That was too close...

Last night, I thought that Leo was going to die. He was acting similarly to a kitten that I cared for a few summers ago. The vet said that that kitten was suffering from distemper, and that there wasn't really a cure (which, thru some research last night, I found out was bull), and so that kitten was put to sleep. We only had that kitten for a week, and it was really hard to lose him. So, you can probably imagine that my whole family was extremely broken up last night at the thought of possibly losing our little kitty.

I went into Nick's room to say "goodnight" and pet Leo before I headed to bed, and I discovered that Leo couldn't hold his head up and that he wasn't really moving around at all. That was very similar to the behaviors that the other kitten was showing, and he ended up being put to sleep. So, I was very afraid that that was what would happen with Leo. I didn't want to tell Nick what I thought was going on, but I didn't really have a choice. And then I took the kitten in to show Mom, and she thought the same thing I did.

I wanted to stay up all night with him, in case something happened during the night, but I knew that I'd be in no condition for school and work today if I didn't get some sleep. So, I prayed for him for about 15 minutes, and then I went into the living room and helped Mom get him hydrated. We tried to keep him warm and keep him hydrated in the hopes that he would make it thru the night and we could get him to the vet in the morning.

When I went downstairs this morning, Nick was passed out on the couch and the kitten's box was sitting next to Nick on the floor. I opened it, expecting to see either an empty box or a dead kitten, and Leo lifted his head and looked up at me. I was so shocked...I didn't even know what to do. I wanted to pick him up and hug him, but I was afraid that I might hurt him (since we still didn't know what was wrong). So, I settled for petting his head and scratching him under his neck.

Mom is taking him to the vet around 1 today, and hopefully all he needs is an antibiotic or some sort of medicine. The vet's assistant said that he could be having a reaction to the food we're feeding him, so the "cure" may be something as simple as changing his diet. I don't know, but we should know something when he goes to see the vet today. I was just so happy that he made it thru the night. If he can survive the night, hopefully that's a sign that he's going to be fine, with the right meds and the right diet (if that's the problem). :)

I need to get a move-on

I just looked thru both Jessica and Megan's lists for their 101 things in 1001 days and that reminded me of my own little list of 30 things that I want to have done by my 30th birthday. I glanced at my list and, after mentally scratching off the items that I have accomplished, I realized that I haven't gotten much done yet. I think there were about 3-4 things that I could cross off the list at this point.

But, with the help of Jake and my friends, I plan on doing several of the items on the list this summer. If I can't do everything that I have planned to do, that's fine, but I would just like to feel like I'm getting somewhere. Certainly, I won't be able to do everything now, and I know that, but if I don't make an effort to start it, it'll never get done (because "procrastination" is my middle name).

So, with help from others, my list of 30 things will hopefully dwindle down and become much smaller after this summer and the following school year. There are many things on the list that I'm not ready for just yet (i.e: marriage, kids, a tattoo), but I will get there eventually. And hey, I've still got a little over 9 years to get it all done. :)

Yay for accomplishing things!

In spite of being almost late to work this morning because I was fussing around with make-up, I've actually gotten quite a bit done. I basically started working on my annotated bibliography for my music class when I got in to work this morning (around 8 am), and I finished annotating 20 books in less than 2 hours. So, by 10 am, I had 2/3 of my project done, and it's not due until July 7th. I've got a little less than 2 weeks before this is due and I've already done 20/30 of the books for the project. The sucky thing is that it's only worth 30 points (1 point for each book) and I'll have put a lot of work into it by the time it's finished, but I guess it should be an easy 30 points, unless I completely screwed it up and it's nothing like what the instructor wants.

Now, if I can get all of my reading done for my classes tomorrow while I'm at work today, then I won't have to worry about that when I go home tonight after work. I'll be able to relax and enjoy a few hours of sunlight before I have to head to bed. I guess I don't have to be in bed too early tonight, but I don't want to spend my last 2-3 hours before bed working on reading because 1) nothing would put me to sleep faster, and 2) I don't like reading stuff the night before I need to have it read, so I'll feel better if I get it done sometime today.

