Ryan

Okay, I'm terrible at keeping this thing updated during school. But! Spring break - huzzah! I'm going to sleep in hardcore tomorrow before I think about doing absolutely anything else. That is all.

You might get a post from me tomorrow...whenever I decided to get out of bed, that is. :)

So, I went to the dentist office again to get the weak spot in my enamel repaired. It didn't take very long (maybe ten minutes, tops), and after I left there I made a Target run because I was running low on deodorant and I needed to buy new folders, notebooks, etc. for the new semester. I'm going to try out legal pads for my notes, since I never seem to stay interested in what I'm writing down when it's black ink on white paper. We'll see how this works for me. I'm just trying to find what works for me best as far as studying, etc. goes.

In other news, Lyndsey and I are going to the hospital tomorrow afternoon to visit one of our high school classmates who has cystic fibrosis. She's having a rough winter and the doctors found some pneumonia spots in her lungs, which is very serious for a CF patient. I hope everything goes well for her, but we at least want to go show our support while she's in the hospital trying to get over all this terrible junk.

This is a list of all the albums I listened to for the first time in 2011. I've listed everything after Christmas 2010 (because I associate all of my winter break music together in my mind).

January
Andrew Belle :: All Those Pretty Lights
Andrew Belle :: The Ladder
Kanye West :: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Belle and Sebastian :: Write About Love

January

Started my last semester of high school. Did my favorite thing ever in AP Bio: dissection! My partner and I had a rat while the other two pairs had fetal pigs. Started one of my least favorite classes ever: General Psychology. Did an overnight visit at Hendrix to confirm that it was the right school for me. Received a gently-used iMac from seishun and her aunt, which boosted my writing productivity for a while and served as a gateway drug into the Mac world. :)

February

Became a legal adult. Had a rare Arkansas snow day! Had to go to UAFS to be in class on campus because our high school was out for staff development, which gave me a taste of what it would be like to go to UAFS full time. Went to Hendrix yet again for scholarship recognition day. Had an awesome birthday lunch with friends at my favorite restaurant and the best cake EVER. My last remaining great-grandmother passed away.

March

This is where my DW/LJ started getting really sparse. XD Had a random mini-roadtrip to Russellville with my friend Kari to go see Kortney and see Alice in Wonderland with her. Found out I was getting a significant grant from the government. Had spring break, over which I had to work on this massive psychology paper which was the devil incarnate. Started getting that "omg I'm going to graduate" feeling. Went to Russellville again to see OneRepublic in concert.

April

I'm not really sure what happened here? I did not update my journals at all during this time period. I guess more school, etc., happened. My life was so busy during this time period. It was homework out the wazoo with the occasional friend time. I guess there's not really anything to say there. Oh wait, I know! I received the Arkansas Governor's Distinguished Scholarship, which guaranteed me a free scholarship to Hendrix.

May

Had my last days of high school. Managed to pull a 95 in that stupid college psychology class! Graduated, which involved giving a valedictory address and wearing ridiculous robes, a rope, stoll, etc. Bought my MacBook Pro the day after graduation. The day after that, I started working at Educatius, which turned out to be the best first job anyone could ask for. I love my job so much. Bought tickets to see Lady Gaga (see below, August). Tied up the loose ends at UAFS (having my transcript sent to Hendrix, etc.).

June

Started working forty hours a week and getting used to my job. Had some health scares with a swollen lymph node that, thankfully, turned out to be benign after several tests and a course of antibiotics. Tried to pre-order the iPhone 4, which just frustrated me because it wasn't available in white. The same day, I went to the AT&T store and bought a white iPhone 3GS because I wanted a white phone that badly. XD Went on my first grown-up weekend vacation with some close friends. It was so much fun. :)

July

More work. Story of my life in July. A couple of workers came and went, so I had to take on extra responsibilities and learn to do several jobs at once. Mom and I started doing a bit of dorm shopping. We received contact information for our roommates. Hung out with friends in my spare time, made a lot of good memories. I remember July going by really quickly!

