There are many days, like today as I sit, frusterated and at a loss of what to do, about my career choices. I've been studying for the MCAT for 2.5 months now. And some how it doesn't seem like Im making ANY progress. I'm still not scoring high on my practice tests and áfter just finishing another test and not doing well (and with 3 weeks until the real thing) I'm debating if:
a) it's worth me continuing down this path. If I cannot do well on this standardized test, how am I EVER going to make it in med school?
b) I should try anyway on May 11th and waste the 200 something dollars it took to register
c) try to find a seat somewhere in Ontario (cause there are no seats available in Montreal any more) for a later date to give myself some more time to study.
d) I should once and for all go and yell at the banjo playing floor stomping guy who lives upstairs and drives me crazy on a regular basis.
e) just apply to schools that don't need the MCAT.

Perhaps I'll just be happier being a waitress...

So it was reading week this past week. Like it really showed? It was nice not to have any class, so no running off all the time or having to finish by a certain time to make it to class. However it did mean that I was in the lab till all hours of the night this week, trying to get stuff done. It was Westerns, so it was a lot of incubations and stuff, but when you only have one gel running rig and one transfer rig, it means you have to time it well when you have 4 gels to run. So the incubations weren't always time off. Alas, it's done and I think my part for the grant is finished. Though I don't know if it shows what my boss wants to see, which is too bad, cause perhaps in the end it might be left out...and that'd be a bummer. Oh well, I'm sure this paper will make a good one (as and abstract written on it was accepted for a presentation). So I'll be happy to have my name on it.

So now it's time to catch up on all the work I should have been doing all week. HURRAH! Things are going well though. I'm trying to stay on top of things (but that never seems to happen in my life, so you know, on top as I can be). Anyway I think that's about it. Love to all

It's an interesting phenomenon in the life of couples, that no argument really feels complete until make-up sex has been achieved. It's like the reset button.
TMI? Sorry

Not going to lie, facebook has taken over from LJ for me. And though most of you are connected to me through facebook, you should know what's going on in my life...alas...since I am skipping the morning from the lab to finish a take home quiz (which is now finished...THANK GOODNESS) and have time, I thought I would post something small.

Life is busy. Grant deadline is coming up in March and my side-side-project is the subject of this grant proposal. This means that boss is hounding for data and results and results in countless hours in the lab. It's interesting though...I've gotten away from working with RNA and into working with proteins (westerns to be exact). This switch however gives the greivance of optimizing protocols and such on my own, which I despise. Hopefully things will go well and we'll have some good results...though I hear that funding is short these days and hence, doubt that we'll actually get the grant.

I'm also taking a class at the moment (last one for this degree!!!) which I thought was going to be easy (no final, and just a bunch of presentations). However, our prof has made it slightly more difficult by insisting that we come up with 3 questions for ever presentation and submit them to him before class, thus ensuring that we have read the papers (2 per class, class 3 times per week is a lot of papers!!!) and are not just spectators. He's a great guy though and it makes it difficult to hate him.

I'm also taking an MCAT prep class (which as of late has gotten a lot of negelect) and is proving to require more time that I originally was going to allocate it. It's interesting though, and forces me to review all the time.

And so on top of that, trying to keep some semblance of a social life and working around the fact that we only have one computer at home (hopefully soon we'll hear from insurance and hopefully we'll be able to get another) I'm quite busy.

Andrea, Scott and I have a competition, best abs by March (though we may have changed it to May, I can't remember). I'm HIGHLY lacking in that department ie haven't started exercising, which is a problem cause Andrea got a gym membership and works out every day. I'm going to lose terribly. In my defence, the pool has been closed due to the presence of fecal matter....

And that's my life...in a nutshell...at the moment

I am all of a sudden allergic to 2 pairs of my pants. 1 is new...I blame it for starting this fiasco. 1 is relatively old...and I'm sad that it now thinks that I should be allergic to it. But crazy rashes that itch are not worth the comfort that those pants bring...and I tried washing them....alas...nothing.

