Running low on time...

I haven't even finished packing and I will be at the airport in 12 hours. I am NOT with it today. I've managed to spend the whole day somehow. I've discovered that due to boxes of presents all of the stuff I need will not fit into my small suitcase. (The presents would take up 3/4 of the room and leave no room for things like clothes and shampoo.) I'm going to solve this by putting them into the large suitcase inside a bag. When I reach Arlanda I'll take those out and carry them through. I don't think Swedish authorities are going to protest wrapped Christmas presents in a paper bag with a handle. It will be fun meeting up with the boyfriend's roommate. I don't know where or when to meet her. I just know that sometime during the many hours I'll be at the airport she'll be there to take my large suitcase... I do have her cell number now. That should help a bit.

Why is it that when I'm pressed for time my first idea is to come blog? Maybe I should get back to packing... I haven't even poured shampoo and conditioner into the smaller bottles I use for traveling. This trip doesn't even seem real. I've looked forward to it for so long I can't believe that the time has come. The wait must be harder for David though. He doesn't even have all the hustle and bustle of getting ready and traveling to keep him occupied. He'll be playing the waiting game, not knowing where the heck I am for the next 28 and a half hours. He won't know if I made all my flights or anything. And I think there's a pretty good chance I'll miss my connection in Amsterdam. Less than an hour to get from one flight to the next. I have 5+ hours in Stockholm though. That should give me time to change out of my PJs and make myself look presentable, Swedish style. I need a bit of time to make myself look a bit less American so I don't embarrass David. I haven't had time to take my nail polish off yet either. I hope I don't freak him out too much.

Ok... NOW back to packing!

Comments

No one ever leaves comments in my blog anymore! I feel unloved! *cry* On another note almost everyone who reads my site is in either Sweden or a .net. (Which I think is me using the links on my page to find my way to other pages.)

Comment or else! *threaten*

The Real Christmas

Today felt more like Christmas to me than yesterday did. We had 17 people here. No fancy meal or anything but lots of people sitting around the snack table. There were kids running around screaming, pets underfoot, adults discussing serious type stuff. To me this was Christmas. Christmas should always have multitudes of children around. Now that I'm too old to get many toys to play with, I want to watch others play with toys. Even if the one I'm watching is my dad who stole one of the cousins remote control cars. The littlest ones were running in circle after circle along with the train. I was very surprised that nothing horrible happened to either train or child. I think I might be willing to move more of Christmas to the day after and establish a new tradition. I'd rather have family together than celebrate on a specific day. Although I think I'd still need to do something special on Christmas itself if possible.

L00T!

I feel like a pirate with the amount of loot I've acquired today. It's a bit weird knowing that I'll get even more tomorrow. Most of my 'loot' is in cash or cash-like items. Got 100 dollar debit/visa card from my mom. Got 100 dollar bill from my aunt and uncle. I got two 100 dollar checks from my grandfather, although one of them is for my birthday. I also got 600 (!!!) dollars from my grandfather for my old computer. I wanted to give him the thing for free. Finally I agreed to take 500, and he comes and gives me 600. I'm not going to complain though. The money is much needed. Besides the cash-like items I also got an MP3 player, two sweaters, two screwdrivers, an external harddrive (although I traded my old internal to my dad for it and am chipping in 40 dollars or so of my own cash), a jar of almond roca, the first three Megatokyo books, some homemade junk from my little cousins (a badly made sandart, a Christmas tree something, a small painted box, some cheap bath stuff, although to be fair the youngest is not yet 5), a hand powered flashlight, and a book on how to survive on my own. All of this and there will still be two or three presents tomorrow as well. Somehow I feel spoiled.

My mom and I are probably going shopping on Tuesday or Wednesday. Go and spend at least the 100 in debit card she gave me. It's one of those one use cards. When it's gone, the card is basically trash. I want a new pair of jeans, maybe a new sweatshirt, and perhaps a few other bits of clothes.

If I don't spend more than 500 dollars or so in Sweden during the next 3 weeks then I'll have enough money to survive 10 months or so in Sweden! *hop* That'll leave me just two months worth of expenses to earn next semester! This is getting more and more possible! If I can't stay under 4000 SEK for 3 weeks... that would be very pathetic. That's just for food, a bit of travel, and entertainment in Sweden. I REALLY should be able to stay under that! *laugh* Although if I go a bit over it'd be ok too. I might get more cash tomorrow too! We'll have to see.

Merry Christmas

I wish you a Merry Christmas! I hope that everyone gets all the presents that they wish!

Childhood memories

This year is one of the quietest Christmas Eves I've ever had. Although last year was pretty quiet too. I somehow doubt I will ever have the same Christmas Eves as I remember as a child. I remember spending the whole day writing Santa letters. One year my brother and I even went around and got writing samples from all of the adults just in case one of them was signing Santa onto the letters for us. We always left out pie crust instead of cookies. That's what we had on Christmas Eve. My grandmother would always make a bit of extra pie crust, sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar and bake it. Lovely! We don't really have that anymore since my mom doesn't make pie crust for pies by hand. It takes way too long when she's doing most of the cooking on her own. I try to help, but she always takes spoons and such away from me. I get only the simplest tasks. Mostly I just keep her company. We would also leave out carrots for Santa's reindeer. They must have been SOOO fat by the end of flying around the world and getting lots of carrots!

In the evening we would wrap the last of the presents. My grandmother always had the best of ribbons and bows and paper so some presents we would wait to wrap there. We'd get take out food for dinner because no one should do massive amounts of cooking on Christmas Eve dinner. Usually we'd get Chinese food. The women had been cooking all day for the next day's feast, they were tired and did not want to cook dinner for so many people.

My brother and I always had my grandfather's study to sleep in. It was a room attached to the living room. They would put up a brown curtain to separate it when we slept there. At night we would fall asleep to the sound of the adults talking a few rooms away, the lights of the tree shining through the curtain, and the whispers of parents putting things under the tree. That room always belonged to my brother and me. Even when there came more and more kids... that was our room. The other kids would sleep with their parents. My parents somehow also had the biggest bedroom, despite not having kids in there with them. I think part of that was that they were the oldest. They were the first married too. My dad's brother got the other guest room and his sister and her kids got to sleep on the floor of my grandmother's study. Later on my dad's brother's wife would require them to visit with her family and my uncle was often on call. They usually just showed up on Christmas day rather than on Christmas Eve.

Now it seems like everyone has their own thing going on. Someday I want to establish my own traditions. I know they'll be different from my childhood, but they'll be my own. I'll never forget the memories I had as a child, but in a way they're over. It is like the time I realized I was an adult. At the end of Christmas day I looked around and realized I did not have a single toy to play with. Everyone else had lots of toys and games and fun things. I was left with a pile of clothes and gift certificates. I must have been like 15 or 16 at the time. I was crushed. I cried, not because I didn't get lots of wonderful presents like I wanted, but because here it was, Christmas day, and I didn't have any toys. I guess we all have to grow up sometime. It always seems like it'll never happen, but when it does, it can be sad.

Tomorrow I look forward to opening my presents in the morning. No Christmas stockings, no last day of the advent calendar, just presents. There won't be lots of family everywhere, just the four of us. As much as I love my family, I wish I could be with my extended family on Christmas morning. I wish I could see the little ones open their Christmas stockings. Even though I'm too old to do it myself, I'd like to see the others happy. But, this is the way Christmas is. Perhaps next year it will be even more different. The BIG celebration of Christmas might be the day after Christmas so that my mom can host it. It might lose a bit of the magic because of not being on Christmas, but then I might be able to have my family all with me instead.

Cooking attempts

Attempts in Swedish of cooking in the US *laugh* I hope I will not have nearly so much trouble trying to make pies in Sweden after the new years! I'll be making several pumpkin pies and a pecan pie. It'll be fun! But trying to make anything there requires extensive substitutions. Today though, I'll be making these yummy things in the US so it will be much easier. I'll also have my mom's help. Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, Gravy, Rolls, and whatever else my mom wants to make. We have to do all the cooking a day in advance this year. She's going to hide some of the pies at home rather than take them to the party so that we can have lots of extras. Anyways, I'm supposed to be getting ready to go help bake. Wee!

What is it about being home again...

On a completely different topic. My dad has his model train out! You should get a picture or two sometime tomorrow. Right now it's just lots of bits of metal and lots of cars lined up in a row. You have to understand, this is not a simple train set, this is Lionel. (http://www.lionelstore.com/) Lots of pieces, cars, tressles, etc. We even have a Campbell soup car! It's one of my favorites. Although I think my all time favorite as a child was the Toys R Us car with the giraffe who ducked his head under the bridges. Currently the plan is to take it around the couches in the living room, through the dining room, through the kitchen, back into the living room, and have a train yard behind the couches. It should be cool!

Lizzy

One of my closer friends when I was younger was a girl named Liz. I bet you can guess what that's short for. Elizabeth. I used to tutor her when I was a first year in highschool. She was a year younger than me. I managed to get her grades to go from below a C average to the honor roll in a semester. Mostly because I made her do her homework. We used to just sit around and talk and have fun. I haven't heard about her since her mom took her away from her dad right before highschool. She was miserable there, but it was what she had. A few years ago her dad died too. Her dad was my dad's friend so that pretty much ended our contact with that family.

Anyways, the point of all this background is that last Saturday my parents had an old office gathering. It was people who worked together years ago but are all in different places now. They always meet up each Christmas to see what's going on. Liz's older sister who is my age showed up. So my mom managed to collect all sorts of news for me. Liz got married in August this year and has a child. It was a shot-gun wedding apparently. I guess that was the responsible thing for her to do given the situation. Get married and fast. But I still have problems with seeing my little Lizzy married with kid. She's named the girl child Ariel after the mermaid.

