by shows about people with issues with food. I can't watch those strange addiction ones just because I get so grossed out, but more about certain health habits people have with food. A recent thing I watched on the subject was True Life: I have... I can't remember the official name for the disease, but it was about people who restrict their diets to only extremely specific foods. Something with an O.
Anywho, the people did things like only eat raw, unpackaged foods or eat only five different types of foods they thought were healthy such as eggs, oatmeal and apples.

The terifying thing isn't that they're so restrictive, or that they completely shun everything else (although it is pretty crazy to watch). What's so scary is that they're not that far off from normal things, or normal situations. And the people aren't crazy in personality either. They all act normal despite the extremes they take. I don't know them personally, but I know people that are on diets such as the raw food diet, or very vegan. I think it's fine. Do what you want. However, it's so close to an edge at times that it's easy to fall off.
One of the other things that came up in the show was that many of the people didn't know a lot of nutrition education. This is a huge problem I've seen in pretty much every food issue related show I can think of. For example, a guy in the episode wouldn't eat anything processed or meat products because of a biology class that made him scared of disease. Yet there's a moment when he talks about how he's constantly hungry, never filled up. Sir, if you always feel as if you're starving and you're rail thin, you need to eat more or figure something else out. People jump at the first scare tactic they see. I dunno.

The saddest thing that I saw on the show is how their diets affected their personal and social lives.
Like I always say, I'm not perfect with food. I still go out to eat with people though, or I still get involved with activites that include food. You know what I do then? I adjust what I eat. The people in the show couldn't even do that. A girl on the show would purge everytime she ate anything that wasn't "perfect", and her mother was even a nutritionist! Sometimes you do know what to do but still have perfection addictions take over.

I'm not sure what prompted me to write a whole post about this one thing. I just think that food should, though it never is, just be food. Get togethers with food are supposed to be about the people you're with, not the food you eat. With all that said, food should still be enjoyable. It's meant to fuel you and be tasty. Give it the credit it deserves. And by credit, I don't mean eating a box of doughnuts until you're sick. You know what I mean.

I've never been vegetarian/vegan/raw, but I'm willing to try meals of said diets. Nothing against them, I just like the taste of meat. Yup.

Have you ever been on a vegetarian/vegan/raw/other diet?

Life Updates

Well. It's been awhile, hasn't it?

I don't even want to look at how many days it's been since my last post, but I know it's been far too long. This week has been pretty crazy. That's all I have to say.

Currently it is When I started writing this it was much later than my bedtime should be, and yes this is a bit concerning. The thing I happen to do is whenever I get past a certain point at night, I tend to say "Screw it" and stay up for awhile. Not the best plan. Luckily, I've screwed up my sleep schedule enough to be able to sleep in. At least until 9. Aw yeah.

It's officially the end of Week six for me of the term, and I'm quite excited. Still no summer job, but it looks like I might be staying in Eugene. Who knows. I'm just excited to see my cousin/sister graduate!
Speaking of cousins, my cousin was going to come visit tonight, but she bailed at the last minute. I know she says she wants to come over, and she says there's all these things she wants to try (like a half) but I've seen things get in the way every time. That's what happens when you have a big family (she has five siblings who all do sports.) The thought is nice, but she's just busy.

On a random note, I had a bit of a revelation the other day. During a long tiresome APO meeting, I realized that I really liked hanging out with the people around me. What is this, friendship? Oh my goodness. I'm actually forming friendships. Ten points for the socially awkward chick!

I've been in a good mood lately. Honestly, I think during the winter term I had slight depression. I know I say that lightly, but hear me out:
I never wanted to do anything, I felt pretty emotionless, and I just zoned out. I didn't have to worry much about my classes, but I don't think it would have mattered. Maybe I had SAD, because as soon as I started moving around outside in the sunlight I actually started to feel stuff. I don't think I was seriously depressed, but I think there was a hint of it.

Do my thoughts seem a bit scattered? Perhaps. I'm still a little tired. I only got about seven hours of sleep, despite sleeping in. Another thing I'm wondering is have you ever felt gross even after a shower? I had to wait until morning to shower, and I still feel gross. I scrubbed up, but still feel icky.

So, that's an update from me. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I'll be posting more soon!

What plans do you have for the weekend?

Musical Distractions

When I was in high school, I would listen to music or watch TV while doing my homework. What happened after that was I didn't retain any of the information that I had just read. Now when going over work or reading I have to have music off. I know that a lot of people need music when they study, and I find that so bizarre. Sure, if it's music without words like classical music I'm fine. However a lot of people will watch a show and be able to get their information just fine.

I've been told that I'm just not as good at multi-tasking if I have trouble listening to music and doing other things at the same time. Seems a bit insulting to my intelligence, but whatever. I think I retain the information a lot better than others personally. Ha, who knows.

