Oh, the Beltway

I had heard about beltway traffic being intense. Hours driving, etc. So, I figured leaving 2 hours early would be plenty of time to drop off my rental car at DCA and ride the metro back to the Medical Center stop that NIH is on. False.

Leaving at 7am was not enough, and it was 8:50am before I even got to DCA to drop off my car. It was 9am – the time I had originally planned to start) when I reached the metro. And it was 9:40am before I went through security and was into the NIH. And 10:00 am when I walked through the door and saw Katie (the IRTA trainee who is training me and I am taking over for) and my Principle Investigator (the big guy) talking at her bench. They completely understood, but nonetheless, a great way to start the first day (First Day, Take 2 after yesterday)… even if my first day is technically manana.

…wait, today? Like right now?

Today (July 1st) marks my first day of my full time job/fellowship at the  National Cancer Institute of the  National Institutes of Health.

However, being that: 1) I’m me.  2) that I have limited time with the person who is training me, and whose project I am taking over and 3)that I am determined to get a great letter of recommendation out of this experience, I volunteered to start early – on Monday actually. However, because of the fact that I am technically not employed until Wednesday, there was a chance of this not being legal in the strictest sense. So, I e-mailed my principle investigator (PI) with my early start request, he was happy, and said if we could make it work I could come in. While I had been exchanging e-mails with Katie (the current IRTA Fellow I am replacing) I had not heard back from my PI, and figured that I couldn’t start until the 1st.

So, I spent Monday hanging out with my cousins in the city, when at 2:53pm my phone rang with a number preceded by the 301 (Bethesda) area code. I do not really know anyone here – and the people I do were sitting right in front of me, so I knew instantly knew it was the lab. And guess what!? Katie had been expecting me on Monday, and at first figured I was just coming in late due to the whole move thing. But, when the afternoon rolled along, she decided to give me a ring. My stomach sank instantly – I had volunteered to be there early in order to make a good first impression, and instead had failed to show up. FML.

*Okay, that was a dramatic end. But, the real conclusion of the story is that my PI and Katie completely understood the miscommunication, since I was waiting on 3 people to even find out if I could even be there, and I was never explicitly told I could. Thank God for that. While they gave me the option to start on the 1st, with no problem, I jumped and said I would be in the next morning. wow.

I’m baaaack

Hola Coca Cola’s!

The last month (well, just over a month) has been a whirlwind. I:

• Finished my Honors Thesis (good times).    May 6th
• Graduated from the UA.   May14th & May 16th.
• Crammed for my MCATS for four days.     May 17th – 20th.
• Took my MCATS. May 22nd
• Had the typical and amazing Mexican graduation party with my family and some of my friends.    May 23rd.
• Mostly moved out of my apartment in Tucson.     May 26th & 27th.
• Left on vacation to Costa Rica for two weeks (a.ma.zing).    June 2nd-17th.
• Bought my ticket to DC.    June 17th.

Along with saying goodbye to friends and family. And now I am tackling sorting through my stuff to figure out what I am taking to Bethesda, MD for my internship at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health… 2 words describe what that feels like right now: Cluster Fuck. Over the next week or so, I plan on filling you all in on the details of those events, and whatever pops up. Adios for now. :)

real

When I first started this post, the opening line was:

Things get real when you start packing and selling your stuff.

But that was before people started leaving. Before we started saying our goodbyes.

When I first started the, I was thinking about the white-plastic 3 drawer POS that I have used to store my vitamins, face masks, etc. for the last four years. Dirty with drawers that don’t quite work anymore, but I have had it for my entire undergrad.  And now I’m clearing it out. That was what I was thinking of then.

But that is the difference between then and now. Losing the material things you don’t really care about really doesn’t matter when you are losing the friends you do. In college, I met people that really understood me, and I really understood.  Friends that helped me deal with exam freakouts my freshman year. Friends to go to parties with, and for the first time feel comfortable to really let loose and drink way to much alcochol (out of the bottle). Friends to drag me to a seedy bar (North on Fourth) when we were studying at the library and have drinks, laughs and dances. Friends to watch BSG and Dollhouse with, and wish I had met earlier on. Friends that are like family, and whose family I love. And all the other friends and kinds of friends that would make this post frustratingly long.

And now it is time to say goodbye. Sure, I will still be able to keep up with people: a call here, and e-mail there, a tweet over yonder. But it is not the same as actually being together, in the same city hanging. So the time has come to shed some tears (and trust me, I will over the next few weeks) and to say thank you to everyone for the good times. Hopefully we will meet again.

P.S.

Come visit me in D.C.!

inked

I have been intrigued by tattoos for a long time. And from the first time I met a Sharpie, I have been drawing on myself. Dots. Symbols. Things I  saw on TV. I even have a file somewhere with printouts and drawings of different tattoos I liked. Some were things I could see myself getting. Others I would never get (see: on the face).

But there has only been one tattoo I ever really saw myself getting. As any of my friends can tell you, I have obsessed about it over the last 4 years. Drawn it here and there. Toyed with getting it here and there. I’ll do it after this happens I’d say. And then I wouldn’t.

