"At first it had slashed up the little silk pockets of her purse."

-The World According to Garp, John Irving

Today, I basically learned CTO (histology) for the first time today while sipping day old coffee. It was overwhelming, but with combined efforts of gchats and texts, I think I figured most of it out. Thanks guys :)

I am so glad I live with the guys I live with. Last night, Wes and I chatted about random things over an Oktoberfest beer each. And then today, he played me guitar - alternating from easy listening to heavy metal - which definitely reminded me to smell the roses. I wish I took my mother's desire for me to learn piano more seriously. Music and dance mesmerize me. It fixes me a lot of the time.

I went to the gym and forgot my ID so I ran laps around the indoor track. 13 laps make up a mile, and in my mind, I collected a card until I completed the whole deck. I cannot run on a treadmill because I get bored, and running on the Hanover hills outside intimidates me... I never thought about running on a flat track. It was the perfect balance; I especially loved watching the volleyball players on the tier below me. The entire time I was wondering why I would run around an ellipse 52 times, but then I counter-thought that stopping was possible at any point. In the larger scheme of things, when things get too hard, you can stop at any point. We are where we are because we want to be. We are privileged to be sweating over each step as we run or each difficult concept as we learn; we are doing these things because we choose to do it. I take my freewill for granted sometimes.

At the end of whatever difficult journey, we can be proud we finished what we started doing. But, we don't have to if we don't want to. Sometimes, it takes a lot of strength to leave than it does to stay. To be on a path is a lot safer than to change course once you realize you are not going where you want to go. I commend those who risk the unknown.

When I left, I ran into Johann as he was coming and Nick as he was going. We took a moment to appreciate the orange and pink glow of the sunset. Then Nick and I walked the other way to see the pink and blue horizon on the other side, enveloping us as if we were in a snowglobe. Take a deep breath: if it doesn't go as planned, at least you can always count on another sunset.
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"Then she had found an old thermometer container that had slipped over the head of the scalpel, capping it like a fountain pen."