Terror Behind the Walls Haunted House
My friend Anne Rollins came to visit me in Philadelphia with her friend Anna. The three of was went out for a great dinner at London Grill and then to the Haunted House at the spooky Penitentiary, near my house. This is not your San Francisco style Halloween... no,
THIS IS REAL Halloween! SF is fun for the first year or two for Halloween, but it gets really old once you see people wearing the same costumes every other month at various costume parties all year. "Hey, didn't you wear that at Bay to Breakers? Or was it the How Weird Street Festival? Or Love Parade? Or Burning Man Decompression? Or Pride Week?"... It nice to be back East for Halloween, I must admit!
Oh dear! blizzard prep.
That's right. The Halloween candy isn't even on clearance yet and snow shovels are already for sale! Jennifer, are you ready for this?
It's two days before my birthday and I'm getting together with Anne Rollins for dinner tomorrow night and then again with about 10 friends of mine for my actual birthday on Sunday night. I've got a quiz on Monday and big exam on Wednesday, then Thursday morning I board my flight to San Francisco! I'm looking forward to seeing my friends.
I've got exciting news from my college boyfriend, Jared. Today he emailed and told me that he is engaged to be married! Congrats! Jared, you will make one fine husband, I have no doubt. Have a great time in Florence!
While on the topic of travels, my friend Josh and I are searching for cheap flights to California for skiing over winter break. He has never been to Tahoe and I'm sure is sick of hearing me talk it up. Plus, he travels all over every month and has yet to visit San Francisco and Lake Tahoe. So, he's twisting my arm to fly out there this winter. Isn't that right, Josh? *wink*
Finally, I posted pictures from the OBX trip on my flickr site. Check them out if you get a chance. The moon was spectacular! Too bad I didn't have a tripod with me, but I was trying to travel light, which is hard when I'm lugging 15 pounds of textbooks along with me.
Invitation to interview at Gtown
This morning I received an invitation to interview at Georgetown University School of Medicine! I scheduled it for the first week of December, two weeks before finals. Last year, they interviewed 1300 of their 8000 applicants, and admitted just over 100 students into the program. Initially, I hadn't intended to apply to Georgetown because I didn't think my scores were high enough, but the criteria for admittance to every school is so different and is largely subjective. This is why it's so important to apply to as many schools as possible! You can never-ever guess where you'll eventually end up. You could get into a very competitive school and yet not get into the easier ones... it's a little bit of a gamble!
Even more exciting than a med school interview!
I have my own State Park in West Virginia. Yes, that's right!
http://www.audrastatepark.com/This area is now Audra State Park, a heavily wooded riverside campground that continues to awe visitors.
That's because Audra is awesome!
Yippee-chi-ugh!
I was invited to interview at VCU Medical School. It's scheduled for January 31, 2006 at 9am. Richmond, Virginia? Oh, dear...
My trip to the Outer Banks
I finally made it back to the OBX with my parents last week. The first day the weather was pretty bad. The surf was most inhospitable and threw all sorts of garbage onto the shore. The next day was delightful. I started going for runs on the beach and forgot how much harder it is to run on sand! You almost have to time the tides just right so the sand is firm from a tide that's going out. I'd run and stop to realize I was the only one on the beach in site. Peace! It was me and birds. I tried doing a little tai chi, but couldn't get through the entire first set, because my memory fails me! Then I'd run somemore and try again to remember the rest of the set. It made for a blissful and relaxing afternoon!
The migratory birds were flying overhead. We'd see big flocks of birds in V-formation. So cool! The sunsets are great and I even got pictures of the moon rising over the Atlantic. They turned out great and I'll put them on www.flickr.com/photos/akay . We ate plenty of fresh, local seafood like softshell crab, flounder, oysters, shrimp, scallops, you name it, we ate it! Plus, NC has some outstanding places for barbeque. One night Mom and Dad took me out for an early birthday celebration. We had steak, served with a delicious cabernet. Ohh! One of the things I love about being home with my parents is that I get the chance to drink really great wines, occasionally. Mmmm... It was so good.
It's back to the grind and possibly out to San Francisco for trial. That's right, there's a trail I've been asked to testify as witness. Bad timing! Why does it have to come during my most crucial semester, where my GPA sort of rules my opportunities? I've already had schools tell me that they're waiting for my fall grades to determine if I qualify for an interview. *sigh* That would be fine and dandy if my grades were guaranteed, but they're not! It's not an easy semester... my classes are all very challenging, so the extra pressure doesn't help. Not to mention all the stress I feel when I remember what this trial is all about. It's very distracting and I find my thoughts start to wander off to the land of witnessing the accident. All I want, is to do the right thing. I want to do what's best for the goal I set for myself, but I don't want to be selfish by not being there for a fair trial.
