Christmas and My Normal Cycle

So, I WAS going to update and wish everyone a Merry Christmas, but I got really rundown and tired after I finished finals. I worked Saturday at Borders; I went to church, had the aquarium, and celebrated my dad's birthday on Sunday; and I had Borders on Monday and went to Christmas Eve service on Monday. I came home on Monday and immediately went to bed. I was just done in. Well, I woke up for about 30 minutes to go downstairs and eat. I ate, in a semi-rush, and went back to bed. I slept fitfully for a few hours and finally got up and threw up! Woohoo! *rolls eyes* I ended up sleeping TERRIBLE that night and threw up a few more times (about every hour after the first time for 4 hours!). I went downstairs sometime around 4 am to get something to drink. Kept a Pepsi down and slept for 1.5 hours (the longest stretch that night I slept). I got up around 6:30, though, after my stomach woke me up again. It just didn't feel good to be laying down. It felt better sitting up, so I ended up snoozing off and on on the couch on Christmas day, feeling miserable. I got through the presents without any issues, but promptly afterwards I threw up some more! To say the last, I skipped the Christmas meal and slept on and off for most of the afternoon. I did keep down another Pepsi and two jello/fruit cups, though. I was feeling okay in the evening, so I ate something solid! That was a bad idea...Ironically, I always felt better with an empty stomach than with a full stomach. *sigh* Of course I was getting this terrible headache because I was dehydrated, but I couldn't keep anything down. Water even came back up a few times. I did sleep through that night, though. 10 hours! Even after sleeping most of the day away.

I felt much better yesterday and I was up and moving around and nothing came back up, but my stomach has been pretty sensitive. I can't stand the thought of eating, even if I'm hungry. Yesterday I had Won Ton Soup and today...It doesn't sound good. Easy to eat/liquid things have been my friend. Though I do have to force myself to eat them.

Anyway, that brings us to the current day where I am going to work. I called out yesterday (2nd time in 3.5 years!). Funny enough, the last time I called out was ALSO December 26th. :P I do see a cycle here...I finish school, get super tired, get sick on/around Christmas. Hopefully, compared to last year, I won't carry it down south with me. That'd be a bummer...At least I don't have a cold! Less odds of having a bloody nose! *crosses fingers*

Off the topic of my illnesses....I'm FINALLY all registered for classes next semester! Yay! Physics I, Physics I Lab, Marine Conservation Bio, Marine Conservation Bio Discussion (20 minute "class" - how retarded...), Capstone Seminar II, and Environmental and Resource Economics. That's a total of 13 units or 15 hours of class a week. I have to figure out my extracurricular activities/work situation next semester. I was a bit overworked this semester and with Capstone Seminar II and Environmental Economics (it's a grad class...) I don't want to kill myself. LoL So I'm trying to figure out how to juggle everything. I have Borders (once a week), MBARI (I have to put in at least 10 hours a week for my capstone), Aquarium (every other Sunday), and Contest team manager, not to mention any personal life I'd like to have. :P I haven't exactly figured out which thing to drop...I'm between Borders and the Aquarium. I may see if I can drop myself at the aquarium to once a month or something. I would rather not drop Borders (go contingent - work once every quarter). I also don't really want to drop the aquarium either because of the gala in May. LoL If I go on leave I can't go in May on my own (I learned that one semester!). And...Contest team manager really isn't the problem. So...I have about 3 more weeks to figure this out! I go back to school Tues, Jan 22nd.

On a random note...Graduation is May 17th!!! I am definitely going to keep that in sight this next semester. I am ALMOST finished with my undergraduate degree!! *grins*

Well...I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate)! I had a good Christmas (despite my stomach bug) and I had a good birthday too (I forgot to mention that!).

Here's hoping to everyone having a great welcome into the next year - 2008!

*proud*

I am SO proud of The Leaky Cauldron right now. No matter my sometimes frustrating moments I have, it will always (in my mind) be the BEST Harry Potter fansite around. No other site compares to its news reporting and trying its best to give the fans information on and about the books and movies. The staff's dedication is amazing and it's really a lovely bunch of people to work with.

Anyway, enough of the sentimental stuff. I'm posting to say that Leaky made it as the #2 fansite of 25 as ranked by Entertainment Weekly magazine. Considering the masses of fansites there are out there (not just Harry Potter fansites, but fansites in general) this is an amazing honor.

With that, I need to get back to work (compiling coastal state population and housing data *groans*).

Oh, if anyone is wondering, I will be going to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets with the fam and my friend Becky and going to Chipotle beforehand (gotta love Chipotle!).

I'M FINISHED!!

I just turned my last paper in!!!!! NO MORE PAPERS!!! NO MORE FINALS!!!

Well, until next semester, but I don't go back till January the 22nd and all I have to do this January is work on my capstone. WOOHOO

*dances for joy* I am SO excited. I can sleep and eat now. LoL

My last paper was definitely not my best, but - at this point - I simply don't care. LoL My Water Law paper was by far my longest at 26 pages double-spaced (no literature cited or anything). My Food Ethics paper is 11 pages 1.5-spaced. My capstone proposal (just the intro, methods, qualifications, and real-world application) is 7 pages double-spaced. My marine bio paper is 4 pages single-spaced. I suffered through having to make 6 powerpoint presentations within two weeks and 2 finals.

I am SO glad to be finished!

Grades are due January the 3rd, but I probably won't find out my grades till January the 4th (the earliest). I think I'll pull an A in water law and food ethics. I may pull a A- in capstone and I might have a B or A- in marine bio. Kind of depends on how I did on the finals for marine bio. My capstone proposal got a 90% and I'm pretty sure I got an A on the presentation, so an A- or A is for capstone.

I'm glad I got everything done by today. I have to work at MBARI tomorrow from 10am-6pm and tomorrow's my birthday. I don't want to have another birthday like I did last year. LoL

With that...I'm off to veg the rest of the night!

Last week!

ARG!!!!!!

I DISLIKE LEGAL DOCUMENTS! It's all I've been reading for my Water Law class. Legal documents everywhere! I thought I was mostly done, but I just realized I have to go through the Endangered Species Act about the Delta Smelt. *sigh* Sometimes I just want to curl up on my bed and not move a muscle. If anything, this class has shown me I have NO desire to go into environmental law. Oh..my...gosh...I could not imagine having to read all the fine print in all these laws.

Anyway, onto better news...I have 1 final and 3 papers left! NO MORE PRESENTATIONS! I finished my last presentation today! I also turned in a paper today! Woohoo!! This time next week I will be FINISHED! Least, that's my projected time I want my last paper to be turned in. He said we have till Friday evening, but I'm going to aim for Thursday by 5 pm!

Our last marine biology final is mostly aimed at estuaries/marshes, coral reefs, and marine mammals and birds. So that's not TOO bad, but I definitely have to review the coral reefs and estuaries/marshes since those are my "weaknesses" when it comes to marine biology.

I'm hoping to get my capstone proposal revised tomorrow, send it back to Judy, and have her return it to me by Monday so I can send it back on Tuesday (another look over) and then officially turn it on Wednesday by 6pm (I think it is). It will be SO nice to have that over with. If my capstone proposal isn't approved, I don't get to register for capstone II next semester, which means I don't get to graduate next semester, so this capstone proposal is pretty big.

With that, I'm back to writing my water law paper. *sigh*

Last 1.5 weeks left!

Gah...I never want to go through THAT experience again - marine bio lab final! My shoulders and hand hurt from all the writing and he probably won't be able to read my chicken scratch. Lol I'm definitely not used to writing so much by hand anymore. So much of what we do now is on the computer. My hand muscles aren't used to it, not to mention my thumb repetitive stress thingy. My thumb started hurting while writing too. I don't expect the most spectacular grade from that final. 4 questions, we had to write on 3, and they were basically scenarios and we had to write what we would use to answer the scenario or collect the data. I guess we'll see how I do next week.

I did my 5th of 6 presentations today too. One more left on Thursday! I'm so tired of doing presentations, but on the other hand...I don't care about them anymore so in some ways I'm presenting better. LoL Though, I think today's was probably my worst one yet. I went over my slides once after I created them. Oh well. I think I did okay anyway.

I DON'T have anything due tomorrow! I am SO excited! I can go to sleep at a decent time for once (before 3 or 4 am!).

I wrote this out a while ago, but my schedule is a bit shorter now.

Wednesday (12th) - NOTHING!
Thursday (13th) - Marine bio presentation (already created); marine bio paper
Friday (14th) - Revamped capstone proposal; MBARI
Saturday (15th) - Borders (2-10:30pm - midnight hours start on Friday *cries*)
Sunday (16th) - Nothing
Monday (17th) - Nothing; MBARI
Tuesday (18th) - Marine bio final
Wednesday (19th) - FINAL Capstone proposal; water law paper
Thursday (20th) - Food ethics paper
Friday (21st) - I'M FREE! I turn 22!

I'm almost there and I will be dancing in the streets, I tell ya.

'Twas the night before finals

I have 2 weeks left of classes. I'm going to make it...I think...I just have to remember I can sleep AFTER school is over with.

My friend e-mailed this to me. It's pretty cute.

'Twas the night before finals,
And all through the college,
The students were praying
For last minute knowledge.

Most were quite sleepy
But none touched their beds,
While visions of essays
Danced in their heads.

Out in the taverns,
A few were still drinking,
And hoping that liquor
Would loosen their thinking.

In my own dorm room,
I had been pacing,
And dreading exams
I soon would be facing.

My roommate was speechless,
His nose in his books,
And my comments to him
Drew unfriendly looks.

I drained all the coffee,
And brewed a new pot,
No longer caring
That my nerves were all shot.

I stared at my notes
But my thoughts were all muddy
My eyes went ablur,
I just couldn't study.

"Some pizza might help,"
I thought with a shiver,
But each place that I called
Refused to deliver.

I'd nearly concluded
That life was too cruel,
With futures depending
On grades had in school.

When all of a sudden,
Our door opened wide,
And Patron Saint Put It Off
Ambled inside.

