I really wanted to major in English in college, but my dad pushed me to major in science, so I got a B.S. in microbiology. I actually really love direct microbiology and the labs that go with it, but I do not like running gels, most especially PCR gels, as I spent all of grad school running SDS-PAGE protein gels (they are very thin gels that run vertically and very slowly, sometimes even overnight for large gels), but most hiring places, besides being in downtown Houston (a place that gives me panic attacks to drive to), want PCR gel, which I am not good at running. I love reading. I placed in several regional contests for different types of writing: editorial, persuasive, short fiction, descriptive. Sometimes the school librarian (got to know me very well) wanted to read my assigned papers for school; I didn't mind the second opinion, and over 4 years, I got very familiar with her. She told me several of my English papers were outstanding and could hardly believe I wrote them myself. It was the 1990s (graduated school valedictorian 1996), so plagiarism off the internet was a rare thing as many people and schools did not yet have internet. I was give the top English student award every year through high school, but I got top biology, chemistry, and physics as well.

I wrote short stories as a hobby while in middle and high schools, but seem to have lost all my creativity on meds. I used to be a very good artist too (only in pencil & charcoal though, not color) but good with drawing from an image, especially faces. That creativity is lost too.