Recent Happenings...

Haven't updated in a while...

Friday: Graduation... woohooo (sarcastic) - was pretty boring. But my family, Patrice and Lorraine, Adora and Angie, and other random people were there, so that was nice. Then pool followed by Fenton's with Angie and Adora - super fun!

Saturday: Hanging with Adora in the morning, then shopping with Angie midday, then in the evening SF with Angie, Chi, and Kathryn. Dinner at... I can't remember the name of the restaurant. Followed by The Da Vinci Code at the Metreon. I liked the movie. Hadn't read the book, but the movie was pretty good.

Sunday: Bridal shower for Melanie (Peter's Fiancee). Okay - good because Alyssa and Gabe were there - cute little cousins that I got to play with. Melanie's Mom, Donna, is super nice and everyone from my family really liked her. I was not sure about her sister, Gigi though. She seems like a bitch. I know that I shouldn't say that after meeting her once, but I'm going to say it anyway. She walked in the door, didn't even smile and barely squeezed out a hi. And she was wearing ho clothes. Or what I term ho clothes. She looked more like she was going out partying than coming to a family thrown bridal shower. Anyway... Family was here so it was okay.

Monday: Spent the day with Grandma and Aunt Kathy. Then Mom came in the evening. A very good day.

Today... who knows?

SStoner...

Had my last final today. Can't believe it. My last final at Cal. Crazy. And it was really hard! Stupid physics. And I don't think it's like the midterms, in that I thought they were hard but I did well on them. The final was just plain hard. Lame.

Had an awesome time last night. Went to dinner with Angie, Daphne, Kathryn, and Chi for Angie's 22nd b-day. Then we went and played pool. Some of my shots were awesomes, but most were... of questionable skill/execution. So I think I should play more often.

Tonight I finally was able to apply for graduate housing. And while I was at it, I activated by email address... which I didn't get to pick the name for by the way!! So now my email address is sstoner@ucsc.edu. How perfect! Grrawr. So email me if you wanna...

Finals and other things...

Had a final yesterday. Went pretty well - discussed Malthus, Marx and Smith, as well as the welfare state, genetic erosion, resilience, and the organic composition of capital. Blah, blah, blah. I used the entire bluebook! 16 pages... Insanity. But it is over, and all that's left now is physics. Yay for that.

I'm currently at my aunt's house sitting at my uncle's computer while behind me my Grandma is working on my aunt's. It is so wonderful to see my Grandma Trnka again. It's been a long time. She even took me out to dinner last night. A rare thing to get to go to dinner alone with her - especially with the number of people who want to see her and the number of grand and great grand children she has. But I'm the baby of the grandchildren, so I'm special!

A day of lasts...

So today was a day full of things that will have happened for the last time. I had my last day of classes at Cal - meaning my last lecture, my last day of note taking, and all that at Cal. Got my last paper back. So crazy. I mean, I know I'll be doing all that at Santa Cruz, but it's the last time I'll be doing it all as an undergraduate and at Cal.

Sigh. If only today were my last final. Haha. Those are still to come. So sad...

Am I done yet?

That question can apply to so many different things. School as a whole, particular classes, and right now this portion of my research project. I've been in lab the last seven hours and I'm still not done. Blah! It's okay. The samples look really good and it's great to get the thing done. If I had gone home I would have slacked most of the time anyway. Here I was able to get some work done and some reading for my geography class while waiting for scans to complete.

So, as some of you know I decided to make a turtle cake for my decal's final project. It's from a book we read, Small Gods, about a god that accidently turned himself into a turtle and then couldn't turn himself back. A great book for anyone interested in humorous commentaries on religion. Anyway, here's a pic of my awesome turtle cake.


Isn't it cute?? So it's a vanilla cake (from scratch!) that's actually colored green. The body I baked in an oven safe bowl, so it is actually shell shaped. The legs are cupcakes with the tops cut off and a little of the side cut off (thanks for that wonderful idea Angie!). The head is also a cupcake. The frosting is also vanilla butter cream frosting, also made from scratch! Oooo. It also has green food coloring in it. The green decorations on it are store bought icing. But that's the only thing straight from the packaging on the turtle. It was quite an endevor. But it tasted fantastic!

And in other news. I got an email from the professor I'm going to be studying under at UCSC and he said that he was going to be gone all summer and that I should enjoy myself and wait until Fall to start! Yay for that! It's exactly what I was hoping for. That's wonderfully exciting. My parents want to go to Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and the Hoover Dam. I also got as a gift a two day park hopper pass to Disneyland that I hope to use over the summer.

Now all I have to do is make it to graduation and then finish up my project, then smooth sailing! What a relief that will be. So much I want to do...

Oh so tired...

I truly am exhausted. If it weren't for my clothes still being in the dryer I'd probably be asleep already. Woke up around 8:30, went to work until 2, went to the lab right after that. Upon getting to the lab I discover that the micromill (the machine I work on) has a problem - the reflected light isn't on. So, I called technical support, was told I needed to unscrew the cover and check the bulbs... Wenbo and I first had to find the tools for the job, because we needed an alan wrench rather than a screw driver. Anyway, after all that was settled we figured out we needed new bulbs - thank goodness we got one of them to work. I found out after some further investigation that the bulbs are $40 each! These teeny little light bulbs are darn expensive. Anyway, so the machine is repaired around 4. After that, I figured out that my sample wasn't all the way prepped as I had been told it was. So I had to do that. Finally got around to sampling a little after 5. Stayed until a bit after 9. Geez, I was so tired after that.

Got home. Started dinner. While that was cooking started on the cake I needed to bake. And now two hours later I have all the baked tools I need to create my turtle cake. I'm too tired to explain now if you don't get that reference. But the tools include one "body" shaped cake, five cupcakes, and one regular little sheet cake. Tomorrow will be frosting making and decorating. Oh joy. haha. Actually it should be a blast. It's just too bad it's happening when all this other crap (like lab, geography, and physics) is happening.

Okay. So I'm tired. But I feel accomplished. Very proud of myself. I just hope the samples I drilled today are okay. I wasn't sure during the sampling. I guess I will find out next week. I'm just relieved they're sampled. The results will have to weigh on my conscience some other day.
Oooo. Laundry should be done. Just gotta put that away and then I can sleep. I love you sleep.

Goodnight everyone!