YAY Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
I simply love Friday afternoons when it doesn't really matter if I waste a few hours of my life doing nothing homework related. It's been quite the week once again, and a little less than 30 minutes ago, it culminated in an organic chemistry test that I am sufficiently relieved to be done with.
BUT, before that test, I pulled a crazy, utterly exciting move (haha...so maybe it wasn't THAT wild). Last night, when the need to study was desperately calling my name, I shut the door in the face of that voice and instead drove the 1 hour and 45 min trip home to Elgin, NE to watch my little brother play in the high school football playoffs. His team won by a sufficiently cushioned margin, and they looked great! I was pumped to make the trip. I didn't call my mom to let her know I was coming, so my arrival was a complete surprise for everyone at home. I hadn't been home since early August, before volleyball and school even started (volleyball every weekend really puts a dent in my time to travel home), so to be there, even for a very brief visit was extremely refreshing. I slept in my own bedroom in the bed I've called my own since I was about 5 years old, and woke up at 6 a.m. to make it back to Yankton in time for my Organic Chemistry test this morning. Though my studying was limited, I think the test went pretty well, and if I could redo last night, I would make the same decision!
Test complete, I am starting to feel rather exhausted, though. It doesn't help matters to walk around and be scared out of my wits by Halloween fanatics dressed up in monster apparel for their classes. And the sugar-saturated goodies around every corner aren't doing much for my fatigued state either; I simply can't resist eating such sweet tasting parcels when they're sitting in the Cyber or outside of the President's office beckoning to be eaten.
Plan for the rest of the day: Avoid over consumption of sugar. Finish my hour of work study. Eat. Go to the Moderator meeting. Attend my last class of the week (WOOHOO!). Pack my volleyball bag. Take a brief nap, and hit the road for Dordt College for one heck of a match-up....and then of course be ready to do it all over again as we leave at 7:45 a.m. for Fremont tomorrow to play Midland in our last regular season game!
Happy Halloween!!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
That Time of Year
So another week has passed since my last post and because the past couple of weeks have just seemed to run together, I had to refer to my previous post to catch myself up on my own life before I could inform all of you. :) I know, pathetic.
Last week consisted of a whole lot of homework and shivering and volleyball. This is the time of year that things start to seem very monotonous and sometimes quite pointless actually. Homework piles up more than usual. I'd like to blame this on professors deciding to make us squirm, but I think it's equally likely (at least in my case) that the growing mound of textbooks to read, papers to write, and tests to study for is due to a lack of motivation. My attention span simply begins to wan with the shorter days, and thinking about doing organic daily assignments or sitting through another 8a.m. microeconomics lecture makes me cringe. So what to do? Stock up on 5 calorie packs of crystal light wild strawberry drink mix (with caffeine :)) take a few deep breaths, adopt a mind over matter philosophy, and plug away. I might be needing a bit more caffeine than usual this week as I just realized this morning that my 13 page summer research paper, the one I have yet to start or really even give serious thought to, ummm, well, I'm going to have to start thinking and thinking quickly because it's due in 2 weeks - 2 weeks full of other classes that surely will not show me any pity for my procrastination.
As if I don't already feel pressed for time, I spent nearly the entire weekend on the road. Saturday we had a volleyball game in York, NE, a 3 hour bus ride. We were victorious in 3 sets, thank goodness, so the 6 hours on the bus were at least not in vain. Sunday did not offer me the ever-eluding time to sleep in either. I was up at 7 so that I could go to church before leaving for another 3 hour bus trip, this time with the Bio-Chem Club, destination: the bodies in motion exhibit in Watertown. The old building housing the exhibit proved to be sufficiently chilly and haunted-house-ish. The full body plastination figures of real humans were completely fascinating. It's so weird to think outside the box and really contemplate the intricacies of the anatomy and physiology of the human body and very surreal to actually see such excellent models of that anatomy. As fascinating as it was though, I also found it to be quite disturbing. You see, these chopped up/sectioned views of these real human bodies had to be created by someone, and the whole time I was there I could not shove that knowledge from my brain. As if it wasn't cold enough in that creepy building, the thought of chopping up someone's face into sections literally chilled me to the bone. Overall, it was a good experience, but the 3 hour bus ride on Sunday, what is usually my quiet homework day, kind of tainted the experience for me and left me wondering where my weekend went.
