Posting of post postponed until post-travel

I typed up this post a couple of days ago when I was hanging out in Gatwick. However, since I was not connected to the internet, I was unable to post it at the time. I'm hoping to post more about my trip in the coming week, but for now, here's Tuesday's post:

It is now 7:26 am of Tuesday, March 28th. I’m sitting in Gatwick airport, twiddling my thumbs. Except for the “twiddling my thumbs“ part... I’m fairly good at avoiding boredom. But I’ve been counting the hours until my flight, and they are many. Luckily, I’ve come well prepared. I’ve been reading Jane Eyre, and I occupied about 3 hours in finishing the book. I’ve got the entire collection of The Office with me (both seasons and the special), so I’ve watched some of my favorite bits as well as the special features (yes - this includes the commentary, and yes - I know I’m a nerd for watching it. It’s actually quite funny, though. Ricky Gervais is ridiculous). I accidentally left one of Kelly’s DVDs in my laptop (oops… sorry about that, Guills, I could mail them to you…), so I spent about 2 hours watching episodes of Arrested Development which I hadn’t seen. I also have a copy of Nicholas Nickleby with me, which I am eager to read. So, I’ve got plenty of supplies to help me while away the hours.

My plane was scheduled to arrive at 10:15 pm last night, but it was delayed and did not arrive until 11:45 pm. I didn’t mind, that just meant less time that I had to hang out here at Gatwick. My flight today is not until 2:00 pm, but I am over halfway there. Consequently, with all of my provisions and the amount of time that has already passed, I’ve been feeling quite optimistic, if a little tired.

I haven’t slept, because I don’t want to risk any of my things getting stolen. I’m not really that tired, though, and in a bit I’ll go buy some coffee at Starbucks - on second thought, that could be a bit risky. Last time I went to the Gatwick Airport Starbucks, I ordered an Iced Caramel Macchiato and the barista put steamed milk in it instead of cold milk… Hmm… I wonder if they’d let me make my own drink? Yeah, probably not.

Anyway, back to my optimism. I was just contemplating the fact that the time has gone by relatively quickly and it shouldn’t be too hard to get through the next few hours. Then I looked at my itinerary. I have a total of 15 hours of flying ahead of me today plus a 3 ½ hour layover in Atlanta. Fun times. Well, at least I should be able to get a little sleep on the plane. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll upgrade me to first class. I definitely need to get as much sleep as possible, because I don’t get in until almost 11:30 pm tonight, and I have class tomorrow morning - my first day of classes in my last quarter at the UW. Technically, the first day of classes for spring quarter was on Monday. Obviously, I didn’t go…

I think I’m going to close here. Someone just walked by carrying Starbucks coffee and the sight of it made me conscious of the necessity of a caramel machiatto. One of the annoying things about traveling alone is that I can’t just run down, get some coffee, and bring it back - I have to pack up all of my stuff and drag it down to Starbucks. But that is of little consequence, I desperately require a caramel machiatto. Now. I am convinced that oversight of the requirement of this critical, life-giving manna would lead to certain death. Hence, I must bid you farewell.

Random side note: If you’re looking for a song with some cowbell, “The Undeveloped Story,” by Anberlin is a great one.

Random pictures

So, Kelly says that this is a fun game to play if you're bored: Type the answer to these categories into google images and pick one picture out of the first page each word brings up. So, I tried the first one out and decided it was definitely worth doing. Here's what I got:

First name: Marianna

Middle name: Jean (Jean Claude Van Damme - Oh yeah)

Last name: Willey

Age on my next birthday: 26

City I grew up in:Centralia (This appears to be the welcome screen to an online Italian grocery store?)

Favorite color:Red

Place I'd like to live:Madrid (Oh yeah, let's hear it for Real Madrid!)

Place I live now:Renton

Habit I have:Drinking coffee

Favorite food:Sushi

Favorite animal:Frog

Religion:Christian

Dream job:World traveler

Grandmother's name:Verda

Favorite smell:Cinnamon (Actually, I love good-smelling things, and I can't really pick a favorite. This is a good one, though, and this is an excellent picture.)

Well, that's it. Kinda weird, but I thought it was fun. Here's the question of the day: Which picture do you think is most representative of me?

Anybody out there?

I posted 3 separate blogs in one day, and there hasn't been a single comment on any of them. Have my bloggings become so sporadic/strange/boring that nobody reads them anymore? Or has my rambling shocked you into silence? On the other hand, was it just the absence of a "question of the day" that has prompted the lack of response? If it was either of the former two possibilities, that's unfortunate, but I regretfully report that my blogging style isn't likely to change much. If it was the latter possibility, I can fix that! I submit to you now... a question of the day: Are you a procrastinator or a plan-aheader (I know, I know, that's not a word - but it should be)? Bonus question of the day: Where does the following quote come from? "Corn chips are no place for a mighty warrior!" Okay, people, now it's your turn to leave a comment.

P.S. If you're just now tuning in and you haven't read the previous posts, please start at "Choose your own title."

Final update or I am wired(weird?)

Hey. So. I finished off that energy drink, and about halfway through the class I started getting sleepy. Luckily, we get a 10 minute break halfway through the class. So, I went over to the HUB (Husky Union Building - there are a bunch of restaurants and a convenience-type store there) and got myself another Full Throttle. It did the trick. And then some. I am so wired. Hey. I just realized that wired is an anagram of weird. That's weird. Or is it wired? Umm..ok, that's the Full Throttle talking. Anyway, so I got home a few minutes ago, but now I need to leave again to go to my cadre. Hopefully the energy drink doesn't wear off until I get back home. I just need to hold out for a couple more hours! In conclusion, today I learned that energy drinks combined with a lack of motivation to study make me a compulsive blogger.

