Fall Term 2012, Week 3: Quality over Quantity

Although this past week was a shorter school week than most, owing to Labor Day, it certainly made up for that lost day. The result was a week no less busy than any that has come before, and that baffles me completely. It felt like a normal week even though it was only four days long. How does that work?? But I'm wasting time contemplating something that cannot be contemplated.

This little blog post was brought to you by way of a study break. I wish I didn't still have things to do at 8:30 PM on a Sunday, but such is life. It makes me a bit nostalgic for my high-school days, when I would have time to do all of my homework on Friday night and then was free for the rest of the weekend. Granted, I didn't have much of a social life then, and I guess I still don't, but those were simpler times. Anyway, onward and upward, as the saying goes.

Secondly, happy Grandparents' Day! I am blessed to still have all four of my grandparents, and they are all incredible people who have supported me from Day 1 (as in, the first day of my life in this world). How much more can you ask for? Not much, my friends, not much.

I also need to give a shout-out to my amazing mother, as today is her birthday! I won't say how old she is because I suspect she would not like that very much. (Even though you don't look it, Mom.) I'm hoping she's curled up on the couch watching a good movie or relaxing with the Sunday paper right now, maybe sipping some tea.

I will attempt now to summarize my week's events without going into excruciating detail because, quite frankly, it takes too long, and also, you probably don't want to hear all of the minutiae of my life.

Tuesday was my first BBB meeting of the year. I was hoping it wouldn't take too long because I basically had to go straight there from aerobics and straight from BBB home to shower before Circle K. Gotta love Tuesdays. To my joy, it was quite abbreviated. We were basically just informed of some changes to the membership requirements and such, and then we were free to go.

In Cadaver on Thursday, we spent a lot of time dissecting the heart. Our heart was pretty mangled from previous dissection, but we were still able to see some of its more important structures, including its coronary arteries, left anterior descending artery, chordae tendineae, papillary muscles, and some of the valves.

In general, all of my classes are still going well. I just continue to get more comfortable with everything and to gain confidence again in my ability to manage my time effectively and to do well in my studies. I know none of you doubt me, but I'm always afraid of what might happen if I got too cocky.

I'm basically done with my Lincoln Laureate application at this point. I just need to revise my statement of interest. Dr. S, my letter writer, told me that she submitted the letter early in the day on Friday, so I am very happy about that. I just went to Cool Beanz, the local coffee shop, to get her a gift card as a way of thanks. I'm hoping she enjoys it!

Friday night, I went to the free movie showing again at Olin. This week, it was Snow White and the Huntsman, which I have wanted to see for awhile because it was supposed to be pretty good. Well, it was okay. I enjoyed watching it with Devon and Sarah, and it was a good way to have some fun on a Friday night, but it definitely is not the best movie in the world. Kristen Stewart is just not that great of an actress. After the movie, I went over to Devon and Sarah's apartment, and we talked for a bit before watching a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory. Man, I forget how much I love that show until I watch it again. We also made some cookies and ate those while we watched our show. Good stuff!

On Saturday, I got up and went for a run. Feeling a little silly, I decided to run near Lincoln Park so that afterwards, I could swing on the swing set, my favorite piece of playground equipment. I thought I would be artsy and take a picture to remember my little adventure, and this is what I got thanks to Instagram (I think I used the "1973" filter, if you're curious).

I call it "Nostalgia at the Park."

 In the afternoon, I volunteered at the East End Neighborhood Fair, a little carnival at St. John's Lutheran Church just seven blocks from school. I spent an hour running a game where kids threw beanbags at ducks and tried to knock them over. They got six tries to hit all six ducks, and the prizes ranged from tattoos (for one or two ducks) to plastic rings (for three or four ducks) to plastic High School Musical headsets, Chicken Little toys, or little bottles of bubbles (for five or six ducks). I don't need to tell you how worn out I was after just that short amount of time. There was never a break in that full hour. The kids just kept coming! Some of them came back four or five times, trying to win one of the big prizes. For some reason, these silly lip-shaped kazoo things were a big hit with them (there were a few in with the plastic rings). Some of the kids hardly threw the bags at all and stood like six inches away from the ducks, basically knocking them over with their hands. Others wanted do-overs when the beanbags accidentally got stuck in between the ducks or if the kids accidentally threw two beanbags at once. Of course, I am a pushover and let them do whatever they wanted. After all, it was just supposed to be a fun way for the church to give back to the community and probably raise a little money, and I'm not one to be mean to children, even if they aren't my favorite things in the world. I was jealous of the people who got to run the petting zoo, though. I mean, come on! I'm pre-vet for crying in the mud! I didn't even get to pet the animals. Sad day. But, luckily, the hard part lasted only that hour, and then Heather and I got to help tear down and such. That wasn't so bad. I guess I did feel good about helping the kids have a good time. It was never about me, anyway. Heather did manage to get a picture of me working the game, but unfortunately, it is not up yet, so I will have to get back to you when I see it.

Later that night, I went to my third Second City performance with Sarah and my roommates. It was hilarious, as usual. I missed it last year because I was in London (boo hoo, right?), so I wanted to make sure I saw it one last time this year.

Today I had my first Mortar Board meeting of the year. We were briefly reminded about what Mortar Board is and what we as members must do, and then we broke off into our respective committees. The Fundraisers discussed doing a possible "Trick or Treat" fundraiser near Halloween where people could send their friends messages and "tricks" or "treats" in their campus mailboxes. We did something similar in Circle K last year, and I'm proud because I was actually the one who suggested the campus mailbox thing for Mortar Board (someone else thought it would be cool to do it for Halloween). All in all, I think I'm really going to like working on the committee, especially since it gels so nicely with Circle K. Plus, I can steer both groups away from doing things that the other group is doing, so we avoid stepping on other people's toes.  Yay.

I'm looking forward to this upcoming weekend. I finally get my first paycheck of the school year, so that's pretty cool. On Saturday, I get to be one of the drivers for Mutt Strut, an event benefiting the QCAWC. I guess the FIV room is still closed, which makes me really sad. I wonder who could be so sick still...Anyway, Mutt Strut is where people bring their dogs to the QWAWC, and they walk with their dogs. I assume they get pledges, kind of like March of Dimes only it's for animals. I and my fellow CK-ers will be selling those crafts we made (I'll be working the vending table) and working some of the games. I am excited to see dogs and hopefully pet a lot of them! Oh, man. The things that make me happy. Unfortunately, I will be studying for three tests next weekend, but Mutt Strut should hopefully make up for.

In a couple of weekends, I am going to Bishop Hill, Illinois, a small town about 45 minutes from campus with a Swedish influence. Sarah and her Swedish Language classmates are going for the Fall Harvest Festival, and Sarah invited me along. We wanted to go to Bishop Hill last year after Sarah had such a great time with her Swedish class, and now we have our chance because they're all going back. It is going to be so much fun! We also want to find a week to go to an apple orchard because I don't think I've been to one for a good four or five years or so. Now that I have an awesome means of transportation, literally anything is possible! We could even go to Chicago for the weekend if we wanted to. Ooh. That would be fun.

Thanks for reading again! I hope you found this post much less cumbersome than the last one. I'll try to keep them short and sweet from here on out. Ya know, all the necessities with a bit of Hannah Wit thrown in for good measure. Until next week!