I guess the whole point of this story was to just be amazed at how much I've grown up and my friends as well. Although sometimes I think the growing up is a bit forced after stupid choices. I wonder if she's still the bean-pole she always was?

Another busy day.

Have you ever realized how difficult it starts to be to come up with new titles? Mine are getting repetitive! Anyways, today was busy! I managed to sleep in until 8. Had breakfast, then took pictures of my mom's quilts. That took forever. I should upload them tonight but tomorrow works just as well I guess. I went into one of the larger nearby towns with my mom. It's about 45 minutes away. The police were ticketing that area like crazy! We saw 6 or 7 highway patrol cars pulling people over within 2 minutes. They're cracking down on that area since there have been 3 fatal accidents in a very small area in 2 months. We then went to my mom's sister's house and picked up some books from the porch. After that we went to the fabric store in that town and bought some material for another quilt or two. Then to K-Mart to buy tissue paper for wrapping. We also bought some stuff at Hickory Farms since it was in the same parking lot. Then back to my town and to another fabric store to look for the fabric she couldn't find at the first store. Then we ended up back home again. Carried all of our loot back into the house. I wrapped the last of my Christmas presents, including David's. I then had to help my mom find the fabric she wanted online since neither of the two stores had it. I helped make dinner, played my game for half an hour, watched football with my family while eating dinner, took a bath, and read my book. I also watched a TV show called 'Deal or No Deal' with my parents. Somehow all of that took up an entire 14 hours. I'm not quite sure how, but another day is gone! Tomorrow is cleaning day, Saturday is cooking, Sunday is Christmas, Monday is the after Christmas party. Tuesday I pack, Wednesday I leave for Sweden. Wow! When will I have time to even think?

All of this done in absolutely pouring rain. We spent the trip back home admiring the wonderful rivers and lakes that the mountains turn into after 5 days of POURING rain. The problem right now is that it's a warm rain. This means that all the rain farther up in the mountains is pouring down the hillsides rather than turning into snow to trickle down the hillside at a later date. So we have our water to deal with, and the water from higher up. If this keeps up much longer we might have flooding. I pray it doesn't end up as bad as the first year we were here... So many homes near the rivers flooded. Thankfully we used that as an opportunity to decide which house NOT to buy. Despite the fact that we have two small creeks on either side of the property, neither are large enough to flood. There is also too much of a slant to the hillside for water to pool and flood anything. Thank goodness.

On another note, less than a week until I'm in Sweden!

Another Day

I got my hair done today. I got 4 inches cut off. It seems like so much now! But it really looks much nicer. I'm hoping that with it shorter I will wear it down more often. I also no longer look like a skunk since I got it re-dyed. That took almost 3 hours of my day. The rest of the day I spent talking with my parents, working on a puzzle, and generally just relaxing. Today is my last day without my brother. My parents are going to go pick him up from school tomorrow. BLEH!

I'm not sure what the rest of my week will be spent doing... but I think some cooking, packing, etc. Perhaps I'll find time tomorrow to write in Swedish too. Especially if both of my parents are gone to pick up my brother. Maybe only one will go though.

Argh!

I just spent the day with a pair of holy terrors. Actually, one holy terror and one semi-angel. The 5 year old did nothing but whine, cry, yell at her sister, boss the little one around, and scream. The three year old basically put up with everything. Their family is going through a messy divorce right now though. The little one is daddy's favorite. It's easy to see why. The older one sat down and cried the that younger one didn't love her because the younger one was tired and didn't want to be a slave and carry things around. I think that both of them could use some attention, especially the older one. The only time the younger one cried the whole time was when her sister hit her with a stick and then the sister got upset because everyone was paying attention to the crying hurt one instead of her. I had 6 hours of that today. My mom needed my help. Because of all of this I didn't manage to get any pictures of the bunny bread. I have one bunny left. The older one ate my nice bunny though because she decided it was hers.

I got my game today but haven't had much chance to play it. I plan to a bit tonight. With all the Christmas and family stuff I feel like I'm neglecting my friends and David! I guess this is the time of year when I wish my friends were closer. Then I could do things with them. I have a hard time justifying to myself spending time in front of the computer when I could be with family in person. But at the same time I realize I need to not neglect others. Argh! Maybe I'll get the mortgage in my game paid off tonight if I work hard though?

Family Time

Sometimes it hits me like a brick. I really value traditions and a lot of others don't. To me it is extremely important to spend Christmas with my extended family. Since the death of my grandmother though I lost one of the traditionalists. My mom is the other. Perhaps come of the kids as well, but they don't get to make choices. A lot of people aren't able to make Christmas day stuff this year, so the day after Christmas my mom wants to have an informal gathering with no food, just getting together.

The final agreement was that we'd still have Christmas at my aunt's, but since she HATES cooking, my mom has to do all the cooking and preparation. Without her sister Grace this year since her boyfriend says Christmas will be with his family for once. This means my mom will be doing dinner for 10-15 people mostly by herself. My grandfather will deep fry the turkeys, but everything else she has to do. I will be VERY busy the day before Christmas making pies and during Christmas in the kitchen to help her. It is worth it to keep Christmas. Sometimes I think people forget that Christmas should be spent with as much family as you can get... and lots of little kids.

Anyways, that was yesterday. I also stayed up until midnight doing a puzzle with my dad. We realized early on that it was missing pieces because some that should be obvious we couldn't find. My mom was quilting, the cat was attacking my feet, the dog was sleeping, my dad and I were doing a puzzle. All without watching TV. I think that almost makes up for listening to my relatives play phone tag and try to get Christmas sorted out. Sometimes it's the little things that matter. Maybe next year I'll stay in Sweden for Christmas if people can't agree on what to do for Christmas!

Christmas Progress

Well, I've wrapped half of the Christmas presents that are going to Sweden now. I've also almost finished putting David's present together. Took me forever to find where my mom put the double stick tape. I knew she had some because I bought it for her. My dad and I searched all the drawers, checked with her quilting supplies, checked with the art supplies. When my mom got home we asked her where it was. The car. What the heck? Oh well. I spent most of the evening sticking my fingers to each other rather than sticking things to each other like I was supposed to be.

I bet after that paragraph David is really confused about what his present will be!

I'm at my parents place now. I got a Christmas card from David. My 2nd Christmas card of the year! My brother got one from my grandfather. I didn't. Which is strange because I sent my grandfather a card and my brother didn't! *laugh* Not that my grandfather is great at Christmas cards. It just says 'Grandpa' inside after the prewritten text.

My Animal Crossing: Wild World game arrived today. Not that it does me any good since I don't have the system yet! That won't be here until Monday because I don't think UPS delivers on Sunday. I might go check their website just in case though.

My dad and I booted up my old computer, it works nicely. We put the new hard drive into it too. I should get a good 400 dollars for it after subtracting the harddrive price.

I should go update my Swedish blog... but I'm tired. Right now I think I will go wrap more presents then maybe take a long bath. My parents want me to put a log on the fire sometime this evening too. They're at a Christmas party. My brother will be home Wednesday. I'll wrap all of their presents before they come home I think. Then I won't have to try and be sneaky. Being sneaky can be hard when you're so proud of what you've bought that you want to tell someone! I'm not even sure who all reads this thing anymore, so I can't list any Christmas presents on here now! *laugh*

Another nice evening.

I'm having another nice evening. I'm sitting around with my roommate cleaning. He's actually helped me a fair amount. A few friends might show up later. I think his cleaning spree has ended though. He's watching TV on his computer now while drinking. The bathroom is now clean. I've mostly cleaned my room. I just need to take the luggage out, pack up my computer, and wipe some surfaces off. I still have some bathroom stuff to pack into my luggage too. The living room is mostly picked up. It needs vacuuming like the rest of the apartment. The kitchen needs the counters wiped off and dishes washed, maybe sweep the floor. Have a bit of trash to take out too. The guest room is doing well too. My roommate looked in earlier and went WOW! You can see the floor! I'm like, yea, because I just spent the last hour cleaning it!

Tomorrow morning I head back to my parents' town. I guess it's my hometown, but sometimes it's hard to think of it that way. I spend so little time there anymore. I guess it's a sign of growing up. My apartment doesn't feel like home either. I almost feel homeless. They say home is where the heart is, but I've not been stationary enough in the past few years for me to feel like my heart is any home. Even when I go stay in Sweden with David it will be in an apartment I've never seen before.

My packing is mostly done now. I have Christmas presents packed and clothes. I still have my toothbrush and such that I still plan to use. I've washed my towels and tomorrow morning I will stick around here long enough to wash my sheets and fold them. I want to come back to this apartment in late January and just make the bed with nice clean sheets, put my stuff away, and be happy. I don't want to come back to a dirty apartment. That's the last thing anyone wants at the end of a stressful trip home. I'll be missing David a lot then too. I won't need the added stress of a messy place. Anyone think of anything else I might forget? Now is the time to tell me! Although I guess I could drive back to my apartment anytime next week that I feel like killing 4 hours.

Nice evening.

My developing countries econ class met at the pizza place in town after the final. The professor showed up and bought us pizza. (3 pizzas! So probably about 45 dollars worth.) We bought him lots of beer. I think our table went through about 8 or 9 pitchers of beer. Another professor showed up and bought us two pitchers of beer too. I bought one of the pitchers even though I wasn't drinking since I don't like beer. We played pool, my team won all three games. It's not even 10pm yet and I'm home. It was nice to start early, I do better with parties like that. We had pizza at about 4:30. We actually got a pool table as soon as we showed up at the bar too. (we went over about 8:30 or so. My professor says not to worry about the exam. That's good since I wrote on one of them 'This wasn't in the book!' and there were only 6 problems!

Oh, I received a REALLY cool Christmas card in the mail today. From David's mom. It made me smile so much. I'll have to look up a few of the Swedish words, but wow! The only Christmas card I got this year! Weee!

