3 Things

School is over! Can I officially say I’m a historian now? Well, maybe not but I’ll pretend. When the whole fam is here in July we’ll have a big party to celebrate my graduation and Jeremy’s graduation and we’re all excited to see the cake Becky is concocting. I hear it’ll combine our nerdiness perfectly! (I’m a history nerd and Jeremy is a math/physics nerd - you might not want to get either of us started...) So, here are a few thoughts about my journey through school:

3 things I will miss about school:

*The learning. Yeah, yeah, I know I can always keep learning but I love the classroom. Crazy, I know. But it’s just different than picking up a book and I’ll miss it.

*Access to knowledge - sounds the same but here I mean that while I was in school I could access databases and books from around the country and had so much information at my fingertips. Now I can still find plenty of info but it’s harder and could sometimes be expensive.

*The light rail. What!? Actually what I liked was listening to talks or stories on my iPod while commuting back and forth.

3 things I’m happy to be done with:

*Deadlines and tests! I’m one of those crazy people who doesn’t mind writing papers, it’s the deadlines I hate or the weird rules some prof’s have.

*Kids who don’t really want to be in school, couldn’t care less about their education and say things like, “I want to get a job w/the government so I don’t have to work hard and I’ll make the big bucks but won’t be pressured.” (Dead serious! A guy in one of my classes said that a few weeks ago. And I’m not sure why he thinks he’ll make big bucks in the gov’t but whatever... Nothing like a drive to succeed.)

*Uber liberal teachers (“I mean, do any of you actually still go to church?” Actual quote! Heard more than once in various forms from many teachers.)

3 ways I’ve been blessed during school:

*I’ve had so much support from my family - from living with me (this is often not easy), to editing my papers, to cheering me on, to eating freezer meals every night for weeks, and so many other ways.

*Support from my friends has also been a huge blessing! How many times have Kathy, Gloria, and Linda canceled meetings or taken me off the visits list so I could focus on my studies? (A lot!) And so many friends that have made me feel loved and appreciated along the way!

*I have a testimony that when we serve the Lord He will make up the time for us. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been amazed that I’ve been able to meet a deadline or pass a test that I was way too tired to study effectively for. There really is no way I should have been able to do all I’ve been able to do and I know that the Lord has blessed me and made up the difference.

3 favorite classes:

*Civil War

*WWII

*Nazi Germany (rise & fall of Nazi Germany, etc. - not b/c I'm psycho or anything)

3 favorite areas of history:

*Revolutionary War

*Civil War

*WWII

3 things I’m looking forward to:

*Reading whatever I want!

*Unwinding and breathing - at least for a little while.

*I’m still a little fuzzy about this idea but I think when I go to work I won’t have hours of homework at night, right? That could be nice. I actually won’t know what to do with myself!

The End is Near

Just a little randomness...

I'm really glad it's raining because it's beautiful and I love rain! AND because I think it's keeping me from going insane while putting together my bibliography - the rain is soothing. I don't especially like writing sociology papers but I really hate doing the bib. And that goes for any paper. I think that's the worst part of the whole process.

And I just remembered I didn't put dinner in the crockpot yet. I guess it'll be plan b tonight.

Only one more book to read (oh, no, make that two), two more big papers to write, one paper to edit one last time and then finals. In only two weeks. Scream with me, you know you want to! I hear there's light at the end of the tunnel I just don't have time to look up and see for myself.

Ok, I think I'm better now. ;)

Holocaust Remembrance

It's Holocaust Remembrance week. This is something I've studied quite a bit and it's just such a heart-wrenching thing that I do hope we never forget.

One of the truly troubling aspects of the Holocaust is that it was a human problem, not a German problem. There is much discussion about what was wrong with the Germans that they could do this, however, the evidence clearly shows that people from all of the European states that were invaded by Germany quickly and easily joined in.

That is not to say that no one resisted or refused to participate but a startling number of people did participate and a much larger number simply looked the other way. Let me also clarify that Germany was clearly responsible for the Holocaust and Hitler and his minions devised and carried out this evil. They simply did not do it alone.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a good video for remembrance week. It's about 9 minutes but worth a watch.

"The road to Auschwitz was built by hatred, but paved with indifference." -Ian Kershaw

Note in a Bottle

I got the best mail a couple weeks ago (I'm a little behind in my posting - what a shock!) - it was a note in a bottle! The kind you hope to see if you're stranded on an island.

Avery sent me a note and some stickers to share with Mia. That was the most exciting mail I've ever received. And I have to tell you too that I was really impressed with the Post Office because they didn't smash the bottle at all. So, if you're looking to wow someone, send them a note in a bottle.

Sparkly Kleenex?

Have you ever noticed that the really soft Kleenex is sparkly? What's that all about? I mean do you need to draw more attention to your Rudolph nose?

In case you missed my bright red nose, now it's bright red aaand sparkly!

Huh.

sneezing and...

There's a group of blind students who ride the same evening bus home from school that I do. Yesterday I was standing near the shelter waiting for the bus to arrive and there was a blind man in front of me talking to a couple of his friends. He turned around and sneezed and I was really grateful that he didn't turn around enough to sneeze on me! I mean he had no idea I was there so you know I'm fine with it. No problem. Well, I didn't really want to be sneezed on, I'm just saying I'm not placing blame - I mean he couldn't see me.

Well, a minute later he started doing that gross thing guys do - that sort of hacking-ish, coughing-ish deal to gather phlegm in their throat so they can spit a loogie... You know what I mean! Ish!! I very quickly moved a few feet away because I wasn't about to take a chance that the loogie might land on me. Oh sick. Just the thought makes me want to hurl. Of course, if he spit a loogie on me then I hurled on him I guess that would make us even... Right?

Still, the thought makes me shudder.

I was gonna blog today...

but then I decided, school starts next week, why get anyone's hopes up?