my year off

and so my year off after college graduation is nearing its end.  i got into pharmacy school!  which is a great relief since it gives my life some sort of direction.  before i start i’m going to be going on vacation to california for my birthday and then seattle/vancouver for the end of july with ryan – very excited!  i know what working/old people mean when they say, “i need a vacation!” now.

to sum up the year –

things i will miss:
-my pharmily – we are an interesting ensemble cast mix of characters, but it works!
-tutoring – worked as a private tutor for mostly high school kids, plus one adorable fifth grade girl.  moment of note: once i went on a semi-tangent and taught her what diabetes was (we were talking about the digestive system –> pancreas –> insulin/diabetes).  i told insulin helps bring the sugar out of the blood and into body cells – she was like, “like a lifeguard calling the kids out of the pool!”  we could’ve written a hit science kids’ show, i’m pretty sure.
-being able to watch the new episode of “glee”, “30 rock” and “modern family” almost every week on hulu
-being able to maintain semi-regularly-painted nails, which i never had time to do during school
-teasing my mom.  walked into her room the other night with an empty box and big eyes and was like, “LOOK, i found a baby!!”  and she was like, “a child???”  too easy.
-always-interesting trips to the doctor with my mom

things i will not miss:
-being lunch bitch – juggling fast food/pizza boxes/cups of coffee, especially on skirt-wearing windy days or sticky zillion-degree weather
-driving 200 miles roundtrip any given day to tutor kids in scottsdale/paradise valley
-working as a waitress –  enjoyed the work/customers – not the staff.  secret restaurant world is bitchy and ugly!  at least in trying-too-hard-to-be-ra sushi restaurants.
-living at home with the parents –  i get along with them 100x better when we live in different cities!  also i miss cooking for myself and throwing get-togethers with friends and having my own place.
-driving at least 30 minutes to do anything.
-not being a student for the first time in forever.  i miss classes and books and cups of coffee and studying at the library!

i’m sure i’ll add more things as i remember them — can’t believe it has been a year already!!  very ready to start the next chapter of my life though, whooo!

-steph

sitar string

by chance, siddhartha came across a musician tuning his sitar. when the string was too slack, it would not play. when it was too tight, it snapped. somewhere in the middle lay tuneful harmony. siddhartha realized that this simple observation signified something of great importance. it was the middle way that would lead to the state of mind that he was looking for: to a state of tuneful melody, enlightenment.

buddhism

doing my duty as a quarter-life-crisis college-educated 20-something and have been exploring buddhism!
i am drawn to it not necessarily as a religion but more as a philosophy what with the aspects of quieting your mind and finding inner peace and such.

it started when ryan and i went to flagstaff for a day trip earlier this month. we were walking around snow-topped downtown and came across this little used bookstore, where i found a copy of thich nhat hanh’s fragrant palm leaves.  the book is composed of his diary entries from when he was a young monk studying and teaching at princeton and columbia during the 1960s.  some things in the book have sparked my wikipedia curiosity, which inevitably lead to my finding a bbc documentary entitled, “bbc: the life of buddha”.  it all is very interesting to learn about and reading the book always leaves me with a nice calm.

good morning

today i woke up by my mom crawling in bed with me declaring, “thay-up (she can’t pronounce both the ‘s’ and ‘ph’ sounds of the name that she gave me), listen to this poem! it’s so good!” despite my growls and protests against being unnaturally woken up, she continued on to read a 1000000-line poem from her vietnamese magazine about a child’s obedience to his or her parent and guiding your children down the right paths. maybe it only seemed like it had 1000000 lines since after every line she asked, “did you understand that?” and before i could answer, launched into an explanation every time.

