trick or treat, smell my feet, give me pumpkin pie to eat

I sort of jumped right from Halloween into the Thanksgiving season. Allow me to explain . . . It was really Jess who sent me over the edge. Yesterday I received an extremely heartfelt package from her. I knew she was sending pics of the kids -- which I really wanted -- but she also sent chocolove bars, Bolivian alpaca wool mittens, and a warm, supportive card. I nearly cried. Then I thought about the hand-knit microbes Mom sent earlier last week. And I thought about the blissfully honest communication between me and Niles. And Jenni texting me just to ask how I'm doing. And Alisha's free hugs-on-demand. Thinking about all this last night, I just felt so incredibly lucky. Literally, it's incredible. It's beyond belief that I have all these people who not only think about me, care about me, love me, and support me, but who also will not rest until they're sure that I know it. Seriously-- what did I do to deserve this?

Lots of little things still anger me. It's getting too cold outside. Biochem is hard. We finally got internet set up in our apartment, but I can't get it to work. Internet Explorer mysteriously died on my computer. I stayed home all night and only got one trick-or-treater. But it's really all small stuff; I have to keep reminding myself of that.

On to less sappy events . . . . Apologies to anyone currently gagging.

So-- white coat ceremony was this Friday. When I was little, I honestly believed that conventions, ceremonies, and speeches would become less boring when I was older and actually cared about the subject. Now I think maybe we just get better at hiding the boredom. Anyhow, it was all a great success. Lots of clapping and cheering.

Bioscience midterm was Monday. WOW that made a rough start to the week. I still maintain that a good amount of questions on that exam were never, ever discussed in lectures. But I passed. The answer key was posted within a few hours, so no one had to sweat for too long. Still made for a stressful week. Had to recuperate on Tuesday, which automatically put me behind in the material for the final exam. I'm nearly caught up now.

Was ecstatic at the opportunity to talk with Mahlon. Jess had him call to say "happy white coat day," which was of course adorable. He speed-dialed me a little later (I don't think he knew it was me) to ask if I could go trick-or-treating, then told me he loved me. It's been a heart-warming sort of weekend . . .

And on that note, I should probably "for real" study, instead of pretend-study like I've mostly been doing today. We're deep in the belly of metabolism. It seems like I must be one of very, very few people in this world concerned about phosphorylases...