嬉しい! And First Week (Spring Term)

今日、日本のママからメールが来た!　最後のメールは、２００８年だった！「ジュリーは元気ですか？日本のママですよ。地震があって大変で」は言いました。

I got an e-mail from my Japanese mama today!  I haven't talked to her in years!  I sent her an e-mail after the earthquake a few weeks ago, asking if she was OK.  She actually replied!  It wasn't a very wordy email, but hers never are, LOL.  She said, "Julie how are you?  It's your Japanese mama.  There was a terrible earthquake."

I'm really happy to hear from her, though.  I sent her a letter about a year ago, and never got a response, so I figured either it never got there or she was mad at me.  Come to think of it, she might be.  But, either way, she's OK enough to send me an email!

Makes me realize how far downhill my Japanese has gone.  I used to be really, really good at it.  Now, I almost never practice, and so I'm not great at it =_=

In other news, it's now Spring Term, halfway through the week.  I'll update about that later; I'm quite tired right now.

Last Day of Spring Cleaning Break (clean house!!!)

Holy crap am I sore!  Spring break is already over :'( so sad!  I barely even got a break at all!!!  Ah, well, c'est la vie!

First, a quick rundown on my Weds., Thurs. and Fri.:

Wednesday was no big thing; I finished watching Spice and Wolf II, went to the bank, went to Village Inn (free pie day!), went to the post office, and showed up for work.  I haven't worked Wednesdays in a while, so it was weird -work was very busy, but the kids say some cute things <3  OH!  And I found out one of my classes was cancelled due to "low enrollment," which is bullshit because there were 19/20 grads and 8/20 undergrads -that is enough people, especially since I already paid for the damn class.  Sigh.

Boss sleeps on my laundry

Thursday, I went to meet my friend for boba tea...only to get there and realize the shop was closed until later! We wound up going to her relative's nearby restaurant, and it was awesome (so tasty!!!).  We went back to the shop and played some pool.  After that, I went downtown and got my flexpass, picked up a final, did meh on it, and met another friend.  We went to Powell's, and then to the waterfront, and then to Chipotle.  By that time, it was pouring, so we just went home.  I was going to clean after that, but I'm pretty sure I just lazed around.

Friday:  I started cleaning again after going to the store.  I got some tuperware tubs, notebooks, and a snickers.  It was a weird feeling, but I kept forgetting it was Friday.  Weird.  I also watched Walk the Line, 2012, and some nature program.  I was tired so I just ordered a pizza...Pretty sure the pizza man thought I was getting stoned due to the incense, candles, late night pizza, nature program, and talking to my cats deliriously.  Oh well, I tipped him.

Handsome boy!!!!

 As for Saturday, I spent the first few hours at work, as per every Saturday for the last 2 years (with the exception of about 6 saturdays a year).  It was fine; I snacked a lot.  We actually got out ON TIME since my boss was not there, haha.  Hey, at least I actually get paid when I work past closing now.  Also, funny side note, on my bus ride home, the bus driver waved at a lady and her kid.  I looked at her -AND SHE WAS MY PROFESSOR FROM A FEW YEARS AGO, PLUS HER SON!!!! (her son had a velociraptor mask; it was awesome).  I LOL'd.

Anywho, after that, I came home and vegged out for a little while before getting back to cleaning.  It was a nice, rainy/sunny/windy spring day, so I locked the cats in my bedroom, and opened all the windows to get some fresh air cross breezes going.  Then, because I thought my roommate was going to be home today, I bothered to get the rest of the dishes done and finish cleaning and whatnot.  Of course then she wasn't able to come back today, but I still worked my butt off finishing cleaning.  Things that hurt on me include: my feet, ankles, back, hips, and head :)

So now, the fruits of my labors:

Bedroom

My bedroom, facing my closet.  Those are my clean clothes, already put away :]

My bed, "made."  Ok, you got me.  I haven't actually washed my bedding yet, but I'll get to it.

The other side of my room.  I painted the girl and the leopard above the fan .  Those are my coats on the door.

 Laundry Room - Den

My clean laundry room!!!!  This is epic.  The bins are full of clothes, towels, and linens.

My desk, storage, and a bookshelf.  I got a little lazy here........LOL

Boss comes to check it out.  The floors are gross because they're concrete and because we raised 4 puppies in that room.

My shoes, hanging on the door.  haha.

Dining Nook

I didn't feel like cleaning the table properly

Daisy -she's feeling much better by the way

Kitchen

I use the speakers and my MP3 player to blast pop music as I do the dishes.  The play list is called "dishes."

My clean sink with NO DIRTY DISHES!!!  The jugs are emergency water.  I was rinsing the dust off.

Bathroom

Clean sink plus cat bowl

Boss on the toilet next to the clean, put away towels

Crybaby brat.

 More dining nook

Girl cat stares at something on the floor I mopped

 Living Room

I was watching the new FullMetal Alchemist as I vacuumed...lol

It looks livable now

But not quite out of a magazine.  I'm just not that stylish.

