This swine flu is AWESOME. You guys have no idea how happy I am to finally get to use everything I learned about bird flu! YES IT ALL APPLIES. I’ve been seeing some panic in places so I updated my bird flu blog with some swine flu info. Then I basically reposted it in my DW blog, but with better coherency and order. Oh and I also posted on Steph’s forum and in various comments on blogs. And told all my friends. Individually.

SO EXCITED. I don’t even feel guilty about being excited because HEY GUESS WHAT, NO CONFIRMED DEATHS YET. Except maybe in Mexico, but no one is sure because you have to figure out the entire genome of the virus to determine what someone was infected with. So each case is getting an entire genetic map. Mexico does not normally do this with the flu because uh IT’S SILLY. So things are still getting figured out over there. My current unscientific estimate for their death rate is .07%, based on CDC numbers for reported Influenza-Like Illnesses and flu-related deaths. See here’s the thing: all these “new” cases are from 2-4 weeks ago. I just heard that it was confirmed in Canada as well, which I don’t have a citation for but am willing to believe. Swine flu already happened. Obviously, we survived.

Also, I totally forgive my body for being deathly sick a month ago, because now I’m pretending it was swine flu. Because that would be awesome.

It sucks when people die.

It also sucks when someone that claims to be the best friend of the daughter of the person you were friends with says “hey your friend died almost a year ago, just like your paranoid suspicions figured. Just so you know.” And then you’re not even sure because, I mean, this is the Internet. They have a blank LJ that’s paid but with zero posts or comments. What the hell is that. I could be bawling my eyes out for nothing.

So basically, expect me to do some really confused, inexplicable mourning for a while. Maxine was kinda totally the reason I had the courage to apply to real colleges, and she was a really cool lady besides, and she’s dead. And it sucks.

Meet Bruce. :D

So my Bio lab finally did an interesting thing: we went on a field trip! It was to study a pond that is no longer a pond. Don’t ask me, apparently the teacher has ALWAYS DONE IT THIS WAY, WHY BACK IN THE DAY THERE USED TO BE A POND HERE SO BY GOLLY WE’RE GOING HERE TO THE FORMER POND TO STUDY PONDS. Or something. I was way more interested in deer tracks and weird burrows than in getting water samples, and then somehow I was roped into helping measure the circumference of the former pond, and when we hooked back up with the main group a guy was like “so hey does anyone actually want this?” and was about to lob it back into the forest when I was like “DEER SKULL OMG CAN I PLEASE” and then everyone looked at me funny for the rest of the day. XD He had an ant nest in him, it seems, so he got coated in a small ocean of Raid and then put in solitary confinement, and when I get him home I’ll immerse him in water just to be sure his sinuses are cleaned out. He seems fine now, though.

He’s so cute! He has all his teeth, in excellent condition, and I think those are budding antlers so he might have died in early fall? Maybe? I just checked, and CWD isn’t within at least a hundred miles, so that’s good. He has adorable little gnaw-marks on the back of his head, too! All the orbital bones seem intact, which amazes me, although many of the thin segments of the sinuses and nose are broken. I just want to sit and pet him, but he’s in solitary for a reason. ;_; Poor Bruce.

ALSO WANT. Have you ever seen a rack of antlers that nice?! They’re so regal! So symmetrical, so elegant! I’ve been staring at them for days and only like just realized that I can probably afford them BUT I have no Paypal. ffffffffff

This weekend has been incredible. I watched a lot of NCIS, which gave me my happy place (PROCEDURE THAT IS ACTUALLY CORRECT AHHHH), wrote some stuff (which also gave me my happy place, whee!) and just generally chilled out. It’s been quite a while since I could just chill out. I enjoyed it. Also, I literally have not written anything other than schoolwork since March, so that was like… totally awesome, dude. Yeah. And stuff. :D

WANT. *grabby hands*

For some reason I started reading my bible again. (Yes I own a bible, I bought a nice NRSV with apocrypha when I wanted to look up something) I wanted to find the bit about mixed fibers (Leviticus 19:19, for future reference) but it turns out it doesn’t explicitly say you should be put to death for that. Sigh. I’m sure I can find some other interesting rules to use as counter-arguments to BUT DA BIBLE SAYS DA GAYS R BAD. This is actually related to the above topic - I’m getting into reading fine print again. I’m also on a huge kick of reading current legislature/bills through Thomas. I am particularly peeved by H.R.669 right now. Now here comes the silly part… I’ve always wanted a complete collection of all the federal laws. Yes. It would be worse than an encyclopedia set. But… it would make me so happy. ;_; I could just randomly curl up and cross-reference stuff… Of course I’d be fine with a virtual copy too. That would probably work a lot better, actually. XD Just carry around an external drive with all the federal legislation on it… That idea makes me unspeakably delighted. Too bad there’s a lot of legislation that never got converted over. I think some of the older legislation is actually lost… Who knows? Not me, that’s for sure. XD

P.S. Things are suddenly okay again here. Uhhh, okay. I really think the issue was with Stacey, not me, which is new. She went for a drive and she’s fine now. Whatever, I totally don’t get that. But I had an awesome day hanging out with Haley. I did gym with Perry in the morning, and then walked around doing errands, and then Haley was tense so we went for a walk and ended up going first to one side of campus and then the other, where Dave came over and we all played frisbee, then came back and did dinner. And now it’s night! And I kinda hurt a lot! But it was so good. It was just… such a good day. The only thing that could make it better is if some dudes come out to play basketball outside my window while someone plays O.A.R. and Dave Matthews out their window. Yes. That would be awesome. But today is most excellent anyway.

