Friday, February 14, 2014

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! :D I actually have no plans on Friday, and I haven't been able to find anyone to have lunch with, either, lol! I must admit, I love Valentine's Day because it's a chance to show people that you love them. And even though there are people who say that we don't need an established holiday to do so, sometimes we get caught up in our work, school, business that we forget to show that appreciation.


Ryo came here over a month ago, but still has no faceup or pants, teehee! I do have a few shirts for him, but I can't take any shots of him above his waist! Or straight into his face either, lol. Would be nice to be able to get his faceup soon, since I do actually have pants being made for him right now. And below is a photo of Yuuki's two familiars Xyrnne and Xrethal in their creature forms. Definitely need to get Xyrnne's faceup done as well. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have ordered fullset Rin and instead focused on my current plans. Oops! Well, Rin is supposed to play the humanoid form of Xyrnne. Now I just need to find a corresponding Xrethal :)


I've been so busy with trying to study that I've lost focus these past couple of nights. I've been feeling a little bit disheartened by my results in both the verbal and quantitative (math) portions, and I haven't even touched essays yet. *sigh* I will still obviously take the test and all. And next, I have to figure out what schools I'm actually going to apply to, who to ask for recommendations, and how to start on my personal statement! It's a lot to think of, but I know graduate school is something I want to do now. I just have to *get there*.


To relax, I made some chocolate-dipped pretzels. I was supposed to make these for Christmas, but got too busy with the crazy work schedule. Sophie said they look like giant pocky, haha! :) 

Sunday, February 2, 2014

UGH

Lately, I've been feeling so CONFUSED and lost and cynical and ANGRY at the world. As of February 14th, I will have been out of school for 8 months with nothing to show for it.

I'm just getting pressure from EVERYWHERE. My mom, bless her, is always trying to "help" me by sending me links to job postings. The thing is, she's an engineer and I'm a biologist, so our lingo doesn't always match up. I know she is trying to help, but I just can't qualify for more than 85% of the jobs either of us find because I ONLY have a B.S. ONLY HAVE A B.S. I would never have thought that would be a problem.

Honestly, I dread meeting up with people I haven't seen in a long time (which happens often enough since we moved to a new church and have had to play "catch up" with everyone who used to be our friends) because I'll have to explain that a). I did graduate from college already with a B.S. in Biology and minor in Biotechnology, and b). I'm actually not working in a biotechnology/pharmaceutical/research company or putting my degree to use at the moment. My mom says it with hushed tones, "she works at a store right now." I know she isn't doing it on purpose, but it just makes it seem like such a bad thing to be doing.

Here's another problem: my GPA is TOO LOW because I had a horrendous teacher that just really didn't want to give me that chance because he had favorites in his classes. Another problem: I realized that while I was taking his classes that I HATED the lab setting - the fact that everyone was only looking out for his or herself, and that everything was ridiculously political, and that no matter what I did, I could never compare to that one person who was top of the class. That teacher would ALWAYS have his idea of the type of student I was, and there was nothing I could do to alter that vision. He was the one that made me cry (in college, yes, and in front of the class). I was going through troubling things at home - parents wanted to get a divorce (they didn't and are doing well to this day), and I asked if I could talk to him about it. He never replied to me or helped ease my pain when everyone could so obviously see the tears rolling down my hot face. It reminded me of my middle school days, which also bring up all sorts of other issues like bullying. Not cool to be bullied by a teacher, really.

It wasn't just in school - I saw it during my internships as well; that elitist attitude and the fact that I had to watch for my back all the time. It was not fun. So I have a horrid feeling about ending up in research basically.

On top of that, I have decided I don't like working in a lab because I don't get to interact with strangers. I believe that we are put in different places throughout our lives for specific reasons - we may not see it right away, but sometimes it is clear. God has put me in places where I've been surrounded by children and the parents that come with them. In Kids Club, in church, in the Disney Store - I have realized that I LOVE interacting with strangers - young and old alike. And there is no way I can do that in a research lab ...

So I MAY (key word = may) look into getting yet ANOTHER degree (yeah, I know!) in Public Health Sciences! My brother suggested an M.S. and I found some online programs :) That way, I can still use my passion for biology AND pair it up with two other passions of mine: interacting with and making people smile + helping people. It's like a win-win-win. BUT, it is just so stressful to even think about going back to school.

But seriously, I have been changing my mind/making up my mind on professions every day this last week. I have in the past few days alone, thought about real estate, dog grooming, going back to school for an M.S., going back to school for another B.S., just finding a job in retail and work up in the sales department/become a store manager, and contacting every single person I know who can possibly help me just get a job with the B.S. I do have (lab or research assistant jobs, basically).

I have been getting so stressed out that pimples have started forming on my face (haven't had pimples in who knows how many months now), I've gotten migraines (which I thought I was pretty good at avoiding!), and I've been scratching my legs and arms and stomach and shoulder and arms and everywhere else that has skin on my body until I'm bleeding, which luckily is easily hidden under my winter clothes. I do hurt myself quite a bit when I'm stressed out, though not in the traditional way and quite unconsciously.

My brother and his girlfriend, on top of things, are always here every single weekend since she transferred to this city for college. And they just began their relationship in October of last year, so everything is super giggly and cutesy with them. And then in the midst of it all, my relationship is kinda non existent at times. So maybe I'm just jealous that my brother actually comes to me to ask advice for birthday gifts for his girlfriend, or if such-and-such restaurant would be a nice place and if he should get a dinner reservation for her birthday night. Yep, definitely jealous.

I just feel like I'm not doing ANYTHING right. And that I have wasted the last 5 years working towards a degree I'm not even using. And I feel like I've disappointed my parents. I know I shouldn't compare myself to my brother, but he got a job right out of school, and it's just depressing that I work at the mall. I was supposed to be doing great things (this sounds like any post-college kid's rant, really) by now, but things just didn't go to plan. I know in the great scheme of things, that everything will work out and I will figure out a place where I can feel like myself and enjoy what I do. But for now, it is just stress, stress and stress.