Though this time I can't even say I should be doing something else because I'm running crap/waiting for input from people so there's very little I can actually do :D So I'll just type this up at work so I look like I'm being productive or something.

Planning on spoiling myself on my birthday since I don't have much else to do beyond wash my car and clean my apartment. I was kind of booboo faced about it earlier but then I realized that that's not going to do me any good. So, I'm going to be nice to myself (after I wash my car) and appreciate some alone time! It should be nice, actually, and it's the weekend before school starts so it'll be a good start to the semester.

Things have been fairly uneventful, as they always are. Went home for two and a half weeks, Ky came and visited for a week (<3), and I gave San Francisco the love it deserves. That city is one of my location soulmates, along with Tokyo and Germany (yes, all of Germany). Even though it wasn't exactly a relaxing vacation, I'm just glad I got to be in the city again and hang out with my mom some and do fun things.

Been reading manga/online comics some, and I realized I super miss American comics. I'm in the market for finding some good stuff to read (new or old), so hit me up (hinthint Jamie and Robert). One of my bffles wants me to read some of the Aspen comics so I'll hopefully be picking some of those up in the near future. I need to stop by the comic store here and see if it's worth anything...

Started playing Assassin's Creed II (I was told the first one's gameplay mechanics made it annoying as crap so I skipped it like a bad gamer), and I'm having a lot of fun even if I kill myself jumping off buildings on a regular basis. Have lots of other games sitting waiting to be finished or started (dear god I finally need to finish FFIX and FFXII), so hopefully this semester will give me some time to continue my gaming. A while back I finished War for Cybertron (god I love that game), so now I'm just going through beating it on various difficulties/getting trophies. I seriously cannot wait for the next one of those to come out.

I guess also of note is the fact that I've been sick for about two weeks. If I'm still coughing Friday I'll go back to the doctor - it's really exhausting to be coughing for so long. I guess there was some concern that I had bronchitis, but I think that's not the case. If I was just coughing I'd say it was irritation, but my coughs are still a little crusty so blah.

I want more BBC Sherlock right now :| Also I totally am guilty of watching terrible terrible TLC shows. Where have my standards gone??

The movie…was ok. I think if I wasn’t a die-hard TF fan/huge nerd who considers how robots should work/didn’t give a shit about continuity or physics, I would have liked it a bit more. I know you’re supposed to suspend belief for movies because, honestly, a lot of movies would be pretty shitty if everything went how things really go, but I feel like some things were just blatantly wtf.
Sort of spoilers for Dark of the Moon follow:


( GIANT ROBOTS )

So, ultimately: If you're not weird like me you might like it all right. Even if you are weird like me you probably won't hate it, but spend a lot of the movie a little bit concerned about continuity and robot mechanics.

SIR SOUNDWAVE IN THE HOUSEEEEEEEEEE

So, things have been pretty insane. I went home for Spring Break, had a special time getting home (5 hour delay, just missed bus back home, 2 hour wait for next bus, 3 hours home on said bus), but I got to see people which was great and while there were bad times, I'm glad I got to see everyone <3

School has been assaulting me pretty much non-stop. I have a ton of research to get done all the time, plus my two classes are still bitches due to horrible teaching. A jerkwad move by my Algorithms professor means that I have homework due tomorrow with one of four problems not done, and nearly no idea how to do it because he's not helpful and he instructs the TA to not give us much in the way of hints. Le sigh. At least the guys I work with on the homework are hilarious and helpful.

My obsessive love of Transformers has gone completely batshit and essentially all I want to do all day is play War for Cybertron and watch Transformers/Headmasters/Beast Wars/everything related to them. At least being amused by giant robots gets me through the day most of the time.

( Cut for the hilarity of womanly problems )

I guess life is generally fine, though maybe that's the optimism of sleep deprivation, lol. Next weekend I head down to Katy, TX, for my friend Yumi's wedding <3 I wish I had more time to run around my old stomping ground and harass all my peeps like Brice and Jamie and Robert, but I'm only there for the weekend so I'm pretty sure seeing people is going to be difficult, if it can happen at all :( <3333 but I'll be nearby and loving them extra~

Off to do more homework. I have to wake up in about 4.75 hours but, eh ;)

Sooo, let's see, what do I have to say...

Things have been okay here. School has really kicked into ass beating mode, so I'm doing homework most of the time. My research is also moving up a notch, which I'm afraid will quickly become overwhelming. My advisor thinks I'll have my name on two papers by the summer at least (did I say this already? Too lazy to check), which is cool, but that means shittons of work and writing. And, yeah, that homework problem...

