A Busy Week

It's been a busy two weeks since I last posted. Dad, Seth, and Mandy returned safely from Virginia. There, they helped build a shed (which I hear was greatly admired by Mr. Barringer) and picked apples for apple cider (we have some in our outside fridge). Seth was a bit unlucky in that a two by six fell on his arm while he was helping build, but his arm is fine; he also got stung by a yellow jacket when it crawled up his pants, but he hasn't given him much grief. From what I hear, the boys did pull a prank on Mandy, but I don't know what they did; all I know is that it made her cry. They were happy to be home, and Mom and I were glad as well. For us two, it had been a quiet week, as she had spent her time working on her college projects. We sometimes would watch a "Criminal Minds" episode together, and we enjoyed steak and a movie on Tuesday, but otherwise we did little else besides school. It was very quiet at home, but now it's back to normal.

School has caught our full attention again this week. Mandy wrote a short story for English class about Jesse and Cora Jenkins in an attempt to escape slavery (I believe she based them on our ancestors Jesse Jenkins, who was a Black man who owned about fourteen slaves and married a White woman named Cora). Mom has been busy with her classes as well, and she got a 100 on one of her recent tests. Yesterday, there was nearly a panic attack when she discovered her paper that she had worked so hard on was not what she was supposed to do; but her mycology teacher was merciful and said she would accept the paper. GGC posted the spring 2009 semester schedule, so yesterday Mom and I looked up to see what classes we would be taking. I talked to my faculty advisor Dr. Timpte, and I learned that in the spring I will have completed all my core classes, so I'm really happy about that. In the spring, Mom will be taking a cellular biology class (or something like that), and she's considering a second class. I'll be taking physical science 2, history 2, political science, and psycology, and my schedule is a bit weird and I'm still trying to make sense of it. Midterm have passed for me and Mom, and she has a 98 in one of her classes. I'm not sure about my grades, but I think they could be all A's, though the grades won't be posted until next week.

A few things have happened at GGC. First, I took my first history test and got a 98, and I also took another physical science test and got a 93. I got also got a 100 on a recent music test. History class is getting busy, as I'm currently reading a book on Frederick Douglass (in preparation for a discussion of slavery that's coming up XD), and we have a debate on Andrew Jackson next week in a discussion of whether he was a "pragmatic politician" or a "scheming devil" in dealing with the Cherokee. I got on the "scheming devil" side, which won't be hard to argue, especially since I am of Cherokee descent from that time period... hehe. I also got a project to work on for science class, and my partner Hannah and I are still working on the topic and what to do exactly, especially since the topic and teams are due tomorrow. It's getting busy around here, so posts might become scarce.

On a side note, the weather here is cooling down. It's getting down to the 50's at night and can get to the lower 80's or the higher 70's in the day. The leaves have begun to fall, and our yard and porches are covered with them. There are some beautiful days with absolutely gorgeous blue skies. I love this time of year, but the constant switching from cold to hot is making it difficult to choose what to wear during the day. I am somewhat looking forward to cooler weather so I can wear my cute long-sleeve shirts that I have been wanting to wear.

Well, I gotta go. My stomach is ordering me to get food while the line at the cafe is short, and I still have to finish this reading and get prepared for the debate next week :P