My Dinner with Friends, Biology is Dumb

by honeybee Posted on March 27, 2013

The Past is Calling; it Wants its Phone Back... (85/365)
A shot after dinner of Randi’s phone. I entitled this: The Past is Calling; it Wants its Phone Back

Last night, I had a great time catching up with a few friends I haven’t seen (some of them) since January 2013 — right before the spring 2013 semester began. So, if any of them happens to read this, thank you for coming out! We do the casual thing and meet at the food court, walk around the mall… and everyone ended up at the Apple Store. Yuck, I know.

My iPhone 5 started to die on me during dinner, so I managed to get an appointment and ultimately they traded in my “old” phone for a “new” one. I am skeptical when it comes out of the flat, white, barcoded box as to how “new” it is, but it looks pretty good to me. To my credit, I stopped the “Genius” from ripping off the face and back shields that the phones are shipped with. Usually they rip it off before I can stop them, but this time, my kung fu was better than his, and I stopped him before he could begin… to which he begrudgingly told me, “You won’t be able to hear anything with them on.” LIES! LIES I TELL YOU!!! Did he really think I was that stupid? (Do I look like a Biology major)!?! Grr. I hate lies, especially stupid ones that attempt to insult my intelligence. Suck it, apple!

Of course, I humored him, and said, “Yeah” and gave a girlie smile. I could easily have been an apple “genius” and was working way above their level in IT, but I digress… So then I made a phone call and could hear, and speak to Rich fine. Of course I could!!!! It’s a piece of plastic film on the facing of the phone!!! Which is exactly what I had to order online when I got home since theirs will probably peel off within a week or so, but it’s what I’m rockin’ right now.

Yes. I hate the Apple store. Yes, I love their products and own an iMac, iPhone 5, iPad 3rd gen, Nano (the last of the clip-on gen), and macbook Pro at home. BUT, I hate the apple store. Sorry fanboys and gals, I do. Don’t hate the playa, hate the game and all that.

But back to dinner — It was great seeing Mack Daddy Dead Air, [DJ]MetaLX, Sifu “Jive” Walker, Lori, Marie and Randi. Yes, some of us had DJ handles (mine was joan9). and some of us were bold enough to go with our real names.. and Marie is MetalX’s wife who wasn’t a DJ, but is still one of the gang. Unfortunately, Rid couldn’t make it, because, according to Randi, he was at some kind of creative-person-architecture meeting. We ate assorted foods, talked story, and per usual, everyone teased me about something stupid I said, because, I am often saying something stupid.

Last night’s topic of stupidity, was my hatred of “stupid” biology. Oh, they laid into me as I tried to explain to them… “But no, you don’t understand HOW BORING IT IS!” I kept saying… and I bored myself by attempting to explain some of what I’ve been learning, dammit! Aaaahhhh!!!! Did I mention I had two reading quizzes and a homework due on Sunday night, a lab quiz due last night, a lab paper is due tonight, and this upcoming Sunday, 3 more online homework/quizzes are due? Did I mention that all I really wanted to learn about in biology is sex, evolution, and digestion? And sex?!?!

Yeah. I had stupid people biology in high school and at HCC, apparently. Cause that’s all we talked about, and I liked Biology back then. But now… it’s all cellular-level. Augh! I suppose it’s important, but I hate that my exams consist of regurgitation more than anything else, and no actual problem solving. I like logic, and cannot apply it in this class. It’s all about memorization, and I hate that.

But yeah. They had a big laugh at my feeble attempts to sound smart while dissing an entire branch of science. Damn them! I did sound pretty silly, I’m sure. They were sweet enough to wait while I got my phone replaced at the Apple store, and then everyone (except me and Randi) went to get cookies at Cookie Corner. I am dieting, and also did not desire a cookie. Of course, they teased me for saying my favorite cookie was the “Snickerdoodle” which sounded like something akin to Biology, apparently. (a.k.a. stupid).

Yeah. I’ll stop now before some aspiring bio major reads this and gets mad. lol!

Bottom line: My friends are able to laugh at me, moreso than with me, but that is just fine. I deserve it most times. hehe. I missed them. Thank God they hang out with me from time to time, despite how silly I get.

