Skull A Day

Well it's New Year's Eve everyone and I hope everyone will have a fantastic time tonight and be safe and stick true to those New Year's Resolutions. I am heading to Green Bay tonight to celebrate and see some people that I worked with before moving to Chicago... as well as spending another New Year's with someone that I am pretty much infatuated with. :D Don't worry, I will let you know how it goes!

One of my New Year's Resolutions (other than the typical ones) is to do more research in the fields of biomedical visualization, illustration, etc (however you want to describe it) and graphic design. With that, I present an awesome blog Skull A Day. If you haven't seen this one yet, take a look! Though most skulls are not anatomically correct, it is great to see what people can do with typical objects to make or see a skull. It definitely gives me some creative inspiration, hope it can do the same for you!

Happy New Years once again!

Words to Live By

I have finally had enough time to finally read something other than anatomy texts and scientific papers and I finally finished a very inspiring book. The Last Lecture is a memoir by Randy Pausch, a virtual reality and computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a cancer without a cure and kills quickly. Randy died on July 25th, 2008 and left his words of wisdom to his children in the form of a book. His words are ones to live by and I recommend this book to everyone. One of the chapters at the end hit me directly, as some college grads and others think that they are better than what they are given whether it be jobs, classes, etc. The excerpt may be long, but it's worth reading to the end.

51 No Job Is Beneath You

It's been well-documented that there is a growing sense of entitlement among young people today. I have certainly seen that in my classrooms.

So many graduating seniors have this notion that they should be hired because of their creative brilliance. Too many are unhappy with the idea of starting at the bottom.
My advice has always been: "You ought to be thrilled you got a job in the mailroom. And when you get there, here's what you do: Be really great at sorting mail."

No one wants to hear someone say: "I'm not good at sorting mail because the job is beneath me." No job should be beneath us. And if you can't (or won't) sort mail, where is your proof that you can do anything?

After our ETC students were hired by companies for internships or first jobs, we'd often ask the firms to give us feedback on how they were doing. Their bosses almost never had anything negative to say about their abilities or their technical chops. But when we did get negative feedback, is was almost always about how the new employees were too big for their britches. Or that they were already eyeing the corner offices.

When I was fifteen, I worked at an orchard hoeing strawberries, and most of my coworkers were day laborers. A couple of teachers worked there, too, earning a little extra cash for the summer. I made a comment to my dad about the job being beneath those teachers. (I guess I was implying that the job was beneath me, too.) My dad gave me a tongue-lashing of a lifetime. He believed manual labor was beneath no one. He said he'd prefer that I worked hard and became the best ditch-digger in the world rather than coasting along as a self-impressed elitist behind a desk.

I went back into that strawberry field and I still didn't like the job. But I had heard my dad's words. I watched my attitude and hoed a little harder.

Paush, Randy 2008. "The Last Lecture" pp 168-9.

Anatomy of an Angel

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope today all were blessed with love and family. Christmas was great for me, I was given an external hard drive which will be helpful for storing my artwork and my family got a kick out of the chocolate d'anatomie that I gifted. All in all a good day. To celebrate this Christmas day I present to you Damien Hirst's "Anatomy of an Angel" (see a more detailed image here). I have heard of Damien Hirst as the wealthiest conceptual European artist to still be alive, as well as his diamond encrusted, platinum skull (take a look how it was created!) and shark in formeldehyde (with quite a name for its title), but not for sculpture like this. It is argued that he is not what people usually consider an "artist", since he did not formally do the work himself, but had others do it for him by following his vision. Whatever you decide, the work is intriguing to me because of my medical and scientific background because of the relevance in anatomy, preservation, death, and biology. He even has some anatomical models that "he" had done as well! Check out a slide show of some of Damien Hirst's work here.

Photo: Courtesy of DayLife http://www.daylife.com/photo/05Ymdlc5a5bfH

2 Medical Visualization Companies to Take a Look At

I'm going to probably regret saying this in less than a month, but at least during graduate school, I have something to keep me busy. I would be out and about a little more, but this snow is driving me crazy! Plus, my hometown is in the middle of nowhere so I have to drive at least a half hour to get anywhere.....no easy public transportation for me now! I should be working on one of my friend's logo he wants me to do for him, but it's Christmas Eve, that's my excuse. However, I have been doing lots of research on medical illustration and the field and people involved in it, so I think that will help me out; it has been keeping me busy at least. I found two websites to present here. One is Alexander and Turner and the other one is Fairman Studios.

Alexander & Turner is a duo medical illustration team located in Grayton Beach, Florida. Though their portfolios and emphases are very different, both have an incredibly solid and reputable client list.

Fairman Studios is the biological and medical illustration and animation portfolio site for Jennifer Fairman. She graduated from the John's Hopkins program for medical illustration and teaches there now as well. Her work has a very delicate and detail-oriented style and is seen in all of her work.

Well I should help for our annual Christmas Eve dinner! Yay for cornish hens, grasshopper drinks, and family!

This Guy is AMAZING!

I was tooling around the internet looking for graphic designers, photoshop tutorials, and whatnot (I tend to do a lot of tooling around since I don't have that much to do during break) and I found this designer. His name is Chris Haines and he can do some pretty cool things with Illustrator and Photoshop! I better watch to some more tutorials.... my stuff is so basic compared to his! Check out more of his stuff on the Behance Network. It's nice that he uses some anatomy in his work as well!

All I Want for Christmas....

