We had our first casualty of fall today- Demetria was sick. Just a bit sleepy and sniffly, I think, and her voice didn't sound great later in the day, which of course isn't good for her what with almost all her classes being singing classes.
I headed off to my rat lab this morning, although for some reason, our aide never showed up to unlock the door. After a time, I checked my e-mail. Sometimes the teacher and aides send out messages later in the day and forget that this information would have been helpful for the first group of us to know. There were no messages saying we didn't have class today.
Next I checked the syllabus- both for the behavior class and for the rat lab. Again, no indication that we weren't supposed to be here. Someone e-mailed the teacher in charge of the lectures and the class as a whole what was up, and I e-mailed the person in charge of the actual rats and the lab (Though, after I did, someone said that the TA I'd sent my message to was in Europe or something). It was very cold and I hadn't brought a coat- foolishly thinking I didn't need one if I was wearing two layers of a shirt and a hooded sweatshirt.
I stayed outside for half an hour, but when all my peers drifted away, I figured I'd go too. Ten minutes left of class when my entire group had bailed? Maybe not. Still haven't heard back on what the reason for this event was, or if the other students scheduled for later in the day managed to get in. Hmm.
But it wasn't all bad. I had Google Docs on my phone and I finished Chapter 8 of my current project. How many times do you get to write about magical single dads trying dozens of escape plans in order to ditch a reverse-harem while simultaneously caring for the newborn son they never wanted to have but feel obligated to rescue? Never enough! You better believe I milked it.
My appointment at the wellness center was today (and not yesterday as I had previously thought). The doctor talked to me for awhile and checked out my hand and declared that I don't have carpal tunnel or anything, and that my hand is probably just sore from overuse. Good. Of course, given how much I type on my keyboard or grip my mouse, he didn't promise I wouldn't develop problems later- he just said I was doing fine now. He suggested icing my wrist for fifteen minutes twice a day, among other things. For how long, I can't remember. Forever?
One thing I thought was interesting was that I was asked to fill out a paper when I went in, and it was implied that I'll have to fill it out a new copy every time I visit the wellness center, if I end up coming back. I thought the questions were going to be at least somewhat varied, or ask for my address or something. Nope. Both sides of the paper wanted me to describe myself on a scale of 1 to 5 for questions like, "Do you feel like you have no energy?" and "Do you feel worthless?" and "Do you feel like you would be better off dead?"
I mean, I guess it makes sense that they would ask these things to keep up with their patients, especially since a lot of them might be coming in for those types of treatments, but it still came as a bit of a shock to me that there are enough people around who regularly suffer from those types of feelings that it's pretty much assumed by default that everyone is depressed. It was just so blunt that it caught me off guard.
I don't know. Even with all the health classes and psychology classes in school, depression and feelings of stress and suicide are still a foreign concept to me. The teachers always say, "It's okay, every single one of you has these types of feelings sometimes", and I've always had to scratch my head. Depression? Definitely not. Stress? Next to never in my entire life. Suicide? Not even once.
I know that depression is indeed a valid issue and one of its side effects is a lack of interest in things that one once found exciting, but I honest to goodness feel like that would never happen to me. I never have enough time to finish everything I want to do and I'm never really happy unless I'm working and finishing things. I can't afford to be depressed- my body and mind simply refuse to be. I have too much to do!
In other news, Demetria and I decided that we wanted to add decorations to our door for the major holidays throughout the year. I took a bit of time after my studying had ended for the day to finish up mine. Of course, I forgot that my printer only prints black and white, so I want all of you to appreciate it:
Maybe I'll e-mail myself the file and print off a colored copy when I next go home. Yes, good.
