experiencing taste disturbances!

so, i did a really gnarly reaction in the lab and then during lunch everything i ate tasted bitter and metallic. i was very safe while setting up the reaction, but i started to freak out after 2 days of everything tasting like chemicals. i have been talking to everyone about it, and my lab mate told me a story of another chemist in the department with the same problem. he also thought chemistry was the culprit for his 'taste disturbances'.

HOWEVER, he found out that it was due to pine nut consumption! totally crazy! i ate ABSURD amounts of pesto last weekend and have been throwing pine nuts in all my food, and i think i have it too! i have been reading about it on the internet and TONS of people have this problem. people are trying to blame it on chinese pine nuts, i think that's stupid.

the internet says i may have these 'taste disturbances' for up to WEEKS!

i quit pine nuts.

post second year seminar debauchery

post second year seminar debauchery
Originally uploaded by kellypeach

so, i finished my seminar. it was a hell of a process, and i decimated both my sanity and my relationship in the process. BUT, i'm done and that is worth something. i lived science. i am a specialist on biaryl construction. whoa.

now, i am a much more stable and sane human.

click through the flickr photos for a good laugh. most of the pictures are pretty absurd, definitely a flash back the 'the what what' days.

after the event i flew to a parasitology conference in colorado, and did a bit of the snowboarding. it was really fun to get back on a mountain and it dumped while we were there, very lucky.

then back to pdx for some chillin' and de-stress time. i saw all of my favorites (except nickey robo, who was out of town). i coffee shopped, bicycled, dance partied, zined, browsed, ate delicious food cart meals, etc. it was a very nice slice of life. i was there for a solid 10 days, and really started to feel like a portlander again.

but now i'm BACK TO WORK! i have also enrolled in two new awesome courses this quarter. warrior yoga twice a week, and swedish massage once a week. pretty zen and stress-free.

i am back at the pop-ups too. i'll post a video of the new one soon.

love,
kp