Day 302: Book Fail.

Generally, I like to read one book at a time.  I don't like to read a bunch of books at the same time.  I don't know why.

However, I am currently reading 4 different books right now.  And that's after I finished two books yesterday.  One book is taking forever to read, another isn't as interesting to me now as it was before, and two others are e-books.  Tomorrow I will be starting a different book.

I really want to finish all of these books, but when they aren't 4 or 5 star material, it's hard for me not to move onto another book that has the potential to be worthy of 4 or 5 stars.  As long as I finish them all by December 31, I will be good.

Day 301: Mentoring Day 1

Now that I got matched with a girl I would be mentoring, today was the day that I was to meet her.

Result:  We were supposed to have dinner together, but it turned out that the kids were having a Halloween social event.  (Therapist fail!)  But I did get to meet her for about 5 minutes.  She's 17 and has a very mellow temperament.

Mentor partnering up fail averted.

I think we're going to get along just fine.

Day 300: Airport Fail. Almost.

Today was an "almost" fail.  Pretty damn close fail.  I had to drop my boyfriend off at the airport.

Result:  Traffic was horrendous due to lane closures.  We got there with MAYBE 30 minutes to spare.  Talk about nerve-wracking.

Then he got stuck in Atlanta because of an overbooked flight.  So that was a total fail.  But I live in Atlanta and was able to drive there and see him for another day/night.  So it ended up being a total win.

Day 299: Costume Fail.

Classy.

Part of the New Orleans fun plan was to hang out around Bourbon Street to celebrate Halloween festivities.  And what's Halloween without a costume?

Result:  I had bought a costume.  The thing broke pretty quickly.  A total waste of money!  But I improvised and basically just hairsprayed my hair green.  It was the stupidest costume ever!  But it was fun to wear a black dress and feel cute and see other people dressed up.  It was a good day :-)

Day 298: New Orleans!

Vegan gumbo!!!

I went to New Orleans this weekend for CSI Con (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry).  One of the things that I did today was walk around Bourbon St later in the evening with my (now) boyfriend and a friend.

Result:  Holy crap it was insane.  People everywhere, alcohol everywhere, drunk people, crowds, etc.  If there's two things I don't like, it's drunk people and crowds.  Put them together and I kind of freak out. 

But I just held onto my boyfriend's hand and let him and my friend lead the way.  Oh, and it was FREEZING out.  But I got through the evening, and nothing bad happened to me :-)

Day 298: The Ghastly Dreadfuls.

My friend Brian invited me to go see a show at the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts called The Ghastly Dreadfuls.  I had no idea what to expect.  At all.  What if I don't have fun?  And I have to pack for a weekend trip.  I won't get home until 11pm or so.

Result:  It was a lot of fun!  They're a band, and they mixed songs with puppetry.  And I went to high school with the cello player!!!  (She's not in the above picture, though.)  She was really good.  They were all really entertaining, and I'm totally glad that I went.

Day 297: Mentoring.

One of the things I decided to do for my Field Practicum class is mentor someone at the inpatient treatment facility I volunteer at.  Today I had a meeting with one of the therapists so that we could figure out who would be a good match for me to mentor.

I really don't know what qualifications would make someone a good mentor.  I would hate to be someone's mentor and not enjoy it or even make the kid worse.  But I'm going to go ahead and take a chance and mentor someone who needs some support from an adult-like figure. 

Day 296: Cooking.

To say that I hate cooking is an understatement.  If there were a stronger word than hate, that would be me.

Sometimes I think that some day I should start to at least cook one thing.  Pasta.  Cooking a pot of pasta is like torture for me.  Canned vegetables.  I seriously have to force myself to heat up some canned beans and vegetables on the stove.

When I'm hungry, I want to eat and get it over with.  My ideal meal is some granola bars and crackers and milk.

One good thing about dating (other than the fact that I coincidentally tend to date guys who like to cook) is that it motivates me to cook.  It's fun to make something that you know someone will appreciate.

I may never be a gourmet cook or even ever use the oven (seriously), but I'm okay with the fact that I don't like to cook for myself.  Cooking for a significant other is much more fun.

Day 295: FED.

As part of my Field Practicum class, one of the ways I am volunteering in the psychology field is by attending FED meetings.  FED stands for Families of Eating Disorders.  It's a support group for people who want support for dealing with family/friends/etc who have an eating disorder.

My therapist runs the meetings; I'm there as a person in recovery.  I'm there to answer questions people may have.  I'm able to speak from a healthy perspective about what their loved ones are going through.

I may not have the best eating habits (totally failing at eating healthy foods), but I can still offer guidance and advice to people.  I don't have to be perfect in order to be of help to others.

Day 294: A Missed Hike.

No, not that kind of hike.  The other kind of hike.  You know.

Today, some friends of mine were going to hike at Kennesaw Mountain.  I was housesitting in Kennesaw, so the mountain was like 15 minutes away. 

Result:  I didn't go.  Why?  I didn't want to. 

Simple as that.  And I felt okay about my decision.  So there. 

Let the laziness continue . . .