The people I work with for homework are great at least, but the homework still takes a lot of time for both of my classes, so the minute we get the homework we have to start working for it to be done before the week and a half we have to do it is up. One class isn't so much hard as the teacher is so stupid that she makes it hard, which is always super disappointing. I keep telling everyone here that if I had to pay for these classes I'd be super pissed; I got a much better education at USF.

I did my yearly ritual of blasting The Smith's "Girlfriend in a Coma" for Valentine's Day which was as satisfying as it always is. :)

Justin is coming to visit this weekend! I'm really excited but hope that I'm not full of brain mush because of all of the relentless school while he's here. I have to clean my apartment tomorrow too, eeekk...

Since I've started watching what I eat (not dieting, because you can't sustain a diet), I've lost about 3.5lbs. I need to start exercising so the pounds dropped go up! I haven't had the drive to do it yet which is really bad. I know I just need to force myself to get on it and go, but the first time is always the hardest.

I don't want to do my homework :( And I need to spend a lot of money on plane tickets. Barf. But at least I get to go to my friend Yumi's reception in Texas in March!

And now that I've remembered I have to buy my plane ticket for Spring Break it's all I can think about, so I have to stop this to go do that, hahaha..

There are a few things that I think it's reasonable to expect out of college students. These things, honestly, should be achievable by the time you enter middle school, but to be generous I'll just say that all college students should be able to do them. Apparently, some college students can't. I don't think anyone incapable of doing these things should be admitted anywhere. These things are:

1) Write multiple, coherent and grammatically correct sentences in English. (Most non-native English speakers are excused from this).
2) Flush a toilet
3) Pee into, not on, a toilet
4) Arrive to class on time at least once in an entire semester

I'm kind of disappointed that people here can't seem to do that, lol. I mean, really people...

( My Resolutions for This Year )

Anyways, my body's problems that required doctor attention are essentially cleared up, but my two-week sickness, which was mostly gone, might be making a reappearance. I'm trying to take today easy to avoid getting sick again :/ Being diseased all the time is not going to help a lot of the above resolutions. I can power through it, but I think I'll be much happier if I'm just not sick, hahaha.

I'm back to poking around at Final Fantasy XII. No, I never finished it because I got insane and decided that I had to do EVERYTHING IN THE GAME. I'm currently running around killing rare game. My list is dwindling quickly, but I've become spoiled by my surroundings with weak enemies so when I actually go into an area where stuff is, you know, not 30+ levels below me, I'm always surprised by now quickly everyone can die! Still, haven't game-overed thanks to some amazing running I did with my last remaining team member away from Disma. Man, I am so nerdy, it hurts.

Trying to read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest as quickly as possible since I have to return it to the library on the 26th, but I don't know if I'll be able to finish it, haha. I'm technically 1/5th of the way through, but we'll see if my attention span will allow lots of reading over the next few days when I'm not working.

For a few days it's dipped into the single digits here, including this morning, when it was 7 degrees. Chillyyyy. It's super sunny today, however, which means with all the snow it's blinding as all hell, but might be a tad warmer. I haven't left the house yet, but might venture out later, depending on if I start to get cabin fever or not, since I'm trying to lay low today.

Work has been ok, but I'm disappointed about my classes this semester. They look like they're going to be really terrible, unfortunately, but I guess there really isn't much to be done about that. I just need to work hard and power through, and then I'll be one step closer to my Masters, and thus one step closer to my PhD! Plus, going to Ireland next year kind of negates any bad feelings I have about classes.

Not really much else to say, I guess. I have some plans for so amazing Valentine's Day cookies when it actually rolls around that I'm pretty excited about, but otherwise it's just the usual grind here, getting research and classwork out and trying to functionally sleep in between.

Let's see let's see...

Christmas break was essentially a non-event, though it was nice to be at home and to see my brothers and stuff. Christmas itself was kind of nothing at all since my mom, run ragged by my crazy Alzheimer-y grandmother, didn't have time to do Christmas shopping and since my dad is impaired, that meant no presents. It was fine, though, and since Morgan couldn't fly back to Denver for Christmas because of her job she came and stayed with us as well which was super nice <3 Got to go to a few of the old haunts in the city which was nice, and spent the night at Morgan's and went to the sort of Japanese-style communal baths where we ran around buck naked for an hour.

