And Don't Forget to Hold Back Your Thoughts and Live Like Robots

'Cause we all know what goes on / Reminisce on the memories 'cause we're gone / We're gone / So gone (Jonas Brothers)

Things are a little stressful and people aren't all in the best of moods or mental states, but I think despite all the sad things and whatnot, I should try to keep strong. Sad things are only beautiful from a distance, but distancing myself isn't going to make them less sad. And I can't really get away from it either, but that's okay. Just like I can't get away from the wind and the constant bouts of drizzle rain, that beat at the windows at night and make the drapes billow and sends whistles through the halls. Yes. Time for miscellany!

 It's the start of December, and I figure I could join in the spirit of things and bring some winter cheer to these last few weeks of school with these earrings that my grandmother gave me. Inexpensive, but quite shiny and fun to wear. Haven't felt this much weight on my ears in a while!

When I went home for Thanksgiving I finally relocated this card to keep the SD card slot on my laptop clean and closed, hehe. It was in such an easy-to-access place, too! =_=;;

As you can see... My habit for overdoing things without thinking ahead got the better of me when I was borrowing things for my paper, hehe. ^^;;

Remember that hand-turkey-making day that I wrote about? I finally took the time to take pictures. Time being just before I started writing this post, haha.

Made from the various scrap papers left after our turkey endeavor. DISCO PARTY TURKEY, yeah, time to get down an funky after Thanksgiving is over, yeah!

Claire's awesome hand turkeys!

My mad chemist turkey lost a fing-I mean, feather. Lab accident. Reaction? "Caffiene!"

Our full door! (So far =D)

On one of the days this past weekend when we got home, we opened the box of Pillsberry Crescent things that we had bought from Costco on sale and used them to not only make normal crescents, but these tiny ham wraps, using the instructions on the box for the little pigs in blankets. Now I know how Grace's mom makes such wonderful food to snack on!

These aren't fully grown, but my mother opened up another package of those wonderful, colorful magic water growing balls. It's pretty amusing just to see them grow, and to swirl them around. Hehe.

We're heading into the week before finals, meaning major study week, aka turn into a robot and constantly feed myself information and to shut out distractions and turn off emotions and desires. If this is the way to success, so be it! Besides, I'd very much rather to problems repetitively than have to write papers and do research. Sigh.

Also, I forgot. I have recently taken to the Hitchhiker's Guide's "DON'T PANIC." It is up on my refrigerator and on my manila folder filled with miscellany. That shall be my chant for the rest of the semester. That and CALM DOWN. Yeah. Forget FOCUS. It is not a matter of focusing problems. It is PANICKING and thus doing things to relieve that panic that occasionally pulls me off track. Here's to not panicking and coming out of everything well. Good luck!

Planning

So today I made a nice paper with my tentative schedule for Spring 2011. Don't worry; by the end there will be only one orange, one green, and one pink sticky note left on it. I've got my first choices and my backup days/times set up, and my preferences all set up. I'm also hoping that I do get into that physics class. Otherwise... I need to find some other class to take. I need to come up with backup classes, haha. I'm looking at English... but writing intensive doesn't sound so nice in addition to my science classes. And who knows what the workload in anthropology will be. ^^;;

Speaking of ANTH, I've got a paper I should be working on. I really need someone to motivate me.

In other news, I watched the 11 episodes of Eden on the East on Funimation recently, after seeing the DVD available in Suncoast. It was interesting. Favorite character? Akira Takizawa, for sure, hehe. XD

I pray you shall continue to be a savior. Also, I found the video for the end theme very captivating. Love the medium. I especially love the portion when the hand comes out to hold the phone. The fact that their shadows are cut outs of them is lovely too. And the "bang bang" at the end.... <3

I've been having the crazy desire to continuously snack recently. I need someone here to stop me... Or to eat all the food in my junk drawer, hehe. On a bright note, strawberry banana yogurt is delicious in the morning!

