Cremes » Academia

Alive and Quantified

Meags — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:53:01 +0000

Well, the past week has been a little on the difficult side. First, Sunday evening spearheaded the start of a HORRIBLE infection, which I literally thought more than once that I might die from. It was that horrible. I spend the better part of the week in pain, not sleeping or eating. Thursday I began to come out of it, and it turns out it was just a really bad infection. Hopefully I’ll never have one that bad again, it was truly horrible. I’m cut off from coffee and Pepsi and chocolate (my three favorite things!) for a few more days, and then I’ll probably be back to normal. I only went to work one day last week, so things are sort of overflowing on my desk. That’s not the greatest thing ever, but I’m starting to get used to it. I just catch up and then I’m out for a few days because of some illness or there’s a setback at work or something. I just keep on truckin’, I guess.

So today was the big day. I completed my GRE. Now, if I hadn’t been so sick, then I might have done a little bit better, but as things go, I scored around the median scores so that’s the best I can hope for right now. I would have gotten a higher score if I hadn’t lost a week or two due to illnesses. And if I had started studying earlier, but I only really decided that I wanted to go back to school this fall in December, which will teach me in the future. If I get rejected, I’ll just apply for the next semester, starting next January, and I’ll definitely spend more time working on my GRE. So I need to focus on getting the rest of the info in that they have asked for, and then maybe apply for some scholarships, and then I just wait and see if my acceptance rolls in. Hopefully it does.

However, for the rest of the night, I intend to sit back and read in my Nicholas Sparks’ novel and just have a relaxing evening. I kind of wanted to go see a movie tonight, but I don’t really feel like calling up everyone I know to see if they want to go at the last minute. Maybe I’ll go to the movies tomorrow. I’m just glad I don’t have to worry about math for awhile, hopefully forever!

Bye-Bye Dell & Acadia – we had some good times

Meags — Fri, 26 May 2006 15:33:12 +0000

So this will be my last Cremes posting from an Acadia laptop. It seems strange to think that my time here has already ended. Of course, a week ago I still had another three weeks of classes here and suddenly I have none, just like that, so it may make it a little stranger that it’s just over in an instant. Am I happy about it? Yes and no.

I’m going to miss the campus a bit I think. If anyone has ever been to Acadia’s campus, they have to admit that it’s pretty gorgeous (as long as you overlook the near constant construction). Big trees, lush lawns, pretty gardens all surround these fanciful brick structures. (Lookitmee, I’m writing a brochure!) There are some memories too, good and bad. I think another thing I miss is time, and how fast it seems to be going. It feels like yesterday that I graduated from highschool but at the same time it’s a million years away. Hard to believe four years have passed. I’m going to miss my little one bedroom apartment too, it’s a cute little place and I’ve enjoyed the three months that I’ve lived here. Most people that are leaving Acadia are probably exchanging numbers and emails with people and promising to keep in touch. My exit is much different – no one will notice the difference. I came, I left, and didn’t make any meaningful contacts the entire time. It’s kind of pathetic I guess, but I’m not going to dwell on it. I learned a lot about myself and that’s probably the best thing that I can take away from my entire college experience. Now it’s time to go on with life.

There are definitely things I won’t miss about being here in Wolfville. Can the traffic be any more congested? I’m sure it could, and it probably will in Texas, but good grief. I just need to make a bloody turn and you have to friggin take the long way. Not to mention the ants in my apartment. I think I finally tamed them, but geez. It only took like two weeks. And never mind, I see one right now. I’ve pretty much given up – I can’t kill them unless I scrub the entire apartment down every five seconds. I intend to clean the apartment before driving home tomorrow, so that will hopefully discourage them from taking up roots while I’m gone. I’m also tired of school for right now. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to go back and get another degree, whether it be graduate or not, so I’m not averse to learning, just need a break. I’ll have pretty much all the month of June to chill out so I’m looking forward to the much needed break.

