New Years Eve

This project ends on Saturday and I've already nearly forgotten that I needed to get a blog post up today. That would have made twice this week!

That being said, it will be strange to no longer have rules in place that ensure that I need to write and post something by a particular deadline. That being said I've learned a lot over the course of the past year. I've made a few blunders, and definitely achieved some amount of success. I've definitely tackled the initial goal of writing more often and consistently.

Maybe over this next year I can get some more of that novel written. That would be cool, especially since it's a project that I started working on nearly seven years ago. It's definitely a work in progress.

I have two more days left at work as far as this week is concerned, and then I have a week before I head back to school. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up some more hours next week. It all depends on how busy the store gets and if they can spare any hours for seasonal's.

I turn twenty-one on Saturday and plan to spend the day at work, which in all honestly I prefer since it may be my last opportunity to work over break. At any rate, I'm excited for the coming year. It's full of potential.

Next Week?

Today wasn't all that eventful. I went to work, where it was initially busy customer-wise, and then near the end of the shift the number of customers dwindled while I still had plenty of things to keep me busy.

Really, it was the best kind of day to have because when I go to work I prefer to be busy. The way I see, I am there to work, and so I want to get paid for doing my job and not for standing around. While it is true that I'm getting paid for being there, it is also true that I am wasting my time if I'm not keeping busy.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself all of next week. I'm not scheduled to work, although they know that I'll be available, so hopefully I'll get a call. It'd be awesome if I could get some more hours in before I have to go back to school. Besides it's nice to be back to work, it feels so normal and I'm not sure that I'm ready to give up that feeling of normalcy.

Christmas Eve

It has been an enjoyable Christmas Eve thus far.

I spent the morning at work, where it wasn't incredibly busy but I enjoyed dealing with the customers that did come in and it was nice to get to talk with those that I worked with today. That's four days back, and I'm still loving every minute.

After work I came home and had dinner with the family and have basically been watching crime shows with Dad while sitting in front of the fire that we have going in the living room. It's a relaxing way to spend an evening.

We just got back from my cousins house, where we sat around the kitchen table and talked over tacos and nacho's. Again, not a terribly exciting evening, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Tomorrow my brother, sister, brother-in-law, nieces, and two of my uncles will come over for lunch. That will probably devolve into watching movies as it has the last few years.

It's nice to get to spend time with family. Honestly it feels like break is going by incredibly fast, and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Crafty

I am presently putting the finishing touches on a couple of Christmas presents, and am then perhaps going to get roped into assisting my younger niece in a craft project of her own. It is going to be a long night. I work in the morning, which is still as exciting now as it was a couple of days ago. I am really enjoying being back at work. I don't think even I realized exactly how much I missed it.

There wasn't a lot of variety in my shift today, but the store was plenty busy. I'm actually kind of surprised that the customers aren't as cranky this year as they have been the previous two. I wonder if it's a difference in their attitudes or mine...

It seems like break is going by faster than I anticipated that it would, and my feelings are kind of mixed about it. On the one hand there are things that I miss from being back on campus, and at the same time I'm really enjoying my time here at home. It's hard to reconcile the two, because there are things about both atmospheres that I really love and I miss when I'm in one place over the other.

Grades and Awesome Days

Just as I suspected, I did not do as well in my Macroeconomics class as I needed to, and therefore one way or another I am going to need to retake it. I'd like to be able to do it over the summer at WCC, but we'll see.

I had an awesome day at work. I don't know if it's just because I've been away at school or what it is, but this was my second day back and I'm still loving it. I just really enjoy getting to see everyone, and meet the new people, and even dealing with the customers. I guess you don't realize how much you enjoy something until you return to it after a brief break.

I did super well in my other three classes, which helped out quite a bit with my GPA, but it would have been a lot better if I could at least gotten the 2.0 that I needed in my Macroeconomics class.

Finally Unpacked

I very nearly forgot that I needed to blog today. Oops!

I finally decided to get around to unpacking around midnight yesterday, or technically this morning, and my room now seems to be in some kind of order. It's easier to find things now anyway.

I've been so busy since I've gotten home that I really haven't spent much time on the internet, which is actually good because every time I do wander online I find myself compulsively checking to see if grades have been posted. The deadline for them to go up is the twenty-third, and so far only two of my professors have posted grades. Of course, neither of them is Macro which is the only one that I am vaguely worried about.

