People say that I don't exercise enough. To be honest, I don't exercise at all. But yesterday was my marathon of the year. Yesterday was Boxing Day.

Up at 7:30, did some preliminary stretches, went to pick up my running mates - Candice and Andrea and we were off! Westhills at 9:00! Me standing in line to pay at Club Monaco to make maximum use of time while the two of them went back to Jacob to get a pair of pants! Navigating through the obstacle course that was a parking lot! Digging through piles of multi-colored camisoles at Jacob to find that perfect size! The lightning-quick speed at which I pulled out my debit card! Trying to navigate my way through an extremely crowded Aldo while trying on a pair of 3-inch heeled boots! In the end, it took a full 10 hours of sleep just to recover from all the excitement =)

"Desiree, I tremble with fear everytime you step into my kitchen"
~ my mother

Yay!

After 3 weeks of exams and studying and too much take-out, I'm finally home =) The first thing my mother did when she saw me was to check if I had any new piercings. Then she asked if I'd gained any weight, checked my complexion and clucked her tongue at the toll that exams had taken on my skin, and asked me if I had failed any courses yet. As an afterthought, she gave me a hug =)

One of the first things my sister did was to ask me if I had a boyfriend. When I answered no she replied "Dad told me to ask you continuously, so we can catch you in case you're lying".

Aah......it's so good to be home......

Last night, I had a great time hanging out with the girls one last time before we all go home for Christmas. And, as often happens when you get a whole host of females together, we spent a good hour LOUDLY discussing...(what else?) boys =) As the four of us talked, I came to the realization that the chinese christian world is actually very small. What brought about this epiphany? Pris started thinking about all the available boys that she knew and came up with a grand total of...two...one of whom was too short for all of us but Andy =)

But all this boy-talk (and I promise I'm not always this superifical =) reminded me of a conversation I had with my sister a few months ago. One Sunday, my whole family went out for lunch with a few other families from the church. And seeing as one of the girls in our church had just gotten married, the conversation turned towards the topic of courting and marriages. Keep in mind that most of the adults sitting at the table have children my age and they like to exchange gossip concerning us. At this point, my grandma decides to inform everyone at the table (and possibly everyone in the restaurant) in her LOUDEST voice, that she has been praying for me and my sister everyday that we will find good chinese, christian boys to marry and start giving her great-grandchildren. My sister was so embarassed she proceeded to turn a bright fuschia. I'm so embarassed I don't think I can face any of the 'aunties' in my church, in case they think that the only reason I interact with their sons is to look for a father for my children.

I've discovered my new exam pet peeve. Although runny noses, rickety desks, people who mutter to themselves, and under-heated exam halls all deserve an honorable mention, the Oscar definately goes to the "Question Kid" as portrayed by the girl I sat beside during my Patho exam. Her poor prof must've gone home and consumed a whole bottle of Aspirin for his back pain seeing as he probably spent a full half hour bent over her desk answering her barrage of questions/clarifications/explanations.

In other news, I think I may be getting rickets. I haven't seen sunlight since last Tuesday.

I hate classes that sit on the fence. Classes that you enroll in because you think they're going to be somewhat challenging, because you think they're going to teach you something new. Classes that deceive you with complicated multi-syllabic names like 'Pathophysiology'. I hate these classes because you go in thinking that you're going to take huge strides in the world of science, that your brain will be addled with new facts and new information. Instead, you end up listening to a detailed description of the ovarian cycle...again. Things which, in the words of my high school bio prof, you learnt in IB kindergarten.

I'm really sorry if I sound cocky in this post. I'm trying not to be. But I get frustrated when I take several science courses over several years in several different disciplines, and they all teach me the same thing. Let's learn about antibodies in Immunology! Let's learn about the structure of the antibody in Biochemistry! Let's learn about the effects of antibodies in Physiology! Really, they're all teaching you the same thing. But each prof will start the class with the disclaimer, "I'm sorry if you guys have gone over this before, but it never hurts to review". The end result is that I end up really bored, really unmotivated, and with no new knowledge.

So what's the point of all my cocky complaining?

I cannot study.

I know all the reasons why I SHOULD study:
a) This final is worth 60%
b) The grades I get this semester are going to be really important for getting into medical school
c) If you're going to do something, don't do a half-ass job.

The problem with this course is that it sits on the fence. It's not hard enough to scare me into working hard, it's not easy enough to let me slack off guilt-free. It isn't hard enough to warrant a real effort, not easy enough to deserve no effort at all. So instead of either really working or really relaxing, I sit here with my books open thinking about how I should be relaxing. Or I relax while thinking about how I should really be working. And I end up doing a terrible job of both.

My house has an interesting spectrum of studying habits. Keith, my fellow Life Sciences student, never ceases to amaze us all with his sheer stamina when it comes to studying. I've gone full weeks without seeing him due to the massive amounts of time he spends in the library. My other housemate Victor, amazes me with his ability to not study, not go to class, not even do his own labs, and not feel an ounce of guilt about it. Mike is a mix between the other two. He seems to have that annoyingly good balance between school and fun. He annoys me with his seeming perfection =) (Joking!)

