Posts Tagged ‘Mel’s work’

I’m all graduated from my class, packed up and ready to go, and just waiting for a trip to the airport now. I can’t wait to see Matt in just 14 hours. Wow, it’ll be a long day.

Well, here’s my weekly update. Last weekend Lance, Rick, Jesse and I went to Atlanta. We showed up Saturday morning, grabbed some brunch at the Original Pancake House, checked into our rooms, then they guys, sleepy from an apparently sleepless Friday night, crashed for a few hours. I finished Neil Gaiman‘s Anansi Boys, somewhat of a sequel to American Gods (though I enjoyed Anansi Boys a bit more). They’re both quite good. We went out for dinner at an amazing Barbecue Kitchen, where the portions were humongous and absolutely delectable, and for the most reasonable prices I’ve ever seen. It was heaven on a plate. We changed and went out to explore Atlanta’s nightlife. It was an opportunity for me to dress up, which I don’t do often enough. We found a club called Tongue & Groove, where they hang unusually large Easter egg-type decorations from the ceiling. I was also amused by the slide shows of random images being projected over top the artwork adorning the walls. It was a good time. A little drinking, a lot of standing around. I feel a little odd going out with three guys. There were a few bridal parties and groups of girlfriends dancing in a circle, which made wish I had some girlfriends with whom I could go out on the town. It was a nice time nevertheless. Sunday morning we went to Six Flags. It was fairly overcast, and a Sunday during the school year, so there weren’t that many people there at all. We hardly ever had to wait in line for coasters, except for two. We rode a few water rides and half a dozen roller coasters, listened to some live music, and had some lunch during the six hours we were there. I was really pleased with the park and had a better experience at the Georgia Six Flags than I had at California’s Magic Mountain. I absolutely loved Deja Vu (exhilarating!), the Super Man was pretty neat (we did the whole ride in a horizontal, flying position), and Goliath was a blast as well (CA has Goliath, but it’s a little different). It was an exhausting day, but I had a blast. We returned to the Barbecue Kitchen on our way out of Atlanta for another meal and some of their famous (absolutely amazing) banana pudding. It was quite a nice last TDY weekend.

Not much has been going on really. Class has been short this week. Monday we finished up our troubleshooting block, Tuesday we were tested on it, and today we went in early to clean the floors and get our certificates. We had our last day at the Y and our last dinner out at Tbonz. I have been slacking on my crocheting and owe two overdue squares to partners. One I’m nearly finished with, and one is more than I think I can handle and I’ve restarted it way too many times. I’ve also been trying to work on my math class, but find it difficult without study partners, a solutions manual, instructor office hours, or lectures. Whenever I get stuck on a problem, I get a little frustrated and lose a little more motivation. I go to my first class on Wednesday, so I’m going to have to knock out as much as I can before then and try to get in some instructor visits.

Well, my next post will be from home. I can’t wait! Ta ta …

I go back to California one week from tomorrow. Hooray! Our class tested out of Block III last night and I aced the test. My first test screwed up any hope for Distinguished Grad, but that’s okay. We started Block IV, which is all troubleshooting. Only two or three people can be in the lab on the equipment at a time, so the other two or three have to hang out in the break room and watch movies or play cards. It will be a long week, since there’s so much waiting around. I think it’s a positive thing, though, since I have tons of math homework to do.

Yup, I started my Linear Algebra / Differential Equations class last week. I’m on my own with it, but the book seems pretty good and it’s not troublesome yet. My instructor is good about sending me information and being there if I need any help. And I get to attend the actual class in another week and a half, so it can’t be too bad before then.

