Kicked to the curb

I just finished my first essay (I get made fun of for calling it a "paper") and words could not describe the relief. It's for my criminal law and process class, and the first time I read over the "assessment," I wanted to cry. There was a lot of research to be done, too many things to remember, I couldn't get a particular Web site to work, I never got through to LexisNexis and our class had only met once. We received the subject outline with the assignments on it two weeks ago, but the essay itself required a LOT of reading ... That's what I was reading for when I mentioned in a previous blog that I had read about 8 criminal justice chapters.

Anyway, I was finally able to start the essay Monday and stayed up til 2 this morning finishing it. Not too shabby. All in all, it took about 11 hours or so to gather research and write the thing after I did all the readings. The readings can be hard to get ahold of because half of them are on reserve, meaning you only have two hours to borrow the book in the library and if someone else from your class has the copy, you have to wait. I'm also cheap and refused to pay for a copy card to make copies. I have hands!

I was also concerned with details such as referencing because they use APA style instead of MLA. So much to think about! Claire brought me tea last night because I was telling her how stressful it was. So nice...

Now for some non-academic chat. I always make lists of what to write about on my blog and looking at it right now, there are a lot of random things, so I shall employ bullet form.

* Ash made me prawn crackers last week. They're these really hard, reddish chip things that come in a box with a lobster on it and sometimes they're served in Chinese restaurants. You can either cook them in oil or heat them in the microwave and they expand to these seashell-shaped rind-ish things. They tasted like fish. I personally found them disgusting and told Ash I was pretty full, which was a lie. I prefer the triangular, greasy chip things when I eat Chinese.

* I also experienced my first drive-thru bottle shop last week. It's like a car garage with refrigerators of liquor on the sides. I made no purchases, but I really wanted to jump out and take a picture.

* A few nights ago, a bunch of the girls in my dorm hauled mattresses into the upstairs common room to have a horror movie night. Even though I couldn't join them, I like the family feel of this dorm. It's not like Moore Hall at UNCC where everyone pretty much stayed in their rooms and hated everyone else on the hall. That's the take from my stay there anyway.

* I've found a new favorite juice: apple and blackcurrant. I don't know what blackcurrant is, but when I'm not burnt out on research anymore, I'll look it up.

* In my Aboriginal studies class, I found out that Bathurst was either THE first or one of the first inland settlements in Australia. There used to be a lot of Aboriginals here as well.

* The funniest thing happened a few nights ago. I was in my room with Sal, another Tiffany and Ryo. Sal was sitting on her bed and I got up to get something out of the closet. All of a sudden, Ryo and Tiffany burst out laughing and I turned around. Apparently, Sal had reached for something in the floor and fell off the bed. She broke her laundry basket in the process when her arm got stuck in it and the side bent backwards. If I only had my camera. It actually wasn't too far away, but I was laughing too hard to grab it.

* It only takes 20 minutes to walk downtown from my dorm. Monday, I got up early to go downtown before my class at noon and got a lot done. It's a nice walk and it was just 9:00 so it wasn't hot yet. I also got my hair cut! I popped into a couple of places to check prices and see if I could make an appointment, but the places I went to don't take appointments and one place doesn't even wash your hair! Everything is charged separately, so I paid $22 for a cut plus $6 for the shampoo and $6 to dry it. $34 is actually not that bad, but I only pay $12 at home for all of that. They weren't lying when they named the place Just Cuts.

* I get to see my first professional rugby game Friday! I'm taking a bus to Lithgow and then a train to Katoomba (in the Blue Mountains) to meet Kathryn, the girl who lived next door before she dropped out of uni. Her mom said I could stay with them til Sunday, but I'm going to come back Saturday since I have a portfolio to work on. I want to finish all the work I'll need to do until May by this coming week so I won't have any to do over break.

* Speaking of, a few of us finally got together Sunday to discuss where to go over break. We have April 6-29 off (which I plan to propose to UNCC) so we only have one full week left. Right now, our plans are to go to New Zealand (north island) for a week, then back over to Australia to the Gold Coast (where the Great Barrier Reef is) and then down to Melbourne. For all of that, plane tickets would only come to about $800 if we can get the rate we're looking at. That's not bad for 3 weeks! Hostels are cheap as well and we can always buy food at the grocery stores...Whatever we do...I'M GOIN TO NEW ZEALAND!!!

P.S. I just proofread the blog and realized the title doesn't make much sense. It refers to the finality of my essay :)