But my absolute hero in terms of her studying habits would have to be Melinda, the girl who can take six courses, play in an orchestra, create amazing gourmet dinners, exfoliate, watch every single TLC show (Designer Guys, Trading Spaces, Queer Eye for the Straight guy), bake, organize speakers for QMO, rock climb, work in a lab, keep in touch with her friends, write long meaningful letters (no cut-and-paste emails for her...um...not that I ever do that of course), go drinking, call her mother, and still maintain an awesome average. How does she do it? Well it's sort of like power-napping. She waits until it's so close to the exam that she really starts to panic. Then the adrenaline kicks in and she's able to focus really well for a few hours, and poof! Everything that took me 5 straight days in Stauffer to learn, she's managed to learn in one, extended overnight study session (notice how I didn't mention 'sleep' in her long list of accomplishments).

So maybe I should just draw my inspiration from Melinda. I'll leave studying for this course until the day before, when I'll come to a sudden realization about how much material there is to learn. I'll panic, my sympathetic nervous system will kick into gear, I'll become a non-eating, non-sleeping, physiology-learning machine, and in mere hours! I will be ready for this exam. I'll be efficient, I will never put in more hours than I need to, I will eliminate any unnecessary time expenditures, I will be the Paul Martin of the physiology world. However, while I type out this post, all I can think about is how much I really SHOULD be studying...

My sister absolutely cracks me up. A lot of people I know don't appreciate her humor. To me, she's one of the most sarcastic, dry personalities that you'll ever meet. Everytime I talk to her, I have to bite on my lower lip to stop the hysterical laughter from bursting forth. When they first meet the two of us, most people think that she's the eldest. I assure you that is not the case.

Anyways, Jessica emails me the other day informing me that one of my old high school teachers Mrs. Datta, had expressed a desire to see me at my IB reunion that's coming up in a few weeks. And she decided that the following addenum was necessary should I indeed decide to come:

"Hello Dez!
While you are visiting with Mrs. Datta you are not to do so within my hearing. I am to be at least two rooms away when you visit. If I come into your proximity you are to talk about mundane things, like the weather. You are NEVER EVER EVER in the conversation to mention anything about me. You are never to inquire into how I am doing in her class. If she tries to talk about me, you are to hurriedly change the subject, again the weather would be a nice change. As far as you two are concerned, I do not exist. If she does say something about me and you are unable to change the subject fast enough, you MUST NOT TELL ME!!!!!! I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!!!!!!! When are finished conversing with Mrs. Datta you are to find me, i am not coming to find you because i'll get roped in somehow.
Kapish?
P.S. - YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN FROM CALLING MY ONE OF YOUR CUTESY STUPID NICKNAMES IN FRONT OF MRS. DATTA OR ELSE YOU SHALL SUFFER MY WRATH and I'll tell mother every secret you've ever told me. I'll even make some up that are especially nasty. If Mrs. Datta ever calls me squishy bear in class I'LL KNOW IT WAS YOU!!!!!!!!"

Looking to decrease your GPA?

I jumped onto the blog bandwagon not too long ago. In fact, it's only been two days. However, due to my incredible efficiency, the last two days have been sufficient to undo all of the studying that I've put in this entire semester.

Viv recently linked her blog to that of her friend, Adrian. So while stumbling around the Internet bored the other night, I navigated my way over to the "Irrefragable 8w" and immediately started laughing myself stupid. And ever since that life-changing moment, I've been going back to read it every time I have a spare moment or two. Or three. Somehow, 15 minutes turns into half an hour, turns into a full hour and a half that COULD have been spent studying. And now my life is wasting away in front of my screen reading the ramblings of someone that I've met once. But he's just so darn funny...

So today around lunch time in Stauffer, I realized that I had finally finished studying for my Friday morning Microbiology exam. So I told Viv that I was going home to print off some practice exams and I'd work there for the rest of the day.

"You're going home to blog aren't you?" she says accusingly.

"No! Guy, I gotta study! I'm gonna do some practice exams, check my exam schedule, and then do some reading, I swear!" (Somehow, I've picked up the habit of calling everyone, guys and girls alike, "guy". It comes from living with boys...)

So I make my way back home and it all starts very innocently. My computer is EXTREMELY slow and while I wait for these exams to print, I decide to multi-task and check my email. Well, no one's emailed me and the exam's still printing. Fine, I'll check what's going on at CNN. Still printing...I'll see what TV gal has to say. Still printing...I finally give in and go to see if he's posted anything new. I laugh myself stupid for the next 45 minutes. I have less than 24 hours until my exam. I am going to bring a whole new meaning to the word 'failure'. And I'm still reading his blog...

First things first: An absolutely huge thank-you to Viv who played around with some HTML to get the sidebar going for me. If there's any one skill that I'm lacking other than cooking, it would have to be computers. Albeit, Viv isn't exactly computer-savvy herself (she blasted the code that her friend Andrea made), but hey! A thank-you is a thank-you! And without her, none of you guys would be able to waste precious studying hours visiting the blogs of my friends!

