Fangirlin' It

This probably isn't of interest to most people, but anyone who likes birds might be.  We have a broad-tailed hummingbird in backyard right now.  This is super exciting, because he's not supposed to be here, not just for this time of year, but ever.  His range is over in the Rockies and Texas, not North Carolina.  Yet there he is.  At first, Mom saw him and thought he was a (really late) migrating ruby-throated hummingbird, which would be unusual for a male this time of year, but at least the correct geography.  But we saw him again this morning and he was definitely different; the throat was not as brilliant a red, and was only red on the sides (non-breeding plumage), among other things.  This is a life bird for all of us, which means that we've never seen one in person before.  It's a pretty big deal.  He's really cute, too, because it's sort of cold here and he's all puffed up.

Well, apparently procrastination can pay off; that film paper and annotated bibliography I did literally at the last minute?  I got an A+ on both.  That, or this school really has no standards.  All the final grades aren't in yet, but in the two that are posted on the web, I got As.  This brings me up to just shy of a 3.0 overall GPA!  This is exciting, guys.  

On the down side, I'm sick again.  It's the sore throat with nasty white stuff all over, really gross, really painful.  I went to the doctor two days ago, and the rapid strep test was negative, but all the symptoms point to either strep or some other bacteria, so he prescribed antibiotics.  I opted to get it all over with and get the enormous penicillin shot instead of taking 10 days of oral antibiotics.  It leaves you kind of sore, and it goes in the hip.  Ouch.  But worth it; I think it's beginning to work.  I was supposed to drive down to visit my dad and stepmom in Alabama, but I'm not making a 7-hour drive by myself feeling like this.  It's a little disappointing, because this is the longest break from school I'll have until I graduate in December, and I haven't seen them since this past December.  Oh, well.  

There was a rare bird sighted nearby a few days ago, but I couldn't go see it at first because I had to study for finals, and by the time I could go, it was not there.  It was a purple gallinule, which kind of looks like a little kid got into the paints and coloured it in: