More percentages

(If you're wondering why I keep posting these incredibly boring lists, it has a two-fold purpose. First, I feel guilted into working on my items because the progress is out there for the world to see. Second, I get a LOT of satisfaction out of crossing things off these lists.)

I'm stressed because I received a scholarship letter a few weeks ago, and I was going to bring in the acceptance this Monday. However, I just found out that they mailed out the letter on Oct 16, and I was supposed to accept the scholarship within 10 days of them issuing it to me....of course I didn't have the letter at that time. I'm going to go in and beg for it on Monday, wish me luck!

In Christmas news, I am now at the following percentages:

Lace Hat - Done
Felted Clogs - 50%
Fingerless Mittens - Done
Hat - Done
Socks - 50%

Candy Cane Socks for me - 0%

In school news, I am now at the following percentages:

Labs - Done
Lab final (Dec. 3) - 3/4 studying
Min Dep paper (Dec. 5)- Done
Min Dep presentation(Dec. 3) - 10%
Isotope Paper (Dec. 5) - Done
Isotope Presentation - Done and presented 90%!
Petroleum Group Paper (Dec. 7) - Data collected and analysed, no text yet
Petroleum Group Presentation (Nov. 29)- Done
Thesis - On temporary hold

Quick update - most of my tests came back normal, so it's not large-bowel Crohn's (could still be small bowel, esp. since I'm not absorbing nutrients well, according to my new bloodwork). At any rate, this means I'm having surgery on Dec. 7. It's a laparoscopy to try and see what the heck is going on in mah belleh. I shouldn't have to stay overnight, unless they find some adhesions (somewhat likely) that need a fair bit of work (unlikely). It means all my finals are put off until January, and I get a week of sitting on the couch with actually no need to do ANYTHING but knit. I'm going to rip out my Silk Garden One Skein Wonder and make it into mittens, as well as making myself some glittens. I also need a warm hat, so I want to get to Michaels before Dec. 7 to buy a couple skeins of Patons SWS for a palindrome hat.

In Christmas news, I am now at the following percentages:

Lace Hat - Done
Felted Clogs - 50%
Fingerless Mittens - Done
Tea Cozy - Not started
Socks - 50%

In school news, I am now at the following percentages:

Labs - 1 done, 1 left
Lab final - not studied yet
Min Dep paper - 20%
Min Dep presentation - not started
Isotope Paper - 33%
Isotope Presentation - not started
Petroleum Group Paper - not started
Petroleum Group Presentation - not started
Thesis - oh I don't even want to think about it

Eeep.

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone. They've done some testing (colonoscopy, gastroscopy, and Friday I have a Meckel's Scan. The problem seems to be two-fold:

1) I have a positive blood test for celiac (usually a strong indicator) but no symptoms
2) I don't have a positive blood test or visual ulcers of Crohn's (but every other symptom)

The best guess is Crohn's, since it explains every weird symptom I've had in my life that everyone tried to treat as separate problems like joint pain, mouth ulcers, night sweats, pink-eye-ish problems.

I have been knitting some, and trying not to look at the mountain of schoolwork that's piling in front of me. I'm going to write some of a term paper today I hope, and try to convince Sean to go with me to the University (it's closed today) so I can work on my labs, since that's what I'm most behind in.

Wish me luck!

Field School

Well, I'm off to field school today, hoping that I haven't packed too much, that I've packed enough, that I've packed the right stuff...I guess for the 4th year field school they don't feel you need a list of items to pack any longer, since they give you one in third year. The only problem? I did my field school with U of A, and therefore have no idea of what the U of M field station is like.

I guess I'll bring my big rolling suitcase along with my giant backpack and look like a dork.

Oh, and I put purple streaks in my hair. Just for fun.

Send good thoughts!

My Grandpa is having heart surgery on Tuesday, so please send good thoughts our way! I'm sure he'll be fine, and this way he'll be a lot more comfortable.

So far I've gotten two marks back, both B+ :( I worked hard in these classes, and I wish I'd done better, but I guess it wasn't to be. No big worries yet though, as the marks to come back still are the classes I should do very well in, and as of right now my GPA for the year is still a 3.9.

Almost done classes

Almost done classes. My Geochem lab exam went quite well (85), I wrote my class final and handed in my term paper for Historical Arch., and I also handed in my term paper for Engineering Geology. That just leaves my Igneous and Metamorphic lab final, and then of course all my regular lecture finals.

I'm starting to get excited about buying the stuff I need for Field School and work in Red Lake.

And now I want to shoot whoever's car alarm has been blaring for over five minutes outside. I hate those things.

Still no knitwear pictures (sorry) but I've been busy with school. My Geochem lab final went quite well, and I finished my Historical Arch. assignment. These assignments are things like ceramic dating, or determining original ethnicity of settlers from place names. They're usually about 12-14 hours of work, 1,000-1,500 words. So I'm glad the last one is done and I can hand it in today (technically, a day early!).

