Correction!

Okay, so the Diabetes Alert Day I mentioned yesterday is actually called "Raise Your Voice: Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day." There is apparently a Facebook event, so if you have a Facebook account (I don't, FYI), join it. And there's a logo contest with a really cool prize: a kitchen scale that calculates nutrition facts for you. I might just have to enter that…

Type 1 Diabetes Alert Day!

Ah, it's been a while.

Anyway, a blogger I read fairly regularly, Kerri, has declared Monday, April 14th to be Type 1 Diabetes Alert Day. Since Type 2 Diabetes has its own day on March 25th, type 1 has to have one, right?

Here's her post. It explains the idea better than I could. So read up on Type 1. Here is the Wikipedia article, which does get kinda technical, but it's good info. And by all means, if you have diabetes (of any type), tell people! You never know what could happen.

Tomorrow is…

Well, I missed Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day, but I refuse to miss Won't You Wear a Sweater? Day.

It's tomorrow, March 20th, in honor of what would have been Mr. Rogers' 80th birthday if he were still with us. All who want to participate should wear their favorite sweater, any style, tomorrow.

I miss Mr. Rogers. Great show, great man. I plan on wearing a sweater tomorrow. Definitely.

Mmm… Girl Scout Cookie.

Ahh, All-Abouts. Yum. I like shortbread, I like chocolate, and it's always fun to find out what Girl Scouts is All About.

This one's particularly funny. If the picture's a little hard to read, it says "Girl Scouting is All About…Girls." Man, I didn't see that one coming.

So, three words that describe this cookie: Duh, LOL, Yum.

College Ramblings, etc

Happy Belated Moustache Day (March 2nd)! And even before that, Happy (really belated) Birthday, Dad! Wow, it's been a while. When will I ever update my blog on a regular basis?

Anywho, I finally received my "you got in" packet from Virginia Tech, telling me I'm eligible to apply for University Honors (which is supposed to send me another packet with the application.) I had already gotten in to VT, but it's nice to know they hadn't forgotten. I just hope Case and Rensselaer tell me soon, or God gives me a lot of patience to be able to last until April 1st, when pretty much every school in the country mails out the letters. I'll probably visit Case over Spring Break and hopefully talk to someone in the Engineering Department. I haven't actually visited Case or Rensselaer yet, so I hope I like them, since I've already applied. (But if I don't like them, it's just one more point in favor of VT, which is a wonderful school. So there's actually no problem.) I'll just pray that God makes it clear where He wants me.

Well, I'd better be studying for my upcoming Calculus test. Posts may continue to be sparse until after the AP exams (and maybe after, since I'm not exactly in the habit of posting…). But hey, the library has lots of lovely reading material. Have fun.



*WHOA! The spell checker just worked! Sweet! Yay, Google and Blogger!

100th Post!

Wow. It took years, but I finally reached my hundreth post. I actually meant to post my 100th on Christmas Day to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, but it didn't happen. I was relaxing too much to remember. Oh, I needed it. I wish I could bring Christmas break back again. I really enjoy visiting my grandparents and getting to see all of the family that is so spread out across America nearly every year, but since we stayed home this year, I got to rediscover the joy of having some time to spend with my parents as a family. We opened presents, of course, but we also went to Ikea where we got some speaker stands for my Dad (his big Christmas present this year) and a new kitchen table and chairs. I would post pictures, but our kitchen isn't painted yet, and I haven't actually taken pictures of it yet either. We watched Ratatouille and The Stagehand's Ring Cycle together, both of which were very entertaining in their own ways. And, as usual, we did pretty much nothing to celebrate the new year. Oops. Oh well, there's another one next year.

So now for a completely different topic. I want to mention a blog I've been reading for a while: Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords is a touching blog by a father (Robert, or Rob for short) whose daughter, Schuyler, is affected by polymicrogyria and cannot communicate through speaking. His book, Schuyler's Monster, is being released on February 19th. The book's official website is here. Check it out. And to my Texas readers, he's doing a book tour in Texas. I wish I could go!

Happy MLK day, everyone!

