DONE WITH FINALS

WHEEEEEEE

schweet.

I found out last night at the review session that my final today is at 2.30, and not at 4.30 as I thought. Good thing I went to review session... otherwise I would be a very unhappy person today at 4.30. Very, very unhappy.

Last final! Can't wait to be done!

I found out that I might be working 5 shifts next week instead of four. This makes me mad, because Lauren, while a nice person, continuously lies to me about how much I'm going to work over break. Grr.

K, I'm going to write few more things on my study sheet (I get to take it into the test with me). Wish me luck...

Note to Self:

David and the Citizens - Let's Not Fall Apart.

Good stuff.

At the library now, and surprisingly, I actually have some motivation. Like, I actually want to learn the material, and not just for the test. Although, in all actuality, it'll end up being just for the test, since I'm learning it all today, and the test is tomorrow afternoon. I think my motivation comes from not doing any studying yesterday after my physics final, and also from having a good night's rest and having a nice, relaxing brunch at IHOP this morning with my boyfriend. :)

Anyway, I'm off to the upstairs realms of the library to find a cozy corner and settle down for a few hours to study the circulatory and respiratory systems. Hopefully I won't dream too much about how much fun the rest of the week after 6.30 pm tomorrow is going to be - lots of hanging out with friends, biking around Seattle, and going to various get-togethers of the holiday variety. Then a study session at 4 with the professor, and then back to studying solo. It'll be a good, productive day.

I'll post again in 29.5 hours, when I emerge from my bio final an emancipated and victorious woman.

I didn't know that "Internet" was a country.

I didn't think switching to the new version of Blogger would make my life signficantly easier. But since I use the same log-in now for both GMail and Blogger, it's more convenient to blog - I can do it right after I check my email without logging in twice.

Okay, so it doesn't make my life easier, really. It just makes blogging easier. Am I spelling "easier" right? It looks weird.

I just took my physics final. It was hard, hard, hard. Hopefully I did alright - but somehow that class really got away from me. I thought I was doing well, and then WHAM - angular acceleration and simple harmonic motion exploded and got the better of me. It didn't help that I couldn't sleep very well last night, either. At least I know what to do better for next quarter (the most obvious being "take tutorial more seriously").

Wow, it's been a long day and it's only 11 am. I get paid today for the parking job, so I'll go pick up my paycheck and then grab some food or something. Then I'll think about taking a nap before work at 4:30... but only if I have time. I have to get some bio studying in there, too. Otherwise it'll all be postponed until tomorrow, and I have to get going on it sooner than that, since the final is on Wednesday. Hmm, aren't we all glad we know what Kyla is up to.

Want to know why I had trouble sleeping last night? I was thinking of all the things that I want to do in Seattle, but hardly ever do since I'm always bogged down with work and school. I got to thinking about this because Brad invited me last-minute to go watch live bluegrass after work. Since I had my bike and I couldn't do much more to prepare for my physics final anyway, I decided to go. Plus, Brad said they started at about 8 and would be done around 11, and we got off work at 10, so we'd missed most of it anyway. It was good music, and nice to just sit there with Brad and have a pint and listen to music for a bit. Then when I went to Jeff's later, we looked at old pictures of us on Facebook that Ronda took in Europe. The silly expressions on our faces and the sights of the different cities caused the memories to start flooding back, and I just started laughing. Uncontrollably. I laughed, and I laughed, and Jeff wondered what was wrong with me, and I kept laughing. In hindsight, I think it was a round of hysterics, because I realized that there are things that I want to include in my life, things that bring me joy, and that my life, as it stands at this moment, does not have time for many of these things. Moreover, I love doing things that require high energy levels, and I almost never have that either due to school and work.

So I couldn't sleep because I was thinking of all the things I really want to do here in Seattle: go to the symphony, feed the ducks at Greenlake, ride my bike EVERYWHERE, shop on Capitol Hill, go to the Rocky Horror Picture show, see Twisted Flicks at Jet City Improv, go to the Russian baths downtown, find perfect reading spots, see the sunset at Golden Gardens, work out at the IMA, listen to local live bands and go to more shows. There's just so much, and it all ran through my head last night.

So in short, I'm still working on finding a balance, and I want to be able to strike that balance soon. Hopefully I'll have time over Winter Break to do some of these things that I love but never have the time or energy for. And maybe I'll use some of that free time to dream up ways to find a sustainable balance.

I just went to the fridge for a refreshing glass of sparkling pink lemonade. I got the bottle out, removed the cap, and promptly poured the juice into a bowl.

I bet when I was little, when I thought about how I would be when I grew up, I never thought I'd end up to be THIS cool.

