Marsh

On May 14, I had a lab practical for one of my outdoor labs. It was basically identifying 50 different plants or animals. Each station was placed a few feet away and we took the test assembly line style. Plants were cut up and bundled up. Most insects were preserved in a vial. Big animals (as well as animals that are just too difficult to display in a vial) were shown as pictures. Most of the insects in vials were hung on a string and tied onto the plants sticking out of the water you can see in the picture. Lol. Which meant we had to wade through the pond to identify each insect. Note: There is absolutely no purpose to us wading into the water – my professor just chooses to put the insect vials in the pond so that we all have to get wet and muddy. LOL. At the end of the day I had mud stuck really deep into my toenails and had to give myself a nice, long pedicure.

There were two different ponds with different depths and my assigned pond was beyond waist high! I'm a short girl, so I was like, whoa, am I gonna have to start swimming here? The other pond was less than knee high. Of course.

When I first started studying for this exam, I was freaking out because it really felt like everything looked the same. This insect larva looks like that other insect larva. This tree leaf looks like that other tree leaf!!! But after spending a couple of hours studying the plants and insects, it became really easy. You just have to take note of every distinguishing feature and use that to differentiate between similar looking ones. I felt pretty confident while studying, but after we finished taking our exam and some of my friends were discussing the answers, I felt like I had gotten several identifications wrong, including spelling (spelling and scientific names counted!). They were saying they got this and that and that was totally NOT what I got. However, I got my score back last week and guess what? 50/50. Guess I can't always doubt myself huh?

Mug & Tumbler

On May 16 we had "grad night" at our campus bookstore. lol. It didn't have much. It's a bit lame in comparison to my high school grad night (a whole night at Disneyland!), but I was in it for the free commemorative mug for the first 100 people in line. I love those kinds of things. I went around 45 minutes early and was around #30 in line. The mug is really nice; it has our school name, a cute cartoony version of our mascot, and Class of 2012 on it. I also won a free tumbler (I love those) from Dave&Buster's spin-the-wheel.

Baseball Rally

On May 22 I went to a baseball rally at school. I was in for the free stuff…again…haha. I got my first foam finger and a pompom. In my four years of university, these are the first and only college pride things to decorate my room. Maybe I'll hang my graduation sash somewhere after graduation. We also got a free tri-tip sandwich at the rally since they were giving those out to the first few hundred. I'm totally taking advantage of everything free on campus now that I'm a senior, and you could say I should have as an underclassman, but I just remember being really stressed out & studying for something all the time. It's kind of awesome having a bit of a lighter load your senior year so you can kind of just enjoy everything.

6th gen iPod Nano

And finally, I finally exchanged my brother's 1st generation iPod Nano for the newest one and picked it up at a FedEx location since they kept delivering it at my house when I wasn't home. If you still have your first generation iPod Nano, YOU CAN GET USE THE iPOD REPLACEMENT PROGRAM! "Apple has determined that, in very rare cases, the battery in the iPod nano (1st generation) may overheat and pose a safety risk."

Anyone who has it is eligible to trade in their old 1st gen for a brand new one. It's awesome. Unfortunately, the new slick iPod isn't for me. I did the replacement program with the intention of giving it to my mom but when I picked it up, I was like damn, this is awesome and I asked her if she wanted to trade iPods with me. She declined. LOL. My mom is NOT tech savvy so I told her, "Okay fine, mom, I will give you the iPod, but only because you're going to pay for my new glasses. And you HAVE to learn how to use it to its full potential because you have the newest iPod out of the whole family now!" (I had just gone to the eye doctor last week and picked out some new glasses – hopefully I can pick them up soon!)

A really quick review of the new 6th generation iPod Nano. Here's what I think of it:

Pros

• There's a clip on the iPod, making it great for being mobile.
• There's a fitness feature – awesome because most people will be using this at the gym or while exercising.
• There's a radio feature. Why couldn't they make this sooner? A portable radio is awesome when you're tired of your own music.
• It's smaller than a tube of chapstick.

