a classic

Today my group presented our classical conditioning project in Psychology. Much to our surprise, we found out that we switched what we considered the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and ended up not doing the experiment properly. I say "much to my surprise" because our teacher listened to us explain what we were going to do for the project when it was still in the planning stage and said it would be okay. Now I understand why there was some confusion when I told him what we would be doing for the exstinction process and he said "no, you'd switch those two around." I guess he meant switch the whole project around, you're doing it backward, and if you continue along this path you'll look stupid in front of your classmates! but that's certainly not the way it sounded to us. It was really embarrassing to stand in front of the class and be told we did it wrong (even though my teacher is really nice and didn't say it rudely or in a condescending tone). All the other groups did a great job, and we would have done a great job if we'd had understood what we thought was correct. It's so frustrating.

But--the negatives I developed today in Photo turned out, and that means more to me than the issue with the Psychology project. Now I have more Virginia pictures (I still miss you, Virginia) and the beginning of my Shiva project. I still have another roll of the portraits of Shiva to process tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, tomorrow is essentially a Friday, because we have a completely random Records Day in the middle of the week and students don't have to attend school on Wednesday. This means Tuesday night is going to be a night on the town! I jest, but I probably will end up going to the movies or doing something fun. It'll feel really different to go out on a Tuesday night, but I'm so excited!

( the ever-evolving book survey )

the lowest of lows

Humans need 30-hour days and to become capable of surviving--no, thriving, on about six hours of sleep per night. Then everybody who wanted to (me, for example) could stay up painting for about five hours every night, with spare time to waste on the Internet, without ignoring responsibilities. I also need a place in my house that doesn't have to stay clean, a place where paint thinner and oil-based paint can live proud and free.

Also: tonight I wrote an essay called "The Benefits of a Healthy Smile" in hopes of winning a $500 scholarship from the Indiana Association of Orthodonists. I read it aloud to my parents, prep-school rhetoric contest-style, and laughed as my mom laughed over such lines as "Not only can a smile inform a person of one's character, it also invites judgment as to one's dental hygiene." I am officially desperate, and having fun while I'm at it.