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Circeo
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Name: Circeo
Birthday: 4/29/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: Bathing in romantic angst, acting the part of a housewife, philospher, WoW addict, annoying people with my genetic obsessions, and being a general dramatesse.
Expertise: Graduate school and avoiding actually writing my papers. Cookies, anyone?
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  CirceoSalani
Member Since:
8/15/2001
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| Very Busy[Mood:  Busy]
I'm just a stranger, even to myself
A re-arranger of the proverbial bookshelf
Don't be a fool girl, tell him you love him
Don't be a fool girl, you're not above him I never thought I could love anyone but myself
Now I know I can't love anyone but you
You make me think that maybe I won't die alone
Maybe I won't die alone
-Die Alone, by Ingrid Michaelson
I am still alive, just very busy. This is what has been going on:
My thesis is improving - I submitted everything to the IRB last week, so right now I'm just waiting for approval.
My cousin is getting married on Friday. This means family coming into town. So, Tuesday, mom and the kids get here. Wednesday will be spent with them. Thursday, OM and I babysit for the wedding rehearsal. Friday is the wedding. Saturday, there are two baby showers and a general "happy birthday to everyone" party.
Also on Thursday: midterm.
Also on Friday: OM has an audiology appointment.
And you know what else? We wrote a budget, and we paid off the credit card...
When man plans, God laughs.
We got a flat tire last week and had to buy a new tire. Then, I found a flea on Aubri this weekend and had a mini panic attack, so we had to buy flea prevention goo. And then today? I drove OM to work, ran a few errands, went to OU, got back in the car - and the car wouldn't start. (Not to mention we'd overslept and I hadn't had breakfast.) So, I called OM, I called Whit, I called my daddy. Then I tried to start the car again. And it worked! I took it to the car place to get a new battery... but it turns out it's the starter that is broken. So, our second month of budgeting, and we've already spent an unexpected $600. Fail.
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| Bursted Bubbles[Mood:   Crushed]
You used to get it in your fishnets
Now you only get it in your night dress
Discarded all the naughty nights for niceness
Landed in a very common crisis
Everything's in order in a black hole
Nothing seems as pretty as the past though
That Bloody Mary's lacking a Tabasco
Remember when he used to be a rascal?
-Fluorescent Adolescent, by the Arctic Monkeys
I was planning to make a post this week, about my cool new life as a second year genetic counseling student. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Mercy Hospital, observing (and doing!) prenatal genetic counseling. I actually got to go in and counsel patients on my own yesterday. I thought it was pretty damn cool. I thought, maybe I don't suck as bad as I thought...
Well, apparently, I do. I met with some of my thesis committee today. And that didn't go too well. Each meeting (I've only had two, really,) have left me feeling like an unprepared idiot. It baffles me a little, because I feel like, based on the students from last year, I am WAY ahead of the curve. I keep going back to the thought that, Lori thought I'd be able to be done with data collection by now, so surely getting it submitted to the IRB shouldn't be this freaking hard.
For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, here is a general guideline of how to write a thesis:
1. Design an experiment.
2. Submit said experiment to the Institutional Review Board (IRB).
3. Once IRB approved, carry out said experiment.
4. Analyze data.
5. Write up thesis. (This consists of a huge background section, in which you explain why you did what you did, and a basic journal article, in which you explain what you did and what you found.)
So, I'm still on step 1, here. The really frustrating part is, I designed the experiment and wrote out the stuff to submit to the IRB for class last fall. I got an A in the class. Now, if my design and background was really so weak as to justify many, many additions and revisions, why did I get an A in the class?
I'm supposed to have hypotheses. I have specific aims, but those appear to not be enough. In today's meeting, I was told that you're supposed to go over every hypothesis and explain your justification for what you think will happen (based on literature review) and how you're going to test it. That sounds like it should go in the background section, to me, since it involves so much literature review. So I asked, does this go in with the specific aims (which comes before the background) or after the background? And they were like, uhm, duh, it goes in the specific aims section. Don't you remember the class where we wrote one of these? Yay, I feel like an idiot.
I'm begining to understand why they kept telling us that we didn't understand how busy the summer would be. It's the "learn how to swim" semester. Also, I may have to retake Embryology after all. School sucks.
