April 25th

Today is Lindsey's birthday. I miss her. I think someday we need to live in the same town so we can be friends again. Not that we aren't friends now, but it would be more fun if we actually got to hang out! Actually, I would love it if all my friends could live in the same city, but then we wouldn't have any reasons to take road trips, now would we?

Today I have a new imaginary friend. Her name is Daphne, and she's my live-in maid. We get along really great! I bet my roommate will like her, too!

Bandit

Today I’m sort of (illegally) taking the day off… or at least the first half. In college, see, they give you dead days right before finals. The intent, I suppose, is to provide study time, but I believe its more important purpose is simply some time away from the daily grind to enjoy the spring weather and to figure out if you’re still sane before you get hurled into finals week. In grad school, they schedule finals whenever they please without regard to the fact that finals week even exists. Therefore, they totally burn you out before finals week even arrives and you have to create your own dead days in the mean time. Methods for this include: (a) pushing all homework aside for the weekend and pretending you don’t have anything to do, (b) skipping practicum or work, or (c) altogether boycotting various projects deemed worthless. I realize I’m not setting a good example for my sister here, but something else I’ve realized lately is how incredibly demanding grad school is compared to college. Boy do I miss the days of having breaks somewhere between the time you get up and the time you go to bed to just fool around and enjoy the day.
On a happier note, I’m getting really excited about painting the infirmary at camp next week. I think one room is going to be a forest and one room is going to be unda da sea – NOT little mermaid style! :) I’m not sure if I’ll have time to get to both rooms in just a week, but we’ll see. Maybe if I can get my act together after school is officially over this week I will be more prepared. I’ll try to take pictures of the finished product for your viewing enjoyment. Okay, back to reality...

Let it dirt! Let it dirt! Let it dirt!

I am so super tired today! I think I stayed up too late playing at Barnes and Noble last night. For some reason, my grandma self has been staying up til midnight for the last few weeks. It's kind of a revolution in my world. Maybe I have a shot at making it to the midnight movie this weekend after all.

For your tidbit of information about what's going on in the world these days, here is an update from Marianne (in China) that is quite entertaining:

Perhaps you've heard about the sandstorms that have been sweeping through Beijing and much of Northern China lately. For those of you who may be unclear as to exactly what a sandstorm is, picture a very heavy snowstorm, except instead of fluffy white flakes, chunks of dirt are flying at your face and in your mouth. Rather than a fine layer of glittery white coating everything the next morning, we found the ground, leaves on the trees and even the flowers covered with a fine layer of sand. What amazes me is the clean up process. We were shocked to see staff from our school actually mopping-yes, mopping-the concrete play area outside our school. Another teacher set up a fire hose and actually blasted the sand off some of the buildings and trees.

Needless to say, this turn of events did not fill my heart with joy. It did, however, put me in a poetic mood, so here you go-my first attempt at a springtime carol, "Let it Dirt."

Oh the weather outside is frightful
Got no heat, it's not delightful
But we're grateful it doesn't hurt...
Let it dirt! Let it dirt! Let it dirt!

It doesn't show signs of stopping
But why do they keep on mopping?
Don't think about wearing a skirt
Let it dirt! Let it dirt! Let it dirt!

When we finally say goodnight
To our latest and greatest sandstorm
Grab the firehouse and hold it tight
Take aim and clean off the dorm!

Oh, my lungs are slowly dying
Life here is often trying
I think it'd make a great t-shirt
"Let it dirt! Let it dirt! Let it dirt!"

What to say? What to say?

I think my brain is officially pooped out now that I've made it through the bulk of the projects and the toughest of my finals. Day by day, I am slowly whittling down the list on my bathroom mirror of big things to accomplish before the semester ends. Right now there are only 5 big events left. I think that calls for a celebration of some sort. Perhaps that's why I've sort of been taking the evening off. I escaped work earlier to go to a UTD baseball game with Julia. Who knew our school had sports? Who even knew we really go to an actual university that has a physical campus and everything? Tonight I am smiling, because I got to do two of my favorite things since I actually came home at a decent hour: laundry and a shower! I finally got to attack my pile of laundry that's been taunting me, and I took a shower after I got home from work. I really just like to play in the water; for some reason I find it fun. I know, I'm different. Now I think I'm ready to do something productive with my evening. However, the clock is telling me it's just about time for bed. Tomorrow's another day, and I wouldn't want to sleep through it =)

