Before Fast Sunday Comes Last Sunday

My leg and wrist ended up hurting all day from the hike. I suppose that's the price you pay for being outdoors. Anyway, I attended church for the last time in this ward until fall.

Now that the essay is off my back, there isn't much left for me to do concerning school, not having actual finals and all. Since I can't finish my interior design project without my swatch board, and since the pictures for my swatch board need to be in color, and since my printer prints only black and white and the color printers are at the TSC, and since the shuttles to the TSC don't run on Sunday, I decided to pass the afternoon with writing and cartoons. Not a bad way to do it!

Hut, Hut, Hike

Demetria, Alison and I made plans to hang out together to celebrate the end of school. Alison was really hoping to go on a hike, since that's something she enjoys and she hadn't had the opportunity to go yet. Demetria, however, had music recitals to attend (to support her music friends) and wanted to get some practice done for her upcoming tests.

So instead of picking her up after our hike and taking her with us to get ice cream as we originally planned, we decided to go for a waffle breakfast instead. We sought out a little hole-in-the-wall place called Waffle Iron. Demetria said they have gluten-free waffles here that she could enjoy. It's a little cafe, and even has a small lounge area with soft chairs and board games. The waffles were great too! I had one with cinnamon sugar and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

 Alison and Demetria

After our tasty breakfast, Alison and I dropped off Demetria, swung by my apartment so I could drop off my debit card and grab by coat (it turned out to be colder out than I'd expected) and check the address of the hiking trail we wanted to visit. When we found it, I texted the location to Mom, since I know she likes it when I do that. I'd never been to the place and didn't know what to expect; the guy at the HPER building had told me the trail wasn't steep, but some of the online comments about the trail suggested that it was. It's always nice to let people know where you're going if you're heading into the mountains.

Alison and I drove to the trail head, which wasn't too far up the canyon. A large group of people was already gathered there, so we drove on for awhile to enjoy the pretty canyon. We circled back after awhile and they were gone, so we parked, grabbed our water, and headed up.

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

I actually enjoyed the hike a lot. Although I'm sure it's beautiful in autumn, it was also nice that the trees didn't have leaves, so it wasn't too dark and you could see in every direction. The weather and temperature were perfect- it was a nice, cool day, so we didn't get overheated. The trail felt like a natural path, which was nice for me since I don't enjoy walking up paved hills. It was narrow and ran along the edge of the hill as we continued our climb. I love heights, so I enjoyed the feel of that. The hike took about two and a half hours in total, up and down, including the several minutes we lingered at the top and the few times we stopped for a break or picture opportunities. We saw some deer along the way, and kept running across these two ladies who took pictures of us, and we took pictures of them in return.

The weather was perfect during the hike, but it was funny because when we stepped inside the cave, the wind was whistling and the temperature dropped ten or fifteen degrees. There was ice everywhere! When you stepped outside and moved away from the cave mouth, it warmed up again. I guess that's why they call it the Wind Cave!

I talked with Alison a ton during the hike, of course. She's turning in her mission papers this summer and won't be coming back to Utah State for awhile. She also needs to move out as early as Tuesday. I'm glad I have a few more days before I need to be gone!

After our hike, Alison took me back to Blue Square and we said our good-byes. She gave me her email so we can keep in touch during her mission. Crazy that I'm of that age!

When In Hawaii...

This morning, Demetria and I headed down to the RA's apartment to sign up for room check-outs. Demetria ended up deciding to sign for her room later (mostly because she still needs to figure out when she can move into her room for the summer, and specifically when the people there will be moving out). We hadn't brought writing utensils with us, so I grabbed one when I called up Mom. I let her know which times were available (only one of them - the very last one - had been taken) and we worked out when she and Dad will be able to pick me up. I'm checking out Thursday at 2:20 in the afternoon. Under a week from now!

I met with Jeff at 1:00 in the YETC. Many of our classmates were bustling around there (though not quite as much as my visit before the last test). Jake and I had already finished the paper portion of the test, except for a step that we missed in one of the equations. We completed it and worked on the SPSS stuff with the graphing and tables. It took us two hours, but the class TA was willing to grade them right there, and we both scored 50 out of 50! Not bad for a math class final.

I said good-bye to Jeff for the year and moved from there to the TSC. I sat on a couch and waited to be hungry, and blogged some. Finally, I headed into the Marketplace for what I knew might be my last meal at the buffet. I sat in a booth seat near the drinks and deserts with a man who, after awhile, called his wife. They talked about their plans for visiting Hawaii this summer. He already had a list of things to do on his laptop. When he had finished talking to her, I recommended he check out Aloha Crepes while he was there. My family loved it when we went. Not only were the crepes good, but they have these tasty things called "Snowflakes" there, which are something like Snocone shavings mixed with cream. I especially liked the chocolate. I did warn him, though, that he and his wife definitely needed to go at a time when they could afford the time commitment. It's a very popular and very small place, so it doesn't always work when you're in a rush.

Tonight, I finished and submitted my essay for good! I read over it multiple times, and I think it came out nicely. It's nine pages long (not including the works cited) and it should bring me a decent grade!

Essay Critique

I was able to meet with my English teacher today. When I came in, she said she was rather surprised that I'd asked to see her, because judging from my previous work, she thought I'd picked good sources and had a strong writing style. She'd wanted me to email me my essay draft (which I did on Tuesday) so that she could read over it before we met. However, I think she moved me to the bottom of to-do list. When we began, she told me that she hadn't actually looked over my essay, but that she had enough confidence in me that she felt good discussing its contents with me regardless. 

That was kind of flattering, but also concerning. It makes sense that I may not need as much help as some of the other students, but that doesn't mean I don't need any. This is my final paper, worth 300 points, and English (although still an A) is my lowest grade. I'd sort of wanted the fresh eyes to look over it. I guess I'll just have to read it again several times myself and ensure I didn't leave any spelling mistakes behind.

She did still have a few critiques to give me, and I'd highlighted segments of my essay before I'd sent it to her, so that made it easy to pick out the places I wanted to talk to her about. For example, I wanted some help in determining which of several sources was considered the more professional, since I'd found multiple articles that discussed the same topic. That was the main thing I'd wanted to talk to her about, although I suppose it wasn't a big deal and I could have picked without her. It was partially my excuse to see her and have her critique my essay before I'd be submitting it for a final grade.

