It's too bad...

But I really really wish some people had this with a Terminator-insert into their vision so they could see me displaying all of the first three "steps" while they talk. And talk. And talk. About nothing. DAH!


How To Know If You Are Irritating

"The Future." Dun Dun Duuunnnn!

Job interview went really well, and "if they decide to proceed" I will be going back down there to look at the lab and meet the other doctors and staff before they make an offer. If this all pans out, I will be kind of pissed at how much freakin money I spent on doing grad school applications. I mean, I know I should have anyway, just in case, but still. Oh well! I'm picking up more hours at work so I can replenish my bank account.

Lab-isms.

Vimal, flexing: "Yes, we're men and we eat protein bars and have babies!"
Mmmm... I think he needs to brush up on his biology skills.

Steve = white male
Vimal = indian male
Me = white girl

Me: "Steve, you have zero joke range. You can't be racist or sexist. Me, on the other hand, I can be sexist."
Steve: "Damn, you're right. But Vimal can be racist!"
Vimal: "Yeah, I'm the best there is!"
Me: "No, that'd be if you were a girl."
Steve: "And handicapped."
Me: "And mentally challenged."
Steve: "And old."
Me: "And ugly."
Steve: "And half Native American."
Vimal: "Shit, I could do nothing and get into any college I wanted."

Employment?!

Just realized there are a bunch of employment opportunities for research assistants/technicians and I have all the experience and prerequisites they want. Even in midtown Manhattan. What what! Skipping grad school for the moment and getting tuition reimbursed anyway? I'm going to apply to just see what's up. No harm in that.

University of Delaware: Hmm?

I didn't get into the program I applied to, the Biological Sciences M.S., but the department chair wrote to me and offered to transfer my application to the Plant and Soil Sciences Program, which is more of what I wanted anyway... waiving all the fees and such. So, this is kind of a good thing anyway. :)

Suddenly I see, this is what I wanna be...

Break was stupendously relaxing. I mostly read pleasure books and visited Adam, while helping my dad with things around the house and doing grocery shopping for my mom.

Books I read:
The Golden Compass Philip Pullman
The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman
1/2 of The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman
Circle of Magic: Sandry's Book Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic: Tris's Book Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic: Daja's Book Tamora Pierce
(have, but haven't started, Briar's Book)
Alanna: The First Adventure Tamora Pierce
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling

Oh, it was glorious!

School started Wednesday, two days ago. I'm taking Undergraduate Research in Biology (continuing to follow up my research started 2 years ago), Directed Study in German (really cool actually; I'm researching crazy theories from German scientists and psychologists in the 17th and 18th centuries and how they, in fact, have some shreds of accuracy and are now practiced in modern neurological medicine with different procedures and under different names), 19th Century German Culture (urgh... lots and lots of reading), and American Sign Language aka ASL (which I'm SUPER excited about!!).
The ASL class is pretty crazy; the professor has been deaf his entire life, can't lip-read or talk at all, and interpreters will only be present in the class for the first two weeks. After that, the students have to fend for themselves. Talk about immersion! We also cannot talk at all inside the classroom, even to ask questions or say hi to other students. "Even though I am completely deaf, have been so my entire life, and cannot hear a thing, I can tell when you are talking! I can even see you whispering! Don't do it!" We have to do a 5-10 minute skit in ASL and attend at least two deaf events to sign to real people. Intimidating, but so awesome.

I also decided that it was time to start contributing to my own income during the school year instead of totally relying on the summer. Plus the fact that I only have 6 hours of classtime per week, I have plenty of time to work. So, I got a job in the Science and Engineering Library, doing random librarian things like checking out/in books, shelving and collecting fines. The library is pretty small, small enough that the stacks are on little wheels that move them around on the floor so you can get into an aisle. Two of my roommates already work there, so whenever I have hours with them I can make the long walk to the library with them and chill. My boss is really nice, and I'm kind of excited to be making some pocket money. Also, thank the lord for the raised minimum wage in Massachusetts recently - it is now $8! That's what I started with for Kohl's! Sweetness!

