Week 39: Early Mornings and Lazy Days Part 2

Let's pick up where we left off last night shall we?

So, we got my car to the Ford dealer. Once we got inside we let them know that we were looking for a second opinion after having taken it to the independent place down the street. They asked for a description of what exactly it had done before refusing to move, and so we once again explain the whole situation that had occurred in my sisters driveway Saturday night.

Based on our description they seemed to be inclined to think that it was a timing issue. They took my information and promised to look it over the following morning and give me a call. Before heading home dad and I went to look over what used cars they had available, particularly what Ford Fusions they had to offer.

Since it is impossible to look a cars in a dealers lot when they are open without being approached by a dealer, we were approached and asked if there was anything in particular we were looking for, so we let him show us the used Fusions that they had.

The had one that was kind of a shimmery tan/gold color just marked down. It was a 2007 and had brand new tires. It was right in my price range. We ended up taking it for a test drive, and once we got back sat down to fill out the paperwork to at least see if I'd be able to get financing on it either on my own or with my parents. It never hurts to at least see. Right?

By the time we left there the dealer that I had spoken to had promised to call me the next day and let me know if I had been approved for financing, and the man in the service department had promised to call and let me know what was REALLY up with my Ford Focus.

Thursday morning, I was STILL on the 6am shift, but even by my lunch had not heard anything about either car. By the time I got out of work I called my parents, who had found out that it wasn't the engine  that had gone bad in my Focus. Rather it was the timing belt, suspension belt, and the water pump which all amount to less than $700.00.

This sounded much more reasonable then a blown engine. It blows my mind that that guy said my car had a blown engine, it really does. Guess who won't be getting any more business from me...

By the time I got out of work I also had a message left from the dealer that dad and I had spoken with. I was approved for financing on the car, and all by myself too! I wouldn't need my parents to co-sign! The question then boiled down to what I wanted to do.

In all honesty, I've been drooling over the Fusion's for a while. I've really wanted one, but haven't had any reason to get one. But this one was perfect! It was the right price, in great condition and would help me really built my credit history. Plus, this whole situation really showed us all why it would be useful to have another car.

It made it difficult to keep up with four adult schedules when we only had one car between three drivers. It wasn't impossible, but definitely difficult.

As it turned out, we decided that the perfect solution would be for me to go ahead and buy the Fusion, and then my parents would repair the Focus and keep that because in all honesty it would be cheaper to fix the Focus than to buy another new used car later and my Focus is in fantastic condition, considering.

So that's what we've done. I bought myself a brand new used car and am absolutely loving it! It's funny sometimes how seemingly bad situations work themselves out sometimes. This past week has been such a strong example of the blessings that God can create in our lives, and we don't even realize it until we look back later.

It's fascinating to take the chance every once and a while to take a step back and look back at where you've been, and just see the blessings that God has created in your life. He is so good, all of the time.

But anyway, I spent the early hours of Thursday afternoon on the phone with the dealer and our insurance company ironing out details, and then that evening I went in to the dealer and signed all of the necessary financial paperwork. While I had been there when we signed the papers on my first car, this felt so different. It's strange to encounter these situations that you've never before encountered such as buying a car on your own for the first time. It's such an "adult" experience. You know what I mean? There was just something very surreal about the whole thing, but surreal in a good way.

By the end of the night Thursday I drove away in my new Fusion.

Friday, thankfully was the last day of my 6am shift, at least for last week (it starts all over again this week), and by the end of the day I was pretty tired.

Yesterday I spent most of the morning catching up on sleep and just generally lazing around. At noon I watched my Spartans beat the Central Michigan Chippewa's (45-7!!!) and then proceeded to catch up on YouTube videos in my subscription box along with my other usual Internet travels. Like the title implies, yesterday was my lazy day, and I'm sure today will include a fair bit of laziness as well. Perhaps today will be the day I finally finish reading my latest book...

