Because I know you're just dying to know what I learned in psychology class today, I am here to tell you.
>>plants and amoebas (not to mention all animals) have minds and a conscience. it's the missing link!
>>we can get an A on a paper--without actually turning it in. maybe we get A's just for being ourselves. awww....
>>polygraphs are scientific instruments and accurately measure lies. (forget what you've ever learned about how the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system are completely different entities.)
>>and my favorite: your mind and your body are NOT connected. that is, your body can physically be in San Antonio and your mind can physically be in northern Virginia, completely separated from your actual body. in other words, a mind can function without a body anywhere near it, and vice versa. all that talk about my mind being gone...it's actually true.
The Dr. has been teaching this stuff at this school for almost 20 years. That means he must be right...right?
1/28/08
1/27/08
a meme?
Um, Johanna tagged me. I think it's supposed to be 6 weird things about me. I had to ask Beth for most of these. Now you know how cool I am.
1) I don't have favorite foods. I have favorite foods for "this week." Last week it was special K, green beans, tuna helper, and asparagus. This week it's cheerios, anything with cream cheese, any kind of fruit ever, and grape juice. Oh, and last week's foods? I will never eat them again.
2) My normal temperature is 95.5 degrees (seriously). Now you know why I'm always wearing a sweater, even in the summer.
3) Speaking of being cold, I have 2 down comforters, 1 fleece blanket, and 2 quilts on my bed. I sleep under them all.
4) There are currently 14 rx drugs in my medicine drawer that I take daily. And about 20 full bottles of stuff that my doctors think I took but I actually never even started. (The side effects on drugs.com looked unbearable)
5) The bottom half of my brain is as flat as a pancake and I still have the highest grades in my classes.
6) I make the best homemade bread that ever existed.
1) I don't have favorite foods. I have favorite foods for "this week." Last week it was special K, green beans, tuna helper, and asparagus. This week it's cheerios, anything with cream cheese, any kind of fruit ever, and grape juice. Oh, and last week's foods? I will never eat them again.
2) My normal temperature is 95.5 degrees (seriously). Now you know why I'm always wearing a sweater, even in the summer.
3) Speaking of being cold, I have 2 down comforters, 1 fleece blanket, and 2 quilts on my bed. I sleep under them all.
4) There are currently 14 rx drugs in my medicine drawer that I take daily. And about 20 full bottles of stuff that my doctors think I took but I actually never even started. (The side effects on drugs.com looked unbearable)
5) The bottom half of my brain is as flat as a pancake and I still have the highest grades in my classes.
6) I make the best homemade bread that ever existed.
1/26/08
there she is...
So the girls and I are almost crying right now because Miss Michigan won the Miss America pageant about 11 minutes ago. Did anyone besides us watch it?
Now, before you San Antonio ladies get upset, we did NOT have our annual Miss America party this year. Aubrey is in Virginia and since she is the natural planner of the event, it kind of fell through. SO, we don't hate you, and you will be invited next year to what we hope will be a better show than tonight's.
But us Warren girls are Miss America junkies, so we couldn't resist watching it anyway, even without a party. Shelley, Beth, and I watched here at the house and Aubrey, Kristen, and Annie watched together from Virginia. As is our custom, we took turns calling each other during each commercial break to vote for our favorites, talk smack about each other's favorites, and just to have an excuse for all 6 sisters to talk on speaker phone.
Since the show is never very good anymore (but yes, we are compelled to watch anyway), we have to create our own highlights.
>>Miss Michigan (the unfortunate winner) murdered the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and was by far the worst in the talent competition. Kristen called right after that performance to tell us that Miss Michigan sounded just like me. How nice.
>>We called the older girls to comment on how a certain girl's dress resembled a lawn and leaf trash bag, but unfortunately we didn't know that it was the older girls' favorite dress. They hung up on us.
>>We had a great opportunity to quote all the lines from "Drop Dead Gorgeous." If you haven't seen it, watch it.
>>How every girl was Nathan's FAVORITE... And how he saw opportunities for, um, "offspring" in each girl.
>>We came to the sad, sad realization that Tennessee maybe isn't always the best state at everything. (Sorry Blair.)
>>The only good thing about Mormons is that they wear one piece swimsuits.
>>Separately, on an unrelated note, the Mormon girl was the only one in which Nathan could find no offspring potential.
The older girls will have to add their own and I'm sure their's are funnier because they were watching with Molly in the room... :)
Now, before you San Antonio ladies get upset, we did NOT have our annual Miss America party this year. Aubrey is in Virginia and since she is the natural planner of the event, it kind of fell through. SO, we don't hate you, and you will be invited next year to what we hope will be a better show than tonight's.
But us Warren girls are Miss America junkies, so we couldn't resist watching it anyway, even without a party. Shelley, Beth, and I watched here at the house and Aubrey, Kristen, and Annie watched together from Virginia. As is our custom, we took turns calling each other during each commercial break to vote for our favorites, talk smack about each other's favorites, and just to have an excuse for all 6 sisters to talk on speaker phone.
Since the show is never very good anymore (but yes, we are compelled to watch anyway), we have to create our own highlights.
>>Miss Michigan (the unfortunate winner) murdered the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and was by far the worst in the talent competition. Kristen called right after that performance to tell us that Miss Michigan sounded just like me. How nice.
>>We called the older girls to comment on how a certain girl's dress resembled a lawn and leaf trash bag, but unfortunately we didn't know that it was the older girls' favorite dress. They hung up on us.
>>We had a great opportunity to quote all the lines from "Drop Dead Gorgeous." If you haven't seen it, watch it.
>>How every girl was Nathan's FAVORITE... And how he saw opportunities for, um, "offspring" in each girl.
>>We came to the sad, sad realization that Tennessee maybe isn't always the best state at everything. (Sorry Blair.)
>>The only good thing about Mormons is that they wear one piece swimsuits.
>>Separately, on an unrelated note, the Mormon girl was the only one in which Nathan could find no offspring potential.
The older girls will have to add their own and I'm sure their's are funnier because they were watching with Molly in the room... :)
1/25/08
more madness
The horrors of Intro to Psych.
Ok, I've always been interested in psychology. Before I went into the nursing program, I was going to major in psych. Even after I chose to go the nursing route, I wanted to take several psych classes, thinking it would help me as a nurse. My dad always asks, "I wonder why people aren't more like us...?" That's a good psychology question. Anyway, I'm taking intro to psych (yes, again. please don't laugh at me.) and I thought I'd share a few of the things that make it my "furthest class" which in WarrenSpeak means, the worst.
Instead of grading by traditional methods, my professor is grading all of us on a point system. 350 possible points for the entire semester (kind of like basketball?) and we better start racking them up.
We all STARTED the semester with 70 points, which I guess is about 20% of the total grade. If we want to KEEP these points in our grade, by the end of the semester, all 40 students have to still be registered in the class and having a passing grade. If 95% of the students are still in by May, we get 60 points and so on. The prof says that this is his way of getting us to try to keep our classmates in the class instead of dropping. So far, we all have 7 of the points left, and I currently have a D in the class.
Is it just me or should I not be responsible for my own work and attendance instead of everyone else's?
Our homework this week was to watch the premier of the new game show, "The Moment of Truth" on Fox. It's all a load of you-know-what where they allegedly hook up the contestant to a polygraph and make them answer grotesquely personal questions. If they answer "truthfully" they win so much money.
In class on Monday, we will be given a quiz about the show so he can be sure we watched it.
The really funny thing about the class is that all of our grades get posted on the wall of the classroom for everyone to see. So I can see everyone else's grade and they can see mine. Isn't that special? At least we're all failing right now because so many people have dropped out, so it's not a big deal to see all of our names and then a row of D's.
Oh, and another thing. You know how in normal psych classes you learn about the mind and behaviors and perceptions and emotions and disorders and whatnot? We're not doing any of that. We're only learning about "positive psychology." Now, I have no problem talking about hope, love, friendships, and happiness. But is that really what you pay for when you register for a psychology class?
And the class objective, as stated in the syllabus. "To learn what truth is, and what truth is not."
Seriously.
Ok, I've always been interested in psychology. Before I went into the nursing program, I was going to major in psych. Even after I chose to go the nursing route, I wanted to take several psych classes, thinking it would help me as a nurse. My dad always asks, "I wonder why people aren't more like us...?" That's a good psychology question. Anyway, I'm taking intro to psych (yes, again. please don't laugh at me.) and I thought I'd share a few of the things that make it my "furthest class" which in WarrenSpeak means, the worst.
Instead of grading by traditional methods, my professor is grading all of us on a point system. 350 possible points for the entire semester (kind of like basketball?) and we better start racking them up.
We all STARTED the semester with 70 points, which I guess is about 20% of the total grade. If we want to KEEP these points in our grade, by the end of the semester, all 40 students have to still be registered in the class and having a passing grade. If 95% of the students are still in by May, we get 60 points and so on. The prof says that this is his way of getting us to try to keep our classmates in the class instead of dropping. So far, we all have 7 of the points left, and I currently have a D in the class.
Is it just me or should I not be responsible for my own work and attendance instead of everyone else's?
Our homework this week was to watch the premier of the new game show, "The Moment of Truth" on Fox. It's all a load of you-know-what where they allegedly hook up the contestant to a polygraph and make them answer grotesquely personal questions. If they answer "truthfully" they win so much money.
In class on Monday, we will be given a quiz about the show so he can be sure we watched it.