Phase I of the cram-like-crazy-end-of-semester-madness is almost finished! I’ve been so productive this week. By Thursday I will have turned in 4 projects in a week and I’ll be set to start the next bunch of assignments that are leading me into the end of my second semester. What a fine feeling of achievement. The bigger reward was a trip to Waco yesterday with Katie, Mel, Lindz, Lauren, and Sarah. I took the entire day off from homework and played on campus with some of my favorite people! It was so much fun! I was sad I missed Audie, since she couldn’t make it down ‘til today and I had to head back to Dallas and put my productivity cap back on. That is the older, wiser version of the thinking cap, in case you weren’t sure. I like it much better, since productivity typically involves less thinking and more doing… and it’s so much more rewarding to have an actual hard copy of the finished product. Ben called to see if I could take him to Six Flags on Friday, so I looked up season pass prices -- $75. WOW! Good thing I have birthday money and if I just go twice it will be worth it. This semester is finally winding down and I will be so excited when April 26th gets here! I’ll be so relieved and I can’t wait to go play outside at the Nasher! (It only costs $5 – that’s more like it.) Lori’s coming home from Baltimore tomorrow, Matt and Liz are coming on Tuesday, Katie is coming back to Dallas on Thursday, and I might get to go to Six Flags with Ben on Friday. What a fun week for LB! :-D

Graduation, texas goulash, ranger games… and frogs?

I can’t wait for this semester to be over. It’s been just a wee bit stressful. For some strange reason, I find myself eager for summer even though I’ll spend it much like the rest of the year – class, lab, practicum, and teaching clinic – and I’ll have to experience the extreme heat of texas in a way I’m not used to. For some reason, it’s easier to take the heat when hanging out with kids at camp, playing at the lake, and looking forward to weekend trips to walmart and the crockett washateria. It is so different to have to dress up in the 100 degree weather and get in a hot car every time you want to go somewhere. Ick! I must admit my true reason for being ready for the end of this semester. Unlike last year, I’m not counting down til graduation. Well maybe I am… yesterday Holly made me count the days til I graduate and we came up with 1127, give or take a few. Maybe I should let my accountant do the math. You know who you are! :^) No, my real anticipation has more to do with the fact that I’m in Dallas now and I can go to Ranger games whenever it feels right. Now we’re talkin’! I want to get a six flags season pass, too, so I have an excuse to go there whenever I can. I don’t know where I get the idea that I’ll have free time or even weekends this summer, but I think I’ll savor the bliss until reality strikes.
About the goulash, not really sure what that is, but every great once in awhile our cafeteria serves "Texas Goulash" for lunch (that was yesterday) and for some reason it intrigues me. I didn’t get a taste of it, but the maintenance guys say it’s really something. I’ll take their word for now. The frog? Well, just visit the website of the week: http://www.aboutthecake.com/ - after all, it is all about the cake, right?

Tut tut, looks like rain

So I guess I've been sucked in or something. I prefer to say I found a better way to waste time than just read other people's blogs over and over again. Who knows if it will work. This may be the first...and the last. I finished what I really needed to accomplish this morning about half an hour ago. And of course I’ve successfully managed to waste away the time since then by finding trivial things to “get done” so as to put off my more pressing homework assignments that are following me around in my book bag. Dang book bag. I’m trying to make myself feel better by telling myself 30 minutes isn’t too long, but as you can see the minutes just keep passing. Oh well. Funny sight this morning: they’ve been pressure washing the outside of our building this week. It’s the young guy our age who just started and is really friendly with all the pretty girls around here. I guess I shouldn’t be mean and call him friendly – he’s really just a nice guy. Anyway, this morning he was all decked out in his rain gear from head to toe while he was washing what looked like the ground to me. Facility services people seem to have the funniest jobs. Maybe they’ll hire me – it’s something that changes every day. Well, since I still have a good hour and a half to work, maybe I can get some stuff done on this research project. I moved myself to the carrels where I thought I could be more productive. You see how that panned out. They just have too many computers around this place! It’s not my fault!