The power of persuasion.....

OK, sorry it has been a while since I last posted....

I feel like everything this week has fallen into at least one of three categories: busy, boring or necessary.......

Starting off with busyness of the week- I only worked 14 hours this week but had little time for slacking off after work, as I was still recovering from not doing an ounce of studying from Thursday night until Sunday night at 9pm because Janelle came up for the weekend to hang- no complaints there though.... Monday and Tuesday were just mostly filled with class, studying, work, INN shop meetings, Hosting at the INN and much more....

Wednesday however, things got a little interesting.... Tuesday I went and talked to my Chem professor about our upcoming chem test the Wednesday before thanksgiving. First of all, who in there right mind schedules a test the Wednesday before thanksgiving?? Everyone knows that classes end at noon and any classes before noon majority of students skip anyway. Don't get me wrong, she is a nice woman but when I looked at our schedule and saw this, I had a few choice words for her in my head.... On top of that, I was scheduled to register smack during the test which was a huge problem in and of its self. Registration times are critical and attempting to register even a minute late can cause you to loose a out on a class that you may need. As I start the Human Services Program next quarter, 3 of my classes I am guaranteed a spot in. However, one of the classes I am trying to get into that I will need to take eventually for the major is competitive to get into and as a Sophomore, I am basically at the bottom of the list. So, I go and express great concern about the time conflict- dramatizing about the low odds I have about the classes I have to get into for the HS program (she doesn't have to know that I have a reserved spot in the first three..) Anyways, I go on about maybe taking the test early on Tuesday instead of on Wednesdays, but she says that won't work and she offered that I could take it later Wednesday morning..... Fast-forward to Wednesday Morning. I get to Chemistry, and she starts out the class saying she has an important announcement. I could read her face as she glanced at me before she even started talking- she was going to say something about the test on Wednesday. Sure enough, she goes on to say that she thinks it would be better to postpone the test until the following week after dead week. Of course, it being dead week (the week before finals) professors are not supposed to administer tests this week, so she had to "ask for our permission" to change it to then. I think she figure out quickly that we were supportive when almost the whole class broke out into applause.... Needless to say, I like to think that I have enough persuasion over a professor that I could guilt her into postponing a test :)
Wednesday was made even better when I went to show up to psych and class was cancelled.... This presented me with an opportunity to go home and study (and maybe watch the Notebook with Kelsy and Mary) for an hour and a half before work....
The rest of the week consisted of working, classes, and studying any chance I could manage- I even skipped Grey's to go up to the lab and study Thursday night from 9-11:30pm- can you say dedication?

Anyways, Friday night was pretty low- Friday afternoon the INN had a Turkey bowl- flag football with a frozen turkey- quite entertaining! Kelsey and I made a quick run to target, then I spent the rest of the night crocheting and watching Gossip Girl with Sarah and my small group leader Laura....

Saturday was quite eventful- starting with Ben calling me at exactly 7am to just chat about host team- he was actually surprised that I was still asleep- 7am really Ben??? Later, I had to study groups at the library, then Ben and Kurt wanted me to come with them to the mall, and help them pick out B-day presents for Trinh's party that later that night. I got home from the mall, to find the whole house decorated and ready for Trinh's party that night. We all proceeded to get ready for dinner which meant raiding Brittany's closet for something to wear, heading on out for dinner at a local Greek restaurant with the roomies and some of Trinh's closes friends... After dinner, we got back to the house to prep for the guests, who would be arriving around 9 and then danced the night away until 1am when I finally called it quits and the house cleared out....

Surprisingly, Trinh and I actually had the energy to get up and go to church this morning, and we were actually ready to go and not running late when Kurt and Jarrett came and picked us up....

OK, there you have it. A relative play by play of my week. Believe it or not, I actually have some pictures from Trinh's B-day dinner:

Trinh's turkey B-day cake

Kelsy and I hanging out in Brittany's room while everyone is getting ready...

Myself and the b-day girl at dinner....

Finally, a pic with the roomie- Liz and I at dinner (we figured we better take one then, considering we never look this cute during the actual school week...)

A week of historic memories....

This posting comes, immediately after I was just outbid on eBay for a copy of Newsweek with Obama on the cover- talk about a bummer. If anyone has a newspaper, or magazine from the day after the election and does not want it- please send it my way!!

