Application time
Well, I just heard about this community, and after spending a bit of time looking through some entries, I figured it wouldn't hurt to apply myself...
1. The pictures:
This is me, in the lab, clearly using proper safety techniques. I mean, just look at those latex gloves!
This one is clearly me posing for a picture, as you can tell by my usage of a lab coat. After all, true mad scientists don't have time to worry about their own safety. And if the picture were its original size, you would be able to tell that I was reading a book about protein purification.
2. The hobbies:
In my free time (that is, when not in class or working in the lab), I enjoy DDR and other video games (especially 50-turn games of Mario Party), surfing the web while chatting on AIM, reading (but mainly only science-related things), watching crazy movies that not many others would even consider watching, planning practical jokes (and then pulling them off), and maybe the occasional time for sleep.
3. The education:
Currently, I'm a junior at Brandeis University, where I'm triple-majoring in chemistry, biochemistry, and linguistics. My current favorite class is Quantum Chemistry, because it combines physics, chemistry, and math, into one fine class. My current GPA at Brandeis is around 3.1, but I've never been a good test-taker. Except standardized tests, which I somehow managed to do well. My PSAT score was 216 (57 english, 80 math, 79 writing...clearly I'm not an English person), which was 3 points shy of being a National Merit semi-finalist, if I remember correctly. I did worse than I had hoped on the SAT, with 1380 total (610 english, 770 math). My SAT-II scores were 760 in chemistry (taken as a freshman in high school), 770 in Biology (taken as a sophomore), 800 in Math II-C (taken as a junior), and 650 in Writing (taken as a junior, after the math II-C, so I was ready to leave). I got a 5 on AP Biology, 5 on AP Chemistry, 5 on Calc BC (despite having taken a Calc AB class, which was the only one offered at my high school), 4 on Spanish language, and 4/3 on each subsection of Physics C (even though I was taking a Physics B class and didn't start learning the Physics C material until two days before the test). I was 15th in my graduating class of 374 students. At Brandeis, I started with second-year chemistry (that is, Orgo) and math (linear algebra and multi-variable calculus), because I thought I would have been bored in the first-year classes. And somehow now I've taken on three majors. If the day were twice as long and I could take twice as many classes, I probably would add majors in math and music, too. :)
4. The 'net:
I'd say that I probably don't spend as much time on the internet as many people here, but this is probably because I'm in the lab so often. I do try to be on a computer whenever I can, while in the lab, because often I'm doing procedures which require me to wait a little while before a reaction occurs, so I take the opportunity to "borrow" the computer hooked up to the spectrometer, because, with its most recent technologies as 16 colors and Pentium (233 MHz) processor, it can handle my complicated tasks as browsing livejournal and using AIM. When I'm in my room, I often tell myself that I'm going to go to bed at 1 AM, and then finally get to sleep around 3 or 4 when I realize that I've been staring at my monitor or playing an emulated Super Nintendo game for hours. Luckily, I've gotten to the point where I can work on little sleep, so when I get my 5 hours or so of sleep, I'm up and ready to go quickly in the morning.
5. The tidbits:
a. Well, if you couldn't figure it out from above, I work in a lab. I love my lab work very much, and in fact both those pictures at the top were taken over the summer when I was staying to work full-time in the lab. Over the course of the summer, I think I managed to be in the lab at any given time of day: that is, there isn't a time during the day which you could mention for which there was never a time in which I was in the lab. And yes, this even includes such times as 5:00 (AM, that is, for 5:00 PM is 17:00, as my watch tells me). I even slept over in the science quad, because it was easier to do that than walk home at 4 only to have to come back at 7. There's this nice couch in one of the chemistry meeting rooms that I used a few times for sleeping. I even brought my alarm clock there with me if I knew I would need it. Oh, and also, I have a change of clothes in my desk drawer and usually make sure to keep a small supply of food around, just in case of emergencies. :)
b. I'm a big fan of computers in general, but I haven't had a chance to really get into them as much as I would want to. I haven't been able to learn Linux, or otherwise I would definitely be using it now. Instead, I'm using Windows XP, which I have tweaked very much to my own liking. I use Mozilla for web browsing and Gaim for instant messaging, not out of a dislike for Microsoft or AOL, but because Mozilla and Gaim are better products. I love collecting random toys, such as the cute little webcam and the wireless headphones which I use often. I got a second hard drive for my computer just to store music and movies, and it's constantly getting filled (60 GB total), so I often have to either delete movies or copy them to CDs. I have taught myself some amounts of various computer languages, and when I did take a programming class in high school in C++, I definitely knew more than the teacher.
c. While on the subject of languages, I love learning languages and studying them in general. My town's school system started us with Spanish in 3rd grade, and I took that all the way through the end of high school. I also took Latin for two years in high school. When I got to Brandeis, I took Ancient Greek for three semesters, and then in my fourth semester, I took a Spanish composition class for fun (and to satisfy a couple requirements, but it was mainly for fun, because I could have taken a couple other classes instead). I once bought an "idiot's guide to learning French" at a Walmart because it was cheap and I really wanted to learn French. I have a dream to sometime be able to go on a tour in Europe and be able to speak all the languages of the places I visit. Thus, I have a few languages to learn, but currently, I might be able to fake my way through a few countries, including Italy, Germany, France, and other places where those languages are spoken, such as Switzerland or Austria.
d. I love playing musical instruments. Most of the free time I have goes to music. I've played clarinet since 4th grade, and in high school, I played bass clarinet for a year, learned tenor sax to play in an orchestra pit for a show, and learned flute from my sister. When I got to college, I played bass clarinet again for a year, and was part of the formation of a sax quartet, so I play all the saxes now. About 6 months ago, I started playing bassoon, and my teacher told me after the fourth lesson or so that I sounded like I had been playing for years. I've been getting such surprised reactions from other people in the Wind Ensemble here, who ask how long I've been playing and expect me to say a few years or something. I tried playing my friend's oboe recently, but I couldn't quite get a good sound out, so maybe I'll just stick to all the other woodwinds. :)
e. I often browse such websites as http://www.contrabass.com even though they haven't been updated in a couple years, but only because I just love the content. Also, I look at sites like Woodwind & Brasswind and drool over all the cool instruments that they have for sale. I hope that one day I'll be able to own many of them. I think that when I make millions, I'll donate some to various wind groups in the form of instruments, with the only catch being that I get to play one of the instruments for them. I've always wanted a contrabass clarinet. I think I just have a natural attraction towards low instruments, and my bassoon teacher even told me that I would probably make a contrabassoon player. oooh....*/me drools over idea of playing contrabassoon*
f. Other miscellaneous tidbits...hmm, let's see.
Well, I really enjoy cooking, because I think of it like an experiment in the kitchen. Usually, my experiments are worth repeating, but there's the occasional one which doesn't give the desired products.
I also stole borrowed a sign from the lab which says "No food or drink allowed in the lab" and put it up in the kitchen.
And if it all weren't enough, I also have a periodic table on the wall in my room. I wish I had a bigger one, but alas, the one I have will do. It fits nicely in the space above my large Simpsons poster directly above my desk.
And while on the subject of my desk, I have a book called "Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension", by Michio Kaku. I've been found reading it around campus, and people often ask what class it's for, since it seems so complicated that it must therefore be for a class, and I get surprised reactions when I tell them it's for pleasure reading. Come to think of it, I get surprised reactions often. Maybe it's because I do so many zany things that people don't expect from someone like me.
And now that I've rambled on and on for over an hour on this post, I think it's time to finish up. Sometimes I just seem to ramble, but I suppose I did get distracted a couple times in the middle - food is sometimes necessary. :)
1. The pictures:
This is me, in the lab, clearly using proper safety techniques. I mean, just look at those latex gloves!
This one is clearly me posing for a picture, as you can tell by my usage of a lab coat. After all, true mad scientists don't have time to worry about their own safety. And if the picture were its original size, you would be able to tell that I was reading a book about protein purification.
2. The hobbies:
In my free time (that is, when not in class or working in the lab), I enjoy DDR and other video games (especially 50-turn games of Mario Party), surfing the web while chatting on AIM, reading (but mainly only science-related things), watching crazy movies that not many others would even consider watching, planning practical jokes (and then pulling them off), and maybe the occasional time for sleep.
3. The education:
Currently, I'm a junior at Brandeis University, where I'm triple-majoring in chemistry, biochemistry, and linguistics. My current favorite class is Quantum Chemistry, because it combines physics, chemistry, and math, into one fine class. My current GPA at Brandeis is around 3.1, but I've never been a good test-taker. Except standardized tests, which I somehow managed to do well. My PSAT score was 216 (57 english, 80 math, 79 writing...clearly I'm not an English person), which was 3 points shy of being a National Merit semi-finalist, if I remember correctly. I did worse than I had hoped on the SAT, with 1380 total (610 english, 770 math). My SAT-II scores were 760 in chemistry (taken as a freshman in high school), 770 in Biology (taken as a sophomore), 800 in Math II-C (taken as a junior), and 650 in Writing (taken as a junior, after the math II-C, so I was ready to leave). I got a 5 on AP Biology, 5 on AP Chemistry, 5 on Calc BC (despite having taken a Calc AB class, which was the only one offered at my high school), 4 on Spanish language, and 4/3 on each subsection of Physics C (even though I was taking a Physics B class and didn't start learning the Physics C material until two days before the test). I was 15th in my graduating class of 374 students. At Brandeis, I started with second-year chemistry (that is, Orgo) and math (linear algebra and multi-variable calculus), because I thought I would have been bored in the first-year classes. And somehow now I've taken on three majors. If the day were twice as long and I could take twice as many classes, I probably would add majors in math and music, too. :)
4. The 'net:
I'd say that I probably don't spend as much time on the internet as many people here, but this is probably because I'm in the lab so often. I do try to be on a computer whenever I can, while in the lab, because often I'm doing procedures which require me to wait a little while before a reaction occurs, so I take the opportunity to "borrow" the computer hooked up to the spectrometer, because, with its most recent technologies as 16 colors and Pentium (233 MHz) processor, it can handle my complicated tasks as browsing livejournal and using AIM. When I'm in my room, I often tell myself that I'm going to go to bed at 1 AM, and then finally get to sleep around 3 or 4 when I realize that I've been staring at my monitor or playing an emulated Super Nintendo game for hours. Luckily, I've gotten to the point where I can work on little sleep, so when I get my 5 hours or so of sleep, I'm up and ready to go quickly in the morning.
