Mylo

The kitten is still doing well. He's gained quite a bit of weight in the past week, and he's grown a little bigger as well. My cat Samantha doesn't really like him all that much, but I'm hopeful that they'll like each other with time. My dog Fairy has been very good with him though. She's been very patient with him crawling all over her and being in her face. He really likes faces for some reason. Whenever we're playing with him, his favorite thing to do is to crawl up our shirts and sit on our shoulders. This is all very cute for about five minutes, until he reaches over and smacks you in the face with his claws. His name is now Mylo, as in Milo and Otis, but with a different spelling.

Awww

Yesterday, my two little brothers were out on one of their expeditions into the pasture. They always have to go on the side that the cows are not on. The cows generally graze in the same pattern each day, so at the time, they were on the hilly side of the pasture. My brothers thus decided to visit the creek and look for frogs. When they got there, they didn't find any frogs, but they did find a little kitten about a foot away from the water's edge with its eyes glued shut. The kitten was tangled in a pile of brush, but it still was holding its head up and trying to look around. Nicholas went back to the house and got a cardboard box with a towel, and Trey and I reached in and worked the kitten out of the brush, and carried it back through the pasture. We took it into my playhouse, which has been the temporary home of many animals throughout the years, including my dog, Fairy, when she was hit by a car and had to stay inside for six weeks so that her cast wouldn't get wet, my puppy, Jewel, that I got in 5th grade, and the numerous cats and kittens that we've brought home throughout the years. Anyway, we took the kitten in there, and I began to try to clean up its eyes. When our cat Samantha had her first set of kittens, they had the same problem. For some reason, their eyes run and get stuck together so that they can't see. Ususally the problem can be remedied just by cleaning them with a warm, damp paper towel, so this is what I decided to do. I got one eye clean, and as soon as the kitten could see again, it spit and hissed at me, and ran away to hide under some furniture that was in my playhouse. We put out some food and water, and left hoping for the best. I told my brothers that we'd give the kitten another chance, but that if it continued to be mean, we'd turn it out and it could be a barn cat. I have scars on both arms from a cat that we resuced from the dump, and I dont' want to repeat that experience. This morning, I went outside to check on the kitten, and as soon as I sat down in the middle of the floor, it came out and crawled in my lap. It was completely nice today, so I'm thinking that the reason it was mean yesterday was the trauma of being confused about what was happening. I got the little kitten to eat some food a little while ago, so I'm thinking that it will eventually be okay. The only thing that I'm really concerned about at this point is that it seems to have a cold, but I'm hoping that this will improve since its eyes are completely better today. I guess for now, I have a new kitten, and we'll see how things turn out. We're not sure if it's a boy or a girl yet, but we've decided on Oliver for a boy and Olive for a girl.

What's been going on

Sunday night, I spent my last night in my dorm room. It was kind of sad, but I could only get so upset about it since I know that I'll be living in the same room next semester. I got up and took my Chemistry final Monday morning, on which I recieved an 85, and a B in the class. I was kind of disappointed with this since it turned out to be my only grade that was not in the A range (yes, I even managed to pull an A- in my dreadful Zoology class), but I guess I'll just have to take it since about halfway through the semester I was really worried that I was going to get a C+. Oh well, maybe I'll make an A+ in Organic Chem to make it up. (insert sarcastic laughter). Anyway, I ended this semester with a 3.6 GPA, and I'm pretty proud, because that was my goal. I've had many doubts this semester about whether or not I should pursue vet school, and I guess that this was my affirmation. I went home Monday night, and went back to school Tuesday morning to move all of my stuff out. I said goodbye to my boyfriend that I probably won't see again until August. I gleefully said goodbye to my suitemates that have been horrible this semester, and I'm quite glad that I won't have to put up with their BS again next semester.

I cried last night when Chris Daughtry got voted off of American Idol. I've voted for him several times every week just because I loved hearing his recorded phone message thanking me for voting for him, and ironically, this was the first week that I was unable to get through. I'm not sure how I feel about American Idol now. I'm not trying to be a spoiled little girl about it, but he was my favorite, and now he's gone, so I'm not sure that I'll even watch the show anymore because frankly, I just don't see any reason to do so. If I do, I'll definitely be voting for Elliott and Taylor. This week's outcome only deepened my hatred for Katharine McPhee. It was her week to go, and Chris got robbed.

