And they’re off!… Again.

I’ve been inspired/reminded/bored enough to resume my little life documentary.  There should be less deep thinking, more regurgitating of events as they occur.

We’ll start tomorrow. :P

Coming around full circle.

When health insurance reform passed, those opposed–largely Republicans and Conservatives–worked themselves into a fury, calling President Obama a “socialist“.  Rallies and “Tea Parties” were staged throughout the country.  Liberals retorted that all these activities were merely tools of fear mongering.

More recently, opposition to Arizona Immigration Law SB1070 has resulted in mass movements throughout the country–supported primarily by Democrats and Liberals.  Not surprisingly, Governor Jan Brewer has been widely accused of being “fascist“.  And, once again, accusations of instilling fear to influence opinions fly rampant.

As polarized as they may seem, they’re all pretty much the same in the end.

Color me annoyed…

… because the parents of our upstairs neighbors are currently using all of our parking spots.

And those neighbors aren’t even home this weekend.

This normally wouldn’t be a problem, except for the spring football game and concert going on at Camp Randall right now.  Needless to say, nearby parking is a scarcity at the moment.

Grr!

I’m guilty of shopping and buying clothes I don’t need.  But I also plan on cleaning out my closet this afternoon.

So I’ll probably never run a marathon.

I knew this already, but it really resurfaced earlier this week: I am not made for running.

Last summer, I started training again simply for the sake of exercise and good health.  The fact is, I enjoy cooking–and eating, by proxy–too much to make a substantial decrease in food intake a very realistic long-term goal.  Saying that makes me sound like a massive hambeast, but I’d like to think that I’ve already adapted a reasonably healthy, well-rounded diet that doesn’t skimp too much on flavor and variety.  I only need the occasional reminder to not go overboard.  Editing how I ate would be more of a hassle than adding thirty minutes of activity to my day, and running only requires a good pair of sneakers, right?

Except that I’m awful at it.

It’s not like I’m peeling myself off the couch and trying to run a 5k for the first time.  I ran when I was younger, I ran in high school, and I occasionally got off my ass in college every now and then, too.  It’s certainly not the fact that I’m inactive: I can walk for miles and spend hours on a bike without the associated misery.  But I never got that “runner’s high”, the stress relief, the adrenaline rush–whatever those warm and fuzzy feelings that running buffs always banter on about.  I find it hard to motivate myself at 7 AM to go out and do something so… well, this will sound overly dramatic, but agonizing.  Frankly, I realized that it’s not for me.

So this summer, I think I’m going to add light yoga into my routine, which I can carry into the winter without interruption.  I’ll switch up my cardio from running to riding my bike to work, as soon as I work up a slightly more bike-friendly route (and my helmet).

That’s the plan.  Wish me luck!

We all have our weaknesses.

I’ve been trying to get back into the habit of letting the big wide unknown of cyberspace know what I’ve been up to lately, but, to be frank, my present life reads like shampoo directions: Lather, rinse, repeat.

This past week has been accented with an extreme urge to go shopping.  I’ll show you the pieces of an outfit I’ve been planning for a large symposium and dinner my lab is hosting this May.

Blouse: http://tinyurl.com/yhez63s (in white!  And minus the “necklace” thing.)

Belt: http://tinyurl.com/yjvxyle

Skirt: http://tinyurl.com/yj5mr76 (in black!)

Shoes: http://tinyurl.com/ykhbal7

Why do I need to spend money on what basically amounts to a random assemblage of researchers, Ph.D’s, and Nobel laureates?  Because I want to, damn it.

In between.

I have attempted to post something in this blog a couple times a week for the past month or so.

Obviously, I’ve reached a block of some sort.

So here’s a space filler, for the meantime.

I got food on the brain.

This sounds awful, but near number one of my list of things I’m looking forward to when I go home: Food.

I can’t wait to stuff myself full with dim sum, pho (if Pho Saigon isn’t open, I might as well die right now), Cantonese-style pan fried noodles, El Pollo Loco, Sam Woo, that Thai noodle place on Hollywood, my aunt’s mangos and sticky rice, Jack in the Box, all-you-can-eat sushi, Korean BBQ, Tio’s, and roast duck.

omfg.

Don’t look, I’m drooling slightly.

Oh, one more thing.  I love Trader Joe’s, but I recently had a horrible epiphany that buying from Trader Joe’s in Madison definitely does not qualify as buying local. :(

Final countdown.

As of 4:20 PM this afternoon, I have completed all of my classes as an undergraduate at UW-Madison.  Finals are yet to come: A paper and final on Thursday, two more on Saturday.  Graduation ceremony on Sunday.  I’m compelled to say that this ending is going to be far more bittersweet than I imagined.

Frankly, I feel rushed.  I don’t feel like I needed to be done so soon.  Call it lack of foresight, but I failed to even notice that it was the beginning of the end until it was too late.

I heard an astounding statistic on the radio today claiming that only 29% of UW-Madison students graduate within four years of enrollment.

Huh.

I met a lot of great people this semester.  I’ve met a lot of great people within these past couple years, actually.  I’m not particularly anxious to leave Madison (far from it, actually), and I still get a queasy feeling thinking about next year.

Deep breaths.  Positive thoughts.  Time to be a big girl.

I think my mom told me that 20 years ago.

Point by point.

Alright.

So I didn’t manage to keep up with this “bi-weekly update” thing.  But I get busy at school. :(

A summation of my past months, strictly for my own record keeping:

• Applications to vet school–done and done.
• Applied for two internships–and still waiting to hear from them.
• Supplemental application for the UW SVM to be completed next week.
• Fun and interesting classes.  Too bad it’s almost over.
• Work is becoming less and less enjoyable.  I feel ready to move on.
• Had the ultimate cabin weekend with the boys, but spent most of the day inside with the girls.
• Colorado: Overcooked turkey, undercooked feelings towards kids.
• Abnormally cold September.  Abnormally warm October.  Cool, but still abnormally warm November.
• Seriously thought about getting a pair of finches with Mike.  Decided against it–for now, anyway–due to our extended winter break.
• Overall, a general theme of anxiety.

Also, things I thought about blogging about… but didn’t:

• Insights: Stupid little things I should have known, but didn’t.  E.g., Women should consider taking iron supplements because of blood loss while menstruating.  Blood consists of hemoglobin, which includes an iron molecule to bind oxygen.  Put two and two together…
• Work place happiness and employee satisfaction.
• Dissent about how a giant picture of Adam Lambert was on the opposite page of the crossword puzzle I was working on.
• Annoyance with the fact that liberals think they’re smarter than conservatives.
• Comparing my family with my boyfriend’s family on holiday gift-giving.

And so on

All downhill from here–at present, anyway.

Completed my GRE for this round.  Kicked ass on the quantitative, mediocre on the verbal.  Can’t decide if it’s a good idea to retake it, because I doubt I can keep my score up for the quant section.

Submitted my VMCAS (The Veterinary Medicine College Application Service–quite the mouthful, eh?) this Wednesday.  Couple months of nailbiting until I hear anything even remotely related to interviews and whatnot.  Have a small secondary application to get in by the 15th.  Think happy thoughts for me!

Amanda’s wedding tomorrow.  Two exams next week (Diseases of Wildlife and Animal Physiological Ecology), plus a lab notebook (Developmental Biology).  One more the week after (Animal Behavior).  Probably another assignment I haven’t given much thought to yet.  Chloe’s birthday, then Mike’s.

Going to start making final touches on my resume and cover letter for various internships for January.