^^  It has been a long time since I've written; I'm happy to be back, though I don't honestly know how long I'll be holding onto this feeling of freedom.  I took my MCAT yesterday and felt quite terrible on the sections that weren't on biology.  So I might have to go back to studying.  No use today, since I'm not allowed to sign up for another MCAT until 48 hours after my exam.  So I think I'm going to try to enjoy the day, like I did yesterday after my exam. 

My life has been more or less okay.  Hectic of course from studying, and the past two weeks were especially exhausting.  I went kayaking Thursday (pre-exam de-stressing, plus, they say not to study on the day before the exam).  It was quite nice--I went with a friend and we both got rained on and decided to run through the fields afterward.  Then we felt a little awkward because we passed a tent and a gazebo with people hiding *from* the rain.  ^^  It's nice feeling young again; except reality was a double slap in the face.  It wasn't as easy to run around in the rain now, because my vision is a blur without glasses, but with glasses it's still a blur, in the rain.  Then, we came to the realization that my car seats would be soaked because neither of us brought towels...(yay, responsibility!). 

This picture was taken from my phone on an earlier date when I went kayaking.  The type of kayak they rent out at the school's boat-house is an ocean kayak, which means you float on top of the water instead of being partially submerged (I guess river kayak).  This one is good for people who are afraid of tipping over, because it's really really hard to tip it.  =)

I've spent a decent amount of time out on the river this summer.  It's quite nice, the tranquility and being with nature.  Also, I have been using it as exercise, since I decided I would be healthier this summer and try and exercise more.

 

If I don't go home tonight, I'll start on catching up on Xangaland; but I have to go run some errands (check mail, visit Kaplan to get an extension for online access :[, shopping possssibly at a hardware store :3!!!  Love crafts ^^)

 

I'm quite happy today.

 

MCAT time!  100 days until the big day!  O_O

I'll miss you guys. ><  But I just can't focus if I'm here...I'm sure you guys understand.

Since I'll be away for so long, I don't think I'll be able to keep up with you all--please forgive me.  I generally only friend/sub people that I really want to keep up with.  I guess I might lurk from time to time from my iTouch in between classes, so you might see me from time to time n_n.

But, please don't leave before I'm back; and even when I'm back, please don't leave?

Please keep posting, please be happy, and please contact me if you ever need me!

Email:
skype:

No spam please !

Good luck with your endeavors, and I wish you all the best of happiness, health, luck, etc. !

Seems like a lot of what I do/think is misc.

Okay, so the last post was an April Fool's post.  I'd neverrr leave school--I love learning too much, and what better institution than a university?  There are so many resources and all. 

Here's me in my true false colors:

I took the nerd test and failed!! "Nerd wannabe" hence the frown.  And hence false, but I would still think of myself as being nerdy some how 8).  I'll post the questions later if you care to try it 8).

The photo of from April Fools is of me, but it was in Taiwan for "Glamor shots", as a post-graduation thing back in 'o8.  As a side note, I'm only 5 ft 3 inches, so the chances of me ever being a model outside of a kids-model (oh no thank you), are slim or pretty much zero.  I also feel weird having my picture taken, so...yeah, most cards are stacked against that, glad most of you didn't take the bait.

One commenter who removed their comment was upset that I would give up an opportunity like schooling, especially since they mentioned the difficulty they would have in affording school.  I didn't mean to be insensitive about things like that.  So, I apologize, I'm really sorry if it offended anyone. ><

---

The 100 day mark is approaching in 2 days until MCAT...I might have to have my Xanga in hibernation as well as my Facebook.  I might have to make all my subscriptions online digests, so I don't become tempted to return because I see awesome-o awesome-o posts in my email subscription.  I'm actually feeling pretty scared.  If I am unable to get the score I need, then my plans will be set-back a year, which is fine, except that I have almost no classes left that I need to take.  At the pace I am at, I will have exactly enough for spring semester next year, and I will have taken all the classes I wanted to except marine bio.  I don't want to take a whole other year just for one class.  Then, there would be other requirements that I would need to meet if I had to take that other year, to finish off my degree.  Like advanced biochem.  Ummmmm, no thank you?  I guess I shouldn't judge so quickly, I haven't even taken biochem; but biochem at my school has the worst reputation--apparently it is an evil far greater than organic chemistry.  And I find that super intimidating since organic chemistry is like major weed out class, and to get to biochm you have to take both organic classes first.  So if it's tough on the people who made it through ochem 1 and 2, then...O_O

I don't want to go away, but it's one of those things that I might just need to get done.  Because I put my free time into this place, and it should be devoted instead to MCAT for now.  :0  I guess I have a day or so to decide what to do.  But I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be away. >< >< ><  But I promise I'll be back ...please don't leave before then. 