I'm completely done with finals now too and tomorrow is my last day of work for 5 weeks. This makes me happy. :)

New Idea?

Well... how does this plan look? The picture to the right is what I currently have this semester. You can see there's a BIG change in the number of hours I'll be working and in class. I'm wondering if 17 hours is too many? I think I could handle it. Maybe instead of officially setting those as my hours I'll work 15 and then maybe show up early on Tuesday if I am not too tired and maybe stay that extra hour on Fridays if I'm busy. I just know that this semester has been hard on me. Next semester I'll be working at least 50% more hours. I could fit many more hours into there, but I'm having a hard enough time this term! Next term will be worse! But the extra money... mmmm...

Lots of nothing

I am tired, too tired to think really. I've been sitting in front of my computer for the last two hours and haven't done anything. I keep thinking of all of the things that I should do. I have only one more exam. Tomorrow I will spend all day studying for it. I think my boss wishes that I would work next week. But since the office is closed and he won't be working... I don't feel that guilty. I need to decide tomorrow how many hours of work I should do a week next semester. I'm thinking 15, although I could add in more. If I felt very crazy, I could work more than 20 hours a week. I think that might be too much though. 18 hours a week might also be a bit much.

I am sitting here looking at when my classes are and how early I want to get up. I have to plan in lunch and dinner breaks too. The big change compared to this semester is that more of my classes are at night. This means that I have mornings free. Here's what my schedule next semester looks like... when should I work? This plan gives me 18 hours of work. I could open up a morning or two by dropping to 16 or 14 hours. I could also give up lunch breaks if I felt like really abusing myself. And perhaps lose that dinner break on Monday nights? I think 18 hours will be my max though. Any better ideas? The yellow blocks are working, the white block are open for whatever, and the green blocks are classes. I've decided not to add any more classes in. It might be nice though to have a Tuesday or Thursday free. Requirements here are that I have at least half an hour between work and starting class and at least 15 minutes after class to get to work. Work can only take place between 8-5. I must work at least 2 hours in a row. Anyone have any better ideas for arranging this? If I want to go home for lunch rather than bringing my lunch to work I need at least an hour.

It would be really nice to have sleep in days though.

New Calculations!

You guys know how much I love to calculate things out! Now that I earn more each hour, time to redo my income estimates for next semester.

If I work 15 hours a week next semester from the end of January through the middle of June, I can do quite well. These new calculations assume that I don't take spring break off of work. I work my usual 15 hours that week. Realistically I'll probably work more if there is more work available. I didn't take into account holidays or days when I work longer to finish things up or show up early. It'll probably end up being more than this. Especially since I might get another small promotion during that time. I figure I have about 24 weeks of work left.

That means at 15 hours a week, for 24 weeks, for 9 dollars an hour... I'll earn 3240 before taxes. I'll probably end up giving about a third of that or so to my mom in living expenses though. I guess I can estimate on having another 2000 or so into my bank account by the end of next semester. That's about another 3 months worth of living expenses! If everything goes right, I'll still have only 9 or 10 months of living expenses. I'd better pray that I get into that Master's Program!

Ok, back to bed now that the cold medicine has kicked in and I can breath again.

12.5% More in Each and Every Bottle!

Well, ok, it isn't a bottle. It's per hour. I got my very first raise ever today. My pay increases by 12.5%. Which is also known as a dollar an hour more. To celebrate I think I will order myself a new toy online today. My mom is also going to give me 100 dollars for my birthday. She says that if I don't want to save it for Sweden that's my choice and she thinks it's good to spend money on myself sometimes. So tonight I will look everywhere online to find my new Nintendo DS and the Animal Crossing: Wild Wilderness game thingie I want.

The pay increase went in today, right before time cards were due, so I will get the increased pay for all hours since the first of the month. This is a nice Christmas bonus. Also, the increase was not a normal time increase, it was merit based. I am a very happy, soon-to-be Swede!

Present for myself?

I've decided that if my grandfather ends up buying my computer for more than 400 USD, then I'll buy myself a Nintendo DS. I'll use the money I get for my birthday for the Animal Crossing game I want, or just ask my mom to buy it. The system is 130 USD and the game is about 35 USD. A bit expensive... but sometimes I want/need new things!
I finished my 4th final, only one more to go. Tonight after work I'm going to make tacos to make up for not remembering to eat much the last few days.

I still have lots of cleaning to do before Saturday/Sunday when I leave for my parents. Going to have to bring lots of things to my parents place too. All my Sweden stuff, clothes, computer equipment, stuff my mom asked to see, and anything like textbooks that I don't want at my apartment anymore. Also need to bring blankets and pillows since there isn't any at home. I stole most of them because I was freezing.

Weee! Semester is /so/ close to being over and soon I will be in Sweden!

Post 101

Well, this means I have over 100 posts now. I've been busy all weekend. Almost no free time at all! I don't know if the rest of the week is going to magically have time either. Good news is that I have three finals over and only two to go. I think I'm doing ok, but not sure. Definitely got B's or better on the two I took today, not sure if I have A's though.

I returned several books. Got 82 dollars, which I'll give to my mom. She bought the books, only fair that she get the money when I sell them back to the school bookstore. There was one of mine they won't buy back because they have a new edition. I know that there are two more that they won't buy back as well. BLEH! Hundreds of dollars on books each term and I get so little back. Only reason I got so much back with those books is because one of mine was worth 65 dollars by itself. The other 4 weren't worth that much.

I've fallen behind on my Swedish writing too... but it's almost excusable with final studying. Yesterday I made myself a long list of school work and of housework. Anytime I wasn't doing school work I had to be doing housework. I actually got a fair bit done. Kitchen was clean yesterday, did laundry, cooked and ate two meals, took a shower, and partially cleaned my room. I also read 8 chapters and studied a lot.

For the rest of today I will study for tomorrow's final, clean house more, go to a study session, and maybe find time to take a nap. Someone needs to rescue me from me. I've also been reading a bit more about Animal Crossing for the Nintendo DS. I think it'd be a lot of fun, but not enough of my friends have it to make it much fun. I wonder if it has a playable single player mode.

Adventurous Day

Today has been busy and quite stressful. I got up at 7, took a shower, studied a bit, went back to bed around 9. Woke up at 10.45, got ready for school, left home at 11.30. Got to school around 11.45. From 12-1 I told a kid about Sweden who goes there in the spring. Then from 1-1.45 I had pizza paid for by the international office. From 2-4 I had a study group for anthropology. Around 4.15 I went and picked up a cake pan I left at a friends place a few weeks ago, then went shopping. I got home a bit after 5 and made food while getting ready for the party. I realized I didn't have wrapping paper for my present so I made my own. Computer paper with some red and green lines drawn on it. Inside my box I had a cake... but it required some assembly (ok, so it was a mix, frosting, sprinkles, 3 eggs, and a stick of butter).

Here comes the fun part. I didn't have the address for the party. I'm sitting in my car with the food and the present and no idea where to go. I don't have anyone's cell phone number either and don't really know my co-workers last names since I call them by their first names. I ended up driving around for awhile. Came home twice during the hour and 15 minutes or so. Then I figured out what to do. I found one of my co-workers last names... called his dad who was listed in the phone book, and got the cell number. Then I could call and get directions. I knew my co-worker had a dad who worked in the anthropology department, so I just did a search on each of the guys last names until I found a student with the same last name AND the first name I wanted. Then looked up that last name in the phone book, luckily there was only one with that name. His dad laughed at me when I explained my situation.

I ended up making it to the party, an hour and a half late. It was only a 3 hour party! That was ok though, it was plenty long for me. I still got to eat food, open presents, and play pictionary. My team won. I got to bring home a snow globe. It plays music and makes me happy. I'm very glad I found the place. My co-workers were drunk. A quote from the receptionist who is old enough easily to be my grandmother... "Rum is bad at my age, it makes for naked." I leave you with that wonderful thought.

Oh, and I got to talk to a slightly drunk David, I hope he doesn't think I didn't want to talk to him. I was on the phone figuring out where to go when he messaged me and wanted to leave for the party.

And the weekend is here

Well, the weekend is here and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. I'd like some time to destress, but I think I should clean and study too. I have a lot going on this weekend. Two study sessions, an office party, and something for the study abroad office.

I can tell I'm stressed because I'm always tired, my face is breaking out and peeling (how weird is that), and for some reason my jaw has decided it will not open. The jaw is the most worrying. I'm hoping that by Monday it'll function normally again. I had to trade my tootsieroll pop to a girl in class in exchange for skittles. Skittles I can fit between my teeth. I can eat just fine and it doesn't hurt unless I put my fingers in my mouth and try to force my jaw open. I've been doing that on and off trying to increase the flexibility a bit. It seems to be helping. I can open my jaw more now before it stops.

I'm going to have to do laundry this weekend if I want clean clothes for finals week too. I'm planning on working 16 hours next week, which should be plenty with all of the studying I need to do.

OH! And my grandfather might buy my old computer off of me. That'd let me get a hundred or two hundred dollars into my bank account. I also got paid today. This makes me feel partially rich. Except that I donated 50 dollars to aardwolf last night.

This will be a somewhat boring weekend too... David and Jonas are gone to a weekend drinking festival. I'm a bit jealous. I wish I had time and money to just take off and go drinking with friends. If wishes were fishes I'd take up commercial fishing.

Almost over!

I have only one more lecture, four finals, two teacher sponsored study sessions, and two group study sessions before the semester is over. I have 4 hours of work tomorrow, then 3 hours on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday, and 6 on Friday. After that I will have 5 weeks with no school! I plan to spend the time productively. Spend time with my family, work on my application to Uppsala, and work on my Swedish. I'm especially worried about my writing sample for my application. I need to spend some time going through all my old writing assignments and deciding which, if any are good enough for all of my hopes to ride on. I might have to take an old one and increase it substantially. I don't have anything that can compete with a C-uppsatz though.

