Several Notes from the Weekend
Last Friday marked the beginning of Finals for the semester. I think everybody around me deals with the stress and pressure to preform that finals puts on a person. I have my quirks, but mainly I try to avoid the situation all together. I have played a lot of violent video games in order to vent some of the stress. I really like to play First Person Shooters (FPS) because really it is something to do, and it doesn't take too much time to play a few rounds before going back to studying.
I normally vent out frustration by playing a good Real Time Strategy (RTS) or work on a character in WOW, a Role-Playing Game (RPG). But in playing WoW, I have found myself not being able to adhere to the pre-set notion of an hour while playing the game. It is too easy to say, just five more minutes to finish this quest or to get this item, and then several hours later you realize the error of your ways.
Then with RTS that I play, if I am unwilling to commit to a good 2 to 3 hour sit down, the entire strategizing that I normally go for is out the window and I am left with something that is to me less enjoyable. I like to strategize and plan out attacks not rush and conquer.
So I relinquish myself to either the puzzle games or FPS games. I dont want to have to think more than needed so I dont want to sit and get frustrated with the puzzles like Sudoku or Bejewelled that I can sit and play for hours. I'll tend to play an FPS, preferably Halo for fast paced action or Ghost Recon for a slower strategic battle.
Friday it was all about Ghost Recon. I have taking a liking to the game series and to play a quick mission with set objectives becomes fun. It is in its own way relaxing. So with a group of guys that live near where I do, we have been playing GR2 for a better part of the school year for an hour at a time. This weekend was no different. I showed up and played for a bit just to unwind and then went back to studying.
With having a small number of finals to take and having an innate knack for doing seemingly well on most subjects with minimal study, I found that it has been hard concentrating on a particular subject longer than an hour or so before needing a break. I seem to go batty at times working on some of the preparation for finals.
Saturday I ended heading up to my brother's [Jared] house so that I could end up tending my niece for a couple hours Sunday night. Saturday night I spent two or so hours working on understanding logistical regression and the diagnostics and remedial measures that can be done. I think I am more confused at that now then I was before hand.
I woke up Sunday morning to unpack clean and get ready to use my new Mixer. I bought myself a nice KitchenAid Mixer in Dark Pewter. I had gotten a nice recipe from my sister [Rebecca] in Georgia for a chewy oatmeal cookie that she had used a few times as a base for a cookie dubbed "Suicide by Oatmeal" which contains all my favorite flavors of chips that a cookie could have. SBO normally contains Milk Chocolate Chips, White Chocolate, Butterscotch, Peanut Butter, and it seems like something else as well.
I had wanted to try out the mixer so I planned on making SBO but couldnt find in Jared's freezer the other chips, had to settle for plan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. They turned out pretty good in my book, as I was able to make close to 9 dozen or so cookies. I should have plenty for a feel good treat for the remainder of the week.
Sunday evening I ended up tending Cadence [the niece] for a little over two hours which was fun. She and I basically watched a TV and played with whatever toy she thought looked fun. It wasnt too bad. We ended up getting along just well.
Once getting home I packed my brother's car with my tools that had been at his house for a better portion of a year so I can start using them on a couple side projects I have going here in Provo. I arrived back in Provo about ten-ish at night, which is to say in time to do nothing really.