Slightly Miraculous

I have been a little melancholy lately and find myself reflecting on my graduate school beginnings which seem several lifetimes ago.

When I was 24 I entered grad school. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I had to do something. I was busing tables at night and substitute teaching at my old high school during the day. It was fun for awhile until the restaurant hired a new hostess who was also a student of mine. I spent my next day off applying to the Ohio State University Biochemistry Program. And then I totally forgot about it. One night I was getting ready for my shift at the restaurant when I noticed the answering machine blinking. “This message is for Bradley Baker. This is Dr. Trewynn. We received your application and would like you to visit the University…” 

I knew no one in Columbus, had no idea where to live, or what to expect. I eventually found a two bedroom apartment above a McDonald’s that was right across from campus. I know it is hard to believe, but I never ate at that McDonald’s. I was too poor. With my parents help I moved in a few days before orientation. “Welcome to The Ohio State University. You are one of 10,000 graduate students.” 

That was a very special time. The classes were so difficult. There were 24 students in our program half of which were Chinese. We were told there would be about a 70% attrition rate. They were wrong. It was higher. In an effort to survive, a few of us formed a study group. A couple of my favorite quotes:

“My last Biochemistry course was C201 Chemistry of Biological Processes. Now I’m taking C801 Physical Biological Chemistry. I’M MISSING 600 COURSE ASSUMPTIONS!”

“Okay, the section I was responsible for last night was describing the chemical reaction… and I quote from the text ‘with the position of the substrate to the nucleophilic group in the catalytic site, the polarity of the transition state is intuitively obvious.’ Uhm, I think we’re screwed.”

“Uhm, that was intuitively obvious.”

“Hey, your cat just shit on page 603 of my genetics book. Can you tell me what it says?”

Oh, those were good times. I was responsible for that last quote as one of the girls brought her new kitten to a study session. I thought her cat liked me as it sat on my book just staring at me. I was wrong.

Two of the women in that group became very special to me. Both were in long distance relationships. One boyfriend was in England. The other boyfriend was in Toronto. Email was just becoming available, and Anne was using it every afternoon to catch her boyfriend before he went to sleep. Kelly would drive 8 hours every weekend to Toronto. The weekend study sessions (sans Kelly) lacked focus.

“Hey, has anyone studied the z-cycle of photosynthesis?”

“No, let’s race go-carts.”

Since my apartment was so close to campus, Anne and Kelly would come over several times a week to study. They didn’t have anything else to do, and, sadly, neither did I. So that is what we did. I did pretty well that first semester. I also fell in love with both of them. I have hated long distance relationships ever since.

The second semester was a different story. On the coldest night in January, I was woken by yells. “Fire! Fire! Get out!” I put my jeans on, found my glasses, and saw smoke coming from under the kitchen door. I became so nervous I couldn’t put on my socks or shoes. When I opened the door opposite from the smoke, I scared the hell out of two guys standing in the hallway yelling at their friend to get out. I can still see the flames preventing them from getting to him. He didn’t make it. I had fire extinguishers in the kitchen. I never thought to use them until way too late.

Shirtless and barefoot, I went down the back stairs. It was about two in the morning. In the back parking lot three people were watching the fire, a guy, his girlfriend and her sister all about my age. The sister took charge. “I have extra socks and a blanket in the trunk.” The boyfriend refused. “Give me the keys. It’s cold.” I still have the socks. They are one of my most precious possessions.

They left as I watched the fire spread to my bedroom. Flames were shooting out of my bedroom window. Not more than ten minutes had passed since I had woken up. I realized that if those guys hadn’t had been yelling at their friend to get out I probably wouldn’t have woken up. For weeks after the fire, I would wake up in the middle of the night and swear I would see smoke. I did not do so well that semester. I nearly dropped out. But I have always had the most amazing friends. They refused to let me quit. I am extremely thankful.

Fortunately, I had replacement insurance. It was at this time that surround sound came out. Amazing. One night, I was getting annoyed with the guy yelling in the alley next to my apartment until I realized it was really the movie. I love surround sound.

Now, I’m in Korea and do not have a sound system. I didn’t bring mine from the States because I was worried about the power converter (I’m still concerned with fires). So when two of my colleagues asked if I would like to go shopping for sound systems, I agreed.

My Korean colleague had already purchased her system from this place. She had spent several hours listening to different combinations of speakers, receivers, and CD players. She claimed the sales person had become her friend even though she made him turn off the air conditioner while they listened to each setup. It was only in the 90’s that day.

We listened to several systems, again with the air conditioner off. My other colleague listens primarily to classical music. I was surprised at how different the sound was for each system. There clearly were some better combinations. He decides on one, and we all agree that his choice had the best sound. As we were leaving I noticed a receiver with vacuum tubes. I really wanted to hear that. The sales person kindly hooked it up to the best sounding speakers. This time we listened to Queen. Unbelievable. The sound was so warm it enveloped us. We looked at each other in disbelief. We next listened to Russian Red’s Just Like a Wall. It was angelic. Larry looks at me and says, “Slightly miraculous.”

I’m ready to buy, but I need to make sure. “Could you please turn the air conditioner on? There is no way on God’s green earth I’m going to turn the AC off to listen to music.” Absolutely beautiful. Then the salesperson tells me the price. So I bought this portable speaker/CD gadget. You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you’ll find you get what you need.