August

Went to the Lady Gaga concert in Kansas City, which was amazing and there are not enough words to describe the awesome. I had my last days of work for the summer, which was both sad and relieving at the same time. Then came the biggest transition in my life: moving to college! I was pretty nervous, but everything went extremely well and I made the best friends I've ever had. Everything felt right and the whole thing just fell into place.

September

Settled into college life. So much busy! Got used to the stress that is chem lab, and struggled with calculus. Got to meet the author Jeannette Walls, and had her sign my book, as well as talked to her about writing software. :) At this point, I was going home either every weekend or every other weekend. Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice both started new seasons, which I had to adjust to watching away from home (but let's be real, they're still so awesome).

October

Had fall break, but the thing about that was that all our midterms were after fall break, so I had to study that weekend. Got a bunch of stuff done while home for fall break, including ordering new glasses, a new retainer, and got my savings account transferred into my name only (I had a minor account previously). Celebrated several friends' birthdays, as well as Halloween festivities (college-style!).

November

Got settled to the point where I didn't really want to go home anymore. I just started missing my friends too much and loved being at Hendrix even more than I already had. Started the downhill slope to the end of the semester! Had Thanksgiving break, which was a nice little respite from the madness that was starting academically.

December

Wrapped up things at school. Last day of lab, studying for finals, etc. Went home one Saturday early in the morning and came back the same day in order to put up Christmas decorations and go to my sister's birthday party. XD (I was up for almost 48 hours straight.) Managed to do decently in all my classes. Started the winter break (which has been fun, but I miss my friends so much. I have, however, really enjoyed getting to spend time with my family like old times. I'm just really ready to get back to school, kick butt in the classroom and lab, and get back into a regular routine again.). The most important part of the month, of course, was Christmas. :D My obsession with Christmas is far-reaching. Rang in the new year with some friends just like last year.

So 2010 was a really busy, awesome year! My life changed a lot and I'm so grateful for the friends I've made and all the good experiences at Hendrix so far. I look forward to 2011 with anticipation and hope for an even better semester. :)

Also, this post is late, yes. I actually plan on updating more often, but I at least wanted to do this post for tradition's sake.

Well, I made it through another Wednesday! We had a Journeys exam this morning at 9, then I had a Short Fiction exam at 12 (I had classes at 8 and 10, also). You would think that would be enough stress for one day, but no: I had lab after all that. The bright side of lab today was that we got out early and my report from last week got a 100%! I think I did pretty well on my exams earlier, also, so this day is looking up. I have two exams on Friday, also, but I'm trying to not think about those right now. :)

I plan to waste as much time as possible today doing non-productive things, to reward myself for doing well earlier. That should start with some Oreos... But I do plan to workout tonight, so at least there's that.

I swear that weekend almost didn't exist. I went home Friday evening, and the reason for the trip home this weekend was that two of my friends had their birthday parties on Saturday. Because of those, I didn't get around to any of my mountain of homework until Sunday. I decided to stay at home Sunday night, because if I had gone back to school then, there's no way I was going to get any studying done. Therefore, I got up at 4:00 am today and left my town at 5:00. >_> My friend Kacey rode with me (she goes to school at a Baptist college near Hendrix) and it actually worked really well. Once I got to campus, I was all awake and alert for my 8:00 am chemistry test (for which I had spent the majority of time on Sunday studying). I may start driving in early in the morning more often.

I think I did pretty well on the test. I knew how to do everything except this one problem, and after I stared at it for a while, I figured it out. So I'm excited to get that grade back and see how I did. Also good is that my Short Fiction teacher canceled class today! Finally, I'm about to take a nap while my roommate is away at class; it will be great. :)

Wow, so apparently I haven't posted since college move-in day? Life has been so busy over the last month! This whole experience at Hendrix College has been amazing. I'm so happy I chose this school. I really do, however, want to start updating more often. Now that I'm beginning to get used to the workload, I think I can post again regularly. I used to post everyday back in, like, early high school. Wow, that was a while back.

