Wow, busy week

Ok, I should be reading An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding or whatever it's called, but I can't focus. I should read it because I'm on the 4th page or something... out of 90+. It just takes too long to break it down and take notes on it.

Anyway, Sunday, we went to the Dizon's for lunch. Twas fun! Good Filipino food. =)

Let's see... what interesting things happened to me this week...

* The Dunkin' Donuts in Raritan is run by Filipinos (at least they looked it).
* There is a Seventh Day Baptist Church on Route 202.
* The bird story.
* We had a surprise bday for Christy.
* I think I passed my midterm.
* I don't know if I passed my Church History exam, but I was up until 2:30 studying for it.

OH, here's a story...

I went to work on Friday and Jon called me into the office and told me my drawer from the previous night was $100 short. He said he turned the store upside down looking for it. He knows I didn't take it, but he has no idea where it went. I have no idea how it could have magically disappeared. There were no change transfers that night at all. ($20 for 20 $1's) But somehow, my drawer was short. I left at 8:30 and I clocked out of my register, which means only the key could open it. Jon felt awful about it. Unless it turns up, Jon will have to take it out of my pay check. Yes, it's a big cut out of my paycheck, but I'm not really upset. "A good name is to be desired above riches." I have a good name at work, even with the unconverted employees. The one team leader was talking to Jon and sticking up for me and kept insisting I wouldn't have taken it. I don't know if I ever actually said I was a Christian, but because they know I go to PBU and because of my language, even the ones I don't know very well know I'm different. So as I see it, I'll take the responsibility I have for my drawer, hope it turns up, but if not, it's ok -- because I have a good name. =)

* Friday afternoon, Elena, Colleen and I went to the library to get a movie. Then we got the idea to go to Elena's house and get her dogs and walk them in the park. Sadly, the dogs were not home. So we went for a walk anyway. I was depressed because I didn't have my camera and it was BEAUTIFUL outside. And then we found a turtle. It was a nice 2 mile walk around a big pond.... and Elena and I chased geese. Then we got back and went to Sun Wah and got Chinese food! We watched "State Fair" which is a musical. It had a cheesy storyline, but it was funny at parts. Elena fell asleep in the middle and woke up in time to see the end and pronounce it "A good story!!!"

* I had to work at 8:30 today. This kid, Joe, wanted to get out of working because he wanted to go to the shore with his girlfriend. He kept calling us (the other employees) during the week and finally Tiffany and I decided that I could take Tif's 8:30 shift, but only work until 12:30 and then she would fill in the 12:30-3 vacancy along with Joe's 3:00-10:00 shift. I had never served breakfast before and was not used to the breakfast menu on the register. Oh well. We barely had any customers and I read Truett Cathy's autobiography. I actually read the entire book, except for the last 3 readers. Jason was amazed. "Do you like read mad fast?!"

* Speaking of "mad," one guy asked me for "mad ketchup and mad mayo." Haha. How stupid is that. Ahh, the English language. Oh and another guy asked me to "cow size" his meal.

* After work, Danae, Chris, Janita, and I went to New Hope. There was an arts and crafts festival. That part was kinda boring. We had more fun walking around and embarrassing Janita by taking crazy pictures. And then when we crossed the bridge from Lambertville to New Hope, we started hopping on bouncing, making a lot of noise, and making Janita really embarrased. That was fun. We have a lot of pics and I'll post them in a slideshow sometime.

So that was my week and I need to read or something.. ugggghhh. I'm too tired!!! This next week will be ok, but the week after that will kill. I have another Dr. A exam on Monday, a PE quiz on Tuesday, a paper due on Tuesday, a rough draft lesson plan due on Tuesday, a midterm on Thursday, a lesson plan on Thursday................. yeah. Pretty much gonna die.

A story

Today, I was peacefully walking to class. The sun was shining. The sky was a clear blue. The trees were bending as the wind swept across them. Other students were coming out of their classes. I had my head bent as I was folding my gum wrappers and suddenly, as if by magic, a little squirt of what looked like mustard appeared on my thumb. I looked up. No bird. But some sort of creature must have left a little present on my thumb. The End.

Epilogue: To this day, I shall wonder what sort of creature it was. It made my day. I went around laughing afterwards.

=========================
A diamante to make you depressed:

Summer
Sunny, warm
Running, playing, sleeping
then the weather changes
Freezing, chilling, shivering
Cold, dark
Winter

Thank you. The End.

