PhD Candidate Panda

Happy April Fool's Day! For my April fool's joke, I have decided to NOT post in March! HA! So happy that I can pawn my lack of writing off on April Fool's day.

The past week has been pretty fantastic. We had two proposals and two defenses in our lab, which meant FREE FOOD err'day! It has almost been a week but we are obviously still eating the remaining moldy sandwiches and Diet Coke for sustenance. Everyone passed their presentations, which is great because I WAS ONE OF THEM! So now yours truly is officially a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering. Technically I still need to submit my paperwork, so let's hold the applause and fog horn until all that gets processed. Although the questioning part of the proposal after the presentation was a bit rough, I survived. I still have a lot to learn and do, but I'm happy that at least I am on track to get moving on my projects!

My relationship with my advisor is also improving. As you know, working for Dr. Barbie entails working with Dr. Zebra. I have to admit I had a tough time working with Dr. Zebra; part of it may have been my fault for not thinking in depth about my data as much as I should have. However, in my defense I have taken at least three classes each semester, and this year I have also had to TA a course. You already know that our lab is moving (well, already has) to a different school. I had considered not going because Dr. Barbie is so busy and Dr. Zebra was not necessarily an ideal replacement, and I wasn't getting the sort of mentoring I had desired when I entered graduate school and that was typical of my undergraduate research lab. I definitely don't need a lot of attention or pampering, but I do need a lot of trust and respect. Obviously I am not the brightest crayon in the box (unless I wear my "Say No To Racism" dress) when it comes to engineering and research, especially compared to the amazing researchers at school. However, it is graduate SCHOOL and not graduate FACTORY, which means I need time to learn these things. Anyway, it was tough getting yelled at all the time. I'm generally a very stubborn person and thought I would be able to handle it, but with the progression of my research, Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die' has become my anthem. Although the proposal was not my best performance, Dr. Zebra was actually VERY supportive and stuck up for me when the committee started flinging stones. We ended up having this weird bonding moment the next day where he said he would make my life shitty in lab, but in the end would be my biggest supporter whenever we are in public. Okay, I'll take it. I guess different people just have different ways of mentoring/killing (just kidding, OR AM I) others, but at least we talked it out and acknowledge the situation. Plus, I'm hoping that the move will alleviate the stress and tension that is occurring with everyone right now and we will have a more peaceful environment in the new lab (updates to come!)

Easter has also come and gone, which means I am allowed to eat sugar again, and The Boyf is eating meat! Sunday was truly a glorious day for gluttony, filled with pastries and bacon. I think my body died from happiness and has still not recovered yet because I haven't pooped since then. Don't worry, I'll be fine. And speaking of gluttony and pooping, the new Cafe Intermezzo has opened just a few blocks down the street from our place, which will be so fantastic considering my love for cheesecake and the fact that as an Asian person, I am most likely lactose intolerant. Ah, the joys of life.

Today our lab packed and shipped all the frozen samples. We will have packed EVERYTHING on Wednesday, and the lab will officially shut down! It is hard to believe that I'll be leaving Atlanta soon. I still need to finish up my courses, but am expected to start my first day in Richmond on May 6. I will be rooming with one of the girls in my lab, and we applied for an amazingly huge townhouse along the river. It was too good to be true, and perhaps is. We shall see when I move in, but rest ye easy; I am definitely purchasing a family pack of RAID just in case.

It's bedtime! Tomorrow I'll be helping to pack the lab and hopefully relocating to a new desk in the building next door. I still refuse to relinquish my building access, although I'm sure they will hunt me down at some point to pry the key from my nicely manicured fingers. Toodles!

March Madness Panda

Alright, so I need to get this post in for the month of March so I can keep my New Year's resolution (I'm counting the second post from January as one for February; deal with it).

Although I am partly to blame, most of the lag comes from The Boyf, who is highly superstitious and likes to wait until everything is perfect to release any details. I suppose it pays off, though, because just secured a position at McKinsey and Co.! My only question is, who is the Co.? Is it like Colin Powell, or Colonel Sanders? Because it's a consulting company, and fried chicken is delicious. Ah, it stands for "company", you say? It all makes sense now...

