Tips for College

This is my fourth week as SIUC and I've learned that a few thing come in handy during my day.

1) A lanyard that has an I.D. card holder on it. I have to use my I.D. for everything including Lunch, bus pass, debit card... and having it around my neck for easy access make my life a hell of a lot easier.

2) Microsoft One Note. I use this program for everything. I have completely dumped paper notes and use this program. I keep all of my lecture notes, club/organization meeting notes and dates, professors e-mail and office hour for easy access and more. I always see people using Word to take notes and I wonder if they know there is an easier way?

3) A bike. Some of my classes are more than a 15 min walk from each other and I only have 10 min to get there. Enough said.

4) An MP3 player. So, if you are required to go to a class that is really boring and you can't understand what the teacher is talking about anyway you can block them out while you figure it out on your own. I do this for Math almost every day.

Other things I always keep handy are:

• Bus Schedule
• Cell Phone
• Highlighter and Multicolored pens
• Laptop
• Nintendo DS (also useful for those boring/easy classes)
• Umbrella
• Sunglasses (it sucks when you are riding your bike and a bug flies in you eye!)
• Granola Bars

Short version of what I have been up to since my last blog:

1. Florida- Went there for 3 days. Went parasailing, jet skiiing, and swimming in the ocean. Had my first real Pina Colada (by real I mean not made in my blender with pina colada mix).
   
   
   
2. Bought a Columbian Boa Constrictor- Her name is Andromeda. She is 5 mo old and 3 feet long. <3
3. Went to see Green Day in concert in St. Louis. Best show ever
4. Got a job- Finally! at RHD (residence hall dining) at SIUC.
   
5. Started college- and it is awful but I think its worth it
6. Cut my hair off- it can now be fauxhawked. yay!!
   

This Week in the Life of Me

This blog will be a short summary of my week so far since I have nothing better to talk about. Starting with Sunday: Sunday was spent hanging out with my BF. Monday was the same since I didn't have school. I watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on that day for the second time. It is a really good movie but very depressing and makes you wonder what other horrors the human race is capable of (pwned by prepositions). Tuesday, I had school, but after school I made cookies with my BF and divided them between him, two of my friends and, myself. They were and still are amazing since I yet to eat them all. Wednesday, today, was spent at school but for the most part I wasn't entirely there because I was still sleepy. When I came home, I ate, watched Donnie Darko, which I will describe in a later blog once I watch the directors cut, and did a few things I have been putting off. I now must go read a twenty-page poem about a man killing a bird and all the bad omens it created.
Ta-Ta Now!

April Blogging

I might blog everyday this month but then again I might now. I always have my really boring days were I have tons of time to blog and then there are the days that I don't even have time to eat. So, I don't know; you'll just have to see how it goes.

Anyway, this week was really busy. I had raku pottery classes on Tuesday and Thursday, volunteered on Monday and Wednesday and hung out with my friends on Friday. I really need to clean my room and go grocery shopping today but I'm sick and don't feel like it.

We'll I guess I'll get to work. I'm sorry this post was so boring.

DFTBA!

Job Applications

So, I started getting job applications yesterday. What a pain in the butt. Ever store does it differently. In one you can only get one application. if you friend wants one but couldn't come with then sux 2 b them. Another requires you to fill it out while you are in the store. And yet another has a kiosk where you have to digitally fill it out. But then yet another requires you to do it a home on-line. And finally a few actually had good old-fashioned paper applications.

I have so many applications to fill out my hand is going to break. I just filled a half of one out and am already tired. This sucks!

Graduation and Happy-Making Events

I'm really excited because graduation is only seven weeks away. To most people this would be really stressful, but to me it's a relief. I already have my next four years planned and am applying for jobs (my mom won't let be get a job till after graduation). I just figured out my class schedule for this summer. I will be taking English Comp II, Speech and College Algebra at John A. Logan. I'm really excited to be taking actual classes that don't involve high school at all!! I am so tired of the every day drama I want to pull my hair out. I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be worse because I just got my lip pierced on Friday (my first facial piercing) and I live in a small town. Theses two factors are going to make tomorrow a living hell.

On to my piercing story. Well... I had it done on Friday. My friend Rachel did it. She has done piercing for herself and several others: so I trusted her. She used a 14G sewing needle and it hurt like hell because it wasn't as sharp as a professional needle. It was worth it though and everything was sanitary so no worries. It's healing well which makes me happy.

On to other topics, I watched the movie The Fountain for the second time. It is a really strange movie but I absolutely love it. It is about this man's journey to save his wife. I don't want to say anymore than that but one of my friends compared it to Donnie Darko. So, I definitely recommend it. I also watched the first 3/4 of Milk. Every time I watch it something happens and I have to finish it later but it is really good so far.

Everyone wish me good luck for tomorrow!

Photography Project on Hold

I've decide to put my photography project on hold until this summer because my little point and shoot is a piece of crap. Well, It's not really that bad it's just hard to take good pictures with because it has auto focus and I can't change many of the settings. So.... as soon as I get a reliable camera, summer, I will continue this project. Until then I will continue to blog about other things.

