Day 160 - Mission accomplished

Just a note: I'm super tired, and probably shouldn't have procrastinated on this, but it's going to be a short post - I may amend it tomorrow if I have time, or have anything else to say

Today was a day full of fulfilled goals.

1. I got to school early. Not super super early, but I somehow cut my commute by 8 minutes. I think leaving earlier means that I beat some of rush hour traffic ... and hit the lights at the right time. Anyways, it was amazing, and started the day off on the right foot.
2. Learned about a Starbucks on campus. I've been hunting for one ever since Monday, and finally got the nerve to ask a girl whom I've seen with a Starbucks cup for a couple of days now where she got her liquid Heaven. She told me. And now I know the secret hiding location of Haven - I'm going tomorrow morning to check it out.
3. I did a good deed pretty early on: right after class let out, I overheard a woman ask the professor about what she should do about notes from the days she has missed (she just transferred into the class today and needed the notes from class from earlier this week). So, without being pushy or anything, I offered up my notes, which I had already typed and formatted (to my OCD standards) and was more than happy to just e-mail off to her. She accepted, and we got to chatting. I learned that she is coming back to school after a 25 year hiatus, and is juggling a job as well. I give her so much credit, and I hope we'll chat more as the course progresses.
4. I went to Haven and talked to the baristas. They're starting to recognize me, and one guy is even getting to know what I like to drink. But sometimes I mix it up, so he has a bit more to learn. Will it be a grande? Or tall? Tea or frappacino? Or try something new??
5. I have reached new levels of procrastination - I came back from Starbucks around 12:00, made and ate lunch, and then literally watched TV/surfed online until I made dinner
6. Dinner: 3 things. All pretty decently made. Chicken - marinated in Italian dressing, covered with herb bread crumbs and parmesean cheese (my dad loves it). Biscuits - drop biscuits (Jiffy mix "just add water"). And corn. Yes, pretty starchy. But I wanted to get three things on my dad's plate. Success.
7. Walked for a bit with my dad - we did a mile loop around the complex, and it was pretty nice. Sometimes our conversations can get a bit awkward (boys, friends, etc), or emotional (school, grades). But today it was fine [a bit of a rough patch when I told him the classes I'm taking next semester, but nothing we couldn't handle]. I must admit, it's been so nice to have this much one-on-one time with my dad - we're joking more, and know each other's little quirks. I think he enjoys coming home to someone every night, and I enjoy being around him. (warning: sappy moment coming up). I guess I didn't realize just how much I missed him, and missed living with him, until I'm down here for more than a week and actually get into a routine. It'll be so hard to leave at the end of the summer, since I'm afraid that I'm going to get used to having this. But then I'll go back to school, and hopefully everything will still be good.

That's it, but I'm pretty sure those are more feats that I've accomplished today than in a while.

It was a very successful day.

Day 159 - Haven for homework

Today was Natural Beauty Day, which meant that people weren't supposed to put on make-up or do anything fancy with their hair. So I embraced it and didn't do anything. For some reason my hair was super straight this morning, so I guess it decided to be nice for me. How considerate.

I threw on shorts and a Michigan T-shirt and headed out for class. I was praying for college tolerance, and got it, for the most part. I received numerous strange looks from people, mostly questioning expressions, saying "Why are you here?!?". But no one threw me off campus for it. Thankfully.

Class ended early (I'm sensing a pattern), and I went to Starbucks (haven) to study for a couple of hours. I ended up staying there for close to two hours, and even though I wans't a big fan of hteir music selection, and didn't enjoy not being able to access the internet (maybe it was just my computer, though), it did help me focus on doing my work.

I stopped and found a nice Chinese restaurant, where the food is pretty decent (not necessarily the ethnic quality I've found in Michigan, but good enough for Louisiana standards). After coming back to the apartment, I watched some Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and then continued on taking notes from the textbook.

A storm rolled through and scared the cats. It startled me too, a bit, just because it looked like a monsoon and had no sign of stopping. It was so dark outside, I ended up turning on most of the lights in the apartment and closing the shades to the giant window/sliding glass door thing that makes up most of our living room wall (it leads out to our balcony).

