research, end of the semester, guilty pleasures

The Friday before last, my wonderful research partner and I presented our research at a poster presentation (not one we had to submit a proposal for, simply one put on by our class that the public was invited to). Here we are.

I was nervous about the poster presentation mostly because our department faculty were all invited, and they know way more about (A) the topic; and (B) researching. Also, our professor informed us that they would ask us really hard questions, especially about the validity of our study. Even though a lot of people came (and it was really hot and loud in that room!), I don't remember getting any really tough questions. Whew. I was pretty glad when it was finished.

That poster (plus an accompanying proposal) was one of two big semester projects. Those wrapped up last week. They are already graded and both were successes. I had my first final exam last Saturday afternoon, one this afternoon, and I have my last one Thursday morning. I already have my grade from my first final -- crazy! That was the class I cared the most about, so I am pleased to know that I did well.

But certainly a procrastinator such as myself hasn't been all work and no play?! Why, of course not! My most recent legitimate source of entertainment has been Dexter. My friends lent the first three seasons to me. I wasn't sure it was for me at first, but I got hooked after watching the second episode. BUT. That kicked off some really bad habits. Habits of watching episode after episode and staying up until 2am. Yikes. So a couple of weeks ago, I promised myself not to start the third season until AT LEAST my projects were finished and possibly finals were done. Now, I did watch one episode last week -- after projects -- but that was only because the internet was down and I couldn't watch ***guilty pleasure alert! admitting it is the first step!*** 16 and Pregnant. Oh man. What am I doing? For some reason one evening I flipped through channels and stopped on the season finale that recaps the stories and gives updates on all the girls and babies. Then, just out of curiosity, I checked mtv.com to see if the episodes were available. They are. I watched one and got hooked. So it has been my guilty pleasure. And since the episodes are not connected to each other and don't leave cliffhangers, I can stop at just one.

Speaking of...