When I'm blogging even I usually can't have music. If I do, I tend to have it at a kind of low volume. My thoughts never come out as well if I have music playing because my thoughts get mixed with the lyrics in the songs. My thoughts are never as coherent written out when I listen to music. Because of that, if I'm writing something professional I never listen to things with lyrics. I just want to make sure that I sound professional in such things, and that tends to not happen when I have music.

If you didn't realize, I'm currently listening to music as I write this post. So if I seem less coherent, that is the reason.

Last midterm happening tomorrow. I have no idea how to study for it. I've done well on all of the quizzes, and it's English. How on earth do you study for an English midterm? I suppose I was able to study for them last year, but that was more when I didn't know what the characters did. In Greek plays, many of the characters say very similar things. That means when using quotes, it was difficult to match quotes to characters. Yet I feel like I know who says what in these current books. I know who has what problems, who would say which type of things. It's the essay parts I have no idea to study for. Hmm.

In random news, my cousins are thinking of doing a half! I'm so excited! They don't know which one yet, but my sister suggested this one happening on the fourth of July. That would be fun, and I know I'd be in shape in time for it. I mean, my sister and I are training for a half "race" June 3rd, so if I just kept continuing my mileage at around that area, I would be fine. Once they register for one, I think I'll join them.

How is it almost ten? I just don't understand.

Are you able to listen to music/watch TV while doing work?

Vacation in Sight

As I pretty much say every weekend, I can't believe the weekend is already over! Seriously, where did it go?

Today I ended up doing one of the craziest things I can think of: I slept in. I know, right? However, even with sleeping in I didn't get any extra sleep. If anything I got about seven hours of sleep. But still! Waking up later than seven is wild for me.

Currently, I am on total countdown mode. Sure, I'm still worried about having a summer job, but having school be done is weighing on me more. I know. If I was in the working force, I'd be happy to be in school. Yet right now all I want is summer. I don't want to think about assignments that happen at home. I don't want to worry about grades. I want to be in summer mode.

Awhile ago, I was talking to my sister about why I wasn't in school mode, and I think her reason makes a lot of sense. I've been continuously in school for seven terms now, if you don't count winter breaks. Even though it wasn't as much school as normal, summer school was still school. I still had assignments, I still had tests to study for. Also, I worked a little and spent the rest of the time training for the marathon. Seemed like a lot to me. That means my brain has been in study mode for quite some time. Even working during the summer brings a different vibe to your brain.

The biggest thing that always appealed to me for teaching was the fact that you got summers off. Once I'm done with college, that's not going to happen. Plus I'm not going to be a teacher. Therefore, I cherish these summer vacations now.

I think the truth is that the time right before the transition makes me more giddy than anything. I'm excited to move part one of my stuff next weekend. I know, right? I'm ridiculous.

Obviously this is all brought on by the upcoming midterm and paper outline I have due this week. Hurrah. At least it's the last midterm, but I have absolutely no idea how to study for it. I've done well on the mini quizzes... but will that help? Pish, I know you guys can't answer that, I'm just thinking out loud.
Six more weeks of school. Here we go.

Are you excited for summer? (Doesn't matter if you don't get summer vacation, just summer in general) Why?

Cinco de Mayo

Did everyone have a happy Cinco de Mayo? Because mine certainly was pleasant.

Cinco de Mayo is a funny holiday. It's a holiday that Mexican culture doesn't actually celebrate that much, but brings the people of the United States into a tizzy. Why do we care about holidays that don't matter that much to other countries? Wouldn't those in Ireland care about St.Patrick's Day more than us? (Then again, the whole basis of how the legend works is skewed.) The point is, Americans like to have a holiday to party.

I'm all for holidays for partying. It can make a boring weekend much more enjoyable. Pretty much my mindset is to make a holiday for every occasion... Then again, I'm a college kid. We like having an excuse to party.

One random holiday that I like is National Peanut Day. Why would I like such a random holiday, you ask? Welp, that's actually my birthday. I like having something else fall on my birthday as well.

Other than that, I don't have a whole lot to say so I'll leave it at that. I hope everyone had a happy Cinco de Mayo!

What random holiday do you celebrate? How did you spend your Cinco de Mayo?

Running Confessions

My blogging for the start of May is off to a bit of a rough start, ain't it? Oh well. I've been busy! Pretty much yesterday I was going from 8:30 AM to 1:30AM today. Yup. It was a hectic day.
You know what though? I had an awesome day yesterday, which ended with going on an epic Jeep ride that simulated the Indiana Jones ride. I think if anything made yesterday great, it was that.

Seeing that yesterday was such a hectic day, I had some trouble fitting certain things in. Things that make me a disgusting human being. For you see, I went on a run yesterday. Then right after, I went to an event. With no time to shower in between. Yes, that means I went to something in all of my running funk glory, and it was the second time this week. You are allowed to judge my nasty self.

