Cough, Wheeze

I was able to get to bed at a decent hour yesterday, but I ended up waking up at 1:30. I spent a few frustrating hours just trying to get back to bed, and ended up getting up late. Sigh...

After class, I went to the health center for a check up. The nurse said that it looked like a virus rather than something more serious like strep throat. I got a decongestant and was advised to come back if the problem didn't subside.

I'm feeling better, and I think I'll be better by then... it's just frustrating that this has dragged on for so long.

Another Lazy Day

Today, I was able to go at a slower pace. Though it would have been nice to have done more productive work, it was nice to take the time to recuperate. I got up late, and didn't do that much work (I was able to do much of this week's reading during the weekend). Since my Psych. class has powerpoint lectures, it's not necessary to go to class to get the notes, so I opted to take the afternoon off.

Chrissie called me this afternoon; apparently she booked a commercial for Jack in the Box. I'm happy for her, and it's always good to see her getting parts.

Later that night, I had Chorale. I missed out on Chorale last semester because it coincided with class, and I missed going, so it was good to be back. This semester, we're working on Mozart's Requiem. It's sort of odd doing another Requiem, since I still have the Verdi Requiem in the back of my head (the words, of course, are identical). It should be fun to get into, though.

I think I must have looked a little depressed this evening, since a Chorale friend asked me if I was feeling alright on the bus back. I explained that I'd been feeling a bit sick lately. We then caught up on each other's classes. It's nice when people show concern like that, since it's often too easy to get caught up in oneself and forget that there are people who think about you.

In other news, it looks like my AIM and ICQ are working once more; I hope they don't break down again.

Another Late Night

I was able to get up on time, happily. Oddly enough, I don't seem to be feeling the effects of sleep deprivation, or at least I'm not dozing off. My throat's still sore, however. If it keeps up, I'll probably go to the Health Center on Friday.

Today wasn't bad, but it wasn't superb either. It was just the basic round of classes, plus my PE credit (fencing). For once, I'm not completely to blame for my staying up late; I went to an audition for a set of student plays, and I didn't end up getting in until very late.

I... Need... Sleep

The irony... I am up past midnight writing an entry about my sleep habits.

I was able to get up in time to do my final registration, and was able to get through the day without getting tired. My throat is feeling awfully sore though.

I keep on being relatively lazy and inactive during the day and have trouble getting to bed at night, even when it's really late/early. Hopefully if I continue to wake up early, I'll have to compensate by adjusting my schedule. That, or I'll end up taxing my resources, but it's worth a shot.

I've also got to discipline myself more. As much as I hated it when my mom made me go to bed when I wasn't tired, I know that consistently staying up late, especially when I can't always sleep in until noon, isn't helping me. I just seem to naturally be more active late at night. I think I like the environment better; it can be so quiet, serene, and distraction-free.

Hopefully I'll be able to curb my bad habit; it's really a persistent one, though.

Lazy Saturdays

I woke up again late today. My throat still seems a bit sore, so I'm going to have to continue taking care of myself. I didn't do much of import except clean out my email and get little bit of reading done. Hopefully I'll be able to get the rest of my work done tomorrow morning; it's within the realm of possibility, and it'll give me a chance to enjoy myself.

I forgot to add something: My computer's been having problems starting up lately. After doing some troubleshooting, I called customer support; the guy there suggested I reinstall Windows. However, that's really not something I can do until I have my program files (most are at home, and some are downloads or lost), so I'm going to have to make do for a while.

Getting Better All the Time...

I've been feeling significantly better today, both physically and emotionally. My cold is on it's last legs; my throat isn't sore or phlegmmy, though it's a bit dry. I've also been able to get over the mild spell of crankiness/depression I've been having lately. I talked to a few people today, which made me feel a bit less isolated even though the conversations weren't incredibly deep or anything.

I got up late after having several weird dreams. The only thing I can remember is that I was Peter Pan in one of my dreams, so I was flying around a lot. Nicely enough, I have no classes on Fridays, so I was able to have a laid back day. During the afternoon, I got an email about the drama class. It turns out that someone dropped the class, so I'll be able to take it. I now have to get a book so I can read the first chapter by Tuesday. It wasn't in my local Barnes and Noble, so I ordered it on Amazon; hopefully it'll arrive on time.

While I was in my room, a fire alarm sounded. I figured it was just a quick drill, but that it would probably be a good time to go to dinner. As I headed back from dinner, I saw a fire truck go past; it was later joined by two more. It was nothing serious, but they suspected a problem with the sprinklers. Finally, they let us back in. I called my sister, and talked to her a while. Later, I did a tiny bit of reading.

An annoying side note: my schools internet is acting up and I can't use ICQ or AIM for a while. Hopefully they'll fix it in a few days, though.

Main Line Drivers...

I tried to get to bed earlier than usual... only to wake up at 3:30 AM. After going on the computer for a while, I went back to bed, where I tossed and turned before getting to sleep. I then heard the first alarm, but didn't end up hearing the second alarm and thus woke up half an hour late for my first class. I'm not too stressed about it, though. I think I needed the sleep to recover, and my throat is feeling better. I slept in until about 12:30, after which I went to Topology and a European Politics class (my replacement for the classes I was lotteried out of). The politics class seems okay, but a lot of it seems like a retread of things I've already studied. I hope it'll get more interesting.

After class, I went to the dining hall for dinner. Since nothing looked that appetizing, I went to the local supermarket for food. On the way, I nearly got hit by an SUV; when I was halfway across the street, I saw it making a left turn into the lane I was in. I shouted and ran across (fortunately the snow had cleared up, so there wasn't the danger of slipping); I think the SUV might have spotted me and slowed down as well. I can tell why Main Line drivers have such a bad reputation among students; this is my second time in less than a year when I had a brush with a car, and I wasn't being reckless or anything. The odd thing is that the incident occurred in the same exact spot as the one in May. Maybe the street isn't well lit so it's hard to spot pedestrians, or maybe it was just a weird coincidence, but I'll probably avoid that street for a while.

Ergh...

Today I got up sort of late (though my early classes are Tuesday/Thursday) and went to the student store. After taking some medicine (which made me sort of drowzy later on), I met with another girl who wanted some of my Sure Thing doubles. I tried to read a bit after that, but I spent most of my time napping. I got up in time to go to my class. Afterwards, there was a discussion session with the TA; unfortunately, while I had done the lecture readings, I overlooked the discussion reading entirely. And the TA insisted that everyone speak, which was... not good for me. I then went to the dining hall, but, on seeing the selections for today, decided to order pizza instead. After doing my laundry, I ordered the pizza, and that's where you find me now.

To be honest, I'm not feeling very well today. A lot of this has to do with my sore throat, but there's the emotional component as well. I'm thinking of changing my chat habits so I limit my time to weekends, at least until I get better. It might not be a bad idea to stick to weekends after I get better anyways; it's foolish for me to get run down by staying up late in chat, particularly when I have early classes this semester.

I'm feeling a bit isolated and alone as well. Unfortunately, with the exception of my thesis class, there aren't really people I feel particularly close to in my classes. When you add my tendency to isolate myself, it's not surprising that I'm feeling a bit alone right now. Hopefully I'll feel better when Chorale and other extracurricular activities pick up.

A So-So Day

Miraculously enough, I woke up in time to get to my early 8:30 class (17th/18th Century French Painting). After class, I had to do some application stuff; luckily I finished in time to go to my next class (Intro to Creative Writing). Unluckily, I got lotteried out. I wasn't surprised, though, as the department is really small and there are always a ton of people who sign up and get turned away. I was sort of annoyed that they gave frosh preference over upperclassmen, since it was the opposite in the past. I then went to Topology; it's a 300 level math, so taking it allowed me to complete my minor without taking Real Analysis II (I... didn't enjoy RA I). I then tried to take an intro. acting class; I figured it would be a nice change of pace and would be a nice distraction from my thesis. Unfortunately, there were 16 people there, and only 14 people could be in the class. Wouldn't you know it... I was one of the two given the axe. So I'll now have to find something else if I want to take five classes. Of course I could just take four classes, but I like keeping myself busy.

After cleaning my room and doing a little reading, I took a nap. I had napped for about an hour when I heard a knock at the door. It was the Yearbook co-editors, who were trying to get photos of people in their rooms. I had sort of expected them to come; otherwise I wouldn't have cleaned my room in the first place. They also asked me about designing sidebars for the color section; I'll have to work on it this weekend.

Finally, while I felt better yesterday, I'm feeling sick again. My throat is feeling really raw, and my eyes are a bit watery. Hopefully I'll get a decent amount of rest tonight.

MLK Day

Today was my first day of classes; since Bryn Mawr is private, it doesn't have to observe federal holidays. While there were concerts and other events in honor of the holiday, we didn't have the most sacred part of any holiday: the time off. Oh well.