Along those notes, I feel bad about another thing.  I've been pretty busy lately, but I still find time here and there to read/comment.  But I feel like I'm being rude when I don't reply to comments made on my posts.  I mean clearly I have time, since I'm on here reading/commenting on other people's posts, so why don't I reply to the ones who write to me?  It's just when enough time elapses, I just feel awkward responding, if you know what I mean?  And then there are times when I don't know how to respond, because there's not much to say other than 'thank you' (esp. my holiday posts).  ><  I'm hoping that my lack of response is not taken as me being rude/not caring.  Because I do definitely take the time to read whatever is written--message or comment.  (:

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During my time with my ex, I became far more introverted and independent.  It was a good and bad change for me.  I sort of built up a shell around him and myself, in which I shared everything with him, and close to nothing with my friends.  That was a mistake I hope not to make with future relationships.  The independent factor was nice though--I've learned to be comfortable with silence and comfortable with alone time.  I no longer needed to be accompanied by friends EVERYWHERE I went, because there was nothing wrong with being alone--I knew I had someone with me at all times, on the inside, so why should it matter? 

This comfort with being alone has carried on even in my single life.  I don't mind it, because I know I have family and friends that care about me, so technically I am not alone.  But this shell that once housed me and him I think is being shed.  I've found friends that I love and whose company I enjoy.  I feel comfortable sharing with them.  But this weekend, has been so quiet-almost everyone went home for the holiday.  So for the first time in ages, I feel a little lonely.  It seems so lame-sauce. 

One thing about being human--all those things that make us weak are also our strengths.  The converse is true--what we think makes us strong often can be our weaknesses, because we often take them for granted and forget to keep up with them.

Decided to drop out of college to pursue modeling; what do you guys think?

(Long post) 

Doing laundry...once again the limiting reagent (underwear) has forced me out of my dorm and into the laundry room. 

So I've been M.I.A. here because I've been so wrapped up with school work and other stuff, but I've been enjoying myself too.  I guess I can write about that in a bit?  But I have a few misc. things to share first!

---

I was reading an article, and for any folks concerned about college acceptance/rejection:

From experience, I must admit that college is really whatever you make
it out to be for yourself.  Pretty much the whole first year I spent locked up in my dorm, paying attention to only my academics and my long-term-long-distance (now ex)boyfriend.  I felt sort of trapped here at school, and it seemed to go on endlessly.  School wasn't fun, and I hated USF.  They'll tell you again and again, but it's important to make time for things
outside of academics--then your dorm/apt. won't be like a jail cell;
it'll help you explore and make friends too, if you leave your room from
time to time. 

My time here at USF has drastically improved after I
started becoming more involved with our Red Cross Club; and I also
started to venture out and spend time with friends.  Having a good set
of friends seriously makes it so much better.  So so so much better. 
And I'm really happy/lucky to have found such good friends.  I'm just amazed at how quickly I've gotten to know them 
n_n !

But I seriously think that people can be happy where ever they go,
if they choose to be happy.   Cheers, always be hopeful!

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Contacts wearers--did you notice markings on your contacts? (123)

If I remember right, my eye doctor mentioned something about different companies marking them differently...that way doctors can tell different brands apart when looking at your contacts!

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Alternative Spring break~

So I went to South Florida and back, but what did I do?  Well, in a nutshell, I did marine debris (trash that floated/was dumped into the ocean and then washed ashore) removal for two solid days at Biscayne National Park and then spent the next three days at the Everglades removing invasive species.

Day 1 --drive/arrive/set up camp

(Honestly, why wouldn't you want to preserve this?)