**Edit: Heavy sarcasm is hidden in that last line. See if you can find it.**

So I've finally changed over to the new blogger. Not much is different, except I have to use my gmail account to sign on. Also, I changed my template, but it hasn't shown up yet. I don't know when it will.

I have zero motivation to study for finals tonight. I wonder if I should consider physics a lost cause and just concentrate on biology.

A guy on the Ave asked me if I was a Rastafarian or an artist. I said neither. He said he liked my dreads on me anyway.

I had good Thai food for dinner on the Ave with Devin. I wanted to go to Thai Tom's, but that place is a zoo at dinnertime. I called ahead to get take-out but I basically got the equivalent of "screw-you" over the phone (by which I mean they said "It'll be an hour" and then, after I said "okay", they said "okay, bye" and hung up). Devin was already at the library anyway, so Thai 65 was closer. We decided against AppeThai.

I want bubble tea, and I don't know where my cell phone is. I think I left it in my room. Otherwise, I really have no idea where it could be. I'm tired. Man, this post is lame.

The party last night went splendidly. At least, I think it did - it's always hard to tell if people are enjoying themselves when you're the hostess, because you can always think of something that you can improve about your party to help people have a better time. But I think it was good. Lots of my friends showed up, many of them from high school, a few from work, and a few mutual friends with Ronda (aka the German exchange students). We had German mulled wine that turned out great, egg nog with rum that was also surprisingly good, a platter of Christmas cookies and copious amounts of Three Buck Chuck. People also brought their owh booze, so it turned out to be quite a pleasant party.

The mistletoe didn't work out quite as well as we were hoping. Only a few people got caught under it. Although I do have to say, there was one incident that I felt made the mistletoe worth its purchase: as Max and Carol were dancing the tango, they passed under it and I called them out on it. Since Carol is awesome and crazy, she uttered no word of protest and shoved her face up to Max's and kissed him quickly. Max's reaction was amazing: He tried to get his face into a kissing postion, but it only happened after Carol pulled her face back. Then Max looked bewildered, and said, "I just got punched in the face by your lips." I thought it was a hilarious interaction.

Other amusing things that happened last night:
1. A football player wandered into our party from off the street. He took some egg nog, talked to me briefly, and left. Everyone was slightly confused.

2. Hung hijacked the stereo system and started playing German hiphop from his iPod. All the German speakers rejoiced. Everyone else kinda went "wtf?" and stopped dancing.

3. I spilled some egg nog on the floor while Max was standing next to me, and without even barely communicating, we cleaned up the spill. It was kinda scary how fast we went into Trader Joe's clean-up mode - he stood there to protect the spill, and I went and got towels. We laughed about our TJ reflex, and it may only be funny to us. But that's how jokes go sometimes.

4. Early on, we all danced to Scissor Sister's "I Don't Wanna Dance". It took my breath away, and not only because I was dancing like a maniac on speed. It's moments like this that I live for.

5. We had our disco ball up and running! And we lit it with my bike light, which I found hilarious. I just hope those batteries still have plenty of juice. The whole thing reminded me of a middle school dance, and we even played that out a little bit, with the whole awkwardness thing - Max danced with Carol and pretended that the girl he REALLY wanted to dance with was across the room.

6. Carol carried Max over her shoulders - twice.

So it was a good, long night, and now I have to go do parking duty for 3 hours and try to earn some of that money back that I so casually spent on my party last night. And then study for finals, which is what I should have been doing all along. YAY!

Kind of a crappy day.

I cannot wait until finals are over. Less than 10 days from now, I can go home and not worry about school for a while - just about going to work, and enjoying Christmas, and seeing friends from Oly.

Last night, a kid at work got injured pretty badly. A case of olive oil that he was lifting broke open from the bottom, sending 12 bottles to the floor. All but 2 shattered, and my co-worker slipped in the puddle of oil. When I came around the corner to see what the crash was, I saw him sitting on the floor, with olive oil all over his back, and not moving. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that he was bleeding profusely from his hands due to two large gashes from the glass shards. He was taken to the ER, and all of us were pretty shaken up about the whole thing. His girlfriend was especially torn up (she works there too, and saw the whole thing happen.

So that was depressing, and we wrote him a card. I know it sounds cliche, but I hope he gets better fast. The weird thing is, we all know in the back of our minds that such a thing could happen to any of us.

And now, time to go to work.

About that time, eh, chaps?

Right-o.

Who wants to go to Bodies with me?

