Wow, where to begin? This week is now 9th week, which is insane because for our quarter system, that means I have 3 weeks left before I graduate. What happened? At the 4 week mark it was basically just 1 month so I was sinking into my chair, relaxing. But at the THREE week mark…oh my, I am springing out of my chair and freaking out since it feels so close to graduation now. What a difference one week can make huh? :p

On May 14, I had a lab practical for one of my outdoor labs. It was basically identifying 50 different plants or animals. Each station was placed a few feet away and we took the test assembly line style. Plants were cut up and bundled up. Most insects were preserved in a vial. Big animals (as well as animals that are just too difficult to display in a vial) were shown as pictures. Most of the insects in vials were hung on a string and tied onto the plants sticking out of the water you can see in the picture. Lol. Which meant we had to wade through the pond to identify each insect. Note: There is absolutely no purpose to us wading into the water – my professor just chooses to put the insect vials in the pond so that we all have to get wet and muddy. LOL. -.- At the end of the day I had mud stuck really deep into my toenails and had to give myself a nice, long pedicure.

There were two different ponds with different depths and my assigned pond was beyond waist high! I’m a short girl, so I was like, whoa, am I gonna have to start swimming here? The other pond was less than knee high. Of course.

When I first started studying for this exam, I was freaking out because it really felt like everything looked the same. This insect larva looks like that other insect larva. This tree leaf looks like that other tree leaf!!! But after spending a couple of hours studying the plants and insects, it became really easy. You just have to take note of every distinguishing feature and use that to differentiate between similar looking ones. I felt pretty confident while studying, but after we finished taking our exam and some of my friends were discussing the answers, I felt like I had gotten several identifications wrong, including spelling (spelling and scientific names counted!). They were saying they got this and that and that was totally NOT what I got. However, I got my score back last week and guess what? 50/50. Guess I can’t always doubt myself huh? 😎

On May 16 we had “grad night” at our campus bookstore. lol. It didn’t have much. It’s a bit lame in comparison to my high school grad night (a whole night at Disneyland!), but I was in it for the free commemorative mug for the first 100 people in line. I love those kinds of things. I went around 45 minutes early and was around #30 in line. The mug is really nice; it has our school name, a cute cartoony version of our mascot, and Class of 2012 on it. I also won a free tumbler (I love those) from Dave&Buster’s spin-the-wheel.

On May 22 I went to a baseball rally at school. I was in for the free stuff…again…haha. I got my first foam finger and a pompom. In my four years of university, these are the first and only college pride things to decorate my room. Maybe I’ll hang my graduation sash somewhere after graduation. :p We also got a free tri-tip sandwich at the rally since they were giving those out to the first few hundred. I’m totally taking advantage of everything free on campus now that I’m a senior, and you could say I should have as an underclassman, but I just remember being really stressed out & studying for something all the time. It’s kind of awesome having a bit of a lighter load your senior year so you can kind of just enjoy everything.

And finally, I finally exchanged my brother’s 1st generation iPod Nano for the newest one and picked it up at a FedEx location since they kept delivering it at my house when I wasn’t home. -_- If you still have your first generation iPod Nano, YOU CAN GET USE THE iPOD REPLACEMENT PROGRAM! “Apple has determined that, in very rare cases, the battery in the iPod nano (1st generation) may overheat and pose a safety risk.”

Anyone who has it is eligible to trade in their old 1st gen for a brand new one. It’s awesome. Unfortunately, the new slick iPod isn’t for me. I did the replacement program with the intention of giving it to my mom but when I picked it up, I was like damn, this is awesome and I asked her if she wanted to trade iPods with me. She declined. LOL. My mom is NOT tech savvy so I told her, “Okay fine, mom, I will give you the iPod, but only because you’re going to pay for my new glasses. And you HAVE to learn how to use it to its full potential because you have the newest iPod out of the whole family now!” :p (I had just gone to the eye doctor last week and picked out some new glasses – hopefully I can pick them up soon!)

A really quick review of the new 6th generation iPod Nano. Here’s what I think of it:

Pros

• There’s a clip on the iPod, making it great for being mobile.
• There’s a fitness feature – awesome because most people will be using this at the gym or while exercising.
• There’s a radio feature. Why couldn’t they make this sooner? A portable radio is awesome when you’re tired of your own music.
• It’s smaller than a tube of chapstick.

Cons

• 6th gen has lost the original “iPod magic.” The selling point of the iPod used to be its click-wheel. Now it’s just a touch screen like all other technology. It’s kind of like a combo of an iPod shuffle and an iPhone now.
• You can’t skip to any part within a song anymore. You can only move in small increments using the forward and reverse symbols.
• It’s smaller than a tube of chapstick. (Really easy to lose and not so easy to find a protective cover for it – the whole thing is basically a screen)

Would you prefer the new radical changes of the latest iPod Nano? I don’t know, I love the new features, but I’m kind of missing the magical feeling of the old classic designs. The new features are great, but I don’t know about changing the entire design. Maybe this should have been the design for an expensive iPod shuffle instead and they should have left the Nano alone.