Okay, I know I've been horrible. It's been forever since I posted. If its any consolation, you haven't missed much. My life at this point is pretty repetitive - class, cells, sleep (not enough of that), with intervals of high drama which aren't much fun to be in. Lately I've been trying to decide what will become of me when I finish with this degree (assuming such a thing is even possible - it still feels like I will never escape). PhD work with UT Houston, affiliated with the MD Anderson Cancer Research Center, is a possibility, but I have to go interview with them before I will know if they will give me the chance. If that doesn't work out, I guess I'll have to leave the ivory tower and experience this "real world" I hear rumors of. I don't really know what I'll do when I get there, but I'm told I have options. I think science programs really need to do a better job of preparing students for the transition from school into the professional world. I'm pretty much helpless when it comes to doing anything other than pursuing a professorship. Thank goodness BYU has a great business school willing to offer help to us eggheads.

We have made it again to the end of the semester, and I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, statistics is finally over. Definitely a good thing. Don't get me wrong, it's useful stuff and it was a lot easier this time through than other times I've tried to tackle it, but 3 straight hours of lecture, with multiple homework assignments every week? That's just not right, especially not for me. I'm the kind of girl who wants to just read the book, take the test and be done with it. This approach works great for me for everything short of calculus (and I include in that category all of biology, the social sciences, chemistry, english, the arts... pretty much everything. Except math). I should be done with all of my teaching responsibilities, which is good in that I will have more time and less frustration, but bad because I actually do think what I do is great and I love sharing it. It also means a big turnover in the ward, and I'm really going to miss a lot of people. Not that I ever do anything with them outside of church, but still. Maybe I'll have some fun this summer. I really do miss being a human being, with well rounded interests. I used to have time to write creatively, to read non-academic books, to be outside... I did get a little of that last week, though, and that was fun. Branding at the Bartschi ranch -- great people, good food, sunshine, and cows, which as everyone knows are inherently funny. Also, a lot of really happy dogs. It's hard to be depressed or burnt out when you are in the company of an excited dog.

It's also hard to be unhappy when you see a baby smile. My niece, who is now just over 4 months old, has figured out how to do this. She loves music, and she has a great sense for when the crying is driving people crazy and she needs to work the cuteness to compensate. Hopefully we'll figure out how to fix the crying soon, and then she can just smile because she likes to. I think she's probably a very happy baby, when her tummy doesn't hurt her.

On a completely unrelated note, my current playlist is a mix of Breaking Benjamen and Spamalot. Is that normal?