All day today there have been trucks driving up and down our road delivering cow manure to be spread on the fields of nearby farms. The smell seems somehow worse this year, maybe because it's so rainy and overcast. Usually I can stand the slight whiff of dried manure in the distance, even, almost, welcome it as a familiar scent unique to the country. But this is so disgustingly fresh and overpowering that it has made me lose my appetite every time I step outside.

I could go on complaining about it but I am not, in fact, in a negative mood today. So instead, as I am about to light a stick of incense, I have been thinking of smells that I do like. As far as I can think right now, these are my top ten:

1) Coffee
2) Campfires
3) Horses
4) Books
5) Leather
6) Tangerines/ Clementines
7) Lilacs
8) The Ocean
9) Cedarwood
10) Warm home-baked bread

As of today, there are only (drumroll) six weekdays left to the semester, and I have only one exam (French) on the Monday of finals week. I can't believe my last semester at BCC is already almost over! It's been almost 3 years since the very first class I took here (ENG 110) when I was 15 ... it seems like forever ago. At the beginning of this semester it seemed like it all went so fast, but now -- maybe because of how busy I've been all semester, working 3 jobs and struggling to finish my homework every day -- it seems like it's about time and I just want to be finished already. It's going to be weird at first, after being so stressed out all semester between work and school and life in general, to suddenly have free time again. I'm not sure I'll know what to do with it. To keep myself from becoming a workaholic, I'm going to make a list of things I want to do over the summer. Hopefully it will be somewhat more successful than my spring break list.

To Do Over Summer 2009

• try to write a blog entry every day
  
• finish reading Atlas Shrugged
• buy a digital SLR camera (the Nikon D40?)
• actually read my digital photography textbook from this semester ...
• go to studio hours every week for ceramics, and try out the Clayground studio
• take a kickboxing class
• write
• go on a roadtrip
• visit relatives in Indiana before they move to Louisville
  
• go on a picnic
• go to a spa
• meet up with all the friends I haven't seen in awhile
• visit my great grandmother once a week
• make homemade ice cream and smoothies
• pick up archery again
• try out nail tips
• get my nose pierced
• try escargot
• go to Tioga Downs
• visit the I Love Lucy museum
• visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• go to the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie
• watch Silence of the Lambs
• watch Silk
• watch Amelie
• watch a bazillion other movies I haven't seen
• listen to some new indie music and get a lot of new CDs no one else has ever heard of
• go skinny dipping
• go to a restaurant and order dessert first
• go camping
• read more about Buddhism
• have Nadia teach me how to make Indian foods
• do my family genealogy
• go to the First Friday art walk
  
• have campfires
• go to a concert at the Cyber Cafe
  
• visit my grandma in Sidney
• get some new sheet music for the piano
• go to the opera
• clean out my hard drive / make a backup of important files
• clean out closet and take clothing to consignment shop
• redecorate shoes
• make a collage
• put together a book of poems
• get a new job
• clean my car
• get an ebay sellers account
• sell unwanted textbooks
• sell other unwanted books to make room for new ones
• take part in BookCrossing
  
• make homemade smoothies
  

So the end of Spring Break 2009 is rapidly approaching ... only about 14 hours until I have to be on campus again ... and here is my progress on the to-do list I made last week:

1. Go to Barnes and Noble and get a new moleskine notebook. Well, sort of. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a mini paperblanks notebook with a foiled wrap-around cover. It's pretty. I like it.
2. Listen to all the indie music I've made a list to check out. I failed this one. But I did pick up another one of Starbuck's pick-of-the-week cards at Starbucks. The one time I visited Starbucks this week.
3. Go to the movies. Okay, this one was totally not my fault. My neighbor gave me a gift card to Leowe's theater which is about 5 minutes down the parkway, and I really intended to go. But there were no movies playing this week that looked remotely appealing. Now wait and see, as soon as I am so bogged down with homework that I can't possibly go, there will be a great movie released.
4. Try escargot! Damn. Another fail. Not really sure where I could even find escargot around here ....
5. Become brunette. Well, I tried. But it's definitely turned out auburn.
6. Buy new shoes. Score! Just bought an adorable pair of sketchers and some awesome Bongo sandals -- denim gladiator wedges :)
7. Return the Flip camcorder. Killed 2 birds with 1 stone. Took back the Flip to Sears and the digital camcorder to Kohls, both late, but no questions asked. I'm just awesome like that. And I've just repocketed the $200. This is all just a game to me, it would seem.
8. Finish reading Tuesdays with Morrie. Whoops, forgot about that one. But I did start Atlas Shrugged, that's got to count for something?
9. Read all the other books I haven't got to yet. See above.
10. Study French. Done. Doesn't mean I understand it, but there you go. I've been going over my flashcards just now, the disciplined student that I am.
11. Work on my ENG220 essay. Um yes ... about that ...
12. Go on a picnic if it's nice outside. Well, mostly I was working while it was nice outside. But I did walk to the ice cream store the other day.
13. Finish getting together my part of the Ethics presentation. Almost finished.
14. Rent a lighting kit & do some photo shoots. Because on Friday I was still blonde, it was essential that I forget to rent the lighting kit while on campus. Had to stay in character, ya know?
15. Finish the photo collage for my memo board. Lost the initiative to do anything remotely related to interior decorating when I found out we're moving.
16. Apply to some more schools. Negative. I've decided to go to BU.
17. Put in some hours at the ceramic studio. No time for that either. But, I did research ceramics designs online before class on Thursday, and I started carving & bought some carving tools at A.C. Moore afterward.
18. Watch TV during the day. Hell yeah! I watched loads of crap all week. The highlight probably being movies on lifetime network. Or maybe it was A Cinderella Story on the family channel. Tough call.
19. SLEEP IN!!! Surprise of the week. I didn't sleep in past 10:30, not once. Somehow, when it came down to it, it just seemed so wasteful and unappealing. Oh well.

Things I want to do over spring break (starting tomorrow):

• go to Barnes and Noble and get a new moleskine notebook
• listen to all the indie music I've made a list to check out
• go to the movies
• try escargot!
• become brunette
  
• buy new shoes
• return the Flip camcorder
  
• finish reading Tuesdays with Morrie
• read all the other books I haven't got to yet
  
• study French
• work on my ENG220 essay
• go on a picnic if it's nice outside
  
• finish getting together my part of the Ethics presentation
• rent a lighting kit & do some photo shoots
  
• finish the photo collage for my memo board
• apply to some more schools
  
• put in some hours at the ceramic studio
• watch TV during the day
  
• SLEEP IN!!!