Go figure!

I went in and renewed my driver's license/ applied for an enhanced drivers license. I am one step closer to make it to Mexico for spring break. I am just so excited for the future. This next year is going to be awesome!

I spent the bulk of this evening working on Christmas related projects, which I obviously can't go into much detail on. I do have everything that needs to be wrapped for Friday wrapped and ready to go though. That is a definite plus. It's not often that I manage to be this caught, especially when it is considered that I didn't even start thinking about Christmas until approximately a week or so ago.

Christmas Break?

I managed a 3.5 in my JRN 200 class, which is awesome. My Macroeconomics and Lit/Cultures classes haven't reported grades back yet, so that's still up in the air, and of course I have one more final to take tomorrow so that class obviously hasn't reported anything back yet.

I'm little nervous at this point as far as Macroeconomics is concerned. I have a feeling that I didn't do as well as I was anticipating in their, and very possibly didn't do quite as well as I needed to. I may be taking that class again despite my hesitancy to do so. It was boring enough the first time. However, if I had put more time into learning the material than merely getting by there wouldn't be cause to worry.

In any case, it was a learning experience. Maybe it wasn't the one that I was looking for, but there you go.

I'm just excited by the prospect of being finished with my first semester after tomorrow morning, and getting to go back home for a few weeks. I'm also very excited to get to go back to work and see everyone there. I'm really enjoying the idea of getting to return to a work place that I feel super comfortable in. I'm excited to jump right back in where I left off in August, though even now the department is obviously structured a little differently.

It's an adventure that I'm definitely ready to take!

Finals Over?

I would be perfectly conent if finals week were over and I could go home and get back to work. It's a little frustrating that my exams are so spears out this week.

I guess it wouldn't be quite so frustrating if I actually felt like I needed to study for Friday's exam. I don't anticipate it being difficult whatsoever, and therefore i have excess time that could be better spent at home getting ready for Christmas.

I'm planning to finish reading "Catching Fire" at some point this afternoon. I've got about a hundred pages left to go, and it's really good so far. Suzanne Collins is AMAZING!

At any rate I'm at least I'm doing something productive with my time since studying doesn't really feel like a priority.

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Time For Sleep

I have finished my note cards for my Macroeconomics class. It took me a few hours to do, and my concentration didn't always stick with the task at hand, but I've managed to get them done at a decent hour so I think it is safe to call the mission a success.

Now hopefully having actually studied somewhat for the final won't prove to have been a futile attempt. I really, really want to manage to pass that class with a grade that will at least allow me into my major.

Darcy seems to be transfixed by the sound of my trying. She is crouching behind my computer, and frequently peeks around the corner and stares at my hands as they punch the keys. A moment ago she actually lunged around the corner, seemed to examine my hands for a moment, and then thought better about actually attempting to remove them from the keys. I appreciate her ability to abstain from tormenting me.

I think what she actually wants is for me to head to bed, because I've got my heating blanket going and she likes to lay on the bed when the heating blanket has been turned on. Darcy, much like me, does not enjoy the cold weather.

Tomorrow morning I have to head back to school so that I can take my first final of the week. It's around noon, so I don't have to leave super early. I just really wish this week was over. I'm ready to get the tests out of the way and move on.

Christmas Dinner

Nearly forty members of my extended family came over today for Christmas dinner and our annual present draw. It was fun to get to see everyone. Really I could care less about the presents, it's just nice to get to talk to people that I don't often get to see.

I've also gotten the security deposit mostly figured out, which is awesome because that is due by this Friday. Things are coming together nicely, and now it is just a matter of making it through exam week. I'm not particularly worried about any of them, it's just a matter of having to take out the time to do it.

I'm really curious to see where my grades stand after this week. It's exciting to finally nail down a GPA, and be able to tell people that I'm a Junior rather than having to say that I'm a Sophomore. There's nothing wrong with being a Sophomore, but it's not really the goal to be stuck at that stage for a year and a half.

We have our Christmas tree put up in the living room now, and Darcy seems to think that it's been put there for her to sit under it. She's very fascinated by all the ornaments that are dangling off of it. When we forget and put a table too close to it she climbs up and bats around the ornaments that are in her reach.

Four Post Sunday

I forgot that I need to write four posts over the course of this weekend. As it is already Sunday I obviously owe four posts over the course of today.

