"Do you know the name of this song? It's called The Girl from Empanada."

So I've hit my summer time lull. I have become a woman with a career. And I just 'career' all the time. I suppose this is partly because I don't have a whole slew of people in the Bay Area and partly due to the fact that I loveeeeeeeee my 'career'. Today I learned how to use the microscope and camera to take pictures of my stained slides. It's pretty legit to have access to this super complicated machine and I'm so excited to finally start collecting data. Tomorrow I'm going to actually take my first pictures so hopefully by the end of the week I'll have some photos to show you all, and at that point I'll FINALLY explain my project. Rock and roll, good times ya'll.

What I have gathered at this point from working in the lab is that patience and precision really are key. Although I'm getting better, my identification of different slices of the brain still isn't great. Something I've trained myself to do over the years is, when I can't perfect something settle for an educated guess and not fret about it. Most times this gets me by just fine with school work and what not; however, let me tell you how far this has gotten me in the past few weeks. Of the ten brain I sliced last week, I tried to pick a slice of the same section (section 50) from each of them on Friday so I could stain, look under the microscope, and compare them all to each other. Out of ten slices, three were the correct section but only two were truly perfect matches. Mnhmn. And that's just my slice selection. I've also run into problems with my stains not being strong enough and my genotyping just flat out not working (Which is why I haven't given you a step by step of how it exactly works). Somehow though I'm not totally discouraged. Maybe I really like science. Maybe I'm a patient person. I do ask a lot of questions. When I asked James if I asked a lot of questions, he just laughed at me.

Things are getting excitinggggg in the next few weeksssss:

1) This coming weekend - PRIDE PRIDE PRIDE I'm so flippin' excited I don't know what do with myself or what to say. Be PREPARED for a ridiculous amount of scandalous photos.

2) Four weekends from now - my family AND trbj! I love that people I love are coming to visit me and meet each other (FINALLY).

3) Maybe a week after that - Back to Santa Barbara, which should be warmer than this place (Thank baby J) which means beachhhhh. I mean, I plan on being at the beach for ten straight days when I get home but this will be a nice reminder of what real weather feels like.

Other than Pride, I'm most excited just to see my family. It's kinda freaking me out how much of a family person I'm becoming. I was just telling my mom the other day (After we had probably the best conversation we've ever had), I don't think I'll be able to live far away from my family in a part of the country (or outside the country) where I wouldn't be able to visit often. At least until I have a family of my own. Maybe. I've always said I was never going back to SoFla (certainly never going back to Coral Springs), but I'm starting to think I would like to live in Miami.

Good news! In an English pub, during the Brasil vs. Côte d'Ivoire match, I decided what I will name my first son (in the event that I inadvertently have a baby boy without having time to put serious, serious thought into his name). The future is imminent, best be prepared.

Texas caught up with me this past week. I got in touch with friends from all the way back in first grade and turns out, even with age, they're just really nice guys. And they remember the craziest things about us in elementary school. One of them might even come out to SF for a day, just to do lunch and so I can see how tall he really is.

I forget this everyday (and then get really excited when I remember), but Gabe is also coming to SF sometime soon. It's so funny which high school friendships have thrived and how strong they are. I love it.

Other than that, things are chill and life is great. I'm thinking of doing something my mother probably won't like very much, but I'm just going to leave it at that for now since she's for sure reading this. Haha.

Pictures from Fisherman's Wharf/Ghirardelli Square as soon as Jasmine gets her life together. That's alllll.

chinwee

Postscript - Go see Toy Story 3. No, you will not be the only person in the theater over six. No, you will not be embarrassed when you cry at the end. Yes, you will thoroughly enjoy it.

Post postscript - The boys are back in six days. I can't wait.