January 23, 1996 - Tuesday - USF Medschool Interview

     I finished a medical school interview yesterday, so at least I have that accomplishment under my belt. Last Thursday I would have sworn that my chances were null and I was fully prepared to just say fuck it and not even go to Tampa this weekend. But Friday turned that around. As Friday progressed, I truly began to feel that something wanted me to get into medical school because a highly unlikely, or lucky, string of events occurred.

     I was afraid my day was going to crash when Kristen was being a bitch first thing in the morning. She has to get up at six on Fridays and Mondays now because she shadows in a elementary school on those days. I was extremely tired and was laying on my belly and wasn't going to move. When she was ready to leave I expected her to hug me and kiss me goodbye. When she did she pouted and complained that I didn't want to say goodbye to her. That pissed me off because I had to wake up which was quite unfair of her so after a few more comments I told her it would be better if she didn't stay here on those mornings (so perhaps my day was going good after all!).

     I headed to German class and told Annette that I would be absent and gave her a copy of my invitation letter to excuse myself. She passed out the chapter twelve review exams from Wednesday. It was actually quite new for me considering I've had a two and a half year hiatus on speaking the language. I got a ninety-three, an A! I then supposed that she either graded leniently or it was an easy test and everybody got an A. But the distribution proved otherwise. It was a classic bell curve with the majority having B's and C's. I was quite pleased and surprised with myself. I then became partners with a girl I had been drooling over before class named Katylin. Lucky me.

     Then came the test. I had to haul ass to (and find) the new honors office in less than five minutes. I had an appointment with Dr. Reiskind, the honors department head who had sent me to Disney World after nobody else would. I first asked him about that, and then asked if he would save my butt for medical school. I said that I needed a letter of recommendation for USF, not in four months like
most professors need, but in two days! He agreed! He said he could have it done Monday morning. He allowed me to pick it up and Federal Express it myself which was good. I had relied on Zam and Allison to write one, especially Allison who knew I needed it for the January fifteenth deadline, but neither came through. Fuckers. But since I was already offered an interview at USF I called and they said I could still send in the last letter but needed to do so ASAP.

     We then had a little chat about why I want to be a doctor and about my career here at UF. We had a look at my computer file as well. He also agreed to send me to Disney again if all else fails for the summer...

     I headed home quite pleased only to find a message on the machine. Nobody calls me so I knew it had to be important. I was so afraid it was USF changing their mind, and it sounded that was as I
listened. My heart almost stopped as she finally said she was calling about UF. She said that they had only received two letters and if I faxed or hand delivered a letter by Monday at five, I would still be
considered. I was elated and headed back to see Reiskind who has a class just before my prokaryotic course in the same room.

     He was surprised to see me again and I asked if he could fax the letter to both schools, after calling USF to make sure it would be OK. He said yes and to bring me the stuff in his lab after class so he wouldn't lose it. That was cool too because I had been imagining getting in good with him as a lab assistant perhaps.

     So I skipped Immunology and ran to his lab where we had a nice little talk and he showed me his homepage on the web. He is designing it for his class so they can receive syllabi and old tests. I then
asked him about his research and asked if he needed any assistance in the lab. He had been talking about his mess since the beginning and said that he just might give me a call after he cleans up a little. He is researching spiders. I searched my mind as he showed me a few things for something intelligent to ask about spiders. I came up with asking him if he has done any work with silk production. He said no but ran to find an article about it and we talked about that for a
few minutes. It was pretty cool.

     The most divine intervention came in my food microbiology class. I told father this whole story over the weekend and he made fun of me for not believing in "guardian angels" and we made references to Granny. I approached him about having the interview which ended at 3:30 in Tampa, and his exam began at five. He said it's not his problem, but then said to see him after class and that he'd need documentation which I had.

     I knew something was up though which might affect everybody because he was very pissed off and kept saying that he hoped everybody was here today. It turns out that the university administrators began enforcing a rule that if you get a testing room through them instead of through your own college, then you have to have your test during the last two evening classes from 8:20 on! And he does that because he can get big comfortable rooms that way. So we voted to take it at night instead of during class and that easily gave me enough time to study, eat, and get back to Gainesville before the exam. Interesting...

