First Day of Classes

Today I had my first day of classes. So far, things are looking good. After my classes, I was reading a book in my room. It was some recreational reading as I figure I won't have much more of it after classes kick into gear. I was so tired after the first couple pages, I took a nap. I wish I could say I woke up feeling refreshed, but I woke up feeling even more tired.

Back from Break

Today I returned to college. I got back by car, train, bus, and walking in that order. While I like college, I really like being home with my family. I miss them already. A lot of fun memories were made over break and it is sad to see it come to an end.

Breaking Away

Today was the last full day with the family. We had a fun time bowling as a family. I knocked down all the pins five times in one game, but only had one strike. You can do the math. It was sad to see my brother leave back for college, especially knowing I will have to do the same tomorrow. It was a nice trip home, and I am sad to have to leave.

Movies vs Attitudes

I had big plans for today. In fact, I had been planning today's events for weeks. When things weren't going as planned, I wasn't too happy. The fun event I had planned was being turned into something not fun at all, and I was to blame. Thankfully, we were all able to work things out and enjoy watching a movie in 3-D. A special thanks to my grandparents for a great meal tonight.

Over the Limit

Today I had quite a bit of stuff to do. I shot some time lapse photography from the roof of my father's school. It caused quite a stir among the students, and even some of the adults to see someone walking around on the roof.

I then had to wrap up an internship application I have been chipping away at all week. My essay was finally getting to the point where I was happy with how it was turning out. That was until I found out I was at around 1200 words and the limit was 500 words. As my father said, I could take out every other word and still be over the limit. It was a major discouragement. My mother was a big help throughout the process, and helped me trim my essay down to the bare bones. I am assuming they received my fax, but am not too hopeful about getting the internship.

After such a disappointment, it was nice to go to our family friend's house for a game night. Pool, ping pong, bananagrams, and playing DDR for the first time were a nice way to end the evening after a bit of a disappointing day. Thanks Deakins.

Play Day

Today was the last time I will get to play pickleball for quite some time. I played the man, and beat him one out of three games. In his own words we are evenly matched. Too bad I won't be able to play pickleball again for a couple months. I also had a fun time at my father's school, helping in his class, leading a reading group, playing soccer with the kids at recess, and capture the flag with kids during PE.

Reported To

Today I went to my third grade sister's class to listen to their oral reports. My sister wasn't giving her report today, but I was able to hear some of her classmate's reports. They did a great job. I even learned some new things. The topics included magnets, squirrels, clouds, fire extinguishers, space, and volcanoes. My sister's report is going to be about elephants. Unfortunately, I won't be here to listen to her report, but at least I will be able to help her prepare for it.

Movie Night Needed

Today I played pickleball. It was fun. My sister is now on break after finishing her final and presentation. Time for a movie night.

Here to Help

It can be easy to forget that other people in my family aren't on break yet. Just because I am on break doesn't mean they are. It was fun and interesting helping my littlest sister prepare for an oral report on elephants. They are fascinating creatures. My other sister was preparing for a final and report she has tomorrow. My dad was has been testing out potential art and science projects he may have his class do. I hope things go well for all of them, and in the meantime I am here to help as I can.

Family Matters

Today it was nice to be with the entire family. It doesn't even really matter what we are doing. It doesn't have to be much. It is just fun to be with everybody.

Full Family

Today my brother came home. He is also on spring break this week. It is nice to have the whole family together. Let the party begin.

Family Fun

Today it was nice to spend time with the family. I went to coffee with my mother and sister. Then I spent time with my father and his class. My sisters and I played outside this afternoon once it finally stopped raining. It is nice to be home with the family.

Historic Game

Today I went to pickleball. I didn't have a ride or a car to use, so I had to borrow my sister's bike to get there. It had been quite a while since I last played. At first, it showed.

I played a game of singles with "the man". Actually, several games. The first game, he beat me by quite a bit. The second game, I was warmed up and we had a fierce battle. I was up 10-9 on a game to 11. I needed to score one more point. We went back and forth exchanging serves, nobody scoring. Eventually, he ended up beating me in overtime.

During a doubles game, my partner tried to hit the ball I had just hit and ended up nailing me in the back of the head with his paddle, a sort of welcome back to pickleball moment. It hurt quite a bit.

After playing some doubles games, the man and I decided to play some more singles games.
This time, I wasn't quite as ready. He beat me two games in a row. I didn't even score a point in either game. However, during these losses I got warmed up again and my pride was in need of some redemption. We played one last game. I was up 10-3. I needed to score one more point to win the game. We both were playing hard, he didn't want to lose, and I wasn't going to lose again.

My mom showed up at this crucial time in the game to give me and the bike a ride home. She was trying to get a picture of the battle, but the camera flash was throwing me off, temporarily blinding me as I tried to hit the ball. Even with this distraction, I was finally able to score the game winning point. I had won, and he had lost for only the second time in his past couple years of playing pickleball. It was a historic moment, one my mother was there to see even if she almost accidentally cost me the game.

Nice and Nicer

Today I finished my last final. It is nice to be done with my classes, and not have to worry about finals anymore. What is even nicer is to be home with my family.

Cleaning House

Today I had a final at 6:00pm. I had all day to study for the test, or to procrastinate. Due to the grading system and doing well on previous tests in the class, I only had to get a 50% on the final to get an A in the class.

That being said, I wanted to make sure I would get an A in the class. I studied for this test as much as I did for the previous ones, even if it felt unnecessary. But it was a good thing I did because this test was substantially harder than the previous tests, and it would have been easy to be under my 50% threshold. Hopefully, the studying paid off.