I’m bringing back the laptop as soon as I finish this entry. It definitely sucks to not have the internet for the night, but I plan to watch movies and do some scrapbooking stuff. I’ll have the internet again tomorrow night when I get home to Yarmouth and use mom’s computer, but until then I’ll be incommunicado by the world wide web. Next week will be really busy with last minute wedding stuff and packing up this apartment. So I may be incommunicado more often than not next week, plus I’m getting the apartment internet chopped next Thursday. Anyone who needs to contact me knows I have a cell phone (text msgs are also welcome) so go ahead and use it! Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Everything changes

Meags — Wed, 24 May 2006 00:36:59 +0000

So I decided that taking a second spring course was maybe a bad idea. Considering that next week is going to be crazy busy with all of the wedding stuff that needs to get done. So I’m going to take another Athabasca course like I had planned to way back when. I’m attempting to take a slightly more easy course this time around, with less assignments. Maybe I’ll manage to finish it in 3 months, that would be awesome! I just need to do it in time to graduate, and I don’t think that’ll be a problem. If it is, I’ll just postpone graduation until next May :P Who cares at this point, I just want to get on with it! I’m tired of being stuck here. Me and Mike have things to do and we need to get on with getting our lives together. Me going there sooner means that we get our new apartment sooner, and possibly I get my car sooner. Not to mention having a class will give me something to do until I get a job. Darn visas taking forever! Anyways, so this is the new plan. Sorry, you won’t have me sticking around until mid-June then, I’ll be out of here sooner than that, I hope. Which means next week is going to involve me packing up all of my things in effort to get that all sorted out. Sigh, it’s about time, I say!

First Psych class

Meags — Mon, 08 May 2006 22:20:02 +0000

Well, my first day back to class after about a month went fine. I jumped this morning when my cell phone alarm went off (my clock radio is apparently broken) and did not want to get up for class because I’m still exhausted from the weekend. I fell asleep this afternoon while doing my reading for class. Anyways, there’s about 8 or 9 people in the class. The classroom itself is pretty small and very few computer hookups but as there are only two of us that brought their computers I don’t think I’ll have to worry about fighting for them. I was kind of surprised at how many people take notes the old fashioned way. I mean, they give us these computers for a reason!

I was supposed to read 2 chapters tonight, about 74 pages but I couldn’t even make it through the first one. I definitely need to get caught up on my sleep, Desperate Housewives kept me up too late last night, I’ll probably head to bed around 10pm tonight! It’s annoying when you are too tired to do anything but you can’t nap this late and can’t go to bed this early. I’d like to finish up my reading and do a workout, but I just don’t have it in me tonight. I’ve missed the last few days of working out because of the craziness over the weekend and then driving back yesterday. If it hadn’t been for Alley I would have come back Saturday. Darn cats needing to be drugged. I’ll be happier once I’m settled into one place for awhile. And I get caught up on my sleep too!

I’m hoping that I don’t gain back all the weight that I’ve managed to lose the last couple of weeks, that would be a little disheartening, especially since it is so close to the wedding and I wanted to look nice and slim. I guess it doesn’t matter as much as it did since we probably won’t get to go to Hawaii after all. That kind of stinks, but hopefully we’ll get to go another time. I’m going to keep at trying to get to my goal weight, but I just need a break for right now, lack of sleep and too much to do making my brain hurt. So the final word is class was good, but I need to sleep!

WHOOP

Meags — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:24:39 +0000

Yay! Just got all my marks in and they were: B, B+, 2 A-’s, and 1 A! Huzzah! My GPA for both terms combined was 3.5 – pretty much what I’d wanted since I started university. Unfortunately, my overall GPA is still stuck at 3.19. All those As and stuff only brought it up from a 3.13. Once you have four years of grades, things don’t move very far on the overall GPA which saddens me. Oh well, I still have these two summers courses to add on to the GPA and possibly a grade from the distance course, but I think that all transfer credits only go into the transcript as pass or fail. Which makes it odd that I’m bending all over myself to do a good job on the paper but I think it has more to do with me hating to churn out a crappy paper than the grade itself.

Anyways, I intend to write up something tonight to email my prof, we’ll see how that goes. I’m going to lose a few hours out of my evening to go do wedding stuff tonight, so I need to get cracking on the reading and writing. Sigh, I can’t wait until this is over!!!!

