Almost to the finish line!

I take my oral exam tomorrow at 10am ... eek! I really didn't study ... which is starting to freak me out now, however really I can't do anything about it. All I want to do is make it through without crying!

I have also started internet dating again ... I feel like this time around I have a much better attitude. I am trying not to take things too seriously and just "live in the moment" and enjoy myself.

Thats about all ... can't wait for tomorrow to be OVER!

T - 36 hrs

Well ... I am going to start the written portion of my prelim exam on Wednesday at 9 am. At the moment I am doing anything humanly possible to not freak out ... which means I am trying really hard to stop thinking about the fact that I really didn't study ... AT ALL ... crap. I think that the really hard part will happen after the written ... when I have a week and a half to make up for how much I sucked at the written and prepare for my oral exam :(.

On a completely different note ... I went shopping today to try and find a dress for my friends wedding (which is next weekend) ... I did find something, but I am hoping that when I go shopping at home I can find something that I really really love (instead of this dress, which I just kinda sorta like). Whatever I end up wearing .. I'll make sure to post a pic later :)

updates

2009 in a nutshell

In 2009 I:

1) Traveled A LOT: NYC, Israel, Moab, Colorado Springs, Australia, CA (3 times), RMNP, Lander Wyoming.

2) Taught a climate course (3.5 weeks) at Colorado College.

3) Had two respiratory illnesses (which seem to have left me with Asthmatic symptoms :( )

4) Considered (seriously) quitting grad-school ... but decided to study the West African Monsoon instead and stuck with it.

5) Started going to geeks who drink ... which is pretty awesome.

6) Started going to counseling (group and individual) ... it has been life changing, but I am somewhat concerned I am just going back to my old ways :(

7) Cried in my advisors office 3 times ... not my proudest moments, but I think we are finally communicating.

8) Had my first paper accepted to the Journal of Climate called "Great Plains Drought in Simulations of the Twentieth Century"

9) Wrote my prospectus for the PhD program (the rest of this will happen 2010)

10) Had a TON of visitors ... Erika, Ellen, Dana and Justin, Mike and Mackenzie :)

11) Went on an EPIC backpacking trip to RMNP with Nick, Michelle and Matt B. ... and by EPIC I mean EPIC.

12) Moved.

13) Was in a car accident :(

14) Started (and then stopped) internet dating ...

15) Finally developed a fondness for Fort Collins :)

2010 ... who knows what will happen?

I have no idea what to expect from 2010. I am surprisingly not stressed about taking my written and oral exams for the PhD program over the next couple of weeks. I am surprisingly excited to be TAing a 100 level introductory climate course with Scott D. and Nick. I know that I am going to get a new faster prettier and more amazing computer at work. I am helping to plan world water day activites on campus :)

I am sad because good friends will be leaving Fort Collins (some I know about, and some I am sure will be a big surprise). I am trying to decide if I should move (again) ... maybe I'll finally find a place I actually like.

I want to start listening to music more ... and attending more shows. I want to try and take a woodworking class or a pottery class and I want to start volunteering (maybe the raptor rescue place, maybe the food bank). I want to try and see more movies at the Lyric. I also plan on trying to internet date again ... who knows maybe it will be better this time.

Overall ... I hope to be more content with my life, happier with how things are, and excited about my research and my life. I am planning a trip to Europe (which will hopefully be amazing) and I want to visit Erika in NH :)

Sports are ruining my f***ing life ... and other angst

Before really getting to the root of this post ... I just wanted to comment on the word "angst" ... i looked it up on Wikipeida to make sure the spelling was correct and I just learned that angst is a German, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch word for fear and anxiety ... words are so cool :)

On another note ... sports are ruining my life ... or maybe just the fact that everyone I know is obsessed with sports and I just really DONT CARE. I get extremely frustrated that every single conversation I have with my friends here seems to turn towards sports (and depending on who is around ... the conversation might actually stay on sports until I get fed up and leave). Oh and when I say the conversation is almost always about sports ... I don't mean that people talk about the game they watched last night or this really upsetting play that happened recently ... I mean people start talking about baseball players and football players like they are friends ... and they talk about football stats (as if this knowledge is somehow useful to me) and they name drop like nobodies business ... and don't even get me started with fantasy football.

