Snowflakes hurt

Snowflakes hurt....especially when they're gusting into you face at 24mph! But I'm not complaining. I'm glad that we are finally having a real blizzard. Too bad that it's gonna be ruined by tomorrow's entire day of rain.

The view from my room:


And for Succeeding Martha, here is the plant I took in for Adopt-A-Plant Month. =)
It's actually grown quite a bit since I took it in from my friend. (It's a begonia...and yes, I give it special plant food everytime I water it.)


Happy weekend!

Work

Bleh...yesterday I was so bored at work. I had things to do but I had no urge to do any of it. I need a new stimulating job. It's really too bad that I plan to stay her another 5 freakin months! I hope they go by quickly. All for the sake of getting a good rec letter.

Well, this hasn't been a total waste of time. By working at this job:

1. I'm gonna get my first paper published ever! Let alone, be first author! *keep your fingers crossed, that it gets accepted to the journal* I might even have a second one coming out, as well as be second author on my co-worker's paper.
2. I've learned how to deal with a difficult boss. Unfortunately, mine is so difficult that it took me a whole year to really know how to work with her.
3. I've learned a lot about the Chinese culture and the joys of motherhood through my co-worker. She has really become my closest friend in Boston (after Carlos of course). Although I don't like the pressure she gives me about having a baby sooner than later. I don't have the money or the maturity to support a child!
4. I get a cake for my birthday and I get to indulge in my co-workers' birthday cakes too.
5. I've learned that research is only fun when I get to think of my projects and develop them myself.
6. Research is only fun when you have enough funds to do it.
7. I've gotten over some fears, i.e. holding big-arse bullfrogs and rats.
8. I've learned that guinea pigs are so cute! (Why do we have to use them in experiments?)
9. Learned completely new (to me, but ancient) techniques.
10. Got to work with summer students - totally fun and exhausting

I guess that's all I can say about my past year and a seven months of working in this lab. Not too bad.

Anyway, I totally need a new job. I don't want to do research anymore, but it's the only thing I know how to do. If I apply for any other job, they require experience and crap that I don't have. Job searching is gonna be fun (in a uber-sarcastic voice). I hope that in my next job, I'll be able to talk to people outside of my co-workers, and make a positive influence on others' lives.

Now, where do I look? Let the hunt begin!...in June. =)

The MCAT...once again

Man, I can't believe that I really have to take the freakin MCAT again. During the past month, I hoped and prayed that I would get an interview from just one school. But it's already March. I've been rejected by half of my schools and I'm sure the rest of the small envelopes will come rolling in within the next couple weeks.

Oh well. I can't say it was a good experience, but it was certainly an experience. A grueling, time consuming, frustrating, heart breaking one. The sad thing is that I should have known better. I should have turned in my application earlier. It's my own stupid lazy fault. And here I am paying for it.

Anyway, what's done is done and next time I'm gonna be much more aggressive. I'm taking that damn MCAT again, own that bitch, apply in mid June with my kick ass scores, turn in all my secondaries by the end of June or early July, and then attend all the medical conferences I can. The adcoms of the schools I'm applying to WILL KNOW MY NAME, love me, invite me for a lovely interview, and ACCEPT ME. =)

IF worse comes to worse, and this plan doesn't work out, I'm applying to the Carribeans too. I'm going to be a physician and no one, including my pride will stand in the way.

It's growing!

The boy at week 2:


His gansta look.


Me at week two:

I need a hair cut.

And I want it to look like this:

I can't wait until spring!

*Edit* Lol...Carlos just saw this picture and is not looking foward to my haricut at all. It's just that my hair is soooo boring! And soo damaged from winter that it looks like crap. I tie my hair up everyday to no avail. Darn you East Coast weather! Darn you! If my hair were smooth like it was in LA, I might keep it long, but I'd at least get bangs. Haircut! Haircut! =) What do you think about the hair? (Is it safe for interviews?...Cuz you know I'm gonna get flooded with invitations. *keep your fingers crossed!*)

What did you say? Huh?