The classes I had today were Abnormal Psychology, at 2:30, and Thesis Seminar, at 7:00. In Abnormal Psych, we started a historical overview of psychopathology, studying how mental illness was understood from prehistoric times down to the Medieval era. In my thesis class, the professors gave their overviews, then we broke up into two groups and did prospectus peer reviews. I'm sort of eembarassed about my prospectus, but it went alright.

My first class tomorrow is at 8:30. I should really be getting to bed, huh?

Back to the Grind

I'm starting to feel a bit sick, probably owing to the cold weather I'm now finding myself in. Hopefully I'll be able to take care of that. In addition, I have a lot of tasks to work on that are just unpleasant. I wish I had a secretary so I wouldn't have to bother with these things, but I guess that'll have to wait until I'm fabulously wealthy... or not.

On the plus side, I finished the next installment of my comic!

Home... uh, Dormward Bound

Today I got finally got back to Bryn Mawr. I had worried that checking in would take a long time because of the new airline regulations, but it didn't take long at all. After two hours of waiting in the airport, I finally got on my plane. It was smooth sailing (or perhaps flying) until the plane approached Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the airport had to shut down because there was snow and they needed to clear the runways; the plane circled around for a while before going to Pittsburgh for refueling. We finally went back to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, that was not the end of my problems, as the luggage took an eternity to arrive in baggage claim. After getting my luggage, I was (luckily) able to take a taxi back to my dorm. Some very desperate individual even tried to get in the taxi while I was en route to the college.

The result of all this is that I ended up arriving around 1:30, over three hours later than I had expected. Oh well... I suppose it could be worse.

Last Day of Vacation

After I did some packing, mom and I went to pick Chrissie up. We went to the movies, seeing Lord of the Rings (I had seen the movie before, but they hadn't) and going to dinner. It was fun, and I enjoyed seeing the movie a second time since it allowed me to catch details I had overlooked the first time I saw it.

I have mixed feelings about returning to school. I'll definitely like having my privacy and independence (not to mention my net connection), but the tradeoff is that I'll have to work again, and that includes writing my thesis. It's sort of scary that I only have one semester to go before I graduate; even though I've started thinking about it, the very idea of life after college is daunting.

Math is Hard. Let's Go Shopping!

Thankfully, today was a tad more productive than yesterday. After a dental checkup, my mom dropped me off at the mall, where I got passport pictures taken and got a new pair of tennis shoes. I then wandered from store to store, and also got a couple of CDs. Afterwards, my mom and I went out to dinner together.

It's sort of funny; I can be pretty frugal in some respects but also disregard money. I've been able to make do with the same pair of shoes for a year and a half, and I've kept the same old backpack throughout college. I'm also pretty restrained when it comes to clothing. Yet, when it comes to less practical things like books, CDs, or DVDs, I can spend a ton of money if I'm not careful.

Lethargy

Reason #598 that being at home can be a pain: Parents forcing you to get off the computer and go to dinner right before you finish a journal entry.

Today was a bit of a bust for me. I was able to get some boxes and finish part IV of my infamous (or maybe not) comic. The rest of the day sort of dragged, though. I was stuck at home alone without a house key or access to a car, which is sometimes alright, but I didn't feel like watching reruns or playing on the computer very much. I ended up snacking a little more than I should have just so I would have something to do. Add the semi-depressed mood that I've had for the last few days, and it hasn't been the best day.

My mom was out for most of the afternoon taking Chrissie to the hairstylist; the trip was part of a larger plan to give her a new 'look' so she'll get more parts. Yesterday she got new makeup, and she's also hoping to get a few 'stylish' outfits for auditions. She got her hair cut by Julia Roberts' ex-hairdresser, and, according to mom, her hair now looks like Meg Ryan's.

Well, that's my day. Fortunately, tomorrow should be a bit more interesting.

Visiting Friends

Saturday afternoon, I was picked up by Fred, who briefly got to meet Sunny and my parents. I then got in the car with his friends Erik (who lives in LA) and Rita (who I had met before) and headed towards San Diego to pick up Marina. After picking her up, we had an early dinner there and went to Erik's house. We set up my computer's DVD, but it was sort of choppy, so we ended up watching tapes instead. After playing card games, we talked a bit and went to sleep.

The next morning, we headed to San Diego; however, Fred's car broke down on the way because of a clogged fuel pipe. Marina had to call in sick, and I ended up going home first since she didn't have to be back for work. Soon after I got back, my dad came home with Chrissie. We all had lunch, and later went to see The Royal Tenenbaums along with Chrissie's friend (and 'unofficial Weatherup') Jordana. Afterwards, I went with Chrissie to her dorm at USC, where I spent the night.

Today, I followed Chrissie around at school; we went to lunch, a sort of informational gathering for theater/film clubs, and her international cinema class. The lecture was on Japanese cinema, and included a screening of Kurosawa's Rashomon. While the film was good, the discussion afterwards wasn't really that great since the TA didn't seem to know what she was doing; she even ended it half an hour early. We then went to the library, since Chrissie had to get a sticker to show she was enrolled. She also wanted to show me the golden ticket from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but the area that housed it was closed. We then hung out a bit before my dad came and picked me up.

Tale as Old as Time...

I spent much of yesterday scanning and printing drawings to put in a portfolio. It didn't take too long, considering that my mom's computer has a tendency to break down when I scan things. I later tried to upload the artwork and some Seattle pictures to my site, but it ended up crashing the computer, so I ended up calling it a day. Maybe I'll try again later, but I just might end up having to wait until I get back to school.

Today I met with my friend Natasha. We met for lunch (though I slept in and was a bit late) and later saw the IMAX rerelease of Beauty and the Beast. Natasha had worried that we wouldn't be able to see it because she wasn't able to get tickets online, but everything worked out. It was great being able to see the movie on an IMAX screen, it really helps me to appreciate the artistry more. ::Takes check from Disney:: After the movie, we hung out a little bit, singing along to old Disney songs before I went home.

Tomorrow should be fun; I will be seeing Fred, Marina, and several of Fred's friends while we watch DVDs. I'm already excited!

Comics and Stuff

I spent most of my day working on the next part of my comic. I had already drawn it, but I wanted to try and make it look nice. I spent a lot of time cleaning up the graphics, plus I added color. Once I had finished it, I tried to put it up, but Dreamweaver was being stubborn and my mom's computer crashed a few times before I was finally able to put it up. Anyway, here it is!

Thanks to Ruth, I have a name for the girl (Harley), and I'm leaning towards Colby or something like that for the boy. For the third character (dad/uncle/guardian), I'm still in the dark, though.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow ::Gets Arrested By the Pun Police::

Yesterday we finished moving Chrissie in. It was an endeavor that ended up taking the entire day, since we started late and also had to buy books and supplies and have a farewell dinner.

Today, I didn't get all that much done, though I got my hair cut. The hairdresser talked me into adding a little bit of layering. It's a bit odd having my hair somewhat shorter; I hadn't gotten a haircut in a long time and I had gotten used to having very long hair. I think it looks nice, though.

Saturday Fun

I did very little this morning, but this afternoon and evening I helped Chrissie move into her dorm at USC. This consisted of getting boxes, providing 'moral support' and entertainment value, watching When Harry Met Sally with her, and going over to drop off the boxes. The drive was pretty long, as traffic was absolutely awful, but I have survived to tell the tale. After moving the bulk of the stuff in (she left a little for tomorrow), we all went out for a farewell dinner.

Oh, and I finally got around to putting up Part II of my comic!

La De Da...

My vacation lasts for a few more weeks, but I'm almost ready to go back... being home has a way of making me irritable. I don't exonerate myself, since I'm not the easiest person to live around, but I have problems since I tend to keep to myself and that doesn't mesh well with living at home with my family. Though I can understand why they do it, it really bothers me when they meddle in my life. Add the limited internet access, and it can be a bit trying sometimes.

Today, I went out with my mom and sister. After getting some iced mochas, we went to a nearby supermarket and later drove over to Borders so that Chrissie could get a last-last-minute holiday gift. I spent much of this afternoon cleaning up my room (something that I really needed to do), and I'll hopefully be able to finish the rest later tonight.

Xmas, Seattle, and New Years

Heh, it's been a while since I've updated. I've been out more than usual, and when you throw in limited computer access, it makes it difficult to update.

Anyway, Christmas was a lot of fun. I got a lot of good presents, mostly DVDs and CDs (by the way, many thanks to those of you who got me presents). The 'special' Santa gift was especially good... Chrissie and I got some nice digital cameras. After the presents were opened, we all went to my grandparents' house, where we celebrated the holiday with them as well as my aunt, uncle, and one-year-old twin cousins. It was fun to watch them open their presents and get excited.