Braaaaaaaaaains….

I feel a sufficient lack of intelligence today.  This is highly unusual and somewhat unpleasant.  I had my first three classes today:  Physical Chemistry II (dealing with thermodynamics), Biochemistry (dealing with God knows what), and Foundations of Analysis I (basically an intro to advanced mathematics).

Brain-fucked.  Each proffessor dove straight into the material, all of which felt entirely over my head.  Granted, this is how I felt with PChem I last semester, and it turned out to be my favorite class, but Jesus!  There was so much information to absorb for just one day.  And starting next week I’ll be going to my Biochem discussion on Mondays also.  Having four classes is not so bad, but having four in a row is pretty gross.

I have just the opposite problem on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Tuesday, my classes go from 9:40-10:30, 12:55-1:45, and from 6:00-6:50.  Thursdays are the same, except without the 12:55 class.  Weird.  Just fucking weird.

At least my earliest class is at 9:40 this semester.  Most of my friends are having their first classes before that time, and are all complaining.  I’m quite happy about not needing to wake up to get to a 7:30 class.  It’s awful.  Especially in the winter (and with mountains), when the sun doesn’t rise until about eight or eight thirty.  Gross Gross Gross.

So, anyway.  My brain is completely melted.  I really hope that my Partial Differential Equations class is easy– I need at least one easy class.  Please?

I suppose this is also what I get for doing a full degree plus minor in three years.  Nothing but hard classes.  And nothing but chemistry and math classes.

I meant to ask my PChem I proffessor for a position on his team today, but my brain was so melted that I decided to wait for tomorrow (read: chickened out).

I haven’t been a complete chicken today, though.  I’ve been putting off calling the Salt Lake puppy coordinator (WAIT, she says, no one knows this story yet!  I bring you an interlude.).

So there are no animals allowed in the dorms, for fairly obvious reasons.  But, says Addie, I want a puppy.  Addie is not an idiot when it comes to how expensive animals are.  Puppies need shots, they need food, they need leashes and collars and toys and veterinary care in case of emergencies.  In short, they’re expensive.  Very expensive.  But, says Addie, I want a puppy.  Puppies need love, they need time and attention, a college student will not have a lot of time to be with them, as they are out of the house for most of the day.  But, says Addie, I want a puppy.  Puppies become dogs.  If you plan on leaving the country in two years, and your parents will hate you forever if you give them another dog, then a puppy is not for you.  But, says Addie, I want a puppy.

Being the creative problem solver that I am, I actually have come up with what I find to be a particularly clever solution:  Guide Dogs for the Blind!  You can raise a puppy for them, for about two years (about as long as I’ll be sticking around), then they take it back and train it to be a guide dog.  They pay for vet bills and leashes/collars, etc.  All I’d have to finance is food and toys, which are not that expensive, relatively.  I’m SUPPOSED to take it everywhere with me, even to movie theaters and such things!  It’s like a dog that I get all of the time!!

The only real problem with this plan is that I’m in the dorms, but I plan on getting an apartment with Katrina and Bryan (and maybe Ian, Katrina’s boyfriend), starting in May.  So by my estimate, I’d get the puppy mid to late May, which is, consequently, quite near my birthday.

My birthday present to myself:  a puppy!!  Yay!!!

I emailed Guide Dogs about a week ago, and got the phone number for the puppy coordinator in Salt Lake.  I’ve been putting off calling it, though, because I’m super shy and excited and nervous and… a chicken sometimes.  End interlude.

So I called the puppy coordinator today, and left a message.  While I didn’t talk to a real person, it was nice to actually call the number, and further my progress toward getting a puppy.  YAY puppy!

Also, if you haven’t noticed already (which you probably have), I managed to illustrate Ghosts in the Crosswalk yesterday, and I uploaded the image here.  It makes me so happy!  It’s so fucking cute!  And that actually is a photo of the Abbey Road crosswalk; it’s pretty exciting.

I imagine that it’s pretty boring to not be easily excited.  I sure wouldn’t know.  I find everything worthy of exclamation points!

I also have the desire to upload an image, so here you go:

These were taken in December, on our first snow of the year.  The first is the view outside of my dorm window, overlooking Red Butte Gardens, and the second is from the parking lot outside of my building, looking west.  We have such pretty sunsets here.  I swear they’re more beautiful on campus than off.  The sunsets always light up the mountains pink, so I get to stare out of it from my room all of the time.  It’s fantastic.

Edit:  The puppy coordinator called!!  She thinks that getting a puppy in May won’t really be that hard at all, and she’s really happy that I’d be getting it in the summer when I’d have tons of time to socialize and house train it and all sorts of things!  I’m getting a puuuuuuuuuuuuppy!