The really funny thing about the class is that all of our grades get posted on the wall of the classroom for everyone to see. So I can see everyone else's grade and they can see mine. Isn't that special? At least we're all failing right now because so many people have dropped out, so it's not a big deal to see all of our names and then a row of D's.
Oh, and another thing. You know how in normal psych classes you learn about the mind and behaviors and perceptions and emotions and disorders and whatnot? We're not doing any of that. We're only learning about "positive psychology." Now, I have no problem talking about hope, love, friendships, and happiness. But is that really what you pay for when you register for a psychology class?
And the class objective, as stated in the syllabus. "To learn what truth is, and what truth is not."
Seriously.
1/23/08
it's a mad mad mad mad world
Today I realized that I am not as dumb as I thought I was. This is not necessarily a good thing, as it means that the intelligence of the general public has greatly decreased in the last 3 years. Here are conversations from 4 classes, all from today.
2nd grade math...I mean, Algebra, in which I learned the real function of the number line.
Instructor: I know that class just started a few minutes ago, but I'm going to stop talking now and you can just work on the homework for this section and you can leave whenever you want to.
[half of class leaves, half of us start on homework]
Some guy sitting at my table: Hey Cathryn, what did you get for number 3?
Me: Uh...I'm pretty sure that -7 is less than 7. But don't take my word for it.
Girl across the table: Well I thought that it was greater than 7 because it's before it on the number line.
Seriously.
Psychology, in which I learned that getting an zero on a paper better than a 40.
Instructor: Go ahead and hand in your papers before I start lecturing.
Girl across the table: Cathryn, did you write your paper?
Me: Yeah, I was really mad that it could only be 1 page, because I wrote 6 pages and had to cut it all out. Who assigns just 1 page papers??
Same girl: Why in the world would you write 6 pages? I didn't even bring my paper because I could only think of about 3 sentences to write. And since we could only use a 12 point font, I just didn't do it because I don't want to get a bad grade.
Anatomy&Physiology, in which I learned that lectures are actually important.
Instructor: Ok, so last week we talked about the ANS and we're going to finish that up and move in the Endocrine system today.
Girl in front of me: Um, Dr, would you mind going back over the whole ANS again? I forgot most of it.
Instructor: Did you not take notes or study?
Same girl: Well, I just wasn't aware that we were going to be quizzed on the lecture material.
Instructor: Are you in the right class?
Same girl: Yeah, I just didn't know we had to take notes because I didn't know that we were going to have tests.
Instructor: Oh, I see. Common misconception. Cathryn will let you borrow her notes.
Anatomy&Physiology Lab, in which I learned that bribing the profs is a good way to get 100 on the exam.
Instructor: Ok everybody, this is the first quiz. Take your time because I'm not going to help you.
[30 minutes later]
Girl at my table wearing almost no clothes: Um, hehehe, excuse me Dr, did your wife get back from Iraq yet?
Instructor: No, but that's not a question on your exam so you should be quiet and work.
Same girl: Ooohh, hehehe, well, um, me and my, hehehe, friends were like wondering like if you wanted to, hehehe, like come to a party with us tonight after school. hehehe!
Instructor: Not really a question for exam time.
Same girl: Oh, hehehe, like, could you like come over here and like totally help me with this lame problem? And I can tell you, hehee, like about like all the things that we like do at the parties! heheee
2nd grade math...I mean, Algebra, in which I learned the real function of the number line.
Instructor: I know that class just started a few minutes ago, but I'm going to stop talking now and you can just work on the homework for this section and you can leave whenever you want to.
[half of class leaves, half of us start on homework]
Some guy sitting at my table: Hey Cathryn, what did you get for number 3?
Me: Uh...I'm pretty sure that -7 is less than 7. But don't take my word for it.
Girl across the table: Well I thought that it was greater than 7 because it's before it on the number line.
Seriously.
Psychology, in which I learned that getting an zero on a paper better than a 40.
Instructor: Go ahead and hand in your papers before I start lecturing.
Girl across the table: Cathryn, did you write your paper?
Me: Yeah, I was really mad that it could only be 1 page, because I wrote 6 pages and had to cut it all out. Who assigns just 1 page papers??
Same girl: Why in the world would you write 6 pages? I didn't even bring my paper because I could only think of about 3 sentences to write. And since we could only use a 12 point font, I just didn't do it because I don't want to get a bad grade.
Anatomy&Physiology, in which I learned that lectures are actually important.
Instructor: Ok, so last week we talked about the ANS and we're going to finish that up and move in the Endocrine system today.
Girl in front of me: Um, Dr, would you mind going back over the whole ANS again? I forgot most of it.
Instructor: Did you not take notes or study?
Same girl: Well, I just wasn't aware that we were going to be quizzed on the lecture material.
Instructor: Are you in the right class?
Same girl: Yeah, I just didn't know we had to take notes because I didn't know that we were going to have tests.
