Researchers from the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University have had positive results using DCS combined with short-term exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder. Dr Adam Guastella from the University of Sydney's Brain & Mind Research Institute, is currently conducting research into it's efficacy in the treatment of social phobia in combination with cognitive-behaviour therapy.

D-Cycloserine, increases the benefits of exposure therapy for social phobia. Tests shows that short-term use of the drug decreases social anxiety symptoms significantly. In studies, DCS has been shown to help learning and decreases conditioned fear, particularly if used prior to exposure to the feared situation or object.

"Instead of simply combining medications and therapy that are each designed to reduce anxiety and avoidance, the use of DCS is directed toward making the therapeutic learning in cognitive-behavior therapy stronger. Medication use is limited to only a few doses, taken before therapy sessions." said Dr. Otto, one of the researchers.

The combination of DCS and therapy offers hope for the many people with social phobia and possibly other types of anxiety disorders as well.

LA FORMATION

Prend au niveau de Sonatrach Activité AVAL une grande importance car elle aux employés d’acquérir et de mettre à jour les compétences inhérentes à leur travail et ce, afin de participer pleinement à la croissance de l’entreprise et de l’industrie.

Le Département Formation essaye de contribuer à un meilleur rendement de l’entreprise.

Formation MANAGEMENT 

Formation PASSATION DES MARCHES 

Formation LANGUES 

Formation HSE  (Hygiène, Sécurité et Environnement) 

Formation INFORMATIQUE

Formation DCS

Formation HABILITATION ELECTRIQUE

Formation MAINTENANCE

Formation INGENIEURS

When I heard those words on May 14, 2007,  my universe imploded.  I was completely floored.  Not have a Ridgeville?  That wasn't possible.  As long as I could remember, my school had always been there.

I first went to Ridgeville in third grade, in Mrs. Merrill's class.  This was back when we actually had two classes per grade.  I remember walking in there and immediately knowing that this was different from the public schools.  For one thing, there was more than one pledge.  We said the pledge of allegiance, and I went to sit down, and they went on with the pledge to the Christian flag and the pledge to the Bible.  I, of course, had no idea what to say.  Quite a learning experience.

Third grade was also where I met my best friend, Ashley.  We were both new kids and had the same Winnie-the-Pooh backpacks.  When we met, we noticed the backpacks and were immediately friends.  Our favorite time was recess, when we could run around that old wooden playset, race each other down the slides, and try and make it all the way across the monkey bars.  (I was never very good at that.)  I also recall getting in trouble for drawing on the desks - my first road bump on the path of being an artist.

In fourth grade, they somehow split Ashley and me up.  We were furious - how dare the teachers try to break up our friendship?!  It survived, despite my trying times in Ms. Purkey's class.  That was my first intro to Ohio History, and boy, did I hate it.  One of my favorite pastimes was propping the desk open on my head and pretending to look for something while I read a good book.

Fifth grade put us back together in Mrs. Benton's class, except for math.  That was the first year I had an "advanced" math class, which made me feel pretty special.  This was also the first time I read the Dragonriders of Pern series and fell in love with dragons.  During recess, I remember Missy Tenney and her friends flipping about the bars on the playground and seeing who could do it the most times.  It was also my intro to volleyball - though none of us were very good.

The next year, Ashley had to leave.  Her family could no longer afford tuition, so she went off to a public school.  I lost my only friend - and entered a living hell.

Sixth grade was the beginning of middle school: the worst years of my life.  I had cut off my hair to my chin for Locks of Love, which gave me a sort of afro, considering my curly hair.  I also had glasses, braces, and pretty bad acne.  Needless to say, I got picked on a lot.

In seventh grade, I did make one friend - John Morgan.  He and I played air hockey at the retreat for like an hour and a half, and we were friends from then on.  That year also included the first time I straightened my hair.  John left after that year; when he came back to visit a few years later, he didn't even remember me.

In eighth grade, the only things I remember distinctly are the two group projects I had in science.  One was the Future City project.  In this one, my group (all girls) let me do all the work, then criticized me and tried to kick me off the team.  The other was the Rollercoaster contest.  My group (all guys, barring me) let me do all the work and then blamed me for everything that went wrong.  This, I believe, is where I developed my deep and abiding hatred of group projects.  Middle school was really just a string of unpleasant memories, and I've tried to block it out as much as possible.

The next year was ninth grade.  Most people hate being a freshman, but I reveled in it.   I relished my first year of Project Lead the Way, a pre-engineering class, and the English class with Mrs. Conway.  (Yes, I mean it.)  I did spotlights for Seussical and loved every minute of it.  At the end of the year, I met Carly for the first time, and we became good friends.  I made varsity team on volleyball and played fastpitch softball for the first time.  During J-term, I met Mr. Crow (*shudders*) and had History Through the Movies.

Then came sophomore year.  I wasn't on varsity for volleyball, but I was captain of the JV team.  I had Lauver for English for the first time (and loved it) and became an expert in the 5-paragraph essay.  Carly, Sami, Caroline and I became fast friends and were pretty much inseparable.  Carly and I also did Battlebots with a senior named Jill and had the only all-girls team in the league with Ed the Barbie Dreambot.  Later, I had Life Skills and Knitting as my J-term classes.  (Knitting was my second choice, but Battlebots was full up.)  Carly and I did spots for Cinderella together, and I went on the Washington, D.C. Sophomore-Junior trip.  Then the two of us went to Battle Cry with my youth group and also joined the softball team.

