ready, set, don't go

fair warning: i will probably start to cry halfway through this post.
there haven't been any new posts lately because 1) i got deathly ill last tuesday (pretty sure it was west nile virus) and then 2) we have been running around like crazy trying to get things packed for georgia.
we rented a pod to put the majority of my world possessions in and my shoes are now on the trek across the country. i will be seeing them again in a little over a week.
i leave on sunday morning so this week is filled with a lot of last minute plans with friends and sad goodbyes. the first was today when i said goodbye to cody. my last words to him: don't kill anyone and don't get killed. his last words to me: you suck. i say that this exchange pretty much sums up our relationship though he says it doesn't. i'm going to miss everyone at the pharmacy like mad. i really feel like i have been adopted into this really weird but awesome family. i don't think they'll ever understand how much i appreciate them.
the hardest goodbyes will be with my real family but luckily those will be put off for another 2 weeks. unfortunately, this means 2 weeks of anticipating saying goodbye which is almost as hard. especially when my mom will burst into tears at random moments. it would be funny how she pretends to be irritated with me only to breakdown crying if it wasn't so sad and heartbreaking. it will be hard for a little while not to have my mom hovering over me and protecting me like she's always done but it will be good for me, i know.
aaaaaand here come the tears. luckily i've just about said everything i've wanted to say. the title of this blog post comes from a billy ray cyrus song (yes, i do realize it's BILLY RAY but it actually is an amazing song that makes me cry every time i hear it). anyway, i'll share it so all of you can cry, too. then i won't feel so lame.

penguileon (with pictures!)

roads

once again, very late post, although i DID take the picture on time for photo theme thursday. the theme was "roads" so i took a picture of the street i grew up on and the view i have lived with my entire life. the same street and view i will be leaving in less than a month. it's crazy that now i'm counting down by weeks instead of months. i remember when i was counting the years until i turned 18 and went to college. i am trying to make the most of these last few weeks while trying to finish up getting everything ready so forgive me if my posts are short or even non-existent.
the other day at work, i was helping cody compound and we started talking about random things (like we always do). our topic was global warming. i think global warming is a terrible thing and we need to stop polluting our planet but the scientist in me is kind of excited to see what evolutionary changes the climate will bring about. penguins, for example, will either need to evolve and adapt or die out. i think they'll have to learn to fly. cody thinks they'll have to be better at camouflage to make it in a world with more predators. and so, the penguileon was born.

penguileon: [peng-gwil-lee-uh n] noun - 
1. a hybrid bird species that displays a combination of characteristics from both the penguin and chameleon families. 
2. a unit of measure that is more than "a bucket load" but less than "a crap ton": He spent a penguileon on that bling.

fourth, photo, fiction

first things first, let's start off this post with a catch up from last week's photo theme thursday. part of the reason i put it off is also because i didn't have a good picture but i got one that i like tonight!

curved

i think this is the turtle firework that ended up getting flipped on its back.

i hope everyone had a safe and happy fourth of july. i had fun with my parents and sistah. there are more pictures and videos on my facebook page and also on my new google+ page (though i'm still trying to figure that out. side note: if you want an invite, send me your gmail address).

there is a tertiary reason for this post. i finished reading a pretty interesting book last week and thought i'd give it a little review.

blame

by Michelle Huneven

"Patsy MacLemoore, a twenty-eight-year-old history professor with a brand-new Ph.D. and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—yet again—after another epic alcoholic blackout. This time, though, a mother and daughter are dead, run over in Patsy's driveway. Patsy will the next decades of her life atoning for this unpardonable act. She goes to prison, sobers up, marries a much older man she meets in AA, and makes ongoing amends to her victims' family. Then, another piece of news turns up, casting her crime, and her life, in a different and unexpected light. Brilliant, morally complex, and often funny, Blame is a breathtaking story of contrition and what it takes to rebuild a life from the bottom up."

i wasn't really sure to think about this book when i first marked it "to-read." occasionally i do like to read something a little heavier, a little tragic (last year it was The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty) but alcoholism is a tough subject for me to read about or discuss without getting emotionally involved. i saw it at borders during their "going out of business" sale and got it for a bargain.

the first couple of chapters confused the heck out of me. first, i didn't realize that the point of view had changed from the girl, Joey, to the woman who Joey had met briefly, Patsy. second, it takes a little while to get used to Huneven's writing style. she doesn't use quotes or really any conventional markers when her characters speak. at the same time, though, once i got into the groove of things, i found i liked this style better. it allowed the words to flow more smoothly; it made the dialogue feel more natural.

