All I want for Christmas...

I was just thinking what I would like for Christmas. I really couldn't think of much. Sure, there are things that would be nice to have, but there are only very few things I need. I will probably not be getting any of them anytime soon anyways. Upgrades are nice, but when it comes down to it, the versions I have are sufficient. I don't really need a new mp3 player even if the one i have now only holds a few songs and only works half of the time. I don't need a brand new 7 megapixel digital camera when the 3 megapixel one I have lacks only the sound capability for video capturing. Sure it would be nice to have, but when it comes down to it, it's not a big deal. I could use a guitar, but I'm using Troy's until he decides he wants it back. What else? I was thinking about how cool it would be to have a nintendo ds or something similar, but I know that would only cause me to waste more time than I already do. A usb flash drive would be nice, but the 128mb one i have works well enough to suit my present needs. I really don't know what else I would want. Maybe a micro sd card for my phone. When I think about it though, I really don't need to turn my phone into a mp3 player. If i did that I would need some headphones too. I could use some books to read, but I have so many I have only half finished and even some that I haven't started reading. New clothes would be good, but anyone who knows me knows I am not the most fashonable person. Sadly I still wear clothes I wore in highschool. I rarely buy clothes for myslef. There are so many things money can't buy. I want those things. I can't think of anything else.

Optional exams: it’s a love/hate relationship really.

So, I went to my professor’s office hours today because she basically refused to send us our final report and exam grades from last week. One of the first things she said was that she was kind of disappointed in me and she thought that I understood this stuff. (She was talking about the exam grade). See, we have an open book part of the exam and a closed book part. I did great on the closed book part but I did horrible on the open book calculations part. Then she says that I am a terrific writer and that I can go far with that skill. And she says how useful it is to be able to write lab reports in the future. Basically I had no idea what to think at this point. I had gotten a 55 average on that disappointing exam and a 100% on that great research report. So where would that place me for grades? Well, higher than I had originally thought. She offers an optional final exam. It will take the place of our lowest exam and it is cumulative. I would need to get a 70% on it to raise my grade. If I get lower I am stuck with the lower grade. This scares me. My exam average in that class isn’t too high. I do not want to take the final. I won’t have any time to study for it. Do I risk it? I don’t think I will. I have till 5pm tomorrow to decide. In the back of my mind I wish I would have studied a little bit more for the exams in this class…at least as much time I put into all those stupid lab reports I did so well on. Maybe I do have a talent after all. Who would have though it would be writing boring scientific papers? I guess all of us can’t be well-rounded, ehh?

The Hat Theory, Giant Sperm, and NBC news

The hat theory.

People love to wear other people's hats for reasons I have not quite figured out yet. It seems as though there is always one hat that everyone wants to wear. It get's passed around, it's cool, and by the end of the night it turns out that the hat can be compared to a whore. You wear it till you get tired of it, then pass it on to the next person. That's what happens. That's what always happens. I have been known to be a victim of the hat passing. Maybe if just comes with my hat obsession, I don't know. Personally I like to wear hats a lot... and I tend to get attached to them, as in not wanting other people to wear them all the time. My hats are not whores. At least I don't want them to be. ok, enough of that....I still need to work on my theory. I am not mad, noet even the slightest bit annoyed...just to set the tone of the hat theory.

Giant Sperm.

yes, there was a giant super sperm man costume thingy at the bar last night. he was hitting on us, and it was very creepy.

Lesson to be learned: it is very hard to avoid sperm.

NBC news

on a separate note, NBC news came to my food chem lab yesterday and videotaped us and our professor.

http://www.wilx.com/ [click on trans fat ban on the right hand column under featured videos.] it's about trans fat...kinda boring, i know, but it's my life.

Lake

This weekend was the best one I've had in awhile. I went home for more than one day...it's been a long time since I've done that. I really needed it. Friday night I just hung out with my family. Saturday morning I went and picked blueberries with my mom then went back to bed when we got home. Grandma, Aunt Pat and Uncle Jeff came over for dinner then I went out to the lake and hung out with Kim and Chris for awhile. went out on the boat, learned how to fish, learned how to play flip cup, more people came over, hung out with the 40+ year old neighbors, took a midnight cruise on the lake with no lights... sweet boat that belonged to the neighbors, peed in a public park, behind a tree, built a sweet fire with chris, lit it with a lighter and mosquito repellant (= a homemade torch). Sunday I don't think I did much but be lazy and play simcity. This morning I went to the dentist, went shopping, then came back to lansing and went to class. good news from the dentist: no cavities! yay, friends make me happy! especially certain ones who make me smile.

work tomorrow...not excited

One fish, two fish...five fish

I bought them from Meijers tonight. They have a sweet waterbed right now. I have one name so far...Jefferson.

Fish!

The Move

I'm trying to think of a word that could describe these last few days, but the only good one I can think of is different.

