2012 In Review

2012 In Review

It's that time again! Looking back on 2012.

1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
I went tubing on the Skunk River, which was a lot of fun! I also went to a live orchestra performance for the first time. I ran a 5K!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I probably didn't keep it, because it was probably to lose weight. Depression gets in the way of that. I'm sure I'll make more for next year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My best friend Jasmine brought her son home! That's close enough to giving birth.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My Great Aunt Jan died in March. My kitty Miss Demeanor died in April. My dog Mischief died in October.

5. What countries did you visit?
I stayed in the US this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
A feeling of contentment and less stress. On a more mundane note, a patio herb garden.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory?
Other than the dates that I lost my pets, Dan and I went on our first date on February 11^th.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Hmm. I guess maybe getting a place in my lab. It wasn't a huge achievement kind of year for me.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I don't think I had a major fail. I wish I had realized that a PhD track wasn't right for me earlier, but I guess that's it.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Depression really sucked in the spring and messed me up. Other than a few minor knee/ankle injuries, nothing serious happened.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Well I got a 3DS for Christmas, but I think the best thing I bought was my second kitty Leo! He was 75 bucks well spent.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Not the US Congress, that's for sure.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Oh. Well, the US Congress.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Hunziker Property Management. Gotta pay the rent.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Meeting Dan! I was giddy with excitement.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
I don't think there really is one.

17. Compared to this time last year, you are:
Happier or sadder: About the same, actually.
Thinner or fatter: Fatter. Argh.
Richer or poorer: Richer for the moment. It's all sitting in savings.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Exercise. I have trouble getting myself to do it but afterward I feel so much better. I wish I could get over the hump of doing it easier.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stress eating. I feel so guilty afterward. And it doesn't help in the long run.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent Christmas at home with my family. I almost got trapped in Ames but I managed to get home in time. I would have been really pissed off if I hadn't made it.

21. What was your favorite month of 2012?
Oh hell, I don't know. August I guess? I moved to my townhouse so that was cool.

22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
I'm not sure I'd call it love quite yet, but I did meet Dan in February and we've been dating since then. And I'm very happy with him.

23. How many one-night stands?
None. I don't do one-night stands.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Ghost Hunters is still my guilty pleasure, along with Ghost Adventures. I also like Intervention.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

26. What was the best book you read?
I just finished Treasure Island last week. It was really good! For a classic it's very easy to read and follow and it's just fun. Pirates are always awesome.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don't think I really had one this year. There's some random pop songs I liked but nothing amazing.

28. What did you want and get?
A Playstation 3, another kitty, and a 3DS. And a boyfriend!

29. What did you want and not get?
Confidence about my life path. Still not sure if I'm doing the right thing.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I haven't seen too many films this year in the theater. However, I have watched a lot of Hammer horror this year and those are awesome.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 25. Dan and I went to Pine Lake State Park and then tried to find the Wildcat Cave. We never found the cave but we had a lot of fun and I got to spend the whole day with Dan. I also had a box from my parents that I opened.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being done with school. I am so over school. Two years to go...

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Pretty much the same as last year-more fancy than t-shirts, jeans, boots. I have to keep it simple since I work in a lab.

34. What kept you sane?
Spending time with Dan. I seriously would have had a hard time dealing without him.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Robert Downey Jr. Why not?

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I guess that would be the general issue of the Republican Party sucking major ass.

37. Who did you miss?
My parents, my grandparents, and my Michigan friends Jasmine and Eric.

38. Who were the best new people you met?
DAN!!! Easy question.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
I am not cut out for life in academia and would rather work in industry when I graduate. Better to figure that out now than later.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
One day I'm here, I'm on top of the world/And the next it's falling in on me/I can get back on, I can get back on-Far Cry, Rush

Christmas

So that stupid snow storm totally delayed me by a day so I didn't get to leave Ames until December 22. Once I left, everything was fine, but it was incredibly lame to lose a day because Ames can't freaking plow their roads properly. But I got home and it was all okay in the end. I got to spend Christmas with my parents, see my grandparents, and meet my nephew Jebriel for the first time! Christmas morning was with my parents and their kitties. Then on Christmas afternoon we went to my grandparents' house and had dinner. My aunt Dani and my cousin Jessica were able to come too, which was cool. My parents and I went to the Detroit Art Institute to see their special Faberge exhibit. It was really neat to see that stuff up close, including six of the surviving fancy eggs. Then we went to the best used book store ever-John K King bookstore in Detroit. It's four stories and full of used and rare books. I found a first edition Ray Bradbury novel that was signed! And it only cost twenty bucks! I was so excited. That night we went out to eat with Granny and her new boyfriend. He's nice and that was cool, but it is still weird to think of my granny as having a boyfriend. The next day I was able to go see my best friend Jasmine and I met Jebriel for the first time. He wasn't home last year when I came home to visit.
It was a really good visit and I just wish I could have stayed longer. I hated having to leave. I always hate having to leave because I never know when I'll be able to come back. Since this year I don't have to move in the summer, I should be able to come home for a summer vacation. Then it won't be a whole year in between visits.

Snow Storm!

We got a huge snowstorm in Ames last night. It's the first real snow we've probably had in almost two years. Last winter was very mild. This was a storm nightmare! It was thundersnowing at one point. I had never seen thundersnow before. At first I thought a transformer had blown! Officially we got 10 inches of snow, and the wind is so gusty. The wind gusts are actually kind of scary sounding right now. But I still have power and heat so that's good. I'm stuck at home right now, which seems silly since work is three miles away, but my parking lot hasn't been plowed yet. I've been out once to shovel my sidewalk, and later I'll go out and try to dig out my spot and in front of my garage. I have no idea when the snowplows will come. Hopefully they will come soon. I'm supposed to leave for home tomorrow, and I really hope the roads and my lot are plowed so I can get out. I really don't want to be delayed.

Thanksgiving

So this year is the first time I am completely alone on Thanksgiving. So far I'm doing alright. I slept in, put up the Christmas decorations, and I'm watching Twilight Zone. The whole show is on Netflix so I've got my own Twilight Zone marathon going on. The cats are being silly. I have stuffing mix and cranberry sauce to eat, which are my favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner anyway. It seemed silly to try and make a turkey for just me. As for the rest of the day, I'll probably play Pokemon and Animal Crossing, or maybe Harvest Moon. Just a relaxing day.  It's hard to not be with my family, but I still have a lot to be thankful for. I'm healthy for the most part, I have a family, I have a boyfriend, my kitties are healthy and happy. I'm still in school, I have health insurance, I'm not in debt. Even though I struggle with anxiety and depression, it could be so much worse. Overall I have a good life and I'm thankful for that.

Fall is slipping away!

Wow, Thanksgiving is this week. That happened really fast. I feel like I've been saying that a lot, but it really does seem like this year has gone by incredibly quickly. My parents warned me that this is what happens when you get old, so maybe I'm officially old now :)
Not a whole lot has been going on. I've just been doing the work and school thing. It's been going alright. I'm not in love with going to work and class every day, but I don't feel depressed or miserable, so that's good. It's hard to stay motivated in graduate school though. I still have almost two years to go and already I really want to be done. I don't think that's an uncommon feeling though, and as long as I keep going I'll be fine.
I just found this awesome program today to help me keep my life organized and on track. It's called LifeRPG and it's pretty cool! Basically you can make a list of all your things you need to do, daily or bigger projects, and as you complete them you get experience points and level up. It's a video game based way to organize your life. I hope it will help me out especially in terms of making myself go to the gym regularly and not overeat. It's so hard to stay on track with those things and any motivation I can get will help. Plus it's free and that's cheaper than a hardcore organizing system, although those look pretty cool.
I'm not going home for Thanksgiving this year, mostly because I only get two days off and that's not enough time to go to Detroit and back. It sucks because this will be my first Thanksgiving alone. Even in 2008 when I was in DC I had Thanksgiving with my ex and his roommates so I wasn't by myself. This will be the first time and it will be hard. I know I should be grateful that I have the day off, my boyfriend doesn't, but it will be hard to be alone. On Saturday my brother and I are going to meet up since he lives in Madison and that's not super far away, but it will be weird to just be by myself on Thursday.

Obama again!

Just saying that I am extremely relieved that President Obama was reelected! I'm glad my reproductive rights will be safer for the next several years. I was really worried about what Romney and Ryan would do to appease the extreme right in that regard. I also think the President has better ideas about the economy and is better prepared on foreign policy. Now all we need is Congress to stop being ultra-partisan buttholes and compromise with each other, and maybe the country can get better.

