Random forced crap #1 (bloggy crap, that is, not fecal matter)

I shocked myself a little bit yesterday when I realized how much more confident I've become in my teaching ability. This is my third quarter teaching human physiology, and for the first time I'm in charge of leading the Monday review sessions. In the past I let the other girl lead the review sessions because she'd been teaching the class longer, but this quarter I have a different co-TA who is new to the class. I had to step up and take over. If you know me at all you know that I would normally pass out at the thought of having to talk to a room over a hundred people, but I didn't break a sweat. This is an improvement from last winter, when I was teaching animal physiology and had weekly panic attacks about teaching my section of only 25 students. I still don't think that teaching is something I want to pursue as a career (at least not as a lecturer, but I actually rather enjoy the one-on-one stuff), but it is nice to know that I can do it without flipping out.

My plan for next year is to start applying for doctorate programs and research associate jobs around the city and see which option pans out the best. I've seen some very promising job postings at a couple of hospitals in the area, but I really hope they're still hiring when I graduate. I'm also applying to an umbrella biomedical sciences program at my current university. It's outside of my current department and my comfort zone, so I'm a little apprehensive about it. Everyone I know is here! Change is difficult. One of K's bandmates is applying to the same program, though, so at least I'll know one person (assuming we both get in).

I've had trouble getting back into the groove of blogging since taking my health break, as you can probably tell by the infrequency of posting and the clunky writing style. I'll try to force myself to write some crap every day, even if it is just about what I did that day, so it'll start coming more naturally and I can start writing about stuff other people might actually care about (like, you know, science).

Around the web: you can win some travel funding to attend Science Online 2011 by having the best evolution blog, Field of Science's benevolent creator is taking a census of the science blogosphere, and finally, don't forget to submit your posts to the third Carnal Carnival.