Corey has had bad eye sight for a while now, but he wouldn’t get his eyes checked, until a couple of weeks ago, because he didn’t think his eyes were “that” bad.  It turns out his prescription is nearly as strong as mine. Anyway, based on that previous statement, you can probably guess that Corey needs glasses, which he does and got today.

While I was at work, he sent me a picture showing me what he looks like in his new glasses.  Lauren and Guy, two of my co-workers, asked me why Corey was so sad in his picture.  I relayed the message to him.  About five minutes later, he sent me the second photo.

Corey’s really self-conscious about the glasses.  He’s afraid he doesn’t look good in them.  I told him that it’s just because he’s not used to seeing himself in them.  Personally, I think they look nice on him.  They make him look sophisticated, don’t you think?

He’s also having a hard time with the fish bowl effect.  If you wear glasses, you know what he means by that.  It happens to all first-time glasses wearers.  I told him that he just has to get used to having corrective lenses.  At this point, he’s not sure if it was a good idea to have had his eyes checked, even though the world is much sharper and focused now.  (After he picked me up from school, he told me he liked it better when the world seemed softer … blurrier–see pictures below. ) I think he’ll like them more once he gets used to not only how they look, but how they change/improve his vision.

PS–For the record, he said he wasn’t sad in the first picture.  He just doesn’t always smile in pictures.

I’ll be the first to admit, rather shamefully, that I’ve been slacking on my healthy lifestyle over the past couple of months.  There are a couple of reasons I started to slack.  First, it was the holiday season and there was so much temptation around me all the time.  Second, I was frustrated and disenchanted with my efforts because my weight loss has plateaued since mid-August.  As I stated in the post Sweet Success:

My weight loss has plateaued for the last few months, which I know is normal, but it has been a little frustrating.  Because of the plateau, I feel like my resolve has slipped a little bit.  I’m quicker to give into my cravings than I was before.  I still keep within my weekly calorie limit; it’s just that the food I’m choosing to fill that limit with isn’t the best.  I also used to stick to my lower limit, whereas most days, I’m pushing the higher limit as far as it’ll go.

That’s basically how I still feel and what I’m still doing, except that my resolve has slipped even more and I’m not really sticking to my weekly calorie limit anymore.  I’m still trying to eat healthier; I’m just eating more of it.  I know I’ve been in a downward spiral and if I don’t pull up soon, I’m going to crash and burn.  But, with the start of school, I’ve been so busy that I don’t want to worry about what I’m eating too. I also had to quit my sessions with my personal trainer due to financial strain.  (Luckily, walking around campus as much as I have been has kind of evened that out, but I know I could be doing more.)  Honestly, I feel like my entire life is a Catch-22 right now.  No matter how I look at it, something has to give.

As I sit here and type this post and think about what to say, a lot of emotions are going through me: anger, disappointment, shame, resolve, determination, and reluctance.  No matter how I look at the reasons I started slacking, I can only see excuses and I need to quit letting myself down.  I really want to get back on track and I know I can do it.  I did it for almost an entire year last year and I felt so good about myself!  I love being two sizes smaller and I know I’d love being three sizes smaller than I am now. …

Since tomorrow is the anniversary of my original plan, I’m recommitting 100%.  There are a few necessary changes:

1. After work and school on Mondays and Fridays, I will take the time to walk on my treadmill for at least 30 minutes.  If I don’t have too much homework and I have time to walk longer, I will.  Also, I’ll take the time to walk on my treadmill on Saturdays and Sundays.  (I know Sunday is usually my day of rest, but since Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are so busy for me, I’ll take some time on Sunday.  The nice thing is that I can listen to my iPod while I’m walking on my treadmill so I can listen to hymns or a talk by a general authority to help make my walk on Sunday more meaningful.)
2. Unfortunately, I can’t really set a specific time to go to bed because it depends on my homework situation.  However, I’ve been trying to go to bed no later than 10:30 pm.  Otherwise, it’s too hard for me to get up in the morning.  I’ll concentrate on being efficient with my homework so I can get it done as soon as possible and go to bed earlier (preferably around 9:30 pm).
3. I’m going to get up at 5:25 am each workday and be to work by 6:30 am when I should be there, instead of between 6:45 am and 7:00 am.  (I’ll actually be able to take time for a lunch that way.) And, I’m going to get up at 8:00 am on Sunday so I can be to church on time.  I have a little more leeway on Saturdays and I’m going to take it, but I need to not overdo it.  I’ll get up no later than 10:00 am on Saturdays.
4. Eating is a little trickier with my school schedule, but I’ll make it work.  No more bad foods.  (Obviously, I can’t stop completely or I’d end up binging.  But, I can stop having them every day and do better with the “moderation in all things” logic.)  If I have to eat on campus, which may very well happen, I’ll eat at Subway.  Or, I’ll make a sack dinner to take with me to school.  (That mostly depends on time and resources.)
5. I’m going to go to the temple at least once a month.  (I was going every other week, but then Corey and I both got sick and got out of the habit.  Now, life is just too busy to make that kind of commitment.  But, I can commit to once a month.)
6. I’m going to read my scriptures everyday, whether it be in the morning, some time during the day, or before I go to bed.  My Doctrine and Covenants homework doesn’t count because it’s just another class.