On Monday, May 14, there was a town meeting with a staff meeting beforehand.  We weren't too concerned; we were more worried about our double-header against Xenia after school.  As we were coming up from the field, I met Brittany in the parking lot.  She and her mom (who worked in the cafeteria) were crying, and it scared me.  I laughed nervously and asked, "What, you were that worried about us winning?"

She looked at me and choked out, "There's not going to be a Ridgeville next year."

The next few moments were blurry.  My head was spinning.  I didn't even realize that I was running for the school or that I was crying until I had reached the glass doors and I saw tears on my reflection's cheeks.  All I could think about was: I have to find Carly.  She's heading for the town meeting.  I have to find her.  By the time I did, I was nearly hysterical.

Carly didn't want to believe me when I told her.  I think we were both in shock and denial.  After I calmed down a little, we went into the gym with the team and sat down front with other students.  The girls in my class were also crying - Alana, Grace, and Brianna.  When the guy from the board stood up and made the announcement, there was a collective gasp in the audience.  I was still weepy, but anger was starting to take over.  Hadn't they just announced in December that we were fine financially, that there was no problem, that nobody was buying us out?  When they opened up the floor for comments, I let the adults go first, but then I stood up and gave them a piece of my mind, unrehearsed and uncensored.  This is kinda how it came out:

"I've been going to Ridgeville practically my whole life, and this is the only home I know.  I grew up with these kids.  I've seen most of these people sitting here since I was nine years old.  And now this home, this place that I love, is being taken away.  I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing.  I may only be a sophomore, but I'm still a sophomore.  I can still do something.  I have an obligation, I think, to do something.  I don't care what it takes; I will do everything in my power to keep this school open, because I don't want to be anywhere else."

That night, Carly and I made a vow.  We promised each other that no matter where we were - that no matter what happened - we would always be friends, and we would never forget each other.  We still hold each other to that promise.

The next day was sheer hell.  Mr. Retzer had to make the announcement to the rest of the school in an impromptu chapel, and there was much weeping among everyone.  We really didn't accomplish much that day in any of our classes, except maybe Project Lead the Way.  (But then, I was the only girl, so I was having the worst emotional reaction.)  In the three weeks following that, we all fought to keep the school open.  We elected a temporary board, held a big festival as a fundraiser, and got over $7,000 just from that festival, not including other donations and fundraising.  That was enough to pay the teachers' salaries through the summer and keep the school open.

Everything was going great until early July.  The meeting that week had been moved from Tuesday to Monday, so we couldn't go.  I got a call from Carly's mom telling me what had happened.  The church had rejected both mortgage plans we presented to the bank, so the temporary board decided we were done.  That was it.  All our dreams and planning, up in smoke.  I didn't sleep that night; I just lay there, numb.  There were no tears left to cry.

I am now at Dayton Christian and still coping with the loss.  I have accepted that my school is gone and that it will not be coming back - at least, not when it would affect me.  However, I am still very angry at the people that I felt were responsible for this heartache.  This does not include Dayton Christian.  Yes, we lost enrollment, but to public and charter schools too, not just DC when they moved down here.  I don't blame them for Ridgeville's closing.  I blame the school board that didn't tell us until it was too late to do anything and the church that didn't give a crap about what happened to us.  Honestly, I really don't blame Mr. Retzer, though I did feel it was suspicious that he had a job secured at least a week before he made the announcement to us.  (But then, the board knew back in October and didn't tell him until January.)

To whoevever it was in DC's administration that wrote the email to us: I feel you are wrong.  I cannot in good conscience say that it was God's will for Ridgeville to close.  Not after all the good things that had come out of it and how close we were to succeeding.  I believe that man thwarted the will of God, as happens in our world.  It was not a good thing, but good things came out of it.  I still wish it was open, I really do.  I don't know if I'll ever stop wishing, honestly.

If Ridgeville hadn't closed, I wouldn't have cried so much.  I wouldn't miss my teachers and classmates because they would still be there.  I wouldn't have to face ostracization and hypocrisy from my peers.  I wouldn't have to struggle just to contact my best friend.  (Email me, by the way.)

But...

If Ridgeville hadn't closed, I would never have come out of my shell.  I would never have met my group of friends and grown like I have.  I would never have met my wonderful boyfriend.  I wouldn't be forced to make an effort in my relationships and use discernment in my classes.

Was the closing a good thing?  I cannot say yes.  Good things came out of it, but it was still a chapter of sorrow and pain.  I remember watching We Are Marshall on New Year's Eve with my family and wanting to get up and leave.  I can't watch that movie.  They went through something similar.  They lost something important to them, and they fought for it.  The difference is, they got it back.  We tried, honest to God we did.  We did our damndest... and it just wasn't enough.  I still feel like a lion in warrior territory.  I still cry about it at night and get up in people's faces when they diss the fact that it's gone.  (Oh yes, it happens.)  I feel a lot of bitterness and anguish, and I don't know if it will ever go away.

Thanks for letting me vent.  I really wanted to get this all out at once so I wouldn't bring it up in bits and pieces.  And I apologize to everyone for being really weepy on Wednesday.

Space: Computing Lab.

"Any idea what Prof Rajhans is asking?".

