Oh my it's been a while!!

I am sorry for not posting in what, three months now? How oh how will you, dear readers, ever forgive me for such a travesty? I guess I can win back your love and trust by posting a recap to make up for time lost:

Dec:
1. Took my first finals and finished my first quarter as a UC graduate student. Huzzah! In celebration of my last exam, I wandered around campus for about an hour taking pictures of the snow and ice that covered the ground. You can find those on Facebook.
2. Flew back to NC to spend a wonderful break with my family. It was ~70 degrees when I got off the plane, compared to the 26 degrees I left. Glorious!
3. Anna graduated from CH. Congratulations!!!
4. Visited some friends at CH for a crazy (not really) night out the same day Saket came home from San Fran. I was just tipsy (Greg) and NOT drunk: I have never been "drunk" in my life, and certainly don't plan on becoming so anytime soon!
5. Dad came home from India the day before our birthday. Such goodness!
6. Turned 23 and was treated to a delightful birthday by some dear friends.
7. Discovered the deliciousness of pita chips + hummus.
8. I read a LOT: Quicksilver (Neal Stephenson), Les Miserables (Victor Hugo, the unabridged version), The Amber Spyglass (Philip Pullman), Heretics of Dune (Frank Herbert), Atonement (Ian McEwan), The Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan)...totally ~4,000 pages of text. Woohoo!
9. Attended "First Night Raleigh" for the first time since living in Cary for almost nine years. Got my picture taken next to a giant acorn (which was later featured on CNN, no less) and listened to an excellent Beatles cover band before watching an amusing though underwhelming improv comedy show.

Jan:
1. Went out to dinner with some friends in med school at CH and others around Cary at La Hacienda in Chapel Hill. What an amazing group of individuals! Shannon lent me some books which I'm slowly but surely working through. Thanks Mahoney!
2. Flew back to Chicago to spend a few days getting used to the Windy City before the start of winter quarter on the 7th.
3. Went to see a "Star Wars" exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry here in Chicago. I love how that museum is just a twenty minute walk from where I live. I think I posted about the show earlier, but let me tell you, it was spectacular! This is me letting my geek flag fly real high, I know, but I'm just such a "Star Wars" nut. It was delightful to get to see actual props from the movies, including the original Han Solo and Chewie outfits, along with the original C-3PO and R2-D2 costumes. Amazing!! Not to mention the scaled models of the famous ships, from Luke's X-wing to Imperial Star Destroyers. The attendees were mostly middle-aged people with lots of little kids who grew up with the new trilogy instead of the old. I felt like I had more in common with the 40-somethings who actually knew and loved the old movies than the teenagers who looked like they would rather be anywhere else. If they only knew what they were missing! You can see pictures of the exhibit on Facebook.
4. Classes started the next day (Monday). A new quarter, another chance to shine. Bonnie was away in India for a couple weeks in December and flew back to NY on the 1st. She got in late on Tuesday (I think). I had spent a good bit of the weekend cooking (enchiladas, lasagna, stir fry = delicious!) so she didn't have to worry about food for a bit. It was nice catching up on our respective breaks and I was dying to hear about her impressions of India. Sounds like it was a pretty positive trip overall (except for the inevitable bout of illness) and of course wonderful for her to visit her beloved betrothed Jeffrey who's studying in Rajasthan.
5. School's going fine. My cancer biology class is great (molecular mechanisms), my cell bio is all right, though Ursula Storb is a fantastic lecturer, and signal transduction is useful though not terribly exciting.

Feb:
1. Went on a fantastic ski trip with Kevin and his friends at Northwestern. Got to meet some great new people, and discovered another ERS opponent! Enjoyed the best day of skiing I've ever had, despite having not skied since high school...I even took down a black diamond (ok, it was a Wisconsin black diamond, but it still counts in my book). Only fell once, but in line for the BD, not on the slopes: exceptionally embarrassing given the fact that I literally just toppled over without anyone/anything touching me, and that Kev and I had said just seconds before that the folks in this line were the better skiers on the slopes (the line was only for blue square and black diamond). I guess I proved us wrong! Had a great time cooking food and talking with everyone. Thank you so much NU Mat Sci people for such a great time!
2. The Giants won the Super Bowl! I'm sure everyone knows this already, but I was super excited to see them win: not because I'm a huge Giants fan (though my mom is) but more because I could not bear to watch a cheating team win football's biggest prize. I don't hate the Patriots because they win, but because they cheated and tried to hide evidence. As a non-athletic person, I have tremendous respect for athletes and the feats they accomplish in sports. I also have no tolerance for cheaters, which is why Floyd Landis deserved to be stripped of his Tour de France win, which is why Marion Jones deserved to lose all her Olympic medals, which is also why the Patriots should have lost the Super Bowl just inches away from "perfection."
3. School's rolling along as usual. I did find out that I got the highest score in my CanBio class on our midterm. Rather shocking (but obviously immensely gratifying), since that hasn't happened in a science class since I left high school! Maybe I really can be a cancer biology rock star, but only if I redouble my efforts and be excellent in all my classes on all my assignments. Unlike some people, I'm not a natural genius and know that I really have to work extra hard for my successes. Alas, a rougher road but a sweet finish at the end!
4. It's still February now, so I promise to post again before March. Thanks for reading, and cheers!