Not quite ready for the happy dance, but almost!

Meags — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 01:23:47 +0000

So today I wrote my last exam of the winter semester. Hurrah! I can’t believe that semester is finally over. Just this damn research paper left, which I’m going to focus my energies on all weekend and hopefully complete it. It would be nice to be able to relax a bit over the next little while. I haven’t decided when I’m driving back to Yarmouth, but it will probably be Saturday or Sunday because it’s giving sunshine and I HATE driving in the rain. And then of course I will be starting classes again on May 8th. I’m kind of nervous about first year psych. I haven’t had a non-arts course in awhile, excepting Spanish. And that was easy, especially since I had Mike right there to explain it to me. Anyone out there taken first year psych? Please calm my nerves! I’m not worried at all about my second course, I mean – another history course? Second year? Piece o’ cake! Especially since the prof is excellent. Poulter is a great prof and so interesting. Plus she gave me a great mark on my essay.

Wedding plans are on the way to getting completed too. I got a bunch of things done last week. Flowers are ordered, fake ones are bought. Dooly’s is ours the night of June 2nd. (I got 3 pool tables, that should be plenty.) My nails are pretty. (Essential for any wedding to go smoothly, the bride needs to be pampered.) I’ve just got to figure out the rehearsal dinner and a few other odds and ends. Mandy, I’m going to get you to put together the wedding favours, I’ve almost got all the materials together for that. Lyssa needs to write the wedding date and stuff on the little tags I’m making, but first I need to make them before she can write on them… we will get this done someday! I’m having another wedding shower, this one is in Argyle, and everyone can come. It’s May 5th at 7pm at the legion hall in Central Argyle. So come one, come all. We’re doing a money tree, so make sure that any actual gifts are sent down to Texas. I’m trying to pack light for the big move. As for the move itself, still haven’t heard from immigration but they should be working on our file really soon. Hurrah! All of youse in Halifax, I’m looking for fake rose/flower petals. They have some at the dollar store here, but I’m looking for pale yellow or white, and they don’t have anything pale enough. So please look around the dollar stores and craft stores for me, it would be much appreciated. The invitations went out today (finally!) so be on the lookout for those as well. I have a few extra, so wedding party members may get to have one. (I know Mandy’s excited!) I think that’s all for the wedding… There will probably be more updates on the wedding now that I’ve got more time to friggin plan it.

Anyways, that’s all for now. Toodles!

It’s almost heeeeeeere…

Meags — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 21:40:57 +0000

Hurrah! Only 3 more days until I jump unto a plane and get to Texas. I couldn’t be looking forward to it more than I am. I’ll be out of Wolfville and away from stress. Poor Alley will be shuttled around again, but that’s what happens when fiances are far away. She’ll be taken good care of, I’m sure of it, and will only be more than willing to attack me when I return for abandoning her.

I wrote two of my midterms today, one for Non Western and the other for Cold War Canada. I think they both went pretty well, my right hand is killing me though. I don’t think I got As on either one, but we’ll see when I get them back. I’ve got one last assignment to do for tomorrow and some reading to do, then I’ll be focussing on my distance course next week and maybe do some catch up reading. I have two essays to plan for when I return but other than that, I’m in the clear. Oh and a minor minor review for Non Western, but that can be submitted online so yay! I’ll probably do that while I’m up there too.

Went to go get advised again – last time hopefully. He said that the courses I want to take for Spring intersession are fine and he congratulated me on last semester. So as long as I pass this Athabasca course, then I’m all good to go, which is why I’m focussing a lot of my energy on it next week. It also means that I am definitely going to be here until June 16th, unless something goes wrong when I try to register. So you all get to keep me around for a bit! I am going to hussle my butt to Halifax one of these fine weekends, once all my schoolwork is under control. Us girls have a date with the dance floor! Not to mention a few yummy cocktails. I haven’t been out since … er. A while. Too long. We will go out! If only for a nice dinner.

