A Spooky Day.

So that all may know that I am alive and well--I am posting a new entry...(as if there was any doubt!)

I don't have anything of much interest to post, I will soon be leaving for my kadaver lab--from there I will venture over to my physiology midterm where I will hold my breath until it's over (don't hold me to that). Five hours till that is all over...

Normally, I burn out easily--struggling with insomnia as my mind races in circles the night before exams due to cramming too much information into my head in too little time. The keyword in that almost run on sentence is, "normally". There is a certain someone that has put my mind at ease these last couple of days--making it very easy for me to keep on studying and not burn out!

Q: What do you get when you cross a vampire with a snowman?
A: Frost bite!

Even though I am not celebrating Halloween--I'd like to wish you all a Happy Halloween with whatever your plans may be! Keep on smiling--always.

Quest For The Holy Grail.

Note to Self: After a night like last night (staying up till 2:30am writing an essay) and a morning like today (waking up a good few hours before I normally get up to proof read the mess I wrote in the wee hours of the morning), I really should learn to not leave both my reading, and my essay to the night before it's due. Even now that I have come to this realization, I am willing to bet a week from now I will be in the same state of mind as I will have written my essay due next week Thursday--in the wee hours of the morning that very day.

Mission Completed...

Today, I continued my search for what I hope will be the perfect present (for the most perfect person!). My journey in finding the 'grail' ended tonight after a week of searching endlessly the streets of this very city. I was actually almost ready to give up--convinced that what I was looking for was truly going to be next to impossible to find (as I was told by a storeowner). But alas, I am persistant (most people would just call me stubborn) and surely, I wasn't going to give up until I knew that I had tried everything I knew. So tonight, Ryan and I ventured to many stores (too many to count) and with each store came a sense of ever growing disappointment as we found things rather close to what I wanted, but always missing one detail. I'm sure at this point my facial expressions began to reflect a feeling of defeat...but wait--what's this? We see one last store and as we enter, Ryan jumps excitedly as he spots (to the very detail) what I wanted to find. Impossible is nothing.

Here are some pictures that were taken tonight--kind of random, but aren't I always?

Visit With Friends.

Today was a positively stupendous day as I got to spend time with my friend Rachelle that I've known now for almost nine years (I just counted it out in my head and wow--I didn't realize it had been that long...). Despite the fact that our trip to the mall was ruined by a creepy elder man who was (as he said) wanting to get us a hotel room, our time together was still amazing. I am really too tired (seeing as it is 1:30am) to write much about my day--but as promised to Rachelle and Matt, I will post pictures from today!

Go Bears Go!

There I was, leaving the Telus building getting ready to bike across campus when I noticed this weeks copy of the Gateway proudly displayed in the lobby. As I was skimming through songs on my IPOD, I casually picked one up and to my surprise--I saw my friends face on the front of the sports section. I must admit, this definetly caught me off guard. I would like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to Tom, for he led the Bears to a straight set win over the BYU Cougars with eleven kills--a victory that was applauded as he came into Physiology today. Congratulations friend!

Let It Snow.

I can't say that I have much to write--I just sit here in a daze at my computer staring at the screen as I feel my eyes start to close in my exhaustion. I look at all that I have planned for the day and realize I may not make it through without taking a nap!

The Plan:
- In an hour, I have my Anatomy Kadaver lab--today we start the Lower Appendicular. I can't wait to study the knee joint as it will have applied to my injury this summer, it will be quite amazing to see!
- In three and a half hours I have my Physiology class where I will see what I've missed in the last, hmm, three classes?
- In five hours I'll be done my classes for the day in which I will come home to enjoy a nap.
- In an undefined amount of hours, I will begin shopping for something I am not even sure if I can find. It will indeed be an adventure.

Note: Rachelle comes into town soon! I am honestly so excited to see her tomorrow--the plan is (thus far) to pick her up after my classes from the hotel she has her meetings at. Exactly what we are doing is unknown at present time, but as we know, there is never a dull moment when the two of us are together!

