Early Blooms

 This beautiful amaryllis blooms every year in front hallway at work. In most things aesthetic, I go for delicate and understated, but I just love big bold showy flowers. I love all those big bulb flowers: lilies, irises, hyacinth, gladiolas. And hedge roses, magnolias, hibiscus, anemones, poppies. Okay, I could go on and on. (Maybe I should go into botany so I can play with flowers all day. I have no idea what kind of research is done in botany.) I was recently helping design flower arrangements for a special event, and the woman of the day said she wanted bright, happy pastels. I thought about what flowers fit that description, and searched for "bouquet coral ranunculus chrysanthemum snapdragon." 

 So lovely...sigh. When I go to the produce market and pick out flowers, they rarely have such a wide selection, and I would have to get at least 10 different types to make anything so varied. But I can dream.

The only way I remember the name "amaryllis" is from the character of the Mayor's daughter in The Music Man. Also, the only way I remember lobelia is from Bilbo Baggins' cousin. 

That's a good car game - name all the flowers you can think of that are women's names. Or just name all the flowers you can think of.

Yeah, it's true, I like science.

 I'm taking 2 classes this semester: 

Pathological Aspects of Disease, a survey course of pathology.

Principles of Career Management - Diverse BioMedical Careers, in which the great majority of the students are trying to figure out what careers they want to pursue other than physician or laboratory investigator.

I was somewhat hesitant to take pathology - I really don't like disturbing, icky images. But I was very interested in learning the causes and manifestations of disease. So far all my courses have been mostly focused on microbiology, so I was interested to take a class that was focused on systemic clinical issues.

 Like almost everything else, classes this year have not been as fun or engaging as previously because it is all online. The Pathology class is at the worst end of the spectrum (for me, anyway) - pre-recorded lectures, several online "discussion questions" per module, and a very fluid assignment schedule, where everything just needs to be turned in before corresponding midterm or final exam.

As I was doing the self assessment exercises for the Career Development class, I began to question whether I had a serious desire to stay in the realm of biology at all. Classes were soooo boring. I have to really force myself to get through the lectures - shouldn't I find the subject more fulfilling to keep it as my CHOSEN career, not just the one I fell in to. Should I even continue pursuing degree in biomedical sciences? 

Then yesterday we finally had a live zoom meeting to review for exam. 2 straight hours of clinical vignettes. It was so much fun, I just loved it! It reminded me of a friend who describes several games as her favorites because they "tickle that certain entertainment part of my brain." I can't explain why, just really enjoy a true biology lesson. I left the class really excited to take the exam and continue with the course. Now I need to find a way to carry that excitement through another half semester of pre-recorded lectures. I did get a study partner, although she is not currently in the same class, but she said she would appreciate reviewing the subject and vocabulary. And I need to interact with the prof more often, even if it makes me look like a toady groveling for grades.

So now I have two subject that interest me: pathological aspects of disease AND psychology of live human interaction in engagement and learning. I'm sure there's a ton that has been written about the latter topic recently. Unfortunately, it will probably have to wait quite a while before I can get to it.

So much science, so little time...