naked and vicious woods

I'm pretty sure the most interesting thing going on in my life right now is the fact that I've started watching Utena (I am 19 episodes in!) and it's really, really awesome. If, you know, befuddling at times. My reactions are usually WHAT IS HAPPENING, shouting at various characters to stop being dumbasses, observations that various characters are bags of dicks (people in this category: Saionji, Touga, Souji; Akio gets his own special YOU'RE A BOX OF DICKS category because I think he's the box everyone fills their bags from), or observations on how wonderfully healthy (and in sibling cases, not at all incestuous) all the relationships tend to be.

("Big brother complex" my ass.)

I am, however, thoroughly enjoying it. And I'm getting the impression majesdane is enjoying my reactions, too, although I'm pretty sure (as I mentioned on Twitter) that she's mostly just going OH YOU'RE SO PRECIOUS to herself. I'm pretty okay with that!


Work is very strange lately, but not in a terribly interesting way. We're going through a lot of internal restructuring, which mostly means most of the department is changing seats (although NOT ME HOORAAAAAAAAY) and some of them are also changing buildings. It's a lot quieter in the mornings now; it's kind of weird. Although, on the bright side, I did finally meet someone who's actually in my testing group today (I have been seeing his handwriting/signature for months now -- he does raw material testing on heparin -- but I never actually bumped into him), so that's nice. I complimented him on his handwriting. It's very clear.

(I appreciate people with clear handwriting. I, unfortunately, do not fall into that category most of the time.)

This entry lives both here and at http://tiltingheartand.dreamwidth.org/1093898.html -- comment wherever you like!

My Dragon*Con 2012, in convenient bullet points ( which I am hiding behind a cut for EVEN MORE convenienceCollapse )

And also my pictures are over here if anyone is curious. (Also pictured, in addition to random D*C-goers: skygiants and genarti, because they're awesome.)

(And, just for the record, I definitely have con crud and feel like shit. I mean I feel better than I did yesterday, but 16 hours of sleep will do that to a person (and now instead of feeling woozy every time I stand up I just can't breathe, instead).

This entry lives both here and at http://tiltingheartand.dreamwidth.org/1093419.html -- comment wherever you like!

majesdane: i can tell you are anxious about tomorrow/thursday.
majesdane: because you sound like my dad.

I'll take things that were incredibly uncalled-for for $2000, Alex.

This entry lives both here and at http://tiltingheartand.dreamwidth.org/1093279.html -- comment wherever you like!

If anyone ever asks you to sweep up beads of silica gel, or suggests that you sweep up some beads of silica gel, my professional advice is this: say no, and then go do something mean to whoever it was who asked/suggested, because unless they are making a pathetic face because it's their mess and they need help, chances are they don't like you.


Also, majesdane decided she wanted to watch Labyrinth tonight, so I said hey let's watch it together! (As I watched it last summer and she had not yet seen.)

( anyway some pieces of our conversationCollapse )

Our commentary clearly took a sharp turn downward at some point.

This entry lives both here and at http://tiltingheartand.dreamwidth.org/1092883.html -- comment wherever you like!

I post rarely these days ("these days," as though that's any kind of change) mostly because my life is simultaneously incredibly ridiculous and really, really boring. But, anyway, a list of relevant things, because I keep composing posts in my head and this way some of it will leave.

s) One of the second-shift guys at work -- so I see him for like an hour and a half a day -- calls me "Beej" now. As in "Hey Beej!" It's lasted longer than I expected. (The reasons for this are: a) my coworker Tori and are often referred to as partners in crime (this is part of why another coworker's wife thinks I'm married to majesdane); b) Tori recently changed her nametag so now it looks like this. I asked second-shift guy if that made me Trapper or BJ and it actually took him longer than I expected to answer. Mostly because he seemed to be giving it genuine thought.)

p) My mother has been bribing me to clean my room (okay, to be fair, it hasn't been cleaned since I came home from WPI, which was two years ago in May) by telling me that if it's all clean she will paint while I'm gone. So I think I've actually settled on a (ridiculously-named) color and everything. And it's like half-clean in there? More progress than I was expecting anyway.

d) I keep forgetting I'm going to Dragon*Con and then remembering and thinking !!!!!DRAGON*CON!!!!! Apparently I am internalizing this well.

f) I'm super-excited anyway.

g) Does anybody who's going this year want to bump into each other at some point? (Other than you, majesdane, because I plan on bumping into you intentionally. And often.)

