Day 26: Something that is Important to Me

Day 25: My Day

Day 24: A Picture of Something You'd Like to Change

Day 23: A Picture of Your Favorite Book

So, when I think about the book I would read over again, I think I would chose Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.  Her books are fictional, but based on real life occurrences.  This one is about a boy who is bullied and is then the gunman of a school shooting.  I feel like she does an excellent job of capturing both sides of a bullying situation.  I've witnessed kids getting picked on in school growing up and always worried what the long term consequences could be.  I think it is terribly unfortunate that people don't realize the psychological effect their words and actions have on people.  This is one of the top reasons I would never want to relive high school.  I myself was ostracized from the group of people I considered my friends starting in 6th grade and into 7th grade.  It was a terrible feeling thinking I was alone.  I rather awkwardly made my way through junior high; high school was a tad better, but not by a lot until junior/senior year.  I think this is why I appreciate and respect the wonderful friends in my life now and why I don't like to bother with a superficial friendship.  Life is short and I want to spend it with awesome people who think I'm awesome too.

You can all go ahead and call me a nerd now.  Since school currently is my life, these two books need some mentioning.  I love them so much I did indeed keep them.  Good thing too because I found my lost sock while digging my A&P book out from under my bed!  Very exciting since it is from my favorite pair of socks to wear around my apartment :o)  So, I have this extreme fascination with the human body.  It may be one of the coolest things I've ever studied.  And if you've been reading my blog from the beginning you know that nutrition is the other coolest thing I've studied.  So the BEST part is learning the connection between the two.  The human body heals itself, but what you eat has a huge effect on that.  The human body can create another human being (Hello! AMAZING!), but what you eat effects the development of that being.  The human body has all these ways of communicating within itself like neurotransmitters and hormones, but what you eat effects the production and release of those communicators.  The human body generates it's own energy, but what you eat effects the amount of energy and how it is used. (A bit of a side note: your metabolic cycles cannot function without carbohydrates, which is why I hate hearing people say carbs are bad.  You just need to chose the right ones and the appropriate amounts). I could go on and on because I am absolutely enthralled with these two topics and am so anxious and excited to continue learning about it and then have the opportunity to share that knowledge with people for the rest of my life!

And now for a picture from my day....

Remember those awesome people I mentioned in the first paragraph?  Well, these two belong in that category.  Dr. Leslie Richards (middle) is the amazing woman directing the research project I talk about so much.  She is such a generous, determined, understanding, enthusiastic person and it has been a great pleasure to be a part of this project.  It has brought so many opportunities and life experiences that I will carry with me forever.  I've also met some other awesome people working on this project like my new roomie come summer, Nadege Dubuisson.  And the lovely lady at the right of the picture, Jillian Grant, who has been an awesome friend and is always an enthusiastic and supportive person.  So, the picture is from the Celebration of Excellence that occurred on campus today to represent outstanding undergrad and grad students who received fellowships, scholarships, and research awards for 2010-2011 and also the 2011-2012 school year.  We had a chance to hear from the Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, the President of OSU, the Executive Associate Dean, the Associate Dean, along with some student reps and several other faculty members.  We were also surrounded by many of the donors who made it possible for all of us to receive our awards.  OSU has received a total of $850 million in fundraising and $113 million of that went to the College of Health and Human Sciences.  Unbelievable!  I hope you all have enjoyed the weekend!