On another note, seeing as I nearly bailed on my run this morning for the whole world (and by the whole world, I mean those on campus) to see, I have decided that it has come to the point in the season where it is necessary for me to change my bike tires to the snow ones I made last year.

Only 2-3 sleeps left...

I Love God.

I have found that that truly the most wonderful of days are spent in the company of those we love. For me, my most wonderful day began this morning with the one I love most as we enjoyed a breakfast together before I adventured out into the snow ridden highways in order to get home on time for my lectures today. The day continued on and despite how exhausted I was, I didn't stop smiling--probably not even for a moment. Between the most wonderful text messages, shopping for a certain someone, going to church with amazing friends and praying with the pastor for things in my life--I would have to say, today was indeed a remarkable day.

A Day In Pictures:


Martini and I at the church door (afterall, she is the greeter!)


Myself with one of my most amazing girls I know, Martine!


This is what happens when you keep on driving here in the North--you hit a dead end as the city just comes to an abrupt end. This is seriously the furthest North I have ever been--kind of cool, eh?

Troubles Sleeping.

I would take a bullet for you, I would cross any line--I'd swim across the sea. I would take a bullet for you...I would lose it all--I'd take my fall, to show you it's for real.
~"Bullet" Mat Kearney~

"This kind of certainty comes, but once in a lifetime." ~Bridges of Madison County

This morning I set a personal best record as I sped from home from visiting my family this weekend. A trip that has normally taken me two hours and fifteen minutes at best (a three hour trip to those who obey speed limits), took me exactly two hours this morning. As I hit the city limits I realized that my hopes of rationalizing not going to class this morning (due to exhaustion from the weekend) with the fact that I didn't make it into town in time--wasn't going to happen. I barely had time to park, run inside (without taking my bags out of the car), lock up Holly, throw together a school bag and get my bike out of the garage--thankfully, my prof was late this morning which gave the appearance that my fashionably late entrance was ontime.

Despite being tired and classes giving the facade of being longer in duration today, I did actually manage to pay attention for the whole class time in all my lectures today. You know what is even more amazing? The fact that I understood what was going on in Biochemistry without having to reread the notes or look at the textbook. Amazing...

Thought: Maybe I should attend class physically and mentally exhausted more often--perhaps I'm a better student when I'm drained. Go figure. Speaking of 'smarts', I am reminded of a ridiculous article we had to read for sociology that linked obesity to low IQ. The topic alone makes you question the governments ability to select which studies should and shouldn't be funded.

Well, as much as I'd love to stay here and chat--my workload doesn't seem to be getting any lighter so I must bid thee adieu. Keep on smiling...

Learn to Fly.

It's times like these we learn to love again...

Alas, here I am on this brisk fall day about to finish off my midterms with a double header today. I woke up early in order to be productive and give myself a sense of confidence before my exams. Despite how much I usually dislike mornings, I got up easily this morning for I felt great. I walked out of my room into the living room and talked briefly to Nick before he left for class. I then enjoyed an hour run through the river valley, a nice shower and a cup of tea! Which brings me to here, quickly posting in my blog before I go to cram again. In six hours I will be handing in my second midterm of the day and letting out a huge sigh of relief--I will hop on my bike, come home, throw my stuff in the car and begin the journey home for the weekend.

I am so excited.--no more sleeps left.

Without A Sound.

Today's 'Smooth' Move:

So there I was this afternoon, walking up six flights of stairs with a couple friends to study at the Rutherford Library on campus. We finally reached a floor that had not been deemed a 'quiet floor' (for as we know--we're anything but quiet) and as we looked around the room, we spotted a padded, wheelie chair (much like a chair you'd find in an office). Of course, the three of us looked at each other and began the dash across the library to this chair. In a last moment act of desperation against track star Kyle, I leaped three or four feet into the chair--you'd think of all places to be klutzy, this is where it would have happened. But no--I made the jump and sat in the chair with a smug look on my face. I leaned proudly onto the arm of the chair to find out the arm was broken--the moment my elbow made contact, the arm flipped over and off the chair I went. At this point, I lay on the library floor giggling while Kyle leaned up against the wall laughing and Katrina just smiled and shook her head. It's a good thing we didn't go to a quiet floor...

