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November 28, 2006
I'm changing nationalilty
Yeah, the words speak for themselves
Posted by kat at 12:13 PM | Comments (1)
exams, what fun
So, it's that time of the year again. My cupboard becomes fully stocked with Haribo sweets and chocolate (well, more than usual), the fridge contains plenty of milk and cola, and my desk looks like a bomb has hit it. I don't get out of my pajamas for days on end, and all attempts for my hair to look somewhat respectable go out the window. Yes folks, examinations are upon us. I have finished 1/6 of my studies so far, and I will not look at that work again until Sunday, unless it's one of those moments I have during exam time where I'm drifting off to sleep, and all my work floods to the front of my head, and I wake up with a jolt and HAVE to see if what I had just gone over was correct, and whether I spelt Escherichia correct in my head.
I am sporting very attractive dark circles under my eyes too, not from lack of sleep mind, I have no idea where they come from....maybe too much sleep. I do love sleep. It makes me happy. I was reading an article in my New Scientist from February about Modafinil , and was thinking, if I had the opportunity to take a drug with no side effects to keep me awake, would I? Well, it's kind of a conundrum ~ I like sleep far too much, and to be honest, I get sick of being around people for that long, and so sleep just to get away from the world as opposed to getting rest. I'm generally well rested most of the time, even with a little sleep, but it's the "Ha! now you can't disturb me, because I am sleeping!" thing that's appealing.
I shall be disappearing for the next week, until my Biology exam is over, then it's 10 days of fun Chemistry, Physics and Maths to learn, which I am not pleased about. I think I may cry alot during the next fortnight...I do mean alot.
Ho hum, back to the slog that is Lichen revision (I can't help myself! I have to look at it one last time)
Posted by kat at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2006
Piccies of Glasgow
It is a week late, but nevertheless I have posted some of my pictures of Glasgow. The trip was, well, uneventful, yet eventful. I was in a fowl mood, and was annoyed with everyone. I have not been in the greatest of moods as of late. The weather's got me down, my diet seems to have gone to pants (eating oats this morning to get back on track), and I'm very stressed about my chemistry exam, so much so that I had a nightmare last night that our paper was 92 pages long, and we had 3 hours to complete it in. There were 30 long questions to answer, and only 6 multiple choice questions, and we had to do the exam at home, and everyone was bugging and annoying me. On top of that, I didn't recognise any of the work, but it resembled Biology, which was even more frustrating that I didn't know the answers. /sigh, I'm going to go run now and get all the negativity out of me, then I'm off to an Ula study session, which I really don't feel like going to. To be honest, I just want to be left alone with my books until 12:00 on 15 December. Then people can /poke me and talk to me at much as they want to.
All I feel like doing today is crawling up in bed and snoozing the whole day and being lazy, but I can't afford to be like that at a time like this. I wish my mom were here. Little to her knowledge, she always seems to motivate me in some way or another, even if it's just by being there.
Posted by kat at 9:20 AM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2006
Monday, bloody monday
So after a couple of melancholic days, I seem to be feeling a bit better. I still have a sadness looming over me, and have countless "What if?"s and "If only"s running through my head, but I suppose that's just part of the process. I seemed to have coped remarkably well with the situation. I'm not sure if that's down to the fact that exams are nearing, and I have too much work, so I'm constantly busy and filling my head with logistical thoughts, or I actually have reached that point in my life where I can honestly call myself an adult.
Comparing myself to my peers around me has somewhat made me realise that I am more grown up than I give myself credit for. I don't rely on anyone anymore. I even make telephone calls to places to find out information, something that I had an absolute fear of doing a couple of years ago. I put that down to my experience with the bank. I heard on Thursday that my ex-manager is leaving to work in Jersey. It left me quite dismayed. She was probably the one reason I was going back in the summer. With her not there, I may explore the option of working in a summer camp, or volunteering to do some biological samples collections in an interesting environment or something. Maybe, if I get a job next semester, I will fulfill my dream of going on an Earthwatch expedition. That would be incredible. I've always wanted to go to the Panthanol, or even back home to study the cheetahs. Apart from the fact that'd look good on my cv^^.
Oh well, back to the slog tha is uni. I have a fabulous 4 hours of revision waiting for when I get home at 5:30. Have a good week
Posted by kat at 2:01 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2006
I don't have a title for this, maybe I'll think of one later. The one thing I know is that I have to write this now. We met when I was five and a bit. I can't remember the bit, but I think it may have been in the November or December of 1988. Being young, I liked all things cute, and she certainly was cute. She wasn't expected to live very long, being the only surviving kitten in the litter, she also had kidney problems. In fact, we weren't even meant to get her, but by some hand of fate, she joined our family. She was mine. I loved her like a sibling. In fact, I think through most of my teenage years, she may have taken preference over my brother.
She would strut, and let all the dogs in the neighbourhood know who was boss. She had sass and style, and knew how to drape herself to get the attention she wanted. She was the epitome of "Honest, it's not fat, it's just fur". She always knew when something was wrong with me. She would find me when my mom called my name. It became a game at one stage....find Katherine. Her character was noted by most. She really did have a personality which outweighed her fabulous good looks, everyone who met her fell in love with her. She was the strongest cat I've ever known, always persevering, but today she couldn't do it any longer.
It hurts so much to think that I couldn't say goodbye to her, so this is my farewell. I gave as much love as I got from her. I couldn't have asked for a better cat, and no one will ever be able to replace her. She put up a good fight against the odds, and she won her battle in the end.
Thank you for disrupting my study sessions, thank you for waking me up at 3am with taps on my nose, thank you for the hundreds of pictures I have of you in those silly poses, thank you for being able win your way into everyone's hearts so that they agreed when I said you were the best cat ever, thank you for being my friend when I was down and had no one else to talk to, thank you for biting my ankles and hanging onto them as I dragged you down the hall, thank you for keeping me company up on the roof when I couldn't stand being in the house with my family, thank you for being the most dignified persona I know, thank you for greeting us when we came home, thank you for talking to us and understanding what H-A-M meant, and lastly, thank you for leaving in peace.
Posted by kat at 9:18 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2006
not so "cool for kat"
Ok, so I admit I was wrong. Maybe the creationists have got something going, I mean some god like being must have created Starbucks Gingerbread Lattes, right? Oh my lord, they make me feel all warm and gingery inside. Just like chinese food.....
Also, in my attempt to be fashionable and wear leggings, I have taken my geekiness to a new level. Most of the cool kids wear leggings with a dress or skirt, with some heels maybe. Kat wears them under jeans 'cos she's so cold-long john stylee. *puts on Borat voice and gives the two thumbs up* Nice! I really do do geek chic.
Oh well, I have a weekend to attend. Have a good one^^
Posted by kat at 6:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 8, 2006
Why the creationists are wrong
One simple answer....the giraffe. All mammals have a recurrent laryngeal nerve, which runs from the brain to the larynx. Creationists dispute that evolution does not exist, and that all organisms on this earth were put here by God in their present forms (utter bollocks). Anyways, either God isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, or evolution has occured. Please note that Darwinists do not dispute that there is a God, just that things have happened since those origanal organisms appeared (well, to be fair, we think that the first organism was a string of RNA, but God may have made the conditions right for it to happen.....possibly....). Back to the giraffe. This wee chap has a very long neck, however its larynx is situation near the top, so clearly if this "Intelligent design" were to be intelligent, this giraffes laryngeal nerve would follow the path as the crow flies. Oh noooo, this nerve goes the scenic route, ROUND THE HEART, and back up to the brain. I really don't even know why these creationsts and I.D guys don't just give it up, they have no argument whatsoever. It transpires that the giraffes earliest ancestor was a fish, which had the laryngeal nerve looped around the right subclavian artery.
So there's an interesting fact to wow your friends with. Here's another. Killifish like to eat only small guppies, proving that size does matter (at least when it comes to natural and artificial selection), and that biologists can be evil, eveil people setting up such cruel, yet interesting experiments.
Posted by kat at 3:11 PM | Comments (1)
November 6, 2006
Booom
We saw an awesome fireworks display last night. The guys and I ventured up an extinct volcano and watched drunk students attempt to set off their rockets. One of these said students set off their rocket into the heather and set half of the slope ablaze. It was great. We were escorted off Arthur's Seat, and as we came over the rise, Andrew started whistling the melody from Close encounters of the Third Kind. There were so many lights~ police cars, ambulances, fire engines. We tried to find another place to set the fireworks off, but in good old student tradition, we ended up in the pub instead. Everone was a winner \o/
Posted by kat at 7:33 PM | Comments (0)
November 3, 2006
You've come a long way, baby.
Forgive me father, for I have sinned. It has been 1 week since I posted a proper entry. I blame the internets and stupid router...gah! This week has been rather busy-like, and the failure of our router could not have come at a better time. I got so much work done, although not nearly enough. The man upstairs must think it funny that when I let out a sigh of relief as I complete one thing, he has five other outstanding things lined up for me to do \o/ Oh well, I like being a busy bee.
So, highlights of my week? I was somewhat social for one. Saturday night was tremdously raucous, with far to much vodka, and men dressed as smurfs. My dearest Polish friend got herself kicked out of not one, but two student establishments in one evening....go Ula! Below is a lovely picture of me begging a poor Irishman for change to play on the DDR machine, which I am ever so hopeless at, and still can't figure out why I'm drawn to embarassing myself on. I think I got one "Okay!" and the rest were misses. I was better at the shooting zombies game, although still crap at it. These student union bars aren't half bad...they have video games at least.
On the genetics front, we're on to epigenetics, which encompasses the best animal ever....the liger. I like the DNA, it keeps me entertained, although I have learnt such amazing things here at uni, that I'm probably more confused as to what I want to do now.
The anime guys and I went for zooooshi on Thursday night, and someone had the brilliant idea of ordering sake. I have not had that much fun in a good while. We ate good food, and were all in good company. The stumble back to flat was eventful, with us trying to fit all 4 into the phonebooth outside the restaurant. Thank god we were in a dark alley, no one spotted us. Actually writing this does not explain how funny the situation was. Nevertheless, I still have a giggle thinking about it. When we got back to the flat, Andrew suggested we watch this masterpiece. It has twelve parts to it, this is only the first. Watch it, and listen to the lyrical genius that is R Kelly. Hmmm....what rhymes with Bridget? Midget of course. Let's have Bridget having an affair with a Midget. Pure Class. Make sure you watch all twelve, it gets really good. I say good, I mean horrendously ridiculous. Keep in mind that it was produced in earnest, and that is him trying to create a thought provactive piece of artwork. I haven't cringe-laughed that much in a while.
In more recent news, I have just completed my essay, with only 60 words over.....go me...that is so within the 10% limit \o/ Now all I have to do this weekend is complete my chemistry practical, study for my mini-exam this week, oh, and do some maths problems. Aren't I lucky?!
Have a good Guy Fawkes peeps! Say thank you to the chinese for the fireworks too....
Posted by kat at 3:42 PM | Comments (0)
November 2, 2006
Bloody routers
Yeah, our router decided to take a holiday, I have no internets. On a good note, I got 85% for my chemistry practical. More to follow when the stupid router company decide to dispatch a new one
Posted by kat at 2:37 PM | Comments (0)