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random ramblings

9th April, 2002. 9:01 pm. Physics Geek

Today was a neat day. It's been a long time since I've really been into Physics. I was such a Physics nerd my first year, and I loved it! We had such a sense of community within my Physics class. I drifted from them my second year, and took a break from Physics my third year. I'm back now, but one class behind. If I didn't take the break, I would be graduating with the rest of my Physics buddies. Anyway, this Physics Outreach has been a really good experience so far for me. I've been enjoying working closely with a professor. I have never done research, so I never got that sense of community you get with your research group. I don't like Physics enough to do research anyway, but Physics Outreach is giving me a chance to play, but not obligated to all that research stuff.

During one of my break, I went to meet with my professor (let's call him professor H). An old Physics classmate was there talking to the professor about some proposal that's due today. The buddy gives me a hug, and like everyone else in my old class, says, "Caroline! Long time no see"... even though I see this guy the most out of all the rest. Anyway, he leaves and I talk to my professor, but we get interupted by another professor (lets call him professor L). I knew the guy was a professor of mine, but couldn't think for which specific class right away. I just knew it was my sophomore year. He wanted to talked to professor H, so professor H got up so they can talk in the hall way. Then professor L looks at me and says, "don't I know you? Are you a Physics major?" I said, "yeah, I was in your class." He smiles and walks away with professor H, but I could tell he was trying to figure out who I was. I hear from the hall way, "caroline tran"... didn't hear much more.

Afterwards, professor H came back and we were going to try our fire experiment... my suggestion! So I got to go to another building and enter a room with a secret code (you have to enter sequence of numbers on the pad on the door to unlock it), and I got to wheel our equipment back to professor H's office. When I went back, my old Physics buddy was in there again, but there was two of them now. So we all head over to professor H's lab. The guys came along for the show. It was so much fun playing around in that lab. None of the experiments we tried today worked, but it was just fun playing and making nerdy Physics jokes! hee hee... it's just been a long time for me. The new Physics class mostly knows me as the ditcher, so I forgot what the old class thought of me. I used to be the curve setter and the person people would come to for help. I usually scored amongst the top, 1st and 2nd couple times, but I had forgotten all that... until today my buddy brought it up again. When I started ditching my second year, I somehow still did really well on exams. I just did poorly in the class cuz I never attended class to turn in homeworks! But I had forgotten all the good times in physics.

Anyway, the used to always tell me or others about me never coming to class and doing really well... I guess that's the rep I made my second year. Of course, the new class doesn't know that, with the exception of maybe 3 or 4, so I don't hear that anymore. I don't remember what we were talking about today, but my buddy comments, "Yeah, you got the highest midterm score in professor L's class!" I didn't know what to say... I had completely forgotten about that! So that's how I know profesor L. So I told him what a coincidence cuz professor L stoppped by professor H's office earlier, and I told him what happened. My buddy just responded, "Of course he remembers you... you got the highest score in his class". Those were nice memories... it's been a long time. But I'm way more into Physics again this quarter, and I'm not afraid to ask questions anymore.

Freshman year, my professors and I would just sit in the hallway and talk about all sorts of Physics related stuff. When I started ditching and doing not so well, I "lost face" and was afraid to talk to them. I was intimidated to talk about Physics, or even to wonder about Physics. So it's nice to feel back in the loop again. I've been going to class and staying in-tuned. Feels nice.

During another break, I was doing errands and ran into my cousin. She's the sister of my lil cousin that's in the hospital for fluid in her lungs. Since my parents won't tell me what's up, I asked her. So apparently, the Children's hospital tested her for TB and she came up SUPER positive. However, they are not sure if that is the only cause of her illness. Strangely, before transfering to Children's hospital, she was tested at the original hospital and she came up negative. But they're giving her anti-biotics AND TB medication until they find out for sure what it is. She still has her fever and still has the shakes. The only explanation we have is that she got it from my uncle that visited from Vietnam. He's currently REALLY sick in Vietnam right now... we think it's TB, but it's not for certain since medical care there sucks. Anyway, when he visited, he stayed with my cousins. I remember he used to cough really badly, and my cousin said he'd hawk up noogies a lot in the sink, and my lil cousin would be the one who had to clean it... which explains the exposure. So now their whole family has to be tested, and even if they come up negative, they all have to be on medication for a year.

The doctors explanation of why she didn't have TB at the previous hospital but has it now is that the pneumonia made her weak, which allowed the TB to attack. So I guess if she was stronger, it wouldn't have invaded? But if it is that TB is the only thing, then they will take her off of the anti-biotics and give her just the TB medicine, which she will have to take for a year. You have to wear a mask to visit her. My parents didn't tell me anything... except telling me to take a TB exam. They could've told me why, instead of, "Hey, make an appointment for a TB skin test". I just thought it was random. And I never knew until my cousin told me that my dad had TB and was on medication for 3 years! But I guess this was when I was young. Anyway, I hope my cousin gets well soon cuz she's been sick for almost a month now... High fever for long periods of time is never good, so hope things get better.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH MIGHT BE TOO EXPLICIT AND GROSS FOR SOME OF YOU, SO IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE ABOUT HEARING ABOUT POOP, DON'T READ THIS! I REPEAT, DON'T READ THIS!... UNLESS YOU CAN HANDLE SOME POOP! hee hee...
I don't poop often... I'm working on being more regular, but I realized that I still lag by 2 days. How do I know? Well, I ask, of course? Who do I ask? Well, who else... Jonathan! hee hee... Since we eat mostly the same things, we get the same poop, but mine occurs two days later. One time, he told me his poop was green, and I was like, "whoa, neat! Like dark green, bright green?" Then two days later... MY poop was GREEN! Then another time, he told me his poop was red. I was just in awed because I never saw red poop, and it was hard to believe. Two days later, long and behold, my poop was red! I was really surprised because when I heard he had red poop, it NEVER crossed my mind that I would have red poop. The night after we had oysters, he went downstairs to use the bathroom, and when he came back, he whispered to me that his poop smelled like OYSTERS! and was really dark. Again, I was like "WHOA!" On the way home, we talked about how my poop lags his by two days, and just wondering why it takes two extra days to process. And I said, well, we'll know for sure that it's true if I get oyster smelling poop. Last night... yep, my poop smelled like oysters!... two days later. So his theory is that my system takes all the nutrients since it holds on to it longer, where I see that it's just absorbing extra FAT. But he says that volume wise, I have less poo. I'm not sure completely what he means, but he was trying to make a point that in the end, I have less waste than he does... so where did the rest of the food go?!

Interesting topic, eh? hee hee...

Current mood: embarrassed.

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