     Kristen had purchased one blue and one orange piece of poster board after shadowing on Friday. When we both got home, we used it to make a poster saying "GO CHRISSY VOGEL". I made orange block letters that we glued onto the blue. It came out very symmetrical and looks really nice. Chrissy is a friend of Kristen's in her education classes whom I met at Publix once, and have sat with her mother at a gymnastics meet before. We met Shari and Kevin there and got front row comfortable seats on the upper tier. I then hung the sign on the railing in front of us. Everyone kept looking at it and liking it. Chrissy later said that everyone else saw it first and asked her if she had seen her sign.

     I took one of the black and white photographs that Kristen and I got at homecoming when the Tower Yearbook was giving away the older pictures. It showed Kristen Guise, our number one player, on the first place podium with Chrissy Vogel with another girl from another team tied on the second. After the meet I found where Kristen Guise was signing autographs and presented her the picture. She thought it was really cool compared to the programs and posters she was used to
signing. I then had Chrissy sign by her. It's a neat souvenir.

     We didn't leave for Tampa until Saturday morning. We ended up going over to my house that afternoon, and then sitting around hers all day Sunday watching movies and studying. I also tried on my suit and Kristen's father let me borrow one  of his Save the Children ties. It was the one President Clinton wore and got reamed by the Times for being frivolous. Once they discovered it was designed by a twelve year old named Dana and the proceeds go to end child abuse, the Times were forced to eat their words. I kept getting "complimented" by everyone from my interviewers, to the director, Jay Layman, and med students. I finally asked a student if it was in bad taste and he said no, that it was a cheer you up tie. Cool, maybe.

     Kristen drooped me off at about seven fifteen. We had stopped at Burger King and I picked up two croissanwichs. As soon as we got there I had to take the biggest crap ever, and ran to find a
bathroom. It was unfortunate because I had spent so long straightening myself. I barely made it and exploded. I then had only a few minutes to eat before heading into the conference room. There
were only two people in there, a girl from FSU who was very outgoing and quite attractive, and someone with very abundant lips. The room quickly filled up though to just under twenty-five people, four from UF. One was a mother of two who looked seventeen and was very cute. One was a second timer who was wearing pants and a denim shirt, tie, and casual shoes with a evening shadow. The other I talked to for most of the day. Reiskind had told me that one other person asked him
for a letter and was going today, so I picked him out as the one and surprised him when I asked. It was funny.

     The day seemed extremely casual and I could have potentially gone home at ten-thirty, but I would have missed the free lunch and "wonderful" tour. It turned out that we were interviewed by
professors who were not on the selection committee which seemed a little strange. And mine were scheduled thirty minutes apart with the second being way out at Moffit leaving me almost no time for the first one. It turned out that the first guy didn't show anyway, and the office said he was a sore topic down there and they'd reschedule another one probably for the afternoon, so I headed to the second (first).

     It was with a throat cancer doctor who didn't seem to like me very much. He began by talking about my social problems course in which I got a C. He said later that he hadn't even looked at the
grade and was just curious about the course. He then grilled me on my low MCAT writing sample even though I got credit for AP English. I also defended myself by winning the PRIDE, etc. We chatted for a few minutes about the hospitals in the surrounding areas and about how theme parks have helped me learn to deal with a diverse group of people. I almost lost my voice this weekend and I asked him why, and he said it's viral if I don't have a fever. But it sucked.

     Fortunately they had found me another interviewer as soon as I got back, with a Dr. Ackerman from surgery. He was Sean Connery in looks, age, voice... everything. The kind of person I idolize because of the stature and prominence he portrays. We sat on the soft couches in the faculty lounge so his bum wouldn't hurt. He ended up talking three times more than I did, and I talked a ton, for a total of forty-five minutes!!! He didn't have my records because of the rescheduling so we impromptued. We talked about the Gators, about my volunteer experience, and why I started volunteering. He thought it was extremely good that I did so on my own before I even knew I
wanted to be a doctor (because Kostas made me go with him).

