Can someone explain X=Ray Diffraction to me in nice, small words I can understand?

Also, how did I forget that I think iced coffee is gross?

Also in case I didn't mention it, I am mostly sure I aced A&P in the end. Today I ordered my book for the psych class and here's the sick part. I can't wait to get it and look at it. I love school.

Get out there and do whatever it is you need to do. They cancelled it.

moonlight_tv will know what to do, right?


I swear I am going to go study now.

You guys have been able to skip all of my frivolous... well most of my frivolous thoughts because of twitter. Today, I'll burden you with them.

My main concern right now in regards to finals is the muscles of the arm and leg. I am having a total blind spot, particularly as concerns the forearm, on remembering this stuff. HALP! (Pronator teres - got it. Biceps & triceps brachii - got it. Anything involving an extensor, a longus, a flexor, a carpi, or whatever, I can't get situated in my head.) I'm going to have to bust out the coloring book. In other career-related news, I read longingly and wistfully about Georgetown U's accelerated BSN program. I would have to re-take Chemistry. I am totally a poster child for all the admonitions parents give about worrying about your grades in college.

I officially renounce my support of Jason Castro on American Idol. I guess 'Fragile' & that Leonard Cohen song were flukes. My votes went to Syesha, who brought it. (Despite her awkward comments.)

Yesterday during a meeting in order to focus and remain positive, I flipped to a back page of my trusty legal pad and wrote down some things I have to be thankful for.

Jack assembled the workout trampoline. I have already studied while jumping on it and watched TV while jumping on it. If I could practice drums while jumping on it and play World of Warcraft while jumping on it, I would have the strongest legs in Laurel. If only I knew what to call the muscles I was strengthening. (At least I know two are the gastrocnemius and soleus.)

Work is work although I have been far more productive this week than previous weeks and I would like to maintain that trend.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel that is summer. There will be trashy book reading, video game playing, and general loafing.

Didn't make it to the CH show friday. Was in lab trying to get as much info as possible about the final. Heard it was the best concert ever. Sad. But recognize that the grades I get now are going to follow me around a while. Got to have ice cream with necrocannibal and msteleute later that night so that was good.

I woke up and ran errands saturday morning. I had a bunch of random checks to deposit (way more of a pain in the butt now that I truly work nowhere near a bank branch) and after trying oontzgrrl's indoor workout trampoline, I simply had to have one. I didn't like the look of the ones online, and they were out of the exact model I had tried, so I just went to Dick's. They had one model, which was cheesy, but dirt cheap. I'll have to see if I can get ridiculous action photographs and post a review. I also went to Target despite having forgotten why I was going - but knowing that I would remember when I saw it. And lo, I did remember; I was looking for a non-overpriced memory foam pillow that approximates the functionality of those ones you get at the healthy back store but for 1/4 the price. After looking past it 7 times I finally saw it, purchased it, but I'd have to wait to last night to try it out. It didn't seem to work any miracles and I felt like I still ground my teeth, but, I think it was better for my sleeping posture, so I'll keep it. Even if it smells kind of... weird right now. While at Target I also purchased about 1,000 other things, among them a bucket to catch the water that runs while I'm warming up my shower in the morning so I can use it for other things like watering plants or what-not. I have now collected the water, but haven't figured out how I'm going to deliver it to the plants. I think I need one of those rainwater reservoirs to keep outdoors and dump it in that.

Does anyone know where I can buy one locally?

Anyways, having done all that practical stuff it was time to toss stuff in the car and run off to Atlantic City! ( cut for babbling about AC and the show )

We woke up of our own accord Sunday morning due to the fact that you could hear every single person clomp by our room as if they were wearing combat boots. We pretty much rolled out of bed and hit the road, enjoying a really pleasant drive back from the shore. I had to get home early so I could dress up to go to a fancy reading for Jolie's MFA class! We got there in plenty of time and even got to spend extra time with the visiting rackletang as part of the bargain. I had forgotten that I'd be on AU campus and this gave me a tiny twinge of regret. (It was my first choice school. We couldn't afford it at the time.) But as I often say, I wouldn't change a thing, so I walked around with my community college pride (clearly I need a PGCC hoodie!) and refocused because you know, it's not always all about me, is it. It swells the heart to see a friend succeed and I was glad to bear witness. We celebrated with J's mom and the Usual Suspects and greasy diner food. (Grilled cheese on rye, whoah, why didn't I try it that way before??) After which I noticed a distinct sleepiness coming over me.

Went home, read the peril_book_club book (meeting tonight at 8!) in the bungee chair surrounded by kittycats, went to bed. I need to spend more time in that bungee chair, man.

