Finally, the blog is back up again. You might not have noticed, since the index page was still up, but I had to go back in and reinstall everything before I could get the entries I made last week to show up. So yes, I'm still here, but just now had time to download and reupload everything. Cross your fingers that things continue to work.

Tonight is the writer's meetup for the month and I feel bad. I did very little writing, and I can't claim the MCAT as an excuse this time I do have a story idea for this year's NaNo, but it would involve me learning about religion, which I don't know if I would feel comfortable doing. It's not that I'm not religious; I just don't want it shoved in my face for a month. If that's not it though...I need a new idea.

And I shouldn't be thinking about that anyway, since med school application should take precedence. But I'm sure you all know how good I am with precedence...Right now my problem is knitting/crocheting. I learned how to knit sometime last year, but the very first project I did (forgive the link, the gallery isn't working correctly right now so the picture links are crucked. Just saving the place for future reference) was lost, so I wanted to try to make another hat out of the same yarn, with a matching scarf. Turns out that they don't make that color yarn anymore, so I'm going to improvise and make a hat and scarf with fuzzy trim. Yeah. And I got a free pattern for easy crochet, so I'm trying to do that too. It's darned hard to keep the number of chains right. In knitting you can usually clearly see where the next stitch is, but the yarn that I'm using for crochet is very bulky, which is usually good, things go faster. But in this case it obscures where the next loop is...so I've got a very lopsided scarf begun as I try to increase and decrease...I've got a shawl in the works too. Maybe if I ever finish you'll get pictures.

Since I couldn't post here for the past week, I put an entry on LJ asking why YOU think I should be in med school. So far the only response I got (feel free to add to this here ) was from my loverly friend Punz, who contributed the following:

Subject: Why Jen Should Go To Med School
1. because she wants to
2. because she's clever
3. because she has lots of medicalistical/sciencey experience (ie labortaory work)
4. because she's compassionate and cares about people
5. because she listens well and would therefore have a great bedside manner, and because talking about bedside manner can lead to silly jokes about in-bed manner, and so on, and who would want to pass up that opportunity?
6. because she knows she wants to and isn't just like hmm maybe?
7. because she's worked in a related field thinger for a while and has proven her gumption and ability to stick it out. even though med school is hard.
8. because she's awesome and [insert school here] would be goshdarn lucky to have her.

If only the med schools were nice like Punz. I doubt she would charge me $160 to send an application, either. Help me out, huh?

I think I'll get a credit card sometime soon, because I sure don't want to have to pay all of these application fees at once. And I suppose it would be good to have something for Vegas. We'll see. Seems like I'm venturing into realms unknown quite a bit lately. I hate the feeling ouf floundering, being out of my depth, but I think I just might have to get used to it.

At least I can fix my MT installation and finally get Thunderbird (Mozilla's answer to Outlook Express; download it now!) to work on both my home and work computers. Silly strange plus sign in username. Now if I could only get the old gallery links to work.

Off to work.

Posted by Jen at 10:45 AM | Permalink

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This morning a 15-hour hostage situation ended in a house just a block away from my apartment. Apparently a guy had robbed a bank (although I'm not sure that's really true) and was followed by police to a place near my building, where they tasered him. He got up, though, and ran into his house where his grandmother and young nephew were. He had a gun (or possibly three) and shot into the walls and in the direction of the police. They found out that the guy is mentally unstable and probably off his meds, so they didn't think he would really be that violent and were willing to wait him out. Which they did.

Last night when I came home from anatomy lab (where we dissected a mouse, yawn) the main street to turn down to get to my place was blocked off by yellow tape and about five police cars. Luckily I know the neighborhood enough to be able to get through the maze of one-way streets that comprise it, so I was able to get to my apartment, but there were some streets blocked off that I bet had a lot of wrong-way driving going on, since the proper direction entrance was blocked. Cece and I went out on the porch and could see the SWAT team running up to the house. It was funny because they looked all serious and determined as they ran up to the house but then they just stood there in the doorway. Maybe they were waiting for the guy to let them in. The SWAT guys didn't want us out on the porch though, they waved at us with a 'get out of the way' sort of gesture, so we went back inside. Didn't want to get hit by a bullet.

That's pretty much what happened all night, they had negotiators trying to talk him out, until this morning when I got up. I went into the kitchen to see if anything had changed, which it hadn't, and that's what the news stations reported. My mom wanted a picture, so I retrieved my camera from my room to take a shot, and when I finally got the house in view, I took the picture without even realizing that the police were leading someone out. So I actually got to see the police take custody of the guy. I also didn't realize that my flash was on, so I hope they don't come storm the place because I distracted someone with the flash It was funny because they had literally just reported that the situation was still ongoing. Sounds like everyone was ok, and that the police had encountered this person before. Hopefully this time he can get some psychiatric help.

