|
| NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS....
A little late, but they're not really for the new year, they're something I will continue to work on, even beyond the end of the year...
1. Finish reading The Bible: I will finish reading it, but not with the intent of just reading it. I want to learn the history behind faith, to understand it's teachings and meanings, to become closer with God... Sure that sounds cliche, but it's truly what I want to do. I can't promise that I will go to church for some time to come (what with work and school), but God and Jesus will sure have a place in my heart as I try to discover myself and whatever comes my way.
2. Stop drinking as much soda: From now on, when I am home, I will no longer drink soda. In fact, after I get off work tomorrow, I will buy a bunch of Kool-Aid, powdered Gatorade, etc and bottled water. While the Kool-Aid and Gatorade may not be the healthiest drinks, it'll make my quest to stop drinking soda much easier. While I believe I'm addicted to the caffeine, I think I can manage by finding other sources of energy such as granola bars and fruit. I won't completely deny myself soda, but you won't find me keeping a 24-pk in my bedroom anymore.
3. Read more for pleasure: I spend so much time working and going to school that I haven't read a good book in a while. I used to love reading (I have boxes of books at my home in Maine and a couple shelves here in Delaware), but recently have only found the time to read during vacations, etc. John bought me a book for Christmas, Subterranean by James Rollins, and I read it in a period of three days. I loved it. So when I got home, I went to the library and checked out six books by the same author. My goal is to read them all before I get back to school on Feb. 12th. Afterwards, I definitely won't have the time to read that many books, but I will read, even if it takes a couple weeks to read one book.
4. Study for the FE and pass: This is more of a short term goal and one of necessity for me. It's pretty clear cut. I will study and I will pass.
5. New Year = new relationship. John and I have had something since we met, discovering little bits and pieces at a time. The long distance is hard, so we definitely started slow, just talking to each other getting to know each other. I spent Christmas with him and after the New Year we decided we were in a relationship. I'm in a state of bliss because he's such a wonderful person and I feel blessed to know him, be with him. My plan is to stay in that state of bliss, but make progression in this relationship at the same time. I will dedicate myself to this relationship, but at the same time I will still be me. John's coming here for his Spring Break, which will be a good opportunity for us to spend more time together getting to know each other and do a few fun things. I don't have a specific day picked out, but we're going to spend a day in D.C. Afterwards, I plan on visiting him during the summer and we plan to go skydiving! However, if things work out, I might be able to spend the whole summer with him 
Well, I'm sure there are plenty of other little things I'm going to work on, but these are specific ones I could think of and are the most important to me. I also want to graduate and get a job, but those are obvious.
| | |
| I get to see John on the 25th! I can't wait, I'm beyond excited.
My last final is on the 14th! I'm almost done!
| | |
| My grandfather died on the 24th. He was 67. I've felt so much like crap the past week. I'm not done crying and I probably won't be for a while, but I need to move on. When I have some time, I'll write more details, I'm just not ready for that.
You know how chic flicks can make you feel happy because of all the "love" or want to cry because it's so sad? Well my life lately has felt like the sad portion. I want my life to feel like a romantic chic flick. Right now, my current inspiration? I think it's called P.S. I Love You, starring Hilary Swank. That feeling of love, no matter what. I want to experience that.
I graduate in May. I'm nervous, scared, excited. All at the same time. It's odd though, I'm at the end of my academic career and I'm questioning my major choice. Is this really what I want to do? I just feel like it's too soon to decide what I'm going to do for the rest of my life, but at the same time life's too short to wait. Plus I need to finish what I started. I won't give up and I won't back down. I'm also thinking about what I'm going to do when I'm done with school. I don't have a job lined up, and I really don't want to go to grad school anymore. I could always take an internship with WalMart again and hope they lift the hiring freeze or use it to defer my time until I can find another job. I just know I don't want to live in Delaware. So right now, the next year is up in the air.
All I can do now is live for the moment and seize the day while I still can.
| | |
| Most of the time I write an entry because I have so much to say, or at least I think I do, and I end up rambling. Or, I just don't write an entry at all, hence the sometimes large gaps in entry dates. But tonight, I want to write, but I have NO idea how to write about everything that's going on in my mind and life.
At the risk of sounding like I'm complaining...
I have SO much crap to do, and SO little time to do it. Senior Design for instance. We have an owner's progress meeting on December 3rd that I'm representing my team for. Go Transportation discipline. No problem there really. But also by December 3rd, we have three conceptual design reports and plans (that's six items total) due. It's not a huge deal, but just the coordination of working with my teammates Tristan and Matt. I live an hour away from campus and I work in all my free time (it's hard to get time off less than three weeks advance notice too). We also have a discipline assignment due around the same time, but at least it's a beneficial one. We have to look at the possibility of changing a five-point intersection into a modern roundabout (my team's original plan anyway), sketch some vertical and horizontal alignments for our trail and just some general research that will help us for the final deliverables at the end of the spring semester.
My Water Resources class is very easy, but I feel so bad because I don't pay attention anymore. The professor is great, but all the tests are open book as are any 'pop' quizzes. I'm just so tired in the morning that I can't stay awake if I try to pay attention. That and he likes to schedule class for a Friday on the Monday or Wednesday before. It stinks sometimes. I'm doing good though and would recommend this professor to anyone else. Very approachable man and a truly interesting class, if it was later in the day.
I'm taking Building Design this semester, but only because the Transportation modeling class I wanted to take was cancelled and replaced with a class about regional analysis methods. It sounded rather boring, so I bounced on that idea. I figured Building Design would be cool because I learned about some of the material this summer during my internship with WalMart Realty. I have learned more about what I worked on this summer, such as the analysis behind pilaster placement, and types of material used, but the class is poorly taught. For a while, we were all victims of the 'death by powerpoint' disease. Then he attempted working examples on the board. Plus the books are completely and utterly useless. And if they're not it's because he's teaching different material not related to the books. His midterm was insanely hard, thankfully it was take home and the majority of us worked on it together in some capacity. I think today he said the average is looking like a 70 or so and that he's going to have to curve it. I hope I'm close to the average because then I'll end up with a decent grade. The man is nice and very willing to TRY and help, but I just don't think he knows how to teach. I'm sure he's good at what he does, but yeah. I'll leave it at that.
My grad class (Planning Theory and Urban Policy) is proving to be a lot of work. We have assignments nearly every class, thankfully it's not even a page worth of writing most of the time. But he expects us to read quite a bit. Thankfully I can get by without reading as we've already gotten our midterm paper topics and I've selected my readings for that. Plus my research paper has nothing to do with the readings we've done, so I'm not missing out. Plus these assignments aren't gradeded. He just checks to see that we did them and it's more of a participation grade, worth only ten percent of our final grade. I've only missed two (I chose not to do them), so I should be good. I got an A on my first paper (without the half a letter grade bump up for undergrads) which is awesome. I should do about the same on my midterm because it really doesn't require as much analysis. My research paper should garner an A as well. Granted I'm doing well, but it just feels like SO much work.
My Transpo lab is rather easy and there's not a lot of work involved. I turned in my midterm project a few days ago, I'm sure I didn't do so hot on it because I definitely didn't do part of what I was supposed to, oh well. We have a report due on the 28th, but I'll definitely get an A on that, no questions asked. We have another one due on the 5th on congestion. It's only a one credit class, so that's why I'm complaining, it just seems like too much work for not so much in return.
Construction methods and management is a rather easy class to understand, but it's only once a week and three hours at a time! Its classes like these that make me believe I have ADD. The assignments and quizzes are weighted equally, so I can get a 70 on both quizzes and still get an A provided I do well on the final. I'm not terribly worried there. Just tired.
And Anthro is the bane of my existence. Such an easy class, but I can't bring myself to drive an hour to school for an hour long class. Especially when she puts all the lecture notes online. Ugh, I'm not even going to talk about it anymore. I just want it to be over with.
So school wise, that's what's going on and I'm done ranting. Hope you didn't fall asleep 
Work is work and now I go really only because I need the money. Only good thing is that I can say I have management experience... I wish I could just sleep on the weekends, but it doesn't work like that. I can't wait until I'm done school so that when I'm done work, free time is actually free time. This summer was great for that reason. I worked from about 7-4 M-F and had a blast because the evenings were mine as were the weekends. I even got to share them with some cool people sometimes, which brings me to my next point.
John's one of the cool people I met this summer. He's a wonderful guy. I'm not sure what we are or what we'll become, but I'm very excited to spend Christmas with him. I like where we are. It's a nice feeling. For a while it felt quite complicated, but it seems a little easier to understand.
John also was the extra push to get me reading the bible again and trying to see where I stand with God. I've denied him a part in my life for some time and lost a good understanding of my beliefs and why I believed in them in the first place. It's only been a short while since I've started to get back on my feet, but it's been rather enjoyable
Well that's it for now, I need sleep and I work in the morning... Joy...
| | |
| I miss him entirely too much, but I get to see him for Christmas! I can't wait! It'll definitely be a good chance to continue to get to know each other and figure out what we are, where we are, that sort of thing...
| | |
|