The weekend was really, really boring. Saturday morning Lance, Rick, Jesse and I went horseback riding on post, which was fun. We didn’t have to use a trail guide (because “we’re experienced horseback riders”), which is nice. I was a tad uncertain, seeing as I’ve only ever been near a horse once before. They’re pretty trained, though, and are used to just following each other around, so it wasn’t really a problem. Anytime I wanted the horse (“Ruby”) to do anything though, she wouldn’t listen to me. We were supposed to be out there for 2 hours, but they guys were bored of it after 1. We didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day, so I got dropped off at the mall to pick up a dress for next weekend (clubbing in Atlanta + Six Flags). I treated myself to a pedicure and a haircut and did some clothes shopping. The guys were all exhausted from little sleep the night before (to what was I not invited?) so they slept all Saturday. Jesse, Rick and I went out to see The Descent Saturday night. It’s the bloodiest movie I think I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t really all that scary, just startling and gory. It was nice to not be sitting around in the hotel room. Sunday we were supposed to go the Y (Rick was supposed to call …) I got a call Sunday afternoon from Lance while they were all ready at the Y (“oh, I figured you wouldn’t want to come …”) Hrmph. We got some dinner afterward at a sports bar and studied for the next day’s test. That was pretty much everything that happened this past weekend.

I’ve been downloading a lot of music, since I’ve gotten bored with the small selection I brought. I’ve been a slave to Last.fm‘s charts and forums lately. I’ve been enjoying some Medeski, Marin and Wood and Matisyahu for the first time this week. I’ve also been talked into the Loose Change hype. I know it’s old news, but I talk to many people who are adament about the whole 9/11 conspiracy. So I’m in the process of watching the Loose Change video, as well as the counter-arguments Screw Loose Change. So far so interesting …

Anyhow, now it’s time to get ready for school. More later.

So I've passed my half-way mark here in Georgia. Class is going all right. I'm in Block 3 of 4 and will test out on Monday. It's a little boring and way more information than I'll really need to know, but I'm getting paid to sit in class for a few hours a night. My days aren't terribly exciting. During the week I sleep in, go to lunch with the guys, run some errands, go to the Y, then to school. It's almost like clockwork. The first weekend here we hung out in Augusta. We ate at the Bees's Knees (one of my all-time favorite restaurants) and then hung out at the Soul Bar on "Disco Hell" night. I'm not much of a clubber, but it was a decent time (although I learned that Whiskey Sours and I are highly disagreeable.) The second weekend we drove to Charleston and back on Saturday. We found a really nice rooftop bar where we had some snacks and drinks while listening to two guys with guitars. Sublime and Grateful Dead covers. It was good. We found a touristy hot-spot called Wet Willy's, a daiquiri bar, and had a good time drinking and dancing. Needless to say, much of Sunday was spent in bed. This past weekend was a three-day weekend. Lance had planned to take the rental car up to D.C. to visit friends from when he lived there, and I got to tag along and get dropped off near Langley AFB to visit with Andrea. I slipped in silently at 5:00 Friday morning, was greeted by the cats, and crashed on the couch. Friday Andrea gave me the LAFB tour and then we headed over to Poquoson, our childhood hometown. We drove around and saw all our friends' old houses, passed by our elementary school, saw our church, and the old house. Some things have changed, but not too much. We attempted to explore the old woods in which we used to play (the parts that weren't replaced with homes), but they were so overgrown and overrun with massive spider webs, we didn't get very far. We had a half-off dinner at Chili's, where Michael works. We watched a bunch of movies (Howl's Moving Castle, Mirror Mask, The Jacket, Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider, Snake Eyes) throughout the weekend. The three of us played some Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. Andrea and I hung out at Virginia Beach, soaked up the sun, had some frozen custard, and visited the haunted house. It was a blast! I brought hooks and taught her to crochet. She did quite well for just three days of instruction! Michael is apparently very good at origami and has taught her quite a bit, so she passed some knowledge along to me. We made Chinese dragons and cubes out of dollar bills, as well as cute patterned pigs and cranes. I have tons of great photos of the weekend, but for some reason I cannot get the card reader to work for me. It's been so long since Andrea and I have really spent time together, so the weekend was really nice to just be around her and gab. It was definitely worth the long drive. Phew! I finished my art class, though not as successfully as I had planned. I can be quite the slacker. I'm starting up my math class now, which isn't designed to be a distance learning class, but I'm communicating with my prof through the end of the month and will try to do it on my own. It's not so bad … so far. I was on a crocheting kick, trying to get a significant amount done on Mama's afghan. The past week has been sort of crochet-lazy, though. I still have to make two squares to mail out for my square trade. I received three squares since I've been gone, I just wish I were there to open them! That's sort of a long-winded overview of what's been going on out here in Georgia. It's not the most exciting, I know. The active duty pay will be nice and while I'm out here, the government pays me to eat out (and the Augusta restaurant selection dwarfs that of Lompoc!) I miss Matt terribly and cannot wait to see him. We chat every day, though haven't really been playing much Diablo II together. He has Jason and the cats and seems to be doing well enough. I'll be home on the 30th … I'm sure I'll have more to blabber about before then, though.

