Five on Friday #214

EINS - Random Shit

You know those "friends" on Facebook who are always sharing obviously viral/spam things?  Yeah.  You do know.. Your great-great aunt who is young enough to want to learn about computers so she can keep up with her 7 well-into-adulthood children and her 18 grandchildren.

I hide them from my news feed because my toleration levels are dangerously low some days for people that have to interact with face-to-face.. so when my irritation levels rise because of stupid shit on social media, I get rid of it so I still have patience for my face-to-face interactions.

Also, I hate to be this person, but to all those people who share lost and found pet stuff on social media?  I block those groups.  I'm obviously a dog lover, but, for the most part, people sharing those posts are from places where I don't live and so there is not a possibility of me helping recover said lost animal, and even if I did live there... under these school/work conditions, I probably wouldn't help.. unless it was a sighthound from one of our rescue groups.

I have to pick my battles, Gentle Readers.  Judge me if you want.

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It made me LOL when one of the Cadets asked where my ring was earlier this week, like I wasn't wearing it.  Bitch, please.  Fuck yes I'm wearing this damn thing with pride.

That said, I ordered the mini ring since I have tiny hands and I don't like bulky jewelry.  I still think the mini ring is kinda bulky, but that makes it very Citadel-ish, so I accept it.

I raised my hand in response to him to show him that I was, in fact, wearing my ring.. and several other Cadets noticed that I was wearing it on my pinky and they were like, WOAH!  Uhh, yeah, yall.  ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

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I've had an 8-10 page paper to write since mid-September.  It's due 11/1, and I've had the desire to start it, but I need a block of SEVERAL UNINTERRUPTED hours to accomplish it and I don't ever have that.  What's the requirements for sending your husband away for a weekend?  How does one go about doing that?  Because, while Husband does mostly keep to himself when I'm doing homework things, he's still around and randomly makes comments or asks me for help.. and I lose focus and get sidetracked..

Additionally, before the paper is due, I have multiple programming assignments due each week.  So I feel like I'm always neglecting something, so I neglect the paper since it's got the furthest due date.. But the due date is quickly approaching and I have a feeling that some of these programming assignments are gonna get half assed because I need to take care of other shit.

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I went to campus on Monday morning, asked my PITA professor if I could take all my exams for the day so I could go be sick at home, and he said yes.  He gave me all 4 of my quizzes for the day (which isn't out of the ordinary, in case you were wondering) and I sat in the teacher's lounge and pounded out the quizzes, 1 of which I wasn't prepared for because I didn't realize we were being quizzed on it.  When he asked if I was ready to take it, I responded, "Come what may."

Here's why I did this to myself.  PITA professor doesn't allow students to make up missed quizzes since he drops several of the lowest quiz grades when he averages the quiz grade.  I've already got several quiz grades that need to be dropped.. remember, when I talked about my do not give a fucks last month regarding these stupid quizzes that are impossible to prepared for?  That still applies.

The non-PITA Professor class that I missed was probably not so good that I missed it, but I'm less worried about that class since I know that I'm not the only one struggling.

I just did some GPA math... to see what it would take to graduate with a 3.5 GPA, because I know I said I didn't care, but I totally do (but low-key, ok, GOSHHHH).  Anyways, the calculator I was using returned this answer about me graduating with a 3.75 GPA with only 8 classes remaining (5 of which are currently in progress), "High number of credits required for that average. Impossibly high GPA needed to achieve that."  Thank you, thank you very much.

So I then tried to see what it would take to maintain my current 3.533 average and it kinda looks like all A's would do it.. except I just don't think that is reasonable based on the load of the semester... so I calculated my GPA after making all low B's in my classes, which isn't unreasonable, but I doubt I'll make low B's in all my classes, but maybe a few?  And with low B's I end up with a 3.13 or something.  Ugh.  #MeganProblems

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Being sick at the same time as Husband is really the worst.  Neither of us function well when sick and when we're both sick, NOTHING gets done and if something does get done, it's a painful task for all involved.

Thankfully, Nurse Meri helps make my sickness better.

Even if she's huffing in my elbow pit because I won't pet her.

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In my software engineering class, ALL of our assignments are partner assignments.
Guess what I fucking hate?  Partner assignments.

The first assignment wasn't so bad.. but the 2nd assignment I was paired (by a random matcher that the professor uses) with a Cadet who doesn't overly concern himself with due dates.  This makes me nervous, but we're cool, so I tried to be cool about it.

Said assignment was due on Friday, which happened to be Ring Day and the professor was like, bad idea, I'll give you until Sunday night to do it.  Fine.  Guess who ends up sick by Saturday afternoon?  Me.. AND MY PARTNER.  FML.

