Finally.

One more day. One more day. One more day.

This is what I've been waiting all semester for.

The last day of school.

I only have one more test, a lesson plan, a reading, and a cup of coffee in my way.

It's so close. I can't believe it.

Finally.

Letter.

November 8, 2010

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to request that you exempt me from the rule against keeping pets in the dorms on campus. While I realize that this rule is vital in keeping the dorms clean, quiet, and safe, I feel that my request is reasonable since you require me to live on campus and my room is quite lonely without a pet. In addition, my friend Leonard meets the requirements of clean, quiet, and safe and would not be any trouble. You see, Leonard is a platypus.

I understand any alarm at her species, but please hear me out. Leonard has been raised to live indoors so the lack of a running river in Pattie Cobb would not be a problem for her. Leonard simply requires a daily dip in the lily pond or a good soak in the large bathroom sink. Platypuses are not loud by nature, and Leonard is no exception. You would not receive any angry phone calls in the middle of the night concerning loud noises coming from room 323- at least no more than usual. Platypuses are burrowers, but Leonard would just burrow into my blankets when it was time for bed. This way, she could keep my feet warm at night and we could save energy by turning the heat down in the winter. I realize that you may take offense at me feeding Leonard her proper diet of bugs, worms, and small crustaceans, but I can feed her outdoors and supplement her diet with Honey Bunches of Oats when the weather is bad.

In order to keep Leonard from becoming lonely and getting into mischief, I propose that she help out around the school. Leonard is very helpful in nature. She could help the maintenance crew fix the ever-broken lily pond or make deliveries, carrying letters on her “duck-bill”. Oh, and don’t worry, because Leonard is a girl, she doesn’t have a barb full of incapacitating venom. I checked.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my request. Leonard is truly a remarkable platypus and will not only be mindful of the rules you have set in place but will also bring joy to a lonely college girl.

Sincerely,

Kelsey

Yep.

As the semester comes to a close, my work pile has grown to monstrous proportions.

While I am a bit of a procrastinator, I hardly ever leave the entirety of big things until the last minute. Until this semester.

Unfortunately, I've been sick. Really sick. Keep-you-up-all-night sick. Make-you-feel-like-passing-out sick. Not fun. So instead of doing work, I sleep. Or zone out. Neither of which are profitable to my grades. Or my mood.

Needless to say, I'm stressed.

To help myself calm down in times of panic, I found myself a puzzle game to play.

I love puzzles. A lot. Ask David. His itouch has another one every time I borrow it for more than 10 minutes.

This puzzle immediately spoke to me- with its Bejeweled type format, my favorite book series theme, and simplicity of being right there in my favorites tab- I had to play it. The odd thing about this game is that it has 7 levels and if you lose a level then you automatically lose the game an have to start over. Now, this seems a little excessive to me. It wouldn't be a big deal if the levels are easy to win right off. But no. I kept losing after 3 or 4 levels. I mean, this game is for CHILDREN, right? And I, a puzzle master, can't win? This is not okay. Thus, my focus on calming myself during study breaks turned into an obsession to win.

This obsession took 3 weeks. (Luckily, I had days in between games at some points. Don't worry). But, I finally won.

I think.

You see, on the last level, when you finally have filled in all the squares, it just stops. There's no congratulations, no anything. It's like the designers figured no kid was going to ever win so there was no need to make an ending.

I was devastated. All of that work and time given away and no pat on the back. BAH!

All of this to say, I've continued to play the game in hopes that there is just a glitch that will work itself out.

In the meantime, I'll take a break from the game and work on my projects to help me relax a little.

Just kidding.

To play the game, click HERE.