The thing about that one tattoo is that getting it wasn’t originally my idea. It was my mother’s. But after her surgeries from breast cancer she didn’t want to get it anymore. In her words, “I’ve had enough pain for a while.” And with that, she passed the desire onto me. And this Saturday I finally did it.

My friend Ashley M. had also been thinking about a tattoo for a few years now. She had the script picked out and everything. And we agreed to do it together. So here is the inspiration for mine:

And here is mine:

The tattoo is the same one Leeloo has in The Fifth Element. The difference in mine is that each line is made of 13 (a fibonacci number) dots. Each set of 6 lines represents a different element: Earth & Water (near my toes) Fire and Air (closer to my ankle). I opted to place it on my foot (vs. the wrist in the movie) because it is not as typical as some places, because I don’t want it to interfere with any possible interviews, and because it will look cute with sandals but won’t be the first thing someone notices. I typically don’t walk around looking at people’s feet first.

What do you think?

…and then I got Swine Flu

So, I had been stressing this last week about graduation (what shoes to wear to said graduation) and finals in particular. Specifically, my Physiology 480 final which I: a.) must do well on to not get a C. b.) must do well on to live up to very nice thoughts  the prof, has about me. …and then I got Swine Flu. Also known by its friendly scientific name H1N1 for the glycopeptides its expresses (yes, I am a bio geek).

Anyway, it started with that buzzy-tingly-lung-feeling on Wednesday night after Margarita’s with Elise & her mom. Friday morning my body added on the fun cough before my final. Saturday progressed to hacking before my tattoo. Saturday night, I came home for Mother’s Day, and in spite of the muscle achiness, fatigue, cough and buzziness there was no fever. Enter Sunday morning.

I wake up feeling like I got hit by a truck and running a small fever of 100.8. Take some Ibuprofen, pass out for a few hours, don’t want to drink or eat, the usual. Wake up and feel like my body is a balloon. Like each finger is one of those balloon animal balloons. And my head is like the biggest balloon ever. Like those balloons you give out in birthday treat bags that you punch. While I know this is clearly not the case and I am in fact delusional, I cannot calm down. Take out the thermometer and hello temperature of 102.5. Take more drugs, fall asleep. 3 hours later, still riding the hot-body temp express, decide to go to the hospital.

Now, I pretty much knew I had the flu. But, the sustained temperature was concerning me. As was the fact that there was no way I could study for my exam if I was trippin’ balls about the fact that my body felt like a balloon. So, the hospital confirmed that I had Influenza Type A, with a touch of bronchitis for good measure. But, they won’t know if I have Swine Flu (H1N1) for a couple of days…. yes, I know that makes my title misleading.

In either case, I am not supposed to go to school until 5/18 or until I get rid of my cough and fever. Yay! Get out of Final free card. No! Miss my College graduation. As of right now, no fever (yay!), but still tons of painful coughing (no!). As for my final, my physio professor is completely cool with it, and says to e-mail him then above conditions of my health come about so I can take it. Here’s to hoping I get to take my exam Thursday morning and graduate that afternoon!

Ellen, Mary McCormack and a Laser Pointer!

I need to carry a laser pointer with me everywhere.

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To my amigos/as

My roommate sent me this short poem for the week of friends, and thought I would share.

Si los BESOS
fueran agua,
te daría un mar.

Si los ABRAZOS
fueran hojas,
te daría un árbol.

Si la VIDA
fuera un planeta,
te daría una galaxia.

Si la AMISTAD
fuera la vida,
te daría la mía.

Bethesda Travel Yearning, Pt. 1

I don’t think I can really count this as a travel trip. I hardly walked around Bethesda, and only spent about an hour around the NIH campus, but it reminded me of what I missed – the not knowing.

Getting off a bus, train, or plane in this case and wondering where to go. How to get to wherever it is you need to go. I want to feel it again, but for real. I want to step off in some place I’ve never been and just go again. Wander from site to site. Through alleys. In and out of restaurants. All of it starts so simply though, with a phrase.

Welcome to _______.

Those words make my heart pound like I’m flirting, like I’m on a first date. That feeling what I want right now.

Final Read Through

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There’s the Final Script read through for Battlestar Galactica, and the Final Frak Night was last Friday. Katie & Tricia’s tissue-holding tears echo my sentiments.

The last couple of months have been great, and I just wanted to let you guys know how much I enjoyed it. It wasn’t just being around people who appreciate this amazing show that others just [wrongly] see as just a geek-fest. It was the first time I have ever shared watching something I loved over a prolonged period of time with people who felt the same, or were getting into feeling the same. It was about sharing some beers, ciders, tasty-champagne drink and ridiculously delicious (and fatty food). It was knowing where I was going to be Friday night, and knowing that no matter what the week was like, salvation was a-coming.

So as much as I will miss BSG, the DVDs will be there for me. And they will be there as soon as the big ol’ set comes out, trust. What I wil really miss is the friends I made, and the friendships made stronger. The laughter, the shared tears, the jokes, and the “Jameson, shut-ups!”. Thank you all for being there. Thank you Ashley for inviting me (and for the other DVDs lent).Thank you Emily & Ashley for opening up your place to us every week, and hosting like pros. Adios, Frak Night. So say we all.