chronocrash

Hola! Time flies when you are having fun! On Monday of this week, Sarah and I went to Otavalo. In case I didn't mention it before it is the largest indigenous market in Ecuador. We had a lot of fun purchasing artisan goods. I think the most impressive part of the day was listening to Sarah haggle for the best price. She also had to interpret for some gringos who thought they knew more Spanish than they actually did! On Tuesday we went to the MegaMaxi which is like a super WalMart but has more grocery less WalMart. We cooked an American dinner (which is lunch here) for Sarah's host family and some friends. Later, I went with Maria(Sarah's host mom) to Centro Hisorio and got to see several celebrations for their centennial celebration. We also saw the lights of the city, and the Presidential Palace. Sarah and I went out that night for a BCA member's birthday and I got to meet many of her gringa friends. On Wednesday, I met Victoria and Rachel (from the BCA group) and took the bus to Mariscal which has another indigenous market. We met some other girls there and had a good time. Sarah was home writing papers and meditating for her Buddhism class. That afternoon, I accompanied Sarah to Cumbaya, where her university is located so she could take her final. She left the final with a final impresssion on el professor-she gave him a Marquette Engineering hat that he immediately put on. We got home late and packed for a two day trip. On Thursday we,and Victoria took a long(very long) bus ride to banos and visited their market and a beautiful church. We stayed the night in a hostel and got up on Friday morning early to head to Puyo. In Puyo we went to a monkey preserve and on a jungle hike for several hours crossing a river by walking on logs and holding onto a wire. The monkeys were very interesting as was the jungle. Sarah has spent six months here and never been robbed or pick-pocketed, or molested. However, in the jungle, she managed to both be pick-pocketed, and molested by a monkey. Also, she got bitten by a monkey. Those are long stories that I cannot tell you here but ask us sometime and we will be happy to share. Today we are going to Mitad del mundo-the middle of the world so I can experience the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time. From there we are going to Centro Historico to see Nativity displays, take Maria to lunch, and shop. We are still looking for an Ecuadorian snow globe for my nephew. They don't know snow globe here, but they think it might be a flour clock!! We leave early tomorrow morning to return to the states!

a"LSDKFJASLKDFJASLKDJFWOIEJF I MISSED THE COURSE SURVEY. I WANTED TO GIVE THAT ONE PROFESSOR A SCATHING REVIEW. Well, I HAD gotten halfway through, and gave her low ratings. But that's not good enough, spammit. Well, I'm sure my classmates have their own choice words.

So as soon as my uncle gets done with his luncheon *skipped HER luncheon to get going as early as possible, grumble grumble with no right to do so* I'll be off to PA. I'll also be off to Dialup Internet, so call/text if you're in town!!!

Today is going to be one of those days that makes you appreciate the other ones. DEAR BODY, WHY DON'T YOU LET ME SLEEP ON CRITICAL NIGHTS. Four hours is not sufficient. I'm so glad my uncle is driving with me. Note to self: pick up antihistamines after exam. AFTER THE EXAM OF DOOM! *sob* Kristen, as far as the bacon goes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/dining/28bacon.html oh, and htthttp://thisiswhyyourefat.com/ <----no particular recipe. All of them. LOL. So, the major killer today is going to be the cell cycle questions. My classmate's FB status : Hell cycle and it involves FU2. Speaking of which.

Dear cell cycle lecturer,
HOLY CRAP. If the exam tomorrow is like the practice exam, we are all (and me, especially) very, very screwed.

Dear Pazzo's pizzaria,
You may have crappy cheese (don't '100% Wisconsin Whole Milk Mozzerella me, it still tastes like paper), but your crust is AMAZING. An a related note, why do you have to ruin a perfectly good chicken-ranch pizza with bacon? Actually, that should be addressed to humanity in general.

Dear me,
STOP. SLOW DOWN. DEEP BREATH. Why are you stressed NOW?!

Dear stomach,
I am sorry. I really am. Tomorrow will be no hurried meals, none of them will be pizza, and no resultant indigestion.

LESS THAN 24 HOURS.

NOW TO PACK.