On a positive note, we had an AGAPE meeting last night. AGAPE is a women's spiritual group here at MMC that meets on certain Sunday nights. Last night's gathering was a "share your favorite Christian song" festivity. It was very refreshing to lay on the floor and simply allow the powerful lyrics to cloud my brain. Music can speak volumes, and it was a great re-focus hour for me before the start of another busy week.
This week is a big one for volleyball. We play our last 3 regular season games, all on the road and all conference matches. The adrenaline will be pumping and come Saturday, I'm predicting a state of mental and physical exhaustion, all very satisfying sleepiness though of course. :)
Though it is still sufficiently chilly in Yankton, the rain has stopped and the sun is again shining. And so the beat goes on... :)
Last week consisted of a whole lot of homework and shivering and volleyball. This is the time of year that things start to seem very monotonous and sometimes quite pointless actually. Homework piles up more than usual. I'd like to blame this on professors deciding to make us squirm, but I think it's equally likely (at least in my case) that the growing mound of textbooks to read, papers to write, and tests to study for is due to a lack of motivation. My attention span simply begins to wan with the shorter days, and thinking about doing organic daily assignments or sitting through another 8a.m. microeconomics lecture makes me cringe. So what to do? Stock up on 5 calorie packs of crystal light wild strawberry drink mix (with caffeine :)) take a few deep breaths, adopt a mind over matter philosophy, and plug away. I might be needing a bit more caffeine than usual this week as I just realized this morning that my 13 page summer research paper, the one I have yet to start or really even give serious thought to, ummm, well, I'm going to have to start thinking and thinking quickly because it's due in 2 weeks - 2 weeks full of other classes that surely will not show me any pity for my procrastination.
As if I don't already feel pressed for time, I spent nearly the entire weekend on the road. Saturday we had a volleyball game in York, NE, a 3 hour bus ride. We were victorious in 3 sets, thank goodness, so the 6 hours on the bus were at least not in vain. Sunday did not offer me the ever-eluding time to sleep in either. I was up at 7 so that I could go to church before leaving for another 3 hour bus trip, this time with the Bio-Chem Club, destination: the bodies in motion exhibit in Watertown. The old building housing the exhibit proved to be sufficiently chilly and haunted-house-ish. The full body plastination figures of real humans were completely fascinating. It's so weird to think outside the box and really contemplate the intricacies of the anatomy and physiology of the human body and very surreal to actually see such excellent models of that anatomy. As fascinating as it was though, I also found it to be quite disturbing. You see, these chopped up/sectioned views of these real human bodies had to be created by someone, and the whole time I was there I could not shove that knowledge from my brain. As if it wasn't cold enough in that creepy building, the thought of chopping up someone's face into sections literally chilled me to the bone. Overall, it was a good experience, but the 3 hour bus ride on Sunday, what is usually my quiet homework day, kind of tainted the experience for me and left me wondering where my weekend went.
On a positive note, we had an AGAPE meeting last night. AGAPE is a women's spiritual group here at MMC that meets on certain Sunday nights. Last night's gathering was a "share your favorite Christian song" festivity. It was very refreshing to lay on the floor and simply allow the powerful lyrics to cloud my brain. Music can speak volumes, and it was a great re-focus hour for me before the start of another busy week.
This week is a big one for volleyball. We play our last 3 regular season games, all on the road and all conference matches. The adrenaline will be pumping and come Saturday, I'm predicting a state of mental and physical exhaustion, all very satisfying sleepiness though of course. :)
Though it is still sufficiently chilly in Yankton, the rain has stopped and the sun is again shining. And so the beat goes on... :)
Monday, October 20, 2008
PCAT torture
Happy Monday Afternoon everyone!!!
Hi. So My insanely busy/stressful week is over and what I thought would be a week with a little breathing room is not looking to shape up to be any such thing. Let's just say my enthusiastic "Yay, Monday afternoon" greeting has quite a bit more spunk to it than I am actually feeling right now.
