(140) Various Happenings
My relatives are gone. They stayed for five days, and yesterday they took the plane out of here back to their grand ole Arizona. The house, and my room, is free.
This wasn't the plan, of course. They were supposed to stay for two weeks, up until my sister was done with school for the year, and then take her traveling with them (they're very lucky; they are visiting scholars but the semester's over, and thus they have money and three months with nothing to do.) They still say that they can take my sister (and offered me the chance, too, but I don't think I can make it), so she might get to see the Grand Canyon and other natural sites and whatnot. In addition, of course, to all her end-of-year field trips, which are somewhat standard for all middle-schoolers in this region. I think that tradition is one of the few redeeming qualities about that era of a young person's life -- middle school, I mean.
To change the topic -- I've discovered that it's not possible for me to sit through a presentation I don't understand or have little interest for without falling asleep. Blame it on the six hours I got last night (though I must say I felt great all morning), or maybe on the food I just ate (food coma, ahem), but if you sit me down in a darkened room for an hour it's quite likely that I'll nod off. Very bad form, of course, but as I said, unless I'm actively interested and involved I lose interest. And then my body does the next best thing.
I will give kudos to the presentation, though. A doctor from the Baylor College of Medicine won the Perl Prize on her research on Rett Syndrome's genetic markers and effects. I think she worked on her topic for nigh on twenty years, I don't know -- at any rate, her research was quite thorough and impactual. Perhaps Rett syndrome will be added to the battery of tests done on prenatal babies soon?