Tonight was my second night of class. It's supposed to go until 1am, but realistically the instructor said it will be more like midnight. Last night we were released at 8:30 and tonight at 10, which is awesome. We're just in the first block though; the second and third are lab blocks and will most likely keep us at school as late as possible. It's really boring and technical and hasn't quite sunken in, but I don't think the material can be made much more interesting. We were given three closed-book practice tests today, on which I did horribly. I think I'll have to do a lot more studying than I anticipated. I need something to do this three-day weekend anyway. L, R and I picked up YMCA memberships for the month and went for two hours today. It's been so long since I've actually worked out, but today I was working hard. We're supposedly going the same time every day. We'll see how long I last. Maybe I'll be a changed woman when Matt sees me again. Tomorrow we're running a lot of errands during the day: getting stripes sewn on, picking up swim suits, going to the Y, etc. before we go to class, so I should be pretty busy tomorrow. I'm falling behind on my academic schedule (that I set for myself), because I'm either sleeping our out now. I should be finishing up my art class fairly soon and starting my math class as soon as my book arrives. It's nice that today is just a three-day school week. We go on tomorrow night and will probably be off early again, then don't have to return until Monday evening. Hooray! I will be without a vehicle all weekend and need to find something to do …

Well, I'm here in Georgia now. Yesterday I had a 6 am flight out of California, a long wait in L.A., a delay in Atlanta, and finally wound up here in Augusta at 9:30. R's luggage was lost, but it was lost in that airport, so they took forever looking around for it until they stumbled upon it in the Lost and Found an hour later. L picked up and we went out to the Waffle House (how could we not upon arriving in Georgia??) Signed into the hotel. I have my own suite with a bedroom, living room, and bathroom, two TVs, a desk and two tables, fridge, sinks, etc. etc. It's nice. But last night it was wet and smelly. I guess the AC dumped all over half of my bedroom and the carpet was just one giant, saturated sponge. I was too tired and just wanted to crash. I moved up two floors to a new room today, though. This morning we checked in at the orderly room and then went to class. There are nine students in the class, but apparently that's a really large class. They split us up so there's a day shift and a night shift. I'm working 5pm-1am (which will probably be more like midnight). So I got the orientation and my books, then we ran errands and bought lots of groceries (I'm not wasting all this per diem eating out every meal!). I should be napping right now because I have class tonight and am running on four hours of sleep, but I'm just not tired. I don't mind having the night shift for a lot of reasons. Nights are nice. The only thing is that keeping in touch with Matt will be interesting, especially with the time difference. We'll work it out, though. We'll definitely get in phone time as well as Diablo 2 or StarCraft time … sometime. I know it will take some adjusting and I'm only gone 39 days, but I'm just feeling pretty down and lonely right now. The last time I was at Fort Gordon wasn't the happiest time in my life and driving around post comes with a rush of unhappy memories. It's been a long time since I've fallen asleep by myself or haven't had someone to talk to. One of Matt's coworkers from his unit (as well as an ex-coworker of ours at our old unit) is here for the same class. I guess it was a last-minute decision to send him and it was between him and Matt. How neat would that have been if Matt had been assigned this same TDY? I think that would be great … but Jason … hah, he'd show up to an empty house. Ahwell, it didn't work out that way. I have to go unpack all the stuff I had repacked after the wet carpet disaster. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to babble on here, so don't worry, I'll be back soon!

