Second post :D

Today felt so long. It was a good day, and I got a lot done, but I'm so tired now.

It's not raining anymore... it rained every day I went to work except today :/ I like the rain, so I'm kinda bummed, but not too bad. I ate WAY too many sweets... ack, and I know better after my nutrition class last semester. I have to make cookies and biscotti tomorrow still, hopefully I will have some finished to give away.

I finished making a bunch of jewelry yesterday, so that was good. I've got quite a few presents completed. There's a few people I need to finish up presents for, but other than that we're set. My parent's presents turned out well so far :D They are a surprise, though... so I can't say anything until after Christmas.

I am loaded with Starbucks stuff. I have four giftcards, and someone from 4-H gave me and my sister a 12-pack of those bottled Starbucks. I love coffee. Actually, I think I like flavoring and chocolate and whipped cream and sugar; but when it's added to coffee, I like coffee ^^ Kind of like how if you like milk chocolate you like sugar, but if you like dark chocolate you actually like chocolate. *Guilty*. I like milk chocolate.

I was thinking of hanging out at Starbucks one of these days and bringing some of my drawings to work on. Seems like it might be fun. My sister could go, too. I like the atmosphere. And the coffee.

I want to go to a bookstore, too. School has done terrible things to me; reading for fun is a chore now because I'm used to zipping through textbooks and digesting necessary information without really enjoying the process. I'm STILL in War and Peace, looks like that will take me a good while still ;) I love C.S. Lewis, too. I still like Robin McKinley, though her books get a little too predictable. There is a book that I really want, but I think my mom's getting it for me for Christmas. It's called 'Band of Sisters', and is a collection of true stories about the women fighting in Iraq. I read the first few pages, it looks interesting. I don't know if I can wait until Christmas...

I still cannot get over the fact that school is done. I mean, I'm going back the first week of January, but I keep spazzing out because I feel like I'm forgetting classes and assignments. I miss it :( I'm taking a "dining room service and management" class in January, strictly because I needed three more credits if I didn't want to take six classes my Spring semester (nooo wayyy).

Math. Oh, math class. How I loathed thee. Math and I have never gotten along well. Numbers are fine, geometry was great, algebra... no. My speech class was the most physically challenging; this class was the most mentally challenging. I don't get numbers like I get words. I'm not a math person, I'm an english person. My brain balks at fractions and equations, and... ugh. Just not good.

It was just college algebra. I remember studying for the assessment test two years ago so I could get into college algebra without taking the preliminary classes (took three tests; the first two times I took the wrong tests!). I passed the third time and qualified for college algebra... by one point. I was not thrilled.

After realizing during the first day of class that I really was back in an algebra class, and that I would be stuck in it for sixteen weeks, I knew I'd have to work hard to pass. I HATE math tests, mostly because you can have a problem with twenty steps - but if you mess up one step out of those twenty, your answer is completely wrong. Blah. Fortunately for me, our teacher wouldn't give us a zero unless we messed the entire thing up or didn't try. That was the only way I made it.

Now, this probably wasn't one of the most challenging college algebra classes out there, and even the college algebra level isn't exactly tough... but, like I said, I don't get math.

I remember getting freaked out one time because my teacher gave me a test back, and it had a score of 40 (out of 100), and I thought I was busted. I looked at the name, and it wasn't mine. Phew! So close... the first and last name were similar to mine, but the test wasn't mine.

So it all came down to the final. Homework was easy, quizzes were so-so, tests were slightly curved. The final was worth the most points. I studied for that things for about six hours the day before, putting together a 'mock test' with sample questions he had given us (for extra credit), and working out problems from our former tests with the numbers changed. Only problem was, when you change numbers in some types of equations, they don't really work out so well. That was fun. My poor brain was a bowl of mush after that, numbers flooded behind my eyes and streamed out of my ears. I was so done with it after that. No more was going to go in my head, my brain was full.

So I slept.

But the numbers stayed in my head. Even when I woke up, I was working through problems in my head. I was reasoning in numbers, and setting up equations for the situations I ran into during my daily life. I wondered how hot my coffee was, and how concentrated; and how much creamer I would have to add to bring it down to such-and-such a temperature and such-and-such a level of concentration. Scenes from 'A Beautiful Mind' flashed by in my head.

Lol, the only other time I can think of offhand that something like that happened was after reading a book by Dorothy Sayers, "Gaudy Night" in two days (it's 500 pages or something like that - oh the joy of being a procrastinator, and in Inklings :). The moment I finished it I went to sleep, and for the next few days I was spewing Sayers-like vocabulary. It was weird. Then again, Torrey will do that to you...

Anyways, the studying must have payed off, because my test score was the highest in the class. No way. I was shocked. I still don't know how it ended up that way. I'm just thankful to have survived, and made it through in one piece! I have a little more respect and tolerance for algebra now, and even, perhaps, a little bit of interest and enjoyment in solving a problem :D There was this one problem on the test where we needed to solve the problem, then use a specific process to show the answer was correct. Well, for all the math-related stuff swirling around in my head, I couldn't remember the steps. I tried, but I knew I wasn't getting it right. So, I started the steps, then at the bottom re-wrote the answer, and put I'm not sure exactly how... but eventually the above problem will equal (answer). Yeah, I don't think I got points for that one! It reminded me of all those awesome math test answers (or lack thereof) that are out there... such as (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_MV3xfUtCJI-qCIyo4XNhKj4MqeMAKv0owSTN0Q87celItLQ3Rv-gpze95pfAt2U7VsYgTP622jdnxbe4zQrTu_mMB9ZKiFFpXV9uIIMbwn3FmmEUandZJ8hkjEu98Cjif6Qw4YqXqE/s1600-h/funny-science-test-answer3.jpg) and "find the x"(http://laughlines.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/weisenheimer-101/). Brilliant minds at work there.

Ah. I'm still tired. I still need to go to sleep. I find it ironic that, while in school, I always look forward to breaks and vacations so I can catch up on sleep - and yet, when I'm on breaks and vacations, I stay up later than ever! Mostly because I write, but during this time of year it's also because I'm busy getting presents together :)

I can tell, this blog is really going to help me work on my addiction to writing...

Yeah right.



Merry Christmas!

-MEEE