Sweet Catastrophe

Now that I’ve backed out of Milwaukee, I’ve decided I can afford to start saving up for a good GPS system for my car. Milwaukee not included, I’ve talked myself out of the most simple trips just because of the driving anxiety I experience when taking trips even as short as two hours. The bulk of it really and truly stems from my fear of getting lost. Why does it plague me so much? I haven’t the slightest idea.

I learned a lot about GPS systems back when I was shopping around for one for Ryan. Of course, learning about it all just made me want one even more. I’ve figured out all the features I have to have and the ones I can live without. I’ve seen what brands have the best reviews, and which ones don’t live up to their promises. I also know what kinds of prices are fair.

As I tend to do when I’m broke and bored, I’ve fallen into online shopping and oh how I wish I had a little money to spare right now! I’m absolutely salivating over some of the deals I’ve come across. I’m particularly smitten with the Garmin StreetPilot c550 that Buy.com has for $179!!

The Garmin StreetPilot line is at the top of my GPS wishlist. The c550 comes standard with the feature most important to me–It speaks the street names, so you don’t have to constantly stare at the screen and then squint to see the upcoming street signs to see that you’re in the right place. The timing on the StreetPilots I’ve had experience with is perfect. They give you just the right amount of heads up that a turn is coming so you know you’re in the right lane. And I love how quickly they recalculate and give you a new route if you somehow hit the wrong turn or if you need to take a detour. It makes me so comfortable to know that I won’t be lost.

I’m so over missing out on trips that could be SO much fun, only because I’m scared to make the drive. I end up with anxiety over not going, and in some cases, I’ve lost money I’ve paid in advanced. It’s a pretty irrational fear that I’ve got to work towards getting over, and this is my first step!

I have been, and will continue to keep up with the incredible weekly deals over at Buy.com while I keep saving money. I’m really excited now that I know a really great deal isn’t out of reach, as I previously thought! I should have a great GPS system by the end of the summer!!

Andrew and Keri officially left yesterday. I missed them actually leaving since they made it out of here while I was at work, but I shed a little tear when I came home to find a few roses on my desk from them.

Andrew will be back sometime to help move William in and to get the rest of his stuff. He just really couldn’t get moving so there’s still a good bit here. I’m finding the most random things around. There’s a toaster oven, some shoes, random computer components like Keri’s extra laptop memory, x-box stuff that I’m sure he’s missing, books….you name it, it’s probably floating around here.

I’m definitely going to miss them. Andrew was really like a much less annoying brother to me. I really hope William fits me as well as his older brother did.

So I survived my final exams! ACED was ridiculous. I walked all the way over there to discover that they double-booked our classroom for that exam slot so after my mile-long trek I had to climb 3 flights of stairs (I had no idea where the elevator was…). So then we sat like little zombies while people finished giving PowerPoint presentations. One girl did hers on Mexico, and instead of giving a presentation on vacations, she basically did a cultural presentation so I got to re-live that portion of Spanish class.

After that we had to create this really quick PowerPoint. The only parts that took any time were finding appropriate images and setting up our own customized theme. Of course, she didn’t get to see those themes since the printers in our substitute classroom weren’t color….*blank stare* So she basically glanced at it and gave us our 50 points for that.

Spanish the next morning was a little rough. She put the easiest material in the easiest sections and the toughest stuff in the complicated sections. So the reading comprehension was over questions I could’ve answered without any reading material (The Food Guide Pyramid) and the multiple choice questions were all either really easy or just really obvious. Our oral section was a mixture of simple and way too complicated, and then we had a 75 word composition that involved elements we had just covered and I absolutely wouldn’t have remembered unless I specifically looked at them beforehand. It was a tad harsh.

Of course they weren’t buying back the Spanish books–they’ve got new ones. So what did I do? I BURNED that horrid thing—–praying that Sra. Cano wouldn’t find some crazy way to fail me.

On Monday I couldn’t check my grades because the health center hadn’t manually verified that I’d already paid for my blood work. Today though, holding my breath I checked my grades. I GOT A B IN SPANISH!! Now, don’t mistake my excitement, I know I deserved that B, but I really thought she was going to work it into a C, like she did last semester. So tonight I happily sat outside and burned the rest of my Spanish notes. It felt way too good. *grin*

I’m actually pretty proud of myself right now. I hate doing Quia (online workbook for foreign language classes) so I don’t usually do terribly well. Well, I just went back and redid a lot of my Quia from this year both for practice for the final tomorrow and to get higher scores. I emailed her to ask if I could use the new scores; I see no reason she’d be against that since she’s been known to let people *ahem*melastsemester*ahem* do it all at once at the end of the semester anyway. I worked at it until I got to where I should have an 88 overall on Quia. I’m happy with that–really, I usually have low scores there. It should be easy enough, but I don’t totally cheat my way through it, and it’s hard not to get distracted and just blow of entire portions.

After I finished that I actually sat and put together a possible composition. She gave us an idea of what our composition would be on the final, so I’ve got a pretty positive idea of what she’ll want from us. They’re usually only 50 words, so that’s what I wrote up, but then our official one this semester had to be 100. I think I’m gonna add to it, just to be prepared, but I’d hope she wouldn’t make it that big for the final exam. Once I get done, I’ll probably memorize it. Why not, right?

I’ll be perfectly okay with a C in her class. That’s what I’m telling myself because that’s enough to mean I’m done with foreign languages. I expect a B, but I thought I had a high B last semester and she showed me a low C….so I’m just preparing for the worst this time.

I’ve got an exam tonight at 7. I have to make another PowerPoint. No big deal. The Spanish exam is tomorrow at lunch and then I’m done.

I’ve got to work all weekend, and it’s gonna be rough–it’s graduation weekend and I plan to fully participate in all activities…Kings of Valdosta, beer pong, Shut the Box, and drunken versions of Scene It and Thesaurus Pictionary! ;)

I’ve gotta send Keri and Andrew off right, ya know! Which reminds me–I need to finish cleaning before parents start showing up.