Moving, Finals, and One Spoon

Yesterday was the first day in a long time where I had some free time. The only way I know, is I wound up reading in bed in the middle of the day. I guess you don't realize just how quickly life has been moving until it stops. For the last nine months I have been pretty much solely in school/TA mode. Maybe that time frame is biologically hardwired into me, but nine months is about all I can handle before I go insane. And yes, what they say about the third trimester being the worst was completely true for me. I somehow managed to cram a conglomerate of "have tos" and "shoulds" into one quarter, more than I have every crammed before. To express this, here is the timeline that has been going on for the last 3/2 to 2 Months.

The beginning of May: Still frantically searching for a house (5-6 bedrooms) to live in starting in June with a group of friends I have met over the past school year. We know we want to live in a nicer area but also not totally willing to pay for it. It would be better if we could be pretty close to UW, but we don't want to be in the sketchy area next to The Ave. I really only care about a nice kitchen and cheap heating, but the rest of my group also wants large open rooms and extra storage space. And we need to find this house soon; we have been on the market looking since early February. Thankfully, in the beginning of May we find such a house sans a few of the parameters we were looking for. A huge house in Wallingford, in a great location, lots of large spacious rooms, a cool back porch, June 1st move-in, but on the more expensive side. Oh, and the kitchen is completely out of date and to make it financially viable for me I'd have to share a room. However, we have been searching for so long and this house is the closest we have come to what we want so we are committed to working it out. A long winded, very difficult, negotiation with the land-lady-from-hell ensues and it turns out we don't get the house. This is after we've provided papers to go through extensive background checking (including our parents), and put down a deposit check. I seem to be the only one truly against the house by the time it falls through, besides a few of the other group members' parents, but regardless now we are in stress mode with potentially no place to live in less than a month.

Mid May: I see an ad pop up on Craigslist that does not sound very hopeful. The ad says 4-6 bedrooms, in "U-district/Wallingford", and there are no pictures posted. If the house is only 4 bedrooms, or not actually in Wallingford, or tiny and terrible, then it won't work for us. Seeing as we have already spent every weekend going to open houses for at least a month and a half, and much longer looking at places online, I don't have much hope for this house. I tell my group, this is the last summer start date house I will look at. If this isn't the one, I will be subletting from someone for the summer and I have to figure that out now. I call the landlord, Larry, and we show up on the stoop of where I am currently sitting to write this blogpost. Somehow, we managed to find the perfect house for us. It is 6 bedrooms, in Wallingford, tall ceilings, large open spaces, a garage for storage/art studio, a fire pit in the backyard, a breakfast nook, and an okay kitchen. And best of all, ridiculously cheap for the area. The average rent in this house is $400/month, and we have some variable pricing, so my room is even cheaper. It is an old house that is falling apart a little bit, I mean I have a hole in my wall, but even if the heating bill is $100/person/month, it is still cheaper than the earlier house we had found and I get to have my own room. We came on a Saturday at around 1:30, we grabbed some applications and filled them out, two hours later we were signing our lease with an awesome landlord, and two weeks later we were moving in.

June 1st (and the few days leading up to it): The quarter is almost over and final exams are on my doorstep. Johannah and I have subletters moving into our rooms on the same day that we are supposed to be moved out. She is coming to live with me at my new place for a week until school is over even though I have no guarantee that I'll have a bed or any house stuff like toilet paper, lightbulbs, or silverware. We still pack up all of my things into one load of her car and set her stuff up to be easily loaded up as well and are ready, May 31st, to move in the next day. However, my landlord has been out of town for the last two weeks and we have no idea when he will be able to let us into the house. As I am walking around my classes on the last day of Spring quarter, I am texting back and forth with Zorah and Johannah and it looks like today is not going to be the move in day after all. Thankfully, Johannah's subletter is not going to be moving in that day, so we can spend one more night in her bed, and with all of our things packed up we bunk down for one last evening at the first place I moved out of my parent's house into. The next morning we go do the security deposit walkthrough of my new home and in a couple of hours have all of my things moved in (including a bed!) and her stuff all packed into her car. Thus starts the week of camping out for finals in an empty house.

Finals Week: Johannah and I are staying in my still packed up room, full of my boxes, and sleeping together in my twin bed. This is surprisingly very comfortable and we spend our finals week hodge-podging meals together and questing for spotty internet stolen from our neighbors. We have all the essentials, there are two pianos, two record players, a bunch of board games and some circus equipment, and no couch. There is no shower curtain in the bathroom and when someone takes a shower we notice the wet floor causes the kitchen ceiling to leak. We have a few mugs, some chopsticks, two bowls, a plate, a few pots, and one spoon. Regardless, I have some basil plants in the window and a roof over my head. I ace my Bio final and we decide to take off Tuesday evening to gather our graduating friends to say goodbye in the only way we know how: Indian food and fondue. We send them each a printed invitation with a flower and Tuesday night finds us gathered at Cedar's restaurant, some of the best Indian food I have ever had. Somehow, all of the amazing people we invited managed to make it for a portion of the evening and it was wonderful to see everyone before we were all split up for a few weeks, the summer, years, or who knows how long. Back at my new place, Johannah and I throw together some fondue with some dumpstered Theo's chocolate and every dish I own. Being the responsible (most of us graduated) adults, we are, the evening turns into painting chocolate fondue mustaches on each other and playing with the various things in my house. Sadly, it is still finals week and the evening disbands into writing papers and studying for finals to come.

Saturday, June 9th: After frequenting Cedar's restaurant again the evening before with my family for my dad's birthday, I am home in Woodinville with a bag packed full of shorts and tank tops. I have just barely finished finals and grading exam and I am about to hop on a plane to LA with my three sisters to visit our family down in California. Even though I still have quite a few assignments to grade, and a heck of a lot more to backread, My sisters and I arrive in LAX to hug our cousin that we haven't seen in a few years. After doing many touristy things around LA, we drive down to San Diego and visit with family that it has been probably 10 years since we were last together. It was a good trip, but I don't think we stopped to breathe once. Every day, there was an activity planned. We did the Safari Park, the Del Mar Fair, Universal Studios, Kayaking in front of the house that used to belong to Dr. Suess, and altogether ate way too much food. Every night we collapsed into bed and I'm not sure how I managed, but I got all of my remaining TA duties done. A short week later, we were back at LAX hopping on a plane back to Seattle for our respective summers.

Now (ish): One short weekend at home later, I find myself back in Wallingford, only this time there is a full house awaiting me. I unpack a few more things, including my bookshelf and book collection. The house now has a shower curtain and actual silverware. Yesterday, we even acquired some couches. We still have bikes parked in our dinning room, but our floors have been scrubbed and ideas for painting have been thrown around. I have started TAing fulltime and am trying to put together an idea of how much free time I'll have to explore a summer in Seattle. I found out I can still check out books from the UW library, even though I'm not taking any classes this quarter, and I just bought a pass to the IMA so I can go rock climbing whenever I want. I am thinking about getting another parttime job to fill some of my evenings, but I have decided to keep my weekends relatively free for hiking explorations. Yesterday, I reread A Wrinkle In Time and The BFG, and today I am visiting Scotticus over at SPU. I can tell this summer will be whatever I make of it, potentially really full and potentially really awesome.

There is a character who has been intertwined throughout this story in real life, but I haven't mentioned him here at all. Yes, a him. You know about him sort of, but I feel like I should explicitly introduce him on the blog. About a month ago I started dating a really nice guy named Tristan. I met him this last quarter while TAing, he is a 14X TA as well, and we just hit it off. My mom asked him who he thought had initiated the relationship and he thought for sure that it was me. However, I am very sure that it was him that initiated everything, so apparently we just work together without trying. I could tell you all of the typical things about him, like he is tall, dark-haired, handsome and into Ultimate Frisbee. He worked in a bike shop for a while and is really into both riding and fixing bicycles. This summer he is an intern at The Climate Corporation in downtown Seattle which is an environmental computing company. We also really get along on a mental level and can be total computer science nerds together. However, the important thing to know about him is that I'll find myself smiling unexpectedly and realize that it was because of him. Even when he is not there.

I can't believe how long it has been since high school. And I can't believe how long it will be before I get to see you again. I miss you all of the time. I can't wait to hear about all the amazing things you are doing this summer and I hope you are able to also incorporate some amazing fun things in as well. I also hope your life stops for a bit and you can realize what a blessing (non-humid) sunny days are. And that sometimes one spoon is more than enough.

Much love, Riley

P.S. I would love to Skype soon, I am free mostly in the afternoons and evenings.

It is Hot.

