I'm going crazy!

The interview went great, what a relief. I'm just glad it's over. I couldn't sleep at all the 2 nights before, and I thought I was going to throw up the whole day up until I got there. I left an hour before, even though it takes less than 30 minutes to drive there. It's a good thing because traffic was terrible (at 3 in the afternoon- dumb!) so I got there about 15 minutes early. It's a HUGE campus with 2 hospitals, a medical school, and lots more so I had to find the building I was going to and the nearest parking lot. I wasn't paying attention, and I got pulled over by campus police. Definitely not what I needed ten minutes before my interview. Apparently, I was going 29mph in a 15mph street. Oops. I have absolutely no record because I've never been pulled over before so he let me go with a warning. But by the time he let me go, I was already late. I took a deep breath, parked, and ran there. I got there about 7 minutes late. Nobody seemed to mind. The lab is very small (3 women, compared with about 30 in my current lab). It's brand new, and they are about to move to another floor to get more space. I got the impression that I'm very qualified, especially since I have so much experience working with animals. The only problem is that I want to start graduate school. I didn't exactly tell them I was ready to start the application process and if I get accepted I will start next June. I just told them I wanted to go into the PA program there on campus eventually. But I think they had a feeling it would be soon, because at the end of the interview the PI told me she was hoping for someone who would stick around a while. But, if it's a good fit then that doesn't matter as much. She also is hoping to hire 2 people and the second person could be on a year-to-year basis. So I could definitely be that second person if they have the funding. Overall, a very positive experience. I really fit in well with everyone, and felt like I could see myself working there very easily.

What a relief that's over because I have a million other things going on! My Frontiers project is my biggest concern right now. We have absolutely no results, and we are presenting one week from today. That means we need a poster, a full length journal article, a powerpoint, and a coherent 50 minute presentation complete with answers to any questions asked by the chemistry faculty. To get results by then I will need to be in the lab every single day. Unfortunately, I can't because I have two other group presentations on Monday. So I have to meet with each of those groups, make a powerpoint presentation for each, and write a paper for one of them. I have no idea how I will get all of this done. Especially considering my professor "invited" (translation: required) us to come to his house at 10am on Saturday morning and stay all the way until the barbeque at 4pm! That's the entire day that I won't be able to work on either of my other presentations or paper. And I have no idea what we are going to be doing for 6 hours. I guess making our powerpoints and working on our presentations. Except that will be kind of difficult to do without any results! I'm freaking out. I have no brain power left to think about anything but all of these assignments and group projects. Did I mention I also have two final exams next week? I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to study for those in my spare time. Ha.

So Daniel has heard me talking about all of this and what does he do? He plans a date night on my only free night this weekend. I am so excited! I get to forget about all of this and go to a nice restaurant and then the ballet to see Romeo and Juliet. It's restaurant week in Denver which means that practically every restaurant has a deal where a couple gets a 3 course meal for $52.80 (Denver is the "mile high city" which means that its elevation is 5,280 ft). So Daniel made reservations for us for restaurant week and then we can get student rush tickets 2 hours before the performance if there are any seats left (which the box office told us there almost certainly will).

I hope I can get through the next week without going insane! And if you're reading this, don't call me or email me or add anything else to my to-do list (please). I just can't handle anything besides school and work.