Doors

I spent my yesterday doing nothing but inane non-sensical tasks to free my mind from everything stressful that has been going on school-wise.  It. Was. Wonderful.  The biggest part of the day was spent cleaning a bunch of tack.  I had my one saddle, breast strap, girth, and stirrup leathers - and then I was recently given a bunch of stuff that had been abandoned in a barn.  It was in BAD shape.  But everything looks great now, and my right forearm is killing me from all the elbow grease I put into it all!  In addition to my tack I was given another English saddle (no girth, breast strap, or leathers), two western breast straps and two western headstalls (all matching).

This is my original saddle - it doesn't fit Orion well

The new saddle - subtle differences

Browband of one of the new headstalls - the same flowers are etched in all four pieces of tack

The new setup - stirrup leathers, stirrups, girth, and breast strap were
originally on the other saddle

I also dropped by Mike and Jaci and Jackson's place to take them some home-made sushi for dinner.  Such a sweet little guy.  Finally got to hold him.  He's a freakin' heater.  So warm and toasty.

Today I closed a lot of doors with school.  I completed - or mostly completed - a lot of things.  I have a table left to do for my thesis corrections/additions - the only reason I have this left is because on three different computers today I received errors when trying to run the process.  Boo on you Arc10.  I have graphs for another report - but I probably won't do them.  I completed that report, completed revisions on my thesis and review paper, designed and completed my power point presentation for my one class, wrote one of two thank you letters, and sent a lot of email to F&WS about the job. 

What?  Job?  That's right, job.  Two days ago my friend that works at F&W wrote to tell me they had funding to hire a second person.  Yesterday I got accepted into Oregon State's online GIS master's certificate program.  I forwarded F&W the email.  The director emailed me back today wanting a ton more information on me.  I sent it all.  So, **fingers crossed** - I may be getting that job after all!  As some doors closed, others are opening.  I'm super excited for the possibilities that are in front of me.

Rainbows and unicorns

I wish life could be all rainbows and unicorns, but alas, it isn't.  As Dolly Parton once said, "If you want rainbows, you have to put up with the rain."  And that was my day today in a nutshell.

Today was the big day.  My thesis defense.  I practiced and practiced my speech last night in full freak-out mode until midnight when I forced myself into bed.  I slept soundly until 4:30a when I woke briefly, then I dozed in and out of sleep and nightmares until 6a when I got up for good.  I ran through my defense speech a  couple more times, showered, forced some food in my mouth, and headed to the library to print off a tree or two - or, I mean, my thesis.  I made a stop for a half hour in my animal behavior class, discovered I'd received a grade of 100% on my past exam - whoop, whoop! - and then skipped out of class early to head to my defense that was across campus (one of the joy's of WVU!, three -or is it four? - campuses).  And of course, the PRT (WVU's little one-car trolley system between campuses) was BROKE DOWN - that is my West Virginia dialect for you, broke down, so deal with it.  Needless to say this frazzled my what-were-calmed nerves.  But I caught a bus and still got there early.

One of my Ph. D. candidate friends had almost completely calmed me again in the hallway outside the conference room I was to present in.  My GIS professor committee member arrived and we went in the room.  He helped find a projector for my slideshow and I worked on getting it setup.  Then the biology coordinator for the thesis program arrived.  Minutes passed, my two Ph. D. candidate friends arrived.  Minutes passed - my thesis adviser, a crucial person in this whole thing still hadn't arrived.  I was apologizing profusely to the biology director-lady.   She told me we kind of needed my adviser there.  So, beginning to panic, I jogged down the hall to check her office again.  Nothing.  I went down the hall to her husband's office and asked him where she was - and then I started crying.  Freak-out mode engaged.  He couldn't get a hold of her so I headed back to the conference room convinced I would be failing.  Jesse, one of the candidate friends of mine, met me half way to say my adviser was in the room.  I started crying harder.  Freak-out mode had taken over.  He calmed me a little and gave me a hug and told me it would be okay.  We headed back to the room where I had to sit for a moment to gain control of myself and stop crying enough to present.

