I love blogging at the airport. I think it's such an appropriate place to blog, because when you're at the airport it's often a transitional time, with plenty of time waiting around when you can simultaneously reflect and close a chapter of the past and look forward to opening a chapter of the future.

I'd love to fly more if it wasn't so expensive too.

This summer has been quite a unique one in itself. It was my first (and possibly last) one spent in San Diego. I got to live with my friends off campus for a month, which was a special experience because I've been on campus for all of college because of my RA job. It was an unproductive month because it's easy to get distracted when you're around your friends, but I'm glad I had that off campus experience as well, even though from my perspective it's just paying bills. A lot of bills at that, I spent my entire first paycheck on rent.

Another really proud moment for me was getting my PADI Open Water Diver certification! I've been wanting to learn to scuba dive for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it because of a lack of motivation, initiative, and money. It was so amazing to get to dive the La Jolla Canyon and drop into the abyss and see all the different aquatic life that live down there.

I also worked as a resident advisor for the American Field Service exchange program--cross-cultural communication and community development is exhausting work, but I hope the work we did was meaningful and contributed to some of the students being able to discover more of themselves and challenge their values and choices in life.

Sometimes, being used and then abandoned by a close friend you once trusted can be one of the most lonely experiences of your life. Just this summer, I made a decision to stay in San Diego largely based on the promises of her, and I think just about now that friendship is over. I realize that sometimes, friendships fade away because of lack of time, effort, etc. but this one ended rather abruptly with a single phone call. Maybe because both of us had changed so much and it was hard to see eye-to-eye anymore.

The person who is taken advantage of is the stronger one, and if you're in this situation you're the one who can bounce back. It's like the story of the goose who laid golden eggs. Your (former) friend is the farmer who can take as many of your golden eggs as she wants if you keep trusting her. However, she doesn't have the ability to make her own eggs. She still relies on you to make the eggs for her, and at the end of the friendship you are still empowered to care for yourself in the future while she is left with memories of the past.

Monday morning, I took some time to volunteer with the Salk Mobile Science Lab to bring a science education program to a low-income middle school in El Cajon. It was a truly incredible experience and reminded me that working with people was what I was more interested in instead of research. Many of the students there were considered "at-risk" for not graduating, either because of their family background, because of emotional/mental developmental challenges, or both. I had an incredible group of three boys, and we worked on extracting DNA from wheat as well as a pipetting food coloring to create different colors. One kid was really attentive and focused on the project, while another had difficulty with dexterity and thus handling the pipet. My favorite kid had unlimited questions to ask about EVERYTHING we were doing. The teacher even told him to stop asking questions and to just listen. I really wanted to encourage his curiosity, because that's something I lack right now as a college student, and I did my best to answer as many of his questions as possible. I even had a chance to plug college and describe how fun and exciting it was and how it was a worthy goal for them to set for themselves. Wherever I end up in the future, I hope to be doing work that makes a difference.

I passed my Red Cross lifeguard certification test today! I've been wanting to do this ever since I was 16, and now I'm a real lifeguard! The test was a little more challenging that I thought. We first had a written test on lifeguarding skills, and some of the questions had a couple answers that both looked right. For the water practical portion, we first did shallow water backboarding with a spinal injury victim, followed by an active drowning victim rescue with a stride jump. Finally, we did a passive submerged victim rescue and extracted from the pool, followed by three minutes of CPR on a dummy.

I had so much fun at my lifeguard class today! So glad I'm taking it, it's been something I've wanted to do since high school. Also took a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap today and getting enough sleep is always good!

Spring break at home was great! I got the chance just to sleep in, relax, spend time with family, walk my dog, catch up on Season 2 of Glee, and eat! I just got back to San Diego on Monday, and everything has been getting into full swing already! After landing, I got to grab lunch at Chipotle with Michael, followed by a residents' council meeting, a pizzokie party, a visit to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and my directors' meeting for the UC Haiti Initiative. This week has been quite a whirlwind already as well! I went to Good Friday service last night and got to spend quality time with my friends. Today was an early morning of res life tours for Triton Day/Admit Day at UCSD, followed by a nice four hour nap. Random fact of the day: Ashley Fink, who plays Lauren Zizes on Glee, was at UCSD today--her sister was admitted to Revelle College! I've just been working on some homework for the past few hours--my schedule this quarter is really nice because although I have quizzes/labs/papers/reports due every week, I don't have any midterms. Tomorrow I'll be attending Easter service as well, which should be a treat!

Student Health Advocate Program

Yesterday, I found out that I was accepted into the Student Health Advocate program for the 2012-2013 school year! This is a program I've been applying for since freshman year. My first year, I didn't know how to write an application, so I got "paper-cut." Last year, I wrote a strong application, but didn't know how to do the interview, so I didn't make it into the program. This year, I used a similar application as last year, and knew more of what to expect during the interview--praise God, because this would have been my last chance to do this program! I'm so excited for the training class and next year!

"What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly. It is only dearness that gives everything it's value." -Thomas Paine

I really like working at Dr. Aroian's lab! The people there are all really awesome and friendly, and it's just fun coming into the lab and getting stuff done. Last week, I went to my first lab meeting, and a postdoc Dr. Aroian was interviewing presented his research. It discussed how different genes could be turned on or off to inhibit development of the pharynx, which was crucial to the eating abilities of C. elegans. Dr. Aroian was interested in applying that concepts to worms--to stop the growth of their pharynx and inhibit their eating functions to effectively stop them from causing more harm to humans.

I'm very excited for this week! I will be visiting my good friend Alex in Sonoma County and hanging out for the weekend, before going to be a counselor at the Muscular Dystrophy Association summer camp! Fun week of getting outdoors, enjoying nature, and loving on God's children.

This weekend!

I had a really fun weekend! On Friday, I went to Santa Cruz with my friend Justin to write a report for my Sign Language class. It took a while and we had a lot of adventures and detours. Then on Saturday, I went shopping at JC Penney, and got some really good sales! Pretty much added a little of everything to my wardrobe--shirts, shorts, new pair of running shoes (my old ones were giving me blisters). After that, I went to a BBQ hosted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association at the Foster City Fire Department, and met my camper, who I'll be working with at the MDA camp later this month. Then, I went with my family to San Francisco to pick up my sister from her internship, and then we chilled at Fisherman's Wharf for a couple hours, before driving over to Pleasanton to watch "Two Gentlemen of Verona," put on by Shakespeare in the Park. It was a complete surprise when I ran into my good friend Ishika at the same place!

Then on Sunday, I had to work on a bunch of reports for Sign Language and Theater. Got to get the work done too!