after the first few chapters, i kept waiting for a BIG DRAMATIC MOMENT. guess what? it doesn't ever really come. you can tell what the "big surprise" basically is from the first of the book and it presents itself slowly. it doesn't slam into your face.

it wasn't until after i had finished the second to the last chapter that i understood what Blame was really about. it's not about an alcoholic, a drunk driver, a murdered family torn apart, it's none of those things that it appears to be on the outside. instead, it's really just a book about handling whatever life throws at us and about taking responsibility for our own actions. i think that's why i really liked this book in the end. it's not that it has some big happy ending - it's that patsy always takes responsibility for what she has done and learns from her past mistakes. she doesn't spend her time feeling sorry for herself or blaming others, although it is hard for her not to do so at times. it's also about learning to forgive ourselves and accept our own imperfections. every past experience has brought us to where we are today and we have the ability to change where we are in the future by the choices we make now. pardon the cliche, but it's not the destination that matters, it's the journey that gets you there. this life is all about learning and living to our fullest extent and i think patsy shows us how to do just that marvelously.

photo theme thur.....oh forget it

sorry, you people will have to deal without a blog post for a couple days while i recuperate from my nightmarish week.
in the meantime, this can entertain you:

photo theme thursday: wooden

wooden

yep, you got it. this thursday's theme is wooden. the above are my first real pair of high heels. i got them for 9th grade promotion, at which i was the valedictorian.  they're still my favorite pair of shoes to this day and they've had to be repaired multiple times because i've worn them so often.  in case you're still wondering how this fits with the "wooden" theme, it's because the soles are wooden.  they make an awesome clacking sound when you walk in them - not the horse kind of clacking sound but a "there's a girl coming down the hall in some hot shoes" kind of clacking sound.

anyway, i've been busy working all week.  it's been kind of crazy at the pharmacy with all the boys gone for a week but it's been fun to just have the girls again!  we get to have conversations that we could never have when the boys are around.  today, for instance, we talked about cervixes.  cervices?  whatever.  (not as weird as it sounds when you know that two of the girls are pregnant)

tonight i used my $14 for $7 groupon to gourmandise with my bcff (best chemistry friend forever; she's probably dying that i called her that considering that she's a biologist and really didn't like chemistry all that much), heather.  she and i took quant analysis together in the summer and were lab partners.  our project was about the amount of estrogens found in effluent waste water and tap water throughout the salt lake valley.  good news: no measurable amounts of estrogen found in tap water.  bad news: high levels of estrogen in waste water.  why does that matter?  i'll tell you why.  we're turning our male fish into girls!  and when there are only girl fish, there are no baby fish being made.  when there are no baby fish, soon there are no adult fish.  no adult fish, no birds that eat the adult fish, and so on.  second bit of good news: this CAN be reversible with proper water treatment.  anyway, you can read the entire report (references included) if you want.  i think it's pretty awesome.  that project is also what solidified my decision to go into research.  it made me realize that 1) i'm not completely incompetent when it comes to working in a lab and 2) there are other types of chemistry besides organic (le gasp!).

finally, i thought i would mention that the U of U Pharmacy Cup and Champagne Brunch is coming up, in case anyone has a spare $150 sitting around that they'd like to put to (semi) good use.

photo theme thursday: liquid

liquid

it's time for another round of photo theme thursday! this time our photo is about "liquid." the above picture was taken at huntington beach in long beach, california. some of my best friends and i went there in 2007 on spring break. it was one of the best times of my life and i am so glad that i went, even if it could get a little scary at times. i would go on another trip with my ACCESS girls in a heartbeat. the five of us that went on this trip are still really close.

this week has been quiet. i had a phone advisory session this morning with the associate dean of student affairs for UGA college of pharmacy. i'm all registered for my fall classes! i'm getting pretty excited now.

other than that, not much has happened. i got my grade back on my anthropology midterm and it was decent, 10 points above average. i have another assignment due monday morning and then my next midterm in a couple of weeks.

i should probably stop procrastinating now and actually clean up my room. it's kind of scary looking. plus i have presents to wrap! i've had 4 friends that have had birthdays recently, plus father's day is coming up! i'll tell you what i got my pops after sunday. fyi, it's pretty awesome. maybe i'll make some cookies tonight, too, like i've been trying to do for the past 4 months.

phd: the movie

two posts in one day?
please don't die of shock.
i just had to share this.  my favorite comic EVER (that i have actually linked to a few times on here) is being made into a movie.  fingers crossed that a screening will come to UGA!

PHD Movie Trailer from PHD Comics on Vimeo.