I will make this work and I will lose another 30 pounds this year!

I handed in my first essay in ten years last Thursday.  I was very nervous about it because I hadn’t written one in so long and I feel like my creative writing skills have gone kaput.  But, with the help of a few friends and the BYU writing lab, I was able to write a fairly decent essay. Or, at least I thought it was fairly decent.

During the semester, my teacher wants the class to focus on ourselves, meaning, with the exception of my research paper, I’m required to write about me. Normally, I love to write about me as evidenced by my blog.  But, for some reason, an assigned topic about me seems scarier.

For my first essay, I was supposed to narrate an important personal experience.  In that narration, I needed to explain the meaning of the experience and I needed to make the experience real for the reader.  The hardest part for me was trying to pick an experience.  I feel like my life is so boring and that no one wants to read about it.  (It’s kind of ironic that I feel like that since I have a blog. )  I ended up switching my topic because I didn’t think my first topic was very compelling and I thought the second topic fit the purpose of the essay more.

Yesterday, my teacher handed our essays back.  I was surprised at the grade on mine.  It was a B-.  I know a B- isn’t bad, but I wasn’t expecting it.  I knew my essay didn’t deserve an A, but I thought it deserved at least a B or B+.  I’m not disappointed; I’m just shocked.  But, after reading my teacher’s comments, I understand why my essay received the grade it did.

I agree with most of my teacher’s feedback on my essay.  (If you want to read the essay, click the link to view the pdf or click the images to enlarge them.)  However, I think some of his feedback is more preference than an actual need for change.  For example, his first comment is “nutritious?”  Honestly, at that time in Corey’s and my life, nutritious wasn’t a determining factor for food.  That’s why I wrote what I wrote.  Also, he told me to name the item that we were charged for by mistake.  I didn’t remember what it was so I thought I came up with a clever way to refer to it.  Obviously, he didn’t think so.

I think my second essay, which is due tomorrow, will be much better.  First, I know what to expect from my teacher now.  And second, I worked very hard to implement the feedback from this first essay and I think I’ve done a pretty good job.

PS–My teacher said there was one student in the class whose essay was riddled with comma splices.  I’m very proud that he didn’t have to correct my grammar or change my word usage (other than when I called the extra item a stowaway).

Two posts in three days!  It’s almost like my life is back to normal.  I assure you, it’s far from it.

Financial aid is the worst!  Trying to jump through government hoops to get help couldn’t be more complicated.  I’ve been dealing with this forever-long process since last September and I still don’t have financial aid!

When I realized I was going back to school this year, I started the financial aid process.  I handed in my FAFSA application, tax forms, etc.  During this process, Corey and I noticed a large discrepancy on his 2008 tax form.  Corey does our taxes by hand, or I should say by tax software. He was advised to file our taxes separately for 2008, which was the first time since we were married.  He figured it would be a similar process and decided to still do it himself.  (I would’ve done the same thing if I were in his shoes.)  Somehow, my income was not only entered as my income on my taxes, but it was entered as Corey’s income on his taxes too.  Needless to say, that error makes it seem as though Corey and I made double what we actually did.  As you can imagine, that’s not good when you’re trying to apply for financial aid.

When Froyo closed, Corey and I didn’t think I’d make it back to school so I decided to stop pursuing financial aid.  Then, in December, everything worked out for me to go back and I started to process my financial aid again.  At that time, I let the financial aid office know that Corey’s taxes were wrong.  They told me to submit a copy of my W-2 and a letter explaining the situation and everything should be hunky dory.

On December 28, I heard back from the Financial Aid office stating that they couldn’t do anything about Corey’s taxes because legally that’s how they were filed.  That made sense, but I wish the adviser had told me that in the beginning so I didn’t waste two weeks finding it out from someone else. I sent them a message asking what my next course of action was and I asked them if I would still qualify for loans, even unsubsidized ones.  I just heard back from them this week and I still don’t know anything! The person who answered my message didn’t even read it.  They just told me to come in and talk with an adviser to get an overview in the process.  I’ve already talked to an adviser (I mentioned this in my message) and I know the process.  Look where doing those things the first time got me! Absolutely nowhere! Ugh!