That shouldn't be too difficult to manage.

This is the final week of school and the. I'm off on break after my final on Friday. Then I get to go back to work which is super exciting. I'm so pumped to be going back to work. I've missed working with everyone and to an extent I've missed the job itself.

Today we're having Christmas dinner with my extended family. It's going to be fun to get to hang out with everyone for the day, plus I don't have to drive back to school until tomorrow morning.

I'm so excited!!!

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Laundry Night

My final out of class story for JRN 200 is due on Thursday. I still need to get it written despite having had every intention to get it out of the way sooner. Intentions don't always translate the way that we'd like them to unfortunately.

I've managed to get it super organized and planned out while also getting laundry done. I'm hoping that the writing starts to flow better once I sit down with my computer. The plan for the moment is to at least have something written by the time I go to bed tonight.

It's not that the article is particuarily hard to write, it's just a matter of taking the time to sit down and focus on getting it done. That and there is a lot of information that I need to sift through and determine what goes and what stays.

It doesn't help that this is basically the last full week of the semester so I'm more focused on going home for break than school work.

Just one more week!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

The Almost

I've nearly finished compiling a rough draft to send off to my editor. Once I manage that I just need to get my post for today's review written and then I can get some sleep. I'd prefer to skip straight to getting some sleep because all of a sudden it is becoming hard to stay awake.

This week is the final week of classes which is extremely exciting. I'm looking forward to getting to go home for Christmas break. It's going to be awesome!

I'm hoping that I can take the opportunity to see my nieces on a regular basis and maybe offer a little bit of guidance. Sometimes I feel like I haven't always been there for them the way that I should have been or could have been, and I regret that. At this point though I feel like I am in a much better place to serve them in that capacity. That is a relationship that I definitely want to work on over this break.

I'm also really excited about getting my new driver's license because it is one more step towards going to Mexico for spring break since I'm going to get an enhanced drivers license rather than a passport. It's cheaper and quicker, and just generally makes more sense since I don't plan on doing any study abroad programs.

I also need to get on the ball about checking to see about internships that I can do this summer. There are a few that I'm interested in looking into, and I need to do that soon. Ultimately this is the problem of course, I know what I need to do, I just haven't done anything about it yet. Procrastination is not a good thing.

Snow Has Arrived

The snow has arrived. At this point the it's not sticking to the roads or sidewalks, but the ground is frozen enough that the grass is completely covered in white. I'm not a big fan of snow, but that's largely because I don't particularly like the colds. Yes, snow is pretty to look at, but it is also cold and a pain to drive in.

The snow is welcome to stick around until Christmas, but then it tends to get old real quick.

We went over the format that the final in my Lit/Cultures class is going to take. It looks like it's going to be complicated, but then I really didn't expect anything less than that. Honestly the way that that class has gone this semester, I don't understand why so many in the class seemed surprised.

I'll probably study somewhat for it, but honestly I'm not super worried about it. I've largely paid attention in class to this point and don't foresee having to large of a problem with it. Besides my grade is fairly solid.

At some point tomorrow I need to start laying out my final stories for my JRN 200 class. These are both due on Thursday, and then I'm completely finished with that class. My other three classes have finals, although my EC 202 final is online. I should probably do some review for that one at least.

Mainly though, I'm just ready for Christmas break to get here.

Journalism and Work

We had our final test story in JRN 200 today. I'm fairly certain that I managed to turn it in without any fatals in it. Hopefully that is the case. Now I just need to decide whether or not I want to write the extra credit article or not. I'm tempted to, though I guess it'll depend on how motivated I get.

Although it would wipe out three of my fatals, so maybe I should double check to see how many fatals I actually got. If I only got three or less than I suppose it would actually be work it to do the extra credit. There's no way that I'm going to 4.0 the class, but maybe I'll manage to get close. I probably should have stayed after today to find out what my grade was. Oh well.

Work was an interesting combination of pleasant and boring. Pleasant because apparently I've been nominated during the last few shifts as the most recognized worker or something along those lines. What this means, aside from an ego boost I have no idea, but it's nice to be appreciated. Then of course it was boring, because before I got to my shift today, they had someone else come in and work a shift that was slightly earlier than mine, and then overlapped mine, so they basically got everything done that I usually do when I get there.

I stayed busy, but it was difficult to find things that needed to be done.