Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas/Hanukkah! My break has been relaxing so far - I've been spending a lot of time with family of friends, with a bit of reading and prepping for winter quarter thrown in there. I made the mistake of discovering that you can play Pokemon Crystal version online, so when I got home last Sunday I played it almost non-stop the first few days. I'd forgotten how much I had missed it... that was the one game I had growing up (after I bought it off my brother Adam) and I played it until the game was so worn it could no longer save.

My Christmas was really nice - my family went to three different church services within the span of 16 hours and we had our extended family over for brunch and gifts. A few of my favorite presents:

• Web cam
• Christopher Nolan DVDs (The Prestige, Batman Begins, Dark Knight) and Deathly Hallows 7 Pt.2
• Arabic-English dictionary and a book of Arabic short stories
• A fair trade scarf
• Magnet Balls - playing around with these is strangely addictive...

My official grades are out and I did better than I had originally thought! I was correct about my grades in Bio and International Law, but I ended up getting an A+ instead of an A in Arabic and Cognitive Psych! While Davis doesn't factor an A+ into your GPA (unlike other +/- grades), it counts as 4.33 for law school so my law school GPA is looking pretty nice right now. Maybe Harvard/Yale/Stanford aren't out of the question...

I have probably ten books out from the library right now, with three of those being LSAT prep books. My plan is to prepare for the LSAT this coming summer and then take it next February after I get back from my quarter in Washington, D.C. (speaking of which, I need to start on that application soon!). In theory, I'm going to do a few practice sections this break like I did back last summer... although it always seems like I have other things I need to do instead. Shopping being up there, of course. Yes, I did go shopping yesterday for the post-Christmas sales, although of course the store I ended up getting things at did not have any amazing Christmas sales. Three sweaters, two adorable scarves, and there went all my Christmas money plus half of my (small) paycheck from the first two weeks of December. Ooops. At least A) it was stuff I really needed and had to buy regardless and B) it's all REALLY cute. Plus I get paid again next Wednesday, this time for all of the Mondavi shows I worked two weeks back when I stayed in Davis an extra week.

I'm ready for winter quarter to start - almost. I still have a few things to get ready for: pre-printing bulletin boards for the RA job, writing out flashcards with Arabic vocab for the next few chapters, completing applications for scholarships/the D.C. program/orientation leader position for summer, and buying a binder that will actually make it through the quarter. I tried using a binder back in fall quarter so that I could have all my notes and papers for each class together in one place, and it worked great... minus the binder falling apart in the last few weeks of the quarter. Probably a sign I was taking too many classes. Now that I have 3 more units than I did in fall, I'll need a sturdier binder. Possibly some duct tape.

It'll also be nice to get back to Davis since I'll be warm again! I'm staying in the sun room, which is great in summer but freezing in winter. Literally freezing - I woke up yesterday morning and it was below 30 in my room. Thank goodness for heated mattress pads and wool blankets! It's not completely terrible, but it makes getting out of bed in the morning nearly impossible. In Davis I can be assured that my room will be slightly warmer than that.

I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve and stays warm over winter break! Again, happy holidays to you all!