I recovered beautifully and got stronger as I went along, according to Jesse.  I don't really remember.  To me the entire thing was a great big disaster.  But I passed.  I feel as if they passed me because they felt bad for me.  Who knows.  Biology-director-lady did tell me when things were said and done (an hour later) that she was very impressed with what I had accomplished, and how these kinds of statistics are so far beyond the scope of most undergraduates.  So that cheered me a little.  I walked out talking with my adviser, who it ended up, had the flu and her son has bronchitis.  I had figured as much, but this was an important day for me and I needed her there.  I'm so thankful she came, but man, I didn't need freak-out mode to become engaged in the process.

After the defense I walked aimlessly around the Evansdale campus calming myself down, telling myself it was all over and I was okay.  I walked to Kroger (a grocery) and picked up sushi to celebrate being done & and a Dr. Pepper.  I then walked aimlessly around the campus again trying to find the perfect spot to sit, relax, and eat.  My dress khakis and boots were really boggin' me down at this point in the 80 degree, full-out-sunshine.  Ack.  I finally found a place.  I sat down.  I opened my Dr. Pepper for a big refreshing swig...soda-splosion.  All over me and my dress clothes.  It was the ultimate soda-splosion.  And that was it.  The last straw.  I broke down again.  I called a friend I wouldn't usually call for favors and asked him for a ride home.  Class started in less than an hour and I simply wasn't going dressed like this.  He picked me up.  Words couldn't express my gratitude for this favor.  I was able to change into more comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing, eat my sushi, drink the offending Dr. Pepper, and ride my bike to class on time - where I presented my thesis in an abbreviated format for fulfillment of my final project for that class; and I presented it with gusto this time, might I add!! 

All in all, its been a VERY trying day for me.  Physically exhausting and mentally trying.  But the most important thing?  I made it.  I got through it.  And I passed.  AND I'M DONE!  I have a few corrections before I turn in the thesis to be bound and kept in the biology department.  But. I. Am. Done.  I will be graduating with honors in Biology.  I will be graduating from the Honors College.  I will be graduating magna cum laude.  I will be graduating magna cum laude, with honors in Biology.  Take THAT undergraduate college career.  BOOYA - yes, I just said booya, and I'm not ashamed.  I wanted my rainbows.  I put up with a lot of damn rain to get my rainbow.  There better be a flippin' unicorn, too.

Yesterday.

Yesterday was relaxing.  And I needed that more than anything.

I woke a 6:30a unintentionally but just chose to go with it.  Took a lazy morning, revised my thesis some, grabbed lunch, ran errands, and headed out to the barn.  Yesterday was the first day of me pursuing my goal to master manual focus - so all photos in this entry via manual focus!

I didn't take a time telling or communicating device with me when I went to the barn.  I probably spent about an hour grooming Orion - braiding his mane, brushing off caked mud, treating the thrush in his feet with tea tree oil.  Then we tacked up and headed out on a solo ride. 

Initially I was really hesitant about this ride because Orion hasn't been out on a solo ride in a long time.  In the time since our last just-us ride he's become rather attached to his field mates.  But, surprisingly, he didn't fight to turn around at all.  He stopped a couple times in the first quarter mile, but didn't turn his head to go back at all.  He whinnied when we were within site of the field going and coming.  But that was it.  He was a very good boy. 

 I think someone kicked him - or maybe he fell, but I have a hard time imagining that because every time I see him in the field he's sluggish and lazy - because his right hind was sore.  The targeted area (I think) is just muscular.  I didn't detect that he was gimpy until we'd been out about a half mile and I asked him to go into a trot.  So I got off and lead him awhile, figured if he wasn't indicating to me he was in pain that a nice walk would be good.  So we walked, and walked.  After we got into the woods onto softer surfaces I remounted and kept him to a walk and just let him decide where he wanted to go - for the most part anyway.  It was so relaxing.  Blue skies, sun shining, light breeze, budding leaves, greening understory.  A great walking trail ride.    

Last night I busted out some more thesis revision, and then woke bright and early this morning to finish it and send it off to the necessary people. Al.most.done.  AGH.  Make.  It.  END.  Its looking likely that I may not even try to get a job until August.  Take these few months off to play, come down off my stress high, and remember what it's like to live in the moment.  I am on edge constantly right now.  Monday, Monday, Monday.  IT WILL BE OVER.  That being said - I still need to make my power point presentation for the defense and practice my defense speech.  Aaaah!!!  But it shouldn't be so bad - I hope.  Its just rehashing my paper in an interactive way, right?  Haha, we'll hope for the best.  Lots of baby bear pictures, can't fail with baby animals on my side!

