Bang!

I really need to stop listening to Motorhead and start doing biochem. Also, I need to figure out how to type an umlaut.

This week, I sent letters to SUNY Upstate and SUNY Downstate rejecting their admission offers. It's a strange feeling to take something that you've worked so hard for and then just throw it away by checking a box once that thing is actually offered up to you. Yes, I suppose it's a good position to be in to have the luxury of picking and choosing. Still, it feels kind of odd. This probably relates to my surprise and happiness that University of Rochester wanted me. Still kind of a little bit in disbelief after that. I am glad they sent me an email because I had to check it approximately 400 times. The dialog went something like this.
"Yay, they accepted me!"
"Did they really? What if I misread the letter?"
"Nope, the letter says they did."
"Wait, are you sure it didn't say Congratulations, you have not been offered a place in our incoming class?"
"Shut up brain! You're dumb. But let me check to make sure."

SUNY Upstate just gave me a telephone call at first without any physical confirmation, so I was in agony about whether they had actually accepted me, or if they just called me up to give me a really congratulatory rejection notice.

Also, this is my last December in Oberlin. Sigh, the real world. I'm going to have to stop swearing all the time.

Ok, time for me to go work on stuff for finals. Blah.

I got back to Oberlin today after visiting my Grandmother in Michigan. While I was putting my clothes away, I thought I heard a meow coming from somewhere nearby. Thinking that the little black and white cat that sometimes comes and hangs around the house was back, I opened up the front door and looked around. However, no one was there, so I closed the door and went back to unpacking. A little while later, I was sitting on my bed and studying for the biochem exam that I have this week, when I heard another meow. This time, it was accompanied by a pastel calico cat walking into my room. No one else was home, so I had no idea how long this cat had been inside or how it got into the house in the first place.

I think that the cat must have ran inside the house when I either brought my luggage in, or when I opened the door to check where the meowing was coming from. Luckily, all the bedroom doors had been closed and there didn't seem to be any messes or cat damage anywhere. Also, the cat looked very healthy and didn't seem thirsty or ematiated, so it couldn't have been in the house for too long. We hung out for quite a while, and then I gave it a little bit of food (probably a mistake) after putting it outside. I felt bad about having to put it back out into the cold, but in addition to the village housing regulations, the cat seemed to have a predilection for sitting on the countertops and refusing to get down. I hope that it has a home somewhere (it wasn't wearing a collar) because it was such a sweet cat. All it wanted to do was to be petted and sit on top of the clean dishes (the first part I'm ok with, the second part not so much). I am still really confused as to where it came from and how long it was inside. That dang cat is a pastel ninja.

In other news, while practicing trombone last week, I noticed that someone had left an empty bottle of Wild Irish Rose in the practice room.

In other, other news, I've been accepted to SUNY Upstate and University of Rochester for medical school. (Many of you have already heard about this, but I thought I might as well repeat it for those people who weren't there when I was shouting it from the rooftops). U of R was my first choice, so it looks like the Oberlin Dynasty at Rochester will continue. I'm so glad that the application process is over for me. It's a huge relief to know that I have someplace to go next year.

I now can log on to the macs on campus just fine. I don't know why I was having so many problems with them before. I hope that there actually was something going on and I'm not just really bad at typing. 

Thanks to everyone who came to the trombone choir concert! I hope that you all enjoyed it. It's always nice when there are more people in the audience than there are on stage. :P

On the stand that I used today, someone had altered "Manhasset" to read "woMan|has|set|a|bad|example."

Today I had my interview with the committee that will be writing my recommendation letter. I got a lot of compliments all morning about how I looked, which was a bit of a confidence booster. I think that it was a good decision not to wear a white collared shirt underneath my suit, because the combination of that type of shirt, my navy suit, and navy pumps makes me look a bit like a stewardess. Instead, I wore a lilac shirt and my pearls, which I think made the whole appearance a little less severe.

Questions that I didn't like:
"Tell me about an ethical dilemma that you have faced."
"What questions do you wish we would have asked or did you think we were going to ask?"

Overall, I think that the interview went pretty well. We talked a lot about trombone playing and why I had chosen certain schools to apply to. One of the interviewers asked me about how I had gotten into auto mechanics. They also asked me about research experience, and why I had decided to choose medicine. At the end, they told me that even if I thought one of my weaknesses was being shy, I came across as very professional and well spoken. They also said that I seemed like a very thoughtful person. So, we will see. They didn't refuse to write me a letter, and they seemed to have nice things to say.

However, I do think that I might go to career services and do a practice interview before I go to any med schools because I have to make sure and curb my tendency to ramble.

So I found out I'm playing in a concert this weekend with my quartet. The Brass Bash will be at 4:30 on Sunday in Warner and will feature several small brass ensembles. It should be a lot of fun. I just wish I had remembered about it before being reminded today. Oh well! By the way, I will come to marching band this Sunday, but I may try to save my chops a bit.

You Are a Cashew

You are laid back, friendly, and easy going. Compared to most people, you have a very mild temperament. You blend in well. You're often the last person to get noticed. But whenever you're gone, people seem to notice right away!

When I was practicing earlier, I noticed that someone had changed the logo on the stand from saying "Manhasset" to saying "Man|has|set|his|ass|on|fire." I guess that shows what spending six hours in a practice room will do to your sense of humor.

Tonight, Susana and I realized something. Looking up profanity in the Oxford English Dictionary is very fun.

I think my personal favorite quote was one from 1535:
"Ay fukkand lyke ane furious Fornicatour."

