Chillin' in my Snuggie (ahaha, thank you Crystal for the Secret Santa gift), surfing the 'net, cooking Filipino food for lunch (apritada) and doing laundry. My place is more or less clean (even though Joel and James have their shit all over the place) and I've got nothing pressing to do... well, there are a few things I'd LIKE to do but haven't gotten around to doing yet because I'm lazy bones:

* start knitting James' hat (need to get head circumference measurements then practice the stitch I'm going to use)

* piano arrangement of Speechless by Lady GaGa (it's really fun to sing and I've figured out the chord progressions--just want to write 'em down and be able to play it!)

* get pictures printed for my empty picture frames at King Soopers (lame, I know)

* put up picture frames from IKEA (finally)

* BUY CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FOR FAMILY (I'm actually going to try and pick out presents without hearing what they want first, wish me luck =_=;)

* FINISH SCRAPBOOK!! It's been 2 1/2 years since I went to Europe and the scrapbook is still not done... ahaha. ^_^

So those are my "goals" for the next few days, since there's no point in trying to be productive right around the holidays. Or so I say. :D Tonight--going to Elva's birthday dinner (but James & I don't really know anyone going other than Mike... maybe we'll just drop by...? -_-;) and tomorrow picking up Vina at the airport (if her flight isn't delayed/canceled due to inclement weather) and eventually going to Avatar tomorrow night. :D Have to work at the call center on Monday but don't even mind that much since the calls really slow down on the holiday weeks--and the calls were pretty slow last time anyway. ♥ Definitely going to bring my knitting, I was bored to tears the last time I went :P

I'll try to prioritize getting pictures printed out today though... James is right, it is creepy to have pictures of other people in my frames staring at me after a while. lol

1) Not helping out choir in the end after all... not a big deal, I just missed too many rehearsals apparently. C'est la vie~ I'll just start up again in January I guess?

2) Got A's on my Genetics & Cell Bio finals... I think that's enough to get me an A- in Genetics and an A in Cell Bio... and with my schedule this semester, that's an achievement. :)

3) Getting my OChem final exam grade back today, as well as my overall grade in the class... very nerve-wracking :( It made me feel a lot better to talk to some of my friends that are 3rd year med students though, apparently a lot of people still get into med school with a C in the class--and since I'm not going to med school, that should be good enough for Masters' programs...

4) My busy holiday weekend begins, starting with the Secret Santa fondue dinner at Fran's tonight, and Mike's holiday party tomorrow... Elva's birthday dinner on Saturday, Duy's housewarming/Avatar movie watching on Sunday... whew. =_=;

5) Stuff I'd LIKE to get done today--trade in textbooks for cash, make cupcakes for tomorrow's party, wrap presents for tonight & tomorrow's parties, clean condo... I keep sitting in bed & reading manga instead, haha. ^_^

I also need to start contacting schools that I want to apply to so I can see where I stand, how strong my app is... etc. And contact a PA & a genetic counselor so I can start shadowing them to see where my interests really lie. :) I've been lazy because finals happened only a week ago, but I gotta start getting on the ball!

Thank God, I made it T_T Now I have 6 1/2 weeks of nothing... kind of. Planning a few things:

* volunteering with my Cell Bio prof in his lab--yay!
* hopefully shadowing a PA and/or a genetic counselor 1/week
* working 1-2 days a week at the call center for extra money

Some immediate things that need to be taken care of:

* helping choir out again--this Tues, Wed for rehearsal & Friday for a concert!
* Christmas party on the 23rd--need to figure out where I'm having it since I invited too many people to fit in my place orz
* selling my books back to pay for some overspent money in Boston (teehee)
* cleaning my place head-to-toe!!

Finals ended for me on Wednesday at 10am, and I've just been reading manga/lazing about like a bum, which has been WONDERFUL. ♥ But I really need to get shit done--like I said on the phone to Vina last night, I'm not a teenager anymore and my time is a lot more precious now. Not getting shit done and sitting on my ass would be a complete waste, especially since I'm going to apply for grad schools this summer. :P

So while James is finishing up his exams for the day I'll probably clean, sell my books back and make calls to my workplace & the HOA for these condos... tentative to-do list. ^_^;

**UPDATE: Just emailed my supervisor & boss, talked to the HOA (they want a $200 deposit? No effing way!) & emailed my prof... now I have to do the things that require me to get out of bed, boo ^_^;

1. Boston was fabulous, and spending time with my brother again was really great--that's what I spent the majority of my time doing & other than a very silly argument, every minute was spent being completely satisfied I was there with him. He introduced me to all of the people he hangs out with out there, places he usually hits up, took me out a lot... very lucky to have such a good little brother (even if he is gruff and spiteful at times, lol).

2. Thanksgiving was wonderful, but that's no surprise because I love my family and they are fabulous. ♥ This is the first year that we've all been a little scattered around the globe, so having everyone in one place gave me a warm & fuzzy feeling ^_^

3. Got a new phone! Haha, my old phone has been mercifully put to rest & now I have the Droid ERIS... lovely smart phone, lovely distraction =_=; I have to pay an extra $32/month for it, which is kind of expensive... but I'll be working part-time anyway so I figure it's not too bad.

