05.06.08
Posted in Good Days, School Stuff at 4:41 pm by Elf
Ooooh, it’s so exciting!!
I got an 88% on my Cell Biology final exam, giving me a big solid B in the class!
Add that to the B I’ve got in Physiology…
I have ONE MORE class to get through - Genetics - and then I’m done done done done for the term!! I have a guaranteed D in Genetics - I know, that doesn’t sound great, does it - but it means that I pass if I don’t even go to the final exam. If I get at least a 33% on the final exam, I’ve got a C in Genetics. If I get at least a 66% on the final, I’ve got a B. I could even get an A if I got a 100%, but I’m kind of not counting that as a possibility. 
Anyway, I’m totally jazzed. I’m pulling out the term with B’s, despite it all.
:)
–Em
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05.02.08
Posted in Comments on the World at 9:06 pm by Elf
Odyssius: Voyage to the Underworld.
Combine the following ingredients:
Lost’s “wrecked-on-a-desert-island” premise.
A little Pitch-Black flying-monster-eats-people nemesis (They’re vampiric, they look like Bat-Boy)
Some very lame 300-esque costumery
Rome-like drama, overacted.
Some very intense suspension of disbelief
Some odd greekish names (Dude, did he just call that guy “Diabetes”?)
Put in a cast of Sci-Fi Channel regulars
Film it in Vancouver.
Oh, yes. It’s bad, people. SOOO bad.
“Odyssius. You must drive the HellFire Cross deep into Persephone’s heart.”
Seriously, the HellFire Cross? Wasn’t that in Diablo?
“To kill these hellish beasts, we need a weapon fashioned from that which was once alive, but is now also dead.”
Spam?
Oh, yeah, and the one that’s lost in the forest, running away from the horrible flying CG monsters… apparently he’s getting away by hiding under stuff. Because they can’t smell, I guess.
Homer is a total pansy. I mean, seriously.
It’ll be a great MST3K movie someday.
–Em
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04.30.08
Posted in Good Days at 11:33 pm by Elf
Well, I made it to Knoxville. Despite my viral sinus issues, my ears did not explode, I didn’t rupture anything, and I didn’t need to take a breathing treatment in the middle of Atlanta’s airport. Despite my recent OB issues, I did not hemhorrage on the plane or at the airport or even in Baggage claim.
Believe it or not, I had contingency plans for just such situations.
I arrived safe, if not sound, in Knoxville, where Barrett was like a beacon, waiting for me as I trudged down the ramp, dragging my wheeled backpack and its nebulizer contents behind me.
I took a long nap and a lot of assorted drugs. We went to dinner (all-you-can-eat Japanese Hibachi/sushi … God I love Knoxville!) … he briefed me on the coworkers I’ll be meeting, the houses we’ll be seeing. We bought some extra pillows and an extra blanket and some Vaseline or my poor cracked nose. I opened my new Sprint phone and activated it… and promptly changed the number, because there were already 3 messages from 3 separate bill collectors.
(the new phone is an HTC Mogul, and oooohhhWEEE it’s sexxi!!)
I’m finishing a breathing treatment now, about to snuggle into bed next to a warm husband and fuzzy black cat.
I feel like hell, but I’m happy.
-Em
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04.27.08
Posted in Bad Days, School Stuff at 12:13 pm by Elf
I hurt.
I’m having contractions periodically, a lot of pain in my back, a lot of muscle stiffness. To top it off, my sinuses are swollen and my throat is killing me. It’s a toss-up at any given moment which is worse.
I’ve got a 20-point essay due tomorrow (Physiology), a final exam (Physiology), Exam 4 (Cell Biology) all tomorrow. And on Tuesday I have a presentation worth five percent of my grade (Cell Biology). I then have to write a page or two about someone else’s presentation for Genetics (Due May 8th), and a page or two about ELISA assays for Cell Biology (due May 5).
On the up-side, my Genetics Exam 4 went well - I got an 85%, which bumps off the 69% from Exam 3. It’s a comfort to know I’ve got a very solid B in that class.
I want to lie down but my muscles hurt. I want to take a shower but there’s only so much hot water in the universe. I want some wise old woman to come to my house and pat my hand and bring me some nice hot tea and say “there, there, dear, it’ll be all right.” I want my throat to stop hurting, my sinuses to clear up, the contractions to be closer together.
My OBGYN, of course, is out of the office this whole week.
On one hand: Just my luck.
On the other: Just goes to show I have to do this myself. I feel like hell and the only person I have to rely on is me. My husband is 700 miles away. My roommate is completely incapable of wiping his own ass without asking about it first. My friends have the same final exams I do, only they have no excuse - however tenuous - for not studying. My cats aren’t much help, although Kismet has been lying on my belly, which has made me feel better. I’m not in enough pain to need any sort of intervention from outside sources. I just have to suck it up myself and wait.
And… while I’m waiting, study every large organ system in the human body, and write a two-t0-four-page essay about any three of them and how they work together and what negative feedback loops can be found. And find a peer-reviewed article about cellular biology to write a five-minute presentation about. And study for a cell bio exam.
I’m going to say “fuck it all” and go try to sleep a little.
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04.24.08
Posted in Bad Days, The Unnamed Goldfish at 7:39 pm by Elf
Well, I went for a blood test yesterday, and my OB called with my results today: my hCG level is down to 1700 (from a high of 9300 two weeks ago). The embryo has died. It’s now a matter of passing the sac, which still hasn’t happened.
I worry about how I’ll feel after the pregnancy hormones are gone completely - I hope to not be too depressed but I’m concerned.
In the meantime, my head hurts and I want to take a nap.
–Em
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