1994

I found this pic in a box of old letters. It is from Akron, Ohio. I was 5. I loved that princess hat. I even still have it. You can't tell here but the hat was/is bright blue with a lighter blue and sparkly silver streamer. The shirt was mainly lt. blue too, which in a twisted 5 year old kinda way I must have thought matched.

Scholarship

My biology teacher (my favorite teacher at this school) took it upon himself to nominate me for this scholarship. I had to find two other persons to write a letter of recommendation, making a total of 3. I soon found myself the recipient of $1000 to put towards anything school related such a books, tuition, or required equipment.

It is from the EMC electric company. They have a program that rounds up the electric bill to the nearest dollar and the extra change is then put into a fund that is given out as scholarships every year.




Click on the picture and enlarge it so you can actually read the article.

Voices

WGTC has a student magazine that showcases poems, art work, photograph, and short stories by students and teachers at the school. The whole of the 2011 edition can be found here. I submitted several things for consideration this year and one of them, a poem, was accepted. It is paired with another on the first page.

"Typewriters"

Denise Landon

Tap Tap Tap

Flow the sounds from next door

Slow fingers pounding out

Red thoughts embodied in black ink

I can now say that I am a published author.

Crafties

Being out of school for the summer I have plenty of time to work on my crafties. This is my latest finished project. I have been working off and on on it for over a year, maybe two, I don't remember. A few months ago I finally took it into the local yarn shop for help on figuring out how to start a row with a yarn over. I didn't think that was possible before and yet that is what the pattern called for. I have learned several useful techniques through this pattern.

Anyway, it is finally finished and I am very pleased with the results. This is probably the most complex knitting pattern that I have completed yet. The pattern was given to me by a friend as a high school graduation gift. I took a long time to find the right yarn for it. And I manage to guess just the right amount of yarn to get, six balls that I just barely used a bit from the last ball.

(Other posts on the shawl here. I thought there was other one too but I can't find it. Turns out I started the thing three years ago.)

Other long hybernating crafts exposed to the light once more include this cross stitched icon. Unlike the above shawl I don't expect to finish it during this break but I am making some more progress.



In anticipation of my visit to Oregon this summer I found myself in need of a simple project to take with me. The cross stitch being much to cumbersome and attention requisit, and my other knitting projects to large and bulky (rugs) to take on the plane. I, of course, was forced to start a new project. Which you see quickly begining to take form here from a Knitty.com pattern. I do like many of their patterns.

The yarn for this pattern is a lovely blue mohair that my grandma got for me as a birthday present (last year?).

Car Crunch and Florida Vacation

June 13, the last day of class. On my way to the school in the morning I did this to my poor car. I rear ended the guy in front of me as we both stopped short for a red light.

Thank goodness for insurance, we (parents) only had to cover $500 of the $3499 repair costs. And I (me) have a $115 citation. Ouch.

I thank the Lord though that no one was hurt and that I had friends near by who could pick me up and help get everything worked out. I picked up the car today. I'm very glad to have it back. It looks great but I think that my driving habits will need some work.

Despite the loss of my car I was able to still make it to Florida for the convocation. I drove down with my land lord who was also going. Originally I was planing on rooming with two other ladies (one of whom I know) and a little boy (the son of the other lady). However, when I got to the hotel I was directed to room with another lady who had an empty bed. I would have been happy enough with a place on the floor, or sharing a bed in a room with a bunch of other younglings. But I ended up with a bed to myself and a single room mate. It was very nice.


CEC for Life abortion protest. We where out there at 8:30ish in the morning and it was still warm.


Another lovely factor to the trip is I got to see Jon-Paul again. He is stationed very close by. He had to work in the mornings but was able to join me for the evening servises. The girl with him is the only other girl that came from my church. She was very exited to see Jon as well. You can tell he lives in Florida, look at how brown he is.

Spring Flowers

Spring flowers at the school.

Throat cultrue. Thats the germs that live in the mouth. Gross hu?

GERMS

One project we did in lab was to identify 2 unknown bacteria. First we made a streak plate of our culture to try and isolate the bacteria. One of my plates was usable. The other plate was overgrown but made some very cool looking squiggle formations.

Can you see the two different collonies? The rough looking one is the B. sub and the drop like one is the S. epi.

These are the bacteria that I think I have. Bacillis Subtilis and Staphylococcus epidermidis.


