Burn Out

Stress. We all get stressed at some point or other. There's the good type of stress (preparing for a wedding, getting ready for guests) and the bad type (studying for a test, trying to finish a project/paper last minute). Either way, can lead to burn out. And boy, am I getting burnt out. Unfortunately from the bad kind of stress as opposed to the good kind. The good thing though is I'll be getting a month-long break from that after next Tuesday. Going up to NY for a week and a half, going to work, and in general relaxing. Then, once I'm recharged - back to school. A new semester, a new start, a new stress.

Classes

I don't think I really did a post on when this semester started, which is what I usually do. Cover what classes I'll be taking, which I think I'll love, which I think I won't be so fond of. Alright, the semester is already half over, but why not do that post now? I'm taking five classes, all of which are psychology related classes. This should, technically, make me very happy, right?
Wrong.
My first class is Biological Basis of Behavior, and everytime I go to this class I am reminded why I tended to skip anatomy in High School, and why I will never ever follow in my father's footsteps. It falls under WAAAAY too much information, and is (in my opinion anyways) too fond of big words for its own good.
My next class is Fractals in Psychology. The title is a bit misleading...what it boils down to is trying to convince a bunch of psych majors that "math is fun! and pretty!" At this point, I'm convinced that mathematicians are more than a bit crazy. Considering my college algebra teacher had a tendency to refer to problems as being "adorable" and "cute", and this teacher says "look at how pretty it turns out!" would you really argue with me? On the other hand, at least he tries to make it entertaining. Such as creating a hypercube ( a 4-D cube) from whatever you can find lying around at your house.
Class after that is the one I like the most. Social Psych, which has always fascinated me, as well as making the most sense to me. While I'm not into researching myself, the research that comes from this area of psych is pretty interesting stuff, all about how relate in our social settings, and how our cultures and environment effect us more than we think.
Second to last class, is probably my least favorite, if not actually tied with my last class. Billed as "Evolution and Animal Behavior" I was sold on it by the "animal behavior" bit. O'course, when I went to the class I was in for a bit of a surprise....we were gonna be learning Darwin...doing almost as close as we could be to meeting the man, we would be reading his biography, autobiography, and his most well-known work, "On the Origin of Species". Which currently, I have to read a chapter a week of and then come up with questions on it. And he is NOT an easy read, despite what my teacher seems to think. Plus I happen to completely disagree with one main part of his theory and have to sit through a 3 hour long class of people who agree with it...It's my once a week torture session.
The last class, which I hate almost as much as Darwin, is my Research Methods class. Now, I'm not going into the research side of psychology, however, the college I'm currently at only has a research psych graduate program, so that's what a lot of their classes focus on. So, like it or not, I have to write a research paper. Fortunately not expected to conduct a whole experiment myself, but I think I may have to do that before I can my B.A. And I'm a wee bit behind on it.
Well, that's it. All five classes. Thank goodness the semester is halfway over. Just need to survive the rest of it.

Going to NY

Tomorrow I'm going to Brooklyn, NY for a friend from seminary's wedding. Staying there only till Sunday though, because I'm starting classes (again) on Monday. I just finished my semester today, and this is my "break", not very long, is it? On the other hand, only taking one class twice a week next semester, so it shouldn't be too bad.
Whenever I get into a discussion with a NYer about living in NY, I tell them I like visiting, but I wouldn't want to live there. For some reason, every NYer I have told this to, then decides to take it upon themselves to convince me how great NY is, and why I should live there instead of South Florida. I've heard it all, and I'm still not convinced. Then again, maybe I'm just biased. Both of my parents were born in NY and grew up there, and both of them hated it (which is why they moved down here obviously) so it's quite possible that I'm just brainwashed. But that doesn't mean I'm changing my mind, I love FL!

College

I'm taking 2 courses this summer, one is a basic computer class, the other is cognitive psychology. Now, technology, especially computers, is a wonderful thing. When it works. When it doesn't, I'm very tempted to go "Office Space" on them, with a good dose of some heavy artillary. I have a test in cog psych tomorrow, and I just hope that I don't completely mess it up. It's an interesting field, but a little bit much when packed into only 5 weeks of class.
I also went to a Bake Sale for Shavuos tonight, and we bought a very choclatey choclate cake ( I know, techically cheese cake is the food of the yom tov, but my brother and I get sick of it VERY easily). We listened to a fantastic speaker, Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, and watched a couple of BY girls put on a very amusing skit. All in all, a very enjoyable evening.
Now if only I could get out of this test, tomorrow evening would be nice too....

