Christmastime

 I have been done with college for a week now, and theoretically, that means I have more time. HA. Time still keeps slipping away. I am still working full time, which means that I have tons to say, but no energy to write all out. I haven't been shooting much due to time, and daylight comes and goes when I am at work.

I would feel awful about missing the sunrises and sunsets, but for the most part, the sunsets have not been as spectacular as I was hoping for. The sunrises have been lovely, and I have made it to the beach for a couple, and a couple I sat at home and watched because of how chilly it was outside.

I am not sure how much I will be working in January. I want to work as much as possible for the money, but a break would be nice. Right now, work is in the Christmas nightmare, so I work later than usual, but the day goes by quickly.

Like I mentioned, I am finished with school. I have been done for a week, and finally got one grade in - an A-. That was for the class I was not concerned about. The class I am concerned about, the professor claims she will have grades done by tomorrow evening. The final was brutal for that class. I got a 75% on it, but it will be graded on a curve. The professor has been really, really behind on the gradebook all semester, and she assigned a ton of work, so that didn't help her keep up. So she posted a bunch of things to it yesterday, and then told us not to panic, because the grading was incomplete. My score was a 61%! BAH. I need a 71% to pass for my degree. So I'm praying that the curved exam and the assignments she has not graded yet bump it up!!

IF I get a C or above in that class....I will have completed my bachelor's degree......I will post more on that when I know more....

Court system rant commencing....
In other frustrations, I have had jury duty for the month of December. I hate jury duty. The last time I had it, a year and a half ago, it was a nightmare getting there, due to having the biggest blizzard in 20 years the day previously. I was excused before I could be questioned. A week later, I was called in again, and this time, I was lucky enough to be questioned. It was a drunk driving case, and I pleaded bias, basically due to a family drunk driving accident. I was excused.

 A year later, I was scheduled again, and rescheduled for December.

December, it looked like it would be homefree. The first two weeks, no one was called in at all. On Tuesday, the first 80 people were called in at 1pm, and then sent home 20 minutes later with no explanation. Wednesday morning, 100 of us were called in at 8:30am. I was not happy to be waking up early on my day off, but I was also happy to not be missing work for it. I almost fell asleep from the monotony of waiting before the judge finally walked in at 10am. Once again, I got called up to be questioned, and once again, it was a drunk driving case. I again pleaded my bias, and I was excused.

I narrowly escaped yesterday. Several jurors had to call in at 10am and had to report at 1pm. Come on! Who can leave work in the middle of the day like that? And then, to top it all off, they also got sent home shortly after coming in. I have not received instructions about calling in next, but I am dreading it.

I have discovered how jaded I am to the US court system because of these two months. I took business law a few years back, and found the process to be incredibly fascinating and enlightening, but also frustrating in some ways. I have come to the conclusion how much I hate drunk driving cases, and consider them to be a waste of everyone's time. I don't care where or if you drink, just don't get behind the wheel and endanger everyone on the road!

ANYWAY. End rant.


 I have my Christmas shopping finished. It's all wrapped except for two presents. Christmas cards went out yesterday. I'm ready!! It's been fun to be in a more spacial place to decorate. I wanted to buy a bigger tree this year, but have been thwarted by out of stock, and C's protests :)

Our weather this year has been really bizarre. Fall came late, winter seemed to be dragging its feet as well, but then it hit with a vengeance. The first few weeks of November, we had freezing temperatures, most under 20F and a lot hovering around 0-10F. The week after Thanksgiving, it warmed up very quickly, resulting in rain, sloppy snow and treacherous parking lots. That is how it has been since. A slushy downpour, that freezes. It currently is 36F and supposed to snow this morning. The skies have been almost perpetually cloudy for weeks. Sometimes the morning clears up a bit bringing the nice sunrises, and for sunset it clears a little. We've had several days where the sun never tries to peek out and it remains gloomy and dark all day.

We had a nice Thanksgiving. It was really busy, like it always is, with two sets of family, and having to drive a half hour both ways. But we made it work yet again, and were happier for it.

So that's what's been happening :)