Day 2 & 3: Biscayne NP

Surprisingly at the island cleanup, I found:
--Shoes, tons and tons of shoes
--Lightbulbs--incandescent and fluorescent.  How they survived/intact?  I have no idea.
--Liquor bottles; many of them.  Too many drunken sailors   But seriously, be responsible.
--Styrofoam (one block was approximately 1 yd x 1yd x 1ft.  So large that half the people who walked by thought it was a rock.  I picked it up, and was like, "Feel free to admire my strength", lol.  It even had plants growing on it...).  I didn't know they could grow on styrofoam, but seems like they can grow on anything!  But nonetheless, it was frustrating because the little balls just keep flaking off...infinite amounts of it D:.
--Plastic containers/bottles/buckets...what really was terrible was how the sun weakened some of the plastic to the point where they would shatter upon contact D: that made it significantly harder to clean up the area
--Rope rope and more rope (some + buoys).  Fisherman or whatever seem to just toss their line overboard and just leave it.  Or something?  There was so much rope, and it was probably the most frustrating thing to clean on the island.  It was tangled in the sand, and so heavy.  It was tangled in the mangrove, but so strong.  We had dull knives that made it even harder to use, when it comes to removing that rope.  And it's made to withstand things.  D: 
--Balloons; don't get me started on balloons.  They're cute and very pleasant to look at, but they're dangerous.  They kill sea turtles, esp. leatherbacks, because the animals choke on them and then starve.  Please, if you care about sea turtles, try your best to secure plastic bags and balloons and prevent them from ending up in the ocean.

So it was always amazing seeing how much work we achieved, but it was simultaneously disheartening to know that we only cleaned one beach of one island.  But every bit helps.  The aim of the marine debris clean up was to make the shores more habitable for sea turtles that may or may not choose to nest there later.  We worked hard in the scorching sun, being cut up by plants and bitten by mosquitoes; but more importantly, we made a difference. 

(It's hard to see the trash, but we have a lot more; oh, UGA collaborated with us, and I met this really nice girl that I talked to on a boat ride to the island ~20 minutes...she told me I should read about Dr. Farmer, so I bookmarked his name; but I never got her name D:...it was weird how easy it was talking to her; I actually found it easier talking to her than to the people in my own ASB group.)

Oh, that only brings me up to day two/three. 

I have less to say about the other days though because it was removal of plants, whose names escape me.  They were frustrating, but bothered me less than the marine debris. 

Oh, but I have a funny story from Day 4 (Wednesday), we met a group from Vanderbilt.  And we chatted briefly (here paraphrased):
Us: So, what do you guys do after volunteering/at your campsite/free time?
V: Oh, not much...you guys?
Us: We play games like pictophone (like Telephone except alternating sentences/pictures), Mafia, winking=killing games, etc.!
V: How do you guys see in the dark?
Us: We use flashlights...
V: Ohhhhhhhhh.  We don't have any.  But we're thinking of getting some tonight.

It was their 4th night camping also.  Wow, if only they were at our campsite, they could've used some serious help!!  Honestly, I couldn't believe that out of their group of ~12, no one thought to bring a flashlight.  They even seemed amazed by our suggestion.  In our group of 8, I think half had gone camping, but all but one brought flashlights.  I even brought extras.  Wow, Vanderbilt, wow.  I know Vandy is a smart school, but seriously guys, where is your common sense?  D:  Maybe they just need to go outdoors more, or considering looking up survival lists online ><...Maybe it was just a coincidence that that large of a group of non-campers had gone together, but for anyone's future reference, BRING FLASHLIGHTS TO GO CAMPING!!!  Headlights are even better, since it'll free up your hands.  I know some campsites are fancy and come with electricity, but always pack for the worst! 

Here are a few pictures in case you're curious! 
Everglades:

Invasive species removal!  ROAR!  This is my pile when it just started...forgot to take pictures of it afterwards :'(...was too tired/hungry (lunch was waiting...aka peanut butter and jelly...everyday).

There used to be a hotel/inn here...but then a hurricane came by.  There's still a fire hydrant though.  Or maybe they added it here since then.

And what camping trip is complete without these?:

Yum yum! (:

I owe a lot of replies right now; but I needed to get a few things recorded before I forgot.  Friday evening?  I already started on a few today n_n.  Yay!

I can't remember what I did for pi day last year; but the year before that was HS senior year, and I celebrated with our little Mu Alpha Theta group; we had a ton of pie varieties, and I got to see my friend Sam, who I rarely hear from these days.  A misc memory from that day was when we were leaving and he couldn't hold the door for me because his hands were full.  I laughed at him when he apologized for being unable to hold it, and told him I thought chivalry and things like that were sort of dead, so I didn't really mind.  He said it still existed as long as he is around. 