"No. The first student, bhOndOO, is still inside his room.".

"Who is the next actor?".

"Gullu.".

"Aikes! My code is dumping core!".

"Don't frighten me yaar, the code was working just now.".

"Why do you guys make changes to a working code, yaar!".

"No man. I was just formatting the code to look better. I think I deleted some line.".

"You are a nerd. You don't even know how to copy! Just change printfs. Sir does not look at the code.".

At this time, bhOndOO enters the lab. Everyone looks at him to hear how the demo went.

bhOndOO looks down, his voice low, "I would have felt very bad had I put in any effort in writing the code.".

Everyone is stunned to listen to an apparently contradictory-looking statement.

bhOndOO continues, "When I was showing the demo, he was sleeping!".

Everyone bursts into laughter.

"He asked me whether I handled losing connection from more than n/2 servers. I answered. After a minute, he again asked the question!".

"When I showed him the sequence of messages passing to-and-fro the client and the server, he leaned forward towards the screen and nodded. But it was actually a nod of sleep; his eyes were closed. He was yawning full-time.".

"What will he any way do, he gets to see the same demo every year by so many students!".

"I am curious to know who the original writer of the code is. May God bless him!".

"It has been around since ages. Seniors say that if you trace back, you may actually find that Prof Rajhans wrote it during his thesis.".

"By the way, did any of you run your program on algol machine just now?".

"Yes, I did. Why?".

"That is why I got port busy error. You didn't change even the port numbers while copying???".

BenJi smiles.

"So he is not looking at the code, right?".

"No, but he expects the output of netstat at the end of every connection. You guys add that.".

"Where to add it?". "How to add it?". "What is netstat?".

"Do system netstat. Those of you who do not understand, just add five-six printfs showing the output of ESTABLISHED connection.".

"Life is cool with DCS.".

"I am going to credit Prof Rajhans's other course next semester.".

My viewpoint (as I put it) was that when God created us with free will, He accepted the risk, if you will, that we might choose to step away from Him.  So I guess you could say He created the potential for evil.  And I guess you could say that by doing this, He indirectly created evil, but that's really a stretch.  And here's the thing: his dad [Senior Bible teacher] was standing there, heard him, and agreed with him!

I'm still confused.  I mean, I know that I have the more Biblically correct position, but how do I refute what he was saying?  Suggestions, please?

So we're in Bible today, all right?  And Bible Teacher [name omitted] is teaching us about Revelation and the whole thing with that.  Towards the end of class, he's talking about the whole worldview that good and evil are intrinsically bound up and that one cannot exist without the other.  (Think of a ying-yang.)  This is incorrect, as he pointed out.  Before God created the world, He existed in and of Himself.  He was good.  He was perfect.  And, as Bible Teacher stated, God did not create sin.  (Der.)  Sin came into the world because God gave us free will and we sinned.  We stepped away from Him and His perfection.  (This includes Lucifer, FYI.)

Now, here's what I have a problem with.  Bible Teacher went so far as to say that evil does not exist.  Cue much consternation in the class.  And pardon the [now-censored] discourse that follows...

What the #@%&*^?!?!  Where the heck did this crap come from?!  If there is no evil, then what is Satan?  Why is our world fallen?  Why does pain happen?  If there is no evil, then where the heck do freshmen come from?! (Kidding...)

I agree with the fact that God did not create sin and that good can exist without evil.  But the idea that there is no evil?  And then he goes and compares this theory to the theory "there is no cold" - there are only degrees of heat.  This sounds like the Matrix thing, for crying out loud - "Do not try to bend the spoon.  Only try to understand that there is no spoon, and it is only you that bends."  To which I promptly cry, "Bullcrap flag!  Bullcrap flag!"

Degrees of heat?  I got news for you, buddy - there is no such thing as degrees of sin.  If the wages of sin is death, that means all sin, regardless of how "bad" it seems to humans.  And there is no gray area.  Things are either right or wrong, whether we like it or not.  Didn't he talk to us about dichotomies just a few weeks ago?  Either you love God, or you hate Him.  Either you confess your sin, or you deceive yourself and make God a liar (which He's not, so you just look stupid).  If you are not for God, you are against Him.  The Bible is full of these dichotomies.  And it's the same way with sin.  Either something is right, or it is wrong.  There is no middle ground.

People, even Christians, don't like the idea that people will go to hell.  They can't (or don't want to) comprehend that a loving, merciful God would condemn people.  Guess what: He will.  You cannot deny or avoid the judgment.  He doesn't enjoy it, but He cannot abide sin, since He is perfect.  If evil is not real - if it is, indeed, just a label for things we don't like - then why did God send His Son to die for us and redeem us of our sins?

The problem with this manner of thinking is that it opens the door to the idea of "Reality for you is not reality for me".  Sin - and evil - is real, no matter how much we dislike the idea.  What disturbs me is that this is being spoken shamelessly by a Bible teacher at a Christian school.  And it wasn't just me protesting; there were six or seven other people as well.  (Well, what actually upset me the most besides the message was his arrogant and overbearing attitude - "You're wrong, I'm right, theologians have said so, accept it and be quiet" sort of thing - and his unwillingness to give me a straight explanation of his view, but we'll overlook that.)  If you agree or disagree, leave a comment or email me with your viewpoint and explanation.  I plan to have a nice long chat with him tomorrow.