All in all, my teacher really like it. Although I was writing about women in the media, she was excited that I had a fresh angle on it- about why Mary Sues (or superwomen as they're more often called in film) aren't necessarily positive representation. She said she found it interesting, and was of course glad I didn't have a generic essay about women being sexualized by the media and such. Before I left, she also said she was very glad that I had highlighted some areas and even written notes- notes asking about her opinion on two choices, and not merely asking her to fix my problems. Although I may not have gotten the "full" treatment, I guess I got the treatment that I needed.

I gathered bunches of pictures from Homestyler today. Again, while it's sad that it will be coming to an end, I'm grateful that we were given this opportunity to collect pictures of our renders rather than the site just shutting down all at once.

My abnormal psych teacher brought his eight-year-old daughter to work, because her calendar said it was take your daughter to work day and she was really excited about it. His class doesn't start until her school ends for the day, so that worked out fine. It was our last lesson of the semester. Although I had some concerns at the start, I did enjoy the class overall and learned a lot.

I finished my final online math assignment tonight and then spent the evening working on my essay, taking my teacher's advice into account. The changes she'd asked me to make were all pretty slight, such as dividing one paragraph into two. I also changed some phrasing to make it flow a little better. It's due tomorrow by midnight. I think I can pull this off!

Homestyled Out

I didn't have English or career today again! That was pretty nice. I had a long morning to myself before I headed out to meet with Jeff at 12:30. We worked on our math exams for two hours and finished all the pencil work. What's left to do is the online work. We're planning to meet and do that on Friday, because the class TA will be there and is willing to grade the tests right then, so we don't have to bring them to our teacher's fourth floor office next Thursday. Nice!

After that I went home for a little bit to drop off my test and grab some lunch. I went to abnormal psych... only, I wasn't supposed to have abnormal psych today. Oops. Luckily, abnormal psych is at 3:00, and interior design is at 3:30, rather than the other way around. So, I was early to interior design. That was nice.

Interior design was pretty empty today. I guess lots of people remembered it was a work day, and decided they didn't want to come. However, my teacher noticed that over half the class was missing, so he had us write our names for roll.

He also came around and gave us critiques on our work. Ironically, I was told that my kitchen was a little dark for mid-century modern, and that I should lighten it. This is ironic because if I took his suggestions into account, I'd end up being able to use the samples I picked up for my swatch board when at Home Depot with Mom, which means my original instinct for the design was right!

I also found out some... distressing news. The website where I've done my render, Homestyler, is shutting down. On April 30th, I won't be able to access it anymore. I didn't get an email or anything. I only found out because it became 4:00, and I was no longer able to edit my designs (apparently, for the first fifteen minutes of every hour, they no longer let you modify designs or save. I'm not sure what the point of this is, but maybe it saves them money? Or, in my case, is the only indication that the site has reached its end.)

I told my teacher that it would soon be shutting down, who told the people in the class- but of course, we were missing half the class. Hopefully my other classmates get their final projects finished! Homestyler is shutting down on the 30th, but our finals are due May 3rd!

After design class, I stopped by the Institute. I'd gotten an email that read, "Thank you for attending another class while [my teacher's name] was away. Please come to the office to mark your attendance and reading." Oops. I don't know why joining other classes didn't occur to me the past two weeks. I explained my situation regarding the emails and the "Do not contact" option. Apparently, in that first email that had been sent, we had been asked to attend other classes. Oh.

Anyway, the office lady was nice. I told her I had come both weeks, but left because I'd thought we'd been excused for class. I guess I hadn't really thought it through. She was understanding and let me check my attendance off anyway, and I told her I'd be back to attend a class tonight. She recommended Room 107.

I did a bit of homework and got a snack when I came home, then headed back up to Institute again shortly after. I attended class in Room 107, and I was startled by how much I enjoyed it! Our main topic was Adam-ondi-Ahmen, and we talked about several things that are evidently considered "Church secrets" that the Church knows about, but doesn't like to advertise to the general world population.  It was really cool!

Additionally, the teacher told us about a time he had received a yellow envelope in the mail. It was a letter signed by the first presidency, inviting him to a meeting at the Salt Lake temple. Several priesthood holders - I think all the stake presidents in Utah at the time, or something along those lines - were invited, but were told they shouldn't talk about it with anyone aside from their wives. He received a call from his friend pretty soon, asking him if he had received "a correspondence he wasn't supposed to discuss". He said yes, and his friend said, "Me too. What time should I pick you up?" Ha.

Anyway, they went to Salt Lake shortly after. Specifically, they approached the Salt Lake temple at its underground entrance, and had to show the letter to people every time they went through a door. My teacher said that he and his friend were the first ones there, and as they were arriving, the first presidency came through the parking garage on golf carts. Apparently they were racing (though of course, not very fast). My teacher and his friend waved, and Thomas S. Monson said, "Mine's faster than Gordon's!" and drove off. Nice.

It sounded like they had a cool meeting, and I really enjoyed the lesson. That's what I think Institute is supposed to be- teaching people about things that don't normally get taught in church. Up until now, seminary and Institute have felt more like we're just having the same old concepts beat into our heads, and its entire purpose is to have teenagers attend so that they'll think about the church throughout the week instead of just on Sunday, in the hopes of keeping them from straying. Seminary and Institute have never seemed very useful to me. But I did really enjoy learning about things that I don't know.

Caught Up

We received our take-home tests in stats today. It will not be a fun packet to do, but at least I'll actually have a light Wednesday tomorrow. Jeff and I made plans to meet. I also calculated my grade on Canvas and found out that I only need to score 20 out of 50 points on the final to get an A in this class. Ha. I'm not the kind of person who will just slack off on an assignment though, so I'll work hard to get it done, but it's nice not to have tons of pressure on my back. Jeff said that he has to score 100% to receive an A- since he missed two labs and never made them up. Yikes! Glad that isn't me!

I finally heard back from my English teacher today, and she said that she wasn't available to meet with me at all until Thursday. Whoa! I don't know if this was because she was booked or because I hadn't sent her my essay draft... I didn't even remember her asking us to send our drafts for review. I looked over mine again and highlighted the areas I wanted to discuss with her. Well, it looks like I'll be meeting with her on Thursday, then!