Ahhh…

I stayed home sick today. I've had this cold for over a week, and it is time for it to be over. And the (really really superfluously long) orchestra concert did not help me get the sleep I needed.

Anyway, I've intended to post this for a while: Eternal Sunset. This site connects to west-facing webcams around the world and displays whichever one(s) show the sunset at the moment. Though sometimes some of the webcams look as if they have been disconnected or turned toward a wall, most of them are stunningly beautiful or at least interesting. It's very relaxing. And if more than one sunset is available for viewing, it rotates between them (or you can click on them if you don't want to wait that long). Ahhhh. So pretty.

18!

I am 18 today!  Thank you to all who have emailed me; I appreciate it!  

I don't feel very different being a legal adult, but that's probably a good thing.  The only real difference I have noticed is that I am now allowed to drive as many people as the car I am driving can hold, not just two people who aren't related to me.  It almost makes me want to drag four of my friends off to dinner, but I'm too busy.  Oh well, I'm sure I'll get my chance to peruse my latest legal privilege soon.  

Ooh!  And a lady came to my Government class yesterday to register people to vote.  I should be getting my voter card soon, which is cool.  Although I guess that means I should actually research the candidates sometime between now and next November.  Teacher work days, anyone?

Anyway, on my last day of being 17, one of my favorite school Christmas—er, Holiday Season— traditions was carried out again.  Every year a few days before break, my school's Madigrals walk around during the lunch period in full Medieval/Rennaissance/Old Timey regalia singing classic Christmas carols.  I'm not exactly the biggest fan of my school's chorus (Orchestra, Guitar, Chorus, and Band all seem to have a bit of an ongoing rivalry), but these guys are the cream of the crop and sound amazing.  Entire classes will stop as the Mads drift from one hallway to another, singing.  People crowd the doors to watch and listen.  It's awesome.  

One of my friends and I left a few minutes early from lunch yesterday, but neither of us knew the Mads would be caroling.  The hallways were nearly empty.  We both walked upstairs to go to our respective classrooms when we heard the singing.  Other than the chorus and the chorus teacher, we were the only people in that particular hallway.  Since the Mads were blocking the way to my classroom (I still had several minutes anyway), my friend and I stopped to listen. We were unsure at first whether we should run off to class or stay and listen—it's really weird to have over twenty people singing really well to you and one other person—but we stayed for a little while and even followed them until it was time to go to class.  That made my day.  

Happy Day of the Ninja, etc

I guess it's time to make my blog not look as if it is stuck on Thanksgiving. Anyway, December 5th was the Day of the Ninja! It's usually considered a competitor to Talk Like a Pirate Day, but I support the Ninja-Pirate alliance, mainly because I'm indecisive. Unfortunately, I missed it this year—I remembered a couple hours after school ended.  

Anyway:  Here is how to make a ninja mask from a t-shirt without messing up the shirt. Pretty cool, and I like his shirt-folding method as well.

In other news, I'm nearly done with the rest of my college applications. I'm applying to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Case Western Reserve University, but since I love (and am already accepted to) Virginia Tech, they would have to offer me serious money. Who knows; they might. And they're good schools; if they make the cost lower, I might change my mind.

By the way, I'm adding a link to my boss's blog to my links. She is a terriffic interior designer in the Washington DC Metro Area, and she's always willing to consider new clients. If you or someone you know wants a high-end redesigned house, please comment on her blog or email the address there. Here's a link.

And thank you to Hol&J for the awards! They're on my sidebar now. Unfortunately, I think Hol&J and I read mostly the same blogs, so anyone I would want to give the awards to probably already has them and has had them up for weeks. But if I've forgotten you, please comment!

EDIT:  And the spell checker still won't work.  Ah, consistency.  (Is that spelled right?)

EDIT AGAIN:  Okay, I hopefully will get the lovely awards up soon!  Blogger's just being cranky today…

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, it's late. But happy Thanksgiving anyway! I ate waaaay too much good food today. We shared thanksgiving with a couple of families; one we were friends with, and the other we just met today. (Both are very nice.) I hope everyone enjoyed their meals, etc as much as I did!

