It feels pretty strange to already be December, but the colder temperatures keep reminding me of the fact. Early December will be a pretty busy time period. My mother’s 45th birthday is on Friday, something she is not happy about. My grandmother had my family over for dinner and surprised my mom with a birthday cake so we could have an early celebration while I was home for Thanksgiving, My grandmother makes a great pound cake with the best icing, so I was glad to be there and to also be able to bring back a couple of pieces with me to Tech. Of course, it was eaten by Sunday evening. As a little birthday surprise, before I left, I put a large magnetic “VT” on the rear of my mom’s SUV, just under her UVA and AXO sorority stickers. I don’t think she has noticed yet, but it’s pretty funny because she said her and my dad’s college stickers go on their vehicles and mine and my brother’s will go on the car we share.

Since I have left, my mom said she has started putting up Christmas decorations. Decorating the tree is slow for her because of the number of ornaments we have. (Every year, she and my grandmother buy special ornaments for me and my brother to represent things that occurred during the year, like a guitar for guitar lessons, or a car ornament the year we got driver’s licenses.) This year, my mom did say it was weird hanging both UVA and VT ornaments on the same tree, but she was just kidding me. I think my brother will go to VT next year, so she will be outnumbered by then.

It’s weird knowing how much has to be accomplished in the next couple of weeks. Adults are feeling stressed getting ready for the holidays, and students are feeling stressed with final projects, papers, and exams. I just had my Chem Lab final on Tuesday, so I am glad to have that behind me. One less thing to worry about. I will have to stay focused and pace myself so that I will be prepared enough for Linear Algebra. That’s a final I can take any time, but taking it too soon, I may not be prepared enough, but if I was too late, I may be too tired from all the other finals and also may have a difficult time finding a computer at the Math Emporium. My parents say they used to get real stressed during finals and how easy it is for grades to drop an entire letter grade if you aren’t careful. I don’t plan on letting that happen.

Another thing I am thinking about is employment during Winter Break. I tried meeting with the Costco manager when I was home during Thanksgiving, but he was too busy and would not even take my resume. I completed the online application and lots of goofy questions (work scenarios), but since they require tons of screening and drug tests, I don’t know if they’ll even bother hiring me for four weeks of employment. It’s been about a week now since I filled out that application. The other place I applied to was Best Buy. Again, I went into the store to make a personal contact with the manager, but he was too busy to speak with me but someone told me that he usually contacts people within a week of submitting an application. I then filled out the online application at the end of last week, so I hope to hear something soon. I would rather work at Costco, but I will feel lucky to get either job. Unfortunately, the online applications do not allow applicants to submit a resume, and their questions and the space provided does not let an applicant provide much detail. I feel that my resume is a lot more impressive than the applications would allow. I do not have job experience due to spending one summer at Governor’s School and Boys State, and then last summer, my job at Fort Belvoir fell through at the last minute, and no one else was hiring by that time. But I do have a lot of leadership experience through volunteer activities. For example, I was my Order of the Arrow (OA) Chapter’s Community Service Chairman for one year and Co-Chairman for two years, where I organized a year round program for youth and adult Arrowmen to support BSA Troop and Community programs. But when the online application asked if I had ever used a cash register or floor buffer, I had to say “no,” even though I am more than capable of doing all the things they asked about. I hope they give me a chance, and I can really use the money.

I need to get my mind back on studying. This is a shorter blog than I normally write, so if I think of something to add, I will do so later.