Keep the Organic Layer. Discard the Aqueous Layer.

It's been a long time since I've really been on this site. So much has happened. In an effort not to go totally insane from grading labs, I am writing here.

• After graduation, I adopted little French Toast. She's a Cream Self rat. She has since gotten to be the size of Bielle, who has since stopped growing longer and has started becoming fatter. Both rats like to annoy me by chewing on the bars of the cage, because they know it gets my attention.
• I worked pretty much all the friggin time over the summer, back at Otto's. I made decent money, but it all went to rent and security for the apartment, as well as gas to get here and groceries. It's really nice not to have to hear "I'd like to place an order TO GO: I'd like a cheeseburger deluxe, and a pepsi -- and this is TO GO -- and I need a kids nuggets and a small coffee. And that's all TO GO." Oh. sure. Ugh... (This really does happen...) Sometimes they got their food, sat at the counter, and then ate it there. Jerks.
• My apartment is huge (By living-on-my-own-for-four-months standards). It's really nice, and I have a patio, which is always good, even though I haven't used it yet, beyond drying the shoes I washed. I don't have outside chairs...
• Moving here was atrocious, but also pretty fun. I'm glad I had people to help me out.
• Possum's tumor has gotten unfortunately large. At this point, I'm waiting for her to let me know that she can't handle it anymore. Right now, she spends lot of time cuddling me. She still runs across the floor when the food bag comes out.
• Cinder has begun to develop hind leg paralysis, and she sort of drags her back end along. She still has some pretty extensive use of her back legs, but it is apparent at this point that moving them is hard for her. She is currently on an anti-inflammatory to see if there is any improvement, but some muscles have already atrophied. Sometimes, she can only eat with one hand, because she has to use the other one to keep her balance.
• When training started, we had to take exams in Organic, Inorganic, Analytical, and P-chem. Two per day, beginning at eight in the morning. The exams sucked, and the department said "Statistically, you will fail out of the program." I know I am better than what the exams say. I have a hard time testing at eight in the friggin morning, no matter how much I study. Especially when I had to get up at five to catch the bus. Besides, a Ph.D is based on performance over time. So eff that bullocks. I can't wait to punch those guys in the face with my awesome degree.
• I'm teaching two labs right now, and I hate grading. Also, my students don't know how to follow directions.
• My Organic Synthesis professor, Kay, says I'll ace the course because I took Advanced Organic (and was the only person in the class to take anything beyond sophomore organic), and her class is like, an easier version of it. Awesome.
• Descriptive Inorganic sucks.
• I love living in this house. I love cooking (usually), and I've already had the opportunity to experiment in the kitchen, all of which have turned out delicious.
• I threw a house-warming party last weekend. It was so nice to have people in the house, making noise and keeping me company.
• I have not yet moved into the Natural History Museum, but I am planning on it.
• I bought all my own furniture for the house (with a few exceptions). I now have a fantastic platform bed.
• I constructed all of the furniture I purchased. I had help only with the desk and office chair, which Kevin and Ricky were available to help me with.
• As it turns out, I HAVE to go downtown to get to Oakland, because no buses run directly from West View to Oakland. Not fun when I have to be in Oakland late at night.
• There are a thousand malls in Pittsburgh.
• I may or may not obtain a hookah in the near future.
• I've made a lot of friends since arriving here. Only one of them is an American. The rest are international students. Mostly Chinese. And one Turk. Who sounds like a British man. And is hairy like a bear.
• Erin is my best Pitt friend. Within days of meeting her, we were talking about religion, politics, family dynamics, and boys. This never ever happens to me.
• Because of some scholarship I was unaware that I had, I can order a new computer for my home, as well as computer accessories, up to $2000. I am going to buy a fantastic new iMac for my desk, with a 2TB Time Capsule external hard drive to back it up. Can't even wait.
• Living alone is lonely business, but I also like the quiet that comes with it. So, I have mixed feelings about living alone.
• Having Shana around last weekend was really nice, because we had some time to talk about the apartment, and discuss our favourite boys in our lives.
• I miss my wife, Jamie.
• I miss vacationing in Rhode Island.
• I miss video games (and also my mom).
• I miss my whole family, actually. Including Dante.

I guess that covers all the recent things that have happened around in my life.

In life, everyone has wishes. Some of them are impossible to have granted, like the revival of a dead loved one, or reconciliation between old friends, when one person now hates another. Some are wishes for love, or money, or whatever. Everyone has a wish that they want most of all, above all others.

My greatest wish is to be pain free, for just one day. In recent years, I have become fairly ill as it relates to how my body feels. It has caused a change in my mental state, and I've become distant to people, because it gets harder to fake an atmosphere of well being.

What I want is to just wake up one day without my back hurting. Walking without my feet and back hurting. I want to have a day when getting up from this chair, or the sofa will be easy, and something I won't regret doing. I want to be able to lay in any position, and sit in any way I want. I want my back to just stop hurting. Just for one day. Everyone says they feel themselves getting older. At twenty-two, I can feel it, because the back pain gets worse every year. I'm turning into an old man.

Analgesics don't work. Neither do stretches. What more can a doctor recommend?

I really shouldn't complain, though. I should be happy that I can still get around. I feel that, by the time I'm forty or fifty, that won't be entirely true.

Everyone knows that there's nothing important in the aqueous layer.

Oh good. This train has a JETPACK. Where the eff is mine, Soviet Russia?

It's too much fun.

BoxPlaytime

Ready to Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind)

Today was the last day of classes. It means that I have a paper for Advanced Organic due on the day of the final, and that's on Friday. It means Lab 7 for Meth Chem is due that same day, and I have four other finals. It means I have to write the official report for this semester's research by Monday. It means that everyone I have come to love this year is leaving, and I won't see some of them ever again. It means I'm going to my dad's house after graduation to work my butt off so I can afford an apartment in August. It means looking for an apartment, and finding a way to get my stuff there. I means changes, big ones. I should be worried, or excited, or something. Everything for me, right now, is more or less blank.

I almost don't want to graduate. Not because I don't want to leave all the people here. Not because I'm going to miss Le Moyne so much. I don't want the stress associated with the ceremony. That's it. I haven't formally invited anyone, because I technically don't want anyone to go. Arranging my parents in different positions at the ceremony itself was a hassle. I had to dictate sides, times. I had to tell them not to come looking for me after it was over, that I would come to them, because I wanted to do everything in my power to prevent them from seeing each other. I had to tell Anthony he couldn't come, because I was worried my dad would search him out and murder him, probably as they called my name to receive my diploma. Okay, that's exaggerated slightly. But my dad did say that if he knew Anthony came, he would find him and kill him. "I'm not afraid to go to jail," he says. There was frustration, talking to my mom and telling her that I didn't want Anthony to come, as much as I didn't care either way before. It seems unfair. He invited me to his graduation, when he got his Master's degree. I'm still not his best friend, he still bugs me, but courtesy should be reciprocated. Besides, he's not intolerable, just annoying. But still, I'm being affected by this several-years-old animosity, and the way people are acting is making ME feel like the villain. Maybe I'm just over reacting. I know at least three people who would tell me that.

Anthony and I have settled on a way to celebrate, though. He's going to throw me a graduation barbecue. He seems excited about it, which is a relief.

So how do I really feel about graduation? Indifferent. I want to get it over with, because I'm tired of the excitement everyone has for it. "You excited?" "How does it feel?" "Last finals for you, woo!" But I'll still have finals. It feels normal. I'm just going to another place where, for another year or so, the same process will be repeated before I'm lost to the world, living in a lab for several years.

Samantha and Julie are so excited for me (mostly Samantha). She and I have developed a friendship that I really didn't expect. She brought a cookie to Advanced Organic for my birthday, and playfully threatened to get the whole class singing, including Mullins. My relationship with her has been a pleasant surprise. I'm definitely going to miss her.

That said, I'm not completely jaded on the subject of graduate school. In so many ways, I'm excited. I'll be living on my own, making my own decisions. I'm not even worried about making dumb mistakes, like travelling a half hour to a grocery store to find out there's one closer, or taking the wrong bus to town or something. I'm kind of excited to make those mistakes. It'll be funny to look back and say to myself "remember when I took that bus that went all the way through downtown, when I could have taken one straight there?" I'm excited to have ridiculous stories to tell the people who will still be at Le Moyne, or to my parents. I'm excited to do all my own grocery shopping, and never (hopefully!) have a dull meal again. I can't wait to have house guests, and take them to places I have learned are fun or cool. Living on my own is going to be exciting, interesting, and full of exploration. I plan to walk around a lot, to get a new bicycle. So many new things will be open to me.

I realize this is an idyllic view, and it could actually be way more boring than what I hope, but then again, these are hopes. And I'm sure I really will make dumb mistakes.

On an unrelated note, the weather here has really picked up. It's so nice to have some warm temperatures, and slightly less rain than we've been getting for the past month or so. I would still prefer to be pretty much on fire, but when you live in Syracuse for four years, you learn to take anything above 45 as summer weather.

Today, I got a card from an old family friend, Donna, congratulating me on my graduation. She included twenty dollars in the card. I opened it on my way to work today, and I remember smiling to myself. I know that she got the information from my mother, and I haven't even seen her in something like eight years or so, but still, she felt it appropriate to wish me luck, and it's really touching. I know a lot of family members who will probably never even know that I've graduated, let alone gone to college.

It's almost surreal, too. I'm the first person in my family to (successfully) attend college, and I'm even going to graduate school. There are people in my family who find it remarkable. "Finally someone in this family is doing something important, moving up in the world." Everyone who cares is so proud of me. I am, too. Kathy, my grandmother, told me once when I was seven that I was a "little slut" and I would grow up to be nothing, just like my mother, and just another disgrace to the family. She said that I would never even graduate high school. After my elder half-brother dropped out, having repeated the ninth grade several times (well, more accurately, John Gulisane called us and said "Please stop sending him to school, it's not worth it."), the sentiment was strengthened. "You'll end up just like him," she said one day. But my mother is a successful supervisor of a mental health care facility, and here I am. I'm going to change the world somehow. Maybe I won't synthesize a life-saving drug, but maybe I'll teach and inspire the kid who does. It's exciting to think about. How can I not be proud of what I've accomplished, and will accomplish some day?

I do have really good news, two things, in fact. My grandfather is coming up to see me graduate. He's always made it a point to come up and see important events for my brother and I. His Parkinson's is getting a lot worse, from what I hear, and his smoking and diabetes can't be much of a help. I have to face the fact that he won't be around much longer, so I'm happy to see him whenever he comes up. Last time I saw him, last summer, he could barely light a cigarette because his good hand shook so much. The nerve damage from losing his thumb makes it worse, I think. He can't drink from cups anymore without an extra long straw, or sign his name or, well, so many other things. But still, he jokes and laughs and enjoys life. He's one of the bravest people I know.

The other good news: I've adopted another baby rat. Bielle cannot live by herself during the summer, when I'm spending so much time working to save up money, so I've found her a roommate. She's currently five weeks old, and she's sort of honey-coloured. She's very sweet, and cuddled me when I met her. Because of the size of Bielle's current cage, though, I can't bring her home until the day of graduation. But she's so cute, and I can't wait to officially add her to the family.

Finally, we can see the sun peaking through the clouds, though it still seems so far.

Shana and I went to see Rango recently, and we took photos at the photobooth there.

Then Mer got out of her movie, and we took photos with her, too. It was really hard to get everyone cramped into that tiny little machine!

April 21 was the start of Easter break. Shana, Mer, Christine and I got in my car and went on a roadtrip. We started out going to the Eggplant for breakfast, and it was super delicious. We were going to start the wandering at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo (or Burnett Park Zoo), but it was hailing, so we just wanted to get out of town.

Onward!

So we drove towards Pittsburgh. We really wanted to go to the dinosaur museum there. As we went through the Buffalo toll booth, we saw a exit that said Niagara Falls (-->). So we went. Being a national landmark, we figured there would be signs all over the place to get there, so we didn't really bother touching the GPS. This was a really bad assumption. There were zero signs. We drove around in a few circles, and finally stopped at a Tim Hortons so I could use their WiFi to find it. In the midst of this, Shana found it on my GPS and we were on our way again.

Unfortunately, one of the bridges towards the Falls was near a huge landfill, and I almost choked and veered the car off of said bridge, but we managed.

Finally, we made it to the falls. It was cold and wet, but nice to look at. Also, it was super floody, so the water wasn't the nice blue you'd expect.

After that, we walked to a nearby aquarium. It was a little difficult to get there, since our map was a little confusing. We had to stop in a really sketchy gas station to get directions, but we did get there. I don't have photos of the animals there, but there was quite a few, and we watched some seals do tricks.

We also found this shark mouth.

We eventually made it back to the car and had a picnic lunch, which was fun and delicious, and headed back towards Pittsburgh. When we finally made it, we met with Bill for a while, and I met his new ratties. They were super cute. It was so nice to be able to talk with him for a little bit, even if it had to be a little rushed.

We then found a place to stay. We found a Red Roof Inn in Monroeville and got a two bed place for $70, which was nice. It was a decent room. The next morning, at nine, we heard a knock, and "house-keeping!" She couldn't hear us call out that we were checking out later in the morning, so I went to the door to tell her. In a very scary stereotypical way, it turned out she was Mexican. After she left, I heard Mer say "Yes, Mister Muscles." (She's very good at saying it.) We later cleaned up ourselves and our stuff, packed the car, and got ready to check out and leave for the museum.

We made it to Oakland and found a parking place (luckily!) and went to the museum, and it was awesome!

We saw parts of the museum I hadn't had the opportunity to the last time I was there, and it was so much fun. After that, we went to a Five Guys for burgers, said bye to Bill, and went to Shana's aunt's and uncle's before leaving town. We couldn't really figure out where to go, though. We thought about going to Cincinnati, or Cleveland, or even just taking the long way home and stopping somewhere along the way. But then, we found a little place on the GPS map: Akron, Ohio. Neither of us had ever been to Ohio, so that's where we went. When we got to town, we had dinner at a Cracker Barrel (because I'd never been to one, which is apparently a really really bad thing), and stayed at another Red Roof Inn. The next morning, we headed home, and took an extra long way. It was very tiring, even though I only drove part of it.

That night, we celebrated Shana's birthday at Red Lobster, and I took her to the Dark Horse and bought her a drink for her 21st birthday. On Monday, we went to the zoo.

There's a photo in an album somewhere of me trying to wake up a lion at this zoo when I was two years old. This time, I succeeded. Sort of. She was already awake. I guess I succeeded in keeping her awake a little longer.

So that was our Easter! It was a great deal of fun, and I'm so glad that this was how I spent Easter my senior year.

Surprise!

Weary Travelers

You Can Always Bet On Duke.