DISCLAIMER: The following is not meant to be taken seriously. The author and her friends do not wish harm upon any animal. Mosquitoes and flies aside.
Anyway.
Zephy and I were on the bus today, and we passed by the dog park. I pointed out that a lot of people were walking dogs, and then I asked Zephy, "If you had a dog would you walk it in the park?"
"Depends on what kind of dog," she said.
"I don't know—a long-haired dog, say."
"Are they hypoallergenic?"
At which point I remembered that I had forgotten that Zephy was allergic to cat and dog fur. So I said, "Probably not a long-haired dog then. What about chihuahuas?"
"My cousin has a chihuahua," she said. "It's named after my other cousin, so it's really confusing when we call its name. But I don't want a chihuahua."
"Hmm. What about—what else are you allergic to?"
"Cats, dogs, and dust. That's what the allergy report said."
"So you're not allergic to gerbils?"
"No, I'm not."
"So you could get a pet gerbil and walk it in the park! In one of those wheel things, except instead of staying still it would roll forward."
"You mean like a sphere?"
"Yeah! Except a wheel would be better, if it was wide enough so it wouldn't tip over. Because you could tie a leash to the side and—uh—walk it. But you probably couldn't really walk it since well—okay, maybe you could. You could pull on the string and then the wheel would roll and uh, the gerbil would just kind of tumble inside."
I guess this is why people "walk" their gerbils in stationary wheels.
. . .
Zephy told me that three people made AIME this year, including me, Tybalt, and some other person whose name she did not hear. But the cutoff score is 93, so maybe that last person was Sonny? It would be a bit annoying if he was the one, since he half-guessed his way there, but it's not like there's a prize for qualifying for AIME, so if he likes doing more math problems then good for him.
But I guess this means I should do more math problems. Instead of reading RSS every night. Although I am very up-to-date on various things such as the pseudo-flooding in Western Ohio, the near-Oscar-sweep for The King's Speech, and the various new functions of Google Docs.
You can't win it all, I guess. Not even golden statuettes that cost $150 each to produce.
. . .
I just realized today that Mr. Wollen's website says "First page you see" when you click his name from the school site.
He also has "First day of Spring!!!" on his March calendar.
I can't wait for spring to start, and for this snow to end. But I suppose I should get used to it, because I have now received both letters of acceptance and scholarship from McGill, and that is most likely where I will be going. So snow, hurrah! Good thing I'll soon be legal to drink, right? Don't they say cider's the best way to warm up on a cold winter night?
Or maybe that was hot chocolate. I like those better anyway.
I also need to choose whether I want to major in biomath or EEE. Yes, those are actual majors. I'm thinking that I'd rather major in biomath, since if McGill hadn't offered it I would most likely have gone for a biology or math major with the other as a minor. But EEE! If I minored in English (no way, but if I were to) it'd abbreviate to EEEE! And if I picked up economics as another minor, EEEEE!
Okay. That is not a good reason.
The real reason is that engineering is a rather fast-changing field, and it's something that generally does not require being in one place for a long time, and that's tempting. Dealing with high-tech is tempting too. As well as this whole "applied" business, because after all applied math goes hand in hand with engineering.
So I will ruminate for a couple of months and decide later.
Showing posts with label biology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biology. Show all posts
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, October 15, 2010
Turn On The Sun, Please
[Title concept from Pickles author/artist Brian Crane.]
Mrs. Leon complained today that I always leave before class officially starts, so I promised her I'll stay for third lunch next week (hopefully, but as previously mentioned, I'm not too good with promises). Maybe I will be there in time for sonnet readings. I don't know what else I could do with an extra half-hour of English class, especially since I'm probably not reading the same things (although my class is starting Brave New World, which Mrs. Leon's class has already read).
(Additionally, Clay told me he read nearly 150 pages of BNW in around two hours. Since it's, so far, taken me five days, more or less, I will probably need to dedicate a lot more time to reading. I'm past the first part—if there are any more, I don't know yet—of the everyone-is-talking-at-once pages right now.)
Other things of interest: I went over 10 pages of metabolism bio notes last night at around midnight (so also technically this morning), and have now come up with a really condensed, analogy-ladened version of metabolism, which I will add to the end of this, because I think I want to make more of these to prepare for the midterms (Mme Pottery mentioned midterms today, which set off a wave of panic).
Also, despite the cold, and the wind, and the general misery, there was frisbee today. There is another girl now, and she is pretty good at frisbee too (a great catcher, even in this wind). I ran around too (which almost never happens, mind you), but then my stomach started hurting, so I sat down and borrowed both Yuma's and Cameron's jackets (I wanted to borrow Tobey's too, since he wasn't wearing it at first, but by the time I'd gotten around to being too cold he was cold too and took the jacket) and tried to read more books (especially my LitEx book, which I have barely started).
Then a golden retriever came along and proceeded to sit on me despite my protests. Someone called out, "Be careful, he's a pervert," and with that the dog turned around and tackled me to the ground.
On that note, here is my version of metabolism:
Mrs. Leon complained today that I always leave before class officially starts, so I promised her I'll stay for third lunch next week (hopefully, but as previously mentioned, I'm not too good with promises). Maybe I will be there in time for sonnet readings. I don't know what else I could do with an extra half-hour of English class, especially since I'm probably not reading the same things (although my class is starting Brave New World, which Mrs. Leon's class has already read).
(Additionally, Clay told me he read nearly 150 pages of BNW in around two hours. Since it's, so far, taken me five days, more or less, I will probably need to dedicate a lot more time to reading. I'm past the first part—if there are any more, I don't know yet—of the everyone-is-talking-at-once pages right now.)
Other things of interest: I went over 10 pages of metabolism bio notes last night at around midnight (so also technically this morning), and have now come up with a really condensed, analogy-ladened version of metabolism, which I will add to the end of this, because I think I want to make more of these to prepare for the midterms (Mme Pottery mentioned midterms today, which set off a wave of panic).
Also, despite the cold, and the wind, and the general misery, there was frisbee today. There is another girl now, and she is pretty good at frisbee too (a great catcher, even in this wind). I ran around too (which almost never happens, mind you), but then my stomach started hurting, so I sat down and borrowed both Yuma's and Cameron's jackets (I wanted to borrow Tobey's too, since he wasn't wearing it at first, but by the time I'd gotten around to being too cold he was cold too and took the jacket) and tried to read more books (especially my LitEx book, which I have barely started).
Then a golden retriever came along and proceeded to sit on me despite my protests. Someone called out, "Be careful, he's a pervert," and with that the dog turned around and tackled me to the ground.
On that note, here is my version of metabolism:
- metabolism = energy vs. matter
- pathways: catapults tear down for boten anna to build up
- enzymes just float around for fun
- laws of thermodynamics:
- energy is immortal;
- entropy reproduces like bunnies
- ⌂G (free energy) = ♥
- likes to roll down hills and pull on wheelbarrows full of stuff
- must push it to make it go up hills
- said hill is a step-ladder hill
- In this analogy, "guy" is the substrate:
- guy wants to go over hill
- hill too high, guy too lazy, doesn't happen
- enzyme bulldozes hill, guy goes over
- enzyme only falls in love with one guy & his clones
- enzyme thus only bulldozes hills for guy & his clones
- when going over hill, enzyme and guy link hands
- their hands fit together like gloves
- at the top, enzyme pulls hard in excitement
- guy's arm falls off
- new products = guy + arm!
- then enzyme says, "eww, wtf?"
- enzyme ditches guy for clone #1209841
- other little-known facts of enzyme-drama:
- if guy is too hot/cold or brings H2SO4/HCl/HNO3, he gets slapped, enzyme says, "Get lost," and no hills are bulldozed
- cofactors/coenzymes: the bulldozer (the machine)
- inhibitors: the 3rd wheel
- either steals enzyme away (competitive)
- or kills enzyme and laughs maniacally (noncompetitive)
- allosteric site: door for 3rd wheel, except 3rd wheel is guy's arm
- arm can help or hurt
- too many arms will distract enzyme and result in no more bulldozed hills
- cooperativity: guy1 holds hands = guy2 can hold hands too
- many enzymes + many hills + many bulldozers = metabolic pathway (multi-enzyme complex)
- all these pathways come together to form . . . THE METABOLISM WORLD.
- dun dun dunnn...
Monday, October 4, 2010
October: A Prelude
I have found it increasingly harder to write about things that haven't happened at all, and much easier to write about things that have at least happened in part. I am not sure why—the other day, I was trying to write a story to keep my mind off upcoming college essays (because that is all I think about now), and I just couldn't do it. The beginning sounded weird, and I just couldn't go on from there.
I am exhausted, too, from all the work. I had a test in bio (yay for organelles), which took half an hour, and for the next fifteen minutes it was so hard to focus. It could also be because I don't have my chapter 7 notes, or that I just find it hard to focus in bio in general. The powerpoints make me drowsy, and there is so little math right now (I don't know if this will change). Also, I wish that this one girl in my class would just stop asking questions. I mean, I know, questions are good, but a question every other slide? Is that really necessary?
I also find it really hard to focus in econ, but I think I can manage bursts of attentiveness, so I use the lapses in-between to doodle on Yuma's or Joss's (again with the possessives) notebook. It has so far worked out really well. I am also participating a lot more, so I think Mr. Wollen has not realized my periodic lack of attention.
Anyway, I mentioned all of this (with every paragraph starting with an "I") to state what I think will be the pace for the rest of October. So, yes, I am mostly done with my common app, I am mostly done with my Penn essay, and I am half done with my Chicago essays, but there is still so much more to do. Plus I have to remember that I have two umbrellas left in my locker. I keep forgetting them.
There are, of course, happy bits stuck in-between. Relaxing times. There is math team (first meet of the year this Wednesday! can't wait), and science bowl is very, very exciting too. There is all this stuff that I can get done in my free, even though I have so much fun too. I am reading my daily dose of webcomics (both nerdy and not). Following tons of blogs. Reading lots of Middle East news (the class is doing wonders for my awareness of the area).
(This list of "relaxing" things is probably not very relaxing to many people.)
Regardless. I think I'm having a lot of fun. If I were metaphorical (and I am, but I'm not very good with music so I can't think of much to connect this back to the "prelude"), I would be talking about some musical piece right now. About how the sad, solemn pieces are broken apart by franticly happy parts. Or maybe my music of life is just set at a really fast tempo right now. Reminds me of that tango music we played back in grade eight (the one with all that plucking that gave my thumb blisters). Or maybe even "Amadeus." Don't remember much, though. I was rather glad to be rid of my music classes.
And amidst all of these musical analogies, let's hope Thursdays come by quickly. (Well, I'm also hoping 1st semester never ends, but I don't think many people hold that same hope.)
I am exhausted, too, from all the work. I had a test in bio (yay for organelles), which took half an hour, and for the next fifteen minutes it was so hard to focus. It could also be because I don't have my chapter 7 notes, or that I just find it hard to focus in bio in general. The powerpoints make me drowsy, and there is so little math right now (I don't know if this will change). Also, I wish that this one girl in my class would just stop asking questions. I mean, I know, questions are good, but a question every other slide? Is that really necessary?
I also find it really hard to focus in econ, but I think I can manage bursts of attentiveness, so I use the lapses in-between to doodle on Yuma's or Joss's (again with the possessives) notebook. It has so far worked out really well. I am also participating a lot more, so I think Mr. Wollen has not realized my periodic lack of attention.
Anyway, I mentioned all of this (with every paragraph starting with an "I") to state what I think will be the pace for the rest of October. So, yes, I am mostly done with my common app, I am mostly done with my Penn essay, and I am half done with my Chicago essays, but there is still so much more to do. Plus I have to remember that I have two umbrellas left in my locker. I keep forgetting them.
There are, of course, happy bits stuck in-between. Relaxing times. There is math team (first meet of the year this Wednesday! can't wait), and science bowl is very, very exciting too. There is all this stuff that I can get done in my free, even though I have so much fun too. I am reading my daily dose of webcomics (both nerdy and not). Following tons of blogs. Reading lots of Middle East news (the class is doing wonders for my awareness of the area).
(This list of "relaxing" things is probably not very relaxing to many people.)
Regardless. I think I'm having a lot of fun. If I were metaphorical (and I am, but I'm not very good with music so I can't think of much to connect this back to the "prelude"), I would be talking about some musical piece right now. About how the sad, solemn pieces are broken apart by franticly happy parts. Or maybe my music of life is just set at a really fast tempo right now. Reminds me of that tango music we played back in grade eight (the one with all that plucking that gave my thumb blisters). Or maybe even "Amadeus." Don't remember much, though. I was rather glad to be rid of my music classes.
