Painting, Packing, and Preparing

So we finally painted the closet this morning!!!  Hopefully, I'll have the finished pictures tomorrow to post.  I'm excited for this project to be over! 

I'm also attempting to assemble what I need to bring back to school for the summer.  I hope I can persuade my parents to buy me some food to bring back.  I need to figure out what bike I'm taking back and find a lock too.  

It's gonna be a crazy next 48 hours...  

Waha

Crimson and White We're Marching Onward...

The opening line to my high school's song, Pep, rang through my head as I was unwillingly awoken by the band's practice run through my neighborhood Monday morning.  The hs band always marches through the east side of town before heading out on their Memorial Day parade route, and well... it's hard to sleep through those base drums.  

I'm home for the week!  Besides being woken up earlier than expected, I'm helping my mom redo our front closet.  I'll have pictures to follow on this project when we're finished.  It's been an extravaganza! 

I've also been helping my little brother study for his finals... I've tried to teach him some of my mad study skills such as, cramming with style for maximum performance, vitamin water, getting a good night sleep, and the classic sparknotes.  However, in my research of effective study methods I/my mom's friend Linda have discovered a new amazing tool:

www.quizlet.com

Here, you enter the information your studying (extra practice right there), and then it produces little quizzes, games, and even flashcards (you can print them too!).  It's so functional! 

Okay, so I'm a nerd, I think new study tools are exciting...  

Anyway, on a completely different note, National Tap Dance Day was spectacular!  My sister and I sat eyes wide and jaws on the floor for the whole show.  I was in awe of how fast they could move their feet, and get all the correct sounds in.  There was also one man from Spain who performed a sand dance; I was sceptical at first, but it turned out to be really cool.  He spread the sand out on a board and danced in it wearing a soft shoe.  The sand made several different sounds against the board.  Surprisingly Impressive!  

And the Japanese party was a blast; I'm going to miss Samantha this summer though! 

Uff da, 

Waha

sAMaNtHa iS GoINg To jApAN!?!*%#$!

One of my best friends from growing up is going to Japan this summer! She'll be working at a camp for kids of military families for 13 weeks! I'm excited for her, but I'm sad I won't get to see her much this summer. Normally, the summers are the time we are able to catch up and hang out. She is a student at University of Iowa; so, it's difficult to find time to travel there during the school year. The good part of it all is we're having a party tomorrow night before she leaves! I've been asked to wear my best Japanese clothing, unfortunately, I don't have any. Well, that's a lie... I have one thing. My fourth grade dance recital was to a Japanese song, and I still have the hot pink outfit and silver sequined hat. I might see if it still fits. (this isn't my photo, but I thought it was fun)

The story gets funnier... So, my boyfriend, Sam, last fall was scared to try sushi when we went out to a sushi restaurant for a friends birthday. He tried it though, and he sorta liked it. Since then, I've convinced him we should go out for sushi a couple more times. He likes it more and more. When I told him the party for Samantha was Japanese themed (appropriately), the first thing out of his mouth was, "Will there be sushi?!" I told him no, and he continued, "Can we get sushi before we go?" I had to explain there was no sushi place in my hometown, Ottawa, Illinois. He proceeded to insist that we stop on our way to Ottawa in anther town where he's pretty sure there's a sushi place. It's likely we will being as I'm also quite fond of sushi. However, I found this all particularly entertaining coming from the boy that didn't even want to try the stuff a less than a year ago.

It should be a fun party. All three of my close friends, Samantha, Brianne, and Sarah will be there. We always have a good time together. There is also a number of other friends coming, too. I'm then spending the whole week at home before I come back and start my research job. I enjoy going home; I miss my family when I'm away for too long. I also miss the peacefulness of my small town. Everything moves a lot slower there, but there's no sushi.

Peace,

Waha

Sizzling Summer Studies

The BIG news of the week:

I have a summer research position!

I'll be a in the Emergency Medicine Department at University of Chicago working in a lab where they are researching cardiac arrest. I'll be working on designing a control system to control the internal pressure in a mouse while its blood is tested during different stages of cardiac arrest. It's very competitive to get into a research position there, I'll be one of twelve students, most of which are graduate students too! I'm getting a little nervous though, because I hope I can do the quality of work they are looking for, and I'll be leaving the security of the UG Admission office. It's going to be an intense summer. Part of the research program is also working with the team and doing article reviews with the other students. I'm hoping that this will help my critical reading skills, and that I'll be a cardiac arrest pro by the end of the summer. In my spare time... I'll be making phone calls for Admission, and studying for the MCAT. Yep, the dreaded test date is Aug. 5, 2008. It's worth it though, I just have to keep my eye on the goal, medical school.

Basically, in lyric form...

Looking forward to a busy summer,

New experiences,

Anything but bummer.

Research, phone calls, and the MCAT,

Maybe I should exercise?

So I don't get fat.

Med-school, med-school, focusing in,

I'm willing to work hard,

Getting in equals win.

So now you think I'm really lame,

No worries though,

Poetry isn't my claim...

Uff da,

Waha

The Beat is in Your Feet, but the Art is in Your Heart

My tap teacher, Ms. Patty, gave us a cute sheet with that saying on it one of our first days of tap class. I started tap dancing when I was five at Gray School of Dance. I stopped when I left for college thirteen years later. However, recently I received my 98.7wfmt Fine Arts Circle newsletter; for $35 a year I'm a member of this local broadcasting club. The newsletter is filled with different discounts and information about Chicago area fine arts events. This month's included an advertisement for National Tap Dance Day! I'm ecstatic! I called right away I bought my sister and I tickets, two for the price of one thanks to my discount, to the National Tap Dance Day performance and pre-show tap class. We're attending this Thursday night, and we're looking for a place to take tap classes this summer. She also tap danced for a number of years.

If your interested in the tap dance scene in Chicago, check out the Chicago Human Rhythm website at

www.chicagotap.org

Tap that.

Waha

3 down, 4 to go

I've successfully completed all my work for 3 of 7 of my classes. I have my two most demanding finals back-to-back on Monday. Then, I have one project to finish and one paper. Ugh, I just don't like all the pressure of finals. I've set a high standard for myself this semester, and meeting my grade goals isn't going to be easy. Study, study, study, so much for fun on the weekend...

Waha

Bill Nye THE Science Guy

"Dare I say it... change the world"

The words of Bill Nye touched the students at IIT as young children and again this past Tuesday night as college students. I've never seen so many IIT students in one place! The show started at 8pm, and when I arrived at 7:15pm there was already almost 600 students standing in line trying to get a seat for Bill Nye's presentation at IIT. And, it was worth the wait! Nye scientifically explained the current global situation in a not dumbed down way (I like that he knew his audience). Personally, he re-light that love for scientific exploration which had begun dwindling with the approaching stress of finals. It was so cool to see a childhood favorite still educating and still loving science. Even more amazing was seeing the IIT community pumped up about a campus event! The buzz around campus for the entire week before was, "Are you going to see Bill Nye?" "Just skip class, it's BILL NYE!" It was a good motivation booster before finals.

You can change the world!

Waha

I Melted My Op-Amp.

I'm taking a circuits lab this semester, and it's gone well for the most part. However, I had my final yesterday, and I melted the amp during my lab final. There was sizzling and smoke, the whole nine yards like out of a bad movie named "My Worst Nightmear." I'm rather upset about it, because I'm normally really good at circuits lab. I even enjoy and understand circuits lab for the most part. I still don't know what I did wrong...

:(

waha

it wasn't this exact amp, it was a LM 741, but none the less...