Well, we've hit the mid point of this quarters classes. This quarter is flying by.

I feel like I have found my niche... I really love learning about anatomy and physiology. I love the concrete -ness of this is how the body works. I'm really wishing we were allowed to dissect, or even just get a hands on look at something that has been dissected. This whole looking at pictures and talking about it isn't giving me the full immersion that I'm craving. Still not hot on the instructor though.

Nutrition. Well, this class is more in depth than I anticipated. Still not hard, but harder than I anticipated. Having my biology instructor makes it worth it. Having the top grade in the class is amusing. I could probably score higher in this class if I was to devote the study time to this class that I do for my others. Basically, I ignore that this class exists until about 8 pm Friday night. I spend some time getting my notes ready for the test and print off the power points for the lecture. And then I spend 4 1/2 hours in class on Saturday and I'm free again until Friday night. To be fair, it really helps that a lot of the more in depth ideas that are being taught I've already been exposed to in at least one other class, sometimes as much as three times before. So things like cellular respiration just doesn't require a lot of thought on my part this time around.

I register for my Spring classes next week. I can hardly believe that I'm getting ready to start my final quarter of pre-reqs. I hope nursing school goes by just as quickly.

In the mail this weekend was a letter addressed to me from Columbia University in New York. Puzzled, I opened the letter, and became somewhat more confused. It seems this school would like to offer me a spot to further my education, due to my academic excellence. Washington to New York, that would be quite the commute. I guess it's an honor to have colleges interested in me, it's just taken me a bit by surprise. Is this because I am on the Dean's list? And if so, why weren't the interested in me while I was on the Presidents list?

I did much better than I anticipated on my first A&P 2 exam, no thanks to the boob of an instructor. Should anyone out there be heading to Pierce College in Wa, I would be happy to share the boobs name so you can avoid the ridiculousness I am experiencing.

Nutrition is going great. Maybe not quite as much of a slacker class as I was anticipating. Certainly nothing near the level of instesity of all the other science classes I have passed through. If nothing else, I am getting the opportunity to view some movies that I had been interested in seeing, just never got around to before. So far we have watched Fast Food Nation, an interesting and at times funny movie, though it would be easy to drive a mack truck through his "study". This week we started Lorenzo's Oil. Another movie I have heard great things about. We only watched the first half, and I came home eager to see if it happened to be playing on any of the channels we receive. As luck would have it, it is playing this week, but on a channel we don't receive. I guess I'll be waiting for next Saturday.

Now that Cameron is attending his second semester of campus childcare I feel that I can give a fair review of our experience there. First, the cost is great, and they accept child care assistance and offer small scholarships to families that don't receive child care assistance. They feed them several times a day, and parents are encouraged to drop in betwee classes to eat with their child, on the schools dime. They try very hard to maintain a family friendly environment, and also have a study area for parents to hand out between classes. In the study area you will find comfortable chairs and tables, wireless internet for those with laptops, and computers for those without. Snacks and beverages are also provided. there are children attending the center with severe food allergies so no one is allowed to bring in any food or drink. The staff is wonderful, very warm and caring to the kids. They take the time to really get to know each child and make sure they are having a good time. My one complaint is that the staff is supplemented with various students as work study positions. Some of these parents have been less than stellar. Huge plus to the staff, when I have brought up concerns arising from the work study people, the staff has been right on top of it. I love that they take pictures and fill out a folder letting me know about special things my child did while I was in class. The kids go outside every day, no matter the weather, and are often taken outside the play yard to go on nature walks. Another great feature of the child care center is that they plan monthly activities for families to participate in, usually free or very low cost. We have participated in a family gymnastics night, including free pizza and drinks and very cheap tickets to Northwest Trek. Next month there is going to be something at the Seattle Science Center, this month they had a family movie night that included a craft, popcorn and drinks and a new release movie. Your campus Child Care Center is your friend, at least it is at Pierce.

Is anyone reading along? Am I talking to myself? Or maybe only to the voices in my head.


hmm....