And amidst all of these musical analogies, let's hope Thursdays come by quickly. (Well, I'm also hoping 1st semester never ends, but I don't think many people hold that same hope.)
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The Long-Awaited Math Team Runoffs (Again)
There are so many little froshies at math team this year! I don’t know how long they’ll last (I’m hoping they’ll stick it out until at least states roll around), but it’s still very exciting. They’re so itty-bitty-small and semi-adorable! I don’t know their personality, so I can’t say completely adorable though.
Other than that, we had our expected run-offs. I did rounds 3, 5, and 6, as expected, and I have at least 10 points. Well, at least I passed! And since I’m doing harder rounds this year, that is a vast improvement. I attribute this to the lack of algebra. Algebra is weird (no matter what you say, Tea). Geometry is awesome.
Argon and I had a talk about how we never talk anymore, except during math team. This is an extremely sad situation. I need to remedy that pronto. On the other hand, I am seeing much more of Joss (who thinks he will be on the C team by himself), most likely because we share econ together and he is often with Reese, who I am trying to see more of as well. The end of HUSH has done horrors for keeping up with my sophomore/now-junior friends.
I do have some reservations about our “goal of the year,” which is, as always, “beat Treeburg.” Without Irving, this may get harder, but who knows? Maybe Treeburg has lost three of their really mathy people, and so we have a better shot this year.
But enough about math team. I’m sure next Wednesday will be even more exciting, so I’ll leave this for now. Oh, and, I now know how Mr. Booth got his nickname, thanks to ScriptShadow (my newest blog obsession that reviews movie scripts).
Interesting things of today:
Other than that, we had our expected run-offs. I did rounds 3, 5, and 6, as expected, and I have at least 10 points. Well, at least I passed! And since I’m doing harder rounds this year, that is a vast improvement. I attribute this to the lack of algebra. Algebra is weird (no matter what you say, Tea). Geometry is awesome.
Argon and I had a talk about how we never talk anymore, except during math team. This is an extremely sad situation. I need to remedy that pronto. On the other hand, I am seeing much more of Joss (who thinks he will be on the C team by himself), most likely because we share econ together and he is often with Reese, who I am trying to see more of as well. The end of HUSH has done horrors for keeping up with my sophomore/now-junior friends.
I do have some reservations about our “goal of the year,” which is, as always, “beat Treeburg.” Without Irving, this may get harder, but who knows? Maybe Treeburg has lost three of their really mathy people, and so we have a better shot this year.
But enough about math team. I’m sure next Wednesday will be even more exciting, so I’ll leave this for now. Oh, and, I now know how Mr. Booth got his nickname, thanks to ScriptShadow (my newest blog obsession that reviews movie scripts).
Interesting things of today:
- We did the coffee filter drag force lab today in physics! Really exciting, except for the fact that it's really hard to measure motion when the coffee filter is really light and drifty. Ali wanted Bryant to be in her group (less work for all those involved except Bryant), but Bryant flipped a coin (or maybe he flipped a coin in his calculator, not sure) and decided to go with Dan's group instead. Emmeline had a free before physics, so she made a really cool data chart and it was so exciting to fill it in (not so exciting to drop a coffee filter 45 times though).
- In bio we killed algae! Okay, so we left three bottles of algae alive (but two are wrapped up in foil and mesh, so I'm not sure how long they'll live either), but the last bottle we fixed with sulfates and all those cool chemicals that fix oxygen and burns the hand and so obviously have destroyed the poor little algae cells.
- For French, we went downstairs to listen to the violin guy (Alexander something? I forgot) in the library. As I was listening (and turning away when the sounds got too screeching), I spotted Mario. He now sports a very, very ugly hairstyle. As I was telling Gretchen, it seems that haircuts work opposite for girls and guys. For girls, haircuts usually mean prettier. For guys, they usually mean uglier. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe they need to train haircutters (that's not a word, I know) to learn better boy-hair styles.
- In econ, Mr. Wollen wasn't here, and Yuma, Joss and I drew on the whiteboard, creating quite an (xkcd-inspired) adventure. With chess pieces falling from the sky, nuclear clouds, and lots of angels with big, bouncy heads. There was also an integral composed of smiley faces, flowers, double-square-roots, and brains. Julie got a picture of that one on her phone.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Magically Mundane Mondays
Here is the start of another week, and the foreshadowing of a busy week to be. Or maybe it’s just because my free is in the mornings on Monday, so I am not actually getting any substantial work done, and the day just feels tremendously long.
There is a utexas due for Friday, and although at least we do not have 40 questions long utexases (what would the plural of utexas be?) anymore, they are getting harder (no more concepts MCs), so they also take quite some time. The lab for bio from last week is now due next week, because there is a part II (yay for growing algae!) upcoming tomorrow and Wednesday. I have 12 CDs worth of a novel to burn through (well, okay, I am not really burning anything because I have nothing to burn on CDs anyway), within the next month or so. Times like these I wish I had a portable CD-player (this has only happened once before, when I wanted a CD-player for the SAT IIs).
But those things are boring. I mean, I have to do them, yes, but that doesn’t make them any more interesting to listen to. So, onwards to the exciting things in life!
Math run-offs tomorrow! As I was telling Gretchen (and Sonny, although I am not sure how much he was paying attention and how much he just didn’t want to run up the stairs and away from us) this morning, I have been waiting for this day for almost a month. Really. Ever since we got our packets. I need to go over some of the coordinate geometry stuff still, but the regular geometry is good, and trig (this month anyway) is also pretty easy.
Also looking forward to seeing who’s going to (most likely) make the A-team roster (for most of the time). Bryant, definitely, and probably Tybalt too. Then there’s Mario (he says he’s going to take the run-offs during some time on his own, although he might presumably drop by—that is, if he goes to school, because I haven’t seen him in class in days). Dino and Tea and Gretchen and Yuma? Are there any more seniors now?
Non-seniors, there’s definitely Argon, although I am not sure about Joss. Micro, yes (he’s pretty much guaranteed for this round unless he flunks). Summer and Cheryl and Reno and the others? Well, we need at least one more person. Might as well be one of them.
Math team speculation is always fun. You know what this reminds me of? Fantasy sports. Maybe we can make a fantasy math team and bet on it?
