Studyblr joey

B.S. Biotechnology | First Year PhD Student :)

[scientistjose]

[scientistjose]

It’s been a while...and I got 4 interviews (I already attended all of them) and of those 4...I got rejected from one, BUT I got into TWO programs :3

[scientistjose]

I submitted my last app :O

[scientistjose]

I woke up this morning to find out that I won a presentation award at ABRCMS! 

[scientistjose]

Random monthly update, my experiments worked and now I am working on growing up my mutated cells and I will freeze them down for future use before winter break!

GRE went pretty well. I was kind of upset about my scores, but then talking to other programs and schools I am applying too...I did above average! So yeah...

I started AHS, and I finished season 2 last week but I won't be starting season 3 until after finals!

Lastly, grad school apps are CRAZY! I am applying to 9 schools and I have been in school for 9 years at four different institutions so finding all these transcripts to send has been a lot of work but by this weekend I will have submitted ALL OF THEM!

I have two weeks of instruction left and then finals week...so this whole semester has been a blur, I’ve presented like 5 times this semester at conferences (posters only for now lol) and it’s been good networking and seeing what other people have been doing!

[scientistjose]

I got a 94% on my midterm!

I had a weird anxiety thing last night where I couldn’t sleep after having already been up for almost 24 hours. So I worked on things until 2am and just took the day off (I just planned on updating my lab notebook today lol).

Today I woke up refreshed and I don’t have class until 530 so I’m going to head out soon and go to the library 🤓

Also I finished my quantitative analysis for my stem cell research lab last night and submitted it and now I’m going to work up the guts to ask for a LoR from my old PI 😅

[scientistjose]

I’ve been running experiments for 5 weeks and each week is a new one that needs to be researched, planned, and submitted to approval to my PI and as much as I like writing and researching protocols...they’re a time-suck. 

I also have midterms coming up :O

AND my GRE test date like less than 30 days away :’(

[scientistjose]

In an attempt to start celebrating fall/october...I’m going to do a rewatch of all the seasons of AHS.

Either this will be a good idea since I’ve already seen the show so I can focus on other Important Things...

Or it will be distracting and I won’t be able to do anything that I need to do in the next 5-6 weeks D:

[scientistjose]

It’s the end of Week 4 and I have some exams coming up but somehow I had submitted 2 abstracts, got one accepted to a conference, I have narrowed my list of schools I will be applying to, I have 30 days until my GRE.

There is so much going on with everything that it’s somehow almost 1/3 of the way through the semester already and my last year as an undergrad is going really fast lol

ALSO I am working on grad school apps and essays and whatnot and it’s throwing off the zen I had during the summer about sleeping 8 hours and going to the gym >.>

[scientistjose]

So I told my PI I wanted to be treated more like a grad student this year and omg it was like the worst decision lol. She’s handed me a lot of responsibility but its only the beginning of Week 2 so I am hoping I can catch on this week...

I’m so used to just being handed a specific assignment but she wants me to like...plan my entire semester of experiments and to stick with it as much as possible and give her updates. I know this is normal lol but I just got used to repetitive long-term experiments and being told what to look up. Also this whole issue with having classes and trying to study for the GRE and finishing up my quantitative analysis from my old lab is a lot >.>

[scientistjose]

I was tagged by @docresa :D

Rules: Answer 20 questions and tag 20 blogs you’d like to get to know better

Nicknames: Joey and Junior (Jose is my actual name lol)

Gender: Male

⭐ Sign: Aries

Height: 5′11

Time: 9:28pm (PST)

🎂: 28th March

Favourite Bands: Panic! at the Disco, Above & Beyond, The Neighbourhood, OneRepublic, The Postal Service, Imaginary Future 

Favourite Solo Artist(s): I’ve been obsessed with Ariana Grande, Billi Eilish, Selena Quintanilla, and Whitney Houston these last months/years lol