Hope your Easter weekend is pleasant and not as rain filled as mine!!  (I wish I could insert an angry face here, scowls all around!)

It. Is. DONE.

Whew, so that's what work feels like?  No wonder I did everything way ahead of the due date through most of my college career.  Jeebus.

I just finished writing my undergraduate thesis.  I started at 8a this morning and worked until 1:30p.  ~3,300 words and 22 pages later - here I am.  Thoroughly exhausted.  I know that a giant weight is off my shoulders, but for some reason it still feels like its pushing down on my chest.  I don't know what I'm so concerned about.  I'm sure by tomorrow morning I will be feeling ecstatic again - or wait, no, probably not because I have to present at a symposium all day.  Sigh.  I suppose that's what that weight on my chest is - the symposium.  I printed off my 4 ft. x 3 ft. poster this afternoon.  It looks all snazzy.  I was paranoid I'd spelled something wrong until I checked it over three times.

After I printed the poster I headed to the hospital to say hello to little Jackson.  He was born yesterday at 7:22p.  8lbs 19.5 inches.  Jaci and Mike couldn't be prouder or happier parents!!

After a good visit with the beautiful little family I headed to Black Bear to devour my favorite dish and calm down about life a little bit.  Came back home to pack up more stuff to move home tomorrow.  I'm headed home for 5 days of R&R.  Two, possibly three, big presentations - including my thesis defense - on Monday.  Oi vey. 

For now, I'm going to watch Eat, Pray, Love and relax a bit.  Hope your Tuesday wasn't as stressful or full of work like mine!

Seriously?! (a rant)

So just came across this article about a 7 year old receiving plastic surgery to avoid bullying at school.  The author's view on it echos exactly how I feel about it.  (Click and watch the video that was linked in the author's blog, too.)  Absolutely ridiculous.  I hate that society puts so much pressure on kids.

I was never bullied in elementary school.  It was a care-free & fun time in my life.  In third and fourth grade I strictly played football at recess with the boys even!  I was a super tom-boy until middle school.  From third - sixth grade I strictly wore my hair in a ponytail or bun.  I hated wearing it down.  I hated that it was red.  I hated that I was a girl.  But I was never bullied at that young an age for anything!  Once I got to middle school it dawned on me that personal appearances and social status mattered.  I ditched my good elementary school friends on a quest to achieve popularity in seventh grade.  I crashed and burned.  The girls I wanted to befriend were just too mean.  So I fell back on my core group.  Eighth grade hit, I hacked 6 inches off my long hair to have a medium-length cut that my mother would style each morning for me.  (My hair has a lot of volume so this cut looked more mature than my former long hair.)  IMMEDIATELY bullying began.  Mean, mean girls.  Death threats, verbal sexual harassment, physical abuse, and dirty looks.  I begged my mom to take me out every day and home school me.  The school counselor was no help.  Some of my teachers who I was close to outside of school stepped up and would semi-escort me to class to help ward off some of the abuse.  It was awful.  But I lived. And with high school came freedom from those mean girls.

I built a lot of character in that time.  I learned a ton about myself and a ton about other people and life itself.  I learned who my best and truest friends were and I leaned on them.  They were amazing and I will forever be grateful towards them for their support.  My parents never truly understood the extent of it all - so, sadly, I grew away from them.  (This is probably the biggest reason I'm not super close to them to this day.)  But bottom line, from all of this - I am okay.  

Because of my experiences with bullying I think it is absolutely ABSURD for a seven-year-old to get plastic surgery to avoid bullying!  SEVEN?!  Come on.  I understand that bullying is an increasingly heinous thing going on in our school systems - but plastic surgery is going a little too far, don't you think?  Monitor internet usage, raise your children to love who they are and realize they are special - no matter what.  If they have body image issues, help them to resolve them in a healthy way.  Get them involved in a different circle of friends, different activities, or, hell, switch schools.  But plastic surgery?  No.  It kind of reminds me of Celia (or Cecelia?) in Weeds with her daughter.  Season 1 Episode 1 she says to her daughter at her daughter's soccer game: "Go run more Isa-belly, burn more calories - no fruit punch! Only water or diet soda!"  What is that teaching our kids, seriously?  (Not that children under the age of 13 should in any way be watching Weeds...).

Oh, America.  You and your views on self-image & self-worth.  I wish this could be improved upon.



**I don't in any way mean to preach about how parents are wrongly raising their kids - I'm not a parent, and frankly I'm on the fence about ever wanting to be one.  I just know the hardships I went through and only wish that other kids didn't have to go through them.  I know what could have been improved for my situations, so I merely elaborated upon that in this entry.**

The here-and-now

This is Kenai illegally on my bed.  I found him this way when I came back from washing my face this morning. 

My test this morning was cake (or so I thought).  I could be proved wrong when I get it back.  I'm currently sitting in my last "real" GIS lecture.  We don't have a final - just the final paper.  I'm not paying much attention due to this fact.  My paper for this class is the same as for my thesis.  I hope to have this finished by tomorrow night AT THE LATEST.  At which point I will celebrate.  Ow oww!  So, wish me luck.

Wednesday I present it at a symposium - and get a chance to win $100.  Then I'm headed home until Sunday afternoon.  I haven't decided yet if I will opt out of all phone/text/facebook activity for this break - next week when I head off for a break before my final (on May 5th) I definitely am though.  Super looking forward to getting away from it all and going on a little sabbatical.  I think I need to work on getting away from constant communication a little more.  I hate feeling like I "depend" on it.  This whole blogging bit isn't so bad, I don't feel a NEED to do it.  I can easily set it aside.  I wish I could do that with texting and Facebook - I just seem to end up doing it without even realizing.  I get lost in a world apart from everything that is actually going on.  That's not good.  I want to try to become more focused on the here-and-now.  I hope I can do that this summer (and future).

And on that note, I guess I'll get back to the here-and-now and face the music (or lecture) going on.  =)

To study or not to study? That is the question.

Yesterday I spent most my morning fiddling around with the data for my thesis - I just can't get significant results from it.  I'm learning a lot from my failures though.  It'll be a lot easier to sit and write it tomorrow/Tuesday due to this.  I recognize that not all experiments will deliver statistically significant results, and you shouldn't tweak them to because its not really the truth you're reporting then...  But these are den locations.  The bears have to be choosing them for a reason, they should be significantly different from random.  I just can't figure out what environmental stuff to include in the model to see this - maybe I should go crawl around in the woods and "hibernate" for a winter?

I completely forgot until last night that I have a test on Monday...oops.  So today has been spent studying for that - sorta.  So far today I have:

• read two (of four) chapters for said test
• organized and gone over my notes for said test
• started going through lecture power points for said test
• caught up on episodes of Make It Or Break It - I don't care if I'm too old, I freaking love gymnastics
• caught up on old episodes of Secret Life of the American Teenager - ok, I don't have an explanation as to why I watch this - Brenda Hampton's producing skills just appeal to me?  7th Heaven and now Secret Life...
• considered catching up on episodes of Supernatural but decided to wait another hour...maybe
• decided on some environmental variables to add to my bear den model
• made a list of the next load of stuff to move home - such a tedious process
• wrote this blog entry

Needless to say - I need to get back to studying at some point.  Sigh.  Everything is just so close to being done.  Its hard to study.  I have this test and a final and my thesis (which also doubles as my final paper for my other class).  Pretty much done-zo.  I feel like celebrating early - but I know I can't, pfffffffttt.

Either way though, definitely feeling more care-free than I have in months.  All the school stress is lifting and I'm able to get back in touch with the more trivial, enjoyable things in life.  The leaves are starting to reveal themselves, too, just in time for my liberation from education.  Slacklining will be happening this week.  =)

Ok, now that I see how much I have pointlessly written in my attempt to further procrastinate, I'M GOING TO STUDY.  (Congrats if you actually read this.  Its pathetic.)

i see the light...

I had my exit interview for the WVU Honors College this week.  I didn't really know what it was about - I though they would assess me and make sure I was still qualified to graduate from the Honors College or something...  Wrong-o.  All I had to do was tell them what was awesome about the HC and what they could improve on.  So... SWEET.

I would definitely recommend an HC experience to anyone if they had the chance.  I don't know how they run at other big universities, but it was a god-send to have it here.  It gave me the chance to have honors courses each semester that had a max. of 25 students.  I didn't try to take my honors courses in my subject field, instead I chose those that were taught by amazing professors.  Best. Experience. Ever.  Pseudoscience, Human Sexuality (yes, we talked about all those taboo things like masturbation and sex positions and...*gasp*...we watched porn - and filmed live births w/o anything left out, ack), Life Choices, City as Text (where I walked all around Morgantown instead of remaining in the classroom and explored all the history that is around town), Social Psychology, and Biometry (okay, okay, that one was in my field).  I gained SO much knowledge on sweet subjects from people who were SO into their field of study.  It truly makes a huge difference when professors are really enthusiastic about their subject.

