December 29th: 3 Mollie: 0

Let's recap my day.

1) Slept in. This part was awesome. And that's where the awesome ends.
2) Showered, cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, dining room, and living room. Vacuumed the apartment.
3) Blew the fuse in the kitchen by plugging in the vacuum. Couldn't find the fuse box.
4) Went out the back door to go to my car to go grocery shopping.
5) Went grocery shopping. Got back to my car and thought "Ok, all I have to do is get out of the parking lot," which was mobbed. It started snowing.
6) I was waiting in line behind another car to get out of the parking lot.
7) Lady to my left starting backing out.
8) It looked like she was going to hit me. She clearly thought she had enough room to clear me, and continued backing out. I had nowhere to go. I started honking and waving my arms in the window to try to get her attention.
9) Lady in car backed into me. .____. Seriously.
10) The woman got out of her car and was all particular about taking pictures and getting my information. We exchanged information, but I thought "Seriously, if this lady tries to claim this is my fault, I might explode." We had a brief conversation, in which she told me I "must have been in [her] blind spot" and asked accusingly, "Didn't you see me backing up!?". I got back in the car to go home.
11) Got home and realized I locked myself out of the front door. Tried to open the back door and bent my key in the lock.
12) Tried to open the front door again; still unsuccessful.
13) Pried my key out of the back door and used the extra key to finally get back in.
14) Forgot I blew the fuse. Searched the house again for the fuse box. Finally found it in the attic.



I was supposed to go to a friend's house to hang out, but I refuse to leave the house again today.

Ugh. So I'm just going to sit on the couch in my pajamas, watching cable, reading Real Simple, drinking hot cocoa, and watching it snow. And hoping tomorrow is less stressful.

Updated: Christmas List for my family

-a puppy
-Will and Sawyer and baby Addie
-baby Charlie
-baby Heather
-no seriously, send me your children
-Sunny Doodles! (not available 12/15)
-work clothes/cardigans/shoes
-a good pair of khakis
-Harvard garb (a couple t-shirts or something)
-gift card to Dunkin Donuts
-gift card to Starbucks
-giftcard to Amazon for my Kindle
-a new purse
-flowers delivered to my office

-two light/heat blocking window curtain panels [something similar to these (light blue) or these (pink or light blue)]

just FYI

I will make a wish list soon-- stay tuned, family!

Dickerson Luck (or Crappy Halloween!)

Dear Megan and Erin (and children),

I was supposed to send you an early Christmas present this week. I felt like this about it. It was supposed to be this. I had it all planned and everything. And then this and this happened. Of course. And I felt like this. I tried to reschedule to next week, but then this happened at work, so my boss said it wasn't a good idea. I guess now I'll just have to buy you a regular one of these for Christmas.

So... that's that.

Love,
Mollie 

oh boston.

so last night i was on my way to the stake center to watch the relief society broadcast like a good girl.

i was about five minutes from it, when all the sudden, i slowed to a stop and there were lines of traffic as far as i could see.

and i thought, "What the fluff?! Crap!!!"

... the festival devoted entirely to marshmallow-spread-goodness was happening in union square (i went last year, and it was as awesome as it sounds). there, on a big digital billboard were the words "WHAT THE FLUFF. EXPECT DELAYS. SEEK ALTERNATE ROUTES."

it made me think i was on the verge of some bad life metaphor... and it kind of made me laugh.

Oh me(ra), Oh my(ra), I went to Palmyra!

A few weeks ago, I got a text from Anne that said, "Hill Cumorah Pageant this year. Let's go." I agreed. (In case someone doesn't know, the Hill Cumorah Pageant is an outdoor theatrical performance put on each summer by the Church with hundreds of member volunteers. It tells the story of the Book of Mormon.)

We started planning this trip about two weeks ago, at which point Anne and I decided we could just camp for the two nights in her little two-man tent. But then we recruited the company of another girl in our ward who, coincidentally, knew someone in Rochester with whom we could stay during our trip. So, no more camping. Now, Rochester is an hour away on the other side of Palmyra, but we figured it was worth having a place to stay, so we weren't worried. Our plans were to leave on Friday around 2, drive the whole way, hang out on Saturday, go to the pageant Saturday night, and drive back Sunday.