So now that The Boyf is going to be making pretend beaucoup bucks (apparently the benefits are worth more than the salary itself there), he has moved on to greener pastures and will be moving (away from me!) to another apartment uptown. Ho hum. The good news is that I've also found a roommate from my lab that will live with me in Richmond! I've got my heart set on an apartment right now, but I'm having The Boyf scout it out on his way home (from vacation, another thing I've waved bye bye to long ago) to make sure we won't die in the ghetto ("I've made a huge mistake,", G.O.B.)

And what other term would summarize my life than "March Madness", for I will be proposing in exactly one week from today! Due to the time difference between here and China (where one of my committee members will be groggily waking up), I will be having my proposal at 7pm. I've gotten a lot of crap for it, but the 7am slot was already taken by another lab member and plus I'll be providing dinner, so just be happy that you didn't have to dumpster dive at Panera (HELLO RICHMOND). Apparently there is a Panera Bread right near campus in Richmond so I'll be able to try my old, experienced, bacteria-covered hand at finding stale bagels in the dumpster. College; what fond memories.

I also filled out my bracket today for the spring basketball fling, even though I know nothing about sports. As of 5pm today, I wasn't doing too shabby. This makes me realize that men's hobbies, i.e. sports, are much better at creating camaraderie than women's hobbies, i.e. men. Most women only aim to please other men, and this creates weird tension between females that only age can resolve because everyone turns flabby and realizes they would rather just own a pet instead of deal with a relationship. Men, however, have SPORTS, the shining gold star in the dreary night sky that is life. For something like March Madness, there is fun competition that doesn't require an expensive wardrobe or perfect hair. I had a lot of fun just choosing random teams without any prior knowledge. I seriously think women need to go back to cooking, just so they have a common hobby that's shareable without creating contention amongst themselves.

I WANT CHEESECAKE.

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.

Panda Enters the [Cell] Hood

First off, I AM SORRY! I know these past few days have been jam packed with new and exciting things in my life as a graduate student, but I keep putting off updating. But here I am now, ready to divulge all details of my official life as a PhD student.

So where to start? Last Monday I started my first day in the lab of Dr. Barbie. I have come to like her more and more, especially when compared to the co-advisor of the lab, Dr. Zebra. Dr. Zebra is an international traveler and flies to and from our lab in monthly-ish rotations. He is in charge of approving our experiments and laying down the law and cracking the whip on lazy grad students. Dr. Barbie is the diva and has her personal golf cart with plastic door flaps that she drives around campus. They are both so different and I love it when they argue. It would be the best reality show.

I haven’t done anything with the grad students outside of the birthday outing I talked about in my last post, two weeks earlier. It is kind of weird because no one seems to recognize anyone else when they are in lab, but apparently everyone hangs out on the weekends together or something. I have no idea. Although I am getting multiple offers to go grocery shopping from people in the lab, so at least I won’t be hungry. Last weekend the biosciences grad club had a party (the pirate one that I talked about earlier), but The Boyf were so exhausted from walking around all day that we fell asleep before we had a chance to put on any eye patches.

So I met with Dr. Zebra last Tuesday, who basically told me nothing about my project but led me on a wild goose chase around the lab trying to find out what it is. Luckily, the chase wasn’t too hard, although at some point I did get entangled in prosthetic penis research (I SWEAR it came up in a search). Anyway, I am working with a 5^th year PhD student, which is nice but also super intimidating, but not really because he is pretty cool and plus it is better than Dr. Zebra beating me like an Amish horse. My project deals with surfaces and its effects on stem cells. It is pretty neat and really similar to what I proposed for my NSF project. But for now, I am stuck at my desk (which is starting to look pretty homely, thanks to a free whiteboard and an excess of mugs) until I complete all the safety training necessary for me to use the lab equipment.

The Boyf arrived last Tuesday night and stayed until Sunday. We had a fun time eating at different restaurants, which is basically the meaning of my existence. I had a great burger at The Vortex, so many free samples at Mary Mac’s, a mediocre country fried plate at Chicken and Waffles, and even sampled chocolate wine! We also visited the world’s largest aquarium, of which I am now a member (although I was kind of disappointed – I guess we will just go to the Coca Cola factory next time, and you KNOW I’m getting a membership there too). We went to church across the street from my apartment on Sunday. Oh, and The Boyf’s friend Danto works in Atlanta, so we all went to Sweetwater Brewing Company for a great/cheap beer tasting. I was designated driver – SO PANDA.

I’m kind of upset that I NEVER go out dancing with The Boyf. I think we have been twice before, but it was like three years ago and he didn’t even dance. I don’t know why he hates it so much. I even sent him a Youtube video of “how to dance in a club for white guys” (or something along those lines), but only offended him (who’d have thought?). I am considering finding a gay boyfriend just so that we can go out together and fake grind on each other. If you are interested, please reply to the ad below:

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WANTED: Faux Boyfriend for Panda Cheng

Qualification 1) Must look like Jude Law

Qualification 2) Must be homosexual

Please email alicethepanda@gmail.com with “Gay Jude Law” in the subject so I know you are not the real Jude Law. If you are the real Jude Law, you can bypass the email and just show up at my apartment instead. I’ll let The Boyf know “something came up”.

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I have finally put my new Beats by Dr. Dre studio headphones to use! Today I decided to boil water for tea, and while I was waiting, listened to some crazy music on the headphones. Unfortunately, I loved it so much that an hour later, I was nodding my head to the burnt smell of my nonexistent tea…To compensate, I had a bowl of white chocolate-raspberry-chocolate chip frozen yogurt instead, with life cereal, almond milk and nutella on top.

Now I’m back to listening to music again! I love these headphones. Oh, and speaking of music, Adele is performing in concert in October, right next door to my apartment building! Tickets are only $75 but have been sold out for a while, so I can only find them on Stubhub. I don’t know if I want to go by myself or coerce someone to go with me who doesn’t want to go…I might just go myself if I find anyone. Everyone in Atlanta is so friendly anyway that I’ll probably find a best friend before the chorus of “Rolling in the Deep” starts.

Tomorrow is my first day of class at Emory! It is weird that Georgia Tech and Emory are on different schedules, so even though it is super cool that GT has “fall break”, I technically don’t get a break because I still have an 8am class that day at Emory. And I’ll probably be in lab anyway since I have already become enslaved to Dr. Barbie and Dr. Zebra. PANDA WANTS TO ROAM FREE! Oh, and on a totally separate but quite related note, I ate bamboo tonight!

Deuces.

Pirate Panda

 I tried to go for a run at Huffnagle Park this morning, but there were PEOPLE there (what do they think it is, a park?!) and I had to run around Quarryville instead. Which is worse, because then 100x more people can see me. Although I did find out that there are a lot of mini creeks and bridges in town, which is something I should have already known earlier. Quarryville is so quaint…I wish I had time to just walk around and see the…quarries?

Last night a customer (young, male, attractive? – who are you? Please come back!) deposited SIX DOLLARS in the Peking tip jar! That’s only a dollar less than the tip Hair and I gave to our waiter at Applebees the night before! It is also two dollars more than the black, leather, pointed-toe Nine West pumps I purchased at the consignment shop next door that are a size too small (it was just such a good deal; I’ll fit into them somehow!) I don’t think anyone has ever given six dollars as a one-time tip at Peking, so I am assuming he was drunk or extremely wealthy (young, male, attractive AND single?  The Boyf better get his game on). Padre says he kept raving about our chicken lo mein and dropping the Washingtons into the jar. So the moral of the story here is: ORDER THE CHICKEN LO MEIN! I’ve had the lo mein, too, and it’s good! 

Today was also egg roll frying and roast pork day! My favorite day of the week! Every Tuesday, Peking makes roast pork in the oven, and it is so delicious. I always cut myself a slice when it comes out of the oven. I wish more people knew that we make everything from scratch…I mean EVERYTHING! There is so much prep work that goes into the food, even/especially the fried foods. I kept telling Hair that we needed to advertise more, since business is terribly slow during the summer. I wanted to make t-shirts for us to wear and perhaps to sell (it works at Penn State, but then again the median age of Quarryville is probably 72, so t-shirts might not sell so well). Hair had an ingenious idea of putting himself on the tshirt, riding a horse, and marketing it as the Polo Ralph Lauren brand. He said that we would make so much money because people would love the great deal of buying a Polo shirt for only $10 that we could retire from the restaurant industry and live off tshirt profits alone! 

Our idea for a promotional Peking tshirt – you can’t even spot the difference! What are your thoughts? Maybe I’ll get some done for the holidays!

I came home in the afternoon in order to start reading chapter 9 (the last chapter!) for BLOCK 0, but instead got caught up with packing and making a cover of Adele’s “Someone Like You.” I repositioned the camera so it is further away from my face (so you don’t have to see me scrunching when I try and fail to hit the high notes) and I think it sounds better this way, although The Boyf thinks it still sounds the same. In my head when I’m singing, I think I sound great, but when I listen myself recorded, my voice is always so whiny and high-pitched. Sad panda. =(

Packing is almost done! I fit the clothes that I wanted to bring into two large suitcases, and a bunch of shoes into a carry-on roller. I’ll need another suitcase or large roller to fit my binders and books/laptop/other miscellaneous items. I’ve also been siphoning off some old clothing and stuff in my room to donate to the consignment shop. I ran across a bunch of old cards and letters from many years ago while I was cleaning out my room. Among them were a graduation card from the pastor of my old church, a thank-you card from my high school hall monitor, a 19^th birthday card from The Boyf’s little siblings, and tons of letters from my penpals B-dog and Mona Lewis. I’m also starting correspondence with a new penpal, Weather Ballin’, so I’ll be keeping busy!

I did read about 6 pages into chapter 9, so I’m not THAT far behind. I might read a little bit more tonight before I go to bed…I should at least make it to page 10. That leaves about 24 pages tomorrow, which will take 2 hours if I’m lucky (the text is so small! 10 pages per hour is so excruciating), and then I can start typing up the answers to the end-of-chapter problems. Also, I need to pop into the library to print out the (NOT coupons this time!) flight confirmations for Padre’s and my flight to Hotlanta on Saturday. 

Tonight I was also invited to my first party at graduate school! I am really looking forward to starting school now – it seems like a very social bunch of students. It is a PIRATE PARTY! I wonder if showing up as a pirate panda would be too overwhelming – I wouldn’t want anyone to call animal control on me the first week of grad school. Then how would I update this blog!?

Panda Likes to Eat

Happy first of August! For those of you who don’t know, the first of August marks the first day that you can use the 40%-off-one-item coupon at the  Nautica outlet! The first of August also marks the eve of the senate vote on whether or not America should raise its debt ceiling. Today was also Coral Diver’s first day of school, and Darling Jabib (my roommate from junior year)’s FIRST KISS to her fiancée! 

First, let me recap yesterday by saying that nothing happened. I had breakfast with an old friend from high school, and it was incredibly nice to talk to someone normal after having to serve egg rolls to drunk ladies from Burger King all summer. Then I got the night off so I could read the rest of chapter 5 for BLOCK 0 (ugh). 

I took the day off today from studying, since I only have chapter 9 left to read. This sets me a day behind schedule on reading, but since I have been answering questions while reading, I think I can still finish the questions by Thursday. And then I have arranged to meet with some other kids in the program the night before the pre-course starts so that we can go over our answers together.