So, if I get all of my reading done today, I'll feel very accomplished. I'm not usually able to do projects this far in advance, so maybe I'm actually learning how to pace myself? Or maybe, subconsiously, I'm just trying to get this done and out of the way so that I can worry about my bigger projects...? It seems like these 3-credit-hour education classes are always more work than my 5-credit-hour gen. ed. classes. It doesn't seem to matter to the instructors that we're not getting 5 credits for their class, and they have no problem piling on the assignments and projects. That's another thing about education classes: they're not usually test-oriented, but they do involve lots and lots of projects and presentations.

We're down to 3 1/2 weeks of classes and I'm starting to worry that that isn't enough time for me to finish everything with a passing grade. I knew that the summer quarter was an abreviated quarter to begin with (lasting 8 weeks instead of 10), but then I signed up for 2 classes that only last 5 weeks...what was I thinking? Probably that I really wanted to get them done and over with and still have something left of a summer to try and enjoy. I wonder, since I'll be working almost 30 hours a week this summer, if I'll actually get to enjoy myself, because it seems like I'm at work all the time as it is. I will really like having the extra money that those extra 9 hours a week will give me, but I know I won't enjoy losing the freedom that I could have had if I were only working 20 hours a week.

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Meg wrote in her blog about going to the zoo and that reminded me of how much I've been wanting to visit a zoo over the past couple of years. I can't remember visiting a zoo since I was like 10 and that really depresses me for some reason.

Yesterday, Jake mentioned going to a zoo or a museum sometime this summer to try and do some fun things before college starts up again in the fall. I told him that I'd rather visit a zoo, and he said that was fine, so maybe I'll actually get to go now...?

I should just randomly take off 1 day and head down to Columbus or Dayton and visit a zoo in 1 of those places. The only problem with that plan is that it's really no fun going to a zoo all by yourself. But, Sarah lives in Dayton, so maybe I can talk her into going with me? :)

I just realized that I was sort of rambling back there, so, sorry. I guess I'm a little tired right now and it just hit me. My eyes started to cross and my vision blurred, and I realized that I was getting to the point where I was going to start throwing random stuff out there. I'm glad that I caught myself in time, otherwise this post could have gotten pretty interesting. ;p

Yay lappy!

I made a trip out to Office Depot yesterday and I picked myself up a laptop. It's a Compaq brand (which apparently has been bought out by HP because they had a bunch of HP info in my little info packet) and I haven't really been able to use it yet because I need my mom to help me change the settings and such from whatever Office Depot had it set to to what I need (since it was the floor model). Once that gets done, I'll probably be on the lappy all weekend, provided I actually get to change everything over this weekend.

My other purchase of the evening yesterday was a really cute purse that I saw on the Kohl's website but I wasn't sure it if would look as cute in person as it did on the site. So, when I saw it in the store and I saw that it was marked down even more than it had been on the site, I decided to get it. I'm really happy with it but now I need to buy some clothes that I can "wear" it with. I guess that's okay because I have some clothes that I should probably throw away (because they're starting to look pretty bad) and I have some things to drop off to Goodwill. So I can make room for new stuff now, I guess.

Clothes really aren't a priority right now because I just spent almost $600 on my lappy, so I'll probably have to wait for another paycheck or 2 to come in before I buy myself clothes. Plus, my car is probably in need of an oil change and I definitely need to have money to put into the gas tank so that I can get to and from campus 4 days a week...hooray...

Maybe I can talk Jess into going along with me because I really don't have any other friends that enjoy shopping (because most of them act more like guys, lol!). And she can spend some more of her imaginary money. ;p It's probably going to be a couple of weeks before I can go, so that should space out the shopping trips enough that she'll be able to spend a little more money by that time. :D

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P.S. I really hate working and taking classes during the summer! I didn't think it was going to be bad because I would have money and I would be getting classes out of the way. And maybe it's the combination of having both at the same time during the summer, but it seems like I'm never able to do anything fun because I'm either stuck on campus until about 7:30 pm or I have to get up early the next day and, therefore, can't stay up/out too late the night before. It's really crappy!

Day 2 of classes...

