Frazzled

In preparation for our big trip to Florida for my great-grandmother's 100th birthday, I'm trying to tie up loose ends here. I have a homework assignment due whilst I am gone and realize that I won't work on it there. Thus, I must complete and turn it in before I leave. Well, this class turned out to be theory-heavier than I expected (I could rant about this for a while, but suffice it to say that I don't think USC's education is appropriate for practical engineers - it rather caters to the academic crowd) and I stared blankly at my homework and wrote mathematical nonsense for about an hour yesterday. It doesn't help that my professor lectures from Powerpoint slides and the book is poorly written. I am not in the least an auditory learner and don't do well reading engineering texts either. Blah.

In addition, I have a project at work that needs progress in the next few hours. It's rather silly - those that use what I provide will have complete radio silence for months. Then when they need something, it's suddenly urgent and I better get it to them yesterday, by gum. Oh well, at least it's given me something to keep my mind off how crappy this semester at school is going to be and postpone my homework freaking out until this evening.

On another note, Sanctify! has been doing a faithfulness experiment. Each of us (theoretically) journals our answers to John Wesley's Holy Club questions on a daily basis to see if consciously thinking about such things actually makes a difference in faithfulness. Although we are only "officially" carrying out the experiment for 21 days, I plan to continue through the end of Lent.

Quarterly Update

Yep, I'm a useless blob that can't be bothered to blog, hardly ever. Here's the last 3 months in a nutshell:

• Daniel was home for Halloween.
• The family had the wurst Thanksgiving (hahaha); we went to Alpine Village and got German food since no one wanted turkey (except Daniel who stayed in San Francisco).
• I rearranged my room over Thanksgiving weekend. I gave the 'rents my TV and moved a queen bed into my room and my loft out (it's too hot near the ceiling and I've developed a bit of a fear of heights).
• I finished my second-to-last semester on my 26th birthday. Of note, I will never have to take a final on my birthday again. It's about time - this is the 3rd year in a row. I got an A- in the class.
• The family went to San Francisco for Christmas. We met Mom's sister, her son, and a friend of hers there. The three of them, Mom and I took a 5-day road trip down the California coast. It was beautiful, as it always is. Highlights include:
• Lots of amazing food both in San Francisco and along the coast.
• Sea lion birthing season. We saw many adults up on the beach along with a handful of wee babies. That was way cool.
• Hearst castle. What a cool collection of art and architecture.
• My mom's brother flew in for the Rose Bowl game (U of Illinois vs. USC). I attend USC and he's a U of I alum. We cousins and him went to that - it was fun but even though I was rooting for USC it was disappointing to see Illinois get beaten that badly (I still have some blue and orange in my blood).
• I started my last semester at USC and am now 2.5 weeks in. I'm shooting for an A. We'll see what happens.
• Sanctify! is studying James. Matthew was kind of overview-ish for me. I'm a detail person.
• I'm a member at large on the CE (Christian Education) committee at church. I am (as are the rest of the committee members) optimistic about this year and what we will accomplish. There is a hunger for change and growth.

The entire family is going to Florida in mid-February for my great grandma's 100th birthday. In fact, all of her descendants will be there. The last time we all got together was 10 years ago for her 90th. I'm very excited (as is everyone else) and am looking forward to getting together with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles again.

That's about all for now. Every time I post I think to myself, "Boy, I should be more consistent" but we all see what happens. As such, I will make an effort but not make any promises.

Update

Once again, it's been a while. I'll try to be fairly to the point:

• I visited Daniel in SF back in September. We ate well, enjoyed the city, toured Sonoma Valley tasting wine, and had a really good time.
• The orange bug is officially for sale. I think I have it listed too high. I have had 2 people supposedly interested in it but both have flaked out in one way or another.
• My cousin, her husband, their 3 boys (5 years old, 2 years old, 7 months old), and my aunt and uncle came to visit from St. Louis. Cousin and hubby took the weekend to enjoy LA while the rest of us watched the boys. Jack (the 5 year old) and I hung out a lot over the weekend and really had a good time. He was sad when they had to leave. I was too. This experience has caused me to re-evaluate my "live on a boat, have a dog" plan for the future.
• I decided to get my PhD. I would like to teach some day and, to be honest, the prestige has some appeal as well. I talked to the academic advisor at USC and my GPA is not high enough to be admitted. I realized I need a break from academia for a while and focus on my career instead. I decided not to get my PhD (not immediately anyway).
• I took my midterm a couple weeks ago. I did less than average. In my opinion the grading was unnecessarily harsh. I talked to the professor and he agreed and gave me 20 points back (out of 200). My grade is now above average.
• Daniel came home last weekend to visit and made a Mexican feast (he likes to show off his new-found talents each time he comes home). This included carnitas, which was amazing but no-one in the family should eat for health reasons. Oh well.
• Sanctify! has been studying Matthew. It's a great book and we're taking a much different approach than Ephesians or Amos. I like the overview feel but kind of miss dissecting the details since I'm very detail-oriented.

That is all for now.