Birthdayness

So, March is the month of birthdays! My niece, my nephew, both my parents, two of John's siblings, and several of our friends have birthdays this month. This pleases me. :) It makes for much cake and ice cream and get-togethers. My dad always insists that we don't give him any presents. But, we got around him by giving him a giant grapefruit! Ha ha! (Hey, he likes them. And I have to be pretty sneaky with my dad. He disapproves of money being spent on him.) For my actual day of birth, my Chemistry teacher had extended the test deadline so that I didn't have to take it that day. Yay! So, we went to my parents for dinner that night. Nothing too crazy, just happy. My parents had given me my next needed season of As Time Goes By, my favorite British series (Judy Dench, my friends). And of course there was the gleeful day of the rock show that I'm still recovering from. I'll be in mourning for some of the rocks, minerals, and fossils that could not be mine (pretty much all of them).
I ended up taking my Chemistry test on Friday - with a fever, blast it - and ended up with a 93%! I'm so happy! I haven't gotten above a 75% on a chem. test in college. Pitiful, I know. But, now, I'm finally getting it!!! (In my defense, my 105 teacher decided to teach spontaneity and the molecular orbit (MO) theory in 105 instead of sticking to the curriculum. She taught those instead of simpler things I was actually supposed to learn about in 105, like the solubility constant for instance!) So, I will be pretty chipper for several more days because of my score. I think I just learned how to study Chemistry at last, to be honest.
Earlier this month was my buddy David's birthday and we went to his party. A bunch of my old high school friends were there and we played a lot of the old band songs from back in the day. It was rockin'. I had so much fun. We're not even sure why we haven't all been hanging out before. I'm hoping that it becomes a more frequent occurrence, cause I seriously love those guys.
And last night we watched the most recent Indiana Jones with my dad for his birthday. I hadn't seen it yet. I will give them kudos for all of the throwbacks to the earlier films. But, the ants were a little too much for me. People watch nature and the discovery channel now. You can't just have ants haul a guy down into their hill and expect people to think it's cool now. And I don't believe you can "cut across the grain" in quartz as Indy was saying; quartz is a rock, not glass, it doesn't shatter. And my gosh, Dr. Jones, did you just say "nukyular blast?" All in all, it was entertaining enough, but I warn you all, I'll ruin your science movies by making fun of them, which is more enjoyable to me. (sorry.)
The month is almost over now. Most of the birthdays are past and Johnny's birthday month approaches. No job yet, no news about unemployment, haven't gotten John's bonus from the guard or the tax returns yet, and, yes, we're pretty nervous. But, we're not giving up. We'll figure it all out and we'll be okay again. (But, if you could drop a hint for us in your prayers, we wouldn't mind.)

Happy day!

My birthday's coming up this week, so Saturday Johnny decided to take me to a Rock, Gem, and Mineral show nearby. I was really excited about it, and my eagerness was greatly rewarded! There was so much from the realm of awesomeness there! Pyritized ammonites, permineralized ammonites, crinoids, opalites, dinosaur footprints, geodes galore, minerals in their crystal structure, mososaur teeth, orthoceras fossils, petrified wood of so many varieties, and I could tell you forever. I wanted everything in the room! Johnny kept telling me to slow down, but I just couldn't stop flitting about gasping. Many of the things I longed for were far and away above my price range, but just seeing them in real life was enough. And this little old man from Richfield showed me some awesome crinoids and petrified wood of his. He has the largest crinoids ever sent to the U.S. and he is the sole posessor of a rare petrified wood that was blue and white. The crinoids are in his museum in Richfield, and he told us we should come down there. (Indeed!) Johnny ended up getting me some birthday presents there. *giddy smile* A little geode slice, a giant geode slice, a small geode half, and an amazing ammonite with a very pronounced suture pattern. I've never seen such a good specimen, even at the University I attend. And a man I made friends with at the little old man's exhibit gave me some petrified iron wood. =) I was hyperactive for a couple of hours afterward. I've forced everyone I've seen since to look at my rocks (and fossil!).
We had gone pants-shopping with my brother earlier in the day and then we got to hang out with some good friends that evening, so it was a full, happy day! And today I got to see my sister, nieces, and nephew! We had a big family dinner with my sister's boyfriend and my oldest niece's boyfriend and had lots of fun. We played games after eating and laughed a lot.
I didn't get a whole lot of homework done, but I'm not sorry. I finished my chemistry assignments and did some T. rex reading, so I feel like I did enough for now. Sometimes ya gotta just breathe. I've had a very happy weekend! And, even though I have 4 pages of my research due and a test on my birthday, it's going to be great!!! 27 and ready for another year with my Johnny! (And my rocks!)