Last week, Anne and I were hanging out on Wednesday night when we got a call from the girl who was supposed to join us. She said she wouldn't be able to make it because she had a lot of school work to do.

This was fine, except that it now meant Anne and I had nowhere to stay. So we stayed up on Thursday night trying to click through to find camp sites that were available. Of course, because it's the pageant and thousands of Mormons are attending (plus, it's just a summer weekend), there were no camp sites to be had.

We found a campsite at a state park and lake about two hours away from the Hill and decided it would be nice not to have to drive the whole way there on Friday. We could camp for a night, hang out at the lake the next day, and head out to Palmyra on Saturday afternoon. So we booked it for $20/night. Except that NY charges all these stupid fees for being out-of-state and blah blah blah so it ended up being $35/night.

So... with a reservation for Friday night and no reservations for Saturday night, we set off on Friday afternoon and promptly got stuck in traffic. It took us 6 hours (instead of 4) to get to our Friday night camp site. The road out to it was creepily dark. All we could see were the flashes of lightning bugs in the darkness on either side of the car, and all we could hear were these little pings of bugs getting smashed on our windshield as we drove. Finally we came upon a traffic light, which we assumed was where we were supposed to turn. The light was swarmed with bugs. I mean, swarmed. All you could see in the green light was a solid cloud of bugs. It was gross and Anne and I both commented that it looked disgusting. We pulled into the state park and it was almost 10 pm, so the check-in office was closed. So we just drove in and found our site and hoped no one would bother us.

We got out and had to go to the bathroom. This wasn't expected to be a problem because the bathhouse was only three campsites away. We walked over there, and we started noticing those masses and masses of bugs frantically swarming around every light bulb near the bathhouse. There were screens on the windows that were just covered in these tiny mosquito-ee bugs; you couldn't see in. Unfortunately there was a little entryway with a light right above the bathroom door so it was also covered in bugs.

It was the grossest thing I've ever seen. We pulled our shirts up over our faces so we could run through without getting the bugs in our mouths/noses. We braced ourselves and made a break for it, but got too freaked out when they were buzzing in our eyes and ears too much for us to see the door handle. So we ran away to muster our courage.

Finally, we went back, and (with some muffled screams) ran inside. Inside was no better. The bugs were everywhere. Before you pulled up your pants (what? too much info?) you had to brush them off your legs as fast as you could to keep them from getting trapped in your pants. The rolls of toilet paper were covered in them.

It was GROSS! Anne likes to make fun of me for being afraid of bugs, but she admitted that it was disgusting.

So after our traumatizing trip to the bathroom, we ran back to the car and got in and just looked at each other like, "What did we do?! We're paying $33 to stay at this place?! Ugh." We decided we were too tired and it was too gross out to try to put up the tent, so we just decided we'd sleep in her car.

[This is where I make a small aside to Subaru. Dear Subaru. Your 2012 impreza is surprisingly roomy. Kudos.]

We put the seats down and put our sleeping bags out and we could actually lay flat from head to foot.

We tried to leave the windows open an inch or two to let some air circulate, but the car quickly became filled with those little bugs! So we rolled up our windows in defeat and spent a few minutes trying to kill as many as possible before falling asleep. I didn't sleep that well that night because every time I was almost asleep, I'd hear a bug buzzzinnggggggg in my ear which, of course, drove me out of my mind all night long.

We woke up in the morning to a much more pleasant camp. We went to the bathroom and there was a woman cleaning it. All of those bugs had fallen dead on the floor (and the sinks, and the toilet seats), for some reason, and she was sweeping them up in big fluffy piles. It was bizarre. But I was very, very grateful for the custodian, so I politely thanked her for cleaning up all the bugs.

We had a short conversation about her job, and it pays to be nice to the custodians because she cleaned a shower for me to use. It was connected to a private bathroom (also awesome) so you didn't have to try to get undressed and redressed in a shower stall without getting anything wet. But, there were two annoying things about the bathroom. 1) You had to keep pushing a button for water and 2) the bathroom had a window that was about chest height on me. There was a middle-aged man stalking the bathroom (apparently he had been waiting for the bathroom to be cleaned, but the custodian likes me better). He stood out there awkwardly so that I had to sneak out of the shower when I thought he wasn't looking, and then bend at the waist to dry off and get dressed without him seeing me.

