Charger Blogger: How I Manage Stress, School, and Small Joys This Semester

Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the blog. Per usual, the semester has erupted into madness between fighting my microwave, accidentally doing four-night shifts in a row (don’t ask; clearly my ADHD operates on its own time outside of the social norm), and getting my first 60 on an exam.

I feel like Physics would also get a 60 if it was tested on the material of Beatrice. For example:

1. How many mid-life crisis-es has Beatrice had this year?
   1. One (maybe)
   2. Two and five quarters
   3. All of them (what even is “all”?)
   4. What day is it again??????

I don’t think F=MA would be able to figure that out.

Anyhow, I feel as though we’re all at that sort of “cabin fever” part of the semester where it’s too cold to really be outside but also too beautiful to not be outside. I’ve found myself staring outside my window at the sun, wishing it was ten degrees warmer so that I may not turn into a human lizard popsicle. However, this isn’t to say that spending the morning sprawled out in bed soaking up the sun with my plants and reading a book hasn’t been a recent favorite.

There have been a lot of favorites recently, and I think it may be good to talk about them.

If we’re going to talk about reading, my current read is Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman. Not only did the title catch my eye, but, also, I find it difficult to put down chapters of sarcastic, late-night philosophies. See, reading about the opinions and ideas of others, especially ones that challenge the “expected,” helps cultivate a deeper understanding of one’s own ethics, or that’s what I believe. So, if you’re in the mood for some witty paragraphs rooted in subconscious truth, I’d recommend this bad boy to anyone.

Following the path of the media, I watched Project Hail Mary the other night. The movie is based off the book (same title) by Andy Weir, who is also the author of The Martian. In my opinion, PMH is much better than its famous cousin, especially for those who are super duper uber shmooper into molecular biology, in addition to space. Who doesn’t like space?! IT’S SPACE!

In the wise words of Rocky: “Amaze, amaze, amaze!”

I love science. If you don’t love science, I hate to break it to you, but you are science! Gotta have that self-love.

Outside of science, another big passion of mine is food. Eating it, cooking it, etc. Currently, a homemade favorite has been a salmon soup situation. It’s a creamy chicken broth, some veggies (I honestly just use whatever I have), and Alaskan sockeye. A good bit of Omega-3s, fiber, and something warm to help bear with the clinging Connecticut winter. My pasta of choice for this is fusili, one of the spiraled pastas. It catches the flavor of the broth well and offers a touch of a diverse texture. Feel free to give it a shot if you’d like – it’s an easy, basic dish to fall back on.

In terms of sweets, I can’t ever say no to a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup or dark chocolate.

Hmmmm other stuff, other stuff...

OH! The lab! I’ve been working on this thing called:

I have no idea what I’m doing.

How’s that going, you ask? Great! In all actuality, the lab is going well. Moving onto qPCR (if my cells would just GROW for once) when the time is right, but, otherwise, things are proceeding as usual. Doing lab research has made me feel small in the best of ways. Life is a really big thing. Living – the process of being alive – is hard, and seeing the cells endure conditions of which they perhaps never thought they’d be in gives me hope.

If my cells can grow against the odds, so can I. So can you.

As we get closer to Commencement, I hope to reflect more on my time here. There were a lot of tears shed, yes, but so much good has come from here, too.

With peace, love, and the rest of my peanut butter,
Beatrice