Chemistry: It's not just for the classroom . . .

I know what you're thinking. This will be a nice little segue into some romantic story about "love" and "chemistry" and all things sappy. Wrong. This is a little segue into something much, much better.

Cake.

This month my grandmother turned 80. (See, we're back to birthdays already!) This is an amazing woman. She's also a woman who has EVERYTHING. So birthday and Christmas times are always a bit stressful, what with all the choosing of gifts. To avoid said stress, K and I made the brilliant, although not completely well-planned decision to bake Grandma's birthday cake as our present.

Four seconds after this plan hatched, we decided to make two cakes. Because Grandma likes chocolate, and we have a killer red velvet recipe. And, let's face it, it's our birthdays too. We'll bake two cakes if we want to.

Now, K and I are Food Network addicts. We watch the shows. We drool over the food. We even buy the fancy kitchen gadgets. But, if we're being completely honest, we don't actually cook that much. Especially when the cooking involves baking. Baking is hard. You have to measure everything, and add it at the right time and in the right order, and not open the oven early and blah blah blah. Too many rules. When I do descend upon the kitchen to make one of my culinary specialties, I like to just throw stuff in. Even my regular dishes are never quite alike two days in a row.

So here's where the chemistry comes in. I had to rationalize that cake is just a predictable chemical reaction. Mix eggs and sugar. Add flour and oil. Heat. Presto. CAKE. Suddenly, baking seems simple.

Of course, transferring the cake to a portable container, layering, frosting and decorating adds a bit of potential human error into the equation. But, I am proud to say we escaped with very little incident (besides a filthy kitchen) and two attractive cakes. And the nerd in me was leaping for joy to be able to apply my schooling to real life.

Thank you chemistry! You are quite delicious!

No wise man ever wished to be younger

Candles on my zebra-print purple cupcakes: 27
Bottles of wine consumed: None, actually. Just a pitcher of sangria. =)
Phone calls/texts/Facebook messages from wonderful old friends: too many to count

I've always loved birthdays. Especially mine, which I tend to celebrate for 3-5 days. I attribute this to the fact that my birthday always falls on the long Memorial Day weekend. And the fact that my sister K was born only a week later, and we were subjected to several joint parties. For this week, the world celebrates with us, whether it wants to or not.

This year, the world included many exotic animals, including a playful baby polar bear, and an elegant young giraffe, a couple of romping sloth bears, and some napping cheetahs. It's my birthday, and I'll go the zoo if I want to. Mama laughed when said I wanted a zoo excursion to celebrate. Apparently my tastes haven't changed much in these 27 years.

I suppose I am supposed to feel old, what with Year 30 looming ever so near. And, yes, I suppose I can think of a few things I thought I'd already have accomplished by now. But I can't help but think of my years in terms of what I have done. All the well wishes from old friends, co-workers, and classmates helped remind me of that. Nothing gets accomplished without a little bit of help, and I've been blessed with lots of helpers along the way.

Of course, there are still a few items on my To Do list. The biggest one - Vet School - is in progress. Now I just need to find the time to learn to play the violin, become fluent in French, and swim with Shamu. No worries. I've got the energy, if not the time.

So here's to another year, the years past, and the ones to come. The world is taking notice. I'm aging well.

First day of school! First day of school!

Classes in progress at OCC: 1
Classes remaining at OCC: 10ish
$ spent on tuition/books: $713/$112

Day One. Despite my slight hesitation about jumping back into educational waters, Chemistry seems to be one of the things my brain has retained. I like the professor (who may not remain the professor, as he technically cannot teach on the days the class runs, due to teaching another class at another school). I've had abbreviated, but intelligent, conversations with some of the other students. Haven't found lab partner yet, but I've got a week.

I have found one young classmate who will not be my lab partner. Perhaps this will simply be a process of elimination.

I struck up a conversation with this young man yesterday afternoon about an hour after my first class and discovered we are taking the same lecture and lab. Says the young man: "What did we do in the morning class? I didn't go." Hmm. No thank you. Who skips the first class? Maybe I'll just do the lab section on my own.

Day Two. Also Professor Two. Apparently the college did not bother to to get an instructor for my class section, and also did not see this as a problem until the day before the course was scheduled to begin. I am already vastly impressed by the foresight and organizational skills of my chosen educational institution. I have great faith in OCC's ability to get me quickly and effortlessly to my vet school dreams. I also have great sarcasm.

But I do like Professor DS. He reminds me of Jeff Bridges, if Jeff Bridges were to quote Monty Python and get really excited about chemical reactions. I think all chemists may be just a bit crazy. But a good crazy. An animated, fun-loving crazy that just wants everyone else to be chemists as well. I can live with that. After all, chemists are, if nothing else, nerds. And I'm a nerd. No judgement here.

I got my first homework today. Just a few basic problems. Certainly no 30 page research paper (how I love research papers!), but I'll take it. I like feeling like a student. I think I'll spend the next 10 weeks embracing my nerdiness. Off to finish my homework.