Other exciting/fun things. Okay, this is in the past tense, but my dad hosted a semi-party yesterday (they called it “lunch,” as the little eight-year-old girl who came over said her mom told her, but as we—Onion and I—aptly remarked, “lunch” with company usually means a meal that spans until 7PM). My dad and some of the others started playing this weird card game that involves +10 points and “fishing for the suits,” whatever that means. So the three of us (Onion, little girl, and me) started playing some card game that I know how to play but have no idea what it’s called, while two other little girls sat/jumped on my bed. Then we went to play “Playing with Fire” on my laptop, then a few Orisinal games (they are the cutest ever), then slime tennis (which I won multiple times because Onion did not know how to serve), then Silversphere.
Then, when the little girls left, we started watching Youtube videos, most notably the Back Dorm Boys, Ultimate Showdown, Hamster Dance, and the Shamwoohoo. Onion then said that Taylor Swift’s music videos are weird (he is basing this off Love Story and the one where Swift plays the girl who’s got a million outfits in her closet and writes on a notepad her messages to her neighbor crush). All I can say is he has never been exposed to the world of weird music videos. Really.
So I showed/dissected-for him Rain’s Love Story for starters (guy in black suit wiggling his butt and having a girl vacuum all over him), then DBSK’s videos (Wrong Number—dipping phone in a glass of wine; O—semi-fantasy world where all five guys go, “Oooh, look at the birdies!” while everyone else vanishes; Triangle—bunch of fantasy fighters dancing and then some angel descends from the sky amongst a crowd in tin-foil hats), then Big Bang’s videos (Lies—girl kills boy-who-she-doesn’t-really-like with pineapple; Haru Haru—guy gets rejected by long-term girlfriend so he goes smashing things and tearing pillows apart).
We then decided we had enough of weird music videos (pity, I haven’t gotten to SHINee’s rainbow prism dance one yet), so we searched up Harry Potter versions of Tik Tok and ended with some quality OceanLab (you can’t beat OceanLab, really).
And when my Youtube minutes ran out on Chrome, we played Crazy Eights. It lasted well over an hour and when his parents finally ended the card game with my dad, we still had not finished. But it was too late (past midnight) so we never got to finish that game. Oh well. I was losing anyway.
Then this morning I thought I had missed the bus, because I woke up two minutes before the bus was supposed to come, but then I realized my clock is five minutes early, so I quickly got dressed and ran out the door, effectively waking up my parents (although I didn’t know that then).
For entertainment purposes, I suggest you go through all of the Youtube videos I’ve suggested (well, maybe not the weird MVs) unless you’ve seen them before. Especially the Back Dorm Boys. The one where they lip-synch to “We Will Rock You.” I’d link, but: a) it’s really hard to miss; and b) if I search it up I’ll get distracted and I won’t get anything done tonight.
There is a utexas due for Friday, and although at least we do not have 40 questions long utexases (what would the plural of utexas be?) anymore, they are getting harder (no more concepts MCs), so they also take quite some time. The lab for bio from last week is now due next week, because there is a part II (yay for growing algae!) upcoming tomorrow and Wednesday. I have 12 CDs worth of a novel to burn through (well, okay, I am not really burning anything because I have nothing to burn on CDs anyway), within the next month or so. Times like these I wish I had a portable CD-player (this has only happened once before, when I wanted a CD-player for the SAT IIs).
But those things are boring. I mean, I have to do them, yes, but that doesn’t make them any more interesting to listen to. So, onwards to the exciting things in life!
Math run-offs tomorrow! As I was telling Gretchen (and Sonny, although I am not sure how much he was paying attention and how much he just didn’t want to run up the stairs and away from us) this morning, I have been waiting for this day for almost a month. Really. Ever since we got our packets. I need to go over some of the coordinate geometry stuff still, but the regular geometry is good, and trig (this month anyway) is also pretty easy.
Also looking forward to seeing who’s going to (most likely) make the A-team roster (for most of the time). Bryant, definitely, and probably Tybalt too. Then there’s Mario (he says he’s going to take the run-offs during some time on his own, although he might presumably drop by—that is, if he goes to school, because I haven’t seen him in class in days). Dino and Tea and Gretchen and Yuma? Are there any more seniors now?
Non-seniors, there’s definitely Argon, although I am not sure about Joss. Micro, yes (he’s pretty much guaranteed for this round unless he flunks). Summer and Cheryl and Reno and the others? Well, we need at least one more person. Might as well be one of them.
Math team speculation is always fun. You know what this reminds me of? Fantasy sports. Maybe we can make a fantasy math team and bet on it?
Other exciting/fun things. Okay, this is in the past tense, but my dad hosted a semi-party yesterday (they called it “lunch,” as the little eight-year-old girl who came over said her mom told her, but as we—Onion and I—aptly remarked, “lunch” with company usually means a meal that spans until 7PM). My dad and some of the others started playing this weird card game that involves +10 points and “fishing for the suits,” whatever that means. So the three of us (Onion, little girl, and me) started playing some card game that I know how to play but have no idea what it’s called, while two other little girls sat/jumped on my bed. Then we went to play “Playing with Fire” on my laptop, then a few Orisinal games (they are the cutest ever), then slime tennis (which I won multiple times because Onion did not know how to serve), then Silversphere.
Then, when the little girls left, we started watching Youtube videos, most notably the Back Dorm Boys, Ultimate Showdown, Hamster Dance, and the Shamwoohoo. Onion then said that Taylor Swift’s music videos are weird (he is basing this off Love Story and the one where Swift plays the girl who’s got a million outfits in her closet and writes on a notepad her messages to her neighbor crush). All I can say is he has never been exposed to the world of weird music videos. Really.
So I showed/dissected-for him Rain’s Love Story for starters (guy in black suit wiggling his butt and having a girl vacuum all over him), then DBSK’s videos (Wrong Number—dipping phone in a glass of wine; O—semi-fantasy world where all five guys go, “Oooh, look at the birdies!” while everyone else vanishes; Triangle—bunch of fantasy fighters dancing and then some angel descends from the sky amongst a crowd in tin-foil hats), then Big Bang’s videos (Lies—girl kills boy-who-she-doesn’t-really-like with pineapple; Haru Haru—guy gets rejected by long-term girlfriend so he goes smashing things and tearing pillows apart).
We then decided we had enough of weird music videos (pity, I haven’t gotten to SHINee’s rainbow prism dance one yet), so we searched up Harry Potter versions of Tik Tok and ended with some quality OceanLab (you can’t beat OceanLab, really).
And when my Youtube minutes ran out on Chrome, we played Crazy Eights. It lasted well over an hour and when his parents finally ended the card game with my dad, we still had not finished. But it was too late (past midnight) so we never got to finish that game. Oh well. I was losing anyway.
Then this morning I thought I had missed the bus, because I woke up two minutes before the bus was supposed to come, but then I realized my clock is five minutes early, so I quickly got dressed and ran out the door, effectively waking up my parents (although I didn’t know that then).
For entertainment purposes, I suggest you go through all of the Youtube videos I’ve suggested (well, maybe not the weird MVs) unless you’ve seen them before. Especially the Back Dorm Boys. The one where they lip-synch to “We Will Rock You.” I’d link, but: a) it’s really hard to miss; and b) if I search it up I’ll get distracted and I won’t get anything done tonight.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Oh, Commenters
First of all, the Universal Online Spellcheck (whatever spellcheck Firefox and Chrome both use) does not accept "commenters" as a word, although "commenter" is a word. Seriously? What do they think the plural of "commenter" is?
Anyway, I was writing "commenters" because I was reading today's DWT email-post, and someone had asked the difference between "commenter" and "commentator," and one of the examples of a sentence using "commenter" (or "commentor," actually) is "The 6 Types of Commentors—Do You Know Them? I searched the title in Google, and I also found "10 Types of Blog Comments" which is similar.
And of course, I read the comments, and Mark Shea recommended Flame Warriors, which I will now recommend to you. It is a pretty accurate depiction of the many types of people in the Vast World of Forums.
But things about me. Because evidently I have an absolute advantage (and possibly a comparative advantage too) at talking about things about me, since no one else can really do that. I've pretty psyched for the first econ test, not because I know I'll do well (I am hoping that though), but because econ is also amazingly fun and I love it. I am not so much looking forward to the "12 Golden Labs of AP Bio," because one of these labs will end up as an essay question on the AP test, and I would rather not have to worry about AP tests this early.
(We played with sulfamic acid today though! I had no idea sulfamic acid—molecular formula: H3NSO3—even existed before now, but according to Wikipedia it's when you replace an -OH group on sulfuric acid with -NH2, and that is pretty cool.)
There was also another Bryant-lapse in physics today (I am calling all those times when Bryant misses something "Bryant-lapses"). They are becoming rather common in physics, and they're not even tricky questions. He's still well-above coherent in multi (which reminds me, what was our multi homework, if any? was it the figuring out the second derivative with respect to t question?), so it's probably just in physics.
Weird.
On a side note, we're getting our first physics test back on Friday! I can't wait to see who's going to get the first yellow pencil. And if it's not Bryant, then I'll get to see who else I need to keep tabs on as a "potential pencil competitor." Yay!
Anyway, I was writing "commenters" because I was reading today's DWT email-post, and someone had asked the difference between "commenter" and "commentator," and one of the examples of a sentence using "commenter" (or "commentor," actually) is "The 6 Types of Commentors—Do You Know Them? I searched the title in Google, and I also found "10 Types of Blog Comments" which is similar.
And of course, I read the comments, and Mark Shea recommended Flame Warriors, which I will now recommend to you. It is a pretty accurate depiction of the many types of people in the Vast World of Forums.
But things about me. Because evidently I have an absolute advantage (and possibly a comparative advantage too) at talking about things about me, since no one else can really do that. I've pretty psyched for the first econ test, not because I know I'll do well (I am hoping that though), but because econ is also amazingly fun and I love it. I am not so much looking forward to the "12 Golden Labs of AP Bio," because one of these labs will end up as an essay question on the AP test, and I would rather not have to worry about AP tests this early.
(We played with sulfamic acid today though! I had no idea sulfamic acid—molecular formula: H3NSO3—even existed before now, but according to Wikipedia it's when you replace an -OH group on sulfuric acid with -NH2, and that is pretty cool.)
There was also another Bryant-lapse in physics today (I am calling all those times when Bryant misses something "Bryant-lapses"). They are becoming rather common in physics, and they're not even tricky questions. He's still well-above coherent in multi (which reminds me, what was our multi homework, if any? was it the figuring out the second derivative with respect to t question?), so it's probably just in physics.
Weird.
On a side note, we're getting our first physics test back on Friday! I can't wait to see who's going to get the first yellow pencil. And if it's not Bryant, then I'll get to see who else I need to keep tabs on as a "potential pencil competitor." Yay!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Never Make Promises You Can't Keep
Or, in my case, never make promises, period. Apparently I'm really good at attracting last-minute change in plans, because this has happened to me quite often in the past week. There was Tuesday, when I promised to get math packets for Summer and Cheryl, and then conveniently Ms. Sherbert ran out of packets. Then today, when I told Zephy that: a) I can go to fashion/jewelry/whatever-it-is-now club on Wednesday, and b) I'll be able to give her a ride home tomorrow.
Guess what?
My dad has a dentist's appointment tomorrow, all the way in New York (the state), and it's in the afternoon and my mom is going as well, so they're coming back later at night. If the weather's nice tomorrow, though, I won't mind walking. It's just—
My mom also told me today that we're going all the way up to Vermont on Wednesday to get our visas straightened out (since my dad is planning to move to Florida and everything). That is going to be fun. I'll be missing extended multi, which is rather sad, but I'll also be missing crucial review-day-before-first-test physics, which is not good at all since I'm aiming for that pencil. And I'll be missing a bio lab, which is also not good, because I am rather bad at reading bio labs. The actual labs themselves make sense. The boggy text, not so much.
But enough about my future. Today, in econ, we talked about the classic guns and butter, otherwise known as the production possibilities frontier. It was pretty easy to understand (especially the part about cows making guns), and I loved the graphs. Graphs are so nice when I don't have to draw them by hand. After econ was French, and since that was uneventful (my French teacher is almost always late to class, probably because she has to go from the first floor to the third floor, so I spend the extra time trying to look into Mrs. Cumulonimbus's class), then I went to English. Cammie wasn't here today, and we had an in-class essay.
I was freaking out (a little) about the in-class essay, because I usually don't finish those on time (or I write not so much compared to other people), but this time I actually finished ahead of time with a neat conclusion and everything. So I am surprised and not quite sure where this newfound skill in essay-writing came from, but I will assume it's because we're writing more in class now (we get free-write minutes before every class, which is really cool).
Then, on the bus, I discussed the chem test with Yuma (something about X and F, and I remember that remotely but definitely not enough to know the answer without doing the question out). I still miss chem. A lot. I wish there was a period 7 chem class, so I can drop by and say hi and everything. Oh well. Can't have everything in life.