So I'm just sort of sitting around, waiting for Matt to get home from work. It was so nice, yesterday he had to go to work at 5am for about an hour. Then we had the whole day to spend together before he had to return at 5pm, out of uniform and just with one other guy, to clean for about another hour. I think it spoiled me a little bit … I've just been wishing he were around. I ran some errands, though and got some last-minute pre-TDY things taken care of. I picked up my plane tickets. I'll be flying out of here at 6am on Monday and arriving in Augusta around 9pm. Phew, what a day that will be! Just a few days away … hmm. I've been crocheting a bit, lately. Here's my newest square:

It's supposed to be a daisy in the grass, then the sky with clouds, bordered by sunshine. I know, a little cheesy, but I like it. My other trade partner this month is a physics major, so we decided to use that as our square theme. (First thought: "string theory!" Hah … hmm.) I brainstormed all sorts of physics-related things to crochet, but I couldn't figure out anything that wasn't too difficult for me. So my train of thought moved from physics to math … I love fractals and thought that would be a good place to start. I started trying to figure out a cellular automaton to crochet a Sierpinski Gasket, but it wasn't working out too well for me. Lo and behold, someone had already thought this up and posted her explanation online. So I whipped up a couple of my own. Here's a blue one I made. I think it's the perfect start of a crochet bikini top.

Through this I've found that crochet has been used many times to make mathematical models. I think that's great! Two of my hobbies collide! The Institute for Figuring has awesome crochet models of hyperbolic surfaces. (DIY) I love it! I also found really neat crocheted Lorenz manifolds. Oooh! There are also knit Klein Bottle hats which can be modified for crochet. Here are other sweet fiber arts + math photos from an exhibit last year! ♥ Back to the square trade … I found out a little bit about my partner and she thought Feynman diagrams would be a good idea (as well as semiconductor band structures and wave packets). That seemed like a good start, but I wasn't positive what to do with it. There is a particular type of diagram called penguin diagrams, so I decided to do something with that. It's my first time attempting to crochet a grid to make a picture and it's going all right. It's going to be a penguin with outstretched wings and the diagram backstitched overtop it. I'm trying for something like this. We'll see later this week if that works out, though! I feel like I have too much to do before I leave. Jason's room isn't empty yet and it's mostly my junk left in there. I have four weeks left of my online art class, but I really don't want to be doing too much of it in Georgia, so I'm trying to cram all that I can in this week. I bought all new uniforms yesterday and had to get all my name tapes and patches on them and my skirt and pants hemmed as well as have everything washed and pressed before I go. I haven't even begun to pack yet! It's okay … I still have four whole days left, but I'm freaking out a little bit. It'll all be okay …

