Marathon of Death

What, you ask, is a 'Marathon of Death', aka MOD? It, I reply, is my life over the past three weeks. Non-stop, never ending, hour after hour, day upon day road of massive studying. Because I know that no one is interested in the nitty-gritty details of what I was doing, I have comprised a summary of the final products of my labors (minus smaller assignments that seem irrelevant in comparison):

*4 quizzes
*3 tests
*4 essays
*2 statistics homework sets (So all of you know, statistics is 'fake math'. I would prefer to do calculus, seeing as each homework set took me about 6 hours to complete. Don't worry, I studied days on end for the stats test I just took.)
*1 presentation
*Study guide for my SI students

These came, one after another. You know how (and for those who are not now in school, take a moment to think back to the days you were) you would have massive amounts of work/tests due at the same time? And how upon their completion, you would collapse in an exhausted heap for about a week before starting up your studies again? I never got that needed collapse. All I wanted was a break, and it just wouldn't come. I would finish one lump of work only to turn around and have to start the next. Three straight weeks of this madness. I felt like it was AP season all over again (I now see a bunch of you nodding your heads, suddenly understanding what I mean :D). I even had to take a Five-Hour Energy Shot in the middle just to get one of those essays done when my body hit its point of exhaustion. I'd never taken any energy booster before stronger than a Mountain Dew (and even those are in great moderation). I was nervous. I researched it while Cameo and Sue went to buy it for me at midnight. Anxious about the possible niacin flush and wary of the touted 'no crash' promise from the makers, I decided to risk it anyway. I threw it back, and was alert for the next 15 hours, with no flush and no crash. Incredible. Would I use it consistently? No way, I'm still overly-cautious concerning energy drinks of any sort . But is it handy for extreme situations? You bet! I made it through the middle of the MOD, anyway.

And then, suddenly, the light at the end appeared. On Friday I took my statistics test, turned in a rough draft of an essay, and collapsed in my metaphorical heap. Joy to the land, I am free! Spring break has now started! Of course I couldn't relax immediately after as I had to work all weekend, but today I slept in until one, sat on the couch and watched mind-numbing TV, ignored the call of the shower, and have just enjoyed relaxing on our beautiful couches.

Ah, the couches!

My 21st birthday occurred in the middle of week 1 of the MOD. We spent the weekend before in Salt Lake delighting in the company of my family, me trying to ignore the fact that the MOD was about to begin. We saw in the ad for RC Willey a doorbuster on a sofa/loveseat combo for $400. Our previous couch being a DI special sitting on cinder blocks, we decided to use my birthday money and help from the grandparents as method of payment, and stood in line that morning in an attempt to get the seating apparati.

We were successful, and our new couches are beautiful! Great to nap on, too! Thanks to the grandparents for helping us get them, Dad and Kathy for bringing them up to Logan that night, and Heather and Don for helping us move them in. They barely fit in our living room, but I think it makes it cozy...


I am absolutely in love with them. I can't imagine anyone has ever loved an inanimate object as much as I LOVE these couches. A little shallow and worldly of me? Perhaps. But oh, I love them!

On my actual birthday, the whole gang (minus Vienna and Rob, Vienna experiencing her own MOD and Rob having to work) went to Lava Hot Springs. It was so nice to relax, even if it was for just a couple of hours.

Now my spring break has started, and I was finally able to relax again today. Tomorrow Jeff's sister Darcy is coming to visit, and then it is back to business for me. During the MOD I fell despairingly behind in my readings and other tasks that seemed meaningless under the stress my other burdens. Plus I have to turn that rough draft essay into a polished product (and let me assure you, it is no where near being polished. I don't even think it uses complete sentence structure).

I do have one confession to make before I end this post. For any of you upset over the fact that we received a foot and a half of snow in 12 hours, I am the one to blame. I prayed for snow so that I may ski each day of spring break, starting Wednesday. If you are extememly upset, I recommend leaving town. But my snow is here to stay, and I feel as though I deserve it.