I had my first appointment with Health Services in my entire 5 years here at UW yesterday. I had never been in the pale halls or small examining rooms of the building, I had only peered at it through it's reflective pond. It was a pleasant experience. The nurse I saw made the event fun, she joked around and gave me shit for not knowing where my immunization records were and for not getting sick in the last 5 years. Then as I was getting a shot she said, 'Oh yeah, this will sting a bit. I would have told you before, but I thought what's the point in telling you it's going to hurt.'

There was also one shot I didn't get because I need a prescription for it first. No matter how many times my mom made me play with people with chicken pox I refused to catch. Ever since, I have seen my lack of chicken pox as a defining characteristic of who I am. It makes me feel special; that somehow I am immune to it's harms. I am the next generation of humans.