Guess what?
My dad has a dentist's appointment tomorrow, all the way in New York (the state), and it's in the afternoon and my mom is going as well, so they're coming back later at night. If the weather's nice tomorrow, though, I won't mind walking. It's just—
My mom also told me today that we're going all the way up to Vermont on Wednesday to get our visas straightened out (since my dad is planning to move to Florida and everything). That is going to be fun. I'll be missing extended multi, which is rather sad, but I'll also be missing crucial review-day-before-first-test physics, which is not good at all since I'm aiming for that pencil. And I'll be missing a bio lab, which is also not good, because I am rather bad at reading bio labs. The actual labs themselves make sense. The boggy text, not so much.
But enough about my future. Today, in econ, we talked about the classic guns and butter, otherwise known as the production possibilities frontier. It was pretty easy to understand (especially the part about cows making guns), and I loved the graphs. Graphs are so nice when I don't have to draw them by hand. After econ was French, and since that was uneventful (my French teacher is almost always late to class, probably because she has to go from the first floor to the third floor, so I spend the extra time trying to look into Mrs. Cumulonimbus's class), then I went to English. Cammie wasn't here today, and we had an in-class essay.
I was freaking out (a little) about the in-class essay, because I usually don't finish those on time (or I write not so much compared to other people), but this time I actually finished ahead of time with a neat conclusion and everything. So I am surprised and not quite sure where this newfound skill in essay-writing came from, but I will assume it's because we're writing more in class now (we get free-write minutes before every class, which is really cool).
Then, on the bus, I discussed the chem test with Yuma (something about X and F, and I remember that remotely but definitely not enough to know the answer without doing the question out). I still miss chem. A lot. I wish there was a period 7 chem class, so I can drop by and say hi and everything. Oh well. Can't have everything in life.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
What Are The Chances (if all variables are independent)?
This morning, in homeroom, as we were getting out planners (completely black, which is boring, but that means colors will show up better in it), I took a seat near the front because there were only a few people there at the time. I waited in line, got everything I needed, and sat down to write my bio lab, when Lauretta walked in.
Apparently, her friend was sitting in front of me, because she took the chair next to mine and sat down. The two of them then went on lengthy discussions of colleges (while coloring in college names with fluorescent pens), including Washington University (the St. Louis one), where Lauretta wants to go. Or maybe it was one of the schools she wanted to go to. It’s kind of hard to pick up information when you’re not part of the conversation.
It was awkward, I suppose, but it was also really weird because our last homeroom (a week ago), I sat in the very back, and Lauretta still managed to sit next to me. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that she was doing this on purpose, but that can’t be because I can’t imagine why she’d do such a thing.
I did manage to finish most of my bio lab, and I finished everything I could do in physics, while the new-to-calculus people learned another month’s worth of calculus in 50 minutes (I also realized that most of the new-calc people were in my algebra class sophomore year, which is kind of neat). Then I started on my math packets (they’re going surprisingly well, considering they’re the harder rounds this time), and one of the questions mentioned a dilated triangle, and I had no idea what that was. I asked Bryant, and he didn’t know either. (He also incorrectly calculated 6^3/3, which was shocking. Perhaps he’s too stressed right now for some reason.)
Yuma searched online and found out that dilated triangles just mean that you multiply the coordinates by whatever the dilation constant is. I would provide a link, but he found it on his iPod, so I didn’t get to see the web address. I don’t get this whole dilation thing, and it sounds a lot like dialysis, which was what we were doing in bio today (shortened lab period). All sugary goodness.
During my free, Yuma and I tried to find other people with our frees, and failed miserably. So we played a round of go, in which I threw magnetic go pieces at the board and miraculously managed to attack some of Yuma’s pieces (even if I failed later), a round of connect-five (which I also lost), and then we walked down the art wing, where the lights were out for some reason, and it was nice and spooky. Then, at the end of the period, I saw Archie and Noah on the bridge, so I asked them, “Do you have a free right now?”
“Yes,” Archie said. “Why?”
“Well, I’m compiling a stalker list of a lot of people and their schedules, and I’m trying to figure the schedules out.”
That was probably not the best thing to say, but they weren’t really freaked out, and Archie supplied that he dropped period 2 physics (my physics class) for AP chem with Dr. Cans. I guess that’s why we didn’t see him in physics today. I never would have guessed (or realized, I suppose, until a few weeks later, which just goes to show how well I observe things).
Apparently, her friend was sitting in front of me, because she took the chair next to mine and sat down. The two of them then went on lengthy discussions of colleges (while coloring in college names with fluorescent pens), including Washington University (the St. Louis one), where Lauretta wants to go. Or maybe it was one of the schools she wanted to go to. It’s kind of hard to pick up information when you’re not part of the conversation.
It was awkward, I suppose, but it was also really weird because our last homeroom (a week ago), I sat in the very back, and Lauretta still managed to sit next to me. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that she was doing this on purpose, but that can’t be because I can’t imagine why she’d do such a thing.
I did manage to finish most of my bio lab, and I finished everything I could do in physics, while the new-to-calculus people learned another month’s worth of calculus in 50 minutes (I also realized that most of the new-calc people were in my algebra class sophomore year, which is kind of neat). Then I started on my math packets (they’re going surprisingly well, considering they’re the harder rounds this time), and one of the questions mentioned a dilated triangle, and I had no idea what that was. I asked Bryant, and he didn’t know either. (He also incorrectly calculated 6^3/3, which was shocking. Perhaps he’s too stressed right now for some reason.)
Yuma searched online and found out that dilated triangles just mean that you multiply the coordinates by whatever the dilation constant is. I would provide a link, but he found it on his iPod, so I didn’t get to see the web address. I don’t get this whole dilation thing, and it sounds a lot like dialysis, which was what we were doing in bio today (shortened lab period). All sugary goodness.
During my free, Yuma and I tried to find other people with our frees, and failed miserably. So we played a round of go, in which I threw magnetic go pieces at the board and miraculously managed to attack some of Yuma’s pieces (even if I failed later), a round of connect-five (which I also lost), and then we walked down the art wing, where the lights were out for some reason, and it was nice and spooky. Then, at the end of the period, I saw Archie and Noah on the bridge, so I asked them, “Do you have a free right now?”
“Yes,” Archie said. “Why?”
“Well, I’m compiling a stalker list of a lot of people and their schedules, and I’m trying to figure the schedules out.”
