Feb 16 & 17: Happiness

Disney Princesses: Belle by bunni711 featuring metallic gold shoes

Feb 16: Jamie came over today and we stopped by the library to drop off some movies we had, plus a game we had gotten out - Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the Wii.  I wasn't very good at it, but it was pretty fun.  Tough on the thumbs, though.  We picked out some more movies, and they all ended up being superhero movies.  We got The Green Lantern, Captain America, and X-Men First Class.

We had some delicious chocolate chip waffles for dinner and watched a bunch of tv.  When we were leaving to go back to his house, we accidentally dropped my leftover Valentine's chocolate in a mud puddle.  It was pretty funny - saved me some calories.  (That, kids, is sarcasm!)

I got all of chapter 10 labs done for networking.  I can't believe that class ends next week.  Then I pick up two more - ugh.  I found out what I got on my directions paper, too.  It was a B (with the 10% off), but that's what I was expecting.  I'm glad it wasn't worse.

Feb 17: Today was a good day.  James and I just hung out and had fun all day.  I did get chapter 11 labs done today, so it wasn't all fun and games.  James got a bunch of work done, too.  We watched some tv, including an episode of The Office that we missed.  It was pretty funny.  I have a bunch of 30 Rock episodes to catch up on (like 4).

I've been reading my book (The Help) more and I really like it so far.  I'm always happy when I have a good book to read.  Generally, I pick good ones to read, but sometimes I end up with flops like The Pelican Brief (just your standard "thriller" book).  I hope that if I ever write a book I don't settle for writing generic crap just so I can make more money.  (I'm not saying that particular book was crap, though.  It was just mediocre.)  I find that popular authors often start cranking out pretty terrible books after a while.  I think it's because you have as much time as you need to write the first one, and then you only have so long to write other ones after that.  I think the pressure of the contract and coming up with a great idea in such a short span of time is just a recipe for a pretty unimpressive book.  I think if I ever really did write a good book, I might never sign on for more because then the subsequent books would just plain suck.  I'm not that great at coming up with good book ideas on the fly - especially ones with well-developed plot lines and characters.  That's what makes so many books by popular authors bad.  I think it's also what makes so many popular movies bad - they just don't have enough time to formulate a great story line and character progression.  I would rather write an amazing book than be rich for writing a bunch of sub par books.  I'm on a tangent, though.

We had some Burger King for dinner, but we had a long wait before his parents got home form grocery shopping.  They also had to pick up Jamie's nephew (yeah, it happens pretty much every week!)  We were pretty hungry, though, but I ate some of that new Krave cereal with the chocolate inside.  It was pretty delicious.  Burger King was really good (we got some chicken sandwiches because they're on sale now, plus those new fries which I pretty much love!) but I did get sick off of it.  Fast food is just not a great thing to eat.  We probably won't eat out very often once we get our own place, but I'm not going to complain.

We watched The Green Lantern while we ate.  It was alright; it wasn't terrible.  I think it suffered from the same lack of development that I was talking about before.  Plus, I looked up some Green Lantern stuff after it was over, and apparently Parallax was originally the name Hal Jordan took after he became a villain.  I guess in later comics it was the personification of fear, kind of like in the movie.  I wonder why they chose that name, though.  It's actually an astronomy term, but I think they probably chose it because it sounds cool.

Jamie's parents picked us up some snacks, including my fav m&ms (peanut butter!)  I didn't eat them, though, on account of my being ridiculously full from dinner.  I shall save them, though.  Mmmmm...

Jamie is sitting next to me looking at memes on reddit.  He bursts out laughing periodically while I'm typing this.  He's so cute.  <3  I'm gonna go cuddle him and look at the funny pictures he's laughing at.  Goodnight!