We didn't make the Sunday deadline, even though we had some code that worked.  I agreed with Cadet that we could just turn it in late and he'd figure out what was broken with our code and we'd turn it in the next day.  Well, the next day turned into Tuesday, which turned into Wednesday.. and by Wednesday night, I was fucking over this shit.  I harassed my partner all day and messaged him right at 8:30 when he said he'd have it done.  Was it done?  NO.

So.. we submitted BROKEN code, LATE.  I could have submitted broken code (-15 points) on Sunday night with a penalty for it just being broken, but now there's also a late penalty (-10 points) which means an even lower grade (nothing higher than a 75) which makes me want to stab that Cadet in the fucking eye.  This is why I don't turn shit in late.

And the cherry on top of this entire situation is that we were allowed to pick our next partner and no one likes partnering with me because I like to get shit done early AND I'm not available at 10pm at night the night before an assignment is due to go sit in the room of another Cadet and bang out the code... so I ended up stuck with one of the worst cadets to be partners with in our major... as no one wanted to be partnered with them because they suck.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
While I understand that our professor is trying to mimic "the real world"... in my "real world" partner work just isn't a thing.  Many people are working on the same project, but it's many different wheels spinning.  Granted, that's not how it always is, I know.. but partner anything in college is the fucking worst.

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Who bought her coworker a dozen doughnuts for helping with her homework assignment the night before it was due?  THIS GIRL.

It was doughnuts in lieu of a mental breakdown. 
Programming is frustrating and hard.
Programming without knowing what the fuck you're doing is even more frustrating and hard.

I also brought in a dozen doughnuts for my other coworkers.

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People who rattle their keys or clink coins in their pocket MAKE ME CRAZY.
More crazy than when people drag their fucking feet.

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I'll be buying those stupid ass expensive AF noise cancelling headphones when they go on sale again.  Over the summer, the Bose and Sony headphones I'm looking at went down to $300 and I thought for sure they'd just go down more.. They did not.  The opposite, in fact.. Ugh.  So now I have to wait for them to go on sale again because I'm #CheapAF.

What had happened was....
I was trying to concentrate on Thursday night for coding purposes... and Teh German was just doing his thing in the kitchen... but it was too much.  Granted this was his "just doing his thing":
-playing music over Alexa, which I had been enjoying while we ate dinner, but once my brain switched gears, less enjoyment was had.
-chemistry tests for the tank, which involves vigorous liquid shaking and setting a millionty random timers ("Alexa, set timer for 60 seconds" "Siri, set timer for 3 minutes") and said timers then going off and having to tell whatever smart device to dismiss timer.
-whistling
-random comments to the dogs
-chair scraping
-door the garage/closet opening/closing
-more whistling
-at least one question at me

It was just all too much and I knew earplugs weren't going to cut it once Teh German started watching the Caps hockey game (his random cheering and clapping scares the shit out of me).  So I went and fetched Teh German's headphones and put them on and thennnnnnn... there was no outside world (as long as I ignored Meri bumping me with her nose for scritches).  I made a little bit of progress on my HW, but not much, but more than I was making.

Thennnnnnn.... the following day at work... Listening to my cube mate mouth breathe sealed the deal.  I'm buying the damn headphones.  Apparently, I DO have a need for $300 headphones.

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WE HAVE BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF COOL TEMPS!!!!

71° at noon?  YYAAAASSSSSS.

It was so delightful that instead of going to the gym, I opted to get in some miles around campus.  It's about to be half marathon training season, so I gotta get back into it.  That said, all my ellipitical time REALLY helped my pace.  I'm under 10 minutes for a mile right now and that brings me ALL.THE.JOY.

When I got home, I took the beasts on an excursion.

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I bought a bike from Roux's Humom/Mr. Golfer so I can burn off more of Meri's energy.  Her batteries NEVER drain.. so I figured that if I walk both beasts, then Meri and I go back out on the bike after 1 mile and she does a little more at a faster pace, maybe she'll be more calm?

I tried this last week with Teh PT Kid's bike and Meri's batteries were NOT drained, but I'm hoping with a bit more consistency, she'll be more tired.  #PodencoProblems

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Teh German has been staying up late to watch hockey and I don't really care, but I also kinda do.  I like going to bed at the same time since he always wakes me up when he comes to bed.. but I don't want to stay up that late.  Mostly though, I don't want to have to say to him, "Husband, bedtime."  Because I'm not his mother.. and that's what me having to tell him it's bedtime feels like..

For some reason, this week, living with another person has been a real test.  I'm going to just give the blanket female reason: probably PMS.