Today was the last day for actually CHEM272 lab. It took longer than I had hoped it would (mostly we spent too much time waiting when things could have been done to fix it to make it go faster ;_; so silly). It was great, though. Polymers are interesting, especially in just making them. Nylon and polystyrene, man! The thionyl chloride was kind of scary, though. The evolution of sulfur dioxide and HCl gas was kind of troubling too, hehe. Oh well! No more accidentally squirting too much acetone on my hands when cleaning! No more fighting with syringes and trying to get to know equipment that  everyone else probably had chances getting to know in the year before! Oh well. Fume hood are amazing. So was my TA. I wish I could have him for a TA again next semester, despite difficulties in understanding what he was saying. XD

I am free. (: Chem lab was so stressful and frustrating this semester (not to mention LONG), but I think it just emphasized that chemistry is something I really do enjoy. Being methodical and following directions, but finding solutions, and knowing that there is a reason for everything that went wrong or right. I still have problems memorizing things (so much memorizing!), but understanding why things happened was so great. Difficult and demanding, but oh so neat. I admire my TA for his knowledge, hehe.

Anyway, focus focus focus. That is what it always comes to. Qin and the Incas, here I come!

Permanent Jet Lag

Please take me back (please take me back).  (Fall Out Boy)

While I certainly flew nowhere this Thanksgiving weekend (while many other people did to spend time with their families on such a wonderful time of bonding over food and frantic shopping batles), I definitely feel the effects of being home for so long. I don't know why, but with all the time I had today and all the time I have this weekend, I feel utterly drained and just want to sleep. Where did my energy go? I ate mom's delicious pork chop with rice for dinner today (reminder: must wash container!), and some strawberry-banana Yoplait yogurt afterwards for desert, and drank apple juice and water. I just feel severely weighed down and in a haze right now, hehe.

I looked at the rehearsal/concert schedule and the final exam schedule for the upcoming few weeks. Everything is spaced slightly nicely, but at the same time, I could use some more space between math and chemistry things. Not to mention, all the paper writing I have to get to doing. I didn't realize how close all the deadlines are; learning from the first set of tests and big assignments came around, I know how much time I need to do things, and I feel like I could always just use MORE MORE MORE. We'll see how things go.

On a bright note, I practiced violin today, going through all the music for Music at Manoa. Hopefully these last few rehearsals go better; I'm hoping Monday's concert isn't a complete bust. My D string slipped yesterday during choir, so I'm hoping that it's not a sign telling me it's about to break, or sound completely terrible. I don't think I'll change my string this close to a concert. I should have done it weeks ago! That's what I keep telling myself. I need to learn to take proper care of my violin The index finger rest pad thing on my bow is coming apart in a coil of braided string. I do not know what to do about it, short of taping it all in place, which I will NEVER! do. Tape on wood is just not right, you know?

I had a great time this past weekend watching things, seemingly with a lot more foreign accents than I had anticipated. James Bond, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Happy-Go-Lucky, Hetalia. For some reason this all reminds me that I need to change my pair of contacts. I was supposed to through out this pair on the 23rd; Thankfully, being at home means resorting to using glasses most of the time for the sake of convenience. I guess after driving with my contacts in just made me realize how much more comfortable/safe feeling glasses are (except for the fact that my current pair gives the top of my right ear pain). By the way, I can't park, really. I need more practice! And definitely more patience on my part. -sigh- I will try for my license someday, certainly, MOST CERTAINLY, after I learn how to park. And after I am not so panicky and jolty. Yeah.

The only song I've sang this weekend pretty much was 20 Dollar Nose Bleed. I couldn't get it out of my head, and couldn't stop myself from singing it, despite the fact that it talks about benzedrine, which is the racemic mixture of amphetamine (thank you Wikipedia), and thus is related to meth. And for reasons uncertain, I feel like that was kind of bad to sing at home. Oh dear. But I cannot resist singing with Patrick's and Brendon's voices. Too bad both of their bands are pretty much dead, and not the same as they used to be.

Got to get to focusing. I have a large back of library books and a wonderful collection of online journals to aid me in my paper writing. Yay history!

Came back with flags on coffins and said "We won, oh we won."

Oh, the destruction of the Hawaiian kingdom, and oh, the power of the Qin Dynasty.

I think I will have a permanent desire to go back home to the comfort of my own bed and a purring cat, for the bands that made music that I love immensely, to ease the pain and queasiness I feel as I read about the tumultuous pasts and rights and wrongs of different political powers in places worldwide. Please take me back.