Speaking of wasting studying hours, I started off this exam period with a sort of idealized study schedule:

7:30 Wake up and shower
8:30 Get to the library, go for coffee break
9:00 Study - Part I
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Study - Part II
3:00 Coffee break
3:30 Study - Part III
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Chill for an hour and watch Friends re-runs
8:00 Work
12:00 Come home and sleep and get ready to do it again the next day!

Now let's take a look at my how my schedule has actually been:
7:30 Viv calls to wake me up. I croak out a hello. She informs me that there's no way she's making it to the library. I tell her I understand completely. We roll over and go back to sleep
8:30 After hitting snooze 7 or 8 times, manage to sit up. When I realize how cold it actually is in my room, I immediately lie back down.
9:30 Call Viv to tell her I'm on my way out the door, does she want me to save her a seat in the library?
9:45 Leave the house for the first time.
9:46 It's absolutely freezing, go back in the house for a sweater.
9:47 It might rain. Go back to the house for an umbrella.
9:48 I eat a lot. Food at the JDUC is expensive. Go back to the house for snacks.
9:49 Last time out the door I swear.
9:55 Sweet, sweet Tim Horton's Coffee. "Hi" screams the woman at the Tim Horton's "Cummon down!" (Anyone who has ever been to the JDUC Timmy's will know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Oh the melodious voice of that siren of the morning =)
10:00 Finally sit down to study.
11:15 Viv still hasn't reached the library. I call. Turns out she fell asleep on Marina's bed. Then Marina went to her exam. She fell asleep again on her own bed. At this point, she's slept for about 10 hours. She informs me she'll be there for lunch at noon.
12:00 Still no Vivien. I'm near faint with hunger. I'm hypoglycemic. I call. She tells me she's leaving right now. I let her know exactly how pleased I am.
12:15 Viv shows up. Keep in mind she lives about 5 minutes max. from the library.

Haha, who says that exam week is no fun? Honestly, exam period is the only time during the year that I get to see everyone. During the year, we all have our own schedules. We wrack our brains trying to find 45 mins. to sit down and talk with someone who lives a 5 min. walk away (in Viv's case, 5 mins. and 34 secs, but let's not get into the details of how I know that). Now, I've spent the last 5 days with the same group of people in the library. We go for lunch, we take coffee breaks, we watch Adrian and Kwan run around the library, have Minesweeper competitions, sneak snacks into the library, generally annoy the people around us!

Oh yes, and sometimes we study.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm really not the world's greatest cook. It's unfortunate because both my mom and my grandma are fantastic cooks! They make their own wontons, people are constantly asking them for cooking advice, they even catered at one point. They're fantastic. One unfortunate consequence of their magnificence though, is that I've never had to cook for myself. Why in the world would I when I have two awesome chefs for relatives? Now all of a sudden, I'm in university. I need to take care of myself. And to my horror, I discover that there is no genetic component to the cooking and that I'm completely hopeless when it comes to the kitchen. So anyways, the moral of this story...

Tonight...no joke...I messed up while making...Easy Mac. Seriously.

Instead of 3 minutes, I threw it in for 4.5 minutes (because why in world would the box give you wrong directions? That just wouldn't make any sense now would it?) Then I didn't drain the water enough, so when I added my powdered cheese sauce, my macaroni turned into soup. I'm so embarassed I don't even want to tell my mother! Not only would she yell at me for eating:
a) instant food (she thinks it's an abomination)
b) macaroni and cheese (she thinks pasta is fattening, my grandmother hates cheese)

She'd be so ashamed to tell the world that I am indeed, her daughter. She'd probably tell everyone that it was due to those defective 'Yow' genes =)

Ok kids...

Seeing as I NEVER follow the crowd and I'm such an independent, non-conforming, stand-up-for-my-beliefs kind-of gal, I've decided to follow in the foosteps of Viv/Sam/Andrea and start up my own blog for the following reasons:

a) It's exam time right now and everyone knows that you can't study TOO much. In a way, it's sort of Type II Diabetes =) Too much sugar and your receptors start to downregulate. In the same vein, too much studying and the brain no longer seems to want to work when you need it. Therefore, a little slacking and healthy time-wasting can actually be more beneficial for your grades then excessive cramming =)
b) Sometimes, there's just no way that you can stay in touch with everyone. However, there are still a lot of people who expect to know all the intimate details of your life. But let's be honest, after about the third time, you get really tired of telling a story, no matter how interesting it may (or may not) be.
Ex. Last April I broke up with my boyfriend and absolutely everyone that I'm even remotely close to (and i mean everyone who knows me well enough to know my last name) wanted to know all the details. So I figure this way, by starting a blog, anyone who's even slightly interested can just read up on it by themselves and save me a lot of dry mouth =) (Hehe, do I sound like I'm cranky? I swear I'm not, but really, it did get a little bit annoying when people who didn't even know my boyfriend's name expected me to share intimate details of my relationship with them =)

Anyways, I realize that's only two reasons (not really enough to justify the creation of a list) but I have to run now (gotta get SOME studying done, it is finals after all!). Please come back and feel free to comment!