Visiting Seniors

So it's that time of year again. That time when seniors race to their computers, log in to their accounts and learn whether or not they have been accepted or rejected. It's also time for increased numbers of school tours. School tours happen in two main waves, fall and spring.

In the fall, many seniors go and visit schools they think they may like to apply to. These tours last until the end of December when applications are due. Then college visits decrease, with some ambitious juniors braving the colder weather. Then, as it starts to warm up the tours really get going more. Juniors who are beginning to look at school travel around to get a sense of what they're in for and seniors make plans to visit the schools that admitted them to help make the final decision.

All of this is to say, there have been a lot of tours of my school lately. And it's getting harder and harder not to sneak onto them and ask ridiculous questions. And by ridiculous I mean things like this:

1. Isn't it difficult to commute between here and Boston everyday? (My school is in the Chicago area but is constantly confused with a similarly named one in Boston)

2. I heard this school won some recognition for having vegetarian and vegan options. Does this mean I won't be able to eat meat? *they try to explain that there are also meat options* But I thought this was a vegetarian friendly school! *They say it is* Then why don't you serve meat! *We do* But not exclusively! (and repeat forever until they go mad)

3. Is it true that the engineers never have to go into the sun? I heard all the north campus buildings have secret passageways so they never have to go outside. Is that so they stay nice and pale and don't get made fun of by their D&D groups?

4. What's this school's policy on admitting veterans? (someone actually asked this while I was visiting my school)

5. What's the toilet paper like here?

Don't forget you have until noon tomorrow to vote about me doing BEDA!

New Quarter and BEDA

Hello all! Look I'm posting on Tuesday again! For some reason school break tends to lead to me being delinquent in posting here. But I'm back!

So I started a new quarter yesterday I'm taking 5 new classes. Well sort of. There's one project class that I took in the fall and am now taking again. I'm doing this because I'm supposed to take it twice. I didn't fail it. There are differences between the fall and spring versions. It's a whole different project. Anyway, the new quarter is off to a great start. My first class yesterday I made sure to arrive early, which was good because the room was hiding. Seriously. I had to go in the front door, go up the stairs, walk down the hall and go down the back stairs. The entrance to the class is in the stairwell. Needless to say this isn't an engineering class. The rooms in that building make sense. I think I should redesign the building to make sense but I doubt the administration would agree.

Also, if I managed to do it correctly, there should now be a poll somewhere. Last August I did BEDA (Blog Every Day in August). I just realized that April is about to start. Technically speaking April is the true BEDA month. Now I'm willing to do BEDA again, but I'm also perfectly happy keeping up this twice a week schedule. So I'm letting you all vote on it. It's up to you if I do BEDA again. The poll will (hopefully) be open through March 31. Vote away!

Feeling like a Girl

Yesterday I wore a dress, bakes cookies and brownies and finished making a sweater that I've been knitting for months. It felt so girly.

Now to pack, bake more cookies, watch Doctor Who, copy down some recipes and maybe even sleep.

Spring Break!

I'm on spring break. Now, this typically brings up all sorts of images and associations but let me be clear. I'm not on a beach. I'm not partying in wild Bacchanalia. I'm at home. Today I went out, returned some library books and submitted a job application for the summer.

Yeah, I know how to let loose.

But you know what, I'm having fun on my break. I'm getting to read, and catch up on TV and come even closer to finishing a sweater I've been knitting for months now. Although to be fair the reason it's taken months is because I only work on it while I'm home. Not at school. So there are literally months when I couldn't work on it. Also, to be honest, since all I have left to do is stuff like sewing seams I'll probably finish over summer break because that part is less fun than the knitting part.

So that's a bit of a summary of my spring break.

Feeling Like a Grown-Up

I am not a grown-up. This has been pointed out to me on several occasions. However, the past few days I noticed myself engaging in activities that I would classify as "stuff grown-ups do".

I set the table without being asked (twice now). In the past I would have done it but would probably have needed to be asked.

