the perspective of a palindromic mind: December 2013

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Last Final

What would life be like if there wasn't drama for your last testing center test of your undergraduate career?

I wouldn't know.

Yesterday I took a test in the testing center. I got there and the line wasn't that bad, so I was in high spirits! I took my test and was outta there lickety-split because I needed to stop by the bookstore and then get home before my clothes finished in the dryer (I didn't want a stranger to take my clothes out - especially if they weren't dry yet!).

I walked into the hallway to see my score, and I didn't see it. It wasn't there! I figured they were probably backed up because of the finals week mayhem. So I went on my way to the bookstore.

I got home, got my laundry 3 minutes after the dryer finished (and my clothes had already been taken out, put on top (STILL DAMP) and a new load had been in for 1 minute... they didn't waste ANY time!!), and went to the testing center's website online to check my score.

You can't see your scores unless you have Mozilla Firefox.

I download Mozilla Firefox.

My score wasn't there.

Now i'm getting anxious.

I call the testing center (I seriously didn't want to walk back up to campus, it was cold!) and told them of the situation. They took down my information and said they would check it out and get back to me. I started compulsively checking to see if my score changed every 30 minutes. Nothing.

All day, nothing happened.

Then finally, the test appeared under my section but where the grade was supposed to be it said, "See instructor." I didn't know what that meant, but it satisfied me a little, at least they found it!

Fast forward to tonight. I received the email correspondence between my professor and the testing center administrator person... They still hadn't found my test and they looked EVERYWHERE. But my professor said I could just retake it because he was already out of town and didn't have another test I could take.

I guess that should be good news, but mostly it was lame.

So I went back to the testing center and the line was halfway through the crossroads! Luckily I got to go straight into the administrator's office and get it all sorted out. It took forever but finally I was back in the testing center taking the same test I took yesterday, in the exact same seat.

And that's that.

But the best part? I would have been fine just not taking the test either time. On the last day of class my professor brought Christmas cheer with him. He went out of town for a conference and missed the whole last week of class. He missed 2 other days this semester for his associate dean duties. So. He decided, on the last day of class, to DROP OUR LOWEST EXAM! I already had an A in the class so no matter what I got on the exam, he would drop it and I would still have an A...

So I didn't feel bad for the huge advantage I had over the other students... I didn't even need it. That's probably why he didn't care so much...

Thursday, December 12, 2013

It's the {Little Things}

Finals week is NEXT week! I graduate NEXT FRIDAY! That's in 8 days, people! In 8 days my 8th semester of college will be over. I don't even know what to think about that. It's crazy... and more crazy... and weird... and scary. But also exciting!

Anyway, here are a few things that have brought joy to this painful part of the semester.

1. My roommates and I hung up stockings on our paper fireplace. Each time one of us goes to the store we buy a little something-something to put in them for each other. (Lots of chocolates, gold glitter eye liner, Mexican sodas, nail polish, more chocolate, etc). It's just fun.

2. The other day I was writing my own theory of personality. It had to be 1500 - 2000 words. It was extremely hard to keep it so short. When I finished my first rough draft I looked down at my word count: 2000 words on the money. IT WAS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE.

3. This morning when I checked the weather I saw the most beautiful thing. There was a SUN next to the 18* high. A SUN. We have a cloudless, snowless, BEAUTIFUL sky today, friends.

4. The highs for the rest of the semester are in the 20's and 30's!! No more highs in the single digits!! :) :)

5. Today the crosswalk in front of the Hart building only had a few pieces of ice left. And we could see them with our naked eye. The sidewalks on campus are also slowly becoming more visible. (The roads all over Rexburg, not so much...) BUT THE ICE IS MELTING... slowly but surely.

6. Because of number 5, we get to enjoy the beauty of the snow covered trees and grass (seriously snow is beautiful) because you don't have to stare at your feet the whole time you walk to avoid falling to your death.

7. I've lost my footing many-a-times but I haven't fallen yet! But I have seen some pretty epic tumbles.

8. Last weekend I walked to Nielson's in shorts. It was -1* outside.

9. Last Saturday we had a 72 hour stake indexing blitz starting at midnight Saturday morning. I went around lunchtime on Saturday and they gave me free food! Like a legit meal!

10. One of my professors decided to drop our lowest exam score! He's missed a few days this semester and will miss the whole last week of classes, so we've had to know at least one chapter for every exam completely on our own without any lecture on it at all. He felt bad because people really struggle with his classes anyway... we're not complaining!

11. Scabbers can do the maze in less than 7 seconds, operate the skinner box like no rats business, and is a master on the ropes. And he could do this ALL before Thanksgiving. Which is lucky because I now only have to go to the lab for 10 minutes to feed him most days. Hallelujah!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Power Outage

This morning I woke up a little after 6 and it was FREEZING! I tried turning on the heater but I couldn't get it to work. Then about an hour later I received this text:

Awesome. (But at least I wasn't just stupid and incapable of turning on a heater.)

There's just something in the air when unusual things like this happen. It's annoying, but also a little exciting.

An hour or two later I received this text:

It wasn't snowing outside but I checked the weather on my phone, it was a whoppin -10'! That's frigid. (we could have gone up to campus, but that would require a lot of effort and going out in the more-cold) So we all gathered in our front room huddled in blankets without light, heat, internet or anything. We were all starving because we didn't have anything to eat without using the stove, microwave or oven. (We're so dependent on electricity!)

I did make hot chocolate with the water out of the tap... it worked for the first 2 minutes. But then it quickly lost its warmth.

We were all home and bored so we decided to bring warm vibes to our apartment by building a fireplace out of paper! I did this my very first semester of college (and everybody thought it would look super dumb... but I did it anyway, and then everyone ended up LOVING it) I showed my roommates the pictures from that:

2009

and they loved it too! (Even if it was floating above a couch)

So we made this:

2013

Who doesn't love green brick? I mean, come on! That's getting into the Christmas spirit!

Then we decided to clean our apartment since we were all still home and needing something to do:

Then about 11 we received a text saying power was restored on campus. So we got ready in our only source of light - the window

But classes still didn't start until 12:45. So, after all that, when there honestly wasn't ANYTHING else to do, I began studying.

A few hours later we eventually received power in our apartment. It was wondrous!