I also studied for my final tomorrow, the last one of the quarter. It is only now starting to sink in that I won't be going back to those classes again. It feels more like an extended weekend now. My roommate and I cleaned our room so it will be clean when we have to return to it after break. It felt a bit strange to clean something we will be leaving so soon, but it will be nice to return to a clean room instead of a messy one.

Another One Bites the Dust

Today I had my math and economics finals. I feel like they both went well. It felt so freeing to be done with them. Today, I was convinced to buy an espresso drink by my roommate. I bought a caramel macchiato. It was my first time ever buying, or drinking for that matter, a coffeeish drink. Fittingly, as I bought it, 'another one bites the dust' was playing in the background. I may be hooked for life.

Finals Starting

Today was the last day of my last weekend here for the quarter. I planned to study for 6 hours and 45 minutes today, but I don't t think I quite reached that level. I think it was closer to 4 or 5 hours.

I've been studying math a lot, and got to the point where I am feeling good about the final tomorrow. I quickly remembered I also have an economics final tomorrow worth a higher percentage of my overall grade that I am not feeling quite as ready for. Hopefully, things will go well tomorrow. It is arguably the most important day of my college career so far.

College Kid

Today I decided to do one of those things that a "real" college kid does. (Don't worry mom, it wasn't one of "those" type of things.) I got a bunch of junk food, and planned to study late into the night eating my junk food.

The problem was I ate the junk food well before it was getting late into the night, right after dinner actually. I couldn't stop eating, and felt sick, but not even that slowed me down. I wasn't really studying that much either, just eating.

I vowed to never try studying like this again, but when I returned from a break in my studies, the food was still there and I returned to consuming it. Perhaps I hoped the food would sweeten my study time and help ease the anxiety of finals. It didn't really end up doing either, it just made me feel sick and rather pathetic.

Last Day

Today was the last full day of classes for the quarter. They were mainly final review sessions. The only thing left between me and my freedom is four finals.

Overtime

Today I got quite a bit of homework done. With so little left to do this quarter, I figured I might as well get it done with. Tomorrow is the last day of classes of the quarter. That is good, but it means I need to start seriously thinking about finals.

Good to Go

Today was a really good day. I don't know what made it so good, but it just was. Maybe the realization of how much studying I have to do for finals hasn't fully sunk in yet. Whatever the case, I hope the days ahead are as good as today was.

Marathon Man

Today I tried to fit in studying during all my free time. It was not too much fun. Actually, it was no fun at all. I keep reminding myself that this quarter is almost over. I am on the last stretch of a marathon trying to end strong instead of dragging myself across the finish line.

Mundaney

Today was the last Monday of regular classes for the quarter. I woke up tired, probably due to spring forward. It is nice only having a few homework assignments left for the quarter. Which is probably a good thing because I am running low on motivation and effort. I just want this quarter, and especially finals, to be over with so I can head home for the needed break.

Flying Block

Today I played in a soccer game. Although I was sore before, and especially after the game, the game wasn't nearly as painful as last week. I decided to try out being goalie. After giving up a couple goals, I decided enough was enough. Someone shot the ball hard and low towards the corner. Almost instinctually, I dove towards the ball. I blocked the shot while flying completely horizontal through the air. People congratulated me on my goalie skills, I was just glad to have finally blocked a shot.

Spring Forward

One of my least favorite days of the year is spring forward. I love fall back, but spring forward is never fun and borderline evil. I guess eventually it pays off with it being lighter later, but spring forward is painful the first couple days. As if in preparation for spring forward, I got up early this morning. The going to bed earlier is going to be the more difficult part.

Test Taken

Today I had my last math test of the quarter, and possibly life. I felt really prepared for it, but the test didn't go as well as planned. I don't think I did terrible, and he drops the lowest score anyway. Hopefully, I can redeem myself on my last math final.

Sunny Snow Storm

Today I walked out of my math class to sunny skies, and snow. It was very bizarre. People were walking around, staring up at the sky, in a dazed and confused manner. It was strange for snow to be falling with such a warm temperature and sunny skies. Quickly, however, the sunny skies disappeared and shortly after that, the snow did as well.

Registered

Today I registered for classes. I spent the past couple days trying to find the "perfect schedule." It is hard to do, there are a lot of variables to factor in. Conflicting times, prerequisites, teachers, time, etc. The classes I wanted were filling up before I had a chance to register, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to register for any of them. In the end, I am happy with the classes I got.

Swell Well

Today I awoke to very little swelling in my ankle, quite a drastic change from the past couple days. For that, I am thankful. What I wasn't very thankful about was spending literally over an hour formatting an article I needed to read to print.

I cut it down from 60 pages to 36 by deleting the footnotes, but it took forever to format it to where it wasn't solid text with no paragraphs in a word document. Formatting it was only the beginning, after all that work, I actually had to read the article. After I did all the work, I finally got an email response from the teacher about my question of whether we really had to print this 60 page article. Turns out, we only needed to read it. A little late for that.

The Hobbler

Today my ankle is fairly swollen. It took a bit longer to get places, especially up and down stairs. Thankfully, my ankle doesn't hurt, it is just swollen and immobile. One benefit was that I didn't think I should go to the rec center or jogging so I was able to finish quite a bit of schoolwork.

Taking it for the Team

Today I played in a pickup soccer game. It was a very fun game, but also a very painful one. I got nailed by the ball in a very sensitive region. After I recovered, I got nailed in the side of the head by the ball. My ear was ringing for several minutes. Near the end of the game, my leg got kicked and I twisted my ankle. It is rather swollen. Hopefully, I will recover in time for the next game, and it won't be quite so painful.