Wednesday, April 19, 2006

ahh woodticks!

I just got back from Big Woods state park with environmental studies and realized a hitchhiker was making his way into my hair! I taped him them sliced him into many tick pieces but still.... shudder! Least favorite part of being outside, the whole parasite thing!

In other news, my room is blooming with flowers -- hydrangeas, cyclamen, African violets, and astromeria! I'm also reading The Secret Garden for Children's Lit. Coincidence? I think not. I have also decided that hefty amounts of landscaping in my future life will be well worth it if I can create a delightful garden. Prof. Allister told us about her sister who has one in her house! The possibilities!

What else? Oh, my senior research project hit a snag... I wanted to look at the arts in terms of how they influenced conservation of forests in MN, namely Sigurd Olson's writings and Jim Brandenburg's photography. My prof asked me how I plan to do this if I only have primary resources (i.e. their work) and I realized I had no real idea and had pretty much tapped the potential of the Hennepin County Library system. Blast. This, I have realized, is why professors have office hours (so frantic students can come in bearing 10 books and yell "help me!!!").

Ahhh. Time for some lemonade and window-opening and reading about "the Magic" in The Secret Garden. Perhaps before I leave campus I will make a secret garden out of some of the lilac bushes near Skoglund and live there at the exclusion of all other activities.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

we find ourselves in April

To make a long update short,

I spent much of Spring Break cuddling with my cat, taking care of more wedding plans with either Jimmy or my mother, and hanging out with Amanda. There was less family discord than one might expect (though having an active occupation really helped me mentally stay sane during long hours in my little room). These conditions, while not relaxing, were a welcome change from the "omg, shit, I have so much damn work to do before class in 8...7...6...etc. hours!!!" so naturally when it came time to head back to school this afternoon, I wanted no part of it. Coming back here and trying to sit down and academically read a lot of tosh about forestry yielded similar results. I ended up looking at facebook for 20+ minutes instead. Sigh. I know that I ought to strike a balance between the crazy studying and the enjoying the last months on the Hill but damn is it hard! :)