4.000

I don't think any of you needs an explanation to know what that number means. Have a lovely life.

Huh, I won

If it seems that I don't post for two days and then all of a sudden I make two posts, you are right. That's just how it is. When I say something, I usually think up a couple more topics I wanted to mention. Anyway, I know you will all be thrilled but I won the 7 extra credit points (that I probably didn't need) in Latin class for my Latin skit. It was dreadfully dull and totally lackluster as a performance, but apparently Dr. Davies liked it. It must have been because we made so few grammatical errors. :)

Now I am probably certainly most definitely going to get an A in this class

Out of sync

Hard to believe, but this is the first time I've used the internet for three days. I was constantly using the internet during my school season, but now I don't. It is ironic that I do less with my free time when I don't have any responsibilities. Alexie and I also noted that we have been waking up early feeling refreshed and ready to go at 6:00 in the morning. During the school season we had to get up at 6:00 to get to school, but now we are free to sleep in. We just don't. What is the matter with us!? However our parents have been putting that pent-up energy to work quite nicely. Just today I took the kids to the Creative Discovery Museum for three hours. My goodness. I'm exhausted.

...Now what?

If you have ever seen the part of the movie Madagascar when the penguins have managed to successfully escape from the New York Zoo and hijack a cruise ship and have made it to Antarctica and are standing around listlessly staring at the permanent blizzard, you will have a pretty good idea of how I feel right now. Freedom is great and all, but it is pretty boring. I just tried to get a game of Bang! going, but every person I asked politely refused. Is there really no one in this house who wants to play Bang!?

Walk for Life!

Today was the Walk for Life. Woo hoo! And guess what? It wasn't cancelled for rain! In fact, it didn't begin raining until after the Walk for Life ended. It was overcast during the walk, but it only started raining when the last people to leave (us) slammed their car door and began to drive away. Neat, right? This year the McPhersons walked away with four door prizes, because there were a ton. I think most people thought it would be cancelled and didn't show up so the door prize to person ratio was all messed up. Anyway, Grace got two pocketknives, Emily got a watch battery, Connor got bread, and I got a box of make-up. Yes, make-up. I traded the entire box for one of Grace's pocketknives. She's a wheeler-dealer, that one. Now she has a knife AND a box of make-up. She made out like a bandit. Oh yeah, don't ask me what Emily is going to do with a watch battery since she doesn't even have a watch let alone a watch that is low on power.

Tween idols

You know what are hilarious? UTC Echo articles about Twilight. There are a lot of them. For example, one I read had this snappy headline: Cullen challenges Potter. There's a boring headline if ever I saw one. Here's a better one: Who is Hotter? Cullen or Potter? Anyways, the most recent article was titled "Men not immune to Twilight's bite." Pfffft. Ha ha ha ha ha. What a bunch of losers. Don't these undergraduate journalist wannabes have anything better to do with their lives? Anyways, the journalist pretty much wandered around asking guys whether they had read twilight and which one would they rather be: a vampire or a werewolf. Here were some answers:

Dr. Sligh: I would be a vampire simply because there is so much history to be learned. (Alexie is taking this guy's British Literature class next semester. Ha!)

J. Blake: Edward scares me and Jacob is a classy dude. I would want to be Jacob because he is ripped, seems cool and is pretty hardcore. (According to them, neither this guy nor Dr. Sligh have actually read Twilight.)

J. Petty: I would defiantly be a werewolf because I think I look like one already. (This guy was in my Latin class. He doesn't actually look all that wolfish.)

Anyway, newest poll: Which totally tween idol would you be? Edward, Jacob, Harry Potter, or Dr. Sligh?

Apocalypse Warning

You know what sucks? Disasters. Tomorrow is the Walk for Life, (ta-da!) but there are several disaster warnings going out in the area. We are purportedly going to get hit by severe thunderstorms, tornados, and zombies. Stay away from windows. Of course, this suggests that there may be some difficulty in walking for life along a pleasant riverpark walkway, since the riverpark walkways will probably not be very pleasant tomorrow. Sigh. We never have natural disasters around here. Why on the day of the Walk for Life?

P.S. Do you know who I do no pity. Dr. Shaw's Taxonomy of Vascular Plants' class has a hike scheduled for tomorrow. It would suck to be in that class during this semester.

Results are In!

Alright, next time you are packing your schoolbags, which for me will be late August, remember these two extremely important items: 1) Food. 2) Nuclear Bomb.

The electors couldn't decide which one was more important, so if you have room for both, pack them. If you have a bit of extra room, you can also consider packing some homework.

Results: Food-3 Homework-1 Shorts-1 Nuclear Bomb-3

Alright! That's awesome! I'll think of a new poll soon and make another post either today or tomorrow about it.