La la la...

I am sitting here in an oversized t-shirt (very oversized... it's Andy's) updating my blog rather than studying. I have 2 quizzes and 2 exams (one of which is a midterm) next week, so I probably should not be doing this. But I am. Oh wait, 3 quizzes and 2 exams.

Anyway, the MuKappa cabinet (minus Irene who was working) went to the Kellaris's (our MuKappa advisors) for dinner. Ahh, good food. And Tucker, the dog, is very cute. We ate quickly because Ariel and Rachel had to go to the Symphony Orchestra concert that night. I got back and attempted to study until Elena and Allie popped in my room followed by Colleen. Allie disappeared and Colleen and I forced Elena into coming to the gym with us to exercise. (We have lately taken to going to the gym late at night and exercising..... or playing with the weight machines.)

This is Elena on my bed attempting to reach her nickel which was on Meghan's bed.

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Ashleigh, Rachael, and Meghan play basketball almost every single night at around 10:30. Ashleigh has been trying to get me to play and I haven't because they do it so late. Ash managed to persuade me to play last night, so Elena and I went to the gym and played. I hadn't played since I was 8. It was actually a lot of fun, even if I don't know any of the rules and can't shoot for the life of me.

Work today was ok. I was dying to go home, though. I have a cold... and the day before, I worked while having asthma. Because I seldom need it, I never carry my inhaler around. The only time I get it is if I get a cough. Soooo... yeah. I left 15 minutes early, but it took me 20 minutes to get back anyway because of the construction by the railroad tracks. But I managed to get my inhaler and then I could breathe again. Now it's still deep in my chest and a bit in my nose. Brian (one of the team leaders) was picking on me at work and then he found out I was sick and said, "So no wonder you are so quiet!"

I should get to studying now. Oh yes, my favorite quote of the week:
"I'm turning 20, but I act my shoe size." -- Elena (I think her shoe size is 7)

Tuesday we had circuit training in PE. Twas fun. We had different stations and had to do each activity for 20 seconds and then move on to the next. My favorite was hopping over cones. Bounce, bounce, bounce. Haha. But now I'm all sore because I dragged Elena down to the gym to exercise after my philosophy class. We were also trying out all the weight machines. I figured out how to weight myself on this one machine. You are supposed to pull the bar down, but instead we just hung from it.

What else... work today started out pretty relaxing, but then suddenly bang and there was a non-stop line for an hour and a half. The problem with working Wednesday and Friday is I work the lunch rush.

Ministry was fine. Grace and Chris were sick, so after getting slightly lost, Janita and I finally made it to our ministry.

The weekend was nice and warm and now it's cold! I suppose the leaves will change soon after this. That or it will get nice and warm again.

I am now reading Discourse on Method. It is better than The Republic. I kind of gave up on The Republic. I'll look for notes on it and read those instead because I have no clue what The Republic was about. Class last night was super boring. Mr Harmon wasn't feeling too well, and he wasn't teaching very well either. It picked up after 8pm. Then the last 20 mins of class were spent arguing the stupidity of Plato's thoughts. Mr Harmon said, "This is the most ridiculous class ever!" I guess he isn't used to a Christian school where people pick apart everything in light of the Bible. When we get to the section on apologetics, it should be interesting.

I have had a pretty relaxing week. I am trying to keep up on stuff, though, because next week I have 2 quizzes, a mid-term, and an exam. Yikes. Surprisingly, although I feel like I never know anything for Dr A's class, my quiz grades are still in the 90's.

Speaking of exams, my life goes down starting next week.

Week of 9/25 -- Math midterm, Church History exam
Week of 10/9 -- Integ. Lang. Arts Exam, Children's Lit midterm
Week of 10/24 -- Philosophy midterm
Week of 10/30 -- Church History Exam
Week of 11/13 -- Math Final

And then I have teaching labs and a unit and lesson plans and all that good stuff.

Did I mention I got a raise? Too bad it's my 2 and a half hour job. They probably did it because I don't work that much and because they want me to stay for next summer too. Hahaha. But hey, a raise is a raise.

The promised slideshow

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Miss me???

I got tired of reading "The Republic" (Book 7) for the 4th time without comprehending a single thing other than the cave analogy. Blaaaaaah. Icky.

So let's see... what have I been doing. Um...


* I went to the Luau at Dr. Babb's and afterwards, a bunch of us girls walked to Rita's.
* That's when I met Elena... things have never been the same since. *cough* Let's just say we make an interesting pair.

* One night, Chris got the idea to go to MacDonald's in our pajamas. We only went through the drive-thru.

OK, I am not liking how the pictures can't be dragged down the page, so it's a pain. I'll make a slideshow instead....

Anyway,
* I had a bad day last Tuesday. I had sooo much due and I thought I pretty much flunked 3 quizzes. The one quiz, which was Dr A's and therefore scary, I thought I had failed. Heh.. I got a 95. Her other quiz on Thursday I ended up with a 90. So woot.

* In relation to the bad day Tuesday, I walked down the wrong hall twice. How stupid is that. I walked all the way down the hall and wondered why Christy's RA schedule was on the end of the hall... and when I opened the door I realized it was Christy's room. Haha. Funny. Then the same day, I walked down MY hall and knocked on what I thought was Elena's door and it was Amanda's door and I was in my hall. How stupid. Funniness. The next day I walked down Christy's hall, but I caught myself before I made a fool of myself again.

* Friday we had MuKappa. We greatly missed Cindy, Joe, and Benaiah. Sniff... but we got to meet several new MK's. One girl is from Cyprus! Her name is Jennifer, but Ariel got in the habit of calling her "Cyprus" and I've gotten into the habit.

* After a break of about 2 hours, I am back. I went out with Danae. We went to WalMart cuz she had some major shopping to do and then we went to get ice cream. Twas fun.

* Integrated Lang. Arts today was fun. I was having way too much fun with my slate. Heh.

* It's late and I don't have time to make a slideshow. Maybe tomorrow. There was probably a lot more I could have said right now, but I'm too tired. Byeness

I wrote a song....

I wrote a song in philosophy class. Sing to the tune of "Think of Me" from "Phantom of the Opera"

Think with me,
Think with me deeply,
Let's philosophize!
Remember me
Trying to think and
Trying not to cry!
Recall those days,
Look back on all those times
When classes used to be such fun!
Oh please get me out of here,
Professor Thom Harmon!

Such a procrastinator

I didn't get any work done on Friday. I have homework to do now. I want to update though. But I'm tooooo tired! It's the thought that counts. I'm going to read some more Plato before going to bed. Byebye.

A note from the busy one

"I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process. . . It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?" -- Anonymous

I am very busy and yesterday I got no homework done because watching Chris do low lights on Katie's hair was too distracting. I have class in 20 minutes too.

Dispensationalism is dying. Mr Field (aka the PBU heretic... along with Schnittjer who says he's 2 inches away from being covenant) was talking about the different kinds of dispensationalism. Which reminds me, Dad, are there kinds of covenant theology? Because there's classical dispen, revised dispen, progessive dispen, and ultra dispen. Good grief. Anyway, Mr Field said, "Progressive dispensationalism is moving much closer to its rival, covenant theology." So how come dispensationalism keeps changing?!?! So yeah.. it must be dying. I think Dr Master is the only remaining classical dispen in the school. My theory is that if a prof has white hair, he's closer to classical. The younger the profs are, the more prone they are to progressive dispen and very close to reformed. I saw Nick after class and talked to him about it. He has now moved from Arminian ("I see what Wesley was trying to say, but now I don't really go with it...") to Presbyterian.

Bye.

An update! Finally!

This could be lengthy...

First of all, I hate spending money. I had to buy MORE school related things this morning. For those interested, I bought BOOKS. FIVE books. And none were used so I payed full price. *whines* The only compensation is that Kait might buy some of them off me. And anyone else who wants to buy the books from me when I'm done with them, the titles are:

Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume
Discourse on Method, Third Edition by Rene Descartes
The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russel (New Introduction by John Perry)
The Five Dialogues, Second Edition by Plato
The Myth of Sisyphus (and other essays) by Camus (AND I JUST DISCOVERED I COULD HAVE SAVED SOME BY GETTING IT ON HALF.COM!!! NOOOO!!!)

Also I bought a very cool Math manipulatives kit. I am very excited about it. There are overhead cuisinaire things for geometric shapes, cuisinaire rods, and LOTS of other stuff. I can't wait to use it.

Alright, about school:

My first class (Integrated Language Arts) Monday night was canceled because the grad students didn't show up. It's a mixed grad/undergrad class. So Dr A canceled it, which means we have to teach our lesson during finals week.

I have Children's Literature this semester. I LOVE IT. I like Mrs Minto too. I got way too excited reading the textbook because it mentioned all the books I love. I realized I haven't let go yet -- I still read almost only children's books when I want to read a good book. Hehe. We had to list our top 10 favorites and people were struggling to come up with 5. I had 17. Hehe. I'm very sad because all my wonderful books are back home. Anyway, we have a lot to do in that class, but it looks really fun. One project we have year round is very interesting but I'm not going to tell you about it because it might involve you and that would ruin the fun.

I have physical fitness for half a semester. Mrs Hui is funny. I forgot she had such a good memory and knew exactly who I was. She called on me in the middle of class and I was just staring at her for a while trying to think of what to say. With a school this small, the professors get to know and remember the upperclassmen. (The only reason Mrs Hui knows me is because I went to the Asian Sisters meetings... or at least one of them.) The first class, we watched a video on osteoperosis and were all inspired to drink milk. The next class, we ran or walked around the gym 13 times (to equal a mile) to the music of praise and worship and then veggie tales. Very interesting... We were supposed to walk briskly -- so I walked my usual pace. Haha!!! Then when I had to calculate the Vo2 or whatever it was, I was way off the chart. Sooo either I did something really wrong in my calculations, or I'm just amazingly in shape (which is probably not true). Mrs Hui didn't believe Karen and I walked one mile in 13 minutes. (I can walk uphill from Essex County College in 12, so....) Whatever.

I went to Lit and Arts 1 on Tuesday, and right after class, I dropped it. Tsk, tsk. It reminded me sooo much of my English Comp class. The professor who was teaching it was not the most amazing professor ever. She even started to say, "I'm running out of things to say..." She's an easy A, but I'd rather learn something and be interested than get an easy A. Well, before the long story, I must back up. Because Integrated Language Arts is a 2 credit course, it should not go for 3 hours. However, because it is a mixed grad/undergrad section, it is down in the computer system as a 3 credit course. Dr A said she'd let the undergrads out earlier than the grads. That meant I could take the night Lit and Arts class with Dr (Dr???) Mellon who is apparently very interesting. (Her sister is a freshman in my dorm -- their MKs from France.) BUT, Steve Schlenker wouldnt allow us to take it because the computer system shows an overlap. (STUPID STUPID COMPUTERS!!!) Dr A went in and tried to fight it, but Dr Schlenker couldn't do it. SO, fast forward to Tuesday. After the class that was positively awful, (Ben, who was in that well-remembered English class with me, said English was worse, but this was still pretty close... but then called me chicken for dropping it) I went to find Dr A who had just come out of her Teaching Math in the Elementary School class. I told her that Dr Schlenker didn't allow me to add the Lit and Arts night class and asked her if there was any other option. She told me about how she tried to fight for it and it didn't work. One option was to stay enrolled in her night Integrated Lang Arts class but go to her morning one, which would get around the computer system. However, I have a class at that time. So... that was not an option. The other option was to stay in the Lit and Arts class and go to the night class. However, it is usually not a problem if it's the professor, but this time it's two different professors. (Did I lose you yet?) Anyway, to make a long story short, Dr A suggested I drop Lit and Arts, take it next semester and try to get into a different class, and in place, take Teaching Math in the Elementary School. So, then I had to buy another book. I bid for it on Ebay and got it for cheaper than 100 so that was good. At least with my education books, although very pricey, they sometimes go for two classes, and they also are books I'd want to hang out to all throughout teaching. The math book is very interesting and Dr A's classes are always so fun.

So about this math class. We're learning how to teach reform math which is different than the traditional math. It's a lot of why math works and has to do with much hands-on and discovery. If I had been taught this way, I would know sooo much more and I would actually understand it! And it's actually kinda fun. That is why I liked Math Concepts -- it wasn't until college that I realized why I was doing what I was doing. Dr A of course makes the class extremely fun. We had to use slates in class last time. Yaaay! Slates! Her first class involved gold fish and everyone got to eat them in the end. (Unfortunately I was sitting in the Lit and Arts class at that time.) I was actually wait-listed for this math course, but when Dr A rescued me, she forced me into her class above the other wait-listed ones. When I went to the registrar's office to add it, the person doing it didn't want to because I was waitlisted, but Dr Schlenker came in and told her that Dr A is the head of something and "if Dianne said force her in, force her in!"

Ok, so that is why I have a very cool manipulatives kit. I'm very excited to teach... and after day care, I can imagine my day care kids into everything, rather than guessing. I think I'll probably be doing some lesson experimenting on them this semester... =) Too bad the kindergarteners and up go to Wilson during the day. I'll have to perform my experiments on 4-year-olds. =(

I have Church History too. It looks interesting, but it might kill my GPA. I don't test well. He has only 3 exams in the class, and they are worth 75% of the grade. There are only 50 questions on them. Then there is a 2-page reflection paper on Acts which is worth 25% of the grade. AND he is grading that on pass/fail. *dies*

And of course I must not forget my philosophy class. There is a new professor who had been teaching at Widener for several years. He's an alumni of PBU and is looking forward to teaching philosophy from a Biblical perspective and be able to be much freer about it than he had been at Widener. He's pretty young and I think it might be interesting, although I'm not much of a great thinker and three hours of it "bites" (to use Stef's words). I spent about 4 hours reading 3 chapters in a very short book called Uses and Abuses of Arguments. My head was swimming. Much as I hate to think, PBU has taught me how to think. I'm just freaking out about the quiz. What makes it hard is that the book is on reserve, so I have to stay in the library for 2 hour periods to read it. (It can't leave the library and it has to be back at the desk in 2 hours.) So that class should be interesting... even if the books put me to sleep.

I have seen people around here and there. We're all scattered around now, so there are lots of people I haven't seen yet. I visited Miss Mac in the office and delivered her her mango chips... which today she was passing around the School of Ed office. (She said they were having "merienda." =D) I also said goodbye to Katie Gregg who is soon not going to be Gregg anymore. Ariel visted me in my room yesterday and we had a really good talk. I love that girl and I don't see much of her.

The cafeteria has improved very slightly. It looks better at least. I do like the unlimited part... I get to go to meals at very odd hours and then the cafeteria is empty. Yay!!! I met Rachel for dinner so we could talk about MuKappa... and then Andy and his strange gottee joined us.

We had a dorm meeting last night and it was pretty boring because we had to listen to all the same things we had to listen to last year. I can't believe Christy is one of my RA's... She did a pretty good job with Kara leading the meeting. There are a lot of girls in the dorm that I still don't know their names. The icebreaker and get-to-know-you stuff was done during WOW, so all of us sophomores were not introduced. Room check has changed a bit. Freshman still have it twice a week. Upperclassmen have it once a week and if there are no room violations for 4 weeks, it moves to every other week. And beds do not have to be made. (Which, in my opinion, is very stupid!!!) I still make my bed... and I'm on the top bunk. I make it before I even get down... because I discovered a very simple method of doing it. Also, white slips have changed. The first room violation results in a $5 fee and a talk with the RA's. Last year, the first white slip was a warning. Pooooor freshmen. There were a few other rules that changed slightly, but I don't remember them. Oh yes, you are allowed to have toasters in your room this year. Amazing isn't it. But I don't need a toaster. So anyway.

I called Chick-fil-A yesterday. Jon answered and said "Did Beth call you?" So they had already been looking for me. I feel so loved. HAHA!!! But anyway, he's supposed to call me about my work schedule next week and he said he'll try to make it very consistent so that I know exactly how to use my study time. I also get all Saturdays in October off except the first because my parents are coming to visit. I also got a call from the Orchard School. I was afraid they needed me to come in early or something! All Tracie needed was information on money parents had given for lunches. (I also kept track of that.)

After Chick-fil-A informs me what night I have to work, I will then pick my ministry. I'm not doing inner-city this year. I'm either going to do AWANA or a ministry at the Presby church down the street. All it is is keeping preschoolers-3rd graders busy with crafts and stuff while the parents are in prayer meeting.. or something.

I do have pictures of my room, but it's basically the same as last year, except I didn't really decorate other than pictures on the bulletin board. Too much hassle to decorate. I am bringing back a giant Superman poster for my wall though -- for the sake of Kait. I think I'll put it up, take a picture, and then take it down... hehe. But actually, it's pretty funny, so I might leave it up.

You know what's weird? Seeing so many people that I don't know!!!

Last night I went to bed around 1ish. I made the mistake of drinking coffee and then I was wide awake... and I started talking to someone online for a while too.

Ok, this is long enough. Have fun. Bye.