The crazy quotient is high, and Mom is coming today

So the tests are over. I survived. We'll see. On a seriously more entertaining note, yesterday started "Malia's crazy people encounters and other odd happenings." I spent a wonderful weekend with Hope and the girls and Terry. Yesterday I helped cook a country breakfast for dinner after shopping around at Target and running into Wegman's (which is the coolest grocery store ever, by the way). Hope dropped me off at the bus stop at the airport, as usual. There was lots of folks waiting and huddling around, still adjusting to the temperature, which was cold. And this guy asked me about the metro. He seemed strange. He asked when the bus was coming and then announced to me and the other guy next to me that he needed to go to the bathroom. And then he walked off, leaving all his stuff behind just sitting there!

As we all trooped on the bus, I asked to driver a question and he said he didn't know because this was his first run of that route. But I didn't expect him to get lost leaving the airport! He took the wrong exit and everyone yelled for him to pay attention. He stopped the bus (pretty sure he didn't even pull off to the side) and told everyone it was his first time and told them to stop yelling at him! The he turned off all the bus lights as he backed up the freeway ramp into oncoming traffic. And the full bus load of people sat there muttering and wondering what was going to happen next as we reversed 200 feet.

After getting on the correct tollway and the lights coming back on and crossing 4 lanes of traffic, we went in circles at the park and ride for a while, as the strange guy from the bus stop started shifting around, putting on his sunglasses, turning and staring at people, at me. A woman in the back of the bus started a cell phone conversation with her grandma which got progressively louder until she was shouting the same sentence over and over. "Granma, he didn't know you was there!" I was profoundly grateful to get off the bus at Rosslyn, brushing by a belligerent homeless guy trying to get on the bus without money.

At this point I was hoping for a quiet finish home. And it was really, just a crazy guy wandering around the metro with large gold plastic bag on his head, with the handles looped around his ears. Oh, and the renaissance dressed picketers. There was a colonial era town crier, standing near there as well, with oil lamp and everything. Also hold a sign. But other than that, relatively normal. :)

So today, I am glad to be in class, with the privileged Georgetown students. Avoiding the weirdness. Except for on the bus drive this morning, where a fight almost erupted between two elderly citizens that were cane dependent. And the bus almost got plowed into by a Jag. You know. The usual!

Frankly, school work is looking good! Mom's coming this afternoon and I am hoping all the crazies go into hiding by then. I really want her visit to go well. I felt like this last time when she came to meet me in Paris. There was a garbage strike on for well over a week before she arrived. Just what you want to see of Paris. Garbage. Luckily it ended that morning and it was almost gone by the afternoon. Pray the same thing happens!

Malia desperately not studying physics but . . .

Ok, so I should be studying, I admit. But I just downloaded Firefox instead, while I was playing around. It is really cool. I am pretty impressed. Any, will actually be studying now . . . I promise.

Also found this quote today. Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune.
- Kin Hubbard. Which I don't really believe. All the time any way!

Planner Update!

I bought a new planner for 2008. For those of you who are yawning already, go away. I have used the same type of planner for years. I really like the outline. But I realized a couple of days ago that I need something that can plan by the hour for more hours and my current planner only goes from 8am-5pm. My schedule needs more organization. What I really need is planner with the whole 24hours of the day available to schedule out. But that is not readily available on the market . . . .So I am going to try the "Time:Master" planner, which had the added excitement of being 5 dollars cheaper than my old one. It is bigger but it comes in a nice pattern. You know, I probably should get a PDA, but I keep waiting for them to be cheaper. And the internet access to be cheaper, and basically I want a future version of the Iphone (one with longer battery life) and better network. But I definitely can't afford that.

Net result: I got a new daily planner which I am excited about using.

3,2,1 Soon my physics test will be done!

I am hoping that today's physics test will go well. Organic went . . . well I am still alive. The teacher told us yesterday that the average was 65%, with the range from 90% to 10%. Over course the grades are curved, but as someone reminded me just a few minutes ago, even a 10% shows some level of studying. How sad is that? I mean, really really tragic. I guess I am really just hoping for something survivable. I would laugh if I got a good grade. The bio test came back not so good. I made a lot of mistakes and took a hit on the essay. I am determined to make this a turning point for studying, becoming anal-retentive about time and organizing study. The probability of me being overly organized is probably low, but still. Something needs to happen.