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 38: Early Mornings and A Lazy Day Part 1

When you work in retail you spend a certain amount of time, at a certain time of year, preparing for the busy holiday season which basically begins on Black Friday and lasts through the first few weeks of the new year. This prep time is important, because if you don't spend the proper amount of time prepping you'll never catch up once business starts really picking up. 

At work we have hit that point in the year where we begin preparing. We've started making the proper layout adjustments to the setup of our floor, adjusting the placement of product and moving out the old to make room for the new. This kind of preparation means that I've been working the early shift all week, as in 6am early...

Now, of course, there are perks to working such a shift such as getting out in the early afternoon and getting the entire weekend off. These things, of course, are nice. The thing to remember here though is that by the end of that shift, not only are you tired because you've been up since 6am (and probably didn't sleep much the night before if you're like me), but you've also got the rest of the day ahead of you. 

This week, most of my days after work were filled with various errands and most importantly hashing out the debacle of my car. As you may recall, last Saturday my car mysteriously died and we were therefore forced to push it from my sisters driveway to the parking lot of a local mechanic. 

Seriously, Saturday was only the beginning of the craziness that was going to take place this week. 

So Monday, since I was at work as of 6am, my mom called into the mechanic and let him know that my car was in his driveway and the key in his drop box. She also filled him in on WHY it was there, obviously. Of course, he had a pretty packed schedule for the day and said he probably wouldn't be able to get to it until Tuesday, which even though it wasn't ideal for us, mom said it was fine because really what else could you really say?

Within no more than an hour the mechanic calls back with a diagnosis. According to him the engine was blown and it would cost nearly $3,000.00 dollars for him to replace it. Obviously, I was a bit stunned with this diagnosis, and dad was a bit hedgy as to the veracity of it. How could it possibly be the engine? There hadn't been any oil when we popped the hood, it hadn't been leaking oil, and I take really good care of it. I get oil changes regularly. How could it be the engine?

Then of course it was down to weighing the options. There was no way I was paying this guy nearly three thousand dollars to put a new engine in. There is just no room in the budget for that. So then I started researching what it would cost to buy an engine myself and have my cousin install it. That would be manageable, but do I want to put that kind of money into this particular car? It might be better to get a new used car.

The more we considered the guys diagnosis and how quickly he had come to it the more unsure of it we became. It just didn't sound right, you know? By Tuesday night we determined that we wanted a second opinion, and that if it was the engine then it would be best to buy a new used car as long as I could get financing one way or another. 

With this plan in place, my mom called in to the mechanic on Wednesday, because once again I was working the 6am shift, and asked if we owed anything for him looking at the car and let him know we planned to come in that evening and pick up the keys/car. He said that there was no car, and asked what we planned to do with the car. Rather than say that we planned to get a second opinion, we told him we were going to push it to the Ford dealer down the street and see about a trade-in. He said that with a blown engine they probably wouldn't offer us much and asked if we'd let him know what they did offer.

This, again, made me a little suspicious. We think he probably wanted to buy the car to fix it up and re-sell it. 

So we get there, and he had told us my car would be moved out of the back lot and we'd have access to it, but we don't see it anywhere. Dad and I go inside and tell the woman at the counter we are there to pick up my car, and she at first has trouble finding the key. She does eventually hold up a key and ask if it looks like that one and would be untagged.

I tell her that yes, that is my key and she hands it to me and says that we are all set. But then, we remind her that we actually need to know where the car is... So doesn't know either, so she heads out into the back to ask someone else, having re-taken my key. 

She tells us it is probably in the back lot and they will drive it around, and as she leaves dad and I look at each other and wonder how they are going to drive a car with a blown engine around front. We wait a few minutes before heading outside to wait by my dads van. As we are waiting and looking towards the back lot, she yells over to us that the car won't start and they have to jump it. How do you jump a car with a blown engine? Of course it won't start, that is why we brought it here. That is why we PUSHED it here....

