Sam’s Blog

Weekend rounds are bothersome simply because they cut into my available homework time for the weekend. I had rounds last night and we busted an alcohol party. Because of that, my rounds partner and I didn’t get to sleep until about 5am this morning. So, in an effort to be somewhat conscious this weekend, I did not set an alarm. I woke up at 4:30pm. I feel much better, but by the time I’d showered and gotten some food, it was 6pm and most of the day was gone.

Ah well. In exchange for some sleep deprivation and getting chewed out by drunk residents I don’t have to pay rent. Most of the job duties are fairly pleasant, at least.

Walk upright.  I consider this a noble goal and one worthy of my attempts.

8-9am: Wakeupshowergetdressedcoffeecoffeegotoclass
9:30-10:20am: Spanish
10:20-10:35am: Talk to Spanish prof (in Spanish, about Spanish)
10:35-10:45am: Discuss maintenance concerns with maintenance men conveniently located in lounge
10:45-11am: Stuff
11:00-11:40: So tired. Coffee good. Sit at desk for a bit and enjoy free(?) time.
11:45am: Meet with Maryann to discuss RA activities for October
12-2pm: Center Office hours (work on presentation more, check out keys, explain for 5,000th time that we are not the post office and yes, Cate has a bathroom. It’s down the hall.)
2-2:10pm: Eat sushi with John the Office Assistant
2:10-4:15pm: Room office hours (sit in room with door open finishing presentation before 4:15)
4:15pm: E-MAIL PRESENTATION TO PROF OR ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (…Find her e-mail address before then)
4:30-6pm: Zoology seminar. Don’t fall asleep
6-7pm: RA secrets. Don’t forget citation pad.
7pm-8pm: Free time? lolno. Go over presentation. Food? hahano. Ramen.
8pm-12am: Rounds, yo. Don’t forget citation pad. Go over presentation and make sign and reminder slips for volleyball activity on Friday and don’t fall asleep.
12:30am: Sleep please?!?!!? lolno. Go over presentation more. Sleep eventually.
EDIT: No rounds, had nervous breakdown.  The other RAs are sweet (especially Phuong and Rachel, who herded me safely back inside and made sure I was ok) and are getting someone to cover my rounds.
Hi there overdose of stress hormones.  END EDIT

5 hours of sleep last night. Mocha is the only reason I am moving. Woo jittery.

NO CLASS FRIDAY (I have rounds, but whatever. No class!)

I tried sushi (a Philadelphia Roll) today and it was good. I feel adventurous.

In other news, I am still sick. I am not pleased.

(The sickness is unrelated to the sushi)

If I ever get a cactus I will name it Mr. Prickles and paint the name on its pot.

Housing has given the RAs a lot of free shirts so far this semester (they use the RAs as walking billboards to advertise events and whatnot). We’re finishing up our 7th week and today I’m wearing the 8th* shirt. I’m going to have to buy more hangers soon…

*Not counting all the free shirts I got last semester.

EDIT:  Hrm, my blog was 2 years old today.

College professors sometimes swear during lecture. This morning my History of Science prof casually dropped the F-bomb (she was quoting what a student had left in an essay as a note to himself) and continued as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. My molecular biology professor would regularly censor himself; it was his first semester teaching, so he wasn’t used to it yet. “…so, what the…….. crap is this protein going to do?” or some other variation.
Not all of them do, of course. It just happens frequently enough that I shouldn’t be surprised every time.

In other news, I’m getting pretty excited about the research I’m going to start soon. As far as we can tell from doing journal database searches, this sort of technique has never been applied to the species we’re using. (Which means whatever we find out will be completely new information!) I’ve been bouncy all day today just thinking about it and wondering what sorts of things we’ll find out… And also wanting to do other experiments after I finish this one. I have this year and the next until I graduate. What can we find out if I keep working with this technique and species until I graduate? I might even get to go to Texas to work with the neurobiologist we’re collaborating with on this research, which would mean I’d get experience in all sorts of cool molecular biology and generic lab techniques that are normally reserved for other areas in biology, not animal behavior. It’s just so cool! I might even get my name on a paper in a real scientific journal, which would make me nearly implode with glee (level of implosion depends on how prestigious the journal is).