I'm so tired right now that I can barely keep my eyes open. My mom found a kitten yesterday because he was mewing loudly in the landscaping over in our neighbors' yard. He's (unfortunately) a boy kitty, so we're not able to keep him because Salem would definately hate us until the end of his days and I don't think the kitten'd be too happy about the arrangement, either. So, Mom and I are going to "nurse him" and keep him healthy until he's old enough to be adopted, and then we're going to find him a good home. We may have a potential home already, but we have to talk to the kids' mom and see if she'll let them have him. I even told Mom to let her know that I'd offer to pay to have him neutered so that he doesn't create more little stray kittens that I have to adopt and play "mommy" for.

But, until we find him a home, he's going to be my bunk mate. Last night was horrible for me as far as sleep goes because I kept waking up because I was afraid I had rolled over him and squished him. And, at one point, he woke me up because he was purring by my face and kept touching me with his cold, wet nose. All of this didn't leave much time for sleeping. Today is my long day, too. I'm on campus from 9 am to about 7:30 pm. And since I don't have much sleep, my experience in my evening class could be interesting.

But, while we have "Kitty" here, maybe Dad will warm up to the idea of having another cat and I'll be able to adopt my little calico kitty...? Jake and I have already decided to bring her over some day this week (possibly tomorrow) to see how everyone reacts to her. I have a feeling that I know how the other 2 cats will be, but I mostly want to see Dad's reaction. Maybe there's still hope?!

Summer quarter '08- Day 1

I've only had my Music 370 course so far. It's scheduled to be Mondays & Wednesdays from 9-12 (Fridays are optional if you need the extra time or whatever) and it runs from June 16th (today) thru July 16th (technically the 18th because of the Friday thing, but I'm not counting that). So, I have roughly 5 weeks of this class and I think that I can handle it. Since the midterm and the final are going to be take-home, I only have the "fundamentals quiz" to worry about, and that shouldn't be too hard since it's only supposed to cover the basics.

I still have my night class, Edu T & L 633- Teaching and learning with drama (?), left and then I will have experienced both of my summer classes. That class is scheduled for Mondays & Wednesdays from 4:30-7:30. I just hope that the prof doesn't keep us the entire time because I don't want to be here that late.

It's summer, but it won't really feel like that for me for another 5 weeks. I'm glad that I'm getting these classes over with and that I am able to work in the Advising office over the summer so that I don't have to search for another job (because last summer wasn't very productive in that respect), but I really just wanted to have a break from it all. I can't really afford said break, tho, but I envy those who can.

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I can't believe that I'm a senior already! This is a day that I thought would never come because it just felt like no matter how many classes I took, there were always at least a dozen more that I needed. Now that I'm a senior, it feels strange...like I'm not quite ready for it. But I'm totally ready to graduate and get out of college. Now, what I'll do after graduation isn't as certain, but I still have time to figure that out.

Before I know it, my classes will all be finished and I will be free! I can't wait for that day to come! Once I'm out of school, I'll probably miss it because then it will be time for me to move on and go out into the "real world," but right now I just really want some change and I can't seem to get that while I'm taking classes and am on campus all the time.

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Over the weekend, I became addicted to Oblivion. I borrowed Jake's 360 and my brother's oblivion game and I played pretty much any chance that I got. I had actually created a character and everything a while ago when Jake 1st got his game, but I never really had the opportunity to play it. So, I asked to borrow it so that I would have it at home and I could play it whenever I felt like it. Jake went out and bought the Lego Indiana Jones game last night, so I sent his 360 home with him, mainly because I wouldn't have the time to play much in the next couple of weeks because of class and I knew that he'd want to play his new game.

I never really thought I would like a 3D game because I've only ever really liked playing Mario and a few other Super Nintendo games because the 3D effect makes me sick to my stomach. But, Oblivian has proved me wrong. I will eventually get to play it again, but I need to take a break from it because I noticed that I was starting to get frustrated a lot because I wasn't able to figure things out and I would usually have to go bug my brother or Jake. So, I'll take a break for now, but in about a month, I'll go back to it and I'm sure I'll be just as addicted.

YES!