Today reminds me of how much I am thankful for. Of course, since it is Thanksgiving, but also that I have so very much to be thankful for. I have more than I need of everything, a lot of what I want, I'm healthy, I'm getting to think about my future. I live in a country of freedom, and so many brave men and women are overseas fighting to defend us. And most important are friends, family, and God and the sacrifice he made to save me. I could easily go on. If I wrote everything I could be thankful for, Blogger would have to block my account so I wouldn't flood their servers.

After we got home from our thanksgiving linner (lunch + dinner), Thanksgiving didn't feel done. Since we all have the day off tomorrow, we decided to watch some DVDs my dad had (especially after going to the grocery store to rent Rattatoille and finding out it had just closed. Oh well. Those poor employees deserve to go home early—especially after working on a very family-oriented holiday.). On those DVDs were two episodes of The Prisoner and Stephane Grappelli. Now, the main question: Does anyone have a box set of The Prisoner I can borrow (or at least the first couple of episodes, so I get more than just the intro montage of background information)? It was really funny. (Okay, no one has to lend me their stuff. I'll track it down eventually.)

Enjoy the last couple hours of your Turkey Day!

*Happy Dance*

Happy extremely belated Halloween! I'll post pictures of what I did later.

This past weekend, I got to visit Virginia Tech again, this time for a special open house/fall review program. There was an option to send in my application with my Open House/Fall Review registration, and if I did so, I would find out on the last day of the open house whether I got into Tech. So I did.

So, technically, the Fall Review part (the send-in-your-application-early part) was for minorities. Those of you who know me personally know I am as caucasian as it gets (not that skin color matters). However, I did a camp a couple of years ago for teenage girls interested in majoring in engineering. In engineering, women of any kind are minorities; I believe the ratio of men to women, on average, is something like five to one. In some fields, there are even fewer women. So technically, in engineering, I am a minority.

Virginia Tech hosted us fairly well (as opposed to our hotel, which kept us waiting for our room for a while)(but thankfully the receptionist was really nice). We had a nice buffet dinner before listening to a speaker or two and a panel of students who answered questions. The next day was the official everyone-can-come open house, and there were info sessions about different majors and the different colleges. Then came lunch.

And then we found out. Each person who had submitted his or her application early was called up individually and given a letter. We were all told to not open our letters until we got home (Dad told me to open it in the car.). After the letters were handed out, we left.

I opened my letter a few minutes after getting into the car. I had been a bit worried about my application; you always realize what you should have done in hindsight.

But I got in anyway. Dad was happy, and I called Mom and told her the news. It feels so good to know I'm already accepted to one school (the one I'll probably end up going to, no less). And this isn't early decision; it is non-binding. I can shop around. There are two or three more schools I want to apply to, but knowing I don't have to apply to a safety school will save some time.

Everytime I start thinking about college and my future career, I get excited. *mental happy dance*

Quick Post

This is just a random, piecemeal post. Mainly to try to get the ginormous video off the top of my blog. It's squishing my profile. Ow.

1! I did not get into Regionals Orchestra. Oh well, that's okay. I'll most likely get into District Orchestra unless I slack off. Although with five AP classes, something's gotta give. Who knows.

2! My friend Maggie has started a blog. Pretty cool. Check it out.

3! I gotta run. I still have shopping to do for Angel Tree. I'm really excited about getting stuff for my Angel because she is closer to my age than others I have had in the past, so I actually know what she might want.

Running!

Why do I ever think the spell checker might suddenly start working in Safari? Maybe, just maybe, I should email Blogger support. Nahh, that's too easy.

Arrrrrrrr!

It be talk like a pirate day, me mateys!



There be a lot goin' on in me life. More infos be a comin (perhaps). If I feels like it.

Arrrr!

New violin!

This happened last Saturday. Since I'm kind of short on time (I've been working nearly full time and still have summer homework to finish), I'll just post what I emailed to my private violin teacher and my orchestra director.

