SUUUPER BOWL SUUUNDAY!

YEAHH SUPER BOWL! But in all honesty, I had no particular affiliation with either team, so I didn't really care who won. :p The Super Bowl is just an awesome excuse to set homework and housework aside to hang out with friends and eat tons of snack foods. While I do actually enjoy watching the football game, something that would not have occurred before I came to a Big Ten university with a highly ranked football team, I think my favorite part is the commercials in between plays. Sadly, I wasn't all that impressed with the commercials this year. :/ They just couldn't top something as good as this one from last year:

This one is just so so cute! :]

My friends' floor held a Super Bowl party in their lounge stocked with Pokey Stix, pop, and a ton of people! Basically the entire floor was there. You may ask, "how can you watch the big game in the middle of a study lounge?!" Simple: lots of electrical cords and a neat projector! The boys hooked it up so that the screen was as large as it could be against the biggest wall of the room. The high definition of the video was superb too! I wish this picture turned out, I was a little upset with the quality, or lack thereof, in the dark.

Either way, it's pretty cool, eh?

Well I guess it's off to do the homework that I've procrastinated on all weekend! But an excellent weekend it was. :]

She's a brick.. house.

After many months of deliberating, I have finally chosen, what I believe is to be, the best living situation for myself next year!

Way back in early October, my close friends were contemplating getting an apartment for next year, an idea I had mulled over since my freshman year. There are just so many different aspects to consider before making the final decision on where to live for an entire eight months of my life.

To be honest, I had a really difficult time choosing this year.

First of all, I know that I will have classes everyday, so that means I will be on campus and getting meals everyday. All of my jobs are closest to the complex that I am currently living, and I wouldn't want to live any farther away from the MSU Bakery and Police Department when I have to work early morning shifts. There's also the cost and decency of food and the time it takes to prepare it to consider. 

On the other hand, the apartment life sounds pretty cool. There's not any mentors or quiet hours or hall activities. It means that I would have to take more responsibility for my academics, cleaning, and general house life, though, something that will prepare me for the real world. There's also the added bonus of a ton of more space, plus your own room to settle in and make homey. 

But there's also campus life. It is simply one of my favorite aspects of attending MSU. I see my friends everywhere: in the halls, in the caf, walking to class. I meet new people all the time just because I happen to be somewhere interesting at the time. There's tons of activities going around on campus from blood drives to weekend movies to sitting and listening to the Well's Hall preacher. Not to mention, I just enjoy looking out my window at campus and all of it's unique beauty.

I kept going back and forth between living on or off campus for months. I discussed each option with my parents, my oldest friends, my newest friends, all to hear what they thought would be my best decision.

And in the end, I choose to live.. on. I even took it one step further and decided to live in a single room instead of with someone new. My current roommate, and my best friend since ninth grade, has been my roommate since the beginning of college, and I wouldn't want that to be changed by moving in with someone completely new.

I am also going to be suitemates with my two really good friends Julia and Carly, PLUS many of my other good friends are living on the other side of our hall. I am so very excited for next year now!

SNOW-MY-GOSH!

WHO GETS A SNOW DAY IN COLLEGE?!
MSU GETS A SNOW DAY IN COLLEGE!!!

We haven't had one of these things since HIGH SCHOOL! That is probably one of those crazy high school aspects that I miss the most. Remember all of the traditions we used to do of putting turtles in the window and wearing our pajamas backwards or inside-out just for one day of blistering, cold, snowy, weather? I remember how awesome it felt to sleep in on a weekday and put all our snow gear on and run around outside all day long.

And, finally, we can do it all over again. I feel like a giddy five year old, but I love it.

Turn around, bright eyes.

Well it sure has been an interesting couple of days.. First of all, we had to call 911 for my friend last evening, which is something I would never like to relive. He had been ill for the past couple of days and it just came to the point where his body just couldn't cure itself. While his roommate went with him to the hospital, the rest of the hall waited impatiently in the dorm. His roommate finally returned about 3 hours later with some shocking news. Our friend had suffered from a collapsed lung due to internal bleeding in the chest cavity. He had to receive a few critical blood transfusions also, since he had lost so much and had such a low blood pressure when arriving at the hospital. While he is currently stabilized, it's very frightening to think of what could have happened if we had waited any longer to contact the paramedics. All I ask is for the doctors to fix him as soon as possible.

All of our love and prayers to you. <3

ALAN! ALAN! ALAN!

I would just like to share a quick video with all of you totally unrelated to anything I would have really talked about in a blog post. The Brit's are just so darn funny! 

My favorite is the "Nighttime/Daytime" bird, or the cute like puffins! :]

Time flies when you're..

..busier than ever! I had never anticipated that I would be so busy this semester! I only have 15 credits, but homework on top of that adds so much more time. The advantage to this though is that I am pretty much taking all math and science related courses, so we have basically been covering the same exact material and in every class so far. It seems rather odd to me, especially because it is also concepts that I have been learning since Calculus I. See? I suppose you do build upon your math spectrum as you get older.