I felt much, much better after showering. (I am a little obsessed with showering every day, ok?) Anne and I ate our breakfast of fruit and Oatmeal Squares and then checked out of our campsite and drove over to the lake front. We sat out there for a while and it was really nice out. We ventured into the water right before we left for lunch, but it was really shallow (and they had 6 life guards out there! For water that only went up to my chest!) and filled with little algae or something floating in water. So we didn't do much swimming.

Since we didn't get to have our campfire the night before, we went and found a grill and made a fire and roasted our hotdogs and made s'mores for lunch. It was delicious, and we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves for making a successful fire.

Then we changed our clothes and drove out to Palmyra. It only ended up taking a little over an hour, and before we could decide what we wanted to do, we had gotten shuffled into the Hill Cumorah parking lot. We parked and realized there was no sense in trying to leave and return later, so we just decided to take our chairs and money (to buy dinner) and games and make the best of it.

We got there at about 6, ate dinner from the Lion's Club at 6:30, played some Monopoly Deal, and then sat around talking to people we ran into that we knew. (We saw the Bells from my home ward, and my home stake YSA, and a couple people I knew at BYU, and a couple people Anne knew at BYU).

Finally, they started playing the "prelude" music and we were ready for it to start. They don't give you programs though; you have to speak to the cast members to get a program. I guess that's fine, but we waited patiently for almost an hour for cast members to ask us if we had one. Meanwhile, in true (unintentionally tactless Mormon style) we watched 5 different groups of cast members approach the Black family that was sitting a few rows away from us.

Finallyyyyyyyyy, it was 9:15 and time for the pageant to start. It was good, especially since I don't remember anything about going when I was younger except standing in line with Megan and mom at the port-o-potty. (I was relieved to see there were no port-o-potties this time).

It got over and we went to leave, but didn't quite know where we were going. We had looked up the address of the church (near Palmyra, but not in Palmyra since we knew that would be mobbed) and the nearest Walmart (strangely, there were three 24-hr Walmart stores within 10 miles of the Hill Cumorah). We drove out to Canadaigua's Walmart, went in to buy muffins for the next morning, and parked our car in a dark corner of the parking lot, in front of a Verizon store that didn't open until 1 pm on Sunday, where no one could see us from the main road. It was much nicer that night since there weren't any bugs, but the air was not moving at all and there was also a lot of light from all the neon storefronts. So, I didn't sleep awesomely well that night either.

The next morning, I woke up at 7 am having to go to the bathroom, so I trudged over to the Walmart. I also purchased Hydrocortisone cream because I was covered in mosquito bites. As I got back across the parking lot to the car, it started to rain. And then it started to pour. We quickly rolled up the windows and then opened the trunk and sat there watching it rain. There was thunder and lightning and it was seriously downpouring at this point. We changed our clothes and headed to the local ward. We went to sacrament meeting, and then got back on the road to drive home.

It took us longer to get home too; about 9 hours. We stopped to eat along the way. Anne had an Arby's craving, so I used the GPS to look up one close to the road. We followed the directions and ended up at a mall parking lot. Not fair! But we were hungry, so we walked in, only to find that the Arby's had recently been removed from the foodcourt. Ugh. So we had to drive another 20 minutes or so to find another one.

And then on to home. I slept a little on the way back, and I was supposed to drive a little, but it continued to pour and it made me nervous to drive someone else's car when I couldn't see the road. So poor Anne drove the whole way and we were both exhausted by the time we got home.

I picked up my car from Anne's house and came home and slept. And it was seriously one of the best night's sleep of my whole life! In a bed! In the dark! Without someone right next to me! With multiple pillows! Without bugs buzzing in my ears! With a bathroom just across the hall! It was awesome.

So... in summary, I went to Palmyra. It was an adventure in homelessness. The pageant was good. The Subaru Impreza makes a nice bed if you have no other options. But let's just hope, despite having trouble finding a job, I never have to actually live out of my car. I wouldn't survive.

The end.

(I had plans to make this a much more witty entry, but I am tired, so that didn't happen. But now you know how my weekend went, at least. Anne has some pictures of our escapades, but I don't have them. So oh well.)