Today was the last day of instruction at the college. Yippee! Next week is finals week, but I have all four of my finals on Monday. Yah, it's a bummer of a stressful day, but at least I'll get it all over with at the beginning! I have high hopes for As in three of my classes, just not math. I don't expect to fail, I just don't expect an A. Thank goodness I'm all finished with calculus; this last semester was a bear! School's been good the past month, just busy. I finished up tutoring earlier this week. I'm praying my Algebra 2 tutee passes. He's worked so hard and it's the sixth time he's taken it. It's time to move onward try something else. Things haven't been too exciting over here, really. Matt graduated from ALS on the 4th of this month. Last week we went over to our new friends, Dave and Clarissa's for a lasagna dinner and some board games. Yesterday we bought a new digital camera (here are random photos of my playing around with it last night.) Matt is back on WoW and I made a character, too. He also picked out a new game to play, Rise of Legends, which seems really cool. We're getting ready for a trip to Colorado next month. We're spending a week in Colorado Springs with my mom and Denver just hanging out. We'll go to the Renaissance Festival, do a bit of hiking, check out Denver's Museum of Nature & Science's BodyWorlds 2 exhibit, see some of my pals in Fort Collins, my mom and I will have a little spa getaway — it'll be a blast! So I've been pondering what to do with my near future. I need one more math and one more physics class and a health class and then I'll have three associates degrees from AHC and nothing more to take in the way of transfer credits. Matt could be transferred any time or, at least, he'll be getting out in less than two years. I don't have enough time to transfer to a university (the closest of which is at least an hour's drive from home) and finish a physics program. I figured I'd take my math class at night at AHC and my health class online next semester and work full-time during the day. Then the following semester I'd take physics at night. So I need a job. I was looking into PG&E's nuclear power plant; they need an operator and I'm qualified. That sounded interesting, but it's quite a ways from home and it would be shift work that rotates all the time, which would make transportation difficult. I had heard that the squadron where I work for the guard once a month, needed to fill a full-time Mon-Fri technician slot doing the same thing I do on drill weekends. I guess the slot was opened, but the window closed and I can just keep checking back on the website to see if it ever returns. That would be the perfect job for me right now, but it may never reopen. I enjoy being a student, so I thought maybe I'd just continue studying at the junior college in a different field. UCSB has a BA program located at AHC for a few majors (not physics). I was thinking, if I were to study one of the arts, I'd be most interested in an English program. UCSB provides that where I'm currently going to school, so maybe next semester I'll pick up a few literature classes. All in all, I guess I don't know what I'm doing until Matt finishes his commitment and we can move somewhere where I can complete my degree of choice. We'll see what happens. I'm looking forward to the summer. On the 30th I start a 3-week, 3-credit physical anthropology course online. Then I'll start an 8-week art appreciation course, followed by a 6-week psychology course. They're all online classes, which I enjoy doing. Plus, I get tired of driving out to Santa Maria or relying on a carpool. I can't realistically attend on-site classes anyway, since I'm going TDY at the end of July for 6-weeks to Georgia for more military training. It'll be a bummer being away from Matt, but it'll be nice to earn some extra cash, have more time to do online classes, and explore the local area. I'll drive up one weekend to see Andrea and Michael at Langley, maybe check out a concert or two (there's a ton of interesting musicians playing nearby during my stay), and see the sights. That's all that's really been happening lately. I have today and the weekend to finish studying for Monday's finals, so that's what I'm off to do. That and play with the new camera …