For the past several weeks I've been sleeping with my custom dentist-made night guard on, to stop the rapid deterioration of my teeth from grinding. Now when I don't make it through the night with this thing on (sometimes I take it out in my sleep) it feels like I'm putting a good 70 pounds of pressure on my poor little teeth. This sucks! And makes me talk funny right before bed. The up side is that I feel thoroughly compelled to brush my teeth before bed every night which has to be good.

After lab review last night I'm in a dead flat panic about the practical. I know I have LOTS of wiggle room but I want an A in this class. I am also mildly paniced because our teacher has lost people's work before and I asked to see my grade thus far last night and she wouldn't show me. Unacceptable. So I've got to learn muscles in a week. No more fucking around.

Off to run several errands before leaving town!! Whee.

I am registered for not only summer but fall!!! PGCC has vastly improved registration online since last semester.

This one class at a time thing chafes! I get so excited. Even while being totally sick of A&P taking up all my time. (Which it will do in the fall again, since A&PII is what I'm taking.) I'm even excited about the fact that my class this summer is online and thus I can sit on my couch and do it.

I have two more finals, essentially. One in a week (the hard one) and one in a week and a half (the totally cumulative one). Did I plan for this in my social plans? No. I am going to Atlantic City to see The Musical Box tomorrow and I have book club on monday. Oh well, there will be car studying and hotel room studying. Oh and tonight I am supposed to RUN down into DC after cutting up an eyeball and see Crowded House. Doors are at 7. Class will hopefully be over by 8 or 8:30. Do you think I'll even catch the encore? I am skeptical. I can't miss a second of class because we'll be doing the review for the BIG NASTY EXAM.

Any tricks for remembering the cranial nerves are welcome.

Oh and I am sad about Top Chef. ( spoilery comment )

My first attendance at a show at Jaxx was really awesome right up until it wasn't. Going to Paganfest 2008 was a total whim on my part; I'd long wanted to find a good symphonic metal show to attend, and had flirted with the idea of going to ProgPower, but the timing hasn't been right so far. For some reason the viking metal thing just got my attention and I said to myself "what the hell". And then Kees agreed to go and then Jack agreed to go and yay! So I bought tickets.

We were slacking and missed the first band, assuming that the first & second bands would not be great shakes anyways. I was really glad, however, that we caught the 2nd band, Eluveitie. They were really energetic live and it gave the stuff of which I'd previously listened to studio samples more depth. They had less of the aggression than the other bands (that still leaves plenty of room for aggression, believe me) and more woodwinds. Which is exactly what I want in a metal band. There's a really good review here from the London show with much, much better pictures. (Ladies who like men in kilts, please to be attending Paganfest.)

Eluvitie

Turisas

The third band, Tyr, didn't impress me (or indeed my compatriots) as much, and I really thought the drummer was rough - turns out he was a replacement - so that makes more sense now. Still made for a kind of boring set. I mean, sure, Hail to the Hammer and all that, fist pumping action, but the songs didn't have as much in the way of melodic interest & dynamics and the rhythms were completely straightforward. I am relieved to see they have a FAQ question about whether they are a racist band. They are not. I'll have to give a re-listen to their studio stuff and see how I feel about it.

Next up was Turisas. Now we did not know what we were in for with this one. This was a completely awesome set with excellent showmanship and kick ass sound. And there was dancing. Now, at Jaxx, unless you are right up on the band you can't see shit. I could sometimes see the heads of some of the guys in the band. And... the girl! Turns out both Eluveitie and Turisas have female band members I couldn't see. They orchestrated a sing-off between two parts of the crowd which was throat-mutilatingly fun. And even I, who is desperately afraid of mosh pits, wished I were not desperately afraid of mosh pits for a moment so I could thrash around and get close to the stage. "To Holmgarde and Beyond" is a fantastic track which they nailed live.

There was so much hair. There were so many horns thrown, non-ironically for once. It was a great night. I wish I could catch them in Raleigh or Allentown!!! But both of those May shows are in the middle of the week. Sadly due to ludicrous kerfluffle we had to leave before the headlining band, but it was a school night anyways and I was already exhausted and smoky and sweaty. I gotta say it was worth being a delinquent about studying. Anyways if you think you might ever be into this kind of music, these are good discs to pick up.

what we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s (my note: i prefer goodreads. sign up for that!) users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. (my note: or you really are well-intentioned about being smart and you just didn't have time!)

