Starting off the first day of the second week of SSP, I was on the verge of getting emotional and thinking about how time flies. But then, MOE happened. Our first task of the day was to create a homology model of a given gene sequence (Abelson kinase) on MOE. It is safe to say that MOE managed to drive every single participant crazy. I was about to throw my computer out the window when Dr. Hall came to my rescue (and solved my issue in 30 seconds. SSP faculty are lifesavers.) Anyway, after MOE tried to sabotage SSPeople for three hours, we emerged victorious. Our homology models turned out just fine.
Proud of having completed such a challenging task, we proceeded with the campus activity. Today, we had our first TA lecture by Laney, who turned out to be 7’2’’. She told us about her life story and interests. Meanwhile, rumors flew around. Apparently, Laney was banned from the NBA because she had an “unfair advantage’’ and was “dunking on everyone’’. We also had the privilege of seeing a picture of Laney getting stabbed with a pipette in SSP ’17 and another picture in which she backflipped and kicked another participant in the face with an advanced Taekwondo move. You know what they say: SSP is not SSP if you don’t get kicked or stabbed. Jokes aside, Laney’s presentation provided us with a new perspective about our hobbies and fleeting interests. It was relieving to see that such an accomplished person also went through the same indecisiveness as we do. I feel much better about being a jack of all trades (needless to say, master of none) now.
The TA block was especially intensive today. We focused on homology models, protein purification, and recombinant protein expression. My multitasking skills were challenged by my desperate efforts to complete a lab simulation, watch 3 lectures, and complete the homology model of our project in 3 hours. (NGL, my group actually spent 30 minutes of those 3 hours trying to change our MOE wallpaper to our group drawing). This experience taught me one thing: Multitasking can actually be enjoyable. The only downside of my day was the absence of a Labster simulation. While we were doing the LabXChange simulation, my teammates and I could not keep ourselves from thinking about Dr. One the whole time. We will have to make it up to her on Monday, she surely feels betrayed now.