Anyways, I ended up finishing another chapter of notes (only have to do one more ... hopefully I can finish it tonight) and now my dad and I are going to go to Lowe's to pick out paint. Fun fun. And maybe I'll stop at Haven again and get more work done .... maybe.

Day 158 - Moodle-ing

Today started off like yesterday - rolled out of bed at an ungodly early hour (this time it was 7:15 am), straightened hair, got ready, had toast. Left for class at 8:20 am.

I was on a desperate search for Starbucks, but couldn't find one. I've been seeing Starbucks cups on campus both days, but nothing on Starbucks.com says anything about a store/stand on LSU's campus. I think they're hiding from me ... but I'll ask someone tomorrow, if I can get up the nerve to admit my addiction.

Anyways, I walked into class (around 9:02 - I had checked my phone right before stepping into the classroom) and my professor started discussing her "Moodle" habits. Now, I had never heard of this, so I was thinking it was a euphemism for something (drinking? sexual encounters? illegal activities?). Do people moodle at Skeeps at U-M? (Skeeps = Scorekeepers [a bar]) She starts asking the class their opinions of Moodle, and only then did she see my thoroughly confused and concerned face. She asked me whether I knew what Moodle was, and I replied that no, I had never heard of it. It ends up it's an online thing for classes (like CTools or Blackboard) that allows professors to post supplementary materials, open forums, and overall just give the class additional resources. Then I understood.

She doesn't like Moodle. So I don't have to worry about it.

The lecture was pretty boring (elementary stuff) but we did watch a film about Darwin's Theory of Evolution that wasted 50 minutes of class. I call that a bonus. And we were let out about 20 minutes early. Score.

I went to the bookstore and got an official LSU binder (and 3-hole punch), then returned home (after a Starbucks run) to marinate chicken for dinner [teriyaki - a new step outside the box] and just veg out for a while. I tanned for the first time in a couple of days, and didn't do any homework. It felt great.

Now I'm going to maybe take some notes, charge my laptop, then turn in for the night. These early mornings are getting the better of me, and I don't see how I'll keep surviving them until I find a way to fulfill my Starbucks need in the morning. ((I would just go to my normal one down here, but that would mean me driving directly into rush hour))

Day 157 - "I'm intrigued, tell me more"

So I know the day isn't over yet, but I've come to the conclusion that there isn't much more that will happen today, other than making dinner, eating dinner, doing homework, and working-out. Shower, sleep. That's about what my life has boiled down to.

Today was the first day of classes, and I must admit, I was a tad nervous. Not only was I scared of getting lost, but also just for class in general. But mostly about getting lost. You see, I have a really weird sense of direction. As long as I know my cardinal directions, I can figure streets out easily. Which is probably why Michigan is so good - the planners made it so that the Graduate Library (the giant building that everyone knows) faces directly North. So it's really easy for me to put everything into perspective based on how I am oriented to the Grad Library. LSU isn't like that. Nope. They have curvy streets, and I get turned around really really easily. So getting lost wasn't only an option, it was almost a requisite step this morning.

I woke up super early (6:50 a.m.) so that I could register for the course and pay the university (they decided on Friday to purge my schedule, so I had to re-do everything). After straightening my hair, doing make-up, and finally deciding on an outfit, I packed my backpack and headed out 50 minutes before my class was scheduled to begin. To some of you, this might not be super early, but considering the fact that I can make it to campus in under 10 minutes, even I admit it was pretty ridiculous.

But it's a good thing I did, because after parking and walking to the building (I didn't get lost on the way there!), I learned that LSU doesn't believe in building maps. Oh, and the building my class was being held in had 2 wings, both numbered the exact same way. Not the smartest thing, is it? Nope. It took me 20 minutes for me to find my ground-floor classroom, and stopped 4 or 5 innocent people to ask "Am I going the right way??" I only took 3 wrong turns. I would consider that a success.

Class wasn't too bad - we got let out 40 minutes early (it's supposed to be an hour and a half class), but it was pretty entertaining when the professor wanted us to go around the room and introduce ourselves. She wanted name, class standing, and why we took the course. When it was my turn, I stood up and said

Hi, I'm Claire, and I'm going to be a sophomore at the University of Michigan in the fall. I took this course because it sounded interesting, and it was one of the few classes Michigan would take as transfer credit.

The next person stood up, and tried to start talking, but the professor exclaimed, "Hold on, I'm intrigued, tell me more." She wanted to know why I was at LSU, whether I was transferring, what classes I'd taken at Michigan, and where I was originally from (she was from Canada and was curious). It was pretty funny, since she took a liking to me because we're "fellow Northerners." I'm thinking that we'll get along just perfectly.

Since class, I've gone grocery shopping (I'm making a kind of potato casserole thing to go with our grilled entrée) and am now slowly making my way through reading the textbook for the course. I need to read 120 pages by next Thursday, which really isn't a bad workload (considering what I've had to do in the past), but I think the hardest part as a Michigan student is getting over the fact that I have to read a textbook written by an (ewww) Ohio State professor (Ohio State and Michigan have one of THE largest rivalries).

I wonder whether the professor will understand my unwillingness to do the required readings ....

Day 156 - The magnificent views of Oak Alley

Alright, I have GOT to stop putting things in the queue, because it seems like they never get posted. Here's the post from yesterday, just copied and pasted from the original post.

Today was both lazy and adventurous. My dad and I lounged around the apartment for the better part of the morning, and into early afternoon. But, with my "nagging," we eventually left to visit a plantation. The day's pick? Oak Alley, in Vacherie, LA.

The drive was ... on the longer side (it took us around 40 minutes to get there) and the skies were threatening rain the entire way. I had brought an umbrella, but based on yesterday's thunderstorm, it wouldn't have held up. We arrived at Oak Alley and walked around the grounds a bit (they were GORGEOUS) and finally took a tour of the house. All I can say is that the pictures can speak for themselves. A lot of my friends have commented about how gorgeous the photos are, but all I really did was point and shoot - the views took care of themselves.

With this shot? Point and shoot. Honestly.

After the tour we basically just came home, and it was good thinking, because about 5 minutes later, we drove through some rain. I know that I don't melt, but Beckett (my camera) doesn't really enjoy getting wet.

Now we're home and dinner's about to be grilled (Italian-dressing-marinated chicken), and then I'm going to go to bed (lame, I know), since I start class bright and early tomorrow.

Day 155 - Wrath of God

Today wasn't too exciting - I woke up rather late (around 11 or so) and just hung around until 1:00, when I went down to the pool to tan.

On the plus side, it looks as if I'm getting some color :) I'm thinking about writing a book: How to go from Casper to Beige in 10 Days. I hope it'll sell. Just kidding. Though I am an expert on the subject.

I could only handle being outside for so long, so I came up and watched a movie (Bring it On: All or Nothing), and then the Wrath of God came.

What I mean? A giant storm. A Louisiana thunderstorm. Unlike Michigan, where it just rains for a couple of hours with low, rolling thunder, in Louisiana, it rains like it's the end of the world for about 45 minutes, complete with hail, tons of lightning, and violent thunder, and then it leaves.

This storm was intense, even for Louisiana standards. There was marble-sized hail, which started as soon as the rain started coming down.

The white spots in the trees? Some of the smaller hail pieces.

My dad and I went out to dinner, but learned soon enough that anywhere north of the main road was out of power - we were basically a 1 square block that had power. Luckily, we found a place to have dinner, and then went to the grocery store to get some supplies for dinners and such for the next couple of days.

Day 154 - French Toast and Fitness

So I realized that my post for yesterday didn't post (I had it in queue). But here's what it said:

Today was uneventful, but fun.

I went to my dad's work for a nice french toast breakfast, and even though it was a bit boring just sitting in his office for a while, it was really nice to chat with the people he works with and be introduced to new people as well - it's so adorable how much he talks about the rest of us when we aren't there.

After hanging around his office for a while, I left and went home. I tanned for a bit, and then just hung around again, watching TV and looking at recipes.

I've gone through 37 pages of blog recipes .... and have way too many ideas about what to make for my dad for dinners. Too bad his idea of "stepping outside the box" is Italian-dressing-marinated chicken breasts.

Other than that, I haven't done much today - I'm going to work out in a little bit.