S. epi

B. sub

Registration

Tonight is registration of spring quarter. Some crazy person decided that they should open up the classes at midnight. I suppose that it makes sense in that most people would be home by then, not at work or school. But still, it makes for a long night. I will stay up till midnight to fight with the computer for 45 mins trying to get it to connect because a school of 8000 students are all trying to register at the same time. Ugg... double ugg because I then have to be up by at least 6:30 to leave for school the "next" morning.

Toothless

This is my new fishie. His name is Toothless. Which is a joke because bettas actually have teeth. They are interesting little boogers. Along with their gills bettas have an organ called a Labyrinth that allows them to actually breath atmospheric O2. This is why they can survive living in such a small bowl (though that is not really healthy for them in the long term).

He is a very curious fish. Silly thing decided he wanted to explore the plant jar, and after putting half of his body in there had to do some considerable wiggling to back out. No worries though, he managed it just fine.



He is looking at the camera head on in this picture. His face is so dark that it is hard to see much detail at this angle.

Snow in GA

This is what we call a blizzard here in GA. We received about a inch's worth of ice last week-end. Due to the ice and MLK day classes have been closed for the last week and a half for me. I have now idea how we are going to make it up. I will find out tomorrow.

School Up-date

On my Psych final I made an 89%, to bring a class total of 92.7%. On my chemistry final I made a 97%, to bring a class total of 97.99%. This chemistry class was the last one I needed to apply to the Dental hygiene program at WGTC. I completed the health care providers CPR class before Christmas break, also needed to apply. The only thing left is the PSB-entrance exam. I will take only one class (microbiology) this next (winter) quarter and spend the time that I would use on another class to study for the PSB. I apply for the program April 1st.

Finals

I just finished talking my chem lab final. And in about 4 1/2 hours I go to take my psych final. Wish me luck.

Pop Tab Prom

It struck me that I never did post about the magnificent pop tab creation that I made for Naomi's junior prom.

It started out with a trip the the Georgia Coca-Cola museum. After spending the day wandering through the place we ended with a trip through the gift shop. They position the gift shop so that you have to go through it to get out. Anyway, in the shop I spotted a really cool purse that had been made with soda can pop tabs, which had been crochet together. I thought that it was a really cool idea, and a fun way to recycle. Until I saw the price tag. $80! For a 5" by 8" purse! It was cool, but not that cool. So I said "ha, forget this. I can make it my self".

So after months of collecting and recruiting my sibling's high school classmates into collecting pop tabs I began to work out how I would make this purse. The result of that was the birthday present presented to Naomi for her 16th birthday. It was quite well received.



Anyway, I started to think about what else can I make with these pop tabs. They are really quite versatile. Well Naomi's prom was coming up and some how the idea formed; "Why not make a dress out of pop tabs? People make prom outfits out of duct tape, why can't I make one out of pop tabs?"

After actually fiddling with that for a while, realizing that that dress would be very heavy, not sure that I had enough pop tabs and not knowing how to design the dress with enough flexibility so the wearer could sit down, I decided on just doing a top. I was going to do a top with the pop tabs and sew a skirt, but Naomi and Mom ended up finding a really beautiful dress at a great price and bought that for the prom. So my top became a corset that went over the dress.

Of course Naomi's date would have to match. Therefore the pop tab tie also developed. I thought about doing a vest but that would take more time that was quickly running out.

I have had a lot of fun with these pop tab designs. I have in the workings now a belly dancing belt and top made of pop tabs. Someday I may even get around to making that whole pop tab dress. I have entered this photo into my colleges yearly creative magazine. With a little bit of luck it will get published.

November 30, 2010

For Thanksgiving break I had Wednesday off which is a normal class day for me. So I drove up to Alabama to see some friends there and mainly to see Jon. It is about 3 hours from my place to Chelsea where I was staying. There is a time change in the middle of that does some strange things to the internal clock.

Wednesday afternoon I spent with my friends just hanging out and playing with the kids. That evening after the kiddos went to bed, we watched Robin Hood and I balanced chemical equations.

Thursday morning I drove 2 more hours up to Huntsville to see Jon. Unfortunately it was Thanksgiving day so everything was closed and there was nothing for us to do but sit in the car and talk. Good thing I brought my knitting. Then we went to lunch with some of Jon's crew. After which I headed back to Chelsea, ('cause there was nothing for us to do on post) and had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with my hosts.

