10/29/12
So I had to the day from hell. But first let me go over the
last week so you all stay informed.
I spent most of last week’s free time (so like three hours)
making my fabulous costume. I had the hardest time finding a haberdashery
(craft store here in England [side bar I went around saying “I am in need of a
haberdashery, just because the word is fun]) in Sheffield. In the states I
would be able to choose from Michael’s, or Jo ann fabrics, or AC Moore, but I couldn't find anything even close to that here. Finally I was able to locate a shop
called Hobbycraft in Carbrook that was like a smaller version of Michael’s. I
am beginning to think that we just have unusually large stores in the states.
Like the ‘big’ Tesco is the size of a small supermarket back home. I learned
that I should never be allowed in a craft store without proper supervision
because I wanted to buy EVERYTHING. I totally need all those cake decorating
things, right? I was able to restrain myself though. I then went to the mall to
find some bright green makeup at Boots and a corset. I couldn't find a corset
that I liked in my price range, aka cheap, so I ended up buying a plain black
one from Primark. I went home and made my fabulous headband out of gold leaves
and bright pink and green flowers. I wanted to jazz up the corset so I super glued
little green gems. The dress I got for
the costume, while awesome, had way to high of a neck line. So I cut a line
down the middle and used hemming tape to make it into a V-neck.
While doing this I was also studying anatomy and the bones
of the skull, but I figure you really don’t want to hear about me sitting in my
room for 4 hours looking at flash cards.
Friday was Mἁiri’s party. I had a lot of fun getting to put
on my costume and do my makeup all green and glittery. I think I base my
costumes on whether or not I can play with makeup. I even put some of the left over gems on my
face using the glue for fake lashes. It works great to apply stuff like that to
the skin and it comes off really easy. Because my mother always taught me to
never show up to a party empty handed, I made my favorite Mediterranean pizzas
to bring over. We first went to the Red Deer for a drink, which was really
funny in green fairy makeup and a corset. The party was a ton of fun. It was
pretty much all of my fellow grad students, and in true osteology fashion we
had 3 people dress up as skeletons.
The rest of the weekend was spent in the bone lab going over
cranial features. I had a bit of breakdown on Sunday after spending 6 hours in
the lab without a break, which is never a good thing.
So now we are ready for my day from hell. This morning I had
my bone quiz, I have never felt more underprepared for a test before in my
life. The temporal bone alone had 35 different features she could have asked up
about. The quiz itself I felt about 50/50, half the time I knew what I was
looking at, the half I was like “what the fuck is this?”. We got out and I felt
like I wanted to vomit and cry at the same time. I went to the library and sent
some emails, then headed to the café to hang out with some friends. In lecture
I started to feel pretty sick, like stiff neck, headache, and nausea sick. Meningitis is a problem in England so I was kind of worried I had that, later I
was reassured from my mother that I am, in fact, vaccinated against it. After
class my jacket zipper broke and now it won’t zip up. I also realized that I
had somehow lost my cell phone. I searched everywhere for it, the department,
the café, and then in the library. My friend Nathalie sent me a facebook
message saying that a guy found it in the library and called the last number I
had dialed (Nathalie). Lucky she went
and got it for me and I picked it up from her. So to recap, bombed my test,
sick, jacket broke, lost my cell phone, and now I’m eating half a pint of
cookie dough ice cream to ease my pain.
Lovely