The Semester is OVER...Among other things

I took my last final last night, and got it over with in 20 minutes. I'm SO glad the semester is finally over, freedom at last...for about a week. And then starts summer class, oh joy. Oh well at least it's only 1 class as opposed to 4, and it will only last 6 weeks as opposed to 16. So there is a bright side. I still have work and will be looking for another job, for when the school year is over.
I took some new pics, and decided to show how big Mariner's gotten by comparison pics. In the first pic, he is 8 weeks old and about 10 lbs. In the most recent (taken today) he is 7 months old and weighs 50 lbs. He's huge. He steals food off the counter ( he LOVES peanut butter) and he goes for "drags" not "walks". He is also going to puppy training class starting tonight. The last picture is the back of a pick-up truck I saw in the Walmart parking lot. It looked so cool, couldn't resist sharing.

Spring Break

Ah, first of all I'd like to apologize for the Hiatus, I just did not feel like I was getting any news to write about. Now, however, there seems to be plenty. For one, I started a job as a secretary at an all boys middle school. My mom happens to be one of the principals, which is how I got the job to begin with. It involves a lot of typing, which, fortunately for me, I'm good at. So working there should provide me with lots of blogworthy material. Another thing is the dog park. Three weeks ago, I started taking Mariner to the dog park...there is SO much you can talk about there, the people, the dogs, the park itself, the weather....you get my drift. What else is new...oh, I got a new phone, the Samsung Instinct, which I love. It's pink. I would have preferred blue, but sadly they don't make it in blue...considering it took them this long that if they sold phones in pink and red, women would buy it, I'm not really surprised. I'm on Spring Break now, was planning on going to NY, but not happening, this time at least. oh, and I just took new photos of Mariner to put up. As a side note, he's now 5 months and 40 lbs.

Studying for a Test

I've always found that the easiest way for me to study for a test is to read the material right before the test. Though this time I'm a bit nervous because I don't know how this teacher will test and from what I've heard, his tests are hard...also the fact that he wasn't able to finish the material that will be on the test in class hardly inspires my confidence. On the other hand, MOST of the stuff on this test I've learned about 3 times before, perhaps more. So it can't be TOO hard, right?
I hate studying....wish me luck everyone!

New Comp and Finals

Got up at 3 am Friday morning to get my new comp...went to Office Depot and waited 2 and a half hours for the store to open. I made friends with a couple of people already on line, an Isreali guy and his British girlfriend. Apparently his parents own a bakery in our area....and I found out later that my step-father knows the owner of the bakery. So I got my new comp finally, and now I have some pics of the pup on it. I also have finals this week whicdh means I prob won't really be updating till next week. In the meantime, enjoy pictures of the oh-so-cute puppy, Mariner!

College This Semester

Keeping true to my last several semesters here, I met someone is Jewish, but not religious, though the rest of thier family is. In this case, it's one of my teachers. *Sigh* It's getting kind of depressing.
All my professors this semester are good, but I've decided I really dislike online classes, there is absolutely nothing that will get me motivated for those classes. I've made some friends, (kind of, people that I talk to at least.) I start one more class tomorrow, and I wonder how that will go. This semester I'll be missing more classes than before, due to the holidays, but what can you do? At least all of my professors are understanding about it (even if they've never heard of some of these holidays, like Sukkos) So far my favorite classes are Psych (no surprise there) and history, the teacher is very good at getting you interested in the subject. I have my first test this week. and am not looking forward to it, mainly cause for me, first tests are always the ones I do the worst at. I don't have a very good idea of how the teacher tests, and so I mess up. Oh well, I just have to hope I don't do TOO badly.

Yay for Randomness!

Especially when you can't think of anything to blog about. I have a test coming up on Thursday, but that's not really of interest. So while I was going through some papers, I found the beginning of a story, just one of many on the papers, but thought I might as well post it for your enjoyment.