- bold the ones you've read,
- underline the ones you read for classes (at least once),
- italicize the ones you started but didn't finish,
- *star it* if it's actually on your bookcase and you haven't read it.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
*One Hundred Years of Solitude*
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi
*The Name of the Rose*
Don Quixote( the rest... )

Thanks peril_book_club! Without you I'd look like an uneducated dolt.

Friday: Lab prof rattled off a bunch of stuff about special senses & the eye which I totally did not absorb and will have to teach myself.
Went home and did the TV thing.

Saturday: Loooong day starting with cat waking me up (again) 2 hours early with the face-claw. Got up, practised drums, made breakfast, went to my lesson. Lesson was *excellent* because he gave me a drill that will hopefully help with my speed. He really de-emphasizes speed as part of his teaching but somehow I put it to him, finally after 2 years, that I want to improve this. After that I caught up with oontzgrrl after a far too long hiatus and we talked at length about mental health, the medical professions, and other favorite topics. It's nice to have someone who gets you. Got home late and loafed a bit before heading out to ceciskittle's birthday shindig. Where I cast off my crankiness about rock band and proceeded to let that take over my night - mostly vocals. But I think a good time was had by all and as a sign of that we didn't get out of there until like 4am. Highly unusual!

Sunday: Did a whole pile of sweet, sweet nothing. I tried to sit down and study literally 20 times but could not focus well. In trade for Jack doing laundry and cooking chili, I went grocery shopping. I actually loooove grocery shopping once I can be convinced to get pants on and leave the house. We desperately need to clean out our freezer and fridge and start anew. We watched way too much TV and

TV Stuff:( Moonlight, Grey's, Idol, Top Chef, and more )

This morning the alarm woke me up in the middle of what is surely the most strange dream I've had in years. Which I must now of course disclose.

I was staying in/captive in some kind of Colonial American Inn. When I was first inside the room, it looked like a normal hotel room, and I was changing out of some daisy duke shorts (?!?) into something more appropriate because my friends were coming to pick me up/liberate me. When they arrived, it was falkonne and some other people I know. F. had a special grappling hook and rope to help me escape that would allow us to go through the ceiling like ghosts to the first floor.

At this point we realized we couldn't leave the normal way, and I tried to go towards the kitchen. The building was more clearly some kind of all-wood structure probably informed by the aesthetics of certain locales in World of Warcraft. I looked around the corner into the dining room area and that is when I saw that Darth Vader was there, so we would clearly have to leave some other way.

I found a window to open and escape through, but when we got out front we had to fight some guards in military (colonial era) outfits. At which point everything went into fast forward and the fight was very suddenly over and the guards were all laying on the ground exsanguinated and our "boss" was there lecturing us about the masquerade and I realized we were vampires.

But that's not all! Then I learned that this was a sting operation and these colonial people were trying to horn in on the vampires' cocaine smuggling business and we were actually stealing back all the cocaine and some other vampire said "Martha Washington over here swallowed two of the bags before I could get them."

And that is about when I woke up.

It's been a while (5 years, about) since I made a spreadsheet to assist my bag shopping. So when I got the urge to buy a colorful summer tote, a brief survey of the market told me that there was too much information just to make a decision. I needed to bust out the spreadsheet.

Now, I know science now tells us that too many choices are bad for your mental acuity. (OK I just learned that might be true yesterday.) But I enjoy it, like so many things that are bad for you.

So, without further ado, bag enthusiasts, please go forth and check out my current front-runners in the competition to be my 2008 summer bag. Sadly, I fear this particular bag survey will be a little gendered as I don't know many dudes who carry totes, for whatever reason. And of course if you have a suggestion that's not on my list, please mention it.

I had no idea dongle was a real word until I saw it today in an official spec.

My dentist has informed me that in addition to the chip I took off the back of my tooth which I just got filled this morning, my nightly grinding may be cracking my old fillings. How about that. I will be really making an effort to wear that guard then.

This weekend was a fine one; I pulled a good grade on a very hard quiz out of my butt on Friday. I woke up nice and late on Saturday and in plenty of time to attend drivingblind's next session of the FFF game. I may have made a total ass of myself in front of his friend, however, due to my misunderstanding of turns and timing. I departed in a hurry to change and have dinner with my parents at Bluestone Grill in Timonium where they were staying to go to a train show or something. I have to say, that was a fantastic choice, and thanks to dharshai for the recommendation. I got to have the beloved scallops. Seeing mom and dad was good too, and it made me all sniffly and wishing we could do that every week. Also mom brought me a eucalyptus plant which I need to put in the ground. I have been wanting one since we moved in. :)

When we got home we totally slacked. There was some WoW and there was SNL.

Sunday salami_salome and I visited the Body Gallery. More on that perhaps later.

I feel like I'm still psychologically recovering from going out of town and then not having any recovery time (I was supposed to have some, but I couldn't take the time off work after the death cold). So I'm feeling really reclusive.

1. My username is ______ because ______.

Snidegrrl was something that jwiv came up with when I was signing up along with him and CC for some online flight sim whose name is escaping me. the logic at the time was that I wanted to let other people know I was female (to up the visibility of women in gaming) but discourage flirting. I just kept it. Although I have been thinking about changing it lately. I kind of really want to but it's everywhere, like twitter and so on now.

2. My name is _____ because ______.

Kimberly; I think my parents just liked it. I don't have a story, they just picked it. If there is a story, parents, feel free to comment with it. If this meme is about the "Name" assignment on my LJ userinfo, then it's "Keep It Dark" which is one of my favorite Genesis songs.

3. My journal is titled ____ because ____.

"all the things that happened to me" is a lyric from that song.

4. My friends page is called ____ because ____.

"and all that I have seen" is also a lyric from that song.

5. My default userpic is ____ because ____.

A picture of me at tzel's bridal shower all greyed and fuzzed in PS; I chose this because I thought it was pretty. And I greyed it because the new journal style I chose is all grey.

6) My LJ subtitle is: _____ because:

"a world full of people, their hearts full of joy" is also a lyric from the aforementioned song (it's a theme, see). The song speaks to my optimistic side.

So glad to be home. We got to do a bunch of things while in CA, and I have some photographic evidence! Since I have too much work to catch up on, these will have to suffice for now.





See the rest of the set here.

Got my Crowded House tickets. Woo!! In case you want to get tickets, they went on sale this morning and I have my doubts they will sell out. Actually I bought two tickets and I don't know who is going with me although Jack has dibs. I sure hope the lab that day isn't important! Because I am skipping it! Check out my irresponsibility!

So as a follow up to yesterday's curriculum discussion, I was all wrong. ( what I learned from academic advising )

Not for the first time today, someone (in this case a coworker) has mentioned to me attending an actual 4-year university to get a BSN. No one ever mentions how that gets paid for though.

I am thinking of selling several things.
1. The old drum kit (may have a buyer already? don't know)
2. The beautiful antique double bed
3. The harp

Contact me in whatever way you prefer (my gmail is a bad idea as I can't see it at work) if you think you might be interested in any of these things.

Originally I said I would take it slow, and not take any classes this summer. In part, it's like, why not save the $500 or so. In part it's that I am not in a HUGE rush to get into nursing school because when I do make that transition, I will have to make a decision about going full time, and that is kind of a nightmare from several perspectives. (Those being that I started my perfectly good job 6 months ago and I don't want to leave it, that it would make us financially uncomfortable during the 2 years for the degree, and well, that last one is a whole thing in itself.) In another part, A&P has been lots of work and I will want a break where I can sit on my thumbs and play World of Warcraft and put drum practice at a higher priority and generally sloth it up. Or work out, or play softball, whatever.

Then I got the summer course catalog from PGCC and looked at it. I was just going to glance at it and toss it in the trash, knowing my plan to slack and bide my time. But then I somehow was getting out the hiliter and marking all the classes I could take. (And taking a trip down memory lane to a time when doing this filled me with hope and eagerness and complete for-granted-taking of the cost being absorbed by loans.) What are the advantages? More good grades (in theory) to help my sad GPA from my previous college experience. Obviously, learning more is good. Looking better on an app to nursing school just by having more courses under my belt, as currently nothing else I'm doing is getting me experience in a medical field. Being ready to apply sooner.

Disadvanatages? Being less focused at work, being out that $500 or so bucks in the immediate future, less time for social life and slacking. The thought of course is that there will be time for all those things when I'm done with nursing school but in a way that's a lie because a) I still make time for those things and b) what if I go get a BSN to MSN or something like that?

So I realized, hey, I should talk to an academic advisor. Or, I could ask my friends list!

( Detailed Class Options With Snarky Commentary )

So what do you think, peanut gallery?
Poll #1164653
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What class should I take this summer?

A while back someone posted on the Genesis forums a question about what albums are good from start to finish, that do not have a bad song on them, that you'd happily listen to from beginning to end. Then today whiskey_poptart asked basically the same question, and I was like, wait! I need more data on this! The Genesis forum people are a little... biased, I'd say, in favor of certain genres. I expect better of my friends' list though, so please fill out a little poll with the albums you think are classics, virtually without a dud on them, your favorites.

