Parakeets, Best Friends, and My Knitting Mentor

!!PHOTOS!! I know, I know. It's becoming routine. Deal. :-P

The birds' wings have grown back finally (the last time I clipped them was last spring), which means Mike now has several new ways to torture them. His favorite is taking them into the hallway, shutting all the doors, and seeing if they can make it back to their cage. They've actually gotten quite good at it. But I always feel slightly insulted whenever Napoleon tries to fly out the sliding glass doors. I mean I laugh when he smacks into the glass, but geez, I treat him like gold why would he want to escape? I blame this on Jeeber.

I love my Anatomy and Biochem classes so far. Biochem takes everything I've learned in science and combines it, and suddenly everything makes sense. I realize why I had to memorize the 20 amino acids, and why I studied all those organic structures of molecules. There was a purpose--and here it is. In fact, over the course of the past year, I've really come to appreciate science more in general. A lot of it has to do with my professors, a lot of it has to do with my job, but I think most I owe to Shruti. She offered me a glimpse (through a microscope, if you will ^_^) that I hadn't been able to see clearly before.

I'm pretty sure I'd like to go to Chicago for spring break. No solid plans yet, but Beth and I have discussed it quite a bit and I think it would be a lot of fun. I've only seen the art museum there before and there's so much more to see. Not to mention I miss Beth and Matt like crazy--and for some reason this feeling has been intensified greatly since she called me to tell me they were engaged. Suddenly I've been reminded of double dating, deep-dish pizza, fireworks, shopping for baby clothes (for the babies we don't have), and roasting hot dogs over a campfire. I think back to the first time the two of them met Mike, and how everything just clicked--like he was the final piece to a perfect puzzle. And recently, for the very first time, it has occured to me that she will always be in my life.

I miss my mom a lot too. I've been knitting this scarf and every time I pick up my needles I think about her. She's taught me most of the great things I've ever learned, and I hate the distance. There's always been a raging war between distance and I--though I've begun to win the battles more and more. Perhaps by the time I go to pharmacy school (and if Mike has to move away for a good teaching job), it won't even be that difficult to cope anymore. But at this point, I still severely doubt that.

For now though, it's time to enjoy the weekend. :)