Song Stuck in my Head: Summer Nights by Lil Rob

Last Movie I 👀: Murder Mystery 

Last Show I 👀: How to Get Away with Murder, and Twin Peaks

When Did I Create My Blog: January 2016, though I had a previous one from August 2009 before I deleted it lol

What do I Post: Personal Posts on my time as an undergrad, and now I guess my journey of applying to grad school this year :P

Last Thing I Googled: When the Natural History Museum in LA is open next weekend 

Do I have Other Blogs: @literaryjoey ...but due to school being hectic and doing research in two labs...I haven't been reading/posting much anymore :’(

Why did I choose my url: I was thinking about like Trainer Joey from pokemon and just traded “Trainer” out with “Studyblr” lol

Favourite Colours: Blue, Green, Black

Average Hours of 💤: I aim for 8 hours now that I’m getting older and can’t manage sleeping 4-6 hours lol. If I even try with those hours now at 27, I just sleep through my alarms >.>

Dream Job: Professor at a CC or a 4-year university and doing outreach with URM students and getting them into STEM and research.

Dream Trip: Ideally, Honduras bc that's my home country BUT its hella dangerous there for Americans rn so probably Europe (France, Spain, Italy)

Tagging: I don't know is they’ve already done it but: @finding--freedom,  @vanessastudiess, @astudyinphd , @queenofthebench and anyone else who wants to!

[scientistjose]

So my presentation went well according to everyone I know...but I still feel like it wasn’t great (my friend said its just imposter’s syndrome lol).

But now I have another full week  of research ahead and then I get three days off before school starts since my PI will be gone lol.

I had mentor training yesterday and today I just ran an experiment that took FOREVER bc everyone else in the lab was doing the same thing >.> Now I have to be at school at 7am tomorrow since I have to beat everyone to the FACS machine. 

Surprisingly, this week seems to be going by pretty quickly which is both good and bad since I still have so many things I’ve been putting off (ie GRE prep and my quantification experiment in my stem cell lab) :o

[scientistjose]

I gave up on my presentation for tonight! I am more than halfway done but I got stuck and I don’t want to do it. I read somewhere that once you lose motivation, to set it aside, so that’s what I’m doing lol

That being said, I picked up my grant application (the one that got changed last minute >.>). I honestly wouldn't have such a big issue with this except that I need to collaborate with a lab mate, and most of the time she doesn’t COLLABORATE. This last application was 4 pages long and I wrote 90% of it and then she just edited it like a professor would (ie. suggestions for changes), as if this wasn’t supposed to be a group effort. 

I don’t want to be a snitch to my PI but at the same time I don't think it is fair. I will be submitting my own responses just for my personal feedback though...but probably will meet with her first to say it isn’t the actual rough draft lol

[scientistjose]

This is what I spent doing for 4 hours last week. Just combining DAPI stain images and Oil Red O Stain images. For 250+ pictures in total 😂

[scientistjose]

It’s so hot so I turned on the AC and poured myself a hard seltzer ^-^

[scientistjose]

I have two slides so far for my 10 minute presentation lol

[scientistjose]

Over the past week, I worked on an application for a fellowship grant at my school with someone I don’t necessarily get along with. We are both Type A people but I am more Type A when it comes to group projects lol. ANYWAYS so initially it was her idea to apply as a team for this, but she has finals for summer classes soon so I essentially wrote 4 pages for this application that was due yesterday. I emailed the coordinator about when we would be hearing back as I was about to submit the application and she tells me THEY CHANGED THE APPLICATION!

They literally changed the questions, the deadline for the application, and added a word limit. There are now 4 questions and the limit for all of them are within the range of 75-150 words...which is WAY less than the other application (which didn't have a word limit at all lol). ALSO this new “updated” application isn’t even on their website...they emailed me a link for the new application >.>

But I’m trying to be positive and it was good exercise in researching why our research is important and it helped me get notes for my presentation soon which was a nice added bonus. But it took me like almost a whole day to get into this positive mindset lol