Goals for 2008

So here it is. They aren't resolutions necessarily, since I always fail at them, but they are goals for sure. I hope I can stick to most of them. My most important goal for 2008 is to be happy and to live with few regrets. Obviously if I get myself organized and my priorities straight, I shouldn't have a problem. But you never know...

More quantifiable goals are listed below.

• Academic: to write a thesis, to graduate, to go to grad school
• Fiscally: to find a nice but cheap place to live, to not spend a lot of money on food, to make money (save more than spend) once in grad school
• Socially: to make new friends at my new school, to leave my room more often
• Physically: to maintain my weight, to exercise regularly, to eat fruits and vegetables every day, to sleep ~8 hours a day
• Mentally: to not go crazy, to organize myself well so I don't stress out too much, to remember more things (questionable if this will happen)
• Writing: to write at least one story per month, to blog at least four times a month
• Reading: to read at least 8 books, to read at least 2 scientific articles a month, to read something in Spanish and/or German at least once a week
• Languages: to study/finish Croatian textbook and have basic fluency, to learn basic French
• Sports: to check on soccer teams at least once a week, to check on tennis results at least once a week, to check on basketball teams at least once a week, to watch as much as possible of NCAA tournaments, Grand Slams, Olympics, etc. (this shouldn't be too hard as long as I have internet access)

2007 Summary

Wow, it's basically the end of a year and I actually have blogged throughout it! It should make my year-end summary a bit easier. So let's start with a very concise summary...

Major Life Events

1. Seattle (with my parents), 12/28/06-1/3/07
2. Sister's graduation - early June
3. Summer job/research - May to August
4. Canada (with family) - end of August
5. Grad. school apps - October through December

Major Events that I paid attention to/watched (Warning: sports)

1. Australian Open, tennis, late January
2. World Championships, figure skating, February/March?
3. March Madness, college basketball, late March
4. UEFA Champions' League final, soccer, late May
5. French Open, tennis, late May-early June
6. Gold Cup, soccer, June
7. Wimbledon, tennis, late June-early July
8. NBA Draft, basketball, late June
9. U-20 World Cup, soccer, July
10. MLS All-Star game, soccer, mid July
11. U.S. Open series, tennis, late July-August
12. U.S. Nationals, gymnastics, mid August
13. U.S. Open, tennis, late August-early September
14. Women's World Cup, soccer, September
15. World Championships, gymnastics, early/mid October?
16. Master's Cup, tennis, November
17. MLS Cup, soccer, November
18. NCAA women's volleyball, some during September-November, December
19. NCAA men's and women's soccer championships, December

Other Things that I Completed

1. Books: all I can remember are Monkey, the Riddle Master Trilogy, and Book 1 of Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. RPGs: Suikoden V, Tales of Legendia, Tales of the Abyss
3. Knitting: one cardigan, one tank top, redoing a short-sleeved sweater, everything but sewing up a hoodie
4. Writing: 39 fics, 17 for tennis, 16 for soccer, 2 original, 4 other

Wow, that's a lot of shit so far. Now I'm going to go a bit slower, recapping each month.

January - There was Seattle, which was alright except it was more of a trip for my parents to check up on my brother, so I got to bore myself by watching weird stuff on TV, or if I wanted something slightly more to my tastes, old tapes of figure skating. I remembered Yu-Na Kim and Brian Joubert and figured I would carry on and root for them at the championships. Then my life became the Australian Open, which I was watching through live-stream and on TV. Mario hadn't gotten mono yet, so he was doing well. Ah, if only he could have won that 5th set against Andy Roddick... I remember how all of my favorites (Amelie, Sveta, Ana, Mario, Novak) all lost on the same day. I also remember the horrible comment made by an ESPN sports announcer who said something like "Maria's fans would have been happy to see her out there longer" when she went 9-7 to Camille Pin in the 3rd set of her opener(?). Yeah, and Gonzo was being crazy until the final, and Maria Sharapova got killed by Serena. Justine had her divorce going on...it just seemed like she might have stood more of a chance than Maria. Oh well. I still managed to keep up with soccer somehow during this time, and I was also taking the evilest Biochem class ever...just kidding.

February - looking back at my blog, seems like biochem and research were at full force by then. I was also being strangely self-reflective that month (wouldn't that usually be a last-minute December thingy like this is?). I was also back into my crazy soccer-watching mode and livestreaming a lot. I remember missing the Superbowl half-time show because I was studying, and I basically don't remember anything from it. I think soccer-watching was my life outside of research, because I wasn't playing videogames. I thought I was watching figure skating too...maybe not.

March - ok, figure skating was late March. But anyway I started watching college basketball while all the conference tournaments were on and then proceeded onto the NCAA tourney. I picked Texas as my team because I discovered Kevin Durant. I otherwise was hating Biochem452 and dreaming of senior year. I think the weather wasn't so bad though... (basically I can't remember much from this month). Oh wait, Novak won his first Masters Series this month? I forgot if it was March or April, but the title is pretty important.

April - and the hell called Biochem452 was killed! Looks like I picked Suikoden V back up again, and watched what tennis I could on TV. I finally saw Ana on TV! And the Virginia Tech shooting happened - that was scary as hell.

May - the fiasco with leases... Basically I stayed at a friend's place for a week before moving into U-Towers for the summer. U-Towers misplaced my key which I couldn't get until Monday (I moved in on Saturday). That weekend I was worried about my enzyme and my parents yelled at me for staying late at lab (I still don't listen to them oops). This month was the leadup to the French Open and the news that Mario would miss it was quite devastating. Also, Champions' League finished up and I was actually rooting for AC Milan. I watched a bit of basketball but I also played Tales of Legendia (I remember beating Suikoden V pretty quickly). I had a roommate in the appartment still and I was being antisocial again. New people joined the research lab, making it more interesting. French Open started, but only like 2 days of it...

June - French Open in full swing! Novak makes it to the semis, Ana makes it to the final! Serbian tennis is HOT! Mario is still sick and misses Wimbledon. Gold Cup is going on and the whole U.S. v. Mexico final was nice. Mexico has this crazy good guy named Nery Castillo who seemed to pop out of nowhere. Benny Feilhaber was being awesome in my opinion. And Michael Bradley was taking over the world. MLS is also going on and I'm watching Toronto FC through CBC (I love this channel more than I should). Also, my brief crush on the girl from the lab across. She mysteriously disappears sometime... No, she was an undergrad who just graduated and was headed off to grad school...