His spirit was careless,
His manner was mellow,
He looked straight at me,
And started to bellow:

"What kind of student
Would make such a fuss
To toss back at teachers
What they tossed at us?"

"On Cliff Notes! On Crib Notes!
On Last Year's Exams!
On Wingit and Slingit,
And Last Minute Crams!"

His message delivered,
He vanished from sight,
But we heard him laughing
Outside in the night.

"Your teachers have pegged you,
So just do your best.
Happy Finals to All,
And to all a good test.""

I'm FINISHED!

All this week I have been worried about my capstone proposal presentation and I FINISHED it tonight! It's the most nervous I've ever been in a presentation, but I relaxed by the end and I did my presentation in 8.5 minutes - perfect!

My friends (though they can be biased ) thought it was the best presentation of the night and I gave sufficient background information. We'll see what my grade on it is from Dan and what Judy thought.

Tonight's presentation is the 3rd presentation I've had this week. I still have 3 more presentations for next week (Mon, Tues, Thurs). I also have a marine bio lab final next Tuesday and my marine biology paper due next Thursday.

I am so relieved this presentation is over with, though. LoL

Welcome to December

Coincidentally, my birthday and the last day of the semester are the same day this year - Friday, December 21st. It'll definitely be one happy day for me!

I have 3 weeks left of school. I'm about to go nuts. I have 6 presentations to do in 2 weeks. They each need their own powerpoint too. It's not easy making powerpoints! They take time to figure out how much you really need on a slide and finding appropriate pictures to go with them and making sure you're within your time limit.

My presentation schedule:
Monday, Dec 3 - Water Law - Exercise 5, Safe Drinking Water Act
Tuesday, Dec 4 - Marine bio - Ocean Sunfish Biology
Wednesday, Dec 5 - Capstone - Proposal presentation (my advisor is going to be there and other professors!)
Monday, Dec 10 - Water Law - Final paper presentation, San Francisco Delta and Ecological Impacts
Tuesday, Dec 11 - Food Ethics - Final paper presentation, Ecotourism
Tuesday, Dec 11 - Marine bio - Ocean Sunfish Ecology

My papers are due between two weeks and they're papers that require a lot of work. Here's when those are due.
Thursday, Dec 13 - Marine bio - 5 pgs single-spaced (min) on the Ocean Sunfish (ecology and biology)
Wednesday, Dec 19 - Water law - 10 pgs single-spaced (min) on San Fran Delta and the ecological impacts
Wednesday, Dec 19 - Capstone proposal - However long on the economic impacts of domoic acid and saxitoxin occurrences have on commercial shellfish industries and tourism in California
Thursday, Dec 20 - Food Ethics - However long on ecotourism

I also have 2 finals. We're having a marine biology lab final (Tues, Dec 11 - based off the concepts/methods we used during labs this past semester) and we have a marine biology final (Tues, Dec 18 - last 3rd of the semester, mostly).

I'm still working at Borders on Sat and I have the aquarium once between now and then (Sunday, Dec 9th). Not to mention MBARI on Monday (3-6pm) and Friday (10-6pm). I do feel like I'm going to go nuts, but I also have so much to do that I just don't always know where to begin! I've been working more on presentations than my papers, which should be the other way, but that's how it's been working so far. I - for the most part - don't have any schoolwork due in between everything else, but I do have 2 more assignments for Food Ethics on top of our final paper and presentation. Not sure about Marine bio if he'll give us another lit review or not. I hope not!

The end of the tunnel is definitely within sight. I'll have one semester left and then I'll be finished with college!

This last Friday I attended a meeting in Sacramento put on by COMPASS (Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea). I attended because Judy told me about it so I basically went for MBARI/work/school. COMPASS does these Legislative Sacramento Luncheons for legislators (more so their staff) can learn about various ocean issues and why they have an importance to legislators and the public). It was in a building in front of the State Capital building and it has the Appeals Court and State Library in it. It was an amazing building. All marble and everything. The drinking fountains were even marble! LoL The elevator was super fast too. So fast (the meeting was on the top floor - 5th floor) my stomach dropped for about 3 floors. By the time I got over it, the elevator was slowing down for the 1st floor. Anyway, the meeting was on the same topic as my capstone, so that was good. It touched upon what I'm researching and I did learn some new things, but the most important thing I got out of it is NETWORKING! Two of the people I've been e-mailing were attending the meeting as speakers. I got a stiff e-mail from one of them before. When I introduced myself to this same gentleman, we started talking and he said if I need any help to just e-mail him anytime! YES! My first solid west coast contact.

Anyway, with that. I must go. I need to get back to homework (working on my capstone presentation) and go to bed.

Contests

On top of everything I'm doing, I've added the title of "Contest Manager" for the Harry Potter fansite I work for. I've been filling in the spot waiting for our manager, but she's sans a computer for sometime now. To have the contest team have an official manager, I've been made it. Or, well, I was asked and I accepted after deliberating about it.

I'm into my last 4 weeks of the semester. I'm stressed beyond stressed. I have so much to do I don't even know where to begin, yet I'm still somehow procrastinating on a daily basis...

Non Sequitur

Just about the best comic I've seen all year!

This is from today's Non Sequitur



(If you click on it, it'll bring up the Photo Xanga and if you click on the image there, you'll see the whole comic...so complicated...)

Snorkeling

Well, I survived the 50 degree water and 55 degree weather.

We saw some AMAZING things and we weren't even that far out. In ways of fish we saw senoritas, perches, some really fish that you could barely see, and a school of some silver type of fish. We saw all types of invertebrates like sea stars, abalone, sponges, crabs, etc. We saw all types of algae too (of course). The neatest thing was a gray harbor seal that was hanging out at one end where we were snorkeling around. It swam by us, it looked at us, and it swam underneath us! It was directly below us. It was so cool. The deepest part we went to was probably about 20-30 feet deep. Wasn't too deep and you could see all the way to the bottom. Visibility was amazing.

My wetsuit did pretty well. It was a bit big on me, but served its purpose. I'm about to return it back to campus in a few. I was forgetting to breath for the first 10 minutes or so. We're so used to breathing out of our nose that I'd forget to breath out of my mouth. Once I got used to breathing out of my mouth, I was really comfortable and enjoyed the whole experience. Water was cold so I went all numb when we got out, but it was good. All-in-all, it was fun and I'm glad I went.

Happy November!

Welcome to November. I began my entrance into November with a marine biology test (2nd of three) on Thursday and spent my Saturday doing the GRE (Graduate Records Examination - test to get into graduate school). What a way to start the month off!

Marine biology test wasn't too bad, but we'll see Thursday how I did. Tomorrow we're going snorkeling. I rented my gear today (wetsuit, mask/snorkel, fins, booties, hood, gloves) for $15! Thank goodness for the dive class/programs here. I don't even want to think how much it would have cost me renting from some dive shop on Cannery Row. It's supposed to be cold tomorrow. *sigh* Which means even with my wetsuit, it's going to be cold. I don't even want to think about it! We'll only be in the water for about an hour though, so that's not too bad. I may just stay in my wetsuit when we get out of the water until I get home. I'd probably stay warmer that way. LoL

The GRE Saturday was, well, the GRE. It's like the SAT only it's computerized and if you answer a question wrong, the next question is easier and if you answer a question right the next question is harder. So, strategy says to do the best you can in the first third over the next 2/3. Course, when you're taking a test sometimes that all goes out the door. Anyway, with the minimal studying I did, it could have been worse. The two essays at the beginning (at least one) I nailed. It was on a topic I knew a lot about so I had fun writing that one. The other one was just a boring topic. I ran out of time on the math section so I literally was guessing on the last 10 questions. I barely was even reading the questions. So there definitely was not a whole lot of thought in my answers. The verbal section wasn't too bad, but I'd find myself staring at the words or questions and not thinking of an answer. Would have gone better if I studied up on vocab. :D To say the least, I will be taking the test again (probably in June). I didn't do terrible, but I definitely could and want to do better than what I got. I went with 3 other people and I, overall, did better than everyone else, but still.

This week is not a fun week (nor was last week). I have a paper due (draft on Tues, final on Thurs), my revised capstone proposal due on Wed, and a lit review for marine bio on Thurs. Capstone proposal just stresses me out. I have missing holes in my proposal and places I need to fill in and flush out. The final capstone proposal isn't due till Wednesday, December 19th, but the end of the semester is lookin' ugly.

We have next Monday off thanks to Vetran's Day. The following week we have the entire week off due to Thanksgiving/Fall Break. We have class for 4 weeks and then it's winter break! Our last day of classes is Friday, December 21st (my birthday). My final papers/presentations/tests are spread out between 2 weeks, so that's kind of nice, but still nuts.

I registered for Terminus on Wednesday (last day to get the $140 registration fee, it's $20 more now). I got sorted into Kohilo House. It's a completely random sorting, but it's the "horse-y" house! I guess as horse-y as you can get since all the houses are dragons. :P If you read about what the house is, you'll get the whole horse thing. I haven't book plane tickets yet, because I'm HOPING ticket prices will come down from Monterey, but I'll probably end up going out of San Jose since, right now, the price difference is $200.

Still looking into whether I'm going to Australia in July or not. Airfare has gone back UP. So it's back to $2300. I was finding some airfares between $1900 and $2100 for a while, but in the last week it's gone back up. :- I did find an off-season ticket to Heathrow from San Fran (Jan 8th to 21st) for $565, though! LoL Talk about being tempted! I can visit Maria in Ireland, Kate in England, and Mads (my friend who I'm trying to visit in Australia is doing an exchange program in France) will be in France in January! I can also visit Glasgow, Scotland and check out Edinburgh University, but oh well.

With that, I must go and write my rough draft of my paper that is due tomorrow and work a bit more on my capstone paper.

Last thing, I'm going to start tagging my posts. Not that it makes a big difference, but whatever. Might as well.

Laters!

New York City!

