Tomorrow's the First Day of School....Again

Tomorrow we start spring quarter. We start over three times, four if you take summer classes. I really enjoy the quarter system and how quickly classes go, with the exception that we have to buy books three times a year. That really sucks. Tomorrow I work in the morning, have Mythology in Lit at 11, then Intro to Women's Studies at 1:30 and wind ensemble at 4:30. I'm really pysched for Women's Studies stuff and getting into the minor. It's going to be amazing, I know it!

Break was good. My sis came out from Boulder, CO. We had tons of fun exploring Seattle with Flat Stanley. The weather was really nice most of the week, too. Mt. Rainier was amazing last Saturday. It totally blew me away, it was so vivid. It was look BOOM! and it was right there in front of you. I love the mountains so much!!

My hair is getting longer, sorta. It's getting closer to my shoulders, anyway.

Blast...it's my turn to buy milk and we're out. Better go...

One down, one to go!

My linguistics final took me almost the entire two hours to complete, but complete it I did!! I kicked butt on it, too! Yay! It was almost fun. Scary, eh? Ahhh!!

Just my Advanced Grammar final left on Wednesday and then I am done....yippee!

It's nice out, so I am going to go catch the bus to Fred Meyer and do some chores. Sunshine is so wonderful :)

Oh Studying...

All I've studied ALL weekend was linguistics. Bah. I still need to do some more studying and write an application paper to turn in with my final tomorrow morning. Argh!

Emi, Laley, and I went to Golden Gardens this afternoon to walk along the beach and take a break from studying. We met lots of friendly dogs and their owners and spent probably half an hour at the duck pond, talking to this elderly gentleman about the ducks. It turns out that this guy is a famous artist and his artwork graces the foyers of many of the theaters and concert halls in Seattle. It was very interesting! We then took off to go study at the Starbucks in Magnolia. We got totally lost trying to find it, experienced a fantastic drive around the upper-upper class neighborhoods, located the house from "10 Things I Hate About You," watched the sun start to set over the Sound, and eventually stopped to ask for directions. We did make it to Starbucks, though, and stayed and studied until they kicked us out at closing. It was great. :)

Back to the linguistics! Oh finals week...we're in the home stretch!!

It's Spring!

The weather has been so beautful here lately. I think it's finally spring!!

Not much going on today...church, free lunch after church, stop at the store while walking back from church, study linguistics ALL DAY, meet with Renae to study for linguistics some more, go to bed. Woo hoo. Linguistics final tomorrow and Advanced Grammar Wednesday morning, fill out my chapel report, and then I am DONE. Yay! I hope it is nice and springy for break next week. My sis gets in on Saturday and is here until Thursday, so we need some gorgeous weather! I can't wait; she and I are going to watch Seattle movies and then go to all the places in the films. The walk to the houseboat in "Sleepless in Seattle" is just down the road from SPU and is a beautful walk. And there are tons of places in "10 Things I Hate About You" I can take her - the troll, Kerry Park, Gas Works Park, out on the canal. Plus other great places that aren't in any movies, of course!

Sara and I hung out at the U Village yesterday. I bought my sis' b day present. It was a good time. I think I'll have to take Amoeba there, too.

Ok, off to get some stuff done before heading up the hill to church.
Happy Sunday!

Oh, Lesson Plans...

I am finished writing lesson plans for the evening! I'm writing three tomorrow and calling it good!! All these lesson plans are for Young Adult Lit. Each group in our class is creating a novel study for the book we were assigned. My group was assigned Bridge to Terabithia. So we've chosen some main themes and have also pulled out other lessons that can be taught in conjunction with reading the novel. We're writing for fifth graders, so it's been lots of fun. Thursday is our last day of Yound Adult Lit, so we are having a party in class and watching "Harry Potter." Each group is supposed to bring food that has to do with the book you read. The Joy Luck Club group is bringing Chinese food, the Maniac Magee group is bringing pizza, etc. We just looked at each other blankly when we were told we had to bring food. There's very little mention of food in Bridge to Terabithia! Except there is this one chapter where Janice Avery, the fifth grade bully, steals a Twinkie from Jesse's little sister. So that's right - we're providing the Twinkies on Thursday! Talk about the easiest form of food to bring in - praise the Lord!

This is the last week of classes for the quarter. Next week is finals. I have two finals and a short application paper due. That's it, after this novel study is handed in and over with! Yay! I did promise my Feminist Theology professor, Priscilla, that I would meet with her this week to discuss what I have learned in this class, how I have changed as a theologian, and if/how my faith has changed because of being a part of this class. I'm looking forward to talking and sharing with her. She is such an amazing and wise woman of God! She's been sort of a mentor to me over the past year. One of these days she and I are going to sit down and talk seminaries, too...I'm looking forward to that!!

Off to bed. I'm reading a really great book called The Dance of the Dissidant Daughter, by Sue Monk Kidd, the author of A Secret Life of Bees. I highly recommend both books :)

Days in the Life of Super Val
I finally started my own online photo album so sharing pictures will be much easier now. Yay!
Check out my online photo album here

It's late, so I better go to bed.

Thing I learned today:
You can still hear your roommate's annoying noises even when you have headphones on and are listening to music. :(