Blame Somebody Else/Peanut Day/Helicopter Day/Watermelon Feed (Kansas)/Harvest Festival (North Carolina)/Positive Thinking Day/Pie Festival (New Mexico)/Cranberry Festival
2003-09-13 @ 11:32 p.m.

In keeping with Positive Thinking Day, this entry will focus on the things that went right in the screwed-up mess I pass off as a life! Okay, I bought a new CD today. It's Darren Hayes's Spin, and everyone who hates that kind of music can just shut up now and go away. Sadly, I cannot now buy another CD until after the 'O' Levels, part of the deal I struck with my parents to let me buy this one. They believe teenagers should never live beyond their means, which essentially means you have to pay for it if you want it, but don't need it. Wait, I'm supposed to be focusing on the positive aspect! Never mind, that's about all the positive thinking that I can handle today. Let me leave you with an interesting scientific fact. Did you know that the humble haemoglobin, note the alliteration, that's floating around in your blood, is a very interesting thing indeed? Not only does it exist in several forms, the haem itself exists in two forms, a "t" state exhibiting low affinity for oxygen and a "r" state exhibiting high affinity for oxygen. Just look at the range of compounds it forms! I'm not just talking about oxyhaemoglobin here, not even carboxyhaemoglobin. I'm referring to metoxyhaemoglobin, nitrosohaemoglobin and sulphaemoglobin. Not to mention there's deoxyhaemoglobin and methaemoglobin too. There could be more compounds lurking out there, there's only so much I can uncover in five minutes on Google. If you're totally confused by now and think Ian's just some dumbass trying to show off, maybe you're right! It really makes no difference to what I'm about to tell you anyway. Bearing in mind that normal haemoglobin contains an iron(II) chelate, here goes nothing:

Deoxyhaemoglobin: Haemoglobin with no oxygen bound to it
Oxyhaemoglobin: Haemoglobin with oxygen bound to it
Metoxyhaemoglobin: Haemoglobin with oxygen bound to it, but the iron chelate contains iron(III) instead of iron(II)
Carboxyhaemoglobin: Haemoglobin with carbon(II) oxide bound to it
Nitrosohaemoglobin: Haemoglobin with nitrogen(II) oxide bound to it
Sulphaemoglobin: Haemoglobin with sulphur bound to it
Methaemoglobin: Haemoglobin that has undergone degradation