Cons

• 6th gen has lost the original "iPod magic." The selling point of the iPod used to be its click-wheel. Now it's just a touch screen like all other technology. It's kind of like a combo of an iPod shuffle and an iPhone now.
• You can't skip to any part within a song anymore. You can only move in small increments using the forward and reverse symbols.
• It's smaller than a tube of chapstick. (Really easy to lose and not so easy to find a protective cover for it – the whole thing is basically a screen)

Would you prefer the new radical changes of the latest iPod Nano? I don't know, I love the new features, but I'm kind of missing the magical feeling of the old classic designs. The new features are great, but I don't know about changing the entire design. Maybe this should have been the design for an expensive iPod shuffle instead and they should have left the Nano alone.

When I was young, it didn't seem like my mom appreciated my hand-made cards that much. I think one year I didn't make her one at all because I never got around to making one. Surprisingly, my mom asked me why I didn't make her a card that year. So after that I realized that she did appreciate the little things I made for her, even if she didn't show it much, and I continued giving her cards every year.

Now that I'm 22, I've learned to appreciate and love my mom much more than when I was 13 years old. It seems cliche but you really do learn to appreciate your parents much more when you get more mature. I mean, I still loved my parents as a teenager, but I got in way more arguments with them and didn't really see too far into the future. Then once I get over that hump, I started to see how old my parents are getting and how much they've done to make me happy, and the fact that I want them to be happy as well.

So although holidays aren't the only day to appreciate your family, I never miss the opportunity to participate in the festivities and show 'em that I care. This year for Mother's Day, I gave her a cute card and I made her a Sudoku book & a little book for grocery lists.

Cover page

My mom loves Sudoku puzzles. She finished the little paperback puzzle book she had and likes to work on them at work when there's downtime. I decided making a Sudoku book would be great for her. I chose to bind the book using rings so that it'd be easier to flip back pages and remove or add new pages as needed. I cut out felt for the lettering on the cover.

Inside

The front and back covers are made of cardboard, and I blanket-stitched colored felt over the cardboard pieces. I added a little pencil holder in the back cover, haha. The Sudoku puzzles were printed off of the internet. Since there were about 25 pages to be cut in half and 50 pages to be hole-punched, my hole-puncher and scissors at home seemed a little inefficient. Since I had to go to school anyways, I went to look for a paper slicer and hole-puncher and the library, and they had them! Wish I discovered that a long time ago. The hole-puncher was a commercial one, so it could hole-punch a whole stack of papers at once.

Cover

I also experimented with making a mini-book with a cardboard cover thanks to this tutorial. It's a pretty awesome way to use your cardboard; you should try it! It's a great way to recycle scrap papers as well. I made her a little book for grocery lists because she's always forgetting about what she was supposed to buy at the market.

Inside

If I could do something differently, I would have made sure my stitching along the edges would be more uniform and evenly spaced. I practiced my embroidery a bit, as you can see. I'm definitely a newbie at it, but I was relieved when my mom didn't have any trouble reading what the letters were, LOL. She seemed really happy when I gave these to her, so I'm super happy too.

It all seems like a blur to me! But I think somewhere in the last two weeks there was (commence list of complaints):

• A paper due (which I totally procrastinated on like usual and ended up staying up till 6am finishing).
• Me spending an hour before the deadline figuring out how to print my paper double sided (not for free, mind you) at the computer lab.
• Me getting freaked out at yellow lights after two incidents (one where I hit the brakes too fast & hard for a yellow light, the other where I sped ahead during a yellow light and was still in the huge intersection when it turned red).
• A quiz for Juvenile Gangs.
• A test for Microbio Lab.
• A horrible experience with finding parking at school – now I've learned my lesson not to come after 11am on Tues/Thurs or else I will circle the parking structure for 20 minutes in vain and THEN I need to take another 20 minutes to park in a different lot far away and take the shuttle to campus.
• Me having a really stressful time in Microbio Lab. (At the end of one of our 50 minute periods I barely got started with the day's tasks Thank goodness my TA is so nice about letting us stay overtime…)
• The fact that I automatically got 5 points docked off on a quiz because I didn't realize we had to bubble in "Test Form A" (we all had the same test and there were no versions at all).

SO ANYWAYS, besides the complaints…today turned out to be a great day for a change. I got my score back for Microbio Lab and I think my score was in the top 5 of my class of about 160! I mean, I know I studied a decent amount but sometimes I wonder how that happened (sometimes I study really hard and do horrible lol)!

