Albums from our past....

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, so here goes. Let's post about the albums that remind us of the past. Like junior high, high school, college, etc.

What are the albums that remind you of junior high?

This is easy for me, as it was when I truly starting getting into music and listening to artists other than what my parents were listening to.

1. Oasis -- What's the Story Morning Glory. I can remember the first time I heard Champagne Supernova on the radio. They've been my favorite band ever since and it was announced today that Noel just quit Oasis. I'm bummed.

2. No Doubt -- Tragic Kingdom. They're still playing songs from this album on the radio. And I love me some OC bands.

3. Green Day -- Dookie. I used to sit and watch MTV all day waiting for the Basket Case video to play. Fantastic.

4. Weezer -- Blue. It's still one of my favorite albums ever. Love it.

Ladies, what are yours??

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

...turn and face the strange.

Ok, ok, so it's been a looong time, way too long. I got into one of those, "there are so many other things that I should be doing that I'm not" funks. And yes, too much time on facebook, that thing is such a time suck!

Anyway, I have some posts of substance that have been rattling around in my head for a while, but I figure after such a great lapse I should do some sort of an update, "look how much has been going on, aren't I excused for my inactivity?" sort of post.

So this summer I have decided to go for a new record, how many things can I change about my life in one season.

Yesterday I realized that these are the only major changes I have NOT made this summer:

1) I am not moving out of the state/country

2) I am not having a baby

3) I am not starting school

Things I HAVE changed, or that have changed, this summer -- with explanations to follow.

1) After two years together and almost a year living together, Rachel and I broke up.

2) I cut all of the hair off of one side of my head, and half of it off of the other.

3) I started seeing a counselor.

4) I am hoping to receive an offer for a new job in the coming days.

5) I am moving across the river to Somerville with a very good friend.

6) I will become a step mother for a very cute puppy who lives in my new apartment.

I know 6 things doesn't sound like that much, but to me it seems like a lot. And aside from my hair and the counseling, all of these things are manifesting themselves in really huge ways in the next 2 weeks.

1) I don't really feel like sharing too much about this on a public forum. It was really hard, and heartbreaking, but the right thing for both of us. We broke up in early June and have been living together since. This was my first real long term relationship (I had made it a year before but she had been cheating on me the whole time and we kept "breaking up" but not being able to make it stick). Rachel is the first girlfriend? partner? I ever lived with. So consequently it's my first major break-up and period of adjustment.

It seems like there are a few ways the immediate post-breakup period can go. One of the two can immediately move out and rely on their friends while they figure out what to do. The couple can live together in a strained and steely silence that occasionally explodes into anger or violence. Or they can continue living together in a fashion very similar to before but somehow different, not friends yet, but also no longer a couple.

Rachel and I fell into the last category. We still love each other, I don't think a lack of love is what drove our breakup. So we've continued with most of the same love and affection we've always had but with changes, sometimes strained. Thankfully we live in a 2.5 bedroom house so Rachel was able to move into her office where, conveniently, a futon was already located. I don't think I can process this anymore. We're only living together for one more week, well two, but I'll be in Mexico for one of them. It's going to be very hard to leave, it's going to feel like we're breaking up all over again. But this limbo period can't keep going, the strain would eventually become too much. I'm hopeful for our future friendship.

Apparently I did have a bit to say about that.

2) I always do this, I'm such a ritualistic person. Breakup ----> cut hair. This being my biggest relationship I went for a drastic cut. For years I had been obsessing about Sara's cut from Cycle 6 of ANTM. She hated the cut, but I thought it was awesome. You can kind of see it in this picture:

It's super short on the sides but long on the top. I had been thinking that maybe this was my time to go for it, but I forgot the photo so I figured, maybe next time. But when I was waiting in the salon I found a very similar cut in one of the books and figured I would go for it. My stylist (who I love and trust) decided to use it as a jumping off point but go asymmetrical with it instead. I was really nervous about how different it was at first, but I've had it for a couple months now and I have totally adjusted and love it!

