Today's rambling: Expect the Unexpected
Written on Friday, Dec. 19, 2003 at 10:16 p.m.
while feeling a bit

My grandmother, years and years ago, had filled up several photo albums' worth of pictures of the family and various newspaper clippings. When she died, Mom got those albums, but now they're all kind of falling apart. So we'd decided about a month ago that we'd make a scrapbook, not just because it would preserve the photos, but also because I thought it would be nice for her to put little captions and things underneath some of the photos. Whenever she shows these albums to someone, she always has a little story to tell about this photo or that. It would be nice to preserve those stories, too.

Tonight, we went out to the craft store and bought paper and things so we could start this project (which I fear is going to take ages, as there are a LOT of photos). As of right now, we only have a few sheets of paper, because we're going to start with pages of each member of the family. After we got home, I started taking out the photos of my grandmother and grandfather in their younger days. The ironic thing is, even though the albums themselves are falling apart, a lot of these pictures are still quite firmly attached. One or two photos were removed, but only at the expense of part of their backing. These photos are from the 40's and 50's, so it's not really the nicest thing to watch some of their backings torn away. The only other way to get them out (and the path we're probably going to have to take, with some of them) is to cut out the album page itself. But what I'm afraid of is the fact that the glue might be sticking heavily to photos on the other side as well, so then what do you do? I might look around for a scrapbooking-type message board and see if anyone else has come across this problem.

These scrapbooks, once finished, are going to make really nice heirlooms. At least, I'm hoping they will be. Mom wants me to start on them now, and she says that could be part of her Christmas present...but as much as I love scrapbooking, I think this should be something that she and I work on together. Still, we'll see. If she has no stories to go along with a certain grouping of pictures, I might just put those together for her.

While we were out, I also bought a couple more scents for soap, and a block of goat's milk soap. Hopefully, that stuff smells better than the avocado-cucumber stuff does, heh! If any of you have a store nearby that sells Dionis brand lotions, I recommend the Blue Ridge Wildflower scent. It's goat's milk lotion, but oh my gosh, I love it. And not just because my mom's side of the family lives in the same area as the woman who created this stuff, either. ;) It just feels really nice, and it doesn't make your hands sticky or greasy afterward, either. It's looveleh. ^_^

We interrupt for this news bulletin: THE GRADES ARE IN!

And you want to know how frustrating this is? Well, you might not understand me, but here goes: I was expecting no better than a B in French, right? In fact, I thought I'd be lucky if I got a B, and that alone was frustrating because I've always gotten A's in French. Well. I just took a look at my grades (after being reminded by Pam that they were in), and I somehow got an A in French. I honestly don't know how. All my exams received a B+ and I didn't participate very much...But I'm not going to complain about the A.

So I'd predicted an A in all my other classes. Which would have given me a 4.0 this semester (combined with what is now an A in French), which would have made me so deliriously happy that I probably would have just said "I GOT ALL A'S!!!!!!!" and closed my entry like that. But I got a B in Psychology. And for the same apparent miscalculations that made me incorrectly predict my French grade! See, I'd gotten A's on both of my Psychology exams. And I'd gotten A's on all but one of my quizzes (and that one was dropped anyway). The only thing I didn't do well on was my ALF paper, which definitely hurt, but I didn't think it'd hurt that much.

I know I shouldn't be whining here. I mean, I still have a 3.8 cumulative GPA (*grumbles under breath* even though I had a 3.9 at the end of last semester), but it just frustrates me that I didn't get an A in a class where I thought I was going to get the A. And now this semester coming up, I'm taking Macro Economics...which is a class that's so much trouble for most students, they either fail the first time around or withdraw so they don't fail. I wouldn't be taking it if it wasn't a requirement for my major, but I'll probably be lucky just to get a C in it. Maybe this is the semester where I'll actually have to get a tutor, or do study groups, or something. I really don't want to get a low GPA. Yeah, that sounds really stupid, but I'm trying to prove to myself that I can do this--and do it well! Sure, right now I've been putting minimum effort into half of my classes (can I help it? I'm lazy by nature!), but still. I wouldn't be getting A's if I didn't know the material well enough, would I? I think half of my laziness comes from the fact that I don't NEED to study hours on end for most classes, because I can absorb the material more quickly than some. And now I'm complaining because I might actually have to study. *slams forehead on table* Just don't even listen to me.

I'm still doing well for myself. It's just frustrating, being thwarted like that!

Well, now that all the excitement is over, I suppose I'll wander off and do other things. :P I could try out the goat's milk soap, but maybe I'll wait until tomorrow for that!

I still can't believe I got an A in French...after all that stress...!