Rambling is a full time job

Picture-y goodness thanks to Google Calendar. Much easier doing it there than on paper.

These are the classes I'm already registered for. I'm going to try and see if I can work out a better schedule, but I don't think there really is one. Now all I need to do is try to decide how many hours I can work and where I'm going to put them (and if they're still willing to keep me on at work once I decide all that).

I was going to post a color screen shot instead, but my GIMP is crashing for some reason.

BSC2010 = Core Biology 1
BSC2085 = Anatomy and Physiology 1
CHM2045 = General Chemistry 1
STA2023 = Statistics 1 (online; not shown)
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15 credit hours.

I need go talk to som epeople, do some reading, and do some calculating to see if it's better/possible to take A&P at UF during my junior/senior years instead of at SFCC. Since I need things like microbio and whatnot, I don't know if I'll have time though.

Class Schedule (PDF)

I came across a picture in my psychology textbook the other day that made me chuckle, then feel bad for the little guy, then realize that it actually did a good job at illustrating how I've been feeling lately.

( Read more... )

Between my classes, personal life, lack of anything creative and everything else in my life, as well as the troubles of a few people very dear to me, things haven't quite felt 100% ducky lately.

And even if I do write something, which is rare lately, I don't feel like posting it here any more.

I know I'm fiending for dessert of some sort when I pick the M&Ms out of my trail mix.

I've worked full time for so long that it's just weird to be home at this time in the afternoon.

...and positive proof that deadlines mean nothing.

Two years in the making procrastinating, I now present our group's first book:

Tales from the Jar: Avoidance (a short story collection)

I'll have extra copies soon if anyone is interested and doesn't want to purchase online.

I honestly don't have much time or energy for livejournal these days. I've trimmed my friends list down, and will likely do more trimming as time goes by.

I know that some people don't care about adding/removing, or being added/removed, and some people take it personally, and so I felt inclined to mention it. It's nothing personal--just a matter of time and lack of energy. I haven't been reading journals much in the first place.

After all, the reason I had for adding some people were because I met them once and though they were neat, but I've yet to see many of them ever again or to talk to them in any capacity, or else have otherwise lost touch or something like that.

So, so long, thanks for all the fish, and hope to see you around again sometime.

Of course, there's some sort of universal law, somewhat akin to Godwin's Law, that states that as soon as one person on the internet makes fun of or criticizes someone else for their grammer, that person will subsequently make errors of their own, often in the very text that they type in rebuttal to the first person.

I don't know if this law has a name yet or not.

If not, I humbly suggest "Agnor's Law #22".

I left all sorts of words out of my comments on the previous entry. Oops.

and like such a consumer.

Spent almost $300 today. Granted, some of it was necessary, like three pairs of new shoes (each fills a different niche) for $70 (Payless has a buy-one-get-one-half-off thing going on now, by the by); some articles of clothing (I hardly ever buy clothes or shoes, and they begin to show their wear); the usual necessities like bathroom stuff, cat food and litter; other stuff that I've had a need for, like a tape measure and an actual toolbox to put all my tools in, instead of just letting them float around ( I actually have some of them in a bag right now. That's sad); a second flashlight; batteries for said flashlights and my camera; and socks (how in the world do they keep disappearing?).

Hell, I'm looking over the pile of swag right now, and there's little in there that strikes me as excessive. I bought a pedometer ($5) for when I go walking and hiking and a couple plastic water bottles with measurements on the sides so that I can keep a better eye on my water intake at home and at work.

Those last three are really the only things. I guess everything just adds up fast.

That's why I laugh and say no whenever the cashier at Target asks me if I want to sign up for a Target credit card.

Spent a while this evening trying to figure out what I need and what order I need it in.

It's times like this when I consider being a religion major or something--I looked up their transfer requirements out of curiosity and almost cried when I saw them: "2 RELIGION COURSES @ 2000 LEVEL OR ABOVE - GRADE OF C".

That's it (except for normal AA stuff, of course).

Meanwhile, my requirements

( run three or four levels deep )


In short: geezus christ, I need to get a move on.

I don't think I could finish in a year even if I went full time.

Well, I could if I wanted a normal psychology degree. But not if I add in the premedical stuff or do what I need in order to hope to get into the neuroscience program.