Alex: "All right, that's it!  Water!"
Chris: "Earth!"
Everyone: "..."
Alex: "Aw, come on, let's try this again.  Water!"
Chris: "Earth!"
Nia: "Fire!"
Josh: "Ice!"
Everyone: "IT'S WIND, YOU N00B!!!"
Alex: "Oh crap.  We're screwed now."
Chris: "ONE MORE TIME!!! EARTH!"
Alex: "Water!"
Nia: "Fire!"
Josh: "Wind!"
Jenni: "Heart!  Go Ca-"
Mike: "Global warming!"
Alex: "Canadians!"
Chris: "Illegal immigrants!  Jenni, your turn!"
Jenni: *is laughing too hard to respond*

True story, I swear.  Tomorrow, I get to be a ninja.  (Carly, aren't you jealous?!)  Fun, fun, fun.

Jika suatu Vendor mendapatkan suatu project dari Customer (EPC atau End User) melalui penawaran Sales Engineering, maka proyek dilimpahkan ke tim. Kemudian hasil dari penawaran sales dirapatkan secara internal untuk mengetahui detail yang ditawarkan sales ke customer dan perencanaan implementasi di lapangan. Kemudian tim melakukan survey awal di lapangan untuk mengetahui real existing-nya, selanjutnya dibuat spesifikasi hardware yang diperlukan yang meliputi jenis hardware DCS yang digunakan, Software, Communication, dan detail lain dari spesifikasi. Hasil dari spesifikasi hardware ini dibuat ke dalam dokumen. Selanjutnya dokumen tersebut di cross check dengan customer untuk mendapatkan pemahaman bersama antar kedua belah pihak. Setelah itu baru memasuki tahap pengerjaan dari proyek tersebut.

District and county science fairs are not like school science fairs.  When you get there, you set up... and you sit and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  At some point your judges come and talk to you for up to 45 minutes (if you have a long presentation or they have a lot of questions).  Then you wait some more.  Some people get special judges based on their project; some don't.  Then you wait and wait until the awards ceremony.

 So here's what happened:

1. I got a 38 out of 40, which means I'm going to state.
2. I also got the ASM Materials award for a great chemistry-related project.
3. I also received the 11th/12th grade award from the Institute of Earth Sciences and Technology (IEST), which includes a savings bond of $200.  This coupled with the 3rd place award from IEEE at county gives me a total of $300 in savings.  Niiiiice.
4. I got a ton done on the 1st Colleen sock, along with some great compliments and curious looks.
5. Midway through my presentation/judging (which took 35 minutes), my tablemate Emily called her mom on the cell and was like "Yeah, this stuff is waaaay over my head."
6. Brother #1 got a 40 out of 40 (AGAIN), along with 5 different special awards.  Twerp.

That's really about it... it was okay, just make sure you bring something to do if you go to these things.  Celtic knot cables are a great way to pass the time, though they kill your fingers if you do them wrong.  :D

Please respond to my survey!

 So sometime during Ohayocon, I decided that my Ed scarf needed some companions and my stash needed some diversity.  (Why?  I don't know.  I was hyped up all weekend long.)  Armed with graph paper, a pencil and eraser, plus good photo reference, I began creating an intarsia pattern.  The time-consuming method of duplicate stitching daunted me, though, causing this pattern to go unused for a long time.  Finally, though, about two weeks ago, I got onto knittinghelp.com and watched some free videos (!) on intarsia and Fair Isle/strand knitting.  After I worked it out in my head, I pulled out the needles and gave it a try.  Surprise, surprise - it actually worked!

 FMA-Ed and Al Scarves1

Oh, this was such a great project to try intarsia on.  (Actually, it was closer to Fair Isle than intarsia because of the rapid color changes, but that's for the knit-savvy among you to appreciate.  :D)  The graphed pattern was beautifully symmetrical and so logical, and the color changes were sequential, and oh, it was just great.  Granted, the center panel was closer to intarsia because it was large blocks of color.  However, I still only used one ball of each color for the whole scarf.  Let me tell you, intarsia takes up waaaaaaay less yarn than duplicate stitch.  Plus it looks really cool when you have two or three strands of yarn coming out of your bag instead of just one.  ;)

 FMA-Ed and Al Scarves2

STATS
Pattern: Original pattern by me
Needles: US 8 (5 mm) straight needles
Yarn: 2 skeins Red Heart Super Saver - 1 each Fire Red and Black (okay, so I got the wrong color red for the Ed scarf, but it turned out great)
Length: 43", plus 6" fringe on each end
Width: 3.5", double-thickness
Mods: Well... when I first wrote up the pattern, I counted the rows wrong, so it's a wee bit too short (it's actually closer to 38" or so).  Now, though, it's fixed, as are the other scarf patterns, so they're all the same length as the Black Order Scarf.  Joyous!