July - Wimbledon and the tons of rain that sort of ruined it! Novak gets to another semi, and so does Richard! Venus kills Sveta and Ana and wins the title. The five-set win for Federer was pretty emotional, except I wasn't exactly rooting for Nadal or Federer. Amelie, frustratingly, couldn't get over her mental block with Nicole. U-20 soccer was going on, and I was so in love with the U.S. U-20 team... I was basically crushed when both they and Spain's U-20 lost in the quarters... But Kun and Argentina won the title and Kun was a triple winner (champion, golden ball and golden shoe)! Meanwhile I'm starting to look up grad schools and prepare for the GRE...I hate that test!

August - Tennis is always in full force during the summer, but ESPN2's coverage is pretty good during this non-slam time, and Gael, Ana, and Novak do awesome. Novak beats Federer at Montreal! Also, my summer research comes to an end and I am becoming lazy again. I take the damn GRE and then it's off to Canada! I don't learn enough French in time, but we manage fine because they still know English on the eastern side and are still willing to talk to us in English. My brother and sister like singing this song by Marie-Mai...the song isn't that bad, it's just my siblings... U.S. Open starts, my computer decides to die sometime over vacation, so I can't record matches and must skip class instead...or something like that.

September - school started for me again, boo. Novak gets to his first grand slam final but loses (he was choking, unfortunately), Sveta also gets to the final, and Ana loses early to Venus. A matchup issue, I think. Mario was out of the U.S. Open (he would have faced Novak, ahhh) because of shoulder stuff. Tsonga, who I randomly pick up, does pretty well to face off Nadal. Women's World Cup happens, and I cheer for the U.S. because I like Natasha Kai so much, but otherwise I really don't know any players or anyone. Brazil beats them but lose to Germany, by the way. Oh, also, my old TV sucks because it can't show channels between 65-93. Thankfully I get the ESPNs to show up on channels 47-49 so I get soccer and ESPNU! At the end of the month I head off to Chicago for a conference, which was fun and I also didn't do as much as I should have...oh well, resume padding?

October - my birthday month! Anyway, grad app stress begins. I have finally chosen programs and I also need to write personal statements...kind of hard to do if you don't really know what you are doing. There is soccer and the European indoor season for tennis and I hope that Richie can qualify. I finally went to a college soccer game as well...it was fun for me, not so much for my sister.

November - apps are being turned in! Meanwhile I wait for letters to come in. I have to priority-mail one of my letters in order for it to make it to Stanford on time. College basketball starts off - let's say that the Michigan team feels a lot different than last year. Tennis season comes to a close with somewhat disappointing end results, since Sveta and Novak lost all of their matches at the year-end championships. MLS season closes with another Houston vs. New England and I was just so upset that Chivas didn't get out of the first round again, so I don't care as much I could. EURO qualifiers finish up with both Croatia and Spain in the tournament, which makes me smile. NCAA soccer championships begin as well and I'm happy for UCLA even though I didn't get to watch them at all (they somehow make the tournament). I have a lot of shit collecting together at the end of the month and I realized that I caused myself unnecessary stress again. I'm slacking off in lab and I'm counting down the days in the semester.

December - apps are finished and school goes by so fast! I ditch German; I was so sick of that class. NCAA championships are around (I get to see Michigan's 2 home matches, they then lose to Penn State) and I am high with the Stanford women's volleyball team, until they fall in 5 to Penn State. Wake Forest wins the men's soccer and USC the women's soccer, but I don't really care. I go home earlier than last year and spend lots of time being a "high schooler" again, with all the online fiction and comics that I absorb. Cookies are made and eaten, brother comes home and fixes up my computer, I also beat Tales of the Abyss and I become reobsessed with Suikoden trivia. I end the year thinking about all the stuff I should have done, could have done, but don't really regret anything. I'm used to not doing everything I hope to, but I am happy and I feel like that is the most important of all.

So that's it, I think. I'm going to spend some hours thinking up goals for next year and starting fresh. After all, in 8 or so months I'm going to be on my own. It's a scary thought...so I better be prepared!

Too much blogging?

Is there such a thing as too much blogging? Well I wouldn't know since I'm not that good about posting, especially at times that I want to. It's the old "catch" perhaps, that whenever you have the greatest desire to post or write something, it's the one time that you don't have internet access or even paper. And if you know me well enough, you know that I can't remember what I want to write even as I try to write it down. This trait of mine really sucks.

So I feel like writing, but I don't know what to say once again. I should really do something like write fiction or something, but I also have this huge desire to watch volleyball. And I am sort of caught up in this "end of the year" stuff and thinking about next year already. You'd think that in my desire to write that I should start on my thesis or something. But I promised myself that I wasn't going to touch that until 2008. Yes, I like giving myself excuses.

And the one time that I would have enough free time to watch all the sports that I want to, the sports I watch are mostly on hiatus as well. Tennis starts up again December 31st (woot) and the only soccer going on is the Premier League. Basketball is going too, but nevertheless I can't watch any of this on TV. Once I get my own place I'll definitely need cable TV and a sports package...I don't know how I'm going to live otherwise.

So to write more...I feel like saving up my 2007 summary until Monday. So I think I'm going to find some mundane game to play since I've just finished book 1 of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I just can't read anything that awesome with my brain in its current state of uselessness.

Ranting About Life Again

First of all, Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope that you are all having a good time, because basically I am doing about as well as I should for a break. It doesn't matter that it is exciting or interesting or even boring...it makes me feel good and that's all that I needed.

Meeting up with old friends yesterday went the way I should have expected it. I don't know what I was looking for... Sometimes I think that I've changed a whole lot but really I haven't. I think I've never shared that much in common with them and I still don't. Though it was interesting to hear how everyone is kind of discontent...no one's found a pot of gold or anything like that. In the end, it just seems that what you want is the thing you can't define, so it makes it pretty hard to find.

For example, I don't know if I am really searching for a life partner. I think I'm more worried about living by myself for the rest of my life. I mean, it's rare to have a roommate for life. I think I just need companionship and not romance. I have enough fun hearing about other people's and making up my own. I mean, I think everyone wants love; it just depends on what type.

And then jobs. I can't just sit, but I would be perfectly content to rotate between reading fiction, learning languages, playing music, playing videogames, listening to music, knitting, cooking, writing, and even studying more chemistry. However, at this point the chemistry is sort of "enforced" since it is part of my coursework so I don't exhibit a real on my own desire to seek out articles and read them myself, etc. Basically I'm not totally devoted to anything and I don't think I ever could be...