We wait another minute or so, and then head back inside thinking she and this other guy don't know the real deal with my car. She isn't at the counter, but we stand there and wait in case she wanders back so we can clue her in to why the car may not be starting. I'm looking out the front window when all of a sudden I see my car drive out into the front. HOW DID THEY DRIVE A CAR WITH A BLOWN ENGINE AROUND TO THE FRONT!

I tell dad that they've just driven my car around, and we both go out to investigate. The guy that drove it around has popped the hood and is looking under it when we approach. He says that it's "running rough". No, really? He says that in order to keep it from stalling out, you have to drive it with your feet on the gas and brakes at all times. 

With this tidbit duly noted I jump into the drivers seat and put the car in gear. I drive out of the driveway with my feet on gas and breaks. Dad is right behind me in the van as I turn onto the road. The car stalls out halfway to the dealer, and so dad pushes it the rest of the way just like Saturday. 

And that is where my tale stops this evening. But I promise there is more, and if you click back tomorrow you to will know the rest of this fascinating story. Until then, I have some reading to catch up on and a desk to finally clear off. 

I'll talk to you soon. 

Week 37: In Which I Apparently Have A Lot To Say

It’s been an eventful two weeks. This is not an excuse for failing to blog last week however, it is merely a statement of fact.

Last weekend Sarah and I drove up to Clarkston for three days, to go to two concerts. The first one we went to was the Uproar Festival on Friday (9/9/11). We didn’t go see all of the bands that were playing, but we got there around six and saw the four bands that we were most interested in seeing: Bullet For My valentine, Seether, Three Days Grace, and Avenged Sevenfold.

That concert was so much fun! We’d previously been to a concert at the DTE, but last time we got general admission tickets, which essentially is lawn seating, which isn’t really seating but more standing in a hill outside the cover of the pavilion. That was crazy, and we determined it was an experience not worth repeating. This time we paid the extra and got seating in the pavilion. It was so worth it!

There just aren’t words that do the experience justice. Each of the bands were great, and if you ever get the chance I definitely recommend seeing Avenged Sevenfold live. They were phenomenal.

I took a few videos that give you an idea of the experience, but really don’t do it justice. (Seriously, you just have to go!)

Here’s my playlist:

Saturday was a free day, since we opted to get a hotel room and stay in Clarkston rather than making the drive up and back home twice within the span of one weekend. We checked out the Great Lakes Crossing mall, which was huge, and made a stop in to best buy to pick up larger memory cards for our cameras.

Then, because we had the time and it sounded good, we went to Steak and Shake. Mostly we went to try their shakes, which we had heard were really good (And they are!!) but we also each got cheese fries (or chili cheese fries in Sarah’s case).

Then we just kind of drove around the area. It was a nice day and we didn’t have anywhere to be, so why not?

But there was some excitement early in the morning on Saturday. We had each set alarms on our phones to go off between/around 11:00-11:30. There was no need to be up SUPER early after all… So, we were both surprised when the hotel provided alarm clock started BLARING at 5:30am.

We each startled awake, Sarah turn on the lights and we haphazardly tried to read the teeny tiny directions on how to operate the clock that were located on the tray attached to it. After a minute or so I noticed there was a button on the front of it that said “Alarm OFF”.

I hit that, and then we each attempted to catch a little more sleep.

So, right. That was exciting. But that brings us to Sunday. We had breakfast/lunch in the late morning. We had to be checked out of our room by 11:00am.

After grabbing something to eat we drove up to Birch Run to check out the outlets up there. It was gorgeous out, though admittedly a bit warm. Overall it was a nice day, and the trip involved a lot of walking. We just spent the day generally hanging out and relaxing until heading to the concert around seven.

Sunday (9/11/11) was the 89X Birthday Bash and featured My Chemical Romance and Blink 182. Again, so much fun! This was the first time that I’d seen My Chemical Romance, and they were SO good live. I’d previously seen Blink 182, but I must admit, I really don’t know many of their songs aside from those that have been singles on the radio…

I did take one video of My Chemical Romance performing, and again it’s SO much better when your actually there. You’ve GOT to go, I’m telling you!