I uploaded the pictures and 300-word description of my in-progress interior design project today. Only three other people had already posted their designs, and as part of my assignment, I needed to leave thoughtful comments on the work of two other students. One girl sewed a pillow with a specific pattern, and it looked really great!

We're coming up on the finish in abnormal psych. My teacher and I calculated my grade, and without taking the final, I'll get an A. So much for "You will probably get a B in this class"! My teacher drops the lowest test, so there's not much point in taking it. Plus, I think I accidentally packed up all my scantrons when Mom was up here on Friday. I kind of wanted to take it both to see how I was doing and to just cover my back, but I'll have to think about it, I guess.

I spent most of the evening catching up on my blog, since I fell behind last week between working on my essay, kitchen render, and going out of town. But with this post done, I am all caught up again. That's a pretty nice feeling to have!

Two Fewer Classes

I didn't have class until 1:30 today. We're done meeting in English as a class, though my teacher is offering to meet with us individually if we schedule a time to see her. I wrote her an email today requesting to meet with her Tuesday morning after my stats class.

It was also my final day in my psychology as a career and profession class! Our teacher answered general questions about grad school, and then we all filled out a paper about what we liked about the course and where we thought improvements could be made. Since we were let go early, I went back to Blue Square for a bit instead of heading straight to my next class.

We had a work day in interior design, so it was nice to have my laptop with me. Unfortunately, I think I left the mouse for it at home. Luckily I'm going back there in ten days! I got by okay using the trackpad, though, and gathered things for my swatch board. I also studied many mid-century modern kitchens. Unfortunately, none of them really seem to match the color swatch I picked out with Mom. Oops. Colored walls can be a thing, but I guess wooden ones are the main style. I do have the wood samples left over from my last design, at least.

Our teacher came around to check up on us individually. He seemed impressed when I told him that I'd already picked the style I was doing (unlike the girl next to me) and that I had my samples with me. He even had me sign a paper, though he didn't say what it was for, and he only offered it to a few people. Perhaps it's for extra credit, or he wants to offer me some kind of cool opportunity? I'm not sure. I hope it's good news, anyway!

So, I've finished my render of the mid-century modern kitchen:

We're supposed to post an in-progress picture of our work by this Friday, and turn in the final next week. Even though this design doesn't match my sample choices, I really like the look of it, so it'll be good to turn in to show my progress. I did refer to many mid-century modern kitchens as I worked, but I came up with the layout and stuff here myself. I'll make more changes later, like perhaps removing the baseboards off the brick wall. We'll see what my classmates have to say!

I Saw Greg

I had a pretty nice Sunday! There were some good church lessons (about believing in prophets because the gospel is perfect even if people aren't, and the "Fourth floor, last door" talk from Conference awhile back). At one point, Dad asked Brother Kimball about the For Sale sign in front of his house. Brother Kimball laughed and said that someone puts that on his house every once in awhile, presumably because he's so beloved by the ward and it would freak some people out.

We had dinner as a family, and I played Stockton's Happy Ball 5 game on Multimedia Fusion, before I packed up my things and headed out with Mom. We swung by Matt and Sam's and I got to see baby Gregory for the first time. Also, Jeff walks around a lot and likes to climb stairs. He's beginning to talk too, though he was a little shy around me.

That was that! Mom dropped me off at Blue Square and we said our good-byes. Crazy to think that the next time I see her will be when I'm officially coming home from college for the summer!

Under Construction: Come On In

Going to my laser hair-removal appointment was kind of amusing today. Jorja came with in the car. Mom dropped me off and asked if I knew which building I was supposed to go in (she was leaving to take Jorja to softball). I said I knew, and she left. But when I opened the door, I was shocked to find the place torn up- white building materials, plastic, and dust everywhere. I shut the door again, and noticed a flyer that said they were indeed still operating even while under construction. So, hesitantly, I stepped inside. Over to my right, I saw two women behind a desk, and was able to check into my appointment. After that, things proceeded as normal, although I had to watch my step while walking down the hallway.

Mom and I checked out Home Depot after my appointment was over so I could get some samples for my swatch board. We took pictures of various kitchen appliances and cabinets. All the samples we took were free. And here I thought we couldn't beat Lowe's price of 25 cents!

We grabbed Sonic for lunch (I got a cool plastic dinosaur skull with a movable jaw in my kid's meal) and then met up with Jorja at softball. She was disappointed to see we'd already gotten food since she was hungry, but Mom picked up some Arby's for her, and then we went to the store to grab some groceries.

As for my afternoon, I spent a lot of time working on my kitchen render. Designing a mid-century modern kitchen can be tricky, especially when the render only gives me so many options. I pored over each one, and put together several kitchen designs, but scrapped all of them. They just didn't seem right. I also designed the living area and entry hall next to the kitchen, so that I could add large arched doorways since mid-century modern design emphasizes open spaces. Slowly but surely, it's coming along!

Restraint Is Good For the Soul

Friday! Fridays are great. I had some time this morning, so I took my online quiz for stats class. Then I tidied up just a bit in case I didn't have time before Mom arrived.

As promised, we did our peer reviews in English class. I looked over an essay about why cosmetic businesses should stop testing their products on animals. The argument was that "it's cruel", but the paper's author sort of left it at that, without explaining much about what was cruel. Six pages in, she mentioned animals being restrained, and implied that restraint was considered animal cruelty. Hmm.

I think I was the best person in class who could have reviewed that paper, given that I'm studying psychology - especially animal behavior - and am a certified veterinary assistant. Animals are restrained in veterinary clinics so they can be given shots to improve their health. There are certain safe ways to restrain them. In fact, certain restraint techniques actually calm animals down. That's why we do them, after all. And as for researchers experimenting on animals, every time they want to study animals, they have to get approval from some sort of board or ethics committee that I can't remember the name of. If they don't get approval, it means the experiment was considered cruel, and they don't do it at all.

So, I suggested she taper her argument from "all animal testing is cruel" to something like, "It's important that animal testing is monitored". And... maybe explain what's so bad about cosmetic products, since I'm not familiar with cosmetics and to me, that just means the products may have caused animals to have curlier, silkier, or smoother fur. I wanted details and such, because what she was saying was actually interesting- she just needed to find a better way to present it. She also mentioned veganism in her paper, and vegans not wanting to use products that were tested on animals. She talked briefly about how you're more likely to get food poisoning if you eat meat than if you don't eat meat. Pretty broad area there. I told her that I don't like meat, but that I do like milk, cheese, and ice cream, so her argument about veganism wasn't very relevant to me.