                Some people get a thrill out of summer weather. Beach-going, planning for ultimate frisbee days in advance, and relaxing in the sun wearing half the amount of what you normally wear are things one can only really do in summer. From these things I understand the thrill, and yet I am not one of those people. Just five minutes ago had the thought that “anyone who says they ‘looove’ hot weather is a self-hating or delusional moron”. It is currently 89 degrees out there (‘out there’ being the scary hot place I did not go today) but it feels like 94 because of this terrible terrible thing that does not exist on the west coast: humidity.

                I will repeat part of that because apparently no one understands: IT IS NOT HUMID IN SEATTLE. Got it? Just because it rains a lot ('a lot' being a relative term) does not mean there is gaseous water suspended in the air. If there is water in Seattle it is on the GROUND, WHERE IT SHOULD BE. Hot weather makes people cranky enough (or “complainy”, as my friend Seyoun described himself today) without purposelessly adding more heat and sweaty wetness. (Say that ten times fast.)

                I am realizing now that I have never actually had to spend an entire summer in a place where there was actual summer. I have never lived anywhere where an air conditioner was a necessity. I have rarely woken up and thought “oh damn… it’s already too hot today”. I do not know if I can handle it. My German/Irish/Norwegian complexion is adopting a semi-permanent pink hue. My body does not know how to properly control its own temperature, so nothing on me is sweating with the curious exception of my eyebrows. Inexplicably hot weather does not deter me from hot foods, and I made mashed potatoes for dinner. My only consolation is the fact that mosquitoes find my body abhorrent, as evidenced by years of Girl Scout Camp attendance sans bites.

                Fortunately for me a beacon of hope is on the horizon: Thursday. Oh, sweet Thursday, I count the days until you and I will be reunited. I cannot shake from my mind the prospect of your partly clouded self. Your 61 degrees could not be more devoutly wished. Alas! If only cruel Tuesday and Wednesday did not stand between you and I… But we will be together soon, my love, and it will be a most blissful and joyous day, most likely involving long pants.

                To think of the years I did not properly appreciate 60s and light rain… Enjoy them like I never did, my dear, and I hope to hear from you soon.

                Love,

                Lola

Happy Easter!

So... I'm just going to pretend like I haven't completely neglected this blog. I'm officially now un-incognito (cognito?) and very glad to be back. Instead of catching you up on all of the many things that have happened since I last posted (seriously, I probably couldn't count all of them), I think I'll just give you some idea of my life currently.

This quarter, my free time consists of Sunday afternoon, Friday evening, and the rare chunk of time on Mondays from 3ish - 5. I am currently using the first of those to write this and am blissfully ignoring all of the reading that I have to do tonight. The rest of my time is spent on homework, house stuff, and head TA duties. (I was originally going to sneak in the fact that I'm one of the CSE 142 head TAs this quarter, but I couldn't mess with that 'h' alliteration). My course load isn't too crazy, but all of my classes have tons of little components that are keeping me busy. Mixing that with TAing means that I am literally at school doing something from 9 - 7 four days a week. Hopefully, this will all be helpful for later on and I'm not going slightly insane for nothing.

Apparently the other I've been filling my time with lately is self improvement. My housemate, Johannah, and I seem to have semi-daily discussions over our food and I have been very grateful for the insights she has given me. I feel like since moving into my current residence that I have learned a lot about myself, both things I like and things I wasn't aware that I needed to work on. Hopefully when you see me next I will be a much better person because of living here.

One of the other new things that I've taken on recently is getting active again. The weak spring sun is trying to appear daily in Seattle and I've taken advantage of that to start finding time to be athletic. Also, I have a class that is legitimately 2 miles from my house so I've taken the initiative and bought a bike. Soon after that purchase I discovered that I do not have any of the muscles required for biking. Did you know that there are muscles on the outsides of your quads? Apparently that is a thing my body was not informed of, and riding a bike for even a short period of time leaves my legs twitching and sad faced. The other active thing I've started is I went rock climbing for my first time in forever last Friday. I remember climbing once at Western a long time ago and being pretty awful, but somehow one of the other TAs convinced me that rock climbing is a thing that I should be doing. Surprisingly, it was tons of fun and I wasn't as terrible as I thought I would be. I climbed to the very top of one of the really tall walls at the IMA and got to be lowered down on a rope and harness. Even though the day after this adventure my triceps were constantly shouting at me, I can definitely see myself purchasing a pair of rock climbing shoes of my own.

