Gonna tie our love in a double knot 'cause these days love gets strained a lot

If you don't know how I feel about having a wedding, I'll tell you. I hate planning and I could never spend that amount of money on one day, when it'd make a great down payment on a house or paying for a year of my grad school or something that I find more useful.

That being said, I do think weddingstuff is very nice and pretty. When I stumbled upon this wedding gown, I ooohed and ahhed a lot.

I'm the kind of human wreckage that you love

They said they didn't want me...

Steve and I decided to donate blood during the Michigan-OSU Blood Battle a couple of weeks ago. On a Tuesday, we walked over to the Union only to be greeted with a 1.5 hour wait. So, we gave up and opted to return later. Lucky us: Thursday meant the phlebotomists would be at the freshmen dorms next to SPH.

I finished class and we headed over there only to be greeted by the long wait again. But, we were determined! We filled out our forms and waited in the grueling line. Finally, after about 30-45 minutes, we were allowed to enter into the prescreen with the nurses.

"How much do you weigh?" I passed that one! Then, she pricked my finger. Apparently my blood didn't intend on traveling the length of the tubule. She asked if I had ever been anemic, as she proceeded to test my blood in the spinny-thinger to ensure that my specimen was lame. The result: low hematocrit count! She suggested I beef up my iron and come back again some other time. It wasn't so low to be shocking to me; but just low enough that the Red Cross didn't want me.

So, I sat in a corner and waited for Steve, who was still talking to the nurse. Afer about 5-10 minutes, he warily walked toward me and said he couldn't give blood either... Turns out that when you accidentally have a needle stuck in you after it had entered into someone else, they don't want you either! Guess being a med student has its downfalls. Actually, most of being a med student sounds not-so-great to me: no sleep, constant pressure, needles being thrown into you by your patients...

Questions of science, science and progress do not speak as loud as my heart...

People in Michigan really seem to love Coldplay. Every time I turn on the radio, I manage to hear some Coldplay. "I came along, I wrote a song for you and all the things you do, and it was called 'Yellow...'" I'm almost positive that I could choose a rap or jazz station and they would somehow integrate Coldplay into their listening.

So, I'm studying at this place on North Campus called Pierpont Commons. It's basically just a student union with a lot of really comfortable areas for studying, grabbing a bite to eat, shooting some pool, etc. I found a great spot near a guy who is such an incredible pianist that I conclude he must be a music student. Really... his fingers are flying up and down the grand piano nearby.

He started out with some Beethoven, then moved to a Chopin-era composition and ... wow. Beautiful. I couldn't have asked for better study music. So, after he finished his second extraordinary classical work, he pauses for a few seconds.... and begins playing music from Coldplay's album A Rush of Blood to the Head. He's still at it. At least he's playing "The Scientist," which always reminds me of Byrneebie, and a little bit of Moniqua.

So, now I'm singing along in my head, which isn't nearly as great for this whole "study" thing.

Ann Arbor really is beautiful.

'Cause nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain

I've been lax on my blogging lately. Many apologies.

So, it's coming up on mid-November, which means Thanksgiving holidays and my first trip home to Minnesota since August. I'm looking forward to the visit, despite its brevity. It'll be nice to see the cousins and parents, and hopefully some of the friends (if they stay in town).

I'm already gearing up for Christmas break. I found a place for Charlie to stay during my time home. He won't be happy, but it's only for two weeks, so he'll just have to deal with being locked up in a cage with other kitties surrounding him. I'm also pretty excited about the ORF pub crawl in December. I sorta miss my ultimate buddies! A2 ultimate was fun, but it just wasn't ORF!

Speaking of frisbee, Steve, Katie B and I are signing up for the late-fall league together. It'll be cold, but lots of fun to play with them. So, that starts this week and goes to Dec 19. And, yes, we play outside! I haven't decided whether or not to play winter league.

We're playing broomball through intermural sports. It's really a lot of ridiculous fun. I had to buy my own helmet though, because none of the helmets there fit my tiny head. We have yet to win a game, though if the other SPH team was sans Evan we totally would have owned them. I managed to knock Angela's broom out of her hand and send her flying accidentally last game, and I totally tried to get in Evan's way but... he just knows where to be! Whatever, it's a great time. So great that we're going to play the winter league.

SPH Case Fatality
Sarah, Steve, Andy, Josh
Mallory, Kellie, Sam, Alicia, Emily, Krishna




Last week, I had my second pathophys test of the semester. I don't think it went as well as I had hoped, mostly because I have no chemistry background so when I was answering the questions on metabolic acidosis/alkalosis, I couldn't remember exactly what happened in the kidneys. Oops! My memory tends to fail me frequently.

To celebrate finishing my pathophys test, as well as getting my final paper outline in for my genetics course, I drank myself stupid on Saturday night. (Maybe I should have put a warning before this paragraph for my mother...) Kellie and I each brought a bottle of wine with us over to Mark's house and finished them off. We were doing cartwheels outside. Turns out that the urban planning people really like us SPHers... because they're predominantly male and we're all female. I guess we've all got to branch out, and it takes a house like Mark's in order to do so.

Friday night, I went to my first hockey game ever! Well, aside from high school hockey.... Surprising, since I'm a Minnesotan. But, I never went to Stars games or Wild games, nor had I made it to a Gopher hockey game. So... we went. A big group of us. It was a blast! I was glad Sarah was there to tell me what was going on with the penalties. Also, I had just re-watched The Mighty Ducks about a week previous to the game, so my hockey knowledge was fresh.

So, grad school is still great, though they keep trying to stress me out. I look at my friends around me during test time and am really glad I am who I am... it takes a lot more than a silly examination to cause sleeplessness and unease! Take that, grad school!

I'll try to be a better blogger from now on. I must keep my few readers interested and coming back for more.

Parting Shot: Grad night out at Connor O'Neill's
Alicia, Kellie, Ali, Steve

Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be

We had a lecture on male reproduction and related disease in our pathophysiology course a couple of weeks ago. One thing we learned about was erectile dysfunction, since it's such a fad lately, and has numerous etiologies.

One of the things the lecturer pointed out was that certain drugs, like antidepressants and antihypertensives can cause ED. Then she mentioned that a lot of men refuse to take their medicines because of the effects it has on their sexual lives.

Just more proof that, to men, sex is life. Because we all know that most women, given the choice, would rather take their medications and get more accomplished, live to see their kids grow up, whatnot.

So cradle your head in your hands and breathe.

If you can do nothing else, just breathe and be where you are right now. It is one moment before the next, one foot forward before the other, and each breath in its fullest -- in and out.