Boeing ✈

Things I've done since graduating from USC:
-Received a job offer from Boeing
-Witnessed/benefitted from the power and reach of the Trojan family
-Passed a drug test... background check still pending
-Attended a grad party featuring the USC band (Shoutout: Mallory)
-Spent time with my wonderful family
-Wrote 10 thank you cards
-Bought and delivered small tokens of appreciation
-Updated my resume
-Cleaned and organized my computer files
-Uploaded pictures (to private albums)
-Taken four 10000 scan carbon NMRs, a last ditch effort to get my name on this paper that should've been published a year ago

Needless to say it's been an overwhelming week but it feels amazing and I've never felt more blessed. Everything's fallen into place and while I worked hard these last four years to try to put my life together I never would have imagined, especially after multiple minor crises in life re-routing, that things would have turned out so well.

For starters, I have an amazing family and we share this mutual love and support that is absolutely invaluable and crucial to my existence. My mom, dad, brother, and grandmother flew out to join me in this milestone weekend and our four days together were more memorable than possibly anticipated. It started with a mess of an arrival on Thursday night and an early departure to plant our asses in stiff, plastic, white chairs for the main commencement ceremony. Value of attendence there is questionable. Then we went to the satellite ceremony where it felt like an eternity before my name was called, and sitting through the neuroscience and biology majors would have been a ride to hell and back, which is why I was one of those defiant graduates who took off my cap, stood up, said "Fuck it," and marched down the center aisle alone to join my family and relieve them from the misery of 400 bio majors.

The fam!

 As we were leaving campus I got a phone call from an unknown number. I didn't pick up, figuring they could just leave a message if it was important. A few minutes later I got a new email notification which I snuck a glance at enough to see that it was a contingent job offer from Boeing. Yes, this is the position that at the end of my last whiny, lost puppy post I said I would accept on the spot, and as soon as I let it sink in and believe that the offer was real, I clicked the 'Accept' button.

The rest of the weekend consisted of extended family and close family friends which the entire internet (all 4 of you who read this) don't need to hear details about :)

A little more about my opinion and experience on the job front--
I'm excited. Like, really excited. This position at Boeing is as good as it gets for someone in my shoes. No bio, all chem, and an analytical application totally different from what I've been doing and hating through college. More importantly, it's not a lab bitch position. Materials science for use in satellite development sounds awesome, and the fact that my work will be engineering based, and therefore geared toward perfecting a product rather than attempting a novel discovery, is really provoking. I like efficiency and productivity and this job won't just be following the same protocol. Critical thinking and creativity are a part of it in a different way than in research. The tools will all be there and the challenge will be figuring out how to use them to get the product we want (very o chem synthesis-like, tehe). Boeing is the best in their field, and having a chance to be a part of it and learn from it and soak it all in for a few years before re-evaluating and deciding where I want to go from there is exactly what I need.

Also, a permanent position means I get to buy a car, find a real apartment, invest in a couch, and be in LA for football season!! I am also looking forward to a regular 9-5 schedule because that means my evenings, nights, and weekends are MINE! No more being busy until 10 pm M-Th. That means more time for cooking, grocery shopping, working out, hopefully playing ultimate, reading, and real time for real hobbies since work gets left at work, and home life is separate.

I thought I was going to have a lot more to write about but instead, here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks:

Cousin, Gma, and I in SF.

Seniors-- Regionals in Scottsdale.

Criss-crossed In-n-Out trees in front of an In-n-Out!!

Results of table hockey. Love frolf.

Philippe's French Dip after the Advanced Biochem final,
my last final ever! Plus potato salad and French onion soup.

Seeds Cobb Sandwich, the last bit of my discresh.

Salmon, Yellowtail Belly, White Tuna sashimi, post-drug test.

Commencement Regalia!

Dim sum with the extended fam.

10 piece Trojan marching band at Mallory's bad ass grad party.

Eggs Benedict is divine in Irvine.

A rare, clear view of dt LA as seen from the USC Dental School.

Today I ventured up to Larchmont Village. The main purpose was to buy little gifts from Chocoholic (formerly Leonidas), a small Belgian chocolate shop. Tiny, but everything is divine. I custom-created small gift boxes and the woman there was really helpful in helping me decide what to get. She insisted on one ganache, one caramel, one praline, with an assorment of milk and dark coatings, with either a white or an additional milk. The standard box received a pure ganache in dark, caramel sea salt in dark, hazelnut cream in milk, and lime cream in white.

Ze little chocolate gift boxes!

I spent a small fortune there and moved onto the wine shop where the selection is great but the gourmet deli sandwiches are even better. I got a salami soppressata (salami-- real salami, dry, paper thin, with thick, rich spots of fat-- Spanish manchego, sun dried tomato spread, evoo, balsamic, and mixed greens on a French bagutte). Absolutely divine. Like, could die of happiness and satisfaction divine. Then I walked past Village Pizza, caught a whiff as they were opening for business, and couldn't resist. Their thin crust is New York style, sauce is slightly tart but oh-so-fresh, perfect amount of cheese, and fresh baked to order. Oh, and they have homemade sausage and meatball topping. Got 2 slices, ate one, and have another hidden in an undisclosed location for future consumption.

As Todd Lieman touted in my sports business class this semester, this was a day well lived. And many more to come.