Sunday, February 14, 2010

Today is the day!


Today is my day. B is off to the country to help his aunt set up a new computer. He's spending lots of quality reading time on the train - he's psyched to make a serious dent in John Adams. I'm psyched to put my life in order.

Among many, many other things I plan to:
  • Make dinner/lunch items for the week so that I'm nourished after chemistry class ends on Tuesday and Thursday.
  • Do something with my several stacks of magazines. I'm trying to cut out what I like and recycle the rest. This takes slightly more time than just keeping the magazines in a heap that you have to be careful not to knock over so it's a real time-saver overall.
  • Clean out my backpack.
  • Make a pile of things I've been meaning to take places and take them there (namely the preschool where I work).
  • Prepare for a job interview on Tuesday at UIC. Devise ways to sneak out of work for this without raising suspicion. Decide what to wear for interview.
  • Plan for baby shower I'm hosting next Saturday (figure out when to buy veggies for veggie tray, how to create veggie tray, collect things for center pieces - we're doing flowers in bottles - it's a green shower!)
  • Eat leftovers from amazing dinner at wedding location last night with parents.
  • Watch Law & Order DVDs.
  • Drink coffee.
  • Dance around house to Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, etc...
Phew! I better get started.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Chem 201 & Taking over the world


I just started Chemistry 201 - General Chemistry at Truman College (college #4, for those keeping count). It's three-and-a-half very intense hours every Tuesday and Thursday with an amazing professor (who is a chemistry-inclined, Muslim version of my dad) in a pretty sweet lab/classroom.

It's definitely a few steps up from Chem 121 which I took last semester and earned an A in. There's online homework, more reading, more applications, tougher labs, more critical thinking. I love it.

I don't always love hauling a heavy book (half-price at least on Amazon) all around Chicago, nor do I like eating dinner during our break/at 9:30 p.m. My boss still doesn't know I'm taking classes so I have to tiptoe around that a little bit (it's none of her beeswax).

But I love Chemistry. I love it. I love that my brain is working so hard and I love that I'm becoming smarter. I love feeling tougher, brighter, quicker and (sometimes) busier. I love figuring out stoichometry, how (literally) everything in the world works and how everything in the world is made of the same little atoms with electrons, neutrons and protons (the number of which determine each elements identity, of course).

Love! So, on to Chapter 3 homework...