So...


I'm done.


Like. Forever.



All of my papers have been turned in. All of my exams have been taken.


And in super cool news, before the exam today, my professor was talking about how he'd finished grading all of the extra credit papers from all of his classes and said that the best papers were from our class (go History of Prints). Then, he singled me out as having the best paper of them all. Wow. Flattering. He also mentioned how I hadn't missed a single class and proceeded to "bow down to me."

A little embarrassing, but I'm not going to lie, I love getting recognition like that.

Then after I took the exam and was handing it in, he asked me to send him a copy of my paper by email so he could use it as an example for the future. Sweet. He also lamented the fact that I'm not going to grad school (as my other art history professor had), but said I should keep in touch.

So, nice.


I am having a bit of trouble with determining when I "graduate." I'm not walking or attending the ceremony, but do I still consider May 3rd to be my "graduation?" Or, since I'm done with all the work I'll ever have to do for my undergraduate degree, have I graduated already? Certainly, it can't be when I receive my diploma in the mail...that could take months.

Eh, fuck it. I'm done, I've graduated.

Yesterday was a spectacularly brilliant, yet fairly uneventful day.


When I left for class at 8:30am, it was 56 degrees outside. Brrr! And it was lovely (and about the same temperature as back home in Chicago). It made me cheerful.

I handed in my final paper for American Cinema and because we have no final exam...it was our last class meeting ever. So I'm done with that class entirely. Hopefully I'll clinch an A for the semester. Additionally, class let out 20 minutes early, so I had plenty of time to run to the post office and drop off a Netflix, go to Best Buy to pick up Juno (which Colleen and I watched later that night), and even go to Panera during the lunch rush to get a sandwich to go. I knew I was in a cheery mood because the ridiculous lines and even more ridiculous people at the Panera did not make me annoyed, but rather amused.

I ate my lunch with due leisure at home before heading back to campus for Theory and Criticism in Art History. It was a note-intensive day, trying to cram in the last of the material needed for the final exam, while clarifying some of the material that got lost along the way. It was interesting, though, and there were many ideas that struck a cord.

After, I met with my professor to discuss my thesis. I was supposed to turn in a revised copy this week, but she said the draft I gave her two weeks ago was close enough to being finished that I don't need to give her anything else (it was completed, just not fully polished). She's giving me an A for the semester. Sweet. I still plan to revise it, and incorporate her comments, just for my own obsessive perfectionism.

Later, I went to my last lecture of Geography. We have an exam tomorrow (on the last day), and if I'm satisfied with my final grade at that point, I don't have to take the final exam next week. (I don't plan on taking the final exam regardless of my grade...I will be leaving at 2am that morning to drive up to Iron Mountain, Michigan for my cousin's wedding. So a 3pm final doesn't really work for me.)


What's really cool about all that? After tomorrow's Geography exam, I will have completed 3 of my 5 courses this semester...before finals week even starts. Sweet.

So I'll have the weekend to study for my two art history exams, which are Tuesday and Wednesday. And then I'm done. Forever. Whoa. A week from today and my college career is finished. Crazy.


Today, my only plans are to finish polishing my thesis and then study for Geography. I need an 83% on the exam to get an A for the semester. To this point, my scores have been 88, 87, and 94, so if I study hard enough, I might be able to clinch that. But if I end up with a B, I'll deal.

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In other news, I adore Michelle Obama. Not gonna lie. Love her. I think she'd be a kick-ass First Lady. Hillary-Clinton-circa-1993 style.

Bull Durham is so fabulous.

As is the Y2K apocalypse episode of "Family Guy" that I'm watching on the other tuner of my TiVo. Show me 'potato salad'!


In other news, I'm down to 20 days of class with 3 days of finals. Boo.

Tried a preliminary job hunt this weekend. Not overly encouraging, but not as terribly depressing as the last time. I'm thinking now about just going to Chicago and finding any sort of museum job I can (gift shop sales girl, coat check...anything that pays). In a perfect world, it would be the Art Institute, though I'd be perfectly content with the Field Museum or Museum of Contemporary Art.

The weekend was good. Easter was full of candy and turkey and family. Decent.


Finally, I'm probably going to be UBER busy this week and next...I have to work on my thesis and term paper like it's my job.


That is all.

*sigh of relief*


I've been worried for the last couple weeks about my grades. I was doing a lot of "well, I only need a 54% on the final to get a C for the class" sort of thing, but today, I can stop worrying.

My final grades were posted (or at least three of the 4...my Women in Film class has no grade recorded).

Dude.

I got all A's.

Now, I was expected that for General Anthropology. It wasn't a difficult class, I never got below a 90% on an exam.

But I got an A for 19th Century Art (my first A in a Dr. Martin class). Though I only needed an 84% on the final, I know for a fact that he doesn't curve or add superfluous points, so I definitely earned that A. I knew loving Impressionist art was going to come in handy one of these days.

And most impressive of all: I got an A in Chemistry. If you'll recall, I had some issues with my third exam scantron getting lost, so my final exam grade was going to count double (to replace the missing grade). And, as I had figured out and posted earlier: "I'd need a 94% to get an A, so I'm definitely not holding my breath on that one." So either I did really well or he curved the exam a lot. Either way, I'm just happy that he remembered to use my final grade twice so that I didn't end up with a D for missing an exam.

I'm also kinda expecting an A for Women in Film (I'd be really disappointed with a B), but I'm not sure why she hasn't submitted grades yet. I thought today was the last day to get them in. But I suppose it's still early and I should have a definite grade on that later.

(If it is an A, I think this will be my first 4.0 semester. Granted, it was only 4 classes, but I usually average a 3.67.)

I'm done!!!


I have finished for the semester!


Chemistry exam was as I expected. It didn't catch me off guard, but that didn't mean that I was entirely prepared. I think I did okay, though.

And I figured it out: all I need is a 74% to get a B for the semester (I'd need a 94% to get an A, so I'm definitely not holding my breath on that one). But...good chance for a B?

Additionally, I only need an 84% on my 19th Century Art final to get an A for the semester (but I'm not holding my breath for that one either...my money's on getting over a 54% for a B). I might be able to find out tomorrow, if the grades on the final are posted.


The good news: I definitely have a 94% in Anthropology for the semester. Grades are posted online, so that's a done deal. Rock on.


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You know what that means?

It's Winter Break!!!

Alright, so I'm terrified as all hell of my Chemistry final (as well I should be, cumulative motherfucker). And I got out of bed early for the expressed purpose of studying more because the exam begins in T-minus 2 hours, 14 minutes.


That said...I really couldn't resist this.

http://www.haroldandkumar.com/

The trailer on the main page is the one we've all seen a million times already (okay, maybe just me), but if you click that lovely little link that said "View Age Restricted Material" you will be in for a treat (beware: it's vulgar and profane and the site makes you sign a thing to verify you're over 17 years of age).


OH, and at the bottom, there are links to download WWNPHD wallpaper. Needless to say...my desktop is currently portraying Neil Patrick Harris on a unicorn. And I love it.


I think that's what I needed to calm down a bit before I get to studying/cramming hardcore. I really do.

So I'm not a huge fan of my Chemistry class.

Or, rather, I'm not a huge fan of chemistry (fuck you, sublimation...you don't even make any sense!).


However, I will say this...Conceptual Chemistry is kind of easy when you wrap your head around the concepts. (Ta-da!)


It's kinda like in Biology, when the answer to everything was "surface area to volume ratio" and at first it was just something to rattled off, but then it sunk in and you understood why and how the surface area to volume ratio was important? After that point, everything became a ton easier because you got answers right and actually knew what you were talking about.


Well, taking Conceptual Chemistry is exactly like that. Once you just memorize all the rules and whatever, you can start to understand why they work, and then they are 10 billion times easier to apply to actual test questions.

For example, knowing that atomic size grows as you move to the left and down the periodic table.

Or that heated objects have more energy. It's just sort of a given, but once you understand it, everything else is much easier. Like in the question: "Red-colored Kool-Aid crystals are added to a still glass of hot water. The same amount of crystals is added to a second still glass filled with the same amount of cold water. With no stirring, which would you expect to become uniform in color first: the hot water or the cold water?"

The answer is the hot water because it contains more energy in water with a high temperature and therefore the particles are moving faster.


So, now I just have to memorize the thousand other rules so that I can grasp the concepts

Another reason to love Kathy Griffin?

She's scared of Southerners too!


(Yes, I'm still watching her stand-up routines. There were like...5 in a row that I TiVo'ed and I can only watch one a day, because I'm supposedly studying for finals...)


PS - The 19th Century Art final was okay. Definitely not as easy as I was hoping, but if I manage an 86...I think I could get an A for the course. Which would be AMAZING and a grand improvement over my C in Italian Renaissance Art class.


And now...studying for my crazy ass Chemistry final. If you'll recall from earlier drama, my final will be counted twice (to make up for a lost exam three scantron). It's also cumulative (all 11 chapters we've covered), and 60 questions (instead of the usual 30).

Oy.

Clearly, billionaire heiresses have nothing better to do than ride horses.

The 20 Most Intriguing Billionaire Heiresses

Seriously, I think 5 or 6 of the women on this list were noted as having equestrian interests, and two were said to be vying for spots on 2008 Olympic equestrian teams.


Then again...if I were a billionaire heiress, I'd probably ride horses too. I mean...why not?

(PS - I'm liking Georgiana Bloomberg, daughter of the 25th richest man in America who also happens to be mayor of New York? That's pretty awesome. Also, Charlotte Casiraghi, daughter of Princess Stephanie of Monoco. Fourth in line to the throne, living in Monoco, and $1.2 billion to boot? Sweet.)

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By the way, the founder of CDW worth $1.7 billion lives in Highland Park. And there's a Wrigley in Lake Forest worth $2.3 billion, a family in Wilmette worth $4.5 billion, and a guy in Winnetka worth $1.4 billion. Additionally, 12 billionaires live in Chicago.

You know...just 'cause.


64 billionaires reside in New York City. Clearly, that's the place to find a husband.

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And now, I'll stop tooling around on Forbes.com and get to studying for finals.