We went to Potters, a violin shop in the area. My parents had told the guy that we wanted to move up one price bracket, so that put us in the "Old French/Old German" category. I tried the instruments they set out, and a couple sounded a little nicer than my Doetsch, but I don't think they were buy-worthy. After I was narrowing my choices down to the three I sort-of liked just to see if I would suddenly fall in love with one, a Potters guy came in and, after my parents and I talked with him, that
the French violinmakers (most of the violins on my table were French, and the one German one was one of the first to go) liked making brassy-sounding instruments. When I told him I wanted "sweet and not fuzzy," he told us that Italian violins would be better. Like the one in the display cabinet in my room. When he left and I wasdouble-checking that none of the instruments were perfect, my parents pulled a more expensive instrument off the wall and had me try it. It cost $6500. I liked that instrument's tone better, and the next time the Potters guy came in, we told him about what I had just tried. He
pulled the Italian instrument out of the display case. It was priced at $7000. I liked that one even more, especially when he got me one of the really nice bows to try with it. (That bow was almost a little too ornate for my taste. It had a lot of "bling": a silvery-leaf fleur-de-lis instead of a normal eye on the frog, a non-ebony frog (must have been some kind of bone, but I don't know), etc.) While I tried that out, the Potters guys brought out the next price bracket. The good ones.

I finally narrowed down the more expensive instruments to the Italian one from the display cabinet and a French (! it sounded good!) instrument costing $6200. After listening to S, another Potters guy, play the instruments, I decided that the French violin had less of a brassy tone than the Italian one. Weird. Since I now had about fifteen bows (two price brackets) sitting on the table to choose between, we asked Simon which ones he would suggest I try. He picked out three (of the higher priced ones, of course) and played them each for me, explaining their strengths and tone qualities. I tried them all myself and fell in love with the bow he said was best for spiccatto. I, of course, am a girl—not as strong as a man. I like light bows, even though he said he liked a different bow for overall playing. The spiccatto bow has a beautiful tone. I love it. And it's all personal preference anyway.

Before we left the room to check out, we asked Simon if we would get any credit for turning in my Doetsch instrument and bow. We got $1500 for the Doetsch, but he said that they don't give credit for "nickel bows" and
that the bow I had used with my Doetsch was now my "outdoor bow." He said it with all seriousness, and the new one sounds several gillion times better, especially on my new instrument. But my parents and I still laugh about it. (We didn't laugh to his face, though. And it makes sense; it's just so different than what we all thought before.)

I'm still getting used to the instrument. I kept the same case but get a pleasant surprise each time I open it. I love it. The tone is so much cleaner than my old instrument. I love it, I love it, I love it. That's about all I can think about my violin right now.

Interesting…

The link on this post is related to the post content. In that I am stealing Glee's idea.

Her post.

Embroidered whale pants, huh?

This Google ad isn't bad either.



I have never heard of "Elephant Dung Paper." Is it really eco-friendly? I am part of the eco(system), and if it doesn't smell good I don't necessarily call it friendly.

Weird. And the name. Mr. Ellie Pooh? Wasn't he Winnie the Pooh's cousing or something? And I thought Ellie was a girl's name.

Interesting. I wish their business luck. Their ad is certainly attention-grabbing.

Now to ponder: what would one write on Elephant Dung Paper?

More VT!

Today has been an informative day. I went to the General Engineering information session and learned a lot, such as the general freshman classes and about co-ops and internships. During that presentation, they mentioned that the Electrical and Computer Engineering info session was a 2 o'clock, so my dad and I went to that as well. That info session was much smaller (two parents, two teens, one department person) and a bit more informal, but we got a lot of questions answered. The woman who led that info session confirmed that, yes, Virginia Tech does do study-abroad programs with the Technische Universität Darmstadt (the one I got to visit in Germany). Sweet. And she said that people wanting to intern or co-op are not limited by the internships Virginia Tech students "usually" go to. I could blaze the trail and intern at Apple if I wanted. It would be a great way to find out if I actually want to be an engineer at my favorite computer technology company. I'll explore my options—I'm not only going to research Apple.