Sometimes I miss the days when things were all cute like that.  But then again, I wouldn't want a knight in shining armor bopping other knights with lances.  Psh.  I'm not sure what to think--on one hand I'm perfectly capable of handling plenty of things on my own; on the other hand, sometimes I feel a little taken aback when people don't wait an extra 2 seconds to hold the door.  I guess I can think about that another day though. 

I think the year before that my Calc teacher gave us little moon pies, maybe?  And I had a marvelous conversation with a boy named Adam about pi day and his debate tournaments/radio things until ~3AM, unless that was the year before that year.  My years are sort of blending in now.

So I got back from my trip to the Everglades actually late Friday night; I spent (technically) yesterday doing little things like recycling, groceries, calling the family, and then a little spring cleaning.  I'll write about that trip later today though, because I'm getting tired--I was staying up so I could work on an Astronomy project that required for me to be up observing the night sky.  It was pleasant, but rather cold still. ><!

---

Edit--I don't know how I forgot, but I spent pi day last year visiting Jason.  ><  We made chemical apple pie together, and I did a bunch of spring cleaning for him.  Oh joy! 

Anyway, had a good week last week, can't really remember most of it since I didn't write (yeah, talk about memory fail).  But these are a few highlights:

Wednesday night--kayaking was canceled :[, but for my Alternative Spring Break we're gonna be camping, so they wanted to have a little workshop to show us how to cook..!  Quite informative, and the quesadillas made were amazing!  I hope I get to help out with cooking on the trip...I'm not good at it, but I love cooking. 

Thurs--Went to MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry) to attend a lecture of Neil deGrasse Tyson...he was the gentleman who removed Pluto from the Museum in NYC :[, but I'll forgive him a little since he delivered such a great lecture.  I was a little disappointed that he was so general, but maybe that was a blessing in disguise  If he talked too much about how Pluto didn't deserve to be a planet, I might have gotten angry.  Hehe .  Half kidding.  I'm a little too sentimental.  The scientist in me agrees, but the kid in me doesn't.  Here are a few pictures I took with my cell:

He was talking about the area in Ytterby in Sweden and how uncreative they were with naming their elements...

Here he was talking about how he was at a convention for physicist in Vegas, but there was so little gambling.  "There's this quote, 'Lottery is the tax of the poor', but really it's just the tax of those poor with mathematics...".  He said the physics convention wasn't invited back to Vegas.  Probably just jesting :], but it'd be funny if it was true...

Fri--went with Mellanie to lecture about dark matter.  It was really unfortunate...I got really drowsy early during the lecture, and so I missed a lot of what the lecturer was saying.  Thus when I woke up I had no idea what he was talking about.  But apparently even amongst those who were listening, a lot didn't have a clue.  -_-'.  It was really cute seeing how excited he was about presenting his material, but it was really frustrating having to sit through a lecture that was completely over my head.  I guess the guy was from Harvard and forgot how to simplify things for the hoi polloi, considering he specializes on physics related stuff. O_o.  But he mentioned a Fermi telescope that didn't really have a window to allow things to enter, but somehow it gets pictures of things.  It confused me but sounded cool [?].  Anyways, we went to Chipotle afterward since we were so hungry!  Then after stuffing our faces we went to  Kalesia (bubble tea!) and played Jenga/constructed things with blocks afterward.  Then once it got dark we drove to the parking lot of MOSI to work on our astronomy project (draw constellations as we see them; find 2 planets--mark them on planishpere.  Phase of the moon + mark on planisphere. + Draw polestar and Casseiopeia + Big dipper + talk about visibility and stuffs).    Then watched a super confusing movie with my roommate.  I can't disclose the title right now because it is still a surprise for some of my other friends, but one of them might see this, so I can't let her know...heh heh.  But seriously, I don't know if I'm just dumb, or if the movie was that confusing.  I've never sat through 77 minutes of a movie and not know exactly what was going on.  Even after reading it's article on Wikipedia I was still a bit confused.  Oooh, fail.  I'll explain this later...it'll make sense, maybe.