Once school was over, I hung out with my boyfriend at around 5pm and we went out for some free ice cream at Haagen Dazs. Today was their free cone day! BF got rocky road and I got vanilla (I think Haagen Dazs has the best vanilla ice cream there is. Hands down.) Ending my day with free yummy ice cream? Yeah, I'm in a sweeter mood now.

Haagen Dazs

The novel I'm reading for class is called, The Immoral Life of Henrietta Lacks. She was an African-American woman who died of cancer, but a doctor harvested her cells before she died without her knowledge or consent (this was when African-Americans were still segregated from Whites) and her cancer cells ended up being the first "immortal cell line" for humans. The cells were used for cancer research and helped scientists discover vaccines. The book focuses on Henrietta's life and family, and looks into the issue of how immoral it was to use her cells without asking or informing her.

Microbiology lab has been interesting. For the entire class, we are mostly working with bacteria cells from our own bodies. That means we'll be isolating and culturing our own bacteria for like ten weeks! And yes, we had to do the infamous "anal swab" where we take a sterile cotton swab, stick it up our butts in the bathroom, and put it on petri dishes to grow bacteria from the intestinal tract. Haha, it was very awkward.

And let me tell you, bacteria cultures can smell really bad! Our skin isolated bacteria smelled like rotten feet, seriously! Bleeeck.

Oh yeah! I am entering the giveaway for a Yonanas machine! If you haven't eaten a frozen banana before, it's delicious. Tastes like a creamy, banana-flavored (duh) popsicle. I've never tried making frozen bananas into the consistency of soft serve ice cream (don't have the right equipment), so the Yonanas machine seems awesome. If you would like to enter the giveaway, check out this link!

SAT and ACT

1. Plan to take both tests unless you are very satisfied with a score from one test.
2. Make sure you plan ahead. Think about what months you would like to take your tests. It's common sense, but most students (myself included) don't think about the tests too much until it's a little too late. It's best to start taking tests during your junior year and finish up any last few tests you need at the beginning of your senior year. Remember, if you're taking the SAT or SAT subject tests, you can only take 1) the SAT OR 2) up to three subject tests on the same day. So if you've got to take 6 subject tests & the SAT Reasoning and it's already November of your senior year…you're in trouble.
3. Generally, it's not really worth it to take the test again if you DO NOT study. Granted, I don't know what happened but I improved on my SAT by 200 points (without studying)…however, most of my friends only improved by 20 points at the most.

Scholarships

1. Set aside time where you can sit down in front of your computer and look through one or more scholarship site(s). Open up MS Word and create two tables: one for "Currently Doing" and one for "Done." Have two columns: Deadline and Scholarship. As you wade through a mess of scholarship links, pick out which ones you're interested in doing. Add them to your list. I think it's an awesome plan of action because it gets you going. Admit it; normally you would put off the search for scholarships because there are so many and it gets pretty overwhelming. With this method there is no panic or much brain power involved: just look through sites and write down the ones you like. I wish I had done this much earlier in the year because I missed out on a lot of good scholarships, just because 1) I didn't take the time to look earlier and 2) I didn't write deadlines down to keep myself on track.

AP Exams

1. If you're taking AP classes during your senior year, I commend you! You are one of the few. I know it might feel pointless taking rigorous classes your last high school year, but you could save time and money if you pass the exams.
2. Buy AP prep books. Or if you'd rather not, go hunting at a used bookstore, or borrow them from the library. I've purchased all of mine and I learned one valuable lesson: if you buy them, buy them from amazon.com. Not only do you have a wide selection from different publishers, but the price is much cheaper than the bookstore price. The books I bought online were around $5 cheaper. Doesn't seem like much, but it adds up if you buy a couple of books. Shipping is free if your order is $25 or more.
3. If you are only taking AP courses because you are hoping to earn college credit (because I know not all of us are looking for just "academic enrichment"), make sure you CHECK with the college you will be attending or are interested in attending. Ask around or just search online for what AP scores earn at the particular college. Different colleges accept different things, and different colleges reward different credits. For example, it was too late for me when I racked up 24 elective credits through AP scores…I didn't need that many elective credits, but it ended up helping me because I had the advantage of having more units under my belt. The more units you have, the earliest your registration time is for classes. The earlier your registration time, the better chance you have at getting the classes you want.

College Applications

1. Once you know what colleges you'd like to apply to, make sure you write down the deadlines. That's obvious, but you should also look for merit scholarship deadlines or early decision/action deadlines if you are interested. Most schools require for you to turn in your application a month or months earlier than the regular deadline if you are interested in qualifying for their scholarship or receiving early decisions.
2. Remember that Early Decision is BINDING. You cannot get out of it. If you are accepted, you must take back all of your other applications to other colleges. Do not do this unless you're absolutely sure, and have talked to your parents. Remember, even if the school you applied Early Decision to gives you absolutely no financial aid, you cannot refuse because you are already binded to them. Early Action is good—you apply early and you can apply to as many schools as you want…with no strings attached. So definitely do Early Action if you've got everything ready. If you get confused between the two Earlies, just think of it this way…Early Action lets you take action to start applying earlier. Early Decision is your final decision and that is final.
3. College applications can be very time consuming, especially when you've still got school and a lot of demanding classes. So make sure you start them early. That way, you won't be stressed a couple of days before the application deadline.
4. If your school has one, make use of the Higher Education Center. It's much easier to stay focused and motivated here than at home and you can get help if you need it.
5. Start your college personal statements/essays EARLY. At least a month in advance so that you can get criticisms, tips, ideas, and edits from teachers, counselors and friends. I saw many people who half-assed their personal statements and turned them in like that because the deadline was that day…

College Acceptance…or Rejection Letters

1. Don't wait for the mailman everyday. You can pick up the mail everyday (I'm sure your family will appreciate it) but don't get to the point where you camp out in front of your mailbox
2. NOT all schools follow the old "envelope trick" but I would say the majority of my schools DID follow it. The old envelope trick is what I call it when the college's decision can be foreseen through the size of the envelope. Large, letter-sized envelopes are good signs. They usually have a nice letter of acceptance, maybe a certificate, and maybe other items (such as how to get started, send in your SIR, etc). Small envelopes are bad signs. Usually containing one letter of rejection, that's all you get. BUT my point is: let the size of the envelope prepare you for what is inside, but do NOT just throw away the letter even if it is in a small envelope. You never know, and you might be throwing away a 10,000 dollar scholarship!
3. With any acceptance letter, do some more research on the school. Hopefully you didn't apply to every school possible, and did at least a little bit of research for the schools you applied to. However, now is the time to look deeper and see if you really want to go to this school. It's good to start early, so you don't get stressed when the deadline to send your decision is coming up.
4. What do you do with rejection letters? If your first choice school(s) turn you down, feel free to mope if that's what you feel like doing. Mope until you get it out of your system, and then plan your next course of action. It's very possible to write a letter of appeal, but don't make that your first choice. With more competitive students, it's getting more difficult to get accepted. Do the letter of appeal IF something has changed your circumstances AFTER you sent in your application and has made you an even better applicant. Keep your rejection letters, burn them, whatever. If you were accepted into other schools, be proud and be thankful. Your spot could have been someone else's. Take a good, hard look at the schools and see if you want to go down that path. However, if that is not an option or if you do not want to take that path, there is always community college. Save money, and then transfer to the school you want. Remember, it's not the college that will make you…you make your own path and experiences. Apparently…the majority of people who did not get into their first choice end up loving their current schools.

I remember high school being full of stress for me. I hope this helped someone!

