A Completely Non-Scientific Note

So I've had a mole removed. Hopefully this will be the only one, as I'm not particularly fond of the implications.

I'm a pale kid. I don't tan (intentionally or otherwise), I wear sunscreen almost all the time if I'm not covered up, and I don't mind that my skin could probably be described as "alabaster". 200 years ago, that was sexy, right? I'm a pale, brownish-red haired, slightly freckled girl with tanned blondes for a mother and sister.

Honestly, the worst part was after they put in the anesthetic and waited for it to kick in. I must have been lying on my stomach, with my butt exposed to the world, for a good 20 minutes. I don't have butt issues, per se, but I'd prefer to not to be lying prone on an exam table with only a hospital gown preserving my dignity. When they were actually cutting it out, we talked about prions (apparently they factored greatly into this past season of 24), Swine Flu, and hummus. I could feel pressure on my back, mostly when they were stitching me up, but it didn't hurt. Apparently, people believe that when you get anesthetized, you can't feel anything. People, you'll feel pressure, but it won't hurt.

The mole was on my back, slightly above where a bra or bikini strap would rest, and tiny. But it was slightly star-shaped. Like Star of Bethlehem, not a sticker you got on your spelling test in the 3rd grade. And apparently it was deep, deep enough to warrant a subcutaneous stitch, as well as the nice collection I've got holding my back together.


I've had stitches before and have no issue cleaning them and I can deal. These, however, are driving me nuts. They're at the exact place on my back that I cannot reach, so I have to rely on others to clean them for me. And they itch like crazy (my back hurts a little, as well, but the itching is more annoying). I'm also incredibly paranoid that I'm going to inadvertently rip these out. Or have them ripped out by my cat, who is a terrorist and has a penchant for jumping at my back anyway. I had to move seats twice at dinner to get away from him, as he kept jumping behind my chair and twice got his claws into my back -- nowhere near the stitches, but enough to make me incredibly anxious.

So that's all that's new right now. I'm sure I'll have something to say about work and research once I get back to the 'Burg.

Blah

It feels so weird being around here and not having work to do.

The latest adventures in my life include surreptitiously gathering graduation presents with those of us who are not graduating for those who are (all in our group of friends except for the three girls and two of the guys). After a brainwave last night, we finally got everyone covered and hopefully the last of the ordered presents will arrive today. Graduation is Saturday, and they're all graduating from the same college, so we don't have to juggle ceremonies.

I managed to get A job. Not a job I really wanted mind you, though for the last few days, it was starting to look like any job would be acceptable to me. So I'm part of the Personal Computer Initiative at the bookstore, which basically means I answer the phone and organize laptop orders for incoming freshmen and other people who are ordering new computers. Funsies.

So I guess I'm going to go do my dishes now because they've accumulated rather well. Then I'm not sure what I'm going to do...no one else is up this early, and the only reason I am is because I had to drive the bf out to the Village to find his car. He left it there when he went to a department barbeque, at which he got rather drunk and obviously did not drive home.

On Sleep Deprivation

Strange things happen when I don't sleep. In my mind, at least.

I woke up this morning at about 500 EDT. I gave up on sleep around 730. In between, I fretted about everything from my weight to my being silly about my weight to what is going to happen when the sun dies and whether or not humanity will even make it to that point and how it's not really going to matter to me because I'll be long dead and then my brain tried to wrap itself around the possibility of my ending and what if I just rolled over and fell asleep and never woke up again...and then I'm afraid to fall asleep. Because we all count on waking up the next morning and living on.

Yeah. This is what happens when I can't sleep. It's a vicious cycle.

In other news, I am DONE annotating trees, with two days to spare before my PI's presentation. Provided he doesn't send me any new ones between now and then. Who knows what will happen after that.

Just a Quickie

Because I've got a report to edit and studying for my Microbial Physiology test to do.

Anywhoo, I've been busy, editing trees and all that. I'm finding that this one gene, A622 (with a supposedly unknown purpose in tobacco plants) has a lot of roots in...wait for it...diatoms and algae. Hrm...

Granted, I haven't spent that much time doing undergrad research in the past 2 weeks or so due to midterms and writing reports and pretending I want to have a life.

The snow is all right, I guess. We've got a lot, and of course VT didn't close. I'm kind of over it at this point, mostly because I know it's supposed to be in the 50s and 60s Thursday and Friday and that means it's going to melt and be a huge disgusting mess here. I'm just ready for Spring Break.

We're doing stuff with bioluminescence in the class lab. Hooray mutating E.coli to glow in the dark. I just wish I didn't have to write a report on how I did it. I hate writing lab reports. Especially when the prof rips them to bits every time.

