Monday, February 26, 2007

Lots has happened

I got my wisdom teeth out on Friday morning. Everything went swimmingly, and I'm barely swollen. This is me today, 3 days after - probably with the largest cheeks that I got during the whole time. I suck at taking my own pictures.I got sedated, which means I was awake but there was a nice amnesia component to the IV which caused me to forget everything. I didn't get the side effects of going fully under, but I don't remember any grinding or breaking. I kept the two smaller teeth, that got kept intact - and BOY! They are HUGE!! I may make them into a Tarzan Necklace.

So after all the horror stories, I survived fine. My biggest problem is that I get SO HUNGRY!! Pudding, jello, porridge, soup, scrambled eggs even the day after, are NOT enough. I LOVE food, and it's so hard not to eat whatever I want. Today I'm gettin into the solid food a little, and into the stage where the crap gets stuck in the holes in the back of your mouth. Kinda gross. But worth it to eat real food again.

I'm back in classes, only took one T-3 today at 7:30 a.m. Painkillers are gettin weaned off pretty quickly. It was nice too cuz R bought me some "orajel" - the gum-numbing stuff for babies. It's been nice, especially cuz I ripped a couple stitches yesterday... already. Seems as though I can't quit laughing with my mouth wide open.

Been nice to see R a little more too - he spent most of the day with me Friday, picked up my perscriptions, and Saturday I was already over at his place playing cranium with everyone. We watched a bunch of lost - my brain wasn't foggy like I expected, but I still am taking the extra day extension on my lab exam because I gave myself two days without studying (even though I could've studied if I'd really been motivated).


So that's the big news.

Also, while in hometown this weekend I helped R make a trial version of a ring, in his shop. It's so comfy, and I like it - I like the wood grain, just wish it was darker. Or that I had a tan.

Mmmm, I also went to an "exercise" class with Dayna over the break... turns out it was an Abs, Butt, and Thighs class. Thought I was taking it easy but the next day I could hardly walk. Anything squatting (going down stairs, sitting on the toilet) was TORTURE. I don't remember ever being that sore. Kinda nice to get on the painkillers for the teeth so that I could walk again!

So much for my new gym kick.

I also went back to that sketchy scale, played around with a funny dial on the side. Took some surveys of other scales, and I think I weigh exactly what I thought I did originally. So much for that amazing moment where I thought I was more than 10 pounds lighter than I'd been thinking. Guess I can't read a scale.

Last week of school / midterms, before the break, I nearly DIED. I had a physical Chem midterm Tuesday morning... was one of those ones where you don't know how it went. One question I'm sure I got solidly, the other one I messed around with for a while and who knows how it may have gone.

Then Thursday night, at 7, AFTER organic lab where my solvents wouldn't cooperate, I had a biochem midterm for 2 hours. I think it went amazingly. I hope. But then I had a midterm the next morning at 8, in invertebrates... and it went horribly. Then I had a midterm at 1, in Diatonic Harmony. That one got nailed. I decided that if I got 100% on the music midterm, I'm switching majors. It'd be so nice to be the best at something again.

So that was a long stretch of midterms. I was tired.

Since Valentine's got canceled this year, because of these exams (and R's, on the 14th at night), on Saturday I pounced on R and made him have a makeshift V-day with me. He didn't know it was comin, but I made a card and rented a movie and bought him candy. Pretty romantic; we watched the movie with his little brother. But even being near him for a whole day was amazing - I can't complain. I'm sure everyone thinks I see him all the time, but I really don't. It's been a stretch.

So I've got a lab midterm this week, and a chem assignment due tomorrow night. I'm kinda hopin they're just gonna fall together.

I think the pain-fog is starting to kick into my brain. Shoulda brought some drugs; I'm so tired. Just wanna go home and sleep. One more class, then I can eat and sleep and then start studying. Or wasting more time with downloaded TV shows. I made the mistake of watching Lost with R, so now I'm not allowed to watch it without him!!! Now I have to wait for HIS schedule, so find something ELSE to waste my time.

