Fall 26
Estimated read: 3-4 min
I've ended up taking 12 units, which is disappointing, and partly because I've been a scared little bitch. Technically, I was supposed to take Real Analysis I, Science & Society, UWP104, and Immunology, but this 🪨 lodged in my submandibular gland has messed up all my plans, and I'm flying back thxgiving break to get it removed. Whatever. Immunology is kicking my ass anyways, but let's get into that in a bit.
I think what's freaking me out most is how being a junior feels relatively uneventful, except you become acutely aware your time on this playground is running out, and you'll be expected to gtfo in little over a year. I am envious of med school applicants for the sole reason they get 4 more years of this sandbox environment where you get to postpone being an adult.
To combat the dread or senioritis that hits senior year, I've decided to attack the problem early and start feeling a sense of dread this year! Whenever I walk from Max Kleiber to Khaira or bike through the arboretum, it hits me like a truck how this isn't going to last forever. Which is a shame and a mild surprise, seeing how much and how fast Davis has grown on me, given I threw in a transfer app to Berkeley last year lmao. It's the same halls, but they feel way more like home. I still wear my UCSF quarter zip to campus sometimes, partly because I'm an insolent little fuck and partly because, well, I spent $90 on it and it'd be a waste if I didn't wear it all.
Also, being an upperclassman doesn't really give me the sense of wisdom I thought it would, though it sure as hell gives me a superiority complex over the freshmen. I definitely relate to the boomers on how the next generation doesn't nearly work as hard, for I went to my friends' club's recruiting event where I met this group of freshmen whose main concern was which frat was 'touse' and which was 'bouse', determined by which of their friends had gotten bids from where. Clearly, these Bay Area sweatshop allegations are overrated. DVHS im looking at u.
Speaking of sweatshops, to sort of continue my superiority complex against my immediate peers(all of this is in my head), I made the choice of taking grad immunology this quarter. The content is pretty interesting so far, except the sexiness of memorizing different protein names has worn off. It's also a little concerning and hilarious to me how I am learning what an allele, codon, and locus are while dealing with the clusterfuck that is VDJ recombination. But I think one of the coolest parts about biology, apart from the fact that it explains the human body, is how needlessly complex it sounds and how you sound like an Einstein by spamming words. If you would like to see an example of this, feel free to ask in person, and I will happily oblige.
As for friends, they've more or less stayed the same as last year. I think part of the reason why some friend groups I'm in continue to exist as a 'jellyfish', floating around, is because of the fact that it's really convenient, and looking for new friend groups is difficult and exhausting and may call into question your self-worth. Part of this is probably a person's inertia to be the guy who organizes stuff. It's also the fact that it doesn't really make sense to not sit with your friends in lecture, so the fix for this is taking classes they're not in and, um, being that guy who strikes up conversations. Results may vary if ur not as charismatic as me, but give it a shot! The more important factor, I think, is that as time passes, your standards for saying yes to things become higher as you have more established circles, and consequently people are more sceptical about inviting people to things. Sometimes I feel bad for the people posting on Reddit looking for friends. Hopefully they find others 🙏
Speaking of finding others, also, uh, we need to talk about dating. It’s year three. Dirk waited 13 years in Dallas for a ring, and I’m afraid I do not have 13 years left. It’s been going so chaotically that it can be summed up in basketball quotes
Apparently someone told RP that their success rate is ‘even worse than mine,’ as if mine is the standard unit of failure. This has me pretty worked up. If you know who said it, please DM me. You will be rewarded handsomely.
In unrelated news, I have a spare ticket to Julian Lage, world class jazz artist at Mondavi this Sunday. Applications are open