Cali

I want to go to California. Seriously.

Wrapping things up...

I graduate in one week. That's absolutely crazy. My four years of college here are kind of a fuzzy blur, but I have many dear, amazing memories from this place. God knew what He was doing when He brought me here. And I'm pretty sure He knows what He's doing by keeping me here, even if it occasionally seems like the dumbest idea in the world.

So, I can't sleep. I'm terribly sleep-deprived, but I laid in bed for an hour and a half to know avail. So, I got up and read for a bit. I'm going to make another attempt after I finish writing this. These past two weeks have been crazy. I spent 40 hours two weeks ago working on my capstone project/report. Our presentation was last Monday though, so that's completely over. Thank goodness. As is my extra credit paper for numerical methods. I think I overcomplicated that paper a bit. Oh well, that tends to be my typical approach.

This summer is sneaking up on me. People keep asking if I'm excited about Chicago. The answer is "yes", except that I haven't really thought about it much. I'm just trying to survive the next week. Then I can graduate in peace and go home and start thinking about summer.

There's a few unknowns for the fall too. I still don't quite have a place to live. Neither does Katie though. There are two or three potential houses, so that's a step at least. A car for the summer/fall would also be nice too. Hopefully that will work out. Again, something that will hit the radar after graduation.

Life is going well, though, in all honesty. It's been a rough couple of weeks, but I'm getting through. God is faithful . I will make it.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

-Emily

capstone

Capstone report: 61 pages and counting. It's due at 5. This should be fun.

school

Remember when I used to write in this thing on a regular basis? Wow.

Well, I'm ready to graduate. And by that, I mean "I'm ready to be done with capstone" and quantum, and thermo, and numerical methods....

I got a 29% on my quantum test today. I hit the average. Awesome.

Grad school decision = OU
Advisor = Dr. McCann

Currently Listening: Indelible Grace
Currently Reading: if only I had time for that...

Purdue

Purdue is a lovely place. Definitely a college town.

My mom and I got pizza tonight and there were Tootsie Rolls in the box with it :)

I wish I wasn't working on my capstone right now :(

March 14 = Wednesday

I'm exhausted and I'm tired of crying every day. Actually, the two are probably connected...

Why do legal pads seem to not count if they're not yellow?

It's been a Copeland week, so my iPod is coming to Nashville with me.

Okay, back to packing.

Spring

Oklahoma is turning beautiful again. :)

I fly to Nashville tomorrow to visit Vanderbilt. I'm meeting with 12 different professors for about 30 minutes each. I'm scared.

test

Template

New template. I didn't make and therefore don't completely like it. I'll either revise it or scrap it entirely soon. We'll see.

Also, Blogger is very confused and doesn't know if I should be seeing the old features or the new features.

More decisions...

This cartoon is awesome, but only like one of you will get it.



Why is it that right after you make a decision a bunch of great alternatives come your way? Right now a lot of places besides OU sound really great for post-graduation. IBM sounds good, either for summer or as a job. Purdue I could really take or leave, but they accepted me and offered me a TA position. Vanderbilt, on the other hand, called me this week twice about my application that I never finished online and didn't submit, but they want to talk to me. Too bad Tennessee sounds like a great place to live and the program sounds interesting. But you know what, I made my decision and I made it for a reason and those reasons haven't changed. I just need to trust God that I am making the best decision and keep going. *sigh* I really do have a hard time making decisions. Also, a prof at OU that I loved having for class but is apparently hard to work for doing research apparently wants to talk with me and a friend about doing research with him. Wow. I think I really do have a lot of options right now; aka, more decisions.

notice:

Oh yeah, just in case you guys forgot:

Decisions

I made a couple of decisions today. Actually, I'm fairly certain these decisions were made awhile ago but for some reason I couldn't quite justify them, either to myself or to other people. Mostly to other people, actually.

