Sunday, January 23, 2011

Studying for my first Biochem Midterm

I just memorized the structures of D-glucose, D-galactose, D-fructose, D-glyceraldehyde, D-ribose, and D-arabinose in less than 30 minutes thanks to my amazing genius husband-to-be! He has a real gift for coming up with memorization tricks. I can't tell you how many tests I have come to a question and I remember some crazy trick Daniel taught me while he was helping me study. What's really touching to me is that memorizing the structures of sugars is just about the most boring thing you could do and he voluntarily helps me when he can barely pronounce them. What a sweetie :-)

This weekend was everything I needed it to be. I did my homework and still had plenty of time to sleep in, bake some cupcakes, make a delicious dinner of Spanish tapas, and play with my puppy. And of course I did some chores and cleaning. But the point is that it was relaxing and refreshing. I even got around to calling my grandparents, finally. I don't think I've ever gone over 3 weeks without talking to them. I felt so bad about it, but at least I finally called. I really needed a dose of Grandpa's encouragement. Especially because my Dad has been really difficult lately. I just don't have enough energy left at the end of the day to care about anybody else's feelings. That may sound selfish, but it's the truth. My classes are so difficult that I am physically, emotionally, cognitively drained. And I can't have one more thing to worry about. So if my Dad wants to be mad at me, he can go on being mad. Luckily my sister and my mom (and my grandparents) understand that this term is very difficult and they have all told me that I shouldn't worry about it, and just focus on school. That's such a relief because right now it's hard enough to keep up with me and Daniel's relationship.

Work was particularly exciting last week because I did my first live surgery! I anesthetized a mouse, cut open its neck, and inserted a cannula. The mouse completely survived and the surgery was absolutely successful. It was just practice, so I sacrificed it right after. But if it was a real experiment, I would have done everything perfectly. It was so exciting. When I was doing it, I was thinking that this is the closest I have ever come to doing surgery. I even learned how to tie a suture! So cool.

Well I'm going to see if I can't memorize a few disaccharides before bed. Good night!

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