Updates on the past few happenings.

Sick, as usual: Right on cue, I have been sick ever since my first midterm last Monday. Usually during hell week (midterms, and quizzes, and homework, oh my) I get even less than sleep than normal (it comes down to a few hours a night). Additionally, my mom was sick that week, so I guess it was really easy to get me sick after being around my mom with my weakened immune system. The best remedy would be to stay on top of my studies so I can get more sleep, but somehow it always feels like too much. And then I feel so burnt out. Sigh.

Exam Central: Oh, so news on my midterms last week. The genetics exam that I raved on and on about studying so hard and efficiently for? It turned out to be a disappointment, as usual. But after talking through email with my tutor, he cheered me up and made me realize that I got a “B” on my midterm thanks for the class average being a 65%. Before I realized that, I had actually been really beating myself over my score (which was a low “C” without taking the class average into account). So really, my hard work didn’t go to waste. At least I’m slight above average. It didn’t take me as far as I had hoped, but it’s mainly because I was under stress and I didn’t look at the questions as carefully as I should have. As for my organic chemistry midterm, I actually did pretty well on that. I almost got one full standard deviation (20 points) above the class average, so I was really happy about that. The hard work is starting to pay off, but I think I need to work even harder for the next week and a half (that’s how long I have left before this summer session is over). Hopefully I can get over my sickness by tomorrow so I can start studying harder…

Volunteer work: On Saturday, I volunteered with my good friend for an event that benefited the homeless. It was at a horse racetrack. That was my first time being at one and it was really interesting. The track itself was really nice in the center; it was very green and had a lake in the middle. Inside were lots of middle-aged men and old men, haha. Not a woman in sight. There were TV screens everywhere, so that they could watch the race from inside, I guess.

We were there more than half an hour early, and my friend was like, “What? We’re not that early.” And I said, “Umm, we’re like forty minutes early. It’s at 4:30.” She kept reading the time in email as “4:00.” Haha, that explained why she had been planning to go 2 hours early until I persuaded her to go later since I needed more time to rest with my sickness and all. When we got there, we found the “volunteer check-in” table…but it was completely empty and there was no one there. I’m guessing because it was still early? Anyway, we luckily ran into another lady who was a volunteer and told us she had volunteered last year so she knew the general setup and led us to the back where the head person of the event was.

My friend and I were assigned jobs at the front tables, greeting people and selling stationary and collecting name badges at the end of the day. Well, that didn’t work out. As soon as the head person saw us, she looked hesitant and a little displeased. Then she said, “I think I forgot to send you an email specifying to wear all black.” Well, that explained it. We were very under-dressed and not in black like everyone else. She told us we couldn’t be out in front anymore because anyone out on the floor had to be in all black. So instead we were stuck in the curtained-off backroom, where it was basically a mess. Our job was basically to clean everything up and keep things organized. But we could only do that for so long, you know? We were so bored that we made colorful signs for everything. “Water,” “Purses here,” “Soda,” “Trash,” “Recycle,” etc. Sure, it helped people know where everything was, so it wasn’t completely useless. We were just majorly disappointed that we couldn’t do our original jobs, and we were really bored in the backroom.

However, there is usually a good side to these kinds of things, and we probably had a better opportunity to meet more people in the backroom since that was where all of the volunteers went to take a break, etc. We also got to play with a puppy who was going to be in the silent auction, but she kept acting like she had to poop (and had some smelly farts), so we were more worried about her doing her business than we were about playing with her… Overall, we were glad we could help in any way possible.

Towards the end of the event we were a little of more help. I had never really heard of “silent auctions” before until yesterday. They basically had a few long tables set up with a many items to be bid on. Each plaque contained a description of the item and then a clipboard right under it for names and bids. After the set amount of time, whoever bid the most money written on the clipboard won the item. That’s why it’s silent, there’s no talking involved and people are free to walk around to look at everything. After the silent auction was over, we had the opportunity to go to the winners (who were eating their dinners at numbered tables), get their payments, and then come back with their prizes. That was probably the most exciting event of the day. It was a really nice event. All of the money raised went to help homeless families. This event is annual, so if we ever go next year we’ll know to wear black.

(PS I’m really sorry for not returning all the wonderful comments. I really appreciate them and I always return them when I have the time, promise.)