BUT, I do have to admit that having the PCAT behind me is a ginormous load off of my back!!! I ended up leaving to drive the 30-ish miles to Vermillion on Saturday morning a full hour and 15 minutes before the test was scheduled to start. You may think I'm crazy, but hey, I was nervous, didn't know where the building was located, and was having nightmares of bizarre obstacles stopping me from getting there on time. Luck would have it that I had little trouble finding the location of my prison for the torturous hours of that fateful morning. I made a friend with a fellow paranoid test-taker whose jitters steered him to a ridiculously early arrival as well. At 8:30 a.m., I found myself in a room with only eight other test takers. After the exceedingly boring and formal reading of warnings threatening us not to disclose information or cheat lest we were seeking imprisonment, the clock started ticking. Sub-test #1: Write an essay proposing a solution to a problem....a full blown essay with reliable support for my proposition in 30 minutes! Shoot, if my nerves weren't already shot, the realization that the test started with the time-pressured essay threw me for one heck of a loop. I was naively assuming that both essays would conclude the test. (ahhhhhh) But anyway, I wasted the first couple of minutes having a spaz attack and then proceeded to propose a solution that in hindsight appears completely and utterly absurd. Granted, I can write, but I'm a bit lacking in world-problem solving skills. I did survive that first essay writing frenzy, and the second that timer went off, Ms. Proctor lady, without looking up from her very unstressful reading and without any emotion or pity for us suffering souls, said very bluntly, "turn to test 2 and begin." WHOA! Like not even a minute to take a breather. I was expecting instructions or a simple comment to lighten the mood...anything but an IMMEDIATE ticking clock. But, with no other option, I plunged into the world of verbal analysis which of course included oodles of words I had no idea even existed. What's the point of knowing them when no one in their right minds speaks them anyway? When the stupid timer beeped again, I had to shift my mind to biology knowledge. I spent that 30 minutes wracking my brains trying to recall bits and pieces of anatomy lectures that I had long since shoved to the corners of my brain. And when the buzzer nearly scared me out of my chair, it was reset before I had time to blink to pressure me through a chemistry section that stressed every cell of chemistry knowledge I have inside me....and even some that I'm pretty sure I made up (I have not had the second semester of organic chemistry yet....).
And then....... praise the Lord, a break!! Ten glorious minutes to use the restroom and walk and breathe. I left the room and wandered around the rectangular building, aimlessly taking laps. The 10 minute break ended much too rapidly and I found myself tripping through a shaky solution to a second global problem in essay number two. I should note at this point that I had successfully dulled four #2 pencils. With writing down, it was on to reading comprehension. Now granted, I LOVE to read. I voluntarily read all of the time. I chose to get lost in novels rather than television regularly. But they pose the most horridly boring anecdotes and factual articles in those stupid tests and then ask questions that I swear make you second guess everything you just read. I was sick of testing at this point and spend precious seconds debating which of the four theme choices was actually accurate or if the test takers even gave me a correct option. I beat that rude timer though and mustered every ounce of thinking power I had left to begin the final test: quantitative analysis - no calculators allowed, mind you. I utilized skills I relearned by tutoring middle school kids at the library this summer. I was shocked at how years of geometry, trigonometry, and calculus could diminish my knowledge of how to solve fraction, logarithmic, and multiplication and long division problems by hand. I will admit that I blindly guessed on a calculus question or two (My brain discarded that information 4 years ago after I took it as a senior in high school). I nearly ran out of time and just took wild (we're talking look at the answer sheet and pick my favorite letter) guesses for a couple of questions that required too much computation and time for my exhausted brain cells to handle.
And when that terrible timer went off this time.....FREEDOM!!! Four hours after that test began, it was finally over. I grabbed my bag and booked it out of there. It will be six long weeks of waiting before my scores are mailed to me, but I'm hoping in the meantime, that the stress was worth it and I'll be able to put my PCAT study book away in a closet for good (or possibly sell it to any brave soul who decides to take the test :)). I drove straight back to Yankton and without even returning to my room, went to the gym and got dressed for our afternoon volleyball game. We won the game, but as if a testament to the stress of the day, it took us 5 painful sets of point-for-point competition to do it. Wanting nothing better than to sleep and not think about anything after the game, I instead spent some time with my mom and then got ready for the fall formal. I danced away the evening and had a blast doing it....it was a great ending to a very long stressful day.
And that brings me to Monday afternoon, I am behind in all of my classes because I spent last week studying for the PCAT, so I am playing catch up hardcore right now. As Dr. Wu, my Organic chemistry professor, wisely says, "Falling behind is Death!" I am on the verge of "death"...
Have a great week!
Hi. So My insanely busy/stressful week is over and what I thought would be a week with a little breathing room is not looking to shape up to be any such thing. Let's just say my enthusiastic "Yay, Monday afternoon" greeting has quite a bit more spunk to it than I am actually feeling right now.
