Er, stuff.

The answer to this week's Knittyhead Blog Stalker 2 prompt ("what's in your purse?"). I don't carry a purse normally, so I shall show you the innards of my backpack...ooh, scary.

The Monster and the Generic Dorm Furniture:

I'll do this by pocket. What's in Pocket Number 1?


Well...that's nice. But what IS it?
Ah. Much better. That would be...my organic chem textbook, notebook for o-chem, notebook for o-chem homework, the Notebook That Gets Used For Random Things and a Catch-all for Miscellaneous Paper, my biology notebook, and what looks like random paper and some escaped biology notes. On the left is a chem textbook I borrowed from my professor from last semester (and I need to give it back...) and my planner. In case I have to be reminded how busy I am.
Onward to Pocket Number 2!
It would appear that it happens to contain the bag that would otherwise function as a purse. If I weren't lugging the Monster around, that is.
The contents of that bag:
My wallet, $1.50, a receipt, and a copy of the bus schedule.
And the rest of Pocket Number 2:
A WIP (the periodic table scarf), a dime, a wrapper to a cough drop, an eraser, and my flash drive (I was wondering where that went).

And now...the Pocket that Needs to be Emptied:Not too bad, right? Au contraire.
From left: chemistry flashcards (is there anything in this bag that is not somehow related to chem?), some random trash-type stuff, calculator, a pen cap, a bunch of abused post-it notes, pens on a keyring, index cards, a green pen, a mechanical pencil, 4 crochet hooks of varying sizes, another receipt, Vash keychain, owl keychain, scissors, a highlighter, clicker thingy for biology.
But wait! There's more!
From the left--the highlighter and clicker thing from the last picture, a huge number of writing implements of different colors, dock adapter for my iPod, jingle bells, 2 tubes of Burt's Bees lip balm, more writing implements, 2 AAA batteries, various pins that either fell off or never ended up on the outside of the Monster, and $0.67. I didn't include the "supplies" (do you really need a picture? Honestly.) or the two containers of bubble liquid, which I only just found. My backpack must be some kind of bottomless pit or something.
And I just discovered that I had actually folded the gold wrapper into an origami crane...

...I'm late. Is that an answer?

This week has been the Week from Hell, so I haven't been able to get this past week's theme for Blog Stalker 2 up until now. I blame midterms. Anyway, last week's theme was "Who am I?' I don't know if I can answer "who?," but I can answer "what?". Those are two different questions. Funny how we tend to define ourselves by roles we play.
Back on topic...
I am first and foremost a student at an Ohio college. And yes, I have three majors--BS in biology, BA in chemistry, and a second major for the BA in environmental studies. This means I'm insanely busy. The tools of the trade:
Calculator, pile of chemistry textbooks, homework, coffee cup, laptop, printer, iPod.
And all the rest of my books (apart from the ones in my backpack).


And a bag of Hershey's Kisses. I think I went picture-happy in this post. Incidentally, I hope you appreciate it--I cleaned especially for this! (Not that my room didn't need it.)

Since I got here last fall, I've become something of a chemistry nerd. I live on a floor full of chem nerds. You should hear the conversations. We somehow manage to compare things like homework and eating lunch to chemistry. It's terrible, and really funny at the same time.
My bulletin board, with pictures from home and something every chem major should have (in my opinion) on their wall--a periodic table.What? It's relevant to two of my majors!
Okay, I think I have a life outside schoolwork. I'm a fencer (with swords, not stolen objects, thanks). Fencing owns the part of my life that higher learning doesn't. Here's a picture from a tournament my college's team went to last year:

Terrible picture (I didn't take it, obviously), but not bad considering it was taken at about 7:30 on a Saturday morning, and I'd gotten three hours of sleep the night before. (I cropped it to remove my teammate who probably wouldn't want her picture plastered on the internets.) I'm primarily a sabre fencer, but I'm learning foil in my phys ed class.
I'm also a violist, and have been for the past...nine years. Well, nine years had I actually practiced for most of them. Unfortunately, this was the hobby that had to go when I came to college because practice time was so limited. I didn't even bring it up with me this year, so I don't have current pictures, but here's one from my high school "senior spotlight" concert from two years ago.That's all I can think of to say about me. I'll be back for this week's post on Thursday, probably. (Biology and o-chem exams next week.)

Oh yes. I knit too.
Sometimes.

AAAAH!

Okay, I am now thoroughly convinced that college is trying to either kill me or drive me insane, whichever comes first. My course load is not exactly taxing, it's just that my schedule sucks:

Calc II: MWF, 8:30-9:20; Tu 11:35-12:25
Bio 215: MWF 9:30-10:20, Th. 1:15-4:15
Fencing: MW 10:30-11:20
O-chem: MWF 11:30-12:20
Genetics: MW 12:30-1:45
Chem lab: M 2:00-5:00

On top of this, I have fencing practice (for the club) on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:30, and Fridays at 3.
The work isn't hard (yet), but the volume of reading is huge. I have another chapter to read for bio, and 2.5 chapters of genetics to read. For Monday. As well as my o-chem homework to rewrite so it's actually legible (resonance structures are evil!), calc homework, and the video to watch for lab. For Monday. What HAVE I been doing all weekend?

The tale of the Second Hedgehog.

Yes, friends. I have another FO, and yet another stuffed hedgehog. Only this time, I documented the entire process. So, without further ado:
Here is the knitted-up, un-felted hedgehog. Poor thing, doesn't know what's coming.A watched pot never boils. Or does it? And is this going to turn out a bit like Schrodinger's cat? (I'm probably misremembering that...)

The tools of hedgehog torture--the shampoo and a potato masher. Don't worry, my friend. It won't take too long. I hope.

Since I shall refrain from quoting Macbeth (too easy), I shall instead quote The Goons. "He's fallen in the water!"A partially felted hedgie. Elapsed time between this picture and the last one: 1.5 hours. Yup.
And here he is, all finished!
Specs:
Everything is the same as the last one, except that I used both Copper and Chocolate Fun Fur for the back.
Comments: He didn't felt nearly as well as the last one. I don't know whether it was because I got sick of trying to felt it, or because I used Burt's Bees shampoo rather than dish soap or because of the much thicker fur on his back, or a combination of these. He is rather more huggable, though--I used up all my polyfil on him.


In other knitting news:
Periodic Table Scarf: Through knitting in lectures, I managed to get started on the bottom row of the main part of the table.
Mariah: Slowly working the sleeve again.