Green

Okay, I thought I'd revive this template for awhile.

Purdue

Update: the Purdue application finally went in today. About a month late.

And one of my reference letters at least has been sent.

I'm feeling pretty accomplished here.

Baby steps...

It's really late and I should never write this late....

It's 3:15 in the am on a Monday night and I am working on Numerical Methods. I think something is wrong. Oh well. I'm blaming quantum. Semester scapegoat = quantum. Shrug.

Tuesday lunch is tomorrow. Yay! I accidentally got four people to write letters of recommendation for me when I only need three. Oh well. My Purdue application is also ridiculously late. Again, oh well. I'm not particularly keen on leaving this state anyway. This semester is blah. That's about all there is to say about it. People are still wonderful though. So that's still a plus.

Meh. I'm going to finish up my numerical methods and then sleep for a bit before attempting quantum again. Sadness. I wish I was better at math.

Goodnight.

Old Cold Coffee on the Dashboard

I took the GRE yesterday. I was pretty pleased with the results, which means I don't have to think about taking it again. Most excellent. Now I just have to figure out whether I'm taking the physics GRE in April. Unfortunately, I think the answer is "yes".

Yesterday afternoon I went to the mall with my sister so she could shop for jeans. I returned with no jeans, but I did find Super Scrabble for 50% off, which I immediately bought. I win.

Break is drawing to a close. I need to pack. I have a lot more stuff going back to school with me than I left with. I go down to Rolla on Wednesday afternoon and then I rendezvous with Ellen there on Thursday morning. I'm actually a little bit sad. This has been a good break. Having something to work on (i.e. GRE studying) has helped me a lot by occupying my brain. I'm pretty excited to get back, though. And I'm still really pumped about the 12 hours I'm taking. Hopefully it will actually be easier than last semester. If not, I think I'll be confused and then I'll probably cry. Crying is a typical default solution.

Semester goals: do less homework; be more introspective; work at correcting problems I notice with myself rather than just ignoring them.

Currently listening: Blinders On, Sean Watkins; Here to There, Nickel Creek
Currently reading: Out of the Silent Planet, C.S. Lewis

Semester 9

Yet another interesting semester has passed, my 9th one at OU, but my first as a grad student. The transition to grad school was a little tough, but, as with everything, it was fine once I adjusted. Not living on campus was a pretty huge change for me, but a good one. Here are some of my memories from this semester.

• Andrea DenHoed, Rhodes Scholar (my reaction: "are you serious? no, really?")
• Having a degree!
• Having a house!
• Having a car!
• The desk project (you guys should really visit university surplus)
  
• Trying to decorate my house
• Another Thanksgiving in Norman with Matt + Die Hard (when I really should have been writing a paper instead)
• River Church
• Community Group
  
• Happy Hour and Slushies at Classic 50s
• Bugging Holly almost every day
• Nickel Creek concert in Dallas (+ walking around with St. Francis)
• Tuesday lunch at the 2:8 House
• Not losing power during the ice storm
• Having Tuesday lunch at our house on Monday of finals week and a "study party" there too
• More Tootsie Rolls
• Candy Canes + power series
• Mooching my first meals at the caf from freshmen and RAs
• Really trying research for the first time
• Still hating research for the 3rd time
• The customary two weeks of crying that seem to come in the middle of every semester
• Physics....
• Not getting a "C" in physics this semester
• Pretending like I didn't have semester-long research papers to do for the first two-thirds of the semester and not doing homework every night of the week
• Having people from Project visit
  
• Having friends that aren't college students!
• Lots of procrastination by cleaning
• Rearranging the kitchen cabinets for Katie
• Emails from Dr. Morrison at weird times in the morning
• Having a life that didn't just involve school
• Watching shows like "America's Next Top Model" and "Beauty and the Geek" with Holly, Rita, and Cindy
• Studying at the honors dorm...and then getting to leave because I don't live there
• Watching The Office...and then a movie with Jon and Mike every Thursday
• Giving people advice for grad school
• Playing Bang!