I realize that I didn't grow up in a "sports enthusiasts" house hold (to be honest I am not sure my dad even knows the difference between baseball and football) so maybe I just wasn't trained at an early age to love these sports ... however I do enjoy going to football games and baseball games (however this might be because I really just love sporting event food ... hotdogs, ice cream, cotton candy, lemonade). What I want to know is when did it become "exciting" or even "interesting" to spend your time talking about blah blah blah player on this team that you don't even like (or wont even end up playing against your favorite team because they are in different leagues). Truthfully ... if the only think you seem to be able to talk about is sports ... then I think you must be a extremely boring person. Now I must admit that most of my friends are extremely interesting people ... and they tend to talk about a myriad of things ... however at the moment it is playoff season in baseball ... and football season is up and running, so it seems all that anyone has time to talk about is freaking stupid sports.

So back to why I think sports is ruining my life ... it turns out if you want to be social and actually have conversation throughout the day ... you have to either learn how to talk sports, or at least learn how to turn your brain off when the conversation inevitably turns towards famous people you have never heard of. I have been trying to be more proactive with these sports conversations (by at least trying to turn the conversations toward Rockies baseball, since I kinda sorta know about the Rockies) ... however now that the Rockies suck and they are out of the playoffs ... I will probably not be able to attend events such as "coffee hour" unless I want to spend an hour of my day talking about sports.

This post is getting long and rambly (notice a trend??) ... so on to "other angst" ... I just realized that it is October 13 AND I am never going to finish my prospectus or my qualifying exams ... and I am starting to feel a bit panicky. anxious

ALSO ... it decided to be winter (we freaking skipped Fall) ... and I already feel depressed and about the fact that its going to be cold/wet/windy until March ... ahhhhh

ALSO ALSO (instead of PPS) ... I applied for this meeting in Costa Rica (which is going to be held in both english and spanish) ... so I have to start re-learning spanish (so that I can speak/understand) ... and I want to get something like Rosetta Stone etc ... however this software is CRAZY expensive, and stupid, and doesnt work on my Mac or blah blah blah other issues

haha, ok well back to the grind I guess (I am going to get some coffee!!!)

sunday ... sunday

To start ... I am rather hungover today ... Amy's wedding was fun, but the open bar was more fun/dangerous.  I managed to drink a TON of water throughout the night, but my stomach just does not appreciate alcohol anymore :( ... I am starting to wonder of my inability to feel OK after drinking has something to do with out much coffee i drink throughout the day (who knows, I just thought of this this morning as I drank three cups of coffee at The Red Table)

I decided to try out this new cafe today (well new to me, not new to FC) ... Its called "The Red Table" and I had been there once before ... but I don't remember it being soo cool!  Lost of light, good coffee and an avocado burrito!  The only downside is that it closes at 1 on Sundays (maybe every day???) Anyway, it had an amazing (non pretentious) atmosphere AND they were playing some of my favorite music ... for instance "Those to Come"  by the Shins was playing when I first got there ... and well its one of my favorite songs :)

Well anyway ... the amazing lighting and good vibe was much much more conducive to working than lets say the funny smelling dark bean cycle (where I am currently sitting and not-enjoying a rather perfumey iced tea :( )

I've been struck lately with a complete lack of motivation for accomplishing anything other than working out and reading Harry Potter (I am on the 5th book right now, and I can't seem to put it down!) ... this is of course problematic because well ... I have to take my prelims and not fail out of gradschool (hmm ...)

Ok well this post is getting rambling ... and I can't remember why I started it in the first place ..?? who knows!

Hope all of you who are reading this have had a good weekend!!

couple-ish things

Can anyone explain to me why you would ever have a joint email account with your spouse/significant other?  

Things I need to do ...

Drink more water ...

I've started a new "work out regime" ... or whatever ... and now I am sore all the time, which is one indication that I need to drink more water.

Why is it so hard to remember to drink more water ... I am always thirsty ... but somehow I can't be bothered to drink water??? WTF?