This entry lives both here and at http://tiltingheartand.dreamwidth.org/1092846.html -- comment wherever you like!

WANTED: two/three roommates for D*C 2012. I have a room in the Marriott Marquis from Thursday night to Monday (... possibly afternoon? whenever checkout is); current occupants are me and immortality. We're both awesome, and looking for some similarly awesome people to be awesome with (and also to split the cost; email me and I'll let you know how that will all shake out).

NOTES:
-- no smokers, please
-- it's been requested that this room remain ladies-only
-- if you don't need a room but you have a friend that does, link them here! please! :D?
-- serial killers need not apply

(My email, for the record, is parcae(at)gmail(dot)com, and I have it open basically the entire time I'm on the internet.)

At some point I will probably be posting at least a few of the pictures my mom and I took, but for now, a list of Things That Happened To Me In Boston (& Surrounding Areas).

-- found a paperback of the first version of The Stand, about two days after my mom mentioned regretting getting rid of hers.
-- managed to make it out of MA without buying another copy of "Three Septembers and a January", because I (inexplicably) have three already.
-- discovered an apparent shellfish allergy? Which makes no goddamn sense, and is kind of impossible.
-- directly related to the above, woke up with a rash/hives on my right arm on Tuesday. And then Wednesday they were also on my left arm and very slightly on my chest. No idea why.
-- missed the fireworks completely. I am still kind of upset.
-- got myself sunburned! (This is because I am a dumbass who did not say anything when my mom said "eh, do you think we really need the sunblock today? I think we'll be fine.") I can now cross "get a sunburn blister" off my list of things to do before I die. (Locations: tippy-tops of both ears.)
-- got my very own 20-minute tour of the Thomas Jefferson, which was in the harbor for Harborfest and which is also a survey vessel for the NOAA. It was so awesome, guys. Seriously. Almost makes up for the fireworks.
-- completely refrained from telling the incredibly nice man who got permission to give me a brief tour (the ship was actually closed to visitors, but he went and asked the CO) that he looked unnervingly like Buster Bluth. (As he was actually in the Coast Guard I am assuming he has a better handle on cartography at the very least.)
-- saw about eighteen thousand penguins (miiiild overstatement) and also harbor seals being trained/fed. So awesome.
-- snapped a picture of a road sign in Salem declaring the road to be Barton Square. Actually I took like eight because I wanted to make sure I got a clear one.
-- learned on a Duck Tour that the Charles River isn't drinkable but is not in fact flammable, either, sooooo.

None of my sunburn itches except the tops of my ears. :/ (Although, funny story, my mom burned less than I did and hers itches like crazy.)

s) Work tired me out an absurd amount considering all I did tonight was review. (For those of you who don't work with me -- which is to say, you know, everyone -- what that means in practical terms is that I sat at my desk all night and ate way the fuck too many chocolate Teddy Grahams. I went into the lab once, and that was to get my instrument's logbook so I could check everything at the same time. Also to ask Tori if she would put on the Lady Fixalot hat, but that was the same trip.)

p) Anybody who is considering one/multiple of these, let me tell you: well worth it. I have six of the eight figurines, and have Serious Plans involving my Wegmans and Saturday morning. It's really, really easy to figure out what's what if you're just looking for the figurines (or the skateboards or disc launchers, whatever) -- I stood there for what must have been five minutes sorting through the boxes to make sure.

