That crazy thing we call life

Lets just start by saying I should really be working on this crazy take home test right now. My life has been so incredibly insane right now. I feel like I just need some time for myself. I think during winter break from school, I'm going to take a trip somewhere by myself. I'll just stay at a hotel and maybe find some stuff to do. I don't know, it could be fun.

School is still going pretty well but its super stressful at this point. I had so much stuff due before Thanksgiving. I have a grasp on most of it. I have this really hard take home test for Abstract Algebra due though. Its technically due on Tuesday, but I want it done by Monday because I have Monday off from work. That's the big thing that I have due really. I have to read a chapter and I also have some homework problems due for Prob and Stats. I'm just ready for this semester to be over.

We have our presentations for our huge ice cream project on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Can we just talk about how we're not even near ready for that? We ended up getting rid of the graham cracker, because there's no way to sprinkle graham cracker on ice cream sold in stores really and if you mix it in, it will get soggy. Instead, we decided to go with white chocolate chips. I'm going to be writing (or attempting to write) the business plan over Thanksgiving break. It just seems like a lot of work and I don't know where to start. I'm getting kind of frustrated with the class. I'm just ready for this class/semester to be over.

I'm almost done preparing my graduate school applications. That process has been pretty hectic. I've been through two revisions on my personal statement already, and I'm going to take it to Dana and have him help me revise it again. I have a couple other little things to get done for the applications, but it shouldn't take too long. I'm hoping to get most of it done over Thanksgiving break as well, but that might be a little ambitious.


This list of mine hasn't been getting too much attention lately. I hope to have some time to pay attention during winter break.

Small Update!

I'm doing very well in school right now! My teacher/advisor told me that he has been very impressed with me this semester, which makes me feel really good. I think I've had an exam in every class by now; I got a 92 on my Macroeconomics exam, a 96 on my OB exam, a 90 on my Abstract Algebra exam, an 84 on my D.E. exam, a 108 on my Discrete exam, and an 87 on my Probablity and Stats Exam. Overall, I feel like that is really good. I will be getting a take home exam for Linear Algebra next week.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but for my OB class, we are doing an ice cream challenge. We are working with the Common Man; they have an apprentice program. Its been okay so far, but I feel like our group still has so much to do. We went and tested our ice cream a couple weeks ago - that went really well. I'm going to pick up the ice-cream on Monday and then we need to figure out a way to get samples to people and take a survey. We have to write up a business plan, and the rough draft for that is due on November 8th. I feel like that is so soon!


I went to the doctors on Monday. That went pretty well - as well as a doctor's visit can go. I'm all healthy and such. I'm going back on Monday to get the 2nd shot in the gardasil series. Then, I have to go back on Thursday to have a consultation. I'm changing my birth control, but my doctor doesn't deal with the type I'm getting, so I need to see another doctor.

I have a pretty busy week coming up. On Saturday, I'm taking my Circle girl to her boyfriend's football game, so that should be fun. Monday, I have to go to the doctor's and then I'm doing an oil change with Johnny. Tuesday, I'm meeting with Dana after class to talk about my personal statement and see what I need to do to revise it. Thursday, I have another doctor's appointment. I guess it doesn't seem that busy, but I have a lot of stuff due next week. It always seems like things are always due on the same day.


Christmas is coming up fast! I've started my shopping, but  I haven't gotten much done yet. I'm pretty broke, but I'm going to make it work somehow. I'm hoping I can afford to get a Christmas tree and decorations. November is a crazy month. I have to get my tires changed (I need to put my snow tires on), Christmas shopping, and I'd like to get decorations. I found out today that I can link my cashback bonus from Discover to Amazon and use it to buy stuff on there. That was very exciting to find out!

I haven't written in this blog in forever. School has started up and life is really crazy. I currently am enrolled in 7 classes: Macroeconomics, Abstract Algebra, Differential Equations, Discrete Mathematics, Organizational Behavior, Probability and Statistics for Scientists, and Linear Algebra. I'm also sitting in on a class that is dealing with preparation for the first actuary exam. I do all the homework and take notes and everything, I just don't get a grade for it. So, essentially I am taking 8 classes. Its really tough, but I'm definitely making it work. I'm also working 40 hours a week, sometimes more and applying for graduate school. I volunteer for the Circle Program as well. The girl I'm mentoring is named Miranda. I took her out last month; we went to Fun Spot. We mini golfed, played some arcade games, and then had dinner.

I got my senior pictures done this month. I haven't gotten them in the mail yet, but Cristy put some of them on facebook. I think this one is my favorite so far: 

My life has been extremely busy, but at the same time there isn't really that much to talk about. As far as the challenge goes, I finished up my soda challenge. I also wrote my resume. Laurel and I went to New York City at the end of August. It was fun for the most part, although I didn't get to do a lot of what I was planning to do. We were supposed to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and we never got around to that. We went to the location of Cake Boss, but we didn't go inside because the line was really long, so I haven't counted that in my challenge thus far. 

You say that you love rain,

but you open your umbrella when it rains.

You say that you love the sun, 

but you find a shadow spot when the sun shines.

You say that you love the wind,

but you close your windows when wind blows.

This is why I am afraid, you say that you love me too.

~William Shakespeare

I saw this the other day and absolutely fell in love with it. Wow, I haven't been on here in a while. I've been extremely busy and kind of stressed about money. Going back to school is turning out to be exceptionally expensive this year. I bought my parking permit for 95 dollars the other day (ridiculous, if you ask me. don't schools already take enough of our money?) and I also bought all of my books online. They were going to be nearly 300 dollars, and I ended up saving about 115 dollars. Not too bad. I also bought a jansport backpack on ebay, because I feel it will be easier to carry my books and everything around. In addition, I had to buy a new graphing calculator (well, its used) because mine crashed, so I got one off of Amazon. I'm still waiting for all that stuff to ship. I still need to get some school supplies, like binders, papers, etc.

Money would actually be really wonderful if I weren't going to NYC in a few days. Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about the trip, but had I known this month was going to be this bad, I would've planned otherwise. I'm budgeting about 300 for the trip and I really hope I don't have to spend more than that. I'm really going to keep track of what I'm spending while I'm there so I don't go over. I've also been selling some stuff on ebay. I sold my Sims 3 game today. I played it once and was so bored, so I just figured I'd sell it. I'm also selling my old computer, dvd player, and portable dvd player on there. I don't have any need for them. The bidding ends in less than 2 days. 

I've also been researching and looking into the application process for all of the graduate schools I'm applying to. I'm applying to Roosevelt University, Boston University, University of Connecticut, Temple University, Illinois State University, and University of Illinois. I wrote my resume the other night. I have to make a few changes to it, but considering I put it together without really knowing what I was doing, I feel that I did pretty well! I've also been attempting to study for the GRE. While I was studying, I was looking up registration, and it turns out they revised the test! So, I had to buy a brand new book, and I just got it today. Now I can finally start studying for real.

As for the challenge, I'm almost done with going without soda for a month! I'm also going to complete a number of tasks while in NYC. I will be walking the Brooklyn Bridge and visiting the location of Cake Boss -- at least that's the plan!

977 days to go..

Where does the time go? I've been doing really well with losing weight. I weighed in yesterday and I lost another 3 pounds last week, so that means I've lost a total of 4.2 pounds so far. I'm almost halfway to my first goal of 10 pounds! I also haven't touched soda in 15 days, so I'm halfway done with that challenge as well.

I received an e-mail from the dean of admissions the other day explaining to me how I could fix the problem I had with one of my classes last semester. The problem was the teacher, but we're hopefully going to get it fixed and fix the grade on my transcript. I will have to do an Individual Enrollment, which means I will have 21 credits next semester if everything works out. That is 4 credits overload, but I think I can deal with it. I am meeting with him tomorrow to discuss it in more detail. Because of this, I have decided that I'm going to apply for graduate school for Fall of 2012 again. I really want to go next Fall, but I was worried this class would put me into a bit of a setback. I've started studying for the GRE, and I hope to take that at the end of September. I'm also going to have to take the GRE math subject test and I'm hoping to take that in the beginning of December. Most of the classes I'm taking this upcoming semester are subjects that are on the subject test, and by December we'll be almost done, so I'll be prepared (I'm hoping) and it'll also be enough time for me to get my scores to send to the schools. Also, on Saturday, Boston University is having an open house for prospective graduate students, so I'm attending that. It starts at 10 and ends a little after 12 which is cutting it a little close for work, but if worse comes to worse, I'll just leave early.

I had a meeting with the coordinator from the Circle Program a couple weeks ago. I'm going to be mentoring an 8th grader named Miranda. I can't make the mentoring night because of work, but I'm going to have lunch with them at their camp and she is going to show me around and I'll get to know her a little. I'll start mentoring her in September and I'm really excited.