EDIT: Essentials packed. Feeling calmer, as I walk down the road to failing the exam tomorrow...

Number of times I was cut off today: 2

Dear Dr. S.,
When I asked what time you wanted me to come in tomorrow, I was sort of thinking "to quickly discuss the data before the lab lunch." Not 8:30 AM.

*sigh*

At least it'll get me somewhere where I'll study...

LAKSDJFALSKDFJ WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO PUT PEANUT BUTTER IN THE CURRY. Do I have a cooking muse?! I love my cooking muse right now. In other news, my kitchen is, once again, a mess. On Saturday, it seemed like a really great idea to make chocolate covered pretzels (as per family tradition) for my classmates/lab with the remaining pretzels from the peanut brittle, because they'd have gone stale. Now that I've gone through most of them and most of the chocolate, but not all, and have an exam tomorrow and need to pack, feed my starter, clean the kitchen, wrap gifts, and study somewhere in there, it's not looking so stunning. ...looks like I'll be running the dishwasher on thursday...
On a related note, I've become one of those crazies who eats supper at 8PM.

On an unrelated note, this was written earlier:
Dear FList,
I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF. Biochemistry itself sucks, but when it’s METABOLISM… holy crap.
And this girl across from me is wearing a pale pink sport hoodie, too much eyeliner, bleach-blond highlights, crazy-narrowly plucked eyebrows, and is muttering to herself. If you’ll allow me a stereotype, my money’s on field hockey player. Or maybe soccer. Basketball, at the outside. LASKDJFAOSIDJF I DON’T CARE WHERE THE CITRIC ACID CYCLE IS REGULATED.
Go ahead. Google the frakking citric acid cycle. I dare you. If you want, look up how it’s connected to amino acids and fats. Now, the enzymes that do all that, how they each generally work, the products, the input, the regulation… we have to know all that. By tomorrow at 10:30. CUVETTE THROUGH THE HEART. This keyboard sucks. I miss my nice big backspace button.

I have a drinking game for you. I'll hang out with my classmates for a day with a recorder, and you hang out with the nursing majors or the gym. Tomorrow evening, we listen to our respective recordings and take a shot every time someone says "facebook status."
Have fun being passed out on the floor; I'll be studying.
<----not that citing Facebook is a bad thing, this is just an observation.

There is this guy who works at Kroger who wears a black vest, dress pants, a white button-down shirt, and has a pocketwatch in his vest pocket. He's got a balding head and a beard. He creeps me out. A lot.

BACK TO THE STUDYING PRETZELS

EDIT: DONE. With the pretzels, that is. and probably the studying, and probably my grade. In retrospect, shoulda used Nutella instead of pb. Oh well. Still yummy.

( dream. )

So, I've been slowly easing myself into the world of instant dinners (thank goodness I grew up in a family that didn't do this much) out of necessity, and every time I try something new it's hugely disappointing, and desperately in need of seasoning. Even Progresso soup! Come ON, even BAKER could make delicious soup. How hard can it be?! But anyway. So I ordered a free sample of Betty Crocker's Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Instant. Oh. My. Gosh. It doesn't need any seasoning at all. It REALLY DOES TASTE LIKE ROASTED GARLIC. And deliciousness. And... and... oh man. It's just full of wonderful. Highly recommended.

Back to studying now, I suppose. Better start on biochem tonight, too.... frakking metabolism. Yes, ALL OF IT.

Dear God,
Please let me sleep tonight.

Today we went by bus to the Mueseum Banco Central which is the Eucuadorian History Museum. There are lots of interesting things to see and if you step too close to a painting, you will set off the alarms. Once you have set off the alarms, however, no one comes to check to see what is happening! We took a bus from there to the Mercado Central which is a huge public market that offers all kinds of fresh fruit, fish, meats, cheese, eggs, and herbs for cooking and medicinal use. The market also has many hot food offerings. There are several fruits here that are not available in the US so we are eating some of those with our meals. Next, we took a taxi ride up to the crystal palace which offers a beautiful view of all of Quito, and a nice view of the Pnicillo which has a statue of a virigin with wings standing on a snake. The significance has to do with ancient Incan legend. We took a picture of the Basillica which took 100 years to build and is still being built! Sarah's host family is awesome and we are having a great time.

