i got a B!!!!!

in my neuroscience test! yey!

they actually sent our grades via e-mail. it was weird. the coordinator first e-mailed us that the mean was such and such and the range was from this to that. . . then a couple of minutes later, which gives you time to contemplate if you were the one with the lowest score in the range, you get your grade with the letter grade. . .. i'm sooooooo relieved i passed. . . . thank you Lord!

it's not yet 4:30pm and i'm already the last person in the lab. i really like this lab. we're also almost done moving into our new and bigger lab. so much space though = so much walking around. i could very well get half of my recommended 10,000 steps just doing my usual experiments. . . well ok, maybe not half, but i've sure walked a lot today.

it's about that time of the year again when i start complaining about the weather. the cold actually came much earlier this year than it did last year which is really depressing. it was 36 deg F when i left this morning! and we've been having highs in the 50s all week! it's really grey and miserable and as a result , i have been pretty grouchy all week (or pretty and grouchy. hehehe).

this entry is so disjointed. i apologize. i'll try to post pictures next time. those speak better for me than i do.

2nd entry of the week? whoa. i can't believe it myself. but here it is. just had time to spare while stupid gel runs ever so slowly. while poor boyfriend is waiting for me to go to college of business social thing. i agreed to go because there is, surprise, free food. and the grad student in me just can't say no to that.

you may think i blog because of something exciting happening. well, you think wrong. except maybe for the fact that this morning has been the second class in a row that i haven't dosed off during my neuro class. . . yes, wonder of wonders. this is the 830-1030 class mind you. it may have something to do with the last long exam that scared me out of my wits. . . or maybe it was because the professor was cussing like crazy. . . it was the first time i heard cuss word during a lecture. . . about signal transduction. . . go figure. . . but that kept me awake. . . he was actually a pretty good lecturer. . . but he probably sed a** like five times and d**n at least once. really odd.

and then i did rt-pcr. with 18 samples. yey. exciting.

had lunch.

ran gel.

which brings us here.

gosh.

i am only good for one entry per, i don't know, 3 weeks?

well, til then =)

last beautiful fall day. . .

or so it seems. . . it is just GORGEOUS outside today. the leaves are starting to change and the temp is somewhere in the 60s. but the weatherman says this will all end tomorrow. rainy and chilly. until april. . . sadness. . .

anyhow, it has been this beautiful all this last weekend til today. i would like to think this is nature's way of celebrating the time i was brought into this earth. but that might be a tad bit too egocentric of me to think so. so yes, a couple of days have passed since i turned 24. doesn't that just sound sooooooo old (sorry to other folks in their "early mid-twenties" and beyond). it feels just like yesterday when i thought that by 24, i'll be all mature and moneyed, wearing a suit to work and driving a car, maybe owning a home. . . ahhhhh, but that just isn't the case. mature? i don't think so. moneyed? definitely not. suit? i'm in jeans and sneakers today. car? i wish. home? i'm a renter. so there. i'm definitely not where i thought i would be. not that i'm complaining. a lot. maybe just a little.

i would've written about all this earlier, like maybe on my birthday. but i was way too stressed out that. stupid neuro test. but that's done. the day itself was pretty ok. got to talk to all the people who mattered. got a couple of cool gifts. shu gave me a bear that says "born to shop, forced to cook", which i think is soooo apt. leigh got me a gift card to urban outfitters (which i've already blown on a pair of slacks and shades. thanks leigh!). and the question that a lot of my friends asked me: what did paul get for me? hmmmm. . . that's actually a funny story. maybe i should start with what he didn't give me. he apparently got me tickets to see john legend live here in columbus. even joined the fanclub to get good seats. but that was not meant to be as the concert was moved on a wednesday. he has classes til 10pm on wednesdays. and that's the week before my 2nd long exam. so that didn't work out. so for my birthday, he made me a card and "pretend" tickets to. . . well, . . .bill cosby's show. . . you could probably sense the lack of enthusiasm on my part for that one. but i was like, ok, sounds like fun, thanks. . . he gave me the card before he went to class. and after he left, well, i got all dramatic and upset. talked to leigh about it and being the upfront and forthright person that she is, advised me to just tell him how i feel. so i did. i felt horrible, but i thought that would be better than me pretending to like bill cosby. i mean he's not bad, but i just can't see me in a bill cosby show. so paul's gift to me: an i owe you. i told him i could wait for when a good act comes to town and he could get me tickets. he felt bad at first i think. he said something about his first gift to me being rejected. . . well, it wasn't really rejected so much as. . . deferred. definitely not how i thought my first birthday with him would turn out. i'm ever so slightly disappointed but at least now i know his flaw: gift-giving.it's funny because he told me this story about his dad's first christmas gift to his mom after they got married was a vinyl carpet runner. and his mom cried and called her mom. so apparently, it runs in the family. but he did bake me a cake last saturday. and hung out with pinoys all weekend (claudine and hanna on saturday, justine and george on sunday). so he's been really nice. and he still makes me happy. and i better stop before this becomes a total sap-fest.

