Rest and Relax

Radagast the Brown's awesome bunny sled!

First of all, I'm glad the semester is over.  This gives me time to reorganize myself and plan out my next semester.  I have no idea how my grades will turn out just yet, but I could care less about it for now.  The most important things at the moment are rest and relaxation, some things I haven't been able to do for much of the semester.

So far, I've cleaned up most of the apartment.  Dalin and I may have to do touch ups on the carpet, but that can wait and done a little at a time.  I also started organizing my mountain pile of notes...in preparation for the MCAT later this summer.

Entertainment up to this point consisted of mostly video games and watching some movies.  The best film we've seen so far is the new The Hobbit movie.  I don't care what the critics say, but it has to be one of the best films I've seen in a while.  While Dark Knight Rises, etc, were good, the LOTR prequel captured much of the book with some artistic imaginations and expansions.  I felt the whole story was being told to me.  Remember, this is going to be another trilogy, so we have much to expect from this series in the next couple of years.

As for Christmas plans, Stacey offered me to head up to Nephi to spend some time there the upcoming Sunday.  It should be very interesting.  I have not spent Christmas around loads of people, so it'll be a brand new experience.  In addition, it was nice to be remembered by Lyn when she called back and we had a nice chat together.  Somehow, I always call people at the wrong time.  Nevertheless, it was nice to hear her voice again.

As some of you may have noticed, I've decided to grow myself a French Cut this break.  I'm not sure how that'll turn out...um...I'll keep you updated.  Three weeks should yield some results before I have to shave it off when the semester starts.

I had good conversations with family over the net and phone this past week.  My uncle is doing okay and we enjoy our usual chattering over Skype.  I talked to my brother and caught up on the happenings in our lives.  Then, there was my conversation with mom.  It's great when things are going all right for everyone.

I said I was going to update this everyday, but looks like I won't be because not much is happening in my life in one day, but I will still update more frequently during this break simply because this is when I take some adventures inside and outside of the bubble.

Final Offensive

Not just any badger; an English one!

It is here!  The final stretch of the semester is upon us.  With only 4 finals left and me planning to take only one a day, I hope this semester will end well for me.

So, I discovered this week that I won't be the only person chilling around Provo in my apartment.  Dalin is apparently spending his time here this break.  Luckily, he has Kris here, so it shouldn't be a lonely one.  Nick will depart for home before Christmas.  That gives him another week after finals before he heads home.

Aside from my roommates, Stas and TK will be around and we might just spend some time at his house in Orem if the opportunity presents itself.  In addition, some of our Utahan locals like Natalie will hopefully pay a visit as well.  I think Dalin and I have dinner plans figured out.  We are going to carve our own turkeys and make our own meals.

During break, I hope to get my notes organized and come up with a plan for tackling the MCAT.  I'm also debating on deep cleaning the apartment.  As for activities, I'm still looking for some group physical activities that we could do besides video games.

Something about Christmas makes you realize how fortunate you are even if things aren't the way you wanted them.  After all, it could be worse.  Sometimes, we just gotta be grateful with what we have and work toward a better future.  It also made me realize how often I don't think about the bigger picture in life.  All I can do is try harder and hope for the best.  I simply need to trust in the Lord more.

Alas, I shall triumph and report back another week!

Last Stand

This could be bad...

So, we are at the very last month of the year.  I'm starting to lose motivation in school, work and writing on this blog.

Anyways, getting onto this week.  This week has been somewhat stressful in the fact that there was still too much homework and readings.  Honestly, when there are no work to do, there are so much readings.  I'm sick and tired of them.

Funnily enough, I still have one more tests before the end of the semester.  In addition, two more presentations as finals for my lab classes and MMBio468.

Overall, I felt decent about this week.  My life is plain once again!  No dating, no drama, just work and school.  It gets boring watching TV and playing video games, but I think that's the way to do it before the end of the semester and beyond.

Well, sorry to bore you with this insignificant post.  There are obviously more exciting stuff going on in life, but I prefer not to think about them and I don't feel very much comfortable sharing them.  With the Holidays coming up, I will be posting more often in small bits.

I can't promise you if they will be exciting, though?

Thanksgiving Week

Little things can make your day

This past week had been the much needed break for me.  This semester has been stressful, but manageable.  While I had my rest, I also worked many hours, especially Thanksgiving Day, which resulted me working for over 16 hours with double pay.  It feels good to have earned a pay period's wage in one day.

The long hours were made better because of great coworkers.  You may wonder why those people were there with me.  The truth is, most of them had family here in Utah where they could come and go.

On the flip side, there are many things that I'm grateful for.  The question now is trying to be happy.  I can be grateful for life's many conveniences today; however, I'm not so sure if we could equate gratitude for happiness.  Perhaps I'm just thinking too much or most people have the natural gift of being happy with what they show gratitude toward. As the status quo stands, happiness?  What's that?  I don't need people's garbage about how happiness is a choice.  Happiness is only a choice when there's something non-superficial and non-generically laughable that you care about and is quite pleased with it.  Whatever that is, I hope I'll find it.

I've been told that I should go home for once.  The sad reality is that if I want to be able to pay for my expenses, I can't go home and miss out on the pay dished out during the holidays.  Life is rough, so I'll have to deal with it.  This is primarily the reason why I don't show any sympathy towards people who haven't gone home in the past year or so.  Wanna know the last time I spent time with family, etc., during a major holiday?  It was back in December of 2006.  The last time I was officially home was January 2010.