365 Days - Week 5 - Pictures 35-41

This week (Spring Break) has been really hectic and I feel bad saying it but, I neglected this project. I have been really busy all week and yesterday I drove to Indianapolis, a four and a half hour drive, with two of my friends to see John Green at a fundraiser for Second Story. He is an amazing person and we got to talk to him for a while since it was such a small event (pictures). He was very generous and signed our books. We also visited the Indianapolis Museum of Art (pictures). My other excuse is that I have been spending a ton of time with someone; Though, I don't like to talk about my personal life here. Since I don't have any new pictures to post, I am going to post seven of my favorites that have never before been posted on my blog.

Here is a picture of me and my friends at the fundraiser with John:

Jasmin C., John Green, Me ( I look stupid :( ), Molly T.

Here are my favorites that I picked for this week:

LINK

35) Saturday, March 7, 2009

My first favorite is this picture of my per rabbit when it was a baby. We found it after my cat took it from its nest and played with it. So, we raised it and still have it today, four years later.

36) Sunday, March 8, 2009

This one was taken at my favorite cafe, Longbranch, in Carbondale, Illinois; I love that place.

37) Monday, March 9, 2009

This one I took in my yard last spring just after a light shower. I edited it a bit with paint shop and added some blue and orange.

38) Tuesday, March 10, 2009

A butterfly that just after leaving its chrysalis. I had been keeping an eye on it for weeks waiting on the perfect opportunity to take a picture of it hatching, and I missed it only by an hour.

39) Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I found this very interesting. It is a lady bug and a few ants eating aphids.

40) Thursday, March 12, 2009

This, well, I have no clue what this is and no one I know can identify it for me. So, if you know feel free to comment and tell me.

41) Friday, March 12, 2009

The sky was beautiful that day so I took this picture off of the top of my car, which is what you see at the bottom.

Next week, I won't be so lazy and I'll actually try to take some decent pictures. Sorry about this week, though.

365 Days- Week 4 - Pictures 28-34

I haven't had a lot of time to spend this week for coming up with ideas for pictures so a lot of these will probably be lame.

LINK

28) Saturday, February 28, 2009

I am holding the squishy brain that I had in one of the other pictures and am smashing it. The lighting in my room sucks so everything I take only looks good in sepia.

29) Sunday, March 1, 2009

The second month, yay! I give you all a kiss.

30) Monday, March 2, 2009

I found these laying in my yard and am not sure what they are; they look like flowers but have the texture and veins of leaves.

31) Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Paintshop Tuesday

Keyboards are really nasty things.

32) Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Update on my seedlings. They are about an inch tall, now.

33) Thursday, March 5, 2009

Spring is gorgeous. The flowers are already starting to bloom and are sadly going to die when it frosts again in a few days.

34) Friday, March 6, 2009

My friend is contemplating jumping across but I talked her out of it. We went hiking and rock climbing at Giant City State Park.

Spring Break

I finished my research paper at about three o'clock Thursday morning. I hope it is amazing because I spent a ton of time working on it; I really hope that I get an A.  Anyway, this week is spring break and Friday I plan to go see John Green in Indianapolis, IN. It is about a four hour drive from my house which kind of sucks but it definitely worth it. On Friday I will probably be super ecstatic and on Saturday I will definitely post a ton of pictures of it on my flickr.

Also, this week I am going to go see Watchmen. I was supposed to go see it last night but the tickets were already sold out when I got there. I ended up going to see Taken with a few friends. By the way, I was an amazing movie.

I finished A Great and Terrible Beauty this morning and started reading its sequel, Rebel Angels. It's a decent book which gives you a very detailed look at the late 1800's when women were taught to be rich men's wives. The interesting part is the fantasy twist that is has. I am hoping to finish the trilogy by the end of this week so that I can start rereading the Mortal Instruments Series before I get the third one in it; I have a really bad memory when it comes to books.

365 Days- Week 4- Pictures 21- 27

I planted a few seeds yesterday so I decided to take a picture of them once a week to chart their growth. This week the picture will be on Friday. Next week it might be Wednesday. Nothing really exciting happened this week. The only thing I have really been doing is working on my research paper for English and hanging out with my friend and her bf, who just flew here from Nebraska. So this week has been busy. Also this week, I finally organized my desk so now I can find all of my stuff when I need it.

Link to flickr

21) Saturday, February 21, 2009

My turtle was eating minnows so I tried to get a picture of that but when I got my camera he stopped eating a just floated there.

22) Sunday, February 22, 2009

This is what happens when one reads too much.

I found this little rubber brain while I was cleaning my desk. It was very amusing to play with for an hour.

23) Monday, February 23, 2009

My cat, Tabby, was perched on a sawed off tree trunk so I couldn't resist taking a picture of her. She kept trying to stick her face to the camera.

24) Paint Shop Tuesday (February 24, 2009)

More desk cleaning pictures. This is my container of paperclips and a catch all container. I upped the saturation on the background and made the foreground black and white.

25) Wednesday February 25, 2009

I had a plate of paint mixed in art class and at the end of class I mixed it all together and thought it looked cool. The color was a lot better but the lighting sucked so it doesn't look that great.

26) Thursday, February 26, 2009

Tonight there was a storm; I love storms. I especially love taking pictures diring storms because you never know what you are going to get. The only editing I did to this picture was to crop and resize.

27) Friday, February 27, 2009

Today, i planted some seeds and decided that I am going to document their growth for a few weeks. So be expecting some more baby plant pictures next week.