A Humorous Humerus

It's certainly been an interesting day. Did one more batch of anatomy studying of the appendicular skeleton and, without using the sheet, remembered each term and correctly labeled it. All 100 or so of them. Not too shabby.

Calc and Human Anatomy went pretty well, I suppose. Nothing too terribly interesting, aside from getting into rotating lines around axes in Calc (Washers...OH NOOOOOEEES!!!).

The Town Hall meeting...Admittedly, it went better than expected, though I suppose different than expected is more accurate of the evening. The whole hate crime itself wasn't really discussed at all which, again, was rather unexpected; ultimately, perhaps it was for the better, so as to not get bogged down in what is, to me, more or less a dead end of discussion waiting to happen. Doesn't mean it shouldn't have been discussed necessarily(Dean did mention the details of the event), but there, to me, isn't a whole lot to say about it.

Instead the discussion was about diversity and whatnot. Can't remember every little thing said, but Ted(can't remember his last name) said some pretty good stuff; it had something to do with the indirect effects on others via changing ourselves. As I've said to other people, individual responsibility is absolutely crucial is so many things...Just some random quotes from the evening:
RR: "You don't burn down the village to roast the pig....You can learn to disagree without being disagreeable" (both of which were others' quotes, but still)
WG: something about students and "making excellent work" and following our passions
: to faculty, allowing students to express their passions.

I feel like my comments weren't all that profound/ concise, quite frankly; my first, to answer the "What does it mean to be a diverse community", revolved around protecting the freedom/rights of individuals and that their are certain responsibilities of the individuals of the community and the community itself, but that what they specifically are are not so certain. My second one, which I said after WG's comments, revolved around the two most important assignments to me: the (first) memoir and my arthritis paper assignment. Honestly, felt kind of embarrassed after both, since, again, didn't feel like I contributed a whole lot; the whole matter probably was not helped by the fact that there were probably 150 or so students/faculty there and the fact my heart was pretty much in marathon-mode after talking that first time.

Still, I'm very glad I stayed for both the initial Town Hall and the after-session; as it were, I stayed until about 10 pm(about 3 hours total). Got to talk with some pretty cool people and meet a few new folk. Rev Rice also talked to me a little bit(more like some comments here and there); he suggested that I consider teaching, as well as becoming a doctor. In addition, he mentioned something along the lines of being curious about/ looking forward to the dedication section of the book(s) I'll write. Can't remember exact quote for that last bit, but something along those lines. Either way, was a little taken aback(in a good way, that is) by his comments.

Also, there was something about AM's positivity that...I don't know. It just made me, at the time, very happy and glad I stayed for the post-Town Hall thing, rather than immediately going to study.

I'll definitely have to think this whole matter over in my head some more. I just feel...different somehow. For the better, I think. And, hopefully, I can become..."better" somehow and use that improvement to help others. But the key is, improvement of the community starts with self-improvement. Or so I believe, at least.

I'll probably end up reflecting on this whole matter more some point down the road...

One other note for the day: things are really seemingly awkward with AR. Not sure what the specific reason(s) is (well, aside from everything in the past), but yeah. It's bothersome, but what can one do. As I neglected to mention in the random thoughts below, one other goal of mine is to, hopefully, patch things up there. Not sure how, but, again, I'll just let things happen and we'll see. Not gonna force the issue or anything.

That's it for tonight. Should probably get in bed soon, so I can wake up bright and early for Injection Number...7, I think? Sounds about right. No real noticeable improvement yet, though I'm still hopeful. Doesn't mean injecting won't still suck, but alas.

I suspect I'm going to have some pretty bizarre dreams this evening. We'll see, I suppose. Also, really hope I'm not tempting fate, so to speak, by doing that "specific"-themed show...