Spring Conference: Day -1

In English class, we gathered in groups and examined articles for various topics listed throughout them. We wrote these on colored sticky notes and arranged them in different categories. This generated a lot of topic paragraph ideas very quickly.

Otherwise, I was free for the rest of the day. I spent the day working on my assignment with the occasional break, and studying too. Mom eventually called, and I was able to tell her that my English assignment was almost done. Everything is written except a few facts I need to reread a few articles to confirm.

I wrote tonight, because I wanted to fit in some writing before General Conference gave me eight hours to do nothing but listen and draw. I've been fighting writer's block on this chapter, so it was nice to start combing out the snags.

Let You Wear Long Pants

I was down to my last pair of pants today. They're pretty big on me and tend to drag around the ankles. This was bad news because it rained so much today, and there were puddles everywhere. After stats class, I did laundry and changed into other pants. I called Mom while I folded clothes, but she was driving home from diving and I didn't want to bother her.

Abnormal psych today. We finished our discussion about the personality disorders and discussed some learning disorders, which was interesting. Dyslexia isn't a real diagnosis, but "a learning disorder in either reading, writing, or math". I know none of you care and will probably be annoyed with me for bringing it up, but it's funny when you can recognize cartoon characters among the disorders. Not just Mikey's learning disorder in the writing subcategory, but he fits the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder pretty darn well. I love him. Certainly makes it easier to remember which traits go with which one!

I finished my Pinterest assignment and math for the week, and Mom called me back later as I was studying. We talked for a long time. I'd been trying to finish my homework (mostly English), and I've been having trouble managing my time well and overcoming procrastination after the long past few weeks. I asked if she could call me a few times at random throughout the day over the next week or so.

The day ended with ice cream and one of those cookies I still had left over from Demetria (warmed up in the microwave). Not a bad way to be.

All the Wednesday Classes

As usual, Wednesday was a busy one, but I had the opportunity to attend all my classes today! First was English class, which I actually had today. After that, I crossed campus to attend my stats lab, and caught up on some blog posts.

Then it was time for my career class. Unfortunately, I forgot until it was almost too late that people with my last name were meeting in the library lab today. I hurried over there as fast as I could, and luckily I was only a minute late. We reviewed how to use the online article locator tool for articles in the psychology database. One thing the librarian said intrigued me: she could get me articles for free that I would otherwise have to pay for. The need to pay for articles is a problem I've run into when doing worldbuilding research for my stories, and of course always turned the articles away. I'll have to ask her if she can request those articles for me in the future.

I ate muffins and tried to make the most of my short break before interior design. In that class, we discussed different types of dwellings, such as cob, and watched an interesting video about a man building a giant cob house. I still need to finalize the houses in "Stars and Finches" (all I know so far is that almost all of them are made of wood, except those of a few rich snobs). It's nice to be exposed to interesting things like this that I may not have thought to look up on my own.

Finally I grabbed lunch-slash-dinner. We talked about Jesus and miracles in Institute. It was still light out when we were done and the weather was nice, so I walked home and mostly relaxed in the evening. Another Wednesday down!

The Blue Flute

Back to stats class! We're into some pretty tricky stuff right about now, and I don't think there's any way I would make it through this class without Aplia's walk-through questions and "you get three attempts and we'll take the highest" system, and with Jeff to help me through take-home tests. This class would be an immense struggle if I had to memorize all of these things instead of being able to refer to my notes.

One thing did irk me today: towards the end, my teacher paused after working out a section of a problem and asked if anyone had questions. I said, "Yes, can you go over that again?" A lot of the (large) class laughed at me for that, which I was a little bothered by. To me, it was obvious that "that" referred to the last sentence or two she'd said about the F value and its formula (I wanted to know the difference between F statistic and F ratio, because what she'd done didn't look like what I'd had in my notes). 

I guess my classmates were laughing because they thought I wanted her to redo the entire problem? Hmm. Do they understand the English language and context? Did they not recognize her pause between the earlier work and the last stuff she'd done? Why would "that" refer to something she'd done before her transition to the next slide? Anyway. It bugged me to be laughed at. I was feeling tired, class was almost over, and math isn't my strength. Mostly, I'm just irritated because I can't figure out WHY they were laughing if it isn't what I thought it was, because that would mean something flew over my head, and I don't like that feeling. Ah, well.

We talked more about personality disorders in abnormal psych today. I'm enjoying this unit a lot more than the previous one about drugs. We watched a long video about a skateboarder who was insistent on redoing his tricks over and over to get the perfect one for his videos, even though the things that bothered him were really small, and his friends kept trying to convince him he did great. He looked at the videos later and admitted that they weren't as bad as he had hoped. I find it interesting.

It was nice that I cleaned their tank last night, because my frogs laid tiny eggs today. But then ate them. I guess that's what they do. Well, I wouldn't have known how to take care of tadpoles anyway. A bit of research suggested I'd want a "ten gallon tank" with certain requirements, and I'd have to change "1/10th of the water every day" because filters are dangerous, and feed them "live shrimp hatchlings", and... yeah, that's not happening right now.

A few Internet friends decided to mutually spam me with surprise drawings of one of my characters today-

Flute as I drew her

Flute as a new friend drew her

Flute as another new friend drew her

Receiving gifts like this, especially as a surprise, really touches me... Just, first someone has to LIKE something I created, then they have to THINK about drawing something, and then SPEND TIME doing it, of their own FREE WILL even knowing it may not be reciprocated, and it means a lot. So that lightened my mood. I don't know either of these people well at all yet, but it's nice to make new friends! And nice to have people who like me and appreciate what I do. 

Aunt Sam told me some time ago that editors/publishers instantly take notice if they find out you have a large following on the Internet, because there's a chance that those people will buy your book. I wouldn't call my following "large", but I think any bit helps, and I do have great friends who like and support me in life!

Frogs and Streams

So, my English class was cancelled yet again because my teacher got sick. That was pretty nice, and I stayed in pajamas this morning. Unfortunately, in all the excitement there I forgot I wanted to talk to my old behavioral analysis teacher during his office hours and ask about the rat lab. I guess I'll need to write him an e-mail instead.

My career class was cancelled as well, because we were having two library days, and with my last name being in the latter half of the alphabet, I was assigned the second day. Shame, because it would have been great to get it down now and have a lighter Wednesday.

I did go to interior design class, and we discussed light and the way it reflects off surfaces and colors. It was less interesting than it sounds, because I wanted DETAILS about these things. Give me a lesson about which surfaces reflect light and which don't. Don't just say, "Interior designers need to be aware of the way some surfaces reflect" and move on. I can't use "some surface" as a concrete detail in my writing.

