:: The Headache Diaries (Retired) ::

:: The Headache Diaries (Retired) ::

:: 4.30.2010 ::

Organic Time!

Today I start my organic chemistry videos! HOORAY!!

I have finished my flash cards for chem and physics and I have decided to not take the next practice test until right before organic class (in a month) because I want to go through the videos first. I also think it would be best to study biology while studying organic. I have a long time. I would practice my essays once or twice a week.

I also paid my summer tuition!!! IEEE!! I am pretty nervous!

Next week, TJ and I are going to Texas to see some of his family members. I will also use that opportunity to check out the schools and see if I should apply. I doubt they will take me but I guess you never know. I am not going to go crazy and apply to all of their schools. No sense in wasting money.

We are also still on in August for our trip to ALASKA! YAY! Ive been waiting so long to go on that trip again! We are pretty sure we are going to take the Jeep. And Meux Meux is coming with us as well! I think we will leave the birds with his brother. I will have to take the lizards though. But they arent a burden. I have to see if I will need mxmx immunized to go thru Canada.

And I am now on a "normal" diet to lose weight. I have to be skinnier by the time I start class and I have to be skinny by the time I apply for med school. I don't need the interview people to find more things to discriminate against me. I need every advantage I can get. So I have a year to lose all the weight and a month to drop a few pounds. So far, I think it's working. Too bad my body cant handle the Atkins diet, because you can be very skinny on that diet. Oh well.

Well, here I go! It's organic time...

:: Jane Dee 2:25:00 PM [+] ::
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An Ox Meets A Red Cat

I finally remembered why red/ox/cat kept popping up in my head while I studied chemistry. When doing electrochemistry, the ANode is where OXidation happens and the CAThode is where REDuction happens. I just put them in alphabetical order and get the same answer, but I remember using this pnemonic thingy in high school with my advanced chem teacher Mrs. Daniel-Paul. She was definately one of the best chem teachers Ive ever had. So good, in fact, that almost everything I am recalling about chemistry as I study is from her class! I wonder if she is still at Dewey. I would like to see her.

However, I am still on my last two topics of chem and physics. I am almost done with electrochemistry, and then I will be off to nuclear physics. I am so proud of myself! I studied all by myself! Thank you RapidLearning!

Oh yeah, this weekend is my anniversary! We are going to Bryce Canyon.

:: Jane Dee 1:00:00 PM [+] ::
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Officially Done... With The Videos Anyways.

Just a few more steps until I can take my next practice test and start organic! I am still deciding if I should study organic with bio or essays. I know I thought bio at first then I switched to essays, but now I am thinking my first idea is better and to study bio while in organic.

Last week, I decided to go on one last diet that I never tried: Atkins.
Now, I read up on it and thought it would be okay. You get to eat vegetables and such and I thought I'd be okay if I just avoided the red meat. Even TJ was convinced (and he tried it as well, doing it using tofu). Well, by day 4, I hadnt eaten any sugars and I was actually feeling good. Until day 5 came. Then I realized why I never tried this diet in 2002 when it was more the rage: My gallbladder! How could I have forgotten that my poor 'ol gallbladder sent me to the hospital for three days (no surgery thank goodness) because of my awesome double cheeseburger diet. This diet is no different than that one. I had felt my liver feeling weird by day 3 but I thought it was something else. By day 5 there was no mistake that my gallbladder/liver was NOT agreeing to this diet. I was so scared that I hurt myself again and started to fear the hospital with all their needles and tests and ugly gowns and barium sulphate and the starving and the headaches. I drank about a cup of apple cider vinegar and hoped for the best.

After crying for about three hours, I began to get very, very nauseous and couldnt eat anything. The last time I was that nauseous was WHEN I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL FOR THE SAME PROBLEM. Needless to say I had said many prayers and begged to be spared from a horrible death. I promised that I would never EVER go on another diet for the rest of my life if I could return to the way I was last week. That was Friday, April 16, 2010. I did not sleep well that night and tried to eat whatever nibbles of bread I could. The next day I had a huge headache and was very slowly regaining my appetite. I drank chocolate milk all day to soothe and prime my stomach. By about 5pm, I was hungry. I ate a bagel in peace and was able to hold it down. I drank more milk. I cant remember if I ate dinner but by Sunday, my headache went away and I wasnt nauseous anymore. I ate dinner on Sunday. I told TJ that I prayed for help and that I promised to never go on a diet again. He said that was a good idea.

