Christmas Warzon Part II

So it's already started, and I've only been home an hour.

I would be banished to my room if I had a room. But since I'm sleeping on the couch, I'm sitting in my little sister's room.

Yep, I love Christmas.

Sometimes I don't know why I bother to care. Maybe next year I'll just stay at my apartment.

The Christmas Warzone

I don't know what Christmas is like in your house, but in my house every major family crisis coincides with a holiday. Coincidence? I think not.

It's not that we don't love each other. It's not that we don't understand the reason for the season. We love Jesus, we love each other, we love Christmas. It's just that any time you get my entire family under one roof....well...we generally just annoy the crap out of each other. Here let me set the scene for you.

It's Christmas Eve, like midday. We don't have the Christmas Eve Service until six, so we're all just hanging around the house, waiting, and watching the A Christmas Story marathon. My little sister is hiding in her room. I'm sitting on the couch, as is my brother-in-law. My older sister is in my bedroom changing my youngest niece's diaper. My mom is cooking. My dad is absent (at work, as usual at Christmas time) and we're all more than a little thankful that my brother didn't show up. Ok....you've got the scene. Now action.

Brother-in-Law: It's over, finally. [leans over to grab the remote]
Me: Um...what are you doing?
Brother-in-Law: Changing the channel. What do you think I"m doing? We already watched it, and its coming on again.
Me: That's sort of the point.
Brother-in-Law: Whatever. [changes the channel to ESPN]
Me: WHAT? Ok. If you're going to change the channel from A Christmas Story, fine, I get it. But it's Christmas Eve. Sports, really?
Brother-in-Law: Look, you're not the only person in the house.
Me: But its MY house.
Mom: [in warning tone] Mandy
Me: Whatever. [Want to retreat to my room but can't because I'm sleeping on the couch in favor of my brother-in-law and older sister. So I move to the piano and start to play Christmas songs to relieve my boredom]
Older sister: [coming into the room] Mandy, stop playing the piano. You're giving me a headache.
Me: Ok. [leave room and go to my little sister's bedroom.]
Little sister: Leave me alone.
Me: Just reading a book. [Sit down on the floor and start reading a book]
[five minutes pass, door opens and Mom appears]
Mom: What are you doing? Be with the family. Christmas is about family.
[Little sister glares at me because my coming to her room is what prompted Mom to come. We both get up and go to the main room. Little sister sits on the couch but is still on her computer. I read my book]
Older sister: I don't know why I bother to even come if you guys are just going to ignore us while we're here.
Little sister: I have work to do.
[I stay silent. Better to be silent than say something that will get me into trouble. Brother-in-law continues to ignore everyone by watching ESPN]

Eventually someone will say something, a fight will commence, and someone will end up in trouble. Probably me.

Christmas. I love it. I love everything it represents. But...I'm not going home until the 23rd. For good reason. I hate getting in trouble. I hate getting yelled at. And the longer I'm home, the greater the probability I will get in trouble.

Christmas was so much easier when we were kids. Now the youngest of us is 21 (discounting the nieces and nephew).

But I'll survive and there will be parts that will be fantastically awesome and loving. It's really a shame that the rest of Christmas is so war like.

Am I the only one who thinks Christmas can be like a warzone?

Yesterday Adventures

Sorry about not posting yesterday guys! I had to do a couple of crazy Christmas/end of finals related things.

One of the things I did yesterday was go to George W. and Laura Bush's book signing for their new books. I did this as a Christmas present for my dad. Regardless of his political affiliations, having the signature of a former president is something he would greatly enjoy. My friend, Logan, had to go wait in line for the wristband for me the day before. He waited for three hours. (I was taking an exam, hence why he had to wait instead of me). You would think waiting the day before would mean you wouldn't have to wait too long the day of. Instead, I arrived at 9:00 am to find a line already in existence. The signing wasn't until 11:30 am. Luckily, the former president got there EARLY and started signing early! So I was out of there by noon.

I got to shake his hand, but the actual highlight of my day was meeting secret service people. There not as somber and stern as portrayed on TV. These guys were really nice, and sort of just looked like average guys. They were joking and talking with us, it was really great. So apparently, Warehouse 13 is right about how secret service people behave. They're all really just Pete Latimers. :)

After my former presidential adventure, I had to take my roommate to the airport and pick my little sister up. My roommate needed to get there at 4:15 and my little sister was supposed to arrive at 4:20, so I figured by the time I circled around from the evil side of the airport (airtran) to the good side (Delta) my little sister would be ready for pick up.

I was so wrong.

My friends and readers, I circled the airport for an hour. AN HOUR! I would have parked, but I kept thinking, it'll be just ten more minutes and I don't want to have to pay for an hour of parking.

I should have parked.

After that, my little sister really wanted Taco Bell. Unfortunately, it was pouring down raining and I somehow missed the Taco Bell on Ponce (which according to google maps totally exists). By the time I got home, it was like 6:30 pm and I just wanted to curl up into a ball and die.

Instead I watched Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella and then Beauty and the Beast.

So sorry I didn't post yesterday and sorry today's post wasn't way more exciting. But I'm trying to get a whole lot of research done so I can actually go home and enjoy Christmas.

But next week is Christmas week so I promise Christmas themed posts!

Finals are finally over! WEEEE!

Finals!!!!

Today I have an Orbital Mechanics exam at 11:30 that will last 2 hours and 50 minutes. I doubt I'll leave early. Somehow I managed to cram 5 pages of handwritten notes into the front side of one sheet for my "cheat sheet". (It's not actually cheating, since the Prof said we're allowed one side of one page of notes, but I still call it a "cheat sheet".)

I take my cheat sheets seriously. I use cardstock instead of regular paper so it can't accidentally tear. Since I write in pencil, which has a nasty habit of smearing, I then put my sheet in a clear sheath, so now amount of touching can smear it.

In undergrad I had so many cheat sheets (cuz I took a million classes) that each class had a different colored cheat sheet.

Let me tell you, I'm not failing this class because my cheat sheet failed.

No, I'll fail it because he asks a question about something we never learned in class and I just want to curl up into a ball and die.

But seriously, I probably won't fail today's (depending on how you define fail). I need a 65 to get a B in the class without curve. I think I can do it. Except I've had bad luck with that number before....When I needed a 65 to get a B in Dynamics and I got a 60 which gave me a 78 and the Professor wouldn't curve up.

But I'm not going to panic. I can do this.

And after all, this is the easier of my two exams this week. Tomorrow's exam - that's the scary one. Rocket Propulsion. *shudders*

Please, pray for me and all other students taking exams during this week.

Final Frenzy

Today I am preparing for my Planetary Sciences final tomorrow. Somehow I need to actually learn all this stuff about planetary surfaces, interiors, magnetic fields, and solar system formation theory.

So I will not be posting any other post today. Please pray for all of us students who are suffering in finals right now!

Dead Week

If you've never experienced a Georgia Tech Dead Week then I can't explain the madness to you.

I can't make you understand how professors aren't SUPPOSED to assign homework during dead week, give tests, or cover new materials, and yet....they do anyway.

I can't convey the despair that fills the campus.

If you came here, you could see our agony in our bloodshot eyes and smell the Red Bull on our breaths.

Oh the horror!

Rejoice, ye who have never suffered under the wrath of Dead Week, for ye will never know true despair and desperation. Rejoice, ye who have escaped and found solace in the world beyond Georgia Tech.

And ye who still suffer in torment, REPENT! FOR THE END IS NIGH!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA






Yeah...it's dead week. I can't be held accountable for anything I just wrote. My brain is oozing out of my ears and I'm trying to catch it in buckets, hoping to retain that bit of knowledge that will allow me to pass my finals.

And now I've procrastinated enough. Back to making the solutions for Homework 8, grading Homework 7, studying for EAS, and actually doing research.

When You're So Stressed That Your Zen

Extremes are weird things. Once I had to get some warts removed (gross, I know) and they basically froze them off. They applied extreme cold to my foot and man I felt like my foot was on fire. My foot was so cold it was burning.

Sometimes, I get into the shower at the same time as my roommate and we fight for the hot water. I have a tendency to turn the knob all the way hot at these times. And then she gets out of the shower and I'm suddenly hit with scalding water. But I don't always realize it immediately. Because its so hot that it feels kind of cold.

And everyone always says there is a thin line between love and hate. I imagine that sometimes you love someone so much that you start to hate them, and sometimes you hate them so much that you start to love them.

It's weird how we can be in one extreme and yet feel another, and that's what happens to me every year around Finals time.

Usually, I spend a week of extreme stress taking five three hour finals and studying all the moments in between. My stress level is extreme, because I know that despite all the work I put in all semester, my grade really comes down to this moment. I've had grades drop from A to C because of a final (and a sickness). Finals are no joke.

During this week of stress, I'm usually so frazzled that I reach a strange point of zen. I suddenly feel that nothing matters and do I really care if I get a C? (The answer is yes, yes, I do, but zen me is convinced it doesn't really matter). I am so stressed that the only solace my mind can find is by creating a false feeling of calmness.

So finals week is still two weeks away. Why am I talking about this now?

Because the zen has reached me early this year.

This morning, I got to the office at seven to work on a homework assignment that I just started yesterday and is due tomorrow. I was chugging away, working hard on it, when the professor I TA for walked through the door.

He informed me and the other TA for the class that Homework 7 was due tomorrow. We were like "Really?" but weren't too shocked. We knew we would have to pencil it in somehow.

But then the professor said something that I'm not really convinced actually happened. Surely, I dozed off and had an awful nightmare because there is no way he uttered the following sentence:

"And they're going to have two more assignments due next week."

Wait...What? Two more assignments. Due next week. During dead week. During the week when I have to finish all my own homework, study for my own finals, and actually do the research I'm paid to do. What???

The other girl I TA with looked like she was about to burst into tears. I felt like I might throw up all over the desk. Suddenly thinking about my schedule for the next three weeks I realized there is no way it is humanly possible to even getting all the work done.

And suddenly my stress skyrocketed so high that I stopped caring.

Zen.

I'm not sure how long it will last. It might not last all the way until finals. I might indeed have a mental breakdown. I might cry myself to sleep (if I sleep - who am I kidding) every night for the next four weeks.

I just need to survive until Dec. 23rd. Then I can go home for Christmas and not feel too guilty....presuming my ADCS SDT model works.

But I'm not stressed. I'm zen, even though that's probably worse. Because not caring never got me an A.

But sometimes it is the only way to preserve my sanity.