I came home and tried to decide what to do next. The frog tank needed to be cleaned, but the sink was full of dirty dishes, and although I have no homework do until Thursday at midnight, I thought I should get started on that. Plans changed, however, because Linzie was hoping for [digital] human interaction, and asked if I wanted her to stream some character designs she's working on, and if I could offer my thoughts as she worked. 

I agreed and set that up on my laptop, and then did the dishes intermittently between offering critiques on heights, clothes, styles of the time period, and personalities. After the dishes were done, I cleaned the frog tank. It's always a long process, because it gets so dirty, especially now that I have three frogs. I've researched ways to regulate algae growth and done my best, but there's still a lot of it even when I clean the tank each week.

It started getting late by the time I was done, so I multitasked while Linzie finished her stream. After we parted ways for the night, I looked at my homework for a bit and then did a few drawings myself. It was a nice, lighter sort of day.

Stuff Like That

Today was simple. Demetria and I got a ride to church with a girl we ran across in the elevator, who I should probably know but didn't recognize. Demetria knew her.

Our talks today were about the Atonement. I liked the first girl who spoke, and talked about growing up on a farm in a small Idaho town, and caring for baby bulls (steers) as one of her chores. Apart from digging them out of the snow every day in winter, and taking care of them before and after school on top of other chores and homework, the steers needed to be fed. They were supposed to suckle from bottles that had been given them, but they constantly refused. The bottles were there, all set up and ready to go, at the right temperature and everything that was supposed to help them grow up big and strong, but they didn't want to drink. I guess it was too much effort. It's important to remember that the Atonement is there for us, right there, and we need to make use of it, and not ignore it the way the steers did with their milk.

Aside from church, I stayed home and spent some time doing things I wanted to do. Mostly I drew, did some basic chores, and ate. Wrote. Thought about my school schedule for next term and tried to think through some things there. Watched the new "Bunsen" episodes. Things like that. Trying to get back into the routine of taking care of myself, and preparing for more school classes tomorrow. 

This coming week should have a lighter workload. I had originally planned to get my math homework done today so that I wouldn't have it hanging over me throughout the week, until I remembered that we don't have an Aplia assignments due. Just the lab, and prepping for what I think is our final test- another take-home one.

Anyway, stuff like that.

How Do You Ignore a Time Zone?

So I solved my "Why can't I figure out what time "Bunsen Is a Beast" airs in my time zone" problem:

You can tell I don't watch much TV considering that I've lived in this time zone for six years and didn't know this. I guess only certain shows like "Teen Titans Go" and "Power Rangers" play here. It's bizarre that the Nick show "Loud House" will play, but not "Bunsen". Huh.

Anyway, I no longer feel guilt about watching cartoons online. #I tried to do things legally but this is why pirating happens. Not that I'm pirating when I'm watching on the official Nick site, at least.

I chatted a bit with friends and caught up on writing blog posts this morning, made a Shakeology shake, then got to work on my next English assignment. It took a couple hours, but I got it done! Aside from keeping up with my school reading, I now don't have any homework due until next Thursday. So this afternoon, I did get a chance to breathe! I started by putting on soft pajamas. Nice.

I made that little homemade pizza tonight, and watched the General Women's Broadcast from my couch. Next week is General Conference, so that's exciting! I drew while I watched, and did some writing tonight too. Getting through these last two weeks was a struggle, but here I am!

Hmm........ It looks like I don't have any tags to add to this post if I leave it the way it is. So, here are the colored versions of the sketches I did during the broadcast. It's been a little while since I've drawn, so it was nice. Jen had told me to mix up who was who in "Bunsen Is a Beast", and this is the result:

Llama/praying mantis/cat child, awkward 

redheaded loner, and sheltered rich boy

Yep. I can now add my "drawings" tag to this post. And my "Jen" tag. That is all!

Imagine Breathing

Guess who forgot to set an alarm this morning! Guess who slept in for the longest time of her life! Guess who missed the first half of her English class today!

Mm... Yeah. My sleeping schedule has been all messed up these last few days. Three times over the last two weeks, I fell asleep sprawled on my bed with my lights still on. I've spent many a night over the last month pushing through the early hours of the morning, talking online friends through their anxious and/or depressed and/or suicidal feelings. I've come to the conclusion that I could never be a real clinical psychologist or therapist, because I like things to stay the way they were the last time I saw them, and not to slump down again when I turn my back. Sometimes, I feel like Mr. Incredible at the beginning of "The Incredibles", when he says, "I just cleaned up this mess! Can you keep it clean for- for ten minutes? Please?"

I hope none of those online friends ever find this blog, because they'd probably take these words to heart and panic that they're annoying me and being a burden and stuff. I don't blame them for having these weights upon their shoulders, and I'm here to be a safe person they can talk to. I don't consider it a burden. I mean, I AM only human, so I do at times wish I could put things on pause sometimes so I can have an hour of free time to just focus on myself or something, but there's no way to phrase that without sounding like they are annoying me.

The fact that they're talking to me isn't annoying. I won't complain about such things when they're going through worse. I just... look forward to breathing again. Mom used to be irritated when I would say "And this is why I don't have friends" in my youth when peers around me were having drama problems. I've amassed a decent collection of online friends now, and I care about each one of them. I like to think I've moved past the "This is why I don't have friends" mindset, and I'm trying my hardest not to reminisce about the days I used to be able to finish school and homework and be able to spend the rest of the afternoon writing or whatever. The highs of friendship will come again. And they're good highs. I won't complain about the lows. And they're not necessarily lows, anyway- I like hearing from my pals about what's going on in their personal lives.

Anyway. I was very late to English class, but my teacher still marked me on the role, which was nice of her. Luckily I only had one class of the day. I came back and did steal a bit of time for myself to revise a section of writing I've been wanting to for a few days. Then I searched out the Willow Park zoo. It looked like they'd rather I came in to pick up an internship application than call on the phone, so I found the bus lines and rode down there on the Number 7. Unfortunately, I had been watching for any indication of a zoo nearby, so I missed my stop and had to ride around a second time. You had to walk for a few minutes down the street, and there weren't big signs out, so you had to know where you were going.

But I did make it. I filled out the application, which was just a volunteer application that I was supposed to write "internship" on. Between my being a certified veterinary assistant and having volunteer / internship experience in that area, hopefully they consider me. Here's the little zoo:

I was up the street when I saw the bus coming. It reached the bus stop a minute before I did, so of course it went on without me. That meant it wouldn't be back for half an hour.

Now, I keep up with a few "Life Hack" blogs, and recently the topic of "How to make a Wendy's Frosty" came up (Apparently the answer is "lots of chocolate milk and cool whip"). While on the bus, I'd noticed a Wendy's nearby. I was craving a cold treat and needed to kill time. So, I asked Siri which way to go and started walking the 0.4 miles to it. I ran into some missionaries on the way and had a short talk with them. I also passed this river, which is apparently part of the Jordan River:

As I walked, I became a little nervous. It had seemed like I'd have time to get my Frosty when the bus wasn't supposed to come for half an hour. Of course, I was walking along the bus route TOWARDS the direction the bus would be coming from, which shortened the time it would pass me. I knew that if service was quick, I could get my Frosty and make it back to one of the closer bus stops I passed. I just didn't know how long it would take.

Fortunately, not long. I went in and asked for a medium chocolate Frosty, handed over my card, and then knelt down to tie my shoe. Just as I was picking up the laces, another employee came and passed me the Frosty. Now that's service. I thanked them, took my card and receipt, grabbed a spoon, and hurried back to the nearest bus stop before finally tying my shoe. It turned out that the bus was still several minutes away, so everything worked out!

I texted Mom at this time and caught her up on the situation. She said, "Well that was a productive Friday!". I responded, "I'll probably make one of those homemade pizzas [that you bought for me awhile ago] for dinner too! I can adult!"

Of course, the irony is not lost on me here, considering that I slept through part of English class. Whoops. At least I was able to talk with my teacher and get the information I needed. It's nice to live in this day and age, where teachers can post their PowerPoints online and everything.

At the transit center, I got off the 7 and went grocery shopping at Smiths for milk, bananas, and Pop Tarts. I think I missed the 2 bus by a minute when I came out again, because I sure was waiting a long time for it to come back, and it was about five minutes late too. I ended up complimenting the girl next to me about her dress, and we talked for a long time. Her name is Ebony, and she's an RA on the second floor of Blue Square. So that was good.

When I finally got home and got all the groceries put away, I changed into my pajamas and took a few minutes for myself. Emphasis on "few minutes", because it was hardly half an hour before Demetria reminded me that her opera performance was tonight, and I'd told her I was planning to go. Oops. There was a show on Saturday as well, but the buses don't run then. Demetria left early, and while she was out, I got dressed again.

My plan was to be early to her performance, but I ended up getting lost in the Fine Arts building. Turns out, Demetria and I visit this building through opposite doors. From where I was, there were stairs and ramps EVERYWHERE, but somehow, the only way to get to the theater department was to walk through the Artist's Block Cafe, which at this time of night was all dark. I ended up being late, but I did eventually make it. I had to stand to the side and wait until intermission to get a seat, but it wasn't so bad. Luckily Demetria's scenes were all at the end:

 I didn't want to disturb anyone, so this was 

the only picture I snuck that turned out at all

The performance was... interesting. They were doing scenes from various operas, as well as some scenes from the musical "Hairspray". I don't really like operas because I prefer being able to understand words (and I'm not talking about the ones they sang in French- I just mean, I like being able to recognize more than one word in seven). I actually thought Demetria had better pronunciation than the other people who performed, though that's the one thing her teacher critiqued her on after the show.

There were some strange scene choices, though. One involved a boy with a combination lock in his mouth, because he'd been cursed by witches for telling a lie, so his words during the song were a bunch of "Mmhm! Mmhm!"s. That was kind of fun. Although, for some reason they decided to set this scene from some opera in a high school? Like, everything was the same, except one of the characters had a cell phone and wore a Letterman's jacket. So there were witches. And no props. I don't know why attention was called to the fact that this was a high school AU.

There were some "gypsy" scenes that were cool. Those were the French songs, which I was able to pick some words out of. It also helped that the English translations were projected on the screen. I liked one of the songs when a hunter was supposed to be cleaning his gun, and so he was sitting there polishing his Nerf gun. Opera's not really my thing and I wouldn't say I LOVED the performance, but it was good and I was able to support Demetria. Deprived me of the time I'd planned to spend doing my big English project, but at least I have tomorrow.

Demetria had to stay late to clean up, so I walked home. Though like a moron, I tried waiting for the bus first. When I texted it, it said it was two minutes away. But seven minutes passed and there was no sign of it. That's when I remembered buses don't run after 9:00 (although my first text had been at 9:07). I started walking then. I was wearing short sleeves and no coat, and it was pretty cold. Demetria ended up getting a ride with a friend and beat me back. Oh well.

I wasn't hungry enough to make my pizza, so I had a cookie and took the night for myself. Well, that was the plan, anyway. In actuality, I ended up spending an hour critiquing the writing of a friend, and let a friend talk to me about more depression/anxiety stuff. So I stayed up pretty late again.

But things are working out. It's good to help people, even if it's only temporary and I know I'll be doing it again soon. Depression and anxiety are bizarre things that way. I'm not the kind of person who needs constant reassurance that I'm not being annoying, and you would think that a single night spent exchanging long, thoughtful paragraphs where we talk things out would mean something. Even a single night every few months. But although I'm constantly told that my words help, the meaning behind them doesn't seem to stick, and I haven't done anything that should suggest my positive feelings towards my friends have changed. It's mind-boggling to me.

It's also interesting that I'm regularly told my words "mean so much", because... to me, they're just... words. They don't fix problems. They're so much easier to create than art, so quick and simple and... not enough effort, I suppose? They don't mean anything to me. Heh. "Words of affirmation" is by no means by love language. The act of someone sacrificing their time for me would mean way more to me than the words themselves.

Anyway, I'm blessed not to suffer from depression or anxiety in my life, so I'm glad that I can offer what support I can to people I know who do, because they matter to me. My love languages are [thoughtful] gift giving and acts of service, after all. I just wish that of all the thoughts that could stick in their heads, the fact that I love them and don't think they're annoying would be the one.

Well At Least Math Was 100%

I had statistics and abnormal psych today. I scored 80% on my psych test. That's... not awesome, but it could have been worse. I can still pull through. I think most of my mistakes were nitpicky errors, and I really should have started studying earlier. Oh well. This was a tough unit, but next is personality disorders and that should be more engaging than remembering which drugs do what, and listening to my teacher talk about why certain drugs are okay for you (from a worldly standpoint). Better luck next time.

I finished math homework and scored 100% on my math quiz, and also collected the 40 pictures I needed for my Pinterest board in interior design. I almost put it off, but decided to just do it sooner rather than later. This was a tricky one because I needed examples of different types of color harmony, and I struggle telling the difference between them. But I made it through.

Linzie and Jen were able to watch the "Fairly OddParents"/"Bunsen Is a Beast" crossover episode for the first time tonight. They liveblogged it to me and were quite happy to see Timmy again, since it's been awhile. Today wasn't nearly as draining as yesterday, although I didn't end up visiting another Institute class like I meant to. I've been ending my days feeling mentally exhausted. I... need to catch up on my sleep. That would be good. This has been a really long and rough two weeks.

Not a Post About "ChalkZone"'s 15th Anniversary

Today was... interesting. And very long. Guess who did 7+ hours of math today?

Ayep. I didn't get as far as I'd liked on my test last night, so I worked on it this morning until I had to go to English class. We read Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and filled out lots of information (Finding the claim, finding reasons to support the claim, finding grounds to support the reason, etc.)

Remember when I said yesterday that the weather had been really nice? Well... I didn't wear my coat today. Not the greatest idea. It was a little windy and cold, and even drizzling a bit. Oh well. I should get in the habit of checking out my window before I leave my apartment. You'd think the worms would have been a bit of a tip-off.

After English, what did I do? Went to the Emma Eccles Jones building and did more math, of course! Jeff met up with me after a little while, though he hadn't gotten as far as I had. We worked through some of the problems as best as we could. The TA was sitting at a small table nearby. I approached her because Jeff and I had gotten stuck on a question, and I wanted clarification on whether the formula we were using (specifically the part involving the population parameter) was correct for this particular question. Even though she seemed busy working on something, I thought this would be okay since it seemed it would be quick, and she was right there, so I thought she may have heard our discussion (though I realized only when I got too close to veer away that she was wearing earbuds).

Anyway, she said she wasn't going to help me because she was offering help later on today. Y'know, at 5:30 to 7:00. Right during the time that I have Institute (Why do all the tutors keep scheduling their times when I have class? Multiple tutors, all the time). Then she called me out (not by name, at least) in the lab with a warning for us not to approach her outside of her hours. It was... a bit discouraging.

Before we went into the lab, though, Jeff and I combined forces with some fellow stats students we found. We weren't able to talk to them for too long because we had to get to the lab, but what information they did give us was pretty helpful. Someone brought up the question, "Would you rather spend two hours in class taking this test and be done, or have to do the take-home test for hour after hour?" The consensus was, the take-home test is the better option because it's open-note, whereas notes would likely be forbidden in class. Also, one girl told me that what she'd had to print off SPSS turned out to be 22 pages! Yikes!

The frustrating thing about the lab is, we move through things pretty quickly. It would be kind of nice to have the Thursday lab, which is after stats class, because I had to spend today in lab learning about things for the UNIT 4 test, when the UNIT 3 test is due tomorrow, and my time to finish it was limited. 

I worked for another hour or so after lab, trying to do what I could before my career class. We talked about ethics and about the ethics homework assignment we'd just finished. Not thrilling, but has to be done, I suppose.

Guess what I did after that? MORE math! Yep, still chugging along through that test, all by myself. We talked about different styles of Victorian architecture in interior design. Again, not necessarily FUN because it isn't my passion, and my teacher has a knack for making things less interesting than they could be, but I survived it.

It was raining when I left. Ah, foolish me, wearing short sleeves and no coat. While I normally stay on campus all day on Wednesday and eat lunch in the Marketplace, I decided to ride the bus home, eat there, and grab my coat and better shoes in the process. I pulled out a tortilla and shredded cheese, and ate while I (surprise) continued to comb through my teacher's PowerPoints, my own notes, and work on that math test.

By this time, of course, time was running out. I still had some ways to go on the second problem. Although I was growing more confident, I still didn't have anyone to talk things through with as I worked. I hadn't even started on the three SPSS assignments, which require a computer that has SPSS on them. I couldn't access SPSS from my apartment. And when did the computer lab close again?

So... I made a decision.

I skipped out on going to Institute in favor of attending tutoring hours with the TA. I've never skipped out on seminary, Institute, or, well, any class on purpose in my life, except in the case of doctor's appointments or something like that. I figure that I can make up for it by being faithful to the Church for life. At least, I didn't skip Institute to play around. I skipped it to get help and progress in my education so that I can one day graduate and provide for my family if necessary. I made sure to read scriptures during waiting periods when I had already put my test and things away. If things work out, I can even swing by the Institute tomorrow and listen in on another class.

My plan was to have her look over my work, talk me through how to do anything I'd messed up on, then go to Institute and come back to do SPSS tonight. I relayed the first bit of this plan to Jeff when he texted me (to ask if we were planning to meet in the morning), and he said that he would come too.

Boy, I was quite surprised when I got to the center and found it CRAWLING with stats students. There had to be at least three dozen. Jeff was there, and of course plenty of other students, so I sat down and began working things through with them. One of the other tutors who had set his hours during this time was there as well, and we were able to approach him and the class TA with questions when we stumbled across them. It's funny, how time flies when you're doing math and getting up regularly for water or questions, but seems to drag while sitting in Institute in a small desk the entire time.

It took me, Jeff, and a girl named Jane until after 8:00, but we did it! Conquered the whooole test! My SPSS data turned out to only be three pages long, as opposed to twenty-two, which might be because I took screenshots of my output data and rearranged them in Google Docs instead of printing them straight off. Also, I read the instructions and was aware of what things not to print.

And, the TA graded them right there. AND since she was technically "tutoring", she pointed out my mistakes and let me fix them (They were small mistakes- she said I shouldn't have used the phrase "my data is meaningful" and instead needed to use "the difference between these results is meaningful", because all the data is meaningful from a scientific standpoint). She only needed me to correct two or three little errors, though, and I scored 50/50! 100%! That was a satisfying end to a very long day.

The weather was warm, so I walked home. What do you think I did when I got there? Well, first I had some mint ice cream. Demetria got this pack of cookies from Lee's the other day as a thank you for placing five online orders with them. Of course, they're made with flour and she can't eat them. I warmed up two and added them to my ice cream.

I can think of someone else in the apartment who is due to receive some 

of these soon. Unless they were just getting rid of them before they expired.

Warm cookies, cold ice cream

And what do you think I did after that? Did I kick up my feet? ... Oddly enough, I felt sort of... energized after hearing the good news of the 100, like I was still awake enough to focus and didn't deserve to rest yet when I could still work. Since I apparently thrive on pain, I threw in my laundry and did math homework tonight. At least I had ice cream to eat in the process, so it wasn't so bad. I'm not done with the math and it's due tomorrow, but at least I have until midnight. I'll get there.

All washing machines and dryers were available when I first went in there, but I went to move my clothes into the dryer later, and I was pretty irked to see that someone had taken my clothes and underwear out of the two washing machines I'd been using and tossed them aside on the counter. None of the other washing machines were running, but the dryers were all full now (except for the one on the end that looks as though it's functional, but always makes you regret using it because it seems to spin clothes around without drying them). 

Out of spite, I dumped my clothes back into the washing machine. I didn't really want my underwear and stuff out there for everyone to see, but I wasn't about to haul wet clothes back to my room. After another forty-five minutes or so, I checked back. Whoever had been in there had taken their clothes out of the dryers before they were done. That meant the times left on them - I think 37 minutes on one and just one minute on the other - were still there, and couldn't be cleared away. I tried putting my clothes in the dryer that had one minute left, but after waiting around a few minutes, it because obvious that nothing was happening. Fortunately, there was still one blank dryer left. I moved my clothes in there, and was eventually able to take them out for folding.

So... that was my long Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are going to be catch-up days where I finish all the homework I pushed off to study for my abnormal psych test and work on this math one. I'm looking forward to a lighter weekend!

Not a Post About Timmy Turner's Birthday

It's been pretty warm out. Over the last week, I've seen lots of people lying out on blankets or in the grass at the quad, usually with a study partner and lots of books and papers around them. Nice weather.

I had math class this morning. I was able to talked with Jeff. I told him I could meet this evening, but Wednesday I was full. He said today wouldn't be great for him- even more so than usual because his daughter has the flu. Well. Hopefully everything works out.

After that, I headed home and studied for my abnormal psych test. I reviewed my vocab for awhile, and skimmed over the chapters we're supposed to be tested on again. This time, I remembered to bring my own scantron, and I had two sharp pencils with me.

Took the test. I breezed through it pretty easily, and there were only a small handful of questions out of thirty-one that I hesitated over. Most of them were nitpicky things. Hopefully when my score gets back, I'll see that I did well!

I came home and took a light writing break, then after that got back to work. I finished my English assignment and did some math. I also critiqued a friend on a paper he's been writing. Then I talked to Mom about my class schedule and the Willow Park apprenticeship.

After that was done, I worked on math until pretty late. These last two weeks have been super heavy, but my weekend should be lighter since I'll have just finished a psych test and a math one!

Worms and Colors

I was lucky enough to step outside of Blue Square just as the bus was loading people in, so I didn't miss it and have to wait another ten minutes or so. When I was crossing the quad to the building where my English class was, I noticed tons of smashed worms all over the sidewalk. Must have rained recently. A boy held open the door to the building for me, and two other boys waited so I could head inside first even though I was slightly behind them. That was kind of cute.

We were released early from English class since my teacher made it through her lecture quickly and no one raised their hand for questions. That meant I had plenty of time to speak with my adviser. She can't move me from being a pre-psych major to an official psych major until the semester ends, but she did give me contact information for my behavior teacher (and through him, the rat lab).

She looked over my schedule outline with me and we saw that two classes clashed in terms of timing. However, she was able to tell me about an apprenticeship opportunity at the Willow Park Zoo. By being an intern, I could earn credits for my apprenticeship course. I have to be the one to set everything up, however. Well.

It was still a long while before my career class - about an hour and a half - so I did lots of math while I waited, and looked over my abnormal psych words too. I hope I do well on the test. It looks like as long as I score 78%, I should still be able to pull an A in the class, assuming I score better on the other tests. I think I can pull 78%.

I had my career class and then interior design. We talked about color, and watched a really interesting video about color and language. In some languages people have the same words for blue and green (some African tribes, for example, have the word "zoozu" which means "dark colors", and the other colors I scribbled down are "vapu" - light colors - "borou" - some other, darker greens - and "dumbu" - reds, browns and another shade or two of green, I think). Apparently, they can't recognize a bright blue square among ten green ones. They just literally cannot see it, because of the role language plays in understanding colors. However, among twelve or so green squares on a screen, they could recognize which one was slightly different, and the difference was as obvious to them as the bright blue one would be to many of us.

I think I might have to incorporate this into "Stars and Finches" since Gavin and Ethel speak different languages, and she's from a first-world country while he's from a third-world one. Ethel perhaps would use the same word to mean "red, orange, and yellow", for example, since she lives in the tropics and mostly separates things into "green leaves", "white beaches", and "bright colors". Gavin, however, has both red and brown on his country's flag, so he would definitely need to know the difference.

(Although, I think in the current draft of the story, I made the grass red for some reason, and the sand might be a different color too. I think it was black. Hmm. I'll have to think about this.)

I made spaghetti for dinner. It usually tastes weird when I make it in my red pot, but today it was pretty good. That was nice. I spent a lot of time tonight altering between studying abnormal psych stuff, finishing my ethics assignment for my career class, and working on math. This week promises to be a busy one. Just gotta pull through!

Stake Conference: Sunday Edition

Today was stake conference. Demetria and I joined Katerina and her roommates, and we drove down to the tabernacle.

Not really sure what the rules are about pictures in the tabernacle, but I

thought it would be okay if I snuck one in while we were half an hour early

There were some interesting talks. The main focus seemed to be on dating, sexual purity, and marriage. I thought the speakers did a good job of keeping people interested though, so that was nice.

I did more homework today- mostly the math I've been neglecting and more abnormal psych, and lots of reading. Just plugging along. I also talked to mom about my schedule. Tomorrow I'm planning to see one of the psychology advisers. Hopefully I learn lots of useful information!

Stake Conference: Saturday Edition

Hmm.... What did I do today? I wanted to catch the new "Bunsen" episodes, but I checked at three different times while trying to compensate for the time zone differences, and I guess I missed it. Mostly it looked like it was "Power Rangers", "Amazing World of Gumball", and "Loud House".

I got some work done. Studied my abnormal psych terms, and finished that English annotated bibliography project. Yes! That massive thing is off my hands now!

Late in the afternoon, Demetria told me she was heading out to stake conference. What? Now that I'm an adult, it's hard to remember that adults go to stake conference on both Sunday and Saturday. I think she'd assumed that I didn't want to go since I hadn't brought it up with her. Of course, last week I was out of town, so I hadn't gotten a reminder.

Anyway, I scrambled to get dressed and joined her. One speaker was interesting. He spoke more like he was at a fireside, and came down from the podium and walked over to a white board that he'd wheeled into the chapel. He drew things and made jokes and... it seemed more fireside-ish than I was expecting for the chapel, but people seemed to like it.

Demetria and I had planned to play Parcheesi tonight, but it didn't end up happening. I did get a lot of homework and studying done, though. So much to do over these next few weeks! Still, has to be done!

Pangolinea Pig

I had English class today, and the rest of my day was spent doing homework. I had a math quiz to do, and some English, but mostly, I turned up the volume on my abnormal psych vocab and worked on my interior design project. I had to construct a floor plan.

I based my design loosely on Timmy Turner's house, which is also infamous for being one of (if not THE) least consistent houses among cartoons (Ex: In the episode "Formula For Disaster", the placement of his room in the house changes at least four times). It took me HOURS, but it's something that I really wanted to do, so this is what I ended up with:

There's a basement too but I didn't finish it yet 

because I figured this was good enough for now

Of course, on the version I turned into my teacher, I changed words like "Timmy's room" to "Master bedroom" and such. I also took some creative liberties and added the nook, loft, and an extra couch and the rug comment. They don't appear in the show, but considering what we've been discussing in class, I felt my teacher would approve.

Otherwise, I generally tried to stick to canon. Jen was amazing and played the "Breakin' Da Rulez" video game while I worked so that she could offer layout advice. It was a lot of work, but it's cool to say, "Hey, I pulled together an idea for a house that's so inconsistent in the show!"

I was pretty burned out when I was done. I... probably should have taken breaks from staring at my screen, but I'm not kidding when I said I was working on this all day. I did this on Illustrator and many things are on different layers. I watched multiple episodes, and ran lots of ideas past Jen and Linz (Ah, I love having friends with the same interests as me). Jen actually created a map of Timmy's house for an RPG a few years ago, but I didn't want to copy straight off her. I did the actual project myself, but these two both offered screenshot references, which was nice of them.

Anyway, after that was submitted and I'd left comments on the works of at least two other students as necessary, I kept my vocab words playing in my ears as I sketched traditionally. I've been wanting to draw Bunsen with all his animal parts, so here we go:

There's a joke to be made here about Bunsen being heavily based

on guinea pigs when the whole show is about him trying new things

Yep! I learned many interesting guinea pig facts while I was gathering this research in my spare time over the last few days, and yeah, it looks like he fits their biology pretty darn well! Enough to make you wonder if that was a coincidence or not.

Ooh, and I also found out that I scored a 46.5 out of 50 on my last stats exam. Not quite as high as I wanted, but considering that I spent about four hours on it with Jeff and we had to redo an entire set of questions, I'll take it! 93% isn't so bad!

Dish Queen

Today was pretty basic. I had a nice, long morning to get things done. It's been a busy week for homework, but I'm chipping away. I had stats and abnormal psych class today. Lots of new concepts to learn. Luckily I only have to memorize the stuff for abnormal psych. I can't imagine trying to work through stats if our quizzes and tests weren't open-note! Yikes.

I did squeeze in a bit of writing this evening, figuring out some worldbuilding for Gavin and Ethel's story. Oh, and Demetria approached me and said she'd do all the dishes now and keep the counters clean if I just vacuumed the floor every once in awhile. I'd talked to her on Monday about switching how we did dishes, requesting she just unload them, because I've done all of them for a long time and I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. So hearing her say that she wanted to do all of them now (especially since she hadn't touched the dishes since our arrangement) was interesting. 

We'll see how that works out. I did tell her to let me know if it started to become too much for her, and we could work something else out.

"To Help Animals"

I've been trying to find the time to meet with my psychology advisers. My hope was that I could do it at the same time I spoke to my behavioral analysis teacher from last semester, so I could ask him about the opportunity as research assistant in the advanced rat lab. Unfortunately, since the semester is over, his information is no longer on Canvas, and I apparently erased it when I wrote that document. His office is in the same floor of the same building as my advisers, but I'm pretty sure his hours are at completely different times.

Anyway, after I couldn't find his information, I decided to forget that plan. I'd ask my advisers about the lab instead. While there, I would tell them I have enough credits to apply to be an actual psychology major and not just a pre-psychology one, and I could run my schedule for next semester by them too before rush week arrives. So after English, I crossed campus and climbed the four floors to their office, and... A sign on the door said the advisers would not be seeing anyone today because they have meetings to attend. 

Okay, I deserved that. After all, I hadn't made an appointment (I don't like making the appointments because I like the flexibility offered by the walk-ins). Unfortunately, I won't be able to meet with them tomorrow because their hours conflict with those of my stats class. They don't have office hours for Friday. I guess I'll have to set up an appointment next week when this huge homework load is lighter. Drat!

At least this building is the same one where my next two classes would be, so I settled down to wait for an hour. It's nice to have online math homework, so I was able to continue working on that.

I had my stats lab, and stole some time to do more math. For one of the questions I got 17/18 on my first try, so that was nice. Then it was career class, and from there I went to the TSC for lunch. On my way there, some guy shoved a flyer in my face and asked if I wanted "to help animals". Considering that I'd just spent the last hour thinking about how I'd really like to train service dogs or animals for movies and not go into any of these careers that the guest speakers were discussing, I couldn't find it in my heart to refuse, so I said sure and took it. When I glanced at it later, I was amused to see it was just a pamphlet about why I should become vegetarian. Clever hook, buddy.

Then it was interior design and, later, Institute. Thanks to Daylight Savings, it's actually still light out when that last class gets out! Certainly makes walking back less intimidating. Though, the bus pulled up right as I reached the stop, so that was perfect timing. I usually miss it by five seconds or something.

Yep. I worked on math and English when I came home. And my next test for abnormal psych is pretty soon, so got to study for that!

7 of 8

Today was Pi Day! I didn't do anything special to celebrate, although last Saturday I did enjoy pizza with my family because... pizza pie.

Jeff used to have bushy red hair and a big bushy beard, but when I came to stats class, all of it had been shaved off. I didn't ask for context, but it's kind of interesting.

7 of 8 article summaries complete! "Articles" referring to academic stuff like research studies, master's theses, and dissertations. I finished my English reading, and made it about halfway on my math assignment for the week. I still have so much to do, but I'm chopping away.

Morning After Spring Break

First day back at school! And after Daylight Savings time. Luckily most college professors don't mind it too much if you walk in a few minutes late (and in my defense, the buses altered their routes a bit due to construction). I'll just have to leave earlier.

We did a cool activity in English class today. We got in groups and everyone wrote a paragraph about Disney princesses, but without giving it a topic sentence. My group chose animal companions as our main topic, and discussed why Mushu from "Mulan" is a better character than "Pascal", namely because Mulan contributes to the plot whereas Pascal is a tagalong. Then we passed our paragraphs to our neighbors, and they had to write a topic sentence for our paragraph as though it were transitioning from their paragraph. Then we read the whole "essay" out loud. Fun.

I cleaned dishes and the frog tank between classes today, and worked on my article project in the evening. This week is full of assignments. It's always bizarre to me when people talk about being bored during Spring Break or summer. I never have enough time to do all the things I want.

E Double G-S Eggs

Daylight savings was today! I hate losing an hour, but it should be nice for the evening light to last a little longer- it's been getting dark so early.

My dad was nice enough to make crepes for breakfast! And we colored Easter eggs. Nice way to spend a Sunday morning!

15 eggs

Many eggs

Mom gave a talk in church today that was pretty cool, about obedience and keeping the Sabbath Day holy. She spoke about Jesus spitting in the dirt and rubbing the mud in the eyes of a blind man who had asked for a coin, and how in our lives it's important to be humble like the beggar, and not call it quits on religion or life when we don't get the coins we asked for.

We discussed Jesus's birth in Gospel Doctrine, and I had a bit of time at home to rest, eat, and gather my things before Dad drove me up to Blue Square again. I unpacked and settled in to enjoy my last evening of the break. Back to the daily grind tomorrow!

The Mail Store

I had my hair-removal appointment this morning... it hurt a lot. The last few times I've been on the same setting, but they turned it up again this time and it was very painful. I knew it was going to get worse, but I wish it didn't have to. Or I wish I understood why I'm required to stay with them for two years even when I started seeing results after the first or second time (Mom wanted me to do this so I wouldn't gross out my future husband, and it seems to me like no man within my dating pool could possibly be grossed out by how little hair I have left, especially since I can't imagine being seriously interested in a man who cares that much about leg hair when he probably has plenty of it himself, but oh well. I don't get to choose everything).

But, at least I have really long socks I can wear, and I made it most of the day without scratching at the swollen lumps on my leg. I did get a little itch-happy at the end of the day, but I don't think there was blood this time, so I'll count it as a success.

On our way home from the appointment, Mom and I swung by the pet store to get crickets for Jorja's frog and dropped by Grandpa's house. Apparently Anne has been telling my mom that she only has three kids now because I'm missing and don't live with my parents anymore. So, I said hi to her. She was pretty pleased to see me.

After relaxing at home for a little while, Mom and I headed out again, this time to the grocery store to buy some cereal, chips, and candy to send to my friend Dallin who's on a mission in South Korea. We threw in some Girl Scout cookies too. Mom had Collin's handprints to send John and Cassie, so it worked pretty well, visiting the post office and all. Hopefully everything makes it okay.

I got some writing done this afternoon, and Mom looked at my class options with me and helped me work out some schedule ideas for fall semester. Crazy how registration is coming up soon! She also found a bunch of USU scholarships that I could try applying for. Unfortunately the deadline for all of them is Monday, but maybe I'll get lucky and most of them will simply ask me to fill out a form and not write large essays. I've done one so far!

Blrrr Bli Bloo

This morning, Mom came by and took me shopping. We bought plenty of groceries and then headed out to IHOP for lunch. After that, we hit the road. I discussed lots of "Stars and Finch" plans with Mom, and she gave me some cool suggestions to use. She also didn't fall asleep on the road, and we made it home without getting stuck anywhere or in any accidents. Nice.

Jorja and Stockton made chocolate chip cookies. Preston showed me some screenshots of the game he's been working on with RPG Maker:

Dinner was spaghetti and things, and I was able to get some writing done. It was a pretty good day all in all.

On His Shoulders

Well... I mostly I just worked on my articles today. I did some drawing in between, because I live alone and no one is here to stop me:

Giving Bunsen self-esteem issues and an inability

to stand up for himself was such a clever twist

Mmhm. Probably the last of my "Bunsen Is a Beast"-related stuff for awhile. Anyway, it was fun to give him a colorful go again since I normally just draw Mikey. And a nice way to break up all the 100+-page theses and dissertations I've been picking through.

Otherwise, I talked to my friends and got ready for the weekend. Spring break is drawing to a close. Only a month and a half of school left now!

I'm So Sorry I Can't Control My Inner Fangirl

Another day of working interspersed with the occasional doodle...... I sketched a hilarious boy whom we all know has elbowed his way into my life this last week. Days. It's only been five days!

This child has literal helicopter parents (who I did not finish 

drawing yet) and if this isn't a beautifully-creative character 

concept then I don't know what is. How does Butch do it?

Pretty happy with the way he came out, though his arm has been and still is serious trouble. I drew him because I love him, but I also know that Butch is looking for cool fanart to feature on his Instagram. He's mostly gotten Dannys and a Bunsen or two, so maybe tomorrow I'll try finishing this puppy up. I have pretty mixed feelings about being featured given the loss of anonymity, but I'd love to leave a comment telling him how much I adore this poor child and the people writing him, because I'd like to hear such thoughts from fans if our positions were reversed. I. Love. This. Boy.

My plan was to just watch this show up until the "Fairly OddParents" crossover episode, but holy cow, things escalated so fast for a series that isn't supposed to have an ongoing plotline, what the heck, Mikey? Obvious passive-aggressiveness in his introductory scene. Ability to lie with a straight face seen in Episode 2. Neglectful upbringing confirmed by Episode 3. Power trip by Episode 5. Casual manipulation smeared across Episode 7. Blatant manipulation of severely-uncomfortable best friend by Episode 8. Bunsen's inner turmoil concerning the beast code of honor by Episode 10. Absolute selfishness by Episode 12... Why am I always so in love with Butch's shows?

I live for cute and happy stories littered with strong characters and that run rampant with dark undertones, that's why. It's what I try to write and it's what I love to see. Nothing snags my attention faster than a problematic "good" character with a confirmed interest in psychology.

There's not that much else to say about today, only that the last time she was up here, my mom bought me a package of Peeps which I haven't opened yet (because what if I want them later? And then what if I want them more later?), but it occurred to me that having one Peep after each finished article summary might be a good reinforcer to get me to work. This occurred to me when it was late and I didn't want the box to be open all night, but that should help a lot tomorrow. Crazy how it's already Wednesday! Glad I get to stay home instead of wander around campus!

This Wasn't Supposed to Happen What Have We Done?

I had that meeting with my stats teacher today. I'd wanted to ask about labs on campus and figure out if she had any connections that might help me secure a position. She was startled to realize I was a freshman, but felt better when I clarified that I have enough credits to be a sophomore, and am on track to graduate in three years but might stay a fourth because my full-ride scholarship covers it.

I asked her about any labs that might study animal behavior, romantic relationships, or sleep. I also told her how I had been offered that place in that one lab before, but it hadn't worked with my schedule, even though I'd offered to drop a class. I asked her if I should contact them or expect to be contacted back, and she suggested I get a hold of them before class registrations. Oh, I didn't even think of that! Then I'd have an empty schedule! Nice.

She told me that while undergraduates may not get paid much at first, their prospects increase when they prove their dedication. It takes lots of money and time to train them, so the lab people like it when they see someone young and determined to learn and help out. It would be awesome if I could slot myself into an on-campus paid position like this, since I don't have a car. My stats teacher said I'd have a good chance in the summer, but my scholarship doesn't cover summer tuition, and I didn't apply for summer housing. Maybe next year.

I went back to work on things after I came home. I read........ many things about Mary Sues for that huge essay project in English class. It's slow work, but I figure that if I do a bit at a time, it'll be over soon. It's not as though procrastinating will make it go away, and I don't really have other homework during spring break, so now is the time (When I get back to school, I'll have to do another big interior design project. Gulp.)

I'm the kind of person who writes one-shots as a way to relax after a long day. Linzie doodles. Jen. Jen makes meme-worthy RPG stock games. And that's exactly what she did today when it was late in her timezone but she wasn't quite tired enough for bed yet. And she streamed it. I love her so much.

So, remember that AU concept from yesterday?

Jen couldn't decide what class to make Darcy at first but then I yelled 

at her because this child is kleptomaniac and should be a thief.

She also has a starting item that's some magical belt and so 

we changed her description to "It's not my belt." Because. Had to.

Jen recolored this boy's hair from brown to red. 

Every angle. Pixels. That's my girl.

My favorite part is that Mikey and Amanda (aka Mike and Mandy) each have eight expressions (copied and pasted from the show because Jen wanted to make something that was meant to look bad on purpose, but with serious sprites, except Bunsen who got a stock fish monster one), but Darcy only has one expression. It's beautiful.

I also made my first contribution sketch to this AU, seeing as Jen waved her hand and gave me free reign with manipulative Mikey. Although she changed the sprite she used for Amanda to give her proper coloring, she didn't want to make Mikey's sleeves white, so we decided he just gets a big soft sweater in this AU. With a soft wavy stripe instead of a sharp one:

My lonely chubby sweater boy with

his arm crushed by my spiral notebook

This is me and my friends. This is generally the type of thing we do. All the time. Every day. My sister likes to be silly with her friends by going out to the mall or the movies. I like to be silly with my friends by creating something. Anytime I do anything, I like to see an actual result for my efforts.

These aren't supposed to be anything great, and we're not trying to become popular with them or anything. That's not why we draw goofy things like this. It's not meant to be appreciated by anyone but each other. But when all three of us can draw at least ~somewhat~ decently, and one of us is a really good artist, the other a really good game developer, and yours truly a really good writer, you're bound to see those talents collide.  Life is good.

Mn3m0n1{$

I tried to get some work done on my English assignment today, by which I mean that I tried to work on these article summaries, but kept finding excuses not to get very far on it so that I could fold clothes or eat food or draw this or fact-check that for most of the day, because it's still about two weeks until the assignment is due. More will get done tomorrow, I'm sure.

Disregarding that, it was a pretty slow and simple day, really. It snowed last night. I stayed at home and did laundry and whatever. Got some work done that I wanted to. Talked with my online friends a lot. Our entire group chat normally consists of fairies, ghosts, drawings, and helping one another work out details about headcanons or AU concepts that can be turned into fun relaxation doodles, but right now it's just blooming with "Bunsen Is a Beast" (mostly screenshots of Mikey and Amanda- the former especially) and I'm not upset.

Jen, Linzie, and I pooled some ideas for a darker version of the show after awhile where Bunsen really is dangerous and wants to eat people, but has to pretend he's a sweet little schoolboy in order to keep the rest of his race and family from being slaughtered immediately. Amanda is the only one that knows, but he keeps threatening her to keep her quiet, and he has to keep Mikey around and happy as a guide to the human world because Bunsen's just so clueless about the world otherwise.

Jen started it mainly in jest, but I loved it so I had to contribute manipulative Mikey, since that's hardly a far jump from canon Mikey the passive-aggressive guilt-tripper. In fact, let me see... Ah, here were some of my contributions:

• 
  

NO I LOVE THIS
JEN this is perfect. Keep it.

AND THEN OH MAN lemme tell you where Mikey fits in:

SO YOU GOT MIKEY THE MANIPULATOR-

The boy who raised himself on psych books, poring over them for hours because he's dyslexic and has ADHD but his parents are so weirdly distant even though they're ALWAYS THERE they just don't know how to raise a kid-

Enter Bunsen, who has no friends. His life crosses paths with the energetic boy who heads the school welcoming committee.

^ This is Mikey in "Mikey Is a Beast" when he guilttrips Bunsen into doing what HE wants even when Bunsen really doesn't want to

... I am literally just understanding this title.

Oh wow it's a double joke.

AU version of "Mikey Is a Beast" (if you stuck to the canon episodes) would definitely involve Bunsen putting his foot down and saying, "ARE YOU CRAZY MIKEY I'm not doing this, I almost died, man!"

And oh, sweet Mikey stops the crocodile tear game and looks this beast up and down. He pulls him aside and props his elbow up on the classroom globe.

"Hey, Bunsen. Have you ever noticed how I am literally the only one on your side right now?"

*Walking his fingers across the globe* You know what, you're right. Never mind, forget it- this is a dumb idea. Hey, I'm going to go hang out with X and Y after school. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Ooh, whatcha gonna do, Bunsen? He doesn't like humans, but he needs a guide. Whatcha gonna do?

Also Mikey, lying on Bunsen's bed with him and staring up at the ceiling: "I just had a daydream that I wasn't your friend anymore and then no one liked you and you were chased out of town and all your people were driven to extinction. Funny, huh? Well, see you tomorrow!"

• 
  

There were many jokes made about Amanda calling Mikey in the middle of the night begging for his help because she suspects Bunsen is under her bed, and he just grumbles that he'll send his parents' drone over, but she finally convinces him to let her come over to his place for awhile. They're sitting on the couch and talking things out. Amanda is scrolling through pictures on her phone, but they're all blurry and questionable and she can tell Mikey doesn't really believe her as he hands over a glass of lemonade. But he eventually calms her down and says, "Hey, it's okay. Sure, I'll believe you. I'll talk to him about it."

And then Bunsen was right behind them for the last several minutes, so out of nowhere he says, "What did you want to talk to me about?" and Mikey just flips because ohhhhh dang.

Amanda trying to write letters to Mikey because Bunsen can't read English, but they have to communicate through Mikey's number system while Bunsen watches and asks what they're drawing constantly.

This is what my friends and I do in our free time. Alternate universes and drawings everywhere. Spring Break is nice that way. This is why I rarely enjoy sitting down and talking with people in "real life". Because babbling about characters and writing is what I love, and my Internet friends love hearing that stuff, but face to face, people don't. Nor can you pull up screenshots when you talk face to face. I like silly cartoons with dark undertones, and I like sharing such thoughts. It's just the way I am.

Also, I doodled the little dyslexic redhead, because of course I did:

He has a mnemonic involving numbers and colors 

because he struggles with letters and it's very cute

Good job, Mikey. You can now spell "cat". Good job.

Okay, so we are ending up with more "Bunsen Is a Beast" posts on this blog than was my intention. I'm sure it'll blow over once the excitement wears off, but I'm kind of in love with this little psychology-loving jerk right now. He cracks morbid jokes and can lie through his teeth without a tell and he's both terrifying and oddly endearing. A very strong character, yes indeed.