Drosophila genetics= conquered.

yyyaaayyyyy! My horrible 3-exams-in-a-row days are over!

Today marked the last exam, which covered drosophila, yeast, and mouse genetics.

Now I can BREATHE again and live a normal life [for a week or so].

You can always tell that I'm in the midst of exam preparation because:

-I have bags under my eyes

-I start to forget things, like my ID or phone (happened three times last week).

-I start to space out!

-Our house is a MESS.

-My lab bench is a MESS.

-I am a MESS.

Take today for example, a few hours after the exam, I have a Research Conduct class that is usually on the 12th floor. I went to the room, sat down, and 10 minutes passed before I realized that I didn't know anyone around me (including the teacher) and that I was in the wrong class. I had also forgotten my phone today so I couldn't call anyone to see where the class was! Oy! [I eventually found it, btw]

I've noticed this pattern over the last few exams, and the next couple days are always spent repairing the damage I've done to my life to study for these exams, such as getting sleep, food, and cleaning up my studying lair (aka table in the corner).

Today, in celebration of finishing my exams in one piece, I treated myself to a cute pair of boots at Target! And, since I completely missed Halloween and all of its festivities because I have literally lived in a lab for the last few weeks, Halloween will be tomorrow........as in I will be eating lots of candy and watching Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

This week will be fun: walking across the Brooklyn Bridge with friends, "Dino-DNA party" (to be explained later) and all the sleep that I want!

Well hello there!

Hi!

It's been over a week since my last post!

It's come to the point where I have an exam every week, and I spend about 40-45 hours a week in my research lab (and on the weekends!). That pretty much equals no extra time.

BUT...I'm starting to get used to the work load and am handling it a little better now than I did when I first started. It will get better as I go, right? The crazy, gigantic work load hasn't changed, but I am able to handle it now without feeling like I'm going to die (almost, hehe!). But this weekend I actually had some time to take a short break---so on Saturday Seth took me out to go to the famous Carnegie deli! I've been wanting to go there since we got here. We haven't been out together in weeks!

So we headed out to midtown, and went past the Ed Sullivan Theater, where the Late Show with David Letterman is filmed. I want tickets!

Carnegie Deli wasn't too far off, so we just walked on over.

*Excuse the blurry pictures...I felt a little stupid for standing in the middle of an extremely busy restaurant while holding up my iphone to take a picture. This was the result!

I couldn't decide what to get. I didn't really know what exactly pastrami was...like what kind of meat, so I was hesitant to get the famous pastrami sandwich. So I googled pastrami on my iphone and up came a picture of the Carnegie Deli pastrami sandwich on wikipedia, so I knew it had to be good! So I tried it out. (And this pastrami was made out of beef, just to let ya know!)

And I made the correct choice! IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!

(Sorry Emerson, I think this picture might gross you out a bit.) I had enough pastrami goodness to take home and make a few more sandwiches. I've never been more excited for lunch this week.

Seth took a picture of me biting into this monster, but I thought I would spare you of that horror.

Seth got a mini Thanksgiving dinner:

And it was really good as well! But what was funny was that halfway through our dinner he realized that his turkey was covered in gravy made from turkey giblets (heart, gizzard, liver and other visceral organs). hahahaha! It was still good--but he instantly decided to not take home his leftovers.

After dinner we roamed around midtown to the area with all of the high-end shops, where you feel very poor. haha! I showed Seth the 6 story Tiffany store (wink wink) and then we headed home. It felt so good to get out of the house/lab and away from anything that had to do with school. It was just the break I needed. I have a huge genetics exam coming up this next week, so you probably won't be hearing from me for a while. Until next time...have a great week!

Flight of the Conchords

Familiar with Flight of the Conchord's "The Most beautiful Girl [In the Room]?"

This has been circulating among the girl biomed majors at school lately:

And Seth emailed this to me with the subject, "Don't let anyone sing this to you." Um, like that would be a problem? haha.

Cholesterol Synthesis

This is what my professor gave our class to help us remember cholesterol biosynthesis. I didn't realize how funny it was until I caught myself singing it. Then I felt like a freak.

Cholesterol Biosynthesis (to the tune of “Jingle Bells”)

Take an acetate,

Condense it with a mate,

Pretty soon you'll have Acetoacetate.

Let 'em have a ball,

You get geraniol,

Add another isoprene

And you've got farnesol.

Farnesol, farnesol, good old farnesol,

First it goes to squalene, then you get cholesterol,

Farnesol, farnesol, good old farnesol,

First it goes to squalene, then you get cholesterol,

Now squalene makes a roll, becomes lanosterol,

The extra methyls do Come off as CO2,

Then comes zymosterol,

And then desmosterol,

If you don't take some Pravachol

You get cholesterol. Oh!

Farnesol, farnesol, good old farnesol,

First it goes to squalene, then you get cholesterol,

Farnesol, farnesol, good old farnesol,

First it goes to squalene, then you get cholesterol.

hmm... maybe I can get through grad school entirely by song...?

Mondays are not so good...

Ok today was just a bad day. Somehow I just knew it when I woke up this morning; that today just wasn't going to be that great. I don't have those feelings too often, but do you know what I mean?

It all started off when I woke up late, and then realized I forgot my umbrella halfway to school when it started to pour.

Then:

- I dropped my lunch in the gutter while getting off of the bus

-Forgot my wallet at home, so I couldn't buy lunch.

-Forgot I had a new class at 9am. Missed that.

-Broke my SDS gel while starting the transfer for a Western blot (ARRGGGG!!!)

-Got asked to explain the ONE figure that I didn't understand in class.

-Got assigned 3 more projects from my PI.

-My 293 T cells aren't growing--have to start over.

-Got smacked in the face by the edge of someone's umbrella.

-Got cursed out and my life threatened by some classy lady who bumped into ME because she doesn't look where she's walking.

-Realized that I forgot to hand in an assignment today.

-My professor called me Kevin. Why?????????????

I'd say the worst thing was that I dropped my lunch. Or being called Kevin. Seriously.

Tomorrow WILL be better. Or else!! haha.