Yes, we did...

...talk about country music today. In class. I know, you're totally jealous, right?

I gotta admit, I like the older stuff. Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette (sp?), Johnny Cash. But man, the stuff out now...not a fan. Give me Sufjan Stevens any day.

In other news - finished another assignment for my curriculum class, which is great. Still working on the psych paper. But I did finish the OTHER curriculum paper, which is due tomorrow. Phew! That felt good. The psych paper is taking longer than I would like - but probably about as long as the research paper did last summer.

Only a week and a half left! I can't believe it. I am sad - California is not as pretty as Michigan. But I'll be back, and I'll get to see all my friends. So that will be nice. :)

Okay, working now...maybe...

The bicycle adventure

(Note: Over the next two weeks, I have three 10-15 page papers, three essays for a final, and a poster to make...not to mention the readings. I'm a little stressed out.)

I tend to react like most people to stress, I think. Or maybe I'm bizarre. Whatever. Basically, I can keep going under a lot of stress - I can keep things going fine, like something boiling on the stove. But at a certain point, if something adds on, I simply freak out, and everything explodes. Usually that "something" is small. I guess it speaks to the level of suppression I use in my life. Whatever. Anyway.

So I had noticed that my bike lock was acting a little funny. Sometimes it would take longer than normal to open it - wiggling the key back and forth, etc. But whatever, no biggie. Yesterday afternoon, after I had done a couple hours of work (and talked to Kevin on Skype - where I freaked out because I was sad to leave my friends here in Michigan...anyway...) I decided to go to the gym. "This will be great! It's 4:30 now, I can get there in 10 minutes, do 30 minutes of cardio, a couple of free weight things, cool-down, come back by 6, eat and shower, start working at 7. Maybe I can punch out that paper tonight! Awesome!"

But no.

I spent 15 minutes playing with my bike lock outside, trying to get it to open. Eventually, obviously, I did - although I locked it with hesitation outside of the gym. Worked out, fine, no problem. Came back out, and spent another 15 minutes working on this lock. Would not budge. At all. Tried someone else's key, wiggled my key forever. I even had one of the employees at the gym bring out some bolt cutters. The bolt cutters starting BENDING with my bike lock. (Bonus - my bike will not get stolen.) Eventually, I had to leave.

I got home at 6:30. Didn't get done eating and showering until 7:30. Called the police department, who said they wouldn't cut my bike lock until I registered my bike online. Fine. Tried to register it online. The site doesn't work - it keeps erasing my answers to the questions. (Remember that it did this last year too, when I decided to forget it.) Sat down, tried to start working, and called Kevin, bawling "I can't do this! I can't! Now I have to go register my stupid bike in order to get the stupid lock cut off! I wasted an hour dealing with this stupid thing and I wanted to get work done and I CAN'T DO THIS!"

Yeah, it was bad. Poor Kevin. He is being very kind, especially considering he got his tonsils out on Tuesday. :( Eventually I calmed down, and got reading done...but not what I wanted to do.

After class today, I called the bike place. I couldn't register it over the phone - I had to come in. I needed the bike serial number. So I walked to my bike. Couldn't find it. Called them again - "It's on the underneath part of the bike - if you turn it over, you can find it." Of course, I can't turn my bike over - it's locked to a bike rack. So I lie on the ground and look for it. I find it, but it's upside and kind of worn off, so I have to go to the other side of the bike and lie down again to write it down. Then I walked to the Student Store to buy a new bike lock. (I bought a cheaper one, because I do NOT want to deal with this again. No u-lock for me, no way.) Then I walked to the parking center to register my bike. Then I walked BACK to my bike and called the police. "Okay, we'll send a parking enforcer right now - they'll be there soon." (Parking enforcer. I wanna be a parking enforcer!) Wait by my bike, and about 15 minutes later, they showed up with these huge cutters that were pneumatic or something. Probably not, but they were very large and intense. He cuts the lock, and I go on my way. That took 1.5 hours today of walking and waiting.

Man.

Hopefully I can be productive this weekend. It's been a frustrating couple of days.

Please admire my picture of the remnants of my lock. This is after walking around in 80 degree weather for 90 minutes. Sweet.

Where is the time going?

How is it already almost Wednesday of my fifth week here? Things are FLYING by. Not a good thing, because I have way too much to do, and I love it here. Don't particularly want to go home. No offense to you guys - you are welcome to join me out here. It's just way more awesome here, in my humble opinion.

Got to spend the weekend at my friend Ali's house in Grand Rapids (western part of the state). Very relaxing, very productive weekend. They are both chill people, so it was like, "Whatever you want to do..." I love that! I got a ton of work done, and ate a lot of really good food. The highlight was definitely Harry Potter on Saturday. Although there are little things we can pick apart that we didn't like, overall - great movie. I particularly liked the teen romance aspect. "She has really nice skin." Classic!

I have 3 papers due in the next 2 weeks. Yep. Busy busy busy. Still rather incommunicado. Sorry. I'll be better when I'm back - August 8th! Less than 3 weeks, insane!

Okay, work now.

I'm sure you've all figured this out...

...but the Beatles' lyrics had a fair amount of innuendo in them. Actually, all of the oldies songs did. How many of those '60s adults recognized them, do you think?

"Please please me, oh yeah, like I please you..."

Right...thanks John and Paul.

Eek!

Wow, I have a lot of stuff to do.

Obviously, since I'm doing a horrible job writing on this lately.

Had a freak-out last night at 12:30. Kevin calmed me down, but yeah. Here is why I am freaked out:

July 24th:
Research Article Review

July 30th:
Methodology Project (8-10 pages)
Another part of the Curriculum Project

July 31st:
Psych Paper (10-15 pages)
Bibliography project (busy work, but still)

August 6th
Final curriculum project

August 7th
Final 3 essays for American history

Not to mention various quizzes, writing assignments, and readings. Yeah. A little freaked out.

Gonna go work now. Write later - hopefully??

(Btw, seriously excited about HP this weekend - with my friend Ali! Awesome!)

The importance of conversation...and good friends

I have a tendency in school to work myself to death. I didn't figure out until my "super senior" year in college that a final on Friday need not be studied for until Wednesday. There is no need for overkill.

After a fantastic weekend with Kevin in Indiana (fireworks! Barbeque! Rain! Small Baptist Churches! Family! Ice Cream! and most of all...KEVIN!), I returned to East Lansing and jumped back into grad school. Even though I got ahead in my readings, I started to feel more and more stressed out. I even started getting a headache this morning - which is rare for me.

But after class was done, I decided to ditch my plan of eating by myself while reading some Curriculum text, and went to lunch with my amazing friend Angela. We hung out and talked for about two hours. I emerged refreshed and happy - and feeling cleansed.

Justin (yay my pastor!) often said that men only say 9,000 words a day, while women in general say 14,000. I had been talking, of course, but I hadn't had one of those heart-to-heart talks with another girl, that is so crucial for my sanity. Angela and I discussed family life, relationships, faith...laughed a lot and learned a lot. She let me rave about Kevin, and also gave me good advice. It was fantastic.

I also went to the gym and did cardio for about 40 minutes. Yay for cardiovascular workouts. :)

Girl talks are essential. Thanks, God, that I have such great friends.

I'm off to Indiana!

I am so excited to see Kevin again. We talk A LOT on the phone, but it's different when you see a person in real life, isn't it? Today I get to pick him up from the airport, and then we are driving down to Indiana. There I will meet a TON of his family. Should be very interesting.

I hope to have some good stories (and pictures!) when I get back. Maybe I'll have blown off an appendage or two playing with fireworks. (Hopefully not - I need all my appendages to play those instruments!)

Happy 4th, everyone! Hope you have a great time with friends and family! Eat lots of good food!