October is almost over!

I feel like time is going by so quickly! How is it almost November already? It's not even like I've had lots and lots going on. Most of the month I've been just working and studying. It's been pretty productive. I should have some data soon from some of my experiments and that will be exciting. This past weekend was jam-packed with stuff! On Friday I went with my friends Tessa and Mike to AJ's on East Court for a Halloween party/drinking time. It was a lot of fun! I went as Dr. McCoy from Star Trek and got to wave a phaser around and be cranky. I didn't drink too much because the next morning I ran my first 5K!! It was the Susan G. Komen 5K, which isn't super competitive and has lots of people in it, and there are runners and walkers. I had to walk more than I wanted, but I finished which was the most important thing to me. I finished in 46:07, which is slow as hell, but I finished! I'm looking forward to getting healthier and more in shape so that the next time I run a 5K I have a better time! During the afternoon I helped Tessa decorate for a Halloween party. We made cupcakes that were delicious! Then in the evening we went to the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. Our seats were actually pretty good for being eighteen bucks. They played the Sorcerer's Apprentice first, then something else I can't remember the name of lol, and then the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. It was awesome and it was the first time I've been to a live orchestra so that was cool. We have three more shows to go to so I'm looking forward to that!
The only bad thing that happened was that on Saturday my dad texted me and told me that our doggie, Mischief, had died. She was almost 13 and had been declining for a while, so it wasn't a surprise, but it was sad anyway. I was hoping she would make it until Christmas so that I could see her again. I hadn't seen her since last December. So it will be kind of weird to come home this Christmas because there will only be two cats, when last year there were three cats and a dog.

Bits n' Bobs

There isn't a whole lot of news since I last wrote. Leo has assimilated well into the family. He and Memo are getting along well. I haven't caught them snuggling yet, but they will sit next to each other and watch 'cat TV' out the window. They like to tussle with each other but it's friendly and pretty cute actually. I'm really glad I brought Leo home. He and Memo make my house all happy and fluffy.
Work is going. I'm feeling ambivalent about school again. I really want to get my degree and then start working again. I think I'm just wanting to move on with my life and being in school makes me feel stuck, like I have to wait to do things like make money, buy a house, and all that. I'm sure I'll feel better in a little while, but right now I definitely wish that a genie would show up, hand me my degree, and leave. Too bad that thesis genies don't exist!
My running has been slow. A couple weeks ago I wore nice shoes to work and had the nastiest blisters. Then it got hot. But today I went out for a run and I feel really good. I'm still fat and I still can't run more than half a mile without stopping, but I feel good and I'm going to use that feeling to keep going. I'm hoping in a couple weeks I'll be able to make the whole mile without slowing down to a walk. I don't care about how slowly I run right now, it's all about being able to do it at all.
In other news, I just ordered some Lithops plants. They are really cool succulents and I'm hoping that I can get them to grow inside. I really like plants! I need to go to Lowe's and get a bunch of pots and herb seeds or plants so I can start an herb garden too. I might wait until spring to do that so I can grow them outside, so for now I'm getting more houseplants. Houseplants are freaking awesome. If anyone has suggestions on what plants would be good to grow, tell me!

New Addition to the Family

Last Friday I brought home a new cat from Furry Friends Animal Refuge in West Des Moines. His name is Leonardo da Vinci, Leo for short. He's a 4 year old, part Maine Coon, male cat. He's very chill and laid back. So far he and Memo have been interacting pretty well, with only a little bit of hissing and growling. I'm hoping that they'll get used to each other soon and get friendly.

Here's Leo! It's the best picture I have of his face so far. He's still pretty excited and exploring a lot, so he doesn't stay still for long!

Iowa State Fair

 A couple of weekends ago, I went to the Iowa State Fair for the first time with Mike and Tessa! I had only been to the Michigan State Fair once when I was a kid, and all I remember is riding a roller coaster and getting free strawberry milk. So I was pretty much a state fair virgin. It was a lot of fun! So here are some pictures.

 This is a reconstruction of the first church built in Dubuque, IA. It cost $250 back in 1834? 18-something anyway. I am being devout in front of the sign.

 And here I am in an old-timey telephone booth. Sadly the other half of the telephone wasn't in there so I couldn't pretend to be calling someone. There's a telephone museum at the fair that is actually pretty cool.

