I See Dead People

Sorry, I was just watching "I love the 90's" and they were up to '99.

My break has consisted of much activity interrupted by small bits of sleep. We're at t-10 days until the wedding, so it's getting scary. I'm battling a sinus infection that I can't quite get rid of, and I have quite the active social life to look after. Everything seems to be hunky dory right now with wedding plans, I finally got a hold of the flower people (thank goodness!). So, as long as everything goes to plan, it'll be smooth sailing. We of course have plenty more to do to ready ourselves, the church, and the house for the big day, but Mom made a dated to do list, so I feel prepared.

I have seen more movies since I got home than I have in the last year before that. I saw Rocky Balboa, the Queen, Happy Feet (twice), Pursuit of Happyness, and that's just in theaters. I saw plenty others on video to catch up from my apparent shelteredness. I didn't say I had a terribly interesting social life to keep up with, but it's there... Tomorrow is a gathering at the house Claire is house-sitting at, which should be very fun. It's a huge old historic home with a plasma tv, a fabulous kitchen and a bar. Yay! I have to paint Karen's room in the morning, but as long as I finish my chore, it'll be fun tomorrow night!

10 days until the wedding. I can't believe it's almost here, there's so much still to do, I'll probably have to sleep for a week after it's all over, but I'm excited. It's a lot of work, but it'll be so nice to enjoy it once it's all put together. It's like all the fun of being a bride without actually having to get married!

Merry Christmas all!!!

Jingle Bells

I saw Rocky Balboa last night. It was my first Rocky movie, and it was very good. It wasn't what I expected - more story, less fighting. If you haven't seen it, you should, it's really good.

Yesterday was also the first day of winter. Fall is officially over and it's only going to get colder from here. Ugh. On the plus side, the days will now get a little longer each day. Yay sun!

This week has been a blur of wedding prep and visiting friends and working like crazy. We've now finished redoing the downstairs bathroom and we're getting ready to finish cleaning and getting ready for Christmas and the wedding. Next we paint Karen's room.

3 days until Christmas - Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve!!!

Go Vols!

All is well in the world of Amy. Grades are all posted, and I got 2 A's and a B+. (Would have been nice to make straight A's but I'll take what I got.) Rachel came through surgery beautifully and is doing fantastic. I have just one more meeting with Dr. Kimble tomorrow morning and then I'm done with research until next semester. AND, the Vols won tonight!

The boys basketball team played Oklahoma State tonight at the GEC in Nashville, and I was there and it was fantastic! The referees were ignoring the Oklahoma State team and only fouling us for most of the game, but miraculously the score was tied with a minute left. At 20 seconds we got the ball and scored to stop the clock with 1.9 seconds left. So we're up by 2, and there's not quite 2 seconds left. Lots of timeouts later, Oklahoma State chucks the ball across the court and they throw for 3. (While traveling, but of course the refs don't call it.) So it's like - oh no, will they score and win - what's going to happen - this is so exciting!! And it shoots off the rim and we win the game!! I just love the Vols!

I also discovered 'Jacks Bar-B-Cue' in downtown Nashville tonight. We ate there before the game, apparantly it's world famous and I've never even heard of it. I have to say, it was very good. There was an autographed picture of Dolly Parton on the wall that said "Jacks Barbecue - y'all are the best!" You can always trust Dolly.

Good night for now, and have a lovely evening!

Almost Home

Two down, one to go. Last final at 10:15 tomorrow. Scarily, I feel ready for it, which makes me think I forgot to study something, but I think I'm just being a worry wart. At any rate, but noon tomorrow it'll all be over anyway. That's a nice thought.

This week is/has been crazy. Lots of stuff going on. Rachel (good friend from high school and college) has her surgery tomorrow morning, so I'll be thinking about her. I won't be able to hear anything until after my final, because her surgery is over during my final. Her mom is going to call me and leave a message so I know everything went well. Today I found out Kate, another friend from high school, got engaged! Big news, very exciting. Friday, my bestest friend Audrey graduates APSU - also exciting, and her fiance graduates TTU Saturday. The times they are a changin'...

Not to mention, the wedding is less than 4 weeks away! How did this happen!? It totally snuck up on me. Invitations are out, we're starting to get some responses. Karen's dress arrived from California to be steamed here and ready for the big day. I almost cried when I saw it again. It's just beautiful. Plans are being made for relatives at hotels, caterers are getting finalized, I'm getting calls from photographers, and I'm hunting down florists. It's a wedding bonanza of activity. If I can just get the florist to stop holding my flowers hostage, everything will be fabulous.

At any rate, I'm going to go to bed. At 9:30. It's sad, but I'm beat. All this studying makes me tired. Hopefully tomorrow will go well, and say a prayer for Rachel if you get a chance. She certainly needs it more than me.

G'night!

A!

I got an A in my math class. Yay! All the hard work payed off. He miscopied a problem from the book onto the final, and so had to throw it out. Apparantly he also made a mistake with Heather's grade, but hopefully he'll correct that too.

