My present state

I am now married.

How I came to be a semi-permanent student

Today I stood at work and wondered how I came to be there.  I realized, it started with a certain anachronism, Mr. Pickering.

You see, Mr. Pickering was the organ teacher.  It was at his concert at the State Mental Hospital that my mother encountered his brother-in-law, a current graduate student in chemistry at the university.  

Now up to this point I had greatly enjoyed my high school chemistry experiences.  Additionally, as my other areas of fancy (dance and piano) had already been claimed as majors by older siblings (and my parent labored under the impression that only one per family was allowed), I began to seriously consider the sciences.  When a brother slash friendly rival chose to pursue chemistry, my path was all but cemented.

And so, you begin to see why my mother was excited to meet a student- it gave her a glimpse into my future.  She dragged him over, exclaiming all the while, listing off his enthralling course work, and came to rest before me.  With barely concealed emotion shining forth from her eyes, she told me the most marvelous part of it all, he was learning how to make cocaine! (along with a disclaimer that he had to sign an agreement that they would not market the stuff)

I went home that night and thought to myself, well, this could be some useful knowledge.  I would like know such dangerous things as how to make cocaine and so I will become a chemist.

I went through my first year without a whisper of the drug.  I though, well, they simply dare not trust such young fools.  So I kept going.  By junior year I was beginning to become impatient.  As a graduating senior, you could say I felt an inkling of doubt.  However, I did not give up!  Instead, I realized, such interesting information cannot be passed about recklessly, oh no no no.  If you want access to such knowledge, you must prove yourself.  And so I signed up for graduate school.

Well, being in my second year, I took a moment to glance out the lab windows (they really are quite spectacular and its a shame we keep them closed and work in the dark so often).  I had an epiphany.  Completely unbeknownst to me, I had missed the cocaine track and ended up in the physical department.  Somewhere along the way, I had been completely sideswiped!  I looked around.  No cocaine or even marijuana. 

At least there is a laser with a high intensity beam.  If you were to run half your hand through it, nothing would happen-at first.  The next day, your fingers would turn black.  After a week, your fingers would fall off, and there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it (DNA mutation, irreversible).  I can be comforted that this is at least as exciting as cook booking.  There is nothing like going to work and wondering which limbs will come home with you.

So isn't it strange, how you end up where you are.  Though my motivation changes from year to year, I guess it all works out in the end.  

Tip of today

Yellow bell peppers contain twice the amount of Vit C as an orange.  

Little known fact, much of the vitamins in oranges are concentrated in the peel so zest it over some yogurt to get the full benefits.

So I've been gone and now I'm back

Well, alot has happened since my last post, so I will give a quick update before I rejoin the blogging community.

1-I am now engaged!!!  Very fun.

2-Celebrated two siblings birthdays, always big events!

2-I was diagnosed first with a cough, then walking pneumonia, and last whooping cough.  After a slew of medications and a bootie shot, very embarrassing, and a month of sleepless nights, I seemed to have recovered, only to be plagued very suddenly with a mysterious illness, I will keep you updated on the status of that.

3-my slip fell of my body, slithered right down my legs to the floor, in front of a freshman chemistry class I am the T.A. for, as I was doing homework help on the board.

4-I got new glasses.  First pair since 9th grade.  As I wear them around (from the bathroom where I remove my contacts to my bed) I feel like I am slanted, like my head is tilted or something, again, I will have to figure out what is going on with this.

5-saw the new vacation home in Preston, Idaho.  I particularly enjoyed the shrine/fire place thing in the wall.

well, that is about it, I will see you all again tomorrow as I have decided that with all of my mysterious ailments, it is best to blog while I still can.

Homeless day 1

Today is my first day as a homeless person. I am going to shower at the gym. I'll let you know how that goes.

The day I burned my hair off

Here is a little story for you all. It started out as a quite the horror, but, now that things are still intact, it is a bit humorous.

The Day I Burned My Hair Off

One day, I got a new blow dryer.....

It started out on a day just like any other, I was shopping at TJMax. I had been on the hunt for a new blow dryer for quite some time (I'd say 7 months at least). And then I saw it, the blow dryer, not just any blow dryer, but the BaByliss. That was the beginning of a very unpleasant incident.

So, of course I bought it, it looked super cool, futuristic even. I ran it home and took the opportunity to use it right away.

I washed my hair and put in my gel. Excitedly I broke the blow dryer out of the package and started drying my hair. After just a few short minutes, I smelled something burning, I quickly turned off the dryer and checked it out. It did not seem to be overheated. I scratched my head, at a loss as to what the smell was from.

Well, I was not mystified for long. I moved my hand from my head and came away holding a chuck of hair. Dumbstruck, all I could do was stare.

