Sick :(

I am sick. Like, actually sick. I have bronchitis :( This is the third day in a row that I've taken off from work and I *never* take time off work because of illness. I've worked there for 2.5 years and this is my fourth sick day, all of which have been in the past two months. I went to the doctor and he told me that I'd finally done what everyone had been warning me I was going to do: I ran my immune system into the ground. He prescribed me one week of penicillin and two weeks of bed rest. I can do the week of penicillin, but the two weeks of bed rest is not practical with my schedule (which is, incidentally, what landed me in this predicament to start with). Therefore, I am compensating. It's been really bad the past few days, so I haven't gone to work or school and I've stayed home and slept instead. I've slept A LOT! Probably around 60 of the last 72 hours have been spent with my eyes closed. On the plus side, I am beginning to feel moderately human again! On the downside, taking time off of work and school has caused me an extra amount of stress... At least there's no homework to catch up on from missing work :) Buuut... tuition deadline is Tuesday and the unearned wages are making me squirm a bit. I'm not in dire financial need or anything like that, I'd just rather not dip into my savings if I didn't have to. God is good in the midst of trials like these. He has the power to heal me and to provide for all of my needs, which he's doing - just in his time, not mine.

On a completely different note, I'm kind of getting tired of the look of this blog and I'm thinking of changing it up a little. I don't even know if people read this anymore, but if you are reading this and you have a 'new blog look' suggestion, please leave a comment with your ideas :)

I'm off to procure some Tylenol Cold (copyright thingamajig) and perhaps bake a cake (it's my younger brother's 11th birthday today :D).
TTFN

It's been a while...

I was just flipping (or clicking) through my internet bookmarks and remembered that I haven't posted on here in aaaaaaaages. Ironically, I made my last post on the day before classes began at the beginning of the semester and here I am posting again the day before the end of classes. Weird. Anyway, I suppose the long period of time between post leaves many events untold. I don't know if I'll go over all of the stuff that happened... no, I won't. The big things are more or less known anyway. I survived the semester (so far, given that it's not officially over yet)! I'm looking forward to the end of exams, but that is nothing new. What is new is that I am taking a break from school. No, I don't mean those few measly days between exams and the following semester. I am taking a real break! Now, before you begin to panic and start thinking that I'm leaving university and never going back, allow me to explain myself. This upcoming semester will be my sixth consecutive semester. I am tired, tired, tired of classes, homework, and exams.
I am sick of getting up at ungodly hours throughout the year just to drag myself to a place where I don't actually want to be to listen to a voice I don't want to hear to talk about something I'm not terribly interested in. I'm tired of standing in line to buy a parking ticket in the pouring rain, with everyone around me grumpy and complaining about how many of the machines aren't working and how high the parking costs are. I'm tired of staying up late to finish assignments and study for the midterm that is coincidentally on the same day that the assignment is due. I'm tired of professors who give lectures right after they've administered a brutal midterm. I'm tired of needing an intravenous coffee supply just to make it through the day.
That being said, I am taking a break. I suppose the last paragraph isn't the most positive note to begin an explanation with, but I figured it would give an idea of my motivation. In spite of all of that stuff, some of which is my own fault, I do want to keep going and I do want to get my degree. I just decided I needed a decent amount of time when school wouldn't be constantly haunting me. Even in my break I'm being terribly practical. I really wish I could take a whole semester off, but I'm not going to do that. Instead, I am taking only early semester classes this summer. That essentially means that I am doing a regular semester in half the time. So, instead of being in school for four months over the summer, my semester will start in May (like normal) and end in June (not normal). Since the semester will end in June, I will be left with two full months of joyful school-less-ness! Yay! In addition to that, I'm taking a trip to Oregon between the current semester and the next. I'm super stoked for that :) I have a countdown and everything!
I'm pretty sure that's all that is considered new at the moment... Hopefully I can remember more often that this blog exists and I'll check back to post more frequently. No promises though ;)

Cheers!

January is far too similar to September

Classes start tomorrow. Sound familiar? Matt went back a while ago, Grant went back this afternoon. I am currently trying to distract myself from the cruel reality by catching up on my email and facebook and laundry and blogging and... anything that will take my mind off of school and leaving people. Attempting to drown myself in good music and good chocolate is working to a certain extent, but I'm afraid I'll get a stomachache or one of those songs (the kind that basically tell you word-for-word how you're feeling) will come on and make me cry. Besides all of that, I am actually quite happy. Things have been going incredibly well on the homefront :) MY PARENTS ARE COMING TO CHURCH! They've been coming for a few weeks now. Both of their new jobs are going well and everyone is a whole lot happier. 2008 looks pretty good from here. It might snow again this afternoon. We've had quite an unusually large amount of snow in the past winter season. It even snowed on Christmas! I have pictures with time/date stamps to prove it. (I turned the date/time stamp function specifically for that purpose ^^) I should probably go switch over the laundry before the distraction wears off.

Best wishes from a lonely little penguin,
B1