It's that time of year again

Or, that time of the semester. That's right, 2 weeks before the end. The time when it gets busy, stressful, when profs load on the papers, homework, presentations, and tests. Lucky for me, this year I only have 2 finals and one will be cake, one presentation that shouldn't be too bad (although it has a poster session that goes along with it), a 15 page research paper the draft of which was due today, and since my draft was basically a complete paper, the final draft shouldn't be that bad either, and then a philosophy paper on Aristotle, the topic of which I get to pick. Oh, and then an incredibly stupid poetry poster performance that I have to do for my honors class with a partner who I don't really like that we haven't even gotten together to start yet, although I'm pretty sure our ideas our not going to mesh. We just don't think the same or think the same things are good ideas. Oddly enough, that's the thing I'm most stressed about. I just want to get it over with. Otherwise, nothing too big. It will be nice when the semester ends though. Not that I have anything exciting to do during J-term this year, or that my classes next semester are super fantastic. I am taking Christian Marriage at St. Thomas with Eric (me for my major, him for his 300-level theo class, and we want to take it together obviously since we're getting married) which hopefully will be good. We'll probably get used for examples I'm sure, and since Eric skips a lot I'll probably get "so, where's your fiance today?" but oh well. No offense Eric, you know it's at least partially true. The other classes I'm taking are Philosophy of Psychology, Philosophy of Film, and Modern Philosophy. Very heavy on the philosophy classes. Hopefully I won't fail all my classes. Especially since they're ALL major classes. And hopefully I'll find something more exciting to do during j-term than come back to school and work evenings.

Just when you think you're in control,
just when you think you've got a hold,
just when you get on a roll

An End with No New Beginning

I met with my cross country coach yesterday to discuss the season, how it went, the team dynamics, etc. Everyone had to do it. I'm the only one who also had to tell him that I don't think I'm going to be running next year. It has nothing to do with how the year went or the team or anything. I've been thinking really hard about it lately, and I just don't think it's something I can do anymore. I had a couple of minor leg problems this year that I don't want to become more serious, next fall is possibly going to be one of my busiest semesters of college, plus I'll be married too, not that that alone would keep me from doing cross country. However, the main thing that affected my decision was just how I feel about cross country. My heart is just not in it like it used to be. I love running, I love cross country, I've been doing it for 7 years now, I just feel like if I do it next year I'll be forcing myself to do it and running will seem like a chore. I don't want something I love to become something I force myself to do and start to hate it. It may seem like an easy decision to most people, but it is such a hard decision. If you have ever done a sport or cross country in particular, you know what I mean. I've always had great teams, great coaches, and I honestly love to run. I improved so much this year and really like my coach. That's why I had to tell him in person-I could easily have waited until the spring and just sent him an email saying I'm not going to run, but I have a lot of respect for him and I don't want it to be awkward seeing him on campus. He was very supportive too and said if I ever want advice with any kind of running or want to train for a half or full marathon he'd be willing to help me with that, so I'm really glad I talked to him in person. I'm really going to miss running with a team. It's hard to choose to do this instead of just not being able to run because my 4 years are up. I could run a full year more, but I just can't bring myself to do it. But, if anybody wants to train for a marathon, Erica and I have discussed running one once we're done with cross country. So I guess there might be a beginning after all, although it just feels like I'm done. It's very sad, yet freeing in a way. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next fall with the time that I'd normally spend running. Probably actually get my homework done sooner than the day it's due.

And we'll run for our lives

Lame-O

That would be, Ms. Extremely Boring. I have come to the conclusion that I am unspontaneous, dull, unimaginative, monotonous-in other words, completely lame. I don't do anything exciting or new or really that fun. Ooo hoo, watching movies! Wow, how completely unoriginal and new, I haven't done that since last weekend! I tried to have a dance party but that didn't even work. Of course, it was pretty much just me and Eric, and he had to go talk to a resident so that ended up being lame too. I don't go out, partly because I'm poor but also because I can never think of anything fun to do. The most exciting and different thing I've done in the past week was take a walk with Eric on our last nice day. Actually we climbed down some rocks to the river which was pretty cool but that's about it. I don't do anything-I've never skinny dipped, been to a college party, I've never even skipped class. Oh, I've missed classes before, but only for cross country. And I don't even stay up past 2, and even that is extremely rare. How sad is that? I am a completely lame and boring person. And I'm getting married, so how much is that going to change? I'm going to be a dull married person who can't even talk about the fun she had when she was in college. Lame. That's me.

I've thrown my self right in and,
whats the point if you don't live in

Voting and Registration

I'm sure everybody knows that today is election day. You all better have voted if you are of age and haven't lost your voting rights by being convicted of a felony! Seriously though, it is really important to vote. I really hope Tim Pawlenty doesn't get re-elected though. It makes me feel good to do my civic duty and to feel like I at least have some part in the electoral process, albeit a small one.

On another note, I'm struggling to decide on a 4th class for next semester. So far I'm taking Modern Philosophy, Philosophy of Film, and Christian Marriage (at St. Thomas and hopefully with Eric if we can both get into the same class). I need to take gym credits, but alas, they don't fit into my schedule and they would cost $752 a piece if I take them here, so I'm going to try to take them at AR over the summer (first I have to make sure they transfer, and if they don't that would be the stupidest thing ever, gym credits not transferring). I'm really looking for a class to take, mostly anything that sounds interesting isn't offered at a time that I can take it at. So, if anybody has any ideas for classes I can take, anything they really enjoyed during their time in college or wished they could take, let me know, I'm pretty open to any suggestions!

We're the chemists who've found the formula
To make your heart swell and burst

Not an Attorney

Just to clear up some confusion that seems to be going around regarding my blog and my brother Matt, I am not going to be a lawyer. I'm not going to law school, I have no desire to be an attorney or work in the criminal justice system in that way. Basically it doesn't appeal to me anymore (I did give it some thought a few years back) because I don't think that I would do much good. I think I would get frustrated and annoyed at all the stupid people doing stupid stuff and causing more injustice for people than justice. It's not called the criminal injustice system, yet it happens altogether too often. Not that all lawyers are scum or just in it for the money or don't care who they represent or whatever-I believe there are a lot of fine lawyers out there looking to promote justice and to help people in trouble, like Matt helping people not get unjustly evicted and such. But I don't think it's something I'd be good at, and I think I'd get completely discouraged working in the court system. It has nothing to do with law school itself but with the position. Plus I don't want to go to law school and do other stuff, although I don't really know what I'd do with it. Finally, I really want to go to grad school for philosophy (and if I can't do that then I'll go for theology probably) because I really like it, hence the reason I picked it as my major. But just so everybody knows, I'm not going to law school and I'm not going to be a lawyer.

And when the judge asked me why I did it

He threw the book at me when I told him