I guess I somehow forgot to update here with my winter quarter schedule. So far this quarter has been a breath of fresh air and I can see this being my favorite quarter... so long as my A&P instructor gets well and comes back! I anticipate the quarter taking a much different direction should she decide she is not well enough to continue the quarter and we are stuck with the boob that took over our last lecture. For now, let's think positive.

This quarter I'm not on campus nearly as much, and I'm loving it! I have A&P Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5:30 to 9:10. Half of that is lecture and the other half is down in the lab. The instructor is fabulous! I love her teaching style, I walk away from class feeling like I've learned a ton and not feeling like I need to go home and attempt to muddle through the text alone. She also give the impression of truly caring about her students and being invested in each student learning as much as they possibly can. Then I have a class on Saturday from 8:30 to 1:00. Everyone I tell about my nutrition class seems to think it's horrible to have to go to school on a Saturday, but I find it very peaceful. The class is filled with people who are there to learn instead of the random mix of people filling their time until they grow up. Plus the instructor is the same instructor I had in biology and we get along swimmingly. As an entry level class (that also gets me extra points on my nursing application, bonus!) the material is not very challenging. And since it's such a long class the instructor has decided that it would be best for us all if he limited his lecture time and gave us time to complete our homework with our peers.

All in all, I have little to complain about. I can't believe it's almost time to submit my nursing school applications! I have been spending time reviewing each schools requirements to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. It's a little scary and overwhelming, to tell you the truth.

Oh, I made the dean's list! Exciting! Wish I knew more about the significance of this.

• A&P- 3.3
• Chemistry 121 4.0
• Developmental Psychology- 4.0

GPA for this quarter 3.74. Cumulative GPA 3.9.

I'm just glad it's over. I am officially taking a slacker quarter in winter, A&P 2, Nutrition and a 1 credit early childhood education class that is mandatory for Cam to be in the preschool. I will only be on campus 3 days a week... Tues and Thurs nights and Saturday! I'm so looking forward to this break.

A group of us from A&P got together at a local restaurant after the final for drinks. Yes, we were waiting for the doors to open. And yes, we ordered alcohol well before noon. Grow up? Yeah we probably should... but it felt great to kick back as a group and cut free from the stress of the quarter. We all hung out for a good four hours, so no one was unfit to drive home. I can't wait to see some of them in class again next quarter!

So here's the thing, if you tell your students no less than 3 times that something will not be on the exam and then have no less than 12 questions devoted to it.... chances are good that it's not what we spent the weekend studying and we probably wont get the answers correct. And yes, I am aware that I should know everything that has been lectured on, but I mistakenly paid attention to what you said and thus devoted my studying in other directions. Thankfully those were also on the test or I just may have broken out in sobs.

And to my chemistry instructor... when you hand out the group exercise and no one in the class has ever seen anything even remotely similar, and none of your lecture print outs even pretends to hint towards how to start tackling these problems.... you have a problem. 2 days to figure this out while studying for a test... just ugh!

And now I will go back to trying to figure out my chemistry project. Anyone really great at figuring out energy resulting from a chemical equation? The big lesson in all this is to study it all, even what they promise will not be on the test. Otherwise your high A score will suddenly shatter to a mid B and you will want to smack your head on your desk.

Really I have too much to do this weekend to take the time to post here instead, but I need a moment to collect my thoughts. This quarter continues to just be hard. Lots of tests, lots of papers, little free time. I'm feeling totally out of touch with my family and friends, I really hope next quarter is better.

Chemistry is frustrating as I don't feel that I'm learning anything, so far everything we have covered was already covered in my previous chem class.... only each teacher has their own particular way of doing things. I'm finding I know how to get to the answer but my path is often different than the one currently being taught.

Anyway... there's some new features on my blog. I felt the need for a more wintery theme and then added some links. One of the links should, if it works right, take you to the notes I've been taking for Chemistry and A&P. I haven't done much testing of it, so we'll see if it works as intended. The other new thing is the list of school work. I'm going to try to keep it updated on the weekends so there is a list of the things I know I have coming up in the next week. It's good for me to write this out, I had forgotten that I have chemistry homework due on Monday!