Disclaimer: I am not a witch/Satanist/heathen.  The fact that there is a blood array on this scarf does not make me one.  I am doing it as a form of fanart in relation to a series.  Do not bash me on these grounds, I will make you regret it.  (Granted, I couldn't work on this scarf at school; the higher-ups would have been crapping kittens for a week.  XD)

As the title indicates, I am also trying socks.  Knee socks, to be specific.  Here's the story: at DCS, we have chapel every Thursday.  On chapel days, we are required to wear chapel dress.  (I've since been informed it's actually "Thursday dress", since that's the day we can have visitors at school.)  For guys, this is tan or navy pants, an Oxford shirt, tucked in, and a tie.  For girls, this is a tan or navy skirt and Oxford shirt, tucked in (unless it's below freezing, in which case we are permitted to wear pants).  Oxford shirts come in white, baby blue, and pale pink.  Well... we all get pretty bored with this outfit.  I'm not gonna lie.  So the girls have decided to jazz it up by wearing the wildest knee socks you can imagine.  Argyle, patterned, striped, you name it and we wear it.  I've worn my black socks with aqua dragons and pink flames several times and never gotton complaints.  However, I've decided to make my own; and being a huge Celtic nut, I just had to find something to fit that desire.

So when I found this pattern, I was ecstatic.  (FYI, "Simple Celtic Panel" is a 3-word oxymoron.  It doesn't exist.)  Today, during chapel and the subsequent classes, I swatched this panel on size 2 needles using worsted weight yarn.  It's a gorgeous shade of forest green that fits the Celtic motif perfectly.

 Celtic Knot Cable Swatch

Unfortunately, I had to rip it all out so I could actually start the socks (which hasn't been done yet, ha ha).  But I was glad to see it worked, and I'll take copious notes so I can post the pattern for you once it's complete.

This Saturday is West District Science Day, and I'm oddly not stressed at all.  I really just feel that what will be, will be.  I don't even know if I want to go on to state, honestly.  Oh well...

Read something in Reader's Digest the other day that made me pause.  Apparently, modern-day employers are taking to looking at MySpace, Facebook, and blogs to find out about prospective employees.  If there's something unpleasant on there, there's a good chance you won't get hired.  Just food for thought.  This blog is pretty tame, I have to say, though I need to run through the Quotes pages and make sure those are all kosher.  If some of them vanish in the near future, now you know why.  Ja ne!

8:15 - Chapel (please note that it was Friday, not Thursday like it normally is).
10:00 - 1st period (Spanish 2).  Sophomores get called to OGT's an hour early.
10:04 - 2nd period (Precalc).  My teacher has an emotional breakdown because a student was being anal-retentive and did something really cruel and stupid.  75% of the high school leaves due to weather, though the school never actually calls for an early dismissal.
10:51 - 3rd period (US History). Some idiot *coughChrisKasparcough* pulls the fire alarm on his way out of school, sending all of us out into the freezing cold for an unplanned fire drill.  My teacher was nice enough to let me and the only other girl in class go get our coats.  Because of this, the sophomores may be disqualified from the OGT's.
11:30-something - 4th period (Honors English).  Test over New England School (Whittier, Lowell, Holmes, Longfellow).
12:23 - 5th period (Bible).  There's all of six people in there, and three leave before class is over to go home.
12:52 - Lunch.  Elise drags me and Nia through the courtyard, causing me to get snow inside my shoes.  Alex has fallen off the face of the earth and never shows up to lunch.
1:30 - 6th period (Chemistry).  Everyone heads to this one room to watch Newsies.  Five minutes in, I get called downstairs for dismissal; apparently, one of Brother #1's friends' parents are taking us home.  Phew!

So yeah.  Then today I had to go out at 11-something and shovel about a foot of snow off our driveway and walkway.  The thing was, it drifted so bad that in places it was up to my waist.  (I stand about 5' 4".)  I accidentally stepped off the walkway onto the hill that slopes to our driveway and found myself in snow up to the top of my boots.  There's an 8" overhang of snow on our roof, making it look like our house got hit by a glacier.  Brothers 1&2 went outside afterwards for about fifteen minutes before deciding to come in.  It is still snowing and blowing as I type, and our deck has about a foot of snow on it.  Which means I may have to go re-clear the driveway soon.  I have been bundled up and drinking hot chocolate for most of the day.  Brrrrr!

1. Science Fair came and went... and I'm going on to county this Saturday.  I have been very busy redoing my crystal growing experiments, and the results are fascinating.  I'll post pictures after the whole mess is over.
2. At school, we've all been picking our classes for next year.  Not a big deal, except for Honors/AP classes (and some others) you need the teacher's signature.  This has been quite interesting, especially since Chemistry Teacher has been borderline anal-retentive the past two weeks.  (This woman was going to give us a test the day after Science Fair on material that no on except me understood.  Keep in mind, we were at school until nearly nine o'clock that night and had other homework.)
3. I've been attempting to clear out my inbox/email of college notices.  I logged on today, and there were at least twenty new messages.  You'd think I hadn't checked email in a week.  As it is, I have now organized and prioritized among colleges.  I have two top choices plus about twenty others and a growing list of those who email me but I'm not interested in them.  (For some reason my email sometimes marks college notices as spam - go figure.)
4. In relation to #2 and 3: I did a bit of research seeing if my top picks (Cedarville, Wright and U of Cincinnati) required more physics or A&P related stuff.  This heavily influenced my decision as to which class to sign up for.  In the process, I found out Cedarville, my first pick, only offered biomedical engineering as a minor.  Not a major.  AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHH!!!  So... scratch that one off the list.
5. My entire family save me is sick with various things and my grandparents are out of town.  Not good.
6. Most of my knitting UFO's/WIP's have been put on an indefinite hiatus.  However, I have been working on a small pair of gloves on and off.  Blue baby yarn and size 00 double points, and they are so cute.
7. Also on the needles - finished the FMA scarf for Ami-chan and started a companion Alphonse scarf.  And dang, it looks good, if I do say so myself... except it's not done yet.  :)
8. I've started reworking my book and have amassed 8-10 beta readers to help me.  (You know who you are, and thank you very much!)  I did receive a question from someone asking me if I'd post excerpts on my blog.  Unfortunately, the answer is no, because I don't want anyone to steal my work.  I trust my betas to not do this.
9. Since I missed the 4,000 hits marker, I posted a tutorials page and added pics to the "about" page instead.  Enjoy them!
10. The survey is still running, so please respond!  Aaaand... I really think that's it.  Talk to you when science fair's finally over - whenever that may be...

