I just finish writing my first ever fan letter. Did I write it to Brad Pitt, you ask? No. I wrote it to Jennifer Weiner, the author of Good in Bed. This book has pleasing pro-choice sentiment. As far as I know, Brad Pitt has never expressed his views on the subject. I'm waiting. Anyway, I saw on her blog (yet another reason that this author is cool) that she actually reads her fan mail! I couldn't pass up the chance to tell her how much I love her books.

So, I'm becoming a pro-choice activist. I never used to be the type of person who would take up a cause, much less be so vocal about it. I just moved along, absorbed in my own life, and rolling my eyes occasionally at people who had different views than I did (that means you, pro-life weirdos). I think I might have always had it in me to be an activist, but I never took the chance. University of Michigan is so huge, and I was only a tiny, albeit shrill, voice among the masses. I think I must attribute this new found obstinacy to my friend, Diane, the premier loud-mouth. (Go on, girl.) Here I am, coming into my own, writing letters to senators, telling authors that I love their work, and feeling quite smug about it. My dad thinks I'm going to get blown up at the conference for Medical Students for Choice this year, and my boyfriend worries that somebody will slash my tires. I appreciate their concern, especially coming from Ryan, who would be really upset if I became the victim of a hate crime. This is important work, and I am the person who should be doing it.

By the way, the "link" between breast cancer and abortion is completely unsubstantiated.
Don't believe me? Check out this link:

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_6x_Can_Having_an_Abortion_Cause_or_Contribute_to_Breast_Cancer.asp 11:42 PM

Ryan and I got the smackdown from Homer Simpson last night. His comments were:

"I thought cats were only for people who are losers and live in apartments." and
" People do all kinds of strange things on commercials, like eat at Arby's."

These comments were aired as Ryan and I sat in our apartment, with our cats, and we were eating Arby's for dinner. Homer knows! 3:31 PM

Hm. I feel crappy today. I'm sad. I'm overwhelmed. I'm annoyed with myself. I was in such a good mood when I started school. Even financial aid couldn't make me too crazy. It's drama. I feel very isolated. I'm sure I'm just isolating myself, but it sucks all the same. 7:04 PM

Today in lab I had to look at petri plates that were innoculated with feces. I wonder who donated the sample. Maybe it was the director of the immunity and infection block. I would rather not think of Dr. Lehmann swabbing his butthole. That is not a pleasant thing to be thinking about, but there it is. Maybe it will help me when he announces annoying things in class. I might have a bit of a chuckle. MCO is too poor to buy fecal samples, so the professors had to provide their own. ha ha.

It's back to business as usual at school. The high school feeling of the place is back. There are too many attitudes whirling around in the air. There's a girl who talks big and doesn't do much. There's a whole group of crazy fundamentalist christians that leave me in a state of awe. These people are going to be doctors! They're going to tell their patients that Jesus wants them to take their antibiotics! Then, there's my group of friends and our satellites. We're the voice of reason in this weird, non-separation of church and state reality I find myself stuck in. Thank God for the other liberals and the liberal masquerading as a conservative.

11:51 AM

Oh man, I am annoyed. I couldn't tell you why. My friends are great. They crack me up. They support me when I am having a rough time with whatever. I'm not doing bad at all with my school work. I think I'll do okay on the quiz as long as I can force about 10 viruses into my short-term memory in the next 24 hours. Ryan and I are getting along fine, as usual. Although, I think he probably thinks I could use a three hour nap after yesterday. So, in summation, I don't know why I have a knot between my shoulder blades and irritable ear. I think the sound of my own voice would irritate me today, and maybe I'll try not to talk very much. It bothers me that this is probably completely hormonal. That is what I spent the first few sentences of this post discussing. There's nothing WRONG with me. It must be my hormones exaserbated by weekly quizzes in school. Hey world, I'm an illogical female! estrogen poisoning! Get me some midol. Pass my sweatpants. Hand me some kleenex because I see a crying fit on the horizon. Feed me french fries and candy bars. The only thing that even made me feel remotely better was going outside, and at Gary's suggestion, stomping around the lake to ease my frustration with nothing at all. Ryan must be a saint because I don't even want to live with myself right now. 8:05 AM

Ah. School. When I started school, I was totally sure that this is what I want to do with my life. I had all kinds of ambitions and aspirations. Now that I have gotten through a year and a week, I still have ambitions and aspirations, but I also have gotten a hard dose of reality. For instance, I am not going to have any money for the next 8 years or so. If I want to have a house and a family, I'm going to have to make my babies work for a living. Really! I'm going to have to violate child labor laws in order to please the powers that be in financial aid. Another thing I have realized is that this year is going to be entirely like anatomy in that I will never have a weekend off to clean my apartment and do my laundry. On that note, I have to go sit through another hour of class. bah. 1:03 PM