Speculative Speculum

“You have the highest grade in the class, but you can’t add,” said my teacher as she was tallying Little Caesar pizza fund raising orders (my teacher is faculty advisor for our club). I’ll take my mathematical failures for I’ll repeat, “the highest grade in the class!” Wow, like what happened? I hope that I can keep this streak of good test scores (90.3% on the second exam). Things are making sense more this semester, but we will see! We have 4 more organic chemistry exams for this semester.

I placed my deposit for the California trip that I am taking with the Math and Science Society. I am so excited to get away for a few days and see the ocean for the first time in my life! The kids are doing great although they tried to burn down the house a couple of days ago. They also managed to break one of their ceiling fan lights. No children were injured too badly. D1 has been learning how to tell time, D2 is talking more, and D3 has enough hair now to wear pigtails.

1) 95 % on first organic chemistry test
2) 9.9/10 on my first organic chemistry lab report
3) Ran into my physics professor and he said that he would write a letter of recommendation for me! That is such great news. Thanks infinity squared if you ever to happen upon this site! We had a meaningful conversation. He said that he has no doubt that I will get into a medical school. He also said that I was smart which means a lot coming from him. I was afraid that he wouldn’t think that I could get into medical school or handle the work, but he expressed the opposite. This is a huge burden off my shoulders to have another science LOR lined up. Big relief.
4) We got a grant to pay for part of the Math and Science Society’s trip to California. Yay!
5) Took the first environmental science test today. I think that I did okay. It was trickier than I expected. Thank goodness that I have taken economics, biology, physics, literature (I had a question about Walden and Thoreau even), and chemistry. I even used some of my organic chemistry knowledge for the test.
6) I still love my history class. I’m learning so much about U.S. history. It’s a great change for me from European history.
7) I made detergent in lab yesterday. It was pretty cool.

My husband and kids are sick with bad colds. I have had a temperature on and off for the last couple of days, but I’m more concerned with the rest of my family. We had a good birthday celebration for D1 at Mcdonalds. My brother’s girlfriend has custody of her niece and nephew now (their mother wasn’t taking care of them), so we combined her niece’s birthday with D1′s because of the transition she did not get to fully have a birthday. These kids are so cute. One is three, and the other is ten months. I can get my baby fix in now!

On Friday, we had our Math and Science Society Halloween party for charity. It turned out well, and everyone seemed to have a good time. I made chocolate covered pretzels for the event since they are easy to make.

Tomorrow, we have our third test in organic chemistry and will mark our halfway point of the semester for this class. We did another TLC analysis (this time it involved spinach), and we are in the process of brewing some booze -yes literally. My husband started in a new job today (good luck, sweetie!!!!) so I have the house to myself with the kids. D1 is the same, D2 was very sick with a viral infection all week and is learning his colors, and D3 is now saying the words, “cookie, her name, and thirsty.” We are planning a Halloween party (involving the Math and Science Society, GSA, and Student Government), and I am supposed to make tons of chocolate covered pretzels for the event. This should be a fun activity, and all our proceeds are going to a local homeless shelter for families. My brother, who is serving a mission on the other side of the world, should be arriving to his home for the next two years any time now. He has spent the last three months learning the basics of Mandarin. I hope that he adjusts to his new home quickly.

This is also an exciting time of the year since people are gaining their first medical school acceptances. It’s so much fun to see who got into where. Congratulations to everyone in the class of 2016!

My history courses are coming to a close, and I have done nothing but writing, writing, writing. I didn’t take my kids to swim lessons this week, I have done little organic chemistry, and I will be so glad when I have these three papers completed. I’ve decided to take the next month off from my history degree. I’m low on tuition money, so at least I will have time to save up. I think that it will be a nice break since I have had one since I started my graduate degree. I have not studied anymore for the MCAT this week. Work has been so busy also. We’ve had a lot of sad things happen in the ER.

Organic chemistry is going well. I have another test coming up on Thursday. For the last test, the scores ranged from a 43 to a 98. The girl who got the 98 didn’t study at all! I wish that I could be like that. I love chemistry lab, and I love my teacher. She gives us so much confidence in what we are doing and doesn’t treat us like we are stupid. She says that we are already her collegues and that the skills that we learn in the lab will help us in our future careers. I also love the microglass kits. Who knew chemistry could be so cool?

Notetaking has been going fine. I’ve certainly got into the swing of things, and it will be nice to get a paycheck at the end of the semester! I started two new clubs at my college: the International Studies Club and the Math and Science Society. My sister was the president of the Math and Science Society two years ago, and my brother was in the International Studies Club and went to Europe last spring. I’m going to run for treasurer of the Math and Science Society and president of the International Studies Club. The meetings align perfectly in my schedule which is great. I wish that I would have joined more clubs when I was younger since it has been nice to get more social interaction with school peers. The International Studies Club plans on going to New York this spring to see the 9/11 Memorial which I feel is worth visiting at least once in a life time.

D1 has been so funny and sweet lately. D2 is so handsome and likes to dress up all the time, and D3 started walking! D3 has also started letting me put bows in her hair, which I love doing. She looks so pretty! Daycare has been going fine, and D1 is doing well in the school there.

I’ve been asking around to see if anyone would be interested in becoming a faculty advisor for the pre-health club that I’ve been trying to initiate. So far, I don’t have any bites. This is kind of dissapointing especially from the nursing department which is the area that could most benefit from having students better informed about going into the health care field. I will keep trying, however.