Is my two front teeth from Bubba Gum! I was tooling around the internet yesterday to find some silly Holiday-related things and I found and interestingly wonderful stocking stuffer. They are candy teeth, and they don't look like the beautiful ones that come from braces when you were 12 years old. But if you want to reminisce of the good time when you were little with crooked teeth, this sweet thing is for you! Click the link here to see where to get them!

I Almost Died During Christmas Break....

Well okay, here's the story. My Mom wanted me to paint a few places in our house including the ceiling of a few rooms during the break since I didn't quite have a job. You know, no big deal, I can paint a flat color no problem. Needless to say, I started with the ceiling since we didn't have to discuss colors. Too bad I didn't think about the trouble I would encounter with my mere 5' 2" frame.

I was in the process of cleaning the ceiling.... no problem, and then I started taping. I started and I couldn't get right up to corner so I had to use the tallest chair that we had.... too bad it was a swivel chair. I was fine for sometime, but the thing is with taping you have to continue with a long piece of tape; it will look better that way. So in the process of trying to hop to another chair, I crashed. Yup, just crashed. Crashed on my parents little snowman Christmas tree that I thought I moved far enough away. At least it was fake so I just messed up the branches of the tree. However, there were some glass ornaments which of course I broke and of course fell on and of course cut myself with. It's not even the problem I cut myself, it's the place. RIGHT ACROSS MY WRIST! Seriously, not only am I sore, bloody, broke some ornaments, and ticked off at myself, but now I look like a cutter. Awesome. I just hope it heals with no scars, seriously, who is going to believe this story?

Well after a bit, I went to taping again, but I left the hard-to-reach parts to my taller family members. So I was done for the day, with painting to do tomorrow. I received my brother's gift in the mail from my online shopping, just to open in and find out it has a tear in it, AWESOME. I also check out my loan account and there is STILL money in there. I. HATE. LOANS!!!!!!!

Tomorrow should be a better day, we will see with the painting.....

Also, I found this little illustration on Flickr, don't know who did it, but I thought it was appropriate.

It's Not Too Late to Shop Anatomy-Style!

Just in case you were looking for that special someone who has everything for Christmas, check out the outrageous array of objects at Cafepress.com. I want a mug, an ornament, and a tshirt, with a matching throw pillow and shirt for my dog....yes, they have all of those things for the science geek at heart. Or you can get something a little more tasty, like antomically-shaped chocolates.....no lie, I purchased some for Christmas. I'm looking forward to get the weird looks when they are opened! Well off to sleep to do some more Christmas shopping tomorrow and meet a little one!

Website and Internship

Well, the semester is finally over! We had our presentations on Thursday; They went well and it was really nice to see all of the student's work once again. We worked hard for this, and you can tell. I'm really a fan of this program, however stressful it may be, but that's just how it goes. It feels so good to now have to do anything. So now you can take a look at my finished website.... I will more than likely put in a few more things during the break to make it even better, but I think it does the job at the moment! Here's my website, check it out and let me know what you think!

Also, as you can tell from the picture at the top, I did have my 2nd interview at the National MS Society, Greater Illinois Chapter for a web and graphics internship with them and I got it! I will be starting January 5th and I'm so excited! It all happened because I can proof-read text and that I showed the head of the marketing department my website! It helps to get yourself out there! It will be beneficial to gain experience and to work for such a great organization.

The building is awesome and it is right downtown..... I love this city and I feel like I'm going to love working here too!

There was one issue though. You know, of course. It is really convenient to get there; the bus on the corner of the street of my apartment stops right at the corner of the building I will be working at! However, it is on a one-way street, one thing I did not think about...... I was expecting to take that bus back, but I couldn't find where to take it the opposite way. At first, I began to panic because of course I forgot my map and got turned around with everything going on. It was right across the street from Union Station, so I knew the Blue Line was there, but I didn't know on what street.

Instead of looking stressed, I just started walking. You never want to look like you are confused when you are by yourself in the city....that's when bad things happen. When I was trying to cross the street in front of Union Station, this homeless man was trying to sell me the Onion newspaper (If you don't know this already, DON'T TAKE IT FROM THEM!) Usually you can just say "no thank you" and they will leave you alone, but this guy was persistent... thank God I tend to place myself around plenty of people so nothing would happen without a witness. Eventually he left and I found the Blue Line to go home. It was nice to see what's around the area from my walking though, so that was good. You just have to have a good head on your shoulders and look confident, even if you may not feel like you are!

Inflammatory Response

Assignment numero dos for the week of Hell: Process Graphic. I chose the nonspecific inflammatory response for the general public for print. I think it turned out well and I had a lot of fun doing it! My style is becoming more graphic and I love to work with Illustrator and find new tools to use when I can. Phew, thank goodness this week went by fast!

One down....

There you go, the sliding filament theory. It's fun, isn't it? It may look like a simple task, but it takes a lot longer to make and organize than one thinks. I had to do a few adjustments, as I wrote in a post prior, but I'm still not very happy with it. I guess it will be a project for me this break....OH YEAH! I am done with my first semester of graduate school! I feel great. Some people went out tonight, but I am satisfied with just sitting in front of the television (which I am doing right now).

I don't want any plans or any planning tonight and I just want to be left alone, but I doubt that that will happen since my phone has been going off the hook this entire week. I have not had so many texts and phone calls this whole semester as I have this past week. THE BUSIEST WEEK OF THE SEMESTER.....why does that happen?

Oh well, it's done and it's over for another couple months..... more artwork that I haven't posted yet to come! Now I can catch up on my sleep.......ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz................

