New and cool things have been reported in Nature News lately. If you aren’t aware yet the magazine Nature is a major player in the scientific community. As is The Cell. Both have sub-magazines for different areas of science. In Nature News today I got to watch a volcano erupt 1200 meters under water. I think that, with the greater number of discoveries in science happening nowadays due to better technology, people should be tuning in and paying attention to whats going on in the scientific world. Even if it is just to watch the odd ocean volcano erupt.

Other more heated issues coming up recently in Nature are those surrounding embryonic stem cell research. I dislike how the opponents of stem cell research always use the “but you are killing a baby!” ploy to make a ruckus.

Lately, although I have been incredibly grouchy, I have thought about the things that I have been able to do thanks to my original plans of doing school in the carribbean going down in flames. I have had to opportunity to work with the coolest people at the vet clinic. They are so rational that it rocks my socks. I am dumbfounded by some of the things my coworkers say because it resonates with the things I also believe.

I have also had the opportunity to spend more time with a very good friend of mine whom I otherwise don’t see often enough. For this I am grateful, as he helps me keep my sanity and usually suceeds in getting me out of the grouchiest of moods.

I have also proven to myself that I’m not lazy or unmotivated as I am working at two part time jobs almost every day as well as tutoring most evenings. I do this with only a bicycle to get around on (although that is lately proving to be rather difficult in the blazing snow).

I typed most of this up with a corn snake wrapped around my right arm. I’ve decided that I also like snakes as pets (along with cats and the like).

I guess I should give in and finally post something about the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus. I don’t think it is something to get crazy about. Yes, particular groups of people (excluding sports teams) should be immunized but other relatively healthy people could probably skip out. For example, my mother, who has asthma, has already had the H1N1 flu and my sister is currently in the process of getting over it. Is it really a terrible virus like HIV or is it just the regular flu that has been given a little too much publicity? My guess is that it is somewhere between the two. After I read the article in Nature I’ll have a better grasp of the issue – you should read it too.

The biggest thing that is bugging me is that people are going crazy about whether or not the vaccine is safe. Gosh! Should I avoid the 5% risk of cancer from the vaccine or the 80% chance of getting infected with H1N1? Idiots getting all fussed up about the chemicals being put in vaccines drive me insane. They don’t stop to think that those chemicals have to be in there for a reason and they are present in all vaccines.

Another stupid person that I encountered today was my employer. She asked me to clean up the back area because it was getting cluttered. She explained that it was getting that way because people would stop a task halfway through and leave the mess there. No really? I could have told her that the week I started work!

I’m a clean person and I like to work independantly but I’ve learned from this job and living with my family that the only way to get along is to be a mindless drone (for work) that can’t think for itself and is allergic to washing dishes (like my older brother). That way I won’t be the one doing all the dishes or being told that my ideas at work stink. What better motivation is there to stay in school and get a real job?

Sorry for all the randomness. Life is lame right now.

So now I work at a vet clinic as the clean-up girl (aka: Molly Maid). I do get to do some fun stuff though, like watch knee surgeries, hold squirly animals, and go on the occasional outing with one of the DVMs.

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And so far I am still cycling every day to work. The only thing I’m really worried about is how nasty it will get when it does finally decide to snow.

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I don’t know why, but my brother (who I am living with, along with his wife) decided to cheap out and downgrade our internet connection. Like seriously downgrade it.

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Fortunatly we are back to normal speed after two short weeks of torture.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I have finally landed two jobs at the tiny-town in no-where-land. I work at a vet clinic and a garden/giftshop. The vet clinic is neat, clean and tidy. The garden centre is the absolute opposite. It drives me insane. I feel nice and sane when I am at the clinic for my first half the the day, then I ride my bicycle over to the garden centre and almost rip my hair out from the incredible permanent mess and disorganization. So every day I go from sane to psycho. And it doesn’t help that my roomies (brother and sis-in-law) are slobs. Their house appears clean, but it isn’t. It is just roomy.

Ironically the vet clinic and garden centre are also opposite when it comes to religion. Today the doc’s and techs were talking about how silly religion is and how they used to react to bible thumpers. Then I biked over to the garden centre and had a similar conversation but with a different spin. They were talking about how they haven’t been to church in a while and that it was good to go. Hah! I’m currently reading Counterknowledge by Damien Thompson and absolutly love it. I recommend it to anyone that would like to see through the fog or is tired of listening to baseless and non-scientific theories about deity figures.

This entry shall be a bit of an experiment because I am going to attempt to write about fashion and self development. Both topics of which I usually stumble over. My sense of fashion has had fairly retarded growth compared to other girls. I usually dress in a similar fashion to the generation after me. Hence why I am often mistaken for a kid in grade 12 rather than a university graduate with a degree. I also like to dress differently if possible, so I tended to lean towards fashions that prevented blending in to society such as very mild gothic or army/camoflauge styles. So I was either emo or locked and loaded. Or both. It is clear that I never really wanted to grow up. How many ‘adults’ do you know that look emo or walk around in camo? Exactly.

As of late I have had the urge to buy clothing that either A. makes me look more feminine or B. makes me look older. How this spawned is a mystery to me, but I noticed it hit quite soon after I returned home from my trip to Europe. Perhaps I matured and am now ready to grow up. Whatever the case, the exciting part is that I get to buy more clothes! Holy hell! I never thought I’d be excited about that.

I walked around the mall today to find a pair of pants for work and discovered something new. The “boyfriend fashion” I read about and scoffed at is now at hand! Now I can still be a tomboy but at the same time look grownup and feminine! What a brilliant style. I personally despise clothes that are so tight it hurts (or restricts certain movements). Anyway, the idea is that girls wear stuff they find in their boyfriend’s closet. Well, I don’t have a boyfriend, and hence no closet to pick out of. But still, I am going to enjoy the style, especially as I despised the last few fads that blew through. My biggest problem now is that at the moment I am the most broke I have ever been. Blast!

Another thing I’m interested in are TOMS shoes. They look incredibly comfortable, like crocs, but not so incredibly ugly. “Shop and Give” is the first thing you see on the website. What a brilliant way to hook people that 1. love shoes and/or 2. love to give to causes (like myself). The main idea is that you buy yourself a pair of shoes and the company also gives a pair to a child in need. These will be on my christimas list .

As previously alluded to, I have changed my life-plans for this year. Instead of going to the Caribbean to study the subject of my worship (veterinary medicine), I have moved to a town in the middle of prairie-nowhere to work at minimum-wage jobs for a year. The goal is not to make money, but to change my residency. Yes, thats right! I must be from a specific province in Canada to attend their school. I still can’t get over how stupid that sounds. But to become a Doctor I must show that I can, in fact, jump their hoops – no matter how ridiculous.

There were things that I’d always wanted to be able to do but never had the time. Now I have the time and much less drive to do them. I hate the irony that my life is going through right now. I’ve gone from medical student to absolute nobody. But now this nobody has time to get better at drawing and gardening! Oh the excitement tingles me so!

Anywho, I will be using my excessive free time to blog more and post more pictures of things such as my trip to Europe on flickr (which show up somewhere on my blog page). Hopefully I will find something more interesting to write about besides being a wusspuss about my silly situation.

God, I hate sleepy little towns. Ironically I grew up in one.