The fact of the matter is, I am in my junior year of high school and have a very high level of stress.  (My last few posts should be proof enough of that.)  Last night, Mom went to a junior parent meeting at DC.  Technically, students were supposed to attend, but I had a crapload of homework to do - some of which is still not done.  At any rate - the meeting was to discuss college, SAT/ACT, scholarships, etc.  Mom brought home a crapload of info to discuss with me this morning.

The long and short of it is, I have to cut down on my free time.  This, unfortunately, includes blogging and knitting.  (Don't get me wrong, I'll still knit in class.  Can't really look up scholarships in the middle of chemistry, lol.)  I have to do a lot of things this year alone, including:

• Take the SAT/ACT
• Take whichever one I do better on again (and a third time my senior year)
• Visit at least two colleges, possibly over spring break (by "visit", I mean "shadow someone in my field, attend classes, and possibly spend the night")
• Start looking at and applying for scholarships
• Get at least one letter of reference from a teacher
• Plan out my courses for next year
• Finish Science Fair (okay, not college-related, but it's a big deal!)

Yes.  Much, much stress that I reaaaaaally didn't need.  And here's the thing: the booklet our guidance counselor handed us last night is entitled "Making the Most of Your Last Two Years of High School".  Okay, so why is she giving this to us halfway through our junior year?!  *sigh*  whatever.  I'm actually past stressing now.  I had senioritis by May of last year, I swear.  (I think you can figure out why...)

Omigawd the blog's gonna diiiiiiiiie!!!  Um, no.  The blog will still be active, and I will still update with book reviews and knitting stuff.  It just won't have as many frequent posts.  Please continue to visit and look around!  I just may not update more than once a week (or occasionally once every two weeks).  This is because I'm concerned about college and I need to get on the ball.  Between switching schools and not having an as-active guidance counselor, I'm a little behind the curve here.

Can I help in any way?  I wish I could say yes!  Really, I'm already getting info from colleges and scholarship sites, so there's not much you can do.  The best thing you can do right now is pray for me that I won't have a nervous breakdown before graduation.  That's going to be a challenge, believe me.

Aaaaand... that's about it.  I'm gonna go edit some stuff real fast and then move on to Science Fair.  Oh, and Lyta - your commission is going out today if I have to walk to your house myself.  Bye!

Please respond to my survey if you haven't already!

March 14, 2008: Your Journeys to Heal the Land. The first is a series of Journeys by Lyn Benedict to heal the Open Pit Mine and the old mining tunnels in Butte MT.

Feb 6, 2008: Journey to the reef to help a woman who is crossing over. I learn that Barracuda is helpful in escorting the souls to the other side. That there is a dark hole in the bottom of the ocean where souls cross through to "heaven". That the heaven is very similar to place on the other side of the shimmering portal, but that it is much more deep, and that coming back is hard to do. And I have a delightful middleworld experience with my two Spotted Eagle Ray friends.

Feb 14, 2008: Valentines day and I am thankful to be alive and well. What a week. Forgive me for not posting. I have spent the last 7 days overcoming decompression sickness, otherwise known as the bends. I am exhausted and happy to be heading home on Saturday.

Dragon Scale Scarf CRAPITALL!!! No thumbnails!

STATS
Pattern: Dragon-Scale Scarf by Mary Hunt
Needles: US 7 (4.5 mm) straight needles.
Yarn: 2 skeins Lion Brand Homespun (color - Hepplewhite)
Length: 8 ft. 2 in.
Width: 2.5 in. (double-thickness)
Mods: Changed the center row to only one stitch and made the garter stitch border three stitches instead of five.  So the entire pattern is 31 sts. wide instead of 36.

Note: I also did this scarf about a year ago with size 8 needles and worsted weight yarn.  The yarn I used is fantastic.  It's a rusty red color with a pale white "frost" on it.  I've never seen yarn like it anywhere else; I really should post pictures.  The red scarf is not for sale under any circumstances; it was the last thing I made before Ridgeville closed and so has some very special memories attached to it.  The white scarf, however, is for sale in the store.

Dragon Scale Scarf (Detail)

Wow.  I started this mid-December (another bout of UFO syndrome), and I'm just now finishing it.  This should tell you something.  And that's with me working almost non-stop through my J-term classes.  Speaking of - I'm back to regular school now!  Thank God Speech and CSP are over.  Still, that means I'm back to Honors English... and Chemistry... I hate Science Fair.  Hate it, hate it, hate it.  I don't even see the point of it.  I mean, the kids hate it, the teachers hate it, the judges hate seeing projects that kids put no time into - what's the point?!  At least this is my last year.

