That New Year's Resolution Thing...

I'm a horrible blogger. I am already failing at my New Year's resolution to blog more often.

In my defense, school this semester is absolutely insane. It is my last semester of grad school and my class load is, oddly, more work than last semester, even though I had 17 credits last semester and only needed 13 this one. Part of that is due to the fact that I am taking an extra class that isn't required, which brings me up to 16 credits. Oops. I will get to that. Plus, I have to write my scholarly paper to actually qualify for my degree. I finally picked my topic, and have done nearly nothing since then! It's a pretty big deal and a fair amount of work that I'm sure I will get to eventually.

The extra class I am taking is actually a Philosophy class. I have never taken Philosophy before (not even "Intro to"). This class is called Science and Ethics and is taught by a well-renowned ethicist who made his way in the field working for good animal treatment in laboratories. Animal research is important in my field, and something that I have strong negative feelings towards. In that light, I think I am getting something important out of this class. Though it is a lot more work than I was originally planning on. That's life, I guess.

I don't have a life. Even on Friday nights and Saturdays I do homework, reading, and studying. And in between, I am trying to update my resume to prepare for job searching. As much as I love coffee, I am feeling very ready to leave Starbucks.

In other news, I am going to be an aunt again! I am very excited about this. Other good news: our condo repairs are coming along, slowly, but surely. I will post about that (it's mostly written, it just needs some modifying).

Unfortunately, my New Year's resolution may have to wait until school is out. I will try to keep updating though! Thanks for being patient with me!

Busy Month

Hello everyone!

Sorry about the lack of posts! I just wanted to give a little update on my life.

It seems that half of my friends have birthdays in July, so I have been doing lots of birthday stuff.

I am also in a friend's wedding near the beginning of August, so there is a lot of wedding stuff going on! On this note, I got my bridesmaid dress which is pretty but doesn't fit (I know, they never fit). It's too big in the shoulder and the bust (story of my life), but too small in the hips and butt! I about panicked when I tried it on, but it was far too late to re-order and the women in the shop told me it would fit. All I can do now is loose some inches from my hips and butt! So I have been working out nearly everyday for that and my friends and I have started Insanity yet again. We need to be fit and sexy for NDK, anyway.

I have been working a little on my costumes, but not as much as I probably should be.

In important news, I am going back to school for my Masters. Sadly this means I have to move and leave Isaac and the rats at home for the year. I also don't have a place to live yet, which causes me some stress. I am excited to start the program, however. It is an intensive, year long program for a Professional Masters (which boils down to more credits per semester, finish in a year, and don't write a thesis). I have my classes all set up and I've ordered my textbooks, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

I just took on a new student to tutor in reading. While I passed the test that says I can tutor reading, I find it difficult to teach because I learned at such a young age, I can't remember how I was taught. It has been an interesting experience so far, but I enjoy it over all.

And we had some of Isaac's family in town during July so we spent lots of time with them. Then my friend, Amie, came into town so we all spent a ton of time just hanging out. Which led to me not sleeping much hence no blogging.

Is that about it for the moment? I think so. I will try to get some more posts out with a little less delay!

And we will end with some pictures of my adorable rats, since I haven't blogged about them very often. They make me very happy!

I like it when they are in rat piles.

Me and "the boys."

Little Remus (aka "Bright Eyes.")

Silly Romulus!

Enjoy! Thanks for reading!

The GRE aka the source of my Great Anxiety

Some of you are probably aware that I took the GRE yesterday.

As of Sunday night, I was terrified and on the verge of yet another mental and emotional collapse. Despite the fact that every day that I've had off of work has been devoted to studying, I felt completely unprepared. Saturday night I called my mom in tears, sobbing away about how I was too stupid to take the GRE and asking what ever made me think that I could do this. Just like the song, "Do you... call up Momma when all else fails?" (Blake Shelton, "Who Are You When I'm Not Lookin'"). Yep, that's me, gotta call my mom!

 Essential study materials: my GRE books, dictionary, pencils, and flashcards. My two study movies. And, of course, my laptop!

Sunday I tried to rationally and calmly go through last minute things, namely vocabulary words that I've been struggling with and analytical writing prompts. Tangent: as an educated person who loves to read, it is very unnerving for me to come across vocabulary words that I have never even heard. I found several that I knew and didn't know the exact definition of, but to come across words that I've never encountered has been an unsettling experience for me. End of tangent. I also figured out what things to bring, what not to bring, and where exactly the test was held, so that helped. And then I reviewed what I had, what I still needed, and other basic GRE tips and began to panic again. And it was starting to get late and I knew I really needed to sleep. "I need some sleep/Time to put the old horse down/I'm in too deep/And the wheels keep spinning 'round." (Eels, "I Need Some Sleep"). I took a little melatonin and slept on and off on the couch for a couple hours, ending up in bed and asleep by 2am.

This morning, I woke up a little after 8am to an awful nightmare concerning someone hurting my hamsters. That was a very distressing way to start my day. I tried to dress kind of cute to bolster my confidence and put on make-up like Stephanie Plum swiping on extra mascara for courage. Then I proceeded to follow every little trick and superstition that I used to when I was nervous about tests in college. I wore a red ribbon, ate a good breakfast of eggs, toast, and chocolate. I followed that with a chai from Starbucks to avoid a caffeine headache later and as I walked in I chewed some peppermint gum. So here it is: I have heard (and never heard proven either way, but as it raises my confidence levels, I won't question it...) the color red, cocoa, and peppermint all stimulate memory. I figured I need all the help I can get. The rest is pretty self-explanatory. And the best part? When I opened my door this morning, there was a beautiful big balloon tied to my doorknob from Rachelle with a good luck card!

My superstitious items. The movie I felt like watching the morning of the test. Yes, High School musical. And my balloon!

Anyway, I ended up doing alright one the verbal reasoning sections, but did poorly on the quantitative reasoning sections. I am not sure about the analytical writing parts, but I felt OK about the first essay and pretty good about the second... except that I ran out of time one the second in the middle of fixing a sentence, so I will get counted off for that mess. I just hope I did well enough to get into graduate school. If not, I will take it again in a couple months. I get my official scores in 15 to 20 days.

I am SOOOO glad its over! Whew!