So the reason I eat so much carbohydrate is because I cannot eat tons of fat and cholesterol. I don't want surgery and I have avoided it for over ten years now. It took me over a year to heal the first time and I changed my diet to BE mostly carbs. The upside was that I get to eat a lot of candy. Marshmallows especially. No fat! The problem is that now that I am approaching 30, I cant burn off the candy like I used to and I am noticing a slow upward creep of my weight.

I started lifting weights again a few weeks before I did this diet. What set me off was going out with TJ's brother and his pregnant wife. I am heavier than most ladies my height, but I was bigger than a pregant one! I mean I know she probably has eating problems given that she is quite skinny and pregnant but still! So I was so upset that I was so heavy (not to mention gained almost two pounds since my lifting of the 40lb+ bar doing clean and jerk) that I snapped and went off the dieting deep end.

And now I am saying to myself "You should have listened to your childhood fitness hero Jack Lalanne after all!" He is still alive and he eats a lot of vegetables and doesnt eat the Atkins way. I think he is pescetarian (eats fish sometimes).

What did I do with my presidential fitness award? NOTHING. So its back to the weights with me. The only thing I know how to do right. Of course I have to start all over again since I havent lifted in three weeks about. Sigh.

Thought I share that. Now its back to studying.

:: Jane Dee 3:04:00 PM [+] ::
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UGH

I wish this chapter would end already!!!!

I have about an hour left, UGHHHHHHH!!!!

:: Jane Dee 5:24:00 PM [+] ::
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Settle For A Slowdown

Unfortunately I am experiencing a slowing of my studies. Yes, I only have two lessons left in each subject, but that doesnt seem to be making things move any faster. I seem to be stuck in solutions (har har) and pH. I did however, find a way to get the pH from the calculated [H+] value!

Estimate pH if [H+] is known:
[H+] = 1.00x10^n M then pH= n
[H+] = n M then convert to exponent form with one place before the decimal:
ex: 0.10M convert to 1.0x10^-1 then pH is 1
ex: 0.37M convert to 3.7x10^-1 to find pH do this:
1)convert the decimal number (here 3.7) into a new decimal
by moving the decimal over to the left one space so it is
now 0.37 in this case.
2)subtract the converted decimal from the positive exponent
in this case it is 1 - 0.37
3)subtract 0.2 from this result so it will be in this case
1 - 0.37 - 0.2
4)the answer will be closest to this result most of the time.
if it is not, it will be closer to the result from (2) alone
in this case, result (3) is the closest.
[H+] = n.m x 10^-x then pH will be obtained following steps 1 - 4 above:
ex: [H+] = 2.7x10^-2M then pH = 2 - 0.27 - 0.20 = 1.53
(the actual pH from the calculator is 1.57)
ex: [H+] = 5.9x10^-5M then pH = 5 - 0.59 - 0.20 = 4.21
(the actual pH from the calculator is 4.23)

AHA! What do you think? Of course, Im sure this wont be on the exam. Just because my method is cool.

Tomorrow is an open house session with Ross University in Phoenix. I hope the school doesnt suck. I hate it when I am all hyped up about something and then become dissappointed when I meet the staff or whatever. I just hope they dont suck. I know it is a very real reality that I will have to go to Ross or AUC so I am hoping they dont suck.

I still havent heard back from AUC about how they loans would work if I want to study in Britain. I guess I will have to call them. I hope they dont suck either.

I will also be paying for my organic class in a few days. I am still nervous about the class. Luckily I have my videos to help me have a head start on the subject. I am still trying to decide if I will study biology whilst in school or focus on the English.

Once I am done with these two subjects (chem and physics) I will take another practice real MCAT and see how I do. I think I will take the real MCAT next April. I dont think I will be ready for January.

Well, in some less depressing news, TJ and I are going to ALASKA!! We decided to drive there and take the Alaska Highway to see the sights. I think it was me that convinced him because after taking a look at the itinerarys for crusies to Alaska, I saw that it docks at the very same places I had been to when my family had first drove there. So I figured that we can see the exact same stuff and visit his family and see more stuff if we drove there. Now is the perfect time since Im not working and he is now entitled to 4 weeks vacation. So we are going in late August and my cat is coming with me! It will be Meux Meux's greatest adventure yet! Now I just have to buy her a hard carrier and we will be all set. So hurray!!