Instructor: Oh, I see. Common misconception. Cathryn will let you borrow her notes.
Anatomy&Physiology Lab, in which I learned that bribing the profs is a good way to get 100 on the exam.
Instructor: Ok everybody, this is the first quiz. Take your time because I'm not going to help you.
[30 minutes later]
Girl at my table wearing almost no clothes: Um, hehehe, excuse me Dr, did your wife get back from Iraq yet?
Instructor: No, but that's not a question on your exam so you should be quiet and work.
Same girl: Ooohh, hehehe, well, um, me and my, hehehe, friends were like wondering like if you wanted to, hehehe, like come to a party with us tonight after school. hehehe!
Instructor: Not really a question for exam time.
Same girl: Oh, hehehe, like, could you like come over here and like totally help me with this lame problem? And I can tell you, hehee, like about like all the things that we like do at the parties! heheee
1/14/08
it comes down to the art of living on
Well, the first day of classes went better than expected. Or at least, better than I expected. All 4 of my professors (5 classes, 1 prof for 2 classes) are nice men and I think that all of my classes, with the exception of math, will be fun and non-boring. Except for math, they're all upper level courses that have more work than I had in any of my classes way back when. Hopefully I will be able to pace myself and not get burned out while trying hard not to get behind.
Being on campus today felt weird. It was the first time I'd been there since September 27, 2005. Why I remember the exact day, I don't know. Oh yeah, it was the day the world fell apart. As I was walking the halls, the memory of that day came flooding back to me. I had my first seizure in the parking lot of the school that day and as it was dying down and I was trying to figure out who I was and where I was, my best friend texted me from our chemistry class telling me our professor was going to drop me if I didn't show up. I had already missed almost every class because I was already sick and didn't know it. I remember being freaked out about having to tell my parents I'd been dropped from a class, so despite the agonizing pain in my head, I decided to stumble in to the building and sit through class. Everything was moving in slow motion, sounds were muffled, and it all looked blurry. I must have looked terrible as I entered the classroom because just as I opened the door, my friend and our professor ran over, pushed me out of the room and shut the door. I couldn't tell them what was wrong because I could hardly speak, so the prof told me to go home and not to come back until I was coherent. I walked back to my car and never went back to school.
In the long months following that day as I tried to come to grips with my crumbled life, I pushed away anything that had to do with who I was before that day. I didn't want to go back to the castle I lived in or see my apartment, I couldn't look at any of my cute decorations and kitchen stuff that made my place homey, I couldn't talk to my friends, I couldn't listen to the same music or watch the same movies, I couldn't read any of my books from school or go back to the school, I couldn't ride in my car, I couldn't go downtown, I couldn't wear my old clothes, and I couldn't look at any pictures of life. I pushed everything away in a huge effort to forget everything that had made my life fabulous. In the back of my mind though, I thought I was waiting to get better, to be cured, and then I would go back to all of that. I seriously thought that I would lie in bed, wait to be fixed, that I would be magically healthy in one day and then I would have my life back. On September 27, 2005, I also thought that I would be fine in 6 weeks.
As time has worn on and almost 120 weeks have passed now, reality has set in and I know that I cannot sit on my bed waiting for the day when I'm healthy again. It has occurred to me just in the last several months that I may never be healthy. It's possible that I will live the rest of my life like this, and sitting on a bed is no way to live it.
So with the help of my family and church family, in the last year I've been trying to take steps to live a somewhat normal life in spite of my problems, and to try and create a life around me that will allow me to function but still be flexible enough to handle my problems. That probably makes no sense, but it's late...
Anyway, in the last year I've been purposefully exposing myself to some of those things I was pushing away...parts of my old life. I wanted to try to deal with them and accept my life the way it is now instead of trying to bury my old self and never think about it again. I was becoming emotionally stunted by being content with bitterness and not accepting life the way it was.
I'm going back to school knowing that I'm not the same person I was on September 27, 2005, but also knowing that I can't bury myself by avoiding that school and everything else. Although painful, going back to school on the same campus, in the same classrooms, with some of the same professors, in the same car, listening to the same music, and buying DrPepper from the same vending machines, are just a few of the steps essential to me moving on.
Being on campus today felt weird. It was the first time I'd been there since September 27, 2005. Why I remember the exact day, I don't know. Oh yeah, it was the day the world fell apart. As I was walking the halls, the memory of that day came flooding back to me. I had my first seizure in the parking lot of the school that day and as it was dying down and I was trying to figure out who I was and where I was, my best friend texted me from our chemistry class telling me our professor was going to drop me if I didn't show up. I had already missed almost every class because I was already sick and didn't know it. I remember being freaked out about having to tell my parents I'd been dropped from a class, so despite the agonizing pain in my head, I decided to stumble in to the building and sit through class. Everything was moving in slow motion, sounds were muffled, and it all looked blurry. I must have looked terrible as I entered the classroom because just as I opened the door, my friend and our professor ran over, pushed me out of the room and shut the door. I couldn't tell them what was wrong because I could hardly speak, so the prof told me to go home and not to come back until I was coherent. I walked back to my car and never went back to school.