The only problem with finding new things to fall in love with is that other things get left behind. Rock climbing will probably steal my Friday afternoon free time slot, which means I have even less time to explore the things I want to be doing. Included in that is music. I found that last quarter I would pick up a guitar quite frequently, but now I haven't really touched any musical instruments all quarter. I want to change that, but I'm not sure if I have the time to and any musical pursuits will probably get pushed back until summer. My housemate, Richie, wants me to record, and it would be cool because he is really good at recording and producing music, but I honestly can't seem to find even two hours to give him. And this is only the first two weeks of the quarter; it only gets busier from here.

The other thing that has been suffering because of my full schedule is photography. Recently, I discovered the ability to check out expensive cameras from UW and have been doing so ever since. Even though they are only available for 7 day rental, I keep checking out nice cameras and lenses and experimenting with taking pictures. It has been really fun to document my day to day life with pictures and I think I'm finally getting used to being the awkward girl walking around with a camera all the time. Maybe at some point in the future that is another purchase I could see myself making. Actually, I have also been sharing the record of my life with the internet. If you weren't aware of An's blog, you really need to check that out. An is a fantastic photographer (she works for the Daily!) and she posts amazing pictures most days of the week. After checking her stuff out for a while, I decided that I wanted to try this daunting task of photographing my days as well. So I have been updating this on a semi-regular basis. I don't really write anything too interesting, but I have enjoyed collecting photographs of my day to day life. Hopefully I will be able to keep it up and be able to look back on my college life through pictures. Plus, hopefully taking lots of pictures will force me to become a much better photographer. By the way, if you are at all inclined to take pictures, I would love it if you posted them somewhere I could see them. I would really like to see your life as well as hear about it.

I miss you so much already and I can't believe we will be parted until Christmas. Even though I am super proud of you for landing your awesome co-op, I will be counting down the days until we can play Trivial Pursuit together again. Also, I will keep thinking about the amazing trip we will eventually take to Europe or some other place. I will probably keep planning that in my free time to keep me sane from not having my daily dose of Lola. I wish that this were more like a Skype conversation or phone call and that I could legitimately ask you how your day is going, but regardless, I hope life is going well for you and that I get to hear how you are soon.

Love you!
Riley

Nothing I Can Do But Wait... *smashes head against wall*

It has been way too long since I wrote a blog post, but thankfully Riley’s consistent procrastination can ease my guilt a bit. Everyone understands what it’s like to be busy and exhausted. In that state, writing out your witty thoughts so anyone who wishes to can read them on the internet is just not something you feel up to doing. So now, naturally after waking up at 5:30 (yes, for anyone who doesn’t know me, I do mean a.m.) on a Saturday I am sitting here thinking of how waking up at 5:30 really does open up my schedule, and I have time to write.

I have had a ridiculously difficult time this semester getting into a routine, and in ways am still not really able to manage it. On a weekly basis, I have three problem sets, a lab report, and a 30-40 multiple choice question online quiz. Of course, all three problem sets (the most time consuming portion of my weekly homework) are due on Friday. Of course, the professors’ lectures are consistently behind the homework material. Of course, this means that one can either decide to wait until further lectures have been administered (making the weekend an enormous length of time in which nothing can be accomplished) or one can spend the weekend trying to teach oneself the material (as I do in the case of stats, because I simply cannot, despite my best efforts, pay attention for more than half of a lecture. I pride myself on my focusing/paying attention abilities, and I really just can’t do this one.)

Anyway, so you spend the weekend taking four times as long on some homework as you should and avoiding the rest of it and by the time the week rolls around you realize how very much you need to do and how very little time you have to do it. Naturally, this means you skip your discussion classes Tuesday morning because a) they are not required, b) in the case of the harder class (stats) they post the discussion section assignment online, and c) you really would like an extra three hours that morning to get things done, like PChem and lab reports, and maybe sleeping if you could do that.

So aside from busy weeks full of homework and angst-y weekends full of purposeful procrastination, there are some other things going on. As I mentioned some time ago, it is currently try-frantically-to-get-a-co-op-position time. I’ll be honest, I sent in a lot of applications and received a lot of rejections, and each one seriously made me feel like a loser. I looked at some of the people being accepted for interviews, and knew that I was a harder worker, a less shy person, or better at ChemE academically than they were, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. It’s not that I don’t like the other ChemEs, they are all fantastic people and I sincerely want them to receive the best co-op positions they can, but I was deluded by my jealousy into thinking it was unfair. Maybe it was unfair, but I shouldn’t have gotten all pouty and two-year-old-y about it. (Really though, after 13 fairly impersonal rejection emails or complete lacks of response knowing interviews were already conducted, I don’t think you would be a very happy camper either.)