Friday afternoon I drove up to see Jon again, and hung out in the rec center watching videos and eating pizza.

Saturday morning another friend of mine was able to come over and have lunch with us. I was glad to get a chance to see him, as we where both very busy that week end. Afterwards I headed back home.

I finally got around to getting my flu shot yesterday. It's actually the first one I have ever had. I was on my down the driveway on my way to the CVS for my appointment, and thinking about possibly getting a new color of lipstick that I had been contemplating for a while. I was not sure I wanted to spend $8 on a new color that might end up looking terrible. However, I had was getting a few extra hours at the church sitting for the new bible study so I had a little bit of extra cash.

When it suddenly hit me that "OMG extra hours! This is Monday! I'm supposed to be at the church in 25 minuets!" Which is about how long it takes to get there if you don't run into 5:00pm rush hour traffic. So I called back home, and told them that I would be later than expected, and to please call and tell the pharmacy that I would not make it at 6. I managed to make it only 3 minuets late.

I was thankfully able to do a walk-in and get my immunization on the way back home.

Turkeys, Airzookas, and Grades...Oh My.

I found a really cool science toy for my Bio teacher. It's called an airzooka. It shoots a blast of air up to 20 feet. It's harmless but attention getting and you don't have to pick up any darts or balls afterwards. I saw that and imagined him nailing the students that fall asleep in class. It just struck me as hilariously funny (now that I'm out of his class), so I gave it to him as an early Christmas gift. Of course I have never fallen asleep in class...no not little angel like me (I have come to the point of totally zoned out though). I'm sure Dr. Bishop has made many diabolical plans to pester his students and co-workers with it. :)




Chem is not half so hard as I thought it would be, and I have made a couple of friends in that class. I have a 96.(?>5) (something bigger than 5). I just found out that a test I thought was going to be on Monday of next week is going to be on Wednesday. Which only gives me one day to cram. Ugg. I hate cramming by the way.

Psychology and I have a love-hate relationship. I think I'm still pulling an over all A (the grading chart is kinda messed up), but I have made several B's on some of my quizes. The big paper is due this sunday. The paper alone is worth 15% of the grade so it's a make it or break it as far as getting an A goes.

I'm hoping to get lots done this weekend so I won't have much to worry about next weekend. I have that Wednesday off, essentially giving me a 4 day weekend. I'm going to drive over to AL to see Jon for Thanksgiving.

Fall Quarter

So I'm into the 3ed week of fall quarter. I'm taking chemistry and psychology. I just had my first lecture test in chemistry and I will have a lab test next week. I have made several friends in chem and we have formed a weekly study group. Which is nice, because I get to hang out with some people my own age for a bit AND we get some productive stuff done at the same time. :)

In psychology I have a large paper to write. I chose to do it on alcohol addiction. I'm not sure exactly what I will cover in it, I will work with it and see what I get. The hardest part of writing papers for me is the research. I spend so much time looking up and sorting information that I don't get much on paper very fast and it seems like I get nothing done. It is an interesting subject but a frustrating class.

Summer Quarter

Summer quarter is finally over. I passed both of my classes, Bio 2114 and Soc 1101 with an A. I made 100% on both the finals. With the extra credit offered in Bio I actually finished the class with a 101.95%. I still hold a 4.0 GPA for now.

Fall quarter starts on Sep 29. We have a rather short brake. For fall I will be taking CHM I and PYC 1101(online). I have to drive about an hour twice a week to get to my chem class. It was only offered at the one campus and I have to have it before I can apply to my program. It is the last one I need.

PFC Jonathan P. Landon

Jon's graduation from Basic Training. I had a test on that day but my teacher said that I could take it late without a penalty (because it was originally planed for earlier) so I was able to make it to SC.

The graduation was a logistical nightmare but it was good to see Jon again. He is now in Huntsville AL for most of his 10 months of EOD training.

Aug 18, 2010

So... it's just been a really bad week. Really bad. I don't expect it to get better soon.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is the 14th of July. Today is my 21st birthday. The Gardners (the family I live with now)took me out to lunch at Tea Fusions (a little tea shop that I adore)and then we walked down to Claries and I picked out a new hat and some earrings, and we had fun looking at the stuff. Apparently I have made a reputation for myself at Tea Fusions as one of the very few who drinks the Russian Caravan tea. The Russian Caraven is a very strong, smoked tea, (it smells like a campfire) they use it mostly for cooking but I like it as just tea.