Strange day

I've had weird encounters with people all day. First, I end up trying to reassure people about the pharmacology exam. I don't get stressed out about exams like most people do, so they all assume that I'm absolutely brilliant and must know everything about everything. They may be right, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be able to help them get over their test anxiety. It's a little weird to be surrounded by people 10+ years older than me and have them all wanting reassurance and consolation about a silly test.

I managed to escape the stress and panic surrounding the exam by going to the gym between classes. I wouldn't normally do that on a Tuesday, since I'd normally be racing on a Tuesday, but the sever storm warnings and hurricane force winds made my decision for me. While at the gym I did my usual round of weight lifting. A little while after I had finished with the leg press machine I hear an old lady ask the personal trainer/supervisor guy that's always there if he was doing leg presses. He said no, and she replied, "I thought it must have been you because it was set to 300lbs!" That made me grin, especially because I'm still in the light weight/high reps phase of my lifting cycle. Last time I tried to max it out I could press over 450lbs.

When I got back from the gym, I went to the lounge area to eat and looked around for a seat near ANYONE that wasn't reading the pharmacology text or reviewing flashcards. I found Sarah, who is very sweet and interesting to talk to (a former neuroscience graduate student), and ate lunch with her. Somehow our conversation led to talking about relationships (Sarah is married to an Israeli dancer with two little kids) and she asks me, "Do you like tall, quiet, geeky guys?" Apparently it's pretty easy to determine what kind of guy I like. She then starts describing her friend Paul, who is apparently perpetually single because he's quiet and geeky and awkward around girls. Oh, and he rides bikes. But apparently he's a little bit Catholic. So, anyway, Sarah now wants to invite me to a BBQ at some point this summer, and she just might invite Paul too. At least she didn't suggest setting us up on a blind date...

After that lunchtime matchmaking session, I took the pharmacology test. It went just fine. I wrote about high cholesterol, thyroid suppression, heart failure, and diabetes. I was also the second person in the class to finish, but that's pretty normal for me. The post-test debriefing and chilling out happened in the lounge area, as usual. During one of the conversations a girl that I knew was in our class but hadn't actually met before asks me, "Are you the bike racer?" Apparently I'm getting a reputation. Turns out her name is Elspeth and she does endurance races, mostly cross country skiing, but also mountain biking. So we talk bikes for a while, and I suggest that she do the Highlander century with me. She sounds interested, but worried because she doesn't have a working road bike right now. But if she gets one, I could probably talk her into it. But, at the very least, I've got her phone number and we're planning to go for Monday morning bike rides together.

As I was leaving school today, walking down the hallway, I hear Jocey, a girl that I sort of know, say, "That's Caitlin." She was pointing me out to Karin (Kah-rin, not Karen) and explaining that I'm the one that rides the yellow bike. Apparently Karin was admiring my bike, and my reputation as the crazy biker chick is growing.

Oh, and one last weird people thing. Sarah, the matchmaker, went to graduate school with Bernie of the UR cycling team. He was hanging out with her and asked if she knew a blonde Caitlin. Which she does, because there's a blond Caitlyn in our class. After what sounded like a very confusing conversation, it was determined that Bernie can't tell anything about a girl's appearance when she's wearing a helmet and sunglasses and should have just started with cyclist Caitlin. I guess there are much worse things to be known as. For example, the blonde Caitlyn is now known as the girl who got hammered at a bar and knocked over a guy in a wheelchair. She's also about 6'1" tall, so she's pretty easy to identify. Anyway, Sarah and I proceeded to spend some time talking about how much we like Bernie's legs. He has really good cyclist legs.

On the ride home today it looked like it might start to rain, so I decided to just try to beat it home. That was a mistake. For the record, in Rochester if you are outside without raingear when the rain starts, it's already too late to put the raingear on because you're soaked to the skin in less than a minute. On the plus side, I guess, the rain had stopped by the time I got home about 10 minutes later. And when I got home there was a big box of books and cookies waiting for me! I now have two full gallon bags of cookies in the freezer, divided into "mostly intact" and "falling apart". At least some of the mostly intact ones will be going with me to a class picnic in the park on Friday afternoon.

Tonight I just have to watch a video about doing an abdominal assessment, make sure my cardiovascular SOAPs are ready to turn in, and maybe review a little bit for my exams on Thursday. I'm avoiding any more (school related) reading until the weekend because I'm burnt out from studying for this pharmacology exam. That certainly doesn't mean that I won't be reading the historical smut books that arrived with the cookies.