Jen, Matt's sister, spent some of her Spring Break with us last week. We only had four days with her, but they were a blast!

Day 1: Took some time off school to pick her up. Met the kitties. Looked through photos of her Martha's Vineyard internship. Listened to recordings she and friends did there. Cooked dinner. Watched Alias. Chit chat. Day 2: I had to go to school. Matt and her hung out and played Halo 2, Monkeyball 2, and some other games. Mystery Science Theater 3000. Went out to Sugar Magnolia's for dinner. Watched more Alias. Played with the kitties. Relaxing and more chit chat. Day 3: Turned in keys to the old apartment. Early Bird miniature golf special at Boomer's. DDR (man, are we out of practice!) Ordered pizza. Watched more Alias. Day 4: The self-proclaimed cat-hater falls in love with our kitties. Gabby didn't want Jen to leave (or she wanted to go with her!). Drove down to Santa Barbara. Walked along State Street. Watched some guy play the drums. Saw the beach. Strolled along the pier. Ate enchiladas and burgers at Ruby's. Saw her plane off. Spent half an hour watching the cool clock at the Santa Barbara Airport.

Jen is such a cool chickie. I wish we could have spent more time with her or at least see her more often. We'll fly out to New York for Thanksgiving this year, so we'll have some time then. Matt and I had an awesome time visiting with her. I think we're a little boring to come and visit, but she argued that we aren't. I'm glad she enjoyed herself. My mom and Ron are out on the east coast spending time with my sister and cruising around the little states. I'm so jealous. From the sounds of everything, Andrea and Michael are doing pretty well. Work is a bit of a strain on her eyes (being that she just sits and looks at screens non-stop), but it sounds like she enjoys it enough. Michael is working at Olive Garden now and it sounds like a good job. I found out what dates I'll have long weekends this summer when I'm down in Georgia so we can coordinate a time to visit. Andrea needs plenty of advance notice to apply for leave and I need to get plane tickets to Virginia whenever she gets it approved. I'm not especially looking forward to six summer weeks in Georgia, but having a weekend to visit with Andrea and Michael will be worth it! My classes are canceled today and I've been a bit under the weather anyway, so I'm taking the day off. So far I haven't done much: a little bit of math studying, chatting with my brother for a tad, updating my photo gallery, watching part of The Squid and the Whale, and hanging with the cool cats. It's nice to have lazy days. School is school. Still haven't heard back about my second math exam, though I don't have high hopes for it. I'm trying to get a head-start on the third exam at the end of this month because I hear it's the toughest and all this doesn't exactly come easily to me. It's getting more interesting/fun, though. I'm just having my doubts about whether or not I can handle future math classes. Physics is fun, as usual. The school is hiring a new full-time physics professor and they're in the interviewing stage right now. The picked ten candidates to do a short teaching demonstration of Gauss's Law. I attended three of them yesterday to give my feedback. It was actually a lot of fun. I'm not really allowed to discuss the candidates … physics teachers are just funny people. It was kind of neat because I aspire to be a physics teacher one day (high school preferable, then possibly moving on to college eventually) and I got to hear critiques of how all these teachers presented the material. It was pretty informative and hopefully somewhat helpful when I'm up there one day. Matt is almost finished with his first week of Airman Leadership School. He was really dreading doing this class, but it seems like things aren't nearly as bad as he had expected. The material seems pretty easy and he can get all his homework finished during class breaks. I wouldn't say he's making friends, but there are a few cool guys in there that he chats with and maybe could turn into something more. It would be nice to have some couple-buddies to hang out with. Today he had to attend in full service dress, which is very uncomfortable. It seems men have it worse than women on account of their neck ties, but they look much more striking than women do in blues. So he's at work right now getting choked, then in a few hours he'll have to do his PT evaluation. We've been pretty lazy lately and haven't run all that much, so he doesn't expect to do so well. But come the end of the month when he has his final exam, the difference will be quite significant. I'm sure he'll do perfectly fine, as he has long legs and is built to run; he'll probably just be sore this weekend. That's all for today. I'm off to download some more MST3K and lounge around lazily. Woo!

A quick rundown of my week: Monday math test – Ack! Skipped all my other classes to get done what I should have done over the weekend. Studied for 6 or 7 hours. Felt like I aced it. We'll see next week! While cutting Matt's hair, he took off his glasses and I stepped on them. They were mostly fine, but he went and tried to bend them back, snapping the metal completely beyond repair (well, at least beyond either of us repairing it). Of course, it's his only pair of glasses. We tried duct tape, but it was pretty pitiful. Our prescriptions aren't too far off, so he tried wearing my glasses, which is fine for a short duration, but eventually gives him a headache. Kind of silly, but it bummed him out a lot until he finally got an optometrist appointment yesterday for contacts. Woo! Then we got to go sun glass shopping. I usually tutor two guys on Tuesdays. Tutoring takes place after all my classes are finished, so I only stay on campus for that. The first guy completely stood me up, so I still just sat around waiting until the session would be over. It's all right, I get paid for half an hour even if he doesn't show. Then my next guy shows up 15 minutes late just to declare that he doesn't have any questions and is going home. I guess that's fine, I got paid for another half an hour. It's just that I could have spent my three hours doing something else completely. I completely destroyed a pie trying to eat just the crust. The filling was gross and crust is oh, so good! But what a mess. ^_^ Wednesday I got my conceptual physics test back. Hooray, an A! The class is fun and nothing for me to stress over, I just get the test jitters and always expect the worst, so it was nice to be wrong. I started feeling icky though and went home after my first four classes, missing math. The flu bug is going around the school and I was feeling so run down and really wanted to just go to bed. Matt picked me up at 5 and we stopped for some food. Left the keys in the ignition and locked the doors. It's only the second time Matt's ever locked himself out, and somehow it's my fault because both times have been when he's with me. :p It was a bummer too, but it gave us time to eat. 15 minutes and $40 later we were on our way, so it's no huge deal. I went home, played some Sims 2, and crashed. Thursday, not much better. My physics class was canceled and I skipped my boring chem class to continue to recoup. A lot of sleeping, Sims 2, water, and studying. It worked, though. We bought Sims 2 the other day for Matt, but well … he hasn't gotten a chance to play yet. I never played the Sims before; I always thought it sounded kind of pathetic. Well, I was right, but I had no idea it's so much fun! I keep making Conklin families, Sims that look like me and Matt and a baby thrown in there. Within the first hour, Matt was so dead. In the living room in his underwear with some weird NoodleSoother helmet on his head. The real Matt was upset, but humored. Hey, I was just getting the hang of how it works. It's much more fun now that we have a teenage daughter, Matt is a SWAT team leader, and I'm a top secret scientific researcher. I think I've finally found My Game. Haha. So today is Friday and I just got out of my physics 2 exam. It was all on thermodynamics, which I don't really find all that exciting. I'm pretty sure it all went well; there's only one that I'm sort of concerned about. My teacher is awesome for partial credit though, so I'm not stressed out about it. Tutoring went really well. I met with the guy from last week that's repeating Algebra 2. I was so stressed last Friday about our session, it was really frustrating for both of us. He picked up an extra hour during the week to meet with me, though, so that's a good sign. And today went really well! We solved systems of equations with three variables. I think he kinda-sorta gets it. I got him started on how to tackle his homework so he can work on that this weekend then meet with me on Monday and review it. He was a lot more communicative this time around, I was a lot more patient, and things just went much more smoothly. The lady at the front desk sort of monitored our session because she's been working with him for years (on the same subject) and knows him really well. I was really pleased to hear that she thought I did a terrific job because he's been through a ton of tutors and really tries their nerves. He's in the learning assistance program and has retaken the class more times than is technically allowed, but I'm hoping this will be his last. My other two tutees are great and really driven, which is nice, but it's also interesting to get the challenge of working with this guy. I'm really enjoying it a lot. I got my first birthday card in the mail today, which made me all giddy. I know it's just a birthday, but it's my birthday! I love my birthday. The card is 10 days early, but it's nice to start the birthday excitement early! And it's from Matt's dad's aunt, who is just the sweetest lady ever. Anyhow, Guard weekend is upon me, so the time I have tonight will be my only time to really relax. Polish boots, iron uniform, bake some brownies, and yes, Sims. Mmm. Actually, tonight I'll probably get some crocheting done. I've been working on an afghan, but I got bored of making the same squares over and over again, and school got hectic, so I put it down. Last night I started my first-ever ripple afghan, though. It's really fun to do, so I think I'll relax on the couch like an old lady with my yarn. Hooray! Okay, so I guess that wasn't so quick afterall. :p

