No more pizza.

No more burgers and fries.

No more soda.

I’ve had a freakishly horrible diet since the start of college.

I really need to watch what I eat now, or I’ll pay for my bad habits in the future.

I don’t know what’s come over me. Yesterday, during dinner, I had some sort of revelation, and it hasn’t left me since.

I’m going to start exercising too, because simply watching what I eat won’t cut it.

I’ve already started with the diet part. Check out what I had for dinner tonight:

Salad
Cereal
Pasta
Orange juice

Not bad. Good stuff.

Now, I just have to start exercising and then keep up with it all.

I’m currently stagnant.

I’ve been this way for the past few days.

I can’t let this condition persist.

I have a lot of “bidness” to take care of, so to speak.

[C'mon ALI! Snap out of it!]

Did someone say something?

I have issues. Let me tell you about one.

I have an issue with writing essays. I’m a perfectionist when writing papers, but I’m also a procrastinator in general.

That makes for a horrible combination.

I labor to write essays, spending WAY too much time preparing outlines and such. I understand making an outline is a good habit, but I take it to the extreme. (I write multiple outlines! With an enormous amount of unnecessary detail!)

Because of this, I get myself bogged down. Then, I wait until the last moments to put words on paper in a frenzy in order to turn in the paper on time. (Although, this is how it usually plays out: 1) I fall asleep from self-induced mental exhaustion, 2) I wake up early in the morning with less time than I need to write a stellar paper, 3) I write a bunch of crap, and then 4) I turn in my essay in a state of stupor. Pretty dang pathetic.)

I just need to loosen up, settle down, take it easy, focus, etc.

We’ll see what happens.

(Proof: I have an essay to turn in tomorrow. I haven’t posted anything for a while, but I’m posting now. Damnit!)

I’m studying for the MCAT. I’m losing my mind.

I’m losing my mind. I’m studying for the MCAT.

I’m on autopilot, and I’m blindfolded.

I’m going to be a doctor, and that’s all there is to it.

What else do I know? What else could I do?

We’ll see what happens.

Research? That’d be cool. But…

Am I smart enough? Will I have patience?

I think I’m just attracted to the idea of being a brilliant neuroscientist, and that’s it.

We’ll see what happens.

Anyway…

I’ve only recently realized that I have yet to encounter a “dumb” student in UCLA.

It’s frightening.

“Want to find one? Look in the mirror.”

Hey, hey. That’s uncalled for.

I’m quirky. So I fit in.

“‘Leaving the Comatose Life’ my ass.”

True, true. I’ll try to post more.

(I write as if I have a loyal readership. I don’t know what to say. [Really. I spent five minutes trying to figure out how to follow the first sentence in this parenthetical.])

Blogging is like REM sleep. Both activities process experience and attempt to make sense of the world.

This past week, I attended a “Welcome Week” assembly for freshman and transfer students. I wasn’t surprised to find plants situated around the podium for the speakers. This got me thinking about possible analyses of the set-up.

1. The set-up shows that humanity has a primal/innate attraction to plants.

2. The set-up is indicative of humanity’s disservice/disrespect to plants.

I suppose these can be simultaneous conclusions.

(This is obviously a “big picture” approach.)

FYI: For those of you who are nitpicky (and unaware), “podiums” and “podia” are both acceptable.

…I want to quickly say that the past few days have been dominated by health-related ventures.

On Saturday, I endured a ten-hour CPR and First Aid course at the La Puente Valley ROP. It sounds grueling, but, for the most part, it really wasn’t. The instructor, Mr. Fernandez, had a lot to do with that. His lectures were very informative and very funny and ultimately kept me from falling asleep.

Today, I went to Queen of the Valley hospital to straighten out a few details before I start volunteering there again. Later on, I attended a Red Cross orientation session in West L.A. It was boring, but short, so it wasn’t too bad. Hopefully, I get the opportunity to participate in the teaching and training aspects of the organization.

I can’t wait to get started with all of this.