I’m a TA for Biology, and I often have to deliver items between the biology room on the second floor and the biology room (where I’m a TA) on the first floor. If it’s a lot of items, or they’re heavy, I use a cart in conjunction with an elevator.
The week before spring break, I had to find a bunch of creepy animals in jars and take them down to biology. I had done this classification lab last year, so I remembered some of the animals, most notably a small shark in a jar with its tail bent. I always felt sorry for and a little intimidated by the shark.
All the animals were on one side of the cart, and as I was about to enter the elevator, I was on the other side. I thought it would be better if I was on the side with the animals, but I also wanted to be on that side on the way out, so I kept the cart the way it was. As I went in, the cart bumped on the elevator door, and two of the jars fell off. One was the shark. The jar crashed onto the elevator floor, and liquid spilled everywhere, with the little shark lying sadly in the middle.
The other jar was fine, so I picked it up and replaced it on the cart. The shark was a problem. The jar was broken, and wouldn’t be able to hold the shark anymore. Even if it could, there was no liquid to preserve the shark. The worst part was, everything had spilled in the elevator, which was going to go down. So I pulled the cart in the rest of the way and went downstairs, then closed the elevator with the shark inside and took the cart to biology. The elevator hadn’t stayed in place when I was upstairs, meaning someone else was using it. I prayed no one would shortly encounter an unexpected shark.
I entered the biology room and told the teacher, “Uh, when I was going into the elevator, the cart bumped on the doorway and a jar fell off and broke. So now there’s a shark lying on the floor of the elevator.”
The whole class freaked out. “What? Where is it?”
“It’s a small, dead one,” I told them. My teacher calmly told me to get some gloves and clean up the mess with paper towels, once she had ascertained there would be no problems with broken glass. I returned to the elevator (which thankfully no one had used) and spent some time mopping up formaldehyde. I picked up the poor shark, which I hadn’t thought I would ever need to touch, and replaced it in the broken jar.
When I returned to the classroom, the elevator dry, students backed away from the eight-inch shark, which I found rather funny. It’s dead, guys.
After I had finished everything I was supposed to do, I was on the teacher’s computer. While students were working, she approached me and asked, “Christine, could you google formaldehyde substitute?”
That, for me, was the end of the shark incident. The best part was being able to say, “So now there’s a shark lying on the floor of the elevator.” How many times do you hear that in a lifetime?
Why are some people so centered on things they can’t do? Or even worse, things you can’t do. Everyone knows that positive thinking can do wonders. The most limiting factor in most peoples lives are their own and others’ perceived limits.
Two references:
King George VI
Darl
If you live in Portland, maybe you’ve noticed that it rains a lot. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about the fact that it is water falling from the sky. Why does water, of all things, fall from the sky? When you think about it, it’s really weird. It also makes me grumpy when I have to walk through water that is for some reason appearing out of the air to drop onto my head. Go away, rain and clouds, and please come back at night when I’m asleep and don’t care what the weather is like.
That’s actually how I feel about rain when I have to walk through it and it’s grey outside. But really, I like rain itself, especially seeing drops falling into puddles or water droplets on the plants. It’s just the getting wet and cold part and the fact that the world turns grey that annoys me.
Wait, what day is it? March 13th, almost halfway through March which means I FAIL at coming up with new 30-day challenges.
However, I do have some ongoing challenges (or things I am determined to do consistently whether they’re challenging or not), one of which is to accomplish one thing every day. By this I mean something meaningful that either takes a really long time (cleaning up my room) or makes the day worthwhile and significant.
Today, I have definitely succeeded because I watched this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lisqjq0-YE&feature=g-u-u&context=G2c8cbc6FUAAAAAAAAAA
I signed up on Kiva to give a free loan of $25. Kiva essentially does microloans, small loans to people who are too poor to get the money they need to start or further their business. Big banks won’t lend to them because
1. Since they have never borrowed, they have a bad credit rating.
2. Banks like big loans
Microloans, as the name suggests, are small loans, hundreds of dollars rather than thousands. This makes it so much easier for people to help with the loans!
That’s how Kiva works, so you should click on the link above to register to give a free loan of $25. You get to pick who you help, too. Or you can click on the link below for more information:
http://www.kiva.org/about/microfinance
This is why I should have no homework more often.
It stopped at Chapter Seven.
I looked to see if it was out of paper - it wasn’t. I told it to go, there was nothing wrong.
The printer started spitting out blank sheets of paper. I told it to stop. It stopped with a blank sheet halfway out. After repeating this several times, I looked inside again. It had begun to swallow the entire stack of paper destined for printing.