4. Sadly, all of this pretty awesome stuff got overshadowed by a rather awful event that I'd rather not go into detail about... let's just say that a cultural clash is threatening my current relationship that has nothing to do with the way we feel about each other. I was pretty devastated at first, and both James & I didn't know what we should do, but in the end we decided to try and stick it through together. Knowing that he wants to be with me enough to go through more of this shit means the world to me--more than I can ever emote. I'm very, very lucky, even within the circumstances we're currently faced with; I think in the end, it will make our relationship & our belief in each other even stronger. Initially, I think we both felt that the situation was hopeless, but being with him has really made me feel like going through all of this pain will be worth it--because he is worth it, you know? Sorry, I usually don't get mushy or gross like this, but this has been a really fucking difficult weekend for me to live through and knowing how much we love each other is one of the only things I can draw comfort from (other than friends & family of course--I'm so blessed to have such wonderful, unwavering support ^______^). For now, I think we'll just be focusing on the relationship between us & not on the eventual confrontation that will eventually occur...

Yeah, sorry I was so vague on the last point but I don't really feel like going into it due to emotional weariness on the subject... like I said, it was a shitstorm for me & not having to reiterate the details is less tiring.

Finals week next week--I'll be done by next Wednesday at 10am. @_@

Just starting to get excited for my trip to Boston, but I've got a lot to tackle before I can get excited about it...

Homework To-Do:

O-Chem Lab Journal Article
Genetics Biogenetics write-up
Genetics Chpt. 9 HW
O-Chem Lab #11 Report
O-Chem review--SN2, SN1 vs. SN2 re: alcohol, E1, E2... Chpts. 6-8
O-Chem Lab review--H-NMR, IR readings (!!! VERY IMPORTANT!!!)

Quiz/Exam Schedule for 11/16-11/19:

Monday: Genetics Quiz #9
Tuesday: O-Chem Lab FINAL
Wednesday: O-Chem Exam #3
Thursday: Ecology Exam #4

And THEN I can fly out to Boston with no worries. Lol. Awful, isn't it... I'm hoping that I can focus on reviewing O-Chem in detail tonight, so I can still attend my choir rehearsal on Tuesday night since I've missed 4 freaking rehearsals... =_=; Study O-Chem up to the end of E2 reactions, then start reviewing H-NMRs, since that is probably a large portion of the lab final and I'm awful at reading them since I was sick with the flu the week they covered it in class. :( Hopefully I can get the post-lab write-up done with the exception of the concepts I'll visit the help room about tomorrow. Whew!

This semester has been so stressful!! I really blame myself for not utilizing my weekdays off though--I use Thursday and Friday as my lazy days and try to squeeze studying into the weekends, when I know that I usually have plans with people... this weekend has been pretty productive, but more out of necessity since I've got so much on my plate this week. It looks like I'm going to be walking into my finals with A-'s in all of my classes, with the exception of OChem (which is a B)... trying not to let the pressure to get all A's again get to me and focus on the tasks at hand. I'm giving myself tension headaches every week, no joke...

Last night was a lot of fun--hotpot and general Internet hijinks with the Brettster, plus a 'frightening' trip through the site known as flickr... hahahaha ♥ It was good for me to have a night off =_=; But I digress... I really need to get back to work here... :P

I have soooooooo much shit school-wise going on right now that I'm giving myself tension headaches that are mimicking migraines (sensitivity to sunlight, constant head pain, etc.). Gotta stop stressing out!! I'm just going to list all of the shit due/going on for the next two weeks and maybe getting it out there on a public forum will help me stop stressing...

This week:

Genetics Quiz #9
OChem Quiz #7
OChem Lab Quizzes #9, #10 & #11
OChem Labs 9 & 10 (due 11/10)
Cell Bio Exam #3


Next week:

Genetics Quiz #10
OChem Lab final
OChem Lab Journal write-up
OChem Exam #3
Ecology Exam #4


I studied last night while Brett & James were (trying) to play League of Legends at James' house, but my prof's notes on aerobic respiration were pretty confusing. (5 different-colored arrows pointing at random circles that were supposed to represent electron transport structures = wtf) And my tension headaches caused me to miss out on OChem--fabulous. =_=; Now that I feel better I'm just going to take a shower, get on campus and work on my OChem Lab stuff for now--hopefully there are TAs in the help room so I can get some questions answered regarding the lab write-ups >_<; But I won't stress out!! Deeeeeeeeep breaths.......

Feeling... '??' more or less, haha. Not really sure how to describe it, just the smallest shade of melancholy I suppose... I'm going back to the "study grind" with Genetics today since the test is coming up on Wednesday, but it doesn't make me unhappy per se. I really enjoy this class and the material presented during the lectures. I'm unhappy about how messy my place is, but that's to be expected after being sick for so long.

I've never been a fan of Sundays; maybe I'm just dreading the craziness of the next week (make-up quiz on Monday, make-up test on Tuesday, another test on Wednesday)? It's also the last night that James will be staying over here full-time; after this he's only going to be staying over on weekends. It's not anything negative--on the other hand, I'm hoping that more will come out of it than anything else. But I can't deny that it does make me sad... sigh. Maybe I'll be more productive--I always get distracted by him--and I know for sure that my place will be a lot less messy ;)

Yeah, not sure why I'm in a funk when I've got so much to look forward to in the next month. Just have to shrug it off and keep truckin' I guess. :P

I came down with the flu (or some awful virus) Monday night and finally, FINALLY felt like I was well enough to call it over with today... evil sickness >_<; I've still got a good bit of congestion and sinus issues though, which is really fabulous :P Thankfully (thankfully?) we got our first major snowstorm here, which means I didn't really miss much class--and the test and quiz that I originally had to take this week that I would've missed due to sickness got pushed back to next week! So all's well that ends well, other than the fact that I was completely fucking miserable for the majority of the week, I suppose. :P

Halloween costume for this year--40's military pin-up! Think of the old-school pin-up posters with girls dressed up in WWII sexy costumes. Yep, I am holding to that age-old tradition of skanking it up on Halloween--but now that I'm 25 it's not like I'm going to get away with this shit for much longer, so I might as well live it up, hey? ^_^;

There's a house party that Aryan wants me & James to go to tonight & we're supposed to be going downtown tomorrow night with Gordon & co... I just don't know how intelligent it is for me to be running around all weekend when I've just gotten over the flu =_=; ESPECIALLY because it's still cold as hell and covered with snow outside... I might just stay in and study Genetics since I've got that test on Wednesday. (I've finished the homework for the class and have worked on the extra problems, but I guess rote memorization is still ahead of me.) Actually, I'm kind of sleepy... I've been sleeping on and off this whole week because of how tired I've felt all the time, and maybe staying awake for this long of a stretch is still exhausting to me.. =_=

I beat Professor Layton & The Diabolical Box today, and the really sweet ending made me tear up. :P I'm so effing emotional, it really annoys me sometimes!! >_<; But my inherent 'female weakness' aside, the game is very good. There is a large gaping plot hole that I really want to discuss, but for the sake of those who have not played it yet I'll refrain from addressing it on here. The more I think about the ending, the more outlandish I realize it to be--but I still love it all the same ^_^:

Yes, this is a continuation of my do-nothing week... I woke up at 10:30 today and proceeded to read manga, eat cheerios, and play on the DS until about 10 minutes ago. There was a 30-min. guilt session in which I tried to do some research for my O-Chem lab that is due on Tuesday, but 1) I cannot find another method of isolating usnic acid from moss other than the one we've used online and 2) the rest of the lab is easy so I'm not perturbed. I told myself I'd try to finish with all of my schoolwork so I could spend time with James this weekend (since he's in between rotations again, hence no work/studying) but I'm not really sticking to my guns on that one, ehe...

Here's what needs to technically be done or on its way by Monday:
- Genetics HW Chpt. 6
- O-Chem Post-Lab #6
- Review for O-Chem Exam #2 (Stereoisomers, diastereomers, nucleophiles, etc.)

Not much, really... the next two weekends are going to be pretty light academics-wise... but I can't let myself fall behind again!! Maybe I'll start reviewing Chpt. 2 Genetics this week so that I won't be cramming when the test happens Nov. 4... T_T

Woke up and felt really, really tired... and then by the time I got up it was 7:15. Too late. :P So I'm just going to read the chapter corresponding to my lesson--honestly, I'm probably going to get more out of the book than I am the lecture, especially if I do the practice problems. Or I might just go through my Cell Bio cards again since my test is today. Truly, the fun never ends.

Birthday was fun--went to The 9th Door & had Spanish tapas + yummy drinks and dessert... the meal itself was pretty standard (wasn't blown away) but the last two parts of it were fabulous. :) We ended up sitting on couches, cushions and part of a bed (!) in the lounge area of the restaurant, so everyone ended up sitting close and cozy to one another... it was really nice! And then afterward, since it was effing cold outside, we went back to my place and played board games/a very funny Stacking game/hung out. So it was a pretty low-key birthday, which was fine with me :D The night before, my mom and grandmom drove up and stayed the night & we spent an insane amount of time at Macy's, haha. I'm glad I got to divide my birthday weekend with family AND friends--the two most important things to me ^_^

All of these constant tests are really wearing me out... sadly enough, I'm looking forward to the last week in October because I only have my Ecology exam on that Thursday. T_T Although... I'm probably going to be freaking out anyway because my 3rd Genetics exam is on the first week of November, blegh. Hands down, the most intense class I have this semester is Genetics; it takes a LOT of effort to maintain an A in that class! We get our 2nd exam scores back Monday... so nervous =_=;;

On the plate for next semester (I made my schedule already, so nerdy): Biochem I, OChem II, Microbiology, labs for OChem & Microbio. Apparently that's only 13 credits, so I was initially thinking of taking more until I realized that I'd probably want to shoot myself in the process @_@

Okay, enough updates... time to study more. SIGHHHHHHH (and yes, even amidst this stressful season I STILL prefer this 1000x over my old job!)