Tonight, to unwind from work, I sat in Ronda's room and chatted with her once I got back a few minutes after midnight. As sometimes comes up in our conversations, we each expressed how much we missed Tuebingen. Then two other related things came up that surprised me and made me reflect a little:

1. Ronda said that she got the impression that the Kyla I am in the US isn't the same as the Kyla I was in Germany. Kind of a weird observation, we felt; as Ronda remarked, I'm still the same person, obviously. But I agreed, in a way: circumstances were different there, and I reacted to them differently. I had less to do, and as a result I got more sleep and did less activities than I ever did in the US. It was a year of rest, and a year of fun. And here in Seattle - I don't know, I guess I'm just more stressed, busy, and sleep-deprived. I wonder, if I go back to Germany, can I get that relaxed lifestyle back? Would it work? I think I'd like it better than this daily frenzy that I'm currently a part of.

2. We couldn't believe we'd spent a whole year in Germany. This has come up before. The year really flew by, so of course it felt shorter than it really was. But sometimes I think back on it, and it seems like a distant dream that never really happened. And in a way, it is a dream, because I will never be able to recreate the experience I had in Tuebingen. My room is gone, most of my friends are gone... Tuebingen is still there, but it's not the same, and never will be.

I can't wait to get back there, or go do something else besides school and work. Only one quarter and already I'm bored. What's next? I need to start planning my next great adventure...

...which is, by the way, the way I'd like to view the rest of my life. A series of great adventures, the next each picked out because it's something exciting and amazing that I want to do before I die. Yes, a series of great adventures is exactly what I want to do with my life.

The weekend came and went quickly, as weekends are prone to do. It was a good one, though, since we had Friday off. That enabled me to drive to Western with 4 other CHS grads to visit more of our old high school buddies. This ended up being the highlight of my weekend for a few good reasons:

1. I saw old friends, including old blogger buddy Rowan. We hadn't seen each other for a few years, and we had been good friends in the last two years of high school. So our reunion was nothing short of spectacular. Being able to pick up where you left off is always an indicator of a great friendship.

2. We all went to 80's night at a bar in downtown Bellevue, and

3. We danced to 80's music in our 80's clothing for 3 1/2 hours straight.

All in all, it was a fantastic evening. Sadly, we had to leave at 10 the next morning because people had to work in Seattle the next day.

Friday I basically wasted by hanging out at home, making one outing to see the Borat movie. The Borat movie is hilarious and I recommend that everybody see it. I especially like the naked wrestling scene because it is sheer genius.

Saturday I worked for parking for the football game. It was the last one of the season, so we stuck around for a bit afterwards and ate some food that people brought, and asked each other if we were working next season. My reply? "I'll think about it." The best part of working that day for me was at the end, when one girl, who we'll call "Ann", was telling our supervisor the problems she had encountered that day. Ann and I have been working parking on and off for about 3 years (she might have an extra year on me). I for one do not take parking to be a hugely serious job, so I have fun out there, chatting with the customers and joking with my co-workers. Ann, however, approaches this job a bit differently, and reflected it as she told our supervisor about the most outrageous thing that had happened that day:

"This lady was driving a white Mazda and raced out of our exit. I don't know where she came from, but somebody must have made her mad, because she flipped us all off! All six of us!"

A few of us were standing around. One guy (a big fellow who has also been around since the season I started) chuckled and said, "You shoulda thrown that one right back at her."

I laughed, and jokingly agreed, "Haha, yeah! I so woulda done that."

But Ann did not see the humor in this. She looked at me and said, without an ounce of humor in her voice: "That would not reflect well on the university."

Is she serious? I thought incredulously. There was no way. But as I stared back at her in disbelief, I realized that Ann was not joking, and that she truly believed that if I had seen this rude woman commit her little act, I would have turned around and shown the lady some fire power of my own.

"It was a joke," I said in a tone that was probably more condescending than it needed to be. "I would never do that." And it's true, I wouldn't. But I can certainly joke about it, which is more than I can say for Ann.

Alright, enough about my weekend. I have to go eat and then study for a quiz. After that, I'll go think of ways to celebrate my birthday on Friday...

Oh yeah. Happy birthday to Ashley and me! 20 and 22 (respectively). I was greeted this morning by Ashley, who burst into my room and woke me by pounching on me. She presented me with a gift wrapped in what she referred to as a "bunny hat". To me, it looked like a crunchy white cellophane-like spherical mass with bunny ears protruding from it. I asked if it was really a hat. Her reply? "I wore it on my head once."

It was a great start to my day. Love you, Ashley darling. Have a wonderful birthday.

Edit: I forgot to mention that on Saturday night, Jeff and I went to Die Bierstube to check it out. Result: nice place, great German beer, definitely going back.

Blogger's new version is out. Rah. Guess I'd better switch.

Also, I wanted to call everybody's attention to this well-written blog entry about the health care situation in America. Read it and learn.

Going to see the Borat movie tonight. Is nice. Very excited.