BUT, I do have to admit that having the PCAT behind me is a ginormous load off of my back!!! I ended up leaving to drive the 30-ish miles to Vermillion on Saturday morning a full hour and 15 minutes before the test was scheduled to start. You may think I'm crazy, but hey, I was nervous, didn't know where the building was located, and was having nightmares of bizarre obstacles stopping me from getting there on time. Luck would have it that I had little trouble finding the location of my prison for the torturous hours of that fateful morning. I made a friend with a fellow paranoid test-taker whose jitters steered him to a ridiculously early arrival as well. At 8:30 a.m., I found myself in a room with only eight other test takers. After the exceedingly boring and formal reading of warnings threatening us not to disclose information or cheat lest we were seeking imprisonment, the clock started ticking. Sub-test #1: Write an essay proposing a solution to a problem....a full blown essay with reliable support for my proposition in 30 minutes! Shoot, if my nerves weren't already shot, the realization that the test started with the time-pressured essay threw me for one heck of a loop. I was naively assuming that both essays would conclude the test. (ahhhhhh) But anyway, I wasted the first couple of minutes having a spaz attack and then proceeded to propose a solution that in hindsight appears completely and utterly absurd. Granted, I can write, but I'm a bit lacking in world-problem solving skills. I did survive that first essay writing frenzy, and the second that timer went off, Ms. Proctor lady, without looking up from her very unstressful reading and without any emotion or pity for us suffering souls, said very bluntly, "turn to test 2 and begin." WHOA! Like not even a minute to take a breather. I was expecting instructions or a simple comment to lighten the mood...anything but an IMMEDIATE ticking clock. But, with no other option, I plunged into the world of verbal analysis which of course included oodles of words I had no idea even existed. What's the point of knowing them when no one in their right minds speaks them anyway? When the stupid timer beeped again, I had to shift my mind to biology knowledge. I spent that 30 minutes wracking my brains trying to recall bits and pieces of anatomy lectures that I had long since shoved to the corners of my brain. And when the buzzer nearly scared me out of my chair, it was reset before I had time to blink to pressure me through a chemistry section that stressed every cell of chemistry knowledge I have inside me....and even some that I'm pretty sure I made up (I have not had the second semester of organic chemistry yet....).
And then....... praise the Lord, a break!! Ten glorious minutes to use the restroom and walk and breathe. I left the room and wandered around the rectangular building, aimlessly taking laps. The 10 minute break ended much too rapidly and I found myself tripping through a shaky solution to a second global problem in essay number two. I should note at this point that I had successfully dulled four #2 pencils. With writing down, it was on to reading comprehension. Now granted, I LOVE to read. I voluntarily read all of the time. I chose to get lost in novels rather than television regularly. But they pose the most horridly boring anecdotes and factual articles in those stupid tests and then ask questions that I swear make you second guess everything you just read. I was sick of testing at this point and spend precious seconds debating which of the four theme choices was actually accurate or if the test takers even gave me a correct option. I beat that rude timer though and mustered every ounce of thinking power I had left to begin the final test: quantitative analysis - no calculators allowed, mind you. I utilized skills I relearned by tutoring middle school kids at the library this summer. I was shocked at how years of geometry, trigonometry, and calculus could diminish my knowledge of how to solve fraction, logarithmic, and multiplication and long division problems by hand. I will admit that I blindly guessed on a calculus question or two (My brain discarded that information 4 years ago after I took it as a senior in high school). I nearly ran out of time and just took wild (we're talking look at the answer sheet and pick my favorite letter) guesses for a couple of questions that required too much computation and time for my exhausted brain cells to handle.
And when that terrible timer went off this time.....FREEDOM!!! Four hours after that test began, it was finally over. I grabbed my bag and booked it out of there. It will be six long weeks of waiting before my scores are mailed to me, but I'm hoping in the meantime, that the stress was worth it and I'll be able to put my PCAT study book away in a closet for good (or possibly sell it to any brave soul who decides to take the test :)). I drove straight back to Yankton and without even returning to my room, went to the gym and got dressed for our afternoon volleyball game. We won the game, but as if a testament to the stress of the day, it took us 5 painful sets of point-for-point competition to do it. Wanting nothing better than to sleep and not think about anything after the game, I instead spent some time with my mom and then got ready for the fall formal. I danced away the evening and had a blast doing it....it was a great ending to a very long stressful day.
And that brings me to Monday afternoon, I am behind in all of my classes because I spent last week studying for the PCAT, so I am playing catch up hardcore right now. As Dr. Wu, my Organic chemistry professor, wisely says, "Falling behind is Death!" I am on the verge of "death"...
Have a great week!
