Good riddance! I nearly forgot about leaving you a post this week. I'm blaming this near crisis on the new H1N1 blurb that has shunted my blogging shortcut off of Mount Marty's homepage. H1N1...yikes. I'm hoping none of us will have to really concern ourselves with that new little shortcut in the next few months.
School is trudging on. I think I'm already suffering from the changing weather. I could probably correctly diagnose myself with a mild form of seasonal depressive disorder. I have yet to find a winter exercise method that is as refreshing and exhilarating as summer adventures under the sun. Odd that I've lived in this area my whole life and I still find the need to get sad about the coming of cold weather. Maybe I'll have to head south one of these days...
When I say I'm suffering, I mean that I feel as though my energy level is down and I'm not quite as apt to be unusually chipper in the mornings. I am completely unmotivated in the homework area, but I have very few legitimate excuses to explain why it's not getting done. Yes, I do work a couple of nights a week and have work study and tutoring besides and other random time commitments, but I have been spending my precious free hours during the mornings and afternoons between classes contemplating taking naps but never doing it, staring at my planner with all sorts of good intentions at plugging away on the lists, but not starting anything, and opening textbooks simply to read a page or two only to nod off and get up to eat food or consume caffeine in a last ditch effort to fire up some motivation. .....you know, on second thought, beings it is midterm week in two weeks, this apathetic attitude could be in fact attributed to that slump time of year as I'm seeing similar symptoms from my peers. HAVE NO FEAR, however. I will push through this lackadaisical attitude with the help of my piano playing practice (I am now halfway through level 1B) and other sorts of whimsical adventures. :)
AHHHH! I almost forgot to mention that this past weekend I did zero homework because I was in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, NE watching the good 'ol Huskers dominate in a 55-0 homecoming victory. It also happened to be the 300th consecutive sellout in that divine stadium and throughout the game, they played clips on Husker vision (the big screen) from other coaches in the conference, from Husker past coaches and players, and from NCAA officials congratulating us on the record. We are such a great, loyal crowd and I had goosebumps multiple times. THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE NEBRASKA!
And that my friends, is a good note to leave you with. Bundle up and prep for the frosty air. It's creeping up.... :)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Random Weekend Adventures
I am writing to you this evening in hopes of dispelling this rather annoying headache I managed to contract about three hours ago and not get rid of...perhaps a replay of my weekend will do the trick?
After leaving you with a remarkably dull post last week, I had a unique and therefore exciting weekend despite it being my weekend to work. I kicked it off on Friday night with a whole lot of indecisiveness. Friday morning I had planned to take a friend up on her offer to go to her hometown with her that evening to watch her little brother play football. Later in the afternoon, I decided that was a big stretch of time I didn't know if I could afford to give up beings I had to work from 9-5 on Saturday. So, instead I opted to join a few other friends in making a taco supper. On my way over to the cooking locale, I ran into Jordan and Joey, yet another couple of MMC kids. The two of them informed me they were going to tackle a run, so of course I changed plans on the spot to join them. After running somewhere around three miles give or take a bit of distance, we returned feeling accomplished and full of energy from released endorphins, to eat the tacos I was supposed to let cook. :) I then attended the MMC volleyball game versus Buena Vista which turned out to be a 5 set thriller, with the Lancers pulling out the victory, before retreating to my room with no further plans. Those "non-plans" turned into a night of super nintendo. I hadn't played that thing since I was in like 8th grade or something and one of the cool freshman kids happened to have one and even had the Lion King game, the one that used to be my favorite!! It took me a while to get going, but then I found I was a natural. Nintendo dominated, we then finished the evening with a star gazing adventure at the damn. It was the most random group of people, which made for a very memorable experience. Oh, and the stars were abundant and beautiful!!
Saturday was a very lucky day for me. I was supposed to work from 9-5, but it turned out that the afternoon was looking to be very slow, so the pharmacist on with me allowed me to leave at 2:00 so that I could travel home to Elgin, NE and watch my little brother play his homecoming football game. His team (the Crusaders) won 22-20...it was another thriller. My brother is quite the studly little receiver as well!! He made me proud, but I opted not to hug him afterwards because he was disgustingly smelly and sweaty. :P It turned out that my best friend from high school was also back home to watch her brother in the game. I hadn't seen her since somewhere around Thanksgiving last year because she goes to school in Kearney and our work schedules and everything else just seem to always clash. It was sooo incredibly refreshing and wonderful to see her and catch up. We even went out to supper at the steakhouse we used to waitress at together after the game. My only regret from the evening was not being able to spend more time with my parents. I came back to Yankton after supper because I had to be back for work on Sunday. In fact, I came back in time to head downtown and check out the masses of people and excitement of Ribfest!
