2014 recap

Um. Suffice it to say, it has been a good year.

January: Did a thing which is now on the internet forever….I told an extremely private story in an extremely public place and it is now on the internet.

February: Started rotating in the lab that would eventually become my home lab.

March: Found a house to live in and decided to live on my own, just me and Lena.

April: Got the NSF fellowship, which never in a MILLION YEARS I thought I would win. It was one of the best feelings in the world. I woke up at 4 in the morning to check my email, and the first thing I did was email my dad. My parent's first reaction: "You're going to be a scientist." It's hard to say exactly what this means--that this was something they could be immeasurably proud of me for. It sounds weird, because it's just a thing and obviously they are happy and proud of me, but this was just such a good feeling. The best feeling.

There was a big down which was my rotation PI gave me some harsh feedback and that was really tough to hear, but also ok. (Mostly because I ended up joining the lab.)

May: Moved into my new house. HIRED MOVERS WHICH WAS THE MOST AMAZING EXPERIENCE. Officially joined my lab.

June: L finished kindergarten, first experience with summer camps.

July: Worked. I’m sure something else happened in July but I can’t think of anything exactly.

August: Lena started 1st grade! I get the Marcy Speer fellowship, a real honor: one second year from my program gets it each year. It serves as a reminder to be the best person I can be, in science and in service.

September: Gave my first talk to over 200 people! Went to my first conference as a grad student: the Lake Arrowhead Microbial Genomics conference with Aspen, Firas, and Lawrence, which was just amazing. Motivating, inspiring, + korean barbecue. Aspen, Firas and I grew really close, which turns out to make lab the funnest place to be on earth.

October: I turned 27. Went for a walk in the woods with Alex, which was just the most perfect thing. Continuing to love my lab and my science. (I think things started to work, or rather, I started to fundamentally understand my project.)

November: I gave a chalk talk for lab meeting, and I discovered that I love giving chalk talks. During said chalk talk I came up with an idea for a project that I started working on in earnest. I also started hanging out with the most amazing person ever, and that is really exciting.

December: A month for retrospection. I am loving my life, I'm making some friends that I think I will keep forever. The biggest challenge of this month and for the coming year is focus. My project moves in leaps and bounds, I am writing more and more. Lena is fun, so much fun. And this boy. This boy fills my life with music and is occupying a space in my heart that I had forgotten existed. If past is precedence, 2015 is going to be amazing. I cannot wait. See you all there.

2013: the forest through the trees

Last day of 2013, I've had pizza for my last three meals. I was thinking I didn't want to do a "year in review" because nothing happened. I'm slogging through Lena's winter break, feeling like I'm letting a lot of people down. YOU KNOW, THE USUAL.

And then I remember, 2013. It's been a great year.

So let's recap, shall we? At the end of 2012 I found myself with three interviews to graduate schools. So without further adieu...

January. Lena turned 5, and not that there was any doubt that we would make it five years but...yeah there was a little doubt. Had my first grad school interview at UNC. It was fun. I got to stay at the Franklin Hotel and went "out" one night with a bunch of strangers.

February. Had my second and third graduate school interviews: state and duke. Got acceptances to all three. Got a first author paper, too.

March. Made the toughest easiest choice of my life to attend duke for graduate school. Crazy, right?

April. Wrapped up work at UNC. I MOVED OUT OF MY PARENTS HOUSE. Into an apartment with Lena and Stephanie. It was awesome and such a huge leap but I am so. glad. I did it. Oh and I ran 10 miles.

May. Went on a sweet weekend trip to the mountains with friends. Just building my life, more and more.

June. Started a summer rotation at duke!!!!! Being in a new place, getting connected to the wireless, checking out the library, meeting so many new people. Started talking more with Kevin, my absolutely favorite person in my program so far.

July. Oh did I mention this is month two of my parents being in Singapore? Which is officially the longest time I've been a real single parent. So tough, but this was one of the biggest confidence boosts I've had thusfar. Oh and a guy in my lab convinces me to try OKCupid.

August. SCHOOL STARTS. For me AND Lena. I line up my second, third, and fourth rotations. I start having real conversations with real people about real things. I decide to take a computer science class. I went on a date for the first time, ever, basically.

September. I am in love with a new language, Python! School is hard, but fun. I am loving my next rotation. Discovering more and more things about Duke. So amazed and surprised that I ended up here. Especially since the people I'm rotating with/most excited about I didn't even KNOW about on my interview weekend.

October. So I'd be lying if I said everything was all fine and dandy. October and November were some of my toughest months. The most work, the most writing I've ever done. So many ups and downs, confidence swells and dips. But, I got off three fellowship applications!

December. Lined up my classes for the new year. Doing a couple of cool writing projects. (Reading a story with the Monti in January!) New life motto: "we can't stop here, this is bat country!"

There you have it. It's a pretty amazing year if I stop feeling sorry for myself for two minutes and focus on the immense amount of good that happened this year. 2013 was the best year ever, and 2014 is looking to be even better. I have about a billion things to look forward to, tons of duke stuff, recruitment weekend, choosing a lab! Traveling. Lena is going to be six.

Watch out 2014, we're coming for you.