I actually took notes this time, so I won't bore everyone out there with every little bit of info I got so I can have a future reference. I found out the reason the Engineering department requires its students to use tablet computers: While taking notes in class, typing in mathmatical formulas or examples; graphing equations; and using Greek and other symbols is a bit tricky. One would have to either go into Paint or Matlab or some other mathematical notation program, quickly input the stuff, and then try to catch up on what the teacher said. But students can write on a tablet and convert the symbols later at a more relaxed pace. Hence, fewer mistakes.

And you can turn in your homework—handwritten on the computer, if you want—online.

I got to play with a tablet in the bookstore, and for a Microsoft/Windows-computer-maker product, it's not bad. The operating system is optimized for the pen and/or the trackpad/mouse, and it can recognize handwriting, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if one could download the teaching powerpoint presentations from Blackboard and then take notes directly on them. I like that!

I hope Apple makes a tablet. Maybe in time for me to go to college.

I forgot to mention this yesterday, and it isn't long. But there was another girl wearing an insulin pump on the tour. She saw mine but didn't say anything. Our tour guide mentioned something (I think the time he passed out while giving a tour (I think he is diabetic too, but I'm not sure)), and her mom mentioned that her daughter had diabetes. I, of course, said "Hey! I do too!"

Just thought it was cool. There wasn't as much of that diabetic-to-diabetic connection as I thought there would be, but we were on a a college tour and moderately distracted.

A few random VT facts:

-A person in their fifth year at VT (such as from their co-op,from missing classes while studying abroad, or from a five-year program like architecture or BSMS (five-year Bachelor's and Master's degree program) ) is called a SuperSenior.
-It is possible to do an internship and a study-abroad trip. The presenter at the General Engineering info session said one of her friends did just that. A co-op might be tricky, but VT is all about making the most out of college (hence the amazing undergrad research opportunities).
-Apparently, VT has more undergrad research opportunities than MIT. I'm starting to think that going to VT for undergrad would be a good idea, and I could go get my Master's at an elite school later.

It's almost time for supper. I should have asked one of the presenters what restaurants are good. Oh well; we'll wing it.

Google/Blogger, please fix your spell checker on Safari. Please.

Notes from Virginia Tech

I'm visiting Virginia Tech right now.

My dad and I are staying in the Best Western in Radford. It's a tiny little town. Virginia Tech and Blacksburg are a lot more interesting, but they're not far (it was just cheaper to get a hotel in Radford.)

So. My mom said I should write down what I'm learning about Tech. She suggested email or a blog entry. I'll just blog it, just in case anyone wants my opinion on Tech. Hey, why not?

Anyway. Blacksburg's streets are a bit confusing, especially since I was the lucky one to drive the almost five hours to get to VT and I was tired. But I'm sure I'd figure it out pretty quickly as a freshman.

I went on a campus tour and to a general information session. I got a few questions answered and learned some interesting tidbits about VT.

First, for everyone's peace of mind and safety, they've put up new safeguards to help prevent a new April 16th. That sort of tragedy could happen anywhere, but knowing that Virginia Tech is devoted to security is comforting.

One of the buildings is named ChemPhys. Er— the Chemical and Physics building. They don't have an awesome name for it because no one has donated $15ish million to that department. Unfortunately, as a probable engineering major, I will more than likely have several classes in there. Poor building.

VT does have air conditioning—in upperclassmen suite dorms, which are assigned by lottery. About 9000 people can live on campus, and about 5000 are freshmen. Some are international students. Freshmen get unairconditioned dorms, but the weather in the mountains is not usually as hot as it is here now. Everyone we have met says that this hot weather is very abnormal for Blacksburg. And when I did CTech^2 at VT last summer (camp for teenage girls interested in Engineering), we survived for two weeks in unairconditioned dorms by running four fans 24/7. It was actually fairly comfortable.

Several VT departments, such as Architecture, Interior Design, and Industrial Design are very competitive because the major size is so small. For one department, 90 people are accepted to fill a total of fourty slots.

Engineering is just competitive in general. VT is an excellent engineering school. The only school I might want to go to more (within a reasonable distance—I don't want to move too far off the East Coast just yet) is MIT. Yes, I know it's in Massachussetts. I would have to take Amtrak up there. And it's cold. I haven't seen the campus yet, though, because I think if I fall in love with MIT and get rejected, I'll be incredibly depressed. Visitation can wait until the highly unlikely time after I get into MIT. But I'll probably go to VT. It's great.

