Serendipity

While trying to write my personal statement for grad school apps I realized that one of the things that’s really important to me in applying is the story of how I got to where I am. It’s been through a lot of hard work and just as much good fortune that I’ll soon be applying for a few top graduate schools. Without my hard work or my ability to see good opportunities for what they were I might be a little less certain of my future.

I’m not sure that any of this will make it into the final draft of my personal statement, but it felt good to write it up.

The first in a series of fortunate events leading me to apply for a graduate degree in Immunology was while applying to college in High School.  I was unsure of what I wanted to major in and worried that I couldn’t decide on what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. The teacher I had for AP Biology inspired me to pursue a future in Biology. Her fascination with the subject was evident in her teaching and she encouraged us to explore Biology through individual projects and group presentations. As my education in biology continued at GWU I soaked up each class with such enthusiasm until I was worried yet again that I wouldn’t be able to find my focus. I knew that biological research of some sort was my future goal and hoped to continue my education after college with graduate school, where I could hopefully narrow down my interests. The second fortunate event came from applying for the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates, which gave me an opportunity in an Immunology laboratory at GWU. I not only learned what real-life biomedical research was like, but I discovered knowledgeable and passionate people that I was able to work side by side with for over two years. Exploring the questions of each of my projects as an undergraduate as well as the day to day methodology convinced me that Immunology research was how I wanted to spend my foreseeable future. The third serendipitous event was a seminar put on by my lab’s department on vaccines that sparked my interest about the possible outcomes of immunology research and how our knowledge of the human immune system could lead us to engineer protective immunity through vaccines. At my current laboratory, my research on vaccines for Leishmania and HIV has shown me the magnitude of possibilities for cellular immunology and vaccine research. The passion and commitment that I am surrounded by everyday at the NIH has fueled my curiosity and determination to continue on the path of biomedical research. The two main avenues of immunology research that appeal to me are vaccine research, specifically HIV vaccines, and basic lymphocyte immunology. Through researching vaccines for infections where there is no natural immunity, such as HIV, it is evident that there is a lot left to be discovered about how the human immune system works. A few basic questions could hold the key to vaccines for many diseases, questions such as how T cells mature, and what signalling pathways correlate to protection. It is these types of questions and the overall goal of vaccines  that have lead me to pursue a graduate degree in Immunology.

For the love of Knitting

Well despite this being a rather unproductive weekend grad school application wise, I feel like I’ve gotten a bit of knitting related things done. I finished and sent the custom red and grey gloves, but forgot to take a picture. I figured out what was wrong with Paypal and I’ve started on the other pair of custom fingerless gloves. But while I was doing this I started thinking that maybe I should’t be knitting stuff for Etsy during knit nights. Knit nights should be devoted to knitting that I want to do, either working on pattern, or socks for Ty or whatever. Because I realized that I hadn’t worked on anything fun for over a week, but I had been knitting like crazy. So that’s my plan from now on: my knitting only on knit night, and whenever else I feel like it, Etsy knitting is confined to other times in my life, like on the metro, or at home watching tv. That way my personal knitting doesn’t get neglected, it’s the reason that I knit in the first place, to have fun!

I also tried convincing myself to just buy all the yarn I would need to re-vamp all of my patterns. That did’t work so well. But I think I finally decided that the zip-hoodie will be done in Berocco Comfort, it seems like the perfect yarn for a hoodie – durable, washable and soft.

For now I’ll continue fixing Working Diamonds. Next up on my list is probably Peacock Feathers and Rose’s Gloves. And maybe at some point I get a few test knitters for Katherine. Kind of like maybe I’ll write my personal statement for my school applications.

Happy Knitting! And don’t let yourself get stuck with un-fun knitting, especially for the holidays!

The lessons we learn, or not.

Whoops, missed yesterday I guess. It probably had something to do with asking the bartender to just surprise us, three times. Fortunately, the bartender knew what he was doing. Before that, while I was not eating, Ashley, Ellie and I were all at Looped. Ellie’s never been, and Ashley’s been a slacker, so it was great to be there. Although Ellie pointed out that I know my yarn brands scary well, or at least some of them. She had grabbed some Fresco and I knew what it was, though I spaced on the name. I’ve been meaning to buy a few skein, I think it’d knit up really soft. Looped also had some new yarn in, Wandering Wool, which is a local dyer. Their Rock Creek Sock looked so nice, and her colors were gorgeous, very saturated. Every time I go to knit nights at Looped I wish I could go every day and stay there all night. The people are great, and the store is great.