At the Ball

What a full weekend we had! Saturday was Johnny's Battle Handoff Ceremony. He didn't tell people about it because he doesn't like to have a fuss over him. So, just the two of us went to his RSP unit. There were announcements about what was accomplished by him and the other three soldiers that were handing off. They invited me to the front to put his new rank on his uniform. His eyes were misty while I put his E2 rank in place; I didn't say anything because I would have started crying. It was a short, sweet ceremony that I'll always remember.
One of his good friends drove into the parking lot just as we were heading out to the car. So, we went and got a sandwich with him and John told some funny stories from his training. The friend mentioned that he no longer could attend the Military Ball that evening and that he wanted us to take his tickets. We had been playing with the idea of attending, but weren't sure that we could afford it. His kind gesture made it possible for us to go.
We met up with a group of friends and new people that became friends at a restaurant in Salt Lake City. I wore a pretty dress I had gotten before Christmas and never got to wear and John wore his Class A's (meaning: fancy army uniform with all the shiny buttons). We'd never been to a formal dance together in school or to any formal event during the whole of our marriage. We were soo excited! We split an entree and drank water for dinner and chatted and laughed with the other soldiers and their dates.
The Ball (I love saying it!) was held at the Capitol in Salt Lake City and we headed over there after dinner. It was beautiful! We danced together and went out for a breath of air with our group. Then we waited in line for pictures for two hours. I was filling out our paper that we would have one 5x7 picture for $7. But, one of our friends, who knows our employment situation well, asked if I was sure. I told him that it was fine, but he snatched the paper and treated us to a package of photos on him. Such a sweet gesture and such a good guy. We thanked him after we stopped looking stupid, and smiled huge for our couple and group photos.
By the time we got home, I was pretty sick because of my hypoglycemia, but Johnny took care of me and I went to sleep happy. He'd been telling me all night that I looked beautiful and, let me tell you, I was drunk from the sight of him in that uniform. It was a full day, but one of those days we'll always talk about and remember fondly.

Challenger

This week went by in a flash. My Technical Writing class had a Proposal draft due. Each group needed to put together some text, an outline, a schedule, and a bibliography with a write-up about each source. I had tried to motivate the two guys in my group to get started earlier, but we ended up starting it the day before the six-page Proposal draft was due.
We had each brought a topic forward earlier in the month, and we'd decided to compare computer platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc.) and decide which would be most efficient. I know absolutely nothing about this topic, but I agreed to work on it because we had already done a project about Geology. However, the day before this Proposal was due, the guy who had presented this topic emailed me that he'd be leaving town in the morning and wouldn't be able to help us work on it at all. I asked him to at least email us his sources, since we needed 6. I didn't hear back from him. So, I wrote the entire proposal while my other group-mate searched frantically for sources. He was only able to find one. The two of us decided we would need a subject change. I printed out our draft, stapled it, and went to bed. The next morning, I checked my email to find the other guy had finally sent me his three sources at 12:30 A.M. We did not do well at the in-class workshop, to say the least. Our final draft is due this coming Wednesday.
Our topic change ended up swerving in my direction. The first guy would be out of town until the following Monday, so it was just the two of us choosing a new topic. The thing is, when I had chosen my individual topic possibility, I wasn't entirely serious. My professor had explained our research paper as answering a question or solving a problem, not just looking up stuff and writing it down -- like "writing a dinosaur paper" would be. Christine did not respond well to this inference. Dinosaurs are not a childish topic with everything already researched and finished. So, I did a dinosaur argument to show her that it was possible (I know I'm a pain).
Well, now we're writing the dinosaur paper. That's right. So, every time she has referred to the "dinosaur paper" as the bad example in class will be challenged. I'm hoping she doesn't construe this as my personal vendetta against her harmless assumption. *sigh* The good thing is that it's an awesome topic. There is a controversy in the Paleontology field as to whether Tyrannosaurus Rex was a predator or a scavenger. Paleontologist Jack Horner proposed the scavenger theory in the early 90's, pointing out that there is actually no evidence that T-rex was a predator. It was just decided such because it was a big dinosaur with big teeth, really. So, my group (well, probably just me -- it's been the trend thus far) will be going through the evidence and data and deciding what the evidence alone says. It should be an exciting project. Three grades rest on my shoulders with this paper, though. It makes up a large chunk of our final grade, so I mustn't fail. It's already been difficult just to get our professor to approve this as a topic. (Yes, she gave me a very pointed look.) I guess we'll see what happens when Christine-the-writer and Christine-the-geologist are challenged together... Challenging the professor. I'll definitely find out what I'm made of!