so the question i ask you all now is: did i do right? how else should i have reacted? bring 'em on.

with birthday boy at the fire on the mile 

haha. just opened my dashboard and who comes into the office? my boss of course. great timing jona. i don't realy have much to do this morning in the lab =) really. had to go to an animal welfare training course thing and have to get to seminar in an hour. so i can't really start anything now can i? . . . excuses. . .

anyhow, i'm done with my presentation, which went well (thank you Lord!). the moderators said i did a "great job" which makes me really happy. although i don't know how often they tell people that. . . my favorite comment was from a student writing on the evaluation forms which said "ease up on the (laser) pointer. . ." hehe.

we also celebrated paul's birthday this saturday. . . well, it wasn't much of a celebration really, poor guy. i did make breakfast for him (chocolate chip pancakes which he loves. . . i swear i'm dating a 12 year old. . . not literally of course) and he helped me do my laundry. . . he's really great like that. . . i felt really bad for that but needed to wash my coats and sweaters and such because it's starting to get cold. . . we also went out for lunch (which i paid for). it was actually kind of freaky during lunch because as we were paying for the bill and getting ready to leave, the waiter wished us a good day and we said the same to him. then he was like "oh, it will be because it's my birthday!" so there was a little love shared there between the two birthday boys for a bit. and he mentioned how he has a bunch of friends celebrating their birthdays that weekend.incidentally, it was also christina's and ians birthdays that weekend. . . and then i mentioned that it was my birthday next monday and the guy was like "it's my daughter's birthday on monday!" plus it's also paul's brother's birthday last saturday, my dad's this thursday, his sister's on sunday . . . and the list goes on. how weird is that?

anyway, after that, paul had to study ( he's not just, like, 12 he's also dorky. . .=) then later that evening we went to the waterfire art installation at the scioto river downtown. I'll post pictures later. basically, someone put bonfires on floaters on a mile's stretch of the river. it was rather pretty with the cityscape in the background and all, if it were not so frigging cold! after that we went to see "serenity" which was a pretty good movie and you all should see it.

so that's how his birthday went. i still think that was a much better day than how mine will be. i have a test on my birthday, lucky me. at 830 in the morning too. what fun.

delingkwenteng blogger na po ako. patawad. been pretty busy, what with classes starting and all. aaaarrrrgggghhhh. classes. di lang nagkaklase nung summer nanibago na ulit. and it doesn't help that the class i'm taking is MWF 830am - 1030am. . . noooooooo. . . i'm a grad student! sanay sa gising na alas-otso. this is just not right. . .

i'm also having my 2nd year presentation thursday this week. paper presentation for one hour. i've been working on it for a while pero i still haven't practiced it. everytime i look through my slides, i end up adding more and more slides. now i'm up to 48 slides. yey. mabilis naman ako magsalita e so i'll probably get through the whole thing in half an hour. . . pero scared pa rin ako. i'm soooooo bad at answering questions. my mind goes blank and i start to giggle. very un-scientist-like. i usually get through the actual presentation pretty well and then somebody asks me a question and . . . bleagh. . . ewan ko ba. hope it doesn't happen this time. pagdasal niyo ako please.

birthday's coming up in a couple of weeks (hint hint). tatanda na naman ako. pero mauna muna ang fafa. next weekend siya (8th). i was a bit worried about what to get for him kasi ano ba naman experience ko sa mga bagay-bagay na ganun. pero i've bought him his present na. he better like it. hehe. bad trip pa pala sa birthday ko may midterm ako. ang saya-saya. oh well.

o siya. i better get back to practicing my presentation. . . how exciting.