stray thoughts under blue skies

So, there I was, cruising south on the Truman Parkway, under blue skies and with a sweet breeze shifting into the car to ruffle my hair.
Ah, life is good!
And into my head popped this thought: Today is my last lecture!
Mind, it wasn't "this is my last lecture of the semester".
No.
Today is my last lecture!

I don't know what it meant, but I do know the words had an effect on me.
My next thought? "If this is my last lecture, I'm going to really enjoy it!"
Instantly, a good mood and a smile settled over me.
And I did enjoy this last day of lecture.
That started with my enjoyment of my Office Hours. Only two students came by, but that was okay! I had brought my daily newspaper with me in case my time was my own. Fortunately, one student was there for most of the ninety minute session and we had a nice time discussing all manners of things.
Then, I dined with Dominic on an Earth Day feast from the Galley. What a grand mood booster!
A little break, then it was 6:00 PM. Time for class!
Tonight's lecture was on beta-oxidation and glycolysis and deamination. It was a deviation from the usual order in which I taught metabolism. Usually, I follow the book's order, but not this time. I had led last week with basic digestion, then introduced the nucleotides and dinucleotides, pointing out the B vitamins and the similarity to the nucleotides of the DNA and RNA. I had then launched into the citric acid cycle and the electron transport chain. Ordinarily, the breakdown of glucose would have gone first, but not this time.
That naturally left the secondary catabolic processes for the final lecture. The first catabolic processes, in which large carbohydrates, lipids, and protein molecules are digested into their component monosaccharides, fatty acids, and amino acids, had already been covered. The tertiary catabolic processes, in which the two-carbon portion of acetyl-coenzyme A was oxidized to carbon dioxide and resulted in the production of adenosine triphosphate, had also been done with great attention.
Now, the time had come to transform the monosaccharides, fatty acids, and unneeded amino acids into acetyl groups for passage into the energy-generating CAC and ETC. Woohoo! Let's make those final reactions count, shall we?
And we did.
I had fun, too!
What a great last lecture!