The Masked Marvel... sort of

Well, life keeps rolling by and I'm trying to make sure it takes me with it! I went to the doctor today, thinking I'd gone into a sinus infection. After checking in, I was asked to please wear a mask. ... Bright red beneath the mask, I decided to stand to the side in the waiting room. Since the seated sickies had all cringed away from me, I put myself in exile. Johnny stood there with his arm around me, too. :) One kid actually did a double-take when he saw me and walked to the farthest side of the room from me and took a seat. John and I actually started joking to each other about it, rating the frightened reactions to my mask. I can't say I blame them. But, I gained more understanding for what it must feel like to be a leper. And I do have a sinus infection, by the way. Doctors are merely medicine machines for me, as far as that goes.
So, I'm working on catching up in school and resting. My antibiotics could make me pretty sick with side effects, but I'll just have to ignore them. Johnny's looking for a job, still optimistic and upbeat. Miles has calmed down a lot since his daddy came home. He actually takes time to groom his toys again (yes, he gives his furry and feathery toys little baths -- it's adora-frickin'-ble). We're just living our little life as mornings and evenings come and go. We watch some As Time Goes By or Bleach together when my homework fuel runs out.
I've gotta tell you, I'm pretty happy. :) Even if I was a harbinger of plague today.

Have rock hammer, will travel.

So, being sick lasted a little longer than I thought it would. And midterms have been this week, which means my mouth hurts because I chew on my cheeks in my sleep when I'm stressed out. It's been rough the past while.
The job search moves on steadily. No leads yet, but we're hoping that something will be the right fit soon.
I've realized lately how glad I am that I changed my major from English to Geology. The group work and papers, the grammar and punctuation, the presentations almost weekly... I hadn't missed it. In Historical Geology I had to give a presentation, but it was about the Chengjiang Shale in China and its awesome fossilized worms (I made it a point to accentuate that in the presentation). Who minds giving a presentation about fossils? "Not meh." I hadn't thought about semicolons and comma splices for over a year. And then the Technical Communications class arrived on the horizon and I decided to get it over with. Now prepositional phrases are again in my everyday thoughts. It's not difficult for me; I'm doing well in the class. It strikes me -- I was majoring in English because it was easy. I was good at it, it offered little challenge, and I liked to read. Those were my basic reasons.
I watched a movie called Farmer's Daughter, starring Loretta Young, a lot as a kid. This country girl from Sweden decides to become a politician and run for office. Some incorrect information that slurs her character is printed in the paper. So, she gives up and goes home. Her boyfriend/other politician is talking to her father and tells him, "I thought it would be the easiest thing for her." And her father looks at him and says in a thick accent, "The easiest thing? The easiest thing would have been not to come to America. The easiest thing would be to leave my fields unplowed. The easiest thing??? Sometimes, the easiest thing is not the best thing, if you ask me." It hit me hard when I was little. It made me appreciate work. Because nothing worthwhile can be attained without it. So, I'm glad I left the easy path to walk and went for the practically vertical path of Geology with its calculus, chemistry, physics, and mineralogy. It's really hard. I won't lie. I should be studying for my Chem. test right now. But, now I feel so much more... fulfilled. It feels like I'm growing my wings.

Bed Attack Reported: Bed - 1, Christine - 0

Well, The Sickishness has found me. Sitting in a room of over 200 people 3 times a week tends to make that easier. But, today happens to be the lightest day of the week for me, so it's all good. Sometimes getting sick helps me get my homework done because it eliminates all that running around time. And catching up helps me so I don't lose all hope of ever finishing college. And now when I'm sick Johnny can take care of me, which is really nice. Fixing your own dinner when you're sick is probably one of the most blah things ever.
Yesterday, my chemistry teacher had a red balloon filled with helium and two white balloons filled with normal air. He had already exploded a hydrogen balloon, so we expected more fiery fun. But he tied the string of the red balloon around the top of his head and draped the two white balloons, connected by one long string, around his neck where they ended up hanging down by his hands. Then a picture of a water molecule came up on the screen - the hydrogens were white and the oxygen was red. Then he started moving around the room in a spastic way, showing us the different kinds of motion molecules are always in (translation, vibration, and rotation). It was hilarious! Because he loves teaching so much, I learn better. Funny how that happens.
My Johnny has been home for almost a week now. It's like I'd been being so strong and so hard for so long that when John came back the little shell I'd built around myself shattered and fell. So, I've been sleeping a lot. He is my favorite weakness. :) We've just been getting used to each other again and making sure he got to check in with his RSP unit-thing alright. He was promoted early from an E1 to an E2! He's been looking for a job a little bit. It's so discouraging. But, we're keeping each other's spirits up. And Miles sleeping on my lap with his face smooshed into the bottom of my foot makes it impossible to be sad.
This year, the geology program is going on a mega fieldtrip to the Himalayas. But, I'll be on a different field study that is required and at the same time. I should have taken it last year, but I didn't because we were moving and getting John ready to go. They'll be working with the University of Dehli in India on the tectonics and such. Last year they went to the Bahamas and the year before to Naples, Italy. I'm hoping the fjords of Norway will come up soon. (Ah, Norway!) I love my field. I love learning that there are crinoid fossils on the top of Everest -- which means at one point it was under water. Learning about the Earth fills me with awe.
So, anyway, I'll be the sicky at home today. I'll probably still go to class tomorrow. I have papers due and an exam to take next week. But, today we'll just be on pause for a little while.