bits of me

So it is the middle of the first quarter, 4 weeks into the school year. It's pretty exhausting as it is so far, but I am liking it a lot. As you can see, I haven't even had the chance to get an update in for the quarter. The overall feel of the school is amazing. It reminds me a lot of Bellarmine but with a slightly different feel. It is much smaller and much more close-knit. The students are a bit different, not quite the same Bellarmine-type kids. But still, they are really fun and good kids. A lot of them have gotten to like me (at least I think so...), unless they're just pulling me along for the ride.

Anyway, I'm learning a lot about classroom dynamics and management. It isn't easy being a teacher, but it helps when I have had a lot of training with SI and working with different groups of students each year. I really am glad I did not do this teaching thing without SI experience. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of my SI experience. Sometimes, I think in my head "hey, I've done this sort of thing before..." or "why don't I use this SI technique". It is quite fun being back at an all-boys school setting and teaching. I never knew that I would like teaching so much. But sometimes, I feel that I'm just teaching to a bunch of bricks. Thankfully, that only feels like sometimes.

This coming week is a big week, as it is Parent's Weekend. I'm nervous to meet a bunch of parents just because I am scared just to see what they think of me. A 22-year old teaching their 14-15 year old sons? Yikes, I'm so nervous to just see their reaction to me. But I know that for the most part, I know my stuff, and I'm pretty good at it too.

Cheers,

Mike

Let's call this experimental, only slightly... I expect that I am going to like this teaching thing. I mean I did it for three years at college, so it can't be too much different, right? I am only hoping that things don't crash and burn very early. If it does, it is going to be a VERY long year. Honestly, I haven't prepped a whole lot, but I don't expect to be able to "wing it" when it comes down to knowing the material. A lot of previous work has been done with Powerpoints and such, so my job is slightly easier. I just rearrange what I like and figure out the timeline for things.

Alas, I hope things turn out okay. But if I ever get in a pinch, cookies always make things better, right? :)

P.S. I think I figured out a good chocolate chip cookie recipe. It still requires some tinkering, but I think I'm on the right track. The only problem: they are really flat cookies. Still delicious.

Halfway done with summer and I'm heading to CT for a short trip. So tomorrow night I fly out of California and back to Connecticut for a couple days of training. I'm excited and nervous on many parts. I'm excited to get this new part of my life started and to meet new people (essentially my coworkers), but I am really nervous as to how this is going to go over. I'm nervous, as I am probably going to be the youngest person on the staff (yikes!).

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I will be able to enjoy some good times in CT while training.

On another note, I've been spending a lot of time at Macy's, for good and (sorta) bad reasons. Good reason: working as a sales associate and making a bit of spending money. Bad reason: spending all my spending money I'm making on clothing (both leisure and work wear). All in all, I think it's a good thing that I ended up with this job at Macy's. Either way, whether I had a summer job or not, I needed to bump up my wardrobe a lot, so by having this job, I'm able to spend a lot less than I normally would for my wardrobe. Plus, it is getting me used to wearing this wardrobe (which is a big plus).

Good summer so far. :] Just need to keep chugging along and making those sales to hit my goals!

Summer is finally here. Work, classes, enjoying life, and just having fun.

Work is enjoyable, as I am learning a lot on the job. Macy's is quite fun, more because I enjoy my coworkers. I'm soooo glad that I ended up working with people I clicked with... as I was afraid I would be miserable with non-likable coworkers. I'm getting a good number of hours, and I'm learning how to deal with the customer service industry. In many ways, I'm happy I ended up with a part-time job at Macy's for the summer.

First, it keeps me busy during the hours that I have nothing better to do. I'd rather stand around and make money being mildly idle than bum at home making no money at all.

Second, I am learning about Men's suits as I work. It's always a plus to know how good a man should look in his two-piece suit. I'm getting the hang of seeing how people fit into their suits, but I'm still new at it, so I have a long way to go...