In other news, don't be expecting very many posts this summer. Although I think it's interesting to live in an old house (this one was built in the early 50's), it does come with its share of problems. Our most recent one is that our outlets seem to be going bad, including the one that this computer is plugged into. So basically I'll be typing or surfing the internet, and the computer will just die, losing everything I've just done. This, combined with our uber slow dial-up connection (it took the blogger update page nearly 5 minutes to load) mean that posting is probably more difficult than is worth. So for now, Adios, and may your summers be filled with everything you wish for.

Callie

Today is the best day of my life.

This after noon I took my 4th midterm and final exam for Zoology, which was the worst class that I have ever taken in my life. I am so excited about its completion, that I have officially dubbed today, May 4, 2006, as the best day of my life so far. Because of my severe pain and suffering, it will take a lot for another day to be able to surpass this one in greatness. I really doubt that my wedding day, or the date of the birth of my first child will be able to measure up to today's greatness. Now that Zoology is officially over, I just have one more final, Chemistry, on Monday morning. I'm partially moving out of my dorm room tomorrow, spending the weekend at home, and then coming back either Saturday or Sunday. I will take my final on Monday, and move out completely on Tuesday, and then summer can officially begin.

In other news, I was described as a shy, quiet girl by my suitemate, Amy, today when she was having a conversation with a friend out in our suite hallway. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Most people that know me know that I'm really not a quiet person. I'm guessing that she percieves me this way because she doens't know me very well, or because she went to high school with my roommate who was voted "most quiet" her senior year. I find it funny that people considered Jessica quiet, because after living with her, I know that she is FAR from quiet. I admit, when I first met her, I thought she was going to be a quiet person, but now that we've gotten to know each other, I know that this is far from the truth. She and I spend many nights cracking up at things that are on TV or comments that we make about hot actors. I'm glad that she's my roommate. I really couldn't ask for a better one, and I'm not just saying that because she reads this blog on a regular basis. I really mean it! Getting back to the point I was going to make, Amy's comment got me thinking. I think it's fascinating how people percieve each other. Amy and I have not had a great amount of interaction this semester, but I wonder if she would still consider me shy and quiet if she had gotten to know me better. Probably not. So now I want to know. How do YOU percieve me? If you know me, base your perception on our relationship and interactions. If you don't, base your perception on this blog. I can't wait to hear what you come up with.

At the 1/2way mark

Monday morning, I took my ANS final, and this morning I took my COM 112 final. This means that I am officially at the halfway point with my finals. I have one tomorrow (which is really two in one) and one the following Monday. Tomorrow is the final from hell, for which I will be studying all day today and all morning tomorrow, as my exam is at one. This one will be challenging as it is actually the fourth midterm exam of the semester as well as the final all rolled into one. But as I have said before, the Zoology department here at State wants people to fail! I am convinced that this notion is true. Anyway, farewell for now, perhaps I'll inform you of my performance on tomorrow's final.

And I hate COM 112 too

So now that I've completed my Zoology studying for today, I've moved on to COM 112. I don't really hate the class, I just hate that the professor makes it so tedious. At the beginning of the semester, we had unannounced quizzes on chapters that we were supposed to have read prior to coming to class. For the first one, I had done my reading for this class a few days prior, because I like to be ahead in my classes in case something comes up so that I'm not struggling to finish an assignment at the last minute. I didn't realize that the quiz would be on such tiny details (and only be made up of 5 questions) so I recieved a 60 on my first attempt. After that, I always read my chapters the night before, and made sure to review the notes that I had done before for about an hour before going to class. When I began doing this, my quiz grades improved, and I always got an 80 or a 100 on every quiz afterwards. This professor also decided to offer up a way to get that lowest quiz grade dropped, which was to attend every group presentation and sign the roll. I did so, so I got that horrid 60 erased from my grades, and ended up with a 90 quiz average. I did well on the exams, but my professor gave out review sheets so I really didn't see a reason not to do well on them. I recieved a 90 on my first exam and a 97 on my second. The only thing that I'm worried about is my group presentation score. It turned out okay, but it wasn't great. I did the majority of the work for my group, and I was proud of what I did, but it didn't make up for the fact that most groups were made up of five people, and we only had three, and only one other girl in the group besides me really contributed anything. Thus, it is very important for me to do well on this final tomorrow, but I'm having difficulties studying for it at the moment, and my two favorite TV shows, American Idol and House come on tonight, and I'm in a bit of a quandry of what I should do. I really want to watch these shows, but I know that this grade is worth a lot, so I'm afraid that I may have to give them up in my pursuit of an A in COM 112 (which is really quite necessary given my dismal performance in Zoology and Chemistry all semester). Oh woe is me.