“entre nos”

just watched “entre nos”. it’s the story of a woman who moves from colombia with her two children to join her husband in the united states (nyc) – however, shortly into the film, he leaves them for miami. she then faces unemployment, homelessness and trying to make any sort of ends in a foreign country where she can’t speak the language. the writer and director actually made the film based on her own mother’s experiences. couldn’t help but draw comparisons to my own immigrant-supermom (though empanadas –> eggrolls). tender, touching and inspiring.

al azar

earlier i went grocery shopping with my mom and there was a limo parked in front of sprouts with a chauffeur standing and waiting next to it.

also, the person who helped me at the bank today had a name tag that said “thalamus”, which is interesting because i have been studying the human brain for my anatomy/physiology final exam this week.

just random things that apparently struck me today!

heartening

http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2010/05/our-actions-impact-people-all-over-the-world

a little inspiration! working two real-world jobs (waitressing and being a pharmacy technician/clerk) has a way of grounding you almost to the point where all you see is exactly what is in front of you, forever. it’s hard to imagine ever getting into pharmacy school, studying public health and actually doing all the things i want to do with that when all i see are dirty tables to be cleaned and set and piles of prescriptions ready to be filed. but alas! stories like these keep my spirits up.

besides, i think if i didn’t have this year of living out in the real world and had just gotten into pharmacy school and done that and gone out to work as a pharmacist, i wouldn’t have been entirely happy with myself. but with this year, although it gets rough sometimes, i’ll have some real world cred!

also, i love that heartening is a word!

la cocina

i’ve been cooking a lot lately. it has been wonderfully cathartic and delicious.

last week i made sesame-ginger pork with soba noodles and a pasta pesto with roasted tomatoes, strips of garlic-herb marinated chicken and balls of fresh mozzarella. this week i think i shall make steak with smashed red potatoes and roasted cherry tomatoes and a gnocchi dish with mushrooms, bacon and arugula. gosh i love food.

symphony

to live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly…to listen to stars and buds, to babes and sages, with open heart; await occasions, hurry never…this is my symphony.
- william henry channing

montage year

i’ve been so busy lately that i haven’t really had time to properly sit and reflect!

i’ve been working for the past month now as a waitress at a japanese restaurant, which makes me appreciate anyone who has ever worked in the service industry 1,000,000x more.  though it’s been difficult learning the ropes (balancing dirty dishes, smiling at insanely rude people, placing complicated orders on testy computer systems), trying to warm up cold asian coworkers (the sushi chef terrifies me) and accomplishing it all with some semblance of grace and confidence, i am so glad i’ve gotten this opportunity!  the only other jobs i’ve had were a sales clerk at my parents’ dollar store in high school (for 3+ years) and as a student intern at a couple of research labs during undergrad.  i feel like “being a waitress” is definitely a life experience/”i’m a real person” thing that i can now proudly check off my life list.

i’ve also been volunteering around 16 hours/week at a small independent pharmacy, where i work the cash register, help fill prescriptions and type up patient info/prescriptions into the computer.  they actually just offered me an official part-time position today!  so i’ll be working 2 part-time jobs and taking 2 classes (one online, one not) soon!

whenever i have not been working (or doing homework/quizzes for my online physiology & anatomy class), i have been watching movies (so far: “diary of a mad black woman”, “precious: based on the novel push by sapphire”, “persepolis”, “sisterhood of the traveling pants 2″ and “a lot like love”), reading (finished caramelo, the alchemist, and snow flower and the secret fan – am now reading freakonomics) and learning about iran.  earlier this year i made it a point for myself to learn about what’s going on north korea and then the israeli-palestinian conflict, and after watching “persepolis”, i decided that iran was going to be my next topic.  i just finished the second part of bbc’s “iran and the west” series – it blows my mind all this happened!  i will go ahead and give myself a little leeway since i was around 12-years-old during many of these major events between us and iran, but still…it’s hard to admit, but i honestly had no idea all this was going on in the world before i started looking into everything.  there is so much to learn and know and keep up on!!!  endlessendlessendless.

i’ve made peace with the fact that this next year in my life is going to be a 30-second montage scene in the movie of my life – a scene of me refilling 100 soy sauce jars, one of me recounting pills for the sixteenth time, a scene of me staring blankly at a computer screen trying to work on my pharmacy school application, one of me and drea giggling at our weekly lunches in the hospital cafeteria, one of me and priya lying on her carpet and pondering life, one of me playing grandma with a cup of tea and a book/documentary on a saturday night, and one of me trying to convince my mom not to buy 17 pineapples at the grocery store.  i’m not sure how the scene ends – i’m thinking with my getting a pharmacy school acceptance letter??  *FINGERS CROSSED*  i’m also trying to save up some money so that i could possibly plan a trip somewhere next summer!  i’m getting itchy feet.  we shall seeee!

ohhh any knowledge of my future, how elusive you are!  one thing at a time.