Everyone I've met here seems to love Blacksburg and Tech. The convenient bus system makes sure that, if the little town of Blacksburg gets boring, that one can visit other nearby litle towns, Target, Wal*Mart, the mall (actually a pretty nice mall!), etc. The food here is rated second best in the nation. The only college with better food is a school in New England that gets fresh lobster. Lobster is not a deciding factor in my college search, but good food is a plus.

General List of Facts:

-Around 20,000 apply. About 12,000 get in, hopefully to yield a class of 5,000. There's a 60% acceptance rate.
-One is more likely to graduate in five years if one does co-ops, internships, or study abroad trips. Seeing as I could make money doing a co-op or internship, that wouldn't be so bad. But would I still have to pay college tuition for the time I was working?
-The bike shop here is called Hokie Spokes. L. O. L. Cute.
-I might actually want to bring my bike, if I have a good bike lock. (I have to actually relearn how to ride it first, though. Things aren't close together in N.VA. People usually use cars.) The campus isn't tiny, and buses usually come every fifteen minutes. And there is generally a fifteen-minute passing period between classes. And though some buildings have parking lots, I would have to leave my dorm early to take the bus to the parking garage to get my car to drive myself to class and barely get there on time. Phew. (Dorms don't have parking lots. But freshmen can bring cars!)
-If someone gets scared to walk from a night class to her dorm room, she can call the police and have a police officer escort her. (or him.) Apparently, some girls like to jog at night but don't feel safe, so they get a police escort who—what else?—jogs with them. I'm not a jogger, and I don't like walking around at night. But it's good to know.
-The Department/Office/Whatever of Off Campus Housing can help students find good deals on apartments. There are a good number of apartments really close to campus for non-exorbitant rates. Our tour guide, a senior majoring in Sociology, said he shares a three-bedroom apartment with two buddies. Their total rent is $1000 per month. Doesn't sound like a bad deal to me, but I've never rented an apartment. But I know the prices in Northern VA are much higher, so this is at least better in comparison.
-Gas prices are lower here than in N.VA.
-In-state students: 70%. Out of state: 30%. No quotas. That's just how the applications come in.
-In the bridge that connects Torgerson Hall and another building, there is a nice little study area. It's pretty cool. And somewhere there are two computer labs; one is for Dells (Windoze) and another is for Macs. Because they… have to be apart. Seriously. You don't want those two labs to be too close. There'd be too many geeky shouting matches. It could get ugly.
-But Engineering majors apparently have to have a Windoze tablet. That's right: a tablet. The computers with which one can write on the screen. Doodle. Take notes on top of Powerpoints. Etc. I'll probably find out more at the Electrical and Computer Engineering info session tomorrow. I just found that little tidbit on the website. But I plan to bring a Mac to college as well. My poor Powerbook G4 is starting to slow down. I got it almost five years ago. So I might invest in a nice 15-inch MacBook Pro with a LED-lit screen and four times as much hard drive space as I have now. (Now: 40 GB. I have about 5 GB unused. Time to dump some files onto an external hard drive so I can actually use my computer this year.)

Okay, it's late. I'm tired. Hope you weren't too bored with my VT-information session. There might be more tomorrow. Along with the ECE Information Session, I hope to ask some questions at the Co-Op/Internship office. We'll see.


I steel hav noe speel checckre. Wondulful.

oh SNAP!

I noticed this at work and thought it was hilarious.



I'm trying to learn AutoCAD at my work (I am an assistant to an interior designer who runs her own business). So I was looking at the oh-so-helpful documentation to try to figure out how to draw straight horizontal or vertical lines. I discovered that that feature is a little button that says OSNAP and nearly burst out laughing.

If you do not understand, you probably aren't an American teenager. Don't feel bad. Just ask one for an explanation. Although I don't even really understand why people say "oh snap." I'll post a Wikipedia link.