Anyway, things have been great. I'm doing well in most of my classes (Journeys, General Chemistry I, Short Fiction), but I'm struggling a bit in Calculus I. I took AP Calculus junior year of high school and I've forgotten nearly everything since. At this point I just want to scrape a B in calc. We had our first exam today and I don't feel very good about how I did. I think we find out tomorrow how we did (we have class on Thursday because it's four days a week).

Hope to post more tomorrow! I really miss DW/LJ stuff. As always, though, you can be sure I'll update Twitter (@RyanBanning). :)

So, I haven't posted in a long, long time. XD

June:

- I got my new iPhone! I did not get the iPhone 4, because when I went to pre-order it, white wasn't an option. Therefore I went to the AT&T store that same day and bought a white iPhone 3GS. It's pretty awesome, and definitely a keeper.

- Some friends and I went on our first grown-up trip by ourselves. It was awesome. We went to Branson, Missouri, to see a show and do the amusement park. We checked into a hotel and everything because we're adults now and can do that sort of thing. If you're my Facebook friend, there are pics up somewhere.

- Brandon Flowers's first solo single came out! I feel like this is worth mentioning because it is awesome.

- I worked. Still. I love my job, though. It takes up most of my time, but I think it's worth it. It's great and I work with a lot of really good people. I was very blessed to be offered this job.

July:

- July has gone by so fast! I don't even know where most of it went...

- I've been doing a lot of preparing-for-college stuff. We got contact info for our roommates, I've been getting to know people on our Facebook group, and Mom and I have done a lot of dorm shopping already. Seventeen more days until move-in!

- Basically I've just been working and hanging out with friends in my spare time. It's been a fun summer with good memories and while I'll look back on it fondly, I'm ready for school to start and classes to get in swing.

That's a pretty good summary, I think. I hope I'll post more regularly from now on. At least more often than every month-and-a-half. :)

I can't believe it's almost the middle of June already. Wow, time is flying. I've mostly been working and getting used to my job. It's been great so far, and I think this is definitely something I can see myself doing every summer.

On Sunday night, I noticed that the lymph node above my left clavicle was swollen. It felt way too large, actually. I waited it out until Monday morning, and texted Mom to tell her. Mom called our nurse practitioner and scheduled an appointment at 3.30 the same day. So I went to the appointment after work and Ranata felt my lymph nodes in my neck and armpits. She said I was definitely right to be concerned, because that is not usually a lymph node that gets swollen (and I wasn't even sick, which is what made me worry more). She ordered a CBC, which showed that my white count was not high, meaning that it is probably a localized infection.

Ranata prescribed a ten-day supply of antibiotics (twice daily), so I've been taking those all week. Hopefully this will fix the problem and I won't have to have any further testing. This could be really bad, but I'm trying to have certainty that it's just an infection that will be gone in a week. 

If you pray, please do it for me. If you think positively, send good thoughts, or whatever; that would be nice, too.

It was so HOT today! My coworker's husband came to eat lunch with her (and brought Chinese food for us! :D), and they went to go eat by the lake, but I was firm on my decision to stay in the air conditioning. We were really, really busy today, too. Then after work, I had to go by UA Fort Smith and request my transcript be sent to Hendrix. After that, I went to the bank to deposit some graduation money. And then went to Walmart to buy season five of Grey's Anatomy (I also picked up Avatar because I forgot it was already out on DVD). By the time I got home, I was hot and exhausted. Running multiple errands on a hot day right after work is a BAD idea.

But it's done now. :)

Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, I also cleaned out both of my inboxes when I got home. I also switched Facebook and DW to send messages to my name account rather than my mikotokun one, since that's mostly notifications now, anyway. I set up all of my mikotokun mail to be forwarded to the main one, so don't worry about changing the address you use for now. I just want everything to be in one place.