Day 9+10

Okies so I really did go to class yesterday and today but I was busy and didn't blog it.

I find that even without blogging I am continue going to class, which is the whole purpose of the blog. I have a paper due tomorrow in BIOL0190H which I havent actually started writing but I have gathered all of the information so hopefully it wont take very long to write. I am also turning it in to the writing fellows so I dont feel incredibly pressed on time.

This week I am super busy because I got this temp job as a telephone survey interviewer + paper so my posts will be much shorter.

Day 8

Went to bed last night around 10PM so I woke up naturally around 8AM which was crazzyyyyyyy. I dont know what time I will be going to bed tonight but hopefully I will be able to maintain a semi-normal sleeping schedule this weekend. The bank closes tomorrow around 12PM and hopefully I will wake up before 11AM at least...

ANTH1020: AIDS in Global Perspective
So today in class I went up to the prof to talk to her about our upcoming assignment. Since I woke up early today I went to breakfast and ran into my friend Kevin so my morning voice was gone by the time I went to class. Instead of doing a book review on the assigned Sizwe's Test, which I have already read for another class, the teacher recommended that I do a book called 'When Bodies Remember'. I was able to find a copy of it online through the elibrary so I dont even need to go out and buy it ^_^. We watched a movie today in class called 'A Closer Walk'. It was a pretty damn depressing way to start off your day. It basically showed picture after picture of the devastating state of the world and how AIDS has used that to cause mass infections and death.

ANTH1322: Human Rights, Social Justice, and Humanitarian Intervention: The Anthropology of Global Aid
Because this class got so large, we had to move classrooms to give everyone a seat. I am glad that I didnt have Plants, Food and People, which would never occur under regular circumstances, but now I know that I have to sit in the very last row closest to door so that I wont be incredibly late (because I still will be late no matter what) to PFP. Today we talked about the media's role in the portrayal of disasters (natural and man-made) and its influence on how we see them and humanitarian aid as well. We also talked about Haiti and its current media coverage. The prof over enunciates the word Haiti to where it is like "Hay-tttee" which is kind of weird. She can also sound like a valley girl. So far it hasnt gotten that annoying.

Things to do this weekend:
-go to the bank
-go to the mail room
-research soybeans
-read for classes
-memorize all 20 amino acids

Day 7

Woke up at 9:22, hit snooze three times got out of bed at 9:49. I've said it before but those first 30 minutes of the day sucks because i just want to go back to sleep.

BIOL0280: Introductory Biochemistry
Today's class was all about hemoglobin. I did about half the reading for this lecture and I have found the lectures to be much more interesting than reading the book. Hopefully I will soon have all the reading done before classes because then the lectures would be even more helpful. The clicker question was pretty misleading today because the two best option were both pretty close to being right. 3/3 clicker questions ^_^

Day 6

Woke up at 9:12, hit snooze twice times, got out of bed at 9:35.

ANTH1020: AIDS in Global Perspective
Not much happened today in class that is noteworthy. We went over the epidemiology/paradigm of AIDS, funding and activism. I left my red glitten in List and I didnt notice until it was too late :( I guess I will have to buy new ones or maybe they will still be there when I go back but I am relatively upset because they were a gift.

ANTH1322: Human Rights, Social Justice, and Humanitarian Intervention: The Anthropology of Global Aid
I participated in the class today. The prof showed pictures of the lazarus effect regarding AIDS and ARV's, with before and after pictures. One things I have noticed about non-science lecture classes is that people LOVEEEEEE to hear themselves talk. When I made a comment on the picture all I said was "She is looking upwards, towards something, religious like". Now, that may seem like a very brisk/undetailed observation but it gets to the point. I mean I enjoy hearing myself too, why else would I be writing this blog (other than to keep me going to class). This class today overlapped with my other anthro class and it probably will alot in the future to because AIDS is such a predominant focus for humanitarian intervention.

