let's talk about genetics for a minute

in what must have been the mid- to late-1930's, my grandmother's older sister died of (i believe) leukemia.  she was about 16.

in the early- to mid-1940's, my grandmother's older brother died of -- i'm not sure what.  something heart-related, perhaps.  he was about 20.

in the late 1970's, my grandmother's parents died within a short interval of each other; i don't know the causes or their ages off the top of my head, but i think they were both in their mid- to late-70's.

in about 1991, my uncle had surgery for colon cancer, which seems to have been entirely successful, kineahora -- he is now 55.

in 1994, my grandmother (who had a history of throat cancer, i think) developed leukemia, had chemo and radiation, and caught pneumonia with no white blood cells to fight it.  she was almost 70.

in 1995, my grandfather died of liver cancer.  he was 71.

over the years, my grandfather's older sister has lost two of her sons.  i don't know the causes -- i think one was heart-related and one was cancer-related, but i'm not sure.  they were both in their 50's.

in 2003, my aunt was diagnosed with cancer in the ovaries and pancreas, which i think they worked out originated in the colon.  she was dead three weeks later; she was 58.

three weeks ago, my grandmother's younger sister was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  she died today; she was about 75.



so, first off, i know they've identified a gene that flags you as Incredibly Susceptible To Colon Cancer.  post-surgery, my uncle had the test and discovered that he had the gene, and my aunt and my father both also had the test -- i don't know what her result was, but my father's was that he doesn't have it, which means he can't have given it to me.

secondly, on my mother's side of the family the general habit is to live to be about six trillion years old and shrivel up like a raisin.

but, taking the first and second items together:  i'm just put together more like my father's side of the family -- specifically, like his mother's side of his side of the family.  that's most of how i'm built on the outside (apart from a couple of cosmetic features like the straightness of my hair and the cleft in my chin); doesn't it make sense that i'm likely to be more like them on the inside as well?  put another way, many of the people listed above made efforts to take care of themselves and live healthy lives and all that, and they got cancer and died young just the same.  what, you know, are my odds?

(thirdly, my grandmother's younger brother is the last man standing, now.  he's 70.  i can't go to the funeral, but i wish i could, because out of everyone, he's the one i want most to give a big hug.)

grr.

you know, i try not to be too demanding.  i'm aware that, as an american, i'm spoiled when it comes to (for example) retail business hours and whatnot.  but here's the thing:  when you work in a bookstore, and someone comes in and asks about a couple of titles you don't stock, and you ask "shall i order them for you?" and the customer says "yes please", it'd be pretty cool to, you know, do it.

went into blackwell's today to ask if there was an ETA on the order i placed over a week ago (and which i was told would take about a week, but on which i have heard nothing).  no record the order was ever placed.  in fairness, the girl i spoke to was a little bit appalled that i hadn't been given a copy of the order slip because the girl who'd taken the order hadn't filled one out because it was very nearly closing time, so she'd put it in her stack of things to do the next day.  today's cashier said the previous cashier should have filled out the slip and given me the carbon on the spot, even if she couldn't place the order until the following day (as, in fact, is the case today, since this is a bank holiday).

so the books should be here in seven to ten business days (starting from tomorrow).  but, you know, they could have been here by now.  and these are textbooks, mind you, so you'd think it'd be reasonably clear that i'm not just ordering them for a bit of leisure reading.  most graduate students i know tend to need things sooner rather than later.  "when you get around to it" is not a good time to place the special order you offered to place in the first place.

grr.  and that's just one of the several things frustrating me today.  grr.

in other news

i've been thinking of changing my LJ handle -- there's a name i love that, miracle of miracles, hasn't been taken.  how much would that mess up people's world view?  (less, i imagine, than if someone with a f-of list longer than 140 made a switch.  but, you know.  just sayin'.  [g])

[eta: ah, nuts.  i had previously looked for the userinfo, and found that there was none for the handle i was interested in; but looking at the recent-entries view, i see that the journal has been deleted.  so, sadly, even should the person not undelete, i will be SOL in trying to buy me a token for that name.  le sigh.]

well, that ain't right.

merriam-webster says the etymology of conundrum is unknown.

does that seem fair?!  shouldn't it be (i know this is going to get me a classicist leaping down my throat, but i'm just saying, in an ideal world) a latin word?  and shouldn't the plural be conundra?

oh, man.

one essay down, most of another one to go.

this one's on Optimality Theory as it might apply to morphology -- almost 1300 words, mostly crap.  so many adverbs.  [/whine]  if it weren't midnight, i'd be ashamed of myself.