1. The biggest news for me this week is that I, yet again, aced my Diff Eq test!!!! Hallelujah!!!! The guys in my class still called it, and weren't surprised at all, but I am absolutely elated! I felt like I did well on it, so it was good to see that my instincts were on point! All I have left in that class is the comprehensive final next week, so I'm interested to see how that will...surely it won't be that bad!
2. Last Monday, us PLC sophs went on a celebratory trip to OKC. Our trip included a steak dinner at Cattleman's and a movie. There were five of us who went on the trip, including our sponsors, and we were given a budget of $400. We figured out that if everyone got the most expensive steak at Cattleman's, we would still have about $200+ left to spend on the movie. So, everyone went for the gusto and ordered the Prime "Blue-Ribbon" steak, which was undoubtedly the best steak I have ever eaten at a restaurant...EVER! It was tender, well-seasoned, and had a flavor that is unmatched. I'm starting to get hungry just thinking about it! Long story short, if you ever go there, be ready to shell out the $35 and go for it...you shouldn't be disappointed! After that, we headed over to the movie theater and watched the movie "Olympus Has Fallen". It was okay, but had WAY too much blood, gore, and violence for my liking. Let's just say that I got popcorn to eat during the movie, and lost my appetite for it about 30-45 minutes into it. Apparently, it was like an offshoot of "Die Hard", but I wouldn't know since I haven't seen it. Regardless, I had a good time!
3. Maybe I wasn't so into the movie on Monday night because of what had happened on Monday at the Boston Marathon. It saddens me to think that this kind of evil lies within people. My heart goes out to all of the victims and their families; I can hardly imagine how difficult this is to cope with. Sadly, as a runner, I could easily see how weak of a target events like these are, because there is no real way to monitor security. I will say that I am astounded by the example set by some of the runners who continued running to the hospital so that they could donate blood for all of the victims. Even in the face of danger, they were looking out for the others instead of leaving the scene. That is heroism, in my opinion. So, I have had the idea in the back of my mind to run a half or whole marathon at some point in my life, but this event has only helped to solidify my desire to do so. I'm not sure how long it will take to get there, but I would really like to accomplish this in honor of those who perished at this event, and all who can no longer run. It's not much, but it's a start! I've said it before, but I'll say it again...Never take this life for granted!! Anything can happen at any time!
4. Ironically enough, in the wake of the Boston tragedy, us Okies paid tribute to those who perished in the Murrah bombing in OKC last Friday. To have the bombing and the memorial within the same week really reemphasized the importance of remembering and honoring those who were lost and those who still stand to tell the story. It just so happened that the all-PLC spring trip was on Friday, and we visited the Bombing Memorial Museum. I have visited the outdoor memorial about three or so times since it was built, but have never had the opportunity or time to visit the museum itself. I loved the museum, and felt that it was a beautiful place of remembrance, peace, and hope. Being that I was two years old at the time, my memories of it are somewhat fragmented, and I kind of question whether I really remember it or the one-year anniversary...I'm not sure. The museum did a fantastic job of telling the story of the day and the aftermath for those who weren't there or able to remember it.
5. This kind of detracts from everything, but I have to add it here... After we got out of the museum, we waited outside at the outdoor memorial until everyone was ready to go to our next destination (a Redhawks baseball game). While we were waiting, we happened to notice that Kelly Ogle (he's an OKC news anchor, for you non-local readers) was at the memorial getting ready to broadcast the 6:00 news! Even better, we noticed that he was wearing neon yellow sneakers with his suit...how rad is that?! Well, I just so happened to be wearing my new, bright running shoes, so I wanted to go compare shoes with him, since lots of other people went over and talked to him. I wanted some of my friends to go with me, so it wasn't so awkward, but none of them wanted to. Well, they did, but they didn't. I really wanted to, though, so I double-checked with one of our sponsors, got the okay, and chugged on over to talk with him. No lie, the first thing he told me was that he liked my shoes!!! I talked with him for a short while, and told him about how all of us college kids were there visiting. I found out that he is an OSU fan, his daughter is going there next year (as a Freshman), and that he knows where my baby-sized quasi-hometown is! (It seems like no one south of Crescent knows where it is, so it was extra-impressive!) Yes, I did get pictures with him, and yes, I will share them!!!
Not gonna lie, this was perhaps one of my proudest moments in life thus far, but that paled in comparison to the looks of awe I received from everyone in my group as I walked back! My sister Emily was proud of my willingness to reach outside of my box, despite everyone else's unwillingness!
6. I took my OGET on Saturday morning, and I feel like I did well on it. Hopefully, my premonitions will be right again! It really wasn't too bad, but it was a long morning for me. I had to be at the testing site by 7:15 AM and didn't leave until around 11:30 or so. (Special thanks to Gina's in-laws who let me bunk with them for the night, saving me an hour of commuting time, and gained me an extra hour or two of sleep! It was much appreciated!) Before the test started, I made a couple of friends and had fun talking with them. It really helped to put me in a good frame of mind before testing. With any luck, maybe I'll run into them in some of my education classes! My only real complaint about the test was that my room had to have been built right by some avian sanctuary, because all I heard during the entire test was a horde of birds chirping incessantly. It was slightly irritating, but there was nothing that could have realistically been done about it. Needless to say, I'll get my results in about a month, so here's hoping!!!
7. How crazy is it that I will be graduating from here this weekend? Could two years already have passed since I graduated high school?! Gee, time flies when you're doing Calculus... I have mixed emotions about graduating. On one hand, I'm excited, because I'm halfway to a Bachelor's and a third of the way to a Master's, which means that I'm only that much closer to a career. However, I'm not that excited, because I still have two to four more years left, and this is really only a transitional graduation, not a end-of-schooling-for-good graduation. Is is bad that I really only invited my immediate family and Mimi to graduation, because I did. For the record, the seating is limited, and I don't want everyone to think that I want more presents out of them. And I'm graduating at least one more time, so maybe I'll go all out then! I will be having a celebration afterwards, but it's still just a simple affair...nothing like what I had for my high school graduation! I just want to have some fun, and I think that everyone is on board with that!
8. Last week I was notified that I will be receiving some sort of award at the annual awards banquet later this week. I'm assuming that I will be receiving something for having a 4.0 GPA, because I know that they give out medallions that are to be worn at graduation. I'm excited because my parents will get to come, and we will get to enjoy a delicious, catered meal! Good times!
9. After a few months of hoping that the inevitable wouldn't happen, the oilfield has moved in across the road from my house. I, like everyone else in my family, hate it already. They have enough lights to light three football stadiums, which also happen to shine directly into mine and my parents' room. Our blinds help some, but I still hate it. They are always there; I'm convinced that they never stop working on it, which disturbs me somewhat. Even at 2:00 AM or all day on Sunday...who does that?! Because they are always working, there is a constant barrage of noise, which REALLY irritates me, because I get enough of that at my dorm. If that wasn't enough, there is always someone barreling down the road going to their site. (Debra, we totally feel your frustration on that one!) I think my real issue with this is that I worry for my family's safety. If there is to be some sort of disaster, my house is literally hundreds of feet from the drill site, which isn't that far. Even more, I worry about our water being contaminated due to some indiscretion on their part. I know that that can happen, only because my mom was a victim of that when she was about five years old. Sometimes I think that she still faces some side effects of it, and I don't want to see it happen again, especially to her or any of my family members. Is this oil really worth the potential hazards everyone else can face??? I'll get off my soapbox...
10. I'll try to end on a more positive note...let's see, ah, yes! I have a 5K in about one month, and I desperately need to pick up my training for it, if I have any desire of not keeling over or finishing in a decent time. I'm going to start training a little bit more rigorously than I did last year, and I really hope that I can keep it up when I go back home in a couple of weeks! My goal this year is to at least beat my time from last year, which was 38:30. Not totally bad, but I want to do better!!! Realistically, I would like to get my time down to below 30 minutes, but I can't promise myself anything since this race is hilly, and I already know that they will be rough on me! I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but I will be moving up an age group, so I will have slightly more competition, but they also won't be high schoolers who are still in track/cross country, who are fresh out of their season...and younger than me. Oh well, I'm not really in it to place, I'm in it to have fun and help raise funds for the cause, so whatever happens will be fine!
Have a fantastic week!!!
Happy Graduation! By the way, it doesn't surprise me at all that you walked right up to Kelly and visited. You are open and outgoing and people are people, right? Just because most of the people in the state know this guy's face doesn't make him any more special or important than you or anyone else is.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're ready for the next phase.
Abbey, Tracie and Sarah are all running in that 5K with you soon so maybe I'll see all of you there.