Third, I am getting a huge benefit on stocking up nice clothes with lots of discounts. I bought a number of dress shirts and ties on a buy one get one free sale a few days ago at decent prices, and to my surprise, the next day I went in to work a shift, and the sale changed in my favor. Everything was not as cheap as the day before. Ha-HA! How lucky am I that I managed to catch the sale before it changed.

Fourth, I am getting my foot in the door in case I want to pick this up again later on, as my manager will likely remember me, and many of my coworkers will probably still be there in 6 months to a year. If it all works out, I could easily pick up some holiday shifts here and there if I am in the area...

Oh, and fifth, (but not at all the least) I am getting paid! Hello? Getting paychecks is always nice. Though a good chunk of it is going straight back to my employer, haha...

See how much fun this is? At least, I think its quite a lot of fun.

I'm taking summer classes at De Anza. Two classes: Coaching I and Golf, Beginning. Both are quite interesting. Coaching I is the most unexpected class I have ever taken. It seems like it is going to be difficult to take notes in this class. Story after story of how to coach, what to do with specific case scenarios, etc... lots of life experience from this guy. Plus, he is really chill with the students. Oddly enough, he reminds me of Dr. Mitzel in some ways. And Golf is interesting, as I expected to not like the class. It seems quite fun. Learning the basic technique/skills of golf is definitely a plus so that I can play with friends or family from time to time.

As you can see, I'm trying to enjoy life while having some fun and making some money on the side. It's going to be an interesting summer and I plan to make it as fun and exciting as I can make it.

Cheers,

Mike

I'm done with college. It feels great and I feel accomplished, having journeyed for four years of my life. Graduating with Honors in Chemistry isn't a bad thing, right? =P

It is definitely a bittersweet feeling to leave a campus I have called home for the past four years. The people I have met, the professors I have had, the friends I have made all have become very close to me. I will miss them so much, and I will always call the chemistry department faculty and staff home. They have been so nice to me in countless ways that I can only begin to repay. Sadly, I cried when I left campus. Damn I'm such an emotional bastard... I hate leaving things behind. But at least I won't be leaving it too far behind. I'll be in the rough neighborhood, so that should be a nice feeling to visit sometimes. Well, I don't even know how often or if I would be able to visit, as I expect to be busy on the campus of the boarding school. The unknown can be daunting, but I am looking forward to the next chapter of my life.

To the following people, I give my unending thanks:

Dr. Curran: Thank you for putting up with me for the past two and a half years. Thank you for letting me break down in front of you on too many occasions. Thank you for teaching me that chemistry is both fun and exciting. You are honest and wise, and I can only hope to be as great as you are. I can only hope to be as loving and kind as you were to me and others around me. Also, thank you for letting me use your office as storage. This only adds to your generosity that I can only hope to emulate.

Dr. Mitzel: Thank you for being the most sarcastic person I have ever met. I appreciate your fun-loving attitude towards your students, especially me. Even though I dreaded being beat down with your sarcasm, I really think it helped me grow. Your teaching style has shaped me as a person and I have changed drastically. I have grown to like chemistry because it is fun and exciting, not just because it makes sense. I can only hope to be as motivating as you were to me.

Alison Draper: Thank you for allowing me to join into the Supplemental Instruction program. If I had not done SI, I probably wouldn't be where I am today without it. You gave me an amazing opportunity and had faith in my ability and me, and I appreciate that you have been my advisor under this program. There is no way to thank you enough.

Dr. Moyer: Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to work closely with you both in class and in the laboratory setting. You have many years of wisdom, both academic and practical life-long advice. You are very funny and have a friendly and loving attitude when it comes to chemistry. I will miss you dearly, and I hope to meet up for drinks very soon.

Dr. Prigodich: Thank you for writing a letter for me. Thank you for being kind to me, even though I may not have noticed it. I appreciate your simple honesty and generosity. Sometimes you may only say a few words, but they mean a lot. Having been in your class, I appreciated your common-sense approach to teaching. You have taught me a lot during the past two years, and I will always appreciate your impressive ability to do so much math without saying much at all.

