Birthday Recap.

Okay, so I am going to vent. I know whining is not a good thing, but I need to write this stuff down and since I can't physically talk about it to anyone at the moment, why not write it down digitally for the world to see, right? Anyway, I must preface today with just notifying everyone that I had a pretty horrible day yesterday... very depressing to the extent of me literally running 2 hours straight in any direction that had the walk-way signal illuminated (I also ended up in Central Park at like 10pm.. not an advisable thing to do).

Today was my birthday. I woke up a little earlier than normal because my grandmother called and left her annual message of her singing happy birthday for me with my grandfather. One of the best things ever, and I anticipate it every year. So I got ready and went to work where I had to prepare for a very important meeting with my boss. Had the meeting and it went well. No screaming or tearing ideas apart, which was a good thing. From there I went for a quick lunch with my post-doc mentor and ate in the park, which was very nice. I then decided I would "reward" myself for my birthday by going to the 15th floor of the hospital and play the piano, which I got to do for a good 30 minutes, which relieved a lot of stress for the moment. I went back to the lab and worked for about 1 hour before I had a lab meeting, which was very long, but they did get me a cake. I then had about another hour of work before I had to go to Journal Club and do a presentation with a partner on a publication for a little over an hour. I have had so much on my mind lately that I feel like I did not do as well as I could have. I couldn't think throughout the presentation, which was pretty bad. All in all, the presentation went okay, but it could have been so much better. After Journal club I had a mission to go out to a nice dinner, that's all I really wanted. Before that could become a reality I had to go back to the lab in order to finish more cell culture and prepare protocols for this Saturday (a good 6-8 hours of work ahead of me). Well, we kept working and before I knew it I read the clock and it was already 9 p.m.. So I walked home and arrived around 9:30 to an empty apartment. I went to a couple rooms to see if anyone was there and no one answered. I waited for about 10 minutes and my roommate came home from dinner. So I decided to venture out on my own, which I have to admit is very depressing, especially on your birthday. Nonetheless, I walked down a couple streets to a sushi restaurant and had a couple delicious sushi rolls... lobster/mango and tuna/salmon... amazing. I then went to get gelato :)

So I guess my birthday wasn't too bad. I got to play the piano, had cake and a nice dinner. The interesting thing I have realized is that is really stinks not having someone to actually share your birthday with. It's one thing to have a million people say Happy Birthday to you, but what makes birthday's the best is making memories with people that will last a long time. I felt like today I really didn't have any of those moments, which is kind of depressing. So that was my day...

Birthday

So today is my birthday. I'm in the lab getting ready for a meeting with my boss. With my fingers crossed the meeting will go well. Then later on today after my day in the lab I have a Journal Club presentation to do. Let's hope this day goes well!

More Plays

So yesterday we woke up and decided to try to see if we could get tickets for another show. We ended up getting 6th and 7th row center to see La Cage Aux Folles for a matinée. The show is by far one of my favorites. After that show we went to see if we could win the lottery at In The Heights, since my sister really wanted to see the show. We didn't win, but instead went to an amazing Italian restaurant on Restaurant Row. SOOOOOO Good! (I had homemade artichoke gnocchi). We went back to the hotel pretty early and my family got lots of sleep- I on the other hand did not. I think I went to sleep around 3 am? We woke up pretty early to go and try out Times Square Church, which was very interesting- I combination between Christ Fellowship and what you would see on TV on the "church" channel. A little too "showy" for me. After that I went back to the hotel and my family went on a walk where they saw that the lottery for In the Heights was just about to end (3 minutes left), so they entered and both my grandmother and sister won tickets so we all got to sit in the front row for a whopping $27.50. This was my second time seeing this show and I have to say that it was great yet again- there were a couple of cast changes and I think some were positive and some were negative. After the show I convinced my family to go to the small French restaurant that Amanda's grandmother brought me to a couple weeks ago- Le Charlot. We just got back to the hotel now and I am really tired. We have been going nonstop. Tomorrow my family leaves and my life goes back to "normal." I have attached a few pictures of my sister's new crush: the guy who is from the original cast of In The Heights... oh, and Corbin Bleu.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears... Oh My

So today my family got here. I was woken up at 10 am from the text from my mother saying that they were here. My sister, mother and grandmother came to somewhat celebrate my birthday (somewhat because they will not actually be here on my birthday). We started the day off with going to the one thing everyone wanted: a diner. We had our breakfast foods and they wanted me to give them a tour of Sloan- Kettering. Side note: my grandmother is on the phone with my grandfather (they have been married 57 years), and she is telling him how much she misses him... and how much she loves him. It makes me happy to know that kind of relationship exists :) Anyway, I gave them a tour of the hospital and lab where I work and then we slept back at the hotel for a couple hours. We went to the Wicked lottery and there were over 200 people all trying to sign up for the lottery. Although odds were against us, I guess the crowd didn't know the power of prayer :) My little 80 year old grandma was in the back of the crowd leaning against a support beam praying and all of a sudden they called her name. Simultaneously the entire crowd looked back and started cheering for her as they parted a way for her to come to the front. It was very cool and my grandmother and sister sat first row center. My mother and I had to pay a whopping $126 a ticket, but we were also lucky since we were in the sixth row center (normally a $300 ticket). All in all it was a great time. My grandmother loved the show and couldn't get over how creative it was. For me, this was the fourth time seeing Wicked and I would have to say they did a great job. Tomorrow we have a full itinerary planned, so I think some sleep is in order. Here is a picture to leave you with.

I'm going to have a day off!

So today was a great... but a little unproductive day. We had seminars pretty much the entire day between the Grad Student presentations and journal club, so I was not able to be in my lab meeting today and really was not in the lab much at all. But what made this day so amazing is that my data for the past week was presented to my boss and she was so happy about how much we got done that I was given the day off tomorrow! Woohoo! My family is coming tomorrow also, so that is going to be great!

Exhaustion

I am still in the lab and I am beyond exhausted. Couldn't sleep much last night and haven't been sleeping very well for the past couple of days. All I would like to do right now is to curl up in a ball in a corner and go to sleep. I have about 3 more hours of work here if I am lucky. I am not sure if I will be able to remain awake for all of that time. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day also with many meetings in the morning and seminars in the afternoon.

In the Heights

So we ended up going to see In the Heights starring Corbin Bleu. We actually won the broadway lottery so we got to sit in front row for $27. It was truly ridiculous. I was actually told by an usher not to touch the stage. Kind of funny. But anyway, the play was great! I went into the theatre thinking that there was no way that Corbin Bleu would be able to pull this part off, and to tell you the truth the first half I really wasn't that impressed with him. The second part though was amazing (in regards to his acting). The entire show was so entertaining, uplifting, and soooooooooooooooo high energy. I was tired just watching. The dancing and choreography was great. Afterwards we waited and I have to say the cast were the most caring actors I have ever seen. They spent SO much time taking pictures with everyone and signing. Literally I think a couple of them stayed for a good 40 minutes. Cynthia (the girl who I went with from the Sloan- Kettering program) and I took advantage of this:

He really was a great and caring person and I have to say he is the first person on broadway I have seen put in his bio in a playbill that he has to thank God. That I have to say puts him above a lot of others, since not many people would have that kind of courage to bring their religion into it. Nice guy.