And now I'm back in the swing of another week of studies and I must leave this message here before I am late for a choir fundraising team meeting!! Have a great week!
After leaving you with a remarkably dull post last week, I had a unique and therefore exciting weekend despite it being my weekend to work. I kicked it off on Friday night with a whole lot of indecisiveness. Friday morning I had planned to take a friend up on her offer to go to her hometown with her that evening to watch her little brother play football. Later in the afternoon, I decided that was a big stretch of time I didn't know if I could afford to give up beings I had to work from 9-5 on Saturday. So, instead I opted to join a few other friends in making a taco supper. On my way over to the cooking locale, I ran into Jordan and Joey, yet another couple of MMC kids. The two of them informed me they were going to tackle a run, so of course I changed plans on the spot to join them. After running somewhere around three miles give or take a bit of distance, we returned feeling accomplished and full of energy from released endorphins, to eat the tacos I was supposed to let cook. :) I then attended the MMC volleyball game versus Buena Vista which turned out to be a 5 set thriller, with the Lancers pulling out the victory, before retreating to my room with no further plans. Those "non-plans" turned into a night of super nintendo. I hadn't played that thing since I was in like 8th grade or something and one of the cool freshman kids happened to have one and even had the Lion King game, the one that used to be my favorite!! It took me a while to get going, but then I found I was a natural. Nintendo dominated, we then finished the evening with a star gazing adventure at the damn. It was the most random group of people, which made for a very memorable experience. Oh, and the stars were abundant and beautiful!!
Saturday was a very lucky day for me. I was supposed to work from 9-5, but it turned out that the afternoon was looking to be very slow, so the pharmacist on with me allowed me to leave at 2:00 so that I could travel home to Elgin, NE and watch my little brother play his homecoming football game. His team (the Crusaders) won 22-20...it was another thriller. My brother is quite the studly little receiver as well!! He made me proud, but I opted not to hug him afterwards because he was disgustingly smelly and sweaty. :P It turned out that my best friend from high school was also back home to watch her brother in the game. I hadn't seen her since somewhere around Thanksgiving last year because she goes to school in Kearney and our work schedules and everything else just seem to always clash. It was sooo incredibly refreshing and wonderful to see her and catch up. We even went out to supper at the steakhouse we used to waitress at together after the game. My only regret from the evening was not being able to spend more time with my parents. I came back to Yankton after supper because I had to be back for work on Sunday. In fact, I came back in time to head downtown and check out the masses of people and excitement of Ribfest!
And now I'm back in the swing of another week of studies and I must leave this message here before I am late for a choir fundraising team meeting!! Have a great week!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
umm...classes.
Oh my goodness. I feel as though the semester has now officially begun. I say officially because I am once again blogging at odd hours of the night like I often did last spring when homework doings took me late into the evening, and I have now officially studied for and comfortably completed my first two exams of my senior year.
That's right, two days into the work week and I've taken a microbiology test and a lab quiz and also worked through a rather long and redundant Medical terminology exam. I feel kind of proud of myself for actually finding it in me to sit down and resume the stellar study habits. :) ...especially amidst the BEAUTIFUL weather we've been having. I mean honestly, I still think we're a bit fresh returned from summer and when it is 80 degrees outside with a gentle breeze and a blue cloudless sky, who wants to sit inside and study? Not I. You see, I even convinced a couple of friends to "multitask" with me on Saturday afternoon and bring out studies to the river!! Why not study where I'm most happy?
I don't think I've really ever mentioned what classes I'm taking this semester and because...well frankly I'm just too tired to think of anything really significant to say, I'm going to tell you now. Besides the two science classes I mentioned above, I have 12 English credits - two writing classes and a literature one (Short Story). To top off my schedule I am enjoying calligraphy and mixed and chamber choirs. That's 19 hours of study, but they may be the most enjoyable 19 I've taken in my four years here. I have found that it is kind of a problem to motivate myself to study for my Creative Writing independent study course though beings I only meet with my professor every other week. When you're on your own with a list of everything you've got to complete for the semester but virtually no set due dates, it's pretty much an open invitation to procrastinate.
Okkkk... I'm going to be honest. I'm going nowhere with this post. I'm ending here and going to bed. I'll do my very best to make up for this poor effort later this week with an exciting story of some sort for all of you disappointed readers. :)
Happy mid-week to you all!!
That's right, two days into the work week and I've taken a microbiology test and a lab quiz and also worked through a rather long and redundant Medical terminology exam. I feel kind of proud of myself for actually finding it in me to sit down and resume the stellar study habits. :) ...especially amidst the BEAUTIFUL weather we've been having. I mean honestly, I still think we're a bit fresh returned from summer and when it is 80 degrees outside with a gentle breeze and a blue cloudless sky, who wants to sit inside and study? Not I. You see, I even convinced a couple of friends to "multitask" with me on Saturday afternoon and bring out studies to the river!! Why not study where I'm most happy?
I don't think I've really ever mentioned what classes I'm taking this semester and because...well frankly I'm just too tired to think of anything really significant to say, I'm going to tell you now. Besides the two science classes I mentioned above, I have 12 English credits - two writing classes and a literature one (Short Story). To top off my schedule I am enjoying calligraphy and mixed and chamber choirs. That's 19 hours of study, but they may be the most enjoyable 19 I've taken in my four years here. I have found that it is kind of a problem to motivate myself to study for my Creative Writing independent study course though beings I only meet with my professor every other week. When you're on your own with a list of everything you've got to complete for the semester but virtually no set due dates, it's pretty much an open invitation to procrastinate.
Okkkk... I'm going to be honest. I'm going nowhere with this post. I'm ending here and going to bed. I'll do my very best to make up for this poor effort later this week with an exciting story of some sort for all of you disappointed readers. :)
Happy mid-week to you all!!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Adventures
Oops! The three day weekend kind of messed with my head and messed up my blogging schedule. It's been a while since my last post and I apologize to any dedicated followers who've felt lost without stories of my adventures! :)
Where to even begin... I have actually pulled out my planner to see all of the exciting things I have crossed off from the past week (meaning adventures completed!). First off, I must point out that all of the exciting adventures have cute little check marks next to them, but next to Tuesday's "Medical Terminology: Chapter 2 read and exercises," there's no indication of completion...similar story for the entry for that class on Thursday...and oh boy oh boy, same thing on Wednesday's Microbiology entry. Whoops...homework has really not appealed to me lately. In fact, on the eve of the end of a wonderful three day weekend, I must confess that I have a quite incomplete list of accomplishments in the study area....
But, I have logical excuses of course! Let's see, last Tuesday night I traveled to Hawarden, IA to watch Lindsay Beacom, a very good friend of mine who graduated last May, coach her high school volleyball team. It was so weird to see her as a head coach and to think that less than a year ago I was playing on MMC's court right next to her. She's all grown up and responsible and it made me feel OLD! But, it was sooo exciting to watch. Her team is currently undefeated (or they were as of Tuesday anyway) and I was super impressed. Not only that, but I was bursting with excitement over the atmosphere!!! You simply can't beat small town high school sports. The girls were so sincerely excited to play and passionate and running all over and not yelling at each other and there wasn't obvious tension. The crowd was amazingly supportive and it was everything I remembered and reminded me of why I loved playing so much. It was well worth skipping microbiology homework for the evening!
I can't remember what I did on Wednesday and Thursday night to be honest with you. But I'm pretty sure it involved a lot of random visits to my neighbors' rooms and not a whole lot of studious focusing....
Friday night, I had to work from 5-9. BUT, first, and most importantly, I went to my piano lesson. That's right, despite a two week postpone-ment due to the insanity of moving and orientation leader training and school staring, I resumed as planned during the first week of September and it was wondrous. I played the chicken dance as a duet sort of thing with my teacher and I was pumped! Some day I'll move past nursery rhymes and develop magical fingers or something and it will be a sight to see. :)
After work, I fully intended to call it an early night and get some sleep so that I wasn't crabby at work on Saturday and also rested to go out and celebrate another good friend's birthday Saturday night. It was a weekend though, so that was a stupid plan. Instead I ended up eating supper at 9:30 p.m. and then wandering around Walmart at 11:30 to buy a rug for my companion's dorm room and posterboard for wall decorations. I ended up drawing and coloring pictures until 3:00 a.m. while listening to rock music. It was a very odd, but enjoyable night. I'm still a kid a heart. :)
Saturday was adventurous and a birthday celebration and another late night of shenanigans. I took some fun pictures (I posted one at the beginning of this blog...the gorgeous birthday girl, Adrian, in the middle and Christine on the right) and had a great time with the girls.
And for Sunday I had planned to go to Sioux Falls on a much over-due shopping spree, and I did go...but the shopping was pretty much nonexistent. I met up with "Raz" another of my good friends from last year's graduating class. She wasn't in the mood to shop, so it was a definite damper on my enthusiasm and focus in the mall. We met Briana instead and trekked out to Lifelight to watch Tenth Avenue North perform. HOLY GINORMOUS MOB OF PEOPLE!! I had never been there before and I was in total awe and overwhelmed by the masses of people. I felt like a spaz because there was so much going on. The concert was great...and so incredibly different from any other concert I've been to...in a good way. It was peaceful and non-shoving and screaming and people falling over each other!! :)
And today - a rare but beautiful Monday without classes. To celebrate, my brother, Andy, came to visit. I took him out for lunch. We both over-indulged at JoDean's buffet and then decided a kayaking trip would be entertaining. We picked up Brett, another MMC kid who braved the entire weekend on campus, and headed out to pick up the little boats. The rental lady dropped subtle hints that floating down the river would be a stupid idea because of the outrageous wind gusts. In the end, we took her advice and opted for the less wild Lake Yankton. We paddled to the far end of the lake from the boat dock and then things got out of control. First off, I look to my left to see my brother capsized and floating in the water. After my initial shock at his silent flip, I was concerned about his catching hypothermia or drowning. When he told me the water wasn't too bad, I attempted to turn around to help Brett rescue him. Um...easier said than done. I ended up making a HUGE circle of it because of the wind and waves. When we attempted to hold the kayak down for him to launch himself back in, I had quite the laughing fit due to awkward climbing and yelps of pain on his part. Less than five minutes after the rescue, I watched poor Andy capsize again. He wasn't even paddling anywhere. He just sat there, let the wave hit him, and flip! It was hilarious. He blamed it on a fail to dump the water from capsize number one. This time Brett flipped his own kayak while we attempted to rescue him. I floated away while laughing until I cried, to which I was repaid with the boys throwing mud and seaweed at me. I screamed and ducked....and TIPPED! haha. Yep, that's right, there was a good 15 minute span when the three of us were all chilling in the water and deciding how best to get back in the boats. When we finally tackled the mission, we decided to head back because it would take a while with our poor skills. Let's see...WIND GUSTS IN THE FACE! Andy capsized at least twice more and then managed to paddle his way up and out of site. I was bursting through waves and gusts at a respectable pace myself, but was kind enough to look back and see poor Brett floating in the water next to his capsized ship. After another uncontrollable laughing fit in the hazardous attempt to get him back in, I was informed that he didn't capsize, but "sink." Apparently each wave that hit him splashed water inside until he simply went down with it. hahaha. Anyway, we eventually made it back (Andy cheated and paddled to the beach and then chose to drag his kayak the rest of the way to the dock). I'm pretty sure I'll be feeling the ache in my arms in the morning.
And tonight..I did my laundry, chatted with friends, attempted a run, and finished very little homework. And I have a microbiology lab in less than 8 hours. WOOOHOOOO! :) Good night!
Where to even begin... I have actually pulled out my planner to see all of the exciting things I have crossed off from the past week (meaning adventures completed!). First off, I must point out that all of the exciting adventures have cute little check marks next to them, but next to Tuesday's "Medical Terminology: Chapter 2 read and exercises," there's no indication of completion...similar story for the entry for that class on Thursday...and oh boy oh boy, same thing on Wednesday's Microbiology entry. Whoops...homework has really not appealed to me lately. In fact, on the eve of the end of a wonderful three day weekend, I must confess that I have a quite incomplete list of accomplishments in the study area....
But, I have logical excuses of course! Let's see, last Tuesday night I traveled to Hawarden, IA to watch Lindsay Beacom, a very good friend of mine who graduated last May, coach her high school volleyball team. It was so weird to see her as a head coach and to think that less than a year ago I was playing on MMC's court right next to her. She's all grown up and responsible and it made me feel OLD! But, it was sooo exciting to watch. Her team is currently undefeated (or they were as of Tuesday anyway) and I was super impressed. Not only that, but I was bursting with excitement over the atmosphere!!! You simply can't beat small town high school sports. The girls were so sincerely excited to play and passionate and running all over and not yelling at each other and there wasn't obvious tension. The crowd was amazingly supportive and it was everything I remembered and reminded me of why I loved playing so much. It was well worth skipping microbiology homework for the evening!