So sleepy, but can't sleep

Well everyone in our program must be at the epitome of tiredness. I know I am. All of my projects are done except for a few nit-picky things on my website, and the Powerpoint for presentations on Thursday.....phew! We made it! But you know what stinks?! Well, I did not to do well with my anatomical visualization assignment that was due today. When I went up to present, I immediately noticed several flaws..... AWESOME, way to finish the semester on a great note, Lindsey. At least they are easy fixes. As soon as I get them fixed, I will post it. I don't want to look like a complete idiot by puttin up something terrible.... you never know who will see your blog, as I have already found out.....

Our class also received our final anatomy grades back.... I hope everyone did ok! I did well, but my last exam was my worst and it really sucked because I seriously must have been just below the line of getting an A.... oh well, can't complain. I don't have to take the class again.

Another good thing though, I have a second interview for an internship for next semester! It's on Friday, so I hope it works out! It seems like they are very interested, at least.

Well, the rest of my stuff will be up in a matter of a few days, so keep your eyes peeled!

ps: I think I have successfully quit smoking! I don't have cravings anymore! Woo hoo!

Ok nighty night!

Insomniac Art

It is 4:16 in the AM and I have not yet slept. I did finish my website for the most part, with a few things to fix up on it. I wanted to get it done today and after more or less 12 hours on it, it is completed. I will make sure to put it up on here when all of the tiffs are out of it. And now I'm overtired so I'm writing. This next week is going to be intense, so I better get used to lack of sleep and coffee.

I found some interesting anatomical art tonight through my insomnia. The art could give normal people the chills, but when you go through cadaver lab, you are never the same. The artist's name is Craig LaRotonda and he has a ton of surreal illustrations, with most of them dealing with something anatomical. Jennybird Alcantara has some interesting work too. (Yes, I typed that right!)

I have been checking UIC's Blackboard constantly to see if they grades are up....still nothing. You would think I would understand that and not check every hour..... I guess I will never learn. Oh well, off to bed for another day of school work!

An Intense Few Days

My final anatomy exam which was on the head and neck was today. The lecture part went well, but unfortunately, the lab part was not my best, but when I mean best, like 3 wrong, so I shan't complain. I was up before it was light out this morning and let me tell you....8 degrees when I left the apartment! To make matter a bit more chilly as well, the UIC buses weren't working at that time.... that time was 6:45 when I left the house. I must be a total nerd too since the Health Sciences Library doesn't open until 7:30....what kind of people are running this place? Do they realized that they are in the sciences and science people need to study?! Anyway, I chatted with a friend (that was actually thinking the same as I that morning) until the library was opened.

After the test was done, we went for a little drinky and socialization at Hawkeyes. I had 2 beers and they tasted really good today. After that, I and others went to support a fellow grad student to go to her undergrad senior thesis art show. Chicago is more into the conceptual art than I am, but it is interesting what the process is sometimes; but really, can rotten vegetables be considered art?

Yesterday for Biomedical Visualization (BVIS) Seminar, Mr. Scott Barrows gave our class the opportunity to check out the Electronic Visualization Laboratory here at UIC. I was greatly impressed! They had virtual reality, a touch screen table like in some of the new movies and incredibly hi-res photos that could be projected on this huge screen. It's awesome to think that some things that they were showing us are the teaching tools of the future. Of course, when I go to try out the touch-screen picture table, the image doesn't move and it temporarily freezes. Another girl in my class noticed and stated that now she realizes what I'm talking about when things get messed up when I'm around..... Tell me about it!

Well off to sleep and then some major website-building tomorrow! Less than a week and I'm done with the semester!

Anatomy and the Bra

After watching the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show tonight and studying anatomy I decided to research this a bit more and procrastinate from what I should actually be doing. I'm pretty good at doing that. I found things about the anatomy of the bra and yes, the parts actually have names (I know because I used to work at Victoria's Secret and I would like to work there again soon part time), history of the bra, as well as the patent for one of the earlier bras (actually patented by a man in Chicago!), the effectiveness of a good sports bra, and the process of making a prosthetic breast. Quite an interesting find, I think.

What I have featured here for the picture is the $5 million bra that is the gem of the show. They are always fantastic and I was blown away by the show once again. Victoria's Secret's marketing department is fantastic, you have to admit.

In ode to the looming anatomy exam, I found an ad for Genteal eye drops that I thought was interesting. I also found this cool play on hands for AT&T. These were found on the blog called AdPharm, a pharmaceutical ad agency that shows off other pharm ads as well. I thought it would be a good reference..... too bad what I really need right now is to study anatomy.

Talking about anatomy, I know we all freak out, but you know, in the end it seems to work out. However, I feel like I should be a little more worried. It's so hard to study because every single anatomy test this semester has been through a different professor, so you can't get used to one professor's teaching style. I'm in a good spot though, so I'm not too worried, but my over-achieving attitude wants to get a high grade. We finally had our crit for anatomical visualization on the anatomical landmarks; I think it went well, but I could change a few things, us artists can always change a few things.....

Other things to freak out about: Website 95% done on monday, anatomical illustration due on tuesday, and then Artwork PowerPoint and instructional design project on wednesday, and final presentation on thursday.....phew! Plus Mr. Dude from home won't stop calling.... I feel bad, but I just don't have time for this, obviously.

I also applied to an internship today..... hopefully I hear from them soon!

It's time for me to fall asleep on my books and watch anatomy videos...... I know I'm cool.

Blogging and Anatomy

Well today was just another day with Computer Applications and Human Anatomy. My personal website is to be 95% done by next Monday.... I will make it happen....after the final anatomy exam this Friday.... it's going to be a long week.

