Wow, it's been a long time...

So, since the last time I wrote, so many things have happened...I have successfully completed my Junior year at ACU! During that time, we had a great fall semester and in the spring, I went with the Wind Ensemble to Brazil for our spring concert tour!! It was an amazing trip and we had a great time there! Spring semester came to a close and the summer started. I have been working for Dr. Avila since I last wrote and have loved every minute of the experience it is giving me and I love the people I work with, so that makes it all better!

Once the summer started, I had a week off from school and then went into my classes for the summer...which just so happened to be leading up to my leaving the comforts of the the good ole U.S. of A. and going to Montevideo, Uruguay for a 5 week study abroad program through ACU!! I have been here for a week now and am really enjoying myself. We've been pretty busy since the first day, from taking a tour of the city, one of the medical school, one of the public hospital, one of the legislative palace, and one of the British hospital...we also have to do our homework but overall, this has been a great experience so far...we've got 4 weeks left, we'll be arriving back in the U.S. on July 4...

I'll try to update a little more often while on the trip!

New Job!!

So, I finally got the job at the optometry office! It seemed like it might never happen, just because I kept not really hearing back from them, but I did today! They called and asked when I'd be able to start, which was an awesome question to get! However, it was kind of sudden because I said, without thinking, "I can start Monday!" Then, I remembered, duh, that I still had a job and should probably tell them that I would be working somewhere else. I asked Wanda and Judy about it and the people in the Human Resources Department said that if this was enough notice for my department, then it was just fine, so needless to say I got hired and this is my last day at the Hospital. I had figured that I would have to give a two weeks notice so that my last day would be planned, but it definitely wasn't. I didn't expect to be leaving so abruptly, so it's a bit of a bittersweet day. I'm so excited to be going and working for an optometrist's office, but it'll be sad to leave the people I've worked for for 2 years now.

However, the new job, I'm hoping, is going to be awesome! I'll be getting to cut and prepare lenses for glasses and do pre-exam check-in stuff. This is going to be great experience and I can't wait! :D

Amazing...

It's really amazing to me how good life really is and how good it can be. I know my last post was something similar to this, but it really is surprising just how good things can be when you try and make them that way. My life is going so well right now and I know that has nothing to do, really, with anything that I've done. I give all of the credit to God. It really is awesome what He can do. I was stressed and kinda bummed just because life was kind of boring and then it's like He flipped a switch and things got miraculously better. I'm getting even closer to my family and friends (3 of them specifically, and you know who you are) and to Him and I love it. I can't really explain it very well what all in my life has gotten better, but like it says in Singin' in the Rain, "from where I'm sitting, the sun is shining all over the place." I'm just really happy and I hope it can stay like this for a good long time!

I love life, I love my friends, I love my family, and last but not least, I love God and all that He has in store for me.

I hope you are all having good days and that life is going well for you, too. I pray that it is! Have a lovely day! :D

Life...wow...

It's been a really long time since I've written...sorry about that... Anyway, my life is going pretty well. Since the last time I wrote, I have dropped cell bio, which that in and of itself has made life so much better. Because of that, I was able to make a B on my most recent ochem test, which is amazing, I've been able to do that twice this semester and last semester that would have been a miracle. So as far as classes go, I'm doing quite well, and it feels great!!!

Work is still boring, as boring as ever, but at least I haven't done anything "wrong" lately, that I can remember...and hopefully I'll be getting a job with an optometrist soon anyway...

For next semester, I will be living at home and I'm starting to really warm up to the idea. At first, I still had my reservations, mainly because of being on the other side of town from campus, but I really don't think it's going to be that big of a deal. Also, I'm getting to redo my room and I can't wait. My sister and I have already been scheming on the redecorations and I'm so excited!! Our theme is the "french" style, mainly in the bedding look, but the colors will be black, white, and silver with lime green and pink as the accent colors (to suit both of our favorite colors, and it'll look awesome). We're going to put up lots of pictures, some in frames others blown up to poster size, and others in collages. Several of the pics will be ones that she has taken for her AP photo class, including several Alice in Wonderland pics. We're also going to put up "inspiration" words, like 'dream' or 'believe,' etc... Oh, and the biggest thing we are going to do is paint the stinking walls. They have been this icky pale pink color since we moved in the house 16 years agao, we just never did anything with them. So we will finally be painting them an off white color, so it'll match our decorations. We're going to get curtains for the first time ever as well... We have to wait til the summer to do this because of the painting but I would love to do it now, altho, since I'm not living there yet, it kind of defeats the purpose.