(And don't believe the "ultra-rare Captain America!!!" hype; he was the first one I opened and I have two of him and yet don't have a full set yet.)

d) I will have Actual Work to do when I get to work tonight, hopefully. I like having Actual Work; reviewing is still work, sure, but I feel a lot more accomplished when I'm actually testing shit. Also it makes me feel like less of a shirker when I take time out of my day to discuss Very Important Things with Tori and Eric -- today's main point was this video, which they both thoroughly enjoyed (my commentary on it, when I first watched a few days ago: hey immortality, is that papa fitch? the answer, if anyone's curious, is yes) -- when I have stuff running and am waiting for it than if I'm just doing that instead of paperwork.

f) I sent my dad a happy birthday!!! text this morning at 7:30, which is when I re-remembered I wanted to do so (when I realized I was busy being buried by paperwork), but luckily I don't think he read it until 9 or so. It's incredibly weird to realize that when he was my age, I was already around (and two, already) and now he's ... dating someone my age. Idk life is weird.

Apparently the answer to how do I figure out my new character's actual voice? like, the one he uses to talk? is open up a Notepad document and ask him questions.

It's surprisingly effective.

(So are the excedrin and tylenol PM I took half an hour ago. I'm at that incredibly strange point, this particular moment, where my headache's mostly gone but the sleepy hasn't kicked in yet but I know it's coming. It's actually helpful, because it's a signal I should go get done what I want to do before I go to bed before I start getting loopy and useless.

Also that I should probably stop writing, because after a certain point it's just going to be really absurd questions and really absurd answers back and forth, and that will probably amuse me but be useless, practically speaking.)

This entry lives both here and at http://tiltingheartand.dreamwidth.org/546834.html -- comment wherever you like!

I definitely went to go see The Avengers again today. (And I would definitely go see it again. Once, twice, whatever.)

( attempt at coherent thoughtsCollapse )


I finally figured out why I have been so goddamn tired for the last two weeks: usually I make up for whatever sleep I lost during the week on Saturday night, when I sleep for twelve or fourteen hours. Now I'm working Saturday nights I never have a day where I can do that, so I'm probably at like -10 or -15 hours of sleep right now. It's awesome, let me just tell you.


And then earlier delight and distractionary and majesdane and I broke Gmail by accident. It was actually very exciting.

This entry lives both here and at http://tiltingheartand.dreamwidth.org/546671.html -- comment wherever you like!

1) I got to go see The Avengers Sunday afternoon. It was the first movie in I honestly do not remember how long that when my mom and I went to go sit down one of the people who worked there asked if we could wait outside so they could clean up. We were like 20 minutes early. The last show had just let out completely.

1) SPEAKING OF WHICH. My thoughts on The Avengers are mostly a slightly-unintelligible stream of capslock and exclamation points, and that's ... well, pretty indicative of me as a whole, but not, I think, terribly coherent when talking to other people. I'm going to see it again this Sunday, probably, so maybe then I will make more sense.

2) Speaking of which squared, here is a really spoilery article about this version of The Hulk which manages to articulate a lot of my thoughts. (Non-spoilery thoughts: SCIENCE!!!)

3) Saturday night, as a result of a conversation during which I discovered that Tori and Eric would both enjoy being in an Avengersandwich, with the exception of, and I quote, "that Hawkeye dude, what's he even doing there? no way is he as good-looking as the rest of them", I was trying to get Tori to at least see the other side, but then she said he looked like a hobbit and I thought, well, time to give up.

12:30 Tuesday morning I got this text: I take it back. Jeremy renner is not a hobbit. he is a fine looking gentleman and an excellent marksman.

Pretty sure I won this round.

5) I may have accidentally (*cough*) convinced immortality to join milliways_bar but I ADMIT TO NOTHING.

SO GUESS WHO'S SICK.

I have been attempting to ignore the "hey, you're getting sick!" signals my body has been shoving at me in the hopes that if it realizes I'm not paying attention it'll just stop, but, uh. I think the fact that I slept 11 hours last night and then took a 3.5 hour nap this afternoon kind of proves me wrong, there. (Well, that and the fact that my throat is killing me, I'm still exhausted, and also I keep fucking sneezing. AND IT HURTS TO SNEEZE.)


Other than that, idk. The problem I was having at work last week (which, for what it's worth, is not at all person-related) has gone from ARGH THIS IS AWFUL WHAT WILL WE DO to WAIT WHAT THE SHIT IS HAPPENING. Saturday morning I actually said "what the shit" out loud a few times when I was getting my stuff off of the printer (I use the one in our office because the spreadsheets I use are miles clearer on the laser printer than the one in the hall). But, you know, on the bright side, pretty sure my supervisor is no longer legitimately worried that the FDA might shut us down, so that's always nice.

