/rant

Do you know what sucks? Making mindless mistakes on quizzes because you second guess yourself. I need to stop obsessing about things I cannot change. Christians say that one prayer (aptly named the serenity prayer):


God grant me the serenity 
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Yeah, so basically I'm 6/7th atheist BUT my brain needs to gain some wisdom and tell itself to shut the fuck up sometimes. There's an easy solution, try harder (and ignore the students in class who ask questions the book can clarify). Writing this has made me feel better. 

thank you for being a friend

My chemistry professor suggested we 'space train' study. My space training consists of studying for one to three ~40 minute periods almost every day. In between periods I'll eat, have another class, watch HIMYM or Arrested Development, etc.

Lab safety training was this afternoon and I learned all about chemical spills, hazardous waste and corrosive materials. I found out I need to be trained in blood borne pathogens too. Afterward, I went to the mall to window shop because I'm taking a trip to California in February to see my boyfriend (he's in the military). I ended up spending six bucks on a pair of sunglasses but I'm torn. I think they might look like a mix between Sophia's specs from the Golden Girls crossed with 70's porn star chic.

I don't have anything else on the agenda tonight. I know I should look over a few more practice problems before tomorrow's quiz but I don't want to over-rationalize and confuse things. I have an early wake-up call tomorrow which gives me around 40 minutes to study. Goodnight!

angel dance

Good morning! I'm going to immerse myself in my studies come 3 pm -- quiz tomorrow. What's cool is my biochemistry and organic chemistry classes have some overlap in material, so I can breathe a little easier and study less. Nothing else is going on besides the usual morning coffee.

I'm digging the song Angel Dance by Robert Plant. 

michigan looks like a giant slurpee

Does anyone else have the inability to save money? I struck up a conversation with one of the barista ladies working at Peet's this morning and she told me her 21 year old daughter managed to save ~ $20,000 already. Like, holy shit. She must have a pretty legit job to sock away that much money and an elephant's weight in discipline. As well as acquiring 20 G's worth of currency, her mom told me she has a good credit score too.

I'll admit I like stuff. Currently, I'm extra-super-thrilled because I just ordered a Kindle off amazon. I have Kindle compatibility on my phone, PC and Mac -- which is to say I've already stocked a mini digital library. Don't get me wrong, my love of actual books runs deep and I plan on having a massive library in my future home. In retrospect, I don't think kindergarten story time would be the same if operated on a digital medium. Concluding snack time, which consisted of PB&J's and apple juice, hoards of five year-olds gather 'round an almost powerpoint-like reading of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Different, yes. Cool? We'll see.

I found a personal blog I really like it's called sweet dreams, sweet cheeks. I think I have a lot in common with the author and she does include some journal-type content along with tons of pictures.

Enough distractions, time to work on naming organic compounds. Lucky me!

shake it!

I just found out I'm pretty terrible at Just Dance for the Wii console. No skin off my back. Even so, I still like shakin my groove thang!

Ok, time for bed.

weekend update

This past Friday afternoon was excellent! I met with one of my professors from last semester and he gave me awesome news! I will now work as a student researcher in his lab, most likely doing tissue culture. So in other words, I'll grow some -- err, tons of cells. I'm excited for so many reasons, I'll name a few.

• Many biology majors graduate with no "outside the classroom" lab experience. I'm one of the lucky few.
• The skills I will accumulate while working in the lab are extremely beneficial to my future. If things pan out, I'll be able to embellish my grad school and job applications apropos.
• I'm looking forward to doing some hands on work. I enjoy making jewelry, crocheting, doing crafts, cooking, etc. I see petri dishes and pipettes in my near future!

I'm going to be extremely busy in the coming weeks! Organic and biochemistry tests are coming up near the end of the month and I have to go through training and certification to work in the lab. My set up on the fourth floor of the library will be as follows:

My netbook doesn't hold all my music, hence the iPod.

I think I'm going to dedicate a section of this blog to writing about this new experience and call it 'from the lab bench' or something of that sort. Another section I plan on creating is called 'quarks'. Quarks are subatomic particles, meaning they are the stuffs of atoms constituting atomic anatomy -- protons, neutrons and electrons. Contrary to Baskin Robbins 32 flavors, quarks only come in 6: up, down, top, bottom, charm and strange. A single quark is deemed a fundamental or elementary particle because it's thought to have no internal structure. Different flavors of quarks join forces and create composite particles, some of which are called hadrons like protons, neutrons and if you're hip to particle physics, mesons. So, why does this matter?

Particle tracks after colliding. 

Well, in regards to this blog, my 'quarks' would be a collection of different things I find elementary to making life and the world wonderful. The focus would draw away from science and onto culture -- art, music, film, YouTube, anything!

Moving on, today was ho-hum. I woke up and went to Whole Paycheck (Whole Foods) to look for jasmine tea. The only one I found was way out of my price range so I opted for a bottle of kombucha instead. If you don't know, kombucha is a type of fermented tea chock full of bacteria/yeast beneficial to one's gut flora. Doesn't that sound appetizing! It has a bubbly, acetic taste and provides antimicrobial and antioxidative support.

I did boring chores afterward like dust and pick up the presents my dogs left outside. Nothing much has gone on and I'm keeping it pretty chill before studying!

tea time

Green, black, white -- I love tea. I ritualistically prepare a cup of tea before I crack open my textbooks and sip a convivial cup on cold January days like today. I need to yelp a little more because I'm on the hunt for a good tearoom or tea shop in the Detroit area. Eventually, I'd love to concoct my own tea creations with leaves and herbs and what-have-you. I usually drink mine plain but my favorite during the Christmas season was mint with a dash of milk and sugar, it definitely felt more festive!