Today's Highlight:

Not only seeing, but taking part in a research lab as my friend showed me around her work that she is basing her masters thesis on. As I looked around the room, I'm sure my face just lit up with excitement--in one spot of the lab I found a $250,000 'dummy' named Charlie (for it can be both genders) that is used to simulate rare medical conditions to give medical students a hands on experience at rare diseases that they wouldn't see in a hospital. I then got to use all these amazing resources as study tools for my exams. As dorky as this sounds, this amazing experience is right up there with my anatomy lab--by far two of the coolest things I've ever done.

Now...
I am taking a break for the tedious hours upon hours of studying I have undergone to enjoy a French Vanilla Coffee and listen to my music. As I sit here, I am making a mental note to burn some CD's with my new music for tomorrows drive back home.

Alas, I am going to take the last few sips of my coffee and go back to memorizing the origin, insertion, action and innervation of all the muscles of the pectoral girdle, forearm, instrinic and extrinsic muscles of the hand. Afterwords (if I can possibly cram over a hundred and fifty names of muscles, bones, landmarks, tendons, ligaments etc...) I will sit back, put up my feet and begin the reading that I was supposed to do over the last month for sociology (for that is exam number two tomorrow).

Let the fun begin...

Other Light.

This morning I was rudely awoken by the telephone. Now normally I'd ignore the phone ringing and go back to sleep--but this morning, I had my hopes up that it would be someone I'd actually want to talk to. So I rolled over, reached out of bed, picked the phone up off the floor and in a groggy voice answered, "Hello?". There was a moments pause in which I waited anxiously to see who it was--sadly, after the moments pause I found it a solicitor taking a survey on how Canadians feel about same sex marriage. At this point (after hanging up), I found myself giggling in bed for I couldn't help but remember the line from the new Robin Williams movie..."Same sex marriage?! Anybody who has been married a long time knows its the same sex!"

I drug my tired bum out of bed to find my roommates in the kitchen making breakfast--we chatted a bit as I found we were out of bowls for cereal (at this point I did the obvious thing and turned on the dishwasher). I looked around and pulled out a mixing bowl (probably three times of the size of the bowl that I originally wanted) and poured in my Cheerios. I then went to sit at my computer and do the usual--check the email, and the various different sites I have online. Personally, I have found that I have too many of them between myspace, nexopia and facebook. The majority of my friends are on facebook, (I think 70ish or so) so it would make sense to keep that one although I use it the least of all three. Decisions, decisions...

After writing back to messages and emails, I of course check my friends blogs and then my own--alas, here I am. Not too interesting really. My plan for the day? Simple. Study until I find that my head hurts so much that it can't hold another word, read until my eyes start to blur the readings together--basically cram as much as I physically can. I have two exams left and I want to finish well. Apart from studying, I need to go pick up my laptop and somewhere in between I am going to go for a run to burn some steam.

Best of luck to everyone--especially my engineering friends who have yet to even start their midterms! The stress has only yet begun...

One more sleep...

J + A.

Bible Verse of the Day:
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him--and He shall direct your paths." ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Thought: Could I be any more blessed? I am just blown away by the God's unconditional love--I see it in every wonderful blessing that He has given me in my life. I've never been happier.

Sidenote: My little puppy, Holly, turned one on the Thanksgiving long weekend. I was so excited about my baby's birthday that I got her a steak to enjoy on her special day! She's one year old! Cute!



Three midterms done, two to go...
I just finished writing my biochemistry midterm--when asked how it went, I merely just stare blankly ahead. It was one of those exams that either went magnificantly well or devistatingly horrible. Let's hope for the first of the two!