In the long months following that day as I tried to come to grips with my crumbled life, I pushed away anything that had to do with who I was before that day. I didn't want to go back to the castle I lived in or see my apartment, I couldn't look at any of my cute decorations and kitchen stuff that made my place homey, I couldn't talk to my friends, I couldn't listen to the same music or watch the same movies, I couldn't read any of my books from school or go back to the school, I couldn't ride in my car, I couldn't go downtown, I couldn't wear my old clothes, and I couldn't look at any pictures of life. I pushed everything away in a huge effort to forget everything that had made my life fabulous. In the back of my mind though, I thought I was waiting to get better, to be cured, and then I would go back to all of that. I seriously thought that I would lie in bed, wait to be fixed, that I would be magically healthy in one day and then I would have my life back. On September 27, 2005, I also thought that I would be fine in 6 weeks.
As time has worn on and almost 120 weeks have passed now, reality has set in and I know that I cannot sit on my bed waiting for the day when I'm healthy again. It has occurred to me just in the last several months that I may never be healthy. It's possible that I will live the rest of my life like this, and sitting on a bed is no way to live it.
So with the help of my family and church family, in the last year I've been trying to take steps to live a somewhat normal life in spite of my problems, and to try and create a life around me that will allow me to function but still be flexible enough to handle my problems. That probably makes no sense, but it's late...
Anyway, in the last year I've been purposefully exposing myself to some of those things I was pushing away...parts of my old life. I wanted to try to deal with them and accept my life the way it is now instead of trying to bury my old self and never think about it again. I was becoming emotionally stunted by being content with bitterness and not accepting life the way it was.
I'm going back to school knowing that I'm not the same person I was on September 27, 2005, but also knowing that I can't bury myself by avoiding that school and everything else. Although painful, going back to school on the same campus, in the same classrooms, with some of the same professors, in the same car, listening to the same music, and buying DrPepper from the same vending machines, are just a few of the steps essential to me moving on.
1/13/08
school things
So many things going on...
Mom and I drove Nathan up to school today. Poor guy was so nervous, even though he didn't admit it. He was trying to find every excuse to stay home an hour longer and once we got him into his dorm, he tried to convince us that he needed to come back home, spend the night, and go back to school tomorrow. I don't see why...he has a very fancy dorm that really shouldn't even be called a dorm. We're not really sure how he weaseled his way into that building instead of the REAL freshman dorms, so he won't have anything to complain about to any of the other freshmen. We met one of his three roommates and he seemed pretty nice. Nate's still not so sure about him, so he's keeping his brand new bike in his closet instead of the bike rack outside. :)
Beth and I head to school tomorrow. Yes, Cathryn Warren is back in school after a 5-semester absence. I'm taking 5 classes, which is kind of scary, but I'm trying not to think about the scary part. Here are some cool things I've found out so far:
My ethics prof is a Christian. At a public school. How weird/exciting is that?
My A&P prof is the husband of one of the head nurses in charge of me at the hospital. Very cool. I'll probably get in good with him.
Because of losing so much brain function in the last 3 years, I was worried about things like math classes. So I (stupidly) went to the school to take the math entrance exam again, to see if I could score where I had last time. I didn't know that the score was binding and I got an ungodly low score, so they stuck me in a remedial class. Ha! I never thought I'd be in a remedial math class. Instead of crying about it, I'm totally laughing and am the first to make fun of myself when anyone brings it up. The good thing is that I probably won't have to work as hard as I would if I'd just taken the class above what I took last time.
My classes are all on Mon/Wed which means I get to "celebrate" all major holidays since they usually fall on a Monday.
Beth's classes are on the same days at the same times. So...if I'm having a bad day and really don't think I can get out of bed to go to school, she will be there to force me since I am her driver. No skipping class for me.
My ethics class in online, so I can say whatever I want about whatever I want and nobody can yell at me.
Since I am a little (no, alot) nervous about tomorrow and the whole semester, I was planning on posting all the things that are making me that nervous. But I didn't that would help me be any less nervous, so I posted cool things. Maybe that will help.
Actually, I will post a few things, and I will disguise them as prayer requests. Please pray for:
My ability to focus and concentrate during classes. This is a big struggle for me, mostly because of the drugs I am on. I usually feel like I'm not really in whatever situation I'm in, but instead I'm just looking down watching myself. I never really feel connected to what's going on. So, please pray that I would be "in the moment" while in class.
That I will comprehend everything I hear and see. As a result of major pain and drugs, it's very hard for me to understand what is being said or what I'm reading. I usually have to read something 5-10 times for it to mean anything other than Greek to me. Same with listening--with people I know well, basically family and church, I will ask them to repeat what they're saying 5-10 times before I understand what they're saying. With people I don't know very well, I'll usually just look at the faces of anyone around to gauge what kind of reaction I'm supposed to have to what was said. If that makes any sense... Anyway, it would be very helpful to know what the profs are saying.
That I will not get discouraged if I don't understand or can't do something that everyone else can do. I know I'll have to work twice as hard as I used to just to make a passing grade and I'm going to need reminders not to worry about it.
That I will have minimal pain and mental disfunction while at school so I won't have to take alot of meds.
That I will keep a good attitude and maintain a long-term perspective.
Thank you so much! I'll post tomorrow and let you know how everything went. :)
Mom and I drove Nathan up to school today. Poor guy was so nervous, even though he didn't admit it. He was trying to find every excuse to stay home an hour longer and once we got him into his dorm, he tried to convince us that he needed to come back home, spend the night, and go back to school tomorrow. I don't see why...he has a very fancy dorm that really shouldn't even be called a dorm. We're not really sure how he weaseled his way into that building instead of the REAL freshman dorms, so he won't have anything to complain about to any of the other freshmen. We met one of his three roommates and he seemed pretty nice. Nate's still not so sure about him, so he's keeping his brand new bike in his closet instead of the bike rack outside. :)
Beth and I head to school tomorrow. Yes, Cathryn Warren is back in school after a 5-semester absence. I'm taking 5 classes, which is kind of scary, but I'm trying not to think about the scary part. Here are some cool things I've found out so far:
My ethics prof is a Christian. At a public school. How weird/exciting is that?
My A&P prof is the husband of one of the head nurses in charge of me at the hospital. Very cool. I'll probably get in good with him.
Because of losing so much brain function in the last 3 years, I was worried about things like math classes. So I (stupidly) went to the school to take the math entrance exam again, to see if I could score where I had last time. I didn't know that the score was binding and I got an ungodly low score, so they stuck me in a remedial class. Ha! I never thought I'd be in a remedial math class. Instead of crying about it, I'm totally laughing and am the first to make fun of myself when anyone brings it up. The good thing is that I probably won't have to work as hard as I would if I'd just taken the class above what I took last time.
My classes are all on Mon/Wed which means I get to "celebrate" all major holidays since they usually fall on a Monday.
Beth's classes are on the same days at the same times. So...if I'm having a bad day and really don't think I can get out of bed to go to school, she will be there to force me since I am her driver. No skipping class for me.
My ethics class in online, so I can say whatever I want about whatever I want and nobody can yell at me.
Since I am a little (no, alot) nervous about tomorrow and the whole semester, I was planning on posting all the things that are making me that nervous. But I didn't that would help me be any less nervous, so I posted cool things. Maybe that will help.
Actually, I will post a few things, and I will disguise them as prayer requests. Please pray for:
My ability to focus and concentrate during classes. This is a big struggle for me, mostly because of the drugs I am on. I usually feel like I'm not really in whatever situation I'm in, but instead I'm just looking down watching myself. I never really feel connected to what's going on. So, please pray that I would be "in the moment" while in class.
That I will comprehend everything I hear and see. As a result of major pain and drugs, it's very hard for me to understand what is being said or what I'm reading. I usually have to read something 5-10 times for it to mean anything other than Greek to me. Same with listening--with people I know well, basically family and church, I will ask them to repeat what they're saying 5-10 times before I understand what they're saying. With people I don't know very well, I'll usually just look at the faces of anyone around to gauge what kind of reaction I'm supposed to have to what was said. If that makes any sense... Anyway, it would be very helpful to know what the profs are saying.
That I will not get discouraged if I don't understand or can't do something that everyone else can do. I know I'll have to work twice as hard as I used to just to make a passing grade and I'm going to need reminders not to worry about it.
That I will have minimal pain and mental disfunction while at school so I won't have to take alot of meds.
That I will keep a good attitude and maintain a long-term perspective.
Thank you so much! I'll post tomorrow and let you know how everything went. :)
1/5/08
a Christmas Calamity
In September, my mom and I had the great idea to start a kid's Christmas musical at our church. COG is very small, just under 20 families. Most of the families have several children, so Mom and I thought we could easily get enough kids to work with. Because it was September and we were just then thinking about, we had to work very quickly. We decided to do a Psalty play because Psalty's our favorite. Every family in church signed up and we ended up with a group of 35 kids. Shelley, Beth, and I split up the directing jobs and recruited all the teenagers in the church to help us. We also, somehow, convinced a few adults to help us out, found a very willing man to play Psalty, and in the end we had a great play. Here's a few pictures from our all day rehearsal at our house, the day before the performance.
Trying to get the kids into positions for different songs...Probably the hardest part.
The smallest kids got tired very quickly, so Nate's job was to periodically get them off the deck and let them run around and climb trees.
And somtimes we had to call him in to change a few attitudes, if you know what I mean.
During practice for one of the kids' favorite songs, "Fix It", Beth and I had to demonstrate for the girls exactly how to "stretch" Psalty.
The constant reminders to SMILE!
The 3 (Burger) Kings :):):)
Scarf dancers!
executive director, technical director, musical director... I loved working with my sisters!
Dad's a big fan of scaring little girls.
more pics of the actual performance later!
Trying to get the kids into positions for different songs...Probably the hardest part.
The smallest kids got tired very quickly, so Nate's job was to periodically get them off the deck and let them run around and climb trees.
And somtimes we had to call him in to change a few attitudes, if you know what I mean.
During practice for one of the kids' favorite songs, "Fix It", Beth and I had to demonstrate for the girls exactly how to "stretch" Psalty.
The constant reminders to SMILE!
The 3 (Burger) Kings :):):)
Scarf dancers!
executive director, technical director, musical director... I loved working with my sisters!
Dad's a big fan of scaring little girls.
more pics of the actual performance later!
1/2/08
to blog or not to blog
Sorry I've been MIA for so long... It's been so crazy busy around here that we've barely had time to eat and sleep, much less blog. You might say, "Well, your mom has been blogging, so it must not be too busy!" I will tell you that Mom has lately been blogging only at night. She uses "bedtime" for things like blogging, reading, sewing, and Fox News. I use "bedtime" for sleeping. So yeah, I'm a failure. At blogging, that is.
With so much going on, there's way too much to post about. I will set aside some future posts for topics that need their own post such as the COG Psalty musical that my sisters and I directed, a health update, and a rundown of what my life will be like this next semester.
We just finished our marathon New Years parties at our house. For the first time since...ever, we had TWO parties in less that 24 hours at our house. The Warren version of a "party" is very different from the typical understanding of the word. Instead of loud music, dancing, fancy clothes, and cocktails, the parties at our house are usually an all-day affair and look more like jeans and tshirts, paper plates, 50+ people, more kids than adults, enough homemade food to feed the city, lots of soda, board games and card games galore, trampoline fun, football, and lots and lots of laughing. And the people we invite actually come!
Anyway, we had a New Years Eve Party that went well into the night. I think we had close to 45 people and I think everyone had fun watching fireworks and playing games. As midnight approached, several of us ran upstairs to my bedroom, climbed out of one of the windows and sat on the roof to get a better view of the fireworks. We had some blankets and sleeping bags (it was cold) and it was pretty cool to get a view of the whole neighborhood and beyond as the new year rolled in.
The highlight of the night was when, as we were laying on the roof waiting for midnight, Amy (one of our friends from church) said, "This is the best New Years Eve party I've EVER been to!" In my usual sarcastic tone I said, "Hm...you must not get to many New Years Eve parties then." Amy thought a minute and then replied, "Yeah, now that I think about it, we've always been stuck at home and have never been to one!" So yes, our parties ROCK....if you've never been to one before.
Less than 12 hours later, our next group of partiers arrived to celebrate the first day of the year. We had around 35 people for this one and we sat around watching the college bowl games, we ate ALL day long, broke out the guitars and had a jam session around the piano, and again played alot of board games. Mom showed a couple of the ladies what a sweet and warm family we are when she refused to offer them food until they registered for the annual WholeHearted Mother Conference. Mom brought her laptop into the kitchen and pulled the website up. Being quite hungry and smelling the good food, the two ladies gave up and registered right there. They were then allowed to eat. :)
The highlight of the day came during a 4-hour long (I am not exaggerating in the least) game of Cranium:Turbo Edition. Beth was on a team with our sweet friend and long-lost sister, Blair. It was their turn so I pulled out a card and told them that they had to spell a few words backwards. The way that Cranium works, your team has to spell the word together--one person says one letter, the next person says the next letter and so on. Ok, so the word was "licorice" and they had to spell it backwards. Blair says, "H." I was on a team with our other long-lost sister (there's alot of them) Stephanie, and we both started laughing. Beth didn't see the problem and said, "S." By the time Blair got to the letter "I" everyone at the table was laughing at them and to spare them further embarrassment, I just handed them the card. I think I said something about Blair being blond so she yelled back at me, "Oh yeah? Well you.... [she couldn't find a very good insult for me] You have botox!"
