Get in shape girl!....tomorrow...no today!

Okay so yesterday I was so pumped about a newly organized life where I'd fill every ounce of time with productivity. I'd get up early and use every ounce of daylight for good. Yep I was pretty excited about life. So excited that it was hard to fall asleep last night. I was thinking of all the good things I was going to be involved in. It kind of felt like Christmas Eve! Well friends, it was no jolly Christmas morning. The only gift I got was from Mother Nature. Yes, all that previous excitement went straight down the tube when I rolled over to turn my alarm clock off and felt the cramps eeking their way into my body. All I wanted to do was stay in bed. But I braved the day! I was actually more productive than most days in the past, but still wasn't as effective as I would've liked to be. But hey, I'm giving myself a pat on the back anyways. I feel pretty good for doing as much as I did while feeling like a bloated cow who just wanted to go home, get in her pjs, grab a gallon of ice-cream, and watch a sappy chick flick. Because of the simple fact that I didn't give into temptation and kept my focus primarily on schoolwork, I'll consider it a productive day.

In relation to this dilemma, I realized that life is ALWAYS going to throw you crazy curve balls, whether they be random or monthly occurrences. Because of this, it's easy to criticize yourself and say you "just didn't do enough today" because you maybe didn't accomplish all the things that you had previously scheduled. I once was a pro at this...a few years back I used to write out huge/highly unrealistic to-do lists of all the things I wanted to accomplish in a certain period of time. Obviously I could never finish them all. Either something would distract me from doing them or I would just get intimidated with the overwhelming demand that I had voluntarily placed on myself; I would avoid it because I knew I couldn't do it all so why even try? and that would leave me feeling like a complete failure. If any of you are guilty of this, STOP IT! It is so unrealistic, unfair to yourself, and actually less productive.

But at the same time, don't jump to the other extreme of not setting any goals or forming lists of some sort. How the heck would we ever progress if we didn't push ourselves every now and then? So that's why I suggest forming a small list of To-Do's. If your list is over ten things, shave it in half. Right now I'm focusing on six specific goals I want to work on at least 5 days a week. I'd like to do all six every day, but knowing myself and my history, I realize that some days just aren't going to allow that. So for now, if I get at least 3 of the 6 done in a day, I will consider it a good and productive day. Once I get comfortable with doing any 3 everyday and the idea has developed into a habit, I can then proceed to bumping it up to 4 a day, etc.

So yes, today was in fact productive because I accomplished three things on my pick-six list. I feel pretty satisfied and yes I'm still excited about life! Although I really could go for some ice-cream right now...

Stay tuned...for awesomeness

So I know we've all been awaiting this...Yes, my life is about to get really cool. Just to list off a few things: deer hunt, California for Fall Break, Cancun, possible spring break trip, and then an amazing trip in May. This will be the mother of all cool trips. And I'm not handing out the details just yet. Otherwise my "stay tuned" title wouldn't be very applicable. So get ready! This blog is about to actually get kinda interesting.

Oh and I had a pretty good week too. I'm finally getting into the rhythm of school. For the most part. I had three midterms this week which I believe all went fairly well. Taking the Bio exam was pretty fun due to the fact that one of the students buckled under the pressure and ran out of the room bawling her eyes out. Sad. But fairly entertaining as well. She was one of those girls who has drama written all over her face. So that makes it okay to laugh.

Oh and this guy at the library tried to get my phone number but by the time we were at that point of the conversation, he had already given himself 7 strikes so obviously I turned him down.
It was a good self-esteem boost for the day though cuz I felt like crap. So thank you random stranger for making me feel that although I wasn't on top of my game, I was still attractive to some. Even if they are acid-partiers who plan to join the peace corps because they have no idea what else to do with their life.

Last Saturday I went and shot guns for a ward activity. We blew up an old TV and a watermelon. That was cool. After that, we drove clear back from the West side of the Salt Lake and headed up to Park City for another activity. Yeah crazy I know. I, Ashley Robison, went to not only one single's ward activity, but two! On the same day! Just a brief history tip: In past wards, it was a miracle for me to make it to two activities in the same semester. But yeah it was pretty fun. We rode a ski lift which I was kinda scared about. Obviously I survived. And we did a little hike up to a 'lake' that had the similar resemblance to a slightly oversized puddle. I think it's crowd limit was three tadpoles and a couple ducks...Ah heck, I can't complain too much though. It was so nice to be up in the mountains. And I wasn't even scared about mountain lions or bears or anything!....okay I lied. I was just a LITTLE concerned for my well-being. But not the usual paranoid freak. Let's call it a bit of progress, eh?

Just keep swimmin' just keep swimmin'

Okay so school is startin to get a little overwhelming. I'm catching up in a few classes but strange as it may seem, that means I'm falling further behind in others. But it's all good. I think we're making a little progress here and there. I really do enjoy most of my classes and I'm learning some really cool stuff. Although, there is this one class that is becoming more and more irritating all the time. It's called Study Resources and is required for the Anthropology major. Basically it's just a stupid little one credit class nightmare that I consider a waste of my time, money, and energy. Let me make this clear...I HAAATE this class!!!
But don't get me wrong. It could be very useful for some....like scared and stupid little freshman. But you know, for us more 'advanced' and 'mature' students it's more of a burden then a benefit. Seriously, it's bad. Luckily it comes around only once a week. Sad to say one of those horrific occurances was today.

The class is sort of taught by the Anthropology head of faculty and I tell ya what, she is a piece of work. I don't mean to be rude, but she looks a lot like a cross between Ezma from the fabulous flick The Emperor's New Groove (omitting the purple hue) and one of the skeletal structures from the forensics classroom. She always complains about how the Anthropology Department never gets any funding from the U and I pretty much believe it because it looks like the woman hasn't been able to afford groceries for the past year and a half. I guess all she can get by with is her hippie sandles, nasty sleeveless tops, and a Clif bar every now and then. And I'm sorry but she just wasn't meant to teach a class of college students. She is rather disorganized and has handwriting no better than a ten year old boy.

What I'm really getting at is class was pretty rough today. She spent 45 horrendous minutes talking about study habits. Sure this kind of stuff would be useful but the criteria was so elementary it almost brought me to tears. I wouldn't have been surprised if she pulled out the alphabet and had us recite it all together. The class was drier than Flowell dirt after a windstorm. And I had just gotten out of my Biology class before so while she's blabbing on and on I'm thinking to myself..."I bet a deer could die, decompose, develop back into basic nutrients, grow into bacteria, photosynthesize and become a flower at a faster rate then this class is going..." The whole process of Life could probably come and go before she'd even got her first point across.

I think you get my drift. This class is kind of lame. I'm sure I'll find a way to survive though. :)