(We got a warning letter a few weeks ago as a result of our response -- or lack thereof, I guess -- to the 483s (~observations~) they gave us when they came through and audited last summer. This isn't me telling information I shouldn't, because if you google "fda warning letter" and then go down to the recently-posted ones it's right the fuck there. A lot of the people I know, after reading it in its entirety, were of the opinion that what it wasn't saying outright was "you guys are really helping us with the ridiculous drug shortage in this country, and we really appreciate that, but believe us, if you weren't, WE WOULD BE CLOSING YOUR DOORS". Which is always nice to hear, right?)

Assuming said problem gets resolved soon, at least I'll have actual work to do again. (Actual work that I don't have to do in the antineo lab all gowned up, that is; possibly I ought to specify.)


After I get the stuff transferred over from my old computer to this one -- I'm still kind of upset, but really, the old one is on its last legs and I swear is giving me resentful looks when it thinks I don't notice -- I am planning on a Bomb Girls rewatch, because a) you know, uh, why not? and b) there's a fic that refuses to leave my head that I really ought to write, but which I really ought to re-canon for first. So. There's that.

Also, I have been plowing through the Otherland books, but once I'm done with those I'm not sure where I ought to go next. Anyone have any book recommendations? I will give pretty much everything at least a fighting chance.

(And anyway, speaking of which, howza all of you?)

This entry lives both here and at http://tiltingheartand.dreamwidth.org/545533.html -- comment wherever you like!

GUESS WHO GOT TO DRIVE IN SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY~~~

(... you get three guesses; first two don't count.)

Originally posted by write_light at BAD Internet Laws Heading Your Way

This is close enough to a my-week-in-brief entry that it's not awkward to mention how immortality was in Buffalo last week and we hung out and it was awesome. (We also had an amusing discussion about the differences between place names where she lives (CT) and where I live. Her: I saw this huge mall on the way here near ... some place ... *says something very vaguely intelligible with cheek in it (possibly)* Me: ... are you trying to say Cheektowaga?) Also she let me have a bit of her root beer float, so.


When I woke up Friday (actually woke up, which here means about three minutes after I got up) I realized I smelled baking chocolate, which meant BROWNIES. My mother makes the best brownies in the entire world, like, I cannot effectively convey how amazing these brownies are except to say that the recipe calls for, among other things, five eggs and three cups of sugar.

So it turned out that she'd timed it so the pans (one square pan of nuts for her, one square pan of not for me) would be just cool enough to cut by the time I was leaving for work, so she was like, hey, you want to take some to work? So we did some maneuvering and I wound up taking one pan with me (half nuts and half non). I didn't actually cut it until like half an hour after I got in because Tori was late, and obvs I wanted her and Eric to be sure to get brownies, but they were still warm enough the chocolate chunks were gooey.

Tori's reaction was basically "... omgdelicious". Eric's was "wait, who made these? your mom? ... can she be my mom?" which changed shortly to "does she want a new husband? like, seriously, how do you feel about a stepdad?" Jake, who went and got one quickly enough it was still warm, ended up taking his first bite as he was rounding the corner to join the three of us, and his response was "oh my god. is your mom married?"

& so on. They were completely gone before fourth shift got in (Melissa gets in at 5ish). And by that I mean Eric came around the corner with the last one in his hand, saying "fourth shift will never know".


When it gets to reasonable o'clock I have to call my dentist again (UGH). For two reasons, really -- a) the penicillin doesn't seem to be working (I only say this with authority because there were a few months in high school where one of my teeth would throb constantly for a few days, the result of which was always a penicillin prescription (... and eventually a dentist appointment which led to the most traumatic experience in a dentist's office I hope to ever experience), so I remember what it feels like for the shit to kick in), and b) I've figured out which tooth is the problem, and it's kind of ... not on the jaw I told her it was. And she gave me a referral to a root canal specialist based on the idea that the pain was in my bottom jaw, sooooo possibly we should get this straightened out. Uh.