(I am a nerd and have a list of more than five, and if you are like me, feel free to expand in comments.)

Poll #1164085 Albums with a Perfect 10 (In no particular order)
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

I think I may have survived the plague of March, but I don't want to count those chickens before they hatch... I am scared it will come back.



(Click through to see all the egg-dyeing action.)
Last Saturday I hosted this year's egg dyeing event, which would have gone better had I not been Typhoid Kim. We got some really great looking eggs out of it though!! And thanks to my friends for putting up with my sick ass.

After that day everything was kind of a blur until I had the lecture exam Wednesday, which was still kind of a blur, and then went back to work... no that was all a blur as well. I really haven't felt OK until today. Which is why all of my blogging urges went to Twitter. Which I like more and more all the time! Friday I went to lab and found out a) just how many muscles there are and b) that I did in fact ace the practical. My classmates embarrassed me a bunch and I still don't know how to handle it.

Saturday I went to my drum lesson (I'd barely practiced due to the fact that a) I am in the middle of reorganizing the house and the new drum kit and its new home and that is a whole other post and b) the aforementioned plague. So I bullshitted a bunch with the brushes and swelled with self-loathing. The pride to self-loathing rollercoaster has been in full operation 24-7 in my house, let me tell you. I then packed up all my tissues and cough drops and hit the road to Glenside, PA to meet up with 20-something crazy Genesis fans.

I loves me my Genesis fans. This experience was no exception as everyone geeked out and loved on my tattoo (except when they were demanding that I include this thing or not include that thing, which recieved polite nodding and smiling from me). We ate at Plush and frankly I don't know why because last time they treated us like crap and give us the hairy eyeball and this time was no different. The food was good but not good enough to warrant them being weird at us. I think they just have an inflated view of their importance as a fancy-ass bar. Nevertheless, we had a great time and Wilson and his wife brought more weird gifts (it involved a towel and ... pictures of sperms with little Phil Collins heads. yeah.) and I met even more awesome nice people and yeah.

Then there was the SHOW. There was in initial surprise in the form of an opening act - Ronnie Caryl - and that was nice. Then the main event... Oh my god - it was bliss! I was kind of ambivalent about the later material and the fact that Martin would not be behind the drum kit the whole time but I was totally blown away in the end. I hope someone on the forums posts the setlist because I want to try to piece back together my fantastic memories of things. Several things came together to make the show really stunning. Martin Levac, of course, is a showman and artist, and terrific singer and drummer, and to our great favor happens to sound and look like PC. But while obviously that is the point of this show, I'd go see him drum & sing the phone book. And I don't say this to slight in any way his fantastic band, because wow. Wow. I was sitting front row on the guitar/bass side and those guys were flat oodles of fun to watch. They were obviously having a good time and it was catching. The "Chester Thompson" of the crew was excellent too. The whole band were consummate professionals - at one point the keyboard player had a failure in the ARP Pro-Soloist, in the middle of "In The Cage"... everyone covered and communicated well and the show went on. And the final ingredient (apart from the music itself, of course, props to the composers ;)) was the audience. Really good form, really good energy, polite, and hella enthusiastic. The band kept looking out into the audience with obvious stark disbelief on their faces that we were so happy and so expressive. Jean-Pierre looked right at me at the end and gave me a thumbs up. Well, I do my part.

I was toast after all the smoke machines and stuff so I didn't try very hard to hang out with the band, and Tara and Chris had to go early, so we headed right back to their place and crashed, I got a terrific night's sleep and immediately ran back home to get to my week-neglected to-do list. Ha. I will say that I had yet another bad Guitar Center experience and I will be buying a bass pedal online thankyouverymuch and blah blah self-loathing due to crazy-good drummers all over the joint.

And now another week! I have plenty more words in me, ya'll, but I will save them for another day. Hometime!

No strep, no pneumonia, no flu. I just have a plain old regular cold. But it's kicking my ass so many ways I lost count. The doc at the patient first gave me an inhaler for the second cold in a row and I just tried it for the first time.

I never want to do that again, if possible. I am shaking and nervous and I don't feel like my lungs relaxed at all. After I breathed crappily into the breathy-tube for like the first time, he was like, "Are you SURE you don't have asthma???"

Anyways I didn't work today and I won't be working tomorrow, I have a note and everything. I guess that could be considered an up side but at the moment I'd rather be healthy and working.

EDIT: I am sincerely and thoroughly sorry to anyone I exposed this weekend. For those before I knew: humble sorries and for those after I knew: MASSIVE IDIOT sorries. I am stupid.