Pumpkin Panda

Hola, cheese curls! It is time yet again for the long heralded monthly update! Although my proposition to update once a month has lagged behind to the end of the month, I shall try to be quick on the uptake for the remaining months of November and December, in preparation for my 2014 New Year's resolution of updating TWICE a month! Lo, ho! Though hast not heard of such glory!

Dare I say that my trend for being pleasantly surprised at the city of Richmond has continued to the point where I believe this may be a permanent sort of glee (let's not take it as far as "glee," although it has been positive so far). After revolting from the college bar scene, yours truly decided to immerse her Panda self in the artistic ways of Richmond. Sitting in on an arts leadership course with an awesome professor (shameless plug in the event you or anyone you know needs a great interior designer!) has let me gain exposure to the finer side of design and creativity in the city. I explored the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, saw the play To Kill a Mockingbird, and got season tickets for the Richmond Symphony, the first of which was Verdi Requiem. Although I would have enjoyed it more, intermission was not offered that one fine Saturday evening and I was therefore forced to catch myself from falling asleep toward the latter end of the performance, however mesmerizing it had been.

In addition, I have made a new friend! Walter Braxton, truly the definition of a starving artist/misunderstood musician, sat down next to me at Starbucks last Sunday afternoon and started dining on a can of Vienna Sausages. Immediately I knew we would become great friends. After exchanging some pleasantries, I read about him while he was sitting next to me (thanks, Google!), and eventually we agreed to meet again so he could give me some of his music. Walter Braxton is a composer of classical music! I have not yet gotten the chance to go through all of the music yet, but I have heard enough and had enough classical music training on the piano as a wee youth to appreciate the challenge of writing music! Falling into some difficulty recently, Mr. Braxton has not been able to compose and perform/conduct as he has wished. I have even thought about holding a class where he can teach crude laymen and layPanda about classical music, so I can act more distinguished the next time I attend a networking event!

Two former lab homies drove up this past weekend to attend our football game. We got to visit University of Virginia, which is apparently a public university even though all the men wear bow ties like private poodles. Notwithstanding, the football stadium had an interesting layout with part of the stadium cut out and replaced by a grassy knoll for frolicking in dismay when they lose at their homecoming game, as was the case this past weekend. In addition, the weather was absolutely delightful, following a week of dismal frigidity that had me breaking in my new CUggs (Costco Uggs - the adult version!).

Books have been a' galore in the Panda household! Thanks to Amazon and one cent used books with $3.99 shipping, I have been able to accrue a significant number of books that I shall probably not be able to finish anytime soon. After joining the library, I started requesting books and have now a book that I need to finish within the next two weeks. At least that gives me a deadline, although the other books on my shelf have started to get lonely without my prying Panda eyes. With The Economist also vying for my precious time and attention, along with the new Lady Gaga tracks in anticipation for her album release, I have been torn apart deciding what to read/watch/listen. Thank goodness for RapGenius, so I can listen to songs once (or not at all), and understand what "Pirelli" means.

There has also been a secular church dinner group (I am aware that the entire aforementioned phrase was an oxymoron...can oxymorons contain more than two words?) that has also accepted me for dinner each Wednesday. After two free dinners, I feel the need to contribute something, and am finally on a mission to prepare some green tea cheesecake for hungry diners! I have not really been baking after the CHEESECAKE FIASCO! this summer, where I made a different cheesecake every week and had to eat all of them by myself because everyone in lab decided to go on a diet (alright, I admit that I enjoyed every last bite...like I said, FIASCO). Welcome back, cheesecake! You will be a dear companion to the four tubs of Haagen Daz ice cream in my freezer that will eventually end up in my salivating Panda mouth!

I have two co-author manuscripts in the pipeline, one that should be submitted very soon, and the other pending revision from Dr. Zebra (which may never happen, at this pace). I have also started looking at other opportunities to become involved, even if not in the city of Richmond. Should you have consulting opportunities for a PhD Panda, please do contact me!

Happy Halloween, cheese curls! Unfortunately, I did not have enough time this year to create my own cheese curl costume. However, in order to stay warm and be able to stuff pillows into my costume, I have decided to dress up as as pumpkin! Of course, this will be a homemade costume, with an orange t-shirt, permanent marker, and some pillows! These Richmond folk will be blown away by the caliber and creativity of my masquerade, indeed!

Updates soon, my friends! Revvin' the frequency!

Panda Likes to Read

These past few weekends have not been too exciting in terms of “going out”, which basically means I haven’t been crazily dancing anywhere in the city. However, from my sheltered childhood, I have always found ways of amusing myself and having a good time without the company of others.

Last weekend I devoted my time running back and forth between the SEM on campus and my apartment. I was scheduled to use the equipment on Friday night midnight-3am, but unfortunately I was NOT GIVEN BUILDING ACCESS. So I showed up on campus like an idiot in the middle of the night (amidst many reported sexual assaults, HOLLA) and then had to come back on Saturday morning to try again. IT WAS LOCKED AGAIN. So I finally scheduled a time during the week and got card access. I now have BEAUTIFUL SEM images of my samples! They are awesome. And things turned out for the better later in the week…we had a meeting with another professor/lab about a collaboration using another imaging technique that is going to show up some REALLY COOL STUFF! I don’t get to see Dr. Barbie all that much because she is super important, but I LOVE HER and every time she is in the room something cool always goes down. REPPIN’ THE [CELL] HOOD.

This past weekend, I had to cram for my mass transfer exam. I was really worried about it, but somehow that wasn’t filtering through to my brain, and my study habits went down the drain until this morning at 7am. But I do think the “studying” (or at least trying to) over the weekend paid off; I walked out of the exam feeling pretty good about it. Definitely not easy, but I knew what techniques to use – after all, it WAS only one problem (shhhh…). And if I can manage to score average, I can pass the course, and that is all I really need. Last night (another thing not conducive to my studying), I hung out with some of my labmates. I LOVE MY LAB! Everyone is just great. And not to mention, the one guy cooks like a pro. He wants to be a medical doctor, but I know one day he is going to usurp Paula Deen (she’s getting old, let’s face it). I had the best ribs EVER. AND! I made my very first apple pie (or any pie, for that matter)! It turned out surprisingly great. I did spend A LOT of money on it ($30 just for ingredients, the apples for $10 because I had to buy granny smith and they were NOT on sale), but it turned out to be worth it. And I get to keep the leftover ingredients, so I have some groceries to last me a while (if you count eggs and sugar as staple foods, which I do). 

Apple pie before going in the oven. Everything is from scratch! The lattice crust didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped...I ran out of ingredients - oops! And yes, that is a panda.

Voila! A slice of apple pie a la mode. Complete with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, caramel crumble and honey drizzle. I know it looks a little overwhelming...but it was DELICIOUS. This was my plate and probably the least aesthetically pleasing. But it still tastes great, I promise.

Ah, so back to reading…Since I have been stuck at home all by my lonesome, I decided to order a few books to read. This also appealed better to conscience, because at least I’m buying books and not clothing…

Anyway, I ordered “The Alchemyst”, the first book in “The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel” series. It was actually recommended by a professor with whom I had an interview a few weeks back. I am excited to read it, but alas it has not arrived yet. The second book I ordered is called “World 3.0”, which is about globalization. It is a new book so I am excited to start that. And the third book is called “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. It was recommended by my lab manager. I started reading it this weekend and it is great! I kept having to put it down in order to (try to) study, but now that my exam is over (until my next one starts on Wednesday, but it is a take-home exam), I can try to finish it. It is about the “secret” behind successful people…which turns out not to be a secret at all! Mostly luck, drive and hard work, which is what most people will tell you. But it is written in the form of stories, which I am beginning to love. I think that life is a story, and stories are such a great way of learning information and understanding a personality. 

My aunt has finally arrived in America after being on the immigration list in China for more than EIGHT YEARS! I wasn’t able to visit her because I had to study for my exam this weekend, but I might try to go to China over winter break. If that doesn’t work, she will be back in the States in March and I can try to see her over the weekend then. Graduate school is super stressful at times, and really boring at other times, and really exciting at other times! I suppose that is just life. So if my blog is ever published, it will be like “Outliers” but about a panda in graduate school, telling panda stories all the day long! It’s nothing you don’t know already, just told in a different (hopefully better!) way.

I have been obsessing about getting my navel pierced for two weeks now…it is getting pretty bad. I think I just wanted to do something badass, and of course smoking and drinking doesn’t occur to me. Instead, I chose self-mutilation in the form of a PANDA PIERCING! Okay, so I haven’t gotten it done yet. But in my defense, the place was closed the first time I went, and the guy wasn’t there the second time. So I have taken after my former roommate, Coral diver, and gone ahead and purchased a NAVEL PIERCING KIT! It hasn’t arrived yet, but when it does you can be sure I am going to freak out and not use it! 

Alright you cheese curls (come to think of it, I am craving some cheese curls – HAVE YOU EVER HAD ANDY CAPP’S HOT FRIES!? THEY ARE AMAZ-O! Thanks to Big K for the introduction…it is on my list of favorite foods, including but not limited to: CRUNCHY Kroger brand Nutella [and regular Nutella brand Nutella], Snyder’s honey mustard and onion pretzel pieces, FROZEN GRAPES [I just tried them for the first time today and they are fantastic TO THE MAX!], and dried mango/sweet potato. Oh, and ice cream, filled cupcakes, Vortex burgers, oxtail soup, sour cream, whipped cream, cream cheese, anything with the word “cream” in it, CoolWhip…I DIGRESS [that was a lot of digressions within a digression – ANYWAY…]), I am going to go! Tonight I am having dinner with a friend from high school for HER BORFDAY (that was not a typo – the misspelling means nothing, I just like saying things weirdly)! But before I leave, I have another twenty minutes to get some reading done…

Oh, another random fact (well, two, now that I come to think of it):

1.       This morning, I dropped my toothbrush in the toilet (I know what you are going to ask, and the answer is NO! I threw it away, you fool!)

2.       Last week, I wore my underwear inside-out. TWICE.

YES! Panda is making much progress in graduate school.