Around and About

Wow. Another week has passed since I last posted, and I failed to deliver the pictures I have promised you. I am very sorry. I think I spent a good majority of this week attempting to catch up (maybe hang on is a better phrase...) on homework after last week's adventurous happenings. Yep, that must definitely be it. I feel sleep deprived as ususal and to be quite honest with you, Monday seems way too long ago to think about.

So, I'll begin with Friday. Yesterday was my fourth and final Honors Convocation here at MMC. I now have four certificates and four believer pins to signify my scholastic achievements here at MMC. To be quite honest, I got so caught up in my studies and in chatting with friends this week, that I completely forgot about the ceremony until about 5:00 on Thursday night when I decided to go pick up a robe for it (all the sholarship recipients were graduation robes). Rather than being all proud of myself and excited about the event, it actually just made me feel very tired and nostalgic. I had 30 minutes to wait around for the thing to start dressed in my robe and I couldn't help but think about graduation and how many people had worn that very gown in their own graduations from MMC. The big day is approaching almost too rapidly for me to comprehend right now.

So...let's switch to a much lighter anticipatory event - the spring break choir tour! Right after Honors Convocation yesterday afternoon we had our cruise orientation meeting. I am sooo very ready to leave for Mexico and the ocean and feel sun - bright, warm, sun-burning capable sun. The thought makes me giddy. The actual departure date seems unreal. We leave for Mexico in less than 2 weeks!!!!! The only part I am even remotely dreading is the drive across the country. We are driving straight through the night, which is great for people fortunate enough to be able to sleep on buses, but gross for tall people like me who sit miserably and fitfully doze off and on. It will be so very worth it though!!!! It makes me smile to think about over a week of sunshiney vacation with my wonderful friends.

Ok. Back to Friday night (I'm sure I'll have many future blogs about Mexico). After the cruise meeting, I headed over to Bishop Marty Chapel to watch the SD Symphony Orchestra perform. It was riveting, even if it was long. I felt very cultured. A few of the movements made me feel very emotional, and at other times I was really kind of creeped out by the sounds they were able to create. It's amazing what music can simulate! It was a very relaxing and beautiful (accoustics in the chapel are phenomenal) way to spend a good portion of my night.

And at peace from the music perhaps or just in a mood to be mellow, I returned to my room deteremined to not only work on homework, but to be productive about it. I put in the movie, UP and it made me super happy. I didn't really even watch most of it, but I'd look up and smile every time. It's darn near my favorite movie of all time. Disney made a classic out of it. Anyway, I had it on for background cheeriness, and I managed to whittle out a four page paper in two hours. I was so proud of myself that I climbed up into my loft at 12:30 (that's super early, especially for a weekend) and slept peacefully. :)

And that's such a happy note that I want to end in telling you that I will be in Canada in less than a week's time. Yep, that's right. On Friday morning I'm leaving for Canada with the English club to attend two plays over the coming week and experience a bit of culture. And yep, that's right. I will be in Canada next weekend, return Sunday night, and depart for Mexico that Friday. Try that one on for excitement!!!

I have to go. I'm spending this entire weekend at work, so hopefully I'll have time this week to gie you another brief post before my travels begin.

Homecoming

Hellooooooo!

I have about an hour of time here that is unscheduled for the day, and beings I've heard wind of disappointment in my lack of dedication to my blog lately, I figured I would give you all something to excite you. :P

Today is the conclusion of homecoming week, and so the last few hours of my claim to royalty. Despite all the fun and excitement of such a status, I decided when I woke up this morning I was ready to give this whole celebration a grand finale and bid it farewell. My bore feet ache from my bout in heels last night and I feel incredibly sleep deprived...

I'll give you a brief re-cap of the week. On Sunday night, I joined fellow Mt. Martians at the Family Fun Center for a couple of games of bowling. I think I bowled a 135 one game and was (sadly) super excited about it. Because of my uncoordination and uncanny ability to make things difficult, my bowling balls often see more of the gutter than the pins. So began a great week. :)

Monday night was ice skating night - always a painful experience. If uncooridnation at the bowling alley is a problem, at the ice skating rink, it's quite a dilemna. To begin with, I have this ridiculous fear of putting my feet into ice skates because I think they'll get stuck and someone will have to come and saw them off (go ahead and laugh, I already admitted this is ridiculous). My only attempt at a legitimate argument is that I've badly sprained both ankles, so they are permanently partially swollen and don't bend well, so it's a challenge to force them into those stiff skates. Ok. This next piece is super exciting: I MADE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT WITHOUT FALLING ONCE!!! How I managed this I have not the slightest idea, maybe I dreamed it.... haha. The royalty court also took part in a frozen t-shirt contest on the ice. I partnered myself with Cody Juffer (who was crowned Lord last night!!!!), equally uncoordinated. Our battle cry was, "We will suck together!" Needless to say, we didn't really master the challenge of unthawing our t-shirt. It was a very unique contest and quite entertaining. (My first picture is from ice skating this week)

Tuesday night offered a plethera of random activities set up in the gym. I took part in my first ever game of laser tag. It was really odd actually, beings it was set up in a ginat blow-up maze thing. More than laser-ing around, I think I got more out of running around like a little kid through tiny tunnels and random blow-up poles in my path. I also opted to see what the cartoon creating man perceived me as. I had a cartoon drawing done with Briana and Tiffany (friends here) and apparently I resemble a grandma with a tight, Laura Ingalls bun in my hair - I hope I don't really look like a grandma cartoon.... :0

On Wednesday night, the homecoming activity was to attend the basketball games and cheer on the Lancers. I failed to show my support here, however, because I had a big genetics test bright and early on Thursday morning. As a tribute to my lack of motivation this semester, I had the challenge of essentially teaching myself 5 chapeters of materials in one night. At around 2 a.m. I decided my genes didn't care about discerning the workings of DNA and I called it a night. At test time, I felt surprisingly alert, however, and I think I pieced together the mysteries of brown and white chickens and the results of their mating superbly. :)

After studying all night Wednesday (well and Tuesday as well for a symbol and sacrament test...) I was all about avoiding homework in general on Thursday afternoon and night, disregarding the fact that post-studying I had a lot to do. I went to the dodgeball tournament and later to the movie, The Book of Eli, as part of the homecoming festivities. When the movie ended at 1:30 a.m. I think my poor brain was screaming in retaliation of lack of sleep (poor thing).

And that bring me to the big night of the week - Coronation last night. Tiffany styled my hair very elegantly and I put on my black dress and sparkly jewelry and felt like I was going to prom again. It was fun to get all dressed up and feel like royalty for a while. However, the heels could have definitely been left out of the story. I walked down the stairs without falling and stood without collapsing. Congratulations to Kelly Schilling and Cody Juffer for their new status as Lord and Lady Marben!!!! I on the other hand....welll I kicked off my heels as soon as possible and walked around bare-foot chatting with all of my wonderful friends and my parents. :) After the coronation ceremony, I stuck around to watch comedian/magician Joel Meyers. He was really pretty good and I had a few good laughs over the deal. I left to chat with all of my alumni friends who came back (YAY!!!!) and an exciting and glamerous night ended wonderfully with long-overdue relaxing time with very good friends here at Mount Marty. I love all of my friends here and feel compelled to urge you all to count your own as blessings every chance you get.

Ok. I need to head down to the gym to cheer on the Lancers in basketball action. Tonight's going to be a great night. I'll put my dress back on, get all fancy, and dance the night away. :)

I'll work on posting pictures later. :)

Blog About Nothing

I have given up yet another of my prized Saturdays for the cause of work. You know, today it is really making me sad because I'm thinking of all of the sleep, personal endeavors, cleaning, and homework time that I have lost. :( So, I could make up for lost time by studying all night, but there's a very slim chance of that happening. You see, if I did such a thing, I feel as though I would suffer from a serious case of burnout. I need some play time. Therefore, I'll see what sort of adventure I can find this evening.

Meanwhile, it really wasn't a very exciting week. I spent both Monday and Wednesday night at work. I somehow managed to plug away at homework for the majority of the rest of the evenings...well minus Thursday night which I spent tutoring, and then watching ridiculous youtube videos for a purely "lack of motivation factor." Oh and Friday night which I spent at our choir potlock social and the Dear John Movie. That didn't really get me very far in the studying department, however. I have two pretty big tests coming up this week, smack in the middle of all of the homecoming mayhem. Speaking of homecoming, the festivities begin tomorrow afternoon at the 4:00 student mass. What better way to begin the celebration than with prayer?

That's about all the news my tired mind can conjure right now. I must be off for a long overdue nap before I seek out any adventures.

Happy Super Bowl watching!
P.S. I heard on Good Morning America that the Super Bowl Night is pretty much the Thanksgiving of junk food, so go ahead, indulge! :)

Catching Up/Chasing Time...

Wow...February 1st!!!!

I feel as though I've left you with a two week or more lapse on the happenings of my life. And you know, I'm sitting here now not sure where to go with this post. It has been the most unusual beginning of a semester for me yet at Mount Marty. I spent the majority of the days following my brief post about my grandpa attempting to give my life back some semblance of my crazy normalcy. Essentially, I spent the entire week and following weekend catching up on old and managing new homework. That in turn made the last week of January quite long beings I felt like I never had a weekend because I home-worked straight through it.

The past week seemed doubly long acutally because, once caught up on homework, I still locked myself in my room for nearly the entire week, still working on homework, this time trying to get ahead. You see, I found out I have been nominated as a homecoming royalty candidate for the festivities next week, so I needed to go somewhere this past weekend to find a black dress. It all worked out rather nicely actually. Though exhausting, I worked on homework double time during the week so that I was finished with everything I needed done for Monday before Friday at 2:00 rolled around. At this wondrous time, I departed for Lincoln, NE for a weekend of friends and shopping!!!

It was a super refreshing and much needed weekend in many ways. I saw some great and dearly missed high school friends on Friday night. Saturday morning, we got up and headed to the state capital building to participate in a short pro-life march. I met up with some of my favorite TEC friends there and it was very humbling to see the large crowd and participate in such a powerful and needed and moving event. Many of the state representatives gave brief talks on their support for our cause and they even played the tunnel walk before we took off! :)

All of that marching made me quite hungry, so my friend Jackie and I departed to the mall for some food and shopping. I was fortunate enough to find a dress I am pleased with, so I could relax in the afternoon and browse around for whatever my heart fancied. Surprisingly, we only shopped for a few hours until we were satisfied. I guess we just made quick business of the ordeal.

Saturday night I headed home for perhaps the greatest part of my weekend. I hadn't planned on making the loop through Elgin, but my heart pulled me that way in the end. The ache from the loss of my Grandpa is still pretty raw in my family, so home is where I wanted to be. My parents arrived home from Michigan at roughly the same time as me on Saturday night, so I chatted with them and then curled up on our coach to give myself a headache spawned by complicated genetics problems. On Sunday morning, I drove to my Grandma's very new home in the assisted living center and picked her up for a church and lunch date (Mom made chicken and rice at my special request!!). Later in the afternoon, I brought Grandma back on my way back to Yankton, but before hugging the wonderful lady goodbye, we went shopping together for a bird feeder to liven up the cute little tree outside her new window. We braved the cold together to securely hang it out there. Hopefully a few songbirds come home for spring soon...or perhaps a squirrel or two will find pleasure in the bird seed.

Hmmm....aside from my weekend what's college life like? Well, I will admit without hesitation that I despise my online introduction to sociology course. It's that one general education credit I've put off until the last minute (mostly because it would never fit into my schedule mind you), and now that I'm taking it, it seems like nothing more than a nuisance in my life. Who wants to write a 4 page research-ish paper every week. "NOT ME!!" says Kelly the senior with a slowly developing case of senioritis. Genetics....well, just appreciate that you are your own unique person because of the miracle of genetic diversity. It's probably not worth your brain's relaxation to attempt to decipher the reasons (although it is rather interesting....). Symbol and Sacrament continues to awe and ispire me and it is quickly become one of my favorite classes in all my years here at the Mount. That's enough for class run-down (mostly because I'm sure I've already sufficiently bored you).

On out and about area of my life, I have work at the Clinic tonight and Wednesday on the agenda with intramural basketball immediately following pill counting tonight. WHOOO! I love playing basketball. I miss it quite a lot even after a four year lull actually. AND, the new girl at the pharmacy is currently undergoing her first day of training. It will be fun to meet a new face when I walk through the doors tonight and it also makes me smile because a new body will lighten my workload for the remainder of the school year.

I should be off now. I'm thinking that a game-plan of: weekday afternoons and evenings (early anyway) = homework crunch time is a nice philosophy to keep for a while anyway. Having free weekends is quite lovely, especially if the days are half-stolen by work anyway.

Stay tuned next week for what I'm sure will be a full and lively (as always) recap/run-down of the homecoming festivities.

Happy February!!
(If you made any New Year's resolutions in January that have yet to be put into practice, now's a good time to start...new month! ....Actually, on that note, while in Lincoln, I was informed of a half-marathon run to go down in Lincoln on May 2. Now's a great year to check a top ten item off my bucket list...... :) )