Day 293: A Missed Meetup.

Earlier today, I went to Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta for the Atlanta Skeptics meetup.  It was pretty freakin' cool--it was a presentation on ESP.  Long story short, when I got home, I bought some ESP cards on Amazon to use with my skeptic/secular student group.  I forget what they're called, but they're official, I swear.

There was to be another meetup later in the day at Manuel's, at 7pm, that I wanted to go to.  But I was petsitting, so I had to drive to Kennesaw to let dogs out. 

Fast forward to 630pm.  I had to take a nap because I was feeling physically awful.  I didn't set my alarm, I felt so bad.  I woke up at 630pm = It's too late for me to get ready and head over there and actually get a seat.

I was sad about missing the meetup.  But instead, I hung out with my friends Lani and Bill.  And that was fun.  So it still ended up being a good evening :-)  Friends for the win!

Day 292: To EEG or not to EEG.

This girl has got it made.  She can just sit there and do nothing.  My professor makes us stare at a little dot on a computer screen for 15 minutes.  Seriously.

Every Friday, (well, most Fridays), one of my professors at school does EEG experiments.  Usually I plan on going, but I usually don't because I ended up being too tired or not feeling well or whatever the case may be. 

But today, I had to drop off lab reports to another professor anyways, so I figured I'd go do the EEG thing too.  Yay.

Result:  I ended up being a co-EEG-runner for my professor.  Another girl and I ran the EEG on our professor.  I had to literally stick glue through little holes by using a blunt needle.  I was scared to death of hurting the poor guy with my blunt needle.

But I didn't hurt him at any point, and we got the EEG to work correctly.  And then when it was done,  we cleaned out the goo by using a pipe cleaner and water.  And that was that.  And my professor loaded programming software onto my laptop so that I can learn how to do programming.  Sweet!

So I am very glad that I went today to do the EEG thing.  Yay!

Day 291: Social Fail.

He doesn't look very lonely.  But whatever.

Today, I went out with some friends at school to Mellow Mushroom.

Fast forward to 5pm.  I was feeling sad and lonely, so I left and went home.  I even skipped meeting up with other friends at 6pm.  I don't even remember what I did when I got home, I probably slept.  Because that's how I deal with loneliness--I sleep.  It's the least destructive thing I can think of that still allows me to get through the negative feelings.

How can you be lonely while still being around people, even friends?  It's simple.

I'll let you figure it out on your own.  (Hint:  It's not friend loneliness.)

Day 290: TA Fail.

Damnit, Dwight!!!

I'm a teaching assistant for one of my school's professors.  Today was class from 12:30-3:15.  At the beginning of class, he gave me the lab reports that I needed to grade, and I asked if I could leave and grade the papers at home.  He let me leave, yay for nice professors!

Result:  I went straight to sleep and slept for several hours.  I have no idea why, but I was SUPER tired, even though I had gotten enough sleep.

I graded the lab reports the next day.  And I tell ya, that sleep felt damn good.

Day 289: Tabling Fail.

Thank you, Fail Whale.  I feel much better now.

Today, my student group tabled in the Clendenin building on my school's campus.  This is the computer science building, and it's connected to the science building.  Surely there will be heathens here who will be interested in our skeptic/secular student group!

Result:  Fail.  Seriously, the Burruss (business) building might have been more successful than this building.  It was terrible. 

We will be sticking strictly to the Social Science building.  At least people like us there.

Day 288: The Mystery Continues.

I FINALLY went to my school's health clinic to see if I could figure out what has been causing a year long rash on the bottom half of my legs.  A week ago, they had taken a sample and sent it to a lab.  They also gave me 10 days' worth of antibiotics in an attempt to kill whatever is causing my rashes.

Result:  It's not an infection.  And my itchiness has definitely been reduced.  But I still seriously have no idea what is causing it.  And it's super duper frustrating.  But in the meantime, let the itching continue.

Day 287: A Missed Party.

Today was a friend's birthday party.  I had planned to go. 

Result:  I didn't go.  I was petsitting and needed to be at their house for when they returned.

Or maybe I hadn't slept well and was really tired.

I think it was both really.

Either way, I missed the party.  Sad face.  But what can you do?

Day 286: My Life Story.

This picture describes my everyday life pretty well.  For years, I have had a difficult time falling asleep.  Everyone always falls asleep before me.  It really sucks.  I really wish I had the ability to turn my thoughts off.  But I don't.  FAIL.

Art Show Schmart Show. I Don't Need No Stinkin' Art Show.

Fernbank Museum in Atlanta is currently doing an art exhibit on Darwin.  I was planning on going with some friends tonight through a science meetup group.

Result:  I thought I was going to be housesitting in Atlanta; instead, I'm petsitting very close to where I live (45 min. from Atlanta).  So instead, I ended up skipping the art show and have been hanging out with my friends Bill and Lani.

I think it was a good decision :-)

Day 284: I Miss You, Toastmasters. Really.

I haven't been to my Toastmasters group's meetings in a while.  Why?  I'm afraid of failing.  Seriously. 

I'm retarded (or is it pathetic?) sometimes.