One thing was awesome today, though. Vanessa Ruiz, a former student in the UIC Biomedical Visualization, as well as a writer of the blog, Street Anatomy, came to talk to our class about blogging. It was nice to say that I actually had one and I'm pretty constant on it as well. I learned quite a few tricks of the trade too!

What is also pretty cool is that she is doing what I want to do with my career as well; Pharmaceutical Advertising Design. She works at Abelson-Taylor in Chicago and it seems like she is very happy there as an art director.

So tooling around the internet, procrastinating before bed, I found these pieces of Graphic work by Jason Freeny. I enjoy his humor in finding anatomy to fit the gummy bear and balloon dog and putting it in an anatomical chart format. Plus, the smooth contours and fun colors catch my eye and make it more whimsical. Quite the find, I think!

The Night of the Exes

Well even though I don't think this about any of my exes, I do want this knife set and it was appropriate about my last night home and well, it's a body so it's anatomical too (shut up, it is, just agree!)

Anyway, after sleeping for 12 and a half hours straight, because of my last situation (read the blog before this if you don't know what I'm talking about) and then going out to dinner with the family that night.... (yummy food from the Silvercryst), I got talked into going out again. Imagine that.... lol. Well, ended up going to the bar in Almond again, and though it wasn't as entertaining as the last time, it still was a good time. I was the only girl there, like usual, but then 2 of my exes from high school stroll in at two separate times. I wasn't pissed off or felt sick that they were there, but at first I thought it would be a little awkward. However, it wasn't. They are both doing well for themselves, but then the whole "How is your love life?" came up....my response "non-existent and I'm ok with that for now." They could probably tell I was a still a little bummed, but oh well, I really don't have time for one right now. My exes have gotten more attractive though.....dammnit. Oh well, they are exes for a reason, whether it was theirs or my fault.

I ended up drinking more than usual, and staying there until bar close (my Bacardi and Diets are only $2.50 at home and I don't know how many I was given for free....can't go wrong with that!) and then it was afterbars at our fave high school hangout... one of my guy friends house, well the exes followed, but it was all good. For the end of the deer-hunting season they were having a pig roast..... the best! They started cooking it that night so we just hung out all night.... literally.... again. I got home at 9:30 in the morning (I felt bad because I didn't think I would be out that late) and didn't have any blip of sleep until my parents were driving me back to Chicago. So yeah, still up but only had 3 hours of sleep. One guy kept me up from home saying that I have been on his mind for some time..... why does this happen to me every single time I go home? I like this guy as a friend, but he's there and I'm here and starting something like that just won't happen..... just a little too late. I feel bad though because he is one of my amazing friends from home, but now I think that's as far as it will be able to go......

Well off to bed because I need it and it will be a long day with anatomy and website tomorrow! Yay for having my power cord finally!

Happy Thanksgiving Vacation!

Well ladies and gentlemen..... I have done exactly what people (other than people in Grad school) on vacation should do.... veg. I have really done just about nothing during my Thanksgiving vacation and it feels good. For example, I went to bed last night around 11:30 and woke up at 12:30 the next day. It felt sooooo gooooooood. :D I guess it made sense though since the night before thanksgiving I went out with some buds from high school to a bar in my hometown and it was just about a high school reunion. It was nice to see everyone though, so I stayed until bar close. However, there were 2 guys that were definetely interested in me there that I did not go to high school with that would not leave me alone.

One was a cousin of a friend, but so no interested since he was so drunk that he started talking about Girl Scout Cookies and farting, after that I was even more disinterested than I was at the beginning of the night.... I later found out that he wanted me to drive him home (which didn't happen) and he puked when someone else was. I'm back at home....

The other guy was a creepster. I mean Total old man creepster. No one knew who he was, but he just kept starting at me the whole night... I mean I was there for 4 hours and I'm not exaggerating... the whole damn night. I wasn't even wearing anything spectacular, I was dressed down from when I ususally go out. My guy friends said to me "Yeah, that's dressed down in Chicago, remember you are back home in Almond." Yeah, I guess, I sometimes forget about that. Plus, when he would walk past me he would let out a "woo-hoo". Yeah, that would get my attention in a good way, buddy, good job. You can tell that he didn't learn anything about treating girls in his 50 years of experience....gross.

At bar close, one of my fave guy-friends finally got home and wanted to hang out. He ended up coming over to my place, and with a bottle of Kesslers and Mountain Dew we talked the night away, literally. He left at 6:30 AM. We could already see the trucks filled with deer hunters on their way out to start the day and we were just about ready to end ours. It was a great get-together and I miss hanging out with him, as well as some of the other guys from my hometown.

ps: can you tell I'm from the middle of nowhere, WI? Wouldn't have thought that I was from this did you? :D

Another reason I'm being a bum is that I forgot my charger for my laptop in the living room in our apartment in Chicago. I forgot to pack it. Therefore, I can't work on my website like I wanted to.....awesome job, Lindsey. So we will see how much I will actually get done in the day before it needs to have at least 50% of it done.... When my fam is home, my Mom pours me a glass of wine and it tastes so good that I have to have more.... My last name doesn't mean "drunken" in Polish for nothing!

Oh well, everything will be fine next week. I'm not worried, though I should be. Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for what you have and what you have done, and I have many things to be thankful for. I could not have been where I am or the person I am today without the help of others. Thank you all and have a fabulous rest of the vacation!

I Can't Fall Asleep So Here's a Body...