Luke von Fabre

I understand now why looking at Luke disturbs me so much. It's because Luke looks like he's wearing girl's clothes but is too buff to look like a typical girl. But he's not buff enough to really look like a guy either. For some reason Reid of Tales of Destiny 2 didn't bother me so much even with his girly clothes... It must be the hair. The hair! Luke looked so much better with short hair...

I guess it might be the hemaphrodite-ness of Luke that bothers me? I have no idea but it doesn't make sense... I am "unnaturally" attracted to bare skin (aka belly baring and such) and I tend to stare at it a lot, and Luke has that. And I know my personal preference is about the same shape for both men and women, so slender men and tallish but not stick-thin women. And I like boobs, but I think I prefer B and C sizes (I try not to stare at boobs too much but I can't help it sometimes), so maybe everything in moderation? Now if Luke had an hourglass figure I would be greatly disturbed...ahem, anyway I find it weird that I'm all for the cross-dressing and gender-bending and whatever (woot Guy's girly collar and the like) but something about Luke is both really hot and really disturbing...

Randomness, but Kevin Durant is not HOT but he can do awesome for the Sonics! I might pick them as my team, especially if I go to Washington. Then I'll be able to "stalk" them for real. Too bad, only heard back from U of M and Emory so far...I will have to wait until after Christmas break to know if other schools want me.

Why I am Suikomaniac

I really haven't written about videogames because frankly I haven't played them as much as I used to. RPGs used to be my life; I played them for hours each day, read fanfiction for them, wrote fanfiction for them, and searched out information for them. And one of my favorite things to do after beating a videogame is to look for fanfiction on it. Thus that is what I did for Tales of the Abyss. I really loved the characters in the game but I thought the ending was terrible. It was typical of Tales, however. And the characters are openly bisexual, like all of them! Just like me.

But somehow I got from looking for Tales fanfics to Suikoden. My interest in Suikoden characters has gone haywire again. I've been struggling with ideas for Suikoden fanfics...I don't think I've written one since high school. And I feel like a different person in many ways, and though I wrote "trash", I want to write a different type of trash. And I want to write lesbian fic, especially Miakis/Lymsleia. I actually think they aren't really lesbian lovers at all, and neither are like Lelei (the basically confirmed lesbian), but they are very cute. And then there is the awesome that is of cross-dressing Rahal. Though I'm not always for obviously gay, since that is somewhat boring, and also not nice to the characters.

And being the loser I am, I also thought up of a "hilarious" plot aka romantic comedy involving lots of bisexuals. If only there was a high school so accepting of this... Oh well I'll just pretend. And not-so-emo high school fic too, since emo high school fic is so easy to find. Not that I wasn't "emo" in high school, but still I was never that depressed ever. Ok, don't feel like talking about that, change of topic...

I love Novak. I miss tennis so much. That is all.

I am so drained and sad right now.

Stanford women's volleyball lost the championship match for the second year in a row, this time losing in 5 games.  They roared back from being down 2-0, but Penn State went on a run at the beginning of game 5 and never looked back.  It was like everything was going right in game 4, and then things just went BAM!  I feel so bad for Bryn Kehoe especially, being a senior and all and doing basically what she could.  And she was crying too...breaking our hearts.  And Foluke couldn't get past the block in the fifth game and it really hurt...and Cynthia is probably thinking way too much about what just happened because that's what she does and poor team, losing 2 years in a row...

And the men's College Cup final is tomorrow, but the final has Wake Forest vs. Ohio State, two teams that I don't like.  And that won't cheer me up because I basically don't care who loses or who wins, though I know Julian Valentin so I will end up rooting for Wake Forest.  But I will probably be studying for my last final of this semester and not really caring.  The volleyball loss was just really tough...tough because they had almost all of the pressure to win, and tough because I really cared about this team, even though I only saw them 6 times this year.  It was like last year with UCLA men's soccer, who I just saw once and fell in love with, who also lost in the final game.  See, Wake Forest doesn't even have the charismatic players or the fun players like Jason Leopoldo or David Estrada (UCLA), or even Nyarko of Virginia Tech.  And Ohio State is evil.  So I will keep trying to swallow, distract myself with studying, and pray that I get into Stanford and/or Washington so that I can watch my beautiful girls next year.

OMG

Stanford just won a 5 setter against USC in the NCAA volleyball semis and I was so scared that they might lose!  16-14 in the final set, with USC having a match point!  Barbosa got the last point and yay, I am so happy!  Now for Penn State vs. Cal...hopefully Cal because Cal has Cutura from Croatia and she's crazy awesome.  But anyway, I was shit scared.  I almost started crying after Stanford won.  My sister and I were bouncing a bunch for sure.  And men's soccer tomorrow, boo Ohio State and Wake Forest.  Minute men for the win!

Haha I spend too much time typing in exclamation points and then erasing them.  Oh well, my inorg test is over so I am slacking and enjoying every second of it (until Saturday, when I must start studying again...)

I'm in a good mood.

I've been super excited about women's NCAA volleyball and soccer.  They've both been fun, though I have been behind because this weekend I've also gone to 2 concerts and watched High School Musical yesterday.  It's just been super awesome.

The concert I went to yesterday was a Senegalese artist and his band.  It was very uplifting, somewhat similar, but lots of fun.  It was kind of like a rock concert, but since I was in the balcony I can still hear.  It was kind of interesting to be having the "rock concert" experience without actually having to be involved.  And the artist was fun, along with the Senegalese people who went on stage (without permission sometimes) and danced.  The dancing looked really tiring, but interesting.  I kind of wished that someone else was there with me, but I can't be that picky.  It just makes me think, my perfect partner has so many requirements.  I don't know if I'll ever find him or her...

Friday I checked out of my orgo lab, and Thursday I took my last test for German.  Yay for classes being over!  I'm also really happy because I have like no homework this weekend, so I don't have to worry about doing work and watching all those sports.  I look forward to grad school when I can do things like not homework...  Or next semester should be nice...

Also, I heard back from PIBS, U of M's biosciences grad program, on Friday and they want to interview me!  Yay for one "acceptance".  It's really reassuring and everything to have someone want you.  I want to go to grad school; let me matriculate!