Here’s the video:

So, that was LAST weekend. This week, was not nearly as exciting, well that is, until today. I worked until three this afternoon, so my day started early and was rather uneventful, aside from you know, working. The exciting portion of the day started once I got home.

I got home just in time to catch the Michigan State v. Notre Dame game, which I was fairly excited to watch. It was actually, as a Spartan, a bit painful to watch. It’s not so much that they lost, it’s just…. I mean did you watch the game?

So, yeah, obviously, watching your team lose isn’t exactly the most fun in the world. But, wait, it gets better. Literally the minute the game ended my dad gets a phone call, from my mom, who had borrowed my car to go get my niece.

My car died. It would not start, and since everything was working, the lights weren’t dim or anything, it’s not the battery. I mean, anyway, the battery is brand new. Or, practically brand new. We don’t know why it wouldn’t start, but it wouldn’t. You put the key in and turn it and all it would do is make this awful sound.

So, they left my car in my sisters driveway thinking maybe it had overheated and just needed to cool off. About an hour later dad and I went with the intent to retrieve it one way or another because for reasons I’m not going to get in to there was no way that’s where my car was staying.

Of course, we first attempted to start it again, to no avail. Instead, we put it in neutral and pushed the car out of the driveway. Once we got it to the end of the driveway, we made sure it was positioned correctly on the road and then I quickly jumped in and hit the break so it wouldn’t take off before we wanted it to.

Do you like bumper cars? I don’t mind them, but I prefer not to play bumper cars with my ACTUAL car. So, most of the way was downhill, which actually worked in our favor since, you know, my car wouldn’t start. But every so often we would have to go up hill. This was interesting because I’d be coasting along and then my car would momentarily stop and begin rolling backwards. I’d hit the break to slow it down a bit and then once it made contact with the front bumper of my parents van dad would give me a little push.

Thankfully the garage that we’ve previously taken it to, to be worked on was just around the corner. So, for the moment my car is hanging out at the repair place, and Monday we’ll put a call in to see about having them look at it and see what’s up. Thankfully we’ll be able to work things out so that we can all make it to the places that we need to be on Monday even though we’re down one car. (One car of two that is.)

But, things always seem to work out one way or another. I mean, really, what can you do? While this whole thing is kind of crazy, you can’t help but laugh and take it all in stride.

By the way, did you notice the new “logo” header thing? I made that this afternoon. Well, I started making it last night, and then finished it this afternoon. What do you think? It was time for an update, the other one was just a tad out of date.

I’ll talk to you soon.

Twenty-One

I spent today at work, where I proceeded to have a really good day. It was super busy in the fudge shop, which was good. Personally I enjoy working when it is busy the most. Some people find it stressful, but I think that it all depends on your perspective. On some level, in order to decrease your amount of stress you have to accept that you are only one person and only capable of so much.

It's also good to understand that sometime people are going to be upset with you, you can't make everyone happy and while it's nice in theory to try it is imperative to accept that sometimes, in fact most times, it isn't possible. There are those who cannot or will not be appeased.

I am now home, where we lit candles and stuck them in the cake that my mom made in honor of today being my birthday. I sat in front of the fire for a little while while I ate my slice of cake, and am now watching Law and Order:SVU with my parents and younger brother. This is my favorite way to spend any day, let alone a birthday.

All in all it's been a very good day.

Christmas Day

Today was a good day. I went to bed early this morning after watching 'Runaway Bride' for the third time. That movie is amazing, it never gets old.

It was around one when we finally gathered around the table to eat. We had just gotten done praying and were beginning to pass food around when my older brother started to inspect his fork rather closely. After a few moments of inspection, he looks down the table and asks, "What is this white stuff on my fork?"

Dad answered that it was probably paint and that it'd been there for a long time, and my brother kind of chuckled and answered, "Oh, so lead paint then." We finished passing food and had just began to eat when he breaks and says, "I'm going to need another fork" and tossed his over the the portion of the table near the kitchen.

