Beginnings of Summer. a.k.a. Historian for Hire!

Wow.  I've totally ignored this blog!  I haven't posted here since before final exams started, which isn't entirely unusual but I have a couple of things I could have blogged about during that time.

I'm a college graduate!  That's right, historian for hire!  Or whatever.

Several of my relatives flew/drove into town for the ceremony, and we all had a pretty great visit while they were here.  It's too bad we can't all get together more often.

So now I'm staying with my parents for the summer before I leave for Orlando.  I kinda miss the privacy I had back at the apartment.  Not that my parents are all that invasive, but there's definitely a lack of the personal space that I was used to when I lived with Sarah and Kellie.  Plus I feel a bit cluttered because I'm in storage limbo here.  I'm slowly moving out of the apartment while cleaning out my stuff here at the same time.  So there are boxes and suitcases everywhere I turn.  And there's still a bunch of my stuff that will need to be packed up, moved, or purged.

This leads me to another point.  I'm in this weird hesitant mode lately.  There are projects or activities that I want/need to start, but I keep hesitating.  A few examples:
- Cleaning out my room.  I know that I have lots of time, but I really don't want to start.  It's just such a daunting task.
- Running.  Granted I need to finally pick out which shoes I want as a belated birthday gift before I can actually continue working on my running.  But that right there is another example.
- Knitting.  I have all of these projects in my head that I want to start, but I can't pick just one to begin.  "Ooh, I want to knit more hats!  Wait, I want to do a bajillion pairs of fingerless mitts!  But I think I may be ready to try socks, so maybe I should do that.  And I really want to learn how to sew buttons onto my work!"  Etc., etc.  Although I did just finish a hat for Rob and some mitts for my mom.  So it's not totally hopeless.
- Netflix.  Weird, right?  My queues for DVD and Watch Instantly are both very long but I just can't seem to make myself watch anything.  Right now I have a documentary on the Titanic and The Invention of Lying sitting by the DVD player.  And we just started up the Watch Instantly on my parents' Wii.  I have plenty to watch, I don't know why I don't do it.

Is it just hesitation to start new things?  Laziness?  Maybe I'm transferring my habit of procrastinating into real-life stuff now that I don't have schoolwork to do.  Whatever the reason is, I'd like to stop feeling so lethargic about accomplishing these tasks or even working on projects about which I'm excited.  I'm ready to get started with my summer!

Catch-up post.

Just a few ramblings about what's been going on over the last few days and what's coming up soon!

Well, the final copy of my senior thesis is due Monday.  Then it goes into my university's archives forever.  Actually, I'm imagining something like that last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  But still, it's a scary thought!  From what I understand, future students and faculty will be able to access it.  For what reason, I don't know.  But they might!  So today I've been working heavily on revisions and I intend to still be working late tonight.  And probably tomorrow.  I can be a bit of a perfectionist so if I have until Monday afternoon to submit this, then I will still be proofreading Monday morning!  And if you read my earlier posts, you know that I've really been enjoying this project (most of the time).  So I'm a bit sad to be finishing and don't feel ready to part with it.  Regardless, I have a bottle of champagne ready to be opened Monday evening!  I also fill out my exit forms for the department that afternoon.  So it's a big day graduation-wise!

And graduation itself is approaching quickly.  The ceremony is two weeks from tonight, actually.  Some complications have arisen which I'd rather not get into right now, but they are relevant.  The short story is that I've had some really bad anxiety attacks this week due to stress from school.  And I haven't been sleeping well at all over the last couple of weeks.  I'll spare you unpleasant details, but I was getting really sick from all the anxiety.  And that's highly unusual for me, even at my most stressed.  So my doctor put me on some short-term medication to help me relax, sleep, and curb panic attacks.  I know that once the next two weeks or so are over, my stress levels will quickly decrease.  But it was quickly getting out of hand and having a horrible effect on me.

For a quick rundown of my final days of class, here is the schedule.  Thesis due Monday, last paper of undergrad due Wednesday, final exam Thursday.  Then the next week I have a final Monday, one Tuesday, and my last exam is Friday.  Yup, the day before the graduation ceremony!  I could opt to take it two days early, but I'm really going to need those two days to study for it.  And I have several family members coming into town for the ceremony, so the first days after school ends will be busy.  But at least I'll be able to relax a lot more!

I can't wait to get back to knitting.  Earlier this afternoon I was taking a break from revising by looking up knitting patterns on Ravelry, and I felt inspired!  At the moment I have a mental list of potential Christmas gifts to knit, and I'm ready to get started!  With Netflix and knitting, I'll be set for relaxation!  And I still really want to learn to crochet this summer.

In which I share some strange thoughts.

Four weeks left!  14 days left of classes, then three days for final exams.  It feels so good.