Anyways, I’m still waiting to hear back from the apartment landlady – I assume that she is enjoying her vacation immensely and will get back to me whenever she is back in the office. Which is this Monday, although she said Tuesday might be more accurate. I’ll be back to sign my new lease the following Tuesday I think, it all depends on me getting the truck and whatnot, and if there is ice and snow and if we even fly back on the Sunday! Last year I had to stay in Texas for a few extra days. Ahh, that was so nice. Maybe we can do that again this year, hey weather? Hehe. I need to get rid of my stereo, couch, and possibly that table with the barstools BEFORE I move in. So if anyone wants them, let me know. At this rate, I will probably GIVE them away. I have some glasses too, if anyone wants them. They are sitting on my table (the one I’m trying to get rid of, haha) begging to be given a home. I don’t know how I accumulated so many things over such a small amount of time… oh yeah, now I know… mom keeps bringing me stuff!

Anyways, time to scrounge around and see what there is for grub, I’m starting to run low on the food front. Only a few more days left here, and I don’t want to buy a whole crapload of groceries before I move to the new place. I’ll probably eat everything I’ve got and then not buy a lot until I move and am settled; then I’ll do a huge grocery run. The less that I have to move – the better! I’m already thinking of things that is going to get dumped or given away or given back to mom. Like we have any room in that house either! Well, toodles, all!

Protected: My First “F”.

Meags — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:04:45 +0000

Another Week Begins

Meags — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 15:57:56 +0000

Weekend’s over and here we are at Monday. Casey and I are heading downtown to get some errands done just as soon as she gets out of her meeting. Interesting to see what will come out of that. Anyways, I, of course, got most of my work done on Sunday – it seems that I get to panicking over it and get more done than when it’s Friday and Saturday when I think, ohh I’ve got the whole weekend! I need to stop doing that, or get more done during the week. I’ve made a schedule of assignments and stuff that are due and I stuck it on my corkboard, so hopefully everything will get accomplished. I’m going to try and get my group project going for Non Western history because I really want to be able to fly out on Friday instead of Saturday. I emailed my prof asking and he said we had to pick topics first, so maybe if our group has a topic, we’ll be all set. I’ve got two assignments due this week (already, geez) so I’ve gotta get cracking on those tonight. I’m also starting to run out of clothes to wear, so I should probably do something about that! It’s supposed to snow tonight, but as long as it holds off for awhile I might be able to get a load done.

Once my zits clear up, I think I’m going to get my photos taken for graduation. It’s pretty exciting! I can’t believe it’s finally time for me to not be in school for awhile…. Wow. And really, if I find a good job without my grad degree, I might think twice about going back. It looks like the job I want requires a MLIS though. It’s too bad, I just want to be out there and working. School is fine and all, but enough is enough. Especially after this year, I’ve practically driven myself mad. After this semester, my stress levels will go down a lot. Two classes in the span of like 6 months will be a piece of cake. I’ll probably register for my Acadia distance course during exams. Wee! After exams, that Acadia course and one Athabasca course is all that I’ll need! :D Man, I just can’t wait to have that degree on my wall.

2 more days of class!!!!!!

Meags — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:46:26 +0000

Weee!! I’m so happy, I can’t wait to be done class and watch movies. I need a chill break in the worst way. I’ve been doing last minute assignments today, and I have a class at 4 that I don’t want to go to. But it’s the last one, and he might say some helpful things about the final exam which is next Monday. I’m just getting really antsy to have it all done, so much so that it’s hard to sit still and actually do school work!

I went to talk to the department head of history today to talk about graduating in October, so it looks like it will happen. (YAY!) I’m registered in 5 history courses next year too, then I’m going to take my second Athabasca course and another Acadia distance course, probably Intro Psych. And then I will be ALL DONE. Whoooo! Of course, then there is grad school, but I’m not going to worry about that right now. I finally sent in my student loans prestudy report, since I just got my marks back. Those two A-’s and two B+’s really brought up my GPA, that’s for sure. It was around 2.7 before, now it is at 3.04. YAY!

Only 18 more days until I go to Texas! WEE! It can’t come soon enough.