BIOL0190H:Plants, Food, and People
ohhh Heywood ^_^ I am beginning to enjoy this class more and more as I go. Its one of those classes where I don't keep looking at the clock which is refreshing (not that there is a clock to look at in the room anyways). We went over the essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals today. We also talked about the different levels of hunger. When we were talking to individual hunger, one example for this was alcoholism. Hey wood said that drinking sometihng like beer and "having a belly full of beer is a nice feeling actually. Back in my youth...well...never mind". I chuckled. This class definitely makes me feel good about my biology/chemistry knowledge though because he simplifies alot of it. The only thing that sucks is that I have a paper due to the writing fellows next wednesday :(

It has been one week and I havent missed any classes!!! I have also kept a relatively sleeping schedule!! I would ideally like to get more sleep than the 7-8 hours I get now but that would mean I would have to be in bed by at least midnight which I think would be incredibly challenging.

Day 5

Woke up at 9:22...hit the snooze three times...got out of bed at 9:49. I took a nap today, with actual sleep around 4:30-5:30. Ugh we will see how waking up tomorrow goes. Really the biggest obstacle for me is those first 30 minutes when I wake and I try to convince myself that I don't need to go to class. Luckily today's class was Biochem where my grade depends on my attendance...well i guess all of my classes have attendance as part of my grade, which is a good thing cuz then I will acutally go

BIOL0280: Introductory Biochemistry
Today we had Prof Jogl (pronounced Yo-Gull) teach today. He has a sweet german/austrian (?) accent but I thoroughly enjoy it. I got the clicker question today right which was pretty awesome (thanks to the random girl i worked with who sat next to me). We talked about the different levels of protein structure today. Must memorize all 20 amino acids. I am basically on top of all of my reading for classes except this class. The book is extremely dense and pretty damn boring.

Day 4

Woke up at 9:12...hit the snooze twice...got out of bed at 9:30

ANTH1020: Aids in Global Perspective

I realize the more and more I go to this class, the more and more the Professor reminds me of Mrs. Depew. She is a cross between Mrs Depew and the SNL character who gets really excited about surprise parties. We looked at HIV statistics today in class from 2007 put out by UNAIDS. A lot of the lecture was a review of the assigned reading(which I totally did, yay me).

ANTH1322: Human Rights, Social Justice, Humanitarian Intervention: The Anthropology of Global Aid

This class is still way too crowded for my liking :( I doubt people will drop it though because this class is exactly what most Brown students are interested in. Today we talked about cultural relativism in the context of universal human rights. I think that a lot of the rights listed in the UDHR has a large bias towards western philosophies (like the right to privacy) but I think that there are some that are relevant (no one should be subjected to torture, cruel, inhumane, or degrading punishment) that should factor in cultural norms (because torture,cruel, inhuman and degrading could be considered relative).

BIOL0190H: Plants, Food and People

Ohhhhh Heywood ^_^ >

Went to an AWESOME lecture today from Arthur Kleinman. Incredibly thought provoking in the way that we as a society view, teach and practice medicine. I found his Q&A session more enjoyable than his lecture, though equally compelling. I agree with his view on the larger role caregiving should have in American medicine. I thought his call for us to be either heroes or antiheroes. We can either change the world on a large scale (hero) or we can go the traditional route in a nontraditional way, to go against the grain. Overall a great talk.

I have been trying to keep up with my reading but I am already falling behind, especially for readings on the reserves.

Day 3

Whooooo day 3

Woke up today at 9:12, hit the snooze twice and got out of bed at 9:30. I have been trying to go to bed at least by 1:00 AM. Its been 3 days and I dont know how long I will be able to keep up having such a regular sleeping schedule.

ANTH1020: AIDS in Global Perspective

We didnt do anything in class today except go over the syllabus again, but in more depth. After class I went up to the professor to ask her if she put the textbook on reserve, except what came out was my morning voice. My morning voice sounds like death.