Today, FreishNess and I met up again to go shopping at the outlets (I should be hired as Tanger’s official spokesperson)! Before we met up, you know Padre and I had already perused some stores already (and had lunch at a buffet). We popped into Polo Ralph Lauren for the first time in a few years, and Padre found a suit (jacket + trousers) for $109! I also found a jacket, but it was $45 for essentially a cotton cardigan, so I thought better of it. But Padre probably felt guilty about splurging on himself, so remediated the compulsive buy by compulsively buying mine as well (you know I can’t complain). Since I used to work at Polo, I recognized the cashier and the manager, and got $20 off my purchase from a coupon they offered (I was originally going to use the 20% off coupons from the outlet, but Polo doesn’t accept them anyway)! It was still a good deal after all, although the jacket was a bit pricey, especially after Padre already dishing out $811 this morning to pay my rent (for the apartment in Atlanta, which I STILL haven’t moved into yet). 

Anyway, Padre left after FreishNess arrived, and it was nice shopping with someone my own age (and gender). I can’t believe I’ve been in town all summer, and only this past week I’ve started hanging out with people…I completely forgot what it was to have friends at home! And on Thursday, I am meeting with another friend to have breakfast. I found a recipe for Panda Bread last night and sent it to both Coral Diver and FreishNess. FreishNess has her own baking blog, so maybe I’ll gain some fame for being in a loaf!

I stopped by Goodwill on the way home and bought a Phillies tshirt (my first one! The Boyf will be so proud) and another salmon-colored knee-length jacket. Salmon (the color, not the fish) seems to be in excess in my wardrobe for some reason, but I suppose it does flatter me so that is fine. 

After returning home, I helped out at the restaurant for two hours (it wasn’t busy at all, and thank goodness Padre told Bird Lady not to come in today. She’s so senseless that she never gets the point of anything unless you bluntly yell it in her face). Today was also Hair’s day off, but he usually helps out during the day when it’s busy and just goes home earlier at night. 

When it gets really hot, the air conditioner just doesn’t do justice. Here, a picture of Hair combatting the humid heat in the restaurant (98 degrees with the AC on!). Come visit Peking and give us a tip for working so hard despite the risks of heat stroke!

 

Around 7pm, we both got off work and went to dinner at Applebees, where we had beer, ribs, wings, salad and ice cream on a brownie. So needless to say, today was filled with eating=HAPPINESS.

The real reason why Padre and I have been shopping so much this past week (apart from the coupons) is because Cabbage is returning from China on Wednesday. And because she is a control freak, she likes to micromanage everyone’s finances and tell them what they can and cannot buy (they can buy things for her, they cannot buy anything else). And while my relations with Cabbage are certainly improving, she still has a fickle temper that I’d rather not deal with. So Padre, Hair and I have been spending lots of dough recently in order to stock up for the time that Cabbage towers over the household expenses (hibernation, if you will).

I tried convincing Hair to check out the Panera dumpster after dinner today, but even after drinking an entire pitcher of beer, I could not persuade him to come with me. Maybe I will convince Big K to check out the dumpster in Atlanta to see if we can find anything scrumptious. And I also have a whole mess of new clothing that I need to sport once I reach the city! I invited my Ho-burger and Pedro Cottontail to come to Atlanta, with a disclaimer that they must bring me cheese from Wisconsin (where Ho-burger works) in exchange for free lodging and tickets to a Braves game. 

Tomorrow I am going to get a head start on my reading, and maybe record a cover of Adele’s “Someone Like You” (I-slash-Padre bought her new album today! And The Boyf’s mother and sister were in the checkout right behind us, but I couldn’t make contact for fear of Padre having an aneurism). The other day Doctor Professor submitted an article to Biomaterials for publication, and I’m listed as fourth (or third, I forget) author! It is my first authorship on a paper, even though it’s minor. I don’t even really think I deserve it, since I only contributed a small part to the entire project, but I am really grateful that Doctor Professor remembered me. I guess it’s been a long journey since my days of being grilled in Doctor Professor’s office to my first publication…

Good night!  I’m so pooped for some reason; it must be all those jackets just waiting for me to wear them that my constantly having to assuage their fears is extremely exhausting!