(The upshot of which is mostly that I hate my teeth, but I have still managed not to get any of them pulled -- both of my parents have had teeth pulled, so it's basically my only concrete goal in life not to have that ever happen to me -- and I was still born without wisdom teeth, so I guess that's something.)

(When I called Wednesday morning to try to see my dentist sometime that week, the receptionist asked me if I'd had my wisdom teeth out when I described my problem. I always forget that's a Thing.)

Surprise emergency dentist's visit this morning turned out to be (unsurprisingly, now I think about it) inconclusive, so she gave me a referral to a root canal specialist; apparently one of the teeth they turned into Panama and was never subsequently crowned may be the cause of all of this. Although she also gave me antibiotics, which I was hoping for (usually when a tooth hurts this bad it's an inflamed nerve, and a combination of antibiotic + prescription-strength painkiller fixes everything until the actual dentist fixes everything). And Tylenol with codeine, which I've never taken before but which I am assured will make me sleepy.

I would be tempted to turn this into parcae's Adventures With Controlled Substances, but as it happens I need to get the fuck to bed anyway. (I am also assured the Controlled Substance will make my headache go away, which it has yet to do, but I'll give it time, I suppose.)

At some point I will have actual things to say, but for now: namechange! From "and that's where the elephant came from" to "the seal is for marksmanship".

It's probably a statement on my life at the moment that whenever I'm driving through downtown on my way home when the General Mills plant is manufacturing, my first thought is no longer "ooh, Cheerios" but is instead "huh, thiamine".

(For those curious: that smell Cheerios have isn't Cheerio-specific. It's the vitamin B1 in it.)


Something I genuinely do not understand (unlike my hatred of people who put their turn signals on while in exit-only lanes; THERE IS NOWHERE ELSE FOR YOU TO GO): I'm a big fan of not getting hit -- rear-ended, T-boned, in the throat, whatever. As far as I can tell, the sole purpose of turn signals is to help other people not hit you. Why do so many people refuse to acknowledge their existence?

No, seriously, I want to know.

Re: this post:

FUCK YES.

... can you tell I'm worried? (The 16th at 11. Ughhhh.)

It is way past my bedtime, but before I go I need to post this:

delight and her family are in some serious trouble; she and Brady are in an unsafe living situation and (in fucking ludicrous news) the insurance company denied coverage for her mother's cancer treatment. So they're in a bad spot. Even if you can't donate, please think about giving this post a signal boost; I've known them both for ages and they're both fantastic people, and I can't imagine being in their situation.

AND. helpfordelight is an auction comm on DW set up to help them. I (probably) will be putting something up when I get home from work tomorrow afternoon; until then, there are some awesome things up for offer, although if you're so inclined it could use some more of them. (And if/when I do put something(/s) up, I'll link back here, although I'll probs also make a new post.)

Also, because sotto_voice mentioned it and it's a good idea -- if you don't have a Dreamwidth account, you can use OpenID to leave comments; your username is just [your username].livejournal.com.

immortality: also.
immortality: guess what.
parcae: whattttt.
immortality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQlIhraqL7o

My best friend, ladies and gents.


(It's not a rickroll, I promise.)

( this is not a spoiler if you have any idea what happened with criminal minds over the summer, but i am cutting anyway, mostly for font sizeCollapse )

immortality: i kind of just want to spit on a piece of paper
immortality: and then mail it to cbs

Also, semi-relatedly but not cut because the fact that he guested was well-publicized: it doesn't matter how good an actor Tim Curry is or how hard he tries to sound American; he will always, always sound exactly like Tim Curry.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GUESS WHO HAS A JOB

ME, THAT'S WHO

Favorite part of this week's Would I Lie to You?: at 13:56, David gets the Don't Even Get Started Again Finger pointed at him.

(QUITE JUSTLY.)

(Uh. My second is actually less about the show and more about the fact that I attempted, possibly due to Lost Presence of Mind, to make a connection between Stephen Mangan, the fact that he played a role called Guy Secretan, the fact that Stephen Mangan looks unnervingly like Ryland Blackinton, and Ryland Blackinton's alter ego Guy Ripley. And then I went looking for pictures of both of them and went, oh wait, I'm just going insane.

