Aqua Regia

But I sure feel close.

I am in the throes of finals as of tomorrow morning. But soon. Sooooooooon. This semester will finally be over.

Although my break is already so packed with things it almost makes school look more relaxing. XD
Like ohai 16+ hours of CVS/pharmacy computer training! Someone please put me out of my misery now.

It always feels good to be done with finals, even if I'm usually near death by the end. :) I've gotten grades back from (and passed) three of the five classes - still waiting on the last two, which I don't think will be a problem, but one never knows. I really studied hard for these finals - harder and more in depth than I think I've ever studied for finals before. I have to say I felt better prepared going into this round than I have previously. Now, if only I could motivate myself to really stay on top of all the studying throughout the year - that would be an accomplishment!

As usual, my diet has been hell in the last couple of weeks (too many energy drinks and coffee), along with most of the rest of my life outside of school. Time to try and eat healthy again!

Also the computer is dead again. I dropped it off at the tech office to try and get it updated and have them run the usual tests for corruption and viruses. However, when I went to pick it up after the final, they said it would be ready in about another hour. So, I took off to Borders where I picked up some books (looking for Silvermist and the Ladybug Curse but they only had a beat up copy, so I bought the easy-reader books The Great Fairy Race and The Fairy Berry Bake-off as well as The Rose Bride from the "Once Upon a Time" series).

So when I got back to the tech office, the computer had basically gone into meltdown after they tried to install Service Pack 1. So I am now writing to you from the family computer (joy - no privacy! XD) It should be ready to be picked up on Monday again, and may actually be totally replaced, but that remains to be seen.

But it doesn't really matter because the family and I are gone this weekend to visit my brother anyway. We're going to spend the night tomorrow in San Jose/Santa Cruz and enjoy the ocean and some nice dining and shopping. Should be a fun way to unwind (I of course will take a few books that have lain unfinished these last several weeks!)

I hope to just really relax over this 1.5 week break before the next semester begins (yes, another semester over the summer...x_x). I'd like to write the Fallon/Tamara origin fic for Jewel Riders (unfortunately, the notes are on the dead comp, so I won't be getting them back until Monday afternoon), catch up on my piano, read at least two books, and watch a ton of stuff (both movies and series). I also downloaded the old DOS game "The Legend of Kyrandia." Did any of you ever play that? It was my favorite computer game when I was a kid, and I'm really excited to get to play it again!

Oh, and I'm crossing my fingers that my number doesn't get called in this week for Jury Duty.

And that's all, folks.

Yes, I am in fact done with my first full semester of pharmacy school. Only seven more to go! >_<

I'm seriously dead, having basically lived on coffee (I believe I've mentioned before how much I'd love to have the Caffeine Patch from "Meet the Robinsons"), British tea, apples, and pretzels for about the last week. I think I've averaged about five hours of sleep a night, too (which for me in insanely not enough). @_@ Dark circles have taken over the nether regions of my eye.

But to celebrate making it through the first semester, a few of us went and had a nice lunch at BJs today, and I treated myself to a little retail therapy at Borders. :D I've gotten back the grades from two of my four classes already, so I'm only holding onto reservations about one of the two classes in which I don't know the grade already. It was Monday's test, and very hard. Probably the hardest of the bunch this time around.

My throat is feeling a little scratchy (most likely from living on junk food and entirely not enough rest), so I'm using my trusty old friend Salt Water Gargle to try and stave that off, along with using trusty friend #2 Zicam. Heaven knows I need to fend it off before Sunday, because I LEAVE FOR DISNEYLAND. And it becomes the saddest place on earth if you're sick!!!11! I'm seriously excited though, because I've never seen Disneyland at Christmas before...^_^

Hmm...it always seems that after finals I want to do so many things that I can't decide and just end up sleeping and doing nothing. Which is all right too. However, there are a few things I want to accomplish this break:
1. Finish some drawings that I started during the semester - they've been languishing in my computer for awhile now, and need to be finished.
2. Do a little bit a writing. Maybe bits of a fic or two.
3. Finish W.I.T.C.H. and La Corda d'Oro. These poor series have gone unfinished for months now (along with my life!). Also maybe watch the Nodame Cantabile live-action Japanese drama.
4. Do a little reading. I've earmarked some Peter Pan reading materials for this break.
5. Catch up with my piano practicing.
6. Fiddle with the movie-editing program on my computer. I have some old personal home videos that I'd love to transfer onto DVD.

Hmm...that list is actually pretty long. Not sure if I'll be able to get it all done, but I can always try! I want to go see the University Symphony and Chorus tomorrow night as well, since it's free and all for students.

That I only have three weeks until finals. Eep. @_@ It feels like I'm still trying to recover from midterms, and suddenly finals are just around the corner. I've been incredibly tired as of late, and find it really hard to concentrate on my work (or anything else - I've got a drawing that's been languishing to be finished for a couple of weeks now too). So maybe I'll try to get more sleep or drink more coffee (or both), because I really need to do well on these finals.

Last week, the external hard drive containing all of my cartoons decided to go on the fritz after a weird power surge in our house. At first, I thought I had lost everything, and almost had a little aneurysm. I mean, it's several years worth of collecting suddenly gone. And for the most part its stuff that is a.) unavailable on DVD, or b.) out of print/incredibly expensive for a poor college student to get on DVD. So I wrangled with it for awhile, and with dad's help was finally able to access it, only to discover that some of the stuff, while retrievable, contains a few episodes per series that are unable to be copied off of the hard drive. T_T Nick took some of the stuff off with him to school, so I know I can get those few series back, and a few of the series are undamaged, but I'm definitely going to have to engage in some serious re-getting. -_- Suffice to say I am not amused (and have learned my lesson about backing things up on a hard copy!).

Almost two weeks ago (on October 27) I had the opportunity to perform with my church choir for the first time in over three years. Now, for those of you who don't know, I was a member of a choir from Kindergarten though my senior year of high school. For some of those years, I was a member of our school's Chamber Singers ensemble, concert band, and church choir at the same time. Suffice to say that I love music - it's one of those great passions of my life that isn't indulged as often as I would like. So in a sense, coming together with many of the same faces (and some wonderful new ones to boot!) after a lengthy absence gives me a sense of...coming home. Of finding a place that I love and enjoying it fully. So I was very excited when our director decided to keep us together for at least one more performance for the Sabbath before Thanksgiving. And wonder of all wonders, we're also singing my most hated song: Harvest Canticle...XD It seriously brings up images of satyrs with pan pipes dancing around a cornucopia or some such thing. :3

Also, I finally finished Tamora Pierce's "Protector of the Small" quartet! I started them back in August/September, so you can see that my reading time has been significantly reduced from over the summer. They're probably my favorite Pierce series now (surpassing Song of the Lioness, though in truth that deserves a reread) because the characters are just so darn likeable and real. The author really understands human nature. And yes, the drawing (mentioned above) languishing in Photoshop is of Kel and friends. If you've never read a Tamora Pierce series you've been living under a rock you really ought to give her books a try. There's sometimes a little feminist bent, but she's not one of the most well-loved YA fantasy authors for nothing!

And a shout out to tanz_fanatika: I got the package! Thank you for the awesome pin! I'm still working on your package, but it should go out within the next week.
Cheers!