Anatomy Midterm: 39ish hours.
Sociology Midterm: 40ish hours.

Thanksgiving.

Out of everything God has blessed me with, out of all the things to be thankful for, out of all the reasons to smile each day--you're my favorite.

Anatomy Lab Midterm: 1 hour, 23 minutes.

All At Once.

Today's Highlights:
- Computer Science lab being cancelled this morning--so I didn't have to get up at 6am for the most boring three hour lab I've experienced.
- Campus Run for the Cure: 1:02:55--8th out of over six-hundred runners, not bad considering my knee injury recovery. I can't wait to compete in an actual marathon!
- Learning about innervation of the pectoral girdle and forearm in anatomy (I think it's my favorite topic so far!)
- Finding out that today's new topic in Biochemistry was a topic that I have covered in two of my other classes already. Consequently, just talking through the lecture with my friends for we couldn't manage to leave as we were situated in the middle of a row with twenty or so people to either side of us.

Now--I am contemplating if I have time in my schedule to volunteer in a program that I've always wanted to participate in, "Big Brothers and Sisters". Because today was the deadline for applications, I handed mine in today and was told I would be contacted for an interview but had no obligation to proceed if I found that I had not enough time to dedicate to the program.

One More Sleep...

Worth Listening To.

Newest Addition to Musical Library: The Fray--I can't seem to get enough of their new album, "How To Save a Life".

Today's Highlights:
- The sense of relief that came with handing in my integrative physiology midterm.
- Coffee at Tim Horton with two amazing friends.
- Falling asleep at a desk in my cadaver lab to have my lab partner pull the same trick on me that I pulled on her a week previous as she took the cadaver skeletal arm and tapped me to wake me up. I literally jumped right out of my seat...
- Going out for a drink at the pub with my lab partners--it was amusing to find that the combination of an empty stomach with a lack of any recent experience drinking can result in the effects of alcohol being felt after just one pint.
- Signing up to run 15km in Run for the Cure tomorrow--then having less than twenty four hours to fundraise. The result? $385 was raised by persisantly going door to door in my neighborhood. I think I'll wake up tomorrow morning before the run and continue my search for sponsers.
- Eating dinner on the kitchen floor with my roommate (when we have a perfectly good kitchen table).
- A goodnight phonecall.

Sigh of Relief.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky...

Was: Out for coffee with a couple friends on campus.
Currently: Rolling around on the floor chasing the puppy around the house while singing and dancing to the Red Hot Chili Peppers (there are certain things I will only do when I'm home alone!)
Near future: Working on a surprise for a certain someone.
Will be: Studying biochemistry and attending a study session for anatomy (in which I'll inevitably be fascinated by the wonders of the human body).
Excited about: Only two more sleeps.

The Hour Is Upon Us.

In the last twenty-four hours I dumped my dinner down the sink and laughed about it for the next twenty or so minutes, I've studied at least nine hours, I've hit my snooze button far more than I care to mention and I consumed a sugary cereal for the first time in about five years.

In the next hour I will head off to my anatomy lab where we will study the upper appendicular skeleton with specific reference to the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the hand. In the next three and a half hours I will be walking into a lecture theatre full of partially exhausted, partially wired on cafienne students who will bear through the next hour and a half of time to write an exam that accounts for more than thirty percent of their overall grade. In five hours, I will breathe a sigh of relief and smile as I hand in my midterm to exit the lecture theatre. In six hours I plan to be napping for in tenish hours I will be back on campus hitting the books at a study session for my anatomy lab.

Best of luck to everyone!

Two more sleeps...

Midterm Madness.

Update: 9:17pm

First Midterm: Integrative Physiology: Fifteen Hours and Thirteen Minutes.
Current Energy Level: Fading.
Solution: Desperate times call for desperate measures--Coca-Cola and Captain Crunch.