It was fun while it lasted.)


Unrelatedly, but still amusing: apparently I know more than half the lines to Men in Black, something I don't think I am ever going to hear the end of.

Namechange! From "this is WAR, peacock!" to "and that's where the elephant came from".

This is because bansidhe rocks like a really fantastic chair.

Today I swam and took a nap in the grass in the shade and saw fireworks I was so close to I could feel the explosions in my feet.

It was a good day. :D

(Granted, I also got a mosquito bite on my forehead, but I'm about 80% sure that means I'm going to get an interview this week, so.)

The city where I live had a summer festival sort of thing yesterday and the day before (technically it was Community Days, but that's not really descriptive at all). We didn't actually go, but last night we heard fireworks going off at ten-ish, so we decided we'd go outside and watch from in front of our apartment building.

We were outside for, at the absolute most, fifteen minutes.

As of right now I have four mosquito bites: two on my upper right arm, one about two inches below the back of my left knee, and one on the right side of my left foot. (I should probably note, here, that I was wearing pajama pants. And socks. That means that the skin was covered up for each of the second two bites.)

So, whatever, I do my best not to itch and ask my mom to put calamine lotion on me, because hello super-awkward locations. It's fine. (And I laughed and said "ah, the smell of my childhood" last night; my mother has a story she likes to tell about when I was a baby and we went to the beach, and she put bug spray everywhere on me but the bottoms of my feet, which apparently got bitten all to hell. This is part of the reason I don't go out much.)

Until tonight, when I realized that the stuff I'd gotten from my grandmother was wearing off, and everything was starting to itch, so I went to go grab another one, pulled my arm up so I could apply, and my mom happened to catch sight and freak out because apparently it had gotten bigger since last night.

And then we measured it.

It's, okay, it's vaguely circular, inasmuch as a gigantic insect bite can be circular. It's also fucking two inches by two inches. (And, note: I don't know how big it was yesterday, or even this afternoon, but I am absolutely positive that it was not that goddamn big.)

So, uh. I'm somewhat worried.

So this afternoon I remembered that I left Nightmares and Dreamscapes half-finished like three weeks ago, so this is slightly less urgent than it could have been.

However! I still require input.

Dear Criminal Minds execs:

FUCK YOU.

*seethes*

(If this makes you as angry as it makes me, there is a petition up. It makes me absurdly happy that it's been up for 2 days and has almost 15000 signatures.)

Here, have some YouTube videos that have been making me grin at the computer tonight. (These are the ones I liked, anyway; there are a fuckton of carbon cone ones, and a lot of them make me yell GLOOOOOOVES at my computer instead of grinning.)


Obvs from a class somewhere.


FUCK YEAH THERMITE.


This is the only one I've never actually done myself. It's super-cool, though, and I wish I had.

It's funny, the pieces of information a brain picks and chooses to remember. (Or, well, I suppose I should say "my brain", but whatever.) I finished rereading Skeleton Crew a couple nights ago, and some of the stories I remembered very well and some of them made me blink, because I couldn't remember ever reading them before.

There's one story, "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet". It's a good story (like my mother and I were discussing a few days ago in the car, it's more about someone going insane than about, I don't know, an evil table-lamp or something) and longer than I was expecting, which is nice. But these are the two things I remembered about it:
a) if you try to kill yourself by shooting yourself in the head, there's a good chance it might not turn out how you want it to -- the bullet could ricochet off your skull and hit someone else, it might travel around your skull and then make its way out again, &c.
b) some people misspell certain words certain ways, and no matter how many people correct their spelling of this (these) word (words), that's never going to change.

I had completely forgotten everything else.

I don't know where this was going, if it was going anywhere; it's just sort of interesting, I think.

This weekend was unusually productive -- I wasn't actually expecting to do anything other than tidy, but who am I to ignore an urge to clean, even if it's at one in the morning? Especially when I have an empty suite in a mostly-empty building!