Decision #1: I will be staying at OU next year. Unless something very big happens that would cause me to seriously reconsider that choice. Even if I get into Purdue and get funded, I will stay here. I've had a few people tell me that I should try to go to a better school. Honestly, I could probably get into whatever school I wanted to, maybe even get funded at a lot of them. The best reason that people had for telling me to leave was that it would be better for my career if I want to be a professor. That's definitely true. I can't and won't deny that. However, there are, in fact, things that are more important than a career. I've spent the past 3.5 years here focused on academics. That can't change entirely, seeing as I am still going to grad school, however, there's a lot of stuff at OU that, while not as a whole "better", is better for me at this point. I feel like I would have a lot of opportunity to grow spiritually if I stay at OU. Granted, this opportunity has probably been here the entirety of my time in Norman, but I didn't take it. I'm sure there are opportunities in Indiana as well, but I think having to adjust to a new environment and friends and professors would have the potential to distract me a lot from more important things. I have amazing friends in Norman, friendships that are getting deeper to the point where we are challenging each other. I'm not ready to give that up and I think that those are perfectly good reasons to stay in Norman at OU.

Decision #2: I will be going to Project Impact this summer, probably in Chicago. This decision was also mostly made awhile ago. I think my mom wants me to come home for the summer. Part of me would like that, but the rest of me knows that I fall into really bad habits at home. Having my own car at that point would help, but I think this is a time that I really need to be building good habits and again not focusing on anything school-related. Oddly enough, I'm also really looking forward to living with and getting to know more girls. I am getting better :)

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!

Seventh Semester in Review

Agh! only one more semester of undergrad left. Crazy. This was an amazing semester. I am so blessed to have such awesome friends. This was by far the hardest, but most rewarding semester academically that I have ever had. I think almost every waking minute was spent doing something school-related. Not that I'm particularly efficient at doing my schoolwork. I had great friends to suffer with, though. The Matt, Danny, Emily, Katie, and Stephanie Sunday study parties were pretty great. With special guests such as Andrea, Johnny C., Luke, David, Jon, and Amber. I have a lot of good memories from that room. :) Below is a list of things I remember from the semester. Feel free to add any you might think of.

Semester highlights:

• Nickel Creek live at Cain's Ballroom: "stealth mode"; basketball-sized stegosaurus, darts of humiliation
  
• shugs
• mafficking
• Matt McCord Day 06 (okay, I wasn't actually present for that one)
  
• throw-up parties (hmm...I wasn't actually present for that one either)
  
• dragging Katie to Walmart--twice
• Sunday study parties: Tootsie Roll artwork; alarm clocks in the ceilings
  
• Matt practically living in honors again
• doing the Boggle and Jumble with Danny in Lasers
  
• living with Stephanie and having Katie right across the hall
• Steph, Katie, and I freaking the rest of the girls in the hallway out by being chipper and talking in the bathroom early in the morning
  
• homework-procrastinating walks around campus with Matt
  
• artwork on the classroom markerboard (often courtesy of Miss Andrea): Pier One Targets Crate and Barrel with deadly lasers; the chemical structure of grillz.
  
• snowcones in November
• Fenway
  
• Andrea's amazing hair colors
  
• Tuesday lunches: boring Kyle; Torrey and Chase never existing at the same time
• the Mizzou game roadtrip: "You just lied to everyone in this room."
  
• thursday nights and the 6 hours that entailed: paradigm, learning about sound systems; manual labor :)
  
• the never-ending thanksgiving break paper-writing marathon
• Thanksgiving in Mustang: chasing geese, dr. mario
  
• ice cream runs with katie at 11pm, followed by grilled cheese
• my mom visiting and getting to experience the homework marathons
• Valerie + math
  
• spandex (andrea...)
  
• Steph's birthday party: crazy 6 am (don't give her coffee...ever); all 15 or so of us singing "the itsy-bitsy spider" instead of "happy birthday"
  
• hall party instead of studying for morning tests that are very conveniently followed by:
  
• snow day #1: 3 movies, 2 trips to the caf
  
• snow day #2: not a whole lot more
  
• only one all-nighter
• feeding a small country with my meal plan
  
• finals week awesomeness: Not studying (of course) + Tombstone, Top Gun, and Indiana Jones. Do movies get any better than that? being done at 10 am Wednesday; Tuesday lunch every day; forward-biased ficuses; ice skating; not wearing tie-dye on the day that Kyle did
  
• the "how is Emily going to get home?" fiasco that ended up working out just fine
  

office

AGH! Why do we have two versions of Microsoft Office for Macintosh but the one for Windows is in Lawrence, Kansas. Stink. I need Word.

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope yours was wonderful.

I'll post a real update soon.

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