We had some sweet birthday parties last weekend, for Dan (happy 20th!) and for Matt (happy 21st!). Dan's we went to Cafe Crepe, bought some mini-kegs and played MarioKart. Matt's we went out for Mexican food, he got to wear a kickin' sombrero and get "Happy birthday Max" sung to him. Then we went bowling, us 4 regulars. It's been nice to have Matt and Kate around for "double dates."

Also nice cuz they drove me to/from the surgery on Friday!! R bought them breakfast for their trouble, but they were so supportive in their sleepy faces. I tried not to think about the fact that they were downstairs having an amazing White Spot breakfast.

I'm really craving an ipod recently; getting mixed signals to just "Go for it, treat yourself," especially cuz I found out my parents ARE gonna pay for the part of the surgery that wasn't covered by the plan. But then I'm getting input to wait, save, (this is my own brain), and maybe buy an ibook (this is my desire, but R's idea... I don't really NEED a laptop but I'd sure LIKE one).

So sleepy. Can't think of anything else. There was more, but I'm tired. Hope everyone's Mondays are startin off fantastically. Wish me luck studying with no motivation. Or EATING!! I want a white spot burger, or McDonald's french fries, or sushi!! Sushi SO BADLY I want it.

If I get really motivated I may start writing up my organic lab; I got to separate, purify, and identify two compounds. I don't have the melting points yet, but other than the identification I could write everything up early for next week. Yet what are the chances I'm going to do anything early?

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Sepia

Yesterday in my invertebrate lab, I dissected a squid. We did the same dissection in high school, so it was familiar. The lab director brought tempura batter and a pan with oil, and everyone took the mantle of their squid, skinned it, and brought it to her to cook. So at the end of lab we got to eat them... mmmmm!!

But the point of this post is something fascinating I learned. Most people are aware that a squid or an octopus (and many of their relatives) have ink sacs, that they may shoot out to confuse predators. Back in the day, the ink of the cuttlefish was the first ink to be used regularly with the quill pens. This ink dried to a reddish-brown colour, and since the Greek word for cuttlefish is "Sepia," this gradually became associated with the colour of the dried ink. Isn't that fascinating?? So all of you photographers out there, every time you try to revive an old "sepia-toned" photograph, or you adjust your own picture to that "colour," remember the amazing cuttlefish and it's place in history.

Last week I dissected a snail regularly eaten as escargot... a French delicacy. I learned some interesting details about snails and their hermaphroditic/homosexual copulation... if anyone would like me to share these fascinating details, you can definitely ask in a comment. Otherwise, look it up. I don't want to shock anyone with the details without warning them first :)

Just kidding - it's only snails. People should be able to deal with it.

Hanging in the balance

I woke up unreasonably and unbelievably grumpy this morning. So I figured I'd go work some negative energy out in the gym.

Surprised, I know. I am not a gym person. Generally I don't see myself as self-conscious, but aside from my sheer hatred of exercise in all non-fun forms, I also hate exercising and looking red-faced and sweaty in front of other people. I think it stems from my deep-rooted perfectionism; if I can't do something excellently, or at least better than some people, I don't want people to see it.

I am happy for people who like running, but to me - running is a form of torture that people inflict upon themselves. I've never been in shape enough to ever enjoy running - even when I have been in decent shape (rare, yes, but it has happened). Never gotten that "runner's high," and I don't understand that people continue to do it. For fun. I hate the idea of exercising for the sake of exercising. I wouldn't mind sports, if I were any good at them. So because of my limited abilities, I only really like individual "sports" - swimming, biking (outside so I'm not bored to death), gymnastics (maybe I'd like dancing if I knew how? Again, if I was good at it and looked somewhat graceful. Or it was a type of dancing where I don't need to look graceful... maybe I could belly dance? I definitely have hips and a belly). Wow tangent. Aside from that, not really anything.