So, things I got done (some of these were this afternoon, to be fair):
-- cleaned up my room, since my yarn was all over everywhere
-- washed the counters in the kitchen
-- washed the stove
-- used the plastic thingy to scrape the stove, which means it is actually clean
-- vacuumed the bathroom
-- vacuumed the hallways & kitchen
-- mopped the hallways & kitchen, because vacuuming only does so much
-- re-vacuumed the hallways & kitchen, since mopping got up some dust etc.
-- ate lunch and dinner (this was today, obviously, and mostly an accomplishment because I forgot to yesterday, and also probably did Friday)
-- went through my online exit loan counseling, so they'll stop harassing me via email
-- did three weeks of laundry
-- folded it up (this is mostly noteworthy because I can count on one hand the number of times I have done laundry and folded that laundry on the same night this entire year)

Also I moved the shoes we're going to exchange out to the kitchen by the door so they don't stay here while we're out, but that takes a good deal less effort than all of that other stuff.


In between all of this madness today, I somehow managed to read most of A Wizard of Mars; the only reason I actually stopped was that it occurred to me I could pause, go put my laundry in, and then start reading again, and that this would be a much more efficient use of my time. After I post this and go get myself a snack, I plan on finishing it. :D

I feel like I start half of my entries nowadays with "and then I didn't post for (insert ridiculous amount of time here)". Probably this means I should post more, especially since I have a habit of composing posts while I'm showering; somehow I just never type any of them up.


BUT.

Today was my very first full day of I NEVER HAVE ANY MORE CLASSES EVER IN MY LIFE. It was awesome -- I woke up to an alarm, mostly because I had plans with immortality to go spend my meals in the campus center, so that was sort of lame, but the rest of the day consisted of finishing season 5 of Criminal Minds (well, up to what aired tonight, which I need to hunt down tomorrow at some point), watching a bunch of random stuff on TV (including ANTM, the elimination for which pleased me this week, much like last week's did), and then deciding to embark on a re-watch of Dead Like Me.

I feel these were all very good life choices. I also crocheted some.


One of the things I was considering posting was a poll so other people could help me decide what to read next, but then I remembered that I've had A Wizard of Mars sitting underneath my pile of hoodies where it couldn't distract me since it showed up in my campus mailbox. So actually I'll be reading that. The poll will probably be along shortly, though, since I could feasibly just read all day. MAYBE I WILL.

(That prospect is actually incredibly exciting.)

parcae: (watching television on computer) oh, baby, he's gonna kill you anyway.
parcae: you might as well mouth off.
immortality: you sound like me.
immortality: this bothers me ...

( survivor: heroes vs. villainsCollapse )


In other news, I got two and a half solvents done today, hooray! That puts me well over the halfway point, even if I don't go in until three tomorrow, like I think is going to happen. (Going in at three gives me time to make up the fluorescein solution, another solvent -- probably 1-propanol, since I did ethanol and 1-butanol today -- and run those two as well as the 1-butanol I made but didn't completely finish today.) At some point next week Chris needs to show me how to use all the software I grabbed off of rivet, and hopefully I'll be done by Wednesday. (Those two statements aren't actually related. Um.)

When I got into lab today Chris was off TAing a genchem lab (as happens on Tuesday mornings), but there was a mask sitting on my desk. This was mostly awesome because I knew where they lived in the lab once but have since forgotten. So I went and turned the computer and the instrument on and let the program start to boot, put my gloves on, fumbled my way into the mask, and took a deep breath and went to go pour myself ~40ml of pyridine.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the mask made it worse. Hello, noxious fume that's trapped around my mouth and nose, how are you today?

Luckily, at some point during the day yesterday, I mentioned that I had 12 solvents, and then amended that to 13, and Chris said if I wanted I could just not do one of the polar aprotic ones and make it an even twelve.

So guess who doesn't have to work with pyridine for the rest of the year (or the rest of her life, if she can swing it)?

WHY YES THAT WOULD BE ME.

My day, in list form:

-- did things before lunch; ate lunch
-- went to lab and heard that Max had pinkeye (apparently nobody was healthy last week)
-- made up the first vial of solution in reagent-grade acetone
-- made up the second vial of solution and managed to nail the concentration without having to make it more or less dilute (AWESOME)
-- made up the vial of fluorescein (after approximately eight adjustments, because ugh)
-- forgot how to autozero the instrument, and realized that there was nobody to give me a suggestion
-- got a new mouse for the instrument's computer so that nobody will have homicidal urges after dealing with it
-- decided to make up another solvent, and found the pyridine
-- DIED

My god is pyridine the worst thing ever. (I opened the window! It didn't help! I poured it back in the bottle and opened the window wider! It still didn't help! So I went and ate my granola bar and read and tried not to vomit or pass out.)

:|

Okay, short version of my reaction to tonight's Survivor --

I LOVE MY FUCKING SHOW.


There was too much awesome to focus on anything else. I love my show. The end.

*floofs off to watch Project Runway be awesome also*

parcae: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnUMOrd_ANI
bookelfe: *headtilts*
bookelfe: qu'est-ce que ce'est?
parcae: :D?
bookelfe: WOW
parcae: I KNOW RIGHT
bookelfe: *staring at performance*
parcae: is that not totally awesome
bookelfe: it IS =-O
parcae: he makes me go *___*
bookelfe: he reminds me of someone looks-wise
bookelfe: and I can't think who -
parcae: oh?
parcae: huh.
bookelfe: - *chokes*
bookelfe: I KNOW
parcae: ...?
bookelfe: for some reason
bookelfe: his face
bookelfe: reminds me of Data
parcae: ...
parcae: WHAT
parcae: WHAT.
bookelfe: I DON'T KNOW
bookelfe: BUT NOW YOU CAN'T UNSEE IT
bookelfe: CAN YOU
parcae: AHHHHHHHH
bookelfe: SORRY
parcae: CANNOT UNSEE
bookelfe: CAN'T READ DATA'S POKER FACE
parcae: I DO NOT APPROVE OF THESE SHENANIGANS
parcae: ;___;
bookelfe: he has unexpected talents!
parcae: ... data or johnny weir?
parcae: *wary*
bookelfe: BOTH

Replies will not come until, like, late this evening (I have Serious Plans to work out tonight and, also, it's still COLUMN TIME), but they will come.

Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one reason why I like you. Then repost this and spread the love (if you want to, you know, whatever).

Telling your mother (jokingly) that the way she's coughing makes her sound consumptive suddenly becomes a lot less amusing when her doctor, after telling her that he has no idea why she's still coughing after a month and two different antibiotics, gives her a TB bubble-test and schedules her for a chest x-ray.

:| :| :|

(Protip: if needles make you sick to your stomach do not look up the TB bubble-test, even if you just want text about what indicates having it and what indicates not having it. It's a poor life choice.)

I think I need a break, guys.

(... in all honesty that probably won't mean I'm around any less than I have been, lately, but this is a much more conscious thing.)


See you on the flip side.

nepheliad: i would find you. I HAVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER.

At some point before I go back to school, I am getting a new phone (hurrah). I have it narrowed down to two: the LG Xenon or the Samsung Solstice. If anyone has any opinions about either of these, say something? I'd really appreciate it. (I am planning on using it for talking, texting, and taking pictures, and ... that's it. So.)

I HAVE A POWER CORD AGAIN. HURRAH.

( the SAGA, or: an account of my train ride, and the fail thereinCollapse )

ANYWAY. I'm super-behind on the thirty-one in thirty-one thing, so I think I'm just going to post a whole bunch of songs on Friday. (Our plans for Friday are as follows: get up whenever we wake up, have Cinnabon muffin thingers from OUR OVEN, thank you freezer section at Wegmans, shower etc., go out and have Chinese at the buffet somewhere around here for lunch/dinner/thing, and go see Sherlock Holmes. I am excited, and also will obviously have time in the evening, so.)

Also, my mom drove me to the downtown library today and I walked out with I think five DWJ books, so I believe I am going to go make myself a bagel, take some Excedrin, and read for a while. And put band-aids on my thumbs. (Aaaaargh.)

Yes Meghan:

I am willing to offer you Virology as an ISP if you wish
to allow you more time to complete your MQP in C10.

To register for an ISP, you download an ISