Something I stole...

I wanted to blog but couldn't come up with much...sooo...

10 Random things about me...

1. If I was running from a burning building and could only grab three things, I would grab: Bruce, my stuffed shark; my backpack (it usually has all of my essentials in it); and my dvds.
2. Life is better with Diet Dr. Pepper
3. Rainy Days are my favorite
4. My favorite Cookies are Oatmeal Scotchies or Collette's Choc Chip with Coconut
5. I <3 the Purple Downey Dryer Sheets
6. My favorite artist is Shag.
7. I once won an award for being the best Velveeta Cheese.
8. I have been on a blind internet date.
9. If I could only read 5 books over and over again for the rest of my life, I would choose: The Bible, The Complete Chronicles of Narnia, The Collected Sherlock Holmes, The Complete James Herriot, and Russia: A History.
10. I would love to have a pet skunk but they are not legal in California.

9 THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

1. Jesus
2. Sharks, owls, or kittens
3. golden spoon
4. Going New Places
5. being with good friends
6. Star Trek, Harry Potter ect.
7. Road Trips
8. Reading a good book
9. Discovering something new and historical

8 THINGS THAT TICK ME OFF:

1. Whiny or needlessly repetetive authors
2. my own stupidity and insecurity
3. when people are rude or inconsiderate on purpose
4. People who use big words just because they can
5. blanking during a test
6. the extortion that is the GRE (it is 140$)
7. people who ask stupid questions (yes, they do exist)
8. having to wake up early on a chilly morning...


7 THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:

1. get my Ph.D.
2. do something incredible for God
3. Parasail
4. Travel More
5. Read War and Peace
6. Learn 3 languages
7. Write a Book

6 MEMORIES:

1. Swimming with the Sharks in Hawaii...
2. The day I realized that God Loves Me...
3. Fourth of July at Wilson Park...
4. Waiting in line for things to get released at midnight (books, movies ect)
5. Randomly driving 5 hours just for Cracker Barrel.
6. The day that the guy got hit by a car right in front of me

5 THINGS THAT I BELIEVE IN:

1. God
2. Love
3. The healing power of sleep, or a good cry...
4. Movies and Popcorn go together
5. Everyone should have one meal that they make that is wonderful

4 THINGS THAT I'M AFRAID OF:

1. being stupid
2. failing at life
3. embarrassing myself
4. shaming God.

3 THINGS I NEED RIGHT NOW:

1. a little more time
2. a fixed and or new computer
3. sleep

2 THINGS I WANT TO DO TODAY:

1. order photos online
2. eat dinner

1 PERSON I WANT TO SEE RIGHT NOW:

1. Someone who loves me...

I don't know why I am all of a sudden posting in the morning instead of at night, but I am ...

So yesterday I found out that:

"Dear Ms. Atkins,
It is my great pleasure to inform you that you have been awarded third place by the 2007-2008 Selection Committee for the Jack Kilfoil Memorial Scholarship in History. The entire committee agreed that this year’s application pool was the most competitive that it has been in years, so yours is a great honor. You will soon receive an award of $300 in recognition of the quality of your research, your overall academic performance, and your commitment to the field of history."

This makes me happy for a couple of reasons...

1) It was a competitive applicant pool, so it does mean something... They had 23 well qualified applicants, I really wasn't expecting anything at all, Most of my department seems to take their studies seriously, I only know of three people who are content merely passing all of their classes, most history majors seem to work hard for their grades.

2) She mentions the quality of my research in her email. I always worry that my research is insufficient, this reassures me that it isn't as bad as I think it is.

3) My friend Chris got a scholarship also, he tied for fourth place. I am glad he got one as well, it means we will both be going to the party on Thursday, I will probably be more at ease if he's there and I can harrass him.

At my luncheon on Wednesday, I learned that if I edge a little out of my comfort zone, I can mingle, although it does help to have someone you know with you. I did not know that I was going to have to talk to university big wigs or have to go stand in the front with my professor as she got her award. She told them all of my future career plans and my trip to Russia, and the President of the Emeritus Faculty Association (I am a new employee of the association :) ) came up to me afterwards and was telling me that I should get to know the Russian historian on campus. I was told that by at least 3 people. I tried not to laugh. Finally, the professor I was with told someone that I have a good relationship with "the Russian historian" already. Several people also teased me about working with our French historian but not planning on studying France, this is where I get to point out that I will most likely be studying the Imperial period of Russian history and the Ruusian elites were almost always more likely to speak French, or German than they were to speak Russian. I have heard that Nicholas II and Alexandra used French when at home.

I did, however, have a very tasty sandwich and some more of the good fruity tea I had last week. The lunch that they served was the best on campus food I have had to date (at least as far as official functions go)

We are almost done with The Sorrow and the Pity which is good, because, I don't really like this film, nor do I truly get why we are watching it.

I have to finish typing up my paper on gays in the 20s and 30s.

It is really my last assignment of the semester, which makes me sad. I then have 4 finals 1 next Thursday, Two the monday after and one the Tuesday after.

Then I am done until the first week of June! When I start summer clasees! I will be taking Natural Disasters as it is one of the options for one of my Upper Division GEs. I am trying to find another course to take so that I can pull financial aid and not have to pay the moneys out of my pocket... I think I am going to take dance perceptions, it is like a historical look at dance through the viewing of films...

Okay, I need to go so...

Reality...

Right now I am overwhelmed...

I have been on the verge of tears for a couple days mostly because I am exhausted and frustrated...

I have soooo much to do and not enough time to do it in... and yet, here I am blogging...

So, for some motivation... A to do list:

Laundry (must do soon or will have to contemplate life as a nudist)

Clean my room (It is really bad and its disorganization is adding to my frustration)

Paper (write it, due on Wednesday)

School (one thing I don't mind having to do!)

Make 100 paper flowers for mothers day craft at work.

Fill out paperwork for Russian visa (I have a little time while I am still waiting for my passport)

Pay Bills (must go to bank today!)

a million other little things....

But one thing I really need to do is spend some hardcore quality time with my Jesus... I know a lot of my exhaustion and frustration is because my devotional times have been rushed lately...

From the Newsboys....

Be Still

Be still and know He
Know He is holy
Be still and know He is God
We have filled our lives with inventions
That have hurried us nowhere fast
Now we need to turn our attentions
To what will last

Chorus:
Be still and know He
Know He is holy
Be still and know He is God
Love Him more dearly
See Him more clearly
Be still and know He is God

We've been running without a direction
We're afraid to get there late
What we need is strength just to kneel down
And wait

-----------------------------------------------------------

Last night I went to church after work. It always bums me out a little becasue I really want to be there for the whole service so I usually don't like to go over there after work just to hang out. But I have gone a couple times and I know God uses even those few minutes to bless me. Last night as I walked in, my good friend and rad youth pastor was finishing up his message and was giving an altar call, and I was praying that whatever he had just shared would have stirred something in the hearts of the youth... and then we did "one last song" and as it so often works out I was ministered to and I can't even remeber the song I just know that a few minutes spent wholeheartedly focused on Jesus can make a world of difference...

I have been trying to work on something that I need to do and I keep coming up against a brick wall...

Brick Walls Suck...

I am gonna go get redy for one more day of insanity....

Still Pondering...

Don't you hate when someone says something offhand or in a joking manner that really makes you ponder your life...

Also, making some moderately sized life decisions...

On a lighter note:

I am the History Club President! I just need to get all the paperwork in so we can be officially recognized!

Well...

I keep promising a blog about deeper things than just school or work or Russia, and I really will keep that promise, but one of the deeper things that was imparted to me lately has shaken my worldview quite a bit and it bears some internal pondering before I blog about it.

So...
School:

Yesterday I did my presentation on my paper about homosexuals in the 1920s and 1930s. It seemed to go well. Several students asked me questions after my presentation and it did go a lot faster than I thought it would. Professor Stricker said that I did well, especially considering that I had the hardest topic to find sources on.

I got my midterm back from my Russia class. I am starting to worry a bit about my grade. I am fairly sure that if I am just a point or two shy of the A, I will still be seeing an A on my transcript, just because I know that has happened to others in the past. I have to get 24 out of 25 on my final for me to actually earn the A myself. It isn't impossible, but this semester I have been averaging in the 22-23 point range for all of my assingments. So I shall have to make sure to kick some post-Soviet butt on my final...

Today I have California History class and Theory and Methods of History. I find it interesting that the one class I was not looking forward to this semester (Theory and Methods) is one of my favorite classes. I actually really lucked out. Now that I dropped the Holocaust class, I love all of my classes. In Theory and Methods we are going to be watching The Sorrow and the Pity after class, today is the History Club Meeting, and hopefully elections because I need to get the paperwork turned in sometime in the next 2 weeks.

Tomorrow is Russia class as usual and then I am going to a lunch thingy with the professor I am going to be working for next semester. It sounds fun.

Thursday, I might be meeting with the Professor of the Russian class, but other than that it's just an average day....

Work: An ordinary week for once...hooray!