I hate Zoology

My Zoology Final is not until Thursday, but I began reviewing for it this past weekend. I did this even though I had my Animal Science final yesterday morning, and I have my Communications final tomorrow morning. In other words, I'm sacrificing time that I need to prepare for sooner exams to prepare for an exam that I will probably not do very well on regardless of how much that I study. My roommate and I here in suite 202 have come to the conclusion that the Zoology department here at State desperately wants everyone that takes their classes to fail. I've actually heard stories of people that had my professor in previous semesters that failed every test and still ended up with a B in the class. My professor offers many opportunities to "help" your grade throughout the semester. A few of these include having 4 midterms, with the lowest score being dropped, a laboratory that is worth 25% of our final grade, and having people that only missed three or less lectures throughout the semester get their grade moved up one level. My test average is currently a B, and I need to make another A on my final midterm (which is the same day as the final) to move that average up even more. I recieved 148 (and some change) points out of a possible 150 points for my laboratory score, and I only missed one lecture throughout the entire semester. Therefore, it is my hope that I will do well on the last midterm and decent on the final so that I can come out with at least a B in the class. I have a feeling that I may be taking Bio 181 and 183 in upcoming semesters to combat this bad grade for my vet school application. I know that I've complained numerous times throughout the semester about this class, but I just really don't feel that we're graded fairly. My professor goes through the notes too quickly for anyone to copy anything down, and the tests are often given based on minute details that were hardly discussed during the lectures. He recently decided to put up his powerpoint slides on his website, and these greatly aided me in studying for my last test, but he's so concerned that someone is going to illegally distribute his lectures (I personally don't know of anyone who would want them) that I don't believe that they're on the website in their entireity. Going back to the unfairness of this class, I'm expecting somewhat of a curve, but even then I don't believe that's fair because if I were to end up with an A it wouldn't be a reflection of what I learned this semester. It would simply be a reflection of my professor's poor teaching skills and his liberal addition of points to our grades to cover himself so that he doens't turn out like Dr. Orji. (A former chemistry professor that got fired because he routinely failed over 30% of his class in an intro level course). I guess for now all I can do is suck it up and prepare for Zoology, and then worry about Communications in a little bit and hope for the best.

Progress/ The Jacket

I have just returned from my first final exam of the semester, which was my Intro to Animal Science class. Animal Science is my major, so it was pretty important, and overall I think it went pretty well. It was pretty straightforward with 87 multiple choice questions. There were a few questions about breed differences and metabolism that I was kind of unsure of, but like I said, overall it was a success. However, this was my only exam that didn't take too much preparation. I've made A's all semester in that class, and when I went to study for this exam, I just flipped through my notes and went over some of the anatomy stuff that I didn't do quite as well on. My next final is on Wednesday, and I then have one on Thursday, and these will probably be quite difficult. Preparation for them has already begun, but today is the day that I go nose to the grindstone on them. My Chemistry final, which is one week from today will probably be the most difficult, but since my last final is Thursday, I'll have plenty of time to prepare for it before I actually have to take it next Monday morning. All in all, I'm pretty nervous about all of them though seeing as how these grades are really important for vet school.

Now that I'm through boring everyone, I'll move on to more important matters. Last night I finally saw The Jacket. I must say that although I was quite pleased with all of the scantily clad Adrien Brody moments, I was highly disappointed with the movie in general. Every single character should have been in the mental institution portrayed in this film. They all had issues that needed to be worked out. Keira Knightley really needs to work on her American accent. I'm a big fan of hers, but her performance overall was simply unconvincing. Although I am biased, I thought that Adrien Brody gave a lovely performace. I believe that he has a real talent for portraying unstable characters. However, I felt that the movie was poorly written and difficult to follow. I had to have it explained to me in a running commentary. I just don't understand how people can expect the public to enjoy movies that they cannot even follow. In summary, I wasn't a fan of the movie, but I really enjoyed seeing my future husband wearing not much clothing. :)