21 is nice
Today is my 21st birthday! Tonight I am having a dinner at Tilth with my three West Coast best friends, Carolyn, Cyndy, and Artur (who is upset I opened his present early by accident, haha), and then we're all going back to my house to do some drinkin'. I've invited some friends through Facebook, but unfortunately most of my Jewish friends are on the Hillel ski trip and most of my tech friends are at Shmoocon in DC or in LA for...something, I forget what.
Oh, that reminds me! Ignite is coming up on Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday), and I can finally go for the first time! Yay! Hooray for Brady scheduling it the week after my birthday. Hooray for Brady in general too, even though he and Serena are in LA right now. Anyway, you should come if you're in Seattle.
Anyway, my day has been lovely so far. In fact, my week has been lovely. On Friday night, I had a wonderful Shabbat at Hillel and met new friends. On Saturday I went to services and had Shabbat lunch with the rabbi from Hillel and some other UW people. Sunday, I had brunch with Carolyn and then went to see 27 Dresses with a bunch of Jewish girl friends who are thinking of starting a sorority. Phew!
Monday I interviewed for a position in a research lab with Susan Joslyn, who I think does the coolest research in the department, on naturalistic decision making. Guess what?? I got in! I am now officially a member of the Joslyn lab! I even went to my first research meeting and got assigned a project (designing user interfaces for weather forecasts). That adds three credits to my quarter too, and qualifies me for the honors program! Tuesday morning I had a stat exam and then I had coffee with a new friend, Jason, which was terribly fun and really made my day. The rest of the day was spent researching at Remedy.
Wednesday I spent in the lab, and then Thursday I met with an advisor as well as my grad student supervisor in the lab. I talked with the advisor about the honors program, and she said I can get a hardship withdrawal for the class I failed back in 2006 when I was sick. This would spring my GPA up to a 3.73, thus getting me into the honors program! Normally you have to start in fall of your junior year but they're making a special exception for me since I already have a faculty sponsor and a project.
And that brings me up to today! I am currently at school eating Pagliacci for lunch. Today is a day of crazy fatty food, I started off the day by treating myself to a mocha and blueberry muffin from Starbucks as well as a few pastries from Madison Park Bakery. I had two this morning (an apple danish and a raspberry scone) and will save the other two for tomorrow (almond croissant and apple dumpling). Hey, it is only my birthday once a year! As long as I don't eat this way every day I'm okay. Honestly I don't have much to worry about anyway.
I'm supposedly doing research while eating (although I've ended up LJing instead) and then at 1pm I have a full spa makeover: makeup, hair, manicure, and pedicure. What a day! I don't think I am going to get my lit review started in the next 10 minutes but oh well. I have a new dress from J. Crew so that makes everything okay. Also, who works on their birthday! Not me! Anyway I have services tomorrow, Shabbat lunch with the girls I went to the movie with, Sunday brunch with Carolyn, and the week after post-Black Hat coffee plans with Dan Kaminsky and hopefully Jason as well. Plus Artur is here until Sunday afternoon! Yay!
Life is good. I love my house, I love my neighborhood, I love my school, I love both of my synagogues, I love my dog, I love my friends...yeah. Happy birthday to me.
Oh, that reminds me! Ignite is coming up on Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday), and I can finally go for the first time! Yay! Hooray for Brady scheduling it the week after my birthday. Hooray for Brady in general too, even though he and Serena are in LA right now. Anyway, you should come if you're in Seattle.
Anyway, my day has been lovely so far. In fact, my week has been lovely. On Friday night, I had a wonderful Shabbat at Hillel and met new friends. On Saturday I went to services and had Shabbat lunch with the rabbi from Hillel and some other UW people. Sunday, I had brunch with Carolyn and then went to see 27 Dresses with a bunch of Jewish girl friends who are thinking of starting a sorority. Phew!
Monday I interviewed for a position in a research lab with Susan Joslyn, who I think does the coolest research in the department, on naturalistic decision making. Guess what?? I got in! I am now officially a member of the Joslyn lab! I even went to my first research meeting and got assigned a project (designing user interfaces for weather forecasts). That adds three credits to my quarter too, and qualifies me for the honors program! Tuesday morning I had a stat exam and then I had coffee with a new friend, Jason, which was terribly fun and really made my day. The rest of the day was spent researching at Remedy.
Wednesday I spent in the lab, and then Thursday I met with an advisor as well as my grad student supervisor in the lab. I talked with the advisor about the honors program, and she said I can get a hardship withdrawal for the class I failed back in 2006 when I was sick. This would spring my GPA up to a 3.73, thus getting me into the honors program! Normally you have to start in fall of your junior year but they're making a special exception for me since I already have a faculty sponsor and a project.
And that brings me up to today! I am currently at school eating Pagliacci for lunch. Today is a day of crazy fatty food, I started off the day by treating myself to a mocha and blueberry muffin from Starbucks as well as a few pastries from Madison Park Bakery. I had two this morning (an apple danish and a raspberry scone) and will save the other two for tomorrow (almond croissant and apple dumpling). Hey, it is only my birthday once a year! As long as I don't eat this way every day I'm okay. Honestly I don't have much to worry about anyway.
I'm supposedly doing research while eating (although I've ended up LJing instead) and then at 1pm I have a full spa makeover: makeup, hair, manicure, and pedicure. What a day! I don't think I am going to get my lit review started in the next 10 minutes but oh well. I have a new dress from J. Crew so that makes everything okay. Also, who works on their birthday! Not me! Anyway I have services tomorrow, Shabbat lunch with the girls I went to the movie with, Sunday brunch with Carolyn, and the week after post-Black Hat coffee plans with Dan Kaminsky and hopefully Jason as well. Plus Artur is here until Sunday afternoon! Yay!
Life is good. I love my house, I love my neighborhood, I love my school, I love both of my synagogues, I love my dog, I love my friends...yeah. Happy birthday to me.