August has pretty much been eaten up by school. There was paperwork, orientation, schedule stakeouts, and then finally actual class. I am taking 14 hours - English, Biology + Lab, Geology + Lab and American History (Post Civil War). It's a Monday-Thursday schedule, and two of the classes I share with Logan. It's been fun so far - no big assignments or anything stressful.

Photo by Quinn

Photo by Quinn. That's me on the couch - Henry thought it would be fun to sleep "next to me" on the table.

Early morning tea. :)

Photo by Quinn - The kale he's been growing in the garden.

August has gone by fast, and the light is already changing as fall creeps up on us. I love fall light, but I'm not looking forward to wearing seven layers. I shouldn't complain, though. Georgia's winters are so warm in comparison to most places in America. 

Media update! Doctor Who begins again TOMORROW. So excited. Also, The Hour (link on sidebar) is an amazing show, I highly recommend it. We started watching Prime Suspect... undecided as of right now. I think it'll prove to be good. 

Hopefully my cold/sinus infection will be better by Monday... I hate thinking that I'm spreading my sickness to all the other students. :( Already got my biology lab partner sick. On a sidenote - I've gotten good grades in all my quizzes so far! :)

I'll try to take pictures more often - been slacking in that department. September always inspires me though, it is my favorite month for photography. 

Have a lovely weekend!

- caroline

a taste of the last four days

This weekend I'm taking the SAT. I haven't studied for it since I took the online practice test. I know it's not smart of me. Regardless, the whole test ticks me off and I can't bring myself to spend time thinking about it/studying for it. We'll see how that goes. 

More interestingly, the Red Dress Boutique summer fashion shoot is on Sunday and it's going to be awesome. Logan, Erin & I spent hours picking out clothes today for the shoot. Hehe, I can't wait to start designing the lookboooook. 

Now for some Justified. :) 

Goodnight,

- caroline

focus

I finally faced up to the SAT today. Well, not the real thing. College Board has a really nice SAT website with practice tests and the like. So after practice questions in each subject, I took the real practice test. I hesitated to share my result, but then thought, what the heck. It's not like I've bragged to be a genius or anything.

My first practice test score is 1820, as seen on the calculator in the pic. Or at least, that is the sum of the three test subjects? 660 in Reading, 690 in Writing, 470 in Math. Yes, 470. I know that is not good, however little I may know about the other scores. 

So... time for brushin' up on my sums. (So maybe Lark Rise to Candleford is rubbing off on me....) It was on my list of goals anyway. I shouldn't be so depressed about it - I was confident that I had absorbed very little applicable math skills in my algebra cramming sessions. I mean, I did remember some, thanks largely in part to Erin. I did get some questions right, and whatnot, but it just doesn't flow easily. So I'm going to practice more, but without the pressure of graduation being at stake.

How nice would it be to just easily solve mathematical problems? I love it when my brain works cohesively, when I can look at an algebra problem and go: hey, I know what to do with this. 

So that is what I did today, and it made me unreasonably mopey. But seeing as my cure-all is TV, Drop Dead Diva made me feel better. Hehe. I know, it's a silly show, but I can't help but like its supremely happy actors and general light-heartedness.

If you have any advice for me on taking the SAT or comments on my score and how high it should actually be, let me know. I'm pretty clueless. :P

Nighty night,

- caroline

the last exams

So I'm finished with high school. Wow. This is crazy! I'm not going to lie - I wasn't happy that I couldn't finish by the end of 2010. Now I have finished months after my projected graduation date. It's a bit of a bummer for me, because it was a personal challenge to finish last year, and I failed.

The last four years of school have been sporadic. It's a strange feeling, when you are responsible for your own education. You are in charge of your own timeline, of handling your own learning curve, of reaching your own deadlines. There is no one to piss you off but yourself. You can't blame some crappy teacher for your bad grades, or your classmates for distracting you, or your early morning classes for not being able to concentrate.

I guess I'm pretty proud of having taught myself. I know that many others doing correspondence school have gotten better grades and finished in half the time. But I don't know their stories, I just know that I managed my high school education the best I could, in my own way. And I had to break that time up with work and projects (and, I'm not going to lie: TV) - I'm not the kind of person who can do homework everyday. Therefore, I had lots of breaks during the four years - I have gone months without picking up an academic book. But it was always there in the back of my mind... You should be doing homewoooooork. And now? Heh heh. No more voice. Though I'll probably sit down at my dest and do phantom homework, out of habit. Yes, yes, I think I can still feel the pages in my hands...

I still can't believe that American School thinks it's a-okay to avoid essay writing. This is the first real, more than half-a-page essay that I have had to write. It ended up being the last exam that I finished. And it looks so legit, doesn't it? We shall see if they think so. :)

Well, I felt like I should blog this before the moment was over, for the sake of documentation. Also, I don't want to sit at my desk for any extended period of time unless absolutely necessary. I will be blogging tonight, though!! I have some lovely after-the-storm images.