Off to the OBX and nano-nano!
I'm on fall break.... see ya! I'm out of here for a few days to go to the Outer Banks with my family, where it'll be sunny and warm. The cool, dreary weather is more than I can handle right now and I haven't been to the Atlantic coast in over a year.... I've missed it!
Just in case you were thinking of buying me an iPod (and I know you were... don't play dumb), I've already got one! That's right... today, I got an email with instructions:
Soooooo,
I would have liked it to be a surprise, but I didn't want to buy you something that you already got or were getting for your birthday from someone else. So put the word out that you are no longer in need of a cool, slim, sexy white ipod nano! *big grin* Though it will probably take ~2 weeks to arrive. :(Hurray! So, what I really need now is some headphones that don't pop out of my ears when I go jogging in the rain, like this morning. I'm horrible when it comes to buying speakers and stuff! I don't know what's good and what's not. But if you have any ideas (and really, don't buy them for me) please recommend a good pair! I'd be much obliged.
I'll update you on my trip when I get back....
sigh! I'm so looking forward to this. I better get packing. I'm taking the 6am train and it's now past eleven... so, I better start packing!
Post Hurricane Isabella at the OBX, two years ago! Luckily, not our beach house. :)
An interesting week
Over the weekend, I hosted a post-bac gathering at my house. It wasn't a big turn out. I guess most people study on Friday night! A lot of people sent emails with regrets, saying they'd come if they didn't have a physics exam or chemistry exam on Tuesday and genetics exam on Monday. But I do have friends at school now! It feels like it took forever, but most people express the same sentiments, that it's difficult to strike up new friendships in our program. You just don't ever see the same people on campus and no one shares more than one class together. It's a big school!
My sleep has been really erratic. I've stayed up until 3am or 4am many times over the last week or two. To occupy my sleepness nights, I've been reading a lot. I'm almost done reading "The Kite Runner", and I like it a lot. Parts are disturbing and sad, but I'm interested in refugee stories. This is a young man's first account story about growing up in Afghanistan while the Russians were there and then what happened once the Taliban took over. It's unbelievable how scarred some people's lives are, at an especially young age. I have everything! I'm very appreciative of this.Which brings me to my latest discovery: my high school boyfriend and his wife had twin babies! My parents and I ran into his parents at the beach one year, so we all went out for dinner. They even brought his wedding pictures to share. Wow. It brought tears to my eyes are blew me way! I still think about him now and then. Whenever I see marshmallow fluff, Boxer dogs, duct tape, Mr Pibb, power tools, cute skull drawings, I fondly think of him. But, married with kids!? The guy who once duct taped both doors to one of the classrooms shut and jumped out the window so that no one could get in, as a practical joke... you're telling me HE has the "normal, traditional, house, wife and two kids," life? Wow. That's really great!! But I must admit, it got me thinking and asking myself, what is life really all about. Granted, I didn't get real far with that thought. My life is good. I can't complain! But I do want a family someday. 
from the duboce ave exit in san francisco! Hmmm... what else has been on my mind this week? It's fall now! Yes, it seems to have happened over night. On Sunday, I had brunch with my roommates, and as we were walking through the neighborhood you could smell fall in the air. Yum! It has such a cozy feeling to it. But I'm scared of the cold weather ahead. Since I moved to Philadelphia, I've kept my windows open on both the North and South side of my bedroom, the whole time. I love to smell the air when it's just rained. This is the first week I've been able to wear jeans to class, because it's finally cool enough. It felt so good to slide on that favorite pair of jeans. Wearing summer clothes was a blast! But it's nice to consider a whole other wardrobe now. Hurray! How exciting.
I'm watching Letterman. There was a great ad for the new KFC anti-viral fried chicken dipping sauces, to combat today's plague... hee hee... nice, Dave!
Mini Creek
This is the ocean I swam through to get to the library. Silly, Cali-girl forgot what serious rain is all about... the kind that rains upwards from the ground! Sure, it rains during the winter in San Francisco, but never this hard. Besides... it's only October! Shouldn't we be getting that wonderful California Indian Summer? My pants are soaking wet and now I have a nasty went umbrella. Ewww! I guess it could be worse. I could have gone to Playa Del Fuego and camped in the rain. Wow, do I feel for those soldiers! I guess rain on the playa is a lot worse in some ways, but even that doesn't last real long.
