cold summer days

coldest summer ever. i've never been so cold before - the winds, the need to always wear a sweater in the middle of July, etc...

My life is so hectic right now, but who's to blame? I planned it this way and, in an odd sense, I actually like everything going on right now. Finals are in two weeks and then I'm back in LA. Home sweet home. I've been helping one of my favorite professors teach her lab class - I'm the undergrad ta - and it's really fun to see all the underclassmen. They remind me of myself and how much I didn't really know about anything. They also do the weirdest crap that I never had the guts to do - like feed gum to the hydra or cut off half the earthworm. I've spent the last two weeks teaching about the sheep pluck (heart, lungs, trachea, liver, gall bladder), cutting up rats for dissection and the practice exam, cutting up worms, looking at leeches being fed, memorizing where the sea slugs and featherdusters are hiding in the marine tank. I also proctored a lab exam! SO COOL to be on the other side of the room calling time and making sure they don't cheat and then sorting their tests. Bubble in your ID numbers correctly! I can't believe people had trouble with that!

I also had to write my lab report and study for midterms while ta-ing so I was super stressed. I pulled an allnighter (OMG - I haven't done that in forever!) to write my report that I turned in a WEEK EARLY! (my ta pushed the deadline back a week) but I'm glad I don't have to deal with it anymore. I was becoming so nerdy. I read like a million papers on SNARE proteins to the point that I would recognize the author's name and be like "oooh that must be a good paper! i have to read that !" But I like the fact that I can read these papers and understand what's going on - it makes me know that my education was worth all the money and years of work.

And... because of all the information from all these science classes, I've developed a fear of marrying someone who is a carrier for some horrible disease or has a latent form of an STD. It's really sad to see babies born with a defect when a lot of it could've been prevented. Testing people! Genetic tests and blood tests! I've also developed a fondness for microbes - those critters are pretty cool - most of them are harmless. Also, Purell hand sanitizers say that they kill 99.99% of germs - but if you put that into an equation - it's about 10^2 germs. If you had 10^6 germs on your hands, you would still have 10^4 germs left. :) Also, you would want to kill pathogens and not the friendly normal flora that helps protect our body.

OMG. a summer of science. but this is what my life will end up revolving around, so I guess I should prepare for the grind of it now.

p.s. I don't like writing bibliographies - thank god for RefWorks.

p.s.s. I've lived in Berkeley for a long time when a homeless bum walking past me screams "you're walking alone. we should shove a 16 inch glass penis into you. hahaha" and it doesn't phase me at all. I've been screamed at some many times by some many crazy people.

p.s.s.s. miss you and good luck on finals! :)