Lyra's Alethiometer

There will always be some posts on my journal which are locked to friends only.  If you are not yet my friend and would like to be, please comment to be added (and say where I know you from, unless it's immediately obvious).

I have a meme-ful post for you today.  My suitemates decided that we wanted to take a bunch of quizzes.  Flist, sorry about the long, long post.  LJ won't let me LJ-cut the quizzes for some reason.

After a crazy end of semester and start of a research program, I find myself in a very happy place.

1)  I survived my classes with another perfect semester, though I came pretty darn close to losing it.  This included a complete breakdown in front of my mom, in which she and I both questioned my judgment.  Hopefully I've learned my lesson from that.

2)  I'm doing research!  and it's awesome research, and the people that I work and live with are awesome too.  I love the utter geekiness of my situation right now.

3)  I might present in a research conference this fall, which would be really cool and be awesome for my resume (and therefore for grad school applications).

I'm finding it rather hard to elaborate at the moment, but I guess I just mean to say that I'm very happy right now, which is a bit of a change from recent stresses.

Okay, a few things.

I know I haven't posted on the month-long meme in 2 weeks.  I've decided, to make up for my failure at the meme, I will do 4 mini-memes of 1 week each.  Therefore, same results, over a longer period of time.  (And before you ask, this post is not a confession, nor will this week be a mini-meme.)

And then, something that makes me mad at/ disappointed in myself: I doubt I'll be keeping my streak of perfect semesters.  The silly thing is that I worry about the class that is (a) related to my research, and (b) the class I'm taking as honors.  So if anything, I should be doing better in it, right?  But I'm struggling to complete the last regular assignment-- I can't even follow the solutions manual-- and the final exam (a take-home) is sure to be even more stressful.

My inner perfectionist is crying in the deep, dark recesses of my brain.

Mostly posting for everyone who follows the silly tradition of Daylight Saving Time: don't forget to change your clocks tonight!  I almost did.

I've been all over the place recently.  One more week of classes before spring break (one week off) and I don't think it'll even be much of a break.

I'm going to sleep now, to help make up for the hour I'm losing.  DST sucks.  (Though I guess it's okay in the fall.  Gaining an hour is nice.)

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this semester.  It's been all over the place so far, and it's only been a month.  I'm going to die.  I've lost most of my sanity already, I was just hoping to save some of my mind.

( if you really want to hear my ranting and worrying... )

Okay.  I'm going to try to go back to doing homework.  Goodness knows I wasted enough of my time today sitting with my friend in the dining hall and just talking.  It was good but probably a really bad idea.  *shakes head*

I survived- and won- NaNoWriMo, my first try! I had to write 8k on the last day (about 4 1/2 hours), but somehow I made it! My fingers are still a bit twitchy, and I'm not quite sure how I'm typing this, but...

I WON!!!! *does happy dance*



And now, I guess I'm just not quite sure what to do.

Current NaNo Word Count: 26,199.
Amount I have to write per day to make it to 50k before November ends: 3.5k
I'm going to die. I've only written that amount in one day once so far this month, and I still have homework and stuff this week. My only saving grace may be Thanksgiving break. If it is, that's what I'll be thankful for.

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Used electrical engineering textbook that only has 1/2 star because you can't rate it 0 stars:  $115

Graphing calculator that has the most frequently used equations programmed in because you can't trust the textbook:  $140

Playing hangman during class time because the professor didn't show up:  priceless.

It seems that my reputation as physics tutor is making its way around my dorm once again, and I'm almost wishing I could charge a few cents for each random question I'm asked.  But I offer my services for free with the Society of Physics Students, and most people who ask are my friends already, so I would feel strange asking for money to help, because I would even without getting paid.

I managed to recruit one of my school friends into joining NaNo.  He's apparently been writing some stories here and there, and was curious about it.  It's a little disconcerting to see that one of the NaNo servers went down before even attempting word counts, etc, but I guess it's better that they figure it out and fix it now, rather than have total shutdown during November.

I just realized, after friending some MNFF people, that I didn't introduce myself in that sense.  I'm also Ravenclaw_Soprano on those boards and on the archive.  If you know me there, you probably know my real name.  :)

I'm working on a short story that I'll probably post here, as well as prepping for NaNoWriMo (which is just proof that I'm insane).  My college class schedule is catching up to me a bit, especially since I'm adding a couple of clubs this year, so it might be a little while...

The water's surface:
my own reflection, finally
in tranquility.

Athena, my friend,
allow me to know thy art
and forever learn.

I love writing haiku poems!  They're about the only type I feel like I can write.  Everything else just seems to sound weird.

Greetings all!  You can call me Alethessa, or Lissa for short.  I'm a writer, and that's actually the name of one of my original characters.

I plan on posting two types of entries here: some short stories that don't really belong anywhere else, and some of my musings on various topics.  I welcome reviews on my stories (be constructive please) and would *love* to have some discussion on my "musings".

I might make this Friends-Only at some point, so I urge you, if you are interested, to introduce yourself to me at some point.  And certainly friend me if I've met you somewhere else on the Internet.  :-)