Seriously...

I am having some awful House pains.
I miss that show so much.
I have watched it since I was 12!

MCAT...

Dreadful word. Jut thinking about the MCAT makes me feel sick to my stomach.

So I have been doing some thinking. In order to retake the MCAT, I would have to study so twice as hard just to get back to where I was last June AND then some to IMPROVE my score.

The root of the 'problem' back in June was that I wasn't studying. Kaplan gave me a list of things I had to complete and I was just checking things off the list, whether I know them or not; that's not really learning. I SHOULD have studied the flashcards instead of focusing on the quizzes. Then there was the problem of running out if time. My Kaplan class ended in May and I also took the MCAT in May.

Right now, I just feel like I won't be able to retake the MCAT and do well enough to make it worthwhile. It's expensive. It would take extensive excessive studying. And it would probably cause me some actual physical pain somehow, haha.

And they're adding so many sections to the MCAT. I would also have to take time to brush up on my sociology and psychology. More things to study. More time.

Ugh.

I need GRE flashcards.

2012, where did you go?!

New Year's is right around the corner.
Where in the world has this year gone!?

I'm just finished up some nasty antibiotic for a bacterial infection. It is hands down the most awful tasting medicine I had ever taken. There's no coating so it instantly fizzes into powder releasing the foul taste. As if that's not bad enough, it's making me feel awful. My stomach isn't happy. Ugh.

My LAST semester of college is starting in January. I'm graduating in May.
My COLLEGE graduation. Wow. It still doesn't feel real. It doesn't feel like I've been at Berry for four years.

This past semester I made all As again. It's my seventh semester making the Dean's List. I have made it every single semester. Now that's an accomplishment in my book. I have completed my minor in Biology and I only need three more class for my major (biochem II, another writing intensive class, and a literature class).

This semester I'm also hoping to squeeze in some shadowing/volunteering hours for PA school.
My schedule is nice. I only have one lab (and it rarely took the whole time last semester).
I will only be tutoring one person, Mallory, from last semester. I'll be a TA for a lab on Thursday.
So my schedule is fairly open and I'm done with class around lunch so I'm hoping to have two days to volunteer each week.

Merry Christmas

I had a good (and BUSY) Christmas this year.

My Christmas Eve started with a stomachache for most of the morning. We went to Nana's around 4pm. She cooked breakfast and we ate around 5:30 and then opened presents, took a few pictures and had some red velvet cake. Mmmm. I got the final House season on DVD and a Vera Bradley purse.

Then we went to Aaron's parents just in time for presents (which was good because we were full and she basically only made desserts!). I got a new pea coat and a Keurig! I simmered in the heat inside that house while we watched the four year old granddaughter open all thirty of her presents before leaving around 9pm. She's cute, but spoiled.

We drove to Aaron's aunt's house in the thickest fog I have ever seen. But by the time we got there, the festivities were kinda over and some people had already left, haha. Oops! We hung out there for a few hours and then he brought me home a little before midnight.

Soon after that, I had an awful stomach pain and severe nausea, bringing flashbacks of last Christmas Eve when I had my first ever spell of almost unbearable heart burn. I wasn't able to lay down because of the nausea so after six pepto bismol, by 2am I was finally able to lay down. But it's not like I slept good or anything after that..

On Christmas morning, we opened presents from Santa Claus. We went back to Nana's for leftover breakfast (for actual breakfast this time). Later, I tried out my Keurig. We went to the parents of Aaron's stepmom at 5pm. It was so crowded. And raining with a storm coming that ended up spitting out over 40 tornadoes that night. Then we managed to make it to my aunt's house.

New Comet: Coming December 2013

GETTY IMAGES

Within days after a new comet is first discovered, astronomers can tell you exactly what its path through the solar system will look like. They can calculate when it will make its closest approach to the Sun, how near it will be to Earth at any given moment and even when — or whether — it’s likely to make a return visit.

What they can’t say for sure is how brilliant a show it will put on for us. Back in the 1970’s,Comet Kohoutek was billed as the “Comet of the Century,” but it turned out to be so disappointing that it ended up as a laugh line for Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. Even a well-known comet like Halley’s, whose 1986 appearance was ballyhooed years in advance, can turn out to be a dud.

