May 2012 Catch Up

Wow. I have been scarce on my own welcome mat for SO long! I apologize for anyone who may have been reading my blog. I am a long way from home at the moment. I am on the east coast for the summer and will be working in the exciting field of Cellular Mechanics with some doctors. I start a full-day tomorrow and have been reading up on research material. I am taking the summer off from school (university) to make some money while gaining some work experience. Granted it is not biochemistry but as long as it pays and I learn new concepts it will totally be worth it!

The dorm I am assigned to stay in is very small! I do have a small fridge and an electric cooking top which should serve to keep this girl fed all summer! I had arrived on Sunday and attended an informal luncheon with my fellow interns. It went fine but I was a bit nervous as there was a short speech we had to make! I forged through despite being very tired from two-hours worth of sleep the night before. I had ventured out on Monday to find some food. I woke around 9ish Monday morning and remembered I only had leftover salad and a half finished soda from our arrival luncheon.

A nice lady pointed me some directions to a nearby grocery store. The path had taken me down the street a couple of blocks in thick swamp blanket humidity! I did not think it was so bad when I had first left but on the walk back with a couple of bags of groceries (people offered me rides which I did not accept) it was pretty bleak. I looked at it like “this is a good experience” and “I do need to eat” but that mood later turned to “Sh*** why does the dorm have to be up the f*g hill?!” I made it back and made myself a French bread pizza. Looking at the weather forecast the high on Monday was 96 F and the humidity was in the 60s. The feeling was that I was sporting a wet look after getting back in and looking in my mirror. Despite the mucky humidity I do have to say that I am fortunate to be in a beautiful central location on the east coast! Major cities associated with the NE are nearby and DC is not that far also. I will definitely make time to go out and see the sights over the course of the summer. Looking in the mirror I also noticed a slight bulge on my side. Erk!!! Need to make use of my running shoes for sure!

That makes this another pin to push on to the map of the world which is wonderful. Plans are wonderful to fulfill so for those of you who dream and feel like they are impossible. Keep working toward it. One step at a time. Take care. 

More to come soon :-)

A Desert Yuletide

Almost time for kids faces to light up with delight at their presents or frown when Grandpa Harry sends them socks and pencils for Christmas. It is supposed to be winter here in northern Arizona but alas there is no precipitation of frozen H20 present. So we’re having the equivalent of a southern Arizona Yuletide- cold and snowless. The cynical side of me says that this time of the year is evil incarnate. It breaks peoples banks, makes lonely people even more lonely, yadda yadda yadda. The optimistic side of me is a little aghast at how much I spent but it will be worth it to see faces when they open up their presents. So.... my take on gift giving time is don't be too much of a tightwad...otherwise you may get handed some form of the proverbial "lump of coal."

I was done with my final semester at college around the week of the 5^th this month. I did well. I got all A’s except for a B in Precalculus. Now the plan is I’ll be leaving for the university in three weeks. I am very excited about this! I am a non-traditional student so this will be interesting all over again...just on a different level :) 

I have:

Organic Chemistry lecture

Organic Chemistry discussion

Organic Chemistry lab

Calculus I

[and a soon to be filled 3 credit hour course]

I was book hunting since last weekend (still am) and looks like I have a nice little book bill that I will be faced with. I decided to use my usual plan and go for online, used, and use member privileges to garner a deal. I found one for my Organic Chem lecture for almost half-off what the school is charging. Ochem lab books will be purchased from the school. It seems that my professor for lab has written two lab books and we will be using her books. 

I’m off to take a nap. I had to take a relative to the hospital late last night and was up all night until we got home this morning. I did sleep for 3 hours when I got back but am still tired. 

If I know you and you know me then I am probably thinking about you. I wish all of you and yours a….

Happy Holidays! Feliz Navidad! Merry Keshmish!

Midterm madness is over...whew!

