New Year's Eve 2008

So it's almost 2009.  It's hard to believe 2008 is done and I'll be graduating from college this coming May.

We had a good Christmas, small and simple.  I missed seeing my extended family, but it was absolutely wonderful to be at home with just the four of us - no dealing with idiosyncracies, no family feuds.  There were not nearly as many gifts under the tree as there have been in the past, but that was okay.  We enjoyed the rest and relaxation of spending a day at home in our pajamas.

Christmas evening we celebrated my 22nd birthday.  Again, uneventful but good.  Josh made me a delicious cake and he cooked the random variety of foods I requested.

End of Semester

Classes are finished.  Finally.  I'm one final, one grad school application, one paper, and one brief meeting away from winter break.  Two weeks (plus more I hope) of freedom from 67-page theses and demanding professors.  Granted, I do have to read and do some work over the break, but that doesn't seem nearly so awful compared to what I've done in the last 1.5 weeks.  I just hope my GPA reflects the ridiculous amount of work and stress I've been through.

I think I've done well this semester.  It's hard to believe it's my last fall semester as an undergraduate.  I just hope I'll have some fall semesters as a graduate student.  I won't know for a few months, though.  I'm planning on finishing up the last 6 applications over break.  The applications themselves aren't so bad.  It's the application fees and ETS's score-reporting fees that are killing me.  Oh well, college students are supposed to be poor, right?

I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster this semester, both academically and emotionally.  There were several times I didn't think I'd make it.  Yet here I am.

We've already had several days of snow here, though nothing too deep.  I'm kinda sad I'll be going away from the snow on Thursday, but I'd much rather see Max & Sugar!  Plus, there are times when Indiana is a bit too far north for my liking.  At least in Kentucky no one makes fun of the way I talk! :)

Long Time, no post

Latest news in the life of Juliana:

The Titans are 9 - 0 !  I cannot believe it!  I'm ecstatic!

Comps are done.  Hallelujah!

Still writing 2 theses

Narrowed down to 10 grad school programs at 8 schools

1st grad school deadline is less than a month away

Don't know how I feel about being almost done with DePauw

making franchise history

The Titans are 5 - 0 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So....Close....

There's a good chance I'll be pulling an all-nighter tonight.  And fall break starts tomorrow at 3:30.  Go figure.

But I'm more than ready for the break.  Life is good, but I'm super crazy busy.  I'll be doing work on my theses so it's not really a schoolwork break, but I'll at least be able to sleep.  And see my bunny and my puppy dog. :)

the feel of amazement

I can't believe it.  He actually moved out.  After months of saying he would, he finally did.

heartsick

Why do relationships of all stages fail so often?  Why must they be so difficult?  I have an evolutionary answer, but that doesn't soothe my aching heart.

Wow

Wild weekend.  I got sunburnt at the football game (which we won, 52-17!).  Then I went up to visit the boy only to be dumped.  And to find out from everyone else (who apparently knew) first.  And that he'd been leading me on for at least a month.  Add this to my crazy academic life of writing 2 theses - one undergrad empirical study and one analytical paper at the graduate level - and to the wildness that is dealing with home right now, and it's no wonder I feel sick to my stomach and have a messed up sleep schedule.  I'm really hoping this week will be better.

In other news, I'm psyched the Titans won.  Woohoo 2-0!!

1st weekend

I made it through my first week (i.e. three days) of classes.  I don't particularly like my HoScho seminar, but I love my Children's Lit class.  I'm much less anxious now that I know what i'm doing for both of my theses.  I'm also loving the fact that I'm not always in class.  Writing two theses means I do a lot of independent research and writing, but at times I choose.  Thankfully textbook rush at the bookstore is almost over.  I'm about to lose it with some of the freshmen, even though it's not their fault they don't know what they are doing!  Things should ease up here soon.

Hopefully my next post won't be months from now....

last day of summer at home

I head back to school tomorrow.   The next time I post, I'll have to change the title of my blog.

days

20 days till classes start

13 days till I move in for the year

8 days till I take the GRE

7 days till my last day at the preschool

5 days till my last day at the lab

the beginning of the end

Only one month until classes start.  And boy do I have a lot to do in that month!

allergies, boys, and grad school

Whew.  I've had a wild few days.  The boy finally started talking to me again, and he apologized for taking out his frustration on me earlier this summer.  I appreciated the apology and am glad he still wants to talk.  I miss him very much.  In talking to him earlier today, he told me he's off work till Saturday and bored out of his mind, but when I asked him about getting together, he said things were too crazy and he couldn't drive out of town.  I wish he'd understand that I need to save all my money too but I believe seeing him is worth spending a bit of it.  It wouldn't be so bad if we met halfway.  Hopefully things will get better in August.

I went to the allergist this morning to have an allergy evaluation - that wonderful procedure where they scratch your back with a billion different allergens and see what happens.  Well, nothing happened.  And when they did the under-the-skin test on my arm, nothing happened.  So I'm not allergic to anything.  I'm not surprised since even poison ivy doesn't bother me.  However, I did find out I have asthma.  It's not bad, but it is enough to mean I'm clinically asthmatic.  I have to use an inhaler twice a day for a month to see if that does anything.  I never thought I could be asthmatic.  But it does explain why I can't breathe as well when singing and why my frequent bouts of bronchitis are a minimum of three weeks in duration.  I guess I'll know more in a month.

I've registered for the GRE.  Exactly one month from today, I'll tackle the test that will largely determine where I go to grad school.  Between now and then, I get to study study study.  I've got the books and will be doing practice problems for the next few weeks.  Hopefully I'll do well so I won't have to take it again.  This fall's gonna be wild enough as it is.  I'm also still in the process of picking grad schools.  I've found about 10 that I like, but I don't know if I'm done looking or not.  My GRE score will help determine that.

update

It's been a few days, but life kinda got crazy on me.  It was wonderful to have a long weekend of no work and to have the 7th & 8th off from the lab.  However, the usual daily grind began again on Wednesday.  It wasn't a bad week by any means.  I'm a little excited about Monday because we have 5 families coming in and I get to test all 5!

Mom and I've been doing a lot of yardwork lately, so I'm sleeping really really well.  The yard also looks pretty good, too, since we've put in some new flowers, weeded a couple beds, trimmed back some wayward branches and done a lot of watering.  There's still quite a bit to go, though.  I'm hoping that tomorrow Dad and I will successfully install a french drain so that we don't have quite such a runoff problem.  If this one works, we're gonna get at least one more.  However, getting Dad to do much of anything these days is rough.  I was amazed he helped us water everything tonight.  Granted, Mom and I were the ones pulling up trees and such, but hey.

I'm still trucking away at trying to narrow down my grad school options.  Additionally, I still need to take the GRE, choose an empirical thesis project, finalize a HoScho thesis topic, and prepare for comps.  Ugh.  I though summer was supposed to be a break!

a big surprise

Josh came home!!!!!!!!!!!!  :)

He completely surprised us and showed up a few minutes ago. Of course I'd gone to bed early, so all I heard was Mom shrieking. I went downstairs and found out that Mom and Dad were sitting on the couch talking and reading when all of a sudden the door began to creak open. They apparently sat and stared as the "burglar" swung open the door (see how prepared they are for a real break-in!) and in walked Josh! He drove all afternoon and evening to come see us for the long weekend.

the start of a tiny break

I don't have to work tomorrow.  At either place.  Hallelujah!  I love what I do, but I'm exhausted.  I'm thrilled I get to sleep in tomorrow and that I have 3 days of weekend, plus 2 mornings off next week.  However, on Monday I'll go to the ENT and probably find out when I'll have my tonsils removed.  I'm not looking forward to that procedure, but I am looking forward to not getting sick anymore!

I don't have any big plans for the weekend.  Perks of not living near any of my college friends, I guess (and of a certain boy not wanting to talk to me for an undisclosed amount of time).  I do hope to get some work done on my scrapbooks.  I've got to get my Costa Rica one done before I forget all the details!  Since today was payday, I'm also hoping to get a bit of shopping for me done.  :)

Saturday

Going to Olive Garden last night was great.  I finally got my 21st birthday celebration!  I had wanted to go to Olive Garden for my actual birthday, but they are closed on Christmas Day.  So I just had to wait 6 months.  I did order my first drink at a restaurant last night.  Ironically, they didn't even card me!  Somehow that great big 21st party never happened for me.  Oh well.

Earlier this week, my molly mama had about 20 babies.  That same afternoon, they were all gone. :(  Today, my Tequila Sunrise guppy decided to have her babies.  While I was changing the water.  So I was frantically catching the brand new babes so they wouldn't get gobbled up at the same time I was trying to keep the mama from jumping out of her temporary bowl.  Dad was also demanding that Mom and I sit down and eat dinner at the same time.  Now, I have a bowl full of about 30 baby guppies.  I'll have to put them in the tank soon, but I don't want to lose them all!  Hopefully at least a couple will stay hidden long enough to survive.

My 1/2 Birthday!

Today is my half birthday.  The day of the year I get to celebrate my birthday since my real birthday falls on Christmas.  (I still celebrate then, too, but this gives me a separate day like everyone else).  Not a big deal, just a small celebration with cake and a few small gifts.  This year, though, we have to wait and celebrate on Friday.  Mom & Dad forgot about it until I reminded them on Monday, and Mom had a meeting tonight.  I'm a little bummed, especially because Mom didn't tell me until this late afternoon that we'd have to postpone the celebration.  Oh well.  I suppose I can wait.  ;)

Today I am exhausted, thanks to having no caffeine whatsoever.

Bats' Game

I love seeing friends unexpectedly when I'm out and about. I knew I'd see people at the Bats' game tonight because we were going with the church, but it was fun to see one of the girls who works at the lab with me.

Amazingly enough, I wasn't exhausted all morning! I guess I got enough sleep last night. I wish I could maintain that pattern...

back to the usual...

Well, after 3 days of working full days at The Vanguard Academy, I'm back on my normal schedule tomorrow. I'll head down to U of L to work at the Infant Cognition Lab for the morning, then grab some lunch and high-tail-it to Vanguard. I've really enjoyed being the full-time teacher (and the money's gonna be great too!). It's a little weird being an assistant and knowing that I'm gonna have to leave in August. I could do so much more in terms of planning and decorating and such, but I'm trying to let Angel decide all that since she's the lead teacher. Once I get all the degrees I'm hoping to get, I'd be able to do this no problem. But could I be an infant-toddler daycare teacher every day for the rest of my life? Hmm. If it's at a place like Vanguard, then yes. I much prefer the private sector to the more-public less-private one of which the Y is a member. Who knows.

I guess that's what senior year is for. Deciding what to do next and where to go. I've got so many options available right now. I could get a Graduate Certificate in Autism Spectrum Disorders or as an infant specialist; I could get a Master's in clinical or developmental pysch, speech language pathology, or special education; or I could go for the Ph.D in clinical or developmental psych. At this point, I'm leaning more towards the Master's and Certificates, because they would allow me to do what I want to do. I want to actually work with infants and toddlers. I'd love to earn a Ph.D, but I don't want to teach at a University. I'd really like to work in a therapy clinic at a children's hospital like Vanderbilt. I'd be a developmental specialist with expertise in autism and language, and I'd work with typically and atypically developing infants and toddlers. I'd teach infants sign language and work with young toddlers on emotional, cognitive, and social development. It's a huge wish, I know. But I'm hoping I can get at least a good chunk of it. That's where the short study time for the Certificates and Masters' comes in. I can get 2 Certificates and 3 Master's in less than 10 years if I play my cards right. I think if I go for the Ph.D, it'll be in clinical child / developmental psychopathology. I guess my research would be along the lines of language or thinking. We'll see. I've got to survive my 2-thesis senior year at DePauw first!

boys and communication

I wish boys would say something’s wrong when things get rough instead of cutting off all communication. It would save a lot of confusion, and who knows, girls might actually be able to help! Keeping in touch might also save the relationship. It certainly would make me feel like less of an idiot when I finally did find out what was going on. I’d probably be a different person in a totally different place right now if a certain someone had answered my phone calls instead of ignoring them. Who knows. Now, if a certain person will talk to me instead of ignoring my calls, I might be in a different (I think better) place soon. I think I could help, and I know it would make me feel better to hear his voice. As it stands, I feel stupid and confused. I’m terrified I’ll scare him off, but I have to take care of myself. And right now, he’s got my heart headed for the wringer, and I’ve gotta get it back before it’s torn apart.

the 2nd official day of summer

The window unit is doing a wonderful job. I have my own oasis of a/c upstairs! Of course, when we have storms that bring in the cooler weather, I don't need it as much. But I sure wouldn't trade upper 60s for upper 100s!

The hot summer begins

Thankfully with 80-degree weather comes my summer tan! It's toasty now, as well as humid, especially in my room. Unfortunately not even the new a/c unit can properly cool my room. I'll have to have Dad put in the window unit soon so I can survive this summer. I'm amazed the grass is still green, though the flowers and trees are beginning to look a bit bedraggled. The rain hasn't come like we expected.

I'm still working on unpacking my college life into my room here at home. Who knew I had so much stuff! I'll make it fit somehow.

and the parents return...

Mom & Dad arrived home safely this evening. They had a great time down at St. Simon's Island. I guess that means now I must refrain from my college-student ways of staying up late and sleeping late (except for days I work) and drinking Mountain Dew like it is the elixir of life (which it is).

The rainstorm last night cooled off everything so today was pleasantly less than 50% humidity. Hopefully this pattern will continue!

Raccoons!

We have a new family of raccoons in the tree behind our house!


In this picture, the mama raccoon is checking out noises from our neighbors down the street.

Just behind our property there is a power-line easement and a creek, so we have the luxury of seeing (and hearing) forest-dwelling creatures.

We can see this tree from our back deck. The raccoons entertain us by looking out the hole and sitting in the hole to bathe themselves. Their faces are adorable!


In this photo, a baby raccoon takes a peek at the outside world.

Memorial Day

Wow. Spending a week by yourself can really take it out of you. Especially when the middle of that week falls on Memorial Day Weekend. And you're used to living in a house with four other people.