     His only association with UF is that he has a new son in law who graduated from there. He did say that I truly impressed him for being able to get through a school as confusing as UF without quitting or changing my mind fifty times and that shows a one-mindedness and a commitment to medicine of sorts. We chatted about the future of medicine and the roles computers, government influences, and other things will have. He says it's an amazing field that is always renewing itself and we talked about having to be educated for a lifetime.

     He is from South Africa, but spent four years as in "residency" in London before coming here. Now he loves Florida and never wants to leave. We just kept talking and talking and had a fabulous time. I was quite uplifted by that talk and it almost made the trip worth it. We finally called it quits and he said he wanted me to let him know what happens, regardless of what I do, and can get a hold of him through Debbie at admissions. Hmm...

     We then went to lunch which was an array of very big sandwiches, some cookies, and a soda. It was nice but I got roast beef which isn't the easiest thing to eat because the fat will cause pieces of
your sandwich to yank out when you take a bite. But oh well. We thought about skipping the tour and leaving but it came sooner than scheduled and I learned a few things. They actually have a huge set
of clinics there and you get more clinical experiences as a med student at USF than anywhere else. they are also ranked nationally with their computer department.    

I ended up calling Kristen before one but she and her mother were at lunch. The girl who answered called me John, too. I ended up having to wait until two before she got there and we headed back to
Gainesville. I spent a lot of the time sitting on the sidewalk out by the main road under a tree, but walked back later and met up with the FSU girl. We found a bench and talked for a while. She has already interviewed at UF, and I asked her when she got this interview. She said it was back in December, like mine, so I asked if she had completed her application yet. She said yes, of course. I then said that I mailed mine after I got the interview and she seemed quite surprised. She also said that she knew a girl who got in because one of her interviewers didn't show up and they couldn't get another so instead of making her come back and inconveniencing her, they let her straight in. I wonder if that's all of the story, though.

January 9, 1996 - Tuesday - UF Classes

     My year started a little sadder than my life has been lately, when I didn't see Nedda at all the first two days of class last week. It's not that I really looked, especially since I sat in the second row, but I seemed to run into everyone else so why not her, too. I waited for my two hours of class yesterday afternoon studying German flashcards. I was wearing just shorts and a flannel, with a jacket at my side, despite the fact that the wind chill this morning when I biked to class was in the single digits! Just before everyone who had waited for the class ahead of us to end started heading inside, Nedda
bounced up and pulled on my sleeve.

     I cheered right up. Even more so when she admitted that she thought classes started Monday and not Thursday, which is why I hadn't seen her. She called me crazy for being in shorts and I refuted by saying I brought my jacket "in case" it got tonight. He he. Her friend Erika was there and I let her motion me to come sit with her.

     Fortunately her annoying and loud friend Justin only has the second class with her and my ass was firmly planted next to hers long before he got there, and whined. I'm praying that she will still let
me sit by her from now on in view of this fact...     

We talked about our breaks, of course, and how she sews a lot in the rare instance that she has any free time. She makes a lot of her own dresses and some stuff for her sister and cousin. She turned to
me at one point and asked if I had gotten an A in biochemistry and looked away in disgust when I said yes. She did admit that he got a B, but the rest of her grades are "none of my business", as usual,
which means she thinks she did worse than me. I've never had such a tough time getting certain personal information out of a girl who is otherwise so revealing. Maybe there's the challenge?

      I did kiss ass during one class when Previc came in and put a pile of handouts in the front of the auditorium style room and told everyone to pick one up. It was a mad rush over tiny, tiny chairs with huge people in them, so I offered to get them each one. I headed to the back which was closer where he had placed a few and picked up the LAST two, so had to climb over everyone up front anyway. I was glad to do the service, though.

     We were talking about Previc during his class. He was supposed to be dead or retired at least considering he had triple bypass or something in November. I've always known him as a slow witted piece of shit in his role as my advisor, who will always say no to any flexibility off of stringent graduation, but then won't even help with that. He's a better repeater of information in class though than communicator in his office, at least. Nedda said something derogatory about him and I asked if she wasn't having just the best time in his class, to which she frowned. I then asked if it wasn't love at first sight (kind of going off topic!). She replied that she doesn't believe in love at first sight... and I left THAT alone for now...

