Well, that sucked.

So,
Last week was the second week of school. I was sick on Tuesday, sick on Wednesday (but went to m evening class and meeting anyway), and through Friday night with a fever. Nothing else, just a fever and clamminess. They tested for H1N1, nothing. They tested for pregnancy, nothing. They checked my nodes and glands, perfectly fine. They decided on "unidentified virus" and told me to wait it out.

On Wednesday night I found out that Josh and his family and I were supposed to go to Celilo Falls (many hours away) and do the things for a funeral. Digging the grave started at midnight, then there was dancing and prayers, then a service starting at dawn, then a meal starting at about noon. They left before the giveaway started. I was banned due to fever and clamminess and had to stay home. Which sucked.

So I missed a lot last week, only the second week of school, and that is a BAD start to the term. (By the way, I totally only got a 60% on my chronology quiz.... I am terrible with dates!)

I managed to get my Short Proposal done in time over the weekend for Tuesday. That means that step 1 of my thesis is complete, but there is muchly more still to do. I have FINALLY caught up with my homework, and am not able to work ahead a little so that I don't fall so far behind.

Oh, and my honey has been gone since Tuesday night and is not returning till Sunday Night or Monday Morning. I have done pretty well by myself so far, but it is rather lonely. I do have the two cats to keep me company, though!

And I have noticed that when I am bored and lonely, I tend to get a lot of cleaning done... but not much homework. Which is a good thing (the cleaning, not the homework) because my folks are bringing my stuff (which I had been keeping in their nice large garage in the house they are moving out of) and I need a clean house a) to impress them and b) so there is room in my apartment for the crap they are bringing.

Maybe I should do a yard sale.

Monday is gonna be fun with a capital "F-U." I have work from 10:30 to 12:30, which isn't bad, I have a finaid meeting at 1pm to tell them that no, I cannot pay because I have NO money and my parents don't have money either, and pick a new lender because the lender I had has disappeared. My class at 2 is canceled (though I will likely go in anyway because I have projects to work on). But then I have work from 4:30 to 6:30, a "guest Lecture" I have to attend from 6:30 to 8:30, a meeting from 8:30 to 9:30, and homework to do after that. Oh, I have been excused from the lecture a bit early to find food, since I do need to eat and this 'guest lecture' doesn't work well with my schedule. Good thing the Prof. understands.

Other than all that whiny-ness, which I apologize for, life is going pretty okay. Classes are mostly interesting, and I have read a lot of interesting things. Work is generally boring, since there is no work to do at two of my jobs (beginning of the year chaos slowing my job down, but I come in anyway because I need the money and they are paying me whether they like it or not) and it is pretty easy stuff at the third. For all that ask, yes I have three jobs. Technically four, but the fourth doesn't do anything so I don't get paid for it and therefore I discount it.

Unfortunately there will be no parties at my place, since Annie has recently started breaking out in hives when around cats for too long. But I get to chill out with Annie and Alexis at their apartment so it works. I try to bring food and other niceities when Josh and I are invited over. It has become common practice that if I am invited, so is Josh, since we are a unit. Even so, I tend to check and make sure in case they don't want him there (like panty shopping or buying him birthday presents or something). I also try not to invite myself over, just wait till they invite me over.

Annie now works at my webdev job too! It is nice, because then things will get done when I am not there, since I had to drop from 20 hours a week to 5 hours a week. I don't think she will need much training, though, since she is smart and works really hard. And is good at figuring out things. I just need to show her the basic buttons and then we can chill and goof off together (our schedules overlap).

I realized that I tend to blog infrequently, but write really long entries that no one really reads. That is okay, though, since it is for me to ramble and rant and get things out of my brain and into a different space. Yay thought dumping.

I think I will stop thought-dumping for now, since you are probably bored (if you read all that) and really are just thinking "Nikki, stop whining." I know. Remember I love you and will listen to you rant, too.

~N

Begin week two

So,
School has started, which means classes and homework and two of my three jobs have started. I will be only working 19 hours, but am taking 4.5 classes so it averages to a full time job... minus about half the pay and plus homework.

For the brief synopsis, my week typically will look like this.
Monday: Work (MMWR) 10:30 to noon-thirty. 2-4pm Ceramics, 4:30-6:30 Work (webdev).
Tuesday: 9:40-11:10 Politics of Environmental Ethics, 12:50-2:20 Rites of Passage in Chinese Societies, 2:30-4 Senior Sem (first half), 4:30-6:30 Work (Art Bldg).
Wednesday: 10:30-12:30 Work (MMWR), 2-4pm Ceramics, 6:30-9:30 Archaeology, and every other Wed. there is a meeting at 5:30 for NAEA.
Thursday: 9:40-11:10 Politics of Environmental Ethics, 12:50-2:20 Rites of Passage in Chinese Societies, 2:30-4:30 Work (MMWR), 4:30-6:30 work (art bldg).
Friday: 10:30-12:30 Work (MMWR), 1-3pm Work (Art bldg), 3:30-6:30 work (Webdev).

So I am rather busy, Lunch is in the first break of the day, and then there is homework in between things.

Last weekend I went camping in the Cascades with Alexis, Annie, Alex, and Josh. It was a lot of fun despite being rained on. And the tent leaking due to things being shoved against the sides on accident.

Alexis took a lot of amazing pictures. We took a hike to this ridge overlooking a gorgeous lake. Funny thing, the coloring of the lake, according to a prominent artist, should not look like that and no lake naturally exists in those colors. Well, we found it.

We didn't get to pick berries, which made me sad. Annie, Alex and Josh went fishing. Josh caught a fish right off the bat then they spent three hours catching nothing in the pouring rain. Alexis and I played a card game with Josh's family and relaxed in the hut by the fire. It was a lot of fun. We heard stories, as well.

We stopped at a family friend's house on the way back and were gifted with bags and bags of fresh veggies picked from the garden. We got to pick them ourselves, so I now have a gobton of tomatoes and zuccini, as well as some carrots and squash and green beans. They also fed us a delicious lunch of burgers with veggies from the garden.

We made it back safe. And then went out with friends for a promised dinner and hang-out before Labor Day. Since we didn't have class Labor Day we just had fun, some people had a drink or two, and generally enjoyed ourselves.

I realized I missed my friends and hanging out more than I thought, and that I really craved group social interaction. I also realized that I hate classes and homework. Okay, I like the information that comes with them, but homework tends to get tedious and classes on occassion boring and time-consuming.

Speaking of class, today I made enemies in the Poli class (hereafter referred to as "environmental ethics"), and it is time for me to dash off and learn about rites and religion.

Much love,
~N

P.S. Today is my day for making enemies. I promptly made on in my Rites of Passage in Chinese Societies class. (Not to be confused with Rites of Passage in Japan and the US.)