Link to NYC pictures

The trip was fantastic! New York is amazing! The weather was pretty good after the storm went through on Friday afternoon. It was really muggy on Friday. Saturday, the weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, sunny. New York reminded me a lot of London, funny enough. It was the amount of people (crowds on sidewalks), crossing against the red on sidewalks, the driving/cars, and the tall buildings. It was definitely faster paced compared to California, though. Pretty much all the stereotypes of New York City applied (e.g. honking, cars, etc), though, which is funny. JK Rowling is still amazing to me. Sometimes you meet people in real life and you don’t like them; I just like JK Rowling even more. She’s an amazing lady. 

I wrote a very long more than 4 page write-up of the entire weekend, but it's too long to post in a blog. Course, most of it is about Friday night (about half, LoL). So...I'll sum up the other days in a few lines and post my long write-up of Friday.

The flight to NYC was uneventful and good. We had no real problems getting the car service to pick us up. They drove us straight to our hotel and dropped us off! The hotel (Park Savoy) is a budget hotel and our room was TINY, but clean and GREAT location. I think the queen bed rooms are larger, but we had a double bed so it was small (smallest bathroom I've ever seen in an actual building). We were a block away from Central Park South (that's a road, but also the south end of Central Park). We were right across the back entrance to the Essex House. And one block away from Carnegie Hall (literally right around the corner from our hotel).

Saturday we went on one of those hop-on-hop-off bus tours around
downtown. We caught it at Central Park South and rode it all through
downtown. We stopped at Ground Zero and saw the cross and St. Paul's
Chapel (the place where people hung all those banners/signs/stuff after
9/11). We also went to the Scholastic store! That was cool just to see
some of the Harry Potter stuff they had. We walked around Times Square
and Broadway too. We saw where Wicked was playing, but didn't go and
see it. We were tired, it was Saturday night, and there were a ton of
people around.

Sunday morning we walked the west side of
Central Park and found The Dakota. It was really sunny and I was just
dying in the sun. There were LOTS of people walking through Central
Park and then we realized it was a walk to promote Breast Cancer
Awareness. THOUSANDS and thousands of people were walking around
Central Park. We tried walking "upstream" of them and we gave up and
walked on the street because there were just too many of them.

The flight home was good, but boy am I glad to be home! 

I've definitely had an amazing year and one I'm very thankful for. Now
time to buckle down for my capstone and finish this semester strong.
I've got an intense next 2 weeks coming up for school.

-----

Friday, Oct 19
We got up and decided to just check out the area we were around. We went and found Carnegie Hall (literally around the corner from our hotel). There were a ton of people milling outside and I realized that these were the school children that were going for their book reading, Q&A, and signing. We walked down that street and down an avenue to get to Central Park. We walked along the south end of it for a while and came to an intersection. I looked to the right and what did I see?! The APPLE STORE! The famed cube with the Apple in the middle with the actual store below ground. I couldn’t believe it. So I took pictures and we went in. If I ever had a moment of impulse buying, it was then. Playing with the new iMac and iPods I had a momentary weakness of wanting to buy something so I can get the Apple bag. LoL It’s just a white drawstring bag with a silver Apple on it, but it’s an Apple store in the Big Apple! Anyway, we left before I could attempt to buy anything and walked down Madison Ave. We stopped in an Ann Taylor store (store Kristi likes) to see if we could get her anything that she’d like, but it was all too expensive (at least right now – hahaha). We walked back to Central Park and walked about a third of the park. I tell you, that park is HUGE and AMAZING! We went past the zoo, saw the Balto statue, and the Alice in Wonderland statue. When we were walking back to see if we could find something to eat in Columbus Circle (we made a full loop), it started to rain! Luckily, I had brought 2 umbrellas so we used those. We got pretty damp, but it wasn’t bad. We went into the Times Warner shopping center and found it’s 3 floors. We went into the Borders on the 2nd floor (I had to). I bought my travel map I left back home and called my store. I ended up having a full-blown conversation and asking to put something on hold. My mom was laughing at me saying I’m in a Borders in NY while I’m on the phone to a Borders in California asking them to put a book on hold for me. We went to Whole Foods for lunch (in the basement). We walked back out and it stopped raining! We went to pick up our tickets at about 3 pm. We got them with no problem and then decided to go back to our room to rest for a bit.

Noelle and I got in touch and agreed to meet up at Brooklyn Diner (the block right next to Carnegie Hall) for dinner. We met up, hugged, introduced people (Noelle brought her brother, Trevor), and ordered food! The food was really good and we talked Harry while eating. Noelle INSISTED on buying dinner. She grabbed the check the instant it came and gave my mom and I the dirtiest look when we asked about it. I know you shouldn’t mess with Noelle, but on-line I can just ignore her and she can’t do anything to me. Man, in real life, do NOT mess with Noelle! LoL

After dinner we went to Carnegie Hall and was amazed at how many people were already in line! We went to line up around 6pm, the event is supposed to start at 7pm. We took pictures in line and waited. We debated whether they’ll take cameras away or not (they didn’t even check your bags). Noelle got interviewed by a Kid Reporter for Kids’ Time Magazine.

Once we were in the building, we split up from Noelle and Trevor.  They were in the topmost balcony and we were floor. We had FANTASTIC seats! They were on the floor, middle, and I’d say the first most half. We had a wonderful view of the stage. I took some pictures I wasn’t supposed to take because everyone else had their cameras on! Eventually they did tell us that cameras were not allowed and blah, blah, blah. So I stopped. I talked with the people next to me. Everyone was asking where you were from and yaddy, yaddy.

Finally, JK Rowling came out! She got a standing ovation from us all. It was just amazing. She read to us for about 20 minutes. This particular section (the moment right after Ron destroyed the locket to the end of the chapter) was the first time she’s read that piece in public. She said she a) knew we were an older crowd and b) that we’re all more likely to have finished the book by now. It was so neat to hear her reading because she inflected in the reading how it was SUPPOSED to sound/be. I thought Hermione forgave Ron quicker than she actually is supposed to. It was just one of the most surreal moments. I’m sitting in Carnegie Hall, he most acoustically perfect building, and I’m listening to JK Rowling read. It was just amazing. Carnegie Hall is just BEAUTIFUL and I’d love to go back and listen to some live music in there, but adding in JK Rowling? It was just amazing.

She answered about 15 questions. They ranged all over the place and only 2 were “duds” in my mind. Only because they’d been asked before or some form of them. Though, 1 of my duds Jo did extrapolate on so it wasn’t so much of a dud. Of course I was at the reading when she explained that Dumbledore is gay. It truly makes sense for his actions towards Grindelwald, but it doesn’t affect the book in the sense it doesn’t affect Harry’s storyline. After she told us, most people started cheering. There’s a lot of hype about it and people don’t like it and now are starting to think perverse things about Dumbledore and Harry’s relationship, but – seriously – it’s not that big of a deal because a) Dumbledore loved Harry as a SON, b) it doesn’t affect the plot or the book since it's all Harry's story, and c) TOLERANCE people!

The question I liked is the one where she talked about why she had Molly kill Bellatrix. Mom really liked her answer since she basically said that mothers and housewives also have talents beyond tending the home. It just makes you like Jo since she seems to realize where there are intolerances, lack of respect, and places our society can work more on (e.g. tolerance!). Someone also asked about what she hoped people would get from the books (actually pertained more to the parallel of Nazi Germany and the Deatheaters), but she talked about tolerance and prejudices and to question authority (to not believe the press or news for everything). I also liked how she explained why she couldn’t kill Arthur. Frankly, I just liked about everything she said. Lol

Neil (her husband) and her kids were there too, which was nice. He was up on the first balcony (one right above the ground floor) to the right side. I saw him. We only knew he was there because she mentioned he was there and then I saw people pointing. LoL

Anyway, after the Q&A she walked off stage to get ready to sign books! They started with the first 2 rows of people in my section because they were the ones who got to ask questions. Then they did the entire right side and then us! As we waited, they compiled all the previous readings she’s done from Goblet of Fire to Deathly Hallows so we could watch it. It was pretty neat.

Once I got up to the table, I was distracted by the Scholastic people because they were (literally) shoving people along. I looked at her and she looked me right in the eye and say “hi, how are you?” I was totally thrown off so I said “fine” and then I was watching her sign the book in front of me and I got shoved along and given a book she had signed (not kidding) 2 books ago! She was signing books faster than people were moving through the line! I bet they changed this tactic (of not personalizing) after London when she was there for HOURS! She signed people’s name (I’m pretty sure), they got the hologram sticker in the upper right hand corner, and she signed it. This time around it was she just signed as fast as she could (they had a ton of people helping) and they slapped on a sticker where ever they could place it fastest. It was kind of anticlimactic, but STILL amazing. I think she looked at every person who went by. How amazing is that? I mean, I walked away with a SIGNED book by JK Rowling. I SAW her in person! She SPOKE to me. It was amazing. LoL

We left Carnegie Hall after that and milled outside. I wasn’t sure where Noelle was, but knew she was in the balcony somewhere. Turns out, she was at the VERY top. So we ended up going back to our hotel so we could drop our books off and rest a bit while we waited. I called people right when we got out and talked to people while in the hotel. Eventually we decided she has to be almost done so we went back. Noelle came out about 15-20 minutes later. We took pictures in front of Carnegie Hall with our books and went our ways. Trevor isn’t one to stay up late.

Mom and I went out for dessert afterwards. We stopped at a place called the Park Café because they had cheesecake! They gave us a HUGE slice. What was really different about New York to California was the level of service at the restaurants! You’d put your order in immediately (almost) and you’d get your food like 15 minutes or less later. It was amazing! Sure beat my recent experience at Chili’s where Jenn waited like 40 minutes for her meal (about 20 minutes after we got ours). It was pretty good.

Life update

Huh, that's weird. I thought I updated with my marine bio test grade. I guess I didn't. I got an 85% on it. I did a LOT better than I thought on the essay questions. I missed some dumb things on the T/F part and only missed 1 multiple question, but it was worth 5 points. LoL Oh well, it's over and done with.

Anyway...My mom and I are leaving for NYC this Thursday!! Our plane leaves sometime after 6am (6:45am?). :P We'll be comin' back late Sunday night. JK Rowling is on Friday at 7 pm!

On another note...

I went to our school's graduate school fair today. MOST of the schools represented were there to promote their law programs and ALL the schools were from California. I visited a few of them with a classmate of mine because she is interested in law. It was kind of interesting and there are some pretty neat programs out there like one is international environmental law (it's only a degree, no masters yet). There weren't any science related program, well, what I was specifically looking for. UC-Santa Cruz was there, but they don't have specifically what I'm looking for either. I have pretty much decided, though, I am 1) going out of the state for grad school and 2) not going to law school. LoL Policy or public affairs is the closest I'll get. Unless I go governmental affairs, which I kind of doubt.

Anyway, I've decided (as of now) I'd like to go off and work for the government or some big agency, make my contacts, do some good work, and then end up as a professor at a college or working at a non-profit. Problem is, if I want to be a professor at a college I'm either going to have to have some good contacts and great career beforehand or get my PhD. :P I guess I'll come to that road when I get to it, which will be MANY years away. LoL Right now, getting a PhD sounds extremely intimidating and not fun. I have to get through my Masters before I can start thinking PhD!

Columbia University is still my top pick for grad schools, but I'm seriously contemplating going to Edinburgh University now. They have an environmental monitoring and management masters there and it's a 12 month program (9 months for the degree, 3 months for the dissertation). It's more science related and Columbia is more policy related. Columbia is definitely more the track I want to go (degree, classes, and location), but Edinburgh is a good university and it'd give me some great experiences (not to mention a research cruise!). Someways I just want to say Edinburgh because...seriously...I miss Edinburgh like I lived there most of my life. I must have gotten bit by the "I love Edinburgh" bug while I was there or something. I sort of miss London, but Edinburgh is like I want to go back every year for the summer (I can skip London, LoL). Anyway, we'll see what happens. It's still a few years away!

With that...I'm off to finish editing this paper, edit/review my marine bio lab, and sleep! Tomorrow I have to e-mail my capstone proposal off and e-mail someone for my capstone. Not to mention my contest work. Oh and pack....AHHHHHHHH

*happy thoughts, happy thoughts* I will be in NYC on Thursday and seeing JK Rowling and meeting her on Friday *happy thoughts, happy thoughts*

School Update

Okay, I just took a very easy marine bio test, but I also don't think I did well on it.
I totally blanked on more than 3 differences between r-selected and
k-selected species. *sigh* I was thinking size was a factor, because
k-selected are typically bigger, but I thought that was stupid. Of
course, that WAS a reason and I didn't write it down. Blasted. 10 point question and I got only
(at most) 6 points on it. I also, uhm, fibbed my way through what Net
Primary Production was. Hahaha. I probably got a 5 on that one (maybe more if he has pity on me since I did know what all the components in the equation meant (and the equation) even if I didn't exactly know what Net Primary Production exactly was). And...I
guessed on 2 T/F questions and 1 multiple choice question. If I got
those wrong, that's another 7 points!
Not to mention the possibility in getting other questions wrong. *sigh*
That's a low B and we only have 3 tests in this class! AHHHHHHHHHH

My stomach is in a ton of knots... I'm depressed...

I am doing better in 212, though. I've gotten 9's on the last couple of our assignments. So that means I'm pulling an A in the class at least. I'm not hostel (openly or otherwise) against him and I'm writing in a way that he wants, so I'm doing pretty well.

Water Law ain't bad, but we still haven't had too many assignments. I'm doing well, though. A at least.

Capstone is, well, capstone. There's not a whole lot to actually grade. It'll come down to how my proposal turns out and what Judy thinks of it. The rate I'm going, it could be a disaster, but hopefully it won't be. I'm feeling really behind in capstone even if I am keeping up with all the assignments. I guess I feel on-time to the class, but behind to Judy and the NOEP's standards. My capstone will be a working paper and we're getting more work for the National Report, so...I need to amp up my work ethic to my capstone. Not that I'm working on something else more than my capstone. It's more like I'm constantly tired so really sluggish in getting things done when there's not a due date that week. I do have to make a time line of when I want things done for the NOEP and Judy so we can keep me on track, but it's just intimidating! I like the NOEP a lot, but I feel stupid when everyone talks about their projects. Granted, I'm sure everyone kind of feels that way with any project you have no clue about, but still! Being the noob, simply put, isn't fun.

On top of this all, I'm basically screwed with the Academic Planning Committee this semester. Their meetings are at a time I have class.  It's either ditch class (with the APC knowing) or participate next semester. They've asked if I can participate next semester, which I hopefully can. I may ditch Water Law anyway...That class is SO boring and she has us write notes for some purpose I don't know. We don't have tests or quizzes in the class.

I've decided not to be a mentor this year for the aquarium. I just can't add onto my mental status as it is already. I could do it, but just the thought of HAVING to be at the aquarium every Sunday because I have a responsibility would be too much. I like the freedom in knowing I can skip the aquarium if I need to.

Other than that, life is going. I've yet to receive my packet of information from Scholastic for the JK Rowling thing in NY, but that should be arriving sometime this week. To say the least, I'm really wanting mid-October to be here  NOW.

Okay, I should be off.

Flight!

My mom and I booked our flight tonight! It was definitely on the pricey end, but the times are at least decent. We have our hotel, we have our flight...All I have to do is wait for the packet of paperwork to arrive, send it back, and wait for October the 18th to arrive.

It's a 3.5 weeks away and it feels SO far away, but I know the time is just going to ZOOM on by.

I have to figure out now my financials to see about Australia and Chicago. I'd like to go to Chicago for Terminus (Harry Potter conference in Chicago Aug 2008), but if I go to Australia and with NY now...My funds are pretty much wiped out. Oh well, I have time to still think about that.

I have to admit, I'm not exactly looking forward to flying again. LoL I've been in San Fran (x2), San Jose, Monterey, LAX, Colorado, Orlando, and Heathrow this summer. With going to NY, I'll add in Salt Lake City and JFK into the list. Not to mention Monterey again. Of all the airports, Monterey is my least worried one because it's small. All the others I have to worry about getting through security and everything (*shudders at the thought of LAX*). I've been on 3 airlines (United, American, Virgin) so far with NY being a 4th (Delta). I'm definitely getting a feel for planes, airports, and airlines...I obviously haven't recovered from my ordeal with going to the UK, but I have something fun to look forward to! I just need to keep that in mind.

With that, I'm off to sleep.

We have a hotel!

After spending a solid two days trying to find a hotel (a decent one at a decent price) I FINALLY found one. The place that I really wanted showed it was full on-line, but I e-mailed them and tried calling them. This morning they e-mailed me back saying they had one room left! So I got it! It's about a half a block away from Carnegie Hall and a block away from Central Park (it's right across from the Ritz-Carlton, in fact). It's called the Park Savoy.

I'm so happy. LoL I was seriously getting worried for a while because all the "cheaper" hotels were booked. The next price range for a decent hotel near Carnegie Hall was $366 a night or going away out to Times Square or Manhattan and paying about $200 a night still.

Now to just book our flights!

I'm going to NYC!!

So....last month Scholastic had a JK Rowling Open Book Tour Sweepstakes. JK Rowling is coming to the US to do a book reading, Q&A, and book signing for schools in Los Angeles, New Oreleans, and New York. Well, in addition to those, she's doing a book reading, signing, Q&A session for anyone older than 7 and resident of the US! The event would be at Carnegie Hall in NYC on Friday, October 19th at 7pm. There would be 1,000 grand prize winners and the prize was 2 tickets to see her read, the Q&A, and get a book signed. Accommodations and flights would have to be taken care of by the winner. So, of course, I HAD to enter into it even though I'm still "broke" from the UK and Florida.

Last week they were contacting winners and a friend of mine got picked and I was getting more depressed as the days go on thinking I didn't win. So this week (after Monday) I gave up hope in winning. It just wasn't meant to be and there would be other times.

Well...I was sitting in class at about 12:20pm on Wednesday and my phone rings. I'm staring
at it on the desk flashing a "Call 1." I knew it had to be an unknown
number. I've been reading the comments on the news post about the
winners being contacted on TLC's main page so I know from that (and my friend's account) their numbers don't show up. So it's the BEGINNING of
class and this happens. So I'm sitting there thinking, "could that be
them? I can't remember which number I gave them. It could be Chris
though, his number is blocked." So it stops ringing and a
voice mail was left. So it's making even MORE paranoid. LoL I even was
trying to figure out what time Chris would have had to start work to
call me at that specific time. I figured out there was not much chance
it was him, but it STILL could have been him. I was trying to not get
my hopes up. So we were finishing a movie and I'm sitting there trying to
pay attention and not freak out. FINALLY at 1pm she says we can take a
5 minute break (we do every class) so I get up (we ALL have to get up
and move around) and I check my voice mail. It starts off, "Hi, this
message is for Bethany Taylor..." I KNEW right then I won. LoL Then it
goes onto "This is Vicky from Scholastics and I'm actually calling to
congratulate you..." I basically freaked out. I'm standing next to my
friends saying, "oh my gosh! I can't believe it! I won!" They're looking at me
funny. I finally tell them when the message ended. They just gave me
one of those "oh, that's nice" looks.
I went out of the room to call my mom. I'm trying to hold it all in and
I called her and she said I sounded funny like I was distressed. So she
was worried about what could have happened! Then I told her and she's
all "really? You won?" It was funny, but I was so excited! So I went
back and had to sit through 45 more minutes of class knowing this
information! I tried calling Vicky after class, but there was no
answer. I left the worst voice mail ever. I'm all "Hi Vicky, this is
Bethany Taylor. I'm just calling your...I mean, returning your call. I
would absolutely love to accept the tickets, prize, [I said something I
don't remember], whatever they are. You can call me back at..." I gave
her my number twice (hope I said it right, I don't even remember saying
the numbers) and hung up.

Now to wait for the return call because I have some papers to fill out and send back to them! So, yes, I and my mother are going to NYC to see JK Rowling!!!! Am I excited? Oh yeah!

Entering a whole new world...