Well, there you go people, there's the body for you. Our assignment was focused on anatomical landmarks for identifying deep structures, and yes men, your nipples are landmarks. (Especially on the guys on the link! :D ) I really liked this assignment. It was basic, but line work can be descriptive and you can incorporate your style into a line drawing, even if tone and value is your thing.

I wasn't going to put this on tonight, but when my crit actually is, but you know, since I can't sleep for some reason (it's almost 3:30 AM), I thought I would put it up. I am going to be dead tired tomorrow when I really need help. We have Computer Applications tomorrow and we have to create our own websites. I was working on mine all day long and Scott is probably going to be like: "Ok, so what did you actually do?" while I'm falling asleep when he's trying to answer my questions.... great. (Scott, if you are reading this, I'm sorry!) I guess I will have to make my coffee a wee bit stronger than usual. I will probably hear an explanation on why I'm not able to sleep, but I know damn well why...... IT'S THE CRAZY TIME OF THE SEMESTER!

Could You Please Stop Playing the Guitar........We Aren't...

I'm a little too tired to write tonight since, you know, it's 2:30 AM and there are drunk people having a party in the apartment underneath us and they had the music so loud that our upstairs neighbors could hear them loud and clear 3 floors up.... no biggie...

Heidi went upstairs to tell the boys upstairs to stop being so loud and it wasn't them.... it was really weird... I bet that can tell you how loud it was!

I bet I will be productive tomorrow...

Oh the Joys of Public Transportation

Both classes were canceled today, which was like a godsend....I caught up so much today on anatomy it was crazy....I do still have a bit to go though, but it will be fine. I did not leave the apartment once today. Yesterday was a different story.

Well one of my friends from undergad invited me over for a dinner party. Awesome! Well the thing is since she didn't want to go into the city during rush hour, she wanted me to take the Blue Line to the stop right before O'hare. You know, it should be no big deal I thought. Well just about everything that could go wrong did, of course. I usually take the UIC bus to the corner of my apartement from campus. Didn't see one so I just walked my 15 minutes back and didn't even see one bus go past me....very reliable, can you tell? So by the time I got back to the apartment I wanted a bite to eat and my new boots that I ordered online were on my doorstep when I came home.... of course I needed to try them on! So I'm still rushing. I have an hour to get to where my friend is. I must have just missed the bus that I have to take to the Blue Line because 3 Western Express buses went by by the time I could finally get on the regular Western bus... so there we go 20 min gone. I could have walked there in the time I was waiting, but I don't go walking around my place after dark, so I waited.

Got off at the bus at the El station, and I see the El going towards O'hare in the distance coming to my stop. SHIT! I need to cross 4 lanes of traffic, swipe my card through, and sprint down the ramp to get there... I go for it. Nope! Too slow, I missed the El. DAMNIT! So now waiting once again, I get a text from my friend saying that she is there already! SHIT! I look at how far I have to go and yeah, she's going to be waiting some time. The El comes and we are off. I should be smooth sailing from here and I have my anatomy book to keep me company. As soon as we get in the Loop, the El just stops. "Can I have your attention please: the train that you are on is experiencing technical difficulties, please wait for a few minutes until the driver ..... blah, blah blah.." Great, not only am I already late, but the El that I was on just HAD to break down. So we sit there for 15 minutes not moving. I text my friend: "me and public transportation are not getting along".

Finally we start going again, well about 45 minutes late, I finally hop into her car and we are off to the burbs, another 1/2 hour. Man, thank God we are good friends, I felt bad for her waiting so long.

Well we finally got there and had dinner and visited, it was such a good evening to be out and about for a bit. Too bad we don't live closer... things would be much easier..... but that's just how it goes with public transportation.....

Slowly Being Swallowed....

Well, I feel like I have been getting things accomplished. I mean, I do have my anatomical illustration done with its necessary references, my idea for Instructional Design, and the reading for our online class done. But the two very big things are looming over my tiny head: ANATOMY AND CREATING MY OWN WEBSITE. Those are my goals to tackle after class tomorrow. We will see.... I can always manage to find some sort of distraction for a good amount of time, plus it doesn't help that I am so far behind in anatomy that I could probably spend an entire weekend working on it and still be behind. Plus I need to get some food staples, and oh, my problem with loans are not completed yet.... UIC is taking their sweet time reimbursing my money.... damn state school.

My whole "living better" scheme is actually working out, literally. Heidi and I go and work out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after anatomy since we stink anyway. I have been without a cig for 3 weeks and only cheated when my friends were up for the weekend and I'm feeling better about it, even though I would still miss the excuse to relax for 10 minutes in my "Me" time. This too will soon pass though.

Now all I have to do is not eat as much.... I finished a whole thing of popcorn a couple of hours after a dinner and I want something else, but I'm going to bed. I may be small, but I can eat and I love my food. :D

Living my Lonely Little Life....

It snowed for the first time since I have been in Chicago and it made me realize that time has just been flying by. I am almost done with my first semester of Grad school. I will be done before I know it it seems. But as time has been flying by, everyone from my past has been changing. Everyone is growing up and doing the whole relationship thing and I feel like I'm kinda stuck. I don't go out often 'cause I can't afford it; I don't meet many new people out of our program because I feel like it's not worth putting so much time and effort into it and I can't afford it, I'm usually not interested, and I'm scared.... plain and simple, scared. As bad as it sounds, I don't know who to trust and I don't want to get my hopes up to have them shot down... just not my thing. So I'm here with my homework piled in front of me with a cup of Chai tea or coffee to keep me company. I guess that's alright for the most part; I have been getting out there more and I really am starting to fall in love with this city.....maybe that's the only relationship that matters right now, well that and Homework loves to butt in too :D

At least the Packers won against the Bears today..... lol.