Despite being gross, I do manage to tidy myself up a bit if I have no time to shower. I dab off the sweat, I change, and I spritz myself with some of my perfume. Yes, the people around me get to enjoy the smell of crisp green apples and sweat.
Actually, when I let sweat linger on me, I smell like chlorine. It's weird.

The thing is, I would rather be gross than not get in my runs at all. I feel great when I'm able to get my runs in, and I always make sure I get them in no matter what. I give myself some leeway if I know my schedule isn't going to work on certain days, but that usually means going on that run the next day or the day before if it doesn't fit on a specific day.

However with all of that said, I do make sure to shower after every run. I try to give myself a big enough time period for running and showering, but sometimes schedules get a little hectic. What can you do?

Good things going on in life! Found out I only missed four questions on one of my midterms on Wednesday, giving me a 93% Hell yeah! Plus, I got twenty bucks for participating in a study testing my proprioceptors. Participating in studies is a super easy way to get easy money by the way.
I need to go to the bank. Yes, I'm just throwing out random thoughts now.

Excited about tomorrow! Volunteering, afternoon brunching, and fiestas. Delightful.

Fess up! Do you have any gross running habits? They're probably not as gross as me, I know.

Midterms and Baking Blunders

Well those two midterms are done.

I find it so crazy that I'm worrying about midterms while students on the semester schedule are finishing finals.

And speaking of that, I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to handle two finals on one day for both Monday and Thursday of Finals week. Today I had two midterms, and that killed me a bit.
Well, now is not the time to think about that. I can't help it, I'm such a planner-ahead that I tend to ruminate on what's to come rather than the now.

As for my midterms today, I felt okay on my first one and really good on my second one. That second one makes me happy because I was really worried about it. It's a 300-level class, ya know?

If my thoughts seem a little scattered, it's because I stayed up late studying. I made sure to sleep sure, but my body decided it was a better idea to wake up at seven per usual. I managed to nap a little more before the first one, but my body never adjusted to the lack of sleep. Man, I just really like my sleep.

After my midterms were over, I decided to do some baking. I was going to bake something for my aunt, and the only type of thing I had ingredients for were peanut butter cookies. I found a recipe and started in.
When I took out the cookies, something seemed off. I grabbed one only to discover they were super dry. Why cookies? Why you gotta do that to me?

I'm thinking it's the recipe, but who knows. Maybe I didn't bake them right. I still have some dough in my fridge, so I'll test this out. The point is, I tend to have many baking faux pas.
I know that I don't know much about cooking, but I tend to feel decent about my baking. However, as you can see from the example above I make a lot of mistakes from time to time. I can make bread, and I can make cookies. Still I make mistakes.

The biggest mistake I ever made baking was when I was making some rye bread. I had the special flour, I let it rise for a long time, and everything looked great. I added the rest of the ingredients, but as soon as I started working with it again something seemed off. The dough was extremely sticky. I emptied out the rest of the rye flour into the dough. What was wrong?
Suddenly I realized: I had added almost a full cup of water more than I needed.
The bread didn't rise obviously since it was a shaggy mass on a pan, but it actually tasted pretty good! I just had to slice the bread a little funny.

I think I just need to bake every week. That way, I'll get better at baking. Who knows.

What's been your biggest baking blunder?

Moving onto May

I should be going to bed. Hmm.

After my post yesterday, I went on a run and felt a MILLION times better. Man, if running isn't stressing you out, it's a fantastic stress reliever.

It appears to be the end of the month, and I'm glad that it's over. April wasn't fantastic. It was just eh.

As for my goal last month? Oof. I think I actually did worse with my procrastination this month.  thing is, there have been assignments and things I need to do on the computer, and then I think to myself "Oh, since you're here..." Not good.

While in the goal mindset, I'd like to look at my posting this month. As I said, I wasn't going to force myself to write. I would write when I had at least something to say and I didn't force myself to write. I looked at how many posts I had for this month: 20 including this one. Ten days with no posts? Weird. Still, I don't think it's a bad thing. I'm okay with it.

So what's going on for the month of May? Quite a few things, actually. Besides midterms (two on Wednesday... ack!) and essays, the official Girl Scout Discovery program is starting! I'm excited but I'm nervous. What if I crack under the pressure of these girls? I'm okay with kids, but not incredible. We'll see.

Plus there's Mother's Day, and it's the last FULL month of school! Yes!

May just seems like a nice month. Simply sunny.

Blogger has been acting weird, so I think I'll end this post for now. Besides, I should go to bed... right? Why do I not want to go to bed? Hm. Avoiding getting ready for tomorrow, that's why. I have to do some serious studying tomorrow.

What are you looking forward to in May?