[not] picture perfect.

um, no, i won't be paying $25 for that photo... but thanks anyway...

Come to my graduation!

Hey friends and family.

I graduate from Harvard (once again) tomorrow.

If you'd like to see the pageantry and fanfare of a Harvard graduation, see the morning exercises here at 9:45 EDT: www.harvard.edu/livestream

If you'd like to see me get my diploma, see the diploma ceremony here at 12:15 pm EDT: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/

(The CAS students will be second, after the PhD students, so I will be close to the beginning.)

dream, dream, dream.

Last night I had a number of vivid dreams that made me feel super tired when I woke up.

One of those dreams involved all of my teeth falling out. I've had some variation of this dream a number of times in the last couple weeks, which is unusual. This time, it involved a fistfight with someone (at least I think so; those details are hazy). Then, I walked away and like a mouth full of slimy marbles, I realized all my teeth had gotten knocked out. I spit them all into my hand, all bloody. (My mind can still feel them jumbling around in my mouth, which is an unsettling and gross feeling.) Anyway. I spit them all out into my hand and when I looked at them, they were Runts candies.

So that's odd.




On the bright side, after you have a dream of all your teeth falling out, you become irrationally happy to slide your tongue across them when you wake up. All the sudden, you feel like king of the world because they're all still there. Maybe that's why it's a "classic" stress dream; maybe it's your mind trying to make you feel better when you're worried about something. Maybe it's like your own personal, "Hey cheer up! Things could be worse-- you could have no teeth!" Hah.

As it turns out, my recurring stress dream is not my teeth; it's that my mouth produces bubble gum and I can never get it all out/spit it all out. I hate that dream.

A High Note.

Well, I have four more days of practicum; Friday, then next Monday, Tuesday, Friday. Graduation next Thursday.

Grades got posted, and it's official. My CAS year of grad. school has ended, and I've earned a perfect 4.0 for the year.

I guess that's a good note to end my "professional student" career on...

Power's [Almost] Out

My computer power cord has started not charging when it's plugged in; the connection to my laptop is wobbly, so sometimes it doesn't connect quite right. 


This makes me nervous; should I be expecting the impending death of my laptop? (Its not-plugged-in battery power is about 2 minutes.) Blah. 


Also, I just heard a man on Antiques Roadshow say "libary". 


In other news, once upon a time, I entered a commencement speech competition. I made it to final auditions, but I did not get chosen. The end.

Oh, AND I turned in my very last graduate school paper today, so I. Am. Done. 


And now you're all up to date.  

BYU Cougar? Yes. Other kind? No.

So yesterday at practicum, I was talking to my supervisor about the recent handful of senior boys who I've been meeting with. (I had a sudden urge to change that to "with whom I've been meeting"... but this is not a school paper, so I am rebelling). Anyway- I was telling him I find them to be sometimes less judgmental than girls, so our meetings are more casual.

He then suggested that perhaps some of them have a little crush on me, which is why they like coming back for appointments. I had to hide my internal reaction, which was: "Wait, what?! Ew. No."

As a side note, if that's true, and high school boys are the population that find me appealing, I don't think this has good implications for my dating life...

baking

For a number of reasons, I promised my students I would bake for them on Fridays.

This means Thursdays are usually "Oh-crap!-What-can-I-make-in-two-hours?!" days.

Tonight I made cinnamon rolls that turned out looking less than appealing. So I decided to make banana bread. I went up to check on it, but it was still gooey in the middle... and then I forgot about it and it baked an extra 30 minutes. It's a little dark.

Ok, I give up. I'm just going to have to tell my students tomorrow that I had an evening of baking fails. They'll be disappointed.

just sayin'.

i'm particularly glad i'm only writing papers in the next ten days, and not also trying to recover from wisdom tooth surgery...

by the way, i'm surprised at how much my jaw is still often sore; the teeth must not have been entirely the problem...

Saturday

On Saturday I watched the Red Sox play the Yankees on TV .

I sat around in my room and ate a Fenway Frank and potato chips and an apple, which were all delicious.

The wind from my window blew through my hair.

It was nice. It was especially nice when it got over and I just had to find the remote instead of fight through a herd of cattle people to get to the T.