Sat--Chem review session confused me more than it helped me.  Ugh, fail.  :[, then I studied for a while and stopped by XZ *briefly*.  Whoosh showed me this terrible magic trick   I'm not gonna elaborate because it'll reveal a semi-weakness of mine!  Made pizza afterwards:

Easy meal for poor college student/busy person: premade pizza dough, spaghetti sauce spinach:
+ cheese + pine nuts + bacon + toasted =
Oh yay.  And just for Whoosh:

Sorry I couldn't make the n_n face! I just can't get my eyes to bend that way.  Lol. Guess my camera had too long of an exposure...I didn't photoshop it at all.  O_o.  But I guess anyone holding out/offering food would look pretty sweet, yeah?

Sunday--Study study study.  Parents called...they're so cute + caring.  I'm grateful to have such wonderful parents, even if sometimes I'm so grouchy or stressed out.  They're pretty patient and reasonable :].  I wasn't grouchy on the phone, that was just a side comment.  I kinda had to use the bathroom though, so I really wanted to get off the phone...but I didn't want to tell them I'd call them back, because then they'd probably just stop talking about what they were talking about and then just tell me not to worry about it and tell me to just go study.  Lol, so I don't know if I sounded impatient towards the end, but it was just I needed to go, but I'm not up for bathroom + phone.  (LOL, but that reminds me of a David Sedaris passage, "Put a Lid on It"...omg, it's hilarious).  Studied more, did laundry (yay, fresh laundry!  Underwear = limiting reagent...though I'm going home soon, had to do my laundry anyways!). 

Ooops, run on thoughts!  Short entry became long entry. O_O 

Oh, and side note, a few people asked how I made the cards:

It's this technique called embossing.  What I do is use a marker with a sticky glue like fluid in it.  And then I use embossing powder and shake off or brush off the excess (I use a blush brush, since I rarely wear blush.).  Then I apply heat, and voila:

!

Monday--haven't done anything yet, but...

Random 4:37 update, after random 4AM shower (hey, 4AM = hot water, baby!)

TLC--first thing that comes to mind:

Tasty little cracker...-_- (I thought of this because I'm currently distracted from working on my lab write up, and we used TLCs, not the cracker kind, but despite using the chem version of TLC more often than I eat the food version of TLC, I always think of the food first.   That sentence was horribly constructed, but I need to get back to work in like a few seconds.)

TLC-chem version (thin layer chromatography) would be the second thing to come to mind when seeing TLC.

But apparently I should associated it with a crazy amount of other things.  Wikipedia has a huge disambiguation page for TLC:

Maybe the reason I think about food before chemistry is because I'm hungry right now but I need to keep working..who knows, maybe a few years from now "total lung capacity" or "total lymphocyte count" may trump "tasty little cracker" in my immediate association with with the acronym/initials/letters [?] TLC. 

Yay, almost weekend, so I can actually catch up on Xanga stuff soon!! (:!  I've missed reading in detail...sigh. 

This is gonna be more of a photoblog than weblog...

I had an exam today in my Cell Biology class.  So I was going through my notes in these past few days, and discovered many many happy faces in them.  A lot of the times I put happy faces next to things that make me smile, on the inside or out...knowing me, I love to make faces & am very expressive, so the chances that I was smiling while drawing the happy faces are pretty high...

--Ribosomes remind me of how last time I had this professor, he called ribosome "big-ass structures". 
--Binding site, not sure why I smiled??
--Spectrophotometers remind me of bio I lab which was epically fun (lol, Cecelia); also, I don't know why, but that's a word I always scramble...I always think "photospectrometer", not sure why O_o
--Pyschoactive drugs--need I explain?   J/k!

I think vesicles are pretty neat.    And apparently I get really excited about electrons some times.

I also doodle--it keeps my hands and mind active (perhaps euphemism for keeping me awake, lol...jk!  My professor is extremely lively, so even though I have that class during the dip of my Circadian rhythm, I haven't fallen asleep yet--unlike last semester in physiology where staying awake was a lost cause).

Please don't laugh too much at me for the above....  I'm such a loser, lol.

Biology doodles--

Pac-man!   Always think about phagocytosis (which btw is one of my favorite words!)
I color code things too...red was nonpolar there, purple polar. 
I just drew it the way my professor drew it, lol, with a sunshine around it ~ energy!

Tetramer=butterfly wannabe
Scribble scribble

See, it's not so bad going to class? 

Lab on the other hand...-_-...gotta work on a lab write up now!!