I got a new camera for Christmas, the black Canon Elph SD750. Looks like this:

Pictures from it can be found here: Public Facebook Album: Senior Year

I also got a Coach wristlet... Adam picked it out all by himself, I'm so proud of him! (lol... boys showing good taste is a definite character aspect to hang onto, as per the graduate students in my lab... even steve said he'd hang onto him.) Looks like this:


I'm going to Marco Island in Florida for spring break with Jen and Danielle - finally going somewhere for one of these breaks instead of going home! We're all on an exercise regimen called Operation: Bikini.

Graduate school applications are all in, I just have to send out three more transcript/recommendation combinations and I'll be set. My two top choices are UCONN and NYU, although I don't know which to choose if I get into both (gack!).
UCONN
pros: cheaper (5K for residents), bigger school, better program
cons: in the middle of nowhere, will have to have a car (which incurs costs) and pay full rent/housing, far away from Adam for another 2 years at least, during which I will have zero time for visits - grad students have a nonexistant social life

NYU
pros: more diversity, in New York City, won't need a car, will probably live with Adam (eee!), which = cheaper rent, goodness, etc.
cons: more expensive (27K for nonresidents), less prestigous Biology program

Hmm... just comparing the length of those two lists kinda points to NYU. We'll see if my parents flip a complete shiznit if I pick NYU. Oh, this will be fun...

It's Been A While...

Mmm yes. Break. I had my doubts at me actually surviving the end of the semester to actually reach this point in time. Break consists of:
Food
Reading
Family
Adam

and that's juuuuust about it. Yay!

What is with these nightmares?

Dream.

I was in a big group of people rounded up... it essentially was like the Nazis/Jews, except I don't know what reason they were giving. It's kind of blurry until we were all in this big auditorium (with seats for the audience and a stage, etc). They were putting names and the person's status up on a projector, and I saw my name with "D/co" next to it. Apparently that means I was going to be suffocated in a coffin. We left the auditorium in a bus after all the people who were going to be executed in that place were, and we drove to the "coffin suffocating" place. I was looking for a way to escape, naturally, and when the driver pulled too far over to the right next to a steep embankment that led down to a swamp, I yelled "Everyone lean to the right! To the right!" and everyone jumped over to the right-hand side of the bus. The driver lost control, and we all fell inside the bus down about 40ft to the swamp. Crawling out a window, I could see everyone running into the swamp/woods, as did I. At the other end of it, I found this city (seemed Mexican??) and waited to meet up with other people. I met up with one person, and we wandered around because we didn't know where we were. Some officers who were looking for the escapees found us but we killed them and took their suitcase full of money with plans to get passports and run away somewhere. I called my dad (because apparently my cell phone was still in my pocket) and then my alarm woke me up.

One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night -Christopher Brookmyre

One fine day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other.

One was blind and the other couldn't see
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play
A dumb man went to shout "hurray!"

A paralyzed donkey passing by
Kicked the blind man in the eye.
Knocked him through a nine-inch wall
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all.

A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came to arrest the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this story's true
Ask the blind man, he saw it, too!

Nightmares

I've been having nightmares the past two nights about people eating me. The first one was Anthony Hopkins as that freaky guy from Silence of the Lambs. Last night's was about this monster/creepy thing in person form, and it needed to eat someone every week or so or else it would go insane and kill everyone... so it was it's feeding time and it was creeping around looking for someone to catch. I hid in this one place but it found me and it started eating the toes of my left foot. I could feel it biting and when I looked at them, the toes were half gone and bleeding really bad.
So. Scary.

Toes

To dream that you lose or gain a toe(s), suggests that you lack determination and energy needed to move forward in some situation.

To dream that you hurt your toe or that there is a corn or abrasion on it, signifies that you are feeling anxiety about moving forward with something.