See Ya, Twenty-Sixteen

We went to Leatherby's for lunch as apology to Jorja for her injured face. I had a grilled cheese AND a Kenny's milkshake. Probably the first time I've finished everything at Leatherby's without taking anything home. We actually were out for quite awhile, and made several stops: to the pet store to get crickets for Jorja's frog, to Scheels to return broken sleds ($140 back! Nice), D.I. where I found a neat green scarf and we checked out games and things, and to Walmart for treats for New Years.

We also had cousins over tonight! Steve and Shannon brought over all the kids they were able to, which consisted of Jacob, Weston, and Erica. We ate treats and talked and watched the ball drop in New York. After that, the cousins left, and the rest of us settled into bed. Well, Mom and I talked for a long time afterward, but then we went to bed.

And that brings us to the end of 2016. Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night!

Thwack!

Our day was made up of cleaning the cabin and making the long drive home. I got to clean the upstairs bathroom. Fun. The rest of my family wanted to get in a last round of sledding down the front hill before we left, but I contented myself with staying inside. The hill had gotten bumpier and bumpier as time went on, and the drop at the bottom was kind of steep and jarring (Apparently some kids "helped" with that by digging it steeper), and I'd ended on a good note with that three-hour Springs trip. I didn't feel like putting on my snow pants and going up and down a few more times, so I stayed inside and worked out the "Stars and Finches" magic system.

Apparently, it was good that I did. Mom decided to play "fun mom", and shortly after they had all gone outside, she hurried back in and informed me that there was "a lot of carnage" out there. After pulling everyone up the hill behind the four-wheeler, she made a curve and decided to go up a bump and down again. Bad idea. Gravity pulled the sledders, clinging on behind the four-wheeler via ropes, close to the huge four-wheeler treads. Mom sped up so no one would be smashed, Preston let go, and the wooden handle he was clinging to flung forward and caught Jorja in the face. Her lip swelled up. Ouch!

The wound was thick and red for a long time- 

surprisingly, it doesn't look so bad in this picture

Then we piled into the van and drove. We swung by Arby's and all got mint shakes that were pretty good, at around 9:30 we pulled into our driveway. The cabin is fun, but sometimes it's really nice to be back home!

Pkam's Folly

Here is a picture of my mom with baby Collin, shamelessly stolen off her blog. I took some of him lying on the floor, but they didn't really turn out.

And Mom with John and Cassie before they head off to Virginia!

Grandpa left shortly thereafter, and then we were left with just ourselves, Matt and Sam, and their kids.

Sam, Anne, and Jeff

Our time at the cabin has come to a close, so of course we enjoyed spending some time with silly things. Stockton, Preston, and I created a team for Final Fantasy and directed Stockton as he played it:

His name is Pkam because it's short for "Psycho Kamek", who dressed

just like the white mage here in "Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga"

Unfortunately, we're morons who didn't realize we could buy useful supplies like weapons and healing items, so we played about five times and wiped out repeatedly, and laughed about the impossibility of the game. Only later did we watch a speedrun on YouTube and discover the existence of the hidden shops. Ah, now that made sense. Very unclear.

We played Joe Name It again and Stockton and I laughed for quite awhile about book titles, because somehow we got on the subject of "Pride and Prejudice" (perhaps for its five syllables). Anyway, that quickly turned into "Bride and Breadjudice", or "Bride and Bread" as I liked to call it for short. We made bread puns for the next twenty minutes. "He came from the yeast". "I loaf you". Et cetera.

Stockton drew this

Yep. It was a pretty fun day, but it's always sad to bid farewell to the cabin when the time comes!

Scones and Trains

Scones for breakfast! Made by Grandpa himself! Who could resist that?

Well, like it usually does, my day passed mostly with me revising my writing and creating new content. Apparently my mom took this picture of me in my corner:

That was my morning, anyway. This afternoon, I sledded for three hours straight at the Springs! That's gotta be a new record for me. We also broke three more sleds, but the two best ones have held up, so that's a plus!

Tonight we played Pillage and Plunder, and I took it alllll home! I was broke for most of the game, but made a comeback and won after having the most money at the end. John didn't have an attack card, but he attacked a merchant and, if he would have rolled double sixes for the prize money, would have barely beaten me. He didn't succeed. As we picked up the game, he and Matt had fun saying, "Okay, but what if THIS had been the final roll?" and trying to roll double sixes. I don't think they succeeded there, either.

Then we played Ticket to Ride. Matt won with over 200 points. Nice.

Mom Is Forty-Three

It was Mom's birthday today! She hates having her birthday straight after Christmas because people tend to say, "Here's your Christmas and birthday present", and give her what they gave everyone else for Christmas. Halves the present count. At least she always gets to spend it at the cabin with her family. I think there's only one time in the last several years she celebrated her birthday elsewhere.

A lot of today had to be spent dealing with problems that arose from the loss of Cassie's keys. Because we had to wait for the tow truck guy, who was late since he had to go and pull his boss's daughter back onto the road, we weren't able to go to the Springs all day like Mom wanted to on her birthday. At least she did get to enjoy some night sledding just outside! And I played Dominion with her too.

We also had a ping pong tournament (I lost) and a foosball tournament (I lost that too). Stockton won the former against Uncle John, and John won the latter against Uncle Matt. Dad had whipped up a scoreboard for the ping-pong tournament, although I didn't make it far in the bracket. As for the foosball tournament, kids were put to bed so Dad took the foosball table apart and reconstructed it upstairs:

 Dad is hard at work

Dad and Stockton trying it out

Mom enjoying the table, Sam and baby Jeff in the background.

He was super sick and lethargic on Christmas, but is doing a lot better now!

Mom vs. her dad

Mom vs. Uncle John

The adults went night sledding, and if I weren't so sore from my crash of yesterday, I might have joined them. I got some good writing done anyway. It did look like fun!

Springs Continued

It was a mostly relaxing day for me, but Mom and Aunt Cassie were kept busy. They drove all the way back to Utah so that Aunt Sherry could take baby Collin's handprints in clay. At one point, Mom texted me saying, "Remember when we were driving with Aunt Sam in Wyoming? Well..." We had run out of gas a mile or two from the gas station (we could see the city lights) and Sam waved down a hitchhiker. Apparently, Cassie and Mom were so busy talking, they completely forgot to pay attention to getting gas. Oh boy.

They managed to pull over to the side, and Cassie stayed in the car with Collin while Mom started to walk. Someone stopped to pick her up, and apparently she asked, "Are you a kind man, or a scary man?" Then she noticed the loaf of Kneader's bread in his front seat and said, "Oh, you can't be scary. You have Kneader's, and Kneader's is delicious". Classic Mom.

He took her to the gas station, about a mile away, to pick up a gas can and even gave her his Kneader's bread and wished her a merry Christmas after he drove her back to Cassie. The two were able to get the car started and drive to a gas station after that.

My day was a little less exciting than that. I did a lot of writing and played some games (Preston, Dad, and I went through every criminal in Stop Thief), but we did go out to sled and back up to the Springs for several runs, along with Uncle John, Mallory, and Trevor. 

On our second to last run down, the four of us Smith kids decided to have a race. At one point, I was right behind Jorja and ended up swerving a bit and plowing face first into thick powder. Stockton immediately plowed into me straight after that, quite hard, which left me bruised and sore for awhile. I finally managed to struggle to my knees and get back on my sled to go after him, but it sure hurt! On our next ride up the hill, Stockton climbed off the four-wheeler and asked if I wanted to race again. I gave him a look and said, "After you hit me? ... You know it."

That's me

That was how I spent my day, and I ended it with a game of Settlers of Catan against Mom, Dad, and Preston after Mom and Cassie made it safely back. Four hours there just to spend a moment before flipping around and driving back! Wow! We played the game with the piece holders, robber, and trophies Preston had 3D printed for me for Christmas. I think I'll like them just fine.

Pictures at Church

It was awhile before we all tore into the presents, but once we got going, there was no stopping us! Stockton seemed to approve of the Heads Up game and ping-pong paddle I got for him, and I was very excited to receive Preston's Secret Santa Sibling gift, 3D-printed Settlers of Catan pieces for my game (I have a 3D board I made a few years back that these will be perfect for).

 "Robber Rex" and this sheep thief are my two choices for the robber

Longest road trophy

 Largest army trophey

I also received a Stop Thief game, much to my surprise. I used to play that by myself all the time when I was younger, using the green mouse from Mousetrap as the detective who would chase after all my other toys. I'd have plastic dinosaurs and other small animals or people who would roll the dice and move around the Stop Thief board, stealing things and trying to make it back to their secret base before they were caught- the ice cream shop. Only my rubber yellow pterodactyl was never once caught. Perhaps I'll have to write a story someday about two bitter rivals- a green mouse policeman and a sneaky pterodactyl thief.

So Mom and Dad got me a game with all its parts, and with the money even unwrinkled, like it's never been used. Awesome!

And okay, I know you're not supposed to take pictures during church, but we had sacrament meeting at the cabin and I simply couldn't resist:

Uncle Spencer Bubs reading the story of Jesus's birth while his son Lincoln watches

We were given permission to have sacrament at our cabin since the snow was so heavy and still coming down. That worked out nicely. Several of us were still in pajamas, though of course those who actually blessed or passed the sacrament dressed up properly (Stockton said one of the prayers).

Mallory arranged the benches and blankets exactly how she wanted them. The younger kids made a decent attempt at being reverent, given that they didn't fully realize they were having church, and they were of course all very young. What a great Christmas Sunday, spent with family.

Several people went sledding, but I wasn't one of them. Instead, Dad and I played Stop Thief, and Preston and I engaged in a few Pokemon battles (I won both). Dinner was spaghetti courtesy of Bubs and Ange. I've had quite a lot of that since coming back from Blue Square! Sometime after dinner (and scriptures, and fudge), Dad and I played Stop Thief again, but this time without using Tips, and Preston joined in on the action. It was a wonderful Christmas this year!

Springs

Today John, Trevor, Mom, Dad, Matt, Anne, and I hit the Springs! The snow was powdery and slow at first, but it grew easier the more we ran it. We switched who drove the four-wheeler by oldest to youngest, and cycled through all the adults (myself included) before we had to call it quits on account of a lack of gas.

Sam made corn chowder soup for dinner that I actually enjoyed. And I finished a chapter for one of my stories that I've been struggling with for the last couple months, so that made me pretty happy. I've been working on some world-building for the "Stars and Finches" project, although I can never seem to settle on something I really like. Every time I think I have a good idea, I run across people saying that such things are cliche (even if I've never read a story about a disabled princess who uses her throne as a wheelchair- apparently such a character would be merely a "token").

Sam says that I should do what I like, because someone will always be annoyed or offended by something, and it's my job to write my characters and their story the way I feel they should be written. She's an editor, so I'll believe her there.

We decorated cookies for Santa tonight. Anne got a kick out of that.

 Anne, Jorja, Preston. Stockton in the background.

And tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!

A Full Cabin Day

Our first full day at the cabin! Although I'm not sure how much I have to say about it. It was a lot warmer today than it was last night. It even got sweaty at one point. And breakfast was pancakes. Thanks Aunt Sam!

I played a lot of Pokemon today (both with myself and while battling Preston), wrote, revised, drew, played games, and talked with my family. Dinner was tacos, and I actually did go sledding at some point. Our sleds have been working well, it seems! It's fun to have relaxing days like these.

Cabin In Winter

Today was the day we came up to the family cabin. The plan was to leave early in the morning, but that rarely turns out. I got packed quickly enough. It helped that most of my clothes were still in the duffel I brought from Utah State. I played some Pokemon Sun to pass the morning, and I did dishes and cleaned some of the kitchen. I also baked some illustrated cookie dough cookies, with Christmas trees on them.

So when afternoon came around, we piled into the van for a four-hour drive. With a prayer, we were off. I continued with my Pokemon playing, and did a bit of drawing too. 

Eventually we stopped at a McDonald's in Wyoming ("the McDonald's", apparently, where we evidently often make stops). I got a chocolate shake and fries, which was pretty nice of Dad. I'm always up for shakes, even if I'm tentative about asking for them. Preston was disappointed that he didn't think to get in on that action.

From there it was still another two hours to the cabin. We pulled in around 10:30 or so, and Jorja and I chose to wait in the van at the bottom of the hill while the others hiked up to fetch the four-wheeler. The cabin is always freezing when you're the first arrivals, so I was in no rush to get up. Sure enough, I was the last one to gather up my things and ride up there, and it was still cold. It stayed that way for hours. Slowly but surely. 

I sat down in a chair and I think played more Pokemon until I fell asleep, I imagine. Matt and Sam rolled in with their kids close to midnight. Mom woke me up and helped me get settled down in the other room. Tomorrow it will be warmer, and busier. John and Cassie and Bubs and Ange are supposed to be arriving with their families, and there should be lots of sledding and games to play. That's what cabin life is all about!

A Panini and a Sled

Mom and I went to visit Dad for lunch at his work today. I had a cheese and turkey panini and some chips on the side. Dad showed us around the new Overstock building, which is round and has different areas labeled in terms of 360 degrees, if that makes any sense. 

After we left, Mom and I went out to Hobby Lobby to pick up more plastic frosting bags, and then we went to Harmons and bought a sled and some marshmallows for Jorja's hot chocolate mix, and then to Matt and Sam's house to drop off a present and see Anne and Jeff. Santa stopped by their house early this year, so Anne showed us the plastic kitchen playset she had woken up to. It's bigger than the one in our basement, which she always plays with. I think she likes it!

After a swing by Big 5 to grab another sled, we crashed at home and waited for the kids to return from school. I spent a lot of time relaxing on the couch and playing Pokemon Sun, and doing a bit more writing. I did some drawing too, trying some new poses and stuff. Oh, and KissCartoon came back! Nice.

Tonight we had spaghetti delivered by the remote control train again. Mom had taken Stockton to diving, so she was really excited to plop down in front of the BYU game when she got back, and everyone kind of went after her. I stayed at the table a bit to eat more spaghetti and put all the food away. Then I went back to my room and read, revised, and wrote the rest of the night. Just the way I like it.

Rogue One

Mom and I went back to the store today. We had my glasses fixed, and picked up some groceries, like actual egg whites and this coffee creamer stuff that Jorja wanted so she could make hot chocolate mix for her friends. I did some writing - I finished an 8,700-word piece that I've been hovering over for a few months - and I played Pokemon. 

I also watched one of my online friends stream her art for a long time, before it froze up. She was drawing some Christmas-y Danny Phantom with his family. I've been meaning to watch that show since she loves it so much, but didn't get the chance since KissCartoon went down. But I got to talk to her and cheer her up since she was feeling a little socially isolated, so that was fun. She always has nice things to say about me.

We saw "Star Wars: Rogue One" tonight. I liked it, and I think it's my favorite Star Wars movie. There are lots of quotable lines from it and I enjoyed the world-building it offered, but I won't say anything more. I love backstories, so having a movie about how the rebels got the Death Star blueprints was very fascinating.

The Midnight Spaghetti Train

Mom and I went out to Original House of Pancakes today for breakfast. I really enjoy the Nutella crepes they have there, especially with banana slices. After that, we went to Walmart so I could pick up Pokemon Sun. There weren't any copies left in the case, although there was a Pokemon Moon, which is what Preston has. Disappointing.

An employee heard us talking and told as the Pokemon Suns were under his check-out counter. Apparently, Sun comes with a figure of the game's legendary, Solgaleo. I don't know if they were limited edition or what, but the price for game and figure wasn't any more and he said this was the last Sun they had in stock, so we'll take it!

Aw yes.

We also picked up groceries. Mom had wanted to get some egg whites so she could make more frosting for the gingerbread houses Bubs and Ange's kids would be making later tonight, but she couldn't find what she wanted. She ended up getting something she thought was similar, but it turned out later it wouldn't work for the houses. Too bad.

After our shopping, we returned home. I did some writing and blogging until she came back from a neighbor's house. After that, we were off again. Mom stopped by the post office, and then we went to Red Balloon to hunt down a present for my cousin Mallory.

 Is this... Popplio?

When Preston got home from school, I started up my Pokemon Sun game and played while he watched. Rowlet is my starter all the way! He had fun, and I played for awhile before I started itching to get some more writing done. While I was doing that, Bubs and Ange came over with their kids. My guess is that they missed gingerbread house decorating with the rest of the Millburns.

Grandpa Millburn came over just minutes after they left, and he got to enjoy dinner with us. Dad got a train  and tracks for Christmas that he can drive around our big table. It delivered things like spaghetti, salt, and Parmesan cheese. I didn't take a picture of it, but maybe Mom has one that I can get later...

Gingerbread, Gingerbread

Today was certainly busy! Santa came and we had early Christmas this morning! I received all my textbooks for next semester, an InstantPot for cooking with, and a Chromebook, which I'm currently using to write this blog post. Not a bad haul! My parents also heard me talking about how I was planning to use my Walmart gift card on a Settlers of Catan game for the cabin. They didn't seem very enthusiastic about it, which I didn't understand until they brought out another present- one they had planning to save for actual Christmas. Whoops. Well, this will work. I'll hold onto it.

Today, we decorated gingerbread houses with our relatives on Dad's side of the family. I helped to clean up and set up candy. Here we go:

I've made a lot of gingerbread houses over the last several years, so this time I decided to use a model. For fun, I went with Timmy Turner's house:

I did as well as I cared to, but my awnings didn't really want to stay on, and I started running out of red and pink Pez. It's acceptable, though.

I used my Chromebook for a little while after I tucked myself into bed. It feels like cheating.

Christmas Early Eve

It was my first day back home today. It was kind of long and slow... but that was sort of welcome too, after my chaotic last few weeks.

I spent most of it lying in bed and not getting very much done. At one point I looked through my storage of old drawings and pulled a few of them out to take back to my scanner with me.

Present under the tree

 Lone Christmas ornament

My stocking, made by Mom years ago

Now all that's left to do is wait for Santa to arrive. He's coming early for us this year since we'll be out of town. Brings back memories of when we used to travel to Utah.

It's a tradition for the four of us kids to spend Christmas Eve sleeping in the same room, so that's what we did. Apparently the light in the boys' closet never turns off, though. Ah, well.

Improving

We're done! I had my horticulture test this morning. It wasn't so bad. After it was over I began cleaning the apartment and packing. I am out of here!

One thing that worked for me this semester, I think, was printscreening or scanning in all my syllabuses - the ones that listed assignments and due dates, specifically - and dropping them on my desktop as icons. They were easy to find and click on and were very helpful. I had also typed other important class details like teacher e-mails, office hours and locations, the grading system (at what percent was a grade an A, A-, or B), and highlights of the syllabuses in a single document. That was nice too.

One thing I want to do better next semester is typing up my notes. Rather than waiting until near the end of the semester to do it, I think I'll type them up a little every day, or at least every week, and review them regularly. If I put them on Google Docs, they're even accessible from my phone, so I can easily glance at them during bus rides or over breakfast. I'll also use Quizlet more, and that should help me study a lot better.

Dad picked me up, and we stopped by Sonic on our way home. The thing I love about Sonic is that they have really good grilled cheese, really good shakes, and really good fries. Definitely my favorite fast food place. And, usually the employees deliver your food while on roller skates.

It was a pleasant drive, and when we made it back, I got to see my family. It was actually my first time seeing Dad since Halloween, although I did see the rest of my family over Thanksgiving. Mom, Stockton, Jorja, and Preston went to a trapeze version of "The Nutcracker", since one of Stockton's friends was playing the Nutcracker. I stayed home with Dad.

Mom and Dad put me to sleep in the guest room. It was nice and cozy. I do miss my apartment, but it's good to mix things up. Here's to a relaxing vacation! No homework!

Last Day Before the Last Day

Plenty of studying today... Well, maybe not "plenty". You can't have too much studying, and it's a shape my horticulture test isn't later in the day, I think. I'd like to have more time in the morning to review. Hopefully I don't sleep in and show up late!

I found out tonight that I've been studying the incorrect definition for "dioecious" this entire time. So. Yep. It's written correctly in my notes. I got this question wrong on my quiz. It's written incorrectly in my updated notes. It's written incorrectly on my Quizlet. I just learned it completely wrong.

Well. Better to notice now as opposed to later. Now I'll definitely be able to remember it.

I've been reviewing my horticulture quizzes, and some of the questions just irk me. I missed one question because I'd gotten halfway through writing the answer in my notes, but the teacher moved on before I finished, so the answer I had wasn't complete. I missed one because our teacher said roots were a source, but later changed his mind and said they were only a source "sometimes", like how 'y' is "sometimes" a vowel. Usually, they're sinks.

Also, flowers are hardier than roots, apparently. I missed a question about worms because I answered that they improve soil dilation, not soil structure. And there was a toughie about greenhouses, because it was "which one of these does not exist", and apparently they all exist, but we didn't talk about the roticular in class, so that was the answer I went with. Luckily I got that one right.

Another question was, "Which of these is not usually considered a horticulture crop?" and I picked "annual flowers" when the correct answer was "corn", which was my own dumb fault, but it's still a curveball question, I think. Sometimes I said "All of the above". So I know things. I just don't know the right things. Evidently my teacher likes to play "two truths and a lie" with his True or False questions, so you have to make sure you have all three details right before you select 'True'.

And there's still at least one question where I was marked wrong, but the teacher says I have the correct answer, but he hasn't fixed it. I'm planning to talk to him about that tomorrow. Eesh, this class.

I learned too that I scored quite a bit about the mean score for my class on the chocolate final. There was only one quiz/assignment in the semester where I scored lower than the mean. It looks like this class was a struggle for all of us.

Behavior Analysis Ends

Horticulture class is tough, because my notes say "The scion is grafted onto the rootstock" and the quiz says, "In grafting, the scion wood refers to the rootstock (or plant) on which the graft will be placed" (Answer: False). Who writes like that? At least I knew that the rootstock and scion were different concepts. But really, can we get some questions with proper grammar on our final?

I woke up early this morning, which was nice (Well, it was 6:00, which was earlier than I've been getting up for the last couple of days). I took a shower and reviewed notes before I took my behavior analysis final. I haven't heard what I scored on it, but I'm feeling confident.

That was it. I pretty much just studied for the rest of the day. I might have done a sketch or two, but that horticulture test is just around the corner. Gotta go fast!

Recovering

Today passed slowly. I went over my horticulture notes over and over again, just prepping for Friday. I did a bit of drawing, and I did dishes. I read through those pages I wrote last night, multiple times. Dang, they came out well. I ate food and stuff. Just chugging away until the end...

Um... Since this post is awfully short, here is the alignment chart and the sketchdump of teenage Anti-Cosmos I sketched today:

I've been studying, I swear! I was just taking breaks!

And some of these faces were actually drawn last week!

He's excited to work at the chocolate factory but he doesn't

 know H.P. is going to buy them out and get him fired

I doodle a lot of "Fairly OddParents" characters, and Anti-Cosmo is the hardest for me to draw. But I'm getting him and his awful hair, which makes me happy. At least I'm achieving at something. I've found drawing fanart is a much better way to relax while dealing with school, because if I get started on writing my own projects, I'll get so sucked into working on them that I might not get back to my studying for hours, and that's obviously not acceptable.

He's a magician in a castle who looks like a large black rabbit because he lives in Hy-Brasil /Shot

Chocolate Final

Demetria and I went to the store this morning. Our usual routine is to stop at Lee's, but this time we rode to the transit center, then crossed over to Smiths, bought some things we needed, and returned to the transit center. That was nice because there was a roof over our eyes (although it wasn't snowing today, but it's good to know for future reference) and because it took us twelve minutes to get back to Blue Square as opposed to, like, twenty-five. Good to know when you have perishables.

So awhile back, I lost two points on my second chocolate essay due to not following the five-paragraph format (I'd foolishly assumed it would be better to write the essay as if I actually cared about it, despite the fact that when I wrote the first essay, which was poorer by my personal standards, I received full marks due to following that format). If you ever want to feel talked down to, be a college student who wants to be a writer, has been writing for a decade, and then click open the instruction on how to write this essay and force yourself to read through a color-coded explanation of how to write an expository essay about liking your dog as if you were a first grader. Five times.

Anyway... That aside, I lost two points on that essay, and it looks like those two points cost me a letter grade. I am .22% away from the next letter. Awesome.

So, that was a bit of a blow to my ego... I gave it my best shot, but like a fool, I fell into the trap of studying what the teacher said we would need to know for the final, and ignored the items she said we wouldn't be tested on. Guess what was on the test. The boss of a major character in the "Smurfs" 2011 movie once said, "I fired [my last vice president of marketing] because he gave me what I asked for, not what I wanted". That's how I felt after I saw my instantly-graded score and my stomach dropped.

For the record, I didn't cheat on my final. Even though it would have been insanely easy, because after awhile no one was sitting in the computer lab behind me, and we were just taking the test on a normal browser, and all my teacher's PowerPoints were sitting right there one button click away, and the Internet tabs were available for quiet Google searches...

I wouldn't really have cheated. But sometimes I just need to let off steam. At least I got as high a grade as I did- it easily could have been worse, and much worse and I would have lost my scholarship. I probably should have studied harder. This was a really rough class, but now it's done.

Mom had asked me to call her after the test, so I did, and vented to her for a long time about how I was feeling. It stabs my heart to remember that last year, my teacher had all her quizzes open-note, and students could retake quizzes, and submit essays after the due date. I can't believe that's real. It seems so out-of-character for her. She was incredibly harsh and no-nonsense with us.

Stockton was very patient with me and let me rant to him about almost half the things on my 'Why Jane Eyre is an awful book' list. I didn't even get to the part about Jane coincidentally being fluent in the same language as her crush, but timeskipping the entire period when she learned this and all her other important skills, or all the things I hate about that pathetically desperate 'tug-their-heartstrings' ending because spoilers, or Rochester and Jane being able to communicate from a hundred miles away by screaming, or the answer to a round in Charades being "totally obvious", and yet requiring the other team to lean their heads together and debate for two minutes, and then pick bride for their guess instead of wedding. How does Jane attend an all-girl school for ten years and later claim she's never seen blood in her life is my biggest question. 

I loathe this book. Awful book. If I ever have to sit through another lecture about Jane being locked in the red room as an example of Gothic writing and a symbol of spirituality, I swear...

Stockton's English class was given four book options to read over winter break - Jane Eyre, Huckleberry Finn, Pride and Prejudice, and Grapes of Wrath - and he picked Pride and Prejudice. Apparently most of his classmates went with Jane Eyre, but he knew from previous rants how I felt about it, so he turned it down. He said his teacher didn't really sell Huck or Grapes, but that she really promoted Jane Eyre. Ha.

So, after we had our talk on the phone, I scooped some Blue Mint Aggie ice cream to drown my sorrows (Although Demetria was about to eat some before she realized it had cookie chunks in it, and she can't eat gluten, so she spooned her uneaten serving back in the box). I kind of sat listlessly for a bit, surfing the Internet and stuff (I like to relax by deciphering articles about Wolbachia pipientis), before I finally channeled my irritation and opened Google Docs. I... didn't know it was physically possible to write twenty-five decent pages in a single evening, but apparently I can. I'm... used to... averaging six per day, although that was back when I was still in high school.

I really like what I ended up with, which is good. I've never been fond of romance, but I'm a sucker for alternate personalities interrupting moments between lovers that were supposed to be cute. Evidently I can write flirtatiously when I want to, although what I'm really here for are the emotional confessions that, "I feel like you only like me for my freckles" and "B-but you're only acting nice to me so that you can become [insert position of power that one can achieve by marrying me]".

... I'm not sure if what I mean is really coming across here, but basically, I had a surprising amount of fun with that little short story. I've been letting my need to write build up in me for the last two weeks, at least, so I kind of just exploded and let it all out tonight. It's just very, very interesting that I ended up with quality work.

Oh, How Heroes Fall

Well, it looks like the KissCartoon website is down for good. Luckily it was taken down after I finished that psychology project, and not immediately before. Still a shame. There were so many things I wanted to watch, but I was holding off until winter break so I could study now, play later. Well. It's probably better this way.

We got some more snow this morning! Here is the view from my window:

Once again, I passed my day going over my chocolate vocabulary terms, and some horticulture ones too. Of course Demetria and I went to church as well. I dressed warm, and had Demetria snap a picture of me because I thought the color combination was nice, and I might have to give it to a character one day:

We talked to Eliza. Amazingly, her family managed to reach that Kickstarter goal of theirs for the "Son of Man" musical! They gained tons of money in the final two days, so it looks like that musical will be a thing now. 

It was hilarious because apparently someone in Relief Society needed a pick-me-up and Googled songs about Jesus or something, and then found one of the musical's songs. So she bore her testimony on it and said it's her new favorite and said the name of Eliza's dad, and Eliza was just quietly dying next to me. Such a cool experience for her.

Mmhm. Things are going okay. Tomorrow I take my chocolate final. Here's to hoping!

Notes On Quizlet

Today wasn't really exciting. I spent most of it poring over my chocolate notes. I put my Quizlet flashcards on a "slideshow" and drew for a bit as I watched and listened to them, and then set my sketches aside and played the matching game a bunch of times. I've really gotten these terms down better now. I still want to review the PowerPoints, but I'm feeling more confident than I did two days ago. I probably should have turned to Quizlet earlier in the semester. Now I'll know for next time.

Demetria came into my room at one point to make sure I was still alive, because she said she hadn't seen me all day, and she was worried I hadn't eaten. I had, but I'd stepped into the kitchen at a different time than she did. Anyway, I printed out some music for her. For dinner I made spaghetti, and it turned out nicely. Which was good, considering I'd forgotten to add the salt and vegetable oil until the water was about ready to boil.

I typed up my horticulture notes and ran through those for about an hour tonight too. Slowly but surely, I'm getting the hang of this!

Mitten Wrapping Paper

Well, I didn't have behavior analysis class this morning. I'd done all that I could do with my report last night, but my printer doesn't print color (which I wanted for the graphs), and I didn't have a three-prong folder to place my report in as the TA had suggested. So, this morning I got dressed and headed up to the TSC.

My first stop was the student library (I think that's what it's called, or student resource center). It was my first time using it, since when I've used the school computers before, I've done it in the actual Merrill-Cazier library. Graphs printed! I think it cost me about two dollars for three pages, but luckily we have a certain amount of money on our ID cards granted specifically for printing stuff.

Next, I needed a folder to put them in. I didn't find any 10¢ folders, but I found one for 99¢ that had the prongs I needed. So I bought it, as well as some things for my Secret Santa Sibling that I'd been eyeing yesterday. Wrapping was free, and the cashier did a great job.

Then I needed a place to work. There's an eating area at the end of the TSC, like the kind you'd see in a mall, so I picked an empty table and set out my stuff. I'd brought my three-ring hole-puncher so I didn't have to make the trip back to my room, and only my graphs still needed to be punched. After that, it was just a matter of ensuring that all my papers were in the right order.

Report finished, present wrapped, I headed over to the room where my behavior class was held. The teacher had said he'd be there to take final questions before our exam, and we were also able to view our previous test and note what we did wrong. I turned in my report, and my teacher said that at a glance, it looked like it was good to go. Nice. I asked a few more questions about that last test before horticulture began.

I won't miss my horticulture class. Today our sub asked those of us who had never rolled out sod before to raise our hands. Only like three of us did, in a class of about eighty, which shows you how out of my league I was. An introductory class!

I sit in the front row. The girl next to me at one point asked the teacher how you knew when your grass was too high (and when the community would require you to cut it). I turned to her and said, "When you find wild Pokemon in it, that's how you know you have a problem". She burst into laughter and missed the teacher's response.

But it's over now! No more classes! Just finals! I've got lots of studying to do.

So that was how I spent the rest of my day. First, I talked to my mom about my schedule. We're working things out with the research assistant position, so I'm taking an extra one-credit pass/fail class now, and dropping abnormal psych. Probably. That way, I'll take 15 credits instead of 17 this semester, since I really didn't want to juggle 17 when I have to deal with the English research paper writing class (which I've heard is hard) and psychological statistics.

On one of my chocolate quizzes, my teacher marked a question wrong that I knew was right. It was a three-in-one question with drop-down menus, and I'd gotten two of them incorrect. All my notes said that roasting caused flavor development. So I looked it up in the PowerPoints. Turns out, roasting causes the development of cocoa flavor, while fermentation causes the development of flavor precursors, which are two entirely different concepts. Ah.

I typed ninety chocolate vocabulary terms or other notes up on Quizlet today, and studied them as the hours passed. These ninety things seemed like the most important notes covered throughout the entire class, so I figured if I could get them down, I was golden. Once I have these locked and loaded, I'll review the PowerPoints again to fill in gaps in my memory. My chocolate final is late Monday afternoon. First one, but it'll be nice to be done! Then I have my two psychology ones, and finally horticulture on the last day.

My family called tonight so we could say family prayer together. I haven't been staying super on top of the "Light of the World" thing the Church is doing this year, but I knew that the 8th was a day for family prayer, and I thought it would be cool. After we'd said it, I studied for a bit longer, and eventually went to bed. This morning, I'd woken a little sideways across my bed and with the light still on. Tonight, I made sure everything was in order. It's nice that I can choose when to go to bed, and I don't have to balance the desires of a roommate on top of it.

Logan's Temple

Today was pretty busy for a Thursday! I woke up and soon got to work reading my final chapter for lifespan development, about death and stuff. Just before 1:00, I made my way over to the biotechnology center where the rat lab is so that I could have my meeting with the TA. I was slightly irritated because she specifically said she met only by appointment, but immediately after I set an appointment with her, she sent out an e-mail inviting people to come during certain times, including during my appointment. 

But I was the first one there and I got to ask all ten of the questions I had written down, so it wasn't bad. And I can understand being open about her office hours on the last week. It makes sense.

I browsed the campus store for Secret Santa gifts and generally killed time before lifespan development. I did head over there soon though, and I reviewed my chocolate notes. Final is on Monday! Yikes! The snow started coming down after lifespan development was over. Glad I wore warm shoes!

It took Dropbox a really long time to load these pictures. 

Actually, it never did. After half an hour, I e-mailed them to myself.

I remember when I used to have to wait ages for each of my 

writing pieces when switching computers. Nice to use Google Docs!

I ate at the Marketplace, and Alison and I went to the temple to do baptisms this evening. I spent the time before she picked me up getting ready, of course. One of the things I had to do was cut out my temple recommend from the paper I'd been given by the bishop. The guy at the temple desk wasn't happy that it wasn't folded yet. I asked him (politely, I might add), "Do the two sides fold underneath it?" He stared through me and then said, "No, you fold it this way, and then you can fold it this way too". Then he folded the two sides underneath the middle portion, if that makes any sense. I nodded and smiled and accepted the plastic recommend holder... sheet protector thing he gave me, and followed Alison to do confirmations.

Then we got our clothes, of course. I'm used to the women at the Draper temple glancing at me and handing me the clothes in my size. And all of them- bra included, and often socks and a hair scrunchie too. That didn't happen here. One of the women asked me what size I wanted. I said, "The smallest in everything, please". She pulled out a jumpsuit, paused, and asked if I wanted large women's underwear. Um.

I repeated my request to have size Small for everything, and she gave me a towel too (which I wasn't used to), but no bra (which I didn't realize until I was in the changing room). Turns out the bras were all in buckets on a shelf in there. Maybe that's too much information, but it's what happened. I just thought it was interesting. Very different set-up from what I'm used to. There were lots of people there, but for some reason most of them were sitting in the pews, and not dressed in baptismal clothes. Alison and I headed in. The man in the font struggled with most of the names, but he made it through. 

Changing out of the baptismal outfits was interesting too, since different items were supposed to go in different locations, and the jumpsuits (or whatever the outside pieces are called) were meant to be hung on a bar instead of tossed down a chute. Different set-up, again. But at least I didn't lose my locker key. And I only got asked if this is my first time in the temple once! Not bad for only doing baptisms for seven years. Sometimes I get a big explanation of what to do and a tour.

I changed and waited for Alison to join me back in the chapel area. As we were leaving, the youngest of the men who had been in the confirming room ran out and said one of his companions had a prompting that we needed to drive safely.

 Picture I took of the temple as Alison 

started cleaning snow off her windshield

Don't worry- I helped her too!

Luckily, we made it back home all right. And Alison stopped by Lee's for me so I could run in and grab some milk. I'd finished the last of mine up this morning and really wanted to get a new gallon, especially because I knew if I didn't pick it up now, tomorrow I'd find myself waiting in the snow for half an hour for the bus to pick me up. Although I realized later that I could have scheduled Lee's to deliver it. But then we would have had to wait two days... Anyway, it was great to get the milk.

Demetria had gone out caroling for a relief society ARMS activity, and when she got back we finished off the Christmas devotional (I liked Eyring's talk). I was worried I would miss a call from my family during it, but I didn't, so that's good, I guess. And after that I spent the rest of the night working on my rat report and doing dishes and stuff.

I used my three-ring hole puncher for the first time!

Report's coming along. It's all done, except I want to print my graphs in color, which means I'll have to use the library computers. I was hoping I could turn the report in tomorrow and wash my hands of it, but I also need a cheap folder with brads (or whatever those brass clips are called) to put the report in. Demetria offered me this really neat folder that said Utah State University on it, but it had only pockets, and no place for three-ring punches. 

Maybe I'll ask my teacher if I can deliver it to him sometime after class. Either that, or I'll just hold onto it until Monday. It's not due until Wednesday, so it's not like I'm cutting it too close. One less thing on my plate now!