So I checked out of the Honors College, shook the Dean's hand - he's also been my adviser for four years - and was handed these:

And then, as I walked home, it slowly dawned on me - I'm graduating.  I'm graduating college.  College is over.  I've always thought about this, and dreamed about this, and so many things, but DOING this?  Wow.  Its going to happen whether I'm ready or not.  Super exciting.  And super scary.  But walking across that stage in that gold gown amidst a sea of navy gowns will be so amazing.  My biggest achievement so far.

But damn, the real world is just looming over me.  I want to get my Master's of Science, but when and where are still up in the air.  I know the perfect opportunity will pop up when I'm ready for it, and I know it'll be awesome.  Just gotta keep my eyes and ears open for it.  Until then...

Real world, are you ready for me?  'Cause here I come to take you for a test drive.

Wordless Wednesday

Snippets

• Kenai jumping out the window of my car at the busiest intersection in my home town - and then running through the intersection.  That was enough of a heart attack for me for awhile.  Needless to say I immediately went out and bought him a doggie seat belt.

• Buying this new hat

• Orion trying to prove to me he'd rather nap then go ride - it didn't work.

• I put a braid in his hair the day before and he didn't roll it all out...

• Orion's fly mask

• Riding in shorts and a tank top.

• 80 degree weather!  Its a little much, but I know we'll slack back down into the 70s soon.  Sunny and fair weather is an amazing change though.

• Jamming out to Jack Johnson on my way back to Morgantown - and shooting pictures out my window at 55mph.  Not bad considering the speed.

• Matt's uber fat ankle from falling bouldering.  I sympathize with him because this happened to me July 5th last summer.  I wasn't a great patient either and it resulted in my ankle being swollen three months later.  Granted, my ankles are majorly screwed up from 10 years of competitive swimming...my bouldering injury still gives me grief today.

• Aced my GIS midterm exam that was a fourth of my grade!  98%!!  I was seriously expecting a 50-something.
  
• Asking for help with my thesis from my GIS professor after class and getting passed off a fellow who works for him who ended up hooking me up with some MAJOR awesome data and saving me HOURS of work!  Super-major-score-big!!
  
• And an update on Ty on the AT - according to his journal he's hiked a silly amount of miles!  561 now.  Can you imagine hiking that far?  I can't.  Power to you, Ty!

Bringin' back memories

Traveled home this morning to a feast of amazing food!  Local groups always hold chicken burns this time of year as fundraisers.  Oh yum, yum, yum.  I seriously cannot describe in words how amazing this slow-cooked, marinated half-chicken is!!

I grew up eating these dinners all the time.  Soo many memories revolve around this food!

And this!!



Now I recognize that a lot of people won't understand what the above is a picture of.  I mean, there's mac'n'cheese, but what is that other thing?  Its a pepperoni roll.  Its West Virginia's version of sushi in a sense.  Japanese fishermen needed a way to keep their lunches for a little while w/o spoiling and keep it all in one place, so they put vinegar in their rice and then wrapped the rice and fish in seaweed - and hence sushi was born.  Well coal miners in WV needed a way to take their meals below ground in a simpler fashion, and since the pay used to be so poor pepperoni and flour were easy to come by - and the pepperoni roll was born.  It was a great way for the miners to eat while at work.

In elementary, middle, and high school one of the monthly school lunches was peperoni rolls with mac'n'cheese.  We used to open the pepperoni roll up and put mac'n'cheese inside.  Oh-so-good!  I definitely recommend these to anyone!

What foods bring back memories for you?

Productivity!

I have been SO productive from the moment I woke this morning until now.  GO ME.  Cleaned kitchen, cleaned bathroom, picked up trash, took all trash and recycling out, vacuumed living room, WROTE THE EVIL PAPER - well, most of it.  I have the abstract (easy), conclusion (mostly easy) and maybe one paragraph left to add to the body AND THEN ITS DONE-DONE!!  Ow oww!  ...and then it will need reviewed and revised a little.  Its not due until April 27th though...  But its out of the way!  I'm certain I will have it polished off and ready for revision by Sunday.  And then....