I've decided to spend the next week cleaning out my freezer. This means eating lots of muffins, meat, pasta, etc. If I leave for 5 weeks I'd really love to just turn off the fridge and freezer and leave the doors open. I also want to have my apartment spotlessly clean before I leave... not much chance of that happening though. Might make some agreements with my roommate. I don't know when I'll head to my parents. I'm thinking maybe Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I might spend a day by myself just relaxing and cleaning. That way I'm not rushed Friday night/Saturday morning with packing and stuff.

Tonight I will have real noodles (no ramen), broccoli, and some beef. It will all be tossed in some sauce of some sort.

I might end up buying some tomato sauce or some taco fixings for next week to use up everything that I have in my freezer.

Need to go shopping this weekend too because I have to bring some stuff to the office Christmas party. A side dish... maybe I can make up a rice, veggie type dish that won't be too bad. Hmmm.

Bleh!

I'm tired of being tired! I don't suppose that makes much sense, but for some reason I am always tired right now. I think the stress from the rest of the year is building. I would like some days where all I do is sleep for a week straight.

I spent last night studying with my study group and by myself. I worked for two hours on the exam I have today and the rest of the time on other classes. Last thing I did before bed was study and the first thing this morning as well. Thankfully this is my LAST 8am class. And next semester I don't have any. Originally I was thinking to go in at 8am on the days next week that I don't have class... but now I'm thinking I might be a bit happier if instead I went into work at 10am. Gave myself a bit of a reward. It'll mean less money. I'll have to decide if 16 dollars rates higher than 2 extra hours of sleep in time.

At least my exam today should be easy. I wish I could say the same about the rest of them! And tomorrow! I sleep until 10! My first class is cancelled so I don't have to be up and about until right before my 11am class. Hooray!

Rewards?

Should a kid get fancy toys just because all of their friends have fancy toys?
Should good grades be rewarded?
What are the pros and cons to buying a kid anything that you wish you had when you were a kid?

I have a lot of opinions on these things. I don't think that a kid needs something just because all of their friends have it. If they want something cool, offer them a trade. Well, we could buy you this, but would you do this many hours of work around the house first? That way they get a sense of accomplishment. If the hours don't get accomplished, they don't get the toy.

Good grades should be rewarded. Grades don't have to be perfect, just good. It can be a reward for working hard, even if the grades aren't perfect. Otherwise, what incentives does a child have to do well in school. They have to give up their free time for what? For some intangible benefits that they don't understand? I think they need something that they can see. And the reward should not be given if the kid doesn't at least try.

Kids are not objects. They are not to be used to show off how much money a parent has. I hated when all I was, was an object my dad could brag about. See what my daughter has, see her perfect grades, see her a cheerleader. I was happy to be appreciated, but when I wasn't perfect, I just got in trouble. I wanted to be appreciated even when I wasn't perfect. If you want a fancy toy, buy it for yourself, you had to earn the money for it. Your kid doesn't need more toys than they know what to do with, just so mommy or daddy can brag about what nice things there are.

If you have an agreement with someone, adult or child that they do a certain thing and they get a certain reward... under NO circumstance should that reward be given if the thing was not done. Otherwise how will they learn that hard work has rewards? When I really wanted to buy a special doll when I was a child (still have the doll) my mom helped me earn the money. She gave me tasks to do with a certain amount of cash reward. It took me forever to save up the 100 dollars I needed. My mom kindly paid taxes and shipping. But I value that doll a LOT more because I know how much work I had to do to get it. I had to give up playing with my friends sometimes to help clean. I couldn't buy candy or other small things that I wanted. It required sacrifice.

I guess I sound like a lunatic... but somehow I don't like the kids who are sitting in the middle of a room filled with toys saying that they're bored. I also don't like perfectly good children/adults who don't know how to work hard to accomplish things because no one ever taught them to work. I guess that's the American in me showing through. I tend to blame a lot of the lack of success of some people on a 'flawed character' model. Or lack of a good work-ethic.

Who reads this thing anyways?

I know I have two readers for sure. Are there any lurkers out there I'm not aware of? Are you stalking me! (joking) But if you do read this sucker even occasionally, post me a comment so that I can feel special and loved. Which I know I am even without you posting a comment cause I have David and who wouldn't feel special with him around?

no topic?

I can't think of an interesting topic today. I don't even really know what I'm going to type about. I'm tired as usual. Ran 1.5 miles today... or roughly 2400 meters. Without stopping. I'm rather proud of myself. Took me 15 minutes and 9 seconds. I used to be able to run a full mile in half that time! Ick! But it was a long run and I stayed at a pretty constant speed throughout. Took me about 2 minutes 30 seconds per lap. I'm going to skip aerobics on Thursday because it's not actual aerobics, just fitness testing and I don't need to show up to pass.

My office now has a space heater that hangs out behind my desk. I don't know if my office can really be called MY office since it's mostly the main room with 3 desks and 3 smaller offices off of it. The receptionist is in the office on the other side of the hall. Don't have to go through my office to get to her. Does that count for anything? My boss complimented me on my good work last week. My precious pivot charts. Although he has given permission to the assistant director to kidnap me to do boring stuff for the next 2 weeks. Ick! I will be able to work extra hours next week though. Finals schedule gives me free time. Once I decide when I'll work I'll post my 'new life' for next week.

I'm not feeling too stressed about exams yet. I'm sure that will come. My first final will be the day after tomorrow. It should be the easiest of my exams and its the only one I have a study group for. I spoke to that professor about non economic stuff, or vaguely economic stuff for a half hour in his office today. I went in with some questions and we just kept talking until it was time for class.

I still haven't heard back from Uppsala yet about if I can apply or not. I'm starting to get worried! Maybe though Ulla just had to go look something up? Or maybe she was away today. I've started collecting stuff in a suitcase to go back to my parents house and eventually to Sweden. Just presents for people, cake mixes, etc.

That was a very wandering, no topic post. :P

Have you ever noticed...

... that if you post more than one entry at a time, no one reads/comments on the entries below the first one? Even if they might be more interesting? ;)

Life Plans! (If everything goes right)

Current plans!

Now until the end of 2005... survive finals, score perfect on all of them, sail through Christmas with everyone loving the presents I carefully chose for them, get all of my Christmas wishes granted, even those outrageously expensive ones, fly to Sweden, enjoy a nice new years party.

Jan 2006 - Celebrate my birthday, finish up my application for Sweden. Transcript will be set to send itself as soon as its ready. Enjoy Sweden. Relax. Towards the end of the month fly back to the states in time for school and start work again.

Feb 2006 - Have my application completely done, amaze the wonderful people at Uppsala University with my amazing grades and wonderful written work sample. (ACK! I need to find a written work sample!) Do well in school while working 15+ hours a week.

May 2006 - Graduate with honors, be accepted into the masters program I want, work, relax.

June 2006 - Swedish friends should all come visit me now. We'll explore California and whatever else is within driving distance.

July 2006 - Lease ends on the last day of the month, any Swedish friends still around will be forced into helping me move. mwahahaha?

August 2006 - Fly to Sweden in time to start my school program, visit with David's parents for awhile, relax a bit before a hard semester. Also time to enroll in SFI if I can do that while studying.

September 2006 onwards... study lots and lots! Learn to speak Swedish perfectly and sound like a native (although keeping a cute accept is also a possibly as long as it's cute and not stupid.)

May 2007 - Finish my masters program then start freaking out with what to do for the rest of my life.... that isn't that far away....

Links

Here's just a collection of links that I think are cool for figuring out what the heck I want to do with myself next year.

Master's Courses Taught in English
Different list - don't know why they have more than one
Overview of my first choice program
Details of my first choice
Overview of my 2nd choice program
Details of my 2nd choice - don't exist because the website has broken links
Application information - I can apply online apparently, but they don't ask for much information... so I guess I'll be spending a small fortune on stamps, or else hand delivering things when I get to Sweden.


I think I'm more likely to get into my first choice though. I'm hoping my grades translate well into the Swedish system! I showed them to David, he thinks I have a chance. It's interesting because a C in Sweden is a G which my home university makes into a B... which going back to Sweden somehow turns into a VG I believe. Or something equivalent to that. Strange eh?

I am on track to graduate. Spoke to the evaluations office today and they say I'm good with the classes I'm taking next semester, I just need to pass them. I've been on the Dean's list 2 of my 3 years so far. That requires a 3.5 GPA or better to do. The two semesters I wasn't on the list? My year in Sweden! And I didn't miss it by that much either.

I'll post another post tonight with my new and updated goals for the future... instead of sleeping like I should be. Blogger broke today so I didn't get this posted earlier. I was annoyed because I wanted lots of people to share my joy in being able to apply! People's lives should revolve around me! David was happily around, he knows his place! (that and he's just a nice person)

HAPPY!

There is a possibility that I will be able to apply for the fall semester's master program! I found a small exception to the rules of having a degree in hand.

"However, for EU/EES citizens in their last semester/term of study, some exceptions can be made. If you are a citizen of the EU or an EES country and therefore not in need of a student visa to Sweden, your transcripts must show that you only have one semester/term left to complete your degree and that a degree can be submitted before the MasterÂ’s programme begins in August. The transcripts must correspond to at least 100 Swedish credits and that one semester/term is required to complete a degree." http://info.uu.se/fakta.nsf/sidor/questions..idB8.html#feb1

So...Using my Irish citizenship I won't need a visa. This means that I should be able to apply for the fall! This will be good because then I will stay on my mom's insurance and I'll get mom money for next year. That will decrease a lot of the worry I have right now of being able to afford food and rent. I'll have health insurance and money! What more could a girl want? (I mean, besides the things that I already have like a sot boyfriend and underbara friends!