But all that was a few weeks ago, and last week the angels sang a bit and I was accepted for two interviews. The first was with a guy named Keith from Air Products, who has been working there since he was a teenager, because he did the co-op program and is a young’un (like me. His birthday is actually the day before mine.) I met him at the networking event and, because I was pretty late due to band, I ended up having an uninterrupted half hour with him and two co-op students from last fall. The interview went really well (I am “very easy to talk to”x2), but he did tell me that was really impressed with the caliber of applicants this year. I had a later interview, and he said usually he would have a couple people in mind who were a cut above the rest by the time he got to me, but everyone was just so good he hadn’t been able to do that more than once. He also said they have accepted as many as 5 co-op students before, and there were only 8 people on the interview schedule (though he may have added more.)

The second was Tom, from Shire Human Genetic Therapies. Due to lots of flight delays, he got to Cornell 20 minutes into my interview time, and I was supposed to be his third interview. Luckily he still gave me the entire 30 minutes, but I think he was so wound up from being on a plane and whatnot that he really needed to talk. And talk he did. I chimed in as often as I could, and I think I came across as being knowledgeable about the biopharm industry for someone my age and experience level. Also, when I mentioned my interest in scale-up and plant development, he was enthusiastic that if they chose a co-op who was interested in those things, they could definitely get him or her involved with them. Overall, this interview went well too (we kept talking all the way back to the waiting room, and only ended because of time.)

Now, it is a waiting game. I’ve submitted my resume and cover letters, done the best I could do at my interviews, and there is nothing more I can do. Decisions from employers are due by March 9, so in less than a week I should have some more information. So, I guess a big question is: which one do I want? I know I shouldn’t be too terribly optimistic and think I will be offered both, but if I were, which one do I go with? Before I met with the guy from Air Products, I was Shire all the way. After I met with the guy from Air Products, I was completely torn 50/50. After meeting with the guy from Shire, I know that is really where my heart wants to be. The position is in pharmaceuticals, the field I want to go in, and that I sort of feel I must go in if I ever want to be able to move back to Seattle (which I do.) It’s located near Boston, which is a place I would be really excited about living. It’s also the company’s first time taking on a co-op student, and, as such, I think it will be much more easily tailored to the co-op’s interests.

And if I don’t get offered either? The process of searching continues, but it will be with a LOT more help from co-op and career services. They have a 100% success rate of finding something, as long as the student in question is willing to step outside their comfort zone with respect to technical skills and is also willing to go to any location. I hope it doesn’t come to that, because I really like having things of this sort planned out far in advance. We will see what happens, though.

What else is going on in my life? I’ve become quite a bit more social, and may start playing squash on a weekly basis. More gossip-y, my somewhat recently declared facebook official relationship is going well. The distance is difficult at times, usually when things slow down so you have enough time to think about it, but not unmanageable. For Valentine’s Day, Niko mailed me homemade truffles. Oh. My. God. If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, a way to this girl’s heart is through chocolate. Fucking delicious homemade chocolate. (In case you’re curious, in honor of Valentine’s Day, one of my gift offers was a creative writing piece on the topic of his choosing, and I am to write an elaborate plan cats would use to take over the world.) We are, as you might have guessed, a funny cards couple, which is basically code for freaking awesome.

I hope all is well with you, Riley! Sorry I blathered on so much about co-op… it’s just what’s been on my mind. I am so glad your moving-out went well! And, I’m sorry, but your mom says to tell you you’re a weenie for not writing on the blog… (I still love you J) Good luck on the last couple weeks of the quarter, and on finals, and I can’t wait to see you! (and do our inevitably epic tribute to My Drunk Kitchen.)

Love,

Lola

PS: Joe got the research job he wanted with St. Jude’s, so next summer he will be in Memphis! Also, yes of course we already are planning on going to Dollywood. What sort of fools do you take us for? You should send him a congrats text and a happy almost 21^st birthday text if you get the chance!

A Review of Dublin (Spoiler Alert: It's a Rave)

The thing about travel is that there are some places you’ve always wanted to go, and some places you never want to go, and some places that you wouldn’t pass on going to. For me, Ireland was in the latter category. I assumed it would be very much like England, which I had been to previously and hadn’t found particularly enthralling.

