I’m back!
Thought I’d share this great quote from the Scottish poet Robert Burns – it was quoted in a book I’ve been reading (thanks Becky!) and I found it quite inspirational, considering some of the stuff I’ve been thinking about in my personal life!
Thou know’st that Thou hast formed me
With passions wild and strong;
And list’ning to their witching voice
Has often led me wrong.
Where with intention I have err’d,
No other plea I have,
But, Thou art good; and Goodness still
Delighteth to forgive.
I found it amazing that this man, writing so many years ago and so far away, could understand and express some of the same feelings I’ve had in my heart so many times in the last few years, when I can barely even express those same feelings to myself! But his assurance (or rather, God’s assurance) at the end is what I need to remember – as hard as that can be sometimes!
I’m off to finish up my lab work – with the holiday yesterday and a lab picnic today, I can tell this is not going to be the most productive week ever!
Me, Rebecca and Kari at Chad’s Memorial Day cook-out 
Oh agar, so smooth and clear,
beaming at me from your simple glass
jar,
cheering me with your sunshiney yellow hue,
providing my bacteria
friends with nourishment,
you are the delight of my lab.
OK, if you didn’t have the privilege of taking microbiology in college, you may have missed this, but agar media is the jello-ish stuff we pour in the bottom of petri dishes – we then grow the bacteria on the agar, which contains ‘food’ for them. Anyway, I was making agar media today and was struck by how pretty it is before it hardens and stuff grows on it – very bright and cheerful and happy! It doesn’t really stay that way too long, so I was inspired to write the above poem in honor of how the agar made me feel for at least a few minutes today!
I got some good and bad data today, so it’s a bit of a wash realistically, but I’ll cling to the good stuff and rationalize away the bad – trying things again a new way to see if it helps… I’ve been much more productive recently, so I’m trying to keep the ball rolling on that – we’ll see…
Also, City Wide was great last night – we had a few more people come out than for the last one and we hope to have even more at the next event in a few months! The teaching was really good and the music was a good mix of stuff everybody knew and a few new things thrown in – created a really energetic and sometimes pensive worship experience. I’m looking forward to planning the next ones and seeing what great things God can do with a group like this!
Peace out 
OK, so I had a slight emotional melt-down last night – you know, ‘why am I here (grad school, not on the planet earth)?’, ‘what am I doing with my life?’, ‘will I ever be happy doing this?’, those kinds of questions – sometimes I don’t know why I’m struggling so much to stay in grad school when I don’t think I want to stay in academic research for the rest of my career anyway, but I realize that it’s an important step towards my ultimate goal, which is to teach college biology. So, following a good, cleansing sob-fest on my cell phone talking to Mom, I feel much better today and I have a plan to keep this from overwhelming me again in the near future. So there! It bothers me no end to have a bad attitude (as it bothers me when others have one), so I’m resolving to be more positive (with God’s help!).
On a happier note, today is the departmental picnic (at my advisor’s house) – so assuming that the thunderstorms don’t get it cancelled, we should have a good time of eating and hanging out with dept friends! Also, my classmates and I have now all finished our departmental seminars, so we are all well on our way to becoming official 4th years (that’s scary!) – I think we did a pretty good job, personally!
I’ll leave you with the words that are rolling around in my head right now from listening to my ‘Ultimate 80s’ CD (Thanks Charles!):
And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you’ll only hold me tight
We’ll be holding on forever
And we’ll only be making it right
Cause we’ll never be wrong together
We can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time
I don’t know what to do and I’m always in the dark
We’re living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
I really need you tonight
Forever’s gonna start tonight
Forever’s gonna start tonight
Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I’m only falling apart
There’s nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart
Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there’s only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart
This just in!
Topher Grace has been cast in the new Spiderman 3 – no news yet on what character he’ll play, or even if he’ll be good or evil – if I didn’t want to see this movie to begin with, I’ll certainly be seeing it now! Love me some Topher! Hehehe!
Hey folks! Just wanted to post a quick note about a city-wide worship service for young adults in the Winston-Salem area called CityWide- we had one in January and it was a big success so we’re going to have them seasonally 4 times a year, with the next one Tuesday May 24th 7:30pm at First Baptist Church downtown Winston. Josh Lindstrom from Salem Chapel will be speaking, and there will be awesome worship music provided by some of the peeps from Calvary Baptist. The purpose of the event is to engage young adults, energize churches and exalt Christ by providing a vibrant worship experience to get young adults (20s-30s) excited about getting involved in their own churches – we are not trying to create our own church. This should be a great time of worship and also fellowship with young adults from across the triad area, across denominational barriers. Here is the website!
I’ll post more later!