3) I realized that with my awesome health insurance, counseling was only a $10 co-payment away. I love it, I'm going to run the risk of sounding too much like a Dar song if I keep going, so I guess I should just quote it instead: "And when I talk about therapy, I know what people think, that it only makes you selfish and in love with your shrink. But oh how I loved everybody else when I finally got to talk so much about myself." I started going to discuss my relationship with Rachel, and that has continued to be a topic, but there's a lot more to talk about too. I have a ridiculous urge to put a smiley face here.

4) I don't like to be too public about people or jobs I'm interested in. The less people that know, the less you have to feel the pain when you're asked how it's going and you have to let them know {insert name here} wasn't as interested in you as you thought. But I am constantly shooting myself in the foot on this point -- every time it happens I vow that next time I'm going to keep my mouth shut. But then I get so hopeful, and so excited, and I can't contain it. So, running the risk that this may blow up in my face (when the 5 people who read this blog and don't already know ask me):

I have gone on two interviews for a position as a Developmental Specialist -- home visiting children 1 to 3. I think it would be a perfect job for me and I am really excited at the prospect. They seem to be genuinely interested in hiring me and are only waiting to hear back from the Department of Public Health to see if I qualify as an "education person". The government red tape pisses me off sometimes. It doesn't matter to them that I have been working in education for over 5 years, all they care about is if I took enough education courses in college -- as if that is where my real qualifications are coming from! Anyway, I'm really hopeful that I'll hear back soon (but in the meantime don't ask me about it).

5) I had been hoping to find a place to move into for mid-July, then August 1st, then August 15th. But I was really lazy about it. Despite the fact that I had to get up at 6 in the morning in order to make the hour and change commute to Somerville, I just kept dragging my feet. I couldn't figure out why I could not get myself to really look for a place. Now I know, it was the fates (or, yes mom, my guardian angle) working to make things fit correctly into place.

Two weeks ago, I found out from the one place I had actually seen that they went with someone else. Then I went to see another place. I walked around, noting the low basement ceiling, the pipes, the small windows opening to courtyards, the bedroom converted into a living room. I felt like I was in a college dorm, a quirky and kind of cool college dorm, but still. I started negotiating with myself -- Melanie, you've waited too long, I don't know if you can afford to be picky, you NEED to move by September 1st and we're getting close... I left, and on my way home I noticed I had missed a call from a good friend.

She let me know, 1) that she had been diagnosed with MS, 2) that her wedding (a little more than a month away) was off and 3) if I would like to move in with her. It is possible that she is experiencing more changes than me right now, just maybe! It all came together, this is the right place for me to be, and the right time. Yes Mom, it had to have been God, or fate, or interconnections -- some sort of energy flow between everything. And then, to top it all off, earlier this week Rachel confirmed that she found a new roommate to move in September 1st -- perfect.

6) This just occurred to me yesterday when I was talking to a friend about all these changes, I said, well, I'm not having a baby, or getting a dog, but then I realized. Yes, my friend is the proud momma of a Boston Terrier. I'm looking forward to having a puppy in my life, especially now that he is not a puppy anymore and has calmed down a lot.

Ok! That was a lot. Am I forgiven? I think we need to make a pact. Each of us need to pledge to do at least one short post per month -- then we'll have at least four posts in a month. I know I led us into our current demise but I am going to try really hard. Are you with me??

Where are my friends???

I miss my friends.

Where The F*!@&* Have I Been?

Hi Hi my sweet friends! Sorry to be MIA for so long. Sometimes I let my work life consume me. BUT I am back (still working)!!! I should update you on life.


Work has been SO hectic these past two months. Our company is in the process of changing designs and time is of the essence since we are going into battle with another company. I have undertaken another project that involves a new packaging design and since we are a medical device company, sterility is a HUGH issue; I have 3 awesome engineers on it. I have 4 reviews to write in the next month or my bonus weens away for the days I am late. Regular production issues are on the rise and I spend 50% of my day in meetings. So that's it in a nutshell--workwise.

I completed my La Jolla Half Marathon with a personal best time of 2hr and 03min on one of the most grueling hills (400ft/mile climb). I am signing up to be in the lottery for the NYC Marathon (anybody interested to run or cheer?). I can do some awesome yoga poses now.

