"Random" Survey

It doesn't get more random than this!
Have you ever had an argument with a teacher?	I've become irritated with teachers before, but haven't straight up argued.
Can you count in Roman numerals?	Up to about 20, and then the big numbers like 50, 100 after that.
Are you bilingual?	Yes... English and German. I can scrape by in Hindi, say "hello" in Mandarin, ask for some cheese in Gaelic, inquire where the kitchen is in Spanish, say that I'm lost in French, and tell Mr. Bond that I expect him to die in Russian.
Do you know how your car's engine works?	Generally. I used to have a sparkplug as a keychain.
Can you program the time on a VCR?	If I had to, yes. Haven't had to yet.
How many email addresses do you have?	Ones I use? 2. Ever? At least 10.
Do you own a slinky?	Yes!
Do you talk to yourself?	All the time, actually. Especially when I'm walking and realize I've forgotten something and have to turn around, I justify it to myself out loud.
Do you have a tough time remembering people's names?	Not really... only when I know I will never have to speak to them again.
Did you go stag to your Senior Prom?	Didn't go at all.
Is any leftover delivery food currently residing in your refrigerator?	Not for me, no.
Are you high maintenance?	Absolutely not.
How do you want to be proposed to?	Not publicly... that would just be too awkward, and I really don't see the justification that it proclaims your love to all the world! It rather embarrasses the girl.
Do you work out regularly?	Yes... I try to. I get into the swing of things when I have time.
Do you care about your appearance?	Generally, yes. I try to at least look like I didn't roll out of bed.
Describe the person of your dreams:	Dark hair, funny but knows when to be serious, driven and love me for who I am, including all my quirks.
Do you like to be tan?	Yes, but I don't fake tan or do the beds.
If you had your choice of anyone in the world to spend a night with, who would it be?	Boyfriend! I don't get enough of those.
How many keys are on your key ring?	6... suite , room , lab, Adam's gate, Adam's building and Adam's apartment.
How much money is in your wallet/purse right at this moment?	ish?
What is your favorite spice or seasoning?	Saffron and cinnamon.
What does your name mean?	Follower of Christ.
Do you give your pets holiday presents?	Yes! Sweaters and bones and beds.
When doing up your jeans, do you button then zip? Or zip then button?	Button then zip. Otherwise the zip might go down a little.
How far would you go on the first date?	A very chaste kiss. I would so much rather save it for when I know the person isn't a total butthead.
Do you sleep on your side? Stomach? Back?	All of the above, but I usually pick one for the night and stay there. Stomach only when I can't fall asleep.
Have you attended a high school reunion yet? How was it?	No, not yet, but I can't wait.
Are you ticklish? Where?	Sides... I can control it for a very short amount of time, but after that, I'm a puddle of giggling mess.
Would you rather change your past or know your future?	Definitely not know my future, that would make everything SO BORING so I guess change my past, although I don't dislike that too much either.
Do you believe in saving yourself for marriage?	No... but I believe in making absolutely sure you trust that person before doing anything.
Would you pick up a hitchhiker?	No.
Would you consider yourself a worrier?	Only when stress gets me. I've gotten better recently.
Do you notice when your crush/significant other changes something about themselves?	Yes, instantly.
Do your first impressions of people usually stick?	Usually. I try not to judge, but my impressions are generally accurate.
What movie can you watch over and over?	Surf's Up, Love Actually... all those really not-deep movies that take little attention.
Do you like to cook?	Sure.
Do plants die in your care?	Mostly. :(
What's one thing you feel you must do in your life before it ends?	Achieve lasting happiness, and I don't think that comes with any definitive action or event.

One Word

You Can Only Type One Word It's harder than you think

Not as easy as you might think.

1. Where is your cell phone?
bed

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend?
city

3. Your hair-do?
long

4.Work?
hopefully

5. Your father?
loved

6. Your favorite thing?
reading

7. Your dream last night?
adventure

8. Your favorite drink?
cranberries

9. Your dream car?
none

10. The room you’re in?
apartment

11. Your pet?
siggydog

12. Your Fear?
death

13. What do you want to be in 20 years?
happy

14. Where did you hang out last night?
alone

15. What you’re not good at?
speaking

16. Lip rings on the opposite sex?
gag

17. One of your wish list items?
employment

19. The last thing you did?
cough

20. What are you wearing?
hoodie

21. What aren’t you wearing?
socks

24. Your life?
good

25. Your mood?
meh

26. Missing?
him

27. What are you thinking about right now?
unappreciated

28. Your car?
rockin'

29. Your crush?
knows

30. Your summer?
undefined

31. Your relationship status?
solid

32. Your Favorite Colors?
natural

33. When is the last time you laughed?
recent

34. Last time you cried..?
awhile

35. School?
'sok

35.Whats overly cool?
food

Daemons!

I read the three-book series His Dark Materials (Golden Compass is the first one) and the concept of daemons was one of the most intriguing things I have heard of. In all the different worlds, every person has a daemon; in some worlds, it is separate from you and is in the form of an animal, and in other worlds (like "ours", per say) it is just that little voice in your head that is your conscience. If you are in one of the latter worlds and step into one of the former worlds, your daemon appears beside you. It cannot go far from you without you both experiencing a deep, heartwrenching pain. Children's daemons can flicker between every animal form imaginable, but when they grow up and hit puberty, the daemons "settle" into a single animal form and don't change after it. An adult daemon's form is indicative of the adult's personality. I wanted to find out mine, so I took a quiz!

Your WOLF DAEMON shows that you are solitary, ferocious, and often intimidating, but not without your sufficient loyalty and poise. People tend to misunderstand you, but you prefer your own company, anyway.
Take this quiz!

I got a dog for another one. Those are close enough to convince me that it would be something like that. That's cool, I can roll with that.

Trying to organize life.

Nothing that huge/catastrophic/euphoric has really happened lately. Which I guess is a good thing, I'd rather normal good life than something disastrous. Although... things of note:
Adam got me flowers for the first EVER time. My interview in the city was the day after Valentine's Day. I had gotten up at 5:40, gotten on a bus at 7:15 for the city (forgot my phone at home, too), and trudged into his apartment, bleary-eyed and carrying a heavy load of work and clothes at around 11:30 when I saw a single, long-stemmed rose sitting in a vase of water on his desk. :)
Later on he pulled out another one and they lived together in their vase all weekend. Yay.

I attempted and successfully made chicken cacciatore en bianco in Adam's 2' square kitchen with literally no counter space. It actually was pretty good and even though I felt half-fulfilled and half-uncomfortable heating it up for him the second night while he was working, he really liked it and it was good.

I'm getting better at the library job. I'm now positioning myself as the computer that gets higher traffic so I'm not as bored over at the other one. I missed about 4 hours last week because of going down to the city and because for the holiday, the days were switched around. To make up for it, I took on 6 more hours this week and I made 3 of them a permanent addition. It's not like I really do anything, anyway (aka, I'm writing this at work).

Work is actually ending soon, so I'm going to post this and maybe add to it later.

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...