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Tuesday, October 8, 2002 08:45 p.m. Not much new except that our new neighbors back home called to say that they found our cat. She was sleeping in their house (our old neighbors never fixed their back door, allowing for anything to come and go) and the neighbors, not knowing that she was ours, took her to the vet (or the SPCA - the man wasn't clear). He said that she died along the way. I think that this upset my mom even more because Jones wasn't so old that a simple car ride would have done her in. I could, however, see her becoming so scared of strangers/strange places as to have a heart attack. At any rate, we know that she's gone now which is better than what we knew before. No other news than that. I say that no news is good news. About a week and a half ago or so, I was running up stairs when my left knee just went ::crunch::. I don't know why the stairs would have triggered it, but now it won't stop bothering me. I have a hard time concentrating in class because of the pain/discomfort that comes and goes. The same thing happened to my mom - it's called chondromalacia. Apparently it can happen at any age, including teenagers, but this is ridiculus. I'm twenty-one, for pete's sake. I'm moderately active - you have to be when you don't own a car - but I'm no athlete. It won't stop me from hiking and doing things that I like to do, but it makes one have to take one's time and be aware of one's body more than ever before. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Saturday, September 28, 2002 02:54 p.m. Bad things always come in bunches, don't they? Yeah, I think they do. Sick and dying family members, my mother's beloved elderly cat missing and probably dead due to her age and spending so long outside in the tropical storm, my cousin in the hospital with a spinal injury, and another cousin's husband definitely going to Kuwait to fight for no sane reason that I can see. In fact, on that note, if Mr. Bush wants to take Saddam out so bad, I say we give him a gun, a plane ticket, and a fare-thee-well. I have exams next week, sympathy and get-well cards to write, and papers to begin. I was going to take some time to de-stress this evening by going to tonight's home football game, but after getting all of the above news at once, I'm thinking that it's just not going to happen. And the day started out looking so good earlier. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Thursday, September 26, 2002 12:03 a.m. Virology is trying to eat my brain. Yeah. I'm on to it, the loser. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Monday, September 23, 2002 08:43 p.m. Can't sleep ... the calc will eat me... @_@ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Saturday, September 21, 2002 05:38 p.m. The prospect of our country going to war with Iraq terrifies me. Why haven't people gotten it through their heads that war = bad things? Worse yet (and I realize that this sort of situation applies to a lot of people here), my cousin's husband is a marine (he's younger than I am!), and many people I know here at school are soldiers. It's bad enough that our club president was sent to Bosnia this summer and won't be back to school until next fall. He's lost a year of college already. Now they all have a chance of dying if Mr. Bush decides to have them invade Kuwait. They aren't toys, for heaven's sake! They're people, and the very idea of my friends and family being treated otherwise makes me very upset. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Friday, September 20, 2002 04:18 p.m. Observed two (well, 1.5) autopsies today. Am now feeling extremely disturbed. I'm not at liberty to discuss the details as one of them was a homocide. I would have to say that it was a life-altering experience. I'm thinking of popping a movie in just to get my mind off of this morning. Or I could read a book. That sounds nice. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Wednesday, September 18, 2002 09:53 p.m. Entomology Club rocks. Mmmm.... crickets. XD *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Thursday, September 12, 2002 09:28 p.m. Addendum to the below: At least we have Chef Boyardee. Yum. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Thursday, September 12, 2002 08:20 p.m. This week can't possibly get any more stressful. Oh, wait, yes it can. >_> *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Wednesday, September 11, 2002 01:58 p.m. What is there to say that hasn't already been said? Only that while we must remember, life does go on. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Friday, September 6, 2002 03:06 p.m. Ahh! My eyelid's twitching and it won't stop!! XO Anyway. Investigated a mock crime scene in forensic biology today - it was very cool. We followed a trail of "blood" spatters down one of the halls in the science building and out to the courtyard where we found the "murder" weapon - a bloody baseball bat. The "body" was found in the zoology laboratory along with bloody footprints. I was assigned to help with the crime scene sketches. Our guest speaker of the day and assistant in the investigation was a DNA analyst from Cellmark's Maryland lab. Following lab on Fridays is our weekly Entomology Club meeting which, quite frankly, kicks ass. Funny, funny group of people. Yeah. Fridays rock. Oh, and we won't know how the virus cultures turned out until Monday, apparently. The dishes all looked the same in the fridge this morning. ::shrugs:: So I guess I'll de-stress by reading fic. Sounds like a plan. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Thursday, September 5, 2002 05:26 p.m. Crap. I think I screwed up my plaque assay today - my pipet tip slipped in the petri dish, and I scratched up a couple plaques. I just wasn't really awake enough for a four hour lab. I won't find out until tomorrow if my viruses culture correctly or not. I really, really need to sleep. But. Must go to calculus tonight before any sleeping can occur. Crap. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Tuesday, September 3, 2002 10:34 p.m. ::kicks AIM:: Work, dammit! Which Animaniacs Character are You? Talkative, huh? Perhaps sing-ative would be more appropriate, actually. When people don't understand something, it usually drives you to cutting, sarcastic remarks. Your other extreme is bursting into song with almost no prompting, often to explain complex ideas. No one knows quite what you are, exactly. You have made many "special" friends, and there's baloney in your slacks. Click here to see my Livejournal. ::cries:: Man, I miss that show - that, and Freakazoid. But especially Animaniacs. Those were good times. ^_~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Tuesday, September 3, 2002 03:22 p.m. Yep, I'm an airhead; what can I say? :^P Oh well, at least I'm not molybdenum. Not for any real reason, just that it's hard to pronounce. Crap! Gotta calculate molar concentrations of solutions used in virology lab! >_> Yeah, and I thought today was Monday. I'm an airhead. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Sunday, September 1, 2002 10:33 p.m. Okay, I'm done now: What Spooky Being are You? o_o Goodnight! *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Sunday, September 1, 2002 10:20 p.m. And, What Obscure Animal are you? Funny, I saw two skunks one night earlier this week down by the math building - worse, I smelled them. When the chemicals began burning my lungs, I took my walk to the other end of campus. :^D *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Sunday, September 1, 2002 10:15 p.m. Didn't want to do calc problem sets, so: Take the Purrsonality Quiz! ^_^ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Friday, August 30, 2002 11:03 p.m. I volunteered to help someone go fish shocking in a stream today. It was fun and interesting, but, man, I'm beat. We were only at it for a few hours total, and yet I can really feel it. My hip waders were a size too big, and the bank was steep in some places. Plus, the current was strong in some spots and by the third test site, my arms were tired from keeping a hold of the net. I ought to do it again just for the exercise. ^_^;; Oooh, and I saw/heard a kingfisher while it flew by. They kind of sound as though they're cackling. What am I doing in the entomology club when all I do is look for birds while out in the field? ^_~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Monday, August 26, 2002 07:37 p.m. Hmm...I should be working on genetics and virology assignments, but instead I'm surfing fresh water aquarium pages. Why? Why do I do this to myself? I still have at least two years before I will have finished my degree, gotten a respectable job, and settled down. Moving + aquariums = seasick fishies (XD). You should have seen the look of my betta, Dodger, after a two hour car ride. (^_^;;) But still...those set-ups are preeetty. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Saturday, August 24, 2002 05:50 p.m. Topics Blog-ness What do you do when you're at your wits end, and everything seems to go wrong? In the past, I've called my Mom up. Also, the whole "take a deep breath and count" thing actually does work. Describe one of the happiest times of your life? What about this time makes it the happiest? Who all is involved? What happened? Was everyone else around you happy as well? Hmm... I was rather fond of tenth grade. My friends and I would sometimes spend the evening at one of my friend's house where we'd watch movies and play games. It was just so...relaxing, I guess. That, and my friends were really wacky and hilarious, it didn't really matter if we did nothing at all. I'd like to think that everyone was happy back then because those were good times. (^_^) Describe a situation where you were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Um, there was that time on the trussle with that oncoming train.... (^_^;;) Are you or anyone close to you afflicted with a mental illness? People I know and family: yes. Me? I've been dubbed the "stable one" out of my family and friends. Are you/they being treated for it? How well has the treatment worked? Yes, they are, and I hope it's working well. if you could only have one cd for the rest of your life, what would it be? Oooo, that's hard! First thing off the top of my head... Cat Steven's "Tea for the Tillerman" - man, I love that album. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Friday, August 23, 2002 11:30 a.m. I've found that going into teaching is damned expensive. Earlier this week I registered to take three exams which are required simply for entrance into the teaching courses I'll be enrolling in this spring. The cost of the exams? 0.00. Not only that, but they begin at seven-thirty in the morning on a Saturday. Higher education - in any field of study - is simply the playing field for masochists. Who else would spend thousands of dollars in tuition fees just to be subjected to term papers, exams, and, ultimately, stress? Couple that with many years worth of student loan payments, and you have the makings of some pretty messed up individuals. I guess I better start setting aside money for those future therapy bills, too. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Thursday, August 22, 2002 11:29 p.m. It's raining!! - real, honest-to-goodness water falling from the sky! I'd forgotten what that was like. (^___^) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Saturday, August 10, 2002 10:51 p.m. The Perseid meteor shower is peaking in a couple of nights - you can start watching for them tomorrow night (Aug. 11th) and watch through the night of the 13th. Visit the NASA website linked above for more information. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Saturday, August 10, 2002 05:35 p.m. I saw the movie Signs today - I really liked it, even though there were a few inconsistencies/plot holes in it. And a neat, little factoid was that it was filmed about nine miles north of where I live (yes, it's Bucks County - no, there is no "Bucks County Police Department". Il n'exist pas. ::g::). Newtown really is pretty (though the shops in the town are expensive as all get-out). Where I live, it's much cheaper - and trashier! Go Levittown! All in all, the movie alternated tense moments with funny ones, and I'm glad I got to see it. And I can walk correctly now - thank God. Or else this weekend would've been shot, too. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Friday, August 9, 2002 01:00 a.m. Argh. Sunday I went tubing down the Delaware River with my family. It was very nice and relaxing, and the rapids in various places provided a bit of excitement from time to time. But I was really stupid. Really, really stupid. I'm one of those people who should really never go outside without having every inch of one's skin covered in protective clothing and chemicals. And I forgot to put sunblock on the lower half of my legs below the knees. I got burned so bad; it's positively hideous. My ankles are what hurt the most because they've swelled up so much. I can hardly walk correctly without limping and cringing like a person who was hit by a truck. I guess I ought to be thankful that I don't have to go to work in the morning. But I'll tell you what, sitting around all day with ice packs under your heels is not fun. It's boring! There are things I have to do! Life doesn't stop just because you're in pain! And dammit, I want to bake tomorrow. On another note, I'm still noodling over the evolution thing. Whether or not I actually get around to writing about it remains to be seen. It just gets me so mad that I'm not very coherent about it. What it comes down to is this: if you don't believe the theory, that's fine, but would it kill you to be open to the fact that one can believe in evolution and still remain a Christian or what-have-you? It's true - you can. Wonder of wonders, an'at. Also, for the sake of all of the children who may read the drivel on those pages, get the science right. Giraffes didn't grow long necks in order to reach the leaves of trees. Natural selection doesn't work that way. ::grumbles:: Looks like I may not be able to drop the matter after all. I'll have to break out my text books and refute this properly at some point. Eh, it'll be good practice for if/when I ever have to teach in an ultra-conservative school district. But for now, I must sleep. And dream of chocolate chip cookies as inspiration for tomorrow. I may just have to wheel my father's desk chair into the kitchen in order to accomplish my goal of making my family happy and healthy. Well, chocolate has antioxidants, don'cha know. (^__^) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Wednesday, July 24, 2002 10:39 p.m. Got a link to this site, called "Information Central", when I was going through the search engine queries that led to this page. (More specifically, to this portion, "Fun animals that evolutionists hate!") >_< Look at this space for more on the essays found on that site. I've got more than one bone to pick here. Later, though - I'm already behind on a ton of things. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Monday, July 22, 2002 12:56 p.m. Slide is to slid as glide is to ... glided Why? That's always bugged me. (^_~) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Wednesday, July 17, 2002 10:36 p.m. Because it's about damn time... Guess what? ---> poison ivy is not contagious! I'm tired of people freaking out when someone has an allergic reaction to poison ivy or some such plant. You're not going to "get it" from them, okay? Unless that person still has the plant's oil on them or their clothes and you actually touch it, everything is going to be fine. Here is a fact sheet about poison ivy so that you can read up on the myths surrounding it. Go on, breathe a sigh of relief. There are more important things to be worrying about than plant oil. Like Lyme disease or something. Bwah. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Wednesday, July 17, 2002 02:05 a.m. Oh, and I'm up for suggestions for a name for my fish. Originally I had planned to buy two and name one Butch Cassidy and the other The Sundance Kid (that being one of my all-time favorite movies, doncha know), but I only bought one. Not that I didn't want to buy every single one in the store, but since my mother was buying one, as well, it seemed a bit much. My mother, by the way, doesn't know what to call hers, either. She's gone through, I think, two Moby Dicks and is currently thinking of Nemo. We'll see. (^_~) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Wednesday, July 17, 2002 01:23 a.m. On second thought, don't sue me. I only have a horde of hand-me-down clothes from my cousins and my new betta fish. And you can't have them - my clothes or my fish. So nyah. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Wednesday, July 17, 2002 01:10 a.m. Thank God. As petty as it sounds, I couldn't stand those colors anymore. Yeah, it's girly. Sue me. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Archives: 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6/ 7/ 8/ 9/ 10/ 11/ 12/ 13/ 14/ 15 Miscellaneous Factoids Name: Jess dob: February 10th, 1981. That'd make me an Aquarian. ::This is the dawning of the age of:: -- erk. Occupation: college student. Educational goal: Get a BSE in biology. Career Goal: Teach high school biology Adores: Dodger, my wonderful betta fish! Hobbies: reading, collecting art supplies I never seem to use anymore, maintaining this journal thing, participating in wild bug adventures with MU's entomology club, birdwatching, and spending time in the garden with my mother. Learn Something New: Word of the Day Contact?: Email: here Guestbook: Read::Sign::Dreambook AIM: story4247 reading for enjoyment: Not a darn thing. nose prints on glass: Corvidary deceptively packaged epiphany erinblog lime rain Lint from Kat's Brain Mission Statement Mooncalf Noises Nokoru's Daily Paperwork null&void Petronia Ramdomosities Sainan no Kekka seraphtrevs Signifying Nothing technomancy Tritorella environment/science pages: Care2 Discover Magazine EPA of New Jersey Hawk Mountain Sanctuary The Hunger Site National Geographic Online National Wildlife Federation US EPA web comics: Angel Moxie Bite Me Little Gamers MegaTokyo Return to Sender Small Stories Strings of Fate microcosms of interest: Früvous Dot Com Google Herzeleid.com The Internet Movie Database Japanese <--> ...English Dictionary Server Kitty Arcade Laughing Jackal LEO English/German ...Dictionary Registered! The Topics Blog Yahoo! Groups Thank you, Pitas!