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I just discovered that Jon Reep will be in Summerville tonight and I think I just found our evening plans.  I've always wanted to see Jon Reep.. and I'm sure you're like, who the fuck is Jon Reep? 

Welllll, Jon Reep is from Hickory, NC, which is near Home, Home.  He attended NC State for a while, not at the same time as me.  Reep won Last Comic Standing in 2007.  He's also the guy in the Dodge commercial that says, "That thing got a Hemi?" and a handful of other things.  Anyways, I've followed him for a long time, but was never willing to travel to Myrtle Beach to see him and now he's coming to Charleston and I feel like it would be stupid to NOT go.  Buttt, we'll buy tickets at the door to save $4 in convenience fees because.... #CheapAF.

ZWEI - Money Shit

-Laser hair removal session.
-Dog Christmas gifts.  #SorryNotSorry
-My class ring.. because I was never billed for it when I ordered it.
-Motivation slushie.. it was that or a sweet tea and the slushie was cheaper.
-Couples massage
-New writing utensil container that goes in my 3-ring binder that contains all 15 of my erasable pens and it looks like a monster.  It's awesome.
-Groceries
-Gas
-$7.50 MORE to the stupid ENT.  Fuck them.  Ugh.
-Cell phone bill.  $40, thank you, Google Fi.
-Krispy Kreme
-Power bill
-Starbucks on campus
-Dessert pizza from Park Pizza that I also shared with Teh German

DREI - From My Phone Shit

Look, Gentle Readers.. when the internet goes down... our household is immediately put into an emergency status.
You see, our SMART house is incredibly useless without internet.
To the point that, I told Husband that the internet was down.. and a few minutes later he still tried to use Alexa to turn on the lights.  He didn't think it was funny when I laughed.

These monsters.
All legs and bellies.

Rule: leftover sushi is never as delicious as you want it to be.
Especially, if any part of the roll was put into a fryer.

I keep a word search book in the bathroom, keep your judgement to yourself.
Anyways, I found it kinda hilarious that instead of going full on "Petty Officer", they only listed out "Petty".
I messaged this photo to Mrs. Reflective and we got a laugh out of it.
Civilians, man.. never fail to amuse.

Finally ate one of my chocolate bars from Amsterdam.
Teh German refused to have any at first because he thought it was "Amsterdam" chocolate.
I had to explain that it was just a normal chocolate bar.

Shrimp and grits for dinner.
Fun fact: as much as I try to like them, I really DO NOT LIKE bell peppers.
Not when they are red or yellow or orange or green.
I just don't like them.
I should just accept this.

Me: Have you taken your marshmallows today?
Teh German: Are you even sure that works?
Me: The only thing we have to lose is a cough.. so I'm willing to risk it.
Teh German: You just like eating marshmallows.
Me: Well yeah, but this is for sickness.

Title of said 8-10 page paper.
#NotSorry

Doggy Christmas Presents arrived!
Teh Running Bestie sent me a photo that theirs arrived as well, which is why I am able to post this.
:)

Tried a new crockpot recipe for chicken.
I just think that a packet of brown gravy and a packet of ranch might be too much packets.
But it didn't taste bad, so there's that.

VIER - From the Internet Shit

When you remember much more than you want to,
and the pain of it all still finds you,
I hope you know that nothing in the past can strip you of the strength rising like the dawn within you.
Because after the longest nights and the loneliest mornings,
you kept going anyway.
You found hope and radical courage,
and you are not the same.
Nothing in the past can hold you back from who you are becoming today.
-Morgan Harper Nichols

You can still be who you were meant to be without meeting everyone else's expectations of you.
-MHN

"Pretty is not the rent you pay to exist in the world as a woman."
HOLY.FUCK.PREACH.

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. Figuring out the final mandala portion of my sleeve.
2. Scheduling Meri's hair cut.  She's shaggy.  I had to cut mats from her chest and under her tail. It's time, fuzz lovers.
3. Pushing my hair appointment back 2 weeks.  I don't feel like going this week and my hair doesn't look that bad at this point.. sooo it will wait.  Also, poordom is a thing after that surprise class ring charge.
4. Couples massage and a good Ring Day celebration with Teh German and my classmates.
5. Finishing The Americans.  It was a good show, but I have wanted to watch something else for a while because I was burnt out on it.. and Teh German just wanted to push through to finish, and since he dealt with my delays with getting to watch End Game, I just went with it.  Look at me compromising and shit.
6. Eating marshmallows "for my throat".. definitely not because they are delicious and I was enabled.
7. Coworkers who like a challenge and offer homework assistance.
8. Temps under 80°F.
9. The scale falling under 160.  Thanks, sickness, you da best!
10. LONG SLEEVES.  It's not a hoodie.. YET.. but it will do.

Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.