One more month to go

It was a good week at home for Thanskgiving, a much-needed break before the end-of-semester push. Our academic calendar rocks - whole week off for Thanksgiving, hence the age-old H-Y game chant "School on Monday!" I got to visit my high school, chat with a lot of former teachers and old family friends...I also somewhat caught up on sleep, though I didn't get nearly as much work done as I should have =P At least the weather's been pretty nice - even now highs get into the low 60s, which must be really confusing for the plants. I even saw one tree starting to bloom in the courtyard this afternoon (photo to left).

Still, the holiday decorations are starting to go up, like this (not blooming) Christmas tree in the courtyard and lots of festive evergreens/icicle lights festooning the common room. Koffee Too? went all out and semi-painted their windows into a holiday scene. I hope it actually does snow before we leave for winter break - it would be rather strange to have this weather for much longer.

I had a semi-philosophical discussion with some friends today about the upcoming stress of finals and such - all of us had ambitious plans about catching up on work over break but none of us seem to have accomplished that goal. In the end, though, what needs to get done is finished one way or another, and you look back and realize that one paper or one not-so-good exam grade isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. It like Timon says in The Lion King: You gotta put your past behind you. The only thing that really helps is take a deep breath and keep working toward what you have to do next.

The next two weeks are going to be pretty crazy. I need to decide if I'm writing a 15-page research paper or taking a final exam for "Molecules, Life, and Disease in the 20th Century" class, analyze data and write up the results for my Caplab project, prepare a poster with Sydney for the Perspectives on Science symposium, hopefully finish YSM production, clear out a bunch of Phoenix paperwork for UOFC funding and props/costumes purchases...next week isn't going to be fun just because of the Genetics exam Thursday and the last organic chemistry in-class exam Friday. Grr.

It's not all just work though. Winter IMs started tonight - my goal is to make it to at least half of the women's volleyball games and go cheer at more than half of the ice hockey games. The hockey games start super-late at night and the rink is halfway up Science Hill, but getting there and back is half the fun as long as you're walking with friends. Silliman is doing its share of holiday stuff too - we're having our traditional holiday dinner at the School of Management since we don't have our own dining hall, plus some other yummy things like "Fireside Fridays" with s'mores and kareoke night study break at Yorkside Pizza =D

For now, though, it's back to coding capuchin behavior patterns and then maybe some genetics reading...