What is going on????

Well, the whole reason I haven't been writing daily is for some reason, I have been having a great week. I really don't have any complaints at all. There is one thing though....... assistantships.

They are hard to find and even tougher to get, I swear! I have been emailing and calling and searching for anyone or any department to give me even an opportunity to obtain an assistantship. I knew I was maybe pushing my luck with trying to get one this semester, but people just make it sound SOOOO attainable.... NOTHING BUT LIARS! Ok, maybe not, they just got lucky, but I am taking so much time out of my studying just searching and coming up with nothing, so yeah, kinda a waste of time..... but I will prevail and keep moving forward.

Plus this whole semester is closing up already, it's coming way too fast! I guess I'm ready for a break though, but at the same time I am so in need of a job! I don't know how I'm going to pay for Christmas gifts....we will see. But I have been having a lot of fun.

Yesterday me and one of my guy friends from undergrad went downtown and well, I was craving Mexican cuisine (not out of the ordinary) and a margarita. We found this place called Su Casa and it was a really good price with really good food (I still miss my spinach and chicken quesedilla from Marg Dips!). And then we went to the fanciest bowling alley I have ever seen called Lucky Strike. It was just crazy. However, you paid for it! I mean, instead of sitting on plastic dirty chairs, you sat on couches when you were waiting to bowl.... pretty cool; and oh yeah, like everything downtown, we had to wait, so we were getting drunk in the process! Tonight, after doing a bit of homework, I went to see Quantum of Solace. It was good I have to say that, but not fantastic. It was fun to hang out with people though. Plus we took the El back at night..... it was an experience, nothing bad, just interesting.

Well the boys upstairs are back to their old ways right now with their partying. We'll see when I fall asleep tonight!

Oh, PS: the pic is from a few weeks ago, but I just thought it was funny. Just being silly on the El! Thanks for bringing out the best in me Heidi!

The Fun and Surprises That Chicago Holds

Well, I bet you can tell what I went to see this weekend! Yep, and it was worth the inflated, almost-double-the-original-value price that we payed for them. If you have not seen this musical yet, SEE IT! It is based off the the book, "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire. I read his book prior and you should see the musical as well as read it.... they are incredibly different.

I tend to get emotional (I guess that just what "Feelers" do) when I see a spectacular performance or piece of art. Yeah, I cried not once, but several times during the performance.... for people who can't read "girl", that means that it was just amazing. Here I am crying silently during the show.... thank God (or hopefully....) no one saw me. They would have probably thought "What the Hell is wrong with this girl?" Oh well, I didn't care and I couldn't have stopped it if I tried.

So yeah, that wasn't the only fun thing I did. Needless to say, I had friends down and I couldn't disappoint, so no homework was done. But a lot of fun happened. Other than the play, we went up 97 floors and had a drink.... at 10 in the morning. I ordered the Cabin Fever thinking that it was hot-chocolate based.... oh no, straight alcohol. No wonder it said it warmed you right up. Oops, I was drunk before 11.

There are so many things to do here, it's ridiculous.... we went to the Field Museum (where I actually got hit on, seriously, you can't take me anywhere I guess), Navy Pier and shopping on State Street. Navy Pier was fun with all kinds of little things to do. One thing that was really fun was the Amazing Maze. My friend also noticed that at the IMAX they were playing "The Dark Knight" @ 11 that night. Though I already saw it and thought it was amazing, we all went again...... IT WAS THE BEST MOVIE EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. I will never see that movie like that again. It felt like you were in the movie... amazing!

Well, now that weekend is over and done with but it was the best weekend I have had in Chicago to date. And so far, it's still going very well. Anatomy is in need of being studied (I just opened the book up tonight!), but as soon as I got back from lab, there was a letter from UIC to me. The first thing I thought was "Oh great, what did I forget to do now, or is there there STILL something else I have to fill out?" It was actually a congratulation letter for the Van Doren Scholarship that I applied for! Free money, that feels good.

See? Good things happen to those who are patient and can handle the lows in life. This weekend and monday proved that to me once again.

I Have a Little Black Rain Cloud Named Loans

Oh, what a day. Well from going to the financial aid office twice in one way to figure out everything with my debacle yesterday, I think I have it under control once and for all, but again, that's what I thought before. The private loan company from which I had the canceled loan took my money not once, but twice, in two different locations..... grrrrr. But on the lighter side, I FINALLY had a very nice and polite lady that didn't make me feel like I should not be in grad school and actually helped me, so that was nice. You don't get a lot of that here.

Today was all about fixing things from the numerous situations yesterday. Well, I succeeded all of that and accomplished more. Though I still have a lot to do, I feel relieved and accomplished at the moment. Also, I had a great dinner with one of my guy-friends that I went to undergrad with that lives in Chicago. It was a Chinese restaurant with massive portions, I mean MASSIVE. He let me take all the left overs home so I won't have to cook for like a week, and he wouldn't let me pay. :D I like people with jobs, but most of all I like guys just to hang out with and not expect anymore than that.... it was relieving.

So now that things are better for the moment, it's time for my website redesign to be shown off. Our project was to find a medical-based website that was poorly designed and give it a facelift. I chose the Michigan Avenue Immediate Care, an urgent care downtown that I actually went to. Their services and staff were great, but you can't tell that from the website. I didn't want to go there initially because of the poor design, but I didn't have much of a choice so I went and was pleasantly surprised. If only their website looked better, just think of how that would benefit their practice!

