I got some weird nasal spray at the drug store. It works amazingly at opening my sinuses. The effects are almost instant, and it lasts for a few hours. The downside is that using the spray causes blinding agony in my sinuses for 10 minutes, and a headache for another 30 minutes. Not sure if it's worth it lol

Alliance or Horde. I'd prefer Alliance, because that's where my best gear and toons are. I have a 90 Horde shaman though, so I can PvP on that too. I'm so tired of Timeless Isle I could puke, and I've barely done any PvP at all since Cata, so if anyone is up for joining me for murdering face, please message me. My Battle.net ID in game is Albeon#1993

I'm sick. Again. Last Tuesday I had to care for a flu patient at the hospital. Now I'm showing symptoms of having the flu. The worst part is that we don't know what kind of flu it was. I might be going in for round 2 against H1N1. The fucking birthday curse needs to hurry up and go the hell away. I swear, I'd give my left nut to never have another birthday...

And I'm about as happy as a turkey on Thanksgiving. For the past 5 years in a row, the time of the year around my birthday has always been disastrous. Car crashes, illness, injury, snakes getting lost, financial crisis, and personal dilemmas always seem to clusterfuck themselves into the period between mid-February and the end of April, which my birthday is smack in the middle of. The first year was bad luck, second was creepy coincidence, third had me looking up deities online so I could be all-inclusive while I cursed them. Now we're on year 5 and I've already lost 2 snakes and had a major illness. I'm ready for my unhappy birthday to be over and for May to come already.

I'm not going to get rid of my cat right now. Still, the loss of $100 of snakes in a 2 week span is upsetting. I'm not a builder. Snake racks are basically made like bookshelves. In place of books, they have plastic tubs that hold the snakes. The front is entirely open, and the tubs slide out. Can anyone give me any ideas on how to lock these tubs in, so Koko can't somehow pull them open? This is a huge concern. Aside from the issues with losing money and animal safety, if one of the snakes gets into a neighbor's apartment, I can and will get evicted. A solution to this issue is absolutely necessary. If anyone has any solution to my problem, I would greatly love to hear it.

Koko did it again. This time, she some how tackled the barricade I had in front of the rack out of the way and got my female ball python yearling, Angela. Angela is now MIA. I tried looking all over for her, but she's nowhere to be found. Koko has to go. She's a danger to the snakes and, once I get the rack for my larger snakes built, they'll be a danger to her. I have to choose between the cat and the snakes and I'm choosing the option that will earn me money, not lose it. Despite all of this, and my current fury at her, I do still love Koko. She's now a grown cat, and has an eye disorder. Her chances of being re-homed should I bring her to the shelter are practically 0, and I don't know of any no-kill shelters nearby. I'm looking into all other options before I consign her to death after living in a cage for a year. My house is not segregated though, and short of having her spend her days in the bathroom until I move in a year or 2, she has to be re-homed.

Yep. Being out of school all last week with that infection royally fucked me. This week was an exam week for 3 of my 4 classes. I got two of the grades back, both low D's. That officially fucks my grades and GPA for the semester. Added in with last semester's below-average GPA, it will be impossible, literally impossible, to salvage it enough to make an acceptable GPA for medical school. Leaving in half an hour for my organic chem exam...let's see just how badly I fuck that up.

Now that my lifelong dreams have been crushed, I'm looking for viable alternatives to medical school. Options include PhD programs for genetics or microbiology, PA programs, or suicide. I'll consider all options carefully and pick the one that best suits my talents.

Now, to head off the generic journal responses...

1. Yes, it IS really that bad.
2. No, there ISN'T still hope, as anybody with basic math skills can easily see by looking at the numbers.
3. There is a time to never give up, and a time to realize that you're chasing a fantasy. I've reached that critical point.
4. No, there is no extra credit, I've asked.
5. No, they don't drop the lowest grade.
6. Yes, it does suck. Thank you for agreeing with me.
7. No, there isn't really any way you can help.

I think that about covers all of them.

Yep, my female corn snake, Pi, is gone. Not dead, just gone. My repugnant bitch of a cat figured out how to pull out the tubs on my snake rack. Only had the thing for a week, so why the fuck not? It took every ounce of self control not to pummel my cat. Instead she's spending an indefinite period getting acquainted with the bathroom...at least until I manage to figure out how to keep her away from the other snakes. I'm beginning to think about introducing her to Joy or Jenny. Maybe a good solid bite from a REAL snake will teach my cat to keep her nose out of things.

