Neuro exam tomorrow, but I've been taking it easy study-wise for the past couple of days. I decided to do this Saturday morning, when I woke up and realized that I'd been dreaming about nystagmus ("Slow phase left! Fast phase right! Cold opposite warm same!"). I then thought back to Friday, when I'd seen a sign for Weight Watchers and thought it said Weigert Watchers. Clearly, I'd had enough Neuro. Today, I've mostly just been looking at my pathways and all my lesion diagrams. All while watching the 80s channel on Music Choice. Which brings me to the real reason for writing this entry.

Earlier today, I learned that the "I'm never gonna dance again / Guilty feet have got no rhythm" song is by Wham! and is called "Careless Whisper." Did you all know that? Were you keeping that knowledge from me? I thought it was called "Never Gonna Dance Again" and figured it was by some one-hit-wonder 80s band. Anyway, I decided that if I had to pick one piece of music to represent the 80s, I'd use the saxophone riff from that song.

Next, I heard Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." When I was little, I heard the lyrics as "Then I'm Gonna Give You Up." I thought the guy was listing all these mean things he was going to do to his girlfriend. And he seemed so happy about it! That jerk. I found out what the real lyrics are a few years ago, so no need to worry that today has been an overload of 80s music epiphanies. Just an overload of 80s music.

Now, the roomie and I are listening to Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" on repeat. It's been on for at least an hour now. And every single time, I whisper the final "And if we...." right along with Celine. That's probably a sign that I've finally snapped.

My weekend in a nutshell: We had a long, intense football practice on Friday night. On Saturday I pre-gamed tailgating with mimosas at 7am, then tailgated from 8:30 to 11:30, then screamed myself hoarse for 60 minutes, then walked home in a downpour. I then watched (and sang along with) "Sister Act 2" with about 10 other people, which was an EXCELLENT time. I then watched no fewer than five other college football games. Today, another football practice. Another fun weekend over with very little study progress to show for it. I realized tonight that I am irreparably far behind in all my classes. I can try, but I'll never catch up. All hope is lost. Oh well!!

In music news, I am loving Josh Ritter's new album, "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter." I have actually been in love with Mr. Ritter's songwriting since I heard the first lines of "Kathleen" a few years ago:

All the other girls here are stars- you are the northern lights
They try to shine in through your curtain; you're too close and too bright
They try and they try, but everything that they do
Is the ghost of a trace of a pale imitation of you

Honestly, who wouldn't swoon at that? So overlook the silly name of this latest CD and check it out. I've been playing 'Rumors' on repeat continuously for the past three days or so.

Speaking of playing songs on repeats for days at a time, this article has made me start to think that I might legitimately have some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder. I already knew that I obsess about things, but nail-biting is such a part of the fabric of my life that I never thought of it as a compulsion. Bad habit, yes. Something I should stop, yes. Something I've tried to stop multiple times without success, sure! Compulsion? Noooo.

I got caught in traffic this morning, and it didn't take me long to figure out that I was going to be pretty late for the morning lecture. I considered just studying through the lecture time, once I got to school. Alas, I am a compulsive class attender, so I went. I should have gone with my gut and skipped. That professor needs to learn that even though we want to heal injuries one day, a lot of us don't actually take joy in watching people get injured, over and over again. I could have tolerated one or two video clips just shown as examples. I would have tolerated all eight if there was some direct educational benefit, like clarifying the structure of the joint or action of a ligament. But that many completely gratuitous gruesome clips are a poor substitute for actually being an engaging lecturer. And yeah, last week when we were told that this professor would be giving us the lecture on the knee, the audible "Oh, CRAP" came from me. So why did I go? Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.

Moving on to happier thoughts...tonight was trivia night!! A lot of people don't realize, trivia isn't about just knowing lots of facts, like in what year historical events happened and what flags look like. Trivia is about being aware of lots of things, and being able to put things together. Which is not at all the same, at least to me. Two examples from the night a bunch of us played Cranium. If I was shown a bunch of flowers and told to point to the foxglove, I couldn't do it. But I know that foxglove exists, so when Eve drew a dog-looking thing and a hand, I was able to pull that out. And when Asher started humming "Escape (the Pina Colada Song)," it was word-association, not memorization of facts, that led me to yell out the name of another song named after a drink, "Margaritaville."

Which brings us to trivia tonight. We got this question: "Little Altars Everywhere, by Rebecca Wells, is the prequel to this novel, which was made into a 2002 film starring Ellen Burstyn." Okay, I'd never read or heard of the book, the author's name meant nothing to me, and I don't have a list of Ellen Burstyn movies in my head. So my first step was deciding to assume that the prequel and novel in question didn't have the same author, because otherwise, I'd be running against a mental brick wall. Once the possibilities had been expanded to any novel ever written by anyone, my next step was to think of all the 2002 movies I could, which was two: "Chicago" and "The Hours." Neither of which was very plausible. Then Beth mentioned The Joy Luck Club, which we all knew was too old, and honestly, why wouldn't Amy Tan write her own prequel? BUT the suggestion sent my brain down the path of Oprah's-Book-Club-esque, groups-of-women-bonding novels. Next thought was "Waiting to Exhale," but the movie was too old. Then "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", but the movie was too new. Then I thought of "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." I was actually confident in the guess because of two things I didn't know. I didn't know when the movie came out, so there was a chance it was 2002. I didn't know who wrote that book, so it could've been Rebecca Wells. And then there was the "Altars"--->"Divine" thing from the titles.

That whole process happened in like four minutes. My head is an interesting place to be sometimes. After all that, I was psyched, but not totally shocked, when it turned out we were right.

And that's my bragging for the night. All for you, Beth.

I've been saying that my preceptor reminded me of a celebrity. Not a superstar, but a "Hey! It's that guy!" type that you see in a bunch of things, but never actually know his name. For the past week, I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out which TV show I watch has the minor character that Dr. B. reminded me of. Every time he spoke, I had the very strong feeling that I'd heard a voice just like it, many many times before, so I figured it had to be a TV show I watched fairly often.

I was studying biochem this morning, and I went to find my undergrad book for a different viewpoint on a tricky concept. And then it hit me. Dr. B. doesn't have some TV character's voice and mannerisms. He has Dr. Gallivan's voice and mannerisms. So that mystery's solved. And now I can study in peace.

I had the framework of a wonderfully witty post, drawn from the day's experiences. But today's experiences also included a bit of studying that apparently fried my brain. So I can barely put sentences together, let alone recap today's events. I will leave you with a little ditty:

Let's talk about PLEX(us), bay-bee
Let's talk about you and me
Let's talk about all of the axillary anatomy
Let's talk about plex...

Don't worry, I can show myself out.

Friday was my last day of thesis-related stuff! I woke up earlier than usual that morning, because I wanted to stop by Dr. Kindt's office before Human Phys. A combination of the earliness, and the fact that some classes had already ended, meant that I was the only person up in the apartment. I'm used to seeing at least two of the roommates in the morning, so it was weird to feel like I was the only person around. It felt so wrong, that when I walked into the empty kitchen, my first worried thought was, "Is today a day?" I actually turned to go back into my room and check. Dunno what I was going to check, just that I needed to make sure that it was, in fact, a day.

Once I got all that sorted out, I went to the chem building and had Dr. Kindt sign the preliminary pages of my thesis. Then I went to Human Phys, where we learned stuff as always. Then I went over to White Hall and turned in my thesis. I was convinced that the coordinator would find something wrong with my margins or my formatting or something, and I'd have to fix it and I STILL wouldn't be done. She measured my margins, flipped through all the pages, and said "You're good. Congratulations!" And that was that. The thing that had taken over so much of my life, over and done with. I had the biggest grin on my face as I left the building.

I then went to the Revenge of Slack-a-Thon, or whatever they were calling it. Since it rained on Wednesday and they had to shut it down, it was held again on Friday. There was actually free food the second time, so that was nice. I meant to stay and collect money for maybe half an hour, but I ended up staying for almost three. After all, I didn't have any thesis stuff to work on!

It feels good to be a senior!

Is anybody else disgusted by the idea of Taco Bell's chicken Caesar burrito? Are there burrito fixin's, like rice and beans, in there as well? Because if so, gross. And if not...isn't it a wrap, not a burrito? I eat chicken Caesar wraps all the time, those are cool. But dude. Don't call it a burrito if it's a wrap.

And while we're on the subject of things that shouldn't be made into burritos, I dread the day I see this Taco Bell commercial:

Girl: Hey, I thought you said we were going to have sushi!
Guy: It is sushi. Just peek under its little kimono... *peels back tortilla*
Voiceover: The new Sushirrito, from Taco Bell. Refried beans, salsa, and raw fish combine to make a taste sensation!!

I normally try not to expend too much thought on Taco Bell, but this has been bothering me. I needed to get it off my chest.

Did you really think I wouldn't talk about basketball today? How silly. The first game of the day was UConn vs. George Mason. Despite the fact that my last chance to get points was a UConn victory, I was really hoping that GMU would win. Realistically, though, they were an 11-seed, and shouldn't have even gotten as far as they did. I just couldn't allow myself to be optimistic about their chances against Connecticut. So it was that, when the game started, I found myself hoping that GMU would score first, so they could at least have the lead at some point.

But then, the Huskies didn't jump out to that immediate double-digit lead that I was expecting. Well into the first half, when there was still hope, I just couldn't take it. I whined at my TV, "UConn, why are you only leading the 11-seed by three?" My feelings at the time were very complicated. See, I wanted UConn to lose, but I didn't think they would. If they were going to win, I wanted them to at least have the decency to win decisively and not to leave things up in the air. I couldn't watch anymore, so I went to Target. And when I got back, it was the second half and things were still close. That's when I allowed myself to believe that UConn might lose.

Figuring I couldn't avoid it anymore, I settled in to watch the rest of the game. And it actually stayed close. I stood up when the clock hit 59 seconds, as is my custom. Something bad for GMU (turnover, UConn scoring, I don't remember exactly) happened immediately. I nearly broke my chair in the attempt to sit back down as quickly as possible. And then a little bit later, I got an IM and looked away from the TV just in time for Connecticut to send the game into overtime. I didn't move for the rest of the game. And GMU won, so it worked!

I know, all this superstition is just aching to be used on baseball. Good thing the season starts soon!

Today was one of those glorious days in which I got to be a hermit. I barely left my room, let alone the apartment. It was wonderful. I spent some time studying biochem, and I've covered two of the four chapters of material. Of course, the hardest stuff is in the latter two chapters. This exam is not going to be pretty.

Now let's talk about UNC. I arrived at RDU on Thursday afternoon, and was picked up by Teresa, who awesomely served as my transport from Raleigh to Chapel Hill. I hung out at her apartment while she had lab. I noticed that in the kitchen, there were three bottles, lined up next to three potted plants. Bottle 1 had some blue water in it and a label reading "Adequate New Testament". Bottle 2 had yellow water and was labelled "Some Scripture." The last bottle had green water and its label said "Adequate Bible." I was confused when I saw this setup, needless to say. So when Teresa got back, I asked her about it. It turns out, her roommate's the child of missionaries and the water in the bottles represent the percentage of people in the world who have those amounts of the Bible in their language. My only response to that was "...I thought they were for watering the plants."

I had devised this whole experiment in my mind. Each of the plants was given water from a bottle, and then read to from the Bible, whatever amount "Adequate New Testament" and the like were. I had noted that the "Some Scripture" plant was kicking the other two plants' ass. I also noted that they were three different kinds of plant, which didn't seem like good experimental design at all. I definitely have more of a scientific mind than a missionary mind. Three bottles in a row, three plants in a row, on the same windowsill...made sense to me!

Once we'd recovered from the laughing at my crazy experiment idea, we went to Chapel Hill. On the way, we passed this city called Cary that is apparently really anal about appearances. They don't have a Waffle House, because it couldn't meet their zoning laws. But you know what they do have? They've got a giant telephone tower disguised as a tree, y'all. To make it look better. Never mind that it towers over all the other trees, and that its "branches" look as fake and scary as hell. Gooo Cary, NC!

Now, on to the people I stayed with in Chapel Hill. I was with two student hosts, Jen and Hadley, who were both in their M1 year. They were really nice. And it was nice to at least get a glimpse at what first year med students live like. It was more normal than I expected. They had pets: two dogs (who weren't there) and a bird. They played IM inner tube water polo. Hadley apparently does ironman-length triathlons. There was a lot of studying, of course, but it wasn't the only thing they did.

Friday was interview day. Hadley and Jen had lecture starting at 8, so I just rode the bus over to the campus with them. That made me way early for my interviews, but that was easier than having to find the way myself. And I had the cookie tray all to myself for a while! I'd been told about the wonderous admissions office cookies, and they did indeed live up to the hype. Now that I think about it...any positive thing I have to say about UNC was probably the result of those cookies. And here it is:

I loved UNC. I love the idea of their block curriculum for first years, though it seems they're still working out some kinks with that. I love love LOVE the importance they seem to place on community service, with SHAC, the longest-running student-run free clinic in the country, and the five "community weeks" over the first two years. I loved the attitude of "there's plenty of opportunities to do research, but we're not going to make you because we're here to turn out clinicians." I'd so go there...and yes, I realize that the whole point of these days is to make you want to go there. I'm just saying it worked. Damn this money issue.

I need....

...a hotel in Chapel Hill
...a bus from Raleigh-Durham to Chapel Hill
...to wear comfy shoes when I go to Chapel Hill, because the chances are the hotel and bus route I find won't be near each other at all.
...to come to terms with the fact that I was dumb enough to apply to a state school in a random-ass state. North Carolina? The hell?
...to study super-hard in Chapel Hill because I also need...
...to do MUCH better on my next biochem test
...to avoid distractions like Coldplay concerts and trivia.
...to simply not think about my stat mech test.

So I kept forgetting to tell you all the story about the time I was riding a shuttle when the driver stopped suddenly and this kid who was standing up totally ate it. Ass in the air, feet over head, practically rolled into the drivers lap, ATE IT. The shuttle was full (duh), and nobody laughed. But it was obvious that everybody wanted to. I sometimes have trouble controlling myself at times like that, but I did well..until I saw the shaking shoulders of the girl sitting in front of me. Then I lost it. But I felt bad.

I only remembered to tell you that today because I was on the shuttle after biochem, when the driver stopped suddenly. It was a violent stop, if a stop can be violent. We were maybe three inches from hitting the shuttle in front of us (which was being driven by the new guy, Benjamin, the one who brakes randomly. If you ride Clairmont shuttles regularly you know who I'm talking about). I was SITTING, in one of the side-facing seats, and I totally ate it. The driver cursed, I looked up in horror to see that we were REALLY close to the other shuttle, and the next thing I knew, I was in some random girl's lap, and then all up on that random console next to the driver's seat. For a few moments, I was flying. Oh man, I wish I could have SEEN it. I'm sure it was even more hilarious than that other kid.

This is how big a dork I am. I was watching the Gorillaz video for "Dare." A large part of it is Noodle dancing around in front of the 'camera'. My first thought? "She's only ten!!!" I was scandalized. So, first, I know biographical details of a cartoon band. Although I didn't know that they age, so I was thinking of her age back when 'Clint Eastwood' came out. But still she's only like 14, which brings me to my second point. I'm worrying about the innocence of a cartoon band's pre-teen member. I need a hobby, or something. Other than writing a novel and running a service program.

This morning, Dad, the shadetree mechanic, showed what there was to see under the hood of my car today. I honestly thought the motor oil was gonna be black. Like regular oil. Black gold, Texas tea. I can't believe they actually gave me a car of my very own to take care of. I'm the most inept human being ever.

Anyway, it turns out that the car is a she, not a he. I found myself referring to it as "her" several times. And then, I was driving her all the way across town to pick up my license plate, several naming ideas ran through my head. My thought process was roughly thus:

I could be like Gwyneth Paltrow and go with Apple, because she's red. Like a red apple. Or maybe a type of apple. Roma? No, that's the Touched by an Angel chick. Noooo, Roma is a type of tomato, silly. What's a type of apple? Apple apple apple....apple? Something apple. Something apple.

My car's name is Fiona.

Hope you enjoyed that little glimpse into my brain. It's like that all the time. All the damn time.

This is kind of a...freestyle entry. You have been warned.

I didn't have handball today, so I got a pretty late start. The day began with lunch at Cox. I'm a newly-minted fan of the soup & sandwich combo. I'll probably have that like, four or five times a week. Because I am a creature of habit. Anyway, I ate with some APhiO peeps. I actually planned to eat by myself; I had a book and everything. But, they sat at the table next to mine, and I didn't want to seem aloof.

After lunch I had chem. The lecture was on error analysis. Dr. Philen kept emphasizing how useful we'll find this information, when we take pchem. Too bad I already took it! Too bad that, for ALL of last year, I blundered my way through error analysis, only to have the explanations and the practice problems NOW. It's not that big a deal; in fact Philen is using the EXACT packet of notes that Dr. R-K gave us. That packet helped me blunder through many a data analysis. But if I had seen the stuff before I was in pchem, my stress levels would have been significantly lower. Oh well. What's done is done. I did fine in pchem, and this class will be that much easier.

Hmm..all that talk about the Chem 260 lecture. I wouldn't want you guys to think I actually listened. Oh no, I brought other things to work on. I read and took notes on journal articles that I'm going to use as references in my research proposal. Because I'm applying for SURE. Because...I don't know. We'll see how that goes.

After my one class, I stayed in Atwood/Emerson to work on stuff. For hours and hours. But that's boring and nobody cares.

So then I had dinner at the DUC. They were doing this Iron Chef-wannabe thing, "Copper Chef." And boy, was it ever loud in there. (The secret ingredient was pomegranate, by the way.) It's a good thing I normally listen to music and stuff as I study. I was able to read my French assignment with no problem.

And then there was quiz bowl practice, and then I talked to my parents on the tellyfone...Dude! Anybody remember the poem about the elephant and the telephone? I kinda do, and I transcribe it here:

Once there was an elephant
Who tried to use the telephant
Oh no, I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone.
(Dear me, I am not certain quite
That even now I've got it right).
Something blah, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk
The more he tried to get it free
The louder buzzed the telephee
Something something something song
Of elephop and telephong.

ANYWAY. Talked to my parents. My dad got injured while working in the garden. Pulled a muscle in his lower back. He thought he had dislocated his bum hip, so he must have been in a hell of a lot of pain. But he's better now...the doctor gave him happy drugs.

Watched the OC. Complained loudly about a random plot that was introduced and resolved in about 5 minutes. I was all, "Why am I supposed to care about this development?" But then, dum dum DUM, the end of episode twist ROCKED my WORLD.

Sheltering Arms tomorrow! I'm not going, because by the time I checked the signup, six people had already signed up! For one car. Not technically one, but SOMEONE refuses to drive. Never mind the fact that I posted the sign up sheet myself, and had every opportunity to be the first on the list. Anyway, I did call ahead and stuff, so they're expecting the group, and it should be good. I'm a good PC.

In other news, I did not plan a Habitat trip this weekend because I forgot that I am in charge of that project. I am an awful PC. So Habitat will start in February. Whoopsie!

And that's all she wrote.

NBC is showing the closing ceremony of the Olympics right now. A couple of people I've talked to have said something along the lines of, "It's over already?" Yeah...'already' is not what I would say. I didn't keep track of how much I watched, but it was probably more than most normal people.

I saw, either live or on tape delay: Archery, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, kayaking, cycling (road, track, and mountain), diving, synchro diving, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, artistic ("regular") gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, handball, judo, taekwondo,rowing, sailing (star, tornado, yngling, windsurfing), soccer, swimming, synchro swimming, ping pong, tennis, volleyball (indoor and beach), water polo, freestyle wrestling, and most of the track and field events. And then there are the clips and highlights. Now that it's all over, I get to go back to my old obsessions.

