this week

...has been busy. I worked three doubles, one lunch and no days in the lab. I caught up with a few friends, made plans for the next two weekends and one friend had a baby!!! It's a boy, but I don't know his name yet. I saw photos today of a friend who spent three months in Australia for work. Jealous...it makes me want to go back. I miss all of it, but mostly Queensland. Probably the most beautiful area with the greatest tropical diversity. And there's the reef...ahhh, my daydreams come back.

My mother and I went to Boston Tuesday afternoon and stayed over night with cousins. Then Wednesday morning we went to Beth Israel for an appointment - mom is signing up to participate in a 20-year clinical trial for melanoma. Hopefully she will get randomly selected for the group who doesn't receive the drug and is only monitored. But if she does get chosen, there will be about four very long weeks coming up for my mother and my family as a whole. Luckily, the drug infusions last only one month and all side-effects are completely reversible, except one, which could potentially create cosmetically disturbing dark spots on her skin. Nothing to be worried about. I'm so proud of mom for doing this, participating in this research. She will be helping so many melanoma patients over the next 20 years...potentially herself if there is ever a relapse (fingers crossed that it's not going to happen).

I've just recently got back in touch with three of my roommates from senior year of college. Two I speak to on a regular basis, but the other, she and I are terrible at keeping in touch. So now, we have a continually-updated email chain between the four of us. We are currently trying to plan a girls' weekend (i.e. five-year reunion) in October. Lyss will be coming back from Canada to PA by October, Allie is in RI and Kat will be up in the Northeast planning her wedding! Yep, another friend is engaged!!! I am thrilled for her...we all knew it was coming eventually, but I am so glad to hear the news. They already have a super cute "family" which includes a beautiful home and two adorable dogs. Anyway, we're hoping to spend the girls' weekend in a beach setting, but we may end up spending some time in Philly, running up the museum steps Rocky-style, checking out some anatomy at the Mutter Museum and snacking on some traditional Philly cheese-steaks. No, I don't normally eat red meat but I am willing to try all foods when travelling. Maybe if I can't get myself to eat the cheese-steak I'll just shove a block of Philadelphia cream cheese in my mouth and see how much I can get to squeeze out between my teeth.

Today at work I told my boss Jonathan that I would be working at the restaurant full-time through the end of August and then possibly one or two shifts per week in September. I have got to make time to start looking for a job, posting my resume, making phone calls, etc. I plan to move back to RI this fall, study for the GRE, take the exam as soon as possible and then start applying to schools for fall 2009. I have decided to bite the bullet and go with Physician's Assistant school, but will also be looking into Nurse Practitioner programs as well. My cousin Deb is convinced that NPs will be at the forefront of primary care medicine within the next 10 years, due to rising M.D. costs and a lack of doctors in primary care (it doesn't pay well and is more boring than being a specialist). We will see how this plan unfolds as I go along.... Part of me is hoping to hit some sort of speedbump that will fuck everything up and send me sailing off to somewhere warm and random for a while...even further postponing my entrance into "adulthood".

Is it possible that I could give away most of my wardrobe, except for bathing suit, shorts and flip flops, and start a new life on the beach, teaching Scuba Diving lessons and "studying" in coral reefs and shipwrecks? Perhaps.... Perhaps I need a push towards a total bum's life...as unrealistic as it may be for me, the girl who needs a stable income so she can eventually get married, own a beautiful home and have five strong children. Pipe dreams.