Other

Silly girl

a pile of my shopping bags, plus Anzu's butt

Now I'm tired and itchy and sore.  I need a shower

Spring Cleaning-Break: Day 2 + Grades!!!!

So today began much better than yesterday -I got to working on my spring cleaning  by, like, noon!  Yesterday I didn't really even get started til about 2.  I woke up late today, but dicked around less, so it works out.  I started out by finishing some laundry

This is my laundry, all piled up on my bed, waiting to be sorted

I hate doing laundry, but it's easy enough to just dump somewhere until I'm ready to put it away (and by put it away, I mean dump it in a tub like that purple one).  My poor washer and dryer must be so tired!  haha!

I cleaned up the laundry room and started organizing my books.  I realized, I have a lot more books than space

I organized the towels and drawers, and even scrubbed the gross floor

Um...I vacuumed by the phone (where the green boxes are)...DVDs still a mess

You wouldn't believe how much hair I found around the phone.  Right next to the cats' food and water.  Also, I found an incense stick; I can't remember the last time I had an incense stick!  Worst of all, I found several tacks on the ground.  I once stepped on tacks barefoot...it was so gross pulling that thing out of my skin.

It looks like a mess, but it means things are getting cleaned

My cats have been very excited and playful today as I cleaned.  They spent some time in my bedroom window, crying at the neighbor's cat.  They chased each other and were generally ADORABLE.  However, I'm quite worried about Daisy, my guinea pig.  I think she is constipated/impacted, because all she did all day was sit there and look sad, barely squeaking (and she's a champion squeaker).  She did whimper while she was trying to pass stools(?) a little...At least she took some lettuce I  offered her.  Or, maybe it's diarrhea.  I don't know, but I'm worried

My poor little baby bug :(

As for my To-Do List, I've checked a few more things off:

• Wash the dishes
• Do alllllll my laundry -dirty clothes and clean clothes, pillows, bedding, coats, towels, etc.
• Clean the guinea pig cage and litter boxes
• Organize my DVDs and books
• Sweep the laundry room, kitchen, bathroom
• Mop the kitchen
• Vacuum the rugs
• Scrub the countertops, tables, stove, microwave
• Consolidate my papers
• Clean the sink, shower, and toilet
• Put clothes AWAY (in their big tubs LOL)
• Vacuum the couch, clean between the cushions
• Move the bookshelves and desk to the laundry room
• Rearrange the laundry room
• Clean the fridge
• Air out the house
• TAXES!!!
• Buy Textbooks and Flexpass
• Learner's Permit?

And last but not least....
GRADES!!!!  Let's hear it for the Average Student getting her grades this term!  What did she get???

Environmental Science Seminar Speaker Series: Pass
Fish Ecology and Conservation: A
Marine Conservation and Management: A
Resource Management: A
Calculus II: C+


If I do say so myself, I did pretty well!  Well...not calculus, but fuck that class anyway.  I wasn't expecting to have done that well, quite honestly.  Yay! :)

Spring (Cleaning) Break: Day 1

My girl-cat cleaning my boy-cat

So far, not exactly ship-shape.  Let's see, Saturday was spent going to work, coming home, and then watching my roommate and her dad fix up the holes in the house with Great Stuff (it foams up and hardens).  Then her family and I went out to dinner at a local Cajun restaurant.  It was tasty.  Sunday, I lazed around, went to the store and got supplies, including a great window bird feeder and birdseed.  Took a nap, and lazed around some more.

My girl-cat inspects the mess

For some reason, they came running when I was in my room

Today I woke up, checked my email, wasted a lot of time on the internet, watched King of the Hill and now am watching Spice and Wolf, ate quite a bit, and cleaned a little.  I've moved all my junk boxes into my closet in my bedroom.  I wasn't using the closet to hang up my clothes or the dresser in there because I hate putting my clothes away.  There were spider webs everywhere, and the laundry room where all my junk WAS stacked up, looks totally messy.  So, I moved my junk to the closet.

There are about 15 boxes of Halloween, school papers, drawings, and my boyfriend's random junk in that closet.  Since I wasn't using the closet anyway, I figured might as well move everything to one spot **shrug**

Boy-cat drinking water from the sink

another angle

This Wednesday I have to go to work, and Thursday I made plans with a friend.  So, my to-do list for the week is (in no particular order):

• Wash the dishes
• Do alllllll my laundry -dirty clothes and clean clothes, pillows, bedding, coats, towels, etc.
• Clean the guinea pig cage and litter boxes
• Organize my DVDs and books
• Sweep the laundry room, kitchen, bathroom
• Mop the kitchen
• Vacuum the rugs
• Scrub the countertops, tables, stove, microwave
• Consolidate my papers
• Clean the sink, shower, and toilet
• Put clothes AWAY (in their big tubs LOL)
• Vacuum the couch, clean between the cushions
• Move the bookshelves and desk to the laundry room
• Rearrange the laundry room
• Clean the fridge
• Air out the house
• TAXES!!!
• Buy Textbooks and Flexpass
• Learner's Permit?