I've also looked over entrance requirements for different colleges and I'm not sure where I'm supposed to have the time to take so many other required courses in addition to the courses required for my actual major. No surprise that a significant amount of premeds are biology majors--overlapping courses helps a great deal.

Right now, things are looking

( like this )

Assuming my math is correct, all that adds up to thirty seven credit hours. Only hard-coded prerequisites are shown. Not included are the suggestions a la BSC2010: "In addition to biology, a background in chemistry is strongly recommended."

( I also need... )
Wow.

Sigh.

I'm not sure if I could do that in a year (summer and then fall/spring) or not; it'd be awful close. Probably looking at a year and another semester after that. I'm likely going to load up as much as I can this summer (goodbye life and sleep) so that I can get these chains started.

I guess that's what I get for waiting and not making a decision until so late. I have so much to do. What really, really sucks in my mind is that I could actually get my AA so much sooner if I went the normal psychology route and took all the bullshit "intro to blahblahblah" classes for the credits I needed.

I've spent most of the evening editing my novel.

I'm not sure why the word "novel" bugs me so much. But it does.

I've made some good progress. At least 100 pages, I think. Though I'm not cutting very much out at all, and that concerns me a bit. It's much too long.

The story is probably flawed. But I'm of the mind right now that it'd be too much work to fix it, and that my time would be better spent on the next one.

I'm thinking about it, and a lot of my other work, and I'm wondering if I want to even bother going through the hassle of trying to get any of it published. I'm tempted to just self-publish them, so that I can call them "finished" and have a final sort of thing to hold in my hands, and can then go on to the next project.

There doesn't seem much point in putting all that work into trying to find a home for so many pieces. But I suppose the big thing now would be to get my name out there, and not any sort of compensation.

I'm also tired of having goals and things I want to do and never doing them.

I am so craving some chocolate right now.

If I wasn't concerned about sleeping tonight, I might walk over to Starbucks and buy something.

Then again, that would be leaving the house (I'm in my pajamas) and spending money (I'm trying not to), and so maybe I wouldn't after all.

But mmm, chocolate.

I found this site a while back and bookmarked it; I meant to return to it but didn't until yesterday. I think it might be of interest to at least a few of you. The settings and such are what caught my eye.

One thing that's interesting is that, even though it's a movie project, they're doing it all with stills from a digital camera.

There's a journal and all that that talks about their project progress and such.

Looks neat.

Wombok Forest.

I’m likely going to do a database-driven “backend” web site for the clinic I’m volunteering for so that they can keep better track of the patients and statistics.

It’s sometimes frustrating that I can’t get away from computers. But I don’t really mind helping them out, since they could really use it and all the money they receive goes towards patient care.

The idea occured to me one night when I had to go through a stack of patient files and make hash marks on another paper to note how many were male, how many were female, Alachua county resident versus non-resident, veteran/non-veteran, prior history of substance abuse, and so on.

As I made my marks, I thought, “there’s gotta be a better way to do this.” Thus the idea of a database.

Which later reminded me of when I came across a discussion about personality types and a description of why programmers fit into the “smart-lazy” category: they’ll spend 24 hours straight writing and perfecting a script so that they never have to do the same 15-minute task by hand ever again.

sorchadek and kimatha: you two should read this book. I liked it, found it quite interesting, and think you two will, too.

This isn't likely to be a good review, but I figured it'd be better say something about it.

Basically, the author spent some time with the people of Quirishari, a community in Peru. He participated in some of the substance-induced hallucinogenic ceremonies of the shamans (ayahuasqueros) there. The things he saw and realized in the state stuck with him, and he began to ponder the meaning of the phrase when the ayahuasqueros told him that their knowledge came from the world/spirits/plants--knowledge that is scientifically verifiable, such as a poison some hunters use on their darts when they go monkey hunting. The compound produces a muscle-paralyzing effect when injected subcutaneously. It contains molecules known to the medical/scientific world to have said effect, and it also has no effect when taken orally. In other words, the odds of the hunters stumbling upon that knowledge by chance alone is very small.

And so on and so forth.

He then hunts for a unifying theory--a way to see both the scientific world and the world of the ayahuasqueros at the same time. Could they both be correct?