So much going on … Last Saturday Matt and I went to check out a new apartment. There's one on Lompoc that seems a thousand times nicer than our current apartment, so we went by to check out a tour and pick up an application. Quite nice and exciting. Monday I was off school and Carol was off work, so we decided to hang out at Six Flags. Matt doesn't care much for the park, so we left him home and made a girl's day of it. Roller coaster mania! We hardly waited in line at all until we got to the park's newest coaster, XTreme, which was exactly that. A two hour wait in line for a minute long ride, but I'd still say it's worth it. Scariest thing I've ever been on. Six Flags has an old-timey dress-up photo place and we thought that would be fun to do. We got all decked out in huge Civil War era hoop dresses, put on silly hats, and were photographed. So classy! We had a very awesome time. School was okay this week. Had a chemistry test on Tuesday and a conceptual physics test on Wednesday. Both of them went well and it was no big deal. I have a math test and a physics test early next week, which is really what I'm more concerned about. Tutoring was okay. I tutor one guy in calc 1 twice weekly and another guy once for physics and once for calc 2. They're older men and are really great to work with. This past week was a little weird. The one guy for physics and calc 2 showed up each time and either hadn't slept the night before or didn't have any questions and just wanted to leave after 15 minutes. So I get paid for half of the hour, which is sort of a bummer, but I didn't have to work the whole hour either. I met with a new tutee this week for algebra 2 that I'll be working with every Friday. This was the first time I really got frustrated. It's his fifth time taking the class and he sort of has a weird attitude about it. I thought I was pretty patient and tried really hard to explain things he wasn't getting, but he'd get mad and not really communicate with me, just roll his eyes, turn the other way and fidget with something. I didn't really know what to do because sometimes I felt I couldn't possibly explain anything any simpler than I was, and he was still looking at me like I was speaking Greek. Or he'd try to argue with me about how you solve an equation. I tried not to get flustered, but I just didn't really know how to handle. He said he didn't need a tutor who thinks he's stupid, so I stopped there and we had a little discussion about it. I don't think he's stupid at all; I just want to help him understand his math and pass the class this time around. We parted on good terms and he said he'd focus this week and try to come up with questions for me next Friday. I'm going to keep in touch with his teacher about what they're covering during the week and try to prepare myself a little more for our sessions. I think it will be a challenge, but that's a good thing. Since Matt and I were considering moving into a nicer apartment, we figured we'd look at all our options. I looked up adds for condos, townhouses, and rental houses. I was surprised to find a handful of houses that are much more spacious and well within our budget. We drove around and looked at about a dozen houses around town the other day, marked some down because well, some of them were just way too dumpy. I don't mind a place that isn't pristine or needs a little work, but some of them were just too disgusting. We passed by one that we knew would be a manageable price, but we'd be eating ramen every night. It was gorgeous and in a really pretty neighborhood and the owner happened to be mowing the lawn when we stopped by. He let us take a look around the inside and it was marvelous! A brand new home that hadn't been lived in, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, amazing walk-in closets, fireplace, vaulted ceilings … it was just beautiful. But way more than we need! We got all excited about it, which was silly. When we left and sat back in the car, reality sunk in and we had to admit it would be silly for us to get such a nice place. So we went to check out our second choice. The house looked fine on the outside … icky paint and a nasty lawn, but that's okay. We arranged to take a tour and were pretty taken aback. Not in a good way, though. No dishwasher or refrigerator. Tiled living room (and half our bedroom — the other half was bright pink carpet). All the ceilings were stained. The other bedroom was linoleum and just gross. There was a phone jack in one room connected to a splitter with nasty frayed phone cables feeding into ragged holes in the other rooms. The garage was completely dilapidated. It was just really disheartening. So today we put in an application for the apartment we were initially looking at and should hear back about if we can move in by Tuesday. Our move-in date would be March 18th and we already picked out the one we like. Pictures soon! My mother called me today with news that my brother had dropped all his classes this week and is moving out to New Jersey to live with his girlfriend and her parents. Last I heard from my brother, he was going to stick out the semester, hang out with her in the summer, then she'd move out to Colorado and they'd see about moving in together. I guess I'm just a little shocked at this decision. A little disappointed he didn't even try to finish up his second semester. I know it's his life and these are his choices, I'm just bummed out because maybe I don't think his are always the best. But then I remember I didn't always make the best choices either. And no one knows how this will work out for him. I really just want him to be happy and find his place, but sometimes I feel he doesn't know what he wants and it just seems sudden for him to do something like this. I hope he's happy and things work out for him. I do hope he continues his schooling sometime, though. I guess it's sad because I failed out of CSU, Andrea didn't succeed in college, and I was just hoping Matthew would break the trend. I wish I knew Adria better; I've never met her. I know her from Ragnarok Online a little bit and from what I hear from Matthew. I know he loves her and I think that's great, but maybe I'm just a worry-wart, overprotective sister. And I really wish I was more a part of his life. Selfishly, I wish he had decided to move out here over the summer like we were discussing. He talked about how he wanted to work and do school and have some time to grow up, mature, and gain some responsibility. Maybe I'm just skeptical that he's going to achieve that in New Jersey. It hurts me that he doesn't talk to me about things like this. I'm going to call him and I know he'll talk to me about it, but I never hear the news from him. I feel like all our phone conversations about his future or his goals is just him humoring me; saying the things I want to hear. It's not about that. I love my brother despite his choice, and I know they are his to make. I'll let him know my opinions, but I don't feel I guilt him into choosing one way or another. Sometimes I feel that my siblings mean more to me than I do to them. They have their own lives and friends and work and whatnot, and I have mine, but I feel so completely detached from them. I don't need to baby them or see them every day, I just wish I'd get a phone call or they'd want to let me know what's going on in their lives or ask what's going on in mine. I'm just crying about it, I know. I am a bit perturbed with my brother’s latest choice, but I haven't heard anything from him yet, so I'm not getting too worked up. With all that said, I'm going to break now to study. Yes, there's more going on, but no one (if anyone reads?) wants to read a mini-novel about the things that are stressing me out. Ciao!