Vulcan Trance

Good afternoon world. I just finished two super hard super critical finals and I'm feeling great. Last Tuesday I began my deep Vulcan trance that it is impossible to wake me from wherein all I do is meditate on my test subjects. You probably wouldn't understand because you are just an emotional human, but it is very important for getting good grades on tests.

I'm now waiting for the results of my finals to start pouring in. I already have two results to share. First, my Physics Lab Final, I got a 96!!! Woo hoo! That makes my grade an A! I'm so happy! My second bit of news is my Genetics test. I know what you're thinking: Hey! You took the Genetics test 3 hours ago! You can't possibly have it back yet!

Shows what you know. Dr. Kovach is probably the most efficient teacher I have ever had. Homework is always handed back really really insanely fast. It is incredible. And the amount of information she can pack into one lecture is mind-blowing. Also, I only have news on half my test: the scantron half. Understand now, humans? Anyway, when I was walking past her office after my Physics test she asked me if I wanted to see my scantron. I said sure. Here it is... 100%! Perfect score! HA HA HA HA HA! I'm going to bust into the heavens of A-dom! Woo hoo!

I mean, how logical.

Volcanic Explosion!

Apparently, there was some sort of volcanic activity in Europe that covered the entire European world in darkness. People have been walking up to me and asking how is Heather. They are very worried. Anyway, yesterday Heather called and asked for a Ginger Snap recipe. (Super emergency right there.) Dad immediately followed up by asking how she was. She was mildly confused and asked him what the heck he was talking about. He told her that a volcano had exploded nearby and she was in critical danger. She told him that yes, they had been ordered to stay inside, but the sky outside was clear and bright. So much for that.

P.S. Douglas and Heather seem to have sustained minor damage to their taste buds. They had an ingenious idea to add oatmeal to ginger snaps. They call them Ginger Oat Snaps. Pray for them.

The Blue Eye Blues

Today I'm writing a paper for my Genetics class. My Scientific Writing class is DONE! OH YEAH! So I don't need to labor over any more papers for that class but it now frees me up to do the five page paper (due tomorrow) for Genetics. Noooooo! I have to write about "My Favorite Gene." (Seriously.) I picked blue eyes. Who knows why. Here's an interesting fact for you: Although brown eyes are caused by a very long string of genes, blue eyes are all caused by the same mutation to the same gene in every person. That's pretty neat. It also makes it easy to write about. I pity the fool who selected a polygenic gene for his topic! Ha!

Oh yeah, one paragraph of the essay has to be why I picked the gene I did. Any suggestions that sound convincing?

Deserted

In honor of Thursday, I'm putting up a poll. Here's the attached scenario:
If you were deserted at school because your sister was taking the Classics Club out to dinner, instead of, oh say, taking you home for dinner, which of the following things would you be sure to have:

1) Food, so you won't starve while waiting for someone to just kill you already.
2) Homework, so at least you can pass otherwise useless time studying for finals! (Pansies)
3) Shorts, so you could go work out in the ARC without being chased away by interns with pitchforks
4) A Nuclear Bomb, so that when you get really bored you can cause the Nuclear Holocaust in Chattanooga (NHC)

Electric Foil

I don't understand the appeal of electric foil. It costs too much and breaks too quickly. That would probably be my fault, but speaking logically, shouldn't swords be constructed to hit people? Sheesh. I was alerted to an electric tournament on Saturday so I took out my neglected, but still pristine electric foil from its ancient sheath of pipe. (cue the Lord of the Rings choir. Laaaaaaaa! OK. Cut the Lord of the Rings choir.) Since I have no idea whether it still works, I gave it to Joseph so he could test it when the Chattanooga Fencing Club. (I use the future tense, but technically at this time it's in the past. Wow!) I still haven't heard back about the condition of my sword. Anyways, if it is working, I fully intend to go whoop Baylor. Oh yeah!

89.984%

I still haven't got the grade back for my Genetics test, but I decided to calculate my grade for Genetics thus far. It is a B! A B! Noooooo! It is kind of depressing that it would be an A significant to any number of digits less than 5. Sigh. Oh well. This means that I just have to get an A on this next test. Unless of course I get a 90. Then I would have something like 89.9882%. I promise I won't go past the fourth decimal place.

Genetics Test

Oh yeah, yesterday I had a painful test. I think I got every question right, which helps deaden the pain slightly. There were two T/F questions that made no sense to me, but I asked Sam what she guessed on the questions and I said the same thing as she did so I think I got them right. Also, question C on the last question, the 5 point bonus question made no sense at all to me. Sam agreed. She had no idea as well. The question had three bacteria, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Alpha used DNA and conservative replication. Beta used RNA and disruptive replication. Gamma used RNA and semiconservative replication. The question asked which one of these could survive high temperatures. 0_0 Oh my goodness. My face is totally blank. What does the manner of replication and the materials that the bacteria is constructed out of have to do with survival at high temperatures? I guessed that DNA was more stable and therefore less likely to degrade. Sam guessed the same thing. Therefore, either we will be right or the teacher will look at both our papers and wonder how we invented identical nonsense. Please oh please be right...

Rate My Professor

Do you want to know what is really fun? Going onto Rate My Professor.com and reading what people said about teachers you already know. I guarantee you there will be one idiot who gives the teacher 1-1-1-1 and say something like "The teacher made absolutely no sense. You'll have to teach yourself. They won't give you an A unless they like you, which is bad because they hate everyone and are mean all the time." If you actually know the teacher you can have a good chuckle at this thorough bred moronicitude and get on with your life. I seldom read rate my professor for teachers I don't know yet, though. Ruins the ride.

Locked Out

Today, Parking Appeals Committee was locked. When I told Ms. Phyllis we couldn't get in, she led us to a petite (by which I mean pathetically small) break room for employees of Parking Services. We could hardly fit four people in there. Anyway, Brittany kept apologizing every time the next person came in and they would invariably give the "no problem" shrug combo. I find it strange that people always make the same shrug and say the same thing when they appear before boards. I've always figured that they are thinking "Ho ho. Now the Parking People have inconvenienced me so they have to let me off!" although they are probably actually thinking something like "Oh please oh please let me get off of this without having to lie."

Thunder vs. Rice

Has it ever stunned you how your younger siblings can't improvise a decent rhyme to save their lives? For example, this morning it was raining and one of my brothers was singing, "Thunder is nice! Thunder is nice! Thunder is awesome! It's better than rice!" Now personally, I prefer rice. On the other hand, thunder and rice have absolutely nothing in common. I'd say it is like comparing apples and oranges, but at least those two are both fruit. Thunder and rice aren't even both edible! Thunder is sound, and rice is food. Two totally different things! Anyways, why bother using "rice" when "nice" isn't even a very good adjective to describe thunder? Thunder is cool! Thunder is awesome! Thunder is NOT nice.

Let-down!

The Genetics Test was put off until Thursday! ARGH! It seems like every time I'm ready for something, it is pushed back. Weather, bomb threats, unknown conflicts of time, everything seems to be against me! I guess this has just been a weird semester, I just hope that all this bouncing around isn't going to adversely affect my ultimate grade. Sigh.

Just three more weeks until Finals. Keep it together for just a bit longer.

Indestructible

Earlier today, I was studying Genetics and suddenly had this insane feeling that I was going to get an 100. It was the most incredible feeling. I think the only word to describe it is Euphoria. It passed after a short time, but it sure made me happy. The last time I felt this Euphoria was the day before my third Chemistry 122 test. I got a 99. I was really sad. I really wanted that 100. Tomorrow, I'm going to take the test and see how indestructible I really am. Woo hoo. This could get depressing. If a 99 makes me sad, what would happen to me if I get another 80?

Happy Hell Day

Hey, everyone. It's Hell Day again, that special time of year when our beloved Savior did some time in the Ultimate Clink. In honor of this momentous occasion, I wrote two papers that I've been procrastinating on for quite some time. And they are still not completely done. I descended into hell and on the third day rose again with my Grant Proposal and my Cochlear Implants paper all done. Anyways, Happy Easter.

Yesterday, my brother Luke asked why we called it Good Friday if it was the day Jesus died. It was very cute so I decided to immortalize his ignorance in a blog post. The reason I gave him was the Great news that Jesus rose just two days later! He is risen! He is risen indeed.

Death by Steve Green

Have you all heard of the artist Steve Green? He puts Bible verses to song and then makes choruses of children sing them, probably on pain of death. Some of them are pretty catchy, but a bunch of them are really dull. Anyway Mom picked the most boring one on the CD that goes something like "Store up for yourseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelves, treeeeeeeasure in heeeaven!" and is now playing it over and over on the computer next to me. Every time it ends, she opens Windows Media Player and plays it again. I'm not going to tell her how the loop button works, or else I might not get these precious short intervals of silence. Anyway, she's either planning her next Sunday School lesson and is planning to include this song, or her next torture session with Osama Bin Laden and she's already given up on trying to get useful information out of him.

Deadlines

This semester I have had the most fluid deadlines I have ever had. It is probably because of the two snow days earlier this year, though. Both my Tuesday/Thursday classes have been moving their tests, quizzes, and homework deadlines around like a game of whack-a-mole. My Scientific Writing class also has extremely loose deadlines, although I think that is the teacher's nature instead of extenuating circumstances. Dr. Davies seems to be the most stable, since his tests are always when he announces them to be, although he only announces them a week in advance.