Supergroup!

In my MSE class, there's a project that will be done in a group (to mimic industry). Usually group-forming freaks me out because I don't think that anyone will want to be my partner. This quarter? No way. In fact, I was ASKED to be in a group. And a good group of hard workers at that!


It's a little sad though, because it's really the last quarter I'll have classes with most of these people since they'll be graduating in June. I really wish I hadn't taken this long to be comfortable enough in my own skin to interact with people. I've promised myself that I'll do better in Optometry school to talk to people and whatnot. I better, because I'll be with the same people throughout the 4 years!

Comprehensive Spring Break Update.

I spent most of my spring break being lazy, which is what spring break is for, right? I watched all of Season 1 of Bones, which was very good. I tried to find capri pants for the summer, but I couldn't find any that I liked. I ate good food and made good food (a highlight being the homemade brownies, yum!)

Now I'm back in the Cbus, getting ready to jump into the new quarter. I'm taking anatomy this quarter, which makes me excited (hi, I'm Jen, and I'm a dork!) I'm also finishing the history sequence I started my sophomore year (it's two classes). A required MSE class and senior project round out my classes. I'm already behind what I wanted to do on my senior project, because of...sheer suckitude. I wrote a bunch of e-mails this morning, so I'm hoping I can get some resolution to my project issues.

Thank goodness the weather is finally pretty. Sadly, I think it's supposed to get ugly again this weekend. Meh. I had to go buy a fan last night because it was hothothot in my apartment. And the AC will obviously not be on until May, I'm sure.

And the results are in

This was my best quarter so far! 5 As and 1 stinky B+ (in senior project, of course). A grand total quarter GPA of 3.95 and a cumulative GPA of 3.70. I'm very happy because while I enjoyed my classes, it was a tough quarter. I'm not even that upset by the B+, mostly because I expected it.

In other news, I'm bored at home. Today I bought crayons so that I can sit around and color. Last night I watched 6 episodes of Bones that my sister bought on DVD. At least there's TV on tonight, but I'll still probably watch a few episodes of Bones.

That's all I've got. Probably I'll make a more comprehensive Spring Break update once I get back to campus.

It's over!

Winter quarter is finally over. All in all, I liked my classes this quarter, even the MSE ones that I thought would be boring. The only dark spot in the quarter was the very very stressful time when I was cramming senior project work into my schedule. I've gotten one grade back so far (A), and I'm a little sad that it didn't up my GPA any. The rest are yet to come in, but as per usual, I'm checking obsessively.

It's beautiful in Columbus right now. And so was yesterday. Of course, when I got home it's going to be yuck.

After my final this morning, I went to the grocery/liquor store with the boyfriend. I've been craving a mojito since I had one at Applebee's over the weekend, so I wanted to get the makings for those now that I'm on break. It was my first time inside the liquor store. I did not realize what all they carried at the liquor store. Dang! I still won't go there very often though.

Tonight we're going to get Indian food for dinner. Super yum! Tomorrow I'm heading home for a little over a week. Yay!

A Smell of Spring?

As I walked out of the building of my first final today, I smelled a faint fragrant smell. Lo and behold, there's a tree that's beginning to flower. The smell and sight of spring trying to push it's way into Ohio made me smile.

FINALS.

Well, they haven't actually started yet. Tomorrow I have two--one comprehensive and one that focuses on the latter part of the course. Luckily, the professors probably won't throw any curve balls, so I'm feeling pretty confident in my studying. It sucks that 4 hours of my day will be taken up by testing. It doesn't leave much time to study for my Tuesday final. And it's a little overwhelming to study for 3 finals today. Whine whine.

Speaking of tests, I got my second midterm back in my "Materials in Medicine" class. I rocked the face off of it, 92/100. Especially the fill-in-the-blank page (which I was pretty confident that I did poorly on since I just threw some answers down). I think I'll end up doing well in the class. Except that I know the final will be quite the marathon. The last one from this professor was 12 problems that were "mediumish" answer type problems. Yikes, did my hand hurt!

Blah. I hate that my life is all consumed by silly tests. Friday I made dinner for the boyfriend, his roommates, and our future roommates. Rachael Ray provided the inspiration--Spicy Shrimp and Bok Choy Noodle Bowl. It was delish. I only wish I could whip up something as delicious tonight. Or tomorrow. Or any other day this week. Maybe I'll put some effort forth on Wednesday? At any rate, I'm going to cook up a storm for my family when I get home. I usually do. My nanny loves when I come home because I take over making dinner (which is a thankless task in my family). I'm thinking that I'll make them the goulash that I made for Jeri and I (yum-o) and my orange roughy foil oven packets. Perhaps a chicken casserole. And of course, I'm going to demand my favorite-New England Boiled Dinner (better known as corned beef and cabbage with carrots and potatoes).

Enough talk of food. Back to the grindstone.

Home stretch...

I've finally reached the home stretch of the quarter. Tomorrow is the last day of classes, Monday through Wednesday are finals, and Thursday officially starts SPRING BREAK. I cannot wait. I had an awful dream that I didn't take my sewing home over break, so now I'm going to remember that for SURE. I have a quilt top that I'd love to finish into a quilt, and I've got fabric to make at least 2 more quilt tops. I haven't had any time to sit down with my machine over the quarter. In fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't used it since...summer. Bah!

In other news, I desperately need to do laundry. Not because I'm wearing dirty clothes, mind you. I've got more clothes that you can imagine. And plenty of underwear to avoid doing laundry for a month! However, there's no more room in my laundry basket, so there's a secondary laundry pile near my bathroom. That is no good. So I think this weekend will be laundry and studying for finals. Oh joy!

Last night the boyfriend and I went to see Wild Hogs. I did not have very high expectations for the movie, but dang, it was funny! It was a good way to unwind on a Wednesday night.

Tonight...I'm cheating and eating take out for dinner. Speaking of dinner, I also need to do dishes pretty badly. Yeah, I'm living in a hovel.

Insurance companies bite!

It's great that I have health insurance and all, but it's a royal pain in the butt. I had to get a refill on a prescription but it need "prior authorization" from my doctor. Unfortunately that takes a few days, and this is a rather "time sensitive" prescription. AKA I NEED it today. So I got to pay the lovely cash price, $56.59. Which is $40.59 more than I usually pay. Hopefully the authorization will go through soon and CVS can rebill me.

In other news, it's snowing. And to think, yesterday it was 50 and sunny! Ah, well, I do live in Ohio.

Gobs of homework!

I'm taking a break from the gobs of homework/studying that I've been doing for the past several days to update.

Today I got my first "your hair is so long!" compliment. It makes me happy. I'm growing my hair out again like it was in high school because I missed it so. I haven't cut it since August 2005. At that time, I had it cut pretty short (I was going through a phase wanting to "change" my image). See top picture. The bottom picture is my hair as of today . I also haven't dyed it in a long time (I honestly can't remember, but it's surely been over a year). Not that it makes a big difference since I only use temporary dye that washes out. It's weird that when my hair gets long it actually has more body than when it's short. It tries to curl at the ends, which annoys me only because it won't curl all over.

Over spring break I'm going to have my grandma trim the ends a little, to get rid of the splits. I know, most exciting spring break ever, right? I'm also going to the dentist.

There you have it. A post about my hair. I'm fascinating!

No Good, Very Bad Day.

Today I just feel defeated by school. Yesterday I spent ALL day working on my senior project, trying to get usable results for my poster. As is the usual, it didn't work out as I had planned. I was going to go work on it today, but after I was on the bus to go to the lab, I realized that I had accidentally left my samples sitting on my counter. Since the bus service doesn't run as frequently on the weekends it takes a long time to get where you're going. Thus I gave up working on it today and will have to work on it all day Monday. Luckily, one class is already canceled and I don't feel that bad about skipping my other one.

This whole experience makes me glad that I decided against grad school. I like doing research, but it's very slow and frustrating for the most part. Senior project would go a lot more smoothly if a) the faculty involved made sure the materials were in place before we started, and b) we had fewer classes to allow us the flexibility to work on our projects. I understand the point of the project is "real world design/research experience", but at the same time it's causing undue stress (not only on me, but on my classmates as well).

I'm optimistic that I'll get results...eventually. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to correspond with the imposed timetable that I have. At least I'll have everything I need at the beginning of Spring quarter and I can devote time to getting results instead of just prepping everything.

I'm just so frustrated, with no outlet and no end to frustration in sight. Looks like my upper lip will never stop twitching. All of my frustration with my senior project is compounded by the fact that I have 2 presentations in the next week (both are with a group), a group paper, a group lab report, homework times three, and the poster session for my project. I hate how everything piles up right at the end of the quarter.

Would you like some cheese with that whine? Why yes, I would.

:-(