Senior Year Blog

I'm nearing the end of the Judson chapter of my life. I'm finding myself packing my schedule a bit more than I used to. Over Spring Break, I couldn't get myself completely out of school mode. My sister is the same way. Because of our similarity we didn't get to see each other. The plan my family worked out was that my parents would go to visit my sister at the University of Houston so that she could stay with her practice piano (she's getting a major in piano performance) and I would stay in Marion and work on my projects. I got to shadow Dr. W. Shane Lee at the Vaughan Marion Clinic and on his nursing home rounds Monday through Thursday. My eggs are doing well. The last batch of eggs came in Sunday. I was able to stick them in the incubator Monday over lunch break. I've done a lot of thinking and a little work too on two upcoming papers - one on Gaucher's disease for Biochemistry and another about vegetarianism during pregnancy for Biochemical Nutrition.

Even being in Marion instead of hanging out in Houston with my sister, I had fun over break. My mother is very picky about the food we keep in the house. Anything too desserty either gets used as sugar in a milkshake or gets fed to the chickens, no joke. Monday I saw a caffeinated brownie mix on a site and since my mother was not there to scold me, decided that I'd make my own version. I just did a normal brownie recipe, but instead of adding liquid, I added coffee. The first batch was alright. The second that I made later in the week was a killer though. I got a little carried away with the coffee pouring. Instead of the few tablespoons that the first batch had, I added 2/3 cup instant coffee powder to the liquid. The whole batch fit into an eight inch square pan, so quite a bit of coffee per brownie. I got a headache when I ate 2 of them. That probably isn't healthy. I looked up caffeine toxicity. According to eMedicine, 10 or more grams are lethal, so considering that one cup of coffee has only 85-250 mg, I think I'm definitely alright. I really don't think I'll make them again though. The only other crazy thing I did other than the brownies was to take two of my three dogs to Perry Lakes park in my car. I took the black lab Solomon and mutt Town Dog. They had a good time and got insanely muddy. I have a hatchback and put the seats down so they could just jump in the trunk, but mud still got everywhere, even on the windows. It'll take a while to clean the car, but we all had fun. It's finally feeling like spring!

So, you're probably wondering how life at an all-girls school like Judson located in a tiny town like Marion could be anything but boring..Think again. The local politics and goings on are pretty interesting, as are random things at Judson. Take this Monday for instance. I was on my way home from Statistics class to grab a quick lunch, and what should I get stuck behind but a parade for Obama Day. It was pretty impressive. Not only were there a ton of different marching bands, but there were also horses, police cars, buses, and pretty much whatever else could be thrown in the street. The parade was apparently supposed to start at 10am, but obviously was quite late. That's small towns for you..

Even life within the confines of Judson can be quite busy. Monday afternoon after class, my jogging buddy and I went just over 4 miles without stopping. We cut around town and used the marked road next to MMI so we could get a better distance estimate. After that, I made a quick trip home to change into dance clothes, worked a quick math study session, then on to swing dance practice..Loads of fun! Practice was quite productive. The group of swing dancers is really just a remnant of the tango group with a few additions. We all enjoyed getting together for the Tami tango performance last month and decided to get down what other ballroom dances we could learn from each other, the Internet, and YouTube. We've already tackled basic East Coast swing, the turns, a few throws, and a lot of the flips. Hopefully we can get something together for Dr. Betty's next Broadway Gala or some other upcoming event.  The weekly SGA meeting followed and then I worked a little bit on my quail project. Monday went as days usually go. I didn't make it home for the evening until after 10:00 pm.

This morning I got up bright and early - 5:00am. I'm just a little bit irritated. My whole time at Judson, I've never gotten up early enough for MMI's Halloween Run through Judson's campus. I've only seen it in picture and YouTube video form. Student life announced that the annual MMI costume run was to be 5:45 this morning. I decided that I had to go to one before I graduate, so came over to watch the run with friends in the dorm. It's a tradition to pelt cadets with water balloons and get them with silly string when they come through the road next to Kirtley, the freshman dorm. Some girls had ice and water to throw too. Well, we waited, and waited, and waited..Finally we saw the cadets in the distance - a huge horde of them.

..and they turned to go through campus the opposite direction from normal. So we all hid between and behind cars with ammunition waiting for them to circle around. We finally realized that it was taking way too long. A Judson security guard drove around and told us that one of the cadets said they were going back to campus, even though they hadn't run through the Judson students. I heard later that it was one of the PT instructors who didn't listen to any of the people telling him he was going the wrong way.

A few girls that had cars and keys nearby were able to get the guys between formation and the dorm, but I and most of the other girls just went back to get ready for 8am classes.. Some girls stayed up all night filling water balloons until their fingers bled. So irritating we missed all of the costumes. I heard from a girl who made it to MMI that they were good.

So, on to the rest of my weekend preparations. This afternoon, Science Club and Tri Beta members helping with Treats on Bibb Street are meeting at 2:00 to go over the Thriller dance for our booth. Treats on Bibb is a Friday before Halloween event that Judson holds for the community. Kids come by to have a safe and easy place to trick or treat. We'll work on Thriller, then set up our booth and hang our banner afterwards. I'll go over and hang with Art Club as soon as that's over. I'm supposed to be painting faces when not with the Science Club and Tri Beta. Need to finish touching up my costume. It needs a lot of work. I may just go with it - not enough time. Doubt the kids will care much what I wear! Will add a pic to this blog soon of whatever I come up with. 

Monday was my 21^st birthday. I didn't have time to have a real on the day celebration, but am definitely feeling the love! I tried to reply to my Facebook wall birthday messages. Gave up after the first 15 or so!

Chapel the day after was a hymn sing. Rev. Dr. Washburn, the librarian and Mrs. Leah, his wife ran it. Mrs. Leah is a very gifted singer and pianist. Dr. Washburn calls on students to pick a hymn out of the hymn book for everyone to sing. Somehow happy birthday got chosen and all of the people with birthdays had to come up..Only 3 of us. Kind of on the spot. Don't think I can ever remember birthdays being recognized in chapel.

My friend Audra insisted on giving me a gift. Told her she couldn't spend anything. Audra went to stay the weekend with Holly Beth, another Judson student. Holly Beth's grandma is a prolific painter and gave Audra one of her paintings to give to me. It's a gorgeous landscape with a church similar to the church I grew up in, and a lake with a swan infront. The sky and lake have gorgeous pinks. I immediately went and hung it in my computer room!

Among other things, one of my aunts gave me a $21 gift certificate to Marion's ice cream parlor. I'm working on whittling it away. A group of Science Club and Tri Betans met last night to make a sign for the club Treats on Bibb Street booth. (Treats on Bibb is a yearly Halloween trick-or-treat event that takes place in front of Judson. Different clubs on campus make booths.) After we finished the sign, we all got ice cream! (Well, actually, I'd already had mine for the day - a delicious scoop of praline pecan topped by the new strawberry shortcake flavor.) One girl got Rocky Road and another got some kind of chocolate shake, but other than that, everyone got coffee flavored ice cream! I will have to get that next time I go! Another reason to come to Judson - an ice cream parlor only a few blocks away!