I can't remember what I did on Wednesday and Thursday night to be honest with you. But I'm pretty sure it involved a lot of random visits to my neighbors' rooms and not a whole lot of studious focusing....
Friday night, I had to work from 5-9. BUT, first, and most importantly, I went to my piano lesson. That's right, despite a two week postpone-ment due to the insanity of moving and orientation leader training and school staring, I resumed as planned during the first week of September and it was wondrous. I played the chicken dance as a duet sort of thing with my teacher and I was pumped! Some day I'll move past nursery rhymes and develop magical fingers or something and it will be a sight to see. :)
After work, I fully intended to call it an early night and get some sleep so that I wasn't crabby at work on Saturday and also rested to go out and celebrate another good friend's birthday Saturday night. It was a weekend though, so that was a stupid plan. Instead I ended up eating supper at 9:30 p.m. and then wandering around Walmart at 11:30 to buy a rug for my companion's dorm room and posterboard for wall decorations. I ended up drawing and coloring pictures until 3:00 a.m. while listening to rock music. It was a very odd, but enjoyable night. I'm still a kid a heart. :)
Saturday was adventurous and a birthday celebration and another late night of shenanigans. I took some fun pictures (I posted one at the beginning of this blog...the gorgeous birthday girl, Adrian, in the middle and Christine on the right) and had a great time with the girls.
And for Sunday I had planned to go to Sioux Falls on a much over-due shopping spree, and I did go...but the shopping was pretty much nonexistent. I met up with "Raz" another of my good friends from last year's graduating class. She wasn't in the mood to shop, so it was a definite damper on my enthusiasm and focus in the mall. We met Briana instead and trekked out to Lifelight to watch Tenth Avenue North perform. HOLY GINORMOUS MOB OF PEOPLE!! I had never been there before and I was in total awe and overwhelmed by the masses of people. I felt like a spaz because there was so much going on. The concert was great...and so incredibly different from any other concert I've been to...in a good way. It was peaceful and non-shoving and screaming and people falling over each other!! :)
And today - a rare but beautiful Monday without classes. To celebrate, my brother, Andy, came to visit. I took him out for lunch. We both over-indulged at JoDean's buffet and then decided a kayaking trip would be entertaining. We picked up Brett, another MMC kid who braved the entire weekend on campus, and headed out to pick up the little boats. The rental lady dropped subtle hints that floating down the river would be a stupid idea because of the outrageous wind gusts. In the end, we took her advice and opted for the less wild Lake Yankton. We paddled to the far end of the lake from the boat dock and then things got out of control. First off, I look to my left to see my brother capsized and floating in the water. After my initial shock at his silent flip, I was concerned about his catching hypothermia or drowning. When he told me the water wasn't too bad, I attempted to turn around to help Brett rescue him. Um...easier said than done. I ended up making a HUGE circle of it because of the wind and waves. When we attempted to hold the kayak down for him to launch himself back in, I had quite the laughing fit due to awkward climbing and yelps of pain on his part. Less than five minutes after the rescue, I watched poor Andy capsize again. He wasn't even paddling anywhere. He just sat there, let the wave hit him, and flip! It was hilarious. He blamed it on a fail to dump the water from capsize number one. This time Brett flipped his own kayak while we attempted to rescue him. I floated away while laughing until I cried, to which I was repaid with the boys throwing mud and seaweed at me. I screamed and ducked....and TIPPED! haha. Yep, that's right, there was a good 15 minute span when the three of us were all chilling in the water and deciding how best to get back in the boats. When we finally tackled the mission, we decided to head back because it would take a while with our poor skills. Let's see...WIND GUSTS IN THE FACE! Andy capsized at least twice more and then managed to paddle his way up and out of site. I was bursting through waves and gusts at a respectable pace myself, but was kind enough to look back and see poor Brett floating in the water next to his capsized ship. After another uncontrollable laughing fit in the hazardous attempt to get him back in, I was informed that he didn't capsize, but "sink." Apparently each wave that hit him splashed water inside until he simply went down with it. hahaha. Anyway, we eventually made it back (Andy cheated and paddled to the beach and then chose to drag his kayak the rest of the way to the dock). I'm pretty sure I'll be feeling the ache in my arms in the morning.
And tonight..I did my laundry, chatted with friends, attempted a run, and finished very little homework. And I have a microbiology lab in less than 8 hours. WOOOHOOOO! :) Good night!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
