Finally…
I hope things are going well for you. I am finishing my time at UPenn. I received my master’s degree (cellular and molecular biology) last month and have been volunteering in a lab since then. I get to learn new skills for the next few weeks without the added pressure of schoolwork. This is also convenient because my lease runs out at the end of the June and I need something to do until then!
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This last week, I went through my annual ritual of getting sick for a week. Cold…flu…I don’t know. I caught something on the way to Los Angeles and have been trying to fend it off since. Last Friday, I tried something in Jainism called a Mohn Vrata where you are silent (or as possible as can be) for a whole day. For religious purposes, its intent is to make a person reflect on his or her environment. [Conveniently as a result of me being sick I lost my voice as well.] I honestly felt as if it made a significant difference. I felt more aware of my surroundings and was able to listen to people without thinking of what I would say (or in this case communicate) in return.
I won’t be able to shut myself up permanently but it’s something I will try more often. I really think that if you are able to try it for one morning, it will do a lot of good. I did have to carry a small pad and pen around but most everyone I communicated with that morning picked up on my verbal and hand gestures.
Try it!
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Today’s Onion calendar in our bathroom has a hilarious horoscope. Paraphrasing, “You claim to want adventure and to try new things but usually you just fill up on free salad and breadsticks.”
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Making things personal. If you want to make a difference, make something personal. Instead of passing someone in the hall and saying, “Hello” or “What’s up?”, say, “Hey John” or “Hey Sarah”…adding a name to things just makes that greeting so much more personal.
This can be especially useful for those friends you are not extra close with because it brings you two closer together, and hell, it just makes you feel good.
Another example. I was at Ami’s dental school graduation last month. A classmate of hers who is a good guy but I don’t keep in touch with that much asked me how I was doing so I responded in kind. Then he remembered all of this stuff about my academic happenings and it really caught me by surprise that he had remembered all of this information that either Ami or I had told him a while ago. It made the conversation more personal…more so than just talking to a friend of someone I know.
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My uncool list based on recent happenings:
1. Ending a thought or sentence with two periods/dots instead of one or three. Are you ending a sentence or continuing a thought? Make up your mind!
2. Rice rockets
3. Burger King French Fries
4. Cars that fly through pedestrian crosswalks when I happen to be crossing one
5. Southwest Airlines (could be others too) for removing airplane blankets due to swine flu
6. SEPTA (the public transit system in Philly) for giving you only the maximum tokens for the money you put into the machine (as opposed to you getting a choice of how many tokens you want…so if you have only a $20…you have to get 12 tokens)…switch to a damn card system like the MBTA, RTA, MTA, etc.
7. Campus Apartments for removing my bike from the bike rack while doing repairs and failing to show up at the mutually agreed time for me to come and pick it up.
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That’s all for now. Back to lab work but it felt good to just write for a bit and get some thoughts out. Much love to everyone 