Five minutes ago--I was too close for comfort to my threshold for stress capacity. I came over to my computer at this point (partially to get a break from staring at my textbook) to print off practise problems posted online. As I opened my laptop screen--I caught glimpse of that smile on my background on my desktop. It was like magic--instantly I smiled as my stress seemed to fade away.

As I sit here now smiling--I realize it's time for round two. So I'll take my practise problems, head back to the table with my textbook and notes in hand.

Grade A Chef.

Note: Due to exhaustion, I just literally dumped my dinner that I cooked, down the sink. For starters, you'd think Linguini sounds pretty self explanatory. So there I was, in a daze while draining the pot into the sink and as I looked down, to my surprise not only is the water being drained--but the noodles too! As I stood there blankly staring at the sink laughing at my tired mistake, my roommate came up the stairs and rounded the corner in the kitchen to see me laughing and of course, to see my noodles in the kitchen sink. You can imagine the look he gave me when I explained what I did, and the laughter that resulted.

As for now, I am waiting for the pot of water to boil (the only reason I am spending/wasting time on my blog) so that I can eat and cram for my midterm tomorrow. I need an early night tonight, for if I stay up like last night--I can only imagine the stupid things I'd write on my exam tomorrow. If my future life and career didn't rest upon exams like these, I'd actually do an experiment to see how well I could fare on little sleep. But alas, it does so I shall behave and get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

I'm still laughing...

Forever and For Always.

I'm getting into you because you got to me-- in a way that words can't describe...

After tossing and turning in bed for an hour or so, I finally fell asleep last night at nearly three-thirty in the morning. It was just one of those nights where I kept running through my head everything I had to do--the more I thought about what I had to do, the more I found to do, the more I found to do--the more I just laid there thinking instead of sleeping! Alas, after an hour and a half of this, I realized that I needed to stop thinking and just get some sleep. I don't remember much after this, so I must have drifted away to sleep.

Note: Everyone keeps asking, "Can I post a comment on your blog even though I am not a blogspot user?" As I am sure most of you have realized, I have opened comments (as of a couple weeks ago) so that any 'joe blow' can leave a comment on a post. So if you did not know this--now you do! Feel free to leave comments.

Moving along...

Today, I have to head off to class in twenty-minutes (in that twenty-minutes I have to dress, do my hair and print off my notes). After my classes, I think I am going to bike down to Chapters to pick up Anatomy Flashcards as a studying resource for that midterm next week. After all that is said and done, I will return home to cram for now I have twnety-five hours and nineteen minutes exactly till my first midterm.

Best of luck to everyone with midterms and other overwhelming forms of schoolwork.

Keep on smiling...

Counting the Days.

Formal Apology: I do want to apologize to all my friends back home that wanted to see me and didn't. It was nothing to do with you individually, I didn't see any friends this weekend. So I do apologize, if you want me to get on my knees and beg for your forgiveness, that can be arranged. Haha.

Alas, I am 'home'. I place quotations around the word home because the lame, sappy me (that is always equiped with a good cliche) says that 'home is where the heart is.' As much of a cliche as that is, I find it couldn't be more true.

An all new countdown: Five Days.

Alas, here I am--back in reality. My stuff is a mess and the road ahead of me is paved with studies. Every hour I find something else I should have done or have yet to do--if I am not within reaching distance of a piece of paper to jot a reminder down to myself, I resort to reaching for a pen to write on my hand. Consequently, at the end of any given day--my left hand always looks like a memo pad. Moving along, I have quite the to do list ahead of me because I like to stay somewhat ahead so I will take advantage of the copious amounts of Iced Cappacinos I consumed this evening to aid me in staying awake.

Tonight's To Do List:
It is currently 12:40am:

1. Unpack.
2. Sort laundry for the morning.
3. Grab a snack.
4. Study two chapters in Physiology.
5. Go to bed.

First midterm in less than forty eight hours...don't you hate reality?