(By the way, it was a terrible game for the "home team"... they were up by like 6 and lost the lead in the last 2 innings and then lost by like 4 or something.)

(Also, I was avoiding writing a talk.)

Patriots Day For All

So, Patriots Day.

We got up and left at 3:50 am. We got to Lexington at about 4:15 because it turns out there's no one driving around at 4:15 am. We parked at the home of the parents of a girl in our ward and walked down to the green. And then we stood around and waited until 5:30.

The mayor or somebody has a megaphone and tells you what's going to happen. A church bell rings, signaling for the 20 or so rag-tag colonists to assemble. A guy starts calling orders. And then you stand there for another 20 minutes or so until you can hear this faint drumming. The British ARE coming!

Finally, you get a glimpse of the British troops marching along. And they line up on the green across from the colonists, who start to run away in fear. The Colonial captain yells at them to get back in line, and they do. And the British just keep coming; there's probably 75 of them. You really start to feel bad for those poor colonists! You know they're all just standing there waiting to "die".

The stand-off looked pretty much like this (this is someone else's picture)


The troops stand there for a few minutes, and then the British are ordered to raise their bayonets and start marching towards the colonists. Someone fires a shot, and then there's lots of shooting, and what I assume is good old-fashioned warfare. I say "assume" because I didn't see any of the actual fighting. No. After waiting for an hour and a half, I did not see the battle. I saw the troops assemble, heard a bunch of fighting, and then caught a glimpse of this:



And then the megaphone guy comes back and announces that almost all the colonists died; the ones that didn't die retreated. The British troops reassemble for a "Huzzah" victory shout, and then continue marching to Concord. Then the megaphone guy reads the names of all the men who died and one by one, the reenactors "rise from the dead" on the battlefield. I thought this was interesting, but most of the crowd did not, so it was hard to hear or see any of that either. Everyone was chit-chattering and rushing back to their cars.

It was a patriotic, New Englandy thing to do, but it also reminded me of my serious dislike for large crowds. Also, I'm just gonna say that I don't think people should bring their children who are too young to understand what's going on, or what the Revolutionary War is. It's 5 am and most people don't want to listen to your kids whine [and then cry] through the whole thing while you try to convince them to look at "those guys fighting." (I was really really surprised by the number of children age 5 and under that were at this thing...)

So there you have it. Now it's pretty much like you were there too.

the British are coming...

So... tomorrow is Patriot's Day in Massachusetts. It commemorates the beginning of the revolutionary war. Naturally, there are all sorts of reenactments of Paul Revere's midnight ride and the battles at Lexington and Concord.

Anne and I decided it would be fun to go out to Lexington to see the reenactment. It starts at 5.30 am. You have to be there at 4 for a spot.

It's 11 pm and the thought of getting up in 5 hours (then going to proctor ACTs and finish a paper, and then going to class) is making me think maybe this isn't such a great idea...

I better go to bed now.

can't sleep.

I told you I only post when things annoy me, and I tried to suppress it, but I can't.

I have roommates who are friends with a group of people that came over tonight. They proceeded to stand on our front deck, while being obnoxiously loud. I have to be up at 6.30 am tomorrow. It's almost 11. I can't sleep. I went out to go to the bathroom and the house reeks of cigarette smoke. I didn't know they're out there smoking/drinking with the screen door open. I am not ok with this. I am so not ok with it that I went up and asked one of them (as politely as I could) to close the door. They looked at me "Mean Girls"-style when you can tell Regina thinks someone is disgusting, but they did close it. And now the chatter continues on the porch.

I am kind of hoping our neighbors with small children will call the police for noise, because I would if it wouldn't be obvious that I was the one that did it. It annoys me 1) because cigarette smoke and noise are not my thing, which I realize is a personal preference, but also 2) we do not live in a trashy college neighborhood, and it annoys me that our neighbors are all probably also annoyed.

You know our neighbors right now are going "This neighborhood is going to pot with that rental house on the street..." I guess it annoys me because it's so cliche-- "young 20-somethings who think they're so cool" that they shouldn't have to follow standard rules of politeness.