     I was happiest as we left our classes and all got lost in the crowd. I figured it would be as it used to be and we would just part without a goodbye. But wait! Up ahead, she turned around and picked
me out to give me a big smile and wave goodbye! Cool. Not really a big deal, but if it makes me happy, I want more!!! Actually I'd rather her say hello to me like that than goodbye...

November 29, 1995 - Wednesday - UF with Nedda

     Playing with Nedda has gotten me on one of those little roller coaster trips that make life oh so much fun. But we are new to the game so it's more like a kiddie ride than anything serious... I saw her in class on Monday and was excited when she decided to sit in my row instead of one row up with the guy she always sits with. She said hi to me and asked me how my birthday was. I said good, and asked about Thanksgiving. That was all. She moved up a row the next period and I didn't talk to her again.

     What's funny is that I'll have a really cool day with her, but then the next time we'll hardly talk, if at all. I'll just sit there and think that it really doesn't matter anyway because of Kristen, and because we'd probably be sent far apart from each other through the horrible course of grad schools and jobs. It just wouldn't be practical. But then I'll talk to her again... like today.

     We started by her friend asking her about studying this Saturday, but he wants to watch the game, too. She turned to me and asked if I knew when it was and I said it was around eight which surprised him. A guy behind us them confirmed my guess so I was cool, right? During genetics she turned to me and said she was going to come and sit by me. I smiled big and clapped my hands in joy. She said there is this Asian guy with long hair who always sits by her and she doesn't like him. Sure enough he came and was looking at her and smiling... her friend, Erika Jasmine was guarding her flank, however.

     She wanted to tell me her latest exploits from the pathology department. I think she saw an amputated leg with a huge sore on the foot, down to the tendons, and a malformed placenta. I told her how I tried to find out about volunteering there and she said that I should just come with her next Monday. But I can't! I have a parasitology lab practical at that time, unfortunately... damn.

     We eventually were talking about Thanksgiving and I told her how sad I was that she didn't bring me leftovers like she said she would. She claimed there was nothing left, and didn't really think I was
expecting anything after I told her I hadn't eaten that morning in anticipation. It was cute.

     I happened to look at her attendance scantron and saw that her social security number was quite similar to mine. ###-##-####! I accused her of cheating and when she saw my number she exclaimed that "You're the one!" (I hope so!) and then explained that she always sees that there are two people with the same exam number posted. In genetics it is done by the last four digits, and your initial. I had
always seen that one, too... A "N" with no middle name, which is right. Cool. She said that out of all the people, it just HAD to be me. Of course it did.

     During class our teacher was reading a list of ALL the food items that have potential carcinogens in them. Saffron was one of them and she said how her family eats that with rice. She then seemed
quite surprised when I said that I eat that all of the time as well. She said that it's a persian dish, I just know it as yellow rice... I then waited for her after class to say goodbye to Erika and we headed out towards biochemistry. I actually didn't think I was going to go, as usual, unless she let me sit by her. She even said she looked for me the other day "down in my little corner" but I wasn't there. But I
had to go volunteer anyway and was meeting Kristen for lunch there.

     Nedda mentioned that she was hungry and wished that she had gone to her car to get it. I told her that she should and that I would walk with her. She didn't think we should until I said I didn't
really care about class and was just going to volunteer later. That was enough and we cut through the lot behind the biology building. I was going to walk back up the road but she wanted to take the little
path through the woods. I was elated that she wanted to go that way because it shows trust, especially with a guy you don't really know on a path as secluded as that one, in Gainesville where freaks kill
and eat people somewhat frequently.

     We went the back way between the sewage treatment plant and the electricity plant on a path I had never been on before. She showed me a water retention pond with a very large alligator in it and we
stopped and looked for a few minutes. We were also bird watching and joked about the fact that we were. We saw a couple of cardinals, some finches, and a pretty egret. I was also telling her about scuttling up next to the alligators at Lake Wauberg.