I'm getting really excited for my trip to NYC. Only 18 days away!!

What have I been up to?

I haven't really updated in the last few days, mostly because I haven't had much to say. So, what have I been up to? Mostly working.I started doing Weight Watchers last Wednesday and I've done pretty well with it all week, until today (well, Monday). My days off are tough for me, because I don't make my own dinner or anything, so I'm pretty much eating whatever someone else makes. I weighed myself this morning, but I don't want to say how much I've lost until my official "weigh-in date." In correspondance with that, I also started task number 81, which requires that I don't drink soda for a month. I've made it 6 days so far.

Today, I started my day by grocery shopping. I also got my eyebrows waxed, which is task number 68. I love them, and it wasn't half as bad as I thought it was going to be. My favorite part, is after all the hot wax on your skin and the pain from the pulling, they put this cool lotion on your eyebrows and it feels so good. I came home, put groceries away, went to the dump, and headed over to Johnny and Laurel's. We didn't really do much of anything. I went to the store with Laurel to grab dinner, which was pizza. Later on, we decided to make a trip to the bar. It was nice; we had a couple of drinks and played the card game War. I hadn't played that game in forever. I decided that we need to do that more often. I had a Sex on the Beach and a "Skip & Go Naked." They were both very good, although I enjoyed the Sex on the Beach a bit more. On the way home, we stopped and grabbed some Mike's Hard Lemonade from the gas station. I had one of those when we got home, and we watched No Strings Attached. I love that movie. I did get quite a buzz, and I'm not feeling too well now, but it was fun.

Other than that, I haven't been up to much. I haven't had much motivation to read, although I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe I'll try doing that tomorrow. I'm expecting a lady to come visit me on Wednesday from the Circle Program. The Circle Program is this program for girls with some kind of problem - typically, troubled families. I will be a mentor for a girl in the program, and I'm looking forward to it. It will also help me complete my 24 hours of community service in task 27. I also have a date scheduled for next Monday and I'm pretty excited. His name is Jason. We're going to meet at FunSpot and we're going to go mini golfing, maybe grab something to eat, and walk down by the beach. I'm looking forward to it. That's about all for now though.

Six Flags, New England

Yesterday, I went to Six Flags with a bunch of my friends from McDonald's. It was good to see them all again. Justin met us there (he lives in Rhode Island), but I drove the rest of us. I had to get up around 6am to get ready and we were on the road by 7. We got there around 10:30, and that was with two stops. Justin took forever to get there after us though. We rode this small "kid" roller coaster just for fun, and then rode this crappy new ride they have. It literally whips you around the corners. I thought I was going to have internal bruises. After that, we rode Mind Eraser and Batman (which is my favorite roller coaster there).

After that, we headed back out to our cars and grabbed our swimming stuff and spent a good amount of time in the water park. The water park was so nice! We did the wave pool, the lazy river (my favorite!), a couple slides, and then one of those tube rides. We went back out to the car and came back in to eat. After that, we pretty much just went on one more ride, which was Bizarro. It used to be called Superman. Justin made me put my hands up for the whole ride which was really scary. He wanted me to do something cool at the camera too, which I tried, but I'm short and barely showed in the picture haha. Here is Bizarro(this picture is actually when it was Superman... it's the same shape, just different colors):

After that, we decided to leave. Everyone was exhausted. I was so happy that it didn't storm though. Considering the weather channel was almost certain that it was going to, it was very relieving. It rained for two minutes at a time every once in a while, but it was a very light rain and nothing to make them shut down rides. The ride back was extremely long. Everyone slept, so that made it even harder for me. I pretty much crashed as soon as I hit my pillow. My body is very sore; I think I did something on one of the rides. My neck and shoulders really hurt. My legs also hurt, but I think that's from a combination of going for a run on Sunday, and walking all day yesterday. Also, one state is out of the way on task number 20. I didn't get the picture of the 'Welcome to Massachusetts' sign though. :(

Tomorrow, I'm starting back on Weight Watchers. My two biggest challenges with this program is A) My days off and B) when I get home from work, I want to snack. I think I'm just going to have to get in the habit of brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed as soon as I get home. I'm also going to try the no soda for a month task. It will go well with my diet, and what I'm hoping to get from this task is that I just won't drink soda ever, except every once in a while. I'm hoping to get up and go for a run in the morning, but we'll see how sore my body still is.