Senior Year Blog

It'll only be 19 days until I'm finished with the semester. All of my courses have picked up a bit as most professors try to cover all of the information they wanted to fit in before finals week. J Day or Judson homecoming and alumni weekend was this weekend. There have been quite a few Senior traditions going on lately and SGA events. There was a 90s dance last week! In addition to all of the social events, the quail from my third honors project batch are hatching and I'm dancing in a Delta Omicron music/dance Gala this Saturday afternoon. Saturday morning, my father like many other members of the Judson and Marion community is riding in the Old Howard 100 bike ride. He's planning to do the 45 mile route!

I've been trying to cut back my event, traditions involvement, and dancing recently, but even just the academics without the minimum are keeping me pretty busy. There are rules at Judson about major tests being scheduled at least week in advance, but bad luck has given me quite a few projects, tests, and reports in the last couple of weeks that I didn't feel I did as well with as I could and should have. I tried to compensate for the scheduling by staying up late at night and studying or writing, but that isn't such a good idea. There's really nothing to do but the best that you can, try not to get any unnecessary obligations, and know that there'll be time to bring up the grades if things don't go so well.

This coming week should be a lot of fun. I don't have a SINGLE test or report this week! Tuesday there's a Senior tea at the President's home. Thursday I'm presenting my honors project to the Judson College Honors Committee, so that will be out of the way. I need to turn in my thesis paper by the end of finals week. I've been putting off practicing for the Gala performance this Saturday due to tests, papers etc., so I can finally do that! My friend Beverly and I are doing a piece from "Cats". I can't wait to work on costuming and makeup! This afternoon I've started working on reports that will be due week after next. Later this week I should even have time to start studying for finals as well! It's amazing that my last semester is almost over! There are only 19 more days counting finals! I know they'll fly by!  

Jr/Soph weekend is this coming weekend. It crept up on me this year! My brain feels like it's swimming just with school work and obligations, so I've been trying to put off thinking about social events until the last possible moment. There will be a Jr/Soph dance "Where the Wild Things Are" Saturday night at the Birmingham Zoo. Thankfully I picked my dress earlier this year. It's a red strapless semiformal with a full calf-length skirt. I chose it mostly because it should be easy to dance in. Unfortunately I made a bad decision and chopped my hair a few weeks ago to shoulder length and am still getting used to fixing it. Luckily Mary at Tangles, a hair salon in downtown Marion, was nice enough to fit me in Saturday morning!  

I'm planning to go with a group to the dance. It'll be me, my friends Susanna and Bev, and Bev's sister Deborah who goes to Samford. Being an all female college, it's not unusual to be dateless at a Judson dance. People just go and have fun, no worries. The dance starts at 7:00 and there will be animals there until 7:30, so I'm hoping that we can get there early enough to get some good pictures with them in our formals! If we get a good one, I'll add it!

Tonight I'm putting the finishing touches on my paper about the first two batches of quail (fluorescent light, light deprived) for the April 1^st meeting of the Alabama Academy of Science. I'll do a run through of my power point presentation tomorrow afternoon for Dr. Wilson. I already have the revised honors project proposal and abstract, so really just have my results and conclusion sections to add into the paper. It's already after midnight. I wish papers could write themselves! On the bright side, I am treating myself to coffee, listening to Pandora radio music, and drafting a blog. It isn't so bad!    

My first Biochemistry test is this coming Monday. Biochemistry is the first class that I've taken under Dr. Bartley, an adjunct from UAB, so I'm more than a bit nervous about the test. I've been carrying my Biochem book around with me all week, studying a few paragraphs here and there. Earlier today I started making molecules out of modeling clay and writing them repeatedly on my dry erase board. Normally for my biology tests I highlight lecture material and write it on note cards, then just memorize those. I think this time I'll just memorize the few things that I know will be on the test, then focus on the broad concepts. There will supposedly be a lot of "thinking questions."

In addition to writing this blog, I've taken a few breaks from Biochem today. The first was the SaveFirst tax preparation program that I mentioned in previous blogs. I've committed to doing taxes Saturdays from 9am-3pm. Thankfully for my Biochem studying, there weren't any appointments today. This afternoon I called Judson alum Dr. Daveta Dozier to schedule shadowing. She and her husband, Dr. Frank Dozier, have a clinic in Thomasville and have been very kind to let me follow them around.  Throughout the day, I've been checking on my quail chicks and quail eggs.  My incubator thermostat hasn't been acting very well, so I'm monitoring as frequently as I can. This batch of quail was raised under a 20 watt plant grow light. Eighteen chicks hatched. Considering that no new ones have hatched in the last two days, that's probably all that I'll get from this bunch. My thermostat problems are annoying as I don't know whether the low hatch rate (18 chicks out of 50 eggs) is due to the thermostat or the light treatment. A girl from Judson who keeps birds took 10 of the chicks with her when she went home yesterday. Earlier today I took the remaining 8 to a guy who raises quail.

It seems like it was just an hour or so ago when I woke up. Actually it's 10:30 at night.. My first few years at Judson, I worried that I was socially awkward due to my shy personality, nerdiness and homeschooling. I pushed myself to participate in Judson traditions and other social events. Now it's all that I can do to keep up with my obligations. This weekend I was planning to visit a good friend in Tuscaloosa who is getting married soon. Last night, a Friday, I realized that I was already in jittery cram mode for the Biochem test and had to call and cancel. I wish I had photographic memory... Back to the Biochem!  

This coming semester will be my last at Judson. I thought that it would be fitting to wear a dress that my mother wore to Christmas Tea and Vespers when she was a student at Judson to my last Christmas tea as a student. Surprisingly, the dress fit perfectly and didn't seem too very out of style.. I realize that I need to savor every blip of time I have here. This spring semester will fly in a hurry!

Course signups took place several weeks ago. It looks like I'll be in Ms. Bartley's Biochemistry, Ms. Susan Jones' Biochemical Nutrition, Ms. Castro's Spanish II, Ballet with Jill Coplen, Bioethics with Dr. Wilson, and of course one of Dr. Betty's voice classes. I'll still be working on the biology honors project. Dr. Wilson (my project sponsor and major advisor) is encouraging me to present what I have so far at the Alabama Academy of Sciences meeting this March. As well as trying to pull that together, I'm worrying over my applications to the two rural medicine programs - RMP at Auburn and RMSP at the University of Alabama. I already feel busy just thinking about the honors project. I doubt Biochemistry will be a walk in the park either.

In addition to all of that brainy work, I do plan to keep dancing and try to work on jogging. Unfortunately my jogging/workout buddy Christina is going to Australia soon.  (Check out her study abroad blog :)) I'll miss having accountability and am worried that I'll get sidetracked. I know it'll be a an incredibly fun and huge learning experience for Christina and can't help but be excited for her though! It's frightening how easy is is for me to get tempted into homework, papers, and other things I need to take care of during workout hour. I desperately want to finish my Judson years in good form. If you like working out and need a buddy this spring, let me know!