Holy holy holy crap.
Note to self: don't take whatever the frak you took last night to sleep after midnight. I don't care HOW desperate you are to fall asleep, DON'T DO IT.
........hopefully I can resume functionality soon.......
*DEAD*

HEY GUESS WHAT. I finally have a new drawing up on Deviantart.
I'm just so happy to finally have something new, I feel like it's a big deal X-D

http://heavendweller.deviantart.com/art/Snow-Pixie-Lineart-146507905

WHY IS THE INTERNET SO SLOW HERE. At home, at school, etc etc.

Goals for this weekend:
1. CLEAN THE CAR <---essential
2. Laundry.
3. Get mini christmas tree up.
4. Make choc. covered pretzels for Christmas gift bags.
5. Study for finals.

Today was Micro dept Christmas thing. I loved the making the apple cider with the pots on hotplates, complete with stir bar. Very good idea, actually. Then IBS Christmas party. So basically a lot of really rich food, and now my stomach hurts. Oh well.
Egg nog tastes like liquid flan. Not my thing.

Tired. Unaccountably sad.

The cold can please go away now. Is it summer yet?

WARNING: I AM IN A REALLY REALLY ODDLY PISSY MOOD RIGHT NOW. Reading this might be hazardous to your sense of contentment.

Dear pumpkin bread,
Why didn't you rise?! But still.... OMNOMNOMNOM.

Only two people in my group got back to me about the presentation tomorrow. Well, they can go to... yeah.

I TOTALLY GOT TOLD BY MI TEMPORARY PI TODAY. It would have been humiliating if it hadn't been making a huge deal over something I'm still convinced is totally trivial. Seriously?! You consider mixing with the pipetteman versus mixing by flicking the tube a DEVIATION FROM PROTOCOL?! Seriously?!?!?! I'd bet I get WAY more deviation from adding the PCR master mix solution with a p1000. They don't even have tick marks for single ul, let alone 256.843ul. So it's a guess. I mean, he acted like it was a really big deal. I don't consider this a deviation from protocol, especially when it isn't specifically written IN the protocol. Unless he was referring to the fact that I put the cDNA in the freeze-thaw -20 freezer, which admittedly WAS a really retarded thing to do but Tomo keeps his in there, so....
Just to get things straight, though, I'm not mad at Dr. S. He means well. But I'll be really incredulous if he's right.

COOL FACT OF THE DAY: Your immune system sends out different proteins as you get older. DUDE. I should have guessed.

In other news, people are retarded. Seriously. If you're gonna be up in arms over conspiracies, DO YOUR FRAKKING HOMEWORK. ('Harradine" is completely correct, by the way). The obligatory vaccine is being considered by people who have stepped back, looked at the statistics, and said 'according to the past statistics, GB will affect far fewer people than H1N1 would kill. Therefore, we save the most lives by making vaccines obligatory." That is all. Some selfish jerk on one site suggested that they should make sure their friends got the vaccine so that he/she wouldn't be exposed to the swine flu and therefore not have to get the vaccine.

Why am I ranting about this now?! I have too much to do. Like finish this stupid question for the presentation my group abandoned me on.

One more thing: Dr Mark Crislip has a new Quackcast on Acai that discussing antioxidants. There's some surprising info in there. Take a listen, and don't take antioxidants before exercising like it really makes that big a difference.

Ugh. Why did I agree to give the presentation?! Not only do I have to make the powerpoint, but I have to do the last (and longest) question because my group abandoned me when class was over.

Thanks, jerks.

And I dropped the ball in lab today. Again. Well, Dr. S can tell me tomorrow when we do the rotation evaluation that I

Once again, thank the powers that be that i can cook, and it's yummy, or I would be much more pissed off right now than I am. Although this curry could use some yogurt, of which I am sadly out. Thank you, India and Japan, for tonight's meal.
Oh, and thank goodness the people in my class are awesome.

Quote of the week:
Kristen: Well, sometimes I like to bring a snack to bed...
Lindsay: Sometimes I like to bring a gentleman to bed.

Well, to work >-(