Time..In memory…life

It is late at night; I am (supposed to be) studying. I was studying , trying to learn, when a certain person popped in my mind.  An old friend, more like a grand mother. I hadn’t heard anything about/from her for a couple years…  I searched her name on Google, and was saddened to see that she had passed away on March 25, just over a week ago. She had been a grandmother to me when I was very little, and even after I moved she always kept in touch, sending letters, photos and sometimes $20 for a treat. Until just a couple years ago, she still sent notes. I always hoped that I would see her in person again, one day, but that was not to happen. She was 92 when she passed away.

As I was pondering, I  realized that this March marks the 10th(!) anniversary of my maternal grandfathers passing. Wow. If he were still alive, he would be 98.

I wish there was a  way to keep all the good events and memories, and make them into something, like a patchwork quilt of joy..

Life is short, treasure every moment, even the sad ones…

 

 

 

2014 and old beginnings.

Inspirations and end of year plans…

      “Be of good cheer.  Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow.  You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles.  Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.” -Helen Keller

I saw the above quote on Upworthy page where the mom has photographed her daughter dressed up as historical, female characters. Kudos to that mom, and all the other moms(and dads..) out there who really put time and thought into instilling character building in their children.

I thought the above was really encouraging to me because it acknowledges that achieving goals is usually difficult, and that good effort is not lost, even though it sometimes seems like it hasn’t made a difference, if it has ‘failed”.

Success takes planning, vision and clear-cut goals. I really lack all three most of the time, but I am trying to improve. My lovely boyfriend is overseas during the holidays (he just left today), so I am going to plan to get a real kick in the two courses I am doing. Not a kick-start, because I have already done about half, and its not quite a run to the finish-line. I know I can’t get quite that far in the nearly 3 weeks he will be away. I hope to be complete 6 more Chemistry labs, (plus finish the write-up for the one I’m on), Study for the re-take of the Chem midterm, and the Stats midterm, complete and hand in all stats assignments up to the midterm point. I will also plan which courses I will take after these two, and that will give me the boost of encouragement that these really are only short term, I won’t be this miserable forever (I really don’t like feeling like a failure).

So this is the gist of my plan. Tomorrow is my day off; I will get a good chunk done tomorrow. Now, by a good chunk, I mean that I will 1. plan in detail how the next three weeks will go. Realistically                                                                                                                    2. finish my chem assignment #2                                                                                                                                                                  3. start  Lab B1                                                                                                                                                                                              4. continue Stats assignment

 

Chemistree. (seen and copied from George Takei’s Facebook page)

This seemed a fitting tree for me this year. I smiled when I saw it and had to pass it on here. I’d love to set up the tree this year, but it seems like a bit of a poor use of time when I have so much to do.

Hitting the books

It’s proof! I really do study.

What I learned doing schoolwork today…

Well, today after work ( photo at right is my cubicle rosemary Christmas tree), and after eating supper…and watching  Homeland… I was studying my Stats book. If I learned anything it was how to calculate the probability of a binomial. I learned that to do so, one must use the ‘nCr’ button. nCr simply means the ‘number of ways r (the outcome) can occur in n amount of trials. Or, in other words, how many paths to the outcome are there, (when thinking of the tree diagram).

So, perhaps I can’t explain it very well, but I know it way better than I did earlier tonight, which, perhaps might count for something!

“No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time”

“I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptation. It is not serious, provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience, etc., don’t get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time…The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up.”
– C.S. Lewis, Letters, January 20 1942

Well, I don’t have much to say, even though it has been a couple days since I wrote in here…I slept in today, and then did some Stats homework. I did accomplish something, but at the end I was discouraged because it seemed like I had so little to show considering the amount of time. So, I’ve posted the above quote because I often feel like giving up… I’m off to bed, and I’ll pick myself up in the morning! 🙂

My Calibrated Morning

Well, last night I had the inspired idea to get up early and get one of my lab experiments done. I had been speaking to my mom the other night, and she suggested that I do the experiments consecutively, if possible. For some reason that really encouraged me. I was feeling down because I its almost December-and I had hoped to be almost done the entire course, and instead I have the entire set of labs to do, plus so much more. I jumped out of bed (after lying in bed for half an hour or more after my alarm went off…) around 7:15 and got to work. It was a simple lab, meant to get me used to measuring using flasks, vials, pipettes and a pan balance. I measured a gram of carbon, a gram of tin, and 5ml of water.

Still took longer than it ‘should’ have, but at least it is progress. I still have some of the write up to do…ick.

G’nyte!

Monday and Tuesday make two

Well two days into the New Week. Today was my day off, so I cracked open the big ‘ol Chemistry Lab kit that I received a couple weeks ago. I did the first ‘make-sure-you-remember-how-to-do-a-lab experiment: The Candle Experiment. Its several simple exercises using a lit candle, some foil, ice and a couple jars. I really hoped to be done it real quick, so that I could do a ‘real’ experiment, but it took much longer than it was anticipated to  and *should have* taken. I just uploaded it to my tutor now.  I also went to class and did some stats.. But I’m constantly discouraged with myself for how little I get done.

Here’s some photos from my first ‘lab experiment’  Even though it was simple, I still learned something- tinfoil between the candle and the flame will actually cause the flame to go out. This is apparently because the combustion draws up oxygen, and so now the oxygen supply is cut off from the reaction. Something like that….

 

 

Well, I’m going to keep trying ~ harder~ Every day..

2013-11-24

Oh, so close to a month away from Christmas! So close to the end of the year..

Today, being Sunday, I’m a bit more relaxed about how much I should be getting done.

I did the first 50 questions in a 1001 chemistry questions book.

Here’s to a new week! 🙂