On the plus note (one of the only plus notes this week. It has been a rough week) my mom is coming on Monday. Which means that tonight I need to finish some other homework and clean my refrigerator, and my bathroom. Everything else I can accomplish Sunday night after getting back from Hope's, but I really want my apartment to look nice. Sorry Samantha and Robin, I kinda didn't worry about this when you guys came.

I think this week being particularly rough has been growing. I am hoping it will get me back on track and with it.

The front side attack!

Otherwise known as Orgo Test today. (Front side attack is reference to the placement of attack in reactions that will be on the test today). I am hoping that the reading on the topic that I have done (which took me forever) will carry me through the huge amount of understanding required for this topic. I feel truly overwhelmed with the amount I need to known to complete these problems comfortably. Once again I am going in hoping for the best and expecting a bit of the worst. We'll see.

Sorry for the third video being so short. I have tried several times to upload it and can't seem to get the whole thing on there. Oh well. On another housekeeping note, I want you all to know that I do not in anyway support Comcast(if any of you accidently work for comcast, am sorry!). My internet, the one that I already pay to much for, is so slow, that what took me only seconds to do at school, takes twenty to thirty minutes at home!! And school internet is free!!! Needless to say, I am thinking of switching my provider away from Comcast because I can't take it anymore!! I pay for fast internet and good cable tv and get neither AND they always overcharge me!

Honestly, its just something else to worry over instead of orgo. Going to study now. Will update you later.

Part Deux

Didn't have time last night to upload part two! This is the backside of the apartment.

Today it has returned to sunny. Orgo lab over and biology lab to come. I love performing experiments, but I am not really fantastic at writing them up. Ah well, what you gonna do?

On another note, I think Starbucks has now turned to adding crack to the coffee. Cuz gosh darn it I felt good after that morning cuppa! I felt intoxicated. Now after several hours the effect has worn off. But man, was that fun! Caffeine, the legal addictive stimulant. So I am drinking another cup. I really don't expect it to be as good this time. It's from the coffee stand at school.

Pray (or cross your fingers). My organic test monday night is looming large. I am pretty far behind in understanding and I need to catch up today. I feel like I have been taking vacation from reality but still showing up to school, which means I haven't gottten school work done or feel like I have truly taken a vacation. The ultimate in time waster!

I will publish part 3 of last night's video in the next post. I suppose that if I am going to try doing this video thing I should use a webcam and not my real camera, which takes such huge video file that I can even post a full minute at a time. But it sorta works!

(PS. No, even I am not sure what is up with my extensive use of exclamation points. I can't seem to stop it.)

Le troisieme video

There it is. If this is more popular, I may try doing more video segments. Its more fun to watch someone, although I do appreciate the self-censoring of seeing your written words.

Enjoy your saturdays for me, ok?

Rain, rain, beautiful rain

Today it rained for the first time in 34 days!! I love it.
I also bought something that inspired the below videos.

The backworks of the apartment!

Biology test tomorrow

And we'll see how she blows. I don't have sense of urgency about this round of tests at all. Which puts my preparation on a serious low. I took a nap yesterday, which was really nice. But not very productive.

So I am back at it today. Have I mentioned lately how little I understand from either Orgo or physics lectures? Well pretty much don't learn anything from them. Luckily I struggle through the book. Oh well. Such is life.

Tests again . . .

It doesn't seem possible, but its again time for another round of test, a Thursday to Thursday week of academic recall goodness. I do love bio and that is first. So I trying to relax and study for all three tests with a laid back attitude that will allow all the information to go in the and the stomach to rest. We'll see. I think before I am too terribly old I will be buying anti-acids left and right. I think like most people, I put my stress in my stomach: sometimes by not eating, sometimes by over eating. Which in the end, really levels everything out anyway, doesn't it? For those of you worried about these things (namely my mother) no I am not losing more weight. Right now the stress eating is way out "weighing" (harhar, aren't I funny!) the stress not being able to eat. Which is ok. I can live with that.

