Was that a cheesy title? ;p

So, hello! I know I've been quiet a bunch the last few months. My daily routine has COMPLETELY changed - from an undergrad with a fairly relaxed schedule, no Commute, and lots of homework to a graduate student with a 9-5 lab job, a 40-minute (each way) commute to Detroit, and no homework (yet).

It's all very exciting... not leaving me too much time for art, but, I'm sure that'll change as I settle in.

First impressions thus far? Being in a lab is very disorienting. You feel like you're doing important work, but, you have to be supervised (for now) until you master techniques. Despite this being my second rotation, I feel like a grown-up and a newbie all in one. You read and read and read. You wait and wait and wait (for experiments, meetings, lunch). You Listen and listen and listen.

When I was in graduate school before (not Hopkins, but my 1st stint at Wayne St.) it wasn't like this. I was a ball of stress and gut-wrenching anxiety wrapped up in a blanket of uncertainty. It was god awful. Calm and true contemplation of the science I was attempting to master was not part of my life.

What has become plain is that I was NOT ready to be in a science-based PhD program back then. I have grown so much and now I feel utterly on the right path. Will it last? Well, I know this will be anything but easy... I'm in hope-mode.

These revelations are coming to me and I've only been at this for a little under 3 weeks. Amazing.

Anyway, I'd love to chronicle this journey I'll be immersed in for the next 3 years (that's all the time I have to finish my PhD - um, yeah)... hopefully I'll be able to manage my time to make it happen.

Oh, and did I mention I'm running my first 5K this coming weekend? I feel very unlike myself, but so me... very bizarre.