Procrastination

I've been studying GRE math for many hours over the last couple of days. But now I have had three large mugs of coffee. And I'm sitting in a cafe with wifi.

I'm in the mood to procrastinate! So here you go. Some unrelated things I feel the need to say (mostly because the coffee has removed my filter):

You know where I would be today if I could be anywhere?

Cyprus. 

Maybe here:

{Agia Napa}

Or here:

{Turkish side of Nicosia}

I don't know why, but it looks good, no?

Also, to kill even more time in useless pursuits I was looking through the travel/places section on Pinterest (Don't ever do this. You will waste so much time.). I saw a picture of the Trevi Fountain in Rome. It made me laugh thinking about how I am likely the only person to throw a penny into the fountain (to ensure that you will one day return) and...miss. Yeah. I missed. What, you don't know about that?

Here's what happened:

It was raining. And I had an umbrella. The penny went right up into the umbrella and bounced down right behind me, somehow missing the fountain. 

Fail. 

Which is why I haven't been back to Rome. C'est ma vie.

The End. 

(Didn't you like that story?)

(OK, now back to work.)

(But seriously. GRE math is hard! My eyes are already about to cross, and I keep rereading this paragraph: 

Many more difficult probability questions involve finding the probability that several events occur....The probability that both events occur is the probability that event A occurs multiplied by the probability that event B occurs given that event A occured. The probability that B occurs given that A occurs is called the conditional probability that B occurs given that A occurs. Except when events A and B do not depend on one another, the probability that B occurs given that A occurs is not the same as the probability that B occurs. The probability that three events A, B, and C occur is the probability that A occurs multiplied by the conditional probability that B occurs given that A occurred multiplied by the conditional probability that C occurs given that both A and B have occurred.

I mean, is it just me, or are they just saying occur and probability as many times as possible?)

Free At Last, Free At Last

This morning I got a text early and panicked thinking it was my alarm. I get a bit antsy because I have a habit of only oversleeping things...when they are vital. Final exams, trains, you get the picture. But I won't lie, once I was up I was too excited to go back to sleep. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. 

Why?

Today was graduation day!!!!!!!!! (As an aside: I have been trying to lay off my addiction to exclamation marks, but when it comes to graduation, they all seem merited!)

This is my third graduation (after high school and undergrad) and I was really thinking it wouldn't be much of a big deal. I even debated, when organizing things for Brussels, over whether I should come all the way back in time to graduate. I figured, if you have graduated once, you don't have any new excitement to look forward to. 

Boy was I wrong. Third time must be a charm, because I was so much more excited about this graduation than either of the others. I got there an hour early and got to see and catch up with some of my favorite Logsdon people. And I won't lie. I was getting a bit cocky. I looked over at the undergrads, having been in their position 3 years ago, and at the others graduating with grad degrees much shorter than the grueling 90 hour Masters of Divinity degree and felt that we somehow deserved our degrees so much more than everyone there. 

Three years people! I could build a moderately sized log cabin with all of the books I have read. I have written more papers than probably 100 average people write in their entire lives. I can (and do) use words like concretize, cogent and hermeneutical in everyday sentences. And I've drunk enough coffee to fill up Lake Superior.

Today has been a long time coming. 

Overall it was fantastic. I got to sit next to one of my favorite feminist friends during the commencement, the speech was good (and brief!), and I couldn't wipe the perma-grin off of my face throughout. My parents and lots of my lovely friends were there to share the moment with me, and I got the chance to say a final thank you to so many of the professors who have tortured taught me so much over the last 3 years. What I thought would never come, did in fact come. And, what I always generally assumed was an oncoming train, turned out to be the light at the end of the tunnel after all. 

And, let me tell you, I am enjoying being in the light!

The Lowden Ladies

Week in Review: Week 11

It's the next to last Week in Review from Belgium! Here goes:

• Here's the count: 13 straight days of headaches, 8 full days of migraines. I've officially turned into a vampire. I'm ready to get off the migraine-train. 
• The painkillers are leaving me relatively "filter"-free. It almost seems appropriate for this time of the semester. 
• Speaking of...I FINISHED ALL MY COURSEWORK. I'll bring back my evaluation and then walk myself across the stage at graduation. Man, this has been a long time coming. 
• I think I've gotten dumber, not smarter, but I won't be opposed to you all calling me Master Brewer. 
• I've enjoyed helping take care of Phoebe this week, but it also makes me miss my little girls in Texas. I can't wait to see Madeline and Emma and see how much they have changed over the last 3 months!
• English classes have also been wrapped up. I have to put the finishing touches on the exams for levels one and two and then give them tomorrow evening. They will come for their grades and certificates on Wednesday. Tuesday we are having a potluck/Thanksgiving celebration in my conversation class. It should be interesting to see what kind of food my students turn up with. 
• With just 2 weeks left I officially gave myself permission to think about Mexican food and Dr. Pepper. 
• This last Tuesday was the Fête du Mouton, which is one of the biggest holidays in Islam. Families get together to sacrifice and eat a sheep in honor of God providing a sheep to sacrifice instead of Abraham's son (Isaac for Christians, Ishmael for Muslims). Part of the holiday includes sharing the meat with friends and the poor. Our neighbors said they would send over their son with some of the lamb, which turned out to be an entire raw leg of lamb. 
• I rode back to Brussels from the neurologist Wednesday with a family from the church who had gone to the hospital to visit Phoebe. The husband is Egyptian, the wife is Syrian. They have two adorable little hellians. He exhibited the best steering wheel drumming I have ever seen. (He drums at the church and was a professional back in Egypt.) They ended up taking me home with them for a while and fed me mashi (sp?)--little stuffed grape leaves. Very, very tasty. Also, I realized after almost 3 months that the husband speaks English! Who knew...
• I cannot say enough for the Flemish Belgian healthcare system. Everyone was ridiculously nice, almost everyone spoke English, and they all went out of their way to be helpful--the neurologist even game me his personal email should I need more information or help filing on my US insurance.  
• The amount I paid to go to the ER, have a CT scan, an appointment with the neurologist and an EEG with no outside insurance? 108.22 euro. Let's all say it together--government healthcare is not the end of the world. 

And, that's all. It has been a long week, but when I look back, most of what I remember is just cooking, cleaning and sitting in a dark room as much as possible. Maybe I'll remember some of the more interesting tidbits later!

I feel like there should be some church bells ringing. Or some tambourines. Some celebratory music and dancing.

Why? Because I just finished this:

That is a screen shot of the very last paper I have to write to complete my masters degree. I've written so many papers this last year (even pulling 2-a-days all through August), that it might take a while for it to sink in that I'll never have to write another one. But then again, maybe not!

Now, I do have to admit, the paper was in no way the best paper I have ever written, and was really just a write up, nothing special. But to honor the occasion, I actually typed it up in Times New Roman, proof read it, and even took the time to put page numbers on it. It has been submitted, the only thing that stands between and walking across that stage is the completion of my portfolio, which is basically finished as well.

I guess it is time to send out these:

Week in Review: Week 9

Week 9? It's already the 7th of November? Whoa! Time is flying. Here is the week in review: 

• Since we opened the Christmas season this week we decided to watch White Christmas the other day. Janee also brought along some Christmas music for the car the other day, which was a nice change from Hary's Arabic music. 
• I will graduate in less than 5 weeks! And I have (drum-roll please) ONE PAPER LEFT! I can't believe it. My portfolio is almost finished too.
• This week I did not have classes to teach--everybody is on a week long All Saints/Fall break. And while we managed to fill each day up, I managed to get a good nights sleep every single day. It might have been the most restful week I have had since...last December? It's been a long year. 
• My mom will be here in a little over 2 weeks! We have decided to hit up England my last few days and are going to go over to Bath. Exciting!
• We went over to the house of an Iraqi family the other day. The tea she made for us tasted different from the Moroccan or Turkish tea that we normally drink. I don't know if it was just the tea or some spices added, but it was really good. 
• Why isn't "other day" one word? I think it should be like someday and stop making my life difficult.
• Anahabuck is Arabic for "I love you." 
• Also, did you know that Gazpacho, the Spanish soup, is actually from the Arabic for "soaked bread"? And while I am at it, hummus, the dip, is actually the Arabic word for chickpeas in general. Arabs seem to be really impressed that I know that word. 
• What do you think--Should I get some henna before I go?
• Sometimes I really do forget that I live in Belgium. We were at a market in the center early today and I was amazed at all the white people. (Abilene is going to be a shock to the system...)
• This week someone told me I looked Chinese. Again, close, but no. I just have small eyes. 

OK, that's about all I've got at the moment. 

Ok, so I wasn't kidding about spending all of my free time in coffee shops writing papers and reading. In fact, I have been hitting up the coffee shops enough the last couple of weeks to come up with some strategies.

I've been in Fort Worth mostly so there have been lots of options for places to study. Some places have good regular brewed coffee. Some places have free refills. Some places have delicious frappuccinos/etc. Some places have organic/free trade stuff.

And...some places are cheap.

After making my way around town, I have come up with a couple of good strategies. For example, for the next couple of months or so Starbucks will stamp the back of your receipt if you come in before 2pm with their "Treat Receipt" stamp. THEN you can come in after 2 to get a grande cold drink for $2!

So say you have an afternoon to spend studying...Here is the plan, you go before 2, get a cheap, small cup of brewed coffee for less than 2 bucks. After you have worked a while and gotten through the first cup of coffee (and after its 2pm) you go and get the grande cold drink. All for less than you would have paid for a small cold drink in the first place!

You're welcome.