1. Keep a compact mirror in your purse for a quick touch up. Might also come in handy if you have a booger up your nose or something in your eye :)
2. Have a safety pin handy in case a strap or something falls from your dress, and bandages for blisters or booboos!
3. Lipgloss/lipstick and makeup for any retouches during the night. If you're going to take any professional pictures, take them towards the beginning of prom rather than the end, so that you don't look all disheveled by then.
4. Wear deodorant!!! Prom will be hot and sweaty with all of the people dancing in one huge clump. Everyone's sweat and B.O. will mingle in the air, so try to minimize yours at least.
5. Tissues for tears, stains, boogers, etc.
6. Bring a clutch to put everything inside of it, including your phone. It's best to be prepared and compromise by carrying a clutch, rather than having nothing. If you really don't want to carry anything, you can consider asking your date if he would keep your belongings in his pockets.
7. Keep a mindful watch of your belongings at prom. The last thing you need is to be upset over your lost or stolen items.
8. If you want to keep your dress a surprise from your date, but still have him match his tie or suit to your dress, take a picture of your dress and crop it so that he can see a square swatch of the color only.
9. Don't let the "date" thing phase you out too much. Someone might ask you to prom, or you might ask someone to prom. Your date can be someone you're romantically interested in, or just a mutual friend. If you decide to go solo to prom night, it is not a big deal! You will still have a great time with your friends. If you know someone else who doesn't have a date, you two can stick together once the slow dances come on and hang out somewhere nice to rest & talk.
10. Make safe decisions during prom night! You want to have fun, but not do illegal or stupid stuff that could ruin your night. Choose the right people to enjoy your prom night with, and have a plan of what you're going to do before and after prom.
11. Go for a limo only if you have enough people to split the cost with to make it worth the price. I personally didn't end up going in a limo – and it was a wise choice that left me perfectly happy, to be honest. I didn't have to fork over extra cash or worry about everyone being on time at the right place, etc. It was one less stress that I had to deal with! On one hand you do get to ride in a limo for prom, and there are probably very few occasions that warrant the use of a limo. On the other hand, you're paying a lot of money and stress over a limo that merely takes you from point A to point B. It's up to you!
12. Start looking for a prom dress very early on. This translates to months in advance. Most of the girls going to prom will need to look for a dress, and you don't want to be caught wearing the same dress, or be left with a very small selection of dresses in stock a week before prom. You want to start early so that you can feel comfortable about waiting until you find the right dress, rather than settling for whatever you find towards the end.
13. Sometimes the preparation before going to prom is the most fun part for a girl. Go for the works if you feel like it! Get your hair done, make up, do your nails. Have a little photoshoot before going to prom. Share the pre-prom experience with a one or more of your girlfriends to make it extra fun.
14. Wear shoes that you've broken in – not some stilettos you just got the day before! Take flats or at least less extreme heels into serious consideration. Girls with long dresses are in luck if they want to wear comfortable shoes, you can't really see your feet anyway. You want to look great, but you also want to have a great time the entire night, rather than being miserable about how much your feet hurt. It's no fun if you spend half the night sitting at a table in pain! Most girls will end up taking their shoes off during prom night and dance barefoot – if that ends up being you, be careful not to get stepped on. At the end of the night, if your feet are killing you, ask your date nicely if he will lend you his socks so you can walk in them till you get to the limo or car. It's much better than walking barefoot outside.
15. Last but not least, the most important tip of all, in my opinion. Make the best of your prom night, and don't let anything get you down. When something bad happens, just tell yourself, "I'm not going to let anything ruin my night. I'm just going to have a good time." I honestly did that during my prom day/night and I decreased my stress level by a factor of ten. It sounds really obvious and cheesy but you will not believe the number of complaints I hear about prom being a "disaster" when it really could have been their best night.

Accordion file folder: If you use a binder, keep an expanding accordion file folder in your room. There are around 10+ dividers, giving you ample space to organize your papers. All you have to do is stick the papers into their appropriate dividers accordingly. If you'd like to go the extra mile, you can even organize the papers within the dividers themselves. This works well for people like me who do not like the rigid organization of a spiral notebook. I prefer loose leaf notebook paper so that I can organize it any way I want and throw out papers or rewrite some notes without worrying about messing up the order or the other side of the paper. The accordion file folder helps me keep the clutter out of my binder and store any papers in an organized fashion at home.

Organizing Notes: For each of my classes, I would separate my notes into "lecture," "discussion," and "homework." This is helpful for me so that I don't spend extra time flipping through looking for something.

Keeping it Clean: Clean before tackling homework and studying, or do something productive you've been putting off (like: laundry). Cleaning is, in a way, much easier than homework because it doesn't require much brain work. If you were to do it in reverse order (homework first and then cleaning) it might make homework seem like more of a chore and by the time you're mentally exhausted, you might not want to do any chores at all. After I've done some cleaning, I feel much more motivated to do my work. It gets me into the right mindset. Plus, even if you don't end up doing homework (but hopefully that's not the case) at least you'll have a clean area.

Less Binders: Bring a minimal amount of binders (for me it's preferably 1) to school. It helps lighten the load you have to lug around campus because it keeps the papers you bring to a minimum. Bring only what you need (which will most likely be recently notes, homework). The main purpose of this is to force organization upon yourself. If you have to continually take out papers and make sure your papers can fit into only one binder, you are going to have to organize them and put them away properly.

Maximize down time while you're on the go: Going to the gym is great for your health, and prevents your body from feeling restless if you only study all day & exhaust yourself mentally. Studying at the gym can be helpful. I'll admit, I haven't tried reading a textbook or notes while running on an elliptical machine…it just seems a little too bumpy to concentrate on tiny text. However, most students have iPods/iPhones and other smart phones or tablets nowadays. Record the lecture. Convert it and then import it into the iPod. Take it with you to the gym, or when you're driving through traffic in your car, or when you're cleaning the house. Or, create digital flash cards on your device of choice (mine was my iPod since I didn't have a smart phone) and breeze through them while you exercise or have downtime between classes.

Get Excited: It helps to be more motivated while you study. Obviously we all have our big motivations; get a high GPA, get a good career, make money. Yada yada. But when I say "motivation" I mean small things that could mean a lot! Like getting a word processor that will get you excited to take notes. Or an awesome pen. Or a notebook that just makes you want to write in it! For example, some people are in love with MS Word's "OneNote" which can be a very exciting way to take notes on your computer. Use colors, bold important words. For me, if it's pleasing to the eye and organized, I am more likely to take thorough notes and actually look back at them.

Computer Programs: I have always been impressed by the number of wonderful applications on the web for your computer. I think a lot of them can be used to enhance your learning experience. One program that I loved was a flashcard-like program (called ProVoc if you're interested). I created questions and answers, and it would test me on them. Depending on what mode I picked, it could be short answer, or multiple choice, or even just a slideshow to help me learn. It was a great way of learning actively and getting some repetition in without it feeling really boring and old. It really drills information into your brain more effectively than just by re-reading notes.

Keep track of due dates: Find a way of writing down your due dates and assignments. I personally use a small dry-erase board on my wall. Others use sticky notes on their bookshelves. Some people use agendas. Some people put them into their laptops or cell phones. If you're lucky, you'll have an email reminder or a reminder from a classmate. Otherwise, you're pretty much responsible for remembering and if you don't, it really sucks when you find out later that you got zero points because you forgot.

Keep up with the material: This is the most difficult thing for me, and many others. It's really hard to keep on track with studying and reviewing. I still struggle with it every day. It is extremely bad to wait to cram before the test because by then, there is no way of asking the professor or TA for clarification or help if anything comes up last minute. If you DO keep up, you have the opportunity to ask a professor or TA (or even a fellow student if you are too shy – but don't be!) about something you cannot understand despite going through all of your notes and textbooks and online research.

Schedule for finals: In my case, I don't follow my strict, planned schedules for very long whether it's out of laziness or just the different events of each day that interfere. However, when the week before and the week of finals hits, it's really crunch time. It doesn't matter if I'm lazy or if there are other events to attend to. They are FINALS EXAMS. The big whamo. It's what we've been studying for all quarter (or semester). Nowadays I don't do this anymore, but during my freshman year this worked for me. I created a very strict and rigorous schedule for myself. I planned each hour. When to study, when to eat, etc. I had it written for each day. And during that time I whip out the schedule and I told myself that I MUST follow it. No exceptions. This method is best for the kind of person who functions better when every single hour is planned out, or else they would end up doing nothing productive for hours.

How to study: Everybody learns differently, but this is what worked for me. I wish I had discovered it much earlier into my college career. Focus on understanding the WHY part of it. Think of everything as "everything happens for a reason." Once you get why it happens, it's so much easier to remember it on a test. During the test, you're not just trying to spit out what you remember – rather, you reason your way through and figure out the answer. Once you understand how everything works, make flash cards, so you can actively learn while you review, rather than just glazing over notes that you simply read. Most professors tell you to focus on lecture (I've only ever had a few that liked to pull out random questions out of a textbook) – this is now my immediate cue to study off of lecture notes and lecture recordings. I am bad at picking out important details of a book – spending too much time with the book will only leave you with excess information rather than on things that your professor emphasizes on.

Find the ideal places to study: Never ever study in your dorm if you live in one, or a noisy room. Don't be like me; for almost a whole quarter I believed I would be able to study in my dorm room during my freshman year. That's a joke…you'll never get anything done unless you have good discipline and you can study with noise. It's probably good to change it up to keep yourself from getting tired and bored. Study rooms, libraries, quiet park areas, etc.