Time for me to get weird.  If you've seen (or read) Julie & Julia, then you'll recall the feeling that Julie had that she knew the woman she was writing about and learning from.  You know, when you spend so much time focusing on one person, their life, and their characteristics that you truly feel like you are close to them?  If you don't know what I'm talking about, then just go with me on this.  That's how I feel about my senior thesis.  As if I didn't already love this woman, now I feel even more passionate about her life and who she was.  I feel that way about many people from this time period, but about her especially.  It's just.. crazy.  It's like writing about a friend.  I'm so ridiculously attached at this point that I am actually sad that this project is coming to an end.  As much as I complained about some of the work (mostly the writing process and actually putting my thoughts on the page), I will miss it.  But at least I can continue all the independent study I want and eventually travel to where they lived and try to imagine what their experiences were really like.  It's crazy that it took so much of my college career to get to this point, where I am studying what I love.  And genuinely feeling passionate about it again.  Sometimes the hoop-jumping made me forget why I came here, but it's to do exactly what I'm doing right now.  I'm studying people and places about which I already cared so much in a new way, and that's what I'll miss about this project and about college in general.

Oh my goodness!

So I'm sitting here working, working, working on my thesis (yup, another all-nighter!) and it hit me just how little time is left for me in college.  Well, at least with undergrad.  But let's not kill my buzz. :-)

Anyway, I've thought about it several times but it seemed like a revelation tonight anyway.

I have five weeks left of school.  Five weeks between me and my diploma.

22 days left of classes/finals (34 days counting weekends and non-class days).

Less than 850 hours?

Three book responses, one research paper, one huge test, four final exams, and the final draft of my senior thesis.  That means roughly... 34 pages to write for various assignments, including revisions.

It seems like so little but so much at the same time!  Well, now I need to stop counting and get back to writing/editing.

Oh, what a night.

So here's how much of a "break" my spring break was: I forgot that it happened.


Right now I'm avoiding any more work on the Midterm Essay of Doom and really wishing I had some caffeine because I suddenly feel very sleepy.  Even my tea selection is all decaf.  I could try to take a short nap and then get up and get back to work, but then I'd run the risk of being too stubborn to get back out of bed and actually write.  For me, it's better to just stay up late and push through than to take a break first and try to rejuvenate.  Odds are I'd realize that sleeping actually is more fun than writing a paper and not get up again until morning.

I'm thinking about doing some kind of fast in the next week or two.  Nothing drastic, just a couple of days to kind of reset after the past few weeks.  I've been suffering tons of stress with school, I haven't been eating very well, my sleeping habits are screwed up, and I've come to a standstill on the regular exercise that I was getting for awhile.  So I can feel like my body could use a little spring cleaning and tuning up.

After some reading, I'm leaning towards the honey water fast.  Honey is my new health obsession lately, so it would be just another use for it!  Basically it's three days of putting honey into plain water or any type of tea and consuming just those options, abstaining from solid foods.  Surprisingly, that's not the part that intimidates me. I'm actually more worried about breaking the fast.  I could potentially make myself very sick while reintroducing solid food, even after only three days.  I've read that a good rule of thumb is that breaking your fast will probably take about half as long as the fast itself, if not longer.  And what foods you choose to eat immediately after are crucial because the digestive system is now used to cleaning rather than digesting, which is intimidating!  So far the general consensus seems to be that the first meals should consist of fresh fruit, but I haven't read much about which fruits would be best.  I'd imagine that fruits which contain the most water would be ideal because the body still needs the hydration.  And as far as vegetables go, lettuce could be a good choice.  And that's good, because I love lettuce!  Avoiding salt would be a bit difficult during the first few days.

Fasting for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday would probably be a good way for me to do it.  Then I could break the fast over the weekend, so if I felt ill at all at least I could stay home rather than be suffering in class. I'll have to read up more to find out how to best prepare my body for a fast, how to carry it out, and how to break it properly.

Now it's back to the Essay of Doom!

Random updates about school and yarn

There are only 52 days until graduation.  I absolutely cannot wait.  This semester has been so brutal!  And it's only going to get worse, unfortunately.  Most of my writing assignments are all piled up at the end of the semester, which means that I have roughly 50 pages of writing to do before it all ends!

My senior thesis is going well so far.  I have a meeting on Monday to discuss it with my professor, and hopefully I'll get some positive feedback.  If only this were the only thing I have to do this semester.  I'd be in heaven!

On a lighter note, I've been looking at yarn on Etsy.com lately and I WANT TO BUY SO MUCH.  I love looking at all of the cool color combinations that sellers have come up with.  And it makes me want to learn how to dye yarn myself!  It can be done with something as simple as Kool-Aid or Wilton icing coloring (which I have a ton of!), but I'm not sure if there are certain fibers that can't be dyed.  Like I love working with acrylics, if only because they don't need blocking.  But can I color them myself?  I'll have to look into it.  I found some superwash merino wool on Knitpicks.com that can be dyed, so maybe I can buy a skein to experiment with when I get a chance.