That was probably not the best thing to say, but they weren’t really freaked out, and Archie supplied that he dropped period 2 physics (my physics class) for AP chem with Dr. Cans. I guess that’s why we didn’t see him in physics today. I never would have guessed (or realized, I suppose, until a few weeks later, which just goes to show how well I observe things).
Friday, September 3, 2010
I know what valence means, thank you for asking
Okay, so I know that a significant portion of my class are sophomores who have never taken chem before, or have only started taking chem. I think it's a huge loss for them, but, alas, our school's system is such that we learn biology first, then chemistry, then physics, which makes little sense because you use physics to explain chemistry, and you use chemistry to explain biology.
Anyway. I acknowledge that. I know most people don't have "metal oxide + water = base" in their heads, and the majority of my class probably does not know that all nitrates are soluble, but hydroxides are only soluble with alkali metals and the heavier alkaloid metals. I don't expect them to know that. I didn't even know that until last year.
Still. To be talking about "Na + Cl = NaCl!" is, well, really mind-blowing. In the bad way. Every single science textbook that I have ever, ever read (except for the physics one) mentions sodium and chloride, and, guess what? Sodium chloride. Every single one. I really don't think it's that hard to realize that, whoa, a metal and a gas comes together to form the stuff you over-sprinkle on your food.
I guess I am overreacting a little, because I spent 45 minutes doing absolutely nothing (well, okay, not nothing, I did draw a few pictures) while everyone else talked about basic chemistry. We are having a test on this thing in a week. Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen (not in that order, of course). Trace elements. And a good dose of electron shells and elements and compounds and I'll bet organic chemistry.
FON, FON, FON. (It's a chem joke Mr. Turkey shared with us one day.)
In physics, Mrs. Cumulonimbus (back from sending her daughter off to college) said we would be learning basic calculus next week, which means derivatives, integrals, and u-sub. The last one got quite a few groans (well, there were groans for all of them from the people who were just starting to take calc). I always forget if u-sub is the LIPET one, or if it's the other one. They both involve u's.
But the physics calculus, so far, is easy. I've already finished the utexas due next Friday, and it's basic stuff. Nothing harder than integration of polynomials. I'm a little sad that we're not going to see shells, but I can live with that. Maybe.
After that, in English, Cammie and I discussed our Creeper Lists, among other things, like how I am horrible at music (I'm tone-deaf and therefore I can never tell if I'm playing something right or not when I'm playing harmony—which is almost always with the bass—unless someone kindly tells me). I would mention more, but this would involve adding people to labels and I would rather not do that.
So. Instead. I shall end this here and get back to my French and econ homework, and perhaps figure out how to approach the subject of my many, many clubs. I can't believe it's Friday already. (I also can't believe I missed yesterday's Project Runway review. I must be really out of it.)
Anyway. I acknowledge that. I know most people don't have "metal oxide + water = base" in their heads, and the majority of my class probably does not know that all nitrates are soluble, but hydroxides are only soluble with alkali metals and the heavier alkaloid metals. I don't expect them to know that. I didn't even know that until last year.
Still. To be talking about "Na + Cl = NaCl!" is, well, really mind-blowing. In the bad way. Every single science textbook that I have ever, ever read (except for the physics one) mentions sodium and chloride, and, guess what? Sodium chloride. Every single one. I really don't think it's that hard to realize that, whoa, a metal and a gas comes together to form the stuff you over-sprinkle on your food.
I guess I am overreacting a little, because I spent 45 minutes doing absolutely nothing (well, okay, not nothing, I did draw a few pictures) while everyone else talked about basic chemistry. We are having a test on this thing in a week. Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen (not in that order, of course). Trace elements. And a good dose of electron shells and elements and compounds and I'll bet organic chemistry.
FON, FON, FON. (It's a chem joke Mr. Turkey shared with us one day.)
In physics, Mrs. Cumulonimbus (back from sending her daughter off to college) said we would be learning basic calculus next week, which means derivatives, integrals, and u-sub. The last one got quite a few groans (well, there were groans for all of them from the people who were just starting to take calc). I always forget if u-sub is the LIPET one, or if it's the other one. They both involve u's.
But the physics calculus, so far, is easy. I've already finished the utexas due next Friday, and it's basic stuff. Nothing harder than integration of polynomials. I'm a little sad that we're not going to see shells, but I can live with that. Maybe.
After that, in English, Cammie and I discussed our Creeper Lists, among other things, like how I am horrible at music (I'm tone-deaf and therefore I can never tell if I'm playing something right or not when I'm playing harmony—which is almost always with the bass—unless someone kindly tells me). I would mention more, but this would involve adding people to labels and I would rather not do that.
So. Instead. I shall end this here and get back to my French and econ homework, and perhaps figure out how to approach the subject of my many, many clubs. I can't believe it's Friday already. (I also can't believe I missed yesterday's Project Runway review. I must be really out of it.)
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Just Because I Speak French
Doesn't mean I live outside the US.
I know I have said that I will probably be posting again once school starts, but there has been a change of plans because I have more time on my hands and more things are happening lately. This seems paradoxical, I know, but there is no other way to explain it.
Anyway. Lest I forget, the important things.
First, Penn's supplement is finally out. I've been waiting for this since summer vacation started, and for the month of July their website said, "The Penn supplement to the Common Application will be out on July 15th." (Well, more or less those words.) So I checked in late July, and they said it'll be out on August 1st, when the common app comes out. Then, on August 1st, during the common app frenzy, they pushed it back again to mid-August, whenever that is.
Well, mid-August in Penn-world is around August 25th, just so you know.
Then, there is the news that I passed my open-book honors-level-bio exam! I am not sure that the "open book" part still makes it an honors-level exam, but I shall have faith. And did you know our school doesn't have enough AP bio textbooks? I'm not too surprised. There are four classes, after all.
And probably the most exciting of all—Google Voice. I'm still trying to figure out how this works, but it looks really promising (not to mention free calls to Canada). The only thing is, I can't use Gmail in French to call people yet, because it's only out in the US so far, and apparently people in the US only speak English.
That is unfair. I live in the US, and I like my Gmail in French, thank you very much.
Still, you can't beat unlimited free SMS. That's got to have the major mobile carriers mad. And once again, I am falling deeper and deeper into the Google products chain. I use Gmail, Google calendar (although only occasionally), Google reader, iGoogle, Google (the search engine), Google docs, Google maps, Google books, Google trends (this one is really cool), Google translate, Google sites (HUSH portfolio), Chrome, Blogger (hey, this blog!), and now Google voice.
