Life as Metaphor

 the Ethics class starts on Tues.... by then i should have *all* of the first 3 weeks readings (have read all of the textbook chapters, highlighted the virtual-book and wrote a gazillion notes).... so during the class' 5 weeks, i only have to read 2 of the week's textbook-chapters.... i have enough notes to help me participate with the class and spend the majority of time concentrating on writing the class' weekly papers....

as for the Microbiology class, i have finished my portion of this week's team's project (finished it yesterday), and only have one more post i have to make to the class discussion... ❤️ BS"D.

finished/edited/uploaded the final paper to the prof in Toxicology (relief)..
peeked into new class of Risk Assessment and found out that it was the same teacher i had in the Environmental Law class (much angst)...
called my academic advisor and had him shuffle my classes a bit, so that i could take Microbiology instead (again, much relief)....

i have been able to do a half-hour of the waist-twisting every night, for a couple of weeks... i doubt i am losing much weight, but it has done wonders for both of my feet and my "balance" as i walk around the house... i actually plan to get another twister, to keep downstairs, and make it a habit to do this twisting both in the morning/afternoon as well as at night (before i go to bed)....

going to go rest for a bit, before bed.
shalom! - Ulla/e. & co.

 first off, need to record today's schoolwork: managed to finish the ch. 10 (read all 3 chapters that are due this week), and only posted to the class once.... i didn't get much sewing done (wanted to finish the reading).... 

as far as work-out, i had Tony bring my waist-twister thingy upstairs (it was too hot to do it downstairs today).... i started with 5 mins, the first day (to see how my body responded), did 10 mins on the second day and 15 mins tonight... so far so good, i don't have achy muscles from doing this but i definitely am getting a smidge of chemo-flashbacks from working these muscles... i am going to take it easy for at least the first week or so (speaking from experience, my body can't handle such a rush of those noxious chemicals)....

a little in-house news now:
Neima just started a local grammar school.... Juju felt that she had "settled" enough in this new neighborhood and might be able to get along with the kids (they have been playing with her at the playground, and Neima was able to meet a few girls in a group of girl-scouts)... of course we were all happy for her until her first day of class (that is when the house took on a creepy sound of silence)....

it was hardest on our Jonathan... he had morphed the guest room into his own bedroom/office and was doing most of his writing while Neima was sitting at a small desk that was against the south facing window..... sitting at her desk for hours, singing her songs or talking to herself, while Jonathan was trying to find the write words for his newspaper.... today he disappeared into his room, turning up a few hours later looking a bit sullen... he sat at high tea with us and finally said "i was so looking forward to that blasted singing to stop, but now Neima is gone...  the room is silent..... school sucks." ;)

she has also seen Jonathan playing his violin with Juju (on cello), and expressed interest in his teaching her... i (Juju) wish that i could convince Seamus and Wesley to learn to play instruments also, we would have a little orchestra in our home, except the men refuse (they swear to me that they are "all thumbs")... it might be because of horrible memories they have as children, and grouchy teachers... i will not give up (they WILL concur).....

time for rest now..
shalom! - Ulla/Juju & co.

 i had to over work a bit to compensate for losing so much work-time on monday... but all is well, i finished/uploaded week #2's paper, read *all* of chapter 6, and managed to post twice into the classroom....

i also was able to do my push-ups/leg-lifts, and sewed a bit of my Moose :)
now i ready myself for bed (mahjong, screen-shots, etc.)
shalom! - Ulla/e. & co.

 i swear i am going to take just a half of a pill tomorrow... i feel fine on the half-pills, but this whole pill is knocking me out (i think)....
i will go back to half-pills for a few days and see if i feel any different...
today i was utterly useless with writing this week's paper, all i could do was sew....
i doubt i will be able to convince myself to do any leg work or push ups...

even now, i need to go rest...
shalom - Ulla/e. & co.

 managed to finish ch. 3, and posted twice to class (i'm managing to keep up with everyone)...

did the push-ups/leg-kicks, not the power walk....
and started to sew the evergreens...

a lovely productive day :)
shalom! - Juju.

 schoolwork today was mostly reading the ToxTutor that we have been assigned (at a NIH site)...
had to take a break when Tony found a TV channel that was playing "Doc Martin" (i nearly leapt from the couch)...

tonight i was excited to receive a note from a Researcher at RG, answering my question about the heterocyst of Anabeana that i had taken a foto of (on the microscope)... i have noticed a discoloration and wondered if it had something to do with the ionization of water that is adjacent to the heterocyst (unattached to the vegetative cells)... we both guess that this is a refraction of the light and the extra thick cell walls (and all that extra lipid)...

no constitutional or leg/arm exercises tonight.. i am trying to rotate the leg-thrust nights with my "walking"-days...
time to rest now.
shalom - Ulla/e. & co.

 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IS OVER!!!!!!


i suspected i would get a C...
i prayed for a C+....
i got a B- ..... (baruch Hashem)

i am so relieved ... i spent today just sewing...  and trying to convince myself to shift my mind a bit, and get into a more scientific mode...
i am half looking forward to Toxicology and half dreading it (i am easy to freak out when studying about pollution)...

need to go rest now.
shalom - Ulla/e. & co.

 posted twice more to class and was able to start a new project at RG (this one still be built, will be mostly about taxonomic identities of microalgae)...

sewed a row of vines in my sampler (will start to add flowers tomorrow)... and also read another 15 pages in the Toxicology textbook...
a very calm day indeed.
shalom - Ulla/e. & co.

 i think i have finally recovered from that Law-class (unfortunately, the class still has one week left)..... i am convinced i will be able to finish ch. 10 by tomorrow night, this gives me 2 days of "free time", and i will be able to spend that last week just talking with the class (getting credit for participation) and working on the last presentation...  i also hope to be able to begin reading the textbook of the next class a little early (which would be a *huge* blessing, week #1 of every class is HELL with the amount of chapters they require the students to read)...

another happy thing that happened tonight was when i started a discussion at the RG-site:
 https://www.researchgate.net/post/Finding_the_taxonomical_identity_of_a_fungus

i had posted pictures i took of a fungus on a wasp's nest.. i had taken those fotos over a *year* ago and have not been able to find out what the hell fungus this was (and couldn't find ANY-one who recognized the fungus either)... i put up that discussion 2 hrs. ago and ONE hr. ago, a fellow-researcher gave me a RG-link (to an article) that is helping me *immensely*.... i *love* this RG-site!!

i have to confess though, i was part of a debate tonight ;) ..... some Economics/Philosophy researchers were discussing whether it was "money" or "philosophy" that was in control of "quality of life"..... i argued that *both* are necessary.... that we civilized urban humans have need for money to survive this modern industrialized world, but it that our own personal philosophies would define our QOL regardless of the amount of money that we have in our possession...... kvetching from both sides of the argument, but i'm not complaining, it was a hoot ;)

need to go unwind for a bit.
shalom! - Juju/e. & co.

constitutional: @1,100 steps