I'm feeling pretty good today because I owned the Bowl Games yesterday. Ever since I can remember, every year my family competes in the Annual College Football Bowl Championship Contest where we pick who we think will win each bowl game. Whoever has the most wins at the end of the season wins the contest. We had a meager beginning with only a few of us in the the family participating and competing for one small blizzard from Dairy Queen. Now the ACFBCC is much more sophisticated with 50 participants (we invite a select few from outside the family), 2 divisions, a commissioner, regional assistants, official bowl sheets, weekly email news updates regarding current standings, big arguments over "misrepresentation of our bowl picks" (aka: losing), and I think that 7 blizzards are now on the prize table. This is one of the biggest events of the year for our family and our secret friends. We spend days and weeks agonizing over our picks before sending them to the commissioner. We have to consider the teams themselves, starting lineups, coaches, location of the game, regular season records, strength of schedules, our own loyalties, prophecy from above, alignment of the planets, and many other things. It's very serious. Losers have been prone to severe bouts of depression and temporary insanity. Anyway, the reason I'm happy is because I had a losing record this year until yesterday, when I took home wins for all 6 New Years games. Out of all 50 people, I was the only person to win all 6. That's what I'm talkin' about!
With so much going on, there's way too much to post about. I will set aside some future posts for topics that need their own post such as the COG Psalty musical that my sisters and I directed, a health update, and a rundown of what my life will be like this next semester.
We just finished our marathon New Years parties at our house. For the first time since...ever, we had TWO parties in less that 24 hours at our house. The Warren version of a "party" is very different from the typical understanding of the word. Instead of loud music, dancing, fancy clothes, and cocktails, the parties at our house are usually an all-day affair and look more like jeans and tshirts, paper plates, 50+ people, more kids than adults, enough homemade food to feed the city, lots of soda, board games and card games galore, trampoline fun, football, and lots and lots of laughing. And the people we invite actually come!
Anyway, we had a New Years Eve Party that went well into the night. I think we had close to 45 people and I think everyone had fun watching fireworks and playing games. As midnight approached, several of us ran upstairs to my bedroom, climbed out of one of the windows and sat on the roof to get a better view of the fireworks. We had some blankets and sleeping bags (it was cold) and it was pretty cool to get a view of the whole neighborhood and beyond as the new year rolled in.
The highlight of the night was when, as we were laying on the roof waiting for midnight, Amy (one of our friends from church) said, "This is the best New Years Eve party I've EVER been to!" In my usual sarcastic tone I said, "Hm...you must not get to many New Years Eve parties then." Amy thought a minute and then replied, "Yeah, now that I think about it, we've always been stuck at home and have never been to one!" So yes, our parties ROCK....if you've never been to one before.
Less than 12 hours later, our next group of partiers arrived to celebrate the first day of the year. We had around 35 people for this one and we sat around watching the college bowl games, we ate ALL day long, broke out the guitars and had a jam session around the piano, and again played alot of board games. Mom showed a couple of the ladies what a sweet and warm family we are when she refused to offer them food until they registered for the annual WholeHearted Mother Conference. Mom brought her laptop into the kitchen and pulled the website up. Being quite hungry and smelling the good food, the two ladies gave up and registered right there. They were then allowed to eat. :)
The highlight of the day came during a 4-hour long (I am not exaggerating in the least) game of Cranium:Turbo Edition. Beth was on a team with our sweet friend and long-lost sister, Blair. It was their turn so I pulled out a card and told them that they had to spell a few words backwards. The way that Cranium works, your team has to spell the word together--one person says one letter, the next person says the next letter and so on. Ok, so the word was "licorice" and they had to spell it backwards. Blair says, "H." I was on a team with our other long-lost sister (there's alot of them) Stephanie, and we both started laughing. Beth didn't see the problem and said, "S." By the time Blair got to the letter "I" everyone at the table was laughing at them and to spare them further embarrassment, I just handed them the card. I think I said something about Blair being blond so she yelled back at me, "Oh yeah? Well you.... [she couldn't find a very good insult for me] You have botox!"
I'm feeling pretty good today because I owned the Bowl Games yesterday. Ever since I can remember, every year my family competes in the Annual College Football Bowl Championship Contest where we pick who we think will win each bowl game. Whoever has the most wins at the end of the season wins the contest. We had a meager beginning with only a few of us in the the family participating and competing for one small blizzard from Dairy Queen. Now the ACFBCC is much more sophisticated with 50 participants (we invite a select few from outside the family), 2 divisions, a commissioner, regional assistants, official bowl sheets, weekly email news updates regarding current standings, big arguments over "misrepresentation of our bowl picks" (aka: losing), and I think that 7 blizzards are now on the prize table. This is one of the biggest events of the year for our family and our secret friends. We spend days and weeks agonizing over our picks before sending them to the commissioner. We have to consider the teams themselves, starting lineups, coaches, location of the game, regular season records, strength of schedules, our own loyalties, prophecy from above, alignment of the planets, and many other things. It's very serious. Losers have been prone to severe bouts of depression and temporary insanity. Anyway, the reason I'm happy is because I had a losing record this year until yesterday, when I took home wins for all 6 New Years games. Out of all 50 people, I was the only person to win all 6. That's what I'm talkin' about!
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