I was dead wrong.

Dublin is a fantastic combination of European charm (i.e. you know the buildings and streets have been around for generations longer than you have) and modern architecture. It is large, but not too large; clean, but not too clean; loud, but not too loud. (I deliberated saying “quiet, but not too quiet,” that’s how perfect it was.) The people will generally keep to themselves, but are incredibly helpful when it is asked of them. The river is both grand and muted in its there-ness. The street signs are written in both English and Gaelic, an occasionally confusing feature but ultimately one that reminds you that you are somewhere else and how proud the people there are of their heritage. Irish people don’t call their language Gaelic, they call it Irish. The pedestrians have stoplights. The cars drive on the left. The impossibly green park is full of ducks, seagulls, little dogs, and calm people. Almost none of the clocks in public places are correct. The coffee is good, the beer is probably better. (I didn’t have much, I’m more of a coffee person, but I did learn that almost anything can be infused with Guinness).

In short, I love Dublin. I want to go back. I could totally see myself living there.

The flight over was on Ireland’s airline, Aer Lingus. The pilot was female. The flight attendants wore a bluey-green which matched the seats and the plane. The food was okay. There was an extensive coffee and tea service. The people clapped after we landed (at the time, I thought this was weird. In hindsight, I like the sentiment.)

The entire trip we lucked out with respect to the weather. We got rained on while outside for like ten minutes the whole trip and it was barely a drizzle. For Ireland in January, I think that is a fantastic success.

As far as tourist attractions go, I saw the Book of Kells, the Chester Beatty Library, Kilkenny Castle, Ailwee Cave, the Cliffs of Moher, and Bunratty Castle (in addition to lots of wandering around the city.) The Book of Kells is a Latin translation of the Bible, and while I am not religious or particularly interested in Latin, the exhibit discussed a lot of the symbolism in the artwork and whatnot. It was interesting, and followed by a room called the Long Room, housing something like 200,000 of Trinity College library’s oldest books in one of the most gorgeous and awe-inspiring rooms I’ve ever been in. The Chester Beatty Library is full of artifacts and photos of Asia, and had a particularly interesting and informative comparative religion exhibit. The castles of Kilkenny and Bunratty were basically nothing alike. Kilkenny Castle was used for greeting kings and entertaining people and the like, so it is grand and has things like Italian marble wake tables and silk wallpaper. Bunratty Castle, on the other hand, is medieval in design and has a much greater focus on defense. In the main room, the Great Hall, there are holes in the walls where men could shoot arrows at visitors who looked like they may attack the Earl. Ailwee Cave is the oldest known cave in Ireland, and in it they found remnants of black bears, which haven’t lived in Ireland for a long long time. Also, there was a stalagmite believed to be about a third of its current size when the pyramids were finished, which was between one and two feet high. My favorite attraction by far, though, was the Cliffs of Moher. The highest cliffs in Europe, they are one of the most breathtaking sights I have ever seen. While an acrophobic’s nightmare, a photographer’s paradise.

Ever have one of those moments where there is so much to say that there is nothing to say? That’s kind of how I feel about this trip. I’m sure I’ll think of more, though, and write again soon. I hope the snow week finds you well and warm.

Cheers!
Lola

PS: Irish people say “cheers” a lot, and I totally love it and might start doing it too.

PPS: Do you know how to add photos on here?

At Least I'm Informative When I Blabber?

I’ve reached the point in the semester now where I’m in the homestretch. Technically, I have only two more weeks of classes as of this very moment, and I could not be more relieved. You reach a point late in the semester where every project and prelim seems to collapse into the same two weeks (and since you’ve been studying so hard for last night’s pchem exam, when you write the word “collapse” all you can think is “collapse of the wavepacket”.) I am right in the middle of those two weeks, but somehow having pchem out of the way makes me feel much further than halfway. Hence, it has been nearly a month, and I have a breather right now, so I am writing.

Also, I realized when I got multiple “I miss you” texts from home on the same day that I have, from the perspective of the west coast, dropped off the face of the Earth. So what has been going on? Oh, so much.