Love,
Christen

Feb 14 & 15: Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Outfit by bunni711 featuring a reversible coat

Feb 14: I wasn't able to spend Valentine's Day with James, but we are planning on celebrating over the weekend.  I'm pretty excited about it, too.  Today I spent a lot of time on Polyvore making outfits.  I also hung out with Teddy and watched some tv.  I took care of some of the Valentine's candy my mom bought today.  I did talk to James today, like I do every day we aren't together.  I still miss him, though.  Everyone is feeling romantic today.

I finished my book tonight before I went to sleep.  It turned out to be pretty good.  This is how I rated it:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews





I wish it hadn't taken me so long to finish, but I've been really busy lately.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any work done today, but to be honest, I really need some time off!  I have an easier week this week, but I'm going to get started on some work tomorrow.

Feb 15: Today I got up and actually started organizing my room.  Yes, we moved a while ago (was it December?  I can't remember), but I'm not home all the time and I've had a lot of work.  Also I was being lazy about it, geez!  But I got a lot done today - organizing papers and such and getting stuff set up all pretty on my bookshelf.  I listened to a bunch of music today, too.  I took a nap after lunch because I'd been working all morning and listened to music after I got up.  I've had Adele's Rolling in the Deep song stuck in my head.  I listened to a little bit of the album, but wasn't taken with it (I only listened to like 2 other songs), but don't worry! I'll give it a shot.  I have, more than once, listened to an album the first time and hated it, then went back and listened again only to fall in love with it.

I watched a movie on tv earlier with Lindsey Lohan in it.  It's the one where she goes to live with her grandma.  It was alright.  Later, I started this book:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett








It's good so far.  It's actually written from the point of view of the lady who does the housework and takes care of the kids - "The Help", if you will.  But yes,  it is good so far.

I've been working on some JavaScript, too.  We're learning how to make drop down menus. I'm pretty excited about it.  I also saw that in the cases for the chapter, it shows you how to make a hanjie puzzle - which is a Japanese picture puzzle like in the game Picma on Kongregate.  I would love to learn how to make that game!  Plus, I need to look up some more of those; they are so addictive!

We had taco pizza for dinner - it was sooo good!  Then we watched Rio on blu-ray on my laptop.  (Me, mom, and dad - with Teddy napping nearby).  It was really cute.  I think Jesse Eisenberg is pretty funny, but of course I loved him in The Social Network.  That was a great movie.  Well, I gotta go call James back (it's getting late - I always write late at night!)  I miss him.  He's coming back over tomorrow, though.  I can't wait to see him!

Love,
Christen

Feb 12 & 13: Finally a Break

Purple Converse Outfit by bunni711 featuring beaded jewelry

Feb 12: I had so much work to get done today.  I decided to do the other JavaScript project since I was having so much trouble with the first one.  It ended up being a really good decision.  I had a much better time working with the other project and got it done in pretty good time.  It went pretty smoothly, too.  It was a slow going day because I've been really tired and more than a little burned out from this week.

James and I watched the Grammys and I worked on the two quizzes for networking.  It was a little difficult to concentrate.  The Grammys were pretty interesting.  There were a lot of weird acts, though - like Nicki Minaj.  I don't even know what was up with that.  Bon Iver won best new artist, though!  I'm so excited because he's one of my absolute favs!!

I ended up starting my networking paper pretty late, but did get it in on time.  I was cutting it a bit close, though.  This class has a lot of work but none of it is very difficult.  I really hope the new classes that start next month won't have huge workloads because I'm feeling pretty overworked.  Thankfully, we don't have another paper due for tech writing until the middle of next month.  I need to start on it anyway, though, because it's a bigger project.  It's also worth something like 29% of our grade.

James is (hopefully) working on getting caught up this week while I'm at home.  He wasn't able to get last week's work done because of everything that was going on.  He was feeling pretty terrible for a while there, but I think the new medicine he got is starting to help some.  He should be able to get some of that work done now.

I'm so relieved that this week is over.  I still feel stressed even though I don't have a lot going on next week.  I think it's that feeling that there is always something coming up that I should be working on.

James bought some cool Converse online:

And I'm still lusting after these:

*drools*

Feb 13: James and I headed back to my house after two weeks at his house.  I'm really glad he is feeling better and I have been missing my Teddy bear.  It's nice to have some time to myself, as well.  Even so, I always miss James like crazy!

I've been exhausted all day.  I did get my laundry done, though, and James and I stopped by the library to pick up a book I had on hold:


The Help by Kathryn Stockett








I'm really excited to read it now, but I still have some more of Water for Elephants to get through.  I just haven't had much time to read lately.  Now I'm 2 books behind on my reading schedule, but I won't give up hope yet.  I'm going to try to finish this book while I'm at home.

After the library, we got some polar pops (which we haven't had in forever!).  Teddy was so glad to see us and I missed him so much!  We just watched tv and hung out with him.  I also made a bunch of outfits today on Polyvore (including the one at the top of this post).

James and I were talking about what to do for Valentine's Day and we might go up to Applebee's and the mall.  I don't really have any money to get him anything, but I do plan on making him a Valentine.  That's about all I can do.  I wish I had some money!  It will be fun to walk around the mall again, maybe look at some books and try on some shoes, like these:

If I had any extra cash, I would love to get those or the black and red ones.  But anyway, I'm just excited to go out for Valentine's Day with my honey!

Love,

Christen

Feb 10 & 11: Happy Birthday!

Valentine by bunni711 on polyvore.com

Feb 10: Today is Jamie's birthday!  I wish I had some money to get him something, but I came up with a silly idea and made some coupons for him for things like dates, picnics, kisses, etc.  It was silly but he liked it.  I wasn't able to do the surprise I had planned, but I can hopefully do it next year.

I found out that the tech writing prof decided to give me 10% off the assignment as per the policy.  She even has a note on the homework submission box that says you should make sure you leave enough time before 10pm to upload the homework or it will be late, so she really is pretty strict about it.  I was freaking out thinking she wouldn't even accept it, so I'm just relieved.

Jamie is not very good at getting everything he wants today!  He is so easy going; he just says he doesn't mind and asks me what I want.  I made him some eggs for dinner because I wanted to do stuff for him.  Plus, he made chocolate chip pancakes for me yesterday even though he couldn't have any (they would make the acid reflux worse).  He started taking that new medicine yesterday, but it is giving him headaches (that's one of the side effects).  I think it's so amazing that he doesn't complain even though he has all this stuff going on - all these aches and pains.  It makes me seem really complain-y in comparison (which I suppose I am - ugh).  He's just too lovable!

I didn't get much done today because I wanted to hang out with James on his birthday and do whatever he wanted.  We just hung out and watched tv and he played some video games.  It was a good day, though.  Other than that, I did get some networking homework done.

Feb 11: Today I finished up the labs for networking.  I just have a quiz and a short paper for that class and I have to do my JavaScript homework still.  I think I've been putting it off because I'm not sure how to approach it.  I had so much trouble with it last week that I'm not sure I will be able to get it done correctly.  I also have to reply to some discussion posts.  This has been a rough week.  I've been a little emotional, plus very stressed about what happened the other day with my directions paper (ugh!).  I'm okay about it now.  It seems like no big deal now that it's over.  I think the part that was hardest was just not knowing what was going to happen.  I'm going to just turn the papers in a day early from now on, I think.  Less worry and less chance of even coming close to the disaster of the other day.  Ugh!

We went up to the Eastwood Mall today.  It was pretty fun.  James and I wandered around and looked in some stores.  We went into Shoe Dept. and James was thinking of buying some PF Flyers.  He thought he could get them for cheaper online, so he didn't get them.  They seem to be more expensive, though.  I tried on some amazing high top converses that were black with red stitching that I want sooo bad.  They were $45 and I obviously have no money.  But I can still lust after them.  I also saw some pretty pointy shoes that were only $7.50, but they were super hard to walk in.