At this point, I need to talk to an adviser again and try to get this resolved before March 1 so my financial aid can pay my short-term loan back.  If this doesn’t get resolved, then I may not be continuing past this semester.

I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs, “Can something just please work out with out a lot of falderal?”  I know these experiences are supposed to help us grow and become stronger, better people, but they’re still frustrating, overwhelming, and very discouraging.

I think I’ve only gone more than a week between posts once, maybe twice, in the entire two and a half years I’ve been blogging.  That tells you how busy life is right now!

My typical day starts with me getting up at 5:00 am if I decide to make myself presentable by doing my hair.  Otherwise, I get up around 5:30 am.  I’m at work by 6:30 am and I stay there until no later than 3:15 pm.  My first class–Japanese, which is an everyday class–starts at 4:00 pm.  On Mondays and Fridays, Japanese is my only class.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I also have an English class that goes until 6:30 pm.  And, on Wednesdays, I have my Doctrine and Covenants class until 7:00 pm.  I usually don’t get home until around 7:30 or 8:00 pm.  Then, I do homework until around 10:00 or 10:30 pm and go to bed after that.

I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.  I love class and I love having something to look forward to each day.  Even though I’m not getting much sleep, I’m thriving.

With this being said, however, I wanted a way to simplify my mornings. I want to look presentable but not take the extra 30 minutes to fix my hair.  I almost chopped my hair off last Friday, even though I’ve been growing it out for about a year.  My niece Carlee gave me an alternative style, however, and I love it!

My hair is straight, thick, and coarse.  The only curl I have is just a few waves, if you can even call it that, when my hair air dries.  It’s not enough to look good curly and too much to let my hair air dry and still look nice straight.  But, Carlee cut my hair into choppy layers and then showed me how to scrunch my hair so it has the illusion of being curly.  It takes me literally 5-10 minutes to do!

In the post Coming Up for Air, I mentioned I had bought several school supplies that make me more purple than the Purple People Eater. My sister-in-law Jen suggested I post a picture of me in my purple glory.  I’m always happy to oblige such requests.

You can just barely see the purpleness of my shirt and my backpack.  I’d take another picture that shows them off more, but sadly, this is the last picture that will ever be taken with my digital camera.  Corey accidentally dropped it after said picture was taken and now it won’t work.  It was a very old hand-me-down camera so I think it’s time for a new one anyway.  Hopefully, that’ll be sooner rather than later and luckily, you get the point of my purpleness.

You can also see the awesomeness that is my lefty notebook. (It’s behind the planner.)  I’m not holding it upside down.  The spiral is, indeed, on the right side!

I’m officially a student once again since Monday was the first day of class.  I still hadn’t had a chance to get a backpack or most of my supplies I also needed to get a new student ID card so I can use the library on campus and other such services.  Because of these things, I took the day off of work.

I came away with an implosion-worthy set of supplies.  What does this mean exactly?  Corey told me that when I wear a purple shirt, the universe is going to implode because I have a purple coat and now a purple backpack, pencil, and lefty notebook. (The lefty notebook was the greatest find ever!  I don’t have to worry about trying to write with the spiral jabbing into my hand now.  All you right-handed people don’t know what it’s like to be a lefty living in a right-handed man’s world. )

I’m excited to brush up on Japanese so I can start learning new stuff next year.  The class is a lot of fun and very effective.  On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we’re in the class with a Japanese TA (teacher’s assistant).  We’re only allowed to speak Japanese so we’re exposed to the language more.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we’re in the class with the actual instructor and we discuss grammar, culture, writing, etc.  I’ve forgotten a lot in the last ten years, but surprisingly, I’ve retained a lot too.

My English class is going to be a lot of fun.  We’ll be studying short non-fiction stories and writing stories/papers of our own.  I’m excited to develop my reading comprehension so I can extrapolate more meaning from the things I read.  I’m also excited to develop my writing ability as it’s something I enjoy doing immensely.

The syllabus for my Doctrine and Covenants class looked very daunting at first.  I’ve only taken one religion class that was structured like an actual college course so I wasn’t sure what I was getting into.  I have to take this class to graduate from BYU–it’s actually the only religion requirement I have left–and at first, I wasn’t too excited about it.  However, having gone to the class last night, I think it’ll be a good class.  It’ll be a little different and more structured than the other religion classes I’ve taken, but I think I’ll learn a lot.

This week has been one whirlwind after another as I’m trying to get into the swing of things and trying to juggle school, my full-time job, and life.  (Needless to say, I may not be blogging as much as I used to. ) I have a lot of work ahead of me.  Until last night, I was a little overwhelmed with it all because I wasn’t sure how–I’m still not sure, honestly–I’m going to deal with and get everything done.  However, I think once I get into a routine, I’ll be okay.  It’ll just take some getting used to.  All in all, I’m still excited about being a student again!