Being Constance Bailey

I know I haven't updated this blog in forever, but!

I have finished my third semester of college. I declared my major as biochemistry & molecular biology. I just finished exams as of 10:30 yesterday. This past semester I took developmental biology, organic chemistry, physics, and a psych class called behavioral neuronscience. Dev bio was pretty much embryology--a class on how different organisms develop (ranging from annelids to humans), a little bit of the molecular aspects, and a lot of what anatomical primordium do different organs arise from. It was a fantastic class with a fantastic professor, although it was pretty tough. I really enjoyed o-chem quite a bit, in fact more than I expected to, and think I may have done fairly well in it. And then physics was challenging, and not really my thing, but it's interesting enough. My psych class was looking at problems that tend to be biological ones from the perspective of understanding behavior, which was pretty cool. It was a tough semester, but I'm mostly relieved that it's over, all my exams are taken, and all my coursework is turned in.

Next semester I'm taking the second semester of physics and o-chem, genetics & gene regulation, and intro to probability and statistics. In physics we're going to start with general relativity which should be cool. The second semester o-chem prof is supposed to be absolutely fantastic, and I really like the professor who teaches gene reg. Also, the prof who teaches stats is supposed to be pretty cool too. So that should be good.

I'm coming home to Chicago on Tuesday and looking forward to relaxing.

As you can see by my narcissistic artsy pictures, I'm rather enjoying my new macbook. There's a camera on it, which is kind of fun. And it will make it much easier to write papers and so forth now.

My school put up flags on the front lawn to commemorate people who died in Iraq. They were noted in the website Boing Bong. It's a very beautiful project, but there's been a bit of controversy over the numbers they used.

Spring break has been going well. It's been fun, sort of productive, and tomorrow I'm running my experiment for reactor (I'm irradiating multivitamins to do a neutron activation analysis). We went to see reactor facility at OSU today and I pushed the buttons to pulse it. Then we watched as the operator pulsed it and stood over the bay. Essentially, it makes a really fast fission chain reaction and causes the reactor to flash really brightly. My friend Dan and I drove over to the Oregon coast yesterday. It was very pretty. I wish I took pictures, but I didn't.

Anyway, life goes well. I'm still angsting over what I should major in and what the best classes to take would be next year (I'm trying to decide whether I want to study biology or biochemistry and molecular biology. Pretty much, I want to take too much biology to really be a biochem major and too much chemistry to easily fit into a bio major. It's going to involve either making some compromises or having really hardcore schedules for at least the next couple years or both).

I know I haven't updated this blog in forever--life has been pretty busy lately. Also, I don't have a computer at the moment.

Everything is going wonderfully. I'm taking Bio 102 and chem 102 (the second semesters of intro bio and intro chem--chem is technically "chemical reactivity" I believe), humanities 110 (which is on Ancient Rome), and intro to Ancient Christianity. We're studying developmental biology right now and the teacher is fantastic. He's just hilarious and acts out fertilization and protection against polyspermy through the viteline (I can never spell this word) envelope by running around with a paper towel roll on his head. Intro to Ancient Christianity is a really good class. We have a really heavy reading load, but the material is interesting. It's a little intimidating that a lot of people who have taken more social science classes than me keep throwing out names like Durkheim and terms like cognitive dissonance theory and functionalism, but I'm picking up the ideas pretty well. Plus, it complements hum quite nicely--we're learning a little about Geertz/religion and symbol and later we're studying the Jews and early Christians and reading parts of the Bible. The second day of class the professor assigned an absurd amount of reading, and half the people dropped, and we don't have that heavy of reading assignments for a while. Which, I suppose, is a good way of weeding out people.

I think the best part about taking two lab classes and two reading classes is that I am really feeling like I genuinely enjoy academics in general, and enjoy learning about all subjects. It's really a very nice balance.

I'm still training at the nuclear reactor. We're going to have NRC practice walk through exams for an hour a week starting next week. I also am going to do a project involving neutron activation analysis to determine what elements are in a substance (the idea right now is vitamin supplements and compairing that to the information on the label). Also, I'm doing orchestra and chorus (we're playing/singing Brahms) and taking private flute lessons (I'm learning a duet by Kuhlou). Oh, and I'm learning how to bellydance for PE credit!

I'm getting everything done, getting enough sleep, and staying sane for the most part, though, which is really just a matter of learning how to manage my time well. I think having my computer out at the moment is helping. Heh.

People seem to be getting happier as it gets sunnier. It's still pretty cold, though.