Everything is finalized and my three snakes are on their way up right now. They'll be here tomorrow afternoon

It looks like my snake shipping issue has been resolved. There's a FedEx facility right near my school that will hold the snakes. I'm having them shipped Monday to arrive Tuesday morning. When I get out of school around noon on Tuesday, I'll just pop over and grab them.

After all the work I've done on her behalf. After all the love and support I've given over my entire lifetime. The bitch just keeps fucking with me...

Perhaps I should explain. As some may know from previous journals, I ordered 3 snakes a few weeks back, totaling $800 USD. A pretty substantial investment. As such, the breeder and I came to an agreement that he would hang on to the snakes until such a time as the temperature was safe for them to be shipped. It's overnight and the animals will be provided with hot packs, so it doesn't need to be like May-June temps for this to work, but we're looking for highs above 40°F and lows above 20°F.

Further complicating this is my school schedule, which would have me away from the house almost every day that the snakes could arrive except Thursday, meaning that the temps need to be in the desirable range on Wednesday and Thursday, shipment day and arrival day respectively. For the past two weeks since I have ordered the snakes, the temperatures have been too cold. I could say "fuck it" and have them shipped anyways, but the breeder won't guarantee live arrival, meaning if they arrive dead after I forced the issue, I'm out $800. Not gonna happen.

Anyways, the reason for this outburst of grump is that temperatures are supposed to pick up to the upper 40's even lower 50's from the end of this week to the beginning of next week. This is where the "fucking with me" part comes in. I'm out of school on doctor's orders this week to keep from infecting half the 23k students with Cryptosporidium, so I could, in theory, have the snakes shipped at the end of the week right? Wrong. The temps on Thursday will be high 20's, low 30's. It won't get into the 40's until Friday, cutting out this week. Then a cold snap is coming through on Tuesday next week, cutting off any hope of shipping them then. It's like I'm being teased.

Now I have emailed the breeder to ask if he can ship Friday and have the arrival be on Saturday, but I've never seen a breeder do that. Most only ship Mon-Wed for whatever reason, so I'm not holding much hope for that route. And now you know why I'm so cranky about the fucking weather.

*update* As expected, they won't ship on Friday, meaning I'm effectively foiled yet again.

Yeah, a parasite. Been feeling like death warmed up since yesterday morning. Spent all day yesterday in bed, wishing I would either fall asleep or die. Didn't feel much better this morning after a restless night of not-sleeping. I go to the ER and what do they find? Cryptosporidium. Lovely little protozoan decided to take up residence in my small intestine. I won't thrill you with the nasty details. Suffice to say that my body is currently trying to turn itself inside-out via its two main orifices. The best news: It takes 5-10 days to go away. Won't be around that much for a bit.

1. School:

School is going fairly well. I just had my first round of exams for all my classes. Oddly enough, I'm finding Calculus to be fairly easy, especially compared to the nightmare that was college algebra last spring. Conversely, Organic Chemistry is turning into my own personal hell. I hate that class and I'm not too fond of the man who teaches it. He comes from the "I refuse to acknowledge any responsibilities and/or issues you may have outside this class" school of thought. His homework assignments are brutal, he forces us to listen to one pre-recorded lecture per week at home in addition to the in-class lecture, and his tests are legitimately the hardest I've ever taken. No joke, it literally makes the SAT's look like a second-grade math test. On his first exam, I got a 78....out of a possible 150. Sad thing is, I need to take another Organic Chem class next semester....fml.

2. Work:

Work is....there, I guess. I try not to think about it, as it's kinda boring and miserable. Money's good enough to keep me in my own place, and it's not nearly as horrifying as Comcast was, but it's still not what I'd like to be doing with myself. I'm keeping an eye out for possible job/pay upgrades. I suppose we shall see.

3. Business:

My snake business is slowly advancing. I'm up to 7 animals, 3 of which are still waiting to be shipped out. The breeder and I are waiting until the weather warms up enough to be sure of the animals' safety. They're shipped with hot or cold packs as necessary, but if it's too cold, that may not be enough. Once they arrive, I'll take photos of all of my snakes and upload them. Finally, Pi, my little corn snake girl FINALLY ate yesterday. I was getting worried at her continuous refusal of food. It's only been 2 weeks, but already, Aurum, who was the same size as her when I got them, is much larger and bulkier. Hopefully she'll start adding weight now.

