A Little Brag...

I got an A on my Chem test!!!!

I actually got the highest score in my class. THAT is probably the first and only time that will ever happen for me in Chemistry. Haha. Actually it just makes me realize that when I actually try I can actually do chem. And secretly I'm smarter than most people think I am. Sad. Haha. Anyway, Just thought I'd brag a little bit, because usually I'm TERRIBLE at chem! So this is how I feel right now! Yay! (p.s. such an old picture)

rewarded myself

Today I took the first test that I have taken since I graduated from BYU, which was about two and a half years ago.

I am back in school, for those of you who don't know. I am taking a few pre-req classes for nursing. Apparently taking "pre-med" at BYU does not prepare you for nursing school. So...I have my application almost ready and am finishing up some classes. I can get accepted on a conditional basis, provided that I pass the classes that I need. (So cross your fingers for me!)

Anyway, I am in Chemistry again. My arch-nemesis from undergrad. Ugh. Anyway, this class is way easy, because I'm just taking it online at SLCC. (well I hope it's easy....so far it seems to be). But I am back to studying, and today I had a test. Which took me back to scantrons, pencils (I honestly don't remember the last time I used one...sad), and feeling incredibly self-conscious because I've had a cold and I'm sitting there sniffling and feeling super noisy in that uncannily quiet testing center. I hate being that person!

All said and done, I think I did really well. The scores won't be posted until tomorrow...it's driving me nuts to not know! So...being me, and being in Salt Lake...I went to Anthro to reward myself....with this necklace. So cute right? (haha, let's just hope I'm not too early in my celebration! Let's be honest, it's the first time I've walked out of the college chem test feeling remotely good about it. That in itself deserves a reward :) ) Ok maybe that's just my excuse. Maybe next midterm, I'll reward myself with the bedding that just went on sale!

visual inspiration: astronomy picture of the day

Saturn Storm Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA; Color Composite: Jean-Luc Dauvergne

Unlike the more narrow scope of the UK undergrad educational model, as a liberal arts student at a large American university, despite the fact that I majored in political science (yeah, it seems weird now to me too), I had to take two years of a foreign language (French), macroeconomics (loathed it), a cultural diversity course (African-American literature in society, which I also loathed), English lit courses, some other things I can't really remember, and two years of a 'hard' science. Because I did lots of chemistry in high school I opted for organic and biochemistry instead of classes like Geology 101, i.e. Rocks for Jocks or Astronomy 101, which annoyingly doesn't have a catchily insulting slogan, but is also known to be an easy A for idiots. 

Though I was more than happy with the science courses I did take - I mean you don't get to pulverise beef heart and whiz it in a centrifuge to purify the protein in geology -  when a friend introduced me to NASA's astronomy picture of the day site, I felt a little cheated. I mean yeah, we got to make acetylsalicylic acid in one of our first organic chemistry labs (I was so excited that I convinced the lab tutor to let me smuggle the test tube full of aspirin home), but we never got to look at anything as splendid as the gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521.

A new picture is posted on the site every day, but I like to let it pile up for a few days, sometimes a few weeks and then binge on a load all at once. Not only are most of the images astonishingly beautiful, but they make me feel so excited, so alive, so completely in awe of how incredible our universe is. I don't know about you, but a regular dose of that kind of amazement makes me feel far more jazzy than the caffeine from my morning coffee.

These are my favourite images from 2010.

Globular Star Cluster 47 Tuc Image Credit & Copyright: Dieter Willasch (Astro-Cabinet)

A Sun Halo beyond Stockholm, Credit & Copyright: Peter Ros�n

NGC 7293 The Helix Nebula, Image Credit & Copyright: Ed Henry (Hay Creek Observatory)

Eclipsing the Sun, Image Credit & Copyright: Thierry Legault

Sunrise, Moonrise, Image Credit & Copyright: Robert P�lzl

NGC 3521 Close up, Credit: Data - Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA Processing - Robert Gendler  

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