the light at the end of the tunnel

Brian defends his dissertation on Wednesday. I think he's been feeling like this day would never come. Well, it's finally here. We could definitely use some prayers on his/our behalf, you're inclined to do that kind of thing. :)

AU11

Ok, I know this is going to look/sound like bragging, but I swear it's not! I was just so excited about my grades that I had to share!

Some of you probably know how much I struggled in this chem class this quarter. However, Brian says he'll never trust me again when I say I'm not doing well in a class (chem or otherwise). I have to say though, I worked pretty darn hard for that A.

overheard

Amy: Why are you only wearing one sock?
Brian (somewhat sleepily): It came off.

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In Portuguese a couple weeks ago, our professor, Regina, was trying to explain the differences between "ser" (to be) and "estar" (to be, but more temporary). It's a tough concept for Americans to grasp. We were specifically talking about being married or single because someone had brought it up. The point Regina was trying to make is that you would still use "ser" to say someone is single, even though that is a state of being that could change. However, what she said was something along the lines of "You need to say 'sou solteiro' (single) because that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon." Even though she was answering the question for the whole class, she was specifically addressing the person who had asked the question, and it obviously came out very wrong. We laughed long and hard over that.

(Tangent: The feminine form of "married" is "casada." For some reason, it tickles me to death that I can say "Meu nome é Amy Casaday. Sou casada.")

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Amy: *shooting some baskets after Thanksgiving dinner and failing miserably*
Kylie (cousin, 3 years old?): Oopsies. That's kind of hard for you, isn't it?
Amy: *misses some more shots*
Abby (niece, 5 years old): You're pretty bad at that.

Gotta love kids! ;)

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We were doing an activity in Portuguese where we had to give our partners advice after they told us what their problem/situation was. For example, if your partner told you they've been gaining weight, you might tell them to eat less or exercise. (We're sort of limited on vocabulary since it's only 101, but we were supposed to give the best advice we could.) After practicing with our partners, we went over the activity as a class.

Regina: Tenho uma prova de Matemática amanhã.
Kid in class: Você tem que ir à festa.
Regina: I said, "Tenho uma prova de Matemática amanhã."
Kid: I know. Você tem que ir à festa.
Regina (to the class): You guys give really bad advice.

(For those who don't speak Portuguese, Regina said she had a math test the next day and my classmate responded that she should go to the party.)

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Brian: Wanna go on a 50 mile bike ride?
Amy: No, I don't think I could go that far. How about 3 miles?

Brian: It's a bike. In Ohio. You pedal once and go a mile.

thanks

Today, I am grateful for bus drivers who have compassion and slow down/stop for you when you're running after them.

(Yup, I almost missed the bus this morning. Pretty sure I looked ridiculous, running as fast as I could while loaded down like a Sherpa. It was already a later bus than I normally take because I was still working on getting my stuff ready when I needed to leave for the earlier bus. The later one still gets me to class on time, but I like to have time before class to chill and work on school stuff.)

Today, I am grateful that whatever sickness I thought I was getting over the weekend did not spill over into this week.

(I may have only gotten about 2 hours of sleep on Thursday night because of a lab report that was due on Friday. If you ask if it was worth it, I'll probably say no...but the perfectionist in me had to keep on going so I wouldn't have to turn it in late. I miraculously stayed awake - and actually got stuff done! - at school and in the library until about 1 that afternoon, then headed home to nap. We went camping with the ward at A.W. Marion State Park on Friday night. We had a blast, but it was a bit chilly. That was expected, so I had plenty of layers, but I was worried with all my sneezing on Saturday that I was coming down with something. I wouldn't have been surprised because of the lack of sleep combined with the cold. Fortunately, whatever it was wasn't quite as bad on Sunday, and I'm feeling even better today.)

In spite of stressing out over my exam tonight (which I should probably be studying for instead of writing this...but I did study for a while, so I'm taking a break from that for a minute), today's been a pretty good start to the week. :)


Addendum:
Today, I am grateful for people who wear funny shirts that make me laugh while walking around campus.

(I was on my way to a aula de Português today when I saw a guy with this on his shirt:

It took me a second to realize what i was - longer than it should have - but when I did, I really did laugh out loud. I'm sure the people around me wondered.)

Today, I'm grateful for exams that are not quite as difficult as I expected.

(Read: I psyched myself out. That chem exam I was studying for? I need not have worried. I was super stressed about it because I didn't get/make the time to study for it over the weekend. I probably could have reviewed even less than I did and still done ok. I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but I felt pretty good about it when I turned it in - good enough to text Brian that I thought I tore it up. I suppose we'll see for sure when I get the results back...)

Portuguese

Brian and I had this conversation the other day. It might only be funny to those who speak Portuguese, but I found it amusing and thought I'd share. :) (I suppose I could always explain it.)

Brian: Te amo.
Amy: Te amo mais.
Brian: Did you just "sh?"
Amy (sheepishly): Yes.

bullets

I've got a random collection of news to share, so I'm going to bullet it up. :)

• I got accepted to OSU! I'll be starting school in the fall. I haven't heard about transfer credits yet, but I'm really hoping it won't take longer than a year to finish up. Here's to graduation! And GO BUCKS!!

• We had family come visit about a week ago. Dad came down from MI on Friday night, and Scott/Laura/Laura/Ben got here on Saturday morning (ish for the Pacinis). It was a blast to visit with all of them. I was bummed they couldn't stay longer, but the time we had together was fantastic. Mostly, we just hung out and ate, haha. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time though. I simply adore my family. :D

Brian and Dad playing Boccer Ball. We got it for Christmas, and it was a huge hit with all the boys. We gave 3 separate house tours, and there was a spontaneous game every time. ;)

• Brian bought some electrical conduit a month or two ago so we could make a giant marble run. (Yes, we're nerds!). That lasted for a day or two, and it's been sitting in our basement since then. We used part of one when we were working on emergency preparedness and were filling up jugs of water for storage (we unhooked the washer and used the conduit piece as a hose from the faucet). However, Brian found a great use for them a few days ago. We made a fort over our bed! It's been fun to have a little "secret place" in our room, and it's actually been keeping me a little warmer. What can I say, we're little kids at heart. :)
  

It was surprisingly difficult to get a decent shot of the structure. Sorry for the lame pics. And yes, that is a blanket and a sheet on top for the outside of the tent.

• Our amaryllis finally bloomed! We bought it around Christmas, just for fun. At first, we were afraid that it had died, but then it started growing a couple leaves. Last week, one of the flowers blossomed, and the other opened up a few days ago. I wouldn't go so far as to say that my black thumb is gone, but it's fun to grow things. ;) We want to plant some sort of garden in our little plot out back. It's too bad we don't have more room, because after working at the nursery last summer, I have big ideas for planting stuff. We'll probably at least grow some veggies this summer.

I was practicing taking pictures with our new camera, and I liked this one pretty well.

• I went with my friend Lisa to a couple free Friday classes at Jazzercise in March. It was really fun and a good workout, so we both decided to sign up. I know it sounds kinda dorky, but I love it! You can go to unlimited classes (as a member), and they have a good variety of times that work around my schedule. I've been doing mornings when I work at night, and I'd actually like to try one of the night classes to see how they are, especially since I do work mornings sometimes. The hardest part for me is that I've never taken any dance and they use a lot of dance moves and language, so I don't always know what they're talking about or how to do it. I'm learning though, and I'm pretty sure my muscles appreciate the exercise. :)

• Brian signed up to run the RAGNAR in June, so we'll be heading out to UT then. No solid plans for now, but we'd like to be out there for at least a week. Here's hoping that flights will get cheaper!