     We made it out to her car, an emerald Grand Am, that she unlocked the trunk of with the touch of a button on her keychain. She pulled out her lunch and I noticed her MCAT scores. She refused to
tell me saying that it's none of my business. I've noticed she is like that with any test score so I reminded her that it won't be hard anymore with our social security numbers being the way they are. She fretted in agreement and later said that now I can change all of her registration and stuff. I told her I couldn't because I needed the pin number, so she wouldn't tell me her birthday which is what she kept it at. Fool.

     We made it all of the way up to the biochemistry door before I decided to go ahead and go in with her. I stood by her seat for a minute talking to her before asking if I could sit there. She said only if I have a potato chip so I gladly took one. I joined her after quickly running upstairs to check my exam grades. We studied for a while and talked about other things. I was making her laugh and she called me strange at one point. Oh well...

     I was just so happy to sit with her two periods in a row, making it hopefully much more than just a one class random event. We'll see, I guess.

November 24, 1995 - Friday - Lonely drunken birthday

     Nothing better than a drunken stupor to entice the best of journal entries. It's amazing how my fingers move so fast without my head much knowing what they are doing. This must be the best time to express myself... I just realized how the first two days of this Thanksgiving break, while Kristen is down in Tampa has been an extremely wondeful vacation. She would be rather upset to hear this
but I must say that it is so.

     I just "stumbled" home from the Purple Porpoise, one of Gainesville's most famous college bars. I dressed up all spectacular not knowing what tp expect. I wore my black Levis, my Timberlands, my
best flannel shirt with blue in it to accent my eyes... etc. I was rather optemistic as I prepared myself. I packed a pen to write phone numbers, a Gold Circle condom, my pack of Marlboro lights, a lighter,
and any other essentials that I just can't imagine now. It's funny how it looks like I am typeing so fast but the entry is lengthening so slowly. And my fingers fall short of the desired key quite frequently.

     I started my birthday celebration by having a full shot (at least!) of my newly aquired Goldschl„ger birthday present to myself. It came with a free candelabra wine/shot glass that was very nice and a symbol of my twety-first birthday. I wanted the huge jug of Malibu with the free mug, but could never have carried that on my backpack. I headed out and got a couple of looke from cute girls that appeared like they wanted me. I wish. I went to the bicycle shop where I bought a seat bolt in January and he let me return in no problem. that gave me an extra five bucks of guilt free spending money.

     I toured the local used CD shops but nothing was very interesting. I wwnt as far as Specs but their prices were blown away by the mall today. I dreamt of going to Kaos tonight where they are having an UF-FSU amateur fight and then the famous hot body contest. I would have loved that, but walking or biking would have probably gotten me robbed by a black man. Such crimes are extremely frequent
these days as reported by the school newspaper. I consented to go to the Porpoise despite the fact that it would be much harder to make it out alive.

     As the Goldscl„ger wore off, I got more and more nervous about going into a bar, which I know nothing about. I went in and the fool doorman said I am not twenty-one yet but let me in after I let him know how stupid he is. I went and stood by the bar like a fool and felt like everyone was laughing at me, but probably weren't. I finally got a seat and two bartenders passed up my stupid attempts to figure out what to drink. Eventually a gorgeous girl asked me and I had her tell me what was on draft since I couldn't read it from where I was/ I knew there was a special and opted for it... a pitcher of Miller, afraid that it was disgusting. I asked her if they still do birthday specials and she said yes and made me up the strongest, Sex on the Beach. It was good!

     My pitcher turned out to be pretty tasty. A guy came and sat to might right and asked if that wasn't a lot of beer for one person. I admitted that it was but said I would try, and finished the whole
thing rather quickly. The Nebraska game soon ended and I realized that nothing could happen there like I wanted... so I headed home. Even now I can tilt my head back and feel fucking AMAZING!!! I'm going to lye down now and enjoy myself........

November 22, 1995 - Wednesday - Smiles return with Nedda

     I finally had a good day after such a long time of emotional distress. I can't remember being this genuinely excited about life in quite some time. It's horrible to think that I wasted so much of one
of my last undergraduate semesters deserted by happiness.

I don't even know where to begin... so much has been happening but I haven't felt good enough about any of it until now to write about it.

     I've met this fabulous girl named Nedda Salehi, originally born here in St. Augustine, but has an Iranian ethnicity. Her family returned to Iran after her birth and didn't return until she was around nine.

 I had noticed her a few times before I ever met her during one of my morning classes. She had a mystical appeal to her. Her hair is extremely long down to at least the small in her back. She is
somewhat petite but carries herself very well... almost floats.

    And look at this new annoying habit... of pausing as I write... kind of like the infamous pause acting by Captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise... I picked it up from Kristen's cousin Marcy,
whom is another story entirely...

     Nedda... There was an exam today in Eukaryotic Cell Structure which I basically had to ace to salvage my grade in that class. Parasitology was cancelled because of Turkey Day, which gave me an
extra hour. I headed to the library early with Shari and Kristen as they walked to their education classes on the far side of campus. Just as we passed the computer lab, Laura LaRussa walked out and I waved and said hi, but kept on. Moments later Kristen said that girl tried to walk up behind us like she was going to talk to me and was surprised when I said it was Laura. It's so strange to think back
about the decisions I made that summer and the consequences that resulted...

     It figured that some shit had beat me to the library, just minutes after it had opened, and checked out the sample test material I needed. I headed to class and studied until it was exam time. Something interesting happened during the test... it was proctered by three of the major microbiology professors! A lot of people were impressed to see them all together at once. Dr. Achey from last semester even came up and asked how I was doing... he then said that he sees a lot of familiar faces that look one year older. He then asked if he looks one year younger and I said of course. He thanked
me and went on...

     Many unhappy people were forced to remain on campus because Dr. Duggan refused to cancel his microbial genetics class. He cited that we have many important things to cover despite the fact that he spent two days talking about cancer which will never be on the exam. I have started making a point to sit by this group of girls in the Alpha Delta Phi sorority. I am in particular love with Molly McButter... no, Addison. One of the group, unfortunately the least appealing, is a scrawny blonde with a funny shaped face that tries to talk football with us guys in parasitology lab. Her name is Jennifer L. Anderson (although I do not know this). She has finally begun to accept me as someone to sit next to and has done so for the past few days. Today she even borrowed my pencil... WOW! (severe sarcasm). that's actually good because she accepts me as at least a normal person and not a
freak, hopefully.

     Only Jenn and Molly showed today, and then Nedda sat on their far side and we said hi to each other. Jenn wanted to suddenly move to the back so they could leave as soon as role was taken. I quickly (and to my own amazement) became happy that Molly left! I can't believe I felt that way. Nedda moved over to talk for a minute... We hadn't even said hello in a long time until last Friday for a brief minute. We started talking and she ended up getting her stuff and staying with me.

     When I told her I wasn't going home for Thanksgiving, she was all surprised and seemed to feel bad for me. I told her it is because I want to complete my medical applications. She said I could do so at home but I said my computer is up here. She then said that she would have invited me to HER house if she had known that!!! I WISH!!! She lives in Ocala, by the way. I felt quite a glow inside at that comment. When I told her that it's my birthday, too, she seemed even more surprised that I was going to be alone. We mentioned the UF-FSU game briefly, and talked about how she's never been to a game yet.

     She asked me at one point if I wanted to listen to Duggan and take notes, or talk... and guess what I opted for? He always yells at people and I was quite pleases that he didn't yell at us when we
ended up talking all period, especially since a third of the class was gone. She started telling me about volunteering in the surgical pathology department. I mentioned a four week old baby that had dies
of full cardiac arrest in the ER last week. I also mentioned the suspected anal abuse... very sad.

     She told me how she has seen and played with lymph nodes that were removed due to cancer, a kidney, and liver tissue, and quite a few stones. She told me how tumorous tissue looks pretty disgusting, and how human skin is really hard to cut with a scalpel and dulls the blade much more quickly than one would suspect. She was drawing little pictures of everything on her paper and it was getting quite detailed. I joked that he has to go back and label everything now, and we did it together.