Refresh yourself when tired at the library: When you're feeling really sleepy and unproductive at the library, take a 15 minute nap. If you feel weird napping where people might see you, get a cubicle. It's less noticeable and no one can see you anyway. The nap usually helps and you'll be able to focus much better afterward. If you're with a friend, have them wake you up, or set an alarm on your phone just in case.

Find help when needed: Always take note of something that you don't understand so that you may research it further or ask for help. Make sure you complete any extra worksheets or homework assigned. Professors assign that stuff because it might show up on the test. Go to free tutoring and get a paid tutor if you need to. If anything, at least go to free review sessions. They are usually very helpful for the exam. Get help if you need it, but don't expect it to be the magical factor that will get you your "A." Tutors can only help you for a limited amount of time, but they are not the ones who will be taking the test. You are the one who needs to put in time to review and study the material, and ask questions where it is needed.

How to motivate yourself to go to office hours: The truth is, most people don't go to office hours. I didn't. I think the best way to motivate yourself into going is to take one day where you visit all of your office hour locations and write down the times. Now that you know when AND where they are, you have a better chance of going to them. In some cases, I would plan to go to office hours, but I didn't even know where they were, so I got lazy and didn't bother going. Prepare ahead of time, so that you know what to ask your professor. If you don't, you will say, "I don't know what to ask," and you won't end up going to office hours.

Beware of study groups: Meet up with a study group only if you're caught up in your individual studying. Being in a study group is less efficient if you don't know your stuff already. Think of it as more of a reinforcement. This means you'll have to make sure you're caught up if you ever want to have a study group.

One last study session before the test: Get out sheets of paper, and take summarized notes on key points of your notes. Yes, we're taking notes of our notes. Especially focus on stuff you're still a little wobbly on. Then right before the final, you'll have ample notes of the most important things in summarized form so you can quickly glance over them before your final. For me, it's a good way to review the material one last time, jog my memory, and get myself to feel more confident for the test.

Digital vs Paper: Know what works best for you – digital or paper. It depends on you personally and on the type of class as well. For classes like physics, math, and chemistry I used paper. For biology classes and other general education classes, I used my computer to take notes. I am a much faster typer than I am at handwriting and typing is the only way I would be able to keep up with the professor. If your computer has this feature, you can also record the lecture while you're typing your notes. Plus, it's really easy to reorganize my notes on the computer and pull them up quickly & easily when I need to.

Good luck!

Spring Nails

The green color is called Mint Sorbet by Sally Hansen. It came into mind because two weeks ago I painted a friend's nails, and at first she chose my Mint Sorbet color, but as soon as I applied it to one nail she freaked out at the bright color and decided to go for a less extreme color. I decided pairing the green with some white polka dots would make it look softer and tone down the green a bit. I went for the chickie on my thumbs because when else will I be wearing yellow?! The white egg shell kind of tones down the yellow as well. I'm loving this polka dot deal; I'll probably do it more often to spice up plain nail polish if I don't do any designs!

P.S. My camera is still M.I.A. (but probably gone forever by now), sadly. However, I put my noggin to use and realized I could use my really old camera that I first had in 7th grade (that was 8 years ago!). It's missing some screws and has the battery life of 3 minutes max, but it gets the job done if I want to post a quick picture to my blog like this.

