Like a prayer

It's 1:00 in the am, and I feel no closer to being prepared for tomorrow's final than I was two hours ago. I gave up on making index cards when I realized that I still had eleven pages of notes to go. Someday I will learn to keep up with things as I go and stop overestimating my abilities. It seems as if the only things I have retained from anatomy are relatively worthless but oh-so-interesting bits of information. For instance:

Estrogen promotes vascularization, which means that women lose more body heat. This explains why the girl who was once constantly hot is now a woman who is constantly freezing.

Parking meters freeze up when the wind chill reaches -50 degrees.

The carnival "Dancing Duck" was moving his feet to the music as a result of hot coils in the floor of his cage.

If one finds just the right position, his or her vehicle can ride the wind behind a tractor trailer.

Queen Victoria was a carrier of hemophilia, which explains why a large number of European princes were hemophiliacs.

When someone is completely color blind, orange is a concept...not a color. What is beige?

Steroid hormones attract mosquitoes.

Joints are still cartilage at the time of birth, which explains why babies can't walk.

One can tell a lot about an animal's lifestyle by simply looking at the color of the meat. For example, tuna and salmon are darker in color because they are highly active. Flounder is lighter in color because it is relatively inactive with only brief spurts of energy. This all relates to fast twitch and slow twitch muscles, but I don't feel like getting into it.

Oh dear. Say a prayer for me around 10:30 Thursday morning.

Band Camp

Welcome to band camp. Eighty students + six counselors = very long nights. Or very short nights depending on how you look at it. Tonight will be my night for the 3:00 AM shift. I have a test to study for, so staying up until 3:00 halfway makes sense. I'm going to try to catch a few Zzzs where I can during the day.

Besides completely bombing my lecture test on Monday, working the camp has been a good experience. I'll try to study little bits every day until the final in order to counteract the last flop. My brain is numb, and my eyes are the heaviest they've been since London, but the kids are fun, and I get three meals a day.

It's nice walking back and forth to campus again, even in the heat. My legs are sore from walks and kickball, but it's a good feeling. Tonight is skating night, and tomorrow is swim night. Thursday night is my night, and I can hardly wait for it to get here.

Next week is the middle school camp. Less campers, but the responsibility increases. I have an interview in Augusta on June 30th, and then my work is finished until July 24th. Almost finished.

Greg and Kristen's wedding!

The following are shots taken while in Chatsworth for Greg and Kristen's wedding! It was so nice to see so many familiar faces on such a happy day.

I thought the candles at the rehearsal dinner were pretty. We had spaghetti, homemade peach cobbler, and laughed incessantly.

Me and Tammy getting ready for pictures. I forgot to bring a button-up shirt, so working around the updo was tons of fun. It was nice to see my big sister again. :-)

Rasheda looks so very pretty. We tried to convince her that this should be an everyday look. I don't think she agreed.

I can't seem to get rid of these two, but I'm more than okay with that. :-P I love taking dressy pictures.

The first dance. Mr. and Mrs. Greg Burns. Congratulations and Best Wishes. I love you guys!

Cake cutting! The reception was amazing. One of the best moments was when the SAI sisters surrounded the bride and sang our Chorale. It probably seemed really random to observers, but I forgot about everyone else in the room but our beautiful sister. I'm so glad that she is coming back to be with us in the fall. It will be nice to have the trio complete again. :-)

I will be so glad when anatomy ends. I don't mean to complain as much as I do, but it's really taking its toll mentally and physically. I have another lab quiz tomorrow and a midterm on Wednesday. We get back our lecture tests tomorrow. Thank goodness for a relatively relaxed fall. I've been thinking too much about life planning lately, looking narrowly at the next few months and years without really giving much thought to what lies beyond. If I felt capable, I would love to stop and smell the roses. Ah well, the science-gone-wrong stench of Herty will have to suffice for now. :-)

P.S. There is most definitely something making noises in my roommate's storage box!!!

Happy Birthday, David!

Fuzzy Monkeys

Just to put the earlier freakout into perspective. This is why I'm freaking out. I have to know all of that in less than forty-eight hours. Actually, in less than thirty-six hours. I suppose that instead of talking about how much there is to learn, I should actually be learning it, but whenever I stare at the diagrams, my brain starts dissolving. Help help help. I don't know whether to throw up my hands and quit, or refuse to let it get me. Maybe grim determination will get me through. I haven't been this scared in a very long time.

Stupid day

I discovered many little backroads on my weekend drive that made me think of days past. I didn't realize just how many sleepy little towns and open pastures still exist in rural Georgia. It was a breath of fresh air to roll through communities where the only visible signs of civilization were a church and post office. I know that sounds crazy, and I'm not saying I want to live completely in the middle of nowhere. I still want access to modern conveniences, but I want my kids to know and appreciate simplicity as well. On the other hand, I realize that most teenagers will resent growing up in such an environment. Ah well. It's not something I have to worry about for quite some time yet, and I'm just as likely to land a job smack in the middle of Atlanta as anywhere.

I have to graduate first. Graduation means passing anatomy. Anatomy is impossible during a summer session. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm only on the second day of class and ready to burst into tears. We have to be able to label the bones of the skeleton, the muscles of the face and what they control, and the external anatomy of the skull in less than forty-eight hours. I counted the terms and stalled at 107. The worst part is that there will only be ten questions on the "quiz." I also have my first lecture exam on Thursday. Rough. No life from this point on.

Being home for three weeks in June is looking better and better.