I got my financial aid package today and I accepted my loan and got that all squared away. I'm so relieved that it finally came in so that I don't have to change my plans for my last remaining year of college. The only thing that I'm not too happy about is that I had to accept the full amount of my loan (it'll total $5500 by the end of this year). I really didn't want to take that much out, but I'll need to have it when Spring quarter comes around so that I can pay for my classes because I won't have the Federal Pell Grant money that quarter. So...I'm going to be $5500 more in debt by the end of the year, but maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be able to hold onto some of that money and just use it to start paying the govt back for my loans next year... ;p

Things are looking up...maybe

I just got an e-mail from one of my classmates from the previous quarter about a book that I'm looking for so that I don't have to buy it from the bookstore for $100. She's planning on selling hers for $65, which is totally fine with me, but I'm worried that I won't be able to get it from her before I need it. I don't know how I'm going to handle that, but I guess I'll just have to figure it out. She gave me her # so I can call her and maybe arrange to pick it up later this week if she'll be in Lima.

But, I still haven't gotten any word on my financial aid. I went and talked to someone on our campus about it yesterday and he said that he was going to call down to Columbus and ask them if they can process my fin. aid now and do the same for a couple of other people. I just hope that I didn't do something wrong on the application or miss something that they needed for the verification audit thingy. I'm so afraid that I'm not going to be able to take these classes this summer and that's going to set me behind a little. I hate the idea of taking classes over the summer instead of enjoying my break, but I would hate it even more to have to take 4 or 5 classes for each of my remaining quarters instead.

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I really wanted to do something fun this summer, but it doesn't look like that will happen. The closest that I'll have to fun is planning the over-night getaway for Mom and Dad sometime next month. All I really have to do is book the hotel and make sure everyone who wants to give them anything has their stuff to me before the day of. There really isn't much left to do because I've already found the hotel that has a room with a hot tub in it, so that's done.

Mom and Dad really deserve a vacation, especially right now, but I think 1 night is about all that they can spend right now. Mom works every day and Dad really isn't up to doing a whole lot in a day just yet. They never really had a honeymoon so I figured I'd do something nice for them for their anniversary this year. Unfortunately, their actual anniversary falls at a pretty bad time, especially since Dad's on a break from chemo right now, so he'll probably be back on by the time their anniversary comes around. So, I figured that I would set the date for their over-night sometime at the end of his break so that he'll be feeling the best that he can and hopefully he'll be able to enjoy the evening.

I've never done anything like this and it's really exciting. I really hope that they get to enjoy it and have a wonderful time. And I'm really surprised at the amount of responses I got back from friends and family members that I sent an e-mail to about it a month ago. I'm so glad that they all want to be a part of this and I know it will mean so much to Mom and Dad. I'm afraid to tell my brothers about it, tho, because I fear that they'll "spill the beans" and spoil the surprise. So, I'll have to wait until a few days before to tell them and maybe that'll lower the odds that they'll spoil my plans. ;p

This sucks...

It's the first day of Summer, and I'm stuck at work all day...it's going to be a -very- long day. When my alarm went off at 6:45 this morning, I considered throwing something at it to make it shut up. I'm not quite sure what I would have tossed at it...probably whatever I had at hand. And I'm really not sure that throwing something at it would have made anything better because it most likely would have only created a mess that I would have had to clean up first thing this morning.

I just can't win.

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I got a very exciting surprise when I checked my grades yesterday afternoon. I actually got an A in my English class! I was so scared that I was going to have a C in there because that's what my grade was on the 2nd midterm and I wasn't confident that the grade on my final was any better, but apparently it wasn't as bad as I had thought. I think that the 3 bonus points helped out quite a bit, tho. They might have been the difference between me getting a B and an A. I'm very happy with the A, tho.

I'm fairly certain that I've got an A in the last class that I'm still waiting on a grade for, so I think I've got a 4.0 for this quarter. That's really exciting because I didn't do as well as I had wanted to last quarter, so this should hopefully help balance my GPA out. I'm really excited that I didn't fail any of my classes...I was kinda scared there for a while.

There's only 1 week before the Summer quarter starts and I'm -so- not ready to take classes again. The classes will only last for a month (or a little more), but I don't feel like a week between the quarters is enough of a break.

