Day 966: 1/11/11 1:11 PM

Okay, I'm not going to lie. This post has zero relevance to anything important. I just like all the continuity of the ones. 11111111. It's like bit-code. OR. As my friend just helped me realize, super singles day. I think he meant it in the sense that if you are single, revel in it.

Meh. Pass. I take today to mean it is single dollar bills day. I love singles. Send 'em my way if you've got 'em!

Day 964: The end of the second beginning.

I received a rejection (my second!) from UCLA yesterday. When I saw the letter in the pile of mail, I thought, well, finally. Took you long enough. Good thing I wasn't holding my breath for an interview/good news. I have become much more zen and what-will-be-will-be about this year. It certainly helps I have already been accepted to medical school, so a lot of the pressure is off. And honestly, I have grown into the idea of becoming a midwesterner. I have two friends from the area--both of whom have been more than willing to introduce me to their friends still in the area, give me tips on where to live and where to hang out and where to explore, and have both just been real superstars about getting me settled into the town before I move out there.

So, to the remaining rejections I have yet to receive, bring them on. I'm ready for this application cycle to be over and for the next phase of my medical career to begin.

Day 961: Here's to 2011!

Bonne année! Feliz año nuevo! 新年快樂! Happy new year! ...and that is all the languages I know.

I want to tell you a story. I went out and had a big fun night for New Year's Eve. Friends from out of town came in to town and we went to a soiree in San Francisco and had a jolly good time. ...except when I lost my purse. Which held my ID and my camera. I became a madwoman, leaving my friends randomly to search for my purse on the crowded dance floor. I talked to three different security guards and they all told me the same thing, come back tomorrow morning to see if we found it.

I did as they told me and guess what? They found it! I spoke with an employee in the hotel lobby and when I told her I lost my purse but they found it, she said, "this is your year! It's a good start!" And it really was. I don't want to say this is my year, so much as well, it is my year.

I was born in the year of the rabbit and 2011 is the year of the rabbit. I have been so, so lucky to get into more than one medical school and I have family and friends who love and support me and I just feel so grateful. I don't know if this is my year, but I'm going to make it a memorable one.

Day 952: Spreading belated holiday cheer

I really have enjoyed how random my year has been. With ups (med school goodness! No more metal mouth!) and downs (careening off my bicycle...twice, metal mouth for a majority of the year, prepping for med school reapplication insanity) to fill it up, I must say, the year has been pretty all right.

I have received holiday cards from an odd compilation of people, and I feel it illustrates how perfectly random my life is. A couple of cards are from friends and a couple are from random eBay people that I've bought things from. I find that the holidays brings about a fair share of sorrow and joy and apparently causes everyone humanly possible to get engaged.

Day 945: More gratitude.

Upon further reflection, aside from you all, I'm not really thankful for very much. Haha.

I mean aside from the amazing life I've been given, the incalculable amount of opportunities I have been afforded and the sheer matter-of-fact that I am alive and as well as I can be, what else is there to be thankful for?

Day 938: Winding down

As we draw closer to December 20th (the day the university closes for winter break), the workload seems to be slowing down. Granted, my workload is always slow, but that's besides the point.

This post is going to be more about the pros of my labwork (than the cons of the previous post). I have learned to do cool things, like perform surgery on rats, find arteries in said rats, and suture those babies up. I am supposedly a co-author on more than one publication (who knows if this will happen until the paper has been a) accepted and b) comes out). My mandarin has 进步-ed (improved; like my Chinglish there?) leaps and bounds.

With every con, there is hopefully a pro to offset it. If my boss wasn't such a box of tools (or, as my handy dandy online dictionary has translated another pleasant word for him here), I think my time here would be full of pros. But. Idiocy, douche-baggery and plain-ol'-偏見 are difficult to overlook.

Day 934: I wish politics wasn't a part of everyday life.

I also wish this blog wasn't so "public." You know those stories you hear, about some idiot posting critical and/or secret things about their place of work and then someone eventually finding out and said-idiot gets fired? Well, I think I'm about to be that idiot.

I, of course, can't go into details. However, let it be known, that I wish my lab wasn't the "dumb kid" of the class. Everyone tolerates us and I hate being a part of this lab because I am automatically associated with this idiocy. When, in reality, I am nowhere in the realm of this ridiculousness.

I know this all sounds very vague so here is all you need to take away:

1. I am the only person who speaks English fluently in my lab
2. The surrounding labs try to minimize contact with our lab because we're sincerely not-the-most-fluent-English-speakers-nor-the-brightest-bulbs of the bunch
3. Despite being very grateful for the opportunity to work/intern at this lab and put it on my application and/or resume, and despite how much I adore 40% of the lab, it is quite evident that this is not how science is done. As a result, I am saddened and a bit embarrassed to be associated with them.