 Chocolate dipped bacon on a stick. It was very good, but very drippy so that's why mine is in the tray.

 Mike and I next to the third biggest pumpkin entered in the fair. I honestly have no idea how they get this big! Other than magic, that is.

 This is in the State Fair museum. It's the exact same cookie cutter that my family has, and that I insist on using every Christmas. It's a gingerbread man in a tuc.

 We took the chair lift thing across the grounds at one point, which was cool because my feet hurt. It was neat to be able to see the grounds from the air.

 Mike and I in the old-timey one room schoolhouse. We failed pretty hard at the assignments on the blackboard. For the record, I'm pretty sure I was never that excited to go to real school. I sure am not now.

Tessa and I making biodiesel, LOL. It's extra funny since I work in biorenewable chemicals.

New Fitness Goal

Today I decided to be a little crazy and I agreed to do the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K at the end of October with my friend Tessa! So now I have about two months to train for a 5K. It's certainly doable, but I will have to maintain my motivation to keep it up, especially when class starts. At least I'm only taking one class so hopefully it won't be too bad. I've been trying to get back into running and start losing weight again, and I think having a concrete deadline will be helpful. I'm looking forward to it!

New Home

I'm halfway moved into my new place so now I can at least post about moving. First, I want to plug Two Men and a Truck. I hired them and they were awesome. They were so fast, they took great care of all my stuff, and nothing broke in the move. It was fantastic. I am so glad I hired them; it was way better than trying to do it myself. Especially because it was hot as hell again on moving day, so that would have sucked to do it myself. I'm about halfway unpacked now. My kitchen is together, the bathroom is done, most of my bedroom is done, and clearly I have internet (the most important thing, lol). Memo is home too, after a short stay at the vet. When I picked him up, the nurse said that she found Memo and another cat all snuggled  up together that morning. I thought that was really adorable, and it makes me happy that he could interact nicely with another cat. Once we're all settled in, I think that I'll start looking for a friend for Memo.

Countdown

Only three days until I move out! I'm almost done packing everything. I'm looking forward to moving into my new place a lot. Moving is just a pain so I'll be very happy to be done with it. I am glad that I hired people to move me because trying to do this alone would have been so difficult. But once I'm in my new place, I will be really happy. I'm on the end, so I'll only have neighbors on one side of me. I get a garage to put Alfred, my car. The neighborhood is single family homes and near an elementary school, so it's more families than undergraduates. No offense to undergrads, but I need to live somewhere quiet that's more grownup-oriented. Constant music and partying annoys the hell out of me. Part of it is just that the noise bothers me, but I'll admit that part of it is that I secretly wish school was still fun for me. Grad school is not fun that way. So my new place will be better for me. And I'll have a washer and dryer in unit so maybe laundry won't be such a pain in the ass. Laundry is one of my least favorite chores, and part of it is lugging it downstairs and spending so much money on it. First world problems, I know.
Anyway, I'm spending this weekend packing and cleaning and watching the Olympics!! I love it when the Olympics are on because I can watch a lot of cool sports that aren't usually on tv. I got to watch fencing today, how often is that ever on television? It's awesome. Right now I'm watching men's gymnastics. Those guys are crazy athletic. I have no idea how they manage to do any of that. I would fall on  my face.

Almost There!

I'm moving into my new townhouse next week! I'm really looking forward to it. A townhouse is only a step away from a house, and I've always wanted to have a house. I'm on the end too so I'll only have neighbors on one side, and I'm really looking forward to that. My neighbors have been so loud the past couple of weeks, stomping around upstairs and stuff like that. So knowing that I'm almost done dealing with that is awesome!
On the other hand, I am nervous about the move. I always get nervous about stuff like this, and it's double because this is the first time I'm doing it without my dad to help me out. I'm sure everything will be okay, but I'll breathe a sigh of relief when I get the keys to my place and the moving guys unload everything.
I'm also looking forward to having a week+ off of work. I think I'm ready for a vacation, and even though I'm not going anywhere, it will be nice to not have to be in lab for a week or so. Sometimes you just start to drag after a while, and having a break from the grind will be nice.