I think that's all for now.

I know I haven't updated this blog in forever--life has been pretty busy lately. Also, I don't have a computer at the moment.

Everything is going wonderfully. I'm taking Bio 102 and chem 102 (the second semesters of intro bio and intro chem--chem is technically "chemical reactivity" I believe), humanities 110 (which is on Ancient Rome), and intro to Ancient Christianity. We're studying developmental biology right now and the teacher is fantastic. He's just hilarious and acts out fertilization and protection against polyspermy through the viteline (I can never spell this word) envelope by running around with a paper towel roll on his head. Intro to Ancient Christianity is a really good class. We have a really heavy reading load, but the material is interesting. It's a little intimidating that a lot of people who have taken more social science classes than me keep throwing out names like Durkheim and terms like cognitive dissonance theory and functionalism, but I'm picking up the ideas pretty well. Plus, it complements hum quite nicely--we're learning a little about Geertz/religion and symbol and later we're studying the Jews and early Christians and reading parts of the Bible. The second day of class the professor assigned an absurd amount of reading, and half the people dropped, and we don't have that heavy of reading assignments for a while. Which, I suppose, is a good way of weeding out people.

I think the best part about taking two lab classes and two reading classes is that I am really feeling like I genuinely enjoy academics in general, and enjoy learning about all subjects. It's really a very nice balance.

I'm still training at the nuclear reactor. We're going to have NRC practice walk through exams for an hour a week starting next week. I also am going to do a project involving neutron activation analysis to determine what elements are in a substance (the idea right now is vitamin supplements and compairing that to the information on the back). Also, I'm doing orchestra and chorus (we're playing/singing Brahms) and taking private flute lessons (I'm learning a duet by Kuhlou). Oh, and I'm learning how to bellydance for PE credit!

I'm getting everything done, getting enough sleep, and staying sane for the most part, though, which is really just a matter of learning how to manage my time well. I think having my computer out at the moment is helping.

People seem to be getting happier as it gets sunnier. It's still pretty cold, though.

I think that's all for now.

The end is near. How strange. I have a week and a half of class, and then reading week and finals and I'm done with this semester (which has gone by ridiculously quickly). My first exam is on Monday the 11th, chemistry, then on Tuesday I have the in-class portion of Music Theory (although most of it is take-home, open note), then I have biology on Wednesday evening, nothing on that Thursday, and my humanities exam early in the morning from 8 until noon on Friday. Scary!

I'm excited for next semester, though. There's always something exciting about the prospect of new material. In biology, we have three new professors teaching units. In Chemistry, it's chemical reactivity instead of molecular structures and properties. In hum we are studying ancient Rome instead of Ancient Greece. And then I'm taking a religion class called Intro to Ancient Christianity which is supposed to be a very good class.

This week I have to get a whole bunch of stuff done for reactor, write a paper, do a problem set, learn some chord progressions on the piano for music theory, re-do a music theory assignment I didn't do so hot on, do a lab worksheet for chemistry, do a lab write-up for biology, and I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. So it goes.

It's snowing here.

This was how my room looked around the second or so week of school before it became the ridiculous Connie-mess that it is right now. It's still a little cluttered, but cozy cluttered rather than CLOTHESALLOVERTHEFLOORPAPERSALLOVERTHEDESKEWWW!!! It's messy enough that it's bothering me now, and that's saying something. I think my project for the weekend will be to tidy it up.

But anyway:





























So yeah, that's my room!

Last night was our campus-wide Halloween party, Harvest Ball. It was a much needed relief--I had a really rough week and I needed the fun. I dressed up as Death from the Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman. Here is a picture of me and my friend Frank:



It got a little beat up in my pocket (there was a dance party) and a little linty, which is unfortunate because it is my only picture of this Halloween. But it's a cute picture!

--I think I want to be an immunologist. Actually, Reed has no immunology curriculum because the immunology guy retired a few years ago, unfortunately, but it facinates me.

--I'm switching advisors as soon as I have time to pick up a new form and talk to my old advisor to one of my biology professors, Jay Melles. His specialty is in microbiology, and but also does pre-med advising (I'm not certain I want to be pre-med--I might want to go to grad school--but I want to keep in an option) and we talked the other day about this. We also seem get along and he knows who I am (which is an accomplishment in a 200 person intro science class).

--I still don't know what to be for Halloween and Harvest Ball (our campus Halloween party) is on Saturday.

--I'm still sick and I'm behind in school because of it. But it happens.