Luckily, my roommates returned around late Friday and Saturday.  The only other person that was with me during this time was Jonathan.  Fortunately, he had family and places to go.  So, we did wind up cleaning the apartment and marvel and its cleanness until the rest of the crew returned from their trip.  Since everyone was so busy with their families, it was obvious that I didn't make too much contact with people over the phone and whatnot.

But look at it this way.  It's only Thanksgiving.  The real kicker is when Christmas break rolls along.  What am I going to do then?  I don't know.  I'll work for 38 hours a week during the last 2 weeks of break.  It's gonna be a major bore-fest!  Such is life...what can you do?

I hope the rest of my BYU career will offer something for me to do during future holidays.  Although, I highly doubt any new development will happen in the near future.

A Week in the Life

I'm not sure what's happening here

Let's see, I'm trying my hardest to remember what happened this past week.  It feels like nothing special happened.  At least, I feel like nothing significant happened.  I did go to the Nickelcade with my roommates, though.  It was a good way to relax.

I generally don't regard sports news as something worthy of mentioning in my blog, but I suppose they are big deal to other people.  In that case, the biggest highlight in BYU Sports this week was probably the women's soccer now in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.  It was a historical landmark.

The basketball teams and the football team, on the other hand, didn't do so well.  In fact, they were horrible, but let's not dwell on the negative.

Academics went okay this week.  I did pretty well in my Chem223 test.  That was unexpected because it was a free response exam.

I've been writing streams of consciousness during church talks this Sunday.  I'm still deciding if I actually had insights or just plain trolling in my mind.  Either way, 3 hours of church is really long, especially when you haven't had much sleep the night before.  Fortunately, my mood has improved over the last couple of days, so the stress isn't getting to me right now.

I can't say I have much good news to share around here as most of the major information on the Internet has been somewhat depressing.  As Thanksgiving approaches, I hope there will be some heartwarming moments in your lives.  Me?  I'll be working a lot.  Gotta make a living somehow as a poor college student.

Stressful Bliss

They are so fuzzy that I'm gonna die!

Remember how I've been in a foul mood for the past week or two?  Well, there were some leverage this week even though I had 4 tests to deal with, one of which I decided to put off until tomorrow.

The cynicism, for once, was getting on my nerves. After almost having a meltdown and being able to talk to authoritative folks about the situation, it turned out what I really needed was some downtime.  Nevertheless, I appreciated the fact that there people willing to sit down and listen.

This past Wednesday, I decided to skip my morning classes to get myself ready for my Chem223 exam.  While it seemed like a bad move, I felt a lot better afterwards because I didn't have to deal with my classes and getting up way early to prepare to head out.  It's amazing how stress can wreck your life if you are not careful.

Other interesting moments in the week including a discussion with my cousin which turned into a bitter exchange of words.  I'll admit that I'm not always the most tactful person, but it's difficult to deal with a biased 19-year-old girl who thought she knew everything.  Ironically, the encounter made me appreciate my mother a lot more.  I've had unkind opinions of her, but I failed to realize that she's improved much since she came in contact with the Church, albeit she chose to leave it.  Maybe when it's all said and done, I am the most biased person around those circumstances.

On that note, I had a good conversation with my Uncle Eddy as opposed of the depressing attitude I had with him last week.  Despite of the fact that what I have in life is less than ideal, I've been failing to highlight the good things in life.

Sometimes, I need to remember my own words: I'm not the man I want to be, but I'm not the man I'm used to be.

This weekend at work was awesome!  We had Tucanos for dinner!  My coworkers and I have never ate so well.  A lot of this had to do with the joint-effort of George, Simon, and some other managers of other departments in easing the tension between the production crew and rest of the broadcasting personnel.  It's a long and complicated story, but which organization doesn't have its strife?  In other note, it was a game well-played by BYU and some humorous moments were captured on-screen.

Sunday was more like the Sabbath it should be this time since snapping out of the abyss.  There were some very good talks during sacrament meeting (I don't often compliment the speakers due to my critical nature).  At any rate, I am a lot more content than I usually am.

Next stop...get past the MMBio441 test.  A class I no longer care due to the toll other classes have got on me.  Taking that class made me realize how much I didn't like molecular biology.  Although, I'll still finish the minor just because there are other aspects of it I really enjoy.  One thing is for sure, I don't like research that much, especially knowing about other people's research.

Reevaluation

I'm defeated,...for now!

It's been another crazy week.  I can't believe I have 4 tests this week.  I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it, but it'll be done.  I have to spend more time on homework and projects.  I actually submitted my ORCA grant proposal.

Besides school-related obstacles, I had some enjoyable moments at work.  Mainly the free food and the fact that I got paid for doing live games.  Props to our women's teams because they are doing so well in their respective sports.  The football team isn't doing the greatest, but they have been playing tough opponents this season.

The Tech Retreat for work was all right.  My schedule didn't permit me to stay longer than I'd hoped.  Nevertheless, I got free food.  That's all it matters.

My girls, FHE daughters, made comments about my health habits.  I admit, my eating and sleeping patterns aren't exactly the best right now.  It's a wonder how I've managed to stay in shape and look okay.  Sometimes, I wonder I drink so much.  I gotta curb that somehow.  Other than that, I was glad Tyler and I could offer them some service earlier this week.

There was also a CES Fireside tonight.  It gave a new perspective about how to be happy in life.  I noticed a few issues in regards to the way I handle my personal life.  In short, I had a nice discussion about it and decided to do better and make some changes.

It's a short post, but my mind is boggled with assignments and tests.  Wish me luck!