Problem with time travel…

101 List update

Keep forgetting to keep up with this list.  Anyways, a few more things to cross off, some which I’d done all the way back in April but forgot about.

8. Buy a Canon EF f/1.8 50mm lens for my DSLR
56. Get a decent full time job in my field after I graduate
65. Plant a tomato plant so I stop buying the little tubs of cherry tomatoes for $5 at whole foods
66. Plant a blueberry bush…antioxidants are good plus blueberries are just yummy

Working full time is draining.  During the day I’m completely fine, but as soon as I walk past my bedroom door I am pretty useless.  There have been multiple days where I’ve taken 6pm-8:30pm naps, and not of my own volition.  I am going to give myself some credit and say the warm weather stimulates the urge to just laze around and sleep all the time.

Work is great so far, I’m working in biological manufacturing for Agilent Technologies.  So far I’ve only gotten to work with RNA isolation, but excited to start diving into microarrays which is supposed to be my main area of work.  Great environment, nice people, health coverage, and a non-desk job…I am lucky to not be one of those people who hates going to work everyday.  The only downside is the commute but once we move out of West Campus and I35 traffic, I’ll be much happier.

Graduation

Hook em horns.  UT Austin Class of 2009! Graduated with a B.S. in Human Biology.

Homestretch

Just finished my last ‘official’ day of college today! Went and absolutely smashed the exam then biked home. Such a weight lifted off my shoulders. All I have left is a cumulative final on the 19th but that should be a piece of cake provided I don’t procrastinate. At this point, I’m just aiming for the 70.3 I need to keep my B in the class.

I grabbed a stack of 5 textbooks that had been wasting space over the past couple years and took them to the buyback counter at the bookstores with the roommate.  Somehow ended up getting $193 for the lot of them. That kind of cash windfall just made my day, although $49 of it went to purchasing my cap and gown for graduation. New camera lens or hard drive time.

I also received a precious gift in the mail today along with an incredibly sweet letter from down under.  Missing my other half.

My garden

It’s still a work in progress but it’ll be amazing when my roses, tomatoes, blueberries, and cucumbers start flowering and fruiting in June.  My cilantro went into overdrive and I have coriander seeds for cooking now.

Yes, that's my cockatiel hanging out on the table

Pretty bird!

Artsy kind of shot, I have a mirror mounted on the fence to reflect a bit more light

Yellow shrub daisy!

Planting flowers

The front walkway looked terrible, owing to the fact that nothing wants to grow under the heavily shaded porch.  Of the plants I put in last year, only the iris, two chrysanthemum plants, and a fern lived through the winter.  The hostas, fern #2, and elephant ears either froze to death or got run over by bikes.  I spotted flower stalks on the iris so hopefully I’ll have pretty blue/yellow flowers in a few weeks.

Planted some azaleas, petunias, and trying out some english ivy to cover the barren ground next to our walkway.  I’m hoping the bright indirect sunlight will be enough to keep them all alive.

101 list update

Things accomplished in the past few months

17. Legally buy alcohol
Finally turned 21, oh how lovely it is

23. Get another pet

25. Go horseback riding

28. Get a new bike because mine was stolen, after 9 years of loving care and attachment
Bought one for $15 off craigslist, pretty normal Walmart quality purple bike.

33. Join a new recreational sport for fun; right now it’s either sailing or archery because I don’t like contact sports
Doing taekwondo and ballroom dancing.  I’d do archery but joining the club as a senior isn’t as fun when I have to quit soon.

40. Find a face lotion I actually like and would buy again
Boscia is my new favorite brand, pity the stuff is $30 a tube

51. Take a real cruise

53. Open up a Bank of America savings account
Opened, have not yet linked it to direct deposit yet.  Because I’m too lazy to find the form at work.

79. Meet another online friend in person

Craigslist and moving

New hauls from Craigslist

$50 forum posting gig at Toggin.com
$15 for a purple bike that just needs air in the tires
$10 for a 4×6 slatted bamboo rug
$15 for a brand new desk
$30 for a brand new hand vacuum. Yes, expensive but it’s pretty and works really well and is cordless. And I couldn’t put off vacuuming bird seed and feathers for much longer.

Now just have to cut a deal for cable and internet because paying shitastic Time Warner $102 a month for sub par service is robbery.

On another exciting note, I have peroneal insertional tendonitis.  How do I know?  I did the hypocritical thing and self diagnosed my injury.  But having taken a human anatomy class, and sat through a 2 hour guest lecture by a podiatrist, I think I have more leeway than the patient who storms in the waiting room with googled printouts saying he as cancer when it’s only a strep infection.  I failed a quiz because I couldn’t remember what the peroneal tendons were.  And now it’s coming back to get further revenge.

I started wearing my really worn in Aeropostale ballet flats again, that I bought four years ago for $5.  Wore them religiously for the longest time, hiked through a rainforest, ran through Sydney beaches, in airports, around campus, you get the drift.  They were the most comfortable shoes I owned.  However the soles are worn down to almost nothing and the glue is wearing off.  So walking around dirt and gravel on shortcuts through campus wearing them this past week put a ton of stress on my tendon and eventually inflamed it.  And now it hurts like hell to put any pressure on it, so walking is agonizing.  Sharp pain that throws off my balance if I try.

Funny twist is, I have an excuse to wear my high heels now.  Seems counterintuitive since heels are the source of a myriad of foot problems, but the treatment is to wear ‘heel lifts’ to keep stress off the tendon and let it heal.  They’re foam cushions you’re supposed to put under your heel to lift it up.  Why do that when I have a massive collection of pretty shoes I never get to wear?  And lo and behold, I slip on my sexy pumps and it DOESN’T HURT TO WALK ANYMORE.   The pain completely goes away.