We had to design two mock-ups and here are mine:
Note: They are not the final redesigns!




I am definitely going into the Ad/Web design field. I always get so into the projects and I like to experiment with the different aspects of design and Photoshop and Illustrator make that so much easier to do! I just need to figure out now how to make something look something like above, but with HTML and CSS! That's my project for tomorrow before the fun of the weekend begins..... :D

My, What a Form You Have!

Here my friends, we have a messed-up heart with the left hepatic vein not draining into the inferior vena cava like it should be, but up into the right atrium that our class had to draw with the focus on form. I enjoyed this project since I tend to go into detail. Unlike the knee assignment prior to this, I received much better reviews, much better than I expected, actually. I will take it though, don't you worry! Too bad I was looking at the labels the day after I handed it in (and after it was critiqued for that matter) and I noticed something off.... HALF OF MY DAMN LABELS WERE FLIPPED FOR LEFT AND RIGHT!!!! Seriously, Lindsey?! Do you have to make yourself look more like an idiot?! The surprising thing is, NO ONE, not even our professor, made a comment. I'm assuming if they didn't make a comment because they didn't notice it because of my beautiful, magnificent, glorious rendition of light on form (jk, but not really ;) ), or maybe they just thought I really am an idiot and they decided to leave it alone.... I guess I won't know now, but I did change it before I put it here and I emailed the professor so he really didn't think I was a moron; I am so embarrassed. I'm really not an idiot; I just don't pay attention fully all the time because there is always so much going on in my mind.

Well today is when my lucky streak ended.... it all started when UIC sent me this email saying "Your e-bill is ready". WHAT?! I have loans to pay for this! Well I look and there is over $7000 in there with a late fee. If you don't know the whole situation, UIC financial aid and I have not seen eye-to-eye since I have been here. It all started when I never received anything about financial aid during the summer so I applied for a private loan. Well that private loan never showed because I put my mom's birthday as the wrong year so there was a massive amount of money in my account and no one would help me. Well, after the joys of FASFA and their loans, I no longer needed the private loan, so I sent that money back to the loan company so I wouldn't have to pay for it later..... Well now in my UIC account the same amount from the private loan plus a late fee are in my account right now..... WHAT THE HELL? So, guess who's going back there when she should really be taking the time to do homework and nobody else has this problem? ME!

There is the financial aid black cloud over me once again, the noticed flaw in my labeling, and then working on my online class I can't figure out this stupid concept map to do anything....and I haven't had time to study for anatomy yet... and I have friends coming up this weekend (NOT COMPLAINING) so I won't do anything then... so yeah, when it rains, it pours........

I love my life sometimes.....

A Day to Remember

Though I know everyone will be talking about it and blogging about it tonight, I just have to. Congratulations to the new president-elect, Barack Obama. Though every presidential election makes the history books, this one is a gem for America and for me personally.

Though I was not able to vote, I know, I know, I don't want to hear it, let me explain....

Being a resident of Wisconsin and living in Chicago because of school, I had to request an absentee ballot. I did all that and well, my ballot came in the mail yesterday, the day before the damn election.... it had to be postmarked by 5pm that day, and being in class all day (Mondays are the days of Hell) well, it didn't happen. I was incredibly disappointed since I did my research and watched all the debates and everything. But really? What did I expect? This kinds of stuff happens all the time in my life. I voted in my heart; and thankfully Obama became the 44th and the 1st African-American president of the United States of America.

The City of Chicago was madness today and I am so proud to be in the city where the Obama family resided. There is so much joy going around that I feel so proud to be an American; we have gone so far in equality of the human race as a whole. However (and unfortunately), we do have a long way to go. One thing that really disappointed me was the people that were booing Obama when McCain gave his speech of "defeat". He's your new president, no matter what you do, so you will have to deal with it at least and stand for USA as a whole. Even McCain was not happy of his followers at that point and gave a very tasteful and rewarding speech. I give him great respect for that.

This has been a great and memorable week. Not only do we have a new president that I hope the best for, but with school as well, things have been working out for me. Surprisingly, the anatomy results came back, and once again I succeeded! Though it must have been on a curve, I did receive an "A" once again which some people were not happy about. Only one more to go. I also had a critique today for Anatomical Visualization (I will show the stuff tomorrow) that went well. I am going to celebrate this feeling of success while it lasts.... you will know when it goes down. LOL

PS: Well, my sleeping on my books for a week before the exam worked again! It's worth a try people!

The Quest for the Freshwater Dolphin

Yes, you may have heard of them, the freshwater dolphins. I have to admit, there are such things as freshwater dolphins, just not in Lake Michigan! This whole blog is for one of my roommates who I swear is obsessed with the idea of these "fantasy" creatures leaping just right of the coast (if you can call it that) of downtown Chicago. Though I would love it (I don't have one tattooed on me for nothing), I'm sorry my dear. I just don't think bottle-nosed dolphins made it up the Mississippi River to some other tributary and ended up in Lake Michigan and on their travels mutated to adapt from salt to fresh waters. But go ahead and create substitute lyrics to Enya's (I'm sorry I shunned you, never should have) "Only Time" to a "Save the Dolphins in Lake Michigan". Go ahead and earn some money for the cause.

We do have dolphins in Chicago though!