To anyone who may have passed the 3rd floor study lounge multiple times tonight, seeing me in there every single time...worry not! I did get up to do other things. Like...get water. And run. At one point I got the urge to see if there's a staircase in the building that goes to all the floors. Because the one I use goes 1-5, and the back one goes 2-6. So I investigated and verified that the one by the elevator starts at 1 and goes to 7, the roof exit. Then I decided to see if I could go from 1 to 7 in less than a minute. But I forgot to time myself, so I went back down and did it again. I could, by the way. Holy random compulsions, Batman! I haven't been this weird in ages.

Last night before sleeping I decided to see how many Academy Award winners I still remembered. It was stupid of me to ever start memorizing them. Being a list memorizer only pays off a teeny bit in high school quiz bowl, and not at all in college. I wasted brain space that could have been used in other endeavours.
ANYWAY, Best Actress has fallen completely out of the brain, since it was a last-minute memorization thing. Best Actor, I remember a bit better, especially the 70's, 80's, and 40's. But I'd still forgotten a lot. Then I moved on to Best Picture. Sigh. Every single one except 1943 and 1988. If I'd forgotten a bunch, I could have just not worried about it. But no no, just two. I spent like, half an hour trying to remember them. Finally gave up, got out of bed, and looked them up...Casablanca and Rain Man. What a random pair to forget.

The above is the reason I need music to distract my wandering mind at night. It's also proof that I suck at life, on so many levels.

Time for another date with Ohm, Kirchoff, and friends. Whooo!

Okay. Paper done. Funny how I started out with an entirely different topic in mind. I was going to write about the role of femininity and masculinity in this poem. By the time I was done the paper was on the contrast between the exotic, informal places depicted in the poem and the strict structure of the poem itself. Yeah...that sounded a lot less awkward in French. Anyway, that's done. Now I can go learn about Rimbaud!

Yes, my music has been this one song for over 24 hours now. I know I'm weird. But when I'm thiiiiis close to being overwhelmed by all the stuff I have to do, I take comfort in listening to the same thing, literally hundreds of times. It keeps me from exploding.

BOOM.

Dinner was okay, but it didn't put me in a better mood. The restaurant was pretty crowded and I become a bumbling idiot in public places. I had a moment of panic when the waitress came and ordered something I definitely didn't mean to order. I was trying to decide between eggplant parmesan and chicken pesto pasta and ended up saying chicken parmesan. Oh well.

Then there was the humiliation of having to be picked up and dropped off like I'm still a freaking fourteen year old. Logically, I know my mom needed to have the car in case something happened with my grandmother. But still...siiiiigh. I should have just stayed at home.

Composed by me and Christy

Wetzel Wetzel Pretzels
They're made fresh out of dough
And if you buy a Wetzel,
You'll eat it up we know!

Wetzel Wetzel Pretzels
In cinnamon or plain
They both are very yummy
So don't you dare complain!

Wetzel Wetzel Pretzels
Ingrid makes them fresh
So you should buy a Wetzel
And be cool like John Tesh.

Wetzel Wetzel Pretzels,
"Please don't buy beer," we said
'Cuz none of us are drinkers
We'll give you too much head!

Wetzel Wetzel Pretzels,
Come by and watch the Cubs
And if you need some butter,
We have two giant tubs!

Cubs 4, Braves 2. Need I say more? I'm soooo hyper right now! Kerry Wood is my hero. There were a few moments when I was pretty worried, but they pulled it out! Yay Cubs.

I have definitely listened to this Tinker's Punishment song way too many times. I had it on repeat for the entire game! Yay obsessive tendencies.

Earlier, I was walking around in Danielle's room when there was this massive popping sound. It was definitely my knee. I'm not entirely sure that was a good thing, but it doesn't hurt anymore. Yay popping knee.

I have a choice to make now.
Do I review physics for the exam tomorrow?
Do I sleep so I can be rested for the exam tomorrow?
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
Yay Eliot.

Whoa. I'm very very VERY happybouncy. I think I'll just stay up and enjoy the feeling of...the Cubs...winners of a postseason game. Yay.