So...I've been slowly figuring out by way of researching for my capstone that I'm entering a whole area no one has really been in. So my capstone paper will eventually (definitely looks that way) will end up being published somewhere, sometime. How is it the state of California has had NO one research biotoxins and how it affects the economy?! There are hypotheticals and there's extrapolating from other states, but I can't find any papers on specifically California or even government documents! So I'm going to have to end up doing MORE research and work for my capstone than I thought. I'll have to extrapolate from other studies and compare it to California and look at domoic acid blooms, fishery closures, beach closures, and fishery and beach data when they're open. Lovely...

In some ways it's kind of interesting going and doing something no one has really done before, but it's also terrifying for an undergraduate capstone paper! I had a PhD scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (a premier institute) tell me that if I unearth any information or write a paper that estimates economic costs from harmful algal blooms (HABs) for California to pass it on to him. This guy has been writing papers on harmful algal blooms HABs and economy impacts for years (at least 2000). So I'm just a bit floored and even more stressed now. Lol

On another note...it seems wrong that kids (5 and 3) have more energy than a 21-year-old. I'm reading stories to my niece and nephew and getting them ready for bed and all I can think about is how much I want to go to bed and how wired they are. LoL I do think if I can have any super power it'd be to sap excess energy from little kids and/or the ability for people to sleep for you. I think both those would be very useful. Who cares about being invisible or being able to fly, I want something more practical. :P

School! My first of three marine biology tests is next Tuesday. AHHHHHH! I have a paper/presentation due next week in Water Law too. I have to go to the water district's office and pick up a brochure and call them to interview someone. *rolls eyes* My first formal paper is due Thursday for food ethics. It's definitely not my best paper I've written. It's hard to fit everything I want to say in 5 pages double-spaced. Also harder in trying to cover enough points with such little information and on a topic that's hard to grasp. It just makes for a not-so-great paper. At least that's what my draft for tomorrow is like. LoL The GRE is quickly approaching; okay, it's in 47 days. It seems really close, though, and finding time/energy to study is hard.

As for the aquarium, I have to make a decision tomorrow whether I can commit to being a mentor or not. It's basically a mandatory meeting 3 times in a year (fall-summer) and arriving early/staying late on shift on Sundays. I think I can do that, but do I want to add another level of commitment onto myself? Granted, it's not adding that much more since I'm already going on Sundays, but it's all psychological!

Anyway, I should go to sleep. Well, more like read some marine biology and my lit review paper for it. Test next week with 200 pages of the book to read and pages of notes to review. AHHHHH

My life just exploded...

I'm into my 3rd week of school and everything just hit me suddenly. I'm looking at my schedule trying to figure out when I can have a realistic amount of time to study for the GRE and catch up on my marine biology reading (it's probably close to 150 pages now...) and I just can't find it!

I have a marine biology test in 2 weeks, water law presentation & paper on the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District in 2 weeks (I have to interview people and get actual brochures from them), I have papers due every week in 212 (Food Ethics) with some being larger than others, capstone proposal steps to take care of each week, and literature review each week in marine biology.

TIME IS GOING TO FAST! I need it to slow down so I can actually do everything on my list! I'm, in many ways, glad I'm at MBARI for my capstone. LoL It's basically time I can spend doing my capstone research and such. Else, I honestly have no clue when I'd find time to do some things. It also means Judy is around so I can actually go and talk to her about issues and whatnot. It just adds another layer of complication on my already complicated life.

How is it that I don't have all *that* much to do, but at the same time I feel overwhelmed? I'm having troubles going to sleep at night with everything that goes through my head in things I have to complete. I have to take days off for various things and it's just getting nuts. In fact, I should be sleeping now, but I'm updating my blog because everything just hit me. I am trying to be good about homework to have at least half of it completed before the night before it's due. So that's helping the stress level at least, but I just keep thinking I haven't gotten to studying for the GRE (procrastination on the leftover half of my homework - ya know?) and I have these things I need to study for or work on over long periods of time.

There are just too many things to do and not enough hours to complete them in a day.

I am just going to go to bed because I'm getting tired beyond tired and can't think very well anymore. I am going to check out my bike and see what condition it's in and try to go biking around the neighborhood some. See if that helps me or not. Now, to just get the energy and will to do that...

It's the simple things in life...

I'm officially an employee of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) now! I filled out all the paperwork, got my key card, e-mail, blah, blah, blah all today. :) My title is "research assistant."

I'm most excited about my key card. LoL My e-mail at MBARI is pretty cool too since it's only my first name. I'm apparently the only Bethany at MBARI. :P I also got put onto their staff list so I got my own staff page. Not shabby for basically being paid to do my capstone!

My capstone is still in the early research stages. It'll be focused on the impacts domoic acid (DA) has on select fishing industries, beach attendances, and tourism.

On an unrelated note, I paid my $140 test fee to take the GRE test on Saturday, November the 3rd at 12:30pm in San Jose. It's real now! Taking the test that is. That means, on top of everything else (school, Borders, Aquarium, MBARI, Leaky), I now have to study for the GRE. Yay for me.

I'm an overachiever...

Hello, my name is Bethany. *crowd says "Hi Bethany"* I admit I am an overachiever.

So I admit it. I am an overachiever. I got an 8/10 on my Thought Piece
for 212 (first assignment) and a 8/10 on my article review for marine bio (first assignment) and I
looked at both scores and thought "That's a B! I want an A. Why did I get a B? I want an A." To top it
off, a guy next to me in 212 said he just wants to pass the class and
the 8/10 was good for him and I ALMOST said, "I just want to pass the
class with an A. If I get a B, it'll throw my GPA off" and thought that
was a bit, well, over the top and didn't say it. LoL

My marine bio assignment he critiqued my writing, which is fine. Part of the assignment is based on your writing. It's a critique of an article and the way I wrote it didn't necessarily achieve the goal. My 212 class is an ETHICS class. Sure, writing is important, but should a professor spend MOST of his time critiquing our writing and not our thoughts? I just feel like he's emphasizing our writing more than he is our thought process and ethics is supposed to make you think. It's not a writing class. As long as I'm writing in a way that my thought process is being conveyed on INFORMAL pieces, who cares if my sentence could be more concise? According to the syllabus (which isn't his, but he's trying to make his and not following) the thought pieces are supposed to get us thinking and we shouldn't be as worried about our grammatical writing. Obviously we need to write to a standard, but he's grading on a much higher standard than the syllabus conveyed.

Lesson to self: Write in short, concise sentences. Each sentence MUST have a point to it. If my thought process is faulty, who cares? I have written in a short, concise manner!

I miss 384s with Dan. Dan was great. He structured the class almost the same way 212 is supposed to be structured, yet he actually critiqued your thought process. He'd write all over your paper to give you things to think about what you said. He didn't go through and correct my grammar and write one vague comment saying "your paper shows considerable thought and weight" and then go on to give me pointless information on how I can clarify by rereading my paper to give more clarity (that made no sense to me).

Anyway, I'm TRYING to not have a bad attitude about the class because it'll affect my work and the guy isn't bad. He was thrown into the class and is trying his best, but he's not handling it well at all. I'm hoping it'll get better, but I kind of doubt it.

With that, I must be off. I should work on some homework, go to bed early tonight, and I need to do this capstone assignment now before I forget.

Oh, did I mention someone from MBARI e-mailed me and asked me what I wanted my e-mail address at MBARI to be? I can have my first name only or first name initial and last name. Now which one do I want...

GRE

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!

I haven't registered yet, but I'm planning to take my first stab at the GRE on Saturday, October 27th. AHHHHH. I need to start seriously studying. Right. I'll get straight on that! *7 hours later* Right...I'll get straight on that...! Yeah, okay, so I'm not looking forward to the studying, but I need to! I need a good score, though I can take it once a month and up to 5 times in 12 months. Granted, the more times you take it, the worse it could look. So I need to pace myself and study hard for this one. On top of that, the test is ridiculously expensive - $140. It's not like I can afford to take the test a lot of times.

Next Monday I start at MBARI. That should be exciting and add another layer of complication to my life. I'm already sleep deprived and procrastinating on homework. Yay me. :)

The Aquarium has a new White Shark if ya didn't know. It's a male, young-of-the-year at 4'9"! I haven't seen it yet. Yesterday was insane at the aquarium and I never made it to that side of the aquarium in general.

With that, I'm off. I need to sleep since I have class at 10 am and I don't get to come home till 5 pm. :( I have homework to do tomorrow. I've been avoiding reading this article on mesoscale iron enrichments in the ocean somewhere (it's just a lot of technical words in it and those just don't make for quick reading). I also have to read chapters 1 and 2 of the Water Law book and some chapters/pages in the marine bio book. Not to mention I still need to annotate my Domoic Acid articles before Monday. And I have a journal assignment due on Thursday for 212 and that article I have to read for marine bio I have to write-up a 1 page review of it. I could start working on assignment 2 for water law, which is due next week, but that's getting ahead of myself. :P

Laters

My last year...

I'm 3 days into my 2nd to last semester at CSU-Monterey Bay. It's insane to think in less than a year I'll be done with my undergraduate degree and have a BS in Earth Science Systems and Policy with a concentration in Marine and Coastal Ecology! Course, technically, ESSP is now the new Science and Environmental Policy (SEP).

Anyway, I got my ILP (individual learning plan) signed off. Tomorrow I will have submitted and paid my $40 fee for my application for graduation for the Spring of 2008! I'm excited! And scared! LoL I'll have to join the "real world" then.

Two of the classes I was hoping to take (undergrad classes) look like they won't be offered next Spring (though according to the prof teaching one of them I want, it's supposed to be) and I have to finish a MLO (major (as in my degree) learning outcome) that has been giving me troubles. A lot of it is science application and most of the classes don't really pertain to what I want to do. So it looks like I might be taking Physics I, Capstone II, and 2 grad classes next spring. Unless I can get one of the undergrad classes (probably Conversation Marine Biology) than I'll be taking that, Capstone II, Physics I, and 1 grad class (environmental economics). So we'll see. Either way, I may just die by the end of the semester or something. :P

My water law class is quickly becoming my most boring class that has the potential to also be interesting. The first two days, though, have been dreadful snoozers. We'll see as the semester progresses. Reminds me, I need to read chapter 1 and start on chapter 2. *sigh*

Marine Bio looks to be my best class. I know most of the class and the prof has some pretty neat labs set-up that are either things in the field, going to the aquarium, or staying in the lab. We're actually going out on a boat twice, going snorkeling one day, and going to the aquarium twice! The snorkeling should be interesting since we have to be positively buoyant and we're supposed to be doing some type of transect or something in the water. I'm not sure to be honest. It should just be interesting in general. Lol That happens in two weeks, actually.