I am going on a cruise this weekend to Mexico (but not to Mexico, since H1N1 is a concern). We are going to Ensenada, but looping back and porting in Catalina. Since more than half the group are engineers, we devised a plan to sneek hard liquor on the boat (apparently, wine is the only alcohol you can bring).

I need to plan a trip to SF to see Ninja and AMDG, can you advice me of a weekend that I can buy a plane ticket for...puhleeease?

I need to write a story of how I met AMDG.

I need to do a lot of stuff.

MMMK--late!

Actually, It Was "Just Dance."

Do you have a public library near you?

Do you suggest any other place where I could study that is within a 3 mile radius of your abode, but preferably not 3 miles westward because the review courses are 3 miles northeastward?

Do you really really want to go to the beach on Sundays because I really want to, also?

Will you be there to welcome me when I arrive in The Bay Area and your place of residence on Sunday, May something, sometime in the eventide, but not this Sunday but next Sunday?

Would you say that your hot water gets shut off in the mornings between 7 and 9: not to your knowledge, never, rarely, occasionally, often, or frequently; at the beginning of your Day 3 of No Sleep-No Shower Challenge?

Do you concur in my suspicion that there are spiders in this office biting me, or do you suspect me of hallucinating?

Aaaaand this one is for YOU ¡!

If you need a break....

Lady Gaga performed Poker Face on Ellen yesterday and it was fantastic. You Tube it -- it's definitely worth watching.

Oral Examinations

Today marks the start of two weeks of midterms exams in the school of pharmacy. Compared to previous quarters of school, we actually have a 'light' schedule consisting of only 5 exams. However, this quarter also marks the beginning of the Therapeutics courses, in which we actually learn pharmacy. A lot of what we have learned up until this point has been the basic sciences behind pharmacy: pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, physiology, etc etc. In therapeutics, we start recommeding drugs, make dosing changes based on kidney and liver function, identify drug-drug interactions and adverse reactions that are from drug therapy. It's pretty cool. It's also really really hard, but it's the reason you come to pharmacy school.

Anyway, therapeutics exams consist of a written portion and an oral portion. For the oral part of the exam, we show up and are given a case, we have 30 minutes to try and figure out what's going on, and then we have 15 minutes to present it to a faculty member along with proper patient counseling, which may or may not be related to the case (example, inhaler use, how to self-inject insulin, etc). Needless to say, this has gotten my classmates in a tizzy. People are literally freaking out over the oral exam and therapeutics in general. I admit, it's a lot of information and there's a little fear of the unknown (like oh god, please let them ask me something I know or don't let me forget all of the drug dosages I just crammed). But I think this happens before all exams. It could go badly, or it could get well, depending on what they ask, right? Riiiight.

Now, my class isn't unique in freaking out. All second year pharmacy students at my school tend to freak out a little this time of year. However, in previous years a girl did pass out during the oral exam and had to be taken to the hospital (she hyperventilated), and it generally consumes everyone. It's impossible to have a normal conversation with people right now. You say "hey, what's up?" which I think is a totally benign converation starter. Invariably, I get the response "OMG therapeutics is killing me!" "I am so stressed out/far behind" " I am really nervous for the oral exam" blah blah blah. It's actually driving me crazy. Not the class or preparation for the oral exam, but my classmates, my colleagues, my peers, are literally driving me UP THE WALL!!!

How does a Ninja deal with the stress you might add? Well I have been downloading a lot of music lately, I have been most diligent about keeping up with my celebrity gossip, last night I watched two movies, and I am writing a blog post 1.5 hours before my first midterm (NOT therapeutics). For me, exams are like a game. You prepare, you train, and then your professor throws you either a wicked curveball or a big fat change-up. You either totally whiff it or you hit it out of the park. It's not a reflection of who you are, but it's usually a reflection of your training. And sometimes you just have an off day. So I don't typically let exams freak me out. I mean come on, what do you think you do as a pharmacist all day? You make drug recommendations, verbally, to a medical team. So really, the oral exam is perfect preparation for our future careers. We should be THANKING them for this opportunity, not freaking out!

I could on about this all day, but I will stop here. It's time to stretch and warm up for Pharmaceutical Chemistry!