This excitement makes me wonder… I *really* enjoy tutoring zoology and I’m nearly giddy about research. I have yet to get medical experience because I never seem to be motivated enough to remember to call during business hours. Do I really want to be a doctor? It’s time to decide whether to take the MCAT or the GRE in the spring and what schools, medical or otherwise, I might want to attend. I need to figure this out. I need to get some medical experience so I’ll be able to tell if I like it more or less than research. But I’m just not excited about medical experience. I’ve had the contact list for local free health care offices that take volunteers for a couple of weeks now and I haven’t done anything with it. I just keep thinking about fish and squirrels and other zoology nerd things.

I wonder if my current premedical path is just the default for smart kids who like science… Because I wonder if I ever truly wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a vet when I was little until I realized when I was a teen that I was too allergic to furry animals to do that. I just switched to people doctor as the next closest thing, not because I was particularly passionate about it.

I’ve been thinking fairly seriously ever since last semester about applying to graduate school to become a Zoology professor and do research. I don’t really have a passion for medicine. I do, however, adore learning new and interesting things and then teaching other people what I’ve learned. I actually like reading scientific journal articles if they’re about a subject I find interesting. I like interacting with people and taking care of them, but that might be just a generic liking for people and an urge to mother anything that moves. Other than providing bandaids (which I always carry), I’m usually more interested in why the bruise is green and which bones broke (and how they’re healing) than just making the problem go away. I like to make people better, don’t get me wrong. I’m just not as happy thinking about seeing patients as I am about poking fish in a tank.

I want to know WHY. Once I find out why, I immediately want to tell other people how cool the why I just learned is so they can share in my happiness at knowing something.

I have to figure out something soon. I need to get that medical experience so I can have something to compare the research experience against. So we’ll see.

September 10th

Spread the word.

I am always nervous whenever I write something for class that calls for more creativity than a lab report.  My professors evidently do not mind my writing style or what I have to say… But I remember how much I had to improve when I first came to college.  My assessment of my own writing is still back in my Freshman year when I had to struggle to get a C on my first college essay (I had issues with overuse of passive voice and thought organization).  Fortunately I improved quickly with the help of a Writing Assistant and got A’s on the rest of my papers for that class (and almost every paper since then).  Still… I always have that paranoia in the back of my mind.  I’m never sure if I wrote what I was thinking in a clear and concise manner or if the professor is just humoring me because they like to give mostly A’s.

(I of course blog in a different style than the one I use for formal papers.)

The Cate Main office’s computer mouse has had a broken scroll wheel since the spring (at least).  Today we have a new mouse with a scroll wheel that works.  Unimporant to you?  Probably.  But I am quite pleased.  Having a non-functional scroll wheel is annoying.

In other news, two people came in the office just now to ask where the post office is.  There is a big sign outside the door that says “Post office is across the street and to the right.”  They looked at the sign.  They read the sign out loud to each other.   They even started in the right direction.  But no.
Ah well.

By the time my Spanish class (50 minutes of no English at all) is over I am thinking in Spanish.  This is a good sign for my comprehension of the language.  However, it does make having a conversation in English after class a little difficult.  Each thought starts out in Spanish, so I have to forcibly switch my brain back to English.  Fortunately this wears off after about 10 minutes.  This is my 5th semester of Spanish at OU.  I have 3 more to go after this one.

Unless you have a very strong stomach for movie violence, I do not recommend watching Pan’s Labyrinth.  Horribly violent, disturbing, sad movie…When an American horror movie (I don’t like those either) would angle the camera away, Pan’s Labyrinth keeps on going.  I watched it Friday on OU’s foreign language site since people in my Spanish class kept talking about it.  I very much regret seeing that movie.  *twitch*  I have a stronger stomach than most people for real life blood ‘n guts (you need one to be a zoology major and pre-med), but malicious violence *really* freaks me out.  I just don’t understand how a person could do that to another human.  :(

To end on a happy note:  Uhm… Look a kitty!