Dobby's dead, Dobby's dead, NO!

I saw this on facebook today... It made me really sad. Very cool picture, though, so I thought I'd share.

Wait. How long?

In two months...

The Dark Knight Rises will already have come out.

As well as The Amazing Spiderman.

Venus will have transited the sun for the 2nd and last time this century.

I'll not only have started my summer class, but also finished it.

Hurricane season will have started in the Atlantic.

One of the girls I graduated with will have gotten married.

A friend's family friend will have given me at least one, maybe both, of her dogs.

My cousin will be living in Italy.

All of this will have already happened. So many important things will have changed. Let's look at this from a different perspective.

2 months. 9 weeks. 63 days. 1,512 hours. 90,720 minutes.

Such a long, long time. Now that we properly understand this length of time, let me tell you why it's important.

About three weeks ago, I had an interview/chat thing with Casey. He's one of the guys in charge at ILP, and he's the one in charge of finding head teachers. In case someone missed it, I applied to go back to China for spring semester of 2013. So I talked to him, and he gave me a packet thing to read about the responsibilities of a head teacher, then set up another appointment, which happened about two weeks ago.

During this interview thing, he talked to me about some concerns he has about me being a head teacher, and such. And then he told me that one of the girls at the office, Michelle, would be in touch with me to go over some documents, similar to when I first applied as a regular teacher. After waiting for her to get in touch with me, I decided to just go ahead and email her myself. In this email, I asked about going over the documents, and I also asked when I would know for sure if I'd been accepted to go back to China.

...

"As for when you will find out for sure, it's kind of up to Casey, but I'm guessing we'll know in around 2 months."

Let's have a chase now, you and I.

So I've spent the last 10 days reading most of the Mistborn trilogy. I had actually read a couple of the first chapters in the couple months proceeding that, but mostly it was all crammed in just now.

It was incredible. My opinion is that everyone should go out and buy it and read it right now, regardless of whatever else you had planned to do with your life. There were so many parts that caught me off guard, and overall it was one of the best stories I've ever read in my life. It definitely had an unexpected ending. I didn't even know what to expect, yet somehow, while thinking that anything could happen, it caught me way off guard.

My only warning is that the first 5-6 chapters of Mistborn aren't captivating. They're still pretty good and interesting, but I didn't personally get sucked into it until after that. But then I was sucked in, 100%.

Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. By Brandon Sanderson. Check it out.

I was going to read The Way of the Kings next (on the recommend of the bookstore guy), also by Brandon Sanderson. But I think, before I move on to that, I'll read at least one of the five or so books I'm borrowing from Chaelomen. So Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (short story collection), and then on to Way of the Kings. That one's a continuing series, so I'm kinda excited to get to it. Also kinda dreading it because it's the only book released out of ten... Yay being caught up in a book series!

That was dangerous...

But I got it! Danger pays.

So remember waitlisting? And how, if you're at the top of a waitlist and a spot opens up, you'll get an email and you have two days to respond and go register for your class. And if you don't register for it in time, you get kicked off the waitlist, and you have to re-waitlist or just give up on getting that particular class.

Well, I'm sitting here reading Well of Ascension, and I realize that I haven't checked my school email since Sunday (so it's been two days), and usually I don't worry so much about it, but I stopped reading right there, and I ran downstairs to open my computer and check. And I had an email! Sent Sunday after I checked my email last. It told me that a spot opened up in my ochem lab. I was right on the edge of being kicked off the list, so I went to register for it really quick.

But when I tried to register, a notification thing popped up and it's like, "Prereq/test score error," which means that there's some other class I have to take before or at the same time as this class. My guess (and this happened to me earlier, which is why I couldn't just sign up for this class in the first place and had to waitlist it at all), is that because I'm waitlisted for ochem lecture, and not actually signed up for it, my schedule is confused and won't let me take lab without lecture.

So I'm sitting here freaking out-- I'm so close to getting this class-- and I try signing up for another o chem lecture that I'll just drop once I get into my actual lecture. But then another notification pops up telling me I can't sign up for the same class twice in a semester. Rude. I try to submitting the registration of my lab like 5 times. Go figure, it still didn't work.

I did a quick google search and found the chem department's phone number and called the office. Classes are over, actually, so I wan't really sure that anyone would answer the phone, but someone did and I told her of my dilemma. And she got me put in the class anyway. :) :) :)

I'm so happy. I only have one class waitlisted now, and it shouldn't be a problem at all once a spot opens up there. Hooray! :D

There are just so many emotions in my head right now.

I just finished Mistborn about 10 hours ago. I stayed up all night to read it and didn't actually go to sleep until about 7 this morning. It was so good. Highly recommended. If the bookstore was open at 3am, I would definitely already own the 2nd in the trilogy (Well of Ascension) and be a good way through it, probably.

It's really interesting, because for most of the book, there's two main characters that you get the point-of-view from, and I really like how well Brandon Sanderson did that. Both characters had really interesting insights and fun stories going on in their life. There wasn't ever a point where he switch POV character and I was sad because now I had to read about something boring.

Very good read. I'm currently really angry at the book, I feel betrayed, but I'm also really happy and hopeful. So, it's just pretty necessary that I get this 2nd book asap. I made a deal with myself that if I cleaned one of the rooms downstairs, I could buy the 2nd book, and then read it. And after I cleaned the other room, I could buy the 3rd one-- Hero of Ages. I foresee my cleaning all night and then going to Barnes and Noble at 9am tomorrow morning when they open to get Well of Ascension.

Seriously, though. Such a good book. Everyone should read it and love it.

You know I love you, but you might be the death of me.

I'm of course referring to school.

Another semester is finally over! :) I really do love going to school and learning things and understanding a little bit more about the world, but man. I do tend to get burned out toward the end of each semester. The good news, though, is that I lasted way longer this semester than I did the other spring. It wasn't until the last 3 weeks or so of class that I was done this semester (versus the last 3 MONTHS or so back in sp2011 ha), so that's definitely a step in the right direction.

So does everyone remember my time conflict problems with classes this summer? I got it all worked out, sorta. I went in and talked to my calculus professor and asked him if it would be ok if I missed up to, but not necessarily, 20 minutes of class every Monday. He was fine with it, so I filled out a time conflict paper, and got it all signed off by a ton of people. So I'm currently signed up for analytical chem lab-- MW 9:00-12:50-- and calculus 1-- MTR 12:30-2:45.

Unfortunately, the only analytical lecture class that's offered this summer filled up way before I could take it. I may have already mentioned that, I'm unsure. Regardless, I went to the chemistry department and filled out some form online to request another analytical lecture, and additionally, I waitlisted the one they currently have.

Now waitlisting didn't used to be a problem for lecture classes. You would pretty much just chill out in the class, not officially a student in it, until enough people dropped the class that you got absorbed in, and then you pay tuition for it and everything and get officially into the class. But last semester, they changed the rules of waitlisting. So now you have until either the 2nd class or the 2nd week to get absorbed into a class, or else you get dropped from it. The end. You just have to take it some other semester.

So right now with only 3 and half weeks max before I have to get absorbed into this lecture, I'm looking at waitlist position number 7. My odds aren't terrible for getting in, but they could certainly be better (like my o chem classes this fall. I'm number one on both of those, so I'm nearly positive I'll get in). It might be worth it to stick it out and try to get this class, but I'm not actually sure if I want to.

Right now, I'm looking at 9 credit hours this summer if I get the analytical chem lecture class. And I'm just not really sure I want to take that many classes this summer. The reason I had signed up for all of them was so I could take survey of p chem and intro to criminalistics this fall. Those both sound totally awesome and everything, and I'm really excited to take them, but the main reason they were so important to take this fall, was because they were prereqs for some other classes, which if I don't take when I currently plan to take them, I push back my graduation date by a year, easy. Possibly two.

Only my current plans-- the ones that say I have to take 9 credits this summer-- don't account for me taking next spring off to go back to China. And they certainly don't account for me also taking off summer semester because I won't get home from China in time to take classes. So I'm already going to have to push back graduation.

Also this summer, I'm really really hoping to get a job and move out. And that would be so much easier if I only had 1 class to work around for now, especially since it wouldn't require me having to wake up too early (a big plus if I get my dream job of being a waitress at TGI Friday's, which would probably have me working a ton of late nights), and my classes wouldn't go too late. I'd be done and back up in Thornton, ready to go to work by 4.

So, I think I'm going to just take analytical this fall. That leaves the calculus for the summer, and then o chem, analytical chem, and some other currently undecided class(es) for this fall. Much better of an option, in my opinion. And this decision makes today a pretty productive day. I cleaned the bathroom downstairs and it looks really fantastic. And, I finished part 2 of Mistborn (not the 2nd book of the trilogy, just the 2nd part of the first book)! Really intriguing story so far.