Craycray Miss Ky sent me two beautiful BJD dolls who sadly have to live in Cali for the time being. They are huge and so, so nice, and I of course greatly appreciate them <333

My adventure back to Indiana was surprisingly pain-free, and I managed to tank through more of The Girl Who Played With Fire, so that I'm about 150 pages away from the end. This trilogy is very strange... I feel like they're not really overly interesting or anything and they're decently long with a lot of non-important junk going on in them, but I still never get bored and for some reason I like the main male character quite a bit. They don't require a ton of brain power which is kind of a huge plus after all of the classic lit reading I did for a while. After this I'll try to get a hold of the paper back of the last book, and then maybe shift back to classics/read those books Ky has been telling me to read, hahaha. SORRY KY <3

Anyways, arrived here, woke up the next morning with DISEASE. My nose is surprisingly unstuffed, but I have a ton of crud in my chest and a gnarly cough that's wheezy/crackly because of the stuff in my chest. My throat is positively on fire from all the coughing, and to top it off my back pain is back with a vengeance. I'll head to the doctor on campus tomorrow (wussed out today and worked from home) if it's any worse. I'm seriously exhausted and run down which is unfortunate considering I just got back, lulz.

Watched Big Fish which at first I thought I wasn't going to enjoy, but then I did, and then Up in the Air, which I also liked way more than I thought I would. Also I seriously missed my PS3. And thanks to Katy I might now own a FOXHOUND beanie. Don't judge.

I am back! I still have work to do (damn you projects and papers) but I at least get to do so in the comfort of a clean house that possesses a mother who will make me food so I don't have to. To further let my readers (ha) appreciate the awesomeness of this, I am currently drinking a screwdriver made with citron vodka and recently ate nachos fresh from the oven. Mmmm vodka.

Finals week was hell in a handbasket. My tests went ok, but were epic stressful, though I did at least manage to send off my research data without too much a hitch (for now), though the data I had that was going to be presented to the FDA on a poster with a bunch of other stuff (WHINE) required a bit of explaining but I think went over well. I still have a ton of work to get done, but I'll probably take a few days off. I'm going to Vegas Saturday evening until Monday evening, so I guess I won't have much time to work there, anyways...

I really just sort of want to be a lazy bum until my brothers get here, and then go see a bunch of movies with them. My older brother also wants to see True Grit so hopefully we'll go do that when he's here, and I'm going to force the boyfriend to go to Tron with me, and surprisingly he has interest in seeing Tangled so we'll go see that too. Yay for movies! I haven't really see many in theatres recently (I think the last one was Easy A months and months ago), but I do enjoy them when I make it out to see something.

I still have lots of Christmas shopping to do, but I'm not too worried about it, at least for now. I have some time still. Maybe I can do some of my work in Vegas, which would be helpful...

Next semester is going to be a bitch, but I'm kind of pumped and optimistic for the time being. I've recruited some of the other first years into being my study/homework buddies, and if all goes well next Fall I'll be headed to Ireland, which is a really big encouragement. Hopefully grades will go well this semester, but for all technical purposes that remains to be seen. I will try to force myself to have good feelings until then!

Yeaaaah I think that's about it. I freaking love Solid Snake.

I'm going to stall a little bit more from studying to write this entry.

Things have been okayish here. My apartment is still a huge huge mess but I did make cupcakes yesterday like I'd been planning, at least, and I'm finally getting some studying in. I need to finish this and clean my apartment today. There's luckily still time in the day. Will probably watch American Psycho since I have that out on Netflix (and have forever..) so that I can send it back and pause my Netflix subscription. Studying for this exam is killer. Twenty-eight academic papers, with all the questions being nitpicky nuances. Le barf. I really hope I don't fail, as this is a pretty important class....

Still have some research stuff, a project, a take home exam, and a paper to do before Wednesday. The end of this semester will be a godsend. I may just sleep until Christmas. Augh. Of course, I have cleaning and some shopping and packing to do as well before I leave here. It's not all bad, just a lot of things to get done when I barely have the motivation to cook myself food.

Our OS project is finally done, but I got nervous at the talk and babbled too much, lol... still feeling bad about it but I just need to get over it and not think about it any more. I have enough other stuff to do.

Ummmm, I really don't know what else to say. I need to start figuring out Ireland and am still a bit curious about what the economy crashing business is going to do to my time there. Not sure if it will be better or worse. Regardless, my advisor said if I'm poor and dying he'll just send me more money so I don't need to worry, lol.

It's snowing again. Yesterday was warm enough (read: 36 degrees) for it to rain instead of snow, but the snow is back with a vengeance. Luckily I have no obligation to leave my house today, and I believe I will do just that. I should stay in anyways to get all my crap done.

This song is such a throwback.

Blah blah blah ramble ramble :) Back to work. I get to talk about MapReduce, oh joy...