;) I live an interesting life with interesting people all around me. LOVE IT! ;)

"Happy" Halloween

Going into my 2nd anatomy exam in grad school, I felt pretty confident. I was well-studied......well that was what I thought. Needless to say, the professor handed our butts to us and said "TREAT"! It was not the "big picture" like it was drilled in our heads. The 2 days that we spent on the nervous system was about 1/3 of the entire test and it was no "big picture", but more like detail city. I didn't feel like drinking and going out before the exam, but afterwards was a different story. Also, some of the costumes were amusing during the test. One individual dressed up as a uterus (ovaries and all), the "Pathetic Chain Gang" in homage to the sympathetic ganglionic chain, and one of our professors had on a black halo with a wand-like thing....I'm thinking the Angel of Darkness? How appropriate would that have been since our whole class felt like we were doomed of not even doing okay on this exam.

Halloween night was quite interesting as well. Now having the ambition of going out, we had plans to go to Boys Town. Wow, the costumes where amazing and showy to say the least! Not gonna lie, I loved it! The whole night was entertaining. For one, one of our fellow female classmates dresses up as a StudFinder and was harassing every gay man that passed. Some liked it and played along (look at her literally spanking Mickey Mouse above) and others would run away screaming "I'm Gay!" as she would be chasing them. So random, yet so fantastic!

For the record people, I am straight, but I have the most fun in gay bars, I don't know what it is. It must be the atmosphere and the open-minded people that just make me feel free and not have to act differently around. I had a blast which was awesome since I haven't had one of those days in some time. Plus, almost all of us in our group were feeling good, so that helps! However, this guy was bizarre. I don't think he was gay since he wanted me and another girl to kiss, but what I really don't understand it was in the fascination with guys dressing like girls all the time? I can understand Drag Queens, but seriously dude?



Another interesting thing.... I saw someone that I knew from Undergrad walking down the street as we were walking to a get a cab. I would have never thought so see someone I knew from going to school in WI. Also, one of my buds in the same program was friends with someone I went to Undergrad with as well! I guess I do have connections that can travel from state-to-state!

Addictions and Anatomy

Well, today woke up AGAIN later than I wanted to..... me and the alarm just don't see eye-to-eye. I guess it was okay since we did not have our first class today because of another huge anatomy exam tomorrow. But just to make sure that I would be awake for the one class we had today, I made myself a pot of coffee. Yes, a pot of coffee..... 10 cups of bliss (which are actually only 2 for me since I have this MASSIVE coffee mug). Go ahead, call me crazy and that's unhealthy and all the crap people just love to "let me know" about.


The Anatomy of a Coffee Addict

I am okay with my coffee addiction; I can only let one addiction go away at a time......the most current one is smoking. Yes, it's time for me to quit especially since I'm on a tight budget and you know, the price of a pack of cigs in Chicago are not from what I remembered in WI. Just tack on $2 and then don't forget the glorious 10.25% chicago sales tax they just love to throw at you. Plus, I really don't like to go to The Ghetto up the street to get them. Yeah, the joys of the West Side. Anyway, I am also doing it for my health.... I know it is working in my favor towards a healthy physical life, but without a cig for 5 days now is driving me NUTS! It's really bad at night.... I don't have much of a tolerance for things and I end up pacing and moving around a lot. I really miss my menthol Camel No 9's. Call me crazy, but they are like friends.... they give you excuses for mini breaks, calm you down when you are going nuts from studying about the genitalia in anatomy, and keep you from crying when you just can't handle it anymore. Oh, I miss you Camel No 9's and I want one of you right now, but I am taking a stand against you even though some people say that this is not a good week to stop..... is there ever a "good week" to quit? Maybe in someone else's life, but well, mine's a little different.

Wow, totally off the initial subject. Anyway, back to the 10 cups of coffee. One would think that I would be bouncing off the walls and wouldn't be able to sleep for at least 5 hours after that, right? WRONG! Seriously, put me in a dark room, no matter who is talking or how interesting it can be, and BAM! I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. In Anatomical Visualization today, one of the 2nd years, Sara Hegmann introduced us to the interesting world of using Osirix to manipulate 2D and 3D images for the class and future animations. Osirix is free software for Macs and is used widely by Biomedical Visualizers and Radiologists, and what you can do with it if you know how to work it is awesome! I was totally interested in what she had to say, but that dark room kills me every time! I probably look like a fool and important people can probably tell I'm dozing off and I don't care about a thing that anyone has to say, but that's not it! I just can't do it! I hope that this problem doesn't come to bite me in the ass.... we will see in the future....

Well off to study more of the perineum. Yeah, I know I'm normal.

Welcome To My World

Hello everyone! I moved to the city of Chicago, IL from Green Bay, WI to go to Graduate School @ UIC for Biomedical Visualization about 3 months ago. So excited for this opportunity, I didn't think much about the transition that I would have to go through to adjust to living in the 3rd largest city in the US. I mean, how hard could it be? Would it really be that different?

Well to my surprise, I have come to realize in the past 3 months that irony and minute frustrations occur every single day in my life. I may complain about life, but I will be the first one to admit, mine is really not that bad...... it's just ANNOYING! Seriously, I can't count how many times I have JUST missed the bus because I can't cross the street, or when the EL's electricity shuts off and you can literally see the ramp of the stop you get off at right out your window but you can't get out and you sit there for 20 minutes. Yeah, silly situations like this and much more happens all the time! I hope readers will be able to relate to my real-life experiences and if they can't and you are one of those people that is so obnoxiously perfect (I hate you, but want to be like you) I hope you can laugh at me. I just have to keep on laughing to survive since my family told me it was the best medicine.