4. Psychological state of the dragon:

Stress. Pretty much sums up my life right now. I'm showing several warning signs of having inherited the family condition from my mother and grandmother...that being worry vampirism. I find any topic that it's possible to worry about and I suck the worry out of it, adding it to my own massive stockpile of worry. I hear once my worry count gets OVER 9000, I'll be able to unleash worry blasts at my foes, causing them to instantly have a nervous breakdown. One of my biggest issues right now is on the topic of my GPA. I'm afraid that I won't do well enough to get into medical school. Everybody keeps saying "I have confidence in you" when it's really just blind faith. Trust me, I'm looking at the numbers, and all the confidence in the world won't change a 3.3 to a 3.6.

Anyways, that's about it for my rants. I separated this journal into major areas of interest because I know damn well nobody's going to read all of it. *waits for inevitable "I read all of it" reply.*

Well I was just doing more research on ball pythons and made an interesting discovery. While the breeding season starts around late October - early November, female ball pythons usually go through their annual ovulation around the end of March to the beginning of April. After they ovulate, they're infertile for about 6 months, which is when the next breeding season begins.

Now, this information may seem irrelevant on its own, but I used most of my mother's investment money to purchase a male Pewter Bee ball python ( http://www.worldofballpythons.com/m.....hs/pewter-bee/ ) and two normal females, all of which are of the appropriate size and age to breed. That will give me a period of several weeks to introduce the male to the females and possibly get a clutch or two this breeding season. The possibility of getting started a full year earlier than expected has me giddy with excitement.

Well, my business is accelerating faster than expected, with my mother willing to invest $1000 into it. As such, I'll be able to afford a really good male breeder and some large females that will produce decent-sized clutches. Since I'm planning on doing this business online, I need a logo. I'm holding a contest for artists to make the best logo for my business.

The name of the business is (redacting name to clear journal from google search results)

I'd like a logo that incorporates the name and some sort of graphic of a ball python. It doesn't need to be overly complex, just a cool font and a snake.

Here's how it'll work

1. You submit a sketch to me, either as a comment on this journal or linked in a note. Just a rough that will give me an idea of what it looks like is fine. I don't want people to spend too much time on something that may not wind up being selected.

2. You must agree to release all copyrights of the image to me. This is not negotiable. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, do not make a submission.

3. I will review all entries, both alone and with some outside input, to see which is best suited to my needs. The winning artist will get $50 for the piece.

4. Multiple submissions are allowed, but I'll again make the point that you should NOT devote too much time or effort to the rough sketches.

That's about it. There is no time limit on this. It will go until I see something I like, but long enough that all interested parties should have the opportunity to make a submission.

I may contact people other than the winner of the contest in regards to their submission to possibly work out a separate deal.

P.S. I say tell your friends, but that doesn't mean to make pimp journals, which is now against FA's rules, unless I'm mistaken. Also, upload your sketches to a third-party site like photobucket, again in compliance with FA rules

Yes, that's right. I'm giving the whole entrepreneur thing a shot. My plan is to breed ball pythons. I already have a pair that's 100% het for albino, but the female won't be ready to breed for another 2 years most likely. I'm intending to pick up a male with 1-2 codominant traits (pref 2) and 3 or so normal, breeding age females. Hopefully these new acquisitions will be settled in here by October-November, when ball python breeding season starts. Once I actually have breeding pairs and some successful clutches, the business will move out of the conceptual phase and into actual existence.

Now, for some genetics terminology for those of you who don't study such things:


~Homozygous: Having 2 of the same type of gene (two dominant genes, or two recessive)

~Heterozygous: Having 2 different types of gene (One dominant, one recessive)

~Dominant: A trait that overrides other traits. A dominant trait is visible whether it's homozygous or heterozygous...if the dominant gene is present at all, you can see it.

~Recessive: A trait that is overridden by other traits. You can only see recessive traits physically if both versions of that gene are recessive (homozygous recessive.) If the recessive gene is heterozygous with a dominant gene, the dominant gene takes over and is what you see.

~Codominant: A trait that is dominant, but appears differently based on whether it's heterozygous or homozygous. For example, the Mojave ball python morph appears as a slight difference in pattern when it's heterozygous (one Mojave gene, one normal gene.) When the very same gene is homozygous (two Mojave genes) the snake appears pure white with bright blue eyes.


This has been basic genetics with Alby! If you have any questions, feel free to post them in comments.

P.S. Taking down these headers and footers. I still plan on getting them done at some point, but they're getting to be a nuisance to look at in every journal. Instead, I'll replace them with snake status messages.

Why is it that at a 4 year research university, on a day we KNOW there was going to be a quiz, from a professor we KNOW uses scantrons, half of a 300 person lecture hall fails to bring a damn pencil? How does shit like this happen? This is why America is seen as a nation of buffoons. Universities are turning into party mills for over-privileged condom escapees.