A communal kitchen is kind of like a breeding ground of passive aggressive behavior. Due to my unfortunately keen hearing, I heard a girl bawling her eyes out a couple of weeks ago. I assumed it was a boy issue or something to that effect. However, when I went into the kitchen later I saw a new message on the whiteboard: “To whoever ate my pizza: you are so MEAN. I come home after a really long day and all I wanted to do was enjoy my leftovers. You literally made me cry. PS: who steals someone else’s leftovers?” Here are a few other (admittedly somewhat paraphrased) examples:
-To whoever stole my glass mugs: could you put them back? I’m thirsty L Thanks! –Andrew
-To whoever stole my Chinese food: I hope you DIE from eating all that MSG. (Complete with drawings of flames.)
-WHOEVER’S DISHES THESE ARE PLEASE PUT THEM AWAY. I AM TIRED OF RECLEANING THEM AND YOU ARE MAKING THIS KITCHEN UNUSABLE. PS: FRUIT FLIES ARE GROSS.

Another joy of communal living is the communal bathroom. As a girl, I have had no problems with this (except for the broken toilet seat... but it was crack when we got here and was replaced within an appropriate amount of time), but apparently for the boys it is a different study. Currently Schuyler (my building) is having a design-the-Schuyler-T-shirt challenge. [Last year’s winner was to take the popular “Ithaca is Gorges” and adapt it to “Schuyler is Where?” It was quite successful.] Accordingly there are posters around with pictures of people wearing T-shirts that say YOUR DESIGN HERE. Fed up with his bathroom problems, someone graffiti-ed the poster in the elevator: “Schuyler: We can’t aim our #1s OR #2s”, which promptly received a “got my vote!”, a “mine too!” and a “mine three.”

My most recently completed group project was to model the breakdown of ethanol in a simplified version of the human body. While the model’s iterations are somewhat unrealistic (reaching a steady-state BAC takes over 100 iterations on a one drink per hour basis, and the steady-state assumption can only be made due to constant urination) I have a way of estimating a person’s BAC. A now appropriate conversation would be: “Are you sure you can drive?” “Have Gina run it through the spreadsheet.”
An interesting thing about group projects is how someone almost always ends up the leader, and how that someone almost always ends up being me. I volunteered to make the spreadsheet for this project because I was slow at making spreadsheets and wanted to improve, and suddenly they were calling me “our great leader” [Yeah, like what the North Koreans call Kim Jong Il.] I suppose I don’t mind being the leader, but it’s weird how it always happens that way.

My other group project is to design a new treatment for small-cell lung cancer, which is kind of a crazy thing to ask of people who have never taken above high-school biology. I think our group has come up with a pretty interesting idea, though. Small cell lung cancer cells have an opiate binding site that is not present on normal lung cells. After a 24 hour exposure, methadone will bind to these binding sites irreversibly, and stop tumor growth. Our idea, then, is to take a less addictive isomer of methadone (methadone is the drug they use to wean people off of heroine…), and attach it to an antibody. The methadone will bind to the cancer cells and stop them from growing. Then the antibody will trigger an immune response so that the body will attack the cancer cells. A big potential problem with this is its effects in immuno-compromised patients. Obviously, we won’t actually be making the drug, but it has been really cool researching it and talking to my professor.
The prospect of making treatments for cancer was kind of the reason that I got into engineering and chemical engineering in the first place. About a week into this project, I wasn’t really as interested in it as I thought I would be and was considering shifting my focus to consumer products or something. (I went to an information session for Procter and Gamble, where I learned that deodorant is surprisingly complex chemically, and has a much wider customer base than cancer medications. It’s also less depressing.) Now, though, I feel like my interest in cancer meds is rejuvenated. Having the professor I have, who’s research specialty is cancer and who was willing to talk to my group about this project for a full hour, has allowed me to learn a lot about cancer and how new treatments work that I would never have learned any other way, and I am extremely grateful. I’m going to see about working in his lab next summer.

Speaking of next summer… I just realized that I may not have mentioned here previously my plans for Co-op (and inadvertently the rest of college [a Co-op is like a long internship, lasting a semester and a summer]) and I should probably do that so you don’t get mad at me for never coming home again… So here is what my life looks like for the next… while.

Thanksgiving: visit Joe in NYC
December 14^th: fly home for Christmas, hanging out, learning Java, and applying for Co-ops
January 7^th: fly back to NYC
January 10^th-18^th: Go to Dublin(!) with Orchestra
Spring: Semester in Ithaca
(no idea what’s happening for Spring break)
Summer: Do research and take fall semester classes (most likely not coming home in between… Don’t hate me Riley!)
Fall: Co-op somewhere
Spring: Semester in Ithaca
Summer: Back at Co-op Company
Senior Year in Ithaca

…and then I’m done with college.

