Almost free!

I just submitted my math final to my professor- yesssssss. I feel so much better considering I have a monster exam tomorrow that I'm still studying for... and I require much more studying for. But at least now that's the only thing left. Man, it's weird that my first semester as a grad student is already over!

I'm feeling a bit better, I think the antibiotics are kicking in. Which is good because as much as I love sleeping 12 hours a day, it's not conducive to good studying. Or at least a lot of studying. I can honestly say I've never slept this much during a week of finals. Ever.

That's all for now, just studying and getting better, that's all I'm doing until tomorrow night when my finals are actually over. Then Keegan's company Christmas party is on Sunday, so I have that to look forward to :-D

Why do I always get sick during exams?

Since I woke up yesterday with some particularly concerning new symptoms, Keegan took me to the urgent care clinic at Duke. They did a blood test to check for mono, but when the results came back negative the PA said, "Well, that doesn't really tell us much since you've only been sick a week." Gee, thanks. So instead she says she thinks it's some sort of viral infection, which I know can't be treated with antibiotics, but she prescribes anyway on the off-chance I picked up something bacterial on top of the viral, which is why I started feeling a lot worse on Friday night than I did during the day. Fantastic.

On the plus side, I'm much more productive when I'm sick. I got up and did work for 2 hours straight and finished the updates I needed to make on this R21 for my biomaterials class. I want to have it finished today because tomorrow is when my math final is posted, so I want to just have that to focus on. That way I can finish the math by Wednesday hopefully and devote Thursday and Friday and Saturday morning completely to studying for my Tissue Engineering final. But I'm sure I won't work on the math final for that long- I think it's supposed to take 3 hours or whatever the standard exam length is. So I'm sure there will be TE studying in there too. I started studying a little bit yesterday, but then the desire to sleep took over, so I did that instead. I'd rather start feeling better sooner so my studying at the end of the week will be more high-quality.

On a cheerier note, Keegan and I put up our Christmas tree :-) It's very happy and it makes me feel better just looking at it. I can't smell it right now, which is sad, but hopefully in a few days I'll be able to. It's even got some presents under it! How exciting! Keegan's goal this year is to surprise me with his gift choices, since I was able to guess what he was giving me for Christmas the past two years. I love being surprised, but I think it must be difficult to do or something. Maybe I just need to not think about the things he knows I want and could therefore be present candidates.

We also have poinsettias that I bought from the LRHS band decorating our hearth, so they look very festive also. We have LED lights on the tree and they burn for some ridiculous 25,000 hours and use like 1.5 watts of energy, so I plan to have them on almost all the time when I'm downstairs with the tree. It will get me in the Christmas spirit. Of course I think I may have been in the Christmas spirit since Halloween when all the Christmas decorations went up... But anyway, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas always seems to fly by, and that's certainly true this year. I can't believe it's already the 8th; I take my last exam on Saturday and by then Christmas will pretty much be on the 10 day forecast. That's how I judge when dates are close or not.

I said I would work at Target from Dec 16-19, then the 21, 22, and 23, but I haven't heard anything about if they actually scheduled me. I will be angry if they scheduled me for days when I specifically said I couldn't be there, but I don't need the job, so I'll quit if they try to make me stay on for the days I have other plans (on Dec 15 and 20). I just thought it would be nice to extend my discount and earn a little more money to put towards the wedding.

Anyway, my break is over, so I'm going to finish the final edits on that R21 and then take a shower and a nap before diving into the studying for tissue engineering.

Quick updates

-One final down, two to go. And a final project (which is about 90% finished, just waiting on professor feedback).

-Buying Christmas tree today!

-Am sick, feels like there's an elephant sitting on my chest. And like my nostrils have suddenly been removed...

-Want to start reading the Twilight series now that the movie is getting all that hype. It also makes me want to reread all my Harry Potters (which I do periodically anyway) just to remind everyone that HP will always be the man.

-Went to the LRHS Winter Concert yesterday and it was really nice to hear some Christmas music... but I think it put a serious delay on my recovery process. I felt better yesterday whereas today I feel terrible. But I'm still getting a tree, dammit.

-Started running again, feels so good to be active.

Alright, time to nap I think. Or study. Most likely nap :-)