And the countdown is on!

I happily finished my last final this morning and then ate a quick lunch with my lab to celebrate everyone graduating. And now begins the longest week of my life.

On Saturday... in 4 days, 16 hrs, and 27 minutes... our plane will (hopefully) take off and Duane and I will be on our way to Florida for the long awaited cruise.

To say I'm excited would be quite the understatement. I've been mostly packed for a few days now. My excuse there was that there was no reason to pack my stuff to come home, unpack some of it and then repack for the cruise. Sounds reasonable, right? Too bad it won't make time pass any faster. If only... Its going to be a very long week.

Medical school, anyone?

I took the MCAT this morning. Now, I recognize that I'm a little bit of a freak but that was a pretty awesome test.

First of all, since its computerized, you get to work at your own pace. Jackpot!!! Instead of taking nearly 6 hours---SIX HOURS-- I got done in just about three. Much better. Also, I got sooooooo lucky. I, of course, did not study or do any sort of prep class crap beforehand, save a last minute panic and cramming of optics and wave equations. Luckily, those weren't on there and all of my physics was free-fall motion or electricity. Easy. The biological sciences, however, were AMAZING! One passage about p53 and chemo sensitivity, score! Another about Canavan's disease and Mendelian genetics, easiness! The next as well as two stand-alone questions about the pancreas and pancreatitis, oh yes! And finally, the last passage about interpreting pulmonary function tests, are you kidding me?! Those pretty much replay my entire biological learning experience. Then there was one O-chem question about a tertiary alcohol and sulfuric acid... what mechanism might that undergo?... E1, thank you very much, O-chem tutoring.

Easiest freaking standardized test I've ever taken. Now hopefully that translates into good scores. I would say best standardized test scores I've ever gotten, but, well, that'd be a tough tier to hit, so I'll settle with just really good. Only 29 days until I know my score!

$15,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm very tired and my hands still kind of smell like money, but thats ok because Relay is OVER. O-V-E-R!!! So basically, my life is about 110% less stressful.

For all my worry about not getting back in time from New Orleans or things that were not taken care of last minute, I have to say everything went about as well as it could have. Especially considering that it was a first-time event... and it hailed. Yeah, nothing says outdoor party like a hailstorm. But the rainbow right at the start was a good sign: everything was going to work out ok. The weather eventually calmed down, a whole lot of people showed up and we made a crap load of money!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez

I just got back from New Orleans, oh yeah! Extra emphasis on the getting back part, ha! Getting there and back not withstanding, it was a pretty awesome trip:

Lots of people stopped to look at my poster and a few people--drug company reps!!--seemed genuinely interested and requested copies and contact info. Most others just wanted to know what these "kissing interactions" I mentioned were. (The two loops of RNA "kiss" one another...not nearly so exciting as it sounds.)

Julie and I also played tourist quite a bit. We at breakfast at a cafe and walked all around the French Quarter and French Market down by the river. New Orleans is actually a very pretty city. And, of course, we went out one night on Bourbon St. Not being "that kind of girl," I kept getting whacked with beads because I wasn't paying any attention to the drunkards throwing them from above. Those suckers hurt!