1. The Cast of Characters

    Here are the people I reference most. Their labels are initials of sorts for the sake of privacy and anonymity.

    The Elders
    MP: My mom and dad, collectively. M and P separately.
    FF: My aunt (dad’s older sister) and her husband, collectively. F and FJ separately. They have been the family members who have always lived within 5 minutes of each other, until MP and I moved at the end of 2010. Now we live 20 minutes away from each other. ;-) FF are RA’s and AM’s parents. FJ is MR’s father’s first cousin.
    RR

    The Cousins
    RA: The cousin closest in age. A Marine-in-training. b(1989).
    AM: RA’s older brother. A’s father. b(1982).
    TS: AM’s wife. A’s mother. b(1983).
    MR: RA’s second cousin from his dad’s side. My very extended cousin by marriage. AD’s father.
    NS: MR’s wife. AD’s mother.

    The Niblings
    MD: Nephew. b(2006).
    RS: My nephew. b(2007).
    A: My nephew. b(2008).
    AD: My niece. b(2009). 
    Many more to come! 

    The Ones in India
    Nani: Mother’s mother.
    Nana: Mother’s father. He passed away in 1993 due to ALS (aka amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s Disease). When I learned about the reason for his death in 2005, he became the strongest impetus for my interest in the brain.
    Baba: Father’s father.
    Dadi: Father’s mother.
    TT: My once best friend. My visit to India in 2009 didn’t do our relationship any favors. b(1988).
    TTB: TT’s boyfriend. He-who-shall-not-have-a-name-pure-of-his-own-on-here-because-I-don’t-like-him. 
    TN: TT’s younger sister. b(1993).

    The Friends
    Ms. J: Close friends since Week 1 of Stanford.
    Ms. B: Though I’ve known her since 2007, we didn’t really become good friends until the beginning of 2010. Now we’re fairly inseparable.
    Ms. H: Hall-mate freshman year to roommate sophomore. Next-door neighbor junior year, and a good friend even though she lives farther away now.

    The Stanford Academics
    LM: The advisor. A love-hate relationship. At this point (half-way through Winter Quarter 2011), I’ve learned to appreciate where she is coming from but acknowledge that we are just two very different personalities.
    KT: The PI (i.e. principal investigator/professor) of The Lab I’ve worked in since November 2007, i.e. my freshman year.
    WD: The grad student I’ve worked with since…well as long as I’ve been at The Lab. 
    JJ: A post-doc and friend at The Lab.
    PR: A grad student and acquaintance/friend at The Lab. 

    The Boys
    W: Let’s make him official, shall we? A classmate, in my department and track. Incredibly reminiscent of S, except taller, younger, white, and - let’s face it - probably better looking. He’s nice too, but we (all the girls and I) suspect that he might be a bit of a man-whore.
    S: Also known as PhD Guy or Jockey. A ridiculously long story of knowing each other, and a ridiculously large age difference 11.5 years.
    X: A long-standing physical attraction since Week 1 of Stanford.
    Here’s to many more to come here as well!

     /  Notes  /