Lets just say I studied all day last sunday and monday. Basicly, I was done with everything I had to study for on monday night (my three exams). I took my three exams and then I went to bed at 10:30 and slept for a really long time and really accomplished nothing on Tuesday until I went to work at 4. Wednesday I spent a few hours in the morning studying to my food science exam that day. As of 3:50 Wednesday, I am a Senior. How weird is that? I still don't believe it... Thursday morning I had to work at 6:30. Then we (cyndi, shawn, sam, kelly, and I) went to Potter Park Zoo. It was fun. Every zoo needs a water exhibit, a brush pile, and a wood pile. Thursday night we all went out to PF Changs for Payal's birthday. It was a pretty good restaurant. Friday I packed and helped Cyndi clean the room up, then Cyndi left and I won't see her for six months. Hopefully I can go to Kansas City sometime... Friday night I did security for Brody. A lot of waiting around, but they fed us pizza. Saturday morning I woke up and walked over to Brody to work. We cleaned all the rooms on the fourth floor of Rather so we could move into them. I think it will be pretty fun with Mel and Becca, Mike and Lauren (and more!). After work my parents came and helped me move all my stuff across campus, carrying it all down three flights of stairs because the freight elevators weren't working. We had to take two trips, but that's the couch's fault. My parents took me out to La Senorita and we had some good food. Then I came back and attempted to unpack all my stuff and organize it, but I just ended up watching a movie with mel and danae. Now I sit here in an unpacked room, and I have to go to church. see ya!

Ten

10 Reasons why I love being a Food Science major (or rather why I will miss FSC 325):

1. Exploring the sub-sub basement of anthony hall because thats where the refrigeration systems are.
2. Having class right across from the Dairy Store is quite convenient.
3. Making icecream in the Dairy Plant is considered a lab.
4. Eating the icecream we made is considered a class.
5. Eating sausage is the reward for getting up at 5:30am to go watch a hog slaughter.
6. We get to take fieldtrips to places like Koegel and Country Fresh.
7. We actually know all the secret things in hotdogs and have seen them being made.
8. We get to wear labcoats and hair nets every wednesday in the Dairy Plant.
9. We know that milk is pasteurized at 161° for 15 seconds.
10. It's all about food, everyone likes food.

Confidence

my confidence in myself increased a bit in the last hour or so, especially in the area of confidence in myself that i am actually smart. college is a good place to lose a lot of confidence in your level of general knowledge. some classes are impossible, and others just don't make sense. some, no matter how much you study, you get the same grades on exams. professors make you feel uneducated, and truthfully, some people are just too smart. nonetheless, i have come to the conclusion that i could be so much smarter if i actually put the effort into learning the material rather than cramming it all in my head the night before

first occurance: physics exam. i knew how to do 13 of the 15 problems. i could easily get a 80 percent on the exam when my other two have been right around 50%. i realized that if i actually paid attention in class instead of sleeping (which i had been doing for the last few weeks), i can understand it and not have to worry about it at the last minute. granted, i still had no clue how to do two of the problems, but my excitement level was so high that i really didn't care about figuring it out.

second occurance: today's final jeopardy question was "alphabetically, what are the first two state capitals named after US presidents?" jackson and Jefferson city. now i've always been pretty good at geography (heck, who else brings an atlas on spring break when i'm not driving just to know where we were?), but i've never been good at the president thing, yeah, i can name most of them, but truthfully i have no clue when some of these guys were president...in this case, it didn't really matter about the chronological order, but in the case the question asked " cronologically, name the first two state capitals named after us presidents," i would have had no idea how to answer...jackson, jefferson, lincoln, madison...no idea.

my point is, i could be so much smarter if i actually put the time into it. i never study and i put off my homework till the last minute, so when it comes time for two exams and a lab notebook due all within two days, i have 3 weeks of physics notes to study, 4 weeks of microbiology notes to study, and 5 weeks of microbiology lab writeups to do. so, since sunday night i have been mostly doing the lab writeups, which take forever, and studying. i didn't really sleep, and i even forgot to eat once or twice. i put myself through hell for three days when instead i could just write the lab writeups shortly after lab and do better on them because i actually can remember what we did in lab, i could take notes in class instead of sleep, or i could do my physics capa for myself, not just use the answers on capa to do my problems.

i'm gonna try to do that...

Purses

I used to carry a purse back in high school, back when we couldn't bring our backpacks to class. I would stuff my pens and pencils in there along with a few dollars in case I wanted food. Then there's the random stuff I had in there like a hotwheels car or something to play with in class. I don't remember when I stopped carrying a purse, but I can't remember carrying one around senior year. If I had a purse now, it would have the most random stuff in it, probably most of the contents of the front pocket of my backpack. I don't carry a purse though, and I think that's why I always forget to bring a pen to class. I don't bring my backpack to class most of the time, just a single piece of notebook paper or my lab notebook. I get to class and hope there's a pen in my coat or something. Either there would be a large amount of pens in the pocket or there would be none. I have to hope there's a pen in there, or else I won't take notes. Occasionally there's only a highlighter in there, and it must entertain people to watch me take notes in highlighter. I have gotten into that routine. I always keep my wallet in my back right pocket and my keys in my front right. When I have my cell phone, it goes in the back left pocket. That's how it's been for two years or so. The question now would be: could I handle carrying around a purse everywhere I went? I really don't think I could do it. I mean, if I'm wearing pants, I can hold everything I need in them. It just seems like the simplest solution to me. Of course, if I ever failed to wear pants, I would carry a purse... or I would wear a loincloth with pockets!