     She thought I was laughing at her at one point about telling me all of this because of the way I was smiling at her. I told her I was definitely not, and she then explained how she likes talking to me about this because I am the only one who will listen to her about it and she wants to talk about it. I suddenly experienced a second ball of warmth... I've always loved hearing a girl say how much she likes talking to me because I'll actually listen. I later asked her if that was really such a good thing.. that we both like dead tissue?

     At one point he yelled at the people a few rows ahead of us to shut up so people around them can learn. She asked if he was talking to us on the paper and I asked her what? She then wrote asking if I
can read? Her grammar wasn't perfect so I said yes, I can read ENGLISH. She then wrote "English" in Arabic. I've always thought Arabic is a beautiful written language and asked her if she could
write her name, since I saw that she wasn't fluent. She did and then explained how words are written backwards, but numbers aren't. And the books are read from the "back to the front" of the book.

     I was trying to show interest and she seemed surprised and glad that I was. She started trying to remember the alphabet and write it down. I asked her about the letters in her name and she explained them to me, and then wrote the names of the letters above each one in her alphabet. At the end of class I asked her if I could have that page. She seemed surprised that I wanted it and said she would have written a nicer copy if she had known. I then said I had wanted the whole page with the drawings, too, so when she is famous I can say she drew this when... and we laughed.

      As class ended some dork came up and asked her how the test was. I refused to lose her again like the first time we walked together to biochemistry and was persistent. When he was done, he
asked if her name was Nedda and seemed proud that he remembered it... I almost felt embarrassed for him. We then started walking. I told her I wasn't going to biochem, and she scolded me. I said I was
hungry and was going home for lunch. Unfortunately, I only had an hour to eat and get ready before Kristen was driving me to Shands to volunteer as she headed home to Tampa. I never wished more that I didn't have to meet her to say goodbye, because I would have gone on one of my infamous walks like in the days of old.

     It's so hard to be nice with Nedda, though, because she will always try to walk as far as possible with me, while I am doing the same thing with her. She is too easy like that with me. She quickly
decided that he should go to her car and get her lunch and I smiled. If I didn't have to meet Kristen I would have gone with her... SHIT. She mentioned something about having to arrive an hour early to get a parking space, and then sits in her car and waits for class. It reminded me of how anal I am about being early and often used to sit in my Mustang once I got to work and all. But I didn't admit that because the similarity might only be in MY head.

     I asked her what she does for Thanksgiving if anything. Her mom cooks a big turkey dinner with all of the classic fixins like sweet potatoes (which she doesn't like because potatoes aren't supposed to
be sweet). I told her that if she has any leftovers that I'd be very happy if she brought me some... but I don't know if she thinks I was serious. I hope she does.

     We were talking about the body more. I brought up how amazing I thin it is that all of those organs are packed so neatly in such a tight little space as I looked at her tiny little chest. She agreed
and we were talking about where things are. I explained the trick about finding your stomach, and she said why you have to be careful performing CPR so the bottom of the sternum won't puncture your
liver! We were also talking about he orientation of your kidneys because she got that wrong when the doctor in pathology asked her if she knew...

     I was quite turned on by her when she was touching herself pointing out her organs. When she found her lower ribs to find her stomach, I especially liked it. She was wearing a very classy outfit
today and looked very nice. It was a long v-neck emerald sweater with a very sexy lacy undershirt... YUM!    

 I also brought up a conversation Kristen and I were having this morning. I told her it is domestic violence awareness week and asked her if she's hit anyone at home yet to celebrate. She laughed in
surprise, and I explained myself. People celebrate black history month in order to learn black history and put it to use. So violence week means you have to hit someone in order to appreciate not doing
so all the time. I asked how we should celebrate AIDS week, perhaps running around all week trying to get it by having sex. She suggested that we just have a sex week... and took her turn surprising me... I just didn't expect to hear something like that from her...

     We soon parted near the parking lot, unfortunately...
    

October 2, 1995 - Monday

     Kristen tried her hardest to get us in trouble this weekend. Snip...