I'm in such a spanish pop mood.  I want to brush up my Spanish and start learning so many other languages.  I think next semester (or over break) I will hit Croatian hard.  I'm going to at least remember all of those declensions.  I'm so nerdy because I think declining is so cool.  Then I think I'll try a little French, though there's also Italian.  And after hearing Senegalese yesterday, I think I want to learn an African language someday...don't know which one.  I think I'll stick to the Euro languages since I'm going to Europe this spring, yay for vacations!

I cause myself to LOL

I think it was a random time ago when someone was like, "What's good about Texas?" I responded that I like people who go to/went to Texas but not actually the school. Today I was randomly thinking about that topic again and I was naming a few people... I didn't get so far because the first things I thought were, "Kevin Durant, the Hookers..." I meant Destinee and Marshavet Hooker, but out of context (somehow my brain also pretends that it is other ignorant [sometimes] people and reacts to my own statements, yes I know that is weird) you know what that meant. So I laughed to myself again, like every other day. I want to say this to someone now, but no one would care and I would probably laugh before I said that the same serious way I did before. Sadness...

Classes are so close to being over! Especially with the good lab news (rest of our labwork has been canceled!), I have even more free time to be stupid! And read Lord of the Rings (only chapter 3, how sad). I've also decided to start writing again, just short fics right before bed. It's part trashy slashy fic and part "emo" but not really "emo" fic. I do reflect upon the past way too much, but I want to write fics since my real life isn't so interesting, and I can still see things about myself. Well at least I hope to.

Also randomly I think this new undergrad in our lab is hot. I think I've had classes with him. I won't tell him that, of course, because he will think that I'm even more of a freak than I already am. I also think that he looked like Ramza from Final Fantasy Tactics the one day that he had his hair (slightly longish) tied back in a short pony tail. I am weird, I know.

Lack of inspiration = lack of good title

YAYAYAY U-23 roster for Olympic qualies is out! And Sacha Kljestan, Marvell Wynne, Maurice Edu, Dax McCarty, Sal Zizzo, Jozy and Freddy, all the fun guys are there! And holy shit Arturo Alvarez is American? I feel stupid in a sense, oh well. No Adu, Szetela, Bradley mentioned but I'm sure they'll make their way to the team some other time. And Stuart Holden, the man/boy of TV (he scores almost every time Houston is on ESPN2) of crazy but hilarity! I don't think I'm stalking the U.S. men's team any time soon because of classes, but I like to be happy.

And it was fun to go to my first basketball game of this season (U-M's fourth home game) against Boston College. A friend of mine also agrees that Tyrese Rice is sort of hot. And he sort of won the game for BC. But my "boy" DeShawn did well, and Kelvin Grady, the frosh, is kind of cute. Though I wish they drove into the lane more...like some aggressiveness please? And Ron Coleman sucks. Manny Harris is talented but he got blocked at least 6 times...it really makes him look like a frosh. C. J. Lee is pretty fast, thought he was a frosh but he's actually a senior. Whoa. Anyway I need to get back into basketball like now.

NCAA tourneys are so much fun. Women's volleyball Friday and Saturday at Crisler (Michigan made it, but not seeded)! And Stanford is #1! And soccer is going on too, go UCLA men! I completely don't know any women's soccer this year so I'll probably just root randomly for people in the final four like I did last year.

What was I going to rant about? Whatever. Life is sucky because I have everything due Friday. Today was going to be sucky until I woke up at 5 AM and got most of my lab report done. Now only if the NMR room was open so I could reprint my specs since I drew all over them... And then I have to study a ton for inorg since I have no idea what is going on in that class. And then there is a massive biophys problem set. And I need to send out those recs (the easy thing to do). At least my German video group stuff was done so early. And I need to make my Christmas presents too - sometime.

I miss watching sports.

Of course I am useless and I don't get anything done, and I spend too much time doing nothing.  And I don't have cable at home so I can't watch sports...not like university cable would have all that I would want to watch anyway.  Feast Week was fun times, except Oregon lost to St. Johns.  And men's NCAA soccer started, while the women are into the quarters/Elite Eight (except for Duke/Indiana).  UCLA won, yay!  I totally have a not so secret crush on the team and the cockiness of David Estrada, the "cuteness" of Tony Beltran, and is Jason Leopoldo there?  Oh yeah, Mike Zaher whose profile says that he starred in JoJo's music video that had soccer in it (forgot its name).

But fun times for UNC who lost to Notre Dame in the third round of NCAA women's soccer.  I didn't watch any women's college soccer at all this year, but you figure powerhouse UNC would be fine with Naguera (sp?) and Averbuch and co.  Stanford was also upset, and I didn't know they were that good but they were seeded high.  UCLA women will probably take the title.  I guess I should stalk DiMartino since they are so high on her...  But whatever I have other things to do.

And crazily and awesomely Croatia won against England 3-2, which means England is out of EURO 2008.  And Niko scored because of the goalkeepers mistake...whatever.  And stalking Niko turned up a Pompey Online interview with him...aww cuteness from Niko!  He does sound like an American...yay?  He and Bobby Convey are really alike in terms of physical features, but their playing styles are quite different.  Niko and Bobby are starting now for their respective teams, which is awesome.

I was totally going to rant on something else...oh well.  Wait, NCAA women's volleyball selection at 8 PM on ESPNU...better get my HW done by then.

THANKSGIVING 2007

I'm so happy that it's Thanksgiving time!  And I basically have all my applications done...just need to check up on recommendations and submit the final 2.  And the German video is done so less work to do once I come back from break.  Which is a great thing because of concerts, NCAA tourneys for soccer (thank goodness UCLA made it!) and volleyball, and of course, basketball!

Which reminds me, I am watching Oregon play at the moment.  The fact that I can watch them is awesome.  I really enjoy having CSTV and ESPNU...soccer and basketball galore.  Now since college football is winding down finally, I will have too many things to watch.

And those books to read, like Lord of the Rings?  I'll get to start on that.  So in conclusion, I'm just really thankful that everything can be so good for me right now.

Novak

1. Novak is hot.
2. I wake up at 4 AM to see him play.
3. I would sleep with him if I could.
4. He's playing badly at the Master's Cup but I'm still happy to see him.
5. His cockiness on court is hot.
6. I would have a threesome with him and Ana.
7. I DO like him much more than his brother Marko.
8. Go Nole!
9. You and Andy should play doubles sometime when I can actually watch you.
10. Best of luck to you next season...and please win today/tonight!

