Back to School: Part 2

Once again, I had my first day of school. Actually, it was orientation, but it was the first day of it and the first day of a whole new group of people. The end of my IBS class was anti-climactic. The essay test on Friday was beyond manageable... and since it was pass/fail, I made sure to add a little humor. (I ended my explanation of the digestive system with "If all goes well, everything ends up in the toilet.") Okay, maybe not laugh out loud funny, but at least I was able to inject my own voice (and favorite topic!). Although if I end up failing I'll feel like a real asshole. (No pun intended. I swear.)

All told, I learned two very important things from that class. 1) If you live in a developed country, eat healthy, don't eat too much dairy or meat, exercise and drink red wine, you have a pretty good chance of living a long time. If you live in a poor, underdeveloped country, you don't. 2) Eventually we're all going to get cancer or heart disease and die. I learned a lot of science and anatomy, too, but that pretty much is the gist.

The weekend was full of more exploring, which included Saturday night at the roller derby. If you have never been to a roller derby, I suggest you go. This one was the Charm City Roller Girls versus North Carolina... and needless to say it attracted a unique sub-culture. My Johns Hopkins friends and I may have been the only tattoo-less ones there. But it was a fun, random little slice of Baltimore night life. Not to mention, those girls are tough. It was pretty violent. No blood or anything, but I think roller derby probably attracts the same people who like to watch other people ride their bikes off buildings and into walls for fun on YouTube. Actually, it reminds me of several Vh1 and Comedy Central researching jobs I've had.

And speaking of TV, I met another fan of my show today! This time, the fan is in my department. Ca-razy. So nice to meet people who have actually heard of the shows I've worked on, even nicer to meet people who actually like them. It's amazing. Very exciting.

Today was mixed in terms of excitement and "what the fuck am I doing here?" feelings, however. The "wtf" feelings came from hearing about all the requirements for first term and that I actually have to do them... and that they're not going to be easy... and mostly won't be so relevant for what I want to do in the future. (Biostats and TV writing? Not a typical combo). Luckily they'll be hard and time-consuming, so I won't have much time to dwell on what the fuck I'm doing here. The exciting part came from talking to my advisor and hearing about how there are tons and tons of jobs for someone interested in what I'm interested. Very reassuring. My advisor seems very cool so far and, like me, has worked in production (Degrassi High!) so she knows where I'm coming from. (Canada! Like in Degrassi!... I wish).

Being back in school, especially in a large lecture setting also reminded me that there are several things that bother me about school. The first being when people ask personal questions in front of 400 people and think that the 400 people actually care or are happy about spending time listening to the answer. The second one is that every class inevitably has its weirdos... (and I'm excited to see what my fellow public health blogger writes about it, too). There was a guy sitting a few seats away from me and my fellow blogger in the lecture hall during the orientation. He kept taking off his sandals and rubbing his nasty feet with his hands, then rubbing his feet and hands all over the seats. The smell wafted down the aisle and made my fellow blogger and I gag. We're in public health school and this guy is rubbing his germ-covered feet and hands all over things that a member of the public may end up touching. It was a good reminder to wash your hands often. You never know where someone's hands have been before you shake them. Fortunately, I did not shake this guy's hand prior to witnessing his habit, (or after, or from now on, ever), but I will be sure to do a lot more hand-washing thanks to feet guy. Also, I should mention, this guy wasn't even paying attention. He was surfing the internet the whole time. He could have been doing that at home where his feet-rubbing wouldn't have affected the public's health. So gross.

Being a crappy blogger means that when I do get around to blogging, I have too much to report in one post. So, stay tuned for more adventures, thoughts, pictures from the weekend and general bullshit.

PS. If you've read this far then you probably are interested enough in what I have to say... at least for the minute or two it takes you to read it... And if you're interested enough, I'm interested in finding out who you are or at least where you're from. So, leave a comment, if you feel like it. Because I feel like I'm doing all the talking here.