With that caveat noted, however, there’s a reasonable chance that Earth is in for a celestial display just about a year from now. Comet ISON, discovered by two amateurs — one from Belarus, one from Russia — in September, shows early signs of being truly spectacular. At its brightest, in fact, ISON could put out as much light as the full Moon but concentrated into a smaller area — and if that turns out to be true, the term “dream comet,” now floating around the internet, would be an understatement.

There’s a legitimate possibility this might indeed be the real deal: for one thing, ISON (named for the International Scientific Optical Network, of which discoverers Artyom Novichonok and Vitali Nevski members) was first seen when it was nearly 600 million miles (965 million km) from the Sun, well beyond the orbit of Jupiter. That’s unusually distant for a comet to be spotted: these interplanetary chunks of debris usually live in the frigid realms out beyond Neptune and are more or less invisible until solar heat begins boiling ice and dust from their surfaces, forming a light-reflecting halo (known technically as its coma), that makes them seem bigger than they really are.

The fact that ISON can already be seen means it may be reasonably large — perhaps a couple of miles across — which suggests that when it dips to less than a million miles (1.6 million km) above the Sun’s fires next November 28, it may be robust enough to avoid the breakup that often happens to smaller comets. And if it does survive, ISON could go on to light up the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere for much of December, 2013 and on into January.

Comet experts are also making much of the fact that ISON’s path is very similar to that of Kirch’s Comet, a.k.a. Newton’s Comet, a.k.a. the Great Comet of 1680, which was bright enough to be seen in daylight and had a magnificently long tail (it was also the first comet ever discovered with a telescope). It’s not the same object, but it’s quite possible that both  are chunks of a much larger body that broke apart long ago, maybe during its own passage through the inner solar system. The fact that such larger bodies exist isn’t in doubt: Pluto, for example, is essentially a gigantic chunk of dirty ice.

If ISON is truly destined to become one of the greatest comets in history, we won’t have to wait until November to find out. By August, it will still be more than 200 million miles (320 million km) from the Sun, but that’s close enough for it to start forming its halo. How bright it is then should be a good indication of how much brighter it could get.

Even then, comet-lovers would be wise to stay calm. “Comets are like cats,” the great amateur astronomer and comet hunter David Levy, who has found 22 comets himself, has said. “They have tails, and they do precisely what they want.”

This article is from TIME magazine.

Reading for Fun

I am definitely the type of person that once I'm on a break from school, I race to the nearest Barnes & Noble to find a book to read. It's so nice having time to read for fun after a semester of reading textbooks. Unfortunately, I always find four or five books I want to read. The weekend before finals started, I had found a great book in Target. I was drawn to this book, first of all, by the title, Proof of Heaven. It's intriguing. I read the back cover and instantly knew I wanted to read this book.

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(the back cover)

A Scientist's Case for the Afterlife

Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew that NDEs feel real, but are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress. Then, Dr. Alexander’s own brain was attacked by a rare illness. The part of the brain that controls thought and emotion—and in essence makes us human—shut down completely. For seven days he lay in a coma. Then, as his doctors considered stopping treatment, Alexander’s eyes popped open. He had come back.

Alexander’s recovery is a medical miracle. But the real miracle of his story lies elsewhere. While his body lay in coma, Alexander journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angelic being who guided him into the deepest realms of super-physical existence. There he met, and spoke with, the Divine source of the universe itself. Alexander’s story is not a fantasy. Before he underwent his journey, he could not reconcile his knowledge of neuroscience with any belief in heaven, God, or the soul. Today Alexander is a doctor who believes that true health can be achieved only when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of personal existence but only a transition. This story would be remarkable no matter who it happened to. That it happened to Dr. Alexander makes it revolutionary. No scientist or person of faith will be able to ignore it. Reading it will change your life.

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After reading the back cover, I was already planning on buying this book, but I put it down. Aaron tried to discourage me because I had three finals to prepare for and he didn't want me to get distracted by a new book. I was thinking about waiting until after my finals to buy the book. But I couldn't walk away. He ended up distracted looking at another book and I maneuvered around him and managed to grab this book and start reading the first page before he noticed. I read the first TWO SENTENCES of this book and said "That's it! I'm buying it. It starts out JUST like my favorite book!! It's a sign." And I walked toward the register with Aaron trailing behind me. It also helped that it was on sale, haha. I got this $16 book for $12. Unfortunately, once the book was mine, I still had to wait a whole week until my finals were over to start reading it.