Ready for a break

Man, I am ready for a break. I need a vacation. The past week I have not wanted to go to work. I don't want to go to work tomorrow. I just want to sleep in. I think it's because my last real vacation was in March. Also in three weeks I'm taking a week off to move into my townhouse, and I'm looking forward to that, and I wish it would hurry up. It's hard to keep going when all I want to do is stay home and sleep in and then pack or something. I'm handling it, it's just hard every night to not want to go in. I think I'm just ready for a break, and then I'll feel better.

Oops

It's been a month since I posted. Oops. Oh well. I'll try to update quickly.

• I officially joined the Bobik lab a couple of weeks ago. This is a huge relief because now I'm for sure staying the graduate program and I don't have to hurry and find a job. I've got my keys and all. 
• I'm also staying listed as a PhD student for one more year. Dr. Bobik convinced me to just in case I change my mind, and I get to make a PhD salary for one more year, which is a lot more than an MS salary. So that's nice and hopefully I'll only have to take a pay cut for my last year of school. I'm still planning to get an MS and get the heck out of school though. 
• I've started packing because I move at the end of this month. I hate packing but I'm really looking forward to living in my new place. 
• Dan and I are still seeing each other. It's still not an 'official relationship' but we're seeing each other exclusively and it's awesome. 
• And I think that's about it.

Summer?!

It's June already. That happened really fast. I feel like May just went so quickly. Everything is going well, and maybe it's good that the year feels like it's moving quickly. I just wish that the weekends felt like they were going more slowly, because it never feels like I've had quite enough time to recharge before it's time to go back to work. I'm doing alright, functioning and everything, but it just feels like I could use another day to sleep in, get things done, relax, etc.
I'm moving in a couple of months and I need to buy moving boxes. It takes me forever to pack so I have to start now or I won't get done in time. I'm so slow about it so if I can get my books all packed and my winter clothes and all that by a week or so before I have to move, then it won't be so hard to finish everything up. I have a million books so they will take forever to pack.
Other than that, I'm just working, trying to keep up with my chores and eat right, and trying to stay relaxed and okay. Hopefully it continues. In a couple more weeks I have to officially get into the lab, so I'm trying not to worry about it. Everything is going well so I think it won't be an issue, but I worry about stuff like that all the time, whether it makes any sense to worry about it or not.

Des Moines Botanical Center: Christmas Cactus

 I never finished putting up my photos from the botanical center back in March. Whoops. Anyway, this is a Christmas cactus. I thought this one was really cool because it was started from a cutting here in Iowa in 1810. This cactus is over 200 years old!

It had a few blooms on it. They're really pretty. I have a Christmas cactus myself, that my grandma started for me from a cutting from her plant. It's been growing really well over the past year and hopefully in another year or so it will bloom!

Tubing!

Dan and I went tubing on the Skunk River! It was a lot of fun. We started up near Ada Hayden Heritage Park. We got out near Carr Park because it turned out that where we thought we would get out was on  a different fork of the river. Oops. We had to walk to that spot and I have a million blisters now on my feet, but the tubing part was a lot of fun. There weren't a lot of people on the river, and the water temperature was really nice. Some parts of the river were too shallow and we had to get up and wade, but for the most part we could float. I saw a bald eagle fly over the river, which was super cool, and Dan spotted a deer looking at us from the riverbank. There were lots of cool little birds around and we even saw a freshwater mussel while we were wading at one point. It was really neat, and it was so quiet. We were floating through places in Ames, but from the river you couldn't tell where you were. It was like we were in a completely different world. I had so much fun (even with the walking barefoot for more than a mile and getting blisters lol) and it was my first time tubing so that was doubly fun. Next time we know where the best place is to get out so we won't have the same issue again. And Dan was really sweet and brought over epsom salts and rubbing alcohol for me so I could lance some of these blisters and get them healing. Overall, it was really fun.

Hanging in There

Work so far has been going well. I'm going to learn how to do a gene knockout by the method they use soon, so that will be neat. The hardest part is honestly getting up in the mornings. Even though I get enough sleep, every morning I have to haul myself up and get there. Once I'm there, everything is fine, but man, mornings are hard. I wish that was easier, because it is not easy to start the day feeling that low. I have a sinus headache too, and I've had it all day, and that doesn't help. Hopefully I'll start feeling better and get more into the groove of everything and it'll be fine. It is easier right now since I don't have class so when I get home I have no homework to deal with. That makes the evenings nice. I just wish I had the energy in the mornings so that they weren't so hard. But I'm hanging in there, and everything is going to be alright.