Ok. Rant over. I really need to get to sleep. And I'll probably delete this post in a week when I decide I was being a little too grumpy. But seriously; I almost left to stay at Anne's when I smelled the smoke. And I am serious enough about it that I want to say something to my roommates, but I don't know what I'd say beyond "You guys are being inconsiderate and I don't like cigarette smoke" which would make me look like a jerk. So whatever.

Stomach, don't hate me!

I'm just realizing that tonight's dinner might not have been my best gastrointestinal choice.

I ate dinner left over from my birthday 9 days ago, cake left over from my birthday 8 days ago, and milk with a sell-by date of 3 days ago. First of all, don't judge me.

Second of all, everything tasted perfectly fine, but I guess if I get violently ill tonight, it will be hard to blame my digestive system.

ahappy birthaday

Dear fans, (and by fans I mean immediate family members)

Today was my birthday. I am starting to feel old.

I will now publicly thank you all for the: delicious breakfast, cake, pajamas (thankfully I think I'm set in this category for a while, although sadly some don't fit so there might have to be some trades), nail polish, singing cards, balloon, etc. For the record, I did not appreciate the: mobs at Texas Roadhouse or the rain, but I'm pretty sure none of you had anything to do with that, so it's ok.

Also, Megan informs me I am late to the crackle nail polish party, but I don't care because I think it's pretty cool.

Anyway. I wish you all were in one place so I could have had a big, loud, obnoxious party. Mom and Dad sang happy birthday to me when we had cake and I said, "This must be how only children feel." I am glad I was not an only child; everything would have been so boring.

Anyway- it's late now, so I'm done. But thanks for a happy birthday everyone. And just think Megan-- after the next 24 years pass, we'll be 48 years old!! Ewwww that's weird.

"Why I'll Never Wash My Hands Again" or "The Most Expensive Minute Of My Life"

Well hello.

I've been delaying writing on here because when I want to, it's usually because something has happened that's annoyed me. And I figure some of you probably get tired of reading about everything that makes Mollie annoyed (which, it turns out, is kind of a long list). But this one just can't go undiscussed.

It all started when I drove back to Boston on Saturday morning. I went to Anne's house and we hung out for a while until it was time for me to go to my church basketball game. So.. I drove to the church and parked on Appian Way where the Ed. School is. I hastily shoved my 4 quarters into the meter, checked my watch ("I have to be back at the car by 2:07") and ran to the building because I was late.

We played the game and lost, no thanks to me. (Ok, I admit, I am not very good at basketball, which shouldn't come as any big surprise to any of you. And my team really really wanted to win. Well, we were up by 1 and they passed me the ball to wait out the last 15 seconds, and someone stole it from me and made a basket. So we lost. Not that it's my fault or anything. I don't even care, but I know other people on the team do, so oh well.) Anyway. The game got over and I ran back to the car.

My meter said 2 minutes. My watch said I had about three. But I really had to pee. I was parked right in front of the library, and they have a bathroom on the first floor about 20 feet inside the door. I took about three seconds to contemplate: "I could put another quarter in to be safe, but I'm wasting time thinking about this, and if I just hurry I can be in and out before my time is up." If I was a few seconds over, no big deal.

WRONG. I ran (and when I say "ran", I mean "ran") in, did my business, washed my hands, and ran back out to see a meter maid walking away from my car and a parking ticket on my windshield. I could not have been more than 60 seconds over the time, and he had stalked the meter so he could slap a ticket down right when it got to zero; he would not talk to me about it. When I said, "Wait. I am less than one minute over!" he just walked away. I mean, he couldn't have checked the two cars parked behind me before stopping to give me a ticket? Not even a thirty second grace period?

*sigh* I was so angry I was shaking. I mean, I know it's his job, but really? He saw me running out and he tried to walk faster to get away from my car before I noticed. Time stamped on the ticket: 2:08.

And that, my friends, is why hand-washing is over-rated. If only I didn't feel it necessary to follow standard rules of cleanliness, I would have run out of there with reckless abandon and my dirty hands and would have avoided the stupid ticket. I could have even opted for the no-touch hand sanitizer on my way out of the building, and I still would have avoided the ticket. I mean, if I was a man, I would have made it back in no time. (Do you think I can try to argue giving me a ticket was sexist?) *sigh*

Oh, and how much is the pesky ticket, you ask?

Twenty-five dollars.

