i don't have much to say

life is fairly mundane. my COE advisor is in Canada for 3 weeks, so i am left on my own. i definitely have stuff to do around here - but it's all mundane work - writing abstracts, working on the paper, taking my stats over to the biostatistician across the way *when i actually have stats*, getting my flights to louisiana and texas taken care of, preparing the posters for the AAV and the LSU symposium, prepping samples for electron microscope and cell sorter -- yada yada yada. i'll probably only run a couple of different lab sample runs over the next few weeks.

i'm still working out. i haven't really lost any weight - but people keep commenting on my physical appearance. so i know i'm more toned. i can finally see it myself. it's frustrating that my weight seems to stay about the same though, i would think - as much as i've been doing - i would lose SOME. of course, i could stop eating ice cream and wok hay every couple of days. but what's the point of exercising if you can't enjoy the foods you love? ah, the eternal question.

has passed me by. i am now 27 years old. mildly depressing, considering that i have 2 more years of vet school to go, plus a year of interning, plus 3 years as a resident. ugh. i'll be 800 years old before i'm finished schooling. sometimes i think i need my head examined.

i'm probably supposed to ruminate on my life up to this point. but the thought is vaguely depressing, so i'll just talk about mundane frivolities. we went home on friday night, spent the night - ate with my in-laws. saturday, my mother cooked me a huge, delicious dinner (cordon bleu!) and then we watched my brothers try to 1) shoot clay pigeons/the neighbors house/a car window and 2) burn down the woods in front of my parent's house with fireworks. both were a rousing success. i also had cake. and ate it, too. we came back last night around 10pm and went to school for a run. we went about 2.8 miles. i was disappointed with my run, i didn't feel good, and i didn't make it 3 miles. could have been because of the huge dinner i gorged myself upon before leaving. but at any rate, it wasn't a great run -though i felt surprisingly alert and good after it was over. afterwards, it was around 11:30 - and some friends called me to convince me to go out for a 'drink or two' on my birthday. yeah - 5 shots of various alcohols later (tequila, vodka, and jagermeister - in that order) i realized it was 4 am, and i was signficantly drunker than when the evening started. no hangover today, i'm happy to say. i have no idea why - but apparently drinking more (as i obviously have been this summer) has taught my body to hold its liquor. i haven't had a hangover either of the last 2 times i drank too much.

at any rate, today was fun and low-key. i went and saw the film brick with alison. it's an homage type movie to the film noir genre. surprisingly good. though the slang/jargon of those types of movies made it often difficult to understand what the hell anyone was talking about. i'll definitely have to see it again to catch everything. i really enjoyed it though. afterwards, we went to borders for a bit, then wok hay for dinner. nothing like snappy kung pao chicken on lo mein noodles to make my night. now i'm here, about to go watch the last 2 installments of band of brothers (aka the most depressing miniseries EVER).

i wish i did have something interesting and meaningful to talk about. perhaps something like my realization - as of late - that most people are pretty screwed up, in their own ways. and that our generation is morally bankrupt, corrupt, and/or decrepit - whatever you want to say. but that's for another day and another post.

shaping up to be a fun summer

well, my summer is going to be more interesting than i thought.

first, i've been asked to present my research from this summer at a conference held at LSU in aug (3-6th). the school is flying us down and paying for everything - so that's definitely exciting. i've never been to louisiana. too bad i can't find time to go to new orleans. LSU is in baton rouge.

at any rate, on aug 6th - instead of flying home from louisiana - i'm flying to texas for the annual AAV conference. that's association of avian veterinarians. it's a great opportunity for me - my mentor will introduce me around, and i'll get to meet people that could help me get a residency/internship post-graduation.

my vacation is coming up. i'll have at least 2 weeks off from school - which i desperately need - because i'm tired of that place. sometimes it feels like i live there.

so. lots of flying store for me this summer. you that know me know how much i despise flying. but - i figure a couple of important things when considering flying. first, fear cannot rule my life. if i ever want to travel, i have to overcome the fear of flying. or at least control the fear. second, we all gotta go some time. would dying in a plane crash be any worse than any other way? probably not. so yeah, happy thoughts.

in all seriousness, i'm really excited about our research, especially about presenting it. i love to talk in front of people. makes me feel smart:)

guess that's all here. i'm still running. and still enjoying it. most of the time. sometimes not so much. i have found that treadmills suck after running outside. time and the miles CREEP by. so i'm mostly running outdoors now and using the gym to keep in shape between big outdoor runs.

it's official

i ran 3 miles last night, outside, and it was 83 degrees. it was hard, but when i finished, i felt surprisingly good. i thought i'd want to collapse, but i was pretty pumped. i'm officially ready to run a 5k. i still have about 2 more weeks to improve on my time, which will be good. i'm not interested in being competitive in the race - i just want to finish. i would like to do the race in 30 mins, which would be slightly less than a 10 minute mile. i guess we'll see. i'm going to use the treadmill at the gym as a way to get my speed up - shorter distances, faster. then i plan on running outside, at night, to keep my distance up. i'm excited and proud of myself. i feel fit! someone told me today that i looked great, so i guess the working out is finally beginning to show. i feel less flabby, definitely.

yay. i love running.

still running

so, i figured out why i did so poorly in my first 5k. at least, i think i did. i've been reading a book by jeff galloway - the world's running guru. he trained the guy who broke the marathon time world record several years ago. he has a very interesting approach to running. at any rate, i was running too much. 6 days a week most weeks. and i wound up over training. so, since i've started reading his book, i've cut actual running down to 3 or 4 days a week. on top of that, galloway insists on incorporating walk breaks into every run. you run - for example - 5 mins, then walk 1. it gives your leg muscle a brief break and helps you keep your time up. the guy he trained to run the marathon ran AND WALKED - and broke the world record. he ran 26.2 miles in just over 2 hours. unbelievable, eh? at any rate, yesterday i ran 3.5 miles in this fashion. i ran a mile, walked for about 5 minutes, then ran 2 miles without stopping, walked a couple of minutes, and ran another half mile. i felt great when i was done. not only when i finished, too - i felt great as i was running. exhilirated and good. i was pushing myself but i didn't feel like i was going to die.

i think i need to be committed

because i'm addicted. i ran twice today. once at the gym - 2.5 miles on the treadmill - after i got off work. then, after the movie with alison tonight (the lake house), jim and i went and ran 1.6 miles at school. it was a beautiful night. 12:30 am - and we did a harder run than normal - up several hills. big run for me, because it was mostly inclined - not flat. we ran from thompson boling arena up to neyland stadium and back to the parking lot. 4.1 miles of running in less than 12 hours! i'm tuff!

such a beautiful night. 75 degrees with a breeze. i still manage to sweat insanely.

listening to wolf parade, bloc party, and the bravery a lot lately - all very modern / new wave 80s sound. especially the bravery (whom i LOVE).

running running

i'm up to 2 miles outside. jim and i did the lake loudon greenway in front of the vet school again. i still have a love / hate relationship with running. i love the idea of running, but when i'm actually doing it, all i can think is 'god - when will this agony end?' a friend told me that running doesn't really become natural and you don't get into a 'groove' until you've run at least 3 miles. so i'm over halfway to the point where running becomes fun.

ha. ha. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. fun. running. hahahahahahahahahaha.

ok. i have to go to work.

ps: running - fun. hahahahahaha. 9 days until i'm 27. i hate birthdays.