I am so very sorry that I have been on such a long hiatus from this blog. I have some very avid fans who have been telling me that I need to update them on this blog so that they don't feel cheated completely. But, I have been extremely busy and I wish that I have had time to actually write on this blog more regularly.
First of all, I want to say, "Happy Spring!," even though it doesn't feel like spring. Up here in Northeast Pennsylvania, it has been very wishy-washy. One day it'll be almost like summer with 70 degree weather and then a couple days later it snows and is cold. It's a little frustrating, but I know I won't be living in this area for my entire life. Once I finish my bachelor's degree, I have big plans that don't involve Scranton as much, but I'll let you all know later about this.
School has been one of two reasons why I have not posted anything since December, but I have thought about this blog very often. I'll be straight up: School has been everything but fun for the most. I am finally able to swim up the surface enough to write this update and maybe a few more posts this month before I will be back on after finals in the beginning-middle of May. I have actually deemed this semester as the "Semester from Hell" because I feel like every day is a struggle to get up and start my day. Enough of my little pity party.
I have been working really hard. I am taking 2 British literature courses, a young adult genre course (I really love this class), and a philosophy class called Ethics along with my Senior Seminar class. I do not find my Ethics class any fun, but the incentive I have is that I am getting paid to take notes for a student who can't. I do not know why but I at least am helping someone out. The British courses are alright, but it made me realize I'm not much of a fan of British literature except for Shakespeare. Young Adult is really fun and we went over my favorite book, "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, in the middle of the semester, which brings me to my Senior Seminar class.
I have to say that my Senior Seminar class is my most exciting and rewarding class but exhausting and draining at the same time. In this class, I am writing my senior thesis (we call it "capstone" at Marywood University) which is a huge paper that has become a research project. In my paper, I am writing about "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent" where I am concentrating heavily on different aspects of characterizations to explain why they are seen to be radical for this time period and why they have become so popular. This paper is the main reason why I have not written anything for you, but I am almost completely done with it. I plan to share it with you once I have presented it in front of a crowd of English majors and professors along with whoever we invite, which really scares me because I am someone who likes to be behind the scenes rather than in the spotlight. I will post the interview I got from another English student about my paper in the next post immediately following this.
Now for scheduling for the fall 2016 semester. I am in the top tier for scheduling so I got first pickings, which is nice for the most part but frustrating at first. I found out that I won't graduate next semester (January 2017) since the last requirement is not being offered so I have to take an extra semester. I was a little distraught and upset, but I thought that I would add another minor but in business. I scheduled my classes while I was on break at work but only got half my classes I originally signed up for. So that day became "let's run around and see if I can get my schedule fixed before going back to work." Thankfully, I did manage. My first mission was to get off the waitlist for a writing class for my writing minor, which I managed to get a quick discussion and email to the English chair. I got put on the roster a couple days later. Next was my business classes, which is new for me. I met up with the business chair, which my wonderful boyfriend (he's a business double major) helped me go straight to him so that I don't have to make an extra step or two to find the chair. The business chair helped me fix my business class and I declared my minor in business a couple days later, too. So now I am taking a 2 writing courses, 3 business courses, and no literature courses.
That was pretty much everything for school. Work has been insane for me and the second reason why I have not been blogging. I am working split shifts at my job and work about 50 hours a week. I originally was scheduled about 44 hours a week when the semester started, but as the weeks went by my hours kept getting longer. I wake up almost every weekday morning at 4:30 and now Saturdays, too. Recently my Friday overnight shifts got changed to an early Saturday morning. I have not slept in or came into work late because my boyfriend is so awesome and calls me to wake me up because my phone alarm is not always the most reliable. Because my schedule is so odd and labor is low in both shifts I work, I work before and after classes, which makes many of my days be 15 hours straight of working and school together. I somewhat regret doing this because I am almost always tired and just manage to get all my schoolwork done on time, but I have no choice under certain circumstances which I will continue to explain later. The upside though is that my checks every week are fairly nice. I'm also pretty much a manager at my job but my boss is making sure himself that I fit the role.
My school's spring break wasn't the greatest for me. I worked my usual split shifts (which made absolutely no sense to me) and during the week I rushed to get all the things I wanted to get done. I got my hair cut and highlighted because I felt that I should treat myself since I have worked myself so hard for 8 weeks already (now it's been 12 weeks). And on the weekend rather than spending it for fun and myself, I went to my great-grandmother's memorial which is 3 months after her death. It was very hard for since I was close to her despite being so far away from her. Even though it was a somber event, it was nice but exhausting to see my huge family. I decided to count my actual "spring break" to be the following weekend. I took off work and had my first vacation in almost 4 years. My boyfriend and I went to Virginia Beach together so that I can meet his family while celebrating his little sister's birthday. I can see myself fitting well with them and really enjoyed meeting them.
My Prince Charming and I are doing well together. For Valentine's Day, he created a beautiful necklace that is the same image of my tattoo on my back. We spent every Saturday together when I was working Friday overnights, but now that I am working Saturday mornings we changed it to Sundays. That's because he travels an hour just to see me so I want to make every second count because he deserves that. We watch Once Upon a Time together and end up taking a nap every Sunday because I am always extremely exhausted and wiped from working so much. But, that won't be much of a problem anymore because he is moving a lot closer to me once school is over, which I think is pretty awesome. By the way, he is also an awesome cook, which I'm glad because I am almost inept at it (I do like to bake though).
So since I have been working so much, I have extra money which I have been stowing away for school and a new car. I love my car, Calypso, since she has been such a champ the last year and half that I have had her with almost 266,000 miles on her and covered in rust and dents. But, I have enough money to buy a new car (of course, used) and I found one that I almost fell in love with within my budget. I found a black 2008 Pontiac G6 that is a perfect fit for me. I just have to get the last bit of money and go through a couple loop holes in order to get it. Plus, I'll still be able to pay all the money I need for school.
That's pretty much all that happened. Sorry if it's so long, but I hope you enjoyed all the GIFs.