Clicking here helps one understand the randomness factor I see in this phrase's use (or I just feel like posting a h*r link): http://www.homestarrunner.com/malloween.html

And the wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_snap#.22Oh.2C_snap.21.22

Okay, so some rapper popularized it. And it is used as an expression of disbelief. At the moment, I'm in disbelief that AutoCAD would be this hip five years ago.

Wow. I didn't know this post would be so long. Oh well. Enjoy.

picture is from AutoCAD 2002, by the way

I'm back!

…sans four teeth. Of course, that's fine, seeing as that was exactly what was supposed to happen. My wisdom teeth would have otherwise redesigned my entire mouth's layout, precipitating a need for me to get braces. I've never had them and plan to keep it that way. I'm feeling surprisingly good today. There's a bit of dull pain where the teeth came out and I look a little like a chipmunk, but I've been acting almost normal for several hours. Thanks, Mom, for all of the pudding! Although I managed to eat soup for dinner, so I'm making progress. Oh, and I just ate some chocolate. Bar chocolate. Chocoholism will get me back onto solid foods.

And I can feel my lower lip and tounge now. When I came to after the surgery (I did not wake up in the middle, praise the Lord) I wondered why they had wrapped my tounge in an inch of gauze and left something weird sticking out of my mouth. I soon learned that my tounge was not wrapped in gauze—it was only two gauze pads between my upper and lower jaws to catch the blood and facilitate clotting—and that the weird thing coming out of my mouth was my lower lip. Both were numb for a few hours, which I spent reading, doing German homework, and watching Homestar Runner on DVD. And napping, And changing the gauze pads. I'm glad I'm done with those. ***knocks on wood*** They're gross.

And somehow, I managed to bring my blood sugar in at 166. I feel sorry for poor Glee, though. I accidentally corrected my blood sugar to 120 instead of 150 right before I went to sleep, so she had to keep coming into my room, testing me, setting temporary basal rates to get me up higher, etc. Thanks, Mom!

Anyway, I need sleep. Thank you all for your prayers! Everything went fine. I just hope life returns to normal soon. Though I do like the whole veg-out-in-front-of-computer/TV-with-book-close-at-hand-eating-chocolate-pudding-and-ice-cream thing. I'll enjoy what I can while I can.

Man. The spell checker still doesn't work. Bad Google/Blogger! Bad! Bad doggie!

I'm nervous.

I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. I've been stocking up on books, and I have my yet-unwatched DVDs of the five-hour A&E rendition of Pride and Prejudice. And a couple of Homestar Runner DVDs that Hol&J sent me for Christmas. Ready to veg out, pig out on jello, pudding, and mashed potatoes, and generally feel like yuck for a week. Ugh. At least I have entertainment. And summer homework. Some of it is interesting.

But I've been a bit more clumsy today than usual. I'm tripping over my tounge more often. I've heard the horror stories—how my mom had a couple of hers taken out in a not-so-clean office but survived (she didn't tell me about any infections or anything, so I think it was more creepy than infectious), how a few teens have woken up halfway through the procedure, negative reactions to the pain medication, etc. If my oral surgeon uses the wrong saline for my IV-thingy, I may have another horror story to add to the hall of pain: steadily climbing and later insanely high blood sugars. The doctor said he would use Ringers (I think I'm spelling that right, but since this is only the second time I've been knocked out, and the first was when I was three, I'm definitely guessing on these IV-liquid names. I am such a newbie to the horrors of the medical world.) for my IV if my blood sugar was 150ish or above on the morning of the surgery. He said if it was much lower, he would use D-5 (again, guessing on the name. It was D-something.). He only reached that decision after my mom argued with him; he wanted to use D-5 from the start. But my mom said "You do know the D stands for Dextrose, right? Her blood sugar is going to go really high." (not exact words. My memory's not that good.) Hence the above arrangement. No pressure on diabetes control, Ky. None. As long as it's around 150. Exactly would be great. Try to beat Mom's record of 152 on the morning of a surgery when she told the surgeon she'd come in at 150.

Heh. Pray for me. I think everything will be fine, but there are so many things that could go wrong.