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Spring Break 2013

by honeybee Posted on March 24, 2013

LCC Culinary Does Asian Cuisine in the Cafeteria (80/365)
One of the cool things at school this past week: Asian cuisine in the cafeteria prepared by LCC culinary students. :)

Holy shit, I’m on spring break! Something I never would have imagined saying to anyone ever again around this time last year. I’m a grown ass woman, and I’m on spring break. What the –?

But yeah, it isn’t going to be full of relaxation, booze, or beach-going as one would hope. It’s an old person’s spring break, so I have some work to get done. Taxes for one, dropping off some paperwork at various places, some banking has to happen, etc. Also, my apartment was getting seriously bad guys. I mean, really, embarrassingly messy. So, tonight I started by throwing out a bunch of stuff from the fridge. I’m throwing shit away, (in some cases) out of sheer laziness. I sure hope my mom can’t see me from the afterlife. She’d be shaking her head… Though, I think if she could, her ghost would come back and clean the apartment for me. She’d haunt me by cleaning! God. I miss my mom.

Oh, and guess what else I’ve got this spring break? Homework. BIOLOGY, in particular. Oh the humanity! He had to leave it the same, I suppose, so I had three things due tonight, two quizzes are due on Tuesday, a lab report paper due Wednesday, and more chapter homework assignments/quizzes due on the upcoming Sunday. I have a bit of Chemistry homework as well, but it’s reasonable.

And, bless my math professor, because he said he wanted spring break to be priority #1, so we have no math homework due until the Thursday after spring break. I plan to get him a card, and have the entire class (there are only like, 9 of us), sign it, and write some kind of joke in it if possible. The lamer, the better. I overheard him telling one of the students he won’t be teaching next semester. I’m sad. I would have really taken the class from him again if I could have.

On another note, I’m further experimenting on myself. Aside from putting a stop to distance running, I’ve been altering my diet. This week, I’m going to try using a fat burner. I’ve been kind of against them, but decided to try it at Kirstyn’s suggestion. I know some people who know me are like: what the fuck? You’re thin!

I guess I am small, but I am not thin. I think I’m 28 or 29% body fat. I want to be close to 20. I don’t plan to use the burner for long. Also, if I feel jittery or sick, I plan to discontinue use. I have to admit to you, that I’ve been feeling the slightest bit self-destructive lately. Kind of a reversion to my younger days. I’ve been wanting a cigarette, and more alcohol in my life. I’ve been wanting to run screaming out the door some days from too much anxiety. More than anything, I’ve been wanting to just stop feeling things. Ah. It really feels like I’m young again. Don’t worry though. I’m doing OK. Just peachy. :)

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A flock of geese, A flock of trees, An abandoned house; And the horse you rode in here on. Note to Self:

by honeybee Posted on March 23, 2013

You feel like crying just the tiniest bit right now; and you feel stupid for it. Also, you’ve recently rediscovered the semicolon; hello there.

Oh yeah — Here’s a melancholy picture you shot today:
An abandoned house. A flock of trees. (82/365)

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Procrastinating Maroon

by honeybee Posted on March 20, 2013

California-Don on Brown Rice, hold the mayo
I want this inside me.

I am so dumb. I found out I was getting a ‘B’ in Biology lab, so instead of getting lab report out of the way and working on it, I went to dinner with Rich. It was a great dinner, by the way. I got California Don on brown rice, with no mayo, which is pretty much my staple at Gyotaku… Man, but Japanese food is expensive! But, boy do I love it.

So then Tuesday came and went… and I had to work on Chemistry because it was due this morning. I woke up at 4 AM to finish what I had left. I thought I was doing OK, and then in class realized I did a lot of things wrong. So, I’m kinda in panic mode about it, and yet not. Oh well. What happens, happens. I plan to study my ass off tomorrow though. I’m throwing math by the wayside, in favor of Chemistry, since I just got my Exam 2 back from Math, and received my second A in the class. So far, I’m two-for-two, so I’m not so worried about it. Also, my math instructor is a pretty cool dude, who is not assigning anything to us over spring break. All our work’s due the Thursday after spring break. He is officially becoming my favorite instructor since he’s appealing to the procrastinating slacker in me.