September 27, 1995 - Wednesday - Meeting Nedda Salehi

     I made an attempt to be seen today and wanted to look as good as possible doing so. It was volunteer day so I got to "dress up" in jeans (tight!) and white shirt anyway. I had a test second period and I tried a new seat in the front left corner. Some little weirdo hick girl kept talking to me which was good, because the girl of interest was just behind me. I don't know anything about her except she's similar in style to Jen Merritt from over the summer. She's of a bigger build, not at all fat, with gorgeous hair and an overall very sensuous look. I got to hear her talk today... but nothing special,
her voice wasn't music to my ears or any magical bullshit like that.

     I eventually moved on to biochemistry where I spoke with a guy about our exam scores. I've known him for along time and he knows me from organic as being able to study for two nights and blow away a test. I did the same on this one, only missing four of fifty with a class average of 64.32! There ended up being one empty seat next to me and that unfortunately meant the two cute girls that have sat next to and talked to me wouldn't this time. I was well prepared to tell all the little Chinese kids and other dorks that the seat was saved waiting for the first (cute) girl to ask for it.

     But up popped one of my duo! It was the one that I would have never expected to sit with me on her own because I couldn't answer any of her questions before the exam and I have never really talked to her much besides that. And it was the one that I most wanted to brag to about my exam score and was afraid I wouldn't get the chance. When she told me she missed seventeen, I felt kind of bad for her, especially after telling her I only studied those few days. She seemed "amazed" that I got the entire set of sequencing problems right when I had just learned how to do them before the test.

     She seemed compelled to prove to me that she's not stupid, which is more of what I had imagined her personality to be like. She said that she had gotten a 93 of the anatomy and physiology exam the day before and an A on her analytical chemistry exam. She told me that she is in the college of pharmacy. She went on telling me about the brain doctor she worked with when she was at Florida State and how his specialty was the internal time clock mechanisms. I told herabout the brain surgery I viewed last semester.

     She then mentioned something about her friend Lisa and asked if I knew her. I think she assumed that we knew each other because Lisa always sat by me and talked to me during class. I said no, and asked if it was the one who always brings everything to class (lunchbag, violin, etc.) and she laughed and agreed. She said that Lisa was sitting further back and I was even more surprised that they didn't
sit together. I then asked her name and I believe she replied with Marilyn but for some reason I heard Maryland.

     I ran into Marinka before class and we joked around for a few minutes. She asked if I would mind if she came over and got me inebriated sometime next week and I said not at all. She claims it's
for an experiment where the person has to react to objects in a black box, but I'm not so sure...

     I met up with Kristen and we clocked in at the emergency room. There was a girl at the desk who looked like a young doctor until I realized that it was a girl from one of my classes wearing a PSO
coat. She was talking about Jeff, saying that he has three of the same classes as she and to our surprise I have not only the same three, but biochemistry as well! She said that she made quite a few
stupid mistakes on the biochem exam but I never found out her score. When Jeff arrived we compare answers from our exam this morning and suddenly we all were friends. How cute.

     Her name is Nedda Salehi and was born in St. Augustine but lived her first eight years in Iran, where her parents are from. She has very long and pretty brown hair. We talked the entire time and were running around doing things together. It was pretty neat to have a partner and I think we'll get to see some cool stuff together if we keep this up. It was also neat how well we got along and kept talking on and on. I got to tell her about working at Busch Gardens and Disney and my interest in zoology. She really seemed to like that and was saying how she even likes parasitology quite a bit which is unusual for a girl. I was also pleased with myself for coming up with some pretty witty jokes, making both of them laugh. And best of all was when Jeff started making fun of her name after I had been serious the whole time. I don't think she appreciated that and I laughed as he scored negative brownie points.

     It also just now starting to settle in as to what I really did this summer. I'm starting to appreciate it for the amazing opportunity that it was. I actually LIVED in Disney World!!! I was able to roam the world for free and enjoy it at my leisure in a manner that most people could only dream about. I think as soon as I get my photo album together, the summer will take on even more meaning and I will realize how wonderful it was as a whole, and not as how pathetic my actual work location was.