Ty’s been talking recently about what he wants to do with his life. And despite our having talked about this hundreds of times, it seems like it changes every day. Fortunately I think we’re finally getting somewhere. Although we’ve been talking about going to school either in Boston or New York, the more we talk about it, the clearer it gets that New York is much higher on the list for multiple reasons. It would be tough to turn down living so close to my family in Boston, but New York has amazing school and work options for both of us, and it’s NEW YORK! I guess I can’t really say that I was never the girl who dreamed of living in the big city, and with the lifestyle and culture in DC, I’ve gotten used to city life, and Boston just might not cut it. I’m not-so-secretly hoping that the JetBlue job Ty will be applying to soon (his dream job) will offer him the job and we’ll have no choice but to go to New York. We’ll see what happens, but as I’ve learned in life, and especially since meeting Ty, things tend to come together better than you expect.

Happy Knitting!

P.S. Hopefully these gloves will too. Custom order – red and grey stripes, which surprisingly looks like a candy cane…

It’s been how long?

Well I’m finally done with the semester, which is great, so hopefully I will have time to do all those things that I always want to do, like sleep. No, but really, I’ve been wanting to see more of the city. My goal for the summer is to set myself my usual summer goals, and this time to actually follow through with them. I want to see more of the Smithsonians and just spend more time outdoors, although my opinion on that might change once it gets up to normal DC summer temperatures. I want to go camping and hiking, and maybe backpacking, which might involve getting a tent of some sort, but I’m pretty sure we can rent that. Hopefully this weekend we’ll get out to the beach, I think there are some nice  ones just an hour away.

And my summer to do list in terms of my knitting, well, I’m not really sure. I’m almost finished with Alex’s sweater, which I think is going to end up a lot bigger than I was planning, and it will probably get bigger in the wash. Why do I never plan my projects enough? I always get too excited and just start them without thinking everything through. I want to alter the sleeves on my blue diamond sweater, make them a little longer and more fitted, I just hope I have enough extra yarn. And socks, that is definitely on my list. Although I still haven’t followed a pattern for socks, and I’m always so hesitant to, especially because I worry that if I go to sell them on Etsy I’ll be violating some law or something. And i want more sock yarn that’s machine washable, because I don’t know about other people, but having to hand wash socks seems silly. I would like to get my Etsy shop a little more popular, but I’m not sure how to do that, so that probably won’t get done this summer.

I’m excited to be working full-time this summer, although I’m kind of worried that I’ll have a lot of down-time, which is alright I guess, but I just feel guilty because I get paid by the hour. I talked to my boss and I’ll be doing some odds and ends until the grant starts in June, and then I’ll be doing some new stuff, which will be nice, and I’m glad that I’ll be helpful, particularly that I’ll be more helpful doing this project than someone who is just here for the summer. I don’t know if I’m just always paranoid or what, but I worry that I don’t do enough, or do it well enough. I guess I just don’t want to be undervalued.

And on a more positive note, I can now begin my search for the netbook that I am going to buy this summer. I know that it will be really helpful to have once we move a little farther from campus, and I’m willing to spend a bit of extra money to get the one that will meet my needs, mostly a long battery life. And…. wedding stuff! It’s time to make some more definite decisions about the wedding for decorations, food, dress, and pretty much everything else. I think the food is the one thing that’s going to frustrate me the most, partly because we’re not sure what we want, and partly because it’s so damn expensive. But I’m excited to do some DIY decorations and other little touches to remind everyone that this is about who Ty and I are. I’m definitely a little worried that this is going to turn into something a lot less personal, when I really want it to feel like a backyard-potluck-wedding. I want our wedding to be about love obviously, but also family, friends and fun. I want people to go home thinking “I had such a great time at that get together,” not, “Well that wasn’t too painful, for a wedding”. I’m hoping that it’s all about the attitude, because I definitely have a lot of happiness to share, as the Dove chocolate saying that I keep in my wallet says “Happiness is contagious”.

Almost there

Finally I’ve gotten to the point in the semester where my next test is a final, surprisingly a happy realization. That means that one: I only have two tests left, and two: the summer is almost here. I’m really looking forward to not only not having classes, but being able to get something done. I’ve been worrying recently about how my boss sees me, i feel like I’ve been dropping the ball. I’ve been so busy with class, and so tired, and so burnt out it feels like it’s been massively affecting work. One of the main reasons that I’m looking forward to summer is that I’ll finally have time to explore DC with Ty, Alex and Will. There is so much to the city and the area around DC that I want to see. We also have to figure out where we’re going to be living for the next year or two, I would definitely like to stay in the city, but I know that it’s cheaper to live out in Virginia, and you can get more sq. feet for your money.

Recently I’ve had some issues with sock yarn addiction, trying to find good deals on ebay, and failing miserably. I found something good and ordered it, some nice spring colors. I’m not sure what I’m going to make yet, maybe some nice lace socks. I haven’t really done much lace and I feel like it’d be pretty, though I’m not sure how comfortable they would be.

Alex’s sweater is coming along nicely. i have both sides of the front, without the ribbing on it, but I think I know how to do it. The back so far is really boring, curving the bottom was mildly successful using short rows and I hope it looks good on Alex’s butt. If i had a bit more free time I could probably finish by the end of the semester, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen.