the trick is to keep breathing

Up at 8-ish on a weekend to study for Tuesday's final. Ugh. This is just about my only chance to study, with safety_caesars in this weekend for DRAGONFORCE. It's open-book, open-notes, but I missed a class from vacation, so I really need to review. Badly.

Still sick. I finally feel like myself, only myself with a terrible cough and runny nose, so there's that. This flu has been like a punch in the gut after such an awesome vacation. Apparently everyone else at work is sick, though, out for over a week at a time. So here's hoping this is the end of it... I haven't been this sick in years.

I have a kitty curled up behind me to keep me warm. :)

Went to the mall last night to drop off Goldbug (he is making a bad noise) and use our Bravo coupon (um... YUM). I got some tasty lip balm at The Body Shop -- it was a threepack, cranberry / vanilla / something orange-citrusy. They're delicious. I am addicted. I'm actually not eating them because they smell so tasty. Win. I also bought two pairs of shoes because the store was going out of business and they were cheaper than one normal pair... I couldn't help it.

Ohayocon: apparently I am going to be Celes (again), Rydia to drakonlily's Rosa, AND Steampunk Cruella DeVille. If that isn't an awesome idea what is. irish_ais has hilariously sweet ideas.

May be going to see both Rina AND Katy early next year. I am pretty excited. ♥

Need to stop blowing my nose.

(edit) oh, and hey, hit up dumbdailypoll!

I got flowers today from my parents, which is sweet beyond anything. It's a really beautiful spring mix, all lilies and sunflowers and daisies and a few little roses; and they've been sitting in the study, filling up the room with (sorely needed) bright colors and just a hint of fresh sweet flower scent that I catch every now and then when I turn a page.

It's been a fantastic day here: stormy. I love the rain, like any good Taurus: it brings life and peace to us poor dry earth signs, especially those of us who are spring-born and need the refreshment. It's been actually enjoyable to sit and read through notes with rain and wind and thunder pounding the window at my back. I love storms, and today's was a good one.

I've made it through reviewing the notes for the Thermo class, the final I am sure to take on time. I am not sure what more I can do with the concepts; I find it hard to learn a concept from a single source, but for a class where the "notes" (I use quotes, for they are not exactly organized, nor clear) are the only reference material we have and every textbook I check lacks any relevant information... I guess I can only do what I can do. Memorizing is next, sadly - I hate memorizing. (I thought about sending an email asking how they justified not allowing any of us a notecard, but with all of the confusion over my finals anyway, I decided it not a very good idea.) If it goes well and I can answer the homework problems with ease, I'll probably move on to the other final -- if I could take these on time next week and just be done with everything. If.

I have near two hours left until I turn 26 (by day; by hour, I have until tomorrow afternoon). That's a sort of sobering thought - did I think I was going to be sitting home, alone, with a stack of notes scribbled on blue paper in multicoloured ink, when I turned 26? Oh well. Rarely, if ever, have I been able to predict myself at any age. And it's not really a bad thing, if one thinks about it in the right way.

(The stories and art so far are outstanding. I'm so touched and honored (and totally guilty for not observing other people's birthdays! SINGLE TEAR OF ABSOLUTE REMORSE); you all have no idea. (It's like I've inadvertantly had created for me the internet's best source ever of Seifer/Irvine porn, along with magic-meta and FFVII-crack fic. I am fantastic.))

I've had a lot of strange thoughts on life tonight, but I have an odd feeling that it's just the other half of my brain, sick of polymer thermodynamics, acting up again.

I'M ALIVE!

I REALLY AM.

I SWEAR!

♥ ♥

( This was supposed to be me venting about a horrible test and it has somehow turned into a rant on higher education and why I hate that professors are often such fucking assholes who refuse to take responsibility for their own goddam jobs. An actual rant, with a point and all. )

So, yes, I am going to go drown my sorrows in the Trick or Treat Meme and in Pirate AUs. Be alert, because Pirates may be appearing in your LJs in the future.

[ETA] - I actually didn't realize I'd made a "studying sucks a nut" tag before trying to tag this entry. Sometimes I make myself laugh.

[ETA #2] THIS IS IMPORTANT, GUYS! This week's cockeyed_art challenge is FF characters in Halloween costumes. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO DO IT, DON'T LIE.