I am having some problems with my university though. The transcript they send out does not have my expected graduation date. They will not add it on there even in pen though because they don't want to alter transcripts in any way. They won't even enclose another document saying when my expected graduation date is. There is one other document I can get from them that they are willing to send separately that states my expected graduation date, but it doesn't say that I filed or am actually going to graduate on that date. I'm hoping they won't look too closely and will just assume that I will graduate.

I will see if Peter can help me a bit with this thing sometime this week.

On a positive note, I have turned in today my last assignment for the semester. All I have to do now is survive the exams. I should speak to my boss tomorrow about what days to work during finals week. We have a different class schedule during that time.

Wish me luck everyone with convincing Chico and Uppsala that they love me!

Productive! (for once)

I actually accomplished a lot this weekend. I created study guides for 3 classes. They aren't 100% done yet, but they're as done as they can get without checking with my classmates and getting the other lectures. I did my class project for political science too. I bought my brother's Christmas present and went to best buy to pick up David's DVD's and Peter's camera case. I did the dishes and bought more food for my kitchen.

I bought the stuff I need to make pumpkin pie which will be Jenny's Christmas present. She'll know about it in advance though since I was informed that unless I brought pumpkin pie I wasn't welcome. So I bought the evaporated milk and the can of pumpkin mush. The other stuff I should be able to get in Sweden. I also bought two cake mixes, two containers of frosting, and a small jar of sprinkles. Those are for my two birthday parties I'm going to have in January. I'm starting to get such a large collection of things to take to Sweden I wonder if I can fit them all into my suitcase. My list is getting pretty long now. I'll add what I can remember at the end of this post. David's mom got the Christmas card I sent her and was apparently quite pleased with it. That makes me glad. What is the fun of sending out cards if people aren't happy to get them? If I am feeling REALLY productive tonight I might even locate the floor of my room. You know, put the clothes away and my books back on the shelves.

THE LIST!
Stuff to leave:
cat ears + tail
books for David (have about 12 of them and they're BIG)
any winter clothes I won't need in the states anymore
maybe some of my cool Christmas decorations that my mom doesn't want anymore
bottle of booze
Christmas presents (not going to say who is getting what since I'm not really sure who reads this anymore!)
DVD's
camera case
pumpkin pie stuff
cake stuff
perhaps an American medicine kit so that I'll have proper cold medicine next winter
And I'm sure lots of other things that I've forgotten!

And this is on top of all the things I'm bringing there that I"m going to bring back to the states like clothes, my medicine kit, shoes, etc!

Test!

You are all to take this test and report back to me the 4 letter code you get! It is listed above the graph as something like I+9 N+20 F+20 P+20! Feel free to read the descriptions at the end and change your mind about what you are compared to what the test says you are! I want people to post what they are.

http://keirsey.com/swd.html

I am an ISFJ I think. I used to be an INFJ but I've changed since highschool I think. Learned to look at things in a different way.

Highschool me: http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html
Now me: http://www.typelogic.com/isfj.html

Those who know me, does that seem right? Try changing the letter around and see if you find something that is more you!
I - E (I people get energy from being by themselves, E people from being with others)
N -S (I can't remember)
F - T (Do you make decisions based on logic (T) and this is the way it is or based on feelings (F), this person needs it most)
J - P (J people like schedules and plans, P people like to keep options open)

Excel Fun!

Excel can do wonderful things!

Weekend!

Woohoo! It's Friday! Done with work and school until Monday at 9am! Next week I have my first final... on Thursday. Next week is really just my last week of classes before finals, but one of my professors rightly believes that we will have too much stress in finals week so he's giving the final earlier. This weekend is going to hopefully be spent studying a lot. I have a long todo list before finals week.

Work, Wealth, and Income Distribution
*Read 5 chapters
*Finish Study guide
*Exam THIS Thursday at 9:30am

Environmental Economics
*Read 4 chapters
*Exam next

Economics of Developing Countries
*Read chapters 12 & 14
*Look at study guide (will hopefully get on Tuesday)
*Read chapters again
*Read chapters a third time
*Exam next Thursday 2-4pm. (REALLY need A on final and haven't done anything all semester)

Politics of California
*Read chapters
*Do study guide
*Do project due THIS Friday
*Exam next Monday 12-2pm (C+ on final to get an A-, B+ on final to get an A)

Anthropology
*Read chapters
*Read chapters again
*Go to lab this Wednesday and ace quiz.
*Exam next (REALLY need an A on the final here too if I want an A in the class)

Somehow I doubt I'll even make a dent on everything I'm supposed to do before finals... before the finals! But David has a hemtenta (take home exam) for the next week, so that should free up some of my time to study... if I actually can force myself to!

On a completely different topic... I have an interesting learning curve. It took me 4+ hours to do the first of two basically identical projects (just different data because it's for two different hospitals). The second one I put together in 40 minutes. I now understand pivot tables in Excel. They're actually quite interesting. You know you enjoy your work when you come home and want to play with things such as Pivot tables... AFTER work on Friday! Maybe a nice room with padded walls would be good for me? All of this studying and stress has obviously gone to my head.

My day!

My day was pretty uneventful. It's rainy, windy, and cold here. If I have to put up with bad weather, it could at least look pretty. It is so windy that the roads, sidewalks, and bike paths are littered with sticks which have fallen from the trees. Sometimes whole branches are on the ground. I know they haven't been there long because they aren't broken up like they'd be if cars had run over them a few times.

I have an office Christmas party coming up on the 10th. There will be alcohol and my boss says that the two stuffy old ladies really know how to party. *giggle* I'll have to bring a present. I'm not sure what to buy that's around $10 that'd be acceptable for a work party. I've been told to bring my spouse and children. *rolls her eyes* I think I'll show up by myself. It's only a few streets over so if I get bored I can head home early. I probably won't drink while I'm there. I would rather my coworkers think nicely of me!

I spent money again today. I realized I had some 50+ dollars in my wallet since my brother paid me in cash for alcohol and for Christmas presents which I bought. So I went out and bought Chinese food for dinner. It's silly, but I spent all day looking forward to this. I am now the temporarily proud owner of lemon chicken, broccoli beef, chicken chow mein, and some steamed rice. I should have enough for several days so the 20 dollars is well spent I think! I've barely put a dent into the food and I had a very large plateful! Some days I just really crave good food that I don't have to cook. Somehow it is hard to put effort into cooking when the only one I'm cooking for is myself.

I'd also like to note that my bathroom is larger than my kitchen.

How much is a child worth?

As is becoming usual today, you'll get two posts, one that is about something I've been thinking about and one that's about what my life is like. Joy!

Here is a quote from my textbook on "The Economics of Poverty and Discrimination."

"In California, for example, the poorest elementary school district had only $15,500 of assessed property per pupil in 1997. The richest district had over $47 million of property per pupil!"

The thing that makes this particularly troublesome is the fact that schools in California are funded in a large part by local property taxes. The Federal government supplied 8%, the State supplied 48% and the rest of school funding is from the local government. If you are a child in a rich school district, you will have better education. Schools also tend to be built around neighborhoods... which for the most part means around income levels. If you're rich, you live in a nice neighborhood with other rich people. If you are poor, you live among other poor people. This means that a poor child is likely to get a lower quality of education, when that is the child that needs it the most!

Those who are in rich school districts though are not likely to want to have the poor in their district! It dilutes the benefit that their children receive from someone who can't contribute their 'own share.'

I think that one of the better solutions would be to take funding of schools away from the local governments. Property taxes should be paid to the state for the most part rather than the local. The money can then be divided equally up between all students and schools in the state. The ones who will protest the most? The rich who are probably sending their kids to expensive private schools anyways. I lucked out and got a pretty well off school district. But this fact is just staggering. Is a rich child worth more than a poor? This information seems to say so!

Conversation with a friend

One of my idiot highschool classmates (K.) managed to get herself knocked up and married. She was already having problems with the guy. What's worse is that I think K. did it on purpose. I was talking with another of my friends and we had a long discussion involving girls (and sometimes guys) who think that a marriage ring and/or a child will magically fix any relationship problem. Hello! Kids just make relationships worse! They are an added stress, if you already can't get along, a kid isn't going to bring you closer together, it's going to drive both of you insane. Plus it really isn't fair to the child to be brought up in that sort of situation. That baby isn't going to fix K.'s relationship. It isn't going to make the guy magically like her. Neither the ring nor the baby is going to make him stick around if he was thinking about breaking up with her before she got knocked up. Stupidity all around.

Annoying thing number 5678... girls who have babies because 'no one loves them.' The baby of course will love her. *sarcasm* If you don't love yourself, no one else will love you. Not the baby, not the guy three times your age you had sex with, not even your mom who ends up caring for the kid. Any girl who thinks that way need major mental help.

This side rant was brought to you by K.'s stupidity and my nice conversation with a friend today.

Another note, they've discovered that the majority of teen mothers are not ruining their lives because they didn't really have a life to look forward to anyways. 10 years down the road studies which compare teenage moms with their sisters discover that they're all in the same income bracket. Why put off having a kid if it isn't going to make a difference in your perspective opportunities anyways? Perhaps instead of trying to prevent pregnancies we could work on the poverty issue. Preventing poverty might prevent pregnancies more than preventing pregnancies prevents poverty. (did that make sense?)

Eiii! The Real World Waits! (not MTV version)

Every now and then it hits me... very very soon I will be graduated and completely responsible for myself. I'll have to have my own health insurance, my own dental insurance, pay my own rent, etc. I'm 21, soon to be 22, and yet my parents have always paid my rent and helped me with my bills, if not paid all of them. I mean, I don't even own my car or pay insurance on it. I have a feeling that if I wasn't leaving the states these things would be transferred over to me. It feels like a lot of sudden responsibility. I know my parents would still help out if I got stuck, but once I'm done with school I should be able to support myself. I just have no idea how!

How do people suddenly go from mommy money into completely surviving on their own? It isn't like there is an intermediate step for me. I never even had government money. I never see my rent money, it's sent in a direct check in 6 month blocks to my landlords. I barely manage anything of importance. My idea of managing finances is to watch my online account drop steadily from the first of the month until I get another transfer at the beginning of the next month. I guess the closest I've ever come to managing on my own was in Sweden. I had to figure out exchange rates, compensate for the fact I wasn't getting enough money to even meet the minimum immigration requirements, work, AND pay my own rent... but all out of mommy money. And if I got stuck, I could write to her and say 'mommy... I'm having problems.'

I had to do that at the beginning of this year. I couldn't stay in budget, just couldn't. I finally calculated out how much electricity, gas, and internet were, then realized I wasn't getting enough money just for food each day. I wonder if I'll have to consider that next year. My budget for next year gives me 2000 for food, bus passes, shampoo, etc. That's roughly 65 SEK a day for food. It doesn't quite seem like so much when I break it down like that. I guess the thing to remember is that I won't be paying for each meal separately. A bag of pasta is good for several meals and is quite cheap. Rice is almost the same. Falukorv doesn't cost much. I'll just have to stick to the cheap food and maybe see if I can afford some nice veggies in there somewhere.

I'm going to have so much stuff to worry about on my own! I'll have to actually plan ahead and think! The future is scary, but perhaps it is welcoming too? It is the next big adventure... a very delayed entry into adulthood. (Perhaps that's one of the reasons I liked Sweden so much, I was able and perhaps forced, to make my own decisions and survive on my own... mostly.)

Back on Topic

Well... I got my last check for the month. I didn't do well this month with Christmas shopping and no mommy money. I actually saved a negative amount since the 15th when I last did an account check. I'm down about 100 dollars from the 15th. Which I guess isn't too bad considering I paid for everything but rent out of my own pocket this month AND bought all my Christmas presents but my brothers. It still makes me wince a bit to have less money. I'm sitting here in my head trying to figure out what I could have done without to make this work. If I hadn't used up so much gas to visit my parents twice this month I would have saved some money, but not that much since my dad filled my tank up which covered a whole trip. Maybe if I hadn't spent as much on my mom's Christmas present. I bought Chinese food one night (it fed me for a few days though). I bought hot chocolate two or three times at school and I bought a few candy bars when I was starving at work. But I don't think I could have saved much more money. I went out to the bars only once this month, I bought a friend a bottle of booze for their 21st birthday, and I bought 2 six packs of smironoff twists for myself. That isn't too bad. But if I had gotten rid of the things that I didn't really need... the alcohol, the sweet things for school and work, the Chinese food... that might have accounted for maybe 75 dollars. I guess I can just try harder next month!

My posts about economic classes are much more interesting than posts about my economy aren't they? Go reread the posts about medicare and stuff and if you're lucky I'll find time to go through my notebooks for more quotes from my professors that I found entertaining. Tomorrow of course since I'm supposed to be studying right now.

Equal Opportunities Hurt Schools?

Another interesting comment one of my professors made in class the other day was "Affirmative action has hurt our school systems badly." The reason? It used to be that the brightest and the best of women would go teach school, greatly improving the school system. Now the women go off to be lawyers and doctors and the people who tend to teach primary school are not the brightest and the best. Teaching pays so poorly here that people become teachers often because they don't know what else to do. Some believe I should be a teacher, that or a nurse. Probably because they are traditional women's jobs. I know most of my teachers in grade school through the end of high school were NOT the best in the world. They were not bright or clever, they were just everyday people. I wonder what schools would be like if they did still attract the best of the best of women. Because we all know women are smarter than guys right? *runs*

Medicare increases Poverty?

I actually managed to convince my professor today that my argument was a valid one. It is a warped, extremely horrible way to think about it... but in a way it is true. Without medicare the poor, who can't afford medical care, would die sooner. Medicare does not lift people out of poverty, it merely keeps their income level constant. Therefore Medicare increases the number of poor old surviving people. The poverty rate goes up. My professor told me I had a warped way of thinking about things. Possibly.

På Svenska?

Jag ska prova, igen, att skriva på svenska. Det är inte lätt för mig, men jag måste träna! Eller hur ska jag prata med Davids foraltern. De kan inte prata mycket engelska och jag kan inte prata mycket svenska! Vi forstår varandra iallafall. Inte alltid, men ofta. Jag har skrivit till Stavfel, en blog var man måste alltid skriva på svenska. Där ingen vill sa när jag skriva fel. Det är bättre jag tror.

Jag skulle bli i skolan just nu, men jag är för trött! Jag ska inte gå till min första klassen, den börjat kl 8! Tidigt! Istället ska jag bara skriva lite på svenska. Det tar en läng tid för att skriva lite. Jag kanska behöva en svensk typbord?

Och här är en bild av min pojke. :) Han är så söt! Eller hur?

Observations from the previous year...

In an attempt to post something interesting...

1) If you are struggling to unlock and open a heavy door, while standing on ice, juggling bags, and holding a bike and a guy stops to help you, he is an exchange student and will talk to you in English. A Swedish guy would be convinced you can do it on your own. (which is true, but sometimes everyone likes a second pair of hands).

2) Everything can be eaten with a fork and knife. I once was teasing Peter as we cut up a watermelon, I bet you Swedes even eat this with a fork and knife... only to turn around and discover he had set the table with silverware.

Ok, the list was supposed to be longer, but if I remember anything the girls and I complained of last year, I'll post it.

Unproductive

Today was completely unproductive, not only did I not get anything done that I was supposed to, I made negative progress. The laundry isn't finished. (I have one load sitting in the washer and one in the dryer). I haven't had dinner, I didn't study very much, I didn't write much in my blog, I didn't go to the store, I haven't had a shower, I haven't done the dishes. About the only thing I have done is sit here for hours reading a blog about an American in Skellefteå. That's it, for the last 4 or 5 hours. How productive is that? I had a whole week off last week, and I still don't have the energy to do anything. I must not have slept well last night.

On the bright side, I do have (ok, I just forgot what I was going to write in the middle of that sentence, oh yes!) a working heater. The heater guy came and fixed it. I was so afraid I'd have to wait a week or something. So the apartment is back up to the somewhat reasonable temperature of 68 degrees F.

Oh! And I was happy today when David (min pokje!) pointed out that the really cool person, whose blog I like, wrote comments in my blog. Happiness! He was impressed with me too. I have her blog linked to the right, the one about dating in Sweden. If you know anything about Swedes and Sweden I highly recommend her blog, especially the first few entries. (Scroll ALL the way to the bottom). Isn't it odd some days the things that can make you happy?

COLD (and some self-defense)

All I can think about right now is the cold. I definitely need to get a working heater. 14.5 C is way too cold for INSIDE the apartment! I'm doing laundry in hopes that the dryer will heat up the house. I haven't gotten the dryer started yet, just the washer.

Today I went through a self-defense class in order to make up some absences for aerobics. It wasn't too bad. Most of the girls were crying at the end because they gave us a chance to be "attacked" by a heavily padded guy whose only goal besides not getting hurt was to try and get the pants off. I didn't feel like emotionally abusing myself in that way. Even those of us who were watching were crying. The guys ended up bleeding despite their armor by the end of it. It was interesting. We got lectured over and over and over again about how we shouldn't go home and try to show any guy, friend, boyfriend, husband, brother what we learned. Because the guy will hold on as tight as he can to prove that you can't escape, but the girl won't be able to completely fight back because she likes the guy. Most girls aren't willing to break a guy's nose just to prove that she can get away. We were told if asked what we learned to just go into cute girl mode and say 'nothing.' Was an interesting experience. We cheered each girl on as she fought off her attacker for 30 seconds or so. The idea was to create a cheer in the back of the head in case something like this ever happens, to know that others are on our side. They also made us practice spitting at trees because they say spitting in someone's face is a good way to make them leave you alone long enough to get away. *giggle*

I was going to do homework today, but I'm just so tired and drained and cold and everything. Right now I just want to focus on staying warm. This means that tomorrow I'll have to do lots and lots of homework. I had a nice week off with my parents though. Relaxation is necessary too I guess.

How is it that I manage to still be tired even after a week away from school? Somehow no matter how hard I try, I never quite manage to get caught up with everything I need to do or be relaxed. You'd think if I wasn't doing school work I'd be relaxing, but it doesn't work that way. I spend half my free time relaxing and half doing school work, the result being that I'm neither done with school work or relaxed! But only 2 more weeks of classes, then finals week, then 5 weeks with no school or homework or anything! I'll still be busy, but hopefully I won't have such large projects hanging over my head all the time. I'll also get to spend some time with David, that should make me very happy. Until then... *runs around like a chicken with her head cut off to study and get ready for the holidays*

Right now a nap sounds good though. So time to study until I fall asleep. Maybe my mom will stay gone long enough with my brother so that I'll actually get some sleep in.

Why is it the more I write the more my blog sounds like a whine blog instead of a 'moving to Sweden' blog?

Christmas Shopping Done! (mostly)

Well, finally finished my Christmas shopping except for my brother's gift. I don't really know what to get him. I need to finish my Christmas cards, but that might have to wait a bit. I had to order two things online because I couldn't find what I wanted at the store. My brother is in charge of buying one present as well. But I bought enough stuff and spent enough money to feel quite poor today. I actually still have some food items to buy now that I think of it. *whimper* I was so proud of being done with shopping then I sit down to boast about it and I find more things to buy!

I bought myself a present today too. A new potato slicer. I miss my old one! *laugh* But it wouldn't fit in my suitcase for coming back from Sweden. I almost bought myself a candy bar today, but I really don't need one. I've had enough sugar. Sometimes even if something is on sale and you want it, you still shouldn't buy it. I actually remembered that for once.

Now I am very tired though, I went shopping with my mom this morning and my brother this afternoon. My brother must think I am a very creative driver considering all the things I did each time he changed his mind which direction I should go.

But shopping mostly done!

Maybe next year I won't go home for Christmas! Then I won't have to buy so many presents? I wouldn't mind it if I knew something about the people, but some of them I only see once or twice a year. I never mind buying presents for kids, but it is hard for adults because they just buy anything that they'd want. I'm left getting them junk that they probably don't want anyways. I can't really spend much money on them. Oh well! Soon to Sweden!

Christmas Stuff

It seems like most of my extended family will be giving me universal gift certificates this year. (aka cash) I get more if I get presents, but I'm much more likely to get what I want if I get cash. We'll have to see what happens. But I'm going to be getting a nice Christmas list collection going for everyone who was here and emailing them out to those who weren't in exchange for their lists. It's mostly just my plot to be sure people know what to get me. Maybe I'll post my list here when I figure it out. If people don't know what to get me I get all sorts of junk that I either give away to other people as presents or sits in the closet for years until I finally garage sale it. I hate having junk sitting around too.

Thanksgiving Recipes (the day before)

Pie Crust (to be sprinkled with cinnamon sugar or made into pies)
Homemade Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
4 to 6 tbsp cold water

1. Mix flour and Salt together
2. Cut in vegetable shortening with 2 knives until mixture is crumbly
3. Sprinkle with water
4. Blend until mixture holds together
5. Shape half of dough into ball
6. Place on lightly floured surface
7. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick
8. Line pie plate with pastry and turn edge under, crimp edge as desire.
9. Repeat

* Avoid rolling out crust more than once or twice.


Pecan Pie

Makes 1 9-inch pie (and 2 mini pies)
Crust: 1 9-inch pie crust unbaked

Filling:
¼ cup softened margarine
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
¾ cup light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups pecan halves

1. Heat oven to 375° F
2. Mix butter and sugar
3. Add eggs one by one, mixing each
4. Add syrup and vanilla, mix
5. Mix in pecans
6. Pour into crust(s)
7. Bake at 375° F for 5 minutes
8. Reduce heat to 325° F and bake for 45 minutes (or until knife inserted into center comes out clean)
9. Cool to room temperature before eating or cutting.

*May be too much filling since original recipe has too few pecans
*Break nuts in half to slice the pie easier later.


Pumpkin Pie

Makes: 2 deep 9-inch pies or 3 and a half shallow (aka normal) pies

Crust:
unbaked pie crusts

Filling:
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
4 large eggs
1 can (29oz.) Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
2 cans (12 fl. oz. each) Carnation Evaporated Milk

1. Preheat oven to 425° F
2. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl
3. Beat eggs in a REALLY large bowl
4. Add dry stuff and spices to the eggs
5. Mix really well
6. Gradually add milk while mixing
7. Pour filling into crusts. (Be sure they can still be carried to the oven)
8. Bake at 425° F for 15 minutes
9. Reduce Temperature to 350° and bake for 40-50 minutes (or until knife inserted near center comes out clean)
10. Cool on wire rack 2 hours
11. Refrigerate or eat immediately after cool.

DO NOT FREEZE

Morning!

Tonight I will get to see my brother again. I've spoken to him on the phone three times since we last saw each other in mid August, but that's it. But before then I have so much stuff that I need to do! I have to go to the grocery store, the local Hallmark, Longs, JCPenny, etc. I need to buy socks, groceries, toothpaste, new toothbrush, christmas cards, and whatever else I decide that I must have. I need to take pictures of my mom's quilts today too. I have some photos I want to get developed, but I need to wait for her photos to be ready to send in at the same time. I'm also supposed to help my dad clean today, but I might just absent myself during some of the cleaning by going shopping.

Maybe I'll go back to sleep for a bit. Today was a sleep in day for me and I woke up at 7. Much too early for a sleep in day.

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jog

It feels nice to be home again, although every time I come home it feels a bit less like home. My room doesn't have much of my stuff left anymore. Most of the stuff in here now is my mom's. She's moved a lot of quilting stuff into my room since I was last home. The only things left that are mine are some stuffed animals, a few posters, my old nightstand, and some stuff in the closet. If I took down the last of my stuff one would not even be able to tell that a girl once lived in the room. It looks more and more like what it is now. A guest room. Even the drive down my street was a bit different. There used to be an old sign that said 'Via Vista' in metal letters. Ever since I've lived here though it has said 'is a.' Now it doesn't even say that. It is large and arched over the road so I guess some highschoolers finally got around to climbing it to remove the remaining letters. I wonder if anyone else feels like a guest in their own home? I shouldn't think too highly of myself though, my mom didn't clean before I came, which means I'm not too much of a guest!

I wonder if there will ever be a time when I will not be able to call my parents' place home. It's much more likely to happen once I stop moving every year! Maybe once I settle down in Sweden that will feel like home. I hope so.

Homeward Bound

I really need to learn to sleep past 5.30 in the morning. I could use the time to aquire more, you know, sleep? I didn't accomplish much of anything yesterday. It's hard to have the energy to do much after working 8 hours! How do those real adult types manage? I hope it is something people just get used to. I've worked 8 hours or more in a day lots of times, but it has always been things like working at the bar or working at the lake. Stuff that doesn't require as much concentration. The lake work was easy, I sat in my car and interviewed people if they happened to show up at the boat ramp. "Field research in economics," it was called. Surveying at eight bucks an hour would have been equally descriptive. I also like to think of it as a way for Fish and Game to waste money creatively. I guess the 5 surveys I collected a day or so were very useful to someone. My professor told me he did have to throw out the one that I wrote "They would come to this lake more often if they were given more beer." The people I interviewed were drunk... I mean, he fell out of his boat when trying to put it up next to the dock...

Thanksgiving will be interesting this year. It will be the first major get together with my family since I started seriously having a bf. Somehow I think I will get lots of questions. When will we meet him? will probably be the least intrustive. Somehow I think I will get all sorts of annoying questions like 'Is he cute?' Well of course! 'Does he want kids?' well how the heck should I know, and it isn't like it matters right now! This is what the magic pills are for that I faithfully take each day! 'When is the wedding?' Like it is any of their business? Relatives! I will be polite and smile and give them distractions from questions. Instead I'll try to find out what they want for Christmas. I wonder how other people deal with nosy relatives without going crazy? And my mom wonders why I never told her about any of my boyfriends before this until after we broke up....

On a completely different note.... I wish I had a working heater. *shiver* I know this is California and stuff, but it is around 62 INSIDE in the mornings when I wake up. It makes it hard to get out of bed in the mornings. Apparently not hard enough though since I did wake up early this morning. I need gloves to wear while typing too. My fingers are cold!

I'm an Adult!

Well, ok, not really. But I think I've made a large step towards becoming one. I worked 8 hours in the office today. First time ever! And I didn't get too distracted or bored. But 8*8=64 dollars for today! That's a few more Christmas presents that I can buy. I'm probably only going to work 6 hours or so tomorrow. Start at 8, end at 3. My boss is taking us out to lunch tomorrow so I'll actually have to take my hour lunch break. I'm hoping to have everything that needs to go into my car packed up and by the door before I leave for work. So tonight I need to clean the bathroom, clean out the fridge, wash dishes, pack, etc. I think I'll drink a bit too. In celebration of course. Also because I'm working on my break.

I really need to go to bed early tonight and study a bit. I wonder how I will fit all of this in? I guess it is SUPER magic! I could stay here another night, do 8 hours tomorrow, then head home early Wednesday morning. I'd rather have another dinner at my parents though. Mommy food is the best!

A transfer

Well, I've decided to create a blog to actually show my friends rather than hide away in the obscure place it was previously. It's also been made boyfriend safe so that he will have some idea of what goes on in my life. I'll be slowly moving previous entries over here. If you don't like to listen to me whine, don't read my blog!

The Swedish word for the day is upptagen.

The Swedish word for the day is upptagen. It means busy.

I stole that from another blog. But it's a useful word for my life right now too!

Jag är alltid mycket upptagen! Jag behöver sova!

natti natti

Welcome to Thanksgiving Break!

I now have the next 10 days off from school! I'm still going to work 2 days. Probably full time. I didn't plan this week into my money earned, so any money I get will be nice and extra. I plan to take it really easy though. Study a bit, not stress out, relax, play computer games. I really want to get caught up in school. I also need to send out Christmas cards next week, do my christmas shopping, clean my apartment, visit parents for 3-4 days, work, etc. Not having school though should give me enough time to do all that stuff and then some! I have a few homework assignments due when I get back, but not too bad.

Progress towards Sweden includes the fact that I listen to Swedish radio every day/night for at least 2 hours. I tend to sleep through a large part of that or be doing other stuff, but it is on. Maybe I'll magically absorb Swedish knowledge while I'm asleep? I can always hope! I've fallen so far behind in my attempts at writing in Swedish each day... I try to chat in Swedish with david though. It helps some.

5am... tired!

It's 5am, I finally got my paper that is due today done. I think I am going to go back to bed for 2 hours before my first class. Perhaps after this week I'll have more time to spend working on my Swedish... somehow I fear that will not be so.

I had a weird dream last night where I was arrested along with every other girl downtime. They said we were all prostitutes. None of us were of course, they just didn't like university students. But I was not bothered much by this because magically my dad was police chief or some other high elected politician. I got all the police officers in trouble and got to laugh at them being behind bars rather than me. My dreams must show I'm insane. Also the police put us all on a train to get us to the police station. (had to add a bit less sense to this).

No Time. :(

There isn't going to be much from me until after Thursday. I HAVE to get these papers done. I finished one tonight, but the other I've barely started on. I've done about a third of the reading, but still a lot to go. I'm too tired to even think about writing in Swedish. If I have time tomorrow morning I'll do more reading rather than work on my Swedish. I'm so worried that my Swedish will not exist by the time I'm in Sweden again! David's parents won't be able to understand me at all.