Just thought you'd like to know about it...it wasn't really all that exciting. I missed all the gunshots and just saw the police barricades. Though it was interesting to see the guy walk out in cuffs, he looked like a normal person. Be safe out there.

And now it's time for a PSA: Please make sure that if you're out driving this weekend you YIELD to pedestrians in the crosswalk, even if they are there illegally. Pedestrians, YIELD to oncoming cars and use the crosswalks. The police are going to be giving out tickets, in hopes of lowering pedestrian-car accidents. Be careful out there!

this is just some filler because I'm trying to see why this isn't working.

Posted by Jen at 9:44 AM | Permalink

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So I started on the AMCAS application last night. You know, the one that determines whether I get into med school. I don't have my MCAT scores yet but I figured I might as well get what I can finished now before things get too crazy when I do have the scores. And as it is likely that I'll have to take the test again, this is sort of a test run Though the application means I need to write the dreaded "why I want to go to medical school" essay. Ugh. I knew this was coming, but to actually have to delineate my reasons...that's not easy for me. I've got the whole 'helping people' thing, which is true. I want to have a positive impact on someone's life, perhaps many someones. I can't see myself staying in lab research forever, though I do think I would like to continue research as a doctor. I'll admit that there's a nice financial incentive to it as well. You know, work a while, make a little money, then I can write to my heart's content. Yeah. (speaking of writing, I don't know if I'll be able to do NaNoWriMo this year. My cheerleader is wavering. Alas.) Then there's the whole 'cool' factor of being a doctor. While I certainly don't think my life will be anything like Grey's Anatomy there's bound to be more interesting stories to be had from the life of a doctor rather than the life of a research technician. I just can't think of a slick way to say that on an application. I just think it will be very exciting, yet stressful. I think I could be a good doctor, especially with the work that I'm doing now (what with meeting patients and recruiting and all) but sometimes it doesn't sound like me. I know no one will answer this, but what do you think of when you consider Jen as doctor? Why do you think I might be good with an MD after my name? Anyway, back to the application. After all the fuss about getting my parents' tax information because I wanted to try for the fee assistance program for said application, they 'carefully determined that you are not eligible for aid this year.' Screw that. So I'm seriously thinking about getting a credit card so I can spread the payments for this insanely expensive foray into the future. Why? Because the application + sending the application to three schools (so far, there should be more, just so I have a better chance) is already going to be upwards of $300 once the transcripts are figured into things. Add a couple more schools and it's close to 400. And if there are secondary applications for the med schools themselves (which there most likely will be) who knows how much that will cost. I could see this easily costing a thousand. Which I don't have right now, and even if I did I'd like to save it for Vegas. So technically I could put the stupid app fee on a credit card which (as much as I hate interest) would let me not have to pay for it all at one time. Thankfully, the med schools that I want to apply to so far all have Nov 1 or later deadlines, so as long as I get the scores in a timely manner I should be alright. Cross your fingers that there are fee waivers for the secondary applications. And if you have any insight into writing med school essays, please let me know. So basically I've got all these things that could totally mess up my self esteem...but right now it's 'whatever' because I have to leave for class. And get the stupid PIN so I can log into the university system again, even though I did it just fine a few weeks ago to register...yet now apparently it's different. The last time I went, I couldn't believe that I had forgotten it. This time, I have no idea what I changed it to, yet I'm sure I will remember when I see it. Sigh. Later! (And I really want to learn about Ruby, now, thanks to this...

Posted by Jen at 3:21 PM | Permalink

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So tired today. So it's nice to laugh. I have no idea what I'm doing this weekend. Too bad I can't be spontaneous and take a trip over to KC for the renaissance festival. Sigh.

Bad jokes courtesy of faecrafter.

 This pirate walks into a bar with a big ship's wheel down his pants. The bartender says, "Excuse me, sir, but do you know you have a ship's wheel down the front of your pants?"
And the pirate says...
Aaargh, it's driving me nuts!!

1. Two antennas meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2. Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. One says, "I've lost my electron." The other says, "Are you sure?"
The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive..."

3. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

4. Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

5. A sandwich walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry we don't serve food in here."

6. A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

7. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

8. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

9. "Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'!"
"That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome."
"Is it common?"
Doc says, "It's Not Unusual."

10. Two cows standing next to each other in a field, Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning."
"I don't believe you," said Dolly.
"It's true, no bull!" exclaimed Daisy.

11. An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

12. A man takes his Rottweiler to the vet and says, "My dog's cross-eyed, is there anything you can do for him?"
"Well," says the vet, "let's have a look at him." So he picks the dog up and examines his eyes, then checks his teeth.
Finally, he says, "I'm going to have to put him down."
"What? Because he's cross-eyed?"
"No, because he's really heavy."

13. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

14. I went to the butcher's the other day and I bet
him 50 bucks that he couldn't rea! ch the meat off the
top shelf. He said, "No, the steaks are too high."

15. I went to a seafood disco last week... and pulled a mussel.

16. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

17. Two termites walk into a bar. One asks, "Is the bar tender here?"

18. Polish joke: A Polish immigrant goes to the Michigan Department of Motor Vehicles to apply for a driver's license. He has to take an Eye Test. The optician shows him a card with the letters , 'C Z W I X N O S T A C Z'.
"Can you read this?", the optician asks.
"Read it?" the Polish man replies, "I know the guy!"

19. What do you call a boomerang that doesn't work? A stick.

20. What colour are hiccups? Burple.

Posted by Jen at 4:24 PM | Permalink |

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So, I went to my last game at Busch Stadium (well, the original Busch Stadium, anyway) last night. I think it was my first game at Busch in about seven years. I'm sure I've told you how every time I actually attended a game in the past, the Cardinals (bless their souls) lost. Even when I went with my dad on Father's Day and got to sit in the Post-Dispatch box, they lost. It was sad. And then when I stopped going to the games (because they stopped giving me free tickets for getting straight A's...ah, the days of high school when I actually got straight A's...) and just occasionally watched the games on tv, they lost. It got to be that I just didn't want to pay attention. It was like if I ignored the games, then they'd wiin. Sometimes it would work, sometimes not. Though of course last year when they went to the World Series and majorly flopped against the Red Sox (wonder how that movie Fever Pitch is selling in our town, since it's got the ignoble loss of our Cards to said Sox in it) and I was paying attention...see, they lost.

So, last night I went with my parents, they'd gotten some free tickets for the terrace (read: highest level) along the left field line. Good seats, as it turned out, because it rained a little last night during the game but since we were so high up, we were underneath the distinctive arches so we didn't get rained on at all. Yay! I got to see two home runs (Edmonds in the 1st and Molina [Yadier? His first name is really Yadier?] in the 2nd), which was glorious, but unfortunately there were no fireworks, since I think they're trying to save money. Oh well. The Cards were winning until the 7th inning even though they had only gotten 5 hits (vs the Pirates' 17 or something like that) when the Pirates tied up the game. Boo! The Cards went through three pitchers that inning, and alas that Chris Carpenter didn't get his 22nd win. He pitched well until that inning though, so go him. Finally the Cards got some hits in the 8th but no runs...so onto the 9th with a tie. We held 'em til it was our turn, then Hector Luna gets on base and steals 2nd, to be in scoring position...and then Eckstein made a nice base hit that ESPN termed a 'bloop' but allowed Luna to score, so yay! We won! And I was there! Yahoo! I just hope they can keep winning.

The magic number is down to two. If the Cards win today they'll have a tie on the division championship...if Houston loses they'll be the champs! Go Cards! I would really love to see you be able to play the World Series at Busch one more time (and make a better showing than last year!)...

So, softball stuff and biking stuff now.

The softball tournament was last weekend, but it was rather shorter than last year's marathon. We won one, we lost one. I don't even know what the scores were other than we won the first by at least 10 and we lost the second by at least that much, since both games ended in the 5th inning because one team was ahead by at least 10. Let's hear it for odd little league rules. The first game we figured was a lock, since we'd played the Thursday night version of the team, and they weren't very good, and yes, we won. Nothing spectacular, I did get to cross homeplate a few times, and the lady ump was almost hit by a couple of bats (by someone on the other team) and she wasn't too happy about that. I can't remember if it was a shut-out or not. Bad Jen, not keeping track of scoring. [Side note: I looked at the scorecard for that game and was utterly bewildered. It's been a long time since I've scored a ball game, and I don't remember any of the little conventions.]

The second game was against a team that we've never beat (except, my teammates told me, last year in the tournament when we barely won and royally pissed them off. So I guess this was payback). They really shouldn't be in this league. They're way too competitive for the rest of the teams that they play against, and they've obviously got people who play softball for actual teams (or at least more than just one night a week during the summer). They win a lot of games because of that 10-run rule, and it just seems like they should find another league that actually tests their skills instead of letting them beat up on other teams. Not bitter I am, no. Anyway, we weren't getting any breaks against them...neither of the fields had been dragged (or mowed) so there was grass all over the infield. Two grounders came my way and they hit a patch of grass and bounced clear over my head. It didn't help that it had been pretty dry and hot so the ground was hard as a rock. Stupid field. I really don't like SB7. If you're ever at Tower Grove Park and you want to play a ball game, use BB1 instead. Usually. Unfortunately both fields were in dire need of dragging and mowing, but since I don't even know if we actually scored a run at SB7 I suppose I can't lay it all on the field. Oh well. We figured we would lose that one. Luckily we had already had our end-of-season bbq (with yellow jackets and mosquitos, natch) and we were prepared for a long one, so it was nice to be able to go home and sleep, which I did.

On Sunday, I helped Kate relearn how to ride a bike, since she wants to have the proper experience for her practicum. Go Kate! I'm proud of you! She's a little bit shorter than I am, though, so we had to adjust several things so she could ride. But ride she did, all along the nice flat parts of the Forest Park trail, and I rollerbladed with her. So yay for working out. Then later that night we watched Hello, Dolly! (well hello, Dolly!) and saw the Anheiser Busch clydesdales (which never meant much to California-girl Kate before, lol) and I saw Almost Famous for the first time. Good stuff! I'm hopeful for Elizabethtown, since it's the same director and in a similar style. I've read some bad reviews on it, but of course I'll still see it, because Orlando rocks my socks and I don't care what you think about that The week ETown comes out will be a good one, Orli-wise, since Kingdom of Heaven comes out on DVD the tuesday before the movie opens.

Wish me luck on the Anatomy & Physiology class. Looks like it will be interesting to take but not easy to learn.

Go Cards!

Posted by Jen at 9:32 AM | Permalink |

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...that will surely show up now that I have a digital camera. Yay for my mother, who is very nice and said she would get me one for my birthday. Alas, neither of us could decide on which one to get before my birthday, and there were no sales, and there was no(t alot of) money. So we waited until after my birthday, until today, Labor Day (thank goodness there is a holiday after the Queeny Park show!) when there was in fact a sale of sorts and a helpful salesperson named William at Sears. I did end up paying the difference between a 2 year and a 3 year warranty, but it will probably be worth it with all the things that I hear can go wrong with said cameras.

We went to the mall near my parents' house, since my mother wanted to drop off some film (at another place, which was unfortunately closed, being a holiday) and we had tried Best Buy &c, so we figured why not give it a try. There was a nice selection, and the aforementioned William actually owned the camera that's now sitting beside me on my bed *pets* so that turned out to be a good thing. Hopefully he wasn't full of bs and being a slimy salesman like some of them are. There was a whole weird thing with checking out and when we finally did they didn't have any in stock, so we had to drive to another mall to get one that was. Well, we didn't really have to, but I wanted it today, so we did. Eventually I will install the software and have lots of pictures to show you all. Eventually.

But I promised myself I would look at my A&P book tonight, so this is me signing off...

Posted by Jen at 9:58 PM | Permalink

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From Elizabethtown Official Movie Site - Directed by Cameron Crowe, recently updated with a cute little journal mockup courtesy of everyone's favorite flight attendant, Claire. You really should read it. I want someone to make a cool map for me like she does for Drew...

Lala Salama Safari Njema-Inshallah. Tutazumguza Kesho. Ndege Yako. A Swahili benediction meaning, "Sleep well. Travel Safely - God Willing. We'll speak tomorrow." I just thought it was cute.

I really hope they release the score to this movie. The site was just updated to include short samples of the songs picked for the soundtrack, but the score is sweet and simple and beautiful, and I want it.

Another good quote from the journal: "Our brightest blazes are often kindled by unexpected sparks." Samuel Johnson. Also learned that gin is useful for repelling mosquitos. Who knew? It disinfects and drives the nasties away!

Guess it's time for lunch.

Posted by Jen at 12:56 PM | Permalink |

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AOL News - Male Chromosome's Demise Exaggerated, Study Says

I can't believe it's a new month already. Geez. My birthday is already last week. Sigh. Time marches ever on, tempus fugit, etc, etc.

So I suppose you could call me an adult now, being that I'm 25 and I signed up for a retirement plan at work and I get to pay my car insurance all by myself and I have renter's insurance. I'm really beginning to hate insurance, because I'm the sort of person who would never ever need it until it was gone. Here's hoping that never happens.

I really do need to find another way to make money, though. You people aren't buying anything from my affiliate links Hopefully once this Fall Festival of Art is over, we might have enough for a digital camera and that will make it substantially easier to put things online. Keep an eye out for ebay auctions from us!

I just got an email from my softball coach informing us that only one of the three games that were rained out will be made up. One game that we only got to play three innings (but scored 20+ runs to the other team's 3) apparently counts. Poor other team. The one game we do get to make up will be after the tournament on the 10th. Go fig. Seems sort of like a moot point after the tournament, eh? I guess if we go out in the second round like I'm a little worried we might (since we're playing a team that's beaten us every single time we've played them, including the games last year) it gives us another chance to play. As long as it's still light out, I guess. Whatever. BBQ tonight!

Posted by Jen at 10:42 AM | Permalink

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