Clearly, I am insane
Oct. 14th, 2008 05:48 pmAs for what I've been writing... It's that thing that I said was never going to exist. And that I then said I was going to write just a brief little ficlet for. And, of course, because there's comic books involved, I've been reading my old comics, purely for reference. And spending time at the bookstore catching up on some of the more recent stuff, because you know... I have incredibly weak will and am attracted to shiny objects.
Also, I keep playing Pandemic II, even though I also keep complaining about it. Because even if the simulation isn't at all accurate, it's still really fun to decimate the human population with a homemade bioweapon. I have yet to kill Madagascar, though. Or New Zealand (damn those Kiwis and their apparently superior immune systems!). And I've only gotten Cuba, once. Apparently, no one ever travels to these places, and Madagascar, especially, closes all its seaports the moment someone in Japan starts sneezing...
Anyway, I've just finished The Calculus Exam From Hell, and I'm done with Spanish. Just Chemistry to worry about, really, now, because Biology is currently easy as cake.
Back to school and some family info
Jan. 14th, 2008 12:54 pmThe big news, really, is that I've finally admitted to my parents that I have no desire whatsoever to go into the health care industry. None at all. I am no more interested in nursing now than I was at the beginning of last semester (and if anything, I like the idea even less). I'm finally taking classes again for something that I WANT to do - that is, teaching. Teaching science, more specifically. I'm so excited! Even if it does mean I have to take another math (which looks like it won't be too bad, actually. My teacher seems pretty cool, and I have, at the very least, never actively HATED trig the way I've hated a lot of other branches of math). I'm really excited about Bio class because my teacher was really excited about biology in general - she went on a bit today about how beautiful and magnificent biology is, and people were rolling their eyes, but I was all like "Amen, sister!" Dr. Bio is also currently undergoing chemo for breast cancer, but her prognosis is good and she's supposed to be done by March. I really like her, at least so far.
All my classes are MWF except for labs, which are T & R mornings. I'm out on MWF by 2 and done with school by noon on T & R. I have one more class this afternoon, and then I get to go home. I'll probably take two classes this summer
And speaking of cancer -
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moonypadlover will be the only one on my flist who's actually met him, but I think I've mentioned my cousin with colon cancer before (the one with the twin toddlers and adorable 5 year old girl). He's recovering fairly well from his colostomy (what his daughter calls his 'poo-poo bag surgery') but hasn't resumed chemo yet. We aren't entirely sure he will. He's getting around pretty well at the moment, but he's not really expected still be here for our family reunion in May. He and his wife celebrated their 10th anniversary on Friday. I spent Saturday and Sunday up in North Louisiana (Monroe, Bastrop, and Rayville) visiting lots of folks, in particular Granny and Aunt G (the above cousin's mother). On Saturday evening, I was at a 90th birthday party for Mammaw D, who I'm not related to at all (She's my Dad's brother's wife's mother) but whom I adore. She drove herself to the party, was wearing two inch heels and a cute skirt, and complained about her son asking her again to retire and leave him the family business. She told him that he wasn't too old to be taken over her knee (he's nearly 70). Aunt W and Uncle B were there, as was Cousin H and his girlfriend. I brought Cousin H a kingcake to take back to DC (He's with the Smithsonian now, as is the girlfriend. He just did a privately commissioned restoration on a Picasso, which I thought was very neat). A good time was had by all.
Also, there is no word in the English language for the relationship between the parents of a married couple, let alone at a double remove, but Mammaw D (Dad's brother's wife's mother) invited Granny (Mom's mom) to the party (though she did not attend for reason's of poor health). Mammaw D also sent us home with a huge floral arrangement (her business is a wholesale florist supply place) for Granny, which was very sweet and made Granny cry.
So, my intro to anatomy class has three labs involving the cutting up of unborn piggies, which I find physically disgusting and morally reprehensible. Labs are done twice a week and are only worth 10 points each. We get two "drop" labs, which means that the lowest two grades don't count (which is kind of silly since we get 10 points for turning our stuff in). Because of this, I'd made up my mind simply to skip those three lab days, leaving me only 10 points in the hole. I skipped the first two.
My sneaky teacher decided too many people had been skipping pig labs and decided to put pig lab right after the test tonight. I should have fled after handing in my paper. As it was, I spent the duration of the test thinking "stupid stinky dead baby pigs," and the rest of class trying not to vomit.
Dissection for the purposes of learning doesn't bother me, if it is done with a reasonable degree of respect and is not performed on animals killed for that purpose, or who are a "byproduct" of the meat industry. I understand that observation of cadavers is an important part of the medical learning process. I don't anticipate having a problem with cadaver study, in fact. What I have a problem with is the casual disregard with which my classmates mutilated these animals - animals who are as intellegent as the average dog.
I had a friend, growing up, with a pet pig - not a trendy potbellied pig, but a "food" pig he'd liberated from a litter doomed to future consumption. The pig slept on the foot of his bed until it was too big, and then it slept in a dog basket on the porch. His neighbor butchered it after it wandered into his yard, and then had the nerve to offer the kid some of the meat after he confronted him about it. Can you imagine someone offering to feed you a piece of your childhood pet?
I haven't eaten meat since I was 10 years old (when I decided I'd had enough of my mother refusing to not put meat on my plate, and just started cooking my own meals). I don't wear leather. I buy vegan glue. I rescued a lab rat from my high school biology class and kept her as a pet, and used her as a prop in an antivivisection lecture. And I sat there in the back of the class and did not participate, listening to my classmates laughing and squealing and shouting things like "oops, I think I crushed his little balls". I did not speak up, though. I did not walk out. I didn't even register my protest with the teacher.
I feel sick and I feel dirty.