For this day, anyway, things have settled a bit. My cousin Hope is on day 2 of the job she is not sure if she will like or survive through. I am praying that she will be able to see the whole thing as this cool challenge she just can't resist surmounting. She is so amazingly capable with everything that I just can't see her not doing pretty well. But what I know and what she thinks are different things. That is always the case.

Well, I should be off. You know, studying and learning and getting ahead and the like. We'll see, won't we!? Tonight I am excited because I have things ready to make chicken Parmesan. But what do you do as the side dish for that? I am going broccoli with everything because it tastes good and I can buy a pound frozen at Trader Joe's for something like $1.09. Its fantastic. But otherwise? Potatoes? Bread? what? I am just not sure. Have to think about it for a while.

And wonderful other news for me (not so good for Dad!). Mom is coming to visit. I am so excited. It will be really fun to have her around. And she is coming right after the round of tests so hopefully I will have some down time to hang out and relax with her. I am so excited! Another visitor!

Another round of quotes

"The cat could very well be man's best friend but would never stoop to admitting it." Doug Larson
"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." Douglas Adams
"We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex--but Congress can." Cullen Hightower

Saturday, just another day of the week!

Well today was just another day of the week, another day of classes. But it went fairly well. In orgo lab we isolated caffeine from tea. There was not that much in there! I am definitely not gonna set up a home lab to do that for sure, but it was fun. I hate doing the lab write ups and being in lab on Saturday, but the organic lab itself is fun. You get to swirl things around and isolate drug compounds, and play with hazardous materials and distill products down.

Tonight I am to meet with some friends and hang out, which should be fun. And I am going to mass tomorrow, which I am really looking forward to. Its another round of tests starting this thursday. Hope and pray for me.

For those who have been worrying because I fell, I am doing ok. I ache all over but it will pass. And the bruises are not as bad as I thought they would be. My eyes are still on the red side and I continue wearing my glasses, but that's ok. It fits with how tired I have been. Kinda feels slow like me.

Today will already be too long

Today started out well. And I am determined to finish it well, if you must know. I woke on time to listen to NPR as considered getting out of bed. And remembered to eat breakfast. My eyes are still partially red, so glasses for the third day in a row. A pain, but adjustment can be made. I was late, as usual, running close to the time to leave. In fact the day started normally. I remembered everything I needed before I left the building, and I even threw on makeup as last ditch effort to look good, or at least normal.

However I did manage to be considerably late by that point, waiting in the abruptly changed weather conditions, shivering in my sweater, hoping to bus wouldn't take too terribly long. And then I fell, collapsed as it were, down a small set of stairs in front of someone. It was definitely embarrassing. And it really hurt. And the pants are new! Never been worn before!

I arrived as school 20 minutes late, and tried to quietly enter class (which I was not so successful at) and as soon as I sat down, my whole body ached. My neck, back, knees, ankles, and the top of my foot suddenly felt intimately every place where they had respectively made improper contact with something, an yank that was out of the normal.

So now I am tired and running on less sleep and I ache. Which is bad. It is all combining to urge me to just go to sleep instead of trying to face this particular day, at just this precise moment. Which is the reason it is bad, because I have a large amount of work to do today. And needs must it get done today, so tomorrow I can run over it in my mind. We'll see how it works.

That was an utter lot of nothing. Sorry.

Nothing much so musings instead . . .

So today is the joy of orgo and physics (luckily no physics lab!! Hurrah!!!!!). And I am meeting with some classmates to discuss our orgo lab. But I thought I would fill you all in on the remnant of an internal debate after a guest speaker in biology class yesterday who talked about the need for universal healthcare. She made several very valid points, but one problem I had with her was a comment she made about acute care. I wrote this yesterday trying to untangle my thoughts. Needless to say, they are still seriously tangled.

I believe in universal healthcare. I want everyone to be covered. But a choice between my family's acute care needs and some other person preventative care, it is only natural that I will choose my family. I think that is a natural inclination of man, to take care of those we love above the common good. And yet, to me the common good is a comprised of single people. And if we take care of everyone but no one well, are we really doing what's best. Prevention should be a bigger focus, of this there can be no doubt. Care for the poor, and underrepresented. But should we sacrifice acute care for that purpose. Admittedly it is horrendously expensive. And has lower positive outcome. Does that make it less worthy and needed? There is something in me that cannot abandon forward medical progress.