So I went and biked on a stationary. I brought thermodynamics reading and my mp3 player to keep me occupied in case the tv was monopolized (I get bored easily without mental stimulation, and there has to be an overload of mental stimulation to keep me exercising when I don't have to). But lo and behold! I was the only person in the gym!! In immediate rapture, I ran around trying all the machines. I don't mind machines. When someone came in I quickly settled myself on a bike and worked it for half an hour. Got really sweaty, but I felt better about how much I've been eating. Now if I can do that a couple of times a week, maybe I'll start feeling more motivated or less crappy.

So although you've already been shocked beyond belief, by far my biggest shock was stepping on the scale. It was one of those "real" scales, like the balances we learned to use in grade 8... move the blocks over until the arm is suspended, balancing your weight.

I rarely weigh myself. Not only do I not have a scale at home, but I don't have one here at school. Occasionally (and I mean rarely... probably every 3 or 4 months) I sneak into R's parents' bathroom and check myself on their scale. So I checked myself at the end of Christmas holidays, just to make sure I hadn't gained 20 pounds... I hadn't... so I figured I was good.

But! This scale (and R swears it's the most reliable type, and that his at home is not accurate) weighed me in at seventeen pounds lighter than I thought I was, after Christmas. There's no way I lost 17 pounds; if anything I've gained. A significant amount. Unless I didn't really learn how to use a balance... check back soon, because I may take R with me to make sure I did it properly. In that case, there will be a very despondent post.

It doesn't make a huge difference - I still feel as heavy as I did before, all relative depending on the time of month, and my love handles are not shrinking - but now when another girlfriend drops her weight into the conversation, I don't have to think, "Wow, where am I hiding an extra 20 pounds over this girl?!?!" Unreal.

I reminded R that this also means that HE'S about 17 pounds lighter than he thought he was... and he decided to verbally maintain that he is the weight he measured at home. Since he didn't use this scale anyway, so technically he's ignorant. Also, this gives us a difference of over 30 pounds, which I am incredibly happy about. I don't care how big I am as long as I still feel smaller than he is... and he's not huge. I didn't exactly pick a guy that far exceeded the "heavier than me" expectation.

So both of us are happy. Greaaaat stuff!

Monday, February 05, 2007

#6-9

Why I'm happy to be a woman:

  1. We got off the Titanic first.
  2. We can scare male bosses with the mysterious gynaecological disorder excuses.
  3. Taxis stop for us.
  4. We don't look like a frog in a blender when dancing.
  5. No fashion faux pas we make could ever rival the Speedo.
  6. We don't have to pass gas to amuse ourselves.
  7. If we forget to shave, no one has to know.
  8. We can congratulate our team-mate without ever touching her rear end.
  9. We never have to reach down every so often to make sure our privates are still there.
  10. We have the ability to dress ourselves.
  11. We can talk to the opposite sex without having to picture them naked
  12. If we marry someone 20 years younger, we are aware that we will look like an idiot.
  13. We will never regret piercing our ears
  14. There are times when chocolate really can solve all your problems.
  15. We can make comments about how silly men are in their presence because they aren't listening anyway.

Happy Birthday to Me

1. It's my birthday today

2. I'm 21 now. Feeling old, but I have to be careful what crowd I'm in when I say that... yes, I know my entire life is ahead of me. I am still so young, yes.