Anyway, thanks for everyone who helped me finish school! Especially Erin. I would be graduating in 2013 if it wasn't for her! <3 Thank you so much for all the help and for letting me board in your house for months. They are some of my best memories. Also thank you, Mom, for letting me slack off on chores and babysitting and for watching TV all alone so that I could finish up!

Hehe. I'm going to be giggling for a few days, I'm sure. Oh! I'm done with homework. Hehe. Guess what? No more homework. Hehehe.

See you later, maybe at my graduation party!
Lots of love and happiness,
- caroline

l'omelette

This post is dedicated to Logan, because now I can make omelettes that I actually enjoy eating! It really took me long enough to stop and watch how its done, but now I have one almost every morning, and not just when I'm at Logan's. So thank you! :) 

There is something I've noticed about taking pictures of food: it forces you to make pretty food. I wasn't going to put spinach or peppers in my omelette this morning. But how pretty is that! So I had to, and it was all the yummier for it.

Okay, this cheese is called Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar and its from Trader Joe's. If you go there, make sure and pick up a chunk, because it is amazing cheese. Sooo good.

The picture on the right is my bathroom window, which I really love, and since I had nothing to pair with the omelette... ;) Okay, now for Jane Eyre. Seriously.

Wish me luck!

- caroline

school is almost over

Guess what I should be doing right now? Yeah, it's not blogging. BUT! I am officially finished with French - it's a bittersweet celebration, because I really loved French, and now there is nothing to keep me learning. I should go find some French classes.

I am at TWO exams left to go and I really should be reading Jane Eyre. Which I love, by the way, it is such a fun narrative. Despite being all rigid and moral, Jane is a really imaginative character, and of course, Rochester... Mmm.

The summer clothes are out, and I got rid of a HUGE trash bag full of clothes. Now I have a reasonable amount of clothes - and bought these three new tanks! Aren't they cute? 

Okay, one last post to go. :)

new lens

Hello, people! Been awhile since I lasted updated my blog, unfortunately. However, there were a few cool days this week and that triggered my blogging drive. I was without a lens for a while, since I never actually owned one. I've been borrowing... But I decided to buy one - a Canon 50mm f/1.4. It's nice for the money, I'm enjoying it.

This one of my favorite pics I have taken in awhile:

Me and Henry have started a game in the sandbox. We make various baked goods out of sand, put them in the "oven," which we turn on by spinning the sand wheel toy. Then, when they are "ding-ding-ding" done, we scoop them out with a Candy Land playing card and gobble them up like Cookie Monster. :) He's making cookie dough in these pics:
Doesn't he look so grown up?! Gosh. I'm sure he wanted me to stop taking pics ("uh-uh-uh" meaning "up," which means "stop what your doing and follow me!")

Now that I have a lens of my own, I am planning on taking pics everyday, at least a few. We shall see. My ultimate goals for my pics? Making books. Also want to experiment with film... I took most of a roll when we set out on a picnic the other day - gonna develop it and see if any of it turned out worth a darn. :)

Also, for those of you wondering, I did not finish up my school in time for my deadline. It makes me feel pretty disappointed with myself, but I guessed I tried as hard as I could try. Half of me doesn't give a care about school or college, not even a cent, but the other half wants to progress. I guess college is the next step in our society, isn't it? Peers and "education" and putting time into degrees that, in all likelihood, won't be utilized. I guess I should try it before take it from my list of Things That Feel Useless, to my list of Things That Are Useless (For Me, Anyway).

Psh. And all I ever wanted to do was work on a Starship as a sexy half-Borg or a Helmsman. That always seemed like fun.

doves

I spend the majority of my time in my room. That's not a complaint. I love my room, but sometimes, especially on days like this, when the sky is a dull gray and halfheartedly drizzling, when I'm forced to wear three shirts and use a room heater... Meh.

Today I looked over and saw that there were two doves on the roof outside my window. They were there for a good long time before I finally got up and took pictures. They were all fluffed up and trying to block out the stupid weather like me.

Because I'm really silly, I shot the first ten pics on 16 aperture. o.o That's why you can see the bloody screen.


And then, ahhhh, 2.5 aperture, screen removed...

The one on the left spotted me from the beginning. She decided she'd had enough invasion of her privacy and flew away. I want to get under a comforter and watch Northern Exposure. But school and work is calling me... Speaking of which, my last box from American School came a few days ago:

Chemistry and World Literature. I've got about six courses going right now... And then, bye-bye you dumb Century of Excellence in Education. I will not miss you and you're impossible perforated exam pages that refuse to tear cleanly.

Anyway, tomorrow's weather is supposed to be delightful, so that's something to look forward to, besides watching TV tonight, that is. ^-^