Several weeks ago, I was walking back to my dorm with my friend, Kathryn, after seeing a show at the Vortex. While we were walking, Kathryn pointed out some of the buildings she studies in as a Music Performance major, as well as some neat areas on the Fine Arts side of campus. Today's discovery is only sort of new, because Kathryn pointed out a museum (the one I visited today) while we were walking. We didn't know what kind of museum it was, but it seemed interesting. That night, I also noticed a pathway with some "dinosaur bones" that seemed to be a part of an educational something.
When I made the choice to explore campus on Fridays, I already knew of a few places I wanted to explore, one of them being the "dinosaur" path. Today, after English Words and Their Origins, I walked over to the Fine Arts portion of campus and looked around until I came to the said "dinosaur" path, which turned out to be an extension of the museum I mentioned. The Texas Memorial Museum includes exhibits on dinosaurs and fossils, rocks and minerals, Texas wildlife, and evolution. During today's coffee break, I took about 45 minutes to explore all that it had to offer.
I have been checking/watering our window garden first thing when I wake up every day, and I am thrilled to report that it is doing extremely well. For the first time today, every single one of our plants is showing signs of life!!! The sage and parsley finally broke through the soil, the basil is getting slightly taller with a few more shoots, the thyme has been doing well all along, and the cilantro is getting very tall- I would say at least two inches!!! Also, I consulted with a plant specialist today and was relieved to hear that our plants should be able to remain in their precious tin cans and mason jars indefinitely; we just have to change out the soil every once in a while.
With the lecture on the Tudor Dynasty beginning at 1:30, I had to decide whether or not I wanted to go to Astronomy, which begins at 1:00, and miss the lecture or vice versa. We already had one pop quiz in Astronomy this week, so I figured there wouldn't be any extreme consequences for missing the class, but as pop quizzes are open-note and the tests are entirely lecture based, lectures are important. I made up my mind to go to Intro to Theatre (which I have been skipping, but decided to start attending again) and miss Astronomy to go to the lecture. Then I remembered that my Astronomy professor teaches my class at 1:00 and 12:00, so I decided to miss Theatre and go to Astronomy. It was a good thing I went, because we did have a pop quiz today! I guess he wanted to catch all the kids that skipped their classes today to go to ACL.
So, I was able to go to Astronomy and make it to the lecture, which was outstanding! The lecture featured Suzannah Lipscomb, a famous British historian of the Tudor Dynasty and Covenor for History and Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at New College of the Humanities, who has published several books on Henry VIII and the Tudors, in addition to writing several television programs and broadcasting major royal events for the BBC and other networks and radio programs. Whew, with that being said she knows a lot about the Tudors and gave a very interesting and passionate account of their accomplishments and how they played a large role in shaping Great Britain as it is today.
After attending the lecture, which was in the Harry Ransom Center (another campus museum), I decided to check out the museum's current exhibit, Radical Transformation: Magnum Photos Into the Digital Age. A gallery of photos from 1947 on, the exhibit was phenomenal. Photos ranged from depictions of struggles across the world to photos of celebrities and public figures to photos taken strictly for artistic purposes.
All this time dedicated to museum touring left little time for me to work on the paper that was due at 5:00 today. I really only left myself 1 1/2 hours to work on the paper, which turned out to be exactly how much time I needed. I turned it in at 4:54, with six minutes to spare. Why do I do this to myself? I guess it's because I know I can still turn in quality work at the last minute. This may sound ridiculous, but I just know the way I work. If I am working on a paper and it is not what I want to be doing (it never is what I really want to be doing, but there is a scale), I am not going to do my best work. So, if I want to watch an episode of Rizzoli & Isles, that's what I do. Otherwise, I'll be thinking about a show rather than the book or passage I'm supposed to be writing about. Someday, I'll probably learn that I need to get motivated earlier, but until then, my method is working. My heart may be racing as I type so fast I'm not even spelling words, at least not English words, when I have 1 1/2 hours to revise a rough draft, but that's better than having to devote all of my time to writing for the two weeks prior to the due date.
This week has been very stressful, with two tests and a paper due, but today allowed me to relax and appreciate the outdoors, a mocha latte, and most importantly, history. I'm very thankful I was able to take care of all my responsibilities today while having fun learning and enjoying some of the gems of campus.
It's going to be a lonely weekend without Sara, Karen and Kristynn, but I'm looking forward to taking the time to do my laundry (lots and lots of laundry), get my reading done for this week's classes, and relax. Oh and watch Scandal, of course.
Have a great night!
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