were you this smar?

I met the most adorable child on Friday. He told us that he is 3.11, meaning 3 years and 11 months, his birthday was in two days. I was then told that if I told him what year I was born, he could tell me how old I am, impressive for an almost four year old.

me: I was born in 1985
him: (immediately) masters, you are doing your master's because you are 23.

What! How does a little kid even know that? I don't care, he is adorable!

Seriously, again?

The last time I tried to give blood, they said no because I am American. So I went back today, was all excited because I am hoping to get some work done on my tattoo this coming week, which means a whole year without being able to give blood again. I went in today, but didn't make it very far. After I filled out the paper work, they then took my pulse and my blood pressure. Usually my iron can be a bit low, but today it was my blood pressure. The woman who was measuring it found it to be a bit low, then had another woman come in and do it, and it was also too low. Oh goodness. They said I can come back next week, just get the blood pressure higher. How do I increase my blood pressure?

In other news: NO SURGERY! Hooray! I went and saw the doctor yesterday, he said that I need to go in for some physical therapy and then see him in three weeks. I also don't have to wear my arm brace anymore. Hooray! But he said I should stay away from running for a month (since my shoulder is so week, and if I fell, it could be really bad) and at least two months for getting back into Frisbee. But at least now I know what is going on.

And to go with that, I made an appointment at a sports physical therapy place not too far from my house, which means I should be able to walk there, or ride my bike if we can get that fixed.

And then the best news yet: Richard booked his flight and is coming over to see me! Ok, it isn't until November, for Thanksgiving, but at least I know when I will be seeing him next! Yeah, I will still be taking classes, but I have one class which ends at the end of October, so when he visits, my latest class ends at 1pm and I will have Fridays off!

Tomorrow I head into the city to hang out with cool Frisbee people, what a good weekend.

Slowly but surely

Things are coming together. I have noticed that when I have something to do, I am much more productive, and when I have not too much to do, then I end up lying around a lot more, and being more tired. But, soon my schedule will be fuller, and therefore I will be doing more all around.

Tomorrow I get to go back to the orthopedic surgeon, hopefully will get some answers regarding my shoulder. Wearing a shoulder brace for a month is not fun, and I just want to not wear it anymore (truth, not actually wearing it right now). But yeah, I am prepping myself for surgery, which will be awful (not the actual surgery, the recovery).

And I called some more physical therapists places today, one got back to me, and I will be shadowing with them on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The place isn't too far from where I am, and they do more with sports rehablitation. And I did find a pediatric therapy place that is about 3o minutes (with good traffic). They weren't there when I called, but it would be go there as well.

This weekend is Sandblast! This is a beach ultimate Frisbee tournament in Chicago. Since I started playing, I had wanted to go, and finally was able to make it last year. After one incredible weekend of awesomeness, we all said we would come back, well, most everyone is back, with a few (great) additions. We are adding to more VU girls! And Cree asked if I could help coach them, something I am more than willing to do. It will be really hard to just watch and not play, but with a job, it will make it much better to do this (and trying to work on my tan). Pretty much the only thing that can ruin a beach tournament is rain, the forecast isn't looking too good. But hey, rain didn't ruin Paga this past year, I ended up having one remarkable Paga experience.

Science Camp. . . umm, awesome

Right, just got back (last night, kinda late) from science camp. But the week was great, there were ups and downs, of course. I am not gonna write up a big long thing, but instead write in lists (which I clearly love).

Sunday:

• Arrived with Ellen, we were put right to work in the chem lab, both had on sandals and were working concentrated chemicals, probably not the smartest thing.
• All but about five campers had arrived about five minutes after we started accepting them, yup, we really were at science camp.
• Met the campers, they were great, excited to be there!

Monday:

• Huge storm first thing in the morning. I was going to get to the lab early to set up, got about four steps outside, and realized I didn't want to risk my life.
  
• Ran around and made indicators while Ellen stalled, it worked out.
  
• Can't really remember the evening, but it was probably great, found out that one of the campers goes to Cary-Grove, awesome!
  

Tuesday:

• Trip to Fermilab!
  
• Then stopped and saw some bison (well, this was still at Fermilab).
• we then stopped at a mound made my a glacier, and Andrew (our resident geology grad student) was able to explain about the formation of the land we were on.
  
• Went to Mango's, played mancala, at ice cream, and sang karaoke! Some of the boys tried to rap "Bye, Bye, Bye" at least they did the dance
• were supposed to watch a movie, but that fell through

Wednesday:

• Made our own indicators in class
• watched bottle rockets, got a little sunburned
• most of the campers complained about having to watch the movie beforehand, but then all were captivated once they got a bit into it (it was Gattaca, props to Ellen for being the rock star who suggested it).
  
• Then to the observatory, saw Jupiter and looked at the moon (it was sweet)

Thursday:

• played with Luminol, had a great laugh with both classes about the world "solution" and "Pipette" (pronounced pie-pet in case you were wondering, I also know my campers' favorite variations of pie, one said cow pie, would like to see him eat that).
  
• rained, so afternoon stuff was moved around, then tried to deal with something that was way beyond me.
• my team won in the bowling competition, was promised a trip to Fatty's (it was quite the suckers bet, seeing as we were up by a lot when we eventually set the terms).

Friday:

• lessons were kinda lame, made slime and hung out, then tie-dyed
• cleaned up in the afternoon
• campers went home, it was sad, but also glad to be done
• tried to go to Fatty's, Ellen is too young! Ended up at O'Leary's, and the rest of the staff came too, it was a great way to end!
• Had some car problems, but nothing serious, like I said, didn't get home until about 12.30am, yuck.
  

Concert/Coincidence in the Park

Every Tuesday, the park district offers a concert in the park. They have been doing this for years, and the concerts always vary, sometimes it is a band, sometimes a choir, and the genre varies as well. Tonight, a family friend was performing in the choir. It was a nice act, and since it is so close to the fourth of July, many of the songs were patriotic themed.

Going today reminded me of a time from my youth. When I played on a specific soccer team, a few of us would get together on Tuesday nights at the park across from the beach, practice, get eaten by the mosquitoes, then head over to the beach. Us girls would jump into the lake to cool off, then we would eat pizza and enjoy the concert. This was something that I have always cherished from my teenage years, it was something simple but so great.

I haven't seen my coach in about six years. I played on his team for about four years, and we had a great group of core girls. As I was walking around taking pictures of the concert and the people at it, I heard someone yell my name, I looked around, and saw a couple waving at me. At first I didn't recognize them, but then it hit me, it was Dave and Sarah! As I said, I haven't seen Dave in so many years. It was so much fun telling them what I had been up to, and what I am going to be doing. We agreed that it would be great to get together (the core group of girls) sometime over the next year. I really hope that we do that.