Progress report

Okay, folks, here I am - checking in. I realize that when I have a recent blogging record of every 3 weeks, the chances that anyone has actually already read the blog I posted a couple of hours ago are slim to none. Nonetheless, I had a half-hour break between my second class and my last class, so I thought the most effective way to use it would be to post another blog. Not really. I thought the most effective way to use it would be to study, but I didn't want to do that.

So, I made it through another class with no problem. Despite the fact that it was an hour and a half, fairly boring, and they even shut off the lights to show some slides - sleep, my old foe (and sometimes friend), did not even make an appearance. The real challenge will be halfway through my next class. It's always tough around that time, on 2 hours of sleep- it could get pretty hairy. I popped open the Full Throttle a few minutes ago. I like. But I fear that sleep deprivation plus 16 ounces of energy drink may cause me to react like Victoria on skittles. Or Strong Sad on caffeine. That could be crazy. Time for class again. Got to go!

Choose your own title

That's right, choose your own title. It's like Choose Your Own Adventure, only I'm not giving you options to choose from. It's all you. Please submit title suggestions by posting them as comments. All suggestions will be considered. Winners will be announced whenever I feel like it and some random prize will be made up at that time. No purchase necessary.

Hmm...three more weeks and one more blog. So that two week break that I mentioned in my last blog was nice - it was way too short, though. The finals crunch has begun. I had a paper due on Tuesday and one due today. Then I have one more next Thursday, a final on Friday, and two finals the following Monday. Then on Tuesday...dun dun dun...(drum roll)...I'M GOING BACK TO SPAIN! HOORAY! I'M SO EXCITED! CAN YOU TELL? YES, I KNOW I'M YELLING - I CAN'T HELP IT! Actually, fortunately for me I can help it. I'm only yelling internally. I don't think the rest of the people in the library would appreciate me yelling out loud, even if I am going to be in Spain in 2 weeks. AAAAAHHHH!!! I'M GOING TO BE IN SPAIN IN 2 WEEKS!

My goal right now is to get through the next week and a half without entirely burning myself out. I have a game plan, too. Ready? Here it is: Quit procrastinating. I put this game plan into effect last week and it started out nicely. I actually decided on my topic and started organizing my thoughts last Friday for my Tuesday paper. Okay, rabbit trail: Who came up with the expression "organize your thoughts"? It's dumb. It's like I have a box full of thoughts and I'm putting them all in labeled file folders or something. Who does that? It's a waste of time and file folders. I just leave 'em all in a pile in the corner and pull out a random thought whenever I need one. So now you know where I stand on organized thoughts, as if it weren't already clear by my blogging style...ha! Anyway, back to Tuesday's paper. So by Friday I was already researching and making notes for my paper. I even came up with the title, "The Role of Religion in Machiavellian Politics." (Did you hear that, Jess? I said, "Machiavellian Politics." It makes me think of you every time ;) This is huge, people. I'm not sure you understand the magnitude of the effort that I put forth. It was only a 5-page paper, and I started thinking about it not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 DAYS IN ADVANCE! And it did help. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to begin the actual writing of the paper until the night before, so I was up until 3:30 am finishing it, but it definitely helped that I started ahead of time. Then again, I probably would have finished a lot earlier if I hadn't taken so many breaks and then decided to hang out in the living room with Isaac and Lindsay while I wrote my paper... Oh well, starting on Friday helped my stress level, if nothing else. The real problem with the plan is this: If it is not implemented early and correctly, it cannot be sustained. Case in point: Tuesday's paper was started early, but not finished until the night before. So, after sleeping 4 or 5 hours Monday night, then spending all day at school, I arrived home exhausted at around 6:30 pm Tuesday night. I managed to do a little bit of reading for today's paper before I crashed. Then on Wednesday (yesterday) I had to work until 6:00. So I didn't start on today's paper until last night. Alas, but I started out with high hopes. After arriving home, I, of course, procrastinated some more, because as a great American icon once said, "That's what Tiggers do best!" I didn't actually begin typing up the paper until about 2 am. As a result, I did not finish until 7:30 am.

After a 2 hour nap, here I am, back at school. I've got 2 more classes before I'm free for the day, and I've gathered supplies to help me make it through. Sleep will not be my master! I'm drinking some french press coffee right now, and on my way to the library, I bought a 16 oz can of Full Throttle, some Lunchables, and a bag of Cheetos. I ate the Lunchables for lunch. Yum. If my enemy, sleep, starts gaining ground during one of my classes, I will simply crack open some of my provisions and the day will be mine! Mwah hah hah! I'm not sure about the whole Full Throttle thing. I've never actually had one before. I'm not really an energy drink type of person. Oh sure, I enjoy the occasional Red Bull (especially because, as they say, "Red Bull gives you wings" and I like flying), but I don't generally drink too many energy drinks. I was hoping for some Rocket Chocolate, but they didn't have any. It's okay, though, I'm sure what I have will suffice. I've got to go to my next class now, so this is where the blog ends. I'll add a note later to inform you of the outcome of the Battle Against Sleep. In closing, I'M GOING TO SPAIN IN A WEEK AND A HALF! HOORAY! That is all.