He discusses the nature of biology, particularly molecular biology and the double-helix shape of the DNA strand. The ayahuasqueros mentioned ladders/ropes that connect heaven and earth, and lo and behold, the DNA spiral is just like a ladder/rope. The author saw luminescent snakes during his hallucinations, which was not uncommon according to the ayahuasqueros. He then draws parallels between the shape of DNA and the idea of snakes in myth and artwork around the world.

The book deals with a really good mix of science, theories of reality/knowledge, anthropology/culture, shamanism, and so on.

Thought I'd point it out.

Haven't been able to read journals lately. Things've been busy and I've been tired.

I have a bunch of questions, but sometimes I'm not sure what the questions really are (this is one of those times).

Was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on academic research as it applies to me. The Behavioral Neuroscience / Neurobiological Sciences interdisciplinary major that I found (and mentioned before) is a research degree/program, requiring a senior thesis and so forth. I'd have to review faculty research interests and interview with various faculty to try and find a sponsor.

I'm interested in the program because of:

1) it's interdisciplinary nature; my interests span a lot of different areas, and this includes psychology and the biological sciences (though I might change my mind once I get elbow-deep in science classes).

2) it provides hands-on research experience, which is a big deal. One hold up that I have about a psychology major is my inability to much of anything with a only bachelor's in psychology (should I stop there). Whereas, if I have research experience/publication credit/whatever under my belt, I'd have options that wouldn't have existed otherwise. They might not be the most glamorous of options, but at least they'd be options.

3) doing something like this would give me an idea if higher research-based degrees would be in my own particular idiom or not.

Though I'm a little wary about the idea of academic research. I'm really not sure if it'd be for me or not, yet I know so little about it in the first place.

Since the program is meant to be entered at the junior level, I think that the best thing I could do right now is load up on my science courses while I read through faculty research interests and try to coalesce my interests into something well-defined and on paper. Once I do that, I think I'll be in a position to start emailing various people related to the programs. I feel that if I'd just babble on incoherently if I emailed them now.

I'd be very interested to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter.

An old woman and an old man walking hand-in-hand down the sidewalk on 43rd street.

Rain water hits a flange along the roof above each of my doors and then, instead of cruising along a gutter until it finds a down-pipe and then peacefully making its way to the ground, instead falls to the ground in a thick stream that spatters into the flowerbeds.

Not to say that I don't appreciate the little deflector things. My old apartment lacked both gutters and the little deflectors, and so I got soaked by a waterfall every time I passed through my door. I'd end up getter far more wet in that instant than in the whole rest of the dash from the car to the door.

Ahh, but the noise. It's rather annoying and disturbing to lay in bed and listen to what sounds like someone with a bladder the size of Texas peeing right outside my door.

Just when I thought I was about to catch up (meaning: having read every book I own; a state that I never seem to achieve). I have the book I started last night (The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge), and then two others waiting on The List: Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense by Suzette Haden Elgin and then Mavericks, Miracles, and Medicine.

But then, I was straightening up my kitchen counter while waiting on coffee and bagel and discovered another book: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, by David Sedaris. I was at the bookstore with weylyn42 a week or so ago, and saw it on the bargain table for $5. I haven't read anything by him before, nor heard any of his bits on NPR, but I know that at least a few of you have talked about and mentioned him (and went to see him when he came through), so I couldn't not get it.

I still want to finish Genetics For Dummies, as well. It was required for my physical anthropology class--but only chapters 1-8 or some such. So I at least want to finish the rest of the book.

Damn. I was so close to reading "everything".

I also read Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics in two sittings and finished it last night. It was fairly good and met my expectations. 150-some-odd pages is a quick read. A lot of food for thought in there, though.

Another thing that helped me read it faster was that, for once in I'm not sure how long, I didn't take notes as I read. Maybe it was because I was tired, maybe because it was a short book. I'm not sure.

Haven't been able to sleep very much lately. As such, I've been getting a lot of reading done.

I finished reading Vibrational Medicine a few days ago. It wasn't the "wow!" book I was hoping for, nor did it convince me about anything new or change my mind about anything.

It also seemed like he could have used a better editor. I had the feeling quite often that he was repeating information that didn't need to be repeated.