I still have my Igneous and Metamorphic lab final, a lab assignment due for that class (due before the final next week), I have to put the final touches on my Engineering Geology term paper, I have to write my Historical term paper, and study for the Historical final on Tuesday. No restful Easter for me!

Oh, and two other bits of news: My sister, who works at the *very* nice and fancy restaurant in my hometown, served Stephan Dion last night! Bad news though that Sean's first cat (who has lived with his parents since he moved out) got very sick a day or two ago and they put her down this morning. I loved Hobbes, she was orange and very cuddly, with a smattering of black across her nose.

It's amazing...

...how clean my apartment gets when I have term papers to write.

Wow!

I got sleepy last night just after 6, so I laid down on the futon and went to sleep. With a wakeup here and there to turn off a light, and move to the bed, I slept until 10 to 8 this morning. Wow! I don't even feel overslept now, just WIDE awake. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, and I think it's because between work and school I haven't had enough time to get an exercise. So, on Wednesday I did some aerobics, and yesterday I got off the bus a good 15 stops too early and briskly walked home. Seems to have done the trick to help my sleep and also let me catch up on what I'd missed.

My work is over now at the University, so I have more time on my hands but it also means no more paycheques coming in, boo. I can't go get another job because I'd only be able to work for about three weeks before I have to go on field school, plus I don't want to work through exams. My Engineering Geology term paper deadline was pushed back to Friday from Tuesday, so that gives me a bit more time on it. I still have my Geochem lab final on Tuesday, Historical Anthropology term paper on the next Tuesday, which is also the day of the final in that class, and an Igneous and Metamorphic petrology lab final the day after that. If posting slows down, you know why :)

I FINALLY have knitting news, although I can't post pictures right now because the fog outside is unbeliveable and therefore the natural light in the apartment is about nil. I finished the bus/class socks a few days ago and wore them, and I've started a pair of thigh-high lace stockings. I was inspired by these, and since I'm poor at the moment I decided to design my own. After a few hours with a pattern book, gauge swatch, helpful websites, measuring tape, calculator, and a whole lot of paper, I came up with my own pattern....only to realise that I've nearly exactly duplicated those socks. I browsed through an awesome stitch pattern book my Grandma gave me from the 70's, and found a lace pattern I liked - not strictly vertical, shorter stitch repeat, easy to convert into the round, and added scallops to the top (since I liked that look from the pattern). Turns out I picked the same lace as the pattern uses, although my scallops are currently pointier than theirs. I can probably remedy this through blocking. I'm going to do a short row heel I think, and a solid sole like theirs as well too, for stability. Mine are done in rose coloured sock wool and will have a cream ribbon run through at the top. So far, I'm about 2" short of the upper calf shaping (working down).

Arts vs. Science

There's a long, ongoing debate as to whether getting an Arts or Science degree is more difficult. Here's the general arguements from both sides:

Arts:
Less Class Time
More research for papers needed
More reading

Science:
More Class time
Labs and practical work instead of reading.

As a past Arts graduate and current science student, I'm here to say, that at least in English/History vs. Geology, this is all bull. I not only have more class hours and lab requirements to fulfill, I have to read nearly as much as I was required to in English, still have to complete term papers, and have twice as many finals to write because I have to do lab finals as well as lecture finals.

I put in at least 30 hours of work a week in class, then I work 12 hours a week, and I still have to clean and cook for myself. I also have an hour to hour and a half long commute each day. Now that I have 2 term papers, 2 lab assignments, 2 lab finals, and a lecture final in the next week and a half that's going to go up to a good 60 hours of school work a week.

I'm absolutely not complaining about the amount of work I have to do. I understand that I chose to do take Geology, and that I need to be responsible for keeping my house clean and eating well. I'm just saying that not all degrees are created equal, and that there is much more work required in Geology as compared to English. In fact, in some of our geology classes we have Engineers and Geophysicists, and they both state that our program is the hardest they have every experienced. Having been through various upper level classes varying from Linguistics, English, Classics, Math, Anthropology, and Geology I have to say that this just may be the most difficult and work-intensive program I have ever been in. And boy am I exhausted.

Sean comes home in 3 weeks. Thank God!

God has a sense of humour....

You know what it was last week? Around -5C. You know what the air temperature (not including any windchill) was this morning? -27C.

Coupled with yesterday's problems, I'm guessing either God has a sense of humour, or karma is getting it's own back from me finding a beautiful, cheap wedding dress so easily.

Today's exams actually went quite well. My Historical Archaeology midterm was really weird to write, since it was 3 long answer questions in 60 minutes. I scribbled like crazy, and all my information was good and relevant, but I really don't feel like I answered the questions at all, mostly because they were like this:

Discuss the history and archaeology of L'Anse aux Meadows. How does it differ from other New World colonizations?

Well, with the amount of information I read and we took notes on in this subject, I could have written for all 60 minutes, and I still wouldn't have covered everything i thought was important. Ergo, I didn't get down everything I thought was important :P But really, how much can one write by hand in 60 minutes? And I really spent only 5 minutes of it NOT writing, for turning pages and briefly thinking lines through.