"If could count the
ways I love you, one
would find they are as
many as the stars."
"Still getting love poems and letters from him?"her friend asked, her eyebrow arched. "Yes," she sighed. "He just doesn't give up! And he apparently does not understand the meaning of the word 'no'." Jane shook her head sadly. George was persistent in his declaration of love, and in his desire to wed her, but it wasn't meant to be. He and she were too dissimiliar, and from very different worlds.

That's all I wrote. I never do romance, but those first lines were just bouncing around my head till I got them down on paper. Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed, and I really hope I'll have something else next time.

Class

I had my first class today, and I think that this term will be....interesting. A lot of work, but interesting. My teacher is funny, though I also think she's a little bit crazy. Not in a bad way, but she calls some of thhave e problems that we have to do, "cute" and "adorable". I have never heard of math being referred to as cute or adorable and I have never thought of math in those terms. But like I said, it will certainly be interesting.

College (Again)

Tomorrow is the start of a new semester just days after I finished the last one. Fortunately however, I am only taking one class this term and will hopefully not go crazy. Unfortunately, the one class which I am taking is College Algebra. Meaning math. I really don't like math. But, it is the last math class I have to take for a while, so that's good. And I don't have to get up so early to get to class, which is also good. So all in all, I think the good outweighs the bad in this situation. We'll see how class goes tomorrow, then I'll decide whether I should be dreading this summer, or loving it.

Pesach II

For the Seders it was just us, no surprise there, and we didn't finish until about 2 in the morning both nights. I am SO sick of matzah at this point, and still have several more days to go. On the upside though, I don't HAVE to eat it, at least not as much of it as at the seder, so that's good. I have my two finals this week and then I am finished with them, which is very exciting. So, yeah, this week, I am busy.

Pesach

So this week, we're just starting to clean for pesach. Crazy, no? Well, considering that we won't be having any guests, or family (none of mine is religous), the cleaning and cooking can be done in one week. It'sjust a little bit more insane. At least there are no little children running around so there is no real chance of crumbs, or having kids stick chometz in the strangest places. (the air duct for example) THough I miss having guests, it's just not really been feasible these last few years, everyone's too busy, and then....there's my brother with his OCD. *sigh* Well, when I have my own home, I want to have guests often. Oh geez, I just realized I have my stats final on Pesach...or not....eep, right AFTER pesach. Oy. I can't wait till this semester is over. Just a month! Actually not even, more like 3 weeks! YAY!

Frum Meets World

There's a blog that I sometimes read called Frum Meets World, and perhaps this post would best belong there, but whatever. It's funny how in college there are a lot of people who are actually Jewish but not religious. For example, a few semesters back, I was in Biology with a guy, and it turned out that he was not religous, but the rest of his family where, they were all sephardic, and very religious but he wasn't. I don'teven recall what brought it up, but I was somewhat surprised when I found out. This semester, I found out that the guy I sit next to in Stats is Jewish, his family is also religious, but he himself is not. I was absolutely floored when I found that out, absoloutley nothing about him externally would have told anyone he was Jewish. Whereas the girl he sits next to, and I sometimes chat with has no clue about anything Jewish, and asks me to elaborate on what stuff I can and can't do, can and can't eat etc. So I told her about shabbos, and she shook her head and said "I could never do that, I like going out too much." I also recall walking in one day, eating an Entemann's brownie, and she said "Is that Kosher?" I looked at her and said "Yes, I should hope I know what is kosher, otherwise I'm in big trouble!"
Done rambling for now.

Slightly Frustrating Day

Most of today went okay...got up on time, went to class, came home, took my brother from school home (no work today, his "work" was closed for a purim carnival), went to gym....whatever. All good. Then I had to go to Ocenagraphy Lab. First I accidentally get off the highway at the wrong exit, sending me in the completely opposite direction, toward one of my college's other campuses, that I also take classes at. So, I decide to go on one of the main roads, to get back on the highway. So I do so, one problem, it completely takes me past the exit I had needed to get off at. So I get off at the next exit up, head to another main road, and finally get to the campus, and I'm only a couple of minutes late. Still, the whole "going around in circles" thing was a bit annoying, and I was kicking myself the entire time for having gone in the wrong direction in the first place. Class ends early, yay, I leave. Ok, fast forward a bit. I get home. Find the kitten on my brothers shtender looking up at something on the curtain railing. I think, "Gee, that's unusual, she never goes up there. What's she looking at?" So I look up, and there on the curtain railing is Baby Bird. Somehow, not entirely sure how, he managed to get out of his cage, and had apparently been flying around a bit to avoid the cats. *sigh* I locked up all the other animals in the family room, while I captured Baby, and tried to put him back in his cage. Capturing him was relatively easy, he flew right into the net, however, he did not want to go into his cage. He finally did go, and I paper-clipped shut his food and water dish openings, since I think that's the only way he could have gotten out. A rather frustrating time all told. I can't wait for shabbos.

Take Me Out to Bais Yaakov

To the tune of "Take me out to the ballpark."

Take me out to Bais Yaakov,
Take me out to the crowds.
Buy me some knee socks and safety pins
Don't you worry my shirt is tucked in
'Cause it's root root root for the 9th grade
If they're not here it's a shame.
Cause it's one, two, three more years in BY Miami!

A little ditty my class used to sing. Worked best when we were in ninth grade. Sadly, it faded into oblivion after we left. Pity that, could have been a great BYM tradition.

NOOOOO!!!

I start school again tomorrow! I don't want to go!!! Spring Break was so nice, but it is now ending, unfortunatley. Oh well, all I have to do is tell myself just two more months of this. Just two more months. Gah. Y'know, if I could just drop two classes my life would be so much easier....but it's too late to drop 'em. Bah. Anyways, last night I went to a dinner that was honoring my mother as "Educator of the Year" and that was very nice, and she got a plaque that had been made by the kids of the school. Lots of fun, and of course I was so happy for my mom, she should be recognized for everything she does. (And she does a LOT, believe me.) Oh, I've started making dinner for our family and I haven't botched anything up yet, so yay! Completely random, I know, I'm in a random mood. There was something else I wanted to say, but I forgot it....oh, well, I'll probably post this and only then remember it. Well, that's all for now! Ta-Ta!

New York and Florida: How Different Are We? Part 2

I'm not sure how many "parts" this will end up being, until I run out of things to say I guess. Anyways, back to topic. I was actually talking about the whole thing with my mother on shabbos about how different schools are in NY as compared to Florida, specifically South Florida. The girls' schools all have a much broader...range? of girls than any NY Bais Yaakov.As for the boys' schools, I can't really say because I don't have that much idea, I just know what my brother tells me and he's not exactly un-biased. Neither am I....but that is neither here nor there. I think that the major difference between the communities is how much the central community varies. While down here we have several shuls all within two to three blocks of one another, we still count the community as a whole, no matter which shul you go to. Ok, I just re-read that last sentence, and I'm not sure that I'm getting myself across very clearly...gah. How do I say this? The actual level of frumkeit within the community varies from ultra-orthodox to very modern orthodox, which is why you won't see some of the issues that are in NY down here. Take the tznius issues for example that has everyone up in such a fuss. (Not that I'm not upset by it too) but down here it doesn't have quite so much of an effect, maybe because Miami is a bit more relaxed. I know that when some New Yorkers come down for winter they wear things they would not wear in NY, and that they don't feel so closed in. All right, I'm not sure that I'm making sense anymore, so I'll just post this now, and continue when I'm more sane. Again, please feel free to tell me if I have things wrong.

New York and Florida: How Different Are We?

Y'know, I read a lot of blogs, mostly from New York, and it really leads me to wonder sometimes. I mean, Florida and NY are on the same continent, in the same country, right? But in some things we might as well be planets apart. Take schools for girls for instance. There are tons of BYs all over NY and not just BYs but other schools as well. Here in Florida, you have a total of three, no four choices: the BYM, the Lubavitch girls school. or another girl's school, that's a "wannabe" Bais Yaakov. In BYM itself, there are such a range of different girls, there's no one "type". I went to the same seminary as one other girl in my class. With the new yorkers you could tell they were all from NY, same with the Baltimorians, same with those from Lakewood, but with me and this other girl. we are such opposites no one realized we both came from Florida and had known each other since fourth grade. Another difference of NY and florida, also about girls, it does not really matter so much down here when a girl wears a jean skirt or not, we have such a diverse little community, no one is going to comment. Ok, not quite so "little", we havethe largest community on the East Coast outside of the North-East area, and we're still growing. Anyways, I think you see where this is headed. More comparisons another time. Feel free to comment and tell me if you feel I'm missing something.