Although, my Chem professor works so hard, he deserves to be the gold star winner this semester, I suppose. And if you told him that, he’d scoff, because apparently, he never got any gold stars growing up, and this seems to be an area of some contention. (I’m kidding). I love that he makes fun of the kids these days. They are a little weird. I like them, but they’re super me-oriented. Or, perhaps I’m just old now and can really feel it in my conversations with them. I don’t mind. It’s just different, and somewhat of a relief since I don’t like sharing about my personal life.

So, tomorrow, I have to cram like mad for Chemistry. I feel a cold coming on from all this lack of sleep, all due to my procrastination. I suck. I am getting better, believe it or not! But, yeah. I could be doing a lot better in school if I never went out and only did homework. No more watching The Walking Dead, or going to eat with close friends. Or grocery shopping… and who needs laundry, or workouts?

Actually, I can’t cut the workouts. It’s too closely related to the field I want to go into. Would you hire an out of shape dietitian to counsel you? I didn’t think so. Crappity crap crap. It keeps me from going back to smoking though. There are a couple of people I talk to this semester, who do smoke, and I actually like it when they come in from just smoking, and I can smell that faint cigarette smell, and I think I get almost like a contact high for a second. It’s purely mental. I know. (I’m purely mental).

So… cigarettes… bad. But I want one. And alcohol.. bad. But, I’ll want one after my Chemistry exam on Friday. It’s spring break soon, and people are asking me to hang out, because they think I’ll have spare time, but then, because I’ll be hanging out, I won’t. But, these are friends, and I miss them.

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Quit While You’re.. Spasmosdic

by honeybee Posted on March 18, 2013

I almost dropped biology. I was sure I was failing / getting a ‘D’ in the lab portion of the class, but at the advice of a few friends, other students, and my Chemistry professor, I went and spoke with my Bio Professor after class today to ask about some grades I was waiting on. The good news is that he emailed me this evening to let me know I’m actually getting a ‘B.’ Not sure how that’s possible, but I’ll take it!

Studying Mendelian Genetics in Biology
My Bio professor showing us different strains of corn growing in the garden. (Studying genetics).

The young man is back to showing up to class, and weirded me out the other day by appearing next to me on a bench I was sitting on between classes, and asking if I was busy during spring break. I told him I was. He kept asking me questions, and I didn’t know how to deflect them politely. I hate telling him about myself, since he seems to remember everything, and tends to repeat things I’ve said in the three conversations we’ve had, back to me. When I see him, I feel myself physically trying to shrink away and disappear. Maybe because he is a hot, young guy, and I’m like, old and stuff.

There’s been an interesting person I’ve met recently, who kind of has the opposite effect on me, and makes me happy whenever I see him. Maybe these things have to balance-out? With good, comes bad? Please don’t email me to ask who that person is… unless you already know, since that would mean I’ve told you about it. (Does this make sense? If it does or doesn’t, then fine). As you were…

The new Bates Motel premiere was tonight on A&E. It sucked!

Something akin to Beautiful (76/365)
My favorite color consists of all the blues observed in nature.

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The Hapalua. Don’t Run too Far… and Eat More Carbs

by honeybee Posted on March 11, 2013

Hapalua Packet Pickup (67/365)
A picture taken during Hapalua packet pickup

What’s a recipe for gaining weight? Less cardio and more carbs. That’s what I’m doing as part of an experiment at the moment. Sunday, March 10th, marked the 2nd annual Hapalua Half Marathon here in Honolulu. Last year, I was injured from the marathon and couldn’t participate, but this year, I decided to give it a go since I probably won’t have enough time to train for the Honolulu Marathon happening in December. It takes place the 2nd Sunday of December, and I believe that also correlates to finals week. I’ll be taking some hefty subjects, so I’d rather not train for a marathon next semester.

I’m trying something that Kirstyn suggested — which is to increase carb intake all week, to ramp up my metabolism. Starting next week, I’ll then cycle from high, to medium, and then low carb days. The cycle will last 3 days and then just keep repeating. Along with the new diet, will be some alteration to my cardio regimen.

With distance running, I always had to carbo load a couple of days in advance. I also seemed to lose muscle mass after my really long runs. I lost both fat and muscle, but I want to keep the muscle on me, and only lose the fat. So, my cardio will no longer consist of multiple 1 hour run-days, with a 10+ mile run on the weekend. Instead, I’ll be doing 30 – 45 minute sessions of cardio, three times a week, with a 1-hour run on the weekend. The short cardio sessions will consist of stairmaster, or treadmill HIITs workouts, etc. I’ll also be lifting weights 3 times a week (as I currently do). Hopefully, this will help me to become more lean. I’ll post how it goes in about a month or so… or if anything special happens.

Hapalua 1/2 Marathon Start Line
A picture from the start line of the Hapalua

As for the Hapalua this past weekend, it was pretty awesome. It poured hard right before the start, so we were all drenched before the 6 AM start time. Personally, I loved it. Never, have I ever, run in so much rain. It felt pretty neat, and nostalgic. Like when I was a kid, and would jump (or accidentally ‘fall’) into the swimming pool with all my clothes on. My shorts and t-shirt, which were both naturally baggy dry, started soaking up the water, and I had to pull my shorts up every so often, but it was still a good time. The course, started at the Duke Kahanamoku statue in Waikiki, went west towards downtown, and then turned back around to head east near Aloha Tower. We ran along King St., then back onto Nimitz, into Waikiki and up to the zoo-side of Kapiolani Park. Then the Monserrat Avenue hill came. And, man. I’m used to running around Diamond Head in the other direction, so the incline I deal with is the one by the lighthouse… Personally, I found the Monserrat way to be a lot harder. The incline felt so sustained as we all made our way up Monserrat, all the way to Kapiolani Community College, where it finally leveled-out. For the first time ever, I experienced leg cramps while running after passing the 11-mile mark. Both calves felt like the muscles inside were spasming, and at times, my legs were shaky. But, I ran through the pain. My achilles were also feeling pretty tired. I really pushed myself since I knew this would be my last race. I came in just under 2 hours and 30 minutes, which is a pretty good performance for me. (I am slow). I’m glad I did this run. I debated skipping it, but it was n enjoyable experience.

Today, I felt some DOMS setting in on my quads. My right knee was feeling really weird after the run yesterday, but has been better today. I don’t think I sustained any real injuries this time. Hooray! Thanks to everyone who wished me luck, or congratulated / encouraged me in my last long run!

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Dysfunctional? Me?

by honeybee Posted on March 7, 2013

Sometimes I feel like I look OK, and other times, not so much. Now, as I age, I look in the mirror and wonder what the hell is going on with me. I don’t know how to wear makeup. I probably need an aesthetistician or whateverthefuck you call those people… I don’t look like a lot of women my age. Then again, I don’t look like many women of any age, since I have a weird sense of style, and tend to dress rather mannish… baggy cargo pants and long-sleeved, button-collar shirts with plaid print on them… nike running shoes.. black dakine backpack on my back, and a computer bag hanging from my shoulder. That’s how best to describe me on an average day at LCC. Oh, and then sometimes I wear my glasses. Um, yeah. Hot stuff? Hardly.

A part of me wonders if the reason I’ve been single so long has to do with the fact that I might come across as weird, dysfunctional, or both weird and dysfunctional. I had a long conversation with my brother in law today, in which I talked about the fact that my biological clock is running out, and by the time I graduate, it might be highly improbable for me to consider having a child. Of course, without the addition of a husband (me being boyfriendless and all) that would also complicate matters. And then, there’s the question of whether or not I even want to have kids– but that will be addressed in another post at some point when I have a lull in my homework / exam schedule.

I honestly don’t even know that I want a relationship. I’ve been without one so long, and am so used to living life on my own terms, that the addition of another person seems improbable. If I were to hook up with someone, I think the most time I could commit would be one date a week. Of course, there’d better be sex if that was the case… and then what kind of relationship would that be? Hmmm. Perhaps ideal? (Yeah. I’m a lot like a guy, I suppose).

The last guy I hooked up with, (six years ago) was way too young and stupid, and a compulsive liar, so… Fuck that guy. (I call him stupid since he was unable to perpetuate his incredibly nonsensical lies). Glad (but still ashamed) to say it only lasted two weeks.

Thankfully, the 23 year-old guy didn’t show up for class yesterday, and so far has not tried to ask me out or text / call me this week. Hallelujah.

Oh yeah… and I have a Biology exam tomorrow, so wish me luck even though I don’t deserve it since I haven’t been studying for it as much as I should due to my contempt for the class and the way it’s being taught. Totally my problem. I need to get over that piddly shit and just study. So, I’ll end this now.