There was story recently of a little boy in DC who died of an abcess tooth because doctors refused to care for him because the need was so small, the problem so little. And yet he died. There is grave inequity in medicine. I am horrified by the statistics of 1% infant mortality rate in affluent urban areas, and 20% just 15 miles away. This is not just wrong, it is an affront to everything right and good. Whoever would say that we are now completely equal, I dare them to see that statistic and explain away why these numbers are completely in poor areas, why these are most, if not all, racial minorities. And yes, before you ask, they cannot be explained all by "lifestyle differences."

So where do I stand? I have no idea. I cannot think of the baby at the hospital who lives because of recent medical advancement, who is most likely to never make it past age 2. Can I deny that there is something worthy to fight there? That the struggle for his life is of less importance than the possible emphasis of other unknown childrens' wellness visits? How can you prioritize life and death? I believe that is why we treat medicine in the US as a sickness state, instead of a wellness state. We triage and treat the worst problems first. And since the need is so massive, we never get beyond the worst need. Preventative rarely comes into it. How can we ever find the time or money for it?

And then . . .

I had a lovely weekend of rest and family and gladly arrived home yesterday night only to run into two annoying but not life threatening problems. I left my phone charger at Hope's so my source of outside/family/friend contact is threatening to end as the battery flashes red warnings (my phone is dying). The second is just appearance: my left eye is completely bloodshot. Every vein and small capillary is apparent. Now for the times in the past when I avoided looking at someone with a similar problem, I am in horror. It really is just annoying. It doesn't hurt, though I do have some serious conjuntivitis, but this always looks soo bad. Hey, at least I don't have to look at me!

Other than that, life is fine. Just puttering along trying to get school work done. I am excited because an old friend of mine has just moved out here to the DC metro area. I am looking forward to seeing her for the first time in a very long time.

I am keeping up my spirits and enjoying the completely unusual and unseasonable warmth this year. Pray or keep your fingers crossed (whichever you do): I think I am getting a cold and I am really just not down with that (in other words, I just do not have the time!).

Long time, no blog.

Well, after surviving all my tests, my push to push seems to have momentarily dissappeared. As a result, it seems like a really good thing that this weekend is a long one. My first two legitimate days off in a row since school started.

Needless to say I am looking for somethings that will releave the stress quickly and without money. I am certain to be searching for a while.

Just to reassure all those who thought thtere was a possibility of me not being me for even a short period of time, no worries, still just me!

This weekend I am laying low with family. It should be really great. But I am determined to get my study on.

Almost done

With physics due tomorrow. And at the unprecedented hour of 3:40pm!! Well, I have two problems left. But still. Pretty good.

I introduced Merissa to iGoogle, the personalized Google homepage, today. And she sent me this. I thought it was so shockingly beautiful I would share. Isn't creation amazing? No matter what you believe in, there certainly are somethings that are completely and utterly amazing.

Hey, at least I didn't bomb it!

Well, got the orgo test back. Got a B, which was class average and curved. I would like better but at least I didn't totally suck. I will need to work my rear off to get even that good next time. All the new concepts are totally weird. I want a fantastic grade, not just a good grade. You know?

This is my motto for sure

Late to bed and late to wake will keep you long on money and short on mistakes. - Aaron McGruder

Well, to keep you up. I took my physics test, which was substantially easier than I anticipated and did well, I hope. I am fairly certain. I always took a mini "vacation" from class on Friday, which I paid for that same night as I tried to catch up with work for labs that I had been putting off until tests were over. I will . . . I am determined to be more together for next month's round of tests.

After getting only an hour of sleep Friday night, however, I was pretty slow by Saturday afternoon. I determined to take a nap before going and staying the night with Hope. My nap turned into a nights sleep, after waking to tell Hope I wasn't going far.

I feel good. And determined to do even better next time. I have yet get my Orgo test back. Most likely tomorrow. That will be a depressing one, but at least the other two went well!!
Hurrah for me!

It seems premature to be seeing Christmas in sight already, but I do. Its almost Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. I love the Fall. Holidays all in a row!!

Well, its late, and I need to try and not lose sleep without reason. Store it up for other good purposes.