Weekend Update

This past weekend was much needed. MUCH NEEDED.

I love the fact that I can escape to California to be with my friends and fellow staff members at the youth camp that I serve at every summer. This retreat--now a yearly tradition--is so refreshing and this years's was definitely the best and most uplifting.

I got to drive down to Encinitas (my fave place in the WORLD) and catch some sun and surf. It was spectacular. And on the drive back to Escondido, we saw a rainbow. Clearly the indication of a perfect weekend. The next day was filled with hiking, sand volleyball, and just all around good times. On my night stroll back to my room, I even saw a shooting star! I haven't seen a shooting star since I was maybe 11--it was in California too [at camp for that matter...] I am really excited to be spending 2 or so months of my upcoming summer at this retreat. The weather is perfect and the seclusion from the world is just something I need before I start Medical School or whatever else I decide to do after I graduate.

Also this weekend I got to devour a novel. Exhilarating, invigorating, feelings I can't even begin to put into words flooded my consciousness. Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. It was excellent. I know, judge all you want, but Dan Brown is what got me to where I am today. (for those of you who don't know, I wrote my Plan II admissions essay on Angels and Demons) This book was very different from the rest of his books--the villain was independent and the resolution was not ridiculously unbelievable or drawn out. And the science in this book really stemmed off some of my actual spiritual beliefs. I usually get to read quite a few books during the summer, but unfortunately with all the traveling and applications, I was only able to get through maybe 3 books. Reading this weekend made me realize how much I miss it. I am trying to get my hands on a copy of 'Eat Pray Love.' And although I have heard from a couple of people that it's not really as good as it is made out to be, I still have some affinity to India, Italy, and although to not as great an extent, Indonesia. (I'm going to Indonesia over X-mas break and I am so excited!)

But I think in order to pick up a reading habit, I'm going to really have to drop this TV show habit. Sadly, I have added two more shows to my already long retinue of primetime television: Modern Family and Flashforward.

School's quietened down a bit for the moment--I don't think I have another test for a couple of weeks or so. This also means I should be working on my thesis... I came up with a VERY generic outline of what I want to accomplish but it's hard getting motivated to sit down and read experiment after experiment.

Here's to not failing my first PhysOrg test of the year!

stresses

I'm not stressed. (or at least that's what I keep telling myself) The semester has started off really well. Blazers and KIPP have been consuming most of my time, but PhysOrg is about to take first place. I've never been challenged this much by a science class before. New concepts have been introduced to me every day in this class, building off the concepts I was taught in intro ochem. The problems are much more challenging and half the time, I'm not sure what they're asking about.

Blazers has been a blast this semester, I spent half the game sitting with them this past weekend and hosting beforehand was sweet too! I got to meet and converse with former Attorney General Al Gonzalez and schmooze with Peter Flawn and Clyde Littlefield. Also, free Saltlick last weekend for our 15th anniversary and then again this past weekend from Hosting. Selection is around the corner and I can't wait to see the New Guys that we bring in--and the OJ Taps are slowly trickling in, too!

My schedule is starting to get busybusy. Work is now officially in full swing--application season has begun! KIPP every week and EMHS every week. Having Saturday classes doesn't help much either (=/) But on that topic, this Saturday we discussed the origins of chirality--this was so cool! We proved that chirality cannot be created from achirality. This raises the question of how our body came to have only one designation of amino acids and sugars. Cool stuff to think about.

Interviews have been getting in the way of a normal schedule. I'm ready for a break. Buying groceries, study schedules, and even going to visit my Little have had to be rescheduled to accommodate all the driving I've been doing.

Also, I need to make time to work on thesis. I just borrowed 9 books from the library. It's a bit ridiculous. And I definitely got lost finding these books in the life sciences library--its like Hogwarts, I swear.

Here's to never ever seeing a Hill-Hui Hill on campus! [Dallas this weekend, Cali next, and then Colorado/Campout, then OU, then Parent's Weekend, then Houston on Halloween for Owl City!]

PS thanks Thesis Meetings for allowing me to blog.

Senior Year

[sorry I had posted this on the wrong blog initially!]

senior year is here already!?

--we built a tent in our living room (eric made us take it down)

--UT Vball and UT Football are #2 in the nation

a few thoughts:

loving the new Ingrid Album

Owl City and Ingrid Concerts this semester

camping with the roomies coming soon

trying out new restaurants in the ATX

ready to hear back from medical schools

trying to find time to squeeze in theses (yes, that's plural) research

my iCal looks like a gay pride parade

anxiously awaiting the return of my fall tv shows

The End and The Beginning

So I've been home for a little over a week now and I am a bit torn. One side of me is dying to get on a plane and fly out and have an adventure in ROME and there is another side that wants to sit on my couch and recuperate from the most draining semester of college thus far.

I'm almost through packing--which is a relief. I'm also done with all my med school primary apps (all I need to do is press submit!) I finally got all my hostel bookings and plane bookings around Europe done too. (I'm still trying to figure out how to work Montecarlo and/or Morocco into our plans, but it looks unlikely right now :\)

I've just bummed at home and watched way too many movies. Night at the Museum 2 was FANTASTIC. I've gotten to see Lauren and Sara and got to spend a lot of time with mom. Dad's been in China for the past week, so I wasn't fortunate enough to spend as much time with him as I wanted to.

I'm getting my fix of Tex-Mex food tonight at Chuy's with the fam...and I think Indian/Mexican food and my wonderful bed are going to be the things I'm going to miss the most! (and my friends, dog, family, etc...haha) AND I'll be totally missing my iPhone--it's going to be so weird not having it on me. But I'll deal with it.

Also for those that regular read this, this will be my last post for a while--I'll be on europeanshyam.blogspot.com for most of the summer.

wrapping up and counting down

i think it would be cool to spend saturday or sunday mornings at a coffee shop with my future family
reading the paper, doing the sudoku/crossword, the kids are coloring or whatever

I've recently begun inhabiting a coffee shop--Bennu Coffee and I absolutely love it.
I just cannot study at the apartment, so this is a good thing.
THEY HAVE CLUE, MONOPOLY, and SCRABBLE HERE!
They have a chalkboard in the bathroom on which I drew a benzene, then made it a nitrofluorobenzene, today i think i'll change it to biphenol?
They also have all vegetarian wraps inspired by mexican, mediterranean, asian, and indian cuisine
and their mochas have literary names! So far I've tried the Oliver Twist (love the caramel) and then the Scarlet Letter (made with chili powder--its gotta a nice artistic kick)...next to try is The Raven!)
I am never leaving.

but looking ahead:
ARH Test Monday 4th
Biochem Test Tuesday May 5th
AMCAS Application comes out May 5th
PChem Test Wednesday May 6th
Research Paper for Lab Due Thursday May 7th
Yoga as Philosophy Final Wednesday May 13th
Biochem and PChem Finals May 14th
Personal Statement Meeting with my Advisor May 15th
TMDSAS Application comes out May 18th
Leave for Rome May 27th

ok random musings for the day are done, back to Art History and Pchem and where else, but @ Bennu?

PS I love Twitter

what i am looking forward to in the fall

football
volleyball--lady longhorns style
volleyball-our super awesome IM team (we played in Volley Ballin' today and HAD A BLAST)
my [graduate] advanced organic chemistry class (with my enantiomer!)
our house! (and it's proximity to ken's and torchy's...oh eff and the yogurt spot)
my 21st (and everybody else's!)
medical school interviews (?) [should i be excited or anxious/nervous--i think it's a bit of both]
the last time i'll be registering for courses at UT (and and the last course schedule release day to look forward to)


i'm sure i'm missing a ton but here's the list for now^^


--------------
6.) I think the most important intangible thing in the world is unconditional friendship and by extension, unconditional love. My friend accidentally mistyped <3 once, but I think this sentiment is best expressed by <4 in the cyber world

7.) I have list of life goals: To see the aurora borealis, learn kathak, learn to play the clarinet, snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef, steal one of the hand written leather and silver bound copies of beedle the bard (or just be involved in a heist), visit the pyramids and the valley of the kings

8.) I also have a list of people I really want to be friends with: Ira Isoce, Mia Michaels, and Gladys Hardy. Theoretically, these people and I would throw a BALLER dinner party

my awesome week

this week was probably one of the best weeks of school i've had in a long time:

rocked my biochem test that I had on tuesday
going to mexican lunch at the DG house today
went to houston with apolipoprotein thursday to get VISAs (success!!)
met with my (now confirmed) thesis advisor and she is amazing
course schedule came out this week and fall is AMAZING (no wednesdays or fridays =D) [sad news--I can't take Domjan's TC--it's gonna be offered at 8am TTh (same time as another class) and really I don't need it and it would be less papers for me to write during the year]
BILL NYE IS COMING TO UT ON TUESDAY APRIL 7th 7PM @ UNION BALLROOM--tickets go out March 31st 8am at SEC Info Desk
did well on my other tests the week before break
tickets for singapore during xmas and new year's are booked

HOWEVER: I've been at a frisbee fling meeting or doing frisbee fling stuff every day this week (last night ran until past 1 am....more to do tonight)
Also I had a phone fiasco on Monday...it got accidentally deactivated, but thanks to internet forums its fine (and now I have the Beta version of iPhone 3.0 !!!)

however, today dave and I had to brave the rain and the hail that bombarded us on the way to our 10am class this morning
my shoes are still wet.
as is my jacket.

yesterday my day went from 6:30am-2am. I have another one of those days 4:45am-11pm on sunday.

Saturday-study for pchem, scholarship interview, blazers crawfish boil
Sunday-frisbee fling 2009 (flying samosas ftw)

Spring Break

So I am home over the break right now--love it here!
I actually have been quite productive. I've used our elliptical everyday, I wrote the first draft of my personal statement, I filled out applications for random things, went to half-price books to get some books on European travel (!!!), attempting to study for biochem....
VISA situation is a bit of a mess right now----explanation later
So I've been trying to convince my parents to get a DVR ever since high school--and they have one now (ugh--so jealous). The reason they got one: my dad is unable to watch 24 on certain mondays and my mom works the whole day mondays, so it auto records. It's also Verizon FiOS (It's fiber optics!) and its awesome. Tonight its recording the Idol results show while I watch LOST live.

My list of movies I want to watch (coming to a theater near you sometime): I love you man, The proposal, The Ugly Truth, Sunshine Cleaning, 17 again, All About Steve, Land of the Lost, Year one, Planet 51, Fame, Monsters vs. Aliens, Angels & Demons [don't judge] check out these trailers!!!


3.) I am terrified of little flying things. Insects--you name it lady bugs (when they are in flight), butterflies, bees, wasps, hornets, you name it. They are just pesky little creatures!

4.) I went through phases like NO OTHER when I was a kid. (I still kinda do now...) Geology, Astronomy, Wonders of the World, The Secret Seven (a book series by Enid Blyton), Clue, Animorphs, Pokemon, Harry Potter, Star Wars, National Parks (wtf, right?), Ninja Turtles, Street Sharks (freaking amazing!), and how can I forget--Power Rangers [for those of you who have seen the famous clip of mine..haha]

5.) I always wonder what life would have been like if I had stayed in Singapore. Constantly. Would I have continued on my career as a child star on TV? What would I want to do if that didn't work out? I would have been more in touch my my heritage for sure. I would have probably finished my Baratha Naatyam and Odissi Arangetrams. I would have had the same set of close friends that I (still know) had when I was born through my Religious group. I wouldn't have found my father's religious path (which I now follow)--I would have stuck to my Mom's. Even when I go back now to Singapore these days, there's a large disconnect between myself and my friends. There's almost no common ground for small talk, almost as if we didn't even live in the same world. My life is filled with college, most of theirs is spent dreading the Singapore education system or dwelling on their military service they're all fulfilling right now. Yet, they all have their center with the religious group. I always wonder what would have happened. (For one thing, I would still be speaking Singlish [Singapore English])

Life Update

My life has been a whirlwind these past three weeks:
24+ hours serving on Blazers Selection Committee
2 Biochemistry tests (this is my first full week of the year without a test!)
Mr. Plan II 2009 (which was the biggest success in the past few years!)
2 Papers written (out of a total of 3 this semester) for Yoga as Philosophy and Practice and Art History
Helping to Co-Chair our Frisbee Fling (our Texas Blazers big philanthropy event for the year) and therefore now a member of the extended executive board of Blazers
Filled out about 8 scholarship applications...ugh
And the usual: 16 hours of class, 9 hours at the P2 Office, 5-6 hours at Lab, Gym, KIPP

Also I have almost fully decided to go ahead and do Teach for America (hopefully in DC?) after I graduate. Medical school will be able to help me out and let me defer my admission and honestly, I don't think I'll have an opportunity like this ever again. But we'll see as things get closer.

SOOOO excited for Rome Summer 2009
weekend plans for that trip: Portofino, Florence, ???, ???

I really want to do one of those 25 things list...but I find it at times a bit superficial and I really want to think about them a while before I go for it. So I'm thinking I'll do a couple at a time. Here goes.

