University of Guelph Bacterial Genomics Day 26: Over’Joy’ed at SSP
As some might notice, neither today nor yesterday were July 25th, and I did in fact forget to write my blog post for a week. As is in character, my morning of Saturday, July 25th had also gotten off to a late start—if it wasn’t bad enough that I was already waking up later every day, I had also spent the entirety of the previous night playing Papa’s Pancakeria.
We spent most of the morning doing PCR and/or gel, and it just so happened that my group and I had somehow “misplaced” our gDNA. Luckily, so had almost everyone else, which is not really lucky but made me feel a lot better. The situation ended up being fine, since we had glycerol stocks to take from; our gel runs were also a bit finicky at first, but we got it to work after some time, and of course all’s well that ends well—or at least all’s well that ends ok.
After lab time, as I was walking into the atrium, I heard a sound akin to that of a large vacuum cleaner—the planetarium! It took up a huge spot right in the middle of the common space and you could hear very loud and ominous music coming from within, so of course I had to take a look. As the SHAD kids were transitioning out (why do they get all the cool stuff?), we managed to catch a short, 7-minute viewing about indigenous culture regarding the night sky. It was very warm and very cozy inside, and it very much smelled like feet. The second showing (with the SHAD kids) was about dark matter and the Large Hadron Collider. It was very interesting! The rounded screen made everything look super crazy. I think we should have watched The Odyssey in there.
Later in the evening, we had a lot of time to work on our posters and manuscripts, which meant, for those of us with our work done, game time!! Alongside the science and baking aspects, I think one of the things I learned at this camp were new games—new card games in the lounge and new word games to play when bored during school. Bracket City is really fun to play and race with your friends; I also learned how to play the Minute Cryptic, which is often really really hard. Bomb Party on jklm.fun may also become one of my addictions. Me and many others (including some faculty…) spent a few hours helping Videh with his crossword puzzles; we actually solved a Thursday one, which I’ve never done before!
Dinner was Mom’s Kitchen again, which I actually don’t hate as much as everyone else seems to, but don’t tell anyone I said that. Aiden and I were planning to make a certain baked good that starts with “Papa’s” and ends in “eria” that night, but curfew and a number of other things sadly got in the way.
Honestly, after nearly a week, I don’t remember what exactly happened on Saturday, July 25th, 2026 other than a few things I bullet pointed in my Notes app early on when I still remembered I had a blog post to do. What I do remember, though, and what I think I will remember for a long time, is how that day and week felt, how this month at SSP will have felt. My birthday was the previous day, July 24th, and between the Ben & Jerry’s and homemade brownies by Videh et al., I don’t think I’ve ever had a better birthday. Every time I play card games or bake in the future, I’ll think of SSP; every time I’m in a place without AC and wanting to die, I’ll think of SSP too, for better or for worse.
What I mean to say is, I don’t think of myself as a sentimental person, but in reflecting, I think my time here has really changed me. This is the best group of people ever!! Thank you to everyone for teaching me the memory game, natural transformation, how to make pancakes, PCR, how to snap, how to use Galaxy, how to speak snippets of Portuguese and Spanish and Norwegian, how to streak on agar, how to sneak onto elevators. Thank you for teaching me the necessity of knowledge, the power of teamwork, the beauty in friendship.
So long!
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Joy
SSP Participant
Hi everyone! My name is Joy and I’m a rising senior from Milwaukee, WI. I love food! I’m also really interested in all kinds of science, especially physics. I love to read and write fiction and discuss interpretations of various kinds of literary works. In my free time, I like watching movies, shows, and anime; playing Tetris; listening to and playing music; and worldbuilding. I’ve had a great time doing research here at SSP!