Dr. Morrison: Thank you for helping escort me into the world of research. As much as I dreaded research during the first experience, I appreciate the advice you gave me as a sophomore/junior. You are very nurturing and made me feel comfortable and appreciated as a student. You took to me almost as one of your own kids, and I appreciate everything you have done for me, especially with your motherly advice and letting me store stuff in your basement.

Robin: Thank you for being my taste-tester. I appreciate the gift very much, and I will definitely put it to good use. Thank you for your bits of advice you have given me during the year. I appreciate everything you have done for me.

To all the rest of the faculty and staff, in no particular order (Prof. Rau, Prof. Nicaise, Dr. DePhillips, Dr. Krisch, Dr. Parr, Dr. Henderson, Dr. Church, Prof. Nestor, Mike Donagher, Prof. Fitzgerald, Kathy Mallinson): Thank you for all your wisdom over the years. Whether you have taught me or have interacted with me through SI, TAing, research, or just being in the building, I appreciate all you have done to help me get from being a lowly freshman student to a graduated chemistry major. You have taught me many things both inside and outside the classroom. I will always appreciate the time you spent to make my experience the way it was. There is no way to show my appreciation but to try to give to other with what you have given me.

And to all the chemistry and biochemistry related friends I have met and worked closely with, also in no particular order (Zephyr, Allison, Katie, Jee, Jack, Ashby, Dave, Laura, Andy, Adam B., Linda, DJ, Janiga, Neena, Tim, Katharine, Kwame, Piper, Jon N., and many, many others): You guys have been so great to me, and I appreciate everything you have done for me. Many of you may not realize how much I appreciate you just saying "Hello, how are you?". It means the world to me. I appreciate many of you being able to talk to me and sharing advice between each other. If I have ever offended any of you, which I hope is a rarity, I never mean what I really say. It is not in my nature to be harsh, and many of you known I only mean well. I wish all of you the best of luck in your studies, both students and recent graduates. I will miss seeing many of you on an almost daily basis, and I hope to keep in touch with many of you.

I can only hope that the people mentioned above will understand my appreciation, as they have made a difference in my life in more ways than one. Good-byes are always difficult.

I guess bitter can taste sweet. Well, maybe just a little sweet.

Yes. I. Got. The. Job. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YES!YES!YES!YES! *huge sigh of relief*

I am so thrilled and happy about this. I wish that I could bottle up the feeling of satisfaction and happiness and keep it forever. I am so excited for this job, and I cannot wait until it starts. It also feels nice to be wanted by someone for something that I enjoy and am happy to do.

Yes.

I'm done. (well, sort-of) I just finished my undergraduate college career. Now, all I have to do is graduate next week and I will be finished for good. It feels good to be done with everything for college, except maybe the enjoying myself and partying my liver away... I am slightly bored on the first Saturday after classes and finals finished, but I need to rest.

On campus teaching job interview on Monday! =) Yippee... here comes senior week!

So I just found out that UC Irvine is 10th in the nation for Organic Chemistry. Yay for top 10 school! Even more of a relief, I guess...

*happy dance*

Last night I had the greatest feeling ever. Relief. I got accepted to UC Irvine PhD Graduate program in Chemistry and I am feeling so great. In addition, I was baking cookies all last night, as well, so I was feeling relaxed as well.

In addition, I presented my research in my final seminar presentation. It went well, and the presentation was fine. The cookies were a big hit. Not a big surprise, but the chocolate ming cookies were the biggest hit. The second biggest hit was the fig and walnut sticky buns. Wow, the professors loved that one.

However, I am still waiting on the job offers... I wish the responses would be faster. Hurry up, please..., but I am waiting patiently, though.

Before my seminar presentation.


After my seminar presentation


And just cause I had these on my camera...