1.) Although it may not seem like it, I lack confidence in front of an audience. Familiar or not. I think it stemmed from the fact I was a huge theater nerd in late middle/early high school. I was put into the the theatre master class both freshmen and sophomore year. For early sophomore year I quit band because I felt that drama was calling. (My parents later confessed they thought I was going to be an actor and were quite worried about my future) However the directors changed (again, ugh.) I swear this job at our high school was like the DADA job in Harry Potter (both directors changed EVERY year for all four years of my high school). These new directors felt the master class was too big and they made everybody re-audition and it was just an awful audition and they didn't know my past and all...but I didn't make the cut and I went running back to band with a shattered confidence. But I do not regret my decision to ditch theatre for band...I made some of my best high school friends from band and it wouldn't have been the same without them. But that whole experience shook me up--I hate speaking up in front of classes or groups of people (and now I have to every week because I am the step in secretary for Blazers) and the thing was I didn't used to be. It's something I am rather depressed about.

2.) I identified my weakest weakness recently. I hate it when there is nothing I can do when someone I dearly care about is hurt or unhappy. I get depressed. Whether it is a big breakup or lack of a job or something else. I wish I could suture up that broken heart or use shady contacts to secure a job for these people. I hate it because I can only do so much.

ok back to Art History...we're spending a whole day on the Stanze Room next week! I am so excited. For those of you who don't know what that is--its a room in the Vatican right before the Sistine Chapel that expresses the four noble arts: poetry, philosophy (School of Athens--which is on my wall!!!!), theology, and justice.

back to the grind

have you ever seen a snowflake up close?
it's amazing

been back to school for almost a week now

i love all my classes and one super cool thing.
i reaffirmed my love for UT. My hero, Eric Anslyn (head of the organic chemistry dept.) sat in on my ARH class--just because he's "...an art nerd." I LOVE HIM. When I first got my Plan II admissions packet, I took his Volatire's coffee only because he loved ochem and renaissance art. He is me in professor form, but way cooler.

I also love my friends they rock.
Mr. Plan II is going to totally rock this year.

not ready to go back

i added a whole bunch of blogs to my google reader

its a bit overwhelming now--i had to delete two, maybe another one soon

i have now watched breakfast at tiffany's, airforce one, the man with the golden gun, and the breakup.

i went to houston over the week. i had a great time and i lessthan4 Dave! I also finished my PERU SCRAPBOOK :) and my goal for this semester is to get an A in PChem. 

This semester I want to go camping--I am bringing my tent up to school and we're having a 'fortnight' at our apartment...haha Also I want to be super nerdy and take up geocaching. 

i took a ride in ricky's car--we went 140 mph in a 45 mph zone. it was epic, exhilarating, and yay.

i am so proud of slumdog millionaire =) 

I'm going to Detroit this weekend for a wedding--it's going to be miserably FREEZING.

24 is starting back up yay!

Also I am shadowing a cardiologist tomorrow and going to main event on wednesday night...I haven't been to main event (laser tag and bowling!) since ProGrad. I am also reading Jurassic Park, followed by The Lost World.

This is also probably the first break where I feel no inclination to go back to school. 

Also I am going to be studying abroad this summer in Italy. Followed by a month to 3 weeks of traveling (France, Spain, Greece) (maybe: Morocco, Germany) Then straight to LA for 10 days. I cannot wait.  Below is my schedule for the Spring (minus the TV shows)

Movie Nighters

Last night was high school reunion movie night it was excellent

We had dinner at Macaroni Grill and then watched Clue (the movie!), Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, then we played 2 rounds of Pop5 and a round of Apples to Apples. I LOVE MY HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS. Also interesting fact: Clue the movie has 3 different endings and when it was released in theaters,and  depending on the showing you went to it was one of the 3 random endings. HOW COOL IS THAT!? Also my film friend is legit--she's on IMDB. (YAY KRIS, I'm so proud of you!) My cousins from Plano are coming to our house today and I'm going to be working on my Peru scrapbook. Hobby Lobby had a 50% off sale on all scrapbook and sticker supplies. It was exciting--my inner yearbook nerd was jubilant. Also I'm going to see my old yearbook teacher sometime next week--she was a great inspiration in my life. And chances are she's probably reading this. (I guarantee you she facebook stalks me, haha--I love you Mrs. Bakke!) I am also currently working on securing the series of Clue mystery whodunit books right now-18 of them, all out of print. 

Books I have read so far this break:

Next by Michael Crichton (good read, makes you really think about the moral and legal implications genetic engineering can have on the future)

The Perfect Fake by Barbara Parker (satisfied my craving for an art history mystery)

The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells (I love sci fi and Wells is a genius)

Working on Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie right now

Also I watched Anaconda (the search for the blood orchid--haha, i know, but I have a thing for scary snake movies) and the Ron Clark Story (which made me reaffirm my want to apply for TFA [teach for america])