I can't sleep.

I didn't set any alarm whatsoever, and I woke up at 4:15 AM this morning.  Why?  Because there was tennis on, live.  And the match was between Novak and Richard.  Ah I miss tennis.  I almost cried just because I got to see him...just kidding.  I actually didn't cry while Novak lost the match...Richie was hot enough to make up for it.  Novak just looked out of it.  He's basically eliminated so I will concentrate all my powers on Richie to be awesome!  Go beat Ferrer now!

This sucks.

Ana in the semis of the WTA Champs, Sveta lost all of her matches, Justine is becoming more dominant than Federer, and both Novak and Richie lost today!  And I didn't get to see those matches either.

Houston won yesterday, yay.  I root for them because I like Brian Ching...otherwise I don't care because my 2 teams are Chivas USA and Toronto.  And I'm excited that Altidore has been called up for the U.S. friendly on the 17th.  A real forward for once!  And of course happy for Sacha too...though I won't be able to see that game.

College soccer weekend on CSTV...it's kind of insane.  And I thought the final four for NCAA soccer and volleyball would not overlap but they do!  I guess something to watch in a weekend full of basketball and finals.

I submitted my University of Washington application today (finally) but Embark is being a bitch right now and I can't submit mine for U of M.  It just keeps crashing...I spent 30 minutes on that stupid problem.  And I can't figure out my lab homework either...I wonder what kind of crappy grade I'll end up with in that class.  Hopefully a B.  And I really want to do well on the biophys test on Wed.  I just know that I can beat those pre-meds, but that means I have to study.  Damn.

Though buying books this weekend was yay and now I just have to find some time to read them again.  And watch basketball and stalk Kevin Durant.  And watch all that tennis...  This will be a fun week, hopefully.  Can't wait until Thanksgiving!

Sacha...

Chivas USA tied KC yesterday and therefore lost on aggregate. Now I don't get to see Sacha and Jonny until next season! Nooo...I won't be able to keep up with Sacha's hair! But most importantly, I'm sad that they can't win! They had the potential, damnit.

But randomly going to ussoccer.com and looking at old videos is fun. Sacha, I guess, always had great hair, even in 2005. And Benny had his curls...he should go back to that!

Ladies and Gentlemen

It was a very random thought that occurred to me on my way back from class on Friday. "Ladies" is so much hotter of a word than "gentlemen". I mean, think of all the sultry ways you can say "Ladies". Obviously that means ladies are hotter than gentleman. Obviously.

Counting

You would think that as a sport's fan who checks schedules regularly that I would know when things would happen. I would know that Champions League wasn't this week or that the next U of M basketball games didn't actually start until next Friday. But really all I know about is tennis. And I now know that Andy Murray and Richard Gasquet both can't qualify for the Master's Cup so I will root as hard as I can for the winner to make it.

I submitted my Stanford application last night. At least I can count how many applications I have left, which is 6. And I know that I have a test next Tuesday and test a week from Thursday. And I know that I have 9 credits of MET to use up next semester and I have only 4 credits confirmed.

Also, totally off topic, but I have been "stalking" Durant. He's doing better, maybe. I watched all of Sonics vs. Nuggets and the first quarter of Sonics vs. Suns. Ah, NBA. I am randomly going to watch more this year, along with college basketball, men's volleyball, tennis, and gymnastics. Oh, another complaint. ESPN isn't showing the WTA tour championships! I can't believe it! I miss ANA...

¡Feliz Cumpleaños a mi!

Hoy es mi cumpleaños. No puedo creerlo...cumpleo 20 años. Me siento que la vida pasa tan rápida, como si fuera en un barco que viaja en una cascada. Mi mente sufre de pérdida de memoria y no creo que puedo recordar más. Por eso olvido muchas cosas que han occurido. Debo reciclar las memorías...pero no recuerdo la información para mis clases...

El partido entre Liverpool y Arsenal fue tan bueno. Cesc es el mejor futbalista ahora, y él marcó un gol importante. Esperaba que Arsenal ganara, pero un punto es mejor que cero. Pero Chivas...el equipo perdió contra KC y estoy triste...tiene que ganar o no puedo verlo. Y Sacha...lo echo de menos. Y me supí que Sacha fue entrevistado el martes por 45 minutos en "Football Fone-In" (un programa de FSC) y no puedo encontrar el audio de la entrevista. ¡Y él habló de Benny! No...

Richie, ¿por qué sigues perdiendo en la ronda segunda de los torneos? Quiero verte en la copa Master. Gana, por favor. Y Andy Murray, tú eres tan bueno. Sigue ganando y alcanzarás un puesto. Y Marin, me haces feliz que jugó en un semifinal y creo que aumentarás tus resultados pronto. Y pobre Mario, espero que ganes siempre, pero no es possible. Y Novak, ¿tienes ya el pelo de la cara? Por favor aféitate. Por favor...

Fun/Funny Things

This weekend has been surprisingly nice so far, compared to the week. After a few days stressing over applications and lab work, the good stuff started on Friday. I finally gathered that all my applications preferred online recommendations, so I emailed my profs about it and of course my advisor was on top of everything. He already wrote my letter! And my prof was cool with it too. Just one more prof to hear back from... Anyway, then we watched Space Jam and all of the extras and I was dead tired at like 11. Oh well.

Then Saturday there was the PIBS open house (U of M's biomedical sciences graduate program) so I went and it was really informative and helpful. My professor was there, actually, and so we talked a bit. Also, importantly, free stuff! I got a PIBS mug and a Chemical Biology bag and of course a ton of handouts. But the best part was feeling good about applying to Pharmacology and Biochemistry and such. Yay for something going right. Also, I might have converted a friend over from med. school to grad. school! That's also exciting. Saturday night was also awesome since I dragged my sister out to a soccer game. It was U of M vs. Northwestern and I thought it was a pretty good game. I did expect Northwestern to score, and both teams needed to do better with finishing and crossing, but the energy was fun. We sat in the very front, kind of with Northwestern fans (or at least they were behind us), and I had Jackie take photos for me! Yay stalking, sort of. I thought #11 (Steve Bonnell) was kind of hot, well at least the hottest soccer player I could really see. The sweet part was how close you could see them. And Peri Marosevic was playing, though not the whole time, and he showed flashes of awesomeness. But he wasn't really getting service. But drawing Northwestern is awesome...hopefully they make the tournament!