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| The Time Between Duties[Mood:  Cheerful]
When your'e out on the road and feelin' quite lost
Consider the burden of fame
And he who is wise will not criticize
When other men fail at the game
Beware of strange faces and dark dingy places
Be careful while bending the law
And the house you live in will never fall down
If you pity the stranger who stands at your door
-The House You Live In, by Gordon Lightfoot
I survived the semester! I made decent grades! They didn't kick me out! (These are good things.)
On a more pertinent note: I am currently in San Angelo! I flew down yesterday; OM and Aubri will be driving in on Thursday, and we will all be leaving together on Monday, June 1. Our time here is filling up quickly, but we'd love to see everyone. Please leave a comment or email me or call me - or something! - if you'd like to get together. I've missed everyone so much!
Curious about how Aubri will be traveling? In style, of course.
Last weekend, OM and I got to go see the Lion King. Nana got us tickets for Christmas - amazing, VIP tickets. We were on the 6th row from the stage. The performance was unbelievably good. The costumes were fantastic, the music was fabulous... needless to say, we had a great time overall. I agree with Whitney and her boyfriend: the tickets were worth the opening number alone.
I got a new camera for my birthday, and I am determined to take more photos. I wanted to take a picture with the actors, but they never came out. So we took a photo of their trailer instead. (It was windy, so my dress looks a bit odd.)
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| More CutenessAunt Karla took me out for lunch and shopping today! Most was looking for mother-of-the-groom dresses for her, but we did stop by the doggie boutique on the way home. And Aunt Karla bought a new collar and a new shirt for Aubri, for my birthday! Now her collar is not blue, so people won't think she's a boy, and she has clothes to wear indoors so she doesn't freeze.
Now, I am not one of those people who dresses their dogs in cutesy dresses. I do not own a pair of doggie sunglasses or any hats (although I still think she needs booties for walking in the cold.) I buy Aubri clothes because the poor thing has 4% body fat at best, and she shivers every time I turn the fan on. Please understand that this is not really something I considered when I picked this breed.
Also, I am posting a video of OM and Aubri playing tug of war. I can't manage to edit the thing, so it's not very good... but her cuteness makes up for it.
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| The Street Corner Medic Gives No Anesthetic[Mood:  Weary]
There are no guarantees in life
Not for the present,
Nor for the future.
All I know is
That I'm here;
Don't know for how long.
I love the way
You live so intensely
Enjoy every minute of life
With space to swing
Your arms around
Laughing loudly.
-Unlike Me, By Kate Havenik
Important note: OM, Aubri, and Circeo will be in San Angelo at the end of May. Circeo flies down on May 25th. OM and Aubri will join via car May 28th. All three go back to OKC on June 1st. If you want to see us, let us know - we want to see you!
Life has been pretty busy recently. Things seem to get away from me. Right now, we're close enough to the end of the semester, that panic has ensued. Two papers due next week, plus my survey and IRB application for my thesis. Go ahead, ask me how much I've worked on them.
I did pretty well on my midterms, although Cancer still hasn't been graded and returned. We actually took another Metabolism test last week, and I made another 100. I think, perhaps, metabolics is a specialty I should consider. I realized yesterday, metabolic disorders are really what got me into genetic counseling in the first place. When I took Intermediary Metabolism as an undergrad, I didn't not do very well. I couldn't tell you the pathways, or draw chemical structure to save my life. But I knew what happened if a molecule got displaced, or what disorders were in what pathway. The one molecule = one disease = (and usually) one cure idea is what got me started on this whole journey.
Last weekend, OM and I took Aubri to her first IG playdate. We've been going to the dog park pretty regularly, and she loves that. This playdate was IGs only, hosted at someone's house. It was amazing! There were probably about 20 dogs there. Considering the idea that OM and I never saw an IG until last November, we've gotten quite swept away in the breed culture, I think. Also to consider: Aubri is really the perfect size for us, but apparently, she is very little for the breed. We won the prize for smallest dog (even beating out the 7 month old puppy.)
Here's some of the dogs. I tried to find photos with minimal humans and maximum dogs.
I hope whoever this is will be okay with my posting her photo. This is a pretty good depiction of the puppy pandemonium.
Sometimes, I feel like this.
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