Another year older...

I feel a little guilty for not having posted in so long, so you get TWO posts today!

Yesterday was my birthday and it was actually a normal, uneventful day (if you discount the dozens of Facebook posts on my wall) until I got to the Fundraising Committee (FRC) meeting.  After getting my finger poked at the health screening yesterday in Jester, I walked slowly to the greenhouse and still got there on time.  But I saw Dan, who did a double-take and pretty much told me to get lost.  He said, "Wait.  Go away.  Come back in 10 minutes."  But I kept walking, after which he insisted that he really wanted me to leave.  So I went inside Painter to check my email in the OHRIS office.  When I logged in to my email, I had 64 unread messages, most of which were Facebook notifications or my family sending assorted birthday ecards.  I had a good laugh reading every person's Facebook post through my email- my favorite one being my lab partner suggesting I should do some Colony PCR in lab to celebrate.

Fifteen minutes later, I went to the greenhouse and they were STILL not ready, but I walked in anyway, despite hearing Dan yell out, "Everybody hide!".  There were only five people: Dan, Sara, Varduhi, Krishna, and Collin, but they had decorated!  The colored chalk from Friday's sale was still there, but they had found space to write out "Happy Birthday Vidya!" in front of the door.  There were pots lined up in the front, spelling out "Happy Birthday" in rainbow colors on blue sticky notes.  The best, and my favorite part, were the rainbow streamers attached to the top of the door frame and lining the ceiling of the greenhouse!  It was so sweet!  Thank you, everyone.  You made me feel very special. :-)  We were going to have cookies but Amanda couldn't make it (poor girl!  She looked like she was in a hurry when I saw her earlier).

After FRC, I went to Red Mango with my friends (the mango and pomegranate flavors are back!) and it was nice to just sit there and get caught up.  None of us wanted to leave afterwards!  I skipped working on my Physics lab report with my partners (more on this later).  As I was going home, I noticed that the Tower was lit up orange, and I couldn't help but think that it was for me (wishful thinking, I know)!  My mom made a new dessert to top off my sugar intake for the day.  So, in the end, I had a pretty good birthday, but I still have to reply to all of those posts on Facebook!

My Physics lab report got me; I knew it was only a matter of time.  I was pretty tired when I got home so I went to bed early and didn't even wake up early this morning to work on my lab report.  And of course, this would be the one in which I don't know how to do something.  And I missed asking my lab group because I had lunch today with my best friend from high school.  Oh well...lesson learned.  Maybe.

As far as other SURGe stuff goes, we are helping out at TWO events tomorrow: Crazy Science Extravaganza from 9a-1p at the Texas Hillel (21st/San Antonio), where volunteers get free breakfast, lunch, and a T-shirt!; and Environmental Science Institute's lecture about geological field work in space, where we'll have some pre-lecture activities from 5:30p-6:45p in Welch.  If you are available, please, PLEASE come by to help out!  We always like seeing members at our events!

And, of course, no Friday is complete without our weekly plant sale and general meeting!  This week, we welcome Dr. Thomas Garza, who will be talking about vampire lore.  Oooh.  This will be a nice lead-in to Longhorn Halloween, taking place at the Erwin Center this Sunday from 2p-5p, but you can help us out from 12p-6p!  Get excited!!  More information will come during the meeting this Friday about costumes (Pokemon-themed!  Don't tell me you weren't expecting that.) and our booth.  One last thing I wanted to mention: there will be an icecream social Friday from 4p-6p in the Anna Hiss Gym Courtyard hosted by the School of Biological Sciences.  Yay for icecream! :)

Whew!  That's a lot of events!  Hopefully I'll see you at some of them!  As always, feel free to comment below! :-D  Thanks for reading!
Vidya