212 will be a snooze too. It's basically "food ethics." I'm only taking the class for my speech and ethics requirement, but it has a TON of writing in it. It'll be like my service learning class last semester in the assignment style and set-up, but not the topic. I'm one of a few seniors in the class too. The class is really for sophomores, but there are some juniors too.

Capstone I has started interestingly enough. They've decided to start a "standard capstone" in Spring of 2008 along with the current thesis capstone style. I'm sticking with the thesis capstone for a number of reasons (grad school, my capstone advisor would frown upon me taking the standard route, and my project will be the basis for a peer review paper, I want distinction in my major, etc), but the standard capstone is SO much less work than the thesis one. Most of my friends are taking the standard route, but I'm set on the thesis one. I'll have to take 2 semesters of capstone (I is for writing the formal proposal, II is for the paper). The standard capstone is much less formal. Here's a chart noting the differences.

With that, I'm off to read this chapter for 212 and write-up my 2 page thought piece on it. *groan* At least I don't have any marine bio homework! Though, I probably need to read the book chapter. *sigh*

Welcome back to school...

Coming Semester

So, tonight I was called "Hannah" by one of our regular customers at work who isn't a favorite customer of mine. I dunno. He's nice, but...*shrugs* He's older so do NOT get any ideas! I didn't correct him, said hi, asked him how he's doing (all automatic, btw), and I walked away because I was doing something. I hope it didn't come off as a diss....then again, I really don't like it when some customers try to know my name. *shrugs* Some customers I don't mind, but this customer I'm a bit hesitant on. Not sure why. He's not creepy, he's just...I dunno.

I start work at MBARI for NOEP on Sept 10th. I finalized my start date today. I'll be working between 10-13 hours a week there for my capstone and NOEP and 7 hours on Saturday at Borders. I'll also be doing every other Sunday for 5-5.5 hours at the aquarium for volunteer work. Not to mention my 14 units at college (that's, uhm, 16 hours of actual class in the week) and studying for the GRE. The Academic Planning Committee will have to take a definite backseat. As is, I can't attend the pre-semester meetings because of work and being out of town.

Life this semester, what life? Burnout? Uh...I'm going to try and avoid it as much as possible. I'm almost scared to burnout this semester (like I did last fall and had the worst birthday, Christmas, and new years). So we'll see how that goes. My order of letting things go: Leaky, Aquarium, Borders (4 hours instead of 7), NOEP (less than 10 hours, can't quit though). Hopefully I won't have to do any of that, but I at least have a priority list.

Now I must be off to write my cover letter for MBARI. My resume is up-to-date, but I need to write a cover letter.

Home and Stressed

HAPPY AUGUST!

I've returned from the UK (less than a week ago) and now I'm in Anaheim. I am a travelin' fool. :P

My stress level has increased, though. It's like I've returned to the real world once I came home from the UK and got the trip over with.

I have to start researching for my capstone again. I can't remember if I've mentioned my topic already, but my topic is on sea temperature rise and how it affects harmful algal blooms and domoic acid poisoning on marine life and humans and the economic impact it has on California's (specifically Monterey Bay) tourism and fishing. So I'm starting off with researching domoic acid and all that.

I also have to work the rest of the summer to make money so I can pay off my trip ASAP and get enough to pay for my textbooks. :P I only really have 1 textbook and 1 basic type book (haven't decided if I'll buy that one or not). I also need to save for the GRE classes and the test.

That's another thing! I've started to study for the GRE. I'm basically reviewing vocab words and math refresher. The math refresher is amazing because I haven't taken a basic math class in years and my last math class (Calc II) in general was 2.5 years ago!

I had another point in this post to make, but now I can't remember what it is. Oh well.

All for now. :P

Leaving in just hours!

I'm packed, I have everything (that I can think of), and I'm "ready" to head to the UK.

That's really all I have to say. LoL I'm so tired...anyway, if I liked you, you should have received (in some form or way) a message with my travel blog link. If you didn't, send an email my way and I'll send you the link if I like you. :P (If you don't have my e-mail, hit the email link at the bottom left.)

I will be heading off on Virgin Atlantic at 4:30 pm to the UK and arrive home the 27th. My day begins at 8 am with a call to AT&T about activating my international roaming and then at 9am to my bank for some international questions and depositing money. After that, it's off to the airport in San Fran.

Hope everyone has a good Deathly Hallows release, Moto GP, and Salinas Rodeo (ALL on the same weekend!). I probably won't update this till I return home. :)

Prayer Request

One of these days I'm going to write about OotP, but I've been really tired lately and haven't had the energy.

Anyway, today I found out my travel partner, Laurie, has a REALLY bad seized up back. She's a nurse at Stanford and she was moving a patience and her back seized. She has two discs misaligned and who knows what else. The only position she's good in is standing. Anyway, the state she's in now, she can't travel to Europe. Our non-stop flight there is 10 hours and it would cause her too much pain. Please pray that it's not too serious for her and she gets better, but also in giving her the wisdom in deciding if she can fly out on Monday (we fly out at 4:30 pm at SFO) or not. Also pray for me as I am not quite comfortable traveling alone (more the fear of the unknown), but also the fact I'm going to have to redo my sleeping arrangements in London after Edinburgh if she doesn't come. So I have fear lingering in with everything else I have to do to prepare to leave on Monday until we know how Laurie does this weekend.

Thanks everyone

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

IT ROCKED!!!

It is BY FAR the best of the 5 movies. The acting, graphics, soundtrack, EVERYTHING was better than the others. I was amazed. It is really fast paced so people who haven't read the books are probably going to get a bit confused since things are not explained, half-explained, or left for you to deduce through lines throughout the movie. I had some other issues with it (mostly issues relating to how it doesn't follow the book), but it was basically excellent.

I'll write a more complete thoughts on the movie later. I have work at 10am. :)

Zits

You've gotta love Zits. :)

In less than a week now (6 days) I leave for the UK. I just hit my full stress level and reality that I'm LEAVING in a week.

In less than 24 hours, I shall be watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in theaters at 12:10am. YAY!

Okay, with that...I'm off to sleep.

Passport

I FINALLY got my passport today! I am so glad. It's just one LARGE weight off my shoulders to worry about. I'm still, uh, not exactly ready. :P I semi-know what I'm packing or how I'm packing. I still need to hunt for a travel backpack. I've researched some kinds and all that, I just need to find a place I can go and look at them in person. Or should I take the risk and just order on-line? That's my problem. I don't want something to bulky or big, but you really can't tell that from seeing pictures on-line.

2 weeks from this Monday is when I head for Europe. It's getting VERY close and I just don't have enough time to do everything!! My life is just busy and I'm TIRED! *sigh* Oh well. What are ya gonna do? Not a whole lot, except to get excited about everything happening. Then again, I'm so tired (at least right now), I can't even get excited. I just need to dig down and figure out my capstone project (I e-mailed my advisor once, but she hasn't responded, need to e-mail again), figure out my travel backpack situation, get a packing list going, and clean my room before I go. :P

Anyway, with that, I'm off. I'm tired and it's 1:30am and I have to get up for church and head right from church to work. Yay...

Laters

PotterCast in San Fran

PC was fun! It wasn't necessarily seeing/meeting John and Melissa (that was neat); it was the energy. Anything live is always better than hearing/seeing it recorded, you know?

It was great seeing and meeting Laurie! She is SUCH a troublemaker! LoL She randomly called out to Melissa when they arrived and getting ready and Melissa turned around and was all "what?" I had to give Laurie a "behave yourself" look. :P And she said some other things too to get some "what are we going to do with you?" looks from Melissa. :P Nancy showed up, albeit a bit late since she got lost. Nancy works on the myspace page. It was great meeting her too!

We did the 5 questions, picked a CC question, did questions, did impersonations, and some other things. My mom bought me a PC shirt and pins. Melissa tried to GIVE us shirts. When she found out we bought them she wanted to return our money. We wouldn't let her. They're pretty cool shirts. I'm debating whether I want to wear mine tomorrow at work or not. :P

Kathy Meengs, our former District Marketing Manager for Borders, was there helping to set up. She's supposed to attend any store functions. Anyway, I saw her there and at the end I introduced myself and she recognized me and all that. We started to talk and she said she tried to get them to go to Sand City, but they couldn't. I couldn't believe it! Anyway, when we went up to Melissa/John to introduce ourselves Kathy comes up to Melissa and starts gushing about me how I work at Borders and I'm one of their best employees and yaddy, yaddy, yaddy. I couldn't believe it! LoL Kathy also remembered that I worked or did something for the site too. I was so amazed. Anyway, that was my interesting Borders meets Potter moment. :P

With that...pictures!

More on Potter...My passport is in the mail! I'm excited about that! I'm expecting it around Monday/Tuesday. We leave in a bit over 2 weeks (2 weeks exactly on Monday). Do NOT remind me or tell me about the car bombs in England. Really don't need to hear it. :P Especially since we're staying somewhere close to Piccadilly. I need to seriously get my butt in gear about packing and making sure I have everything.

Anyway, with that, I'm off.

Laters

Flickr vs Picasa Web

Well, I got mad at Flickr.

Flickr only allows 500MB (I think it is) or 200 pictures to be uploaded! When I uploaded my Kennedy Space Center photos some of my Animal Kingdom pictures got bumped off. BOO!

Since I was mad at Flickr and Photobucket wasn't working for something else I was using it for, I noticed google had a photos thingy called Picasa Web. So I checked it out and I get a bit over 1GB of space or 500 pictures. SWEET! Anyway, I reuploaded all my photos to my google photo acocunt instead. :P

Kennedy Space Center/Frog

Disney World

Animal Kingdom

Another nice thing about Picasa Web, it has nicer links (no random characters and such compared to Flickr; Photobucket is fine with links). Granted, when it's all said and done, I only lost about 10 pictures off of Flickr. I use photobucket still, but I've found they down grade quality sometimes and uploading a lot of pictures isn't - well - fun on Photobucket.

Anyway, with that, I am off.

Laters

Home Sweet Home

I'm HOME! It felt SO nice to be in my own bed for a number of reasons, but one being I was in a horizontal position and not a vertical/sitting one. 13.5 hours I spent in airports or on planes. I was SO glad to be home and in 30 degrees (F) cooler weather. :P

The flight was delayed about an hour when leaving Florida, but I didn't mind. We made up about a half hour in the air, but I had a 5 hour wait anyway so it was cut to 4.5. In fact, my flight was so far in advance it wasn't on the departure board in Denver. :P I had to wait about an hour/45 minutes before it showed up and I knew which gate I had to go to. I had to walk a LONG way. I went from gate 20 to gate 81! I think I walked at least 4 people-movers and went down an esclator. It was WAY out there. I was going stir crazy too. I would stand up and just walk around or just stand there moving because I was going nuts sitting in the airport. I was too tired to read and I couldn't access Denver's wireless internet. So I was just going nuts.

We had to fly in over the bay because the marine layer was too thick. It was kind of creepy. It's this SOLID, semi-dark mass of clouds EVERYWHERE. You couldn't see below it it was so thick. So they went in over the bay to avoid hitting a hill. :P It was kind of cool, though.

Anyway, I'm home now and have a little more than 3 weeks before I head to Europe for the Harry Potter book release!!!! (30 days from today the book comes out!)

With that, laters

Airports & Computers

It's 11am in Florida and my flight was supposed to depart in 14 minutes. Except, I'm still sitting in the airport with the monitor saying "delayed" on my flight.

Why you ask? Apparently the computers have gone down and most flights aren't taking off. I'd say all, except I see planes flying and landing. Joy for me. At least I won't miss my connecting flight in Denver that has sa 5 hour wait. It's at moments like these that I'm glad for a long layover.

I'm debating right now whether I should go get some food. I'm kind of comfy in my spot and don't feel like getting up, but I'm getting hungry and a lady in front of me is eating and it looks good. I think, at this moment, I'd rather just sit and wait. I'd rather be sleeping right now, but I don't get that luxury.

OH LOOK! It's our plane pulling up! Sweet. I'm off.

Disney World/Kennedy Space Center

Welcome to my last night in Florida. It's been a LOT of fun and it's been fun seeing Jamie and all that.

Yesterday Jamie and I went to Disney World (pictures). It was fun, but it wasn't the same as Animal Kingdom. We're just gettin' too old. :P It was hot! Probably hotter than Animal Kingdom, but we weren't in the sun as much. We stood in line for many of the rides, but the longest was the Jungle Cruise. It said a 40 minute wait. Well, someone screwed up the fastpass line and the "normal" line and we stood, stuck, for about 20 minutes while the fastpass people zoomed along. FINALLY they fixed it and we sped up some. So we stood in line for about an hour (give or take a few minutes). Our jungle cruise guy kept making bad puns and we were a roll-your-eyes group. We hardly laughed. :P We hardly even played INTO his jokes. It was sad. We went on Splash Mountain. That wait said 90 minutes and we were on and off the ride in about 80 minutes. It was nice, though, because it was underneath a canopy of trees. We were going to go on POTC (next to Jungle Cruise), but the line was outside the building and Jamie and I couldn't fathom waiting the 40 minutes in line for it OUTSIDE with no shade over us. We went back after Splash Mountain and the wait said 50 minutes, but it took us about 30 minutes. We sort of rushed in and RIGHT when we got "stopped" by the line of people in front, a LOT of people came in after us. So we missed the rush! PotC was fun because of the new Jack Sparrow installments (3 of them). It was also different (for me) because when you enter it has this project/steam (looks like water) entrance and it had Davy Jones saying something to us (couldn't hear it or wasn't paying attention). It was pretty neat. Unbeknownst to me, there WAS a small drop and it scared the daylights out of me. Totally wasn't prepared for it.

We went on the carousel, tea cups, NASCAR ride, Buzz Lightyear ride, Peter Pan, Stitch thingy, and the train. Jamie said we went on the Peter Pan ride for our Senior trip to Disneyland, but I don't remember that at ALL. We were laughing and talking about that Senior trip where I fell asleep on Main Street. :P It was fun. The tea cups was hilarious because we were spinning really fast and when they stopped us it was a jolt. It sort of felt like when a cartoon character stops really suddenly and their eyeballs bounce around in their heads. That's what it felt like. When we stopped and looked around everyone around us was looking at us like we were insane or really good about how fast we were turning. Jamie and I walked around a bit like we were drunk. :P It was insanely funny. The Buzz Lightyear ride was fun because you get a controller to spin around in circles, but a "gun" to shoot the targets. Jamie CREAMED me, but I was controlling the spinning and my thumb started to really hurt midway through the ride. :)

We left RIGHT before the fireworks, I was tired and so was she and we were just sitting on a bench on Main street at 9:15pm and we had about a 45 minute drive home. So we left. We saw the VERY beginning and tail end of the new lights parade too. We mostly spent it on the train around the park. It started to rain while we were there too! It only lasted for about an hour, but it was nice to walk in the rain. It did thunder and lightning a bit, but only a bit.

Today we went to Kennedy Space Center (pictures). We only went to the visitor area. The ticket is good for 2 days (within 7 days), but I'm leaving tomorrow and we got a late start so we didn't make it to the Hall of Fame area. We went on the tour. Took us a bit more than 3 hours! That was neat. Jamie wasn't impressed, but I liked it. We went on the new "space launch" ride. That was not what I expected, but fun none-the-less. Jamie and I laughed saying our cheeks hurt by the end. It was a fun simulator ride. We didn't have much time to look around, though, so we didn't. I didn't find the mars rock to touch (bummed) and the moon rock you could touch was GONE! I was bummed to say the least. We saw no gators either, which was also a bit sad. They have gator fences since gators can climb over a 6-8' fence. :P The chained linked fences bow out so if they climb over they'd fall down. They also have the biggest runway in the world! From Tuesday, it's 2 more days before the Atlantis lands. It started to rain when we left too. It's not raining now.

We just hung out in her backyard after dinner and such tonight. We found a frog (see KSC pictures) in her backyard and tried to catch that and took its picture. We'll probably head to bed in an hour or so (she's playing Kingdom Hearts while I'm on the computer). Tomorrow I depart back for Monterey, California. I tell you, I will be glad for the weather! I've been doing well, but this heat thing is just - well - weird. :) I depart around 11:15am from Orlando International and arrive back home close to 7:40pm. I'll probably try to be at the airport between 9:00 and 9:30am. Then I have my wait, take off, and my LONG wait in Denver. Hope they have wireless!

For now, laters.

Blue Man Group

OH MY GOSH!

BLUE MAN GROUP ROCKED!!!! I must admit it has probably been the best $60 I've spent in a LONG time.

They have those moving text reader thingies (you know they have the text on them and the text scrolls across). And it was hilarious to read. Before it began it talked about no cameras and videos and it said if you took video the ejectors mechanism in the seats will have to be used. It was just funny stuff. When it started, it would tell us things to do. So it said like "so-and-so just won a gold medal. Let's all say congratulations on your medal so-and-so." Or it'd say someone's birthday and we should SAY happy birthday not sing it. One time it said for us to all say hi to Sam (after telling us to say something for other people beforehand with a purpose) and it said Sam is just a normal person and there wasn't anything special about him. It cracked us up and then it said "all the more reason to say hi to Sam." It'd ask for these people to stand up too, but no one did. Then it said that a person in the 4th row is going to sing for us and two spot lights shone on this guy. The guy just sat there and it said, "Just kidding." It was funny.

Before they started too, they gave everyone crepe paper (white) to do whatever they wanted. Most people (like us) put it on like a ninja.

Then the show started and they started up with the paint drums, which were pretty neat. They poured paint onto them and one of the guys would hit it. Then they did this paint ball thing. One of the guys would throw it to another guy and he'd catch it in his mouth (they threw marshmellows beforehand into the audience). Then he took a canvas and bit into the thing and paint would come out. The third guy would try to get them, he missed a few times and went to go put one on the canvas, but nothing happened. So he just stuck it to it. Then he caught a TON in his mouth (probably 15 at least) and just kept shoving them into his mouth. He couldn't put it onto the canvas so he got this table and pushed them all out of his mouth into a mound and put a $4,000 sign in front of it while the other guy held up his painting. It was HILARIOUS.

They did some musical things with PVC pipes. It was pretty cool. The band was in these suits that with neon lights would make them look almost like a dummy or movie, but they were real people. They brought out boxes of Cap’n Crunch and they did a musical thing with crunching it. It was FUNNY.

They came out into the audience and actually walked right passed us. One of the guys in the audience had been given a Tolberone (spelling?) chocolate thing and so the blue-man-guy gave it to another guy on the other side of the aisle and he non-verbally asked him to toss it to him so he cough catch it in his mouth. That was hilarious. The blue-man-guy was RIGHT next to us and he didn't always catch them in his mouth and they'd drop on the ground, but he'd put them into his mouth anyway! At the end of it, the blue-man-guy goes up to the gentleman who was throwing the chocolate and took his hand and put all the chocolate pieces on his hand! The fun part about this too was they had a camera following them around and we were on camera! LoL

Then the other two of them walked near the "power switch" and got this other guy to stand up with them. They put his hand on top of another blue-man-guy and the moved his hand around to the switch. All the lights went off! So we're just sitting there and third blue-man-guy comes over with a flashlight and shines it on the switch and one of the others (not the one with the guy) was eating something out of a bowl relaxing agains the switch! So he kind of gives him a look and he sort of jumps and turns the switch back on and then just randomly hands a person in the audience the bowl!