On the bright side I'll be working two days next week. I didn't think I'd have any money coming in, so this extra bit will be nice. I'll just work Monday and Tuesday though because I want some of the holiday week off to be with my family. I might only work 10 hours. Or I might work 16. I don't think I want to work two 8 hour days though! That's a LOT of office time. I could use the money with Christmas coming up, but I need Sarah time too. The good thing is that once I finish up these two papers I won't have any more big projects due before the end of the semester.

I'm hoping to get my Christmas shopping done next week. That'll be a lot less worry on me as finals approach. I'm torn! I want to work lots so that I can be with David, but I also need to study lots. I need to sleep and I also need to have fun by going to parties and bars. I also need to relax. I have too many things that I want to do. Someone rescue me from myself! I'm obviously working WAY too hard.

Stuff to worry about

Weekend. I didn't do much this weekend. Didn't do much schoolwork, didn't study, didn't read anything, didn't work on my Swedish. It was wonderful.

David told me today that he finally started thinking about what's going to go on once I get there. Right now he's trying to figure out where I can put my laptop in his room. He's also done the math and finally figured out that he'll be done with school before me. He says he'll have to stay in Uppsala until I'm done.

David also seems to think I should get a teaching certificate or something in Sweden. The classes are all in Swedish but at least with a degree I could almost certainly get a job. Even if it was just teaching English. UGH! I'd much rather have a research type job like I have now. I like working with lots of numbers and making them do what I want them to do. I like being helpful. I like having to be very very detailed and exact and create projects for people. I like using numbers that someone else has found. Silly as it is I could actually see what I'm doing now as a career. I don't know if I'd still like it once it got past the basics though. I doubt I could get a job half as good as the one I have now in Sweden though, and this is just a student job!

One of these days I REALLY need to figure out what I want to do with myself in the future. So far I have 2006 finish school, graduate, work in the summer, hopefully work in the fall doing something, maybe take SFI classes too. 2007 try to get into more advanced Swedish or other university courses. In the summer either come home and visit or else see if I can get some sort of summer job in Sweden. In the fall I am hoping to be in a Masters program. If not I need to be working or in some other school program. My saved money will definately be gone by then. Once I'm done with my Masters I don't have ANY plans for my future! I don't know what I want to do or anything!

I guess it's something I should think more about. David and I also realized today that I'll have to leave a LOT of stuff behind to move to Sweden. I won't get to take furnature, electronics, most of my books, and lots of other things that I'd like to keep but can't. I guess if I do get into a Masters program I can see about shipping some of my stuff over there. We'll see I guess.

Swedish Writing 11/11/05

Idag är jag mycket mycket trött! Jag vet inte vad jag ska skriva om. Jag är för trött att tanka. Jag har jobbat mycket idag. Jag behöver att studera, men jag har ingen tid. Jag också orkar inte! Jag ska sova mycket inätt och ska inte jobba innan Tisdag. Jag ska inte jobba mycket näste vecka för att jag måste studera mycket! Jag har två uppsatz att skriva. Jag måste läsa också. Ibland måste jag sova! Jag vet inte när! Hur kan andra människor jobba mycket och studera och festa. Kanska sovar dom inte! Jag behöver att sova. Jag får inte jobba och festa och studera 24 timmar varje dag! Det fungerar inte!

Swedish Writing 11/10/05

Jag är lite sent, men jag skriva iallafall. På Lördag har jag två festar! Jag vill vara på både! Jag trot att jag ska festa lite utan att dricka alcohol här första, då ska jag åka bil til min kompis huset. Han fyllar år, 21! Jag ska sovar där och åka hem dagen efter. Både festar ska ha Kegs. Jag ska grilla med förste festen och dricka med andra festen! Jag måste lagar jello shots idag. Halv för förste festen och halv för andre festen. Jag hoppas att jag skulle ha det kul! Men nu måste jag åka till skolan! Hejdå!

Swedish Writing 11/9/05

Idag är jag mycket trött! Jag har jobbat månge timmar igår. 15 timmar! Idag var jag i skolan. Jag har inte jobbat idag. Imorgon ska jag jobba 3 eller 4 timmar. Min eftermiddag klassen ska jag inte ha imorgon. Min professoren ska vara sjuk. Då får jag jobba mer. Jag gillar att jobba för att man måste jobba om man vill tjänar penger. Jag ska köpa presentar för jul snart. Då skulle jag inte ha mycket penger! Jag måste köpa för månge människor. Det är kul att handla, men inte kul att ha lite penger efter! Idag har jag en huvudverk. :( Jag vill bara sova, men jag ska studera, läsa, och lagar mat innan jag sovar. Jag vill inte studera! Jag vill sova!

Weekend and Dad

Neither of my parents approve of me taking a year off, but they'll let me and support me the best they can. They won't give me money next year, but *grin*. My mom says that if I ever want to come home, if I'm unhappy and need out of any situation in Europe she'll get me home. I don't plan to ever use that, but my mom always feels better knowing I have an out. I will of course always have enough money for a ticket home in my account or have a ticket. Been trapped before and not doing it again.

My grandfather was all suprised that I'm going to graduate this spring. Graduation date is May 31st. I'll have a party at my place. I'll be the first of my family in my generation to graduate. Makes me special. Hopefully I'll get lots of nice presents then. :P Money would be nice, let me survive longer!

I have 7 weeks to go. These next 7 weeks are going to go by fast. I need to start planning. My mom says I should start packing things that I'm not going to use again before I leave. She says my cat costume, pumpkin carving tools, presents to people should start going in my suitcase this week. She plans ahead even more than I do!

Exams over, weekend off

Well... I didn't do as well with this round of exams as the last set. I've gotten 3 exams back. One I got a 74 on, one an 86, and the other one I did really well and got 100. I still have 2 exams I'm waiting on.

I got my Portola check for the week long trip today. Was over 400 dollars. Weee! That'll push my account up nicely. I have less than 2 months to go until I get to be in Sweden. I'm going to work an extra hour tomorrow to make up for missing Tuesday. I worked an extra half hour today, and I plan to work for 3 or 4 hours on Monday afternoon as well. I won't be working at the CED on Tuesday due to the elections. I'll get money for working the elections instead. 65 dollars for the day. That's something like 5 dollars an hour 6am until 9pm. 13 hours of work. But money is money!

Maybe this weekend I'll figure out what stuff to get some people for Christmas. I'm looking forward to seeing my home again, saying hi to the kitten, etc. I'm half tempted to leave my computer here, but I promised David that I'd try to show him my house. We'll see how everything works. Maybe I'll get a bit of school work done as well.

Anyways, back to cleaning my apartment. I told myself that if I skipped aerobics, I had to do something productive today. So I've washed dishes, started laundry, got the trash taken out, went grocery shopping, and have started cleaning my room. I'd really like to vaccum my room and swap computer tables to the smaller one in the corner and move this one OUT of my room. Maybe if I'm feeling special I'll even set up my stereo.

Picture for Profile

I'm just posting this here so that I can add this picture to my profile. This is me before I got my hair cut back in August. It's a big shorter now. I'll probably cut it again soon. It's looking ratty and gets tangled all the time.

Halloween Preparation!

Halloween is almost here and I don't have a pumpkin to carve! :( I'm supposed to carve it tomorrow too! ACK! I think tomorrow after work I'll be going all over town trying to find a good one. I shouldn't have waited until the last minute. :( I've just been too busy to get one though.

Tomorrow night I'm going to spend at Courtney's house. I went over today and helped her make jello shots. I also bought her a handle of vodka. I think that's like 2 liters or something. It was only 17 dollars or so. And she was SO happy when she got it. We then used 3 cups worth to make jello shots. I'm looking forward to wearing my costume tomorrow night for the bars. It'll be soooo much fun!

Nothing much going on in preparation for my Sweden trip. I've been using more Swedish with David, but besides that I've had no time to do anything. Next week maybe I'll have some more free time. I hope so. I'll try to read one of my Swedish books before I go to sleep tonight. Maybe just my comic book. I like those.

People!

Who the heck accepts someone's invite to dinner then shows up not hungry or too tired to eat? I had 2 people show up to my invite to eat dinner then study last night. The guy never touched the food. And the girl only ate two small tacos after looking at them for half an hour while I ate.

How annoying! I miss my Sweden friends, they would have asked if they could come early and help cook, then would have eaten until there were no leftovers. I put lots of time and effort into making a nice meal and then they barely touch it. Oh well, I enjoyed it at least!

Oh joy!

I deposited money into my account today, then went and bought some food for a dinner study thing tomorrow night. I've spent most of the money I get for this month already, but I will still buy Courtney a present on Thursday or Friday and I might buy myself something nice to drink for this weekend. If I can find a 6 pack of smironoff twist I'll get those. They're YUMMY. A bit expensive, but I like them, so it's ok.

Nothing much to say really. Didn't work today because I had to study for an exam and there wasn't anything for me to do at work. I might put in an hour tomorrow, learning how to tabulate surveys. This week I won't have so many hours, but a break every now and then is good I think. I'm ready to go to sleep already tonight and it's only 8.40pm. Might be a good idea in my case! *laugh*

Life is good, even if it does tire me out and I whine a lot.

Exam Time :(

I'm now in the 10th week of school, this means 2nd midterms! ICK! I have 2 this week and 2 or 3 next week. BLEH! So I've not much extra time right now. Today is payday though. So hopefully I'll go stop by after noon and pick up a pretty paycheck. It might have to wait until tomorrow depending on how stressed I am.

David has started giving me 5 words a day for me to learn. Today's words are:
Speciall
enkel biljett och enkelbiljett
kissnödig
jämnt
att syssla

I'll put some work into understanding them better tonight, once I have my paper for class tomorrow done.