Oh - Honors English.  I'm reallyreallyreally excited about this semester, because - drumroll please - we get to write books!  Yes, that's correct.  I even know what I want to do.  It's a novella idea I've had since summer.  I'm not going to say any more, though, because I don't want to spoil it!  We get little hardbound books with thirty pages, and we have to use two genres (like fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.), and we have to be creative with the decoration, and - 'kay, shutting up now.

Back to the scarf.  Yes, I did make this scarf ridiculously long.  I basically knitted until I literally ran out of yarn.  I think I had maybe six inches left when I was done.  I like my scarves long, so I can wrap it around multiple times to shut out the cold.  This is also a double-thickness scarf, because the ridges in the pattern cause it to fold over when blocked.  I love, love, love this pattern.  It's a twelve-row repeat (six-row, if you exclude the identical WS rows), and it's so easy to memorize and keep track of.  I plan to make knee socks with this pattern soon.  However, what I really want to make is a sweater with this pattern.  Wouldn't it be great?  In a deep forest green color?  I think it would be nice.  As I said before - this scarf is now in the store.  Asking price is $35-40, contact me if you're interested.  And now I'm off to do Science Fair!

Second: I've created several new accounts!  You can find me on YouTube as LadyTemeraire, though I haven't uploaded anything and probably won't for a while!  :D  I've also joined the Armor Army under the name Stardragon and the Risembool Rangers under the name jennischimmels.  Unfortunately, the site for the Miniskirt Army seems to be down, so I couldn't join that.  Yes, I am a shameless fangirl for all three of these guys.  Accept it.  Move on.

Third: um... alum crystal growing projects take a freaking crapload of alum to do.  Especially when you have forty projects and each one takes about a double batch.  So I've used up three things of alum powder, which equates to only three projects being started.  Not an auspicious start.  But I've got Nightwish on my mp3 to get me through the weekend, so hey.  Ja ne, and wish me happy times at Dare to Share!

"Dragons are hard to find.  There were no dragons at the beach.  There were no dragons in the park."  And about five minutes later: "Dragons like to play with toys, but they don't like to pick them up."  Apparently, this kid wanted a pet and decided to bring a dragon home, and the mom had a fit.

I for some reason found this hilarious.  Ellen was sitting next to me and just looked at me when she heard it, and we started laughing.  DRAGONS FTW!!! *cough*

Speaking of CSP: here's the list of projects and other things that are adding to my stress load.

• "Speech" Speech (due Wed. w/ Powerpoint)
• "Policy" Speech (due Thurs.)
• Newscasts (due Fri.)
• CSP w/ Powerpoint (assigned YESTERDAY AT THE END OF CLASS, due Wed.)
• Science Fair (miscellaneous crap, including final paper due NEXT WED.  Actual Science Fair is the 19th)
• J-term in general
• Dare to Share this weekend (positive pressure)
• A guy who's been my friend for forever but decided to recently act weird.  If something stressful has to go, it's gonna be him.

My English teacher, whose birthday was this past weekend, received a panic button with Hoops and Yo-yo on it (from the Hallmark e-cards).  When you hit the button, they say, "Stay calm... stay calm!... on second thought - PANIC!  PANIC!!!!" and start screaming.  That's about where I am right now.  I just need to crawl under the covers with one of those and not come out for a while.  Like, about until March.  Anyway - posts will be a bit sporadic until the 20th, what with Science Fair and going back to normal school.

Anyway today's picture is of my shoes that Mat bought me for Christmas.  I love them.  They've blistered my feet to heck and back, but I totally love them.  Here they are:

31mm, f4.5, 1/50, iso 800. flash bounced off ceiling.

From the Story:

The bill would allow children in foster care to request visits if it is in their best interests. It also would allow a special advocate to be appointed to represent the child. If the Department of Child Services denies a visit request, the child or advocate could petition a juvenile court to intervene.

...

The Indiana Department of Child Services encourages sibling visits when possible and is always looking for foster homes and adoptive parents willing to take in several children from the same family, spokeswoman Susan Tielking said.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel). 

Here is the official summary of the bill:

Foster care sibling visitation. Requires the department of child services (DCS) to promote sibling visitation for every child who receives foster care. Allows a sibling to request sibling visitation if one of the siblings is receiving foster care. Requires DCS to allow sibling visitation if it is in the best interests of the child receiving foster care. Provides that if DCS denies a request for sibling visitation, an individual may petition a juvenile court for sibling visitation. Requires a court to grant sibling visitation if the court determines sibling visitation is in the best interests of the child who receives foster care. Permits a court to appoint a guardian ad litem or a court appointed special advocate if a child requesting sibling visitation is receiving foster care. Provides that a guardian ad litem or court appointed special advocate appointed in a sibling visitation case is immune from civil liability, except for gross misconduct. (The introduced version of this bill was prepared by the interim study committee on missing children.)

[Magistrate Scott] Stowers' questions focused mostly on the process of the case. At the end, he approved the DCS plan to initiate unsupervised visits with approval from the counselor and the advocate.

Read that closely... "he approved the DCS plan to initiate unsupervised visits with the approval from the counselor and the advocate."  In the Blogmeister's experience, it is not unusual for a Judge, or Magistrate in this case, to approve certain things, pending approval of counselors and advocates.  The reason for this is these people often know the case the best, have a great deal of contact with the family, and, in the counselor's case, have more training and expertise on family issues than anyone else involved.  So, no problem there (except, again in my experience, DCS hates this because they feel their paying for the case, so they should get to say).  However, his order was to initiate unsupervised visits pending approval, not initiate reunification. 