The dinning room was more than full today so there wasn't really room to get up and roam around.

So mom went to get another fork, and dad began to inspect the discarded one when he then says, "I'm not sure what this is, but I don't think it's paint."

It was an entertaining meal! After we ate we opened presents, and I think each of my nieces really liked the blankets that I made them. I was pretty sure that they would, but even still it's a lot of fun to watch someone open up a gift that you've gotten them and noticeably like it.

We just got done babysitting my little cousins, and are preceding to spend the evening watching t.v. and eating potato chips. Ultimately it's been a day filled with family, and really aren't those the best kinds of days? It's so nice to be home!

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.

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!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Home Stretch

The semester is almost over, and that makes me anxious. I am anxious for Christmas break because it means some time at home with my family, and especially my nieces, I get to go back to work and see everyone there, I have some plans in the works with some of my awesome friends, and I'll finally have a GPA.

I'm stoked!

Of course being anxious for the end of the semester means that I'm not really interested in class at the moment, so I have to work twice as hard to get my focus where it needs to be. It's a tough balance sometimes. But I don't think I need to worry too much at this point. I feel like I have myself set up to come out of the semester with a very strong GPA.

I even think that I may be able to break away from the perception that they tried to drill into our heads at orientation this summer. They were really adamant about the fact that most transfer students come in and don't do as well as they expect to in comparison to where they were going before. I would love to be able to say that I transfered in and beat those low expectations.

I'm ninety percent sure that I've set myself up to do just that, and that makes me excited!

Life is Good

I hate that it gets dark so early in the evening now. It's strange that it's dark at five now. Super strange.

Today was my cousins husbands fathers funeral, and I spent the majority of the day helping my mom set up the dinner that they were going to have following the ceremony. The dinner itself occupied the majority of the day.

Following that we traveled back to the house where we've proceeded to sit in the living room and watch movies. For the most part it's been a productive day, at least to some extent. Tomorrow we plan on going to visit Riley, something that I definitely have to do before going back to school tomorrow evening.

Hopefully that situation can work itself out.

To some extent though going back to school is exciting. I am really excited for the month ahead. In the next two weeks the semester will wrap up and in the week that follows I will nail down my final GPA. I think I'm going to finish this semester strong, and as a transfer student that is a major accomplishment.

I'm also super excited to get to go back to work over break. I've missed it more than I ever really could have imagined I would. I miss the people that I worked with, and to some extent I miss the work that I did. I was on top of things when I worked there, I had two years of experience and therefore felt competent at my job.

It's exciting to get to return to that. Over this break I'll get my new drivers license and I'll have the opportunity to hang out with some of my best friends. Life right now, despite any stress or pressures I may be feeling, is good.

Thanksgiving Day

Today was Thanksgiving, and it was an interesting day to say the least. In fact it could have been less interesting and that would have been fine with me.

As usual we had Aunts, and Uncles and Cousins over for the usual family dinner. We watched the Detroit Lions lose, at a delicious meal and just generally enjoyed each others company. However, unlike most family dinners, we had the weight of my nieces disappearance on our shoulders. Her other grandmother dropped her off at her friends house last night, and then this morning she wasn't there and wasn't answering her phone.

At one point this afternoon I drove into Tecumseh to see if I could find her at one of her friends houses there, and didn't have much luck with my endeavour. Thankfully she finally turned up this evening, though really the trials are just beginning. For the moment we are praying for the strength to weather this present storm.

In other news, I have now determined that though I can drive on empty for sixty miles, seventy-three miles is clearly too far. I most definitely ran out of gas as I was driving to get gas this evening. Dad had to bring me gas, which didn't end up doing the trick, so we then had to use the mini-van to push my car to a local gas station.