In terms of ATP and WTA tennis, seeds were dying at both events. Well Nalbandian decided to randomly be awesome and beat Rafa, Novak, and Roger for the title. Everyone but Henin died at Zurich, who is totally dominating the women's tour. Poor Sveta actually being injured...the others should step it up! And I was definitely happy about Mario making it to the quarters (he beat Blake!), though those yellow shorts make me want to cry. The black shirt is hot though. And Novak with his facial hair... And why did Richie lose in the first round? He needs points...he could totally make it to the Masters Cup if he could just get some rounds in...

And more soccer now. MLS playoffs start on Thursday and hopefully Chicago wins because I can't ever root for LA Galaxy to make the playoffs. Especially if they meet with Chivas! Teams like LA who push for the playoffs late always are super dangerous, so their elimination suits me just fine. After all, Chivas for the win!

This is so random, but I love Sacha's love for his hair. It cracks me up.

Marin Cilic in the top 100!

It finally happened! Marin broke into the top 100 in the men's rankings, now at 98! Yay, I am so proud of him. He's been consistently qualifying for tournaments and getting a few matches... Soon he won't have to spend so much energy qualifying! Yayayay!

I'm sad for Vania, though, because she's cutting her season off a bit early because of her back injury. She was doing well in Bangkok too... Well, she's fallen out of the top 100 in singles but she's been doing well in doubles...best of luck to her recovery.

Elena Dementieva won the final of the Kremlin Cup against Serena Williams yesterday. Good for her. Too bad Sveta didn't continue her awesomeness against Serena and lost to her in the semis... Oh well, what can you do.

There's nice tennis on this week (just not on TV, unfortunately). Madrid for the men and Zurich for the women. Mario is in Madrid and could meet James Blake in round 2. Sveta and Ana are part of the awesome field in Zurich. I guess too bad for Maria Sharapova, since she's out with injury again. This is really a tough year for her fans...thankfully I'm not one. I mean, it's been quite sad waiting for Mario to come back, so I didn't need to wait for anyone else.

Lindsay Davenport update: she's ranked 123. She's going to be seeded for the Australian Open next year, I hope!

Woot Rainbows!

Today is National Coming Out Day. I made myself a crappy-looking "rainbow" paper bracelet using highlighters, so red = pink and indigo doesn't exist. And the yellow is blinding. I guess I am not the stereotype at all, since I have NOTHING colorful or rainbowy at all. So bracelet = desperation. Since I came out post-10/11 last year (I don't think I really had a date...but it was somewhat close but not the same, I don't think =>check old blog, duh), I wanted to celebrate this year. I wonder if people will even notice. I don't even have class with like anyone today...and it's cold so I'm not going to let my wrist fall off just so I can show the world.

Now of course I'm not your typical coming-out story. I have friends who accept this, siblings who accept this (and give me the highlighters, yay), and I go to a pretty liberal institution. So basically it was pretty easy. And there was no tension nor drama since it wasn't from any built up sexual thoughts or anything (no crushes at that time). Yes, I haven't officially told my parents, but I really don't think it matters because they only care if I get married or not...and I don't know if I would get married anyway even if I were straight...

So if you don't know after reading my blog (for some reason) what I am, I am BISEXUAL. I love you all! Now get me some rainbows!

Eventually I'll get something done.

I finally got those letter-writers some stuff so they can start writing good/bad/whatever recommendations. Frankly they just have to say something better than horrible...I don't really care. After getting that off my chest, I feel relieved. Now on to those real applications! Fall break = application start time. I'm going to be spending quite a bit of money too...damn score-sending fees, application fees, etc.

So yesterday at lab I basically accomplished nothing despite being there for like 6 hours. That is because I am too stupid to follow directions and I was, at that time, too distracted by studying for that test, which I think I did alright on (I definitely passed woot). Basically I messed up making minimal media + uracil plates twice. The first time I put 1000x the amount of uracil I needed, so it obviously wasn't dissolving. The second time I allowed the gel to cool too much so it hardened before I poured the plates. Hence I get to do it again today! I better get it right or I'll have to make more 5xM9 salts too...

Despite everything, I'm kind of happy to go back to doing experiments like stop-flow. I don't like molecular biology and it doesn't like me either. Though I hope the experiment isn't bitchy and I can stop having that weird "steady state" thingy going on. Or something.

Wish me luck on my biophys test this morning!

I want a redo.

This past week has been shit, but it is all my own fault. That is because I forgot to bring my HW with me to Chicago so I spent like 4 days trying to do my inorg HW. Then I had one night, that began at 8:30 PM, to finish my biophys HW and my lab report. So I was up until 1:30 AM, but stupid me can't sleep past 8:30 because of the sunlight in my room. And my incompetancy at NMR doesn't help either. Neither does an autoclave that takes forever to purge. Piece of shit.

I also had the "horror" of spilling some hot water on Professor Ninfa while I was trying to remove something from the autoclave today. I want him to write a recommendation for me too, though I don't think he remembers me at all. I guess I should have visited him or something, but come on, he sees me like all the time when he walks through our lab. Perhaps I pass off as being a graduate student because I do my own stuff now? Doesn't make sense.

I think I am gaining some weight recently, probably because of my horrible eating and sleeping schedule. I need to stop eating Cheez-its, but they are so good...

Why Girls Are Better Than Guys

Let's just say that hair can be scary. Especially when there is enough on an arm that it itches. Obviously I don't spend much, if any, time touching male body parts. It's probably a good thing. I just don't remember my brother having itchy, hairy arms. And definitely not any females that I know of. Wait, this one girl who was in band with me had really long and dark hairs on her arms... She doesn't count. Ana Ivanovic, after all, is perfect. And Maria Kirilenko is a favorite hottie of the males on the tennis tour. And I think I had a crush on my ballet teacher from winter semester, because she reminded me of Yu-na Kim.

Ahem, anyway I should update you on all things sports! I've had the joy of watching volleyball on TV now, thanks to the addition of ESPNU and CSTV. Randomly I started receiving ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNNews on the previously blank channels 47-49. It makes life better for sure. Women's World Cup soccer was sucky today, with deflected goals, Hope not starting, Natasha not playing (why the fuck not I don't know), and of course, diving and terrible refereeing. Terrible refereeing caused the increase in diving, though, and I'm pissed about Boxx's second yellow. And today I'm watching MLS for the first time in like a month. Too bad I missed both superclasicos...but Chivas USA is doing really well! And watching soccer from England and Spain is nice...yay Cesc! And tennis is in a little lull right now, though Tim Henman did go out with a win (poor Marin...but at least he won his 2nd match) and Serbia got into the Davis Cup World Group. Vania keeps losing early in singles, but she just won a doubles title so at least she's doing well somewhere... Joachim, to my surprise, played in the Sweden tie against the U.S. Great to see him back! Also, I want Richard to keep winning so he can qualify for the Masters' Cup. I wouldn't be the only one happy about that either!