After my mom came to me and asked that I call someone during business hours about something, I did it the next morning, before my Mom and Dad both called (separately) to remind me. In the past this has been the sort of thing where I'm told I need to call them on Monday and I maybe got around to it on Thursday.

When my Dad asked to me tell my Mom that dinner was ready I went upstairs, found her, and told her in a normal speaking voice. I totally would have yelled up the stairs.


I know I'm not a grown-up. But I've clearly started taking some small steps towards adulthood and maturity. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

I feel like the fact that I meant to write this yesterday somewhat proves my point that I'm not a grown-up yet.

Things I've Been Doing Instead of Studying for My Last Final

1. Cleaning my room.

2. Packing for home.

3. Seeing if the internet has stopped being interesting.

4. Playing Spider Solitare

5. Playing FreeCell

6. Doing my programming homework/project (in positive news that's all done now).

7. Playing bridges

8. Doing logic puzzles

9. Getting smoothies with friends.

10. Getting dinner with friends.

11. Going to the free ice cream study break with friends.

12. Checking in for my flight tomorrow.

13. Checking the weather for the next week.

14. Showering

15. Writing this post.

I'm going to go study now. I promise my next post won't be about my procrastination.

Time to Focus

For some reason my brain thinks that reading week and finals week are the best time for me to work on independent writing projects and re-watching old TV shows.

So far this week I've written two new chapters for the book, as well as editing a few old ones. I've finished re-watching Dollhouse.

I've also, to my credit, have nearly finished my final project for my programming class. I also spent today looking over practice tests for math and determining what I need to improve on. In about half and hour I'm going to a math review session. Tomorrow is dedicated to studying for chemistry and trying to finish the programming stuff. Then Monday brings two finals, followed by more programming fun. Tuesday is for packing, studying for EA and going to programming office hours because I swear I will finish before I leave. Wednesday has one last final, and then if everything goes according to plan, I will be coming home.

Also, somewhere in all of that I will be trying to finish up all my points for the quarter since they don't carry over and I literally have half of them left.

Basically it's time to focus. But then I get spring break! And unlike the lame-os on the semester system I will have no homework over break. Assuming I finish my programming before I leave. And even then I will have no homework after Friday.

100 Happy Things

Drumroll....

It's the 100th post on Full Circle Crazy!!!!! In honor of this, I present a list of 100 things that make me smile, in no particular order.

1. Puppies.

2. Babies

This is my cousin H. He is the most adorable baby ever. This is not up for debate. If you feel differently, you are wrong.
Unless you are my mother arguing that I was the most adorable baby ever. That is an acceptable position.

3. Comic-Con/panel interviews with the casts of science fiction shows

4. When the Doctor speaks baby

5. Seeing this when I peer up from my computer.

It's my Pillow Pet unicorn, Agnes.

6. XKCD comics

7. Smartfood Popcorn

8. Movie Theater Popcorn

9. PopSecret Homestyle Popcorn

10. The feeling when the popcorn kernel that was stuck between my tooth and gum finally dislodges.

11. Getting actual, physical mail.

Of course I'm covering up my address. This is the internet.

12. Stephanie Perkins' books

13. Hot Showers

14. Being done with all my midterms/finals/etc.

15. The yarn aisle in craft stores.

I didn't take this picture, but this looks like a Michaels craft store.

16. Wrock

17. Libraries

18. Bookstores

19. Snow!

One of many unused shots from "Doodling and Snow"

20. Driving

21. Seeing friends I haven't seen in a long time

22. Taking shortcuts

23. The Harry Potter series

24. The Harry Potter fandom

25. That Harry Potter inspired a wonderful charity.

Learn more at thehpalliance.org

26. Nerdfighteria

27. Trock

28. Doctor Who

29. Doctor Who fandom

30. Using things that I've made

My red backpack of wonder. Those are Wrock buttons adorning it, with a few others thrown in for fun.

31. Seeing other people use things that I've made.

32. The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio (movie)

33. John Green's "The Miracle of Swindon Town" videos

34. The fact that the above has been written about in an actual Swindon newspaper.

35. "No homework this week."

36. "No class today/tomorrow"

37. Sarah Dessen's books

38. Growing things

You may remember these from "A Simpler Pet". They still haven't bloomed but they've definitely been growing.

39. Getting discounts on items I need to buy anyway

40. When I think of an item for this list

41. Alice in Wonderland

42. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references

43. Pixie Stix

Full of sugary goodness

44. Calvin and Hobbes

45. Pomegranate seeds

46. When my phone makes the noise that means I either have a text or an e-mail.

47. Unicorns

48. Despicable Me

49. The fact that the nerdfighter sign appears in Despicable Me.

All you have to do is make Spock symbols and cross your arms!

50. My friends suggesting I lower my expectations and only write 50 things.

42. Juice boxes

52. When books get meta.

53. Jasper Fforde's books

54. Cookies

55. Inanimate objects that look like they have faces

This building is in Italy. I picture it greeting every day by singing to the sun.

56. Coming home after being away for a while.

57. Sleeping in my bed at home after being away for a while.

58. Getting to come home 3 days earlier than planned.

59. Finding items I've been looking for

60. Joss Whedon interviews

61. Finishing an exam and feeling confident in how I did.

62. Finding out that the terrible exam grade I got was still higher than the average.

63. Band-aids with cartoon characters or silly images on them.

I had these band-aids until they got used up.

64. Bulletin boards that only have relevant fliers on them.

65. Using Green Cup as an excuse for why I haven't done laundry.

66. ThinkGeek.com

67. Ravelry.com

68. Curling up in bed with a good book and a snack

69. Coming up with incredibly unrealistic and unlikely explanations for things.

70. Hot Cookie Bar

They have this every Sunday in my dining hall. It looks so gross but it tastes so good.

71. Having someone to sit with in the dining hall.

72. Putting on "shuffle" mode and having a song I like come up.

73. Actually knowing the words to a song.

74. Thinking I know the words to a song and realizing I'm wrong.

75. Knowing where my keys are without having to search around first.

76. This sign

NBN stands for North by Northwestern, a student website/magazine.

77. Actually knowing what to bid in bridge.

78. Friends

79. Playing with little kids

80. Getting a good night's sleep.

81. Wa-Wa

Don't even try to tell me that you don't have some childhood toy or blanket that makes you smile.

82. My family.

83. Care packages

84. Actually doing something that I want to do "someday."

85. Class ending early

86. Airline travel.

I know I'm in a minority here, but I enjoy flying.

87. Using my drivers licence as ID to fly instead of my passport.

88. Sherlock

89. Joss Whedon shows (When he's not killing off my favorite characters)

90. Meeting people with similar interests

91. Smarties!

More sugary goodness! And just in time for finals.

92. Writing

93. Remembering dreams

94. Sudoku

95. Remembering people's birthdays without Facebook.

96. Unicorns

97. The moments when I feel psychic

98. Winning.

99. My dorm room wall.

There are pictures in the picture.

100. FINISHING THIS LIST!!!!!!

Dance Marathon!

It's Dance Marathon time! For those of you that don't know, this is a Northwestern tradition, in which students dance for 30 hours straight raising money for child cancer research. While I'm not a dancer this year, I did help out earlier today at the kid's fair.

When I first heard about DM I got a little bit of the wrong impression about it. I thought that people pledged to donate for every hour that you danced (ie, $5 for every hour danced). That's the way most marathon fundraisers I know work.

This is why I was confused when I heard about the deadline to get half the donation money in, then later the deadline to get the donated money in. I knew people were having bake sales and parties where the money went to DM, but I'd thought that meant it was being raised in addition to the money they raised through dancing.

It turns out that when you sign up for DM, you have to collect $400 minimum (that's per group/entrant not per person) and then you dance at the end. While this is clearly a system that's been working here for a long time, I still think that if you're going to make a group of people do something for a long stretch of time they should be rewarded for each increment of time. That sentence is weird.

Anyway, good luck to all the DMers. By the time you read this DM will be over since I doubt you'll be reading this while dancing. Only 6 more hours!