So, I think that's it.  Here's some pictures of my agenda:

The mess that is my bedroom

Oh hoh, what is behind that curtain?

It's like TETRIS!!!! (all my junk)

she stops to lick her foot

messy kitchen

messy dining nook

messy living room

window bird feeder!

Wish me luck!

Final Winter-Term Finals! Finally!!

Hallelujah!  After the crazy-ass term I've had, I made it out without failing **knock on wood**

kestrel

Seriously, it's been ridiculous.  The first  half of this term went by fairly smoothly, but the second half got a lot hectic.  Between having two midterms in one day, right after one another, quizzes, an eight page paper about intersex fish in Colorado waterways, a ten-page grant proposal on anthropogenic ocean acoustics in Gulf of Mexico coral reefs, a ten minute presentation on said grant proposal, another two midterms, random papers, weekly quizzes, an impromptu last minute group project/presentation, a group research project on salmon management, and a short presentation on said project...plus working, I've been busy!

but my marine midterm went better than expected! :D

Not to mention, stressed.  When I found out that I didn't do as well as I'd hoped on one of my calculus midterms, I burst out crying and screamed myself hoarse into my pillow for a good five straight minutes.  From all that idiocy, you can bet the house care has been neglected.  So now, I get to spend my Spring Break cleaning and working (although we're off for half the week, thank God).

also, my dreams of owning chickens have been crushed

Welcome to College.  TextsfromLastNight.com and friends would have you believe that my Spring Break will be filled with random hookups and binge drinking.  Not so, my friend.  I'll post a break down of my Super Exciting Spring Break 2011 after the fact, but my (and most people's) spring breaks consist of much less interesting things.

Arguably more awesome things, though.  Like, I tend to just hang out in my pajamas all day.  Pants?  Bra?  Socks?  Shoes?  I don't even know what those things are!!!  Showers?  Only if I must.  Given the choice between staying at home and making it clean enough for human residence, or going out and blowing a bunch of money I don't have on drinks that will just make my ass fatter, I'll pick staying at home, thanks.

we got February snow around here, though, which is rare

Anyway, let's have a breakdown of finals.  Monday was my online, at home Resource Management Final and I got about 82% on it.  Whatevs.  Tuesday sucked -it was my calculus final, and I suck at calc, especially when the teacher doesn't let us have a page of notes.  Ugh.  It was also, unfortunately, inspection day at work, so I got all dressed up in slacks and high heels and a dress shirt and then a different dress shirt cuz I got toothpaste on the first one.  Those damn shoes gave me a HUGE gross blister on my pinky toe, then it popped and was even more gross and painful.  Icing on the cake, the inspector was sick >:(

my poor toe

Anywayanyway, calculus was difficult, but as long as I passed, I'm done forever with it (you know, except when I need to use it).  Wednesday was my Marine Conservation and Management final, which was fairly difficult -I'm no good with acronyms and law stuff, and there was some of that on the final.  There's a reason I'm environmental SCIENCE and not environmental STUDIES.  I can remember what an acronym does (like NOAA or IFQ or LAP) but I can never remember what things stand for...I also am not good at remembering laws or names, but fuck it.

LOL stinky

Today was my final winter-term final, ever.  It was Fish Ecology and Conservation, and damn, it wasn't that hard.  Partly, because the teacher gave us 80% of the essay questions ahead of time, so I more or less knew what I was going to say.  I think the hardest thing about that test was the writing part.  I was scribbling out answers furiously for almost an hour and a half, and my hand cramped up.  In the end, I got tired of writing, my handwriting deteriorated, and I was done.  Hallelujah!

my favorite flavor ever!

Just a word of advice about college, and then I'm done:  Never expect anything, don't make plans that can fuck you over, and always talk to an advisor.  For next term, I wanted to take Wetland Ecology and Phytoplankton Ecology, which would have fit perfectly into my schedule.  Except, last minute, they changed the times to the same time.  I chose phytoplankton because it doesn't have a field trip =_= and the only other class at the same time is Hydrology.  Now, the teacher is awesome, but the class looks SO hard :( I'm worried I wouldn't do well.  I figured well, I'll sign up for it and another connected learning class and see what's offered over the summer.

Oops.  Now my department is telling me that no classes are offered over the summer...I'm graduating in August, kid.  I'll still be able to, but I'd rather not take Hydrology when I could possibly take a class I'd like more or do better in.  I guess I can't do anything about it, but just a word of warning to the rest of you out there.

I saw a bear...

Final note:  I turned in my graduation application!!! I'M GRADUATING IN AUGUST, FOR REALS!!!!



SIDE NOTE:  I checked the summer schedule, and I have a couple options... I could take Old Growth Forest Ecology off campus so I don't know how I'd get there, and it would only last a week.  Or, I could take Riparian Ecology and Management, at a bad time (I'd have to miss work a lot...) but the teacher's awesome, and the class lasts a month.  Plus my elective course I have to take will be online or at least last for a month at most.  Gonna be done with college by July!