So that’s my life in a nutshell… I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving (and birthday. Just ordered your gift!) and that life as a TA continues to be fabulously hectic.

See you in less than a month!

Lola

Time is a Thing of the Past

I feel like so much has happened since I last filled you in on my life. This is partially because it has been over a month (O.O) and partially because I am so freaking busy. Alright, it's not that bad, but sometimes it sure feels like it. Shall we discuss this last week as an example? Yes, of course we shall. I'm the one typing, ergo I have all the control here. (Side note: Shelby requested I stop using the word ergo. What a foolish girl to pass up a perfectly wonderful word.)

Over the course of this week, I have had two exams, proctored another, and then graded midterms for nine hours straight with my fellow TAs. On top of that, the Introductory Programming Laboratory where I help people as a TA has been completely overflowing. Throughout the week there have been 5-6 bat signals, which are only sent out when there is over a 45 minute wait in the IPL. Previous to this week, we've had one cry for help sent out the entire quarter. I am just thankful I get to work in a place that sends out bat signals. Apparently the CS homework this week has students freaking out and confused to the point where they are regressing to levels previously not thought possible. I don't think I've seen more blank stares in my life when asking what I thought was a straightforward question. Usually, "can you bring up the class website?" elicits some sort of action based response, but this week all I get is a deer-in-the-headlights hesitation. The lack of coherent thoughts from all around has made this week last much longer than usual. Are we sure there are only five school days in a week?

Not all of this filled schedule is schoolwork oriented though. I am happy to report that I am no longer a complete social recluse. I have been doing social activities with other semi-normal students and making friends with all the other TAs. My friend-base has easily tripled this quarter and it's weirding me out a little bit to have this much interaction with people. In addition to having somewhat of a social life, I have started my own version of NaNoWriMo again. I don't know if you remember, but last year I wrote a song/poem thing every day in November in an attempt to make myself a better writer. I have decided that this must happen again and already am slightly regretting this decision. Though at least I am not doing actual NaNo and attempting to write a novel. That would result in a magical novel written with invisible ink. Obviously, it would be an amazing book but only those who truly believed could see it. Also, I ignored the pain in my wallet and bought a smartphone recently. Then I proceeded to discover the free games section of the android market. Whoever thought this would be a good idea for a college student should have rethought that hypothesis. Why are games like Angry Birds so darn addictive? I feel like it is at least partially the catchy theme songs.

And I wish I were kidding when I told you that I only really stop to breathe when my ballet teacher reminds me to. Several times in dance class lately, I have only realized that breathing should be a thing I do when my teacher verbally prompts me. I feel a little bit like a walking dumb blonde joke but then I remember that my hair is still a lack-luster brownish color. If I must have the stereotypical blonde symptoms, then I should at least get to have the most fun as well. And bouncy Marilyn Monroe esque hair.

Being this busy does have it's drawbacks though. My immune system must not be functioning on a top notch level because on Wednesday, my sickness level went from zero to sixty in 3.5 hours. Mid-afternoon I was perfectly healthy and by dinner I had a fever and uncontrollable shaking. Of course this was the day before my physics exam, but I'm a super-trooper and I carry on. But I only managed to rouse myself after sleeping for over twelve hours straight.

Also, apparently what goes around does indeed come around. My silence on here and to my friends in other mediums has manifested into actual silence. My voice has left me and seems like it never wants to come back. You know how much I talk, hum, sing, make strange noises, etc. This forced vow of silence is slowly eating away at my will to live. Right now I've got the few poorly recorded random tracks on my computer of me singing on repeat, just to reassure myself that I haven't always sounded like a 50 year old chain smoker. At least, that is what I sound like when a comprehensible noise manages to come out of my throat.

Hopefully I'll be back to normal in no time. After all, another week is about to start. That means classes, physics labs, helping poor lost CS students and of course gospel choir. How am I supposed to belt about Jesus when I sound like a person with a bag of gravel where their voice box is supposed to be? Well, maybe my teacher will mistake crazed with passionate. They aren't that far off, right? We're just lucky this is a blog and not a podcast; I don't think you would appreciate the guest appearance of the least talented tibetan throat singer.

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the fall weather before winter fully takes hold!

Much love,
Riley