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.