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Adventures With Carbs

by honeybee Posted on March 6, 2013

I’m doing the Hapalua 1/2 marathon this upcoming weekend. I feel pretty ready for it *knock on wood.

After this run, I think I’m gonna take a break from running marathons since I just can’t imagine being able to train for it and study for my finals in December. So, my marathoning days might be over for now.

Instead of long distance running, I plan to update my cardio with shorter sessions, and to continue weight training, in hopes that I don’t lose muscle mass as much as I have been. With running, I was in a cycle of having to carbo load a couple days before a long run, so I’d gain weight. But, I’d tend to lose the weight in the days following the run as long as I ate well. Muscle mass took a hit though. Each time, my muscle mass would go down when measured with the calipers. It would be both fat and muscle that decreases. Hopefully, getting rid of the long distance running will help to retain muscle and only lose fat?

I was told to consume 230g carbs every day in the week following the 1/2 marathon, and then I’ll cycle through a cycle where I consume 125g protein a day, with a cycle of carbs ranging from high to low levels, every three days. My cardio sessions shouldn’t be more than an hour at the most. I think my longest runs will be about 6 miles. We’ll see how this goes. I’m kinda happy with how things have been progressing so far, but the time commitment to long distance running is tough with all my schoolwork.

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I Suck at Life

by honeybee Posted on March 4, 2013

Qualitatively beautiful (59/365)
Pretty, red, zen.

I like directedness. Not when it’s rude, but I don’t like it when people beat around the bush for too long. The young man still has been asking me out every week. He asks informally to just hang out. Last week he asked me to go hiking with him. Today, he made it a point to interrupt me and say “hello” and “goodbye” to me in class despite the fact I was talking to the person behind me both times. He didn’t look me in the eye, and also didn’t sound happy as he was saying it. It was very very awkward, and he almost sounded mad at me. I guess he’s starting to get more aggressive about things. I was unable to sound enthusiastic about it myself as I replied, “hi” and “bye,” respectively. It is not a huge source of stress, but I somewhat resent having to feel like I’m involved in high school shit when I’m almost 40 years old. I guess, in a way, I wonder if I’ll always be in weird situations like this for the rest of my life…

I’m going to have to shut this down, because it’s making me uncomfortable. I need to tell him I’m not interested… but in a nice way. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully it doesn’t become awkward since he still might continue coming to class and taking notes. I emphasized I was 38 years old multiple times to this 23 year-old guy. I wonder if some young guys think I’d be happy to date someone so much younger than myself? No. I remember being 23. I’d never want to repeat that phase of my life, nor date someone going through it.

I don’t feel like I’ve handled this well at all. Hopefully, I get better at weird things like this with age! I hope the dude isn’t bummed. I feel bad.

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Hawaii State Science Olympiad

by honeybee Posted on March 3, 2013

Hawaii State Science Olympiad (61/365)
Some pics from the event – i wish I’d gotten better ones on my phone…

I had the opportunity to volunteer with the Hawaii State Science Olympiad which took place on Saturday, March 2nd, at Leeward Community College. Kids from elementary school through high school, from all over the island participated, and threw down their science knowledge. I was highly impressed with any kid attending such a function, since I myself never was motivated or encouraged to do such things as a child / teen.

My Chemistry Prof. sent out a request for volunteers, so I decided to help out. I find stuff like this interesting. I helped with setting up some lab stations for high school kids who would be doing chemistry experiments. There were 15 groups total, who cycled through the lab in groups of one – two students. Each group performed two separate experiments. I wasn’t too sure what they were doing, though one of the experiments looked like ionic compound solution mixing — which is what we did recently in class. The other, I wasn’t as sure about. It looked like chemical reactions with temperature stimulus. The kids had 22 minutes on each experiment, and filled out their lab exams and we helped to clean up afterwards.

I was happy to be handed a little camera to use to take pictures of the students throughout the event. Hopefully they turned out all right. Jesse, one of the other volunteers there took the camera for a little while and snapped some really good shots with it. So, I may never know if they get published whether or not he took them, or I did.

Ah, to be young and motivated, and so intelligent. All these kids have so much potential. My slacker former self probably would never have wanted to participate in such things, but my older self is certainly enjoying the position of a spectator. (I would not want the pressure of being a contestant in anything science-related, personally).

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