Next month(?) TJ and I are going to Texas to visit his family there and some schools that I may apply to (but I am pretty sure wont take me). I don't want to blow all thsi money on applying to schools I have no chance with. When I went to Yale to visit, this one woman said she "finally narrowed down her school selection to about 30." THIRTY SCHOOLS???? You know, if you have that many schools, then you dont really care which one yo get into you just want to get in. Oh please. Some people are dumb. Anyway, I am no way going to apply to thirty schools, four tops maybe! I dont have the money to spend on this stuff, not to mention a useless interview. These schools interview 100s of out of state people but only take 5. So unless I really like the school, Im not applying there. Thats why I think Ross or AUC is really going to wind up as my second or third choices. And the only reason I even consider AUC is because they have that study abroad program. If they didnt have that, I wouldnt apply there. I would just apply to Ross.

Well, enough rambling, I have to get back to acids and bases.

:: Jane Dee 1:40:00 PM [+] ::
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Look It

Hey look I added a new chat box so that all zero people can talk to me through my blog. Pfft.

:: Jane Dee 2:50:00 AM [+] ::
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Still Sick

I cant believe this. I wasnt sick for years and now here I am sick twice in four months. Pfft. Unbelieveable.

It was really hard to study yesterday and it made me concerned. What if I get sick when I have to take the MCAT? Hm. I guess the week before the exam, I should wear a facemask!

So Ive been considering my school choices and I decided that I will not apply to the school in Florida. I am also not sure if I am going to apply to U Tenn or Georgia. Those I will apply to if I can get two different professors who will give me a recommendation. I am applying to SIX (almost all) Texas schools (El Paso is the top pick, then Lubbock, UTMB, UT Houston, TX A&M, then UT Dallas). I think Texas would be better because it is a lil closer to AZ than Florida or Georgia. I am not sure if I want to bother with any of these schools only because I think I will have an easier time getting into Carribean schools that I am not sure I want to waste money applying and flying around for interviews, if I even get any! I do like the El Paso school though. Next month, I am visiting the Texas schools so I can have a better idea about what they are like.

Then I also found the American University of the Carribean to be maybe even a better choice than Ross because of that study abroad program in England. So at this point I am not sure in what order I want to apply. I am waiting for a response from AUC about financial aid on the England program as well as interviews because they said that they MAY interview you. I am not sure if the interview is required or they just pick and choose some people they want to interview.

The good news is that Fedex goes there, lol! So I can just buy an industrial container and ship my stuff wherever I go.

Dang its already 3pm and I see my phone is about to go off... it was TJ texting me. I guess I better make some coffee and get back to studying sick or not!

:: Jane Dee 1:34:00 PM [+] ::
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Sick Again!

That makes it two times this year already! Thanks TJ or is it valley fever? Who knows, who cares.

Anyway, I finally paid off the Jeep yesterday! (applause) I could have paid it off earlier but I wanted to take advantage of my APR offer. Now I, we, have to start working on the Acura. That will take a bit longer given how much more it costs than a Jeep.

I also registered for part two of organic chemistry. It doesnt specify who is teaching the class, but I hope its a different teacher because I need another recommendation for med school. Its a night class and ends at 11pm on lab days! Holy crap. The latest I ever had a class end was 10pm, so this one takes the cake.

I have also been looking at some more carribean schools and found that two of them offer the chance to study in England! I keep thinking about that opportunity. If I have to go to carribean school, I think I would rather go to AUC instead of Ross because of that opportunity. I think it would be totally awesome to study in Britain for a year! Well, we'll see. I would definately like to go to U of A above all.

I am very excited that I only have a few more lessons to go!! Then I will waste no time and jump right into organic so I have the advantage when I finally start my class. I need to do everything (almost everything) I can to get an A. I think getting an A should really help my cause and help me get into UA.

So off I go to finish up circuits. As I remember, this one one of the easiest topics in physics for me. Hurrah!

:: Jane Dee 9:17:00 AM [+] ::
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