Come on Eddie Johnson, I know you can score! Please no own goals in this game too...

Lindsay is amazing!

Lindsay just beat Elena Dementieva 7-6, 6-1 in the China Open and is marching on to another title! By winning Bali she rose like 80 places in the rankings, and soon she'll be back in the seeding range. I'm excited of course. She's probably going to be seeded for the Australian Open! I'll get to watch her on my new TV that doesn't cut out randomly (though that problem seemed to have randomly fixed itself...weird). Amelie is also playing at China...come on Amelie!

Davis Cup stuff starts today too. Go Serbia! I can't wait to see you in the World Group! Meanwhile the Serbian ladies had a tough draw with Slovakia to get into World Group II, so they are still in the Zonals... But best of luck next year. Ooh and there is Croatia vs. Great Britain... Tim Henman's last event. Best of luck to all in that one.

I have this great desire to play tennis like right now. I think I'm going to bug my sister about playing tennis or something. Should be good weather tomorrow afternoon, at least.

¡Vámonos!

Ya estamos a 19 de septiembre. El tiempo pasa tan rápida...no parará para nadie. Casi voy a asistir a MECC (29 septiembre) y presentar a mis investigaciónes.

Voy a vivir y disfrutar la vida y no pensar demasiado en nada. Voy a ver muchos partidos del fútbol y ver Atlético Madrid que ganará sus partidos de la Copa UEFA. ¡Vámonos!

Don't Set Shit On Fire

The fire alarm went off at the Chem. Building today while I was in lab. I think we were outside for like an hour. All that time that I could have used to run that column and finish that experiment... I think one girl stayed to finish it but I wouldn't submit that horrendousness to the GSI. I still stayed until about 5:15 since I had only 30 minutes to do any real work since I also had NMR machine training... I am behind and I also have that conference to go to...oh well. But more importantly, do not set any shit on fire in the Chem building especially. It might make one spectacular explosion, with all those gases and flammable liquids, but we could all die as well. I did not do all of this work just to get killed, after all.

Looking up grad schools is still a pain, and I think I eliminate more places then I accept. Apps. need to be in by early December...damnit!

Not Again (Thankfully)

I woke up at 5 AM today in order to watch the match between the U.S. and Sweden. It was a good match, but it was sort of worth it. I was basically screwed for the rest of the day. I was dying throughout inorganic chemistry lecture, and took a short nap and the research lab (while a solution was thawing). Somehow that worked. I was alright during biophys lecture (I was brave enough to try and answer a question on the board, granted with my eyes scanning my notebook frantically for all the equations) and I didn't break anything in my synthesis lab today! I spilled a little bit of solution, maybe 2-3 mL, which compared to the 60 mL I have, isn't much. In fact, I don't have to redo the purification/isolation of my stuff since none of it had eluted on Monday. The unfortunate parts are that I still have shit on that column (my second compound) and that there is overlap between my first and second compound. Hopefully I can get some pure second compound and then work on speccing them. Woot.

Volleyball game tonight with my sister. I like volleyball, so shoot me. Hopefully a great game (and that we kick ass, so only 3 sets please). If it's fun, I might go there again. Yeah. Sometime I need to go to a soccer game too. Now those are free! Yes, I should definitely go.

I have homework...that shit sucks. I guess in conclusion I am a spoiled brat.

Marin!

Marin just won against Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-4! First Top 10 win, yeah! Now hurry up and climb in the rankings so I might see you on TV eventually...

Lindsay is also winning at the moment, and Gael has been doing well so far in Romania, so things are good. And both Spain and Croatia won in their qualifiers for EURO 2008. It was so nice to see a real men's soccer match on TV.

Ah, damn I have to wake up at 5 AM tomorrow in order to see USA vs. Sweden in the WWC. The reshowing that I can see (aka on ESPN) is at 3AM Saturday morning. But at 8 there is Brazil vs. China, which I don't want to miss, so that would be pretty rough. Basically I'll have to sleep or nap during the day. Or not sleep. Hmm...

Life keeps rolling

Why do I always have to break stuff? Now everyone can know how incompetent I am... And I think I eluted the two things together so I'll have to redo anyway...piece of shit.

The U.S. Open is over, but tennis keeps rolling. A bunch of my players are playing this week, who basically didn't play the U.S. Open. Marin and Jo-Wilfried are off in China and are both still playing there (Marin lost in qualies for the U.S. Open). Gael just beat Filippo Volandri in Bucharest after qualifying for the tourney! And most importantly, Lindsay is BACK! She beat Eleni Danilidou in Bali and is teaming up with Daniela Hantuchova for doubles. Maybe she'll direct qualify into AO 2008 with good results or even get up to seeding! She's at 234 right now...I just checked.

Women's World Cup started yesterday, and I'm going to watch North Korea vs. USA tonight, so I only know that Germany whipped Argentina 11-0 yesterday. Wow. But of course Argentina has two more matches to show everyone what it got. But with England in the group, it's not going to be easy.

I guess I really did get skinny, because my dress shirts are too big now. Senior portraits today, off to "research", dinner and soccer and then some biophys I think... I need to start looking at grad schools again like NOW. DAMNIT.

U.S. Open Conclusion

Wow, it's over. The U.S. Open has basically been my life this past 2 weeks and I'm really going to miss having tennis to watch tomorrow. Results, in the end, were mixed for me. Novak and Sveta both made it to the final and they both lost. Ana and Jelena exited a bit early, Vania is just having a horrible year, and the trio of injury/illness that hurt Richard, Mario, and Gael didn't help either. Especially how last minute they were (I was prepared for Amelie since she announced ahead of time). Coolly enough Dinara Safina and Natalie Dechy won the women's doubles title. Pretty cool for Dinara (think it is her first slam title).