3. I was feeling a little down, but things have picked up. Here is the story:
  • I had a great weekend; went home to Langley
  • I had a cold, felt sick all day Thursday but though I felt better Friday, my throat was raspy
  • Since I sang all Friday night at a worship leader's meeting...
  • ...and then at practice for 2 hours on Saturday afternoon...
  • ...and then screamed my lungs literally out while bowling Saturday night...
  • ...I have no voice left. Though it's better today. Yesterday there was nuthin'. And so, while leading worship, I had to restrict myself to only playing the keyboard and not singing. At all. It's so hard for me not to sing, but it was at the point of pain. Which implied damage to my pipes. Something I don't want to happen.
  • My parents hosted a food party at my house Saturday, a drop-in essentially for everybody. Some people were greatly missed, either couldn't make it or had to drop out last minute, but I got to hang out with some great old friends that I never see, some great friends' parents, and my sister, brother, and sister-in-law.
  • Then Sunday, since I was at church essentially from 7 until 12:30, I was exhausted. Wiped out completely; slept through half the superbowl (got made fun of by R's family, of course). My dad even came to R's house to watch it on the big screen.
  • Ate lots of food.
  • Got more cake and more gifts, even though nobody was supposed to get me anything...
  • So what could be disappointing, you say??
R and I were gonna go for dinner and a movie tonight, to celebrate with each other on the actual day. I'm the kind of geek that's a sentimentalist at heart (very, very, very deep down) and I really like doing things on the actual day... as much as I can say we can celebrate on other days, it really feels more special to me on the day of.

However, we both forgot that he has a lumber grading course tonight... until 9:00. No problem, I thought... he could come over after and we could just watch a flick on my widescreen monitor. I'll get some homework done, that way, and maybe make a shopping trip on my own to exchange a shirt, before he gets there. It would even kind of be a relief, to not take a whole night out the week before midterms (I'm just starting to feel stressed).

I was shocked and surprised when R said he probably wouldn't be coming over at all!!!! See, his reasoning was that we could postpone it, since he was really looking forward to going out with me (haha, role reversal! Usually that's me), and do it another night this week. But I didn't really understand that he meant to do it another night, and I nearly died at the prospect of not even SEEING my boyfriend, that lives on the same street as me, on the day of my birthday!! And it's not like I really saw much of him during my party. I was flitting between people, trying to make sure everyone was comfortable and not awkward. You know that pressure - "Does everybody here know at least somebody else they can talk to??"

So before I got bummed out, I called a good friend of mine on campus, to see if she had plans. Maybe she'd do homework with me, or watch some chick flick, or just go get dinner with me.

But no answer from her sent me into the depths of despair and loneliness.

I recovered decently when she phoned, saying she had ringette practice but she'd love to go get all-you-can-eat sushi after, with me and her bf (at like 9:30). So I was excited. Yaaaay, I found someone who could deal with my desperation! And now her practice is canceled, so she's gonna come shopping with me. I think that means no late-night sushi, but we'll go grab some food for dinner somewhere.

So I'm less depressed, particularly because I learned the essential fact that R wants to do something another night... it just takes me a while to recover when I was hoping to see him on my actual birthday. Cuz I don't need a whole extra night out... it might be more of a stress than a help.

Adjustments, right?

End of story.

3. Ed got me flowers yesterday, as he promised he would a month ago for my birthday, since I kept supplying him with painkillers from my ever-equipped purse.

4. R and his mom bought me a pile of wonderful scrapbooking stuff* from Costco. Wow, can you ever get a lot of stuff there for miles cheaper than any other place. I have more paper and ribbon and punches than I could ever need.

5. My bro and sis-in-law got me a shirt that didn't fit super well... so I exchanged it yesterday and got two shirts (one nice one and an undershirt for it) and a loonie back. I'm very happy with the fit and the dark green colour. Also with the loonie back. Also, it's a clothing line where I am a small... talk about an esteem-booster!!

6. My sister got me a shirt as well, that I have to exchange today. There are some shirts that are just not made for large boobs. Though the colour was beautiful, and the cut is nice on a hypothetical woman.

7. I'm looking forward to my invertebrate lab tomorrow.

8. I'm almost finished my three seasons of House. What am I going to waste my time with next?

9. I think this post is long enough. Time to get busy; I have class in 20 minutes anyways. I'll take a picture tonight of my shirt, if I can. I'm that pleased with it. And so cheap.

*Changed from "cheap" by boyfriend's request