My Engineering Geology exam however went very, very well. I knew the answers and worked them through confidently, and I had MORE than enough information for the last question in particular.

Now I'm studying for Geochemistry, which I have tomorrow. There were issues with the first time he gave the test (which I missed) because...well, first let me explain about the class. It's a fairly difficult subject, and our professor is actually a Grad Student, whose advisor (and usual professor for the class) is currently on sabbatical. The notes he's using are hers, but they're kind of disjointed (apparently the class was very hard to follow when she taught it). To make things worse, our professor is Russian, and doesn't speak English well. It's not that he lapses into Russian at any point, but he translates literally from Russian as he speaks, so that grammar and terms often make no sense. (Think Yoda but worse with a thick accent - cute in a puppet expounding Jedi knowledge, senseless in a complex science class).

Anyway, the initial exam was 12 questions, of which you had to answer 8. Each question was weighted differently, and he stated at the top of the exam "The goal is to get the most marks possible". What he intended was that your exam would only be marked out of 100 if you answered the 8 highest valued questions. Otherwise the highest possible mark you could obtain would be below 100. Since this wasn't clearly stated and the class did poorly as a result, he's reissuing the midterm, and that's when I'm writing it.

I dunno if I'm any good Geochemistry or not, I guess we'll find out tomorrow. I've been doing a mediocre 75 in the labs so far.

Grrr

I'm so mad at myself - I've left things I need to study with at school, meaning I have to go to the University - a good hour long trip at least, not including the time I need to get my stuff. Sometimes I can be SUCH a moron! I have already studied for two of the three midterms I have on Monday and Tuesday (2 Monday, one Tuesday) but I need to review my stuff.

EDIT *#@$%!!!! I seem to have lost my notes on over 12 hours of required reading for the midterm I have tomorrow. I can't BELIEVE it! I am usually insanely organized with my school notes, I have no idea what's happened to me. I think I may have left them in Dryden at my parents house.

On Friday I went swimming in our building's newly repaired pool for the first time. Lots of good exercise, but my hair felt awful afterwards because I don't have a chlorine shampoo. I went to Shoppers to get some chlorine shampoo but they didn't have any at all (???) so I at least got some ENO to put in my hair as a rinse - I know that we used to use Alka-Seltzer to rinse our hair after swim practise when I was on the swim team, but I'm not sure if the ASA in the Alka-seltzer is what did it instead of the Sodium Citrate. Since ENO is just Sodium Citrate, I'm not sure if it'll work, especially since the internet seems to be telling me that ground-up aspirin (ASA) will work to remove chlorine from your hair...any other suggestions?

Yesterday when I went to look at bridesmaids dresses and fabric swatches, I browsed through the bridal gowns as well, and came across one that looked almost exactly like the designer dress I loved from a magazine. I tried it on (they had to pin me in as it was a size 16) and it looked lovely, and the price was right - $598! VERY cheap in terms of wedding dreses. I have to order it in the next 6 months to get it on time for the wedding, which is next summer.

Pet peeves

So, as noted in yesterday's post, it's been fairly cold here in Winnipeg. This (along with my very full schedule that starts and ends my days in Wallace building on campus) means that I leave my coat at my carrell, and take the tunnels to get to my two classes in Tier (all the way across campus).

The tunnels are theoretically a wonderful idea. They keep you warm and make sure you don't have to haul all your winter stuff with you. They are also longer than outside, which could be an upside or a downside. However, a few are narrow, and all of them are full between classes. This brings me to my pet peeves - which I should note don't only include the tunnels but also hallways, malls, and aisles. Basically any pedestrian through-way.

1) People that just kind of mosey their way through, walking at a fairly slow pace, not paying attention and usually listening to their iPods. MOVE buster! I have 12 minutes of ground to cover in my 10 minute break between class, and you're just making me late. Get off to the side so other people can pass you (to be fair, if they're mosey-ing off to the side I don't care, because I can get past).

2) People that stop in doorways/middle of hallways/corners to chat with their 5 other friends. They make it so no one else get past or through, and I had no less than 3 people stop dead directly in front of me because they saw a friend passing the other way. Each time I nearly ran into them, because they'd been moving so fast and stopped so abruptly.

If cars drove like this we'd all be dead! Obey traffic laws in hallways!

Knitting is still going on, as is exam studying. Monday's exams went crappy, with almost everyone coming out of the first with no more than a 70% on it (he posted the answer key outside). I personally got about a 66%. The second was ridiculously difficult, and again I think I got about a 70%. Seeing as I had 85 to 90% in these classes BEFORE the finals I'm a little ticked. It's not like I didn't study enough, it's a case again of the questions being SO specific I couldn't possibly know enough to have answered all those questions. At least not when I needed to have enough crammed into my head to write two exams that day.

Today I'm studying for Wednesday's evening exam (Plagues and People), going to a Structure Lab review session, and maybe working. Not sure about that, because I need enough time to study. I think I'll work tomorrow afternoon before my exam though.

I've been knitting on a few projects, got one half done and the other just started. I'm a little stressed about getting these things done in time for Christmas, but we'll see.