5. The tidbits:
a. Well, if you couldn't figure it out from above, I work in a lab. I love my lab work very much, and in fact both those pictures at the top were taken over the summer when I was staying to work full-time in the lab. Over the course of the summer, I think I managed to be in the lab at any given time of day: that is, there isn't a time during the day which you could mention for which there was never a time in which I was in the lab. And yes, this even includes such times as 5:00 (AM, that is, for 5:00 PM is 17:00, as my watch tells me). I even slept over in the science quad, because it was easier to do that than walk home at 4 only to have to come back at 7. There's this nice couch in one of the chemistry meeting rooms that I used a few times for sleeping. I even brought my alarm clock there with me if I knew I would need it. Oh, and also, I have a change of clothes in my desk drawer and usually make sure to keep a small supply of food around, just in case of emergencies. :)
b. I'm a big fan of computers in general, but I haven't had a chance to really get into them as much as I would want to. I haven't been able to learn Linux, or otherwise I would definitely be using it now. Instead, I'm using Windows XP, which I have tweaked very much to my own liking. I use Mozilla for web browsing and Gaim for instant messaging, not out of a dislike for Microsoft or AOL, but because Mozilla and Gaim are better products. I love collecting random toys, such as the cute little webcam and the wireless headphones which I use often. I got a second hard drive for my computer just to store music and movies, and it's constantly getting filled (60 GB total), so I often have to either delete movies or copy them to CDs. I have taught myself some amounts of various computer languages, and when I did take a programming class in high school in C++, I definitely knew more than the teacher.
c. While on the subject of languages, I love learning languages and studying them in general. My town's school system started us with Spanish in 3rd grade, and I took that all the way through the end of high school. I also took Latin for two years in high school. When I got to Brandeis, I took Ancient Greek for three semesters, and then in my fourth semester, I took a Spanish composition class for fun (and to satisfy a couple requirements, but it was mainly for fun, because I could have taken a couple other classes instead). I once bought an "idiot's guide to learning French" at a Walmart because it was cheap and I really wanted to learn French. I have a dream to sometime be able to go on a tour in Europe and be able to speak all the languages of the places I visit. Thus, I have a few languages to learn, but currently, I might be able to fake my way through a few countries, including Italy, Germany, France, and other places where those languages are spoken, such as Switzerland or Austria.
d. I love playing musical instruments. Most of the free time I have goes to music. I've played clarinet since 4th grade, and in high school, I played bass clarinet for a year, learned tenor sax to play in an orchestra pit for a show, and learned flute from my sister. When I got to college, I played bass clarinet again for a year, and was part of the formation of a sax quartet, so I play all the saxes now. About 6 months ago, I started playing bassoon, and my teacher told me after the fourth lesson or so that I sounded like I had been playing for years. I've been getting such surprised reactions from other people in the Wind Ensemble here, who ask how long I've been playing and expect me to say a few years or something. I tried playing my friend's oboe recently, but I couldn't quite get a good sound out, so maybe I'll just stick to all the other woodwinds. :)
e. I often browse such websites as http://www.contrabass.com even though they haven't been updated in a couple years, but only because I just love the content. Also, I look at sites like Woodwind & Brasswind and drool over all the cool instruments that they have for sale. I hope that one day I'll be able to own many of them. I think that when I make millions, I'll donate some to various wind groups in the form of instruments, with the only catch being that I get to play one of the instruments for them. I've always wanted a contrabass clarinet. I think I just have a natural attraction towards low instruments, and my bassoon teacher even told me that I would probably make a contrabassoon player. oooh....*/me drools over idea of playing contrabassoon*
f. Other miscellaneous tidbits...hmm, let's see.
Well, I really enjoy cooking, because I think of it like an experiment in the kitchen. Usually, my experiments are worth repeating, but there's the occasional one which doesn't give the desired products.
I also stole borrowed a sign from the lab which says "No food or drink allowed in the lab" and put it up in the kitchen.
And if it all weren't enough, I also have a periodic table on the wall in my room. I wish I had a bigger one, but alas, the one I have will do. It fits nicely in the space above my large Simpsons poster directly above my desk.
And while on the subject of my desk, I have a book called "Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension", by Michio Kaku. I've been found reading it around campus, and people often ask what class it's for, since it seems so complicated that it must therefore be for a class, and I get surprised reactions when I tell them it's for pleasure reading. Come to think of it, I get surprised reactions often. Maybe it's because I do so many zany things that people don't expect from someone like me.
And now that I've rambled on and on for over an hour on this post, I think it's time to finish up. Sometimes I just seem to ramble, but I suppose I did get distracted a couple times in the middle - food is sometimes necessary. :)