I'm homesick like crazy today! After long chats on the phone today with homefries in Cali, it's time to hit the books for more bloody genetics. Plus, my battery is dead because I forgot to charge it. I've been tempted 3 times today to check out the cost of flights to San Francisco. Jennifer went home for the weekend and I'm so incredibly jealous. Kristie's yoga retreat is in a couple weeks at Harbin. Can't I come home for that... PLEASE?! The weekends are especially tough. Maybe I just need to go away more and do more fun trips to the Gunks! sigh I'm missing every single one of you!!! Send me a little love, when you get the chance. I sure could use it! love, audra
iPod replacement! (for you and me)
Last week, my iPod broke. I'm distraught....
really! I've been pricing them on eBay, at Radio Shack, Ritz Camera, the bookstore, on craigslist and recently found this thing where you can get one for free (and so can five of your friends). I've fulfilled most of the agreement. I bought two printer cartridges for $20 (that I needed anyway) and now I get to pass the torch.... it's your turn!
http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=22816028 Click the link and you have your choice of which iPod you want to earn (I went with the 20GB Photo) and then you can chose what thing you want to sign up for, or buy (Comcast cable, printer cartridges, etc). It's pretty simple and works. My printer cartridges arrived two days ago and I'm waiting for my iPod! :) hurray!!!
I know it seems dubious, but according to wired magazine:
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64614,00.html
Guess what?! An interview for medical school!
Ms. Miller-
We had you scheduled to interview at the GW Med School on Sept 29 at 9:30 am. You did not attend this interview. If you are still
interested in GW, or if you feel this email is in error, please respond to this email within 2 weeks so that we may reschedule your interview. If we do not hear from you, your file will be removed from future consideration.
Thank you
Matthew Farber
Interview Coordinator
Can you believe it? Oops! I missed an interview for medical school that I never knew I had in the first place. That's not good! Well, it must have happened during the move. But guess what that means... I get to reschedule and go to my very first interview for medical school! wow!! yayayayaya!!!
When I found out this news, I was at Rembrandt's in Fairmount, Philadelphia with my roommate Jen and her boyfriend Peter, who also got great news... he's going to be on a compilation CD with a bunch of his music heros! Prince and Bootsy Collins to name a few. Peter (a very talented musician, btw) just partied down with George Clinton the other night. And where was I when this happend? Taking a calculus exam, of course. Crazy, huh? Now Jen sits here patiently with her lotto ticket, waiting to cash in on the good luck in the air.
Climbing in the Gunks
Wow! Now that was a great day of climbing. Friday morning, I met Annie Wislowski for the very first time at 6am and we hit the road for the three hour trip to New Paltz, New York. We were at the Shawagunks, popularly called "The Gunks". We were climbing in a section called the "Trapps".
This is some of the greatest climbing I've done, by far! There were many factors that made this such an excellent trip... the weather was perfect, the climbs were fun, challenging, and at the right level for me. The rock was a great texture (not too rough for my little hands) but not slick like some other types of rock.
Annie was leading and I was cleaning. That means she climbed up the face of the wall first, placing gear/protection or "pro" into crevices served as anchors for both of us to rely on as safety. I climbed second and as I went up the face, I collected the gear out of the cracks and clipped them to my harness. I'm impressed with the Annie's climbing skills. She's a much stronger climber than I am. There were parts where I wasn't sure I could hang on, no less imagine her role where she's climbing without an anchor above to catch her. There is no anchor until she places one. Then she climbs past it, so if she falls, it is a distance that is more than twice where the last piece of protection is placed. It can be scary to take a fall on lead, because the distance is far, it's on rock, and those pieces of pro had better hold! I have never done any traditional lead climbing, yet. I've done what's called sport climbing, which is wear there are bolts already in the rock and you clip your rope them as you reach them. This is much simpler than trying to find a spot to jam a nut or cam, in order to make an anchor to clip into. As soon as I get back into the grove of things, I'm hoping to do a bit of leading. First, I have to get my strength up a little bit.
The climbs we did were rated 5.5 "The Horseman" and 5.6- "Frog's Head". The first one was a great warm-up and the second one was a little bit more challenging. Both of them, very do-able. I bought my year pass, so it's safe to say that I'm coming back!