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I really want to go shopping and spend all of my money over my lunch break today. I know that I can't because 1) I don't have the time, 2) I still need to be able to get to campus 3 days a week, so I can't blow my gas money, and 3) I need to eat something for lunch, and that'll take up some time and money.

I guess that I'll just have to settle for buying new wiper blades and some windshield washer fluid for my car. That's not really what I want to spend my money on, but it's somewhat a necessity because I have no fluid in my car and the old wiper blades suck and all they seem to do is smudge around the dirt on the windshield.

So, maybe the next time I get paid I can go on a shopping spree...? That'd be awesome!

Weird feeling

I'm sitting at work right now and I have just realized that I have nothing to do today. Yesterday I was here for 4 hours and I finished up 2 papers, submitted them, and wrote down some notes on some note cards for my presentation tomorrow. In those 4 hours, I was able to accomplish quite a bit and I have been at work for about 45 minutes (technically more than that but I've only been "on the clock" for about that long) and I've gotten absolutely nothing done thus far. I just realized how bored I'm going to be today (since I'm here until 5 and I have nothing to do) and I wish I would have thought about bringing something in, like a book or something to work on. It feels so weird not having homework to get done.

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My cousin's baby shower is this Saturday and that's really exciting for me! I wasn't able to make it to her son's baby shower 3 years ago (I don't remember why), so I'm really looking forward to being there for this one because I think this might be her last child. We still haven't picked up a gift for her yet, and we're supposed to bring a pack of diapers so we can be entered in a drawing for some prizes, but I figure we'll probably get all of that on Friday...we like to do things last-minute in my family. ;p

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I've been thinking a lot lately about my future and what I want to do after graduation, and I'm drawing a bunch of blanks. I know that I want to graduate with my BS in Education and that I don't want to continue on to get my Master's, but I really don't know what job opportunities will be available to me with just my Bachelor's. We have a Career Services Director in the office where I work, so I figured that I would make an appointment to speak to her sometime in the Fall and try to figure out a career plan/path, but I thought I should do something thinking on it before I meet with her.

I've done that thinking, and I still can't come up with anything. I know a bunch of people around me have plans for what they'll be doing and they're already well on their way to accomplishing their goals...people that are a few years younger than me. That makes me feel very behind.

I've made some other life goals outside of my future career, but some of those might depend on my having a job. What I'm really worried about right now is having to pay my loans back after school. I really don't want to have to deal with that 6 months after graduation, but hopefully I'll be smart and start saving up towards the end of the school year next year and during that 6 months so that it won't be that much of a burden on my bank account. But I doubt it.

Finals week

It's now the Tuesday of Finals week and I haven't had a single final yet. I have my first one tomorrow, and I turned in my paper today that's due by tomorrow afternoon so that I could get that out of the way. I have my presentation on Thursday and I already submitted my paper for that class, so I'm pretty much done now without having to do much of anything. I'm not looking forward to my final tomorrow because I didn't do too well on the 2nd midterm and I really need to do well on this last test or I'll have a C in the class, and I would really hate that because I've somehow managed to get this far in college without a C and I'd like to keep it that way.

I'm actually not that worried about my presentation this week, and that really surprises me because I hate speaking in front of people, but I guess I'm pretty used to that this quarter because I've had to do a presentation in almost all of my other classes, and pretty much the same people are in my Thursday class as in every other class this quarter. So, I guess I feel somewhat comfortable around them...enough that I don't dread speaking in front of them.

Money problems

We've only got 1 week left in the quarter and 1 week before Summer quarter starts...and I still haven't gotten any financial aid. I don't have $1040 lying around that I could use to pay for my summer classes with. If I don't get my "stimulus package" from the government, then I won't even be able to pay for 1/2 of my fees when they're due. I really don't know what I'm going to do. And, with my Dad's medical bills still piling up, I can't ask Mom and Dad for the money because they don't have it, either.

I guess I just have to pray that everything goes thru and I get my money in time. I really wish they would hurry up and process it already. I know we turned ours in late because we were waiting on some of Dad's medical bills to come in or something, but I know a lot of people who don't have theirs yet. I wonder what's taking them so long?