My first semester of grad school is done! Winter break is being thoroughly enjoyed. Though I have to say that by Tuesday of next week I would be going stir crazy from the lack of things to do were it not for the imminent drive out west. How odd that during the semester the amount of things I juggle have me begging for a break, and when it comes, I have no idea what to do with myself. Not so sure how I did in my classes. I'm pretty sure I aced phys ocean. I only know how I did on my first assignment out of 6 and my first exam out of 3 in chem ocean, so I'm kind of apprehensive. Same with ecology. Sigh.
I'm hoping to teach a third section of the intro lab next semester for some extra cash, just in case George doesn't get funding. I also decided that I'm going to assign a paper to be due at the end of the semester in lieu of a lab practical. I want to get my kids engaged in something about the lab, something that they're genuinely interested in. I know for a fact that most kids (if not all) that I taught this past semester were only in it for the easy A (hell, I gave 33 A's out of 40), and it's because of that that I want to do something extra. Get them involved. I can honestly say that the majority of my electives I took because I wanted to learn about them. I found the topic fascinating and I wanted to learn more about it. I'm trying to figure out how to transfer my love of learning to my students. I think this semester I was just trying to learn the ropes, figure out how long I had for each session. I know I rushed through my Wednesday class because I was starving (it ran from 11-1), but I think with better time management this next semester will be a lot smoother. My changes are:
*Quizzes will be given every week.
*Paper will be due at the end of the semester (and wikipedia is NOT an option as a reference).
That reminds me, I need to make a guideline for that assignment.
The last two weeks of the semester were utter hell. I was almost completely nocturnal. Fortunately, since Monday I've been able to correct my sleeping and eating schedule. Thanksgiving is such a cruel joke. You basically get the week off and have to go back for another three weeks until you're finally done. Why not just skip Thanksgiving all together? It would have been better for my morale at least.
Let's just say that the number of assignments and projects and papers that needed to be done forced both George and I to burn the candle at both ends. Dishes and clothes went unwashed for weeks, the apartment was a mess. Today we finally rectified all of that. Got up and cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed, did all of the laundry so we have lots of clean clothes for our trip.
What's funny though, is that I forbade myself from looking at my usual blogs everyday because so much needed to be done, so I didn't need to waste the time looking at The Frisky or Save the Date every couple of hours on every single weekday. And it really got me off of my addiction. I don't spend hours on the computer everyday looking at crap that really doesn't mean anything. I picked up The Scarlet Letter again, and I have a bunch to read over the break that I might actually read instead of looking at blogs all day. (Yeah, like I'll have time for that.)
The past couple of days have been filled with Christmas shopping, cookie baking, watching Christmas movies and getting ready to leave.
I'm very proud of myself/ourselves, the gifts we got for people this year are pretty awesome, mainly because it's our FIRST CHRISTMAS AS A COUPLE. Holy crap. We can actually give gifts as a unit now. Wow.
We got a tree and some little ornaments to go with it:
I made molasses cookies, maple oatmeal cookies and russian teacakes (butterballs with caramel in the middle). I bought the original Christmas classics on DVD and I made George sit with me and watch Rudolph and Santa Claus is Comin' To Town because somehow he A) HAD NEVER SEEN THEM and B) FOUND THEM CREEPY. Well, I had to fix that. So we made cookies and wrapped presents while listening and watching them. And then we cleaned house today while listening to The Nightmare Before Christmas. The only thing missing is the ever important "Our First Christmas" ornament on the tree and some gingerbread house making. But I think I'll live. This is pretty much the best Christmas ever.
I'm kind of nervous about meeting the rest of his family, and feeling kind of bad about not seeing my own family on Christmas day, which has never happened before. But I guess it's something I'll have to get used to. We'll switch next year.
Now all that's left is to pack and get food for the trip! I've been getting kind of antsy about the whole thing. Hotels are booked, GPS is updated and loaded with the addresses of the hotels we'll be staying at, I've been a To-Do-List monster the past couple days.
I took my car to Midas and let me tell you, I will never go there again. They rotated my tires and the front right wheel feels uneven somehow. I took it back and they were like, "it's fine, but we tightened it just to make sure." It's times like this that I really wish that I knew someone that's a mechanic and won't bullshit me about what my car needs. Plus, they told me they inflated my tires, but they didn't. Last time I got my oil changed they said everything looked fine, but 4 months later, oh boy there's things that need replacing out the wa-zoo. I only replaced two tires since I last went to Midas, and the measurement on the tread of the two that weren't replaced is more than on my receipt from last time. Little things, but by golly, if something happens to that wheel while we're driving to California, I will sue, goddammit.
So yeah. I'm a bit nervous about this drive. We're going to inflate my tires tomorrow, hopefully that will fix the front right tire. It really looks like it's driving on the wall of the tire instead of the tread. It worries me :-/
Excited. Nervous. Lots to do, but can't really do much about it right now. More updates on the wedding to come later :)
Happy Holidays!