I am currently in the 2 North Lounge in Case Hall attempting to study for Linear Algebra and Statics, but this comfortable chair is not helping me any. I've caught myself yawning or nodding off about every five minutes. I think that is an indicator of my immediate need for sleep. Goodnight, World.

I cannot sleep, I cannot dream tonight.

I can't decide if I like my schedule or not. It's not the actual classes that I can't decide on, it's the order in which I have to attend them. I have my four Monday-Wednesday-Friday lectures on average from 9:10-2:40 three days a week with another two hour recitation Monday evening. Then I only have my engineering course on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and that's not even until 3pm. I really love that my lectures are back-to-back with only twenty minutes in between, particularly for three reasons: one, it means I only really have to leave my complex three days a week, since my engineering class is in Wilson; two, it makes the classes go by quicker since they're all grouped together like in high school; and three, it gives me large blocks of time in the afternoons and nights to do my homework, work, blog, and hang out with my friends.

This all seems like nothing to complain about, right? Well, unfortunately, not in my case. My work schedule poses a hinderance on my work ethic, especially on Wednesdays, like today. I was very happy to get a "promotion" at the Bakery, but the hours are less than ideal. I work from 3:45-7:15am packing freshly baked bagels for the dorms and other various orders on campus. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have four classes in a row starting less than two hours after my shift ends. I actually like the work I do, despite the crazy hours. It's just, I found myself dozing in my first two classes. I was totally aware of my self nodding off, but I just couldn't snap myself out of it. I kept telling myself to wake up and pay attention, but my brain wouldn't let me. While it is partially my fault for not going to bed at a decent hour, my hall does not understand the meaning of the phrase "24-hour respect quiet hours." They just like to yell down the hallway, all day.

Honestly, this post took me longer than it should have  because my brain kept shutting down in the middle of writing it. Maybe it's naptime?

Working hard or hardly working?

I'm going to be completely honest right now. I had fully intended on blogging Monday night, but I literally have not had enough time to just sit down and write up a post in what little spare time I have had. As soon as classes started for me at 9:10am on Monday morning, I've just been busier than I ever was last semester! Being an engineering major and mathematics minor, I am currently enrolled in Statics (like physics in equilibrium), Statistics for Engineers, Linear Algebra, Modeling in Engineering, and Engineering Analysis of Biosystems.. so essentially I'm taking all math related courses. Not that I'm complaining, I'm definitely enjoying the classes so far, even if it does mean doing analysis homework every night for the next four months..

Other than my classes, everything else this semester has been going well. I've worked a total of six shifts at the Bakery this week, which has definitely hindered my blog writing availability. It has also screwed up my sleeping pattern, since I now have a Wednesday shift at 3:45am.. don't ask me how I do it, I just do. It's dark and cold when I go in for work and guess what, it's still dark and cold when I leave. I can't wait for warm weather again!

I think I might go take a nap now since I've been mostly awake since 3:20am.. then it's homework time. Ciao!

On the banks of the Red Cedar..

And I'm back! So happy to be back here in East Lansing, even if it means starting a new (difficult!) semester!

To be honest, the semester started off in a fantastic fashion with a SPARTAN VICTORY AGAINST THE WOLVERINES!! It was definitely the best hockey game the Spartans have played all season: they made excellent plays, passes, shots, and goals that led to an overtime win. Great job, boys! Hopefully it will be the same for tonight's game at Yost (Michigan's Ice Arena)!

Today has been filled with cleaning, unpacking, organizing, and just simply get ready for the new semester. I feel really spoiled in the book department. While I'm lending out a few books to my friends who  are taking classes that I have already taken, I'm also borrowing books from other friends who have taken the classes I'm taking this semester. It is a wonderful cycle that has led to my grand total of $0 spent on books this semester. To everyone who is possibly not as fortunate, I would suggest purchasing books from Amazon or Half.com before even thinking about buying them from stores in East Lansing. I also learned yesterday that there is a trial version of Amazon Prime that allows students to buy books without having to pay for shipping, but I have not invested anytime in this subject just yet. Happy shopping, students! And have a wonderful first day of the new semester!

A photo a day keeps the..

..cliche, but I couldn't think of anything to end this phrase. Anyway, I decided that since I was given a new camera for Christmas, I should get as much use out of it as possible. As I have said before, I am very interested in photography, but an ameteur in skill for sure. I would very much like to take a photography class one of these days, all I need to do is fit it into my busy schedule.

So in lieu of the holiday season I have decided that one of my New Year's resolutions will be to simply take more photographs. I won't get any better by studying photography from a handbook; the only way to understand it is to actually use my camera and figure out it's settings and features on a daily basis.

Therefore, I have created an additional blog on www.tumblr.com where I will upload my favorite photo that day for the next 365 days. It being on the second day in, I have held to my promise and very much enjoyed carrying my camera around with me as I go about my normal activities. It's actually very interesting to see how my views of my surroundings change as my brain switches into creative/artistic photography mode.

If you would like to see these photos, click here. :] You can also access them at the following link: http://flashflashphotoop.tumblr.com/

Oh, and ah, Happy New Year! It's 2011 already?