Strawberry Mochi (sponge cake and whipped cream wrapped in mochi)




Cranberry and Walnut Sticky Buns

Spring break is over, and its the last hurrah before finals. The end is finally near-- well, it's april. I am excited and nervous to end my college career in like 7 weeks. I cannot believe it is already over. It went by so quickly... but anyway, I am sitting here having not much work to do, mulling over life decisions (and finishing my laundry, as usual).

April is a lot of things. It was spring break at home, and I visited UC Davis. Nice school, a different change from what I am used to at small schools. Still, the research was interesting and the people and professors seemed nice (keyword: seemed). Family visiting was fun. Seeing my grandmother again was nice, as I hadn't seen her in like 5-6 years or so. Visiting my brother was nice, as well. We had a chance to have some fun, eat lots of food, watch some movies, and just chill for the week. By the way, I started a Yelp account, so I have some good reviews I visited over the week. I don't know how often I would Yelp, as there isn't much good Yelping to do at school, but maybe later I will keep it up. But in other news,...

Spring is here, sort-of. The weather is getting better, slightly, but the rain still lingers. At least it is starting to consistently get sunny and (hopefully) warmer. But spring also means..... Allergies!. My worst part of this season... I hate the stuffy-runny-sneezy-itchy-nose feeling that dries my eyes and makes them itch. It just sucks when I wake up at like 4 AM unable to sleep due to stuffy/runny/clogged up nose... The bright side of this is that I can slowly start wearing flip flops and shorts. However, I still have to wear pants and shoes in lab, bleh, but whatever. That was part of the deal as working in a chem lab.

April also means hiring month for schools, which is what I am waiting for... all those weeks of waiting and sending out resumes and letters. I bet I will have to do some more of that, as well in the coming weeks. But on top of that, I still have to figure out if my life points me in the direction of graduate school. Does it? I still have to figure out my life and whether I want to spend the next four years possibly working towards a PhD in chemistry. *sigh*

Well, I probably should sleep soon, as I need to wake up for class tomorrow. And so it begins (or ends?)...

the other day, I had lunch at The Counter for the first time. I expected it to be a non-seated restaurant, but I was surprised by a seated lunch restaurant. At my table, I sat down to an interesting atmosphere, hip and trendy with a muted basic look. Sounds odd, but has the energy, but lacks the color. Anyway, I started with an iced tea, which was very watered down and 70% ice. I spent a good 10 minutes figuring out what I wanted on my burger, as The Counter prides itself on personal selection. Multiple meats in various sizes, lots of toppings, assorted cheeses, and plenty of sauce choices. I ended up with a beef burger with grilled onions, tomato, mixed organic greens, herbed goat cheese spread, and basil pesto on a honey wheat bun. I also ordered a side of regular fries, and I asked for my burger to be very pink. While I waited the 15-20 minutes, the server asked if I wanted to read the paper or something, which was nice. After the wait, I got a decent sized burger that was only slightly pink, not what I was hoping for... but I kept going. The flavor was good, a little heavy on the goat cheese, but still delicious. The pesto came on the side, which was good so the burger wouldn't end up soggy. The fries were okay, a bit oversalted, but still crunchy. Not a bad burger, but not the greatest I have had before...

Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Restaurant Feel: Casual, Family-friendly
Overall: 4/5
Would I go again? Possibly, I would just order a few different things.

Why is it hard for some people to grow up and mature? I just don't get how much fun people get out of being immature? I'm just fed up with some of my friends who are just so immature and haven't grown up to an adult yet... these little games you play are just so fucking annoying. I am tired of your constant kiddish ways. Grow up and learn that nobody likes them and everyone thinks that you're still a kid. Clearly, when you cannot hold back a smile when I ask you what happened, I know you are lying. You are a terrible liar.

Just grow up, please, already... it would be good for you, in more ways than one.