The entry also uses quotes from such classics as "Gentleman Pimp" and "Fifteen Plagues of Maidenhood."

Thanks to Shannon for the quiz.

Now I really want to listen to Quadrophenia by The Who.

Tonight, I made pasta alla puttanesca for dinner. Apparently, the name of this dish translates to "Whore's pasta." Maybe this is because it is quick and easy. I left out the anchovies because I don't like them, but other than that I stuck pretty closely with most recipes. It took me a bit longer to make than usual, as only two burners on the stove were working (curse you East!) but I only spent about 20 minutes on the sauce itself. If you have a garlic press, it goes a lot quicker.

Pour a few tablespoons of olive oil into a pan. Add two cloves of finely minced garlic to hot oil. At this point, crushed red pepper is also a good thing to throw in.

Add chopped tomatoes (I cut up whole stewed ones, as they are out of season and all the ones at the IGA looked gross). After some of the liquid from the tomatoes has boiled away, add pitted and chopped Greek olives and some capers. Cook this for a bit.

At this point, the sauce is technically done; however, I decided to add some simple tomato and basil spaghetti sauce to the mixture and let it absorb the flavors. This sauce has a lot of intense flavor and adding some tomato sauce makes it a bit more mild mannered. After cooking long enough to heat up the tomato sauce, mix with your pasta of choice. I used rotini. Put on lots of parmesan, and you're done!

With a working stove and a garlic press, this recipe takes no time at all to make. The only ingredients that may be a bit hard to find are the Greek olives and the capers (and anchovies if you're into that). I really enjoy this recipe. It has a lot of very strong flavors and may not be for everyone, but it has a funny name and is easy to make.

Day 1 seemed to go well. I functionalized my sensor with protein G and finished seasoning it, so I'll be able to start running assays for real by tomorrow. I also got in a bit of trombone playing. However, this was partially motivated by the unfortunate fact that the room is freezing right now, so going to the conservatory allowed me to thaw out.

Honestly, I was not especially thrilled to come back here. Break was so nice. I went to a couple of hockey games (both of which the Sabres lost), hung out with friends, and spent tons of time hanging around Adam's place. He traded in all of his Xbox games and got Rock Band, which is so much fun. I am determined to master the drum set.

The winter classic was amazing. Adam even got interviewed. Even though the Sabres lost in shootout, it was still worth it. The NHL even got the finish that they were probably hoping for, with Sidney Crosby scoring the final goal (since they had been building him up in all the pre-game shows, comparing him to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux). Still, it was a really enjoyable experience, and probably something that won't happen again for a long time (if ever). Still, after the popularity that this game got, maybe the NHL will consider holding more outdoor hockey games.

...but I think I can still smell the scent of onion. I might be imagining it. On the other hand, there was a lot of onion that needed grating.

Still, those were some super delicious latkes.

Today in physics, we talked about special relativity. When we got to the section on how moving rods are shorter, all I could think about was "The Joy of Sexual Physics: Sex at the Speed of Light."

Chris, as you introduced me to this site, I blame you for my inappropriate giggling during lecture. 

So I found out that Oberlin has a subscription to the Naxos Music Library, which lets you listen to streaming audio of tons of classical music. Hooray!

On a side note, I listened to an amazing recording of Till Eulenspeigel and Heldenleiben today (Cleveland Orchestra 1992, conducted by Dohnanyi).

Which Dyke to Watch Out For Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Lois You are Lois, the ladykiller who's mellowed into an awesome, loyal girlfriend. Give yourself permission to read the newest Harry Potter at Camp Trans. Lois 80% Toni 70% Sydney 65% Clarice 65% Mo 55% Sparrow 40% Stuart 40%

Glee! I love Lois. I don't think I'm much of a ladykiller, but I do look damn sexy in a black leather jacket.

During the biology lecture this morning, the professor pulled up one of the chalk boards only to discover that someone had decorated the board over the weekend. Pictured on the board was a large drawing of a man and a woman in passionate embrace, with a conversation between them as follows:
Woman: We really shouldn't...
Man: But Julia, no one is in the science center on a Friday night!
Woman: Oooh Richard!!! (with lots of hearts)
Next to the drawing was a large caption that read, "The Oberlin Science Center: where all the best dates end." Needless to say, the lecture was thrown a bit off track by that.

I keep missing things on my damn extra credit quizzes for bio. I know they are only extra credit, but I feel like I should be able to do them and not make mistakes, especially since our first exam is on Wednesday. Which is also the same day as the first physics exam. And we have marching band all weekend. And I'm getting sick.

Yeah, I'm totally screwed.

I got accepted to do research in the Whelan lab this semester. I've been doing a lot of reading on SPR, and it seems like a pretty interesting technique, especially in that it can directly monitor binding in real time. I'm so excited that I get to work on her project! Another interesting chemistry thing is that Robert Kennedy from U of M is visiting next week. I've read several papers that he's written about the in vivo study of neurotransmitters, so I am really looking forward to hearing him talk.

I have a feeling this semester is going to be busy but interesting. I'm really starting to enjoy Physics a lot (I just need to remember how to do basic calculus). Because we don't have a regular class on Fridays, the professor holds a session in which he talks about whatever he happens to think is cool. This past week, the topic was antimatter. It's pretty amazing how Dirac argued that having positive and negative solutions to his equation was correct even if it made no physical sense, and then only a couple years later the positron was found experimentally. I'll bet he felt pretty vindicated.

http://www.thebricktestament.com/