I pulled out the stack, pulled out the stuck sheet of paper, and told it to go again. The printer spat out one last, sad, crumpled sheet, and sat there.
I rebooted the printer and tried to print out my selection again.
The printer did not respond.
I tried again.
The printer did not respond.
Now it’s staring at me, refusing to do the thing I ask.
I would print this out to have a copy, but unfortunately I can’t.
I went and edited every single chapter in my novel. All 32 of them. But some still need more work, so I’m not really done. But still.
^ I had a math final today and a physics final yesterday, so please don’t call me nerdy.
Finals were the reason why I put this off a couple days, but now finals are over. That means I’m a 2nd semester senior! So now I have less work, right?
Right?
No?
Well, I still have to apply for scholarships I guess. And I’m somewhat masochistic, so I’m going to start a new 30 DAY CHALLENGE! These are fun, and I need to seriously edit my book, so I’m combining them. My challenge is to edit 5 chapters or write 5 pages per day for 30 days (I don’t have enough chapters to edit 5 per day).
This is a bit much, and therefore I’m totally going to do it. Because I like doing things like that.
EDIT (2/17/12):
Sorry, but this 30 day challenge died a violent death. A giant monster called Publishing came and ate it after I finished editing my book. I’ll have a new one next month, though!
I have suspected I might have ADHD for a while now. I know someone who actually does have ADHD, and he’s way more extreme than me, but I’m more like him than most everyone else.
In my room, I realized I actually might have ADHD because most of my furniture is mobile in some way. I have a trampoline, a punching bag, a bed that I jump on, a rocking chair, and a swopper. A swopper is the most awesome thing to sit on in the world - it’s like a stool, but it bounces, spins, and leans. The only pieces of furniture in my room that I can’t somehow use to move are my table, desk, and dresser.
I’m also pretty spontaneous sometimes. Yesterday, I was supposed to write tea and tamales on the grocery list. I had the notepad in my hand, and I don’t know what happened but for some reason I went off and did something else, and never wrote down tea and tamales. Now I’m trying to drink tea that’s loaded with cinnamon (not by me) instead of mint.
I was reading the blog Hyperbole and a Half (which is very funny, although sometimes inappropriate) when she talked about taking an ADHD test. So I thought I would take an ADHD test too. This was the result:
It is highly likely that you are presently suffering from adult attention deficit disorder, according to your responses on this self-report questionnaire. You should not take this as a diagnosis of any sort, or a recommendation for treatment. However, it would be advisable and likely beneficial for you to seek further diagnosis from a trained mental health professional immediately.
Really? I honestly answered those questions and I get THIS?
I retook the test twice, deliberately trying to lower my score. I was unable to get below “Mild ADHD.”
I looked up more on ADHD, and apparently it shares many symptoms with bipolar disorder. I don’t think I’m bipolar, but if you’ve ever played Fire Emblem, my biorhythm would be like Edward’s. Hm. So, ADHD?
Right now I’m chained to my computer, and I’m supposed to be writing a college essay for Cornell. Unfortunately, I’m at a dead spot right now, and chaining me to a computer doesn’t help. My mom doesn’t understand that, so I’m stuck here.
This is what happens when you try to make me write a college essay:
1. I open the document and the internet.
2. I ignore the document and get on facebook, youtube, and backgammon.
3. I look at facebook, play songs on youtube, and play online backgammon for several hours.
4. Whenever my parents come in, I go back to the document and pretend to be writing.
5. I get on tumblr and write this post.
This kills productivity, although I think I will work on my book now, and maybe get something done.
I started drinking tea on Saturday. The night before, I had a dream about being really thirsty, and massive amounts of tea were the only solution. So I decided to test out the English theory that tea solves everything.
I drank a cup of tea Saturday night. Acai berry; it gave me a headache.
Then I drank 3 cups of mint and 1 cup of raspberry tea on Sunday.
I drank another two cups of mint tea last night, and two tonight.
I thought I should mark this milestone somehow: I am now hooked on tea. And yes, tea does help calm me down when I’m feeling stressed out. I am currently under a lot of stress:
Extended Essay
Math project
TOK paper
Physics lab
History test
Oh, and of course, I find out whether I got into Yale in two days.
I realized a couple days ago (Sunday, the day I drank 4 cups of tea) that my entire future could depend on that decision. Key point in time? Maybe?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
So, I drink tea. And I get to play lasertag on Friday with a bunch of other people who are applying early so we can celebrate/commiserate together.