She didn't have a lot to say about my essay, so I guess that's both good and bad. Though, it always amuses me how many of my peers always write notes that my grammar is either confusing or incorrect. Everything seems clear to me, and when I check my phrasing, I've adhered to all the grammar rules I know!

Shortly after I came back to the apartment, Mom arrived. We picked up groceries and then packed up many of my things, like knick-knacks, notebooks, and some clothes (especially dresses, since I only have one more Sunday up here). After that, we went out to eat at Angie's. I had a tasty grilled cheese with four different cheeses on it, and Mom and I split a giant cinnamon scone.

After that, we made the long drive home. It's always nice when we don't break down on the way! At home, I finished one of those Pinterest assignments for interior design class, got some writing done, and completed an online English quiz. And enjoyed the company of my family too, of course!

Off Route

I rode the red bus today, and I even made it early to stats class. We didn't receive our take-home tests, but that's actually pretty nice, because it means I can work on my essay and relax this weekend, since I'll be spending it with my family.

I was home for a few hours before the time came for me to go to abnormal psych. It was raining by the time I stepped outside. After a couple of minutes and no sign of the bus, I texted it on my phone. The message said it was nine minutes away. What? Still? I'd even left my room earlier than usual, but now I was going to be late!

So, I texted the code for the stadium stop instead of the Blue Square one. One shuttle was due to arrive in four minutes, the other in six. Okay, I could make it to that stop in four minutes. So, I headed out into the rain.

There was just one problem. After six minutes, the first shuttle finally arrived at the stadium stop. But it dropped off its passengers and went off route. Then it was another several minutes before the second bus showed up. By this point, the rain was coming down harder, and the purple bus had come and gone from Blue Square. I did eventually make it up to campus, but I was late for class and very wet. Texting the shuttles can be great sometimes, but they're not always totally predictable. You win some, you lose some.

I attended my abnormal psych as per usual, and the rest of the afternoon passed as I worked on my essay draft. Yesterday, I ended up getting distracted by my Baby Bottle Pop, and really wasn't in the mood to be working. I was actually in the flow today, so everything came together, and I finished the entire draft. It ended up being ten pages long, and it was only supposed to be eight, so I made a lot of cuts.

And how did I reward myself after all that writing? I did a bit of writing my own works, of course!

Please Disturb in Emergencies

English class went well today. We had some time to work on our essays, and we're doing peer reviews next time. Hopefully I get some good critiques!

Normally, I stay up on campus all of Wednesday. However, I checked Canvas and happened to notice that we were doing an assignment in class that involved our books, and mine was still at my apartment. Oops. I headed back and grabbed it.Before I headed out, I got a call from the lady I'd talked to last week about the psychology study. She told me that the MRI machine was broken, but that she'. That would have been cool to have my brain scanned. Oh well.

I had my final stats lab of the semester today. Nice to get that over and done with! In career class, we filled out a page of questions about our reading, and then took a quiz on the material. I did well on it, so that was nice. I have over 100% in this class, in fact.

After that, I went to eat at the Marketplace. This semester, on Wednesdays I typically eat after interior design, but we got out early in career so I did this instead since my break between career and design was longer than my break between design and Institute. I tried a new kind of potatoes, and enjoyed a very tasty grilled cheese.

Interior design went well enough. Our teacher outlined what we need to do for our final projects of the semester. We either need to render a room and do another swatch board, or create a piece of art and stage a room around that piece of art. My ability to mess with my room is limited (especially with check-outs just around the corner), and doing the render last time was fun. I think I'll do okay!

Because I wasn't staying on campus to eat, I ended up heading back to my room so I could drop off my things. Too bad I didn't stay there, because when I came back, we weren't having class. I was actually a couple minutes after 5:30, but one girl was in there practicing her piano playing. She had been late herself, and told me that she'd heard other students saying our teacher apparently hadn't shown up tonight. Also, last week, an email had been sent out telling us class was cancelled, which explains why no one ever showed up while I was waiting. Oh.

Since this was the second week in a row our teacher wasn't here, I stopped by the main office on my way out and asked if I could change the email I had on file. The receptionist looked it up, but it was the email I was expecting. However, the "Do not disturb" box had been checked. I can see how that would be a problem. I'd like to know when class was cancelled, though!

Anyway, I had her uncheck it and then returned to Blue Square. I spent the evening working on my essay draft for English class. I also ate a Baby Bottle Pop in the process. My goal was to get all my quotes and citations finalized. Tomorrow, I'll just need to look over and rearrange a few things for clarity. It's all coming together! That's not bad at all.

Essay Is Nine Pages Long Now

I went to stats this morning expecting to be given our last take-home exam. They weren't handed out today, so I suppose they'll be given to us Thursday. That's kind of nice, so I can focus on my English exam without having to stress over an assignment I haven't been given yet.

I worked on my essay during the break between my classes, and this afternoon I had abnormal psychology. When that was over, it was back to the essay for the remainder of the night, with a bit of writing and drawing thrown in when I was done working for the day. This essay is a huge assignment, but the end is in sight! 

Design and Pizza

So! No English today! I didn't have my career class either, and luckily this time I remembered that before I headed all the way out there. I didn't even get out of pajamas until the afternoon. Mostly, I worked on the eight-page draft of that big essay for English class, and occasionally wrote.

I cleaned the frog tank today. I also called Mom at one point to confirm future plans involving check-out day, and to just catch up on how things were going at home. While we talked, I swept the floor and cleared off the counters too.

In interior design, we continued our discussion on modern houses. Tonight, I went out for pizza. It took an hour to ride the bus to the transfer center, switch routes, wait in line, and wait for the bus to come back again, but I'd been wanting it for awhile. The next time I get pizza, hopefully I'll be able to enjoy it at home with my family!

Easter 2017

We combined wards at church today. With it being Easter, I guess a lot of people went home to see their families. I wonder if I should have talked to my parents about me coming home too. That would have been fun to hunt eggs and things. But, I've gotten a lot of homework done this weekend, and I'll be seeing them next week anyway. I did get a book for Easter, and I have a nice chocolate bunny to eat, so that's not so bad!