I was strangely more sad about Svetlana losing than Novak, probably because Svetlana's came first. Both matches were frustrating since they both had chances to break (and in Novak's case, win sets), but both were straight set losses. It's nice to see Svetlana in a final again (better than her performance at Australia, yay!). Actually a lot of things were better than Australia, but I've been blessed with a nice French Open and Wimbledon that I forgot about that. They just keep raising my expectations, that's all.

Ah, but the stress of watching Novak made me get my period. Or something did. Because I thought I had skipped it, since it didn't come at the end of August, and it started yesterday. But there is like nothing on my pad...I wore the same one like the whole day and it wasn't even half-full. But no stains on my underpants, which is the most important part. Well, hopefully it goes away.

There is the Women's World Cup starting tomorrow, but I don't have ESPN2 since my TV sucks and I will miss the first match. Well, I guess I'll just be watching 1 match broadcast on the round robin days (unless I can get myself to wake up at 5 AM...depending on the match I might just do that). Hmm should I miss Inorg lecture or not? Nah, not tomorrow but maybe Wednesday...hmm...

Tennis and Gymnastics, because they are totally related

So I was looking at the start list for the U.S. men at Worlds for gymnastics and Sasha Artemev is slated for 4 out of 6 of the events! More than any of the others...piece of shit, why wasn't he doing all 6 for the qualifiers? They are depending on him to be the best and carry most of the point-scoring load, and they don't even get him a chance to show off! Those bums...

Jelena lost heartbreakingly to Venus yesterday. I just felt this sadness kind of creep into me...nothing like crying or anything but I just didn't feel like talking or laughing for a bit. It shook off kind of quickly, especially with other people in my room being more jovial (but not insane, since that was cause me to start a fit). I actually almost watched all of Andy Roddick vs. Federer...went to sleep when the third set was 5-2...oh well. Djokovic is playing Moya tonight, so I will try my best to be there for all of it. Well if I can make it back for dinner...

Anyway, stupid TV that can't show ESPN2! Too bad I'll be missing the U.S. men vs. Brazil friendly on Sunday because that's when the men's final is on. And then the women's world cup starts, but I'll just watch a few matches in the morning before class since I can't sleep in AT ALL.

Gymnastics!

Very happy that the boys (U.S. men's team) qualified for the Olympics! Yay! Especially since Sasha and Jon were part of the team again, and no Hamms. We have depth and talent, thank you very much. I'm debating whether or not I should sign up to get free, live webcasts of worlds but I don't think I could see very much of it. Why does it have to happen this week? NOOOOOO... Best of luck to them though, on Friday (I think).

Nadal lost.

Now I'm not sad that Nadal lost, but I'm pretty sure a ton of other people are. I was sort of looking forward to another Nadal v. Djokovic semifinal with the hopes that Novak could win this time. I just thought Nadal would pull it out somehow, since he was up a set by the time I really fell asleep. But now there is tons of pressure on Djokovic, and if he does make it to the final, Djokovic is going to be so damn tired.

Justine won pretty handily in the 2nd set after a really close 1st set. Serena became really frustrated, but I like that Justine won and never let up really. And today Svetlana should be on TV again so I'll definitely be catching that. And Venus vs. Jelena tonight should hopefully be a good one...maybe even better than Serena vs. Justine. Hopefully labwork cooperates today! (It will also help if Svetlana absolutely creams her opponent.)

Today must be a bad day...

...to be in lab. Ugh. My shit is not sonicating at all for some reason and I'm so fucking pissed. I will probably abandon ship and screw up this protein anyway and the 12L I grew up won't be worth anything at the end. All this waiting for nothing. So fucking pissed.

And a labmate broke a mercury thermometer, and I forgot my granola bar, and my discussion was "canceled" but not canceled officially. I keep wasting time and I won't get to scout Ernest Gulbis or maybe even see Novak play at the rate the matches are going. And I woke up at 7:30, damnit! At least class was alright.

Ana lost.

I was hoping for a better result, but it really sucks because of a matchup issue. I only got to watch 3 games of that match too because of my stupid hall meeting...and the RA didn't even do any kind of attendance taking. I didn't have to be there at all, which pisses me off. At least I caught the very end. But Ana was clearly upset. I'm sad also because I don't know when I'll get to see her play next. Yes, I'm selfish.

At least Jelena and Novak won, and Novak quite easily. And getting a few presents also cheered me up. And Svetlana should be on TV today, so I'm excited for that. That's a good thing about Maria Sharapova being out. Then I'm going to head over to lab because I'm SICK of Roddick and Blake.

Night feature matches start with Anna Chakvetadze vs. Tamira Paszek. I haven't seen Tamira, but supposedly she's up and coming and really good, so I'm excited for that as well. But I'm not excited for school, for sure.

Upsets Galore

Agnieska Radwanska has caused an amazing upset of Maria Sharapova today! Also Agnes Szavay beat Nadia Petrova (7th seed) and Julia Vakulenko continues her run by beating Maria Kirilenko, who is no means a lightweight, after her 1st round victory over Daniela Hantuchova. Lleyton Hewitt lost yesterday too. But not Novak, because HE IS AMAZING. I didn't watch much of him because I was moving yesterday (except I didn't move until 7:30 PM). I think I would have cried if I had. But amazing last point! Also, Booty and Stretch lost yesterday...it really might mean the end of a partnership...I'm so sad...

So all this means Svetlana should win the title! Actually, I think someone from the top half will win but I have hope! Actually hope for Ana! And Novak! I want new Slam champions!

Monthly Outlook: September 2007

Recap: Finally went on vacation after a long summer of lab work that I forced upon myself. I've been frustrated and stressing needlessly and I hate the fact that I have to redo a bunch of data points as well as grow and purify the enzyme so I can redo those points! I finally started Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria and I really enjoy it, though the U.S. Open has put playing that game sort of on hiatus. Soccer in Europe has started up again so I'm excited to see how Arsenal and Atletico Madrid do!

Outlook: This should be an interesting month, with my final year in college as an undergraduate beginning. I hope to balance studies with labwork and college applications, as well as have time to relax by watching TV and/or playing videogames. I think I will be busy and stressed and worrying about things I shouldn't worry about...the typical.

Events/Activities: U.S. Open, U-17 World Cup, Women's World Cup, volleyball match 9/14 or 9/15, soccer match?, Midwest Enzyme Chemistry Conference

Goals: to solicit 3 recommendation letters, to keep up with my studies, to read some of my Spanish novel Rayuela, to learn more Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS)

The Beginning

This is my new blog. Welcome.