Monday, October 13, 2008
I Need More Time!!
Hello Again all!!
Well it has been quite some time since I last spilled my life story online. Summer is over and midterm week is already here. So much has happened since my last post of the summer, so it's hard to know where to even begin.
As I write this, I am enjoying a day off from classes. MMC classes were cancelled today to celebrate Native American Day. Woohoo!!!!!! Sadly, though, I am not enjoying my "free" time as much as I had initially hoped. I am currently sitting in the micro lab preparing media tubes for one of Dr. McRoy's labs. You see, I somehow managed to acquire myself this new lab work study position in addition to my normal position as a tutor in the learning center. I received an email from him last night asking me to get a few things ready, and I had no idea when I came in at 9:00 this morning that I would still be here 3 hours later. This is exactly where science and I do not get along. I am entirely too impatient to sit around waiting for such things as an autoclave to sterilize things. Though I wasn't required to get the entire list of things done today, I decided it would be a good idea to do it all and be done with it....bad idea, Kelly. I have never wanted to leave the lab so badly as at this moment. Once I finish my final autoclaving, I am off to run a few errands before volleyball practice at 4.
Volleyball is a whole bright, rollarcoaster ride of a topic that I will spend some time on in a future post, guaranteed. For the sake of time right now, I'll just let you know we are 11-14 - a very respectable season thus far and the most wins MMC's coach of 8 years, Tracey Grotenhuis, has ever had. It has been a very enjoyable and busy season up unitl now and it is winding down faster than I have time to register.....
But, what's really weighing on my mind and on my time is PCAT (pharmacy collage admission test) studying. I take the exam in Vermillion at 8:30 a.m. this coming Saturday....a.k.a. 5 days from now. AHHHHHHHH. I feel so very unprepared. I'm trying to spend all the time I can studying, but also can't focus for long. Honestly, how do you cram everything you've ever learned in school into your brain for the sake of one test? It's overwhelming and stressful. On top of regular class homework and studies, volleyball practices and games, and meetings and college in general, I have very limited time. This could possibly be the most stressful week of my life. So...on that note, I must be off to finish up this smelly (literally) lab work and hit the books. I'll catch you up later on my life and the test. Saturday, October 18th at 1:30 p.m. will be a huge releif!!! Have a great week!
Well it has been quite some time since I last spilled my life story online. Summer is over and midterm week is already here. So much has happened since my last post of the summer, so it's hard to know where to even begin.
As I write this, I am enjoying a day off from classes. MMC classes were cancelled today to celebrate Native American Day. Woohoo!!!!!! Sadly, though, I am not enjoying my "free" time as much as I had initially hoped. I am currently sitting in the micro lab preparing media tubes for one of Dr. McRoy's labs. You see, I somehow managed to acquire myself this new lab work study position in addition to my normal position as a tutor in the learning center. I received an email from him last night asking me to get a few things ready, and I had no idea when I came in at 9:00 this morning that I would still be here 3 hours later. This is exactly where science and I do not get along. I am entirely too impatient to sit around waiting for such things as an autoclave to sterilize things. Though I wasn't required to get the entire list of things done today, I decided it would be a good idea to do it all and be done with it....bad idea, Kelly. I have never wanted to leave the lab so badly as at this moment. Once I finish my final autoclaving, I am off to run a few errands before volleyball practice at 4.
Volleyball is a whole bright, rollarcoaster ride of a topic that I will spend some time on in a future post, guaranteed. For the sake of time right now, I'll just let you know we are 11-14 - a very respectable season thus far and the most wins MMC's coach of 8 years, Tracey Grotenhuis, has ever had. It has been a very enjoyable and busy season up unitl now and it is winding down faster than I have time to register.....
But, what's really weighing on my mind and on my time is PCAT (pharmacy collage admission test) studying. I take the exam in Vermillion at 8:30 a.m. this coming Saturday....a.k.a. 5 days from now. AHHHHHHHH. I feel so very unprepared. I'm trying to spend all the time I can studying, but also can't focus for long. Honestly, how do you cram everything you've ever learned in school into your brain for the sake of one test? It's overwhelming and stressful. On top of regular class homework and studies, volleyball practices and games, and meetings and college in general, I have very limited time. This could possibly be the most stressful week of my life. So...on that note, I must be off to finish up this smelly (literally) lab work and hit the books. I'll catch you up later on my life and the test. Saturday, October 18th at 1:30 p.m. will be a huge releif!!! Have a great week!
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