End

Well, I can't believe another semester is over. It went by so fast. I enjoyed it, though. I don't think I have ever studied this much in my life than in this past semester. Well, I guess that's because last year most of my day consisted of Orchestra and Art. I miss both of those things. It's a shame that CCCC doesn't have an orchestra, and I just don't have time for an art class right now. Although, I am getting a new camera (a Canon Rebel XS) for Christmas, so I will be able to do a lot more photography. I don't do enough traditional art anymore, though. But maybe that's okay, maybe I'll just be a digital artist. Still, I think would be important to keep those skills.

Anyway, exams are coming up and it's going to be hardcore, but it will be AMAZING when it's all over.

Good day.

Psychology

I'm in Psychology and we are talking about Therapy. There are a lot of different kinds. We have a handout about Cognitive Distortions that has a list that contains ten common cognitive distortions that people use. They are:

• All-Or-Nothing Thinking: You see things in black and white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.
• Overgeneralization: You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.
  
• Mental Filter: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like a drop of ink that discolors the entire beaker of water.
  
• Disqualifying the Positive: You reject positive experiences by insisting they "don't count" for some reason or other. In this way you can maintain a negative believe that is contradicted by tour everyday experiences.
• Jumping to Conclusions: You make a negative interpretation even though there are no definite facts that convincingly support your conclusion.
• Magnification (Catastrophizing) or Minimization: You exaggerate the importance of things, or you inappropriately shrink things until they appear tiny. This is also caled binocular trick.
• Emotional Reasoning: You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the ways you really are: "I feel it, therefore it must be true."
• Should Statements: You try to motivate yourself with should and shouldn't, as if you had to be whipped and punished before you could be expected to do anything. "Musts" and "oughts" are also offenders. The emotional consequences are guilt. When you direct should statements towards others, you feel anger, frustration, and resentment.
  
• Labeling and Mislabeling: This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. Instead of describing your error, you attach a negative label to yourself. "I'm a loser." When someone else's behavior rubs you the wrong way, you attach a negative label to them. Mislabeling involves describing an event with landuage that is highly colored and emotionally loaded.
  
• Personalization: You see yourself as the cause of some negative external event, which in face you were not primarily responsible for.
  

Snow?

Snow? Snow?! How? It's December. It's Texas. It's December! What? How?!

Can you sense my amazement and confusion? I wake up today with three text messages that all basically said "It's snowing!" What?! I didn't believe them until I looked out my blinds to see white flecks beating the ground. Seriously, it was coming down in sheets. Well, talk about an exciting and unexpected morning, right? It was a pleasant surprise, though. Snow is so rare before February! Crazy. Very crazy. It was cool, though. I drove to school in the snow while listening to The Tip of the Iceberg by Owl City. It talks about welcoming winter once again and snow and stuff. It suited the drive quite nicely. However, I had a feeling the snow would soon be gone while I was at school, and I was right. By 10:00, it was clear, and it had all pretty much melted. I went to wfaa.com and on the home page the main new article is all about the snow. I noted that only in Texas would an entire article on the home page of a news website be devoted to snow. I told that to one of my friends, and he made a funny comment back saying, "Yeah and only it Texas does it snow then get up to 64 degrees in a few hours." I laughed. It's exaggerating a little bit, but it's still essentially true.

Hot Chocolate and Apple Cider

Well, as said, it's been study study study... That's about it. While studying, I had hot chocolate. It was delicious, all warm and rich. There was hazelnut it in, a little added milk, and small marshmallows. You know, I've never really known the reason for marshmallows in hot chocolate. Where did that originate? And why? I mean, they are yummy, yeah, but I don't know how they ended up in hot chocolate. I mean, you don't put marshmallows in coffee. Although... in other drinks you can get whipped cream. Maybe that's why. Mmmm, whipped cream in hot drinks is delicious. That reminds me, I haven't had apple cider in forever. Starbucks has really good apple cider. Maybe I will go get some. It's the holiday season, after all. Ah, having it be the holiday season again makes me so happy. Like, really happy. Still, I can't believe another year has passed. Crazy. Crazy! Crazy.

Well, Thanksgiving holiday was good. Did a lot of relaxing. It's back to the grind, now, though, with tons and tons of studying and school work to do to prepare for exams. I call it "dead week". It's never fun.

Christmas is getting closer which is exciting because it's my favorite holiday. I like the whole feel of it, as well as the actual significance of the holiday itself. We put up the Christmas tree and I put up some lights. The house looks really festive. Every year we buy new ornaments for the Christmas tree and put the date on the bottom of it. It's a family tradition. That's another part of the Christmas season I like, family traditions.

Me and my friend are sitting in the Cougar Cafe. It's nice in here, has a good atmosphere. I got a V8. That stuff is so good. One of my favorites.

This is the last day of school for the week, I am excited! I can't wait to get some sleep over Thanksgiving break. Hooray!

It's really chilly out today and as much as I wish it was the same weather we've normally been having, I have to say that it's about time that it got cold. I mean, it's in the middle of November already.

I can't even fathom that. At all. So much has changed in a year. More than usual. It's so weird.

Well, there are a few birthdays this week, my sister's and my best friends. I still need to figure out what I am going to gift them. I am really distracted with studying, so I haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully I'll figure it all out... before tomorrow. Oh, boy...