this is my life (except I have a good project)

the problem with microbiology, specifically molecular biology

I could not be happier with the major I received in college and am beyond grateful for my job, but sometimes it feels like all I'm doing is transferring small drops of water into other small drops of water. Sigh.

hodgepodge

I haven't had a lot of time lately to take pictures. I recently started a new job, so that takes up the majority of my time. Also, I like to take a lot of outdoor pictures and it has been way too cold for that!

Recently, I went through some of my old pictures and found some good ones that I thought I'd share...

you remembered?!

This was originally meant to be a photography blog, but I don't take many pictures right now, so I'm just going to ramble. Deal with it.

When I was little, I was deathly afraid that my family was going to forget my birthday. Not that they gave any indication that this was a possibility, it was just this irrational fear that crept into my head about two months before the date of my birth. To make sure my family didn't forget, I would put up signs around the house to remind them. Example: "Maura's birthday is in 28 days! Please remember!"

I would like to say that I put up these friendly reminders for purely selfless reasons, for instance I didn't want my Mom and Dad to feel crippling shame after they realized they neglected to wish their only daughter a happy birthday. However, judging from some of the signs I remember making, this was not the case. The closer it got to my birthday, the more materialistic the signs became: "Maura's birthday countdown: 17 days. Gift ideas: Pony, Puppy (real)" or "5 more days until Maura's birthday! I want a bike!"

I'm fairly certain this was pretty annoying. One year I attached notices to the doorknobs of every door in our house with hair ties, which made opening the door a bit difficult unless the sign was removed and hopefully read. What can I say, I was persistent and I got my point across.

I obviously don't obsessively remind people about my birthday anymore, in fact, I now do just the opposite and tell as few people as possible because I don't like people making a big deal about me. Somehow, people remember... and a teensy part of me is pleasantly surprised.

all my birthday wishes have come true!

Dear Me,
Happy birthday! For your birthday I got you your last day of college! Also a webassign and two presentations. And probably wrinkles. You're welcome.
Cheers,
Maura

nc pride 2010

put to good use

I was trying to come up with a blog url and, after becoming frustrated that all the ones I wanted were unavailable, I typed in 'mauraleonard' because surely that wouldn't be taken...and it was. I was kind of pissed, like how dare there be another Maura Leonard that wants to blog. So i typed mauraleonard.blogspot.com just to scope this idiot out. I came across a completely blank blog that simply said "maura" in the header. There were no posts, which was really annoying because if this other Maura Leonard was going to take my url name, they better at least use it. It was then that I glanced at the blogs that this person followed: broughtonchalkcircle and broughtonverse... Oh...I had stumbled upon a blog I was forced to create for my drama class during my junior year of high school. Awkward...

So I figured out the login and here we are. I can't let it go to waste now, can I? I really don't know what I plan on writing on here, or if I want this to be a themed blog or something. Like all the photography or style blogs I read. Except I don't take a lot of pictures (yet) and my style is "out-of-shape college student chic," so not really that cute. 

I'm kind of nervous to blog again. I had a livejournal when I was in high school, and I recently went back and read it again and it was so cringe-worthy. Basically the definition of overshare and I don't want to make that same mistake again. 

Maybe I'll just post some pictures for now...