Yeah, most expensive minute of my life. I wanted to just leave my car there for the rest of the day to get my money's worth, but I had places to go. I was hoping I'd calm down about it after a few days, but it still makes me mad. I have half a mind to explain the story to them, include a check for $10 and say, "Here, that's me being GENEROUS!" But somehow I don't think that will fly.

So anyway. That's it for now-- until something else annoys me enough to warrant a new post.

More school. But seriously professor, you're killing me.

Ok, I know I whine about school more than I should, but... I have a class this semester where we are each assigned two weeks to post on a "discussion board" about our reading for the week, and she's very strict about "demonstrating that you've read all the material".

Well, my first week to post is coming up, so I thought maybe I'd get a head start on the reading, and...

there are TWO HUNDRED AND THREE pages assigned. TWO HUNDRED AND THREE.

My heart rate has increased just thinking about it. I am feeling a combination of annoyed, frustrated, and defeated. Grrr.

What I've Been Doing for 2 Years

Well, for my three or so devoted readers, I thought you might enjoy knowing what I'm learning. My program name is a little ambiguous, though most of you already know I will be a licensed school counselor at the end of the year. But in case you're wondering what types of things licensed school counselors have to know, here is a list of my coursework from the last two years...

Last Year:
-Risk and Resilience in Social Contexts from Birth to Young Adulthood: Strategies of Prevention and Intervention
-Childhood Trauma: Dynamics, Interventions, and Cross-Cultural Perspectives
-Pre-Practicum: Developmental Interventions for Adolescents in School and Community Settings: Frameworks for Counseling and Prevention
-Preventative and Developmental Group Counseling
-Individual Counseling and Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents
-Theories and Methods of Child/Adolescent Cognitive and Psychological Assessment
-Practicum: Developmental Interventions for Adolescents in School and Community Settings: Frameworks for Consultation, Leadership, and Systemic Change
-Moral Adults: Moral Children. (To teach, or not teach, morality/values/integrity in schools.)

This Year:
-Developmental Psychology: Psychology of Early Childhood
-Practicum 1 + 2: Theory, Practice, and Technique in working with Children, Adolescents, and Families
-Adolescent Literature
-Introduction to Educational Research
-Critical Issues in Special Education Policy and Practice
-Legal and Ethical Issues in Child Advocacy
-Issues of Diversity in Cross-Cultural Counseling and Advocacy
-Building Connections from School to Career

I don't know why Harvard insists on super long course names, but they do. And now you know.

(Classes for Spring semester start on Monday and I am blogging to avoid the reading, ok?)

I'm sorry, the cafeteria is that way...

[[general whine about a girl eating lunch next to me in the library]]

Also, I have officially started the job hunt; I have been searching for positions and starting applications. I take my licensing exam in two weeks. This is all terrifying, FYI.

roar

today has been a weird day of miscalculating my strength.

earlier tonight i was putting on my pajamas and pulled the drawstring and it broke. it broke! just like that- i pulled off half and was so surprised that i stood there before tying them back together.

then i got in bed and pulled on the tag of my comforter to straighten it out because it was all crumpled, and it came off!

this is weird, especially because we all know i have the arm strength of larry the cucumber.

also, got my fall grades back. and i think the fact that i got straight As says more about my professors than it does about me...

never try to plan ahead.

Someday I will write a witty and entertaining blog post that will make you all remember how grateful you are to be my friends. Hah.

Until then, I'm just going to say this:

Last week, I spent part of my Christmas break doing reading for my J-term class. What is J-term? It's January- term at Harvard. Actual school doesn't start again until Jan. 23ish, so you can take 1/2 credit J-term classes in between.

Mine starts tomorrow and meets 3 days a week for 3 hours each for the next two weeks.

I thought I'd be a good little student and do my reading ahead of time, despite my usual tendency to procrastinate and worry about things the night before they're due. I thought I was making a responsible choice. I thought I was saving myself time and stress, so I wouldn't go into this class hating it before it even started.

Until the professor emailed us over the weekend- a NEW SYLLABUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The class starts TOMORROW and you decide NOW is a good time to update your syllabus?!? He added 92 pages of reading for the first day of class... REALLY?!?



I hate you. HATE you.



So this should be an enjoyable two weeks for me...