Then we looked in Bath & Body Works and I tried out some samples which smelled really good.  We also looked in a book store and a music store.  Then we met up with his parents and decided to get Chinese food from the place they go to in Jefferson instead of getting something from the food court or around the mall.  Jamie's nephew doesn't do well in sit down restaurants.

My food was delicious but I ate waaay too much.  Pretty good day, though, overall.  I'm going to have quite a bit of homework to get done tomorrow.

Love,
Christen

Feb 9: Freaking Out

Showstopper by bunni711 featuring wedding handbags

So, I'm not really going to write about my day in this post because I have something I really need to get off my chest.  I'm really upset right now and sitting up (it's 2am) worrying about this technical writing paper that was due today.  I had my directions written and done - I posted a first draft on the discussion boards two days ago and a revised one last night.  The teacher and one other person commented on them and I made the changes they suggested. I had everything done today and sat down earlier tonight to make some last changes before submitting it.  What ended up happening is that I was tweaking little things and making sure I had everything perfect (because I know how thorough the prof is when grading), when I realized that my homework was late.  Yes, folks - late.  I had been thinking all day that this homework was due at 11:59pm like all my other homework, but it was actually due at 10pm.  I was freaking out, crying, and practically having a conniption because I am pretty confident that she will not care much that I accidentally turned it in late.  The prof has a policy that if you turn it in late from 10:01pm up to 6 days after it's due, you get 10% off, assuming that she even takes the homework.  I am worried sick that she won't even accept it.  I'm worried because that means the end of my straight As and it makes me worried for the future because I obviously couldn't afford turning anything else in late on accident.

I know this sounds kind of silly.  I can recognize that, at least.  The thing is that I care a lot about my grades and this is really eating at me.  I'm not confident that she will take pity on me at all, even though I asked in my e-mail to her that she would forgive the mistake and grade it as if it had been on time.  She's very strict, though, so I'm just afraid it won't end well.  I hate that I'm so upset about it, but it's keeping me up thinking of all the things she might say and what I could say back.  It's so frustrating because I was just caught up in trying to make it perfect and didn't realize that the time it was due was different.  I would have had it in on time if I had remembered.  That's the part that is the most unfair, because I'm not sure that it matters at all to her that the reason it's late is not because I ran out of time or just didn't bother to write it before it was due.  It was late because I was stressed from the week and mistook the time it was due.  I was making simple little changes when the due date passed.  I'm talking words here.  I was going through the paper, trying to find out if I had used expletives and all these other things.  It kills me that it doesn't matter at all, even though my boyfriend has been sick and in the hospital, even though I have three other classes with tons of other homework, even though I had it done in time, even though I tried really hard and I've done well on all the other assignments.

Ugh!  I just don't know what to do.  I mean, I can't really do anything at this point except try to distract myself from thinking about it or imagining the worst possible outcomes.  Sorry for the grim (and possibly boring) post, but the blog is supposed to be about how "writing is cheaper than therapy" and I need to write about this to get over it.  Geez!  This semester is really kicking my butt, I'm telling you.  It's so unfair that one little mistake about the time could cost me my good grades and possibly get me a zero on this assignment.  You have to understand that there are only like eight assignments in this class.  No tests or quizzes.  I can't remember the exact number, but this paper is around 10% of my grade.  Man, it just sucks.

Anyway, thanks for bearing with me if you got this far.  I'm trying not to freak about this, but it's difficult for me.  Way too much of my identity is wrapped up in how well I do in school.  I know a B (or even an A-) in one class is not the end of the world, or really even a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it's hard for me to see right now.  I'm worried and it seems really unfair and I'm just going over in my head over and over how the conversation might go between the prof and myself.  I just hope that she is more understanding than I take her for.  Alright, enough of that.  It's not very grown-up of me to be so silly about this.  I do think I feel better about it, though, for writing it down.  I know it's not a big deal and I'll get over it.  I just have to hope for the best and keep perspective.  I let things wear me out too much.  I can't let it get to me.  Thanks for reading.

Love,
Christen