Then they three of the prowl around the audience and found this lady. They pulled her up. So the go onto stage with her and this HILARIOUS routine. They put this blue type vest on her and sit her down and then the others all sit down. There are plates in front of them. One of them pulls out some flowers in a vase and they do something that was funny. Then another guy pulls out some jell-o. He jiggles it and they all look at it intently and then look at her. She has this look of “what?” Then they jiggle it again and look at her again. Then the guy who took the flowers out picks up the vase and tries to get it to jiggle or makes a motion like it’s jiggling. They all look at her and she has that look again! Before that they also put a picture on the wall. And they try to move the picture like it’s jiggling. So then they start to play with the jell-o and he hits a slate in the table and sends the jell-o flying into the audience. They look all shocked. Then one of the guys brings out a lamp and points it over the flower. He claps his hands and it turns on. It cracks us all up. So then, of course, the audience all starts to clap and it spazes out. So he puts it away and brings out a lantern light and hangs it up. Then one of the guys brings out a box of twinkies. They each get one (including the lady) and they’re trying to figure out how to open it and at first she was too and then she just opened it. The guy sitting next to her looks at her like she’s amazing. He takes the twinkie and puts it onto his plate. So he hands her his twinkie and she opens it and puts it on her plate. As she’s opening each one, the guy next to him is showing the other guy. So eventually she opens the 2nd guy’s twinkie. The last guy, though, brings out an electric cutter and cuts his open! One of the guys brings out a vacuum and vacuums up the wrappers, the lion on the painting, and one half of the last guy’s twinkie! Then they bring out silverware (plastic) and cut up their twinkies and share them with each other. It was funny. Then they start to eat it and the guy next to her made it look like he wanted her piece so she goes to give it to him, but takes it away. The look he gives her, though (funny!), stops her and she feeds it to him. So then they all wave the twinkie around in front of the other’s face before they feed them. Then, one of the guy’s suits spurts out pasta or something (looked GROSS!). He starts to eat it and then the others try to steal it from him. Then the other two also do that and they’re fighting over the stuff. It was gross, but funny. Then, suddenly, HER suit does the same thing. It FREAKED her out! It was SO funny. Then they scoop up all the stuff and put it into a take-out box. One of the guys gets up to get her up and take the vest off. They hand her the take-out box of pasta and also a picture (one of those fast developing ones). They send her back to her seat. It was SO funny. I haven’t laughed that hard in forever. I was crying SO much I couldn’t wipe up the tears fast enough.

They did some more musical routine stuff that was pretty fun, but you had to be there. They also did some more things with some people in the audience. They brought up 3 people from both sides and the center and sat them down on chairs. They did this whole video intro about the ear and how it works and how there’s this one part scientists don’t really know what it does or how it works because they can’t find volunteers for the very painful experiments. So then you start to laugh for the guys. They attach like a drumstick with a hook to each of their ears. Then they pull on it and different forms of “ouch” come out and when they pull it different ways, it makes different tones and such. They did a musical thing to that and it was hilarious.

They also brought this guy (teenager) up and put him into this white suit and put a black helmet over his head and they lead him off stage. Once they do that, they start to play on some form of drums and you see this backstage camera and they paint the suit with blue paint all over. Pouring it on, squirting it on, etc. Then they put a loop over his feet and they pull him upside down and plaster his front to a canvas! So it makes an imprint of him! They turn the camera off and you see the Blue Men. A box with jell-o on top comes out. They play with the jell-o, but it makes this sound (like a mic inside of it). So they tear through the jell-o and there’s like a black upside down bucket. They pull it off and it’s the guy! He’s in a blue painted suit. They lead him off and it was funny too.

They did some other cool things too. Like make fun of the internet saying millions of lines connect us and whatnot and you think it’s the Internet, but they say “plumbing” and that’s when you get your first glimpse of the PVC pipe music/drums. They also did a thing on netspeak, that was hilarious. They also talked about animation. They did a whole skit with that and this white (almost like shaving cream, but not) stuff. They also talked about how animation will never be as good since it’s 2-D images and not 3-D. So they had this what we thought was just bronze (odd) statue around this water column (they made tornadoes in it). Well, they spun it REALLY fast and it turns out it makes an image (in 3-D) of this person dancing! They changed the lighting so you can tell it’s the same thing underneath correct lightning. It was cool!

Then they did this whole thing with, what looked like, a large outlined person (you know, the outlined people shape like you see on movies when someone dies they outline the person). They had them sitting on a computer alternating between typing and drinking coffee. Then they stand up! They have these whips and they make sounds and then the guys come out with whips and do this whole routine. The slight of hand stuff between what is a person in a suit and what is just a projector or TV was AMAZING.

They did the TV screen thing. Their heads are behind/in TV screens. That was funny too.

The coolest part was the end, though. We had the crepe paper each person was given earlier and they had this thing at the beginning on the scroll bar thingy saying “all paper is from 100% recycled paper.” We were all “what? Why’d they say that? Because the stuff they gave us?” They also gave a strobe light warning. WELL. The guys put on a THIN mask and they turned the neon lights on and everything started to glow! They had these colored tube things come down from the ceiling I was noticing before the show started and they spun around and the guys had the thin masks on to make their head “glow.” They ran around the audience again and at the back of the room they had ROLLs and ROLLS of wider crepe paper and it was just pulled off and sent down the back and across the front. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Oh my gosh! They put the strobes on and the neon and you have all this paper moving from the back to the front. It was SO much fun. I couldn’t believe it. Strobe light was wacky and it was just so much fun. It was close to the end so they did a few other things, more paint drumming and that was neat. They had everyone come out and bow and it was just AMAZING.

The other funny part was when we were about 10-15 minutes in they were going to do something but the big screen goes through an “attention everyone” thing and says “late arrivals!” They had a camera and light on the late arrivals and a song saying “late arrivals” or something like that plays. It was hilarious! If I was late, I’d be SO embarrassed. EVERYONE knew you were a late arrival.

If I had the chance, I’d go again. It was definitely worth the $60. It’s almost a full 2 hour show (about 1 hour and 40 minutes long, though almost 10 minutes of reading the scrolling thing and telling people things). There’s no intermission, but they warn you of that before hand. Lots of audience interactions and they were just fun and funny.

Well, I think that was all the big stuff I can really say. All I have to say is, they were HILARIOUS and LOTS of fun. It was amazing. They had this “splash zone” where everyone wore ponchos (or most) and it cost more, but no one got wet or anything. *shrugs*Maybe for another show routine they do.

Jamie got a Blue Man Group CD called Complex. She and I both got shirts. I didn’t want to, but they were too amazing to pass up on the shirt. So I’m into +2 shirts for going to Florida. Somehow I’m going to pay for Europe. :P

I’m just having a blast here. Tomorrow we’re going to the Magic Kingdom. Tuesday (if it doesn’t rain) most likely Kennedy Space Center unless something comes up. :)

Happy Father's Day!!

I love my daddy!

Yesterday was a nice relaxing day. Jamie's college friend-who-just-graduated, Becky, came to visit. She's staying in Florida for the summer to help her aunt with her two kids. We sat around talking in the house while I was on the computer uploading and tagging all those pictures. Then we went to Macaroni-Something (I'm thinking Macaroni House, but don't think that's right). It's basically like Olive Garden, but, as Jamie said, "a step up." It was nice and fair priced. We walked around the shopping center then. We went to the Dollar Tree, Bath & Body Works, a marble slab ice cream place (just like Coldstone's, but not). We got smoothies. Then we went to get some bread for dinner and came home. We sat around talking around the table and then not around the table some and then Becky went home. I did some things on my computer and Jamie went to go play Kingdom Hearts and then I went to watch her later. It was just a nice relaxing day. :)

Jamie is at work now (she works ast Jo-Ann's) and when she gets home we're off to see Blue Man Group! Yay!

I'm still surviving the heat, so that's nice. :P Hasn't been too bad, or at least bad for Florida. No more rain or thunderstorms since the one when I first arrived. The forecast says it's supposed to, but it hasn't. It's been in the high 80's and low 90's here. The heat isn't really the problem, it's the humidity. Monterey has a lot of humidity, but it's not this yucky, sticky kind. I have come to the conclusion, I am just NOT used to sweating when I'm walking slowly or just standing. It just seems...unnatural!

Anyway, I should get some food.

Laters

Animal Kingdom

I lied. :P We went to Animal Kingdom instead because it was really nice and we figured more animals would be out. We wouldn't know on Monday for World whether it was nice or not.

Animal Kingdom was fun! There was just a TON of animals everywhere to look at it. The safari ride was fun. We went on that twice. The story was a bit lame, but that's kind of to be expected. The main theme of Animal Kingdom is conservation of the animals. You saw that theme many, many places. It was a weird combination of amusement park and conservation theme put together.

We also went on the rapids ride twice. It wasn't as good as Six Flags, but still got us nicely wet. It was hot, but I wore a tanktop and capris. I did pretty well! We ate at Rainforest Cafe since Kristi said I had to try. It was right outside the park! Luck for us. They had a special entrance and exit for those in the park.

Overall, it was very fun! I also bought a t-shirt from there that says "Disney's Animal Kingdom" on it. Probably shouldn't, but whatever. :P

Anyway, here is my flickr page of all the photos I took in Animal Kingdom. Some are better than others and the majority of them are of the animals. LoL

Anyway, I must be off. Tomorrow is Blue Man Group, Monday is Disney World (Magica Kingdom!), Tuesday is Kennedy Space Center.

Laters

Congo Golf

So tonight Jamie, Jackie, Chris and I went miniature golfing! It was at this one where you could feed these baby Gators and also these VERY hungry Koi fish (you had to pay, of course). It was a pretty fun outdoor course, though. It was 18 holes and you wound all around and up stairs and down some. They had some water holes (they had water all over the place flowing). Some were stationary pools and other spots were actually running water. The running water ones were scary because if you weren't quick, you could lose your ball down a waterfall or something! Jamie and I got a 63 (par was a 41!). Jackie got a 66 and Chris got a 71. We had a lot of fun.

Afterwards we went to 7-11 to get slurpees and ice cream. Now we're home.

Jamie and I are probably going to Disney World tomorrow. We already have our tickets (a bit over $60!). We got the Florida resident 10% off too. *rolls eyes* Oh well. It should be fun!