I didn't even know they made them that large

...That's what she said. OK, seriously.

So I have a neuronoma in my foot. Which, according to the Mayo Clinic's website, is a swelling of a nerve. Due to injury, wearing tight shoes, or repetitive sports that put strain on the balls of the feet (i.e. running or tennis). In my case, injury. Maybe running from class to lab to class to lab to home to lab to Boyfriend's to class to lab to...you get the idea.

I thought it was a stress fracture or a pretty serious contusion, but nope. Apparently it's a neuronoma. Guess what the best treatment for those are? A shot.

A huge-ass cortisone-anesthetic shot. Oh and the standard RICE-ing. But the shot. I kid you not, the needle was as long as my pinky. And it wasn't one of those quick in-and-out shots like HPV or Tetanus--no, the doctor kept it in and had to inject slowly. And kept pushing the needle deeper. I swear, at one point, I could feel the it poking at the bottom of my foot.

On the bright side, I felt grrrrrr-EAT for the next 3 or so hours. Driving home was hilarious, too, as my foot fell asleep (of course it was my driving foot).

So that's my story for today.

This cannot become a pattern

Today was my first day of what unfortunately is looking like a truth of this semester: not having lunch.

In fact, it is nearly 6 and I have not eaten yet today. As Winnie the Pooh would say, "there's a rumbly in my tumbly." And I won't be eating until the boyfriend gets out of his senior design project meeting. About which I'm not complaining, since I know he has done exactly no work on it yet this week and it is sort of required of him if he plans on graduating.

But my schedule this semester is not conducive to the standard 3 meals a day. Neither is my friends' latest habit of having movie nights that start at 10 PM. I like movies too, but I can't sleep through my morning classes because Braveheart ended at 2 AM.

Anyway, I have my first major report due in G&P lab, which has to be written in the format of an article for the Journal of Bacteriology. Yikes. Bookmarked that webpage, it's a new BFF. Fortunately all lab reports have rewrites, which will be essential for me, as I've never written a science journal article before. And I'm going to have to magically understand microbial metabolism overnight, because I can't explain the results right now.

Research is going slightly better. We have weekly group meetings on Fridays, and then there's a mini-group meeting for me and this kid in Computer Science (hereafter referred to as CS Guy) on Tuesdays. Except the first one was today due to a scheduling error. Basically, I'm going to start out annotating phylogenetic trees until CS Guy has written a PERL script that will get through GenBank and BLAST searches faster. Oh and we have about 50 pages of reading on nicotine metabolism that our director wants us to understand backwards and forwards. A preliminary glance at it seems reasonable, a lot of organic chemistry and gene regulation, but I have the biology background for this. CS Guy hasn't had biology since the 9th grade. It's gonna be fun.

Well, that's all for now because my room is cold and I need to read for class.

Week 1- Homework, ghost movies, and labs, oh my!

Oh School.

I'm very obviously procrastinating on homework at the moment (2 papers, nearly 300 pages of reading, 2 pre-labs, and a survey that VT Survey refuses to let me access) and I've got a sore throat, so let's recap on the week before I get dressed and hit the books. Man I wish the library opened before noon on Sundays.

Monday was a day off from school, so I spent it attending meetings, stalking the necessary people to sign my undergraduate research form (adviser, dept. head of Biology, academic dean of the College of Science, etc), and relishing the last few hours without work. Tuesday I was off and running, with Microbial Physiology, Gender in 20th C. Africa, and Physics II, followed by dinner on-campus with the boyfriend, one of his roommates and the roommate's girlfriend. Wednesday was the long day, with 3+ hour sessions each of The Great Depression and Microbial Genetics and Physiology Lab (aka Class Lab), and I made the mistake of taking cold medicine in the morning and nearly passing out in Depression. Decided I would not be re-dosing for lab, as sleepy Beth + open flames is surely a recipe for disaster. As it is, I've already burned myself in that lab. Thursday was the same as Tuesday, but managed to grab lunch with the evil twin as Physics II lab doesn't start until the second week, and as soon as I got out of Physics, I went home, jotted a post-it of my homework, and officially called it a week.

I'm becoming a bit of a Guillermo del Toro fan. I've always liked Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth, and this weekend I watched The Orphanage and The Devil's Backbone with the boyfriend, both of which are excellent movies. While The Orphanage is trippy in the same way as Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone was a pretty straight-forward ghost story. Also, after seeing The Unborn last week, The Orphanage was reminding me of that a little as well.

Well, that's all for the moment. Gotta get dressed and start on that reading, so I can write the papers...and everything else.