I came across a paragraph I really liked. Deep in a coma, Dr. Alexander visits heaven and meets God himself. In this paragraph, God has just revealed to him that there are multiple universes and evil is present in all of them. He explains why. I think this makes perfect sense and I find it comforting, too.

I finished the book today. It was a fairly quick read at only 171 pages, including the prologue. I really liked this book. The back cover says its life-changing. While I agree that my perspective on things has changed, my life cannot be drastically changed by this book because I already believe in God and His kingdom of Heaven. This book is geared for the people who do not believe.

I thought the last few chapters seemed to drag on but the very last chapter was great. It tied everything together and it left you with a warm, fuzzy feeling. 

 I would most definitely recommend this book to ANYONE.

Taylor Swift's Trouble

Taylor released the video for I Knew You Were Trouble. It's her 23rd video and she premiered it on her 23rd birthday (December 13)! 

Well, first of all, the video is 5 minutes long. It begins with Taylor waking up in the middle of field surrounded by garbage and what seems to be remnants of a party the night before. Her hair is short with pink tips. She's wearing skinny jeans. Then for the first two minutes of the video, Taylor gives a monologue to a sequence of scenes showing a rough looking boy.

The monologue. 

"I think when it's all over, it just comes back in flashes, you know? It's like a kaleidoscope of memories. It just all comes back. But he never does. I think part of me knew the second I saw him that this would happen. It's not really anything he said, or anything he did, it was the feeling that came along with it. And the crazy thing is I don't know if I'm ever gonna feel that way again. But I don't know if I should. I knew as the world moved to fast, and burned too bright, but I just thought.. How can the devil be pulling you towards someone that looks so much like an angel when he smiles at you? Maybe he knew that, when he saw me. I guess I just lost my balance.  I think that the worst part of it all wasn't losing him, it was losing me."

The video shows the ups and downs of the relationship. It's very edgy. Punk. From bar fights to grimy hotels and partying too hard, Taylor's lover boy is just too rough for her and is tainting her. The video ends as the relationship did; Taylor left behind in a field as she says, "I don't know if you know you are until you lose who you are." Very different from her other stuff. 

Taylor said "I've written about 'shame on you, you broke my heart,' but I've never written about 'shame on me, you broke my heart. I knew when you walked in, you were going to be complete bad news and I ran toward you anyway. I believed you anyway. I fell for you anyway, even though every red flag was going up every step of the way," as her inspiration for the song. "We find ourselves where we are in that situation where we want to think we're the exception. We want to think we can change someone, tame a lion, or make a bad guy good ... But nine times out of ten we end up looking back going, 'Shame on me. Should have seen that one coming!'"

Click HERE for a link to the video.

So Incredibly Blessed

Today has been amazing.

This morning was the Christmas cantata at church.

I had Subway for lunch.

I'm reading a great book called Proof of Heaven.

This semester is finally over. I'm DONE!!!! I had three finals. My art final was open book/open note. My analytical final was a train wreck because I forgot to study an entire chapter's worth of new material that we covered right at the very end and that chapter ended up being half the test. I left two entire pages completely blank. I knew I would make a B in the class. There was no way in my mind that I would do better than that. I studied for an entire week (which involved 709 flashcards) for my biochem final that covered fifteen chapters. It was an 8am final and I was running on only four hours of sleep. I was so glad to be done, though. Friday after I got home, I checked to see it any grades were posted (not expecting any thought because grades aren't due until the following Monday). I found that four of my five grades were already posted (including biochem, the final I had taken that morning). I made an A- in biochem and A's in health topics, art history, and senior seminar.  Analytical was the only grade not up yet. I figured that he would take the whole time and I wouldn't see it posted until at least Monday.

Today, Aaron and I drove to a cooking demonstration for a bridal registry. They gave us engraved champagne glasses, two tungsten wedding bands (about $400-600 a piece), and an all inclusive 5 day paid trip to the BAHAMAS ($3000 value). Aaron and I were blown away. It was completely perfect. Aaron said God was watching over us and I completely agree.

When I got home, I thought my night couldn't get any better. I checked my email. And it did. Dr. Earnest had let me know that I had made an A.

I am completely on cloud nine right now. 

Depressing

Well...

I officially will NOT be seeing Taylor's RED tour.

Both cities relatively close to me have already sold out all shows.