It has been an interesting day. At the moment we're watching "My Sister's Keeper", and just taking it easy in general. We shall just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

Resources and Advantages

I definitely didn't realize how close I was cutting it to my deadline tonight. I guess being at home will do that to you. I delved into Mitch Albom's new book earlier today, and I think that I'm going to take tonight to finish reading it. It is a really good read, although in general Albom's books are so really it's not that surprising.

I got the chance to talk to the parents about doing Spring Break in Mexico, building houses. In general the response was the one that I was expecting. I asked Dad if he'd be opposed to the idea, and he said that I was old enough to do what I wanted.

Therefore, I'm planning on going to Mexico for spring break.

It's an excellent opportunity to use the resources and advantages that I have to help someone else who doesn't have those same resources and advantages. God put us here to help and love each other, and I think that 's something that we often forget, or choose to forget.

It's important to remember to be thankful for the things that we have, and prepared to help those in need. It's easy to complain about the things that we don't have and wish we did, it's more difficult to be aware of how fortunate we really are.

Same Old Story

So I'm definitely glad that I checked the syllabus for my Lit/Cultures class. Apparently there was some reading to do for tomorrow, and the movie needs to be watched for next week. Or one of the next few classes anyway. Unless he combined some of the lessons and I misunderstood.

That's possible of course.

At any rate I have managed to get half of the reading done, and will hopefully have the other half read before I decide to get some sleep. I think I've studied enough for my JRN 108 exam in the morning. It's all multiple choice, so it should be fine.

In fact, I am very close to having things squared away for the break. I think that by Monday night I should have everything caught up to a degree.

Laundry definitely took longer earlier than I was anticipating. Thursday seems to be a popular laundry day. But at least I've got that out of the way. I just really want to have things caught up before going home for Thanksgiving. I'm excited about getting to go home and hang out with my family, especially since last time I was home I was so sick.

That was awful, though I guess if you're going to be miserably sick that home is the place to be.

Things To Do

I bought the new FlyLeaf CD earlier today! It is awesome, I'm really enjoying it.

I seriously need to get some reading done for class tomorrow, but it's reading for Economics so I'm really not motivated to go about doing so. Then of course there is the continued drama at home. Can I say, for the record, that my sister is being a moron.

You can not throw around the fact that you are thirty-seven years old and then act the way that she is. It is not acceptable to act like a juvenile and then expect the people around you to take you seriously. Not to mention that she is completely taking for granted everything that Dad has ever done for her. Dad has done nothing but support her and she's throwing all of that support down the drain.

It is unbelievably frustrating. I need to read.

High Drama

The drama is continuing to unfold at home. Sometimes I really don't understand my sister. I can't understand the way that she thinks, and I definitely don't understand where she got this example from. Why?

I'm not going to be specific here, but I will say that sometimes it is possible to still love someone but be incredibly frustrated. Sometimes it is easier to love someone than it is to like them. As usual everyone at home will be in my prayers tonight, they'll just be a little more specific.

I worry though. It's difficult to be so far away at times, especially right now. I worry about my oldest niece. She's nearly at an age where she will be thinking about graduation and entering a new stage in her life, and where is that going to lead? What tools has she really had?

Something needs to give, she needs some kind of guidance and with things as they stand right now I don't see that happening. Maybe I'm being too candid here, but then again you can't say that I'm not being honest. Sometimes the truth hurts, but that doesn't make it any less true. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to be home for Thanksgiving. I just pray that I can do something to help the situation, that I can understand the role that I need to play here because something needs to give. A resolution is needed here.

Fever

I drove home from school yesterday, and the moment that I stepped out of my car I was incredibly dizzy. Thankfully I wasn't dizzy at any point during the drive itself. I did have a headache that got progressively worse through-out the day.

So at any rate by the time that I actually got home yesterday afternoon I was having chills, was dizzy and had a persistent headache. However, at no point yesterday did I have a fever according to the thermometer, though I was incredibly warm.

I went to bed early, and then slept the morning away. Once I woke up, we took my temperature and it was 101.7. Needless to say I wasn't out of bed much today, and I haven't really had much of an appetite. My temperature seemed to be going down, earlier it was 100.4, but in the last hour I took my temperature again and it's back up to 101.6.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll feel better, but if not then I might be sticking around home so that I can go see the doctor on Monday. If my fever persists than that's definitely what I'll end up doing.

Ick.

I woke up and headed to class this morning, with just a slight case of the sniffles. I didn't really think anything about it, since it was early and rather cold outside.

I started to feel a little worse during class, but again I didn't think that was strange because generally when I'm in the Communication Arts building I have allergy symptoms. I think there might be a lot of dust there or something and that irritates my senses.

By my last class of the day I had a headache that wouldn't go away, and just really wanted to close my eyes. Generally this isn't something you can get away with in class, so I trudged through the class period. Once I went back to my dorm and picked up my things I went about walking out to the lot where my car is kept.

It was windy on the walk, and I probably should have called to see if someone could give me a ride, but honestly it isn't that bad a walk. Generally it's a nice walk.

I felt alright on the drive home, thank goodness, but the minute I stepped out of my car at home I was so dizzy. The dizziness has gone away now, but the remnants of my headache are still present. I think I may have developed a head cold, although hopefully I'm just tired. I would prefer to just go to sleep tonight and wake up feeling better tomorrow.

We'll see.

Laundry Day

I desperately needed to do laundry today. Generally I only have to do two loads, today I had to do three. Yeah, I kind of put it off, but on the bright side when I go home this weekend I won't come back to school with a ton of laundry to do. There is that bright spot!

Sarah went back home this afternoon with Felicia. I'm not sure where I was going with that, other than to state the fact.

Lately my Tuesdays and Thursdays have seemed busy. This Tuesday I had class until noon, and then Sarah and I went to get lunch, before I went to work at two, and soon after I got out of work we headed to the concert.

Then of course today I had class until noon again, and then we went to get lunch before Felicia came to pick Sarah up, and then I went to work before going to meet my journalism project group and then coming back to do laundry.

At this point I have a few pages to finish reading for class tomorrow, and I'll probably go get something to eat. I'm looking forward to this weekend at home though. I haven't been home since the weekend of the retreat. I didn't realize how long it's really been until the other day.

Rainy Day

Being home for the weekend was nice, although I didn't manage to get as much of my homework done as I should have. I have just now finally managed to get all of my reading done for the class that I have at nine tomorrow. I'm supposed to read sections A through C of the AP stylebook, however it's like reading the dictionary and I just don't think I'm up for doing that at the moment.

I got back to campus around five or so, but by the time I had unloaded my car, and then parked my car and walked back from where I had to park it... it was a little after six o'clock.

My parents tried to call me earlier, but for some reason despite the fact that I answer the phone and can hear them talking they can't hear me. I have no idea what the deal is so at some point tomorrow I get to try and sort that ridiculousness out. Hopefully it will be a simple enough thing to get sorted out.

It was a pretty cruddy day to be driving. When I left home it was pouring rain. Thankfully the closer I got to campus the less rain there was. Rain is so depressing. Anyway, I need to get organized and then I need to start considering sleep.

Just Another Night

For the moment I have managed to finish one of the six newspapers that I had to read. Only five more to go! I'm going to try and power through them tonight when I start watching the MDA telethon.

Meeting Sarah for ice cream was a lot of fun. I'm really glad I got the chance to do that before going back tomorrow. At some point tomorrow morning I have to go to the store. I need a more efficient way to file away my papers for class than binders. Binders are incredibly heavy when you do nothing but walk distances. I also need to come up with a new way to fasten my full length mirror to the bathroom door.

The hooks over the door work, but it makes opening and closing the door a pain, plus it doesn't seem very stable. We'll get the quirks worked out one way or another. For the moment I'm watching a movie with the family, because obviously I haven't avoided homework enough recently.

All kidding aside though, it is really nice to be back to school even if it is taking some time to adjust on my part.