ON TO MY THESIS.  The big one.  The really big paper that determines my grade in two classes (for a total of 7 of my 12 credit hours this semester) AND that determines whether I will graduate from the Honors College and whether or not I will graduate with honors from the Biology dept.  Oh boy.  My goal for this giant thing?  Finished and revised once by myself and peers by the 19th - that's right, if you did your math correctly that adds up to completion 12 days from now.  Yikes.  I defend my thesis on the 25th, but I need to give my advisor time to go over the paper before then.  Eeeekkk!  Defending.  I defended my proposal, and that was evil.  If I can wake up the morning of the 25th and not wobble due to anxiety freaking my neurons out and misfiring their signals, I'll be good!

BOOM BOOM BOOM, time to CONQUER.  I got this.  =)

This picture is a year and a half old...
but it clearly demonstrates how I'm
feeling - and its just funny.

Wordless Wednesday

**going to to start this series on Wednesdays - also going to attempt to use all of my own photography - i will  state if it is from someone else**

Spontaneity

Watching Yes Man the other night... the scene where Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel are in the airport to take "the first flight out of here" really made me want to just run away and do that.  I think it would be so awesome to just be able to run away from everything at the drop of a hat.  Just take that person who means the most to you and go to the nearest big airport, run inside, and get seats on the first flight out of there.  How cool would that be?  I guess it would be a little difficult to know how much money to take though.  If the first flight out were going to Japan or Australia or New Zealand or something - that could get pricey!  But oh, to just pack a small carry-on bag and just escape!  If only. 

Equine events

I only wish I'd been a little more diligent with my picture taking this weekend.  The weather was CRAZY.  Very typical for this time of year.

This picture was on the front page of our local paper.

Saturday was the equine vaccination clinic at the local 4-H camp.  Since Carly and I don't possess a trailer we had to ride the horses down on the main road.  Mom followed behind in my car with the hazards on to ward off some traffic - made it less stressful for all parties involved.

We had a pretty uneventful ride to the camp - thankfully.  The only moment of incidence was when an absurdly fat pony came running out of his shed on the side of the road and scared the shit out of Skip and Orion.  The pavement was wet and they're barefoot (though having shoes on would have made it worse) and both horses slipped in their efforts to get away from the startling stimulus.  Orion went to shove weight off his right fore, slipped throwing his head and fore-quarters downwards, I lost my right stirrup and fell forwards right as he was throwing up his head to regain balance *crack* my face collided into his head/neck with force.  Luckily my nose and lips didn't bleed from it.  Had a headache the rest of the day though.

It didn't precipitate the entire ride to the clinic, but once we got there boy did it get crazy!  Wind, wind, wind the whole day kept the weather moving through real quick-like.  Rain, sun, blue skies, gray-black clouds, snow, rain, snow, sun, snow - and the night before there was SNOW THUNDER!!, my favorite - crazy, crazy weather.  Despite it there was a decent turn out at the clinic.  The little 4-H girls raised about $1800 towards going to the Equine Affair this weekend and for their summer riding camp.  There were also riding, groundwork, equine massage, and pack horse demonstrations by professionals in each concentration.  I was tossed into the riding part as a student with Carly.  It was fun - really cool to see how quickly Orion could learn stuff.

Sunday Suzanne of Appalachian Hoof Care came out to put a natural trim on both Skip and Orion.  Not too huge a change for Skip, but Orion had only ever been trimmed twice in his 6.5 year life.  His back feet were too long in the toes and his right fore was really off balance.  Suzanne fixed him up though.  He wasn't thrilled about his new feet when we road though, minced his steps the whole time - hopefully he'll get used to them though.

Upon arrival back to Morgantown last night I downed a latte and got to work studying more GIS for my giant test today - it still kicked my butt.  It was for a fourth of my grade - guess I'll find out in the upcoming weeks how I did.  I flipped through my answers afterward and figured I at least got above a 50 - and I graded myself very strictly assuming the worst for everything.  So hopefully it will go better than I expect.

Flowers from home I brought back to
brighten my room in my study-fest.

22 days until freedom from it all.  A scientific review paper to write, thesis data to analyze, thesis to write, thesis to defend - and once that is all over I will be a lot more content.  Final exam on May 5th and then I will truly be free.  Crazy to think college is almost over...  Super excited to spend more time horsing around though.