I am not obsessed. Not at all.
I know I have said that I will probably be posting again once school starts, but there has been a change of plans because I have more time on my hands and more things are happening lately. This seems paradoxical, I know, but there is no other way to explain it.
Anyway. Lest I forget, the important things.
First, Penn's supplement is finally out. I've been waiting for this since summer vacation started, and for the month of July their website said, "The Penn supplement to the Common Application will be out on July 15th." (Well, more or less those words.) So I checked in late July, and they said it'll be out on August 1st, when the common app comes out. Then, on August 1st, during the common app frenzy, they pushed it back again to mid-August, whenever that is.
Well, mid-August in Penn-world is around August 25th, just so you know.
Then, there is the news that I passed my open-book honors-level-bio exam! I am not sure that the "open book" part still makes it an honors-level exam, but I shall have faith. And did you know our school doesn't have enough AP bio textbooks? I'm not too surprised. There are four classes, after all.
And probably the most exciting of all—Google Voice. I'm still trying to figure out how this works, but it looks really promising (not to mention free calls to Canada). The only thing is, I can't use Gmail in French to call people yet, because it's only out in the US so far, and apparently people in the US only speak English.
That is unfair. I live in the US, and I like my Gmail in French, thank you very much.
Still, you can't beat unlimited free SMS. That's got to have the major mobile carriers mad. And once again, I am falling deeper and deeper into the Google products chain. I use Gmail, Google calendar (although only occasionally), Google reader, iGoogle, Google (the search engine), Google docs, Google maps, Google books, Google trends (this one is really cool), Google translate, Google sites (HUSH portfolio), Chrome, Blogger (hey, this blog!), and now Google voice.
I am not obsessed. Not at all.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
About Biology
I'm not liking it as much as chemistry. I guess it's inevitable. Chemistry is like, well, using a simile here, my first love. It was the first specific science I'd even gotten into since coming from Canada (where we have clumped sciences until junior year), and it was the first science I'd really, really tried to study. Not to mention I've met some amazing chem teachers along the way (three of our school's most famed teachers, around arena anyway, and in the positive way).
Last year I loved honors chem and thought there'd be nothing better than a continuation of that. This year I went into AP chem, with Mr. Coffee, and I loved loved loved it, even though some areas were shaky for me (and frustratingly, not for Bryant, but that's to be expected). So far I haven't had anything I really hated about chem, not even acids and bases, not even electrochem, not even equations, which felt like rote memorization.
Physics is like that popular, scandalous guy you've always heard of, and you can't believe your luck that he's actually chosen you. My dad's a physics major (albeit chemical and mechanical physics, and my mom and her father are both chemists), and he's always been talking about physics, ever since, well, I started science, probably. Physics is the thing that makes everything else makes sense. I feel like I'm supposed to love it, because it's something so wonderful and so mysterious, and even though I do love it very much and I love making sense of it, I sometimes wonder if it's because of its reputation as much as its mysteriousness.
Doesn't help that when I'm making some "breakthrough" discovery in my physics class, someone else would say, "What is he talking about?"
So what about biology?
Biology is the, uh, rebound guy. Now that I can't possibly take more chemistry classes in high school anymore (although I could try TAing, but I don't know how that will work), I'm kind of in a rut. I want more science classes (I want more math classes too, but, let's face it, I have even less options in math and multi's about the only thing I can take now). Biology's my opportunity to break out andlove take a science class again (aside from AP physics).
There's a reason why nobody wants to be that rebound guy. For one, every time I stare into my bio book (granted, the first unit's called "The Chemical Basis of Life") I keep on thinking, "Hey, that's chemistry!" or "That's sooooo easy. Basic chem stuff, duh." And I'm kind of frustrated, because it's not the advanced chem material I'm used to, but I can't skip it either because every now and then there are fancy words I don't know and concepts that aren't explained fully chemically because they're too complex for a high school textbook.
I have to remind myself, this isn't chemistry, this is biology, and I've got to take a step back and reorient myself. I have to remind myself that my first love's really, really gone (at least for now) and I've got to either love the rebound guy (which I will, as soon as I get over this "I don't really want to work now" period) or I've got to reconsider why I'm stuck with him.
Moral of the story: biology is not chemistry, try as I might to think it is. I will have to deal with that.
Last year I loved honors chem and thought there'd be nothing better than a continuation of that. This year I went into AP chem, with Mr. Coffee, and I loved loved loved it, even though some areas were shaky for me (and frustratingly, not for Bryant, but that's to be expected). So far I haven't had anything I really hated about chem, not even acids and bases, not even electrochem, not even equations, which felt like rote memorization.
Physics is like that popular, scandalous guy you've always heard of, and you can't believe your luck that he's actually chosen you. My dad's a physics major (albeit chemical and mechanical physics, and my mom and her father are both chemists), and he's always been talking about physics, ever since, well, I started science, probably. Physics is the thing that makes everything else makes sense. I feel like I'm supposed to love it, because it's something so wonderful and so mysterious, and even though I do love it very much and I love making sense of it, I sometimes wonder if it's because of its reputation as much as its mysteriousness.
Doesn't help that when I'm making some "breakthrough" discovery in my physics class, someone else would say, "What is he talking about?"
So what about biology?
Biology is the, uh, rebound guy. Now that I can't possibly take more chemistry classes in high school anymore (although I could try TAing, but I don't know how that will work), I'm kind of in a rut. I want more science classes (I want more math classes too, but, let's face it, I have even less options in math and multi's about the only thing I can take now). Biology's my opportunity to break out and
There's a reason why nobody wants to be that rebound guy. For one, every time I stare into my bio book (granted, the first unit's called "The Chemical Basis of Life") I keep on thinking, "Hey, that's chemistry!" or "That's sooooo easy. Basic chem stuff, duh." And I'm kind of frustrated, because it's not the advanced chem material I'm used to, but I can't skip it either because every now and then there are fancy words I don't know and concepts that aren't explained fully chemically because they're too complex for a high school textbook.
I have to remind myself, this isn't chemistry, this is biology, and I've got to take a step back and reorient myself. I have to remind myself that my first love's really, really gone (at least for now) and I've got to either love the rebound guy (which I will, as soon as I get over this "I don't really want to work now" period) or I've got to reconsider why I'm stuck with him.
Moral of the story: biology is not chemistry, try as I might to think it is. I will have to deal with that.