And I've been keeping an eye on the Yarn Sales group at Ravelry because I really, really, REALLY want to try some Malabrigo.  I just missed a really good sale the other day!  I also need some Noro for Mom's Christmas gift, and I'd love to get it on sale if I can.  Both Noro and Malabrigo are a bit more expensive than I'd like.

I also have some fingering weight yarn that I bought a few weeks ago and have no idea what to do with it.  I liked the colors a lot more before I tried knitting with it.  Maybe I'll make a small shawl for my Nana, something that can be wrapped around as a scarf?  I really don't want to buy any more of it, so I'll have to search for something suitable that will use up as much as possible.

Since I'll be moving to Orlando in August, I'm going to try and get as many Christmas gifts together as possible before I leave.  This way, I won't have to ship tons of gifts home from FL.  I'm sure that I will find a couple of gifts for people while I'm there, though.  But I already know what I want to make for my Mom and Robert.  So I'm going to try and finish those over the summer!  Unfortunately I can't post my ideas here, because the surprises could be spoiled. ;-)

I'm learning how to use double-pointed needles!  They're not as intimidating as I thought they'd be.  I'm still getting used to the feel of juggling 4-5 needles at one time, though.

Unlistlessly

I'm bored and not feeling at all ready for sleep, despite it being pretty late. And I have my first test of the semester tomorrow, in Intro to Personal Finance. So I thought I'd make a list of some things happening lately, or what I've noticed.

- My skin is freaking out lately! I don't know if it's the stress of being back in school or what. But it sucks.

- I really miss Robert.

- I already hate this semester. I enjoy some aspects of each class, but overall I'm just ready to GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE and get my BA.

- Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" is truly addicting.

- My laptop died! So I have a new one now, and I'm still getting used to it. Windows 7 has been a big adjustment, since I was only using XP before.

- Trying to go coffee-free, or at least drink much less of it. So far it's been a hit or miss.

- My 2010 goal to drink more water is going pretty well. I try to drink at least 50-64 oz. a day by carrying a large bottle around with me so I can refill it as needed. If the water is right there with me, I'm more willing to drink it than if I have to seek it out. So carrying it around regularly is helping.

- I've applied and interviewed for the Disney College Program in Orlando for the fall season. Now I'm just waiting on pins and needles to hear whether or not I've been accepted. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much in case they reject me.

- Working on a new layout for my blog. I'll probably switch to a template for awhile later in the week while I put something together.

- Thesis: Take Two is about to begin. I'm already nervous!

- My roommate and I have started working out again. We try to at least do a 20-minute Pilates workout three times a week. According to other people, it's already paying off for me! Rob said he was surprised at how different I looked after only two weeks of not seeing me. He said my body is definitely gaining more of a toned appearance, which is good!

I guess I need to get to sleep now. Wish me luck with my test tomorrow!

Starting senior year!

Tomorrow begins the first day of my senior year of college.  That's right, I'm outta here come May, and with my degree in tow!!  May 8th, to be precise.  That means only 265 days left until I graduate.  I think the last day of exams is May 6th, so there's no telling when I'll officially be done with classes.  So I'll just countdown to the date of my graduation ceremony.  Assuming nothing goes wrong!!  I'm so worried that requirements will pop up that I haven't fulfilled.  I'm hoping to go talk to my advisor about it tomorrow.  I'm a worrier, so I want to make absolutely sure that I'm not missing anything at this point.

Here are the requirements that I have left to fulfill to get my degree (as I know them):

Senior Seminar - 3 hours

Remaining History classes - 9 hours

Electives - 14 hours

That's right, I have more elective credits to fill up then History classes!  (My major is History, in case you didn't know.)  This irks me a bit; I could be graduating in one semester if not for those requirements.  Oh, well.  So my semester for this year is mainly filled up with crap electives, and then my Senior Seminar.  I really, really want this semester to go well.  Here is my tentative schedule as it is right now.  All Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes.  This will be both a blessing and a curse, I know.

9:05-9:55am  Consumers in Society

10:10-11am  Intro to Anthropology

11:15-12:05pm  Senior Seminar

12:20-1:10pm  Principles of Advertising

1:25-2:15pm  Classical Mythology

I know that by the time 2:15 rolls around on MWF, I'll feel like dying most days.  It's like a flashback to my very first semester as a freshman, except without the biology labs.  I'm going to have to figure out a schedule for eating in between.  Most likely I can bring a sandwich and something to drink for my main lunch, and then try to get small snacks in as well.  So if I keep this schedule, that means that in the spring I'll only have to take three upper-divisional History classes and then one elective.

I'm most nervous about my Seminar.  I basically have to write my senior thesis, and didn't want to wait until the semester of graduation to do it.  The professor is one I've never had before, and I've heard she's tough!  Here's hoping that everything goes well for me this semester!  And to all of my friends starting school this week, Good Luck!!

~ Anna