The Mono

( For this week: )

I wish I were sleeping better, but otherwise things have been pretty much status quo.

( Things I'm currently juggling: )

( gettin' busy )

I took my final today. This means that I don't have classes until September 27th. It's an odd feeling.

Of course you know what this means...

( Eight-week list bonanza! )

I'm not expecting to get everything done this weekend, because there's ( lots to do. )

( Deck the Halls with Boston Charlie )

To do after the start of break:

( Plenty of stuff )

( It's that time again... )

( Still plugging along... )

I got my phone bill today. It pissed me off sufficiently that I will be getting a new phone/contract before December, and allowing this phone to rot on a shelf until I can transfer my number over. Continuing with this arrangement is totally unacceptable.

Forget Johnny -- I'm the one who has a new master.

It's Monday, that means I really need ( the homework list. )

( This one's school-specific... )

( Time to update the list for the weekend... )

( I should say so. )

Been a while since I've done one of these. I haven't been doing too well in the "get stuff done before school starts" game, and I want to change that. Therefore...

( Let the scramble begin )

Today I:

Did my two homework problems for English
Read another chapter of the book
Replaced my taillight (finally, no more little red dashboard light!)
Typed up my English homework
Made lasagne
Found the USB/parallel port adapter
Hooked up the old HP printer to my laptop
Figured out how to configure printing in linux
Printed a test page, successfully (yay!)
Changed the ink cartridge, then printed my homework
Printed out a letter my mom needed from me
Put up the futon
Sorted the contents of a filing box and sent the necessary stuff to be shredded
Moved the little auxiliary table out from behind the futon
Set up the printer on the table

Successfully avoided doing any gardening, to give my hands and forearms a rest... that's harder than you might think, even though I'm to the point that I'm having trouble gripping things. The front strip is looking fantastic, but I'm itching to remove some of the stumps.

I'm still hacking up a lung, and the dust didn't help, but at least I now have a permanent printing station for my laptop. I haven't had that since college. Yay printing capability! Setup was almost painless, nowhere near the protracted battle I was expecting; there is something to be said for using HP printers under linux.

And the Concord library seems to be acceptable for weekend-afternoon studying; it's even open on Sunday, and has plenty of tables. Not a lot of people there, either.

I'm sure I already am listed. Somewhere.

( I have a weekend list... )

I have one day before classes start again.

( I have a few preparations... )

Time to gear up for the roller-coaster again.

I'm actually quite pleased that I did, indeed, prepare for seed sowing over break; all I have to do come February is fill trays and actually put seed in them. I bought and set up the lights, found the heating mat, assembled the rack, sterilized the trays, bought starter mix, and organized over half my seeds (the hardest ones to get all together and inventoried). Should make starting a cinch.

Transplanting, on the other hand... *sigh* I'll have to do a little of that at a time, I guess. Once again with the Time Management mantra. That, and planting out, are a little way down the road.

I know this semester is going to be a bear, and to a certain extent which species. That gives me an advantage, fortunately -- I know that drastic measures are required, I've planned some strategies in advance, and I know I will have to think rather than react as things come up. I think half of my problem last semester was that I kept reacting to the stress, rather than trying to manage it. It takes energy to plan out management strategies, and I was too busy panicking to make the effort.

The first two weeks will show me what my weekly schedule will be like. I know ( what I want to fit into it, ) it'll be a matter of assigning times and sticking to them. I like having a routine, and I'll make a large effort to really set one up. I'm also moving my studying away from this house, so I won't have the conflict of study/garden/veg on the computer for half the day.

I have a parking pass this semester -- no more walking to and fro. Maybe that will help conserve my energy, at least by the end. I'm healthy, but I'm not quite up to exercise while stressed.

Crossing my fingers...

It's more of a list than a Chicken.

( More stuff to do... )

I've lost two roses, now, to some problem I don't understand. I was going to plant the replacement in the same pot as the older Climbing Altissimo, but with two diseases present and having lost Honor too, inexplicably, I'm going to have to start over with at least new potting mix.

I want to plant the rose in real dirt rather than a pot, but that means taking out the trees at the front of the lawn; I've decided that my dad isn't going to do it, after three years of talking, so I'm going to take a bow saw to them, then take out the roots with an axe and a mattock. Whoo fun. That should give me space to plant roses and herbs, though.

From school lists... ( to yardwork lists. )

(That's not the way you spell New York.)

This is one of ( those weekends. )