So, this past week has been absolutely nonstop starting with last Sunday afternoon. After church on Sunday, my friend Courtney gave me the contact info for a lady she works for who was in desperate need of a nanny. On a whim, I called expecting to leave a message saying that I was interested. Not only did I talk to her in person, but she had me come over to her house as soon as we hung up to meet her husband, and two kids. When I first got there the mom, Joni shared how they were looking for a nanny to start asap as her husband just got a job that starts the next day. She said how they had hoped to interview a few people over the next few days and then make a decision. Very much to my surprise, Joni and her husband Jim felt that I was right for the job. They hired me on the spot, and I started the following day (Monday). The family lives about 20 minutes away out at the lake, and I just spend the time greeting the kids as they get off the school bus, giving them their snack, starting homework and depending on the day driving the kids to martial arts or ballet. Can you say soccer mom anyone? My roommates won't stop teasing me after I had the ultimate "soccer mom" moment when I was driving them to martial arts and caught my self looking in the rear view mirror and witnessing Jonanthon pulling his little sister, Dana's hair, all the while she is holding his hat out of his reach. Without missing a beat I found myself saying: "Dana give Jonathon his hat back, and Jonathon stop pulling Dana's hair". I was quite pleased with myself when the kids instantly did as I said- can you say most well behaved kids ever? Overall, it isn't a rough gig considering I spend majority of the time sitting and waiting at their practices- at which I am encouraged to bring a book, and just study. Wow, getting paid $10 an hour to study- I guess I can't complain....

Beyond the jobfront, campus was alive with political outcries on Monday as the election neared. Between the "Western Votes" tables stationed dead center in read square, endless reminders from Professors to get out and vote (My Psych professor even jokingly offered use of her Lexus if you needed transportation to drop off a ballot). Although from what I heard, the day was complete with Christine Gregoire and Patty Murray speaking to a standing-room only crowd on campus. I was planning on skipping class to go to the speeches but was unable to because of a stupid Psych test- darn academics!

Tuesday was a pretty crazy and anticipated day, as both the general election was occurring, as well as The INN was announcing mission trips that night. In regards to the election, my house was quite excited. Mary went home to be with her Dad, and plan how they would move to Canada and/or Scotland if McCain won- needless to say I am glad the results were in her favor- I woulda missed her. When I left for class at 9 Liz was camped out on the couch watching CNN... 5 hours later I returned to get ready for work and found her in the same position. After work, I returned home to find that Liz eating dinner on the couch and still watching CNN only the room was spotless. Apparently, Brittany (the lone Republican in the house) had cleaned the whole downstairs as a result of nervousness and anxiety over the polls... Around 7:30 a few kids from my host team came over with the intentions of playing some pre-hosting card games. However, we sat down in the TV room and couldn't bring our attention away from the constant updates. The next thing I knew, they announced Obama had exceeded the 270 mark and we couldn't believe it. Sarah and I were cheering- Ben sat silently disappointed and Liz was just sitting back and soaking it all in. We proceeded to call our friends and share in the excitement (or in Sarah's case, call our friend Tim and remind him that he now owes her ice cream from a lost bet). Then, we watched McCain's speech- which I might add, was a pretty good speech- I even felt a little sorry for him and Palin...

After McCain's speech, Sarah, myself and the rest of our host team was supposed to go down to the INN and start hosting. We were definitely late as we tried to hold out for Obama's speech but decided that we would just have to watch it on youtube later...

The INN was abuzz with excitement both inside, and throughout the surrounding streets as we watched the crowd of people cheering down Holly street towards downtown. Beyond the election, the INN kids were excited for the long anticipated mission trips video. The announcement of spring mission trips is a big deal, and tends to set the tone for the rest of the year. This year, the INN will be sending groups to Mexico, Jamaica, Boston, New Orleans, and Billings, Montana. I turned in paperwork for Boston, which will be a great challenge in itself in raising the trip cost of $950. I should be finding out within the next few weeks about whether I made of the 18 available spots for the trip....

After the INN, Sarah and I came back to watch Obama's acceptance speech, then we got a call from one of Sarah's friends. He wanted to go down and join the crowd that had gathered. So Sarah drove, and we got downtown to discover around 300 people (which apparently shrunk from the originally estimated 3,000 people that walked down from campus) cheering, hugging, and giving speeches of what they thought the future holds. It was a night I don't think I will be forgetting any time soon.

The rest of the week, campus was relatively quite. That is, with the exception of my professor's noting the importance and significance of this election and what Barack Obama has to offer the country as well as making us watch his acceptance speech. Somehow both times this happened I managed to be sandwhiched inbetween, or sitting next to the only Republican friends I had in each class- ohhh man, good times.....



Anyways, that is all I can come up with for now- hopefully I didn't bore you all to tears. I know you would all like to see pictures of me, but of course you have probably figured by now- I am slacking in that department. So instead, I will leave you with Obama's acceptance speech. A must see if you haven't already- I have seen it three times and still think it is potentially one of the best speeches I have ever seen/heard.