1. Watch a movie – but there are many ways to watch one!
   • At home with a DVD (owned or rental)
   • At home, streaming it online
   • In the movie theaters
   • At the dollar theater
2. Going out to eat – I personally love checking out great places on yelp.com before choosing a place to try out
3. Dine at different restaurants for every course. Drinks at one place, appetizers at another, main course at another, and dessert at another. You get to experience a lot of different places in just one night.
4. Work on a food blog together
5. Go to a drive-in diner – eating in the car can be a fun and intimate dining experience!
6. Fly a kite
7. Watch a play or a musical
8. Have a picnic – you can buy take out or make your own food. It can be as casual or fancy as you want it to be.
9. Go to a restaurant and only order some drinks and/or appetizers. It gives you a better chance to talk and enjoy each other & the atmosphere rather than focusing on food.
10. Have a cooking adventure – pick out nice recipes that you'd like to work on and eat together
11. Have a craft night – guy builds a model kit, girl makes origami…or hey, who needs to conform to society – you can reverse that if you want
12. Play games together – whether it's taboo online, video games, online games, or old-fashioned board games.
• For the nerds out there, it's pretty fun getting married "in-game" and working together on quests; usually married couples get extra in-game benefits.
13. Go to the beach (take naps and build a sand castle), or a hike, or a leisurely walk
14. Go to an amusement park – roller coaster rides, water parks, etc
15. Visit a museum
16. Start a new TV series, anime, or a drama together. Have a marathon with snacks!
17. Have a double date with another couple
18. Go to the mall or a random store to browse. Pick out clothes for each other.
19. Go to a bookstore, pick out a handful of books, and read some at a table or couch.
• One time my boyfriend and I picked out one of those cheesy, smutty romance novels and read it together (silently in our heads of course!) while suppressing our giggling.
20. Go on a road trip – plan out your destination, any pit stops, pick out a playlist of music for the car
21. Go to a pool or jacuzzi
22. Mini-golfing and arcade
23. Go out at a really late hour in the night – midnight or 3 am, whatever is possible & late for you – and get something that settles down those late night munchies! The fact that you're both together and out so late makes it a memorable experience.
24. Bowling
25. Carnival or fair
26. Visit aquarium or zoo
27. Go to the grocery store to buy ingredients and cook a meal, bearing in mind that your goal is to make a fancy meal with as little money as possible. You can make it a contest to see who makes the fanciest & cheapest meal, or make it a team effort.
28. If you both like animals, visit a pet store together to bask in cuteness and pet some furry friends.
29. Go to a music concert
30. Keep track of any local events to go to – like an annual garden show, or parades during the holidays, etc.
31. If you're of legal drinking age – go to a winery for wine tasting
32. Go to a swap meet and look for junk that might be treasure to you. You can also choose a price limit and buy something for each other as a surprise.
33. Go fishing – hopefully one of you is good at it…or you two can have a good laugh at how horrible the both of you are.
34. Go thrift store hunting. Some of the stuff you'll find can be very hilarious or horrifying!
35. Work on a puzzle & frame it
36. Mysterious date: Ask your partner random/ambiguous questions with two choices that are each 1 word only. Compile all of the answers for your next date! For example: Fast or slow? (Go-kart racing or mini-golfing) Hot or cold? (Hot fudge cake or cold ice cream) Green or blue? (Park or Beach) Pink or yellow? (Pink flower or yellow flower)
37. Go to a comedy club
38. Go on a date together – but here's the catch – pretend that it's the first time you've ever met. Or if you want to be silly and have a hilarious time, you can pretend it's your first date but take on completely different personas and pretend to be different people. Role play! It can be dramatically serious or ridiculously hilarious.
39. Roast some marshmallows and make some s'mores. You can do this with a little s'more maker, unscented candle, a bonfire pit in the backyard if you have one, or even on the stove if you have a gas-powered one. You can even set up a tent in the backyard or have a makeshift one made of blankets in your bedroom!
40. Gather lots of magazines & colored ads and work on a collage together. You two can create a theme or just make it completely random.
41. Work together on remodeling or decorating a room
42. Hike up a hill that overlooks your city – somehow a hill overlooking the city always has romantic vibes
43. Go to an older part of town, where it's better to walk than drive, and there are lots of small little shops. Nice lights at night is a bonus.
44. Take a fun class together, like a cooking class
45. Karaoke – and if you're over the legal drinking age, drunken karaoke

Despite the slowing of actual personal blog posts and articles, I would have continued my daily photo & post project, but…

I guess the major factor is the loss of my camera… I left it at one of the restaurants we went to, and they said they didn't find anything. I haven't really told anyone yet, because I have this tiny ray of hope that it will turn up from some kind soul. Of course, the ray of hope is a very small sliver. A super slim & purple camera with a memory card in tact AND the camera case is probably too tempting for anyone to turn in. SIGH. Not going to lie, I cried over it. It was a gift to me. I've gotten a year of good use out of it and so many memories were preserved.

This is why I hate "finder's keepers"!!! One time someone next to me finished their final exam early and literally jumped out of their seat to turn it in and get the heck outta there. When I turned my test in (waaay after the guy left), I noticed his laptop was still under his seat! So what did I do? I turned it in to the professor because I knew he'd be back for it once his senses came back to him. Unfortunately me turning that laptop in wasn't enough karma to get my camera back. Okay, well after this blog post I don't want to think about my camera anymore – I start to feel sick about how selfish people can be.