Birthday, G2, School, and Test Anxiety

So those are the predominantly exciting things going on for me right now. I turned 18 last Friday, so I'm now officially old enough to vote and I'm considered an "adult". Woohoo. I also got my G2 today (took me long enough,eh?). The test went off without a hitch, so all my anxiousness and crazy test anxiety was pretty pointless. School is pretty busy, I have a book review and a midterm early next week, 2 midterms the week after, and one in the following week.

My first midterm I got a 76% on... I wasn't perfectly happy with it, but considering the average in the class was 59 and the lowest mark was a 30 I wasn't going to lose sleep over it. I learned a lot about the style of this profs exams, and I'm sure my mark will go up next time. Interestingly enough, though, today in class he announced that he decided to up the average. He took out 6 questions, because most people go them wrong, and if you got them right they were treated like bonus marks. He announced the average was now 64, and this bumped my average up to an 82%. Sure! I'll take it for sure, but I think it's kind of cheap at the same time. It's not really encouraging people to do their work.

I have also discovered that I suffer from test anxiety. Or something. I think it has to do with fear of failure more than anything else, because let me tell you, exam time comes around and I turn into a total freak show. For about 30 minutes before my first midterm I was a mess. My stomach was in knots, my heart was pounding, it wasn't fun. Same thing happened before my G2 test. Any suggestions from anyone who's "been there, done that" on how to calm down? I'm not really sure why I get so hyped up, but like I said before, I think it has to do with a fear of failure... and I think it has to do with pride. But I don't really know. I may have to look into this some more before the rest of my midterms.

Anyways, sorry for the scatteredness of my thoughts tonight. I'm pretty tired and think I'm going to head off to bed. Thanks for reading! =)

Civic Duty?

Okay, so I've been drafted. To be on a jury. Yup. You heard me. I haven't even turned 18 yet (that's on Friday) and they've already sent me my jury information in the mail.

So I guess I should be all excited because this would be a great experience and I can help our legal system and blah blah blah, but all I can think about right now is the fact that I don't have time to take a week or two off of school to sit in court right now. Ha, fat chance.

So I'm sort of hoping this thing falls through and they find something wrong with me so I don't have to. Is that bad? Maybe it's just my initial reaction. But yeah, you can all call me names and say I'm a bad citizen, but it's just how I feel.

[EDIT] Okay, so I have to admit, now that the original shock of it all has worn off I I really do think it would be cool to be a juror. I was more just freaking out with respect to my schooling, etc. Just so you don't think I'm totally apathetic towards the whole thing..... [/EDIT]

P.S. Has anyone actually ever been a juror before? If so, what was it like? I really don't know a whole lot about the procedure.

Yay!

So I got my laptop back today. I don't think I posted about this on here, but I bought a laptop for school at the beginning of August, and by the beginning of September it was giving me major problems. It wouldn't start up sometimes, and blah blah blah. So I called the technical support line, waited on hold for 40 minutes, and they sent me a new AC adaptor (the power cable thing). It worked for 2 weeks and then started doing the same thing. SO - I called the technical line again, and said I wanted them to take it in and fix it. So about a week or so ago they took it.

I was really worried though, because I hadn't backed everything up on it yet, and it had my Vancouver pictures and some school stuff on it, and I wasn't able to get on it in time to get it all off...it wasn't working. SO I was praying and hoping they wouldn't have to wipe the hard drive, but thought they probably would.

Anyways, I got it back today (quick service Acer - brownie points for you...but not for the laptop problems in the first place, lol) and thank goodness they DIDN'T have to wipe the hard drive. They gave me a new main board, which is apparently a big part of the laptop, but I don't really know what it does. Anyways, I'm just glad it was under warrenty and that I still have my stuff.

Anyways, that's my story for tonight, and now I have to get back to some midterm studying! Adios!

Technical Update

I have been informed that only registered Bloggers can comment on my blog. This is just an update letting all you non-Bloggers know that you can now comment. Enjoy! Hehe.

Thanksgiving

Lost for words with all to say
Lord you take my breath away
Still my soul, my soul cries out
For you are holy

And as I look upon your name
Circumstances fade away
Now your glory steals my heart

You are holy
You are holy Lord

Evermore my heart, my heart will say
Above all, I live for your glory
Even if my world falls I will say
Above all, I live for your glory

With all my heart I'll say
I'm living for your name
With all to give you praise
We're living for your glory Lord

-- "Evermore" by Hillsong

I've been thinking along the lines of "what I'm thankful for" this weekend, and today, this song came to mind. It's one of my favourites, (and was the inspiration for my blog title...) and really reminds me of what I'm thankful for and why I'm here on earth.

Even though it's rough, and circumstances don't always go as we wish they would, God's always there, ready to wipe our tears away - an everlasting friend - and all he asks in return is that we live for him and let the world know how great he is. It makes me speechless. I can't even understand that love. That's probably the point.

Minority

Right now I feel very much like a minority. And yes, I knew this was going to happen, but hey, it's sort of discouraging nevertheless. University can really drain your faith, I'll tell you that. I mean, having almost everyone telling you that your worldview is wrong...well, it can be a little frustrating.

Not only that, but they also wrongly represent your point of view. I mean, not mentioning it is one thing, but when they mention it and skew it completely wrongly that really bothers me. I mean, if I did that in an essay I'd probably fail it.

Okay, so you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. Here's an example: Just today my CSI (Childhood and Social Institutions) prof connected "honour your father and mother" (from the Bible) to beating children and child cruelty in the history of children - way back when when it was a "Puritan" worldview and they believed that children were to be seen and not heard and blah blah blah. Oh, and they tagged John Wesley (who I happen to think was a pretty cool guy - so was his wife) on to that as well. So now, countless people are going away with a wrong impression.

I don't know. I guess I shouldn't complain if I'm not going to do anything about it. Maybe I should say something. Or something. I don't know.