I checked my email this afternoon and saw a message from my English teacher saying that she was stuck in Idaho Falls until tomorrow night, so we wouldn't be having class. Ha. I almost feel like I've missed more days of this class than I've gone.

For dinner, I cooked spaghetti. I did homework today too. First up was the stuff for career class. I scored 19 out of 20 points on my quiz, and I also spent a few hours finishing the rest of my math., and squeezed in a bit of time to write at the end of the day too. Nice!

A Working Saturday

My day was pretty straightforward and simple, so there really isn't much to say. I did math homework until the afternoon, and also did a bit of drawing, writing, and cartoon watching.

The math isn't due until next Thursday, but it's nice to get as much of it out of the way over the weekend as you can before you have to balance doing homework between class time too.

One of the sketches I did was of my character Ethel:

I've been trying to work on the worldbuilding for this story. As usual, I look forward to being able to really flesh out her world and work on that novel this summer.

Three Pinterest Boards

I had a little bit of time to polish up my essay draft this morning. And print it, of course. Nice to have the printer. We broke into groups of three in class and reviewed each other's work. One of the boys I'm working with is writing about space programs and why those of other countries should work together (I think? Sometimes it was hard to tell if he was for or against the idea), and  the other boy is writing about the influence of language on culture. I left him a note about that video on color we watched in interior design class.

I was able to enjoy being at the apartment for awhile, until the fire alarms went off. This was concerning since we'd been told there would be no more drills for this semester, and that if they went off again, it was real. But, we weren't outside for very long. Apparently the dust from some construction triggered the smoke detectors, so there was no actual fire. The elevator had shut down, though, so I had to climb the stairs back to my floor.

My abnormal psych teacher had wanted us to hold off on submitting our extra credit essays until now. I polished up and submitted my report about the TV show "Monk" and OCD, and ate macaroni. After that, I went grocery shopping, and got some writing done on the Google Docs app on my phone.

When I came home, I did my week's Pinterest board assignment for interior design (Space and Perspective). I also whipped up two more boards for extra credit, their themes being Line and Victorian-Style Homes. Once they're graded, I should have around 110% in the class. That should give me the boost I need if I end up struggling with my final project.

I threw in my laundry, and drew a bit as I waited for the laundry. As I was going to move it over, Mom called to talk to me, so that was nice. I completed my English quiz and, of course, folded the laundry and got it all put away. Phew! A bit of a busy day, but I enjoy getting things done!

Throwback to Y = Mx + B

We discussed lines of regression in stats class today. Mostly, this consisted of taking y = mx + b, and messing with it so it fit with psychological research stuff. The test is coming up. This has been a difficult unit, but I've taken careful notes. Between me and Jeff, I'm sure we can figure it out.

There were a lot of people missing in abnormal psych class. Our teacher had asked everyone to please continue coming to class, but of course, many people were here for credit more than interest. If you tell them that if their grades are at a certain level and they don't need to take the final, some just won't come.

With my grade being borderline A and A- (Take that, "You will probably get a B in my class!), I'd like to take the final test anyway, even though my extra credit points will probably cover the difference for me. I think I have one more loose scantron lying around, meaning I can store the plastic wrap containing four more away for the summer. Mostly, I just don't want to risk my grade in a class  where I otherwise could have had an A. The lowest score gets dropped, and I'm pretty sure I can beat 24. If I don't, it's no great loss. Like I said, I'll probably be fine once the extra credit gets factored in.

I spent my evening working on that English essay. On Wednesday, we were told to have four pages of a draft printed and with us on Friday for our peers to review. With my Wednesday still being kind of busy, I hadn't gotten as much done as I wanted. I worked hard tonight, and was able to have four rough pages thrown together. The nice thing about this class is, you only have to write the one essay. You just have to make sure you do a really great job on it.

Wednesday's Light

This Wednesday wasn't so bad, actually! English class went all right. We were given free time to work on our essays. I didn't have my statistics lab this week, so I went home afterwards. In career class, we talked about Chapter 6 in our book: Clever Hans the "counting" horse, facilitated communication, and third variables.

Interior design was okay too. Class starts at 3:30. Our teacher took a poll of the class to find out if they'd rather have normal class now, or attend a lecture given by some design person at 4:00 for extra credit. To my surprise, most of the class wanted to just stay and have class now. Weird. I didn't think there were many classes that started around 4:00. Our teacher was surprised to, but he had taken the poll and he thought it would be unfair to go against the vote. So, no extra credit. Oh well. I'm doing well in class anyway.

We talked about some early modern styles of houses. My group was assigned to look at the Japanese style. Our teacher was very excited about the art deco section, and enthused about how the building we have class in is in art deco style too.

The style is meant to feel less homely and more business-y. Here are some pictures I pulled off his PowerPoint:

I don't like it. But my teacher loves it. No accounting for people's tastes, I suppose! It's not so bad for a bank or something, but I certainly wouldn't want to come home to it after a long day. I want carpet, tables, and squishy couches.

I had spaghetti for lunch at the Marketplace and worked on math homework until it was time for Institute. As time got close, I went there. I like to wait in the TSC because it has really soft couches and the Internet is cut off in most of the Institute building, but today I went a little early and waited outside the classroom for awhile. After waiting for sometime, I tried the door. It was locked. The classroom has two doors, so I tried the other. Also locked. There was a sign on this door that said there would be no Institute today. Huh. I never saw any of my classmates come by, which implies they must have known. I don't remember being told about this last week. Maybe I just forgot.

It was about 5:30. My hope was that I could catch one of the regular shuttles so I didn't have to take the slow evening bus back. The shuttles dropped off their last loads at the TSC, but drove away without letting anyone get on. But the stadium bus runs until six, so I rode back on it. Shaved a good ten minutes off the evening bus's route!

Fortunately, I had plenty of time to register for classes. The window for my group didn't open until 8:00, but I'd noticed that the time on my phone was a minute ahead of the time on my computer. I was able to slip in at 7:59 and get all the classes I was hoping for. I called mom to let her know. She was pretty relieved and said she had been very stressed because she wasn't sure I'd be able to get one of the four seats left in the fiction writing class, even if I was fast. Class scheduling is always a very intense time for her, heh heh.

Fun Bun Puns

The RA didn't come back to check my bathroom again, but no harm done in cleaning it more. I had stats today, and we continued our discussion on correlation and causation. 