Today I went to the Ears Nose and Throat (ENT) department to clean out my ears because I thought I had horrible hearing. My ex-boyfriend always teased me for not hearing a thing he said and always told me to clean my ears. I had a crush from high school whom I couldn't understand either. And now, my current boyfriend always complains that I'm deaf.

With all of these accusations, I began to seriously wonder about my state of hearing. So I made an appointment with an ear wax removal technician. The moment the technician looked in my ear, I braced myself for the bad news and his disgust. I waited for him to pull out a huge chunk of crap and for sound to flood into my ears. Instead he found nothing in my right ear. So I thought there had to be something in my left ear. Nope, nothing there either. I was so puzzled and somewhat disappointed. I came here to get some ear wax out, and you're telling me I don't have any?! I know, I should totally be happy that my ears are perfectly clean, but then why can't I hear my boyfriend clearly? I needed an explanation. So the tech refered me to a physician so that I could take a hearing test.

Five minutes later, I was sitting a closed room with head phones repeating words after the physician and clicking buttons for each sound I heard. I sat petrified waiting for my results. The physician came in with a smile and said my hearing was perfectly fine. I had 0DB...which is totally normal. If you have anything higher than 0DB, you have hearing problems.

If I have good hearing, then my ex and crush totally had mumbling problems. As for my current boyfriend, he's just gotta stop talking to me from another room when I'm washing dishes or showering.

Testing...1, 2...testing

I'm testing out this slide show thing that I found on Jeannie's website. It looks so cool on hers and I hope that it works on mine. While I'm trying this out, I'll tell a quick story. =)

Because it was Carlos' PI's birthday, he bought out a whole section of seats to a Harvard vs. Colgate (some school in CT) hockey game for his entire lab including their guests. At first I was debating on whether I should have brought a book to read because on TV it looks so boring. Then I thought better of it because I figured it would be kind of rude. Turns out that hockey is an AWESOME game to watch! It's so agressive yet graceful at the same time. Who knew? Harvard totally kicked Colgates butt! Go Crimson!



And here is the card I made for his boss before it got signed by all of Carlos' lab mates.



Btw, the dizzy insect is a fly. (Carlos works in a fly lab. Teehee.)

*Edit* Ok...what the heck...why are the pictures aligned to the right? It looked fine on the preview. =T If you have any ideas on how to fix it, let me know.

**Edit** I tried it on xanga. And it seems to work much better there. Hrmph!

New things and new beings!

I adopted two betta fish! Nigiri and Big Fin. It's really funny how they totally have opposite personalities. Nigiri is pretty calm, very much a lover and not a fighter. (This, I know for a fact because he was make a bubble nest for his future fries (baby bettas...I know weird name.) Big Fin is kind of a bully. The moment he sees any colorful fin, he'll flare his gills and fins like no other. Nigiri also loves to eat! He's not very picky, but Big Fin prefers pellets to blood worms. =P Since I bought them, I've been doing quite a bit of reading and found out that bettas prefer to live in large tanks, NOT little vases. Small vases can cause stress and a shorter life span for the poor betta. Secondly, they're tropical fish. I already knew this but for some reason I never made the connection that they need to be in warm water (70-80F), and vases cannot maintain the steady warm temperature they need. Thirdly, I've seen their mating ritual and once I get more free time, I'm gonna buy Nigiri a girlfriend so they have fries! =)

This is Big Fin.Nigiri (not as photogenic) And their lovely large and warm home.
New thing! After reading an article of how nylon and cotton shower curtains are more eco-friendly compared to vinyl curtains, I went out to Linen and Things and bought one. =) Tada!
One more thing. Since Carlos started preparing for this PQE, he has decided keep track of his facial hair growth.

Week one:

We'll see how this turns out. =P