Nov. 27, 2006

Throughout the season select Illinois women's basketball players will reveal what life is like behind the scenes in the weekly Women's BasketBlog. In the first installment of the season fan fave Lori Bjork is back blogging and talking about being slighted in SI, Thanksgiving break and Organic Chemistry.

Women's BasketBlog // Nov. 27, 2006 // Lori Bjork

Here I am, back for another season of blogging. In the off-season, I stepped away from my word processor and thought long and hard about retiring from this gig (and sparing the tens of readers that have been subjected to my views on many topics, many wholly unrelated to basketball). But then I found the motivation I needed for this year's submissions: I noticed that last year's "Basketblogs," authored by myself, Maggie Acuna, and Danielle Gratton, were somehow omitted from the list of "Can't Miss" sports blogs compiled in an issue of Sports Illustrated. Obviously, I think I speak for all three of us when I express how disrespected we felt by such a slight. All ridiculousness aside: I look forward to periodically sharing my musings with you.

I hope everyone had a tremendous Thanksgiving. Things were a little different for the team, as we were actually in Champaign for the holiday as opposed to taking a trip to Colorado or New York like we have the past two years. With no classes to attend for the week, I had a little downtime in my home away from home: the apartment I share with Danielle Gratton (future blog material is sure to follow from this arrangement). I noted, for only the ten billionth time this year, how glad I was to be living in an apartment instead of a dorm. I think the greatest feature of the apartment is that I can say Danielle and I are roommates and not mean it literally. Of course this leads to the inevitable conundrum: what should you call us? Apartment-mates?

As the semester winds down, the many academic deadlines (specifically, a 10 page political science paper and four final exams) that once seemed so far away now loom threateningly. The class that continues to monopolize most of my study time (and has single-handedly forced the procrastination of said paper) is organic chemistry.

Almost everyone has heard the horrific details of this class. Designed to pare down the candidate pool of future doctors (don't cheer yet...this won't pare down the number of money-grabbing MDs scurrying around), the class sets out to kill the GPAs of premed students. To facilitate this elimination process, the course requires students to draw out an endless array of reactions step-by-step and be able to name all of the compounds along the way. The classic story about organic chemistry: the professor walks in on the first day of class and tells students to look at the person on their left, and then turn and look at the person on their right. "Only one of you three will be here at the end of the semester." Presumably, the disappearing people are those who choose to drop the class (thereby ending their MD dreams, but renewing their social lives), but I often wonder if some of them fell victim to crueler fates. How many were crushed by their 1000 page textbooks, and how many accidentally choked themselves trying to build a model of chloroiodobenzene?

The fact that I willingly signed up for this class says a little about my love for challenges and a lot about how well I listen (how come I never heard CHEM 232 referred to as "the toughest class on campus" until I was in it?). So far I am surviving the class, but sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I put it on my schedule (in my defense, medicine was my career-of-the-week when I signed up). I think all future patients out there must be encouraged to find out how this organic chemistry class carefully selects only those students who possess those traits so essential for healing: an inability to listen and a lack of common sense. I mean, really, what more could you want out of your doctor? So, don't delay readers: sign up for your appointment with Dr. Bjork today! (How soon do you need to get in? I have an opening on December 1...2015).

But enough about school...we have two big games this week. Nothing relieves stress like a couple road victories.

Go Illini!
Lori Bjork #20

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