BOO

I hope everyone had an excellent christmas and that Santa was good to you all (bow down, bow down, before the power of Santa. Or be crushed, be crushed, by his jolly boots of doom). I think that the most hilarious gift of the day is Owen's Guitar Hero 2 for Play station. You get a guitar which has buttons on the fret and then you have a strum button and you have to follow along on the screen and put the right fret button and the strum button at the same time. It's HILARIOUS and we've been playing ALL day!

On a bonus, even though Scott and I asked for similar DVDs, we didn't get any the same!!! Also, interesting this year that a lot of my presents were addressed to both Scott and I...I opened them anyway, or I would have only had like 6 presents. Interesting stage of life....coupled mugs and beer steins. fun fun!

Anyway merry christmas to you and yours! Back to electronic PS2 guitar :)

For all you who took population genetics with me and was in the same seminar section. Do you remember our Charlie Brown TA Jason?

So I am invigilating this set of exams and the first day I saw this guy. I was like...he looks SO familiar...but I couldn't place him right away. The next day he was there again and I heard him talking to someone and thought...I KNOW that voice! It sounds SO familiar! Today when I went he was not with his usual group of friends, so I asked him if he was at all connected with the University of Guelph. And he was like "yeah, I didn't my masters there". So I asked him if he TAed population genetics and he was like I sure did. And he said that I had looked familiar, but he didn't know where from either! It was him! I think I made him feel a bit old and very far into his PhD...cause he was our TA like what 4 years ago? :D And he couldn't believe that much time had already passed!

Anyway, that was the Guelph connection today. There have been others. I see this girl on the bus all the time who I think was the Peer Helper Coordinator before Emily took it over. She sometimes has a U of G travel mug. I'm pretty sure it's her.

Anyway, that's my thought of the day.

I was motivated. I was motivated when studying for my final cause I felt the pinch. Now that it's over, I don't feel motivated any more, though I still need to be. Ah well...we'll see how it goes.

Yesterday I went to a baby shower. It made me feel old...and young at the same time. There were 2 people there who had 1 year olds. And then a 5.5 week old baby (SO CUTE...I WANT ONE! But perhaps not right now...but they're so cute!). There weren't any silly games, as the baby was already there so no need to guess it's gender or when it would come. The mothers talked about baby things. And then the lab kids just sat and played with the baby. She was so cute.

Then I went to David's for a paella party. Which was a lot of fun...we ate and drank and made 4 paellas....TOO much food!!! But it was awesome and I love hanging out with those guys...and Gloria is pregnant! Again...lots of babies in my life at the moment.

This is random. Again such is my mood....

I'm studying...and while I study the guy who lives upstairs plays the banjo...plays the banjo and stomps the floor to keep time...slowly driving me crazy. I'm trying to get a lot of work done at the lab...abstracts for the world asthma meeting are due the 3rd of January (if I get a first author poster, I can apply for travel grants, thus making my trip to turkey less of an expense for me!...and so I work to get the data for this abstract). I'm organizing (as vice president internal) the christmas party...it's on Wednesday. I have signed up to invigilate exams...it's a big time commitment...one that I didn't really realize when I signed up to do this 2 months ago.

I'm busy....and yet, I don't really feel like doing any of it!

I find it amusing that it makes Quebec happy to just be known that it is a nation within a unitied country. What benefit does it make to be a nation?

I have a hard time talking to separatists. I don't understand how they think they're going to be able to drink out of both fountains. What makes them think that even if they separate they're still going to be able to keep their government jobs with the federal government? That we will help them pay for stuff? I don't understand. I don't understand why they feel they are SO different from the rest of Canada. And when they explain, the confusion doesn't get any better. It's like a little brother begging to come along to the movies with you and then when you FINALLY let them, expecting that you'll pay for their ticket and will hang out with them instead of your own friends.

I commend Steven Harper for fixing up his french. It was terrible before, but ít's awesome now. Maybe not Quebec french...but Quebec french IS a little dirty :) I find it funny that now that a Liberal leader is almost chosen (GO STEPHANE DION!!!) that Harper is pulling out all the big guns and doing stuff that matters (though not really on the environment front, which makes me mad. Doesn't anyone else see that this will be our biggest asset in the future?).

I might not really like the ideals that Steven Harper stands for, but for the past few weeks, he's been doing a good job.