ANTH1322:Human Rights, Social Justice, Humanitarian Intervention: The Anthropology of Global Aid

We went over the syllabus again in this class too but we also started on the course material. We just went over definitions and the two main different point of views regarding humanitarianism. My wonderful friend Mathew Corgikeeper Friffin is also taking the course with me too so it should fun ^_^

Day 2

Woke up at 9:22, hit the snooze twice and got out of bed at 9:40 to shower. I find my hair takes longer to dry since its shorter.

BIOL0280: Introductory Biochemistry

Today was the first class for biochem with Prof Salomon and I enjoyed it very much. Not so much the material (which so far isn't bad because its an orgo/bio review) but for other reasons. First this professor is hilariousss. I recall him dancing when he said that we can download lectures onto our itunes. Also when describing the modern methods of finding an amino acid sequence of a protein, you "put it into a mass spec and give it an upper cut" with accompanying upper cut movements (twice). He enjoys saying "let it rip" when someone asks him a question. He also described leucine as quote, "leucine, valine on steroids" which made me chuckle. There are a TON of resources online for this class which is AWESOME and kinda excited to look through and use. I will have to read ahead for this class though since we have clicker quizzes which I will be pissed about if it brings down my grade. The material doesnt seem too bad so far but it will def get worse. Must work.

I decided not to take Pop, Politics and Patrician: Culture in Japan and the Koreas because I really enjoyed my classes yesterday and I have to take biochem as a required class soooo Tuesdays and Thursday will just have biochem summaries but I think there is enough ridiculousness in the class to fill it up.

First Day of Classes

Like the post title says, classes officially started today.

I woke up at 9AM today, hit the snooze twice, and got out of bed at 9:22. Not bad...

ANTH1020: AIDS in Global Perspective

First class was in List110 with Professor Abigail Harrison, not Professor Symond. When I walked into the classroom I was expecting to see Professor Symond but instead there was a Mrs Depew look-a-like standing at the podium. She kind of freaked me out with the whole "not everyone in this class will be getting an A" so I guess I will have to put in super extra effort into this class.

ANTH1322: Human Rights, Social Justice, and Humanitarian Intervention: The Anthropology of Global Aid

Long title...I am going to work remembering the whole title but it will be a challenge. This class seems really really interesting and I can't wait for it to really begin. I think humanitarianism is very important but there are always unforeseen negative consequences to it.

BIOL0190H: Plants, Food, and People

This class I was shopping and I think I am going to keep it. I think its a perfect mix of biology and environmentalism. I think Professor Heywood absolutely delightful. He can be a little awkward at times (but always endearing) and has an awesome British accent. My favorite part of the lecture was when he said that the expansion of maize farming in Africa increasing malaria "blew my socks off".

I dont expect anyone to read my whole entire blog because its just my trivial ramblings about my day (but then again so are most blogs) and I am only keeping this to help me to keep going to classes(and not gonna lie, kinda like talking to myself about myself).

my friend Mathew Griffin is WONDERFUL

My dear friend Mathew Corgikeeper Friffin asked me what my new years resolution was and I replied that I wanted to go to every single class next semester. We are going to help each other this year keep our new years resolutions ^_^

I did an incredibly poor job of going to class last spring semester but this past fall semester was absolutely horrific. Besides the classes that took attendance, I went to my classes about a handful of times. My current truancy problem is not only affecting me academically but it is also affecting my happiness. My apathy is getting to a breaking point and I want to change it. So, I am planning on blogging about each of my classes everyday and writing about what I learned/random observations/interesting occurrences. I will probably blog about my other responsibilities just to keep on task. Hopefully this blog with get me re-motivated and reorganized for the new semester.

Mathew said I should choose a reward for myself to help me stick to my new years resolution but I had a hard time choosing one. I don't like spending money and there is nothing that I really want to buy right now. I've decided that if I go to class for a whole month then we will go out to eat at a restaurant because the only time I like spending money is on food and friends. We agreed to meet for coffee every morning before biochemistry to help keep me (and him too) going to class.

Let's hope this works.

Class doesn't start until January 27th so until then, I will blog about working on my concentration declaration essays and summer internship search.