Friday night I vegged after the exam and lecture. I turned my brain off until this morning. Today I studied a bit and then went shoe shopping for shoes for the Christmas party and the wedding. I went to every place in Tullahoma that sells shoes, and I finally found some at Shoe Show here in Manchester, right next to my house. Go figure.

After that, I did some more studying and luckily got invited over the boys house for tacos and Chicken Little. Very cute movie, and a very welcome distraction. Now I've got tomorrow and Monday to finish preparing for my Inviscid final, and hopefully I can pull out another A. It will probably be more like a B, but a girl can dream.

Good night all, and have a lovely evening.

The big day

Well today's the day. Big math final. For the midterm, I felt pretty confident, so I didn't do a full on preparation, but for this final, I felt it was necessary. So, I managed a complete Schaeffer-style (A-Calc people know what I'm talking about) flashcard study session. I spent all day yesterday studying with the cards, save for some trips to Wal-Mart for supplies, and I feel pretty good. I've mastered my chapter 4 and chapter 5 piles, and now I just have to knock out the few in the hard pile. The test isn't until 1, so I think I'm ok. We'll see.

After the final, I've got my Wavelet final. Dr. Kimble has decided to just lecture during the final period instead of giving us an exam, which I am very very grateful for. However, after the math final, I don't know that my brain will be able to concentrate on wavelets for 2 whole hours. I hope he doesn't expect class participation, I may have shut down non-essential bodily functions by then.

Wednesday night I went to bed in Tennessee and it seems like I woke up in Alaska. It snowed yesterday. Real snow, just a notch above flurries. Very exciting, but very cold. I love snow, but I don't like cold. If it would snow, I could make do with the freezing weather, but as soon as it stops I just feel like I'm cold for nothing. Here's hoping it snows again today (after my finals). Stay warm, and wish me luck!

Safe and Sound

My car is safe and sound. She's back at home where she belongs and good as new. She has a new starter and new brakes and freshly turned rotors. All that for the bargain price of $600. When my parents picked it up, they paid for it, and when I brought up paying them back, she said that they decided I am to put the $600 in my savings account over the next few months and keep it there for a "car fixing fund" and I don't need to worry about paying them back. Do I have the best parents, or what!?

So, crisis averted. Today is just a study day for me so I decided to get up early and get some study food from Wal-Mart before the cold weather descended upon Manchester. Turns out 8am is the Geriatric hour at Wal-Mart. I almost never see old people in this town, and I can only assume it's because they get up at 6, they're at Wal-Mart by 8, it takes them the rest of the morning to check out and they're asleep again by 3pm. I watched a man check the price on each of the 12 cans of green beans he bought. Just in case one can was on sale?

Anyway, I discovered the sugar free section of the Wal-Mart bakery. Still has carbs from flour, but I know I'm going to cheat during finals, so at least I'm cheating smart. So now I'm all set for studying. Cinnamon cake, chocolate chunk cookies and the makings for mac and cheese, the ultimate thinking food. I believe we could probably cure cancer if we fed those scientists more mac and cheese. It's magical. I also got fresh new pencils and notebook paper. I'm convinced you'll do better on an exam with new, uncreased paper and brand new pencils with all their erasers. New pencils give me joy inside. It's the little things.

Crappy Weekend

It was a weekend like any other weekend. Then it went sour. Saturday we were at Staples stuffing and sealing wedding invitations. We get them all finished and are about to head to the post office to send them off. I put the key in the ignition, turn it...the car says I'm going to start, I'm going to start, nope. Just kidding. I sent my car payment Friday. The car dies Saturday. Ironic.

It's always a sad day when your car has to be towed away, but it's especially sad when a car you're still paying for has to be towed away. The concensus is that it's the starter. That's at least $200. Perfect. Me and Frannie (the Tempo) has plenty of rough days involving tow trucks and some touch and go moments at the car hospital, but that's the whole reason I sold my soul and the next 6 years of my life to Town and Country Ford so I could drive a car that didn't need health insurance.

Now, I know my weaknesses and limitations, and cars are a big one. I know how to drive, check the oil, change a tire if I have to, and call AAA. That's it. I can't diagnose noises coming from under the hood. As far as most emergencies go, I'm great. Break your ankle, I'm your girl, clear head all the way to the emergency room. Pipes freeze, and there's water pouring from the ceiling, I know where to shut off the water and where you keep a bucket. Car emergencies, I tend to lose it. I don't know how to fix it, I don't know where to take it, and I don't know how to get around without it. I'm a total basketcase. Always have been. I think my dad's greatest fear is that I won't know what to do if my car breaks down and he's not around. Cars-can't live without them, can't afford to fix them when they inevitably break.

Lucky for me, I'm able to drive my mom's car until mine is all healed. She's still home on sick leave, so she doesn't need it to get to work, but unfortunately I have stranded her at home until I can get mine back. I feel terrible about that, but she insisted. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that it'll be an easy fix, and I can get it back in a reasonable amount of time.

Good night all, hope you had a better weekend than me.