Stewie is the best

I'm watching this week's episode of Family Guy online.
For the first time.
And I paused it just so I could post this clip.

There's a classic Stewie scene in the episode and I was sure that I could find it on YouTube.

I was right.

So I paused the episode, not because I was distracted or found something better to do, but because I instantly loved the scene and wanted to share it.
It is Stewie at his best: sarcastic, patronizing, and sardonic.

This is the reason why Stewie is the best Family Guy character.

Enjoy. (Btw, the other character is supposed to be Colin Farrell)

Now I've got to get back to the episode.

Incidentally, this is the reason why I only sleep about 5 hours/night during the week. By "this," I don't necessarily mean Family Guy. Any one of a number of distractions can hold my attention before 1 am. After 1 am, I start feeling guilty for not being in bed and it has to be fairly captivating to hold my attention. Not extremely captivating, just fairly. Or on live TV (rather than DVD or internet), and consequently, not necessarily accessible when I want it to be.
My alarm goes off at 6:00.

Therefore, as it is now 12:45, I shall bid you adieu and get back to the episode.

Different kinds of pain

Ok, so to finish filling you in on snowboarding - it was so much fun!! I'm really glad I went. I just wish I could have gone more this winter. But I was in a ridiculous amount of pain for the next two days, every muscle in my body was sore and it hurt to move. I knew I would be sore, but it was still surprising. I mean, how did I work my triceps? Then on Tuesday, my neck started hurting. By Tuesday night I was in so much pain that I took 4 ibuprofen and slept on an icepack. Wednesday morning I went to the chiropractor and he took a couple of X-rays then did that stereotypical twist-the-head-really-fast-and-hear-the-neck-crack-a-million-times chiropractic move. It was weird. It helped, though, and I went back on Friday and that helped even more. But my neck is still a little sore. I probably should have gone in again already, but I'm cheap.

Last week would have been a rough week even without the pain, so it certainly didn't help things! My boss had a business trip from Tuesday to Friday, so I had the kids for 4 days straight. And they had half-days! Aaaah!! They did not make things easy on me either. Suffice it to say, I could not wait until Friday. I convinced my friend Jayme (also a nanny) to come dancing with me, then we sat talking at my house until about 4 in the morning! But here's the most shocking part - I then slept until 6:45 pm the next day!!! Unbelievable, right? I usually don't sleep much during the week and sleep in late on Saturday - but this was ridiculous. I think I must have slept so much because I didn't get any extra sleep the weekend before - not to mention the fact that the kids wore me out.

Saturday night (basically right after I woke up), I went over to Jayme's house for a party. It was fun and provided a much-needed release after the week I'd had.

Jayme, me, Christin
Sorry there aren't more pictures. I left my camera on the table and told everyone to feel free to take pictures with it. They didn't.

That is all.

There's a chance that I'm crazy

Last Friday night, I didn't end up going to bed until 2:30 in the morning. I just didn't feel like going to sleep before then. I usually average about 5-6 hours of sleep per night during the week, because I like to stay up late and have to get up early. So by Friday, I'm tired. And it's not that I wasn't tired last Friday, it's just that it seems so wrong to go to bed early on a Friday, even though I'm getting up early the next day. So, I stayed up late and got 4 hours of sleep before spending the day snowboarding. Wheeeeee!!

I got up on Saturday totally pumped (ninja style) - I couldn't wait to show off my totally awesome skillz (and by "show off my totally awesome skillz," I mean "learn the basics of snowboarding"). My friend Christin and I had been planning to go snowboarding all winter. Neither one of us knew how, so we were planning on taking lessons together. However, between our busy schedules and NJ's crappy snow season - this was the first time we actually managed to go.

Anyway, I met up with Christin and we headed up to Mountain Creek, where we met up with her fiancé, Brian. He already knows how to snowboard, so he took off on his own while we headed over to our lessons. Brian and Christin could only stay for 3-4 hours because they had other plans. But not me. I had no other plans for the day and I wanted to learn as much as I could as quickly as I could. Eight hours, two lessons, and countless wipeouts later, I decided to pack it in. I actually excused myself from the last lesson about 15 minutes early (the lessons are 1:45 long), because I was ready to collapse. It didn't seem to bother the instructor, though, he still asked for my phone number...

Anyway, I got home around 7:00, showered, ate some dinner, and left the house by about 8:15. Because although I had been snowboarding all day, I couldn't go a weekend without dancing!* I didn't have quite as much fun dancing as I usually do, because by this point, my muscles were not happy with me. It was still fun, though, and I was home by 1:00. So I managed to get about 9 hours of sleep before I had to get up for church on Sunday.

I have so much more to post, but it will have to wait until another day. I'm tired.

Christin recorded this with her phone - you can see the point at which I realize she's recording. Bear in mind, I had only been snowboarding for about 2 hours when this video was taken. I was happy if I made it to the bottom of the hill without falling down!

*Over the last couple of months, I have gotten back into dancing - ballroom, latin, swing, etc. I usually go Friday and Saturday nights, but due to the weather last weekend, the Friday dance was cancelled.

The end is near

I longingly await the day when I will once again embrace my long lost friend - sleep. That day is coming soon. Today is the last day of classes. On Monday I have one paper due and one exam to take, then next Saturday I graduate.

I've discovered an interesting dynamic in my sleep patterns (or should I say, lack of sleep patterns). I've always known that the less sleep I get, the more it takes to wake me up (i.e. the more alarms I need to set, the longer they will inevitably go off before they rouse me, the longer I will groggily hit the snooze bar, the higher the chance that they will not wake me up at all, etc.). However, my level of sleep deprivation has reached such a height that even on the rare occasion that I get a normal night's sleep, it takes just as much to wake me the next morning. In fact, night before last I slept an amazing 7 hours - but it was just as difficult for me to wake up as it was this morning after sleeping an hour and a half. I had been thinking that I would be able to get some extra rest this weekend, but then I realized that I'm scheduled to work a total of 24 hours over the weekend, plus I have to write a paper and study for an exam, so no luck. Looking at my schedule, I'm thinking maybe I can sleep in on Wednesday. That would be nice. If not Wednesday, it will probably be the following Monday or so. Then again, the following Thursday I'm moving, so it would be helpful to pack at some point. Oh well, after I move, I'll have three days off before I start work again. Lots of sleep will happen.

So maybe I spoke too soon, that day isn't quite as near as I thought - it's getting closer though, and the pressure is decreasing, even if I'm not getting more sleep. But for now, I'm off to my last class, then to celebrate the last day of classes by having lunch with a friend at Thai Tom's- my favorite restaurant. Mmm...I can taste it now.

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.