Day 165 - "This is Alvin. He died fighting for his local Arkansas militia"

Went to class - and reconstructed a human. Yes, you read correctly. Reconstructed a human.

Let me explain:

My professor for my anthropology course is a forensic anthropologist, or something of the sort. So today she decided that it would be fun to have a bone lab, where we would get to handle bones and see what people do for a living. Little did I know that the bones we would be handling were from a once-alive human.

Let me just say, I had a bit of an issue with that. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think it's great that these people donated their bodies to science. And I thank them for it. But it also just was freaky to see what was inside of me, and actually touch what was once in someone else.

But overall it was pretty fun - our group made up a story for the guy (yes, it was a guy). His name was Alvin, he grew up in Arkansas and fought in his local militia. He died by excessive blood loss from his wrist bleeding - he lost his left hand when fighting a battle with the next town over over a supposed cow scandal. My group thought this was hilarious.

This story led into how I don't have a drawl, and have no clue how to dress in the South, and a subsequent discussion about me being a Northerner. They swapped heat horror stories, and listened in awe as I explained how much snow we have ("Around ten inches" "At the same time!?!?" "Yes, at the same time."), how we bear to go outside ("Longjohns" "What are those?" "Well, they're like wool underwear, but pants, and you layer them, they're really warm.") and how I still would have to go to class ("Wow. So you must have a long break because of the snow." "Well, no, Michigan doesn't believe in cancelling classes." "You're kidding." "Nope, I wish I was."). They told me that even though I was down South last July, that isn't the "true" summer, because by that time, the weather is cooling off. Oh yes. That's what they said.

It was so great to talk to people. I mean, I did kind of feel like I was being examined, but it was fun. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get radio station help, and maybe directions to somewhere to study.

I came back to the apartment, and studied for a bit. Blizzard helped.

And I admit it: I have a bit of an obsession. With a knitting blog. It's just wonderful. I've read bits and pieces of it before, but I've recently decided to go through her archives and read everything. Every post. Since January 2004.

I'm crazy. Really. Because she posts almost every other day or so. But here I am, hours later, and just finishing up August 2004. I'm really hoping to get a decent amount of reading time Thursday (after my exam) and this weekend.

And yes, you did just read that I have an exam on Thursday. We'll see how it goes. But in the mean time, I'm getting tons of great patterns of things to knit!!