A cold sick feeling (a really bad bad feeling) started to sink into my stomach. I flipped my head up and looked in the mirror. I frantically started to finger comb through my hair and was appalled to see so much of it coming away in my hands, I completely panicked and started running around the room crazily.

My first call was to my hairdresser roommate. She told me to put it in a bun and stop touching it. That made sense.
Next, still completely in a horrified shock, I called all of my sisters-no answers.

There I was in my most desperate time of need and all I could get was answering machines! B soon called me back and I semi screaming, semi sobby told her I had burned all my hair off. She acted very calm and asked me to explain myself but I could not get the words out. All I could say is "I have burned all my hair off!" Boo's response was, "I'll be right over".

After I got off the phone with B I laid down on the floor of my bedroom and cried away, feeling rather desolate over the loss of my hair. After about 5 min I had to stop (I did not want to get unattractive red eyes, which, in combination with my future hairless head would be completely unsightly)

I gathered myself together and mustered up the courage to take another look. I walked slowly to the mirror. With trembling fingers I began to carefully comb through the remaining hair on my head. After approx 10min, I realized not much was coming out anymore. I was pleased to see that, though somewhat thinned, I did still have hair. (I was pretty terrified to wash it though, I was sure that much much more would come out then!)

I went to the front yard to wait for B.

B soon arrived, with her in-laws in tow. They all rolled down the car windows to gawk at me (though there was not much to see as I had wrapped it up in a tight tiny bun right on top of my head in the fashion of a Chinese warrior). Boo hopped out and came inside. I showed her the hanks of hair that had come out and she actually seemed really positive. (it turns out she thought I had literally burned my hair all the way off and was prepared to take me to a hair salon for an Afro cut that afternoon) Seeing that I had hair at all, B was pleasantly surprised. She convinced me that things would be OK, and that the situation was not nearly as desperate as I had initially thought.

After all was said and done, I took my hair out of its bun and went back outside. The in-laws were all quite nice and told me they could not even tell I had suffered a catastrophe. They proceeded to take me to hot dog stand with them, which bolstered my spirits significantly and, by the time I returned home, I felt much more the thing.

Now, several months later, my hair has recuperated and I find that I can talk of the incident without too much inner turmoil. I would even say I am nearly completely healed.

-I returned the blow dryer of course and purchased a safer, standard model.

Smores-Wednesday

After the bowl incident on Tuesday, what more could happen? Smores.

So, I like a big bonfire as well as anyone else, I like the campy songs, tinfoil dinners, roasting stuff etc. However, there is one part I do not like-marshmallows. I really like to roast them, but as far as eating them, they are simply too odd.

So, Wednesday night a good friend of mine organizes a marshmallow roasting affair. I showed up, I brought some hangers to act as roast sticks, everything was in good order. As I prepared my first marshmallow J., the party diva herself, entered the scene.

J, as it would happen, had gone all out. She had brought packages and packages of all the necessary items to make her favorite smores in the whole world-fudge stripe cookies, Reese's peanut butter cups, and marshmallows. Bouncing with excitement, she explained in great detail how I needed to assemble my own smore.

Now before I continue, I must say there were a few problems with this situation. For starters, I don't care overmuch for marshmallows. Additionally, I am only a moderate fan of Reese's. The main problem though-I can hardly choke down a fudge stripe cookie without toppling to the floor in disgust. I simply do not like the things.

Of course, with J illuminated by her brilliant idea, I could hardly mention these things. So, I instead start raving on about how good it all sounded (all the while, thinking of the bowl of cooked peaches the night before, wondering if I had suddenly been sent a curse where nice nice people do really well meaning things that you'd rather they didn't do)

I joined everyone, all 6 people in attendance, around the campfire. As I slowly roasted my mallow, I started contemplating how I was to get out of this present predicament. After raving about the little things, I knew I would have to eat one. Just the thought of it all made my palms sweaty and I began to experience a new difficulty-hanging onto my hanger-stick. All of the sudden, I said "I don't really like to eat these roasted marshmallows". The others just sort of glanced at me. Then, for some reason, I continued "I really don't like Reese's much and I hate fudge stripe cookies" I think J was a bit surprised (which is not to be wondered at seeing as I had, 5 min previous, been gushing over them.) J took it in really good order, (she is a best friend and all) though she did tell me how ridiculous I had been to not tell her earlier.

With that off my chest, I prepared to enjoy the fire. However, this was not to be. Immediately waves of guilt sloshed through me, threatening to crash me to the floor. J had been so excited and I had not even tried her special treat!

So what did I do? I proceeded to roast a marshmallow, squeeze it between a Reese's and two fudge stripe cookies, and eat it!

It was actually pretty good, very rich, but really good. Try one yourself sometime.