This is something I've come to utter on a semi-frequent basis these days, usually after I've eaten something very unhealthy in excess or done something odd (like meowed for a couples minutes straight). In this case, however, I'm talking about a semi-legitimate problem: my compulsion to not sleep.
It's not that I'm an insomniac- I would have no trouble falling asleep, none at all- it's that I don't want to sleep. Which I don't quite understand, either. I mean, I have nothing against sleep. It's wonderful! And I'm very fond of naps. But often I hit these stretches where regardless of how late it is, and sometimes even how tired I am, I just don't want to sleep.
There's no one else up, there's nothing going on, and I'm certainly not doing anything particularly worthwhile, but here I am. Go figure.
But I do recognize it's a problem, and that's the first step, isn't it?
That aside, here's my minor excuse for nearly six months of nothing: laziness. Yup. That's what it boils down to. Ok, maybe not entirely. Probably more along the lines of distractedness. To be honest, I'm pretty certain there was a while there that I forgot I had a blog.
Schoolwork aside, last semester wasn't really all that busy. However, that school portion did take a fair amount of time. I wasn't taking Plant Systematics, by the way. I was actually taking Evolutionary Survey of Plants, but kept calling it Plant Systematics and eventually confused myself and my roommates so much about what I was taking that anytime I referred to it I wound up going through three different class names.
I also took Technical Writing, during the course of which I became considerably knowledgeable about Dyson, Patagonia, Tom's, Burt's Bees, and Nalgene. Or, at least, some of their products and policies. At the very least, I'm pretty much an expert on the Nalgene MultiDrink.
Digital Photography was very time consuming (as photography frequently is), but I learned so much. I'm actually relatively decent at Photoshop now, so that's kinda cool. At the very least, I'm pretty darn adept at layers.
New Testament was wonderful. I took it from a professor I've had before- 3 times- and really enjoy. I really liked the way he scheduled it: we read through each book in order, but as soon as we'd come to the last week of the Savior's life, we'd go on to the next book. Then, at the end of the semester, we read the accounts of the Savior's last week, but we read all the accounts of each event at once. It was really interesting and provided some good insights.
Lastly (though, honestly, I keep feeling like there's another class I had that I'm forgetting- oh. Got it.) So not lastly. Marine Biology was awesome. I learned so much from that class- possibly because we read the entire textbook. But really, the way my professor organized the class really helped me learn. We'd have our reading assignment, and our homework for each class was to come up with at least 3 questions we had from the reading and at least two "Oh, wow"s- things we found interesting. In class, each of us had at least two days that we were discussion leader. So our professor would start class with a spiritual thought, give a brief overview of some of the trickier parts of the reading, then whoever was leading the discussion for the day would take over. We'd ask and answer questions to each other to the best of our knowledge, and if we really weren't sure, then our professor would fill in the blanks. It was very effective. We also had to read a book of our choice from a list of previously approved books and write a review of it. I chose "Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: the Oceans' Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter." Very interesting book. Seriously, you may want to check it out. I found it fascinating and frequently read excerpts out loud to my roommates.
The class I was forgetting (I knew I had another one!) was Teaching Techniques of Social Dance. Yup. I'm basically qualified to teach social and beginning ballroom dance now. But seriously, I actually could do it now. I had previously thought about offering lessons back home during my off-track or something like that, but there were various things that I was dubious about. Now those are all cleared up. I know what I'd need to do, I know how I'd need to do it. I know what I'd teach, how I'd teach it, what music I prefer, and lots of other important things that I'm not going to list.
Right. So long story summarized after the fact: school went well.
Katelyn came home with me for the break- it was awesome. We chilled out, met up with Thea for a day out and went to the zoo, lunch, and saw Mirror, Mirror. - If you haven't yet, watch this movie. It's clean, and funny, and I fully intend to buy it once it's out and watch it repeatedly. I actually watched it again tonight at the cheap theater with my roommates.
Kirsten got engaged the Friday before our semester break. We (the other roommates and a friend) actually had a pool going as to when he'd propose. We kept it friendly- just a dollar each or less. I won, by the way. But anyway, we've got that to look forward to and get ready for. Which will make wedding number four for the year. We had one back in March, then went to Amy's reception right after we got back from the break, then had another just a couple weeks ago.
It's kinda weird when all your friends are getting married/are married/having kids. Especially when that still seems miles away for you.
Well, at this point I'm going to stop, as sleep is catching up with me and who knows what I'll start typing next if I go unchecked.
Wed:
Genetics quiz
ILP info meeting (helping)
Thurs:
Birding or radio telemetry
Jogging
Fri:
Temple
Weekend stuff?