Nobody likes to play the waiting game, especially me. I am sitting here on a saturday watching some TV, waiting for the gym to be "open". I say "open" because I never know when it is unofficially open due to athletes in season. It is officially open at 10 AM, but sometimes its earlier... Plus I am waiting for my laundry wash to get into the dryer so I have a good hour and change to work out. Now back to the waiting game... I am waiting for a lot of things... grad school responses, teaching job responses, the end of the year, the right girl... you know, stuff. I just want to be happy, though I am slightly comforted that I am in 1 of 4 schools. I just want to get a teaching job, and I'd be happy to have choices. I just want to be happy, that's all... kinda hard to do.

Now that my laundry wash is done, off to the gym...

I hadn't baked in a while, almost two months of hiatus from any sort of cookies or pastries, and it felt weird. I started to make my Chocolate Mint Cookies, and while I was making the batter, it didn't feel as satisfying or comforting as I previously had made them before. I'm not sure why I felt this way, but it was somewhat disheartening, as I normally relax and enjoy myself when I bake cookies.

Sad as it was, I still decided to have some fun and make dark chocolate truffles. I tried two batches, one with ginger infused cream and the other with dried blueberry infused cream. The ginger based ganache tasted stronger than the blueberry one. Still, I had mild fun while making them over my double boiler over simmering water in my mini rice cooker. My first attempt at making chocolate truffles, and it was successful (so far). I have yet to roll them and coat them in anything, but I expect them to do decently. Aside from that, one plus was that I took thin pretzels and dipped them in the warm chocolate ganache. Made a lot for snacking on later...

I write this as I am half being distracted from finishing a problem set for chemistry.... back to work!

so my final semester has begun, and it is only the beginning of the end of my college career. three classes, one lab, a handful of teaching assistantships, and research. it's a relatively calm semester so far, but i expect things to pick up very quickly.

as for post-college, i've been accepted to grad school, and it is one of my options. i'm still looking at other options in the teaching field. i would love to see myself as a teacher, as i know it is a fulfilling profession, and i expect myself to enjoy it thoroughly.

life is stressful at the moment, lots to consider and my life to ponder. whether to stay out east or head back home to the west coast, or explore the midwest... who knows where i end up? i just want to be happy and comfortable.

as it gets closer to my final months here, i realize that there have been many ups and downs in my college life... plenty of fun times and too many sad times, and currently mixed emotions about a lot of people. it is not the greatest feeling to have, but its inevitable and unavoidable. what can i do? nothing, at the moment, at least until things settle down and i figure out my plans for the immediate future...

ah well, at least i have my dark chocolate dipped pretzels to enjoy :)

for a while, at least. I'm flying back to the east coast tomorrow, and sadly, I forgot to check-in online (Southwest) exactly 24 hours before my scheduled departure, so I'm stuck in the B-group for the longer portion of my flight. boo =(... oh well.

So today, my mom took me out to dim-sum. It was ridiculously delicious... so much so that I had food coma. It was totally worth it. Spicy Chicken Feet, Fried Taro Dumplings, Shrimp Dumplings, Sweet Taro Buns... :]

Packing sucks. I hate shoving all my clothes into two suitcases and trying to make it all fit. Oh well,... my last semester out on the east coast (maybe...)

And I got into grad school... though I'm not sure if I'm going to go, though.

Happy new year (belated, yes) to all. 2009 is past us and 2010 is ahead. I am excited for big things in 2010. Graduation, acceptances (and rejections), and a good feeling for this year. I'm trying to build up muscle still, and it's hard to do so without all the food I get/have on campus. At least I'm able to workout fairly regularly, so that's a good feeling still.

I'm currently in LA area, chilling with my bro and enjoying the nice weather. Sadly, this weather will go away pretty quickly, coming with rain on Monday through Friday. I'm leaving on Wednesday to fly back home to SF bay area. Then on Saturday, I will fly back to school on the east coast.

Just had a Jamba Juice in a while, and I had a Peach Perfection smoothie with a Blackberry Oatmeal. Delicious oatmeal, but there was no milk, so it tasted different. Still good, but not great.

Also, much prayer and good thoughts for Haiti in this time of distress.