Russia: I am waiting for my passsport so I can send away for my visa. I started freaking out yesterday because I realized that the scariest part of this trip is going to be getting from the airport to the hotel in Moscow. I went on the contiki message boards and found out some interesting thing things about contiki. I am very much hoping to be on a tour with older (25-35) people and couples would be preferable. There is apparently a subsector of the contiki world who go on these tours just for the sexual escapades. There is a larger part of the group who go on these tours as international drinking binges. I am going to be friendly, but probably one of the more boring peope on the tour. There is also, if you are interested in the bathroom dynamics of touring with contiki an entire thread dedicated to "turds" I laughed quite a bit at all of the international terms for poo. Aussies come up with some of the best too.
I did read some trip reviews but they just changed my tour from a concept tour which is more of a camping type tour to a hotel tour, which means that most of the time, I will be staying in decent accomodations. The worst one described was in some city that I am not even sure I go to, and I have stayed in similar type places before (Anaheim anyone?) I am still excited even though there were some unhappy people. I read the travelogues of some people who went on the concept tour and they had fun and it seemed interesting. I especially found the log written by a history major to be helpful, although his area of interest is not Russia, so I am sure that the parts of Russia that bored him won't bore me... I am extra excited that we can break off from the group if we choose to. I won't in Moscow because I want to do all of the tour stuff, although I have been told that I should make an adventurous friend or two the first couple of days so that we can go looking for meals together. I have also been told that some of the cleanest bathrooms in Russia are in McDonalds. The Red Square McDs supposedly has 27 registers and 1500 employees.... There is apparently (according to wikipedia a Mac Wrap which is like a gyro made from hamburger patties) available in Russia (if I have to eat at McDonalds in Russia, and I think at least one meal is there) I'd like to eat soemthing I can't get in AMerica at least!

Oh wel.. I am off to school

ladeedadeeda

So, I am not going to the innaugaration because there is much still to do... But here I am blogging...

My computer is broken. It isn't a major broken but it is a broken that means I shouldn't take it with me this weekend...But I think I am going to LOL!

I am on hold with the Travel Visa people... They are emailing me the documents I need to fill out to get my visa. They are hardcore with the nosy questions... Including if I have any knowledge of weapons....(I don't think telling them that all I know is that 'Guns don't kill people...Chuck Norris kills people' would be wise...LOL!)

Have I ever been addicted to drugs or diagnosed as mentaly ill?
Have I ever been deported from Russia?
All of the schools I have gone to and what I have studied...
Am I member of any organizations?
These are just some of the questions...
My last two places of employment...Both Libraries...The poor Russian reading this is gonna be bored out of their mind...

Oh well, I am gonna go now...I'll be back on Sunday!

Times, They are a changing...

I was looking at a friends myspace survey and it really hit me (once again) just how much things have changed...

10 years ago...

I thought I was going to be a high school teacher...

I thought Taco Bell was the best food on the planet...

I thought I would be best friends with my BFF forever...

I did not want to get married...

I definitely didn't want kids...


Since then...

My career plans have changed at least six times and are in a stage of Pseudo-transition at the moment...

I really, really don't love the taco bell so much anymore...

I've switched BFFs twice and I don't even have one currently...

I want to get married, and even have a God given call on my life that I belive includes, by neccesity, marriage...

I still don't want to give birth (my genetics are questionable at best) But I really, really want to be a mommy some day...

And these changes aren't including the big spiritual ones of exceeding deepness, that I can barely even remember how 10 years ago was...

And now onto shallowness...

Today was the History Department Sponsored Reception for the keynote speaker of tomorrow's Innaugaration. It turns out that the key note speaker is a historian of Asian Presence in Latin America, especially Mexico. And she shared with us some of her research on Chinese Immigration/Labor in Cuba. It was very fascinating. The President of the University was there, as well as many of the School leaders. One of the Emeritus Professors came over to us, The group of students hiding in the corner, and told us that if we didn't mingle, and meet the speaker, we were "incredibly stupid" because she happens to be a member of the Academic Elite in our field.

I am not super outgoing when I feel out of place, and as one of only four students there and the only non-senior, I did feel out of place, and am very grateful that I did at least, dress nice. I know this is one part of the Academic field that I might have trouble getting used to, the receptions and mingling parts. Eventually the four students attached ourselves to the Latin American History Professor. She is fun and made us relax a bit. The three other student there are all going to specialize in either LAtin American or, more specifically, Mexican history, so I was the odd-woman out.

It was very weird to be hanging out with VIPs and be the only people drinking the non-alcoholic beverages. I don't like wine very much and was not about to drink any even if I did like it. I did drink some tea which was kinda fruity and very good though. I was glad I was basically the only one drinking it, more for me. It was kind of fun watching the professors mingle. You could really tell who was uncomfortable and they were all dressed up more than ususal. The male Professors all wore ties, and they looked very nice, and all of the female professors dressed slightly nicer than they would for just the classroom. It was an interesting, but long experience...

I want to got ot the "shin-dig" tomorrow, but I have a lot to do before I go camoing... So we'll see in the morning if it will be possible...