Anyway, life is good and I don't have any complaints for now. This is a lovely change from my last post. Luckily the semester is almost over and summer will be here, so I'm just along for the ride and pushing thru. ;o)

oh, and this morning, Sarah and I both bought blue chis on amazon. If you don't know what that is, it's an amazing hair straightener/flat iron (prolly the best out there) that is usually well over 100 bucks but we got ours for 50 each and I can't wait for it to come in next week (hopefully sooner)!!!!

The Breaking Point

It's come to that part of the semester when most people are about to snap. I'm definitely there, and it's seem to all hit at once. This morning, I had an ochem test at 7:30. I was prepared, I thought I knew what was going on and was ready to do well on the test. I got in there and looked at it and my mind froze and I lost a big part of what I'd prepared. So, that started the morning off really swell. Then I was reminded that I needed to make up the ochem lab that I missed last week because of having the flu. I'm going to have to go tomorrow afternoon after water aerobics to make that up, which is unfortunate because I needed that time to continue studying for the lab midterm on Wednesday. I have an extra cell bio (I'll get to that atrocity in a moment) class period tomorrow night at 5 and a band concert at 8, therefore, I'll have to study after that...
Secondly, I found out this morning that I have physics homework due tomorrow morning that I didn't know about, on top of missing class last Thursday because of the flu. I also found out that I, again, did something wrong on my ochem lab from a couple of weeks ago, and will therefore probably not do well on it.
Probably the biggest strain that I have on me at the moment is the accursed cell biology class. This class is terrible. At least in ochem, I can follow what is going on in class and usually know what's going on, even if I get to the test and blank. In cell bio, I have no clue what's going most of the time. We have these random pop quizzes, so we never know when they're going to happen, and supposedly they're supposed to be over the previous two class periods. However, half the time, they're over more than that, and the notes that he gives us, don't do anything to help. The majority of the time, I have no idea where we are in the book, he doesn't give us the chapters. He was supposed to be giving out reading assignments which would be quite helpful, but he hasn't. So, needless to say, this class is awful and many of us are close to staging an uprising.

Oh, and I just found out from the lady I work with that we're not supposed to check any outside email while we're here, which means that I'm basically cut off from the world and can't check my ACU email to get stuff from professors and chat when I have nothing else to do!

Could this day get any worse?!? I probably shouldn't ask that, because now it probably will, but oh well...

Ugh, germs...

So much for not getting sick. I don't have what Anne had, but last night I has having really bad allergies, then I woke up this morning and felt absolutely awful. I was really congested, had a headache, and my entire body ached. I was miserable. The rest of the day, it didn't get any better, it was actually getting worse. Then, around 3:00, I took some tylenol, and ate some pretzels (the first food I'd had all day) and while sitting in physics lab, I felt miraculously better, oddly enough. It was like the pretzels had some sort of super power...either that or I had had a fever and the tylenol was masking it. So, I'll probably go to an express care clinic or something, if I can get in that is...Hopefully, this is something that will be gone by tomorrow, since we leave for band tour tomorrow evening.

So, again, wash your hands and everyone stay healthy! :)

Sickness!

Our other roommate, Anne, got really sick yesterday, and is still quite sick today. I feel really bad for her because she is in so much pain, and feels terrible. Of course, today, I have two shows and won't be in the room all day, which means she'll have to pretty much fend for herself. However, it's kind of a blessing that I won't be here because I definitely can't afford to get sick. There is so much happening in the near future. I have band tour next week (which I'm sure will give me several things to write about) and the week after I have two, count 'em, two OChem tests! Aaaaggghhh! None-the-less, I feel bad that I can't be in here to take care of her should she need me, but at least this way, hopefully I won't catch whatever nastiness she has had bestowed upon her.

Needless to say, everyone wash your hands at least 12 times a day, if not more, so we can keep from spreading the nastiness...even though sharing is caring and can be fun, this is not one of those kind of instances, haha! Everyone stay well!