I've been slowly picking away at this book for years now. A paragraph here, a sentence there, half a page sometimes when I'm feeling really motivated. I don't want this to be my pet project that gets released shortly before my death. Therefore, I'm gonna look into buying a netbook whose sole purpose will be the completion of this damn book. I'm tired of talking about how I'm writing a book when, in reality, I spend more time per week masturbating than writing the damn thing.

Yes, I'm gonna be traversing the east coast again this year. I'm planning on going to SC sometime mid May after the semester ends. If you live near my route (just do a google maps route from Springfield, MA to Charleston, SC and you got it) and want me to pay you a visit, leave a message on this journal, or one of the subsequent ones. I will likely be making a couple more as the trip draws closer with more exact dates.


edit: Unless, of course, I get afflicted with some fever-causing illness AGAIN this year, as happened last year.

Go here

http://debatelive.org/

Watch science prevail

Well, last semester didn't turn out as poorly as I'd feared. I wound up with an A- in molecular bio, a B- in Race Relations, and a C in Japanese. Everybody keeps telling me that getting a C in an intensive Japanese course is actually really good, but I just can't bring myself to be proud of it. As it stands, my GPA for the semester was a 2.7, my lowest ever. I'm hoping to really knock it out of the park this semester to make up for it.

My current classes are Organic Chem, the second part of Intro to Biology (this time being taught as evolutionary ecology rather than molecular bio) Biology lab, Calculus and Microbiology. Since I've already taken a large number of courses pertaining to my biology classes, that just leaves Calculus and Organic Chemistry. Chem has always been a fickle topic for me, but apparently there's none of the algebra I came to hate in Inorganic Chem last year. And then Calculus. Oh math, I can never fucking escape you, can I? No matter how far or fast I run, you're always waiting there in front of me, ready to turn an otherwise enjoyable semester into pure hell. If anything is gonna royally fuck me over this semester, that's the class. It seems pretty easy now, but College Algebra started out that way too, and wound up making me want to rampage through the campus after a few weeks.

Anyways, enough bitching. I really hope to get at very least an A- in all of my courses this semester. I can go as low as a B in Calc if I get all As on the rest, but I desperately need to balance out that GPA from my last semester.

I'm trying to do a genealogy thing and every single female member of my family refuses to put down their birthday anywhere. All the men are fine, but every single woman refuses.

Three things:

1. I'm family, not a potential date. I don't particularly care how old and baggy you are.
2. Not telling your age doesn't actually change your age
3. WHY IS ASKING RUDE?

Why is everybody going there of all places? Its format bugs me and I frankly don't like it. Why not sofurry or inkbunny? And before people start prattling on about the evils of cub porn, let me just remind you IT'S FUCKING ART! That is all.

The US court of appeals struck down the 2010 FCC order that said that wireline ISPs ”shall not block lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices, subject to reasonable network management” while also mandating that ISPs “shall not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful traffic over a consumer’s broadband Internet access service.”

I'm no expert, but what this means to me is that the ISPs can block whatever they want for whatever reason. The courts' justification for this: You can always change ISPs if you don't like the current one's policies.

I know freedom isn't free, but stop fucking charging me for it if I'm not getting it. Between this and the whole NSA bullshit, I might go find a cave somewhere to live in.

I put $400 worth of heating oil into my boiler on 12/13. That was 20 days ago. Not even 3 weeks. $400. Four. Hundred. Dollars... And now I'm out of fuel again. I can't do this. That comes out to an average of $133/week. That's $570/mo just to heat my one fucking bedroom flat. Let me repeat that just so it sinks in... It is going to cost me $570 to heat my one bedroom flat every month from mid-October until mid-March. That means over the whole heating season, I will be paying nearly $3000. I can't afford that shit. I could be working a full-time $40k/year job and I couldn't afford that shit. Between rent, electric, cable/internet, and fuel,my monthly expenses for the colder months will be up around $2k/mo, and that isn't even including misc expenses like gas and food...

I hate to say it, but I think living on my own has defeated me. I was expecting expenses, but nothing in the ballpark of $19 every day just to keep my apartment at 70 degrees. I'm not sure what I'll do. Probably freeze half to death over the next couple months, finish out my lease in September, and then bugger out and go back to living with mommy. If that isn't emasculating enough on its own, her new husband will make sure I have nothing resembling testicle matter left after a week living with them.

My house is already down to 57 degrees and the heat just cut out at about 1am, so I'm estimating freezing temps within a day or less.