At the core of this case, and yet to be determined, if ever, is who made the decision to go beyond the Court's mandate and reunify this family.  The Blogmeister's guess...someone at DCS.  Why you ask?  They had the most to gain by reunifying the family.  They would save foster-care and treatment money and it would fit with their internal provisions to reunify the family within eighteen months.  It is also interesting the advocate and the counselor, remember the two people who the Judge pended his order for their approval, were seeking court intervention to get her back into foster care.  That hearing was scheduled for the day she died.

Now maybe DCS didn't take it upon themselves to reunify this family.  Maybe it was a "team" decision, maybe aliens came and did it.  The fact is we don't know.  Until we know who made this decision, can we expect any real changes at DCS?  Further, doesn't the court now have standing to, on it's own motion, conduct a hearing to find out how this family was reunified despite it's own order to the contrary.  I'm no lawyer, but that sounds a lot like contempt of court to me.

 I actually had to take one yesterday in speech, my morning j-term class taught by my honors english teacher.  Yes.  My junior year of high school, and I'm taking a listening test.  This tells you how highly (or not) teachers think of people in my class.  Anyway - so we'd all given these "brown bag" speeches which were supposed to help introduce us a little to others.  The listening quiz was supposed to see how well we'd paid attention.  This is a great idea, but in the wrong hands...

The first question on the quiz was "Who brought in a block?"  This is where we all think Ohhhhhh crap.  Especially me and Jacob.  May I remind you that we are new to this school and do not know half the people in the class.

About halfway through the quiz, we point this out to English Teacher.  English Teacher smiles sweetly at us and says, "Well, you should have paid attention, because before each speech, I said, 'so-and-so, it's your turn'."

Yeah.  We've had these people in class for two days, had them introduced once, and we're supposed to remember which one of them brought in which obscure thing.  Clever, right?  Oh, it gets better.

There are twenty-two questions on the quiz (for twenty-two students).  We complete question nineteen, and guess what English Teacher says?  "For the next three questions, please write - in alphabetical order - the names of the three students whom we have not yet mentioned on this quiz."

This was not a listening quiz.  This was a familiarity quiz and had no place being administered.  I have parents, grandparents, and friends who agree with me.

Let me say, though, that I am not always negative.  Someone told me it seems like I'm always blasting someone on my blog.  That's not my intent.  It just seriously frustrates me when people - especially higher-ups or adults - decide to forget all their training and intellect and do something seriously stupid.  Like this.  I'll try to be more positive in the future, but no guarantees.  Though I do plan to review The Twelve Kingdoms... after I prep for my next speech.

Jenni: ... oh, hi Mike.
Mike: Hi.  Don't worry, I'm really out of it too.
Jenni: Tell me about it.  I got out of Honors English, and my brain was gone.  I spelled "using" with a "y"...
Nia: Uh-oh.
Jenni: ... and "get" like a hillbilly - "g-i-t".  And I think I spelled "common" with only one "m".
Mike: Oh, wow.

*conversation moves on, eventually coming to Elise (who is absent)*
Townsend: Oh, don't mention Elise, I'll get smacked.  Even if she isn't here.
Mike:  Yeah, you seem to be cursed like that.
Townsend: She just hates me, that's all.  Last night I was thinking of things I could say to make her mad -
Jenni: Why?
Townsend: Just for the heck of it.  So I was running through movie quotes, and I think the best one I found was from Toy Story: "You are a child's plaything!!! YOU ARE A TOY!!!"
Everyone: AHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Jenni: Yeah, speaking as a woman, I would kill you if you said that.
Nia: Can't you see her after he said that?  With flames in her eyes?
Alex: Oh, wow....
Nia: And her head, like, twists around?
Alex: Like that girl from The Exorcist!
Nia: AAAAAAAAAAAHH!!

Again, not even joking.

Have you noticed the conspicuous lack of tabs in my header? That's because "FAQ's" and "Getting to Know You" are now subpages under "About Stardragon".  Soon, I will make subpages under "Commission Info" so it's not one long humongous page.  In a few days, of course.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a safe night!

Episode 1: US History, post-exam

Alex: What?!  A friggin 85?  I put a lot of work into this!  Mrs. xxx (history teacher) is taking a diarrhea crap on my grade!
Jenni: Yeah, she took off points from mine because she didn't like my family tree.
Nia: So what'd you get?
Jenni: A 97.
Alex: I hate you.  Stop complaining.

(A little later)

Alex (who's still pissed): I shall use the power of water to pwn her!
Chris: I shall use wind!
Mike: Fire! *snaps*
JJ: Earth!
Jenni (who just walked up): Heart!  Go Captain Planet!
Everyone: WTF?!  AHAHAHAHA!!!
Alex: TENTACLE!
Jenni: Piss off.  (A/N:  I have major issues with tentacle references.  If you don't understand, go read Drama*con volume 1.  They do a good explanation with minor squick.)

Yeah... true story.  No lie. 

EDIT 12/21/07: Changed it so Alex has the correct element.  :D And I don't make a habit of snapping at people, but as a woman, I take major offense at tentacle references.  And Brandon Davis.