Friday, January 21, 2011

Send Me an Angel - Scorpions




Long couple of flights. First day of school. Farewell to my family. Greetings to my friends. A lot has happened in the past few days.

Saying goodbye to my family was hard.

I made it through airport security without too much difficulty. It wasn’t as easy as it was on the way back to Ukraine, but I can’t complain.

The first flight was about 3 hours. Landed in Amsterdam for a 5 hour layover. After taking forever to find the information desk, I finally got my boarding pass for the next flight. I sat at the gate and waited for a couple hours. The airport had free wifi for an hour, so I was able to let my parents know I got to Amsterdam without any problems. I saw a mouse in the airport. I simply stated at it for the longest time before it scuttled away. 30 minutes before they started boarding the plane, I realized they changed the gate. I found my gate and went through another security check before I waited again to board the plane. The second flight was about 10 hours long. I watched a movie, saw parts of Inception from someone else’s screen, ate interesting airplane food, and tried to sleep – mostly unsuccessfully. I had to go through security again after we landed, but it was nice finally getting through and seeing familiar faces again.


First day of class:

Lifetime wellness
Interesting teacher, full of integrity. Tiny classroom.

Management
Young teacher. ebook for a textbook. Seems like it will be like history, but less intense. The teacher called me a superhero because of my name. ^_^

English Comp II
Some of the same students from last semester, a few more intriguing ones as well. Same teacher. I sit in the front row now on the opposite side of the room. This should be interesting. Seems like it will be similar to last semester, just with more challenges.

Intro to system administration
Awesome. Same teacher as last semester. Out of only 9 students, I’m the only girl. For some reason, I feel like I have something worth proving now. I feel challenged. We’re going to be taking a computer apart and putting it back together.

Second day of class:

Programming I
Looks interesting. A bunch of students from my programming class last semester are in here. After going over the syllabus, we got our first bit of homework: writing a simple program to solve a problem. I finished the problem and sent it in. First homework for the semester: done.

Marriage and the Family
Wow, if any class is going to be an adventure, it will be this one. One moment the teacher is jokingly and lightheartedly greeting the students. The next minute, his seriousness in going over the syllabus is starting to scare me. Note: never, ever, ever call me when I’m in his class. I mean it. Ever. (OO)

Swimming
Ah, a fun class. Sweet teacher. Good group.

The third day of class, I only had one class. All the morning classes, and even chapel, were cancelled because of the ice and snow. Probably not so much for the snow as it was for the black ice.

Black Ice. Treacherous stuff, I should know.


2011 looks like it’s going to be a year full of adventure.


~ Always Hope ~

Friday, January 14, 2011

Last in Line - Dio




We are coming…. “home”

It’s hard to believe I have less than a week left.
A lot has happened since I’ve been back.

Cooking, cleaning, sewing, organizing, re-organizing, unpacking, packing, repacking.
Christmas, New Year, brother’s birthday, sister’s baptism.
Family time, game time, father/daughter time, mother/daughter time, sister time, brother time, pet time.

Busy.

The time to leave again is fast approaching, whether I’m ready for it or not. Another semester full of it’s own trials, tests, successes, failures, and joys shall soon be here.

It’s like being a part of two different worlds. Both worlds continue on within their own bubble. It’s like going between two different loops in programming, but that’s most likely not the most comprehensive comparison.

Ah well, either way, my time is running out.

My current estimate for how long I’ll be awake for the trip from here to the states: 38 hours

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Renegade – Styx



About time for a little action, isn’t it?

The past few days have been fairly intriguing.

Staying up till 8am the first day of the New Year sent my sleep schedule even more out of whack than it already is. After taking jetlag into account, that will either be a very good thing or a very bad thing when I get back for the first few days of school. In any case, I’m not worried too much about that now.

I was sitting on my bed working on my laptop one night and what did I happen to see when I glanced up? A mouse. It took me a second to recognize it, I was probably thinking of my sister’s hamster. I saw it run to a corner of the room then under my bed. I sat there thinking, “Mama’s not going to like this…” Because I’m more afraid of the mousetrap snapping back onto my finger than I am the actual mouse, my father set the trap and I gently placed it next to my dresser before going into the other room to watch a movie. The next day, the mousetrap sat untouched until the puppy came in and set off the trap to get the bait. It’s been several days and there’s still no sign of ‘im.


My video hasn’t really been getting anywhere due to some… *ahem* technical difficulties. And yes, despite my computer savvy self, I am just as prone as anyone else to technical difficulties. :P
As of now, WMM isn’t letting me work on anything. I’m thinking of working with another program, but we’ll see how that goes.

For a bit of good news, ISC is moving again! ^_^

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Wind of Change – Scorpions



Happy New Year everyone.

According to my siblings, I was “trying to be epic” last night when I walked through the dark, snow-covered streets with a pan of pizza in each hand and my open coat fluttering in the wind. I told them I don’t have to try, it comes naturally. :P

We celebrated the New Year with pizza, games, and fireworks. It is now about 8 hours and 40 minutes into the year and it’s been great so far. I’m not entirely sure much sleep I’ll get this year, but I certainly hope it’s more than last year.

Oddly enough, so far I’ve listened to a few older tracks this year. I like the older songs; they bring back many memories. I remember rocking out to “It’s my life” by Bon Jovi with my father and baking cookies with my mother to “How will I know” by Whitney Houston. After watching Doctor Who, those of us who were still awake went over pictures from our trip to London… the one we took eleven years ago.

The end of the year seems to be the best place to stop and reflect. The continuance of time seems to keep us from being lost in the past, for the most part. The ushering of the new year keeps things in perspective. Yet another year is gone, yes, but just as swiftly a new year is upon us. No matter what the last year was like, we look on to the new year with hope.

As the sun rises on the first day of 2011, there is much to be hopeful for. We have been granted another year, let’s make the best of it.

~ Always Hope ~