Running With Scissors

First, let me apologize for the lack of blog this last week: Sorry about that. This will be a quick one and if you're all lucky, I'll get another one out this week.
It's that time again; the final countdown, the eleventh hour, yada yada yada. As yet another semester comes to a close, I can only do so much to keep my sanity. Mentally picturing me sitting in the big chair or a recliner at home, sipping lemonade, and chuckling to myself about the seeming weightlessness of being school-free for the next seven weeks helps. Mentally picturing me not having to retake certain classes like Chemistry 105 helps me stay focused on the tasks at hand. It's like running while holding scissors, but holding the scissors in such a way that you run less risk of stabbing yourself or someone else in the process.
I've learned something about learning that's known as "The Biology of Learning", and it's proven to be helpful for these last few weeks. It's goes a little something like this: -The size of your brain doesn't matter, but the number of synapses does. -The hippocampus moves short-term memory to long-term memory, the amygdala is in charge of emotional memory and getting the two to work together is a powerful learning tool (being challenged but successful is how memory "takes off"). -The brain is extremely good at filtering out boring or irrelevant information, so figuring out how to make things relevant to you is a good idea (preparation, repetition, and using multiple senses help). -Getting enough sleep is vital: it's the mind's consolidation time and it's also the time when neurons are built. The three most powerful of those is making learning: 1. A positive emotional experience, 2. Making it relevant to you, and 3. Repetition.
I have also found having down-time is beneficial, but only in controlled amounts. This last week has had some good times in that area. Friday night marked my first paintball experience and it was a lot of fun! I dished out some good hits and good challenges, but I also took my fair share of those, from man and insect. The only part of me really exposed were my hands, and I came away with six mosquito bites and one spider bite on my right hand with one on my right wrist, and only three mosquito bites on my left hand. We played in an area that's right on the Snake River, so the mosquitoes were out in force. Roughly 13 welts/bruises in all have been found on my body (you were out of the round when you took two hits, but three or more were usually administered before the person could declare they were out). For a few hours of paintball time, that's not too shabby for a first-timer.
Saturday marks the day that I went to Rigby Lake for the first time. I got a few hours of sun and I'm still as white as ever. What's up with that? Oh well, that was pretty much the gist of the Rigby Lake experience aside from being an unfortunate observer of the public waters scene. Yep.
In some good news, I have a few exams and such under my belt now and I'm still feeling pretty feisty for the rest of the "fight". I took my Anatomy and Physiology Comprehensive Final on Friday and got an 87%! Compared to the national average of about 73%, I feel that my score is pretty darn good. Now on to the last exam on the nervous system. Just one short paper, two quizzes, and three exams to go!