P.P.S. Oh. Uh. Apparently I can get said federal laws for free. I should do that sometime.

Things have gotten really, incredibly awkward here. I’m actually pretty miserable about it. It’s just teenage angst, but it’s having serious effects on my social circle and my ability to get out of my room and spend time around people, so I guess it’s kinda serious. But not. Because what it boils down to is: Haley and Dave are going out. Also Stacey kinda hates me since winter break and no one knows why. So yeah… today was fucking awkward. All four of us did lunch, like we usually do, but Stacey refused to talk. At all. She just ignored us and texted. I really cannot express how weird that is. Haley and I are cool, and we’ve been talking about how awkward it is and she mentioned that I never talk at lunch (which is true, because I am a believer in only speaking when you have something to say) so I tried a bit harder today, and that worked out good - Haley and Dave and I were all chatting reasonably comfortably. But Stacey was just this black hole on the other side of the table. Awkwaaaaard.

It’s all kinda funny, but it’s led me to turn down an invitation to go with them when they surprise Haley with a birthday dinner. That would just be… insane awkward. And I know a big part of it is me. I don’t fit in. There’s no way I could fit in. We are not the same generation. It’s fine, I’m honestly cool with that, but I’m not going to just ignore it and be like HEY GUYS LET’S RIDE BIKES, YOU KIDS RIDE BIKES NOWADAYS RIGHT? No one wants to be that old person desperately trying to still fit in with the younger generation. So yeah. It’s not a huge source of angst for me, but on top of the finals stress… Ugh. I’m almost grateful that I won’t see them again. I’ll miss Haley, she’s awesome, but the teen drama is just lame.

Today was good. I miraculously ended up with a closed-beta account for Dreamwidth, a new journal, archive, and networking site that a really awesome person I kinda know is making along with a whole lot of other cool people. I also went to a pilates class to make up for missing a tai chi class while I was sick, and omg it was haaaard. XD I got back to the dorm and my leg muscles were spasming in little twitches. I also made $30 selling some Sims games, but now I have to spend most of it on feminine supplies. Ah well. I also realized I have a test tomorrow, but I’ve had enough time to go over the questions that will be on the test and I’m confident I’ll do better than last time. Maybe not great, but… better. I’m getting up early so I can cram in the morning, since a headache is setting in now and I’m out of Advil.

It’s actually really hard to deal with needing little things like feminie stuff and painkillers and pencils. I don’t want to be reliant on these conveniences, but in order to meet my responsibilities I have to use them. Ah well. Someday I will live in the woods and chew on black birch twigs when I get a headache. (Or I could sleep it off. Like I will right now.)

Why hello, properly functioning reproductive cycle. You still freak me out when you function properly. It’s just weird, okay, nothing against you. You just… have this flaky history, okay? I would not want you as a boyfriend. You’d stand me up all the time, or run off to Italy for a year or something. So when you’re on-time and everything, it’s kinda… weird.

Love, Lisette

P.S. ALRIGHT! Another piece of my toe fell off! THIS IS VERY GOOD. My goodness that looks nice. Goodbye, unnecessary scar tissue~

Pros:
Got a 90 on my huge AmGov test
Have no more homework
It’s the weekend
The weather is lovely
Half my classes next week are cancelled
Made a million gil in FFXI and just started redistributing it amongst my friends
Cons:
Only got a 90 on my huge AmGov test
Request to stay over break was refused
No idea how I’ll get home
Stupid NM killed me when I almost had it
Still sick
I hate myself and want nothing more than to curl up and cry while cursing my brain, which was totally happy and content until an hour ago

SCIENCE! I would wear any of those shirts, but especially the one with the dinosaur on a leash. Or the one with the - okay any of them. XD I cannot express how often I want to go \o/ SCIENCE! Note the tabs on the left that bring you to equally awesome other T-shirts. I like the “teach the controversy” shirt with everything orbiting the earth. :D SCIENCE!

I am, as you may guess from my enthusiasm here, feeling better. Still coughing now and then, but I do believe all that’s left is some (rather distressing) sinus congestion. I have a big test Friday, and possibly a presentation tomorrow, but then my classes mysteriously let up for about two weeks. Spring Break may have something to do with that! It does happen next week, after all! I filed paperwork to request to stay over, but… I will hear on Monday whether they say yes or no, and break begins Wednesday. So if they say no I’m kinda screwed. :( I hadn’t realized it was coming so quickly.

Blehhh I want to sleep. ;_; So tired. So tired of being tired. Also very tired of being confronted with just how stupid other fans are - really, girls? His girlfriend was there, in the background, minding her own business, and you’re screaming about how she was cockblocking you? That’s just - wow. And then I hear that some - I have no words for this - some CRAZY FUCKING FREAK showed up at a signing in a WEDDING DRESS so that this actor would know they were MEANT TO BE. And someone tried to get security to kick his girlfriend out! WAY TO GET HIM TO EVER WANT TO GO INTO PUBLIC AGAIN, GIRLS. arrrrrgh why must I be loosely associated with people like that