In abnormal psych, our professor reminded us that if we add up our test scores and add the extra credit, then divide it out properly, there's no point in taking the final because he drops our lowest test grade. I'm very borderline between A and A- and I'm not sure if I divided my score correctly, so I'm planning to take the final anyway. It won't hurt. My lowest score was 24/30, and that was on the drugs test. The other units range between 27 and 29. I think I can score higher than 24 and safely secure my A.

Linzie's still on her "ChalkZone" high, so she spent awhile rewatching some episodes and sending my screenshots she liked. She also played with the hair of her future Rudy design. She wants him to have longer hair, but is struggling to still make him recognizable to his younger counterpart. Tonight she wanted to know what he might look like with his hair pulled back in a messy bun, and I screenshotted our exchange:

The joke here, of course, being that Rudy has a signature cowlick in the back of his hair.

(Note: Because of the time zones, it was actually around 7:00 my time. I'm not the one who was up until 4.)

I tried registering for fall semester classes tonight. Unfortunately, it looks like I got my date wrong again. I guess I register tomorrow!

So I Forgot My Age Today

We discussed the active and passive voice in English class today. Unlike gerunds, this is a thing about grammar that I actually understand. I had some time between English and my next class to eat lunch and make a few cleaning tweaks to my room.

I also got a call from one of the abnormal psychology studies I signed up for, and talked on the phone with a lady who scheduled a time to meet with me on the 20th. They were looking for people with low levels of perfectionism to compare against people with high levels of perfectionism (perfectionism involving things like, the inability to start or complete work due to fears that it isn't perfect, or inability to turn things in for the same reasons). After I took the survey last week, I qualified for having low levels, and they're going to scan my brain. Nice. Also, she asked me what age I was and I said 18. I'm 19. Oops. I guess I was so excited about it being my half-birthday that I didn't pay attention to the actual number. I corrected myself, but it was the first time I've forgotten my own age.

In career class, we had a speaker talk to us about stereotypes. Then we discussed perspective in interior design. I got home and heard from Demetria that our RA had indeed come while I was out. We did well, except I got knocked for not cleaning the sink very well. I thought it was fine, but apparently it didn't meet her standards. Funny- I was sure the RA had been very clear we were being judged on safety most of all. I suppose I should have assumed a "cleaning check" would indeed involve scrutiny. She certainly left my place looking like someone had pawed through my stuff.

If we fail cleaning checks, someone is supposed to come back the following day to re-evaluate us. I cleaned the bathroom tonight just in case, not sure if she was planning to return or not. Better to do it more than less!

Vertigo

I was tired throughout a lot of the morning. Demetria suggested I go home and get more sleep. Yeah, that's not really my style. I'm glad I didn't, because there were many talks and lessons at church that were really good. After sacrament, I splashed some water on my face and felt fine for the rest of the day.

The girl who taught in relief society had invited her mom to speak to us at the end of the lesson. Shortly after the birth of her youngest daughter (the one who was giving the lesson today), she began to have serious problems involving vertigo. She couldn't stand up without feeling sick. Moving made her feel sick. This was obviously a problem given that she was mother to four or five children (including a newborn) who all had their specific needs and places to go. She saw doctors and made occasional visits to the temple. Still, she did not get better.

This went on for about five years. Then, one day, she went to the temple for a session of some sort, and asked God to help her, because she was struggling and didn't know what to do. No doctors could help her. She had kids to look after. A soft voice in her ear then said, "If you come to the temple every single week, I will take the vertigo away."

She was very surprised. In fact, she asked twice more. Maybe even three more times. The same answer. "I'll take it away if you come to the temple every week."

It seemed strange. Come to the temple, and this problem that the doctors hadn't been able to fix would be removed from her life? She replied, "Okay. I'll try."

The next morning, she woke up and slowly got out of bed. To her amazement, the vertigo didn't seem to be affecting her. She was able to cook breakfast for her kids and drive them all to school. But as grateful as she was, she felt a little troubled. Why, she wanted to know, didn't God tell her this the first time she went to the temple? If God had told her to go to the temple then, she would have gone. Why did she have to spend five years suffering this way?

It was a few more years before she got her answer. Her son was speaking in church, I think when he was about to leave on his mission. He spoke about how watching his mom struggle had strengthened his faith during a very difficult part of his life, and that he had a strong testimony of temple blessings and the gospel. As he spoke, the mom said that she felt the spirit nudge her and whisper, "That's why."

I thought it was a neat story and it reminded me of my mom saying she hopes she understands someday why her own mom had to die. It was a very good day to be at church.

Demetria and I headed home after that, and on the way I took a picture of this hill because I thought it looked nice:

Demetria reminded me tonight that our RA is conducting room checks tomorrow at 2:00. I don't totally love our RA. When she brought us the Easter basket, she reminded us about room checks too, and told us to put away our candles, drugs, and anything else we're not allowed to have before she comes by. Yeah, that's comforting to think that my neighbors could be hiding something that would hurt me. Demetria keeps trying to blow it off as "She's just trying to be the cool RA". I too am fully aware that she knows people will hide things anyway, so she's just trying to create less of a problem. Still, she does have a job to do...? Should she really be allowed to reap the benefits of not paying rent if she's going to act like this? Not loving it.

Anyway. Demetria and I cleaned, organized, and vacuumed tonight, and I enjoyed a bowl of ice cream with a warm cookie. Demetria said that some elderly people are moving into our rooms for the summer. That's kind of nice to know. I wondered if there might be rowdy boys in my room (which I'll be returning to in the fall) and hoped they wouldn't cause damage. Should be a lot fewer parties when older people are involved!

Asleep A[f]t[er] the Chalk

I bore amusing witness to a sleep-deprived zombie of a Linzie today. After plowing through the entire series for a whole day, she wanted to do little but discuss "ChalkZone" headcanons, improve her hipster future Rudy design, and make a quick sketch of a ten-year-old Sophie. And watch the Season 0 episode - "Chalk Rain" - I linked her to which never aired in the official series, because she hadn't realized it existed. I think she might like the show!

An absent friend and a sleepy friend were totally fine with me. I had a lot of work to do. Some schoolwork, and some of my own. I worked out some writing and worldbuilding details for a long time. I've also been helping a friend by offering advice on the outline of his own story, so that was good.

What else? I did laundry today. Some drawing and cartoon-watching too (usually when eating or folding laundry, because I like to multitask that way). 

I made macaroni in my red pot for dinner tonight. I haven't had that in awhile, so that was pretty nice! Although I did do a lot of schoolwork, it was great to have a Saturday that was more relaxing than some of them in the recent past.

Linzie's Got the Chalk!

Friday was a little busy! I spent Thursday evening finishing up math assignments and various online quizzes for my classes. I saved the big English project for today. It took a pretty long time, but I eventually got it done and submitted. Oh, and I had to finish my interior design project too.

We were released very early from English class (My teacher was pretty annoyed that not very many people had read the reading for today, and she was tired and maybe still a little sick). I swung by the student center to print images for my swatch board via the colored printer, since my printer can only do black and white. I cut them out when I made it home.

Jen headed out into the world today, unsure of when she would be back to talk to us. She's still a little uncertain about the moving deal, but I'm pretty excited for her. She hasn't been living in the best of conditions, and apart from the occasional weird neighbor, I think her new home will suit her and her family much better.

Linzie... Linzie had one day of leftover data to spend for some reason or other, either before she ran out or got a new batch for the next month- I think it was the latter. Either way, she watched "ChalkZone" all day long. And I mean all day long. She pulled an all-nighter for this, and was still going when I went to bed. As an artist herself, she felt a certain connection to Rudy. She's also a sucker for protagonists who have serious character flaws and mistakes, so she got hooked. Plus, the worldbuilding and storytelling of the show are just wonderful in general. She had a lot of fun. At least it was a Friday night for her, and she had no Saturday plans!

I finished and uploaded my interior design project today. I chose to do an office space, and this was the result of the render I made with Homestyler:

I focused on red and green since I was supposed to have a complementary color scheme. Of course, because my first choice had been purple, I played around with it some more and got this design:

I do prefer the purple, but unfortunately I hadn't picked up any purple color swatches from Lowe's. Drat. So, I submitted the green design to my teacher. After all, it had to match my swatch board!

Another Psych Test Down

I was a bit late for my stats class this morning (it's painful when you miss the bus by a few seconds and it puts you five to ten to fifteen minutes behind). Our professor wasn't there, but her assistant was playing videos of the next concept we're learning in the class. This is more advanced territory. Again, I'm grateful to have open-note exams, and Jeff whom I can rely on as a faithful, clever partner.

I checked in briefly with my friends, but then parted ways so I could continue studying for a bit. That went well. I skimmed through my psych chapters again. We had the next abnormal psych test today. I think I did very well! This was definitely an easier unit than the last one on drugs and substance abuse.

I Called the Guinea Pig Biology

We wrote our introductory and conclusion paragraphs for our big essays in English today- or drafts for them, anyway. We were supposed to give feedback on them, but my partner didn't say anything more than, "I like it, it's good, that's interesting", and seemed slightly offended as I tried to offer suggestions for how to improve her paragraph. She kept cutting me off and defending herself. Well, hopefully she gets a good grade in the end! I should be able to do okay myself even with my limited feedback.

Then I went to my stats lab, and my career class after that. Between the class changes, I caught up with Jen and Linzie. Jen had part of a first draft she really wanted me to proofread for her, so I did, and Linzie played around with her hipster Rudy design.

Another friend tipped me off today that apparently, Butch Hartman revealed Bunsen may or may not have a legitimate guinea pig for a girlfriend. That was pretty funny since they all know how much inspiration I've drawn from guinea pigs when trying to piece together his anatomy and draw him in my style. Speaking of which, I've got a couple of drawings from Conference that I colored-

Not too bad! Not completely in love with the stark color "fades", but I can be satisfied enough. Although his face is flat in the show, I really wanted to see him with a muzzle. You can see I gave him scales for his pangolin tail too, and I sharply curved both horns. It's fun to have decent enough art skills that I can actually take a character and draw him or her in the unique style that I apparently have these days!

... Still, it's gonna be nice to get back to writing again. Drawings are good for relaxing between study sessions, but I love typing out words.

Jen's spent the last week or two readying for her move. A few days ago, she went down and saw the place with her family. It was a several hour drive from where they live, and it's a sort of village. She sent pictures. Pretty nice. Today, though, she told us some stories about her neighbors... one of which was about how they apparently caught, cooked, and ate stew made from the landlord's cat on their lawn. He stumbled across scattered pieces of its body in their backyard later, and is the one who relayed this story to Jen's family. Hmm. So, Jen's a little worried about her dog, but hopefully things work out for her!

She also told me that her landlord looks just like the Head Pixie, short of the hat and super-tall forehead. She rustled a stack of his papers with her sleeve when in his office one time and knocked a few askew, and got a deadpan stare for it. He apparently also started to call her "J-" at one point, but then stopped and switched to "young lady", which was amusing because he hadn't been introduced to her yet (but had probably gotten her name from paperwork).

She said he had a strong handshake and was very nice and professional, and to top it all off, she woke up the next morning and freaked out a bit because there was a queen wasp in her bedroom. We've talked about pixies being based on wasps, so we got a laugh out of that. H.P., watchin' over Jen in these trying times like her godparent, pfft.

I made it to my interior design class by 3:30, only to remember as I walked in that my teacher had said we wouldn't be meeting for class today, but he'd be leaving the space available for people to work on their swatch board assignments in case they didn't have much space in their apartments. Oops. There were several people there who were confused, though (mostly some who hadn't been to class on Monday), so I explained what the project was. I did this a few times as more people came in, but they were all very grateful. One recommended an online program called Homestyler that's good for doing renders with, so I'll have to check it out.

I hung out in the TSC for awhile to work on stuff and study as I waited to see if I was hungry enough for the Marketplace. Eventually I went in to eat. In Institute, we talked about the lady in the crowd who touched the hem of Jesus's garments in the hope of being healed, and the time Jesus raised the girl from the dead. We talked about Jewish prayer cloths and things, and the fringes on them. Ever since Daylight Saving's time, the sun comes in really strongly where I sit. It's nice to have my hat, so I can keep some of the bright light off.

After riding the evening bus home, I worked on my interior design assignment, studied, and watched the first episode of "Milo Murphy's Law" tonight. It's made by the same creators who did "Phineas and Ferb" and the art style reflects this. It's about the fictional descendant of the namesake for Murphy's Law: that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Milo is apparently cursed with a string of constant bad luck, so... yep! Everything that could possibly wrong goes wrong, and he has a reputation around town for it. He's also super optimistic and believes that "Everything will always work out", and owns a dog named Diogee (D-O-G: "dog").

Several friends have recommended it to me, and I enjoyed it. I limited myself to just the one episode to get a taste of it, but once summer is here, perhaps I'll look into it a little more. Maybe my family would enjoy watching it with me as the series continues to unfold. We used to watch "Phineas and Ferb" together all the time. Could be a fun summer show!

Stockton On Tour

Mom and Stockton came up to see me after stats class, but I totally forgot to get a picture! Stockton was up here for a college tour, so I treated them both to lunch at the Marketplace, and we talked a lot about school. I'm glad Stockton's enjoying his theater class.

After lunch, Mom and Stockton took me to Lowe's. We picked up paint swatches and samples of floor that came out to be fifty cents. I took many pictures of pillows, blinds, curtain rods, and lighting fixtures too. Hopefully I'm doing this swatch board project correctly.

We grabbed groceries at Lee's and took them back to my apartment. Mom talked to me about class schedules for fall, and then they dropped me off near the biology building and went off to enjoy some Aggie ice cream. We watched a movie in abnormal psych about trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling). It's fair game material for our test on Thursday, so hopefully I remember everything! I'm usually pretty good at recalling the things I watch.

Tonight I did homework and studied and things, and squeezed in a little bit of drawing. Coloring previous sketches, mostly. Wanted to try another full-body Mikey 'cuz I'm trying to practice body types and anatomy. Also, narcissist jokes.

And the pose I referenced- 

for his hand especially

I'm starting to get the hang of this artistic stuff! Mikey has fascinating hand movements and body language in this show. It makes him really, really fun to study and draw. He's certainly an intriguing fellow up and down the psychological scale!

Cancelled English (Again)

Somewhat surprisingly, somewhat unsurprisingly, English class was cancelled again this morning. My teacher advised us to work on our next English project, but I spent the morning finishing my career class data-driven article assignment that I'd forgotten was due today. It wasn't too big of an assignment and I had already selected several articles to read, but my career class always makes assignments due at 1:30 (when class starts) instead of at midnight. I was able to finish my report, though, and I think I did well.

We took a quiz on our reading in career class. I scored 100%, so that's pretty awesome! This evening there was a stake activity in the gym, and they were having Domino's pizza. I attended that. There were easily a hundred boxes of pizza there. Nice!

We received a new project assignment in interior design class. We need to arrange, draw, or render a room according to a color harmony, and then create a swatch board that includes either color swatch squares from Home Depot or the paint actually painted on the board. I don't think there's much I can do with a rented apartment (and I don't know why he always seems surprised by how many of his students lack the ability to buy major pieces of furniture or rearrange multiple rooms), so after class, I called Mom. 

I'm going to attempt a monochromatic color scheme- I was thinking purple. She and Stockton are coming up to do a tour of USU tomorrow, and we were going to be meeting for lunch. They agreed to buy me groceries too. When I called Mom, I asked her if she could take me to home depot so I could pick up some color samples and, hopefully, a sample of carpet and a counter top too (I wonder if my teacher will be upset if I just take pictures of the counter top and carpet. Probably very; he likes to remind us that he didn't make us buy textbooks for this class, so the money we saved there can be spent on our projects).

It will certainly be much easier to visit home depot in a car than it will be too search out the bus routes and time my trip right! Luckily this is perfect timing. I'm grateful my mom and brother are willing to take some extra time out of their day to help me get where I need to go. Welcome to college life!

Spring Conference: Day 2

More Conference today. I had some Cheetos. Did more drawing and listened to talks. There were some really good ones.

Linzie streamed for part of the day too. We collaborated and pulled together an older Rudy Tabootie hipster design (Rudy being the protagonist of "ChalkZone"), which she nailed. Linzie hasn't watched much of ChalkZone yet due to business of school life and some Internet issues, but as an artist herself and from what info I brought up when fetching her reference screenshots, she said she could relate to and loves him a lot, and is excited to continue the show.

He's an exhausted artist and has grown too big for many of the chalkboards he used to enter and exit ChalkZone as a kid, and he does his best to manage the stress of school with life in the butcher shop, the needs of ChalkZone, and probably with his girlfriend Penny (after they finally get together despite Rudy being horrible with commitment like that). I think she understands how much he's juggling, though, and generally takes care of herself and doesn't need lots of attention. She keeps herself busy with her own homework, community projects, and helping her mom with the veterinary stuff. Funny how a veterinarian's daughter and a butcher's son ended up being the best of friends. I'll bet they have very different views of cows.

Speaking of girls not needing lots of attention from boys, Dallin received my package and wrote me an excited email of thanks. He said he felt bad about not writing to me more, and that he's excited to come to USU when his mission is done. I wrote back and said that I preferred him working hard in the mission field and bringing the gospel to others to him writing me, and said we'd have to meet up for lunch and Aggie ice cream sometime and talk, and I could show him around campus. He'll be in the Bullen Hall. I'll have to figure out where that is.

It's always sad when Conference has to end. It's a nice excuse to relax instead of worry about school. I needed time to relax at this time of year. I'll certainly look forward to listening to more in another six months! I wonder how my life will be then.

Spring Conference: Day 1

Ah, General Conference! I got a lot of drawing done. I was glad to see Elder Holland speak, since I don't think he did last time (except in the men's session). And of course, all the other talks were great as well.

During the break, I made a joke to Jen and Linzie that, "Cheetos are lunch, right?" because I had an unopened bag of Cheetos and I didn't want to pull out all my other food. To my surprise, they reacted pretty strongly to that, and demanded I eat something better. I rolled my eyes and said, "Fine, I'll make corn and a ham and cheese sandwich instead. I'll even take a picture to prove it."

My bread had gone moldy (they really need to sell smaller loaves for people like me who live alone / in an apartment with a gluten-free roommate), but I made and ate lots of corn, and found some other food that satisfied my friends. When I showed them the picture, I said, "Today on, 'I can't handle disappointing others and am now making better, healthy choices in my life..."

There was more Conference to watch later, of course, and more drawing got done. I squeezed some writing in there this afternoon as well (after my English was finished and submitted, of course). Mom called eventually to check up on me and we talked for a bit. Sounds like my family is enjoying Conference back at their place too!