Tomorrow is "the day." The campus is crawling with security, compared to normal. It's not just campus security but I've seen local police and highway patrol. (Most of which fall into the 'hot' category fortunately.)

I overheard a conversation in the cafeteria that mirrored my complaint about how I heard about this event. A kid was talking to some guy who must be administration or a teacher or something. The kid essentially said something about it being scribbles on the wall. The other dude told him that it was much more serious and the content of the message and, if I overheard correctly (which I might not have), there was artwork involved as well. The look on the kid's face was total shock. I didn't really hear the rest of it but I know the other dude told him the deal about it being okay to not go to classes tomorrow if he feels uncomfortable. I'm curious as to how many students will be around.

I forget if I mentioned this but last Thursday there was a meeting with the administration over "the day" and they talked about what they were doing to deal with it. We could write down questions and I wrote down the one I had about why I heard about the seriousness of "the day" through LJ and not from them. Mine happened to be the first one they answered. The woman who is in charge of writing press releases missed my point completely. She really thought she'd done a good job letting us all know about the "racial slur." To the point that I think my question hurt her feelings. I can only assume this is the first time she's dealt with something like this. A death threat is so much more serious than a racial slur. I can only hope this is the only time she has to deal with crap like this. Shouldn't be happening at all. Anyway, listening to the conversation between the two guys just emphasized that I'm not being picky and that I have a right to be annoyed.

I have to say I'm leaning toward nothing happened. This message was written on a Friday night ans was found around 1AM. It's highly possible that some kid got drunk. I'm a little worried only because I wonder how I'd react if I were in the middle of something. Would I keep my head on? Would I see someone else cry and become stereotypical girl? Would I get pissed off, be dumb and try to play hero? I've been in hairy situations where I'm the one who had to break up the fight or chase off the bad man who wants a piece of the female I'm with and I handled it well. That was a long time ago though and over the last few years of being in school, I don't handle stress as well as I used to. Then again, the thing about school that caused the stress is over. Maybe the old, non-psychotic me is coming back? Maybe I'd be the level headed one again?

Something else that has come up in conversations, including a very eye opening one this morning during 7AM Fit, is how badly do I want to be a law enforcement ranger? If I went through academy, it's possible that I'd have to deal with a real, live situation like "the day." Do I want to be in a job where I might have to kill someone? Or I have to go into a school to confront a shooter and have to step over dead bodies, or dying bodies clutching at my legs and begging for help? Mr. R of 7AM Fit said that he went through a training exercise around the time of Columbine (I think, or sometime after) with experienced officers and most of them didn't handle it well at all. Allegedly one guy wet himself when he came in contact with the fake-perp (played by Mr. R). Yeah, I can pull apart a fight but guns? Explosions? Hostage situations? Do I want to do that? Can I handle it? Definitely something to think about. I wasn't planning on doing academy till next winter (maybe, depending on physical condition) so I have some time to give this good consideration.

Okay, time to go. I have a test in a 1/2 hour. Later.
Amy

Pearl of Wisdom:
-Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all
the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." - Rumi

This weekend turned out really good. Missed dinner with my friend on Friday but we got together Saturday (after Mom and I did the winter hike at 3 Creeks Metro Park) and abused Chipotle. She and I then abused Zencha Tea Salon, got our hair colored, and then went off to see some other wonderful people who visited from out of town. We had a good time.

This morning, after a close call with falling back asleep after the alarm went off, I went off to 7AM Fitness and found we were going to do a "check" on our progress. Since we are all, in theory, wanting to attend Ranger Academy, there are 3 basic things we need to be able to do: a certain amount of push-ups, a certain amount of sit-ups and run 1.5 miles in a certain amount of time. Depending on your age and sex, the amounts will be different. This was my "starting" point as I've not been assessed before but I can see that I've made improvements in the last 3.5 weeks. Running is happening tomorrow BTW.

-I was able to do 8 regulation sit-ups. Before I was able to do 3.
-I was able to do 3 regulation push-ups. Before I couldn't complete 1.
-I was able to follow with 14 more "girly" push-ups for a total of 17. Previously, I couldn't do more than 10 "girly" push-ups.

We'll see how running goes tomorrow. My knees haven't allowed me to do more than 3 laps and 1 mile = 15 laps. I'm planning on showing up really early so I can walk for a while. It takes my muscles a while to warm up. Longer than they should actually. The good news is that ultimately, I'd have to do my 1.5 laps in 15 minutes. Honestly, that's not bad and I should be able to beat that once I get my weight down and my endurance up. I think it's time to push myself harder. Haven't integrated the squats/lunges nor the first thing in the morning sit-ups & push-ups. It's time.

Peace out, bitches!
Amy

Pearls of Wisdom:
-Nothing like anger to get your butt outta bed at 4:30AM and getting you to charge forth into the day. - Me

I'm happy I have my own room. I noticed yesterday that my dorm is no longer "the dorm" in my vocabulary. It's become "home." I know I'm happy where I'm at when I can call it home. However, I seemed to have moved onto a noisy floor. It's like I can't win. Friday and Saturday night I was kept up with bizarre dreams that were crossing Facebook applications with forestry and the like. Last night, I felt like I'd finally settled down and I went to bed at a good hour only to be woken up 3 times. Finally, at 4:30 (alarm was set to 5:30) I just thought screw it and got up.

The annoyance and anger drove me through 7AM fitness (made some serious improvements over the last week and a half), and got me till about noon when I started to crash. I'm still holding out but I'm pooped. I think I'm going to attempt to go to bed in about 15 minutes here. I took an allergy pill to see if that will help me sleep.

I finally caught up on my tree ID flash cards. I have 41 trees, shrubs and vines to remember as of now. Our first quiz is on Thursday. I've not really studied beyond making the cards. I might be able to pull off the common names fairly well but the scientific names will be rough. I also have my first exam in wildlife ID and it's kinda the same deal. That one is on Wednesday so it's a priority when I study tomorrow night. I never was a good studier.

I stuck around "home" tonight instead of going to the gym like I've been doing. I'm tired as mentioned above. The stinker part is that I've only managed to catch about 11,000 steps today on the pedometer instead of my usual 15,000. (Fitness experts say you should get 10,000 steps a day so I'm good.)

Tomorrow, besides studying and wracking my brain through GIS class, I'm going to go on a hike again. I am supposed to follow a map and some compass directions to a certain point and sign my name in a notebook. I went up there Saturday and couldn't find it. I'm still not quite sure if I was in the wrong place or if I was in the right place and the box with the notebook got moved. Apparently I had been moved at some point according to our lecturer. From what people were describing, I think I was in the right spot. I also rechecked my directions and my map topography and I should have been there. Anyway, I need to go back up there and find it so I can get credit for this assignment. The climb up the last hill is a killer, lemme tell you.

Okay, it's 8:30. Time for bed. Night night. Wish me luck in sleeping. Quiet hours don't start for about an hour or so. :P

Amy