Thursday, February 22, 2001
01:55 p.m.
Ooo, it's snowing! Good thing I've only one more class today. It's a good thing, too, that the snow held off until after we'd gone down to the stream for ecology lab. (^_^)
Tuesday, February 20, 2001
07:52 p.m.
Twenty minutes of free time!!
Well, okay, maybe ten. ^_^;; What I wanted to get out of my system was this: I got an 88% on my chem exam!! Yeah, so it's not perfect, but damn, I'm pleased. My best grade yet for chemistry. =whew= ^_^
It takes a second to say goodbye,
Push the button and pull the plug, say goodbye.
~ U2, Seconds, War
Now back to our regularly scheduled classwork assignment. ::grin::
Sunday, February 18, 2001
10:07 p.m.
I wasn't going to do it, but I caved in anyway. I took the gender test. It turned out that they were 80% positive that I was a boy.
I'm not sure what to make of that....(o_o)
Sunday, February 18, 2001
06:07 p.m.
If you're a sap and you know it, clap your hands!
Erm, why am I the only one clapping...? (^_^;;)
All right, I am sooo ready for spring; all of this cold and wintery weather is contributing to a slight depression. But as it has been coming just about every year these last few years around this time, I suppose I shouldn't get too worried, huh?
We're working on a population study of Daphnia pulex in ecology lab, and this weekend was my turn to run the counts and feed them. The little monsters (and I say that lovingly, of course ::grin::) were giving me such a hard time -- they wouldn't stay still! Especially the offspring which are incredibly hard to see within a test tube anyway. They're tiny, as in as small as the period at the end of this sentence, tiny. So after an hour and a half of kneeling on the gravel in the greenhouse and doing the lab-thing, I felt as though I'd have permanent eye strain. (^_~) That, and the kneeling on the gravel part were tons of fun. At least it was in the greenhouse; it's nice and toasty in there.
Hey, look, I'm trying to be cheerful over here, okay?! ::grin::
Wednesday, February 14, 2001
12:40 p.m.
Fic Recs Part II
I'm once again grabbing my twenty minutes of free time. The next author that I'm showcasing here is Amand-r, also of Highlander fandom fame. She has a definite bent towards Methos (my personal favorite character - really, what's not to like? [and bringing up the pillaging from three thousand years ago is =not= a good enough example, thankyouverymuch ::grin::]) which is definitely a plus in my book. Also, some of the stories are so realistic that it's almost scary. I particularly like the way she interweaves modern pop culture to the tales, adding a unique flavor to her work. Her Methos, too, is one whom you would like to be friends with - despite his not-so-steller life history.
At any rate, I would recommend her work (well, duh, this is a fic rec, huh? Good one, Jess...^_^;;), though fair warning has to be given for some of the stories if slash isn't your particular beverage of choice (though I happen to like fruit juice myself from time to time...^_~). That is not to say that all her work is slash; in fact, there is a fine sampling of stories from several genres and styles. So give them a looksie; I'm sure that you'll like them.
Tuesday, February 13, 2001
06:18 p.m.
A topic which has been circulating around for the last few days is Valentine's Day.
I can't really say that I have a negative opinion about it (heh, and I just bet you were thinking that this was going to be another rant on just how annoying a holiday it is). Actually, I don't feel bad about it at all. It's kind of sweet, really. ::ducks:: Of course, it'd be nice if people sent each other flowers and candy just for the heck of it, but it is also nice to have an established excuse to do so.
I suppose one might think that I actually have a reason to celebrate Valentine's Day. Well, I don't. Nor have I ever, really. But far be it for me to begrudge those people who do, right? Besides, it makes February a bit more cheerful, don't you think? So I say let people send their candy and flowers, and go out on dates. Heck, why not?
So I hope that you all have a nice Valentine's Day, and if not that, at least have a nice Wednesday. ^_~
Tuesday, February 13, 2001
01:09 p.m.
Recognizing Good Authors I
Since I have about twenty minutes of free time before I do some more class work, I thought that I'd add some more to this here blog. ^_~
For a couple of months now I've been wanting to write up one, gigantic fanfic review that spanned multiple fandoms and several years' worth of fics.
I realize now that that just isn't going to happen.
So, instead I'd like to write up some mini-reviews of whatever I can think of at the time and when I have the time. Maybe someday I'll be able to compile it all and make a single review page. ::shrugs:: We'll see.
To start, let's journey back to an old love of mine: Highlander: the Series fanfic. One of my absolute favorite writers in that fandom is Sylvia Volk. Her work, which can be found here, must be read to be believed. This lady has done her homework for each of the stories she has written. All of the stories have a certain depth to them, a certain feel, which is often times lacking in even professional work.
I realize that I could just go on and on about these stories, but instead I'll list three of my favorite stories in no particular order: "The Good Student", "Lost Horizon", and "Living Water".
Happy reading. ^_~
Tuesday, February 13, 2001
12:27 p.m.
Eheh. Sorry about that. Gosh, I don't know what came over me. ::whistles:: ^.^
Tuesday, February 13, 2001
12:22 p.m.
And another thing: turn the faucets off, you freakin' limp-wristed pansies! Didn't anyone ever do the 'single drop of fresh water in a gallon jug' demonstration for you in grade school? Do you think that water just magically appears and disappears when you turn the faucet? Are you really the weakling girls that you all try to deny that you are by acting tough and crude?!
Well?! >_<
Monday, February 12, 2001
10:13 p.m.
%$&#!!! Why are people so inconsiderate?! I mean, if they want to kill themselves via lung cancer, fine! Heck, I'm all for it. But when they insist on killing me, too, that's when I get pissed. So do us all a favor and shut your doors while smoking!! >_<
Monday, February 12, 2001
07:16 p.m.
.....
You know, I think that I had some witty things to write about just a moment ago, but my mind has just blanked on it.
I guess that's what happens when a person gets to be my age.... ^_~
Oh, and Comrade, I liked your stream-of-consciousness writing. Feel any better now? =^_^=
::whip cracks:: Ooo, did you hear that? That was my conscience telling me it is time to get to work on my school work. And really, how can I say no? ::grin::
Sunday, February 11, 2001
03:41 p.m.
Had a great day yesterday; my parents drove out to take me to lunch (it's a two hour drive, too!). It was really very nice. Later on in the evening, I took myself out to finally see "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". I'm glad I did; it was well worth the standing out in the cold to wait for the bus. ^_^
When my parents came, my father brought with him a digital camera that he was borrowing from his work. If you would like to see some pictures of my dorm room, there's one here of my computer and one here of the wall above my bed. All of the frog pictures you see near the ceiling belong to my roommate; she has good taste. ^_^ Oh, and two of our family's three cats can be seen here. The orange and white one on the left is Renfield (but we just call him Renny ^_^) and the one on the right is Jones. I guess the camera really reflected in her eyes because she normally doesn't look that spooky. ::grin::
Friday, February 9, 2001
03:58 p.m.
Hellz yeah - my classes are done for the day!
Ooo, just got a call from my partner for the independent project; looks like we'll be getting this experiment rolling pretty soon. I'm now actually getting enthused about it, especially if our findings turn out to be fairly significant. ^_^ Now, see, this is the science I'm interested in. I'd take animal behavior over chemistry any day.
Oh, and I have a theory about the pigeons, too. My guess is that they fly in circles in order to maintain proper blood flow in cold weather (of course, I don't know if they fly in circles during the summer months - I guess further study would be required. ^_~). Yeah. So anyway, I like to speculate about things like that.
Maybe someday, too, I'll be able to examine the special properties of pigeons' lungs just as my mother always suggested. We've always wondered how they can possibly survive beneath the highway overpasses, especially those overpasses which are located in front of stoplights. One would think that the pigeons would be receiving pretty high doses of carbon monoxide into their systems. Wouldn't it be interesting if they had somehow, through natural selection, developed lungs resistent to such things? Anyway, that's what my mother used to speculate about, and I really think that she has a point there.
Now, wasn't that interesting? Man, it's going to be fun teaching. ^_^
Um, um, I've got more to write about, but I think maybe I'll hold off until after my birthday. Later!
Friday, February 9, 2001
01:30 p.m.
It's Friday! Woo!
Tonight is going to be very nice as we are going out to dinner for my roommate's birthday (happy birthday, Bonnie! ^_^) and, I guess mine, too. I mean, it's sort of a two-for-one kind of deal. ::grin::
I was able to get some prelim stuff done for my independent study (although since there are two of us working on the project kind-of sort-of maybe it's not so independent after all? ^_^;;). Now it's up to the two of us to decide who's doing what: mice or cockroaches. ::grin:: I have a feeling that she would prefer studying the mice which leaves me with the 'roaches. ::shrugs:: S'okay, though, it should still be interesting.
More on that later, I guess. Gotta get to chem lect!
Sunday, February 4, 2001
05:17 p.m.
The pigeons are at it again.....
Friday, February 2, 2001
05:24 p.m.
Oh, oh! And the secret to life has been explained. It is all a result of hydrogen bonding and enzymes.
Damn, I'm glad I'm taking chem.
Friday, February 2, 2001
04:24 p.m.
I feel as though I will end up screaming any minute...
After spending a week and a half on a chemistry experiment and its report, I finally puzzled through the equations and various other aspects of the darned thing (chemistry is not one of my stronger academic subjects -_-;;) and got it ready to turn in to the professor today. However, I caught up with my lab partner about three minutes before class and when comparing our figures, I realized that I totally messed up a portion of the discussion questions. I mean, the answer should have been obvious to me. Of course, it was too late to do anything about it.
The worst thing about it all is that I really thought that I was right when I was working on it. I absolutely hate being wrong about things like this; I have to go and unlearn the faulty logic that I used. This is a general chemistry class and I want to be a science major. I really ought to not have any trouble with this sort of thing.
I sometimes wonder why I even bother trying to get into science. I mean, it's truly my hardest subject. Don't most people try to go with things that come naturally to them? I think I really want to be a teacher, and I really can't imagine teaching anything else (I mean, it'd be so boring otherwise).
Eh, I guess I should just stop complaining and get on with it, right? Eheh. Sorry. ^_^;;
Oh, yeah, happy Groundhog Day! You know, I always wondered why the groundhog doesn't end up biting people left and right. I mean, wouldn't you be pissed if someone woke you up, and shoved you outside amidst hundreds of people who are waiting anxiously to see if you cast a shadow? Heck, if it were me, most of those town elder guys would be missing fingers by now...
Tuesday, January 30, 2001
09:49 p.m.
I am feeling....very mellow. I've been listening to the same Enya song for the last three hours on repeat. It is soothing.
I'm also happy because this afternoon I finished reading volume one of the Maison Ikkoku graphic novel. It was so sweet! ^__^ I'm really looking forward to reading the next one, too. ::sigh:: I'm not usually one to go for romantic comedies, but this one was just right. It was kind of uplifting.
::glances over to the bed:: My unfinished chemistry report is glaring at me from the bed. ::sob:: Don' wanna do it...::sniff:: Guess I'll be up longer than I intended. But I can now say that I've successfully mastered the art of the pipet. ::grin:: Gotta go; j'ai beaucoup de choses à faire ce soir. ^_~
Sunday, January 28, 2001
02:02 a.m.
Last night I dreamed that I was watching U2 get off a train. I was in a crowd of people when Bono pushed his way through and dragged me off with the rest of the band. Well, okay, dragged is way too harsh of a word. ::grin:: Each of the boys had picked a girl from the crowd to accompany them on their Elevation tour. ::sigh:: Needless to say, I didn't want to wake up this morning.
Well, that is until we all went to the Philadelphia Zoo and I was bitten by a duck. (^_^;;) I guess that's when I realized it was just a dream. :^D
Friday, January 26, 2001
10:13 p.m.
I haven't watched any news since returning to school so I thought I'd catch the ten o'clock news tonight.
Well.
Apparently, one of the malls back home had to be evacuated when a man illegally parked his car and the investigating officers discovered what looked to be a bomb on the dash. When they found the owner of the vehicle, he had a heart attack at the sight of the officers. The man, who had been dressed in army fatigues, died in the hospital. Investigators and the bomb squad found the bomb was not operational (it was only missing powder). However, the car also contained warning signs that people attempting to break into the car would be shot. o_o;;
It kind of makes me appreciate just how quiet Lancaster County is.
On another note, looks like the Philadelphia School District is desperate for teachers. Of course, there are reasons for the former teachers' departure. I suppose that if I ever become desperate after graduation I'd be able to find a job okay. Not so sure I'd want to live in Philly, though (^_^).
I found an old English-dubbed episode of Escaflowne. Wow, after having watched all but three episodes of the series subtitled, the differences between the two are really obvious. Not only that, but the voices simply don't fit the schema I'd already created about the show. It also makes me wonder about the differences in other shows that I've seen - Gundam Wing in particular. It's one thing to hear people complain about the dub (and frankly, without ever having seen it subtitled before, I never had a problem with it) and something else entirely to know just what they mean. And while I'd never trade my Escaflowne collection in for anything, it's cheaper to live blissfully ignorant. ::grin::
Friday, January 26, 2001
06:10 p.m.
Why do pigeons fly around in circles as a flock? And how is it that they keep from running into each other while they're doing so? The mind boggles......
Thursday, January 25, 2001
06:14 p.m.
This isn't an ordinary post. This is just a list of the things I need to do during the next few days. Hopefully, writing it all out like this will help to keep me on track. Please feel free to ignore it. ^_^
* Finish doing the SQ4R stuff for psych.
* Review the Zuni creation story for Am. Lit.
* Do the concentration/rate calculations for part A of the chem lab and then graph the data.
* Watch Crime Scene Investigators Friday evening.
* Watch X-Men: Evolution on Saturday morning.
* Go shopping for birthday presents and comics on Saturday.
* Finish reading Oedipus Rex for Intro. to Lit.
* Research the author/significance of that one work (^_^;;) for Am. Lit.
* Find at least three sources for each of these topics for Ecology Lab: Organic Matter Processing in Streams, Population Dynamics of Daphnia, Forest Community Analysis: Point Quarter Methodology, Invasive Species: Crayfish, and Forest Fragmentation on Bird Populations and Diversity.
* Think about what sort of independent research study you want to conduct for ecology lab. -_-;;
* Finally, do Project #5 for child & adolescent psych.
Hmm...I think I'll be pretty busy this weekend....
Tuesday, January 23, 2001
10:48 p.m.
Synesthesia~!
Yeppers, another repost. ::sigh:: I know I've got some newer things to write about that are floating around the inside of my skull. However, school is conspiring against me at this time. I suppose that one could expect to see more rants ahead as I vent my frustrations about my classes this semester (^_~). At any rate, this one dates back nearly a full year ago and is my attempt to explain something which is very difficult to put into words. Feel free to make any comments or ask any questions about this topic. I'm still learning about it, too!
Synesthesia: Guess What? I've Got a Condition!
Date of entry: January 25th, 2000
I remember a while ago starting a discussion with my family (and later my friends) about how it is exactly that they perceive things. I remember asking questions like, "For instance, when you picture the number four in your head, what does it look like? Does it have a certain color or anything like that?" Most often, I would just get questioning looks and blank expressions. It wasn't that the people whom I was questioning were trying to be difficult, it was simply that they had no base of reference for what I was talking about.
I ended up putting aside my questions because I really wasn't making much headway by questioning those I knew. It wasn't until my mother showed me an article in the December 1999 issue of Discover magazine that my interest was renewed in the subject. You see, there was an article about synesthesia, a "condition" where people experience different sensations in conjunction with the 'normal' sensations.
For instance, if I was to answer my own previous question of, "What does the number four seem like to you?", I would have to say that the number four is murky, light, cyan-greenish color. Confused? Okay, how about if I said this: the letter 'A', to me, is yellow, the letter 'B' is a cerulean blue, and the letter 'C' is a light yellow? These may seem strange to some (and downright wrong to fellow colored-letter synesthetes), but this is how I perceive letters and numbers, and even expressions of time (Did you know that Wednesday is so maroon? And Saturday's deep purple. Yeah, it's true.). And just for the sake of getting something straight: the letter 'O' is not white, it's black. There. I feel better.
The truth is, there's nothing right or wrong about how different people perceive things (there are those who even perceive music as colors and other things as well--unfortunately, I do not), it's just the fact that we all do see things differently. It's just something that people usually take for granted, that's all. Everyone's reality is specific to them, it seems. It may be helpful to keep that in mind when dealing with different people in the future. That's a lesson which extends even past sensational perception, really.
One thing is for sure, though. After reading the Discover article, I felt as though something which had been nagging me in the back of my mind had finally been silenced. Synesthesia is not something which people usually seem to talk about, and the fact that I had wondered about it and questioned about it even as a younger person made me feel as though something (even though it was just a small something) just wasn't right. I guess what I mean is that my mind is at ease now when concerning this ... I guess it could be called a phenomenon.
To learn more about synesthesia, I highly recommend reading the December 1999 issue of Discover magazine article entitled, "Do You See What They See?" (the caption under the title does a better job of inspiring interest in this subject than my disorganized essay. It reads, "People with a bizarre condition called synesthesia see sounds, smell colors, and taste shapes. Neuroscientists think they might open a window into the ultimate mystery of human consciousness." Yeah! Go us! :^D)
Also, you can try following one of these links:
Synaesthesia
Synethesia: Colored Letter Demo
So that's that. Do you feel as though this relates to you? If not, do you find it interesting to know that some people experience things differently than others? Do you find yourself wondering why this sounds like a multipart essay question from a class? ::grin:: Sorry, it's the wannabe teacher in me.