Just got done with midterms. I am relieved. Now that the halfway point is here I see my transition to university just right around the corner. So far I have submitted my application and will be doing my transcripts very shortly. I have a transfer counselor as of tonight also :)

I need a car! Seriously. I hate to think about the cost of owning a car but it will be a necessity as I leave the reservation. I will be on my own and the need for some type of transportation seems very likely. It's 11:35pm here and I am reading and taking notes for my Patho class. I was SO SO SO tired this morning I came back after classes and fell asleep. I had a two hour nap which helped out immensely.

Naps= good

My post is very short this time. I'm feeling a little sleepy and will turn in soon. I just want to read another page and then I'm taking my heinee to bed. Nite nite.

Post AS/AA Degree

Finished my summer classes with superb results. I got As in my Statistics and Human Development classes. I am now in my second week into Fall 2001 and so far very nice and somewhat easier than the last three semesters….so far. I will have classes pretty much on Mon, Tues, and Weds only after next week. My jogging instructor (lol we need one for this?!) has to teach a “Fitness for Life” class as the instructor for that class is no longer available to teach it. So we ran today and since I come in a little late from Precal he gave me the 411. He said that since we don’t have to show up we will need to keep track of our physical and cardio workouts with worksheets.

You think I have a problem with this??!! Lol.

I do run every other evening, started pilates, and think I’m pretty active so I think I’ll be fine. My precal instructor has also given us the option of having class 2 ½ hours per day Mon-Wed and not coming in on Thurs…. which brings us up to my soon to be “super duper cool” schedule.

Mon                             Tues                      Wed                           Thurs

Precalculus               Precalculus    Precalculus                OFF

Pathophysiology          OFF              Pathophysiology     OFF

Also not shown but another class I am taking is a humanities class that is online. It is called “Humanities Through the Arts” and is interesting. A change of pace and a little wordy but I’ll manage. I think I’ll spend a majority of my class work writing papers and posting class discussion responses for this class.

I <3 <3 <3 this soon to be schedule!

Don’t get me wrong Pathophysiology is pretty hardcore so I’ll be reading for days and looking up videos to give me the layman explanation for some complex concepts. Precal is well….mathy so hopefully the synapses connect and rewiring in my gray matter optimizes for the language of mathematics!

I received my graduation petition and just need to fill out the information, pay my petition fee, and I should receive my degrees in the mail. I now hold an AS degree in Health Occupations and an AS in Social and Behavioral Sciences as of this past month (August). Not bad considering where I was at a couple of years ago. I will keep moving forward and can just repeat what my friend Gwen said about the upcoming struggles and hardships we will face as students of science- Bring it on!

The Real Mamma Jamma

I have some exciting new developments that I'd like to share. First my academics are great so far- straight As across the board. Yep that is for:

Anatomy and Physiology II
General Chemistry II
Nutrition
Microbiology

For those of you new to my blog I had severe doubts about school not that long ago! Now that I'm done with more sciences....there's more to take in the future! I'm excited about this and am studying ahead of time for some classes I wish to take in the future. I've decided to stay with Nursing and do that for awhile and switch over to Biochemistry at a later date. The school I want to go to requires me taking all the sciences (physics, chemistry, and biology), calculus w/analytic geometry, and upper-level major oriented courses.

Yes the road for science is broad and wonderful :)

I have 35 new credit hours of college science courses since I made the decision to return to school in Fall 2009.

Things are moving along now that I've joined a national organization dedicated to Native Americans in higher education :) I recently traveled to compete in a science bowl also. We advanced to the second round but lack of strategy hampered our win. Good stuff and great opportunity to travel. Only drawback was I got behind in my classes and worked like a "mad woman" to get back on track.

Ugh I don't want to go through that anytime soon again!

So now I'm enrolled in two summer courses and have started one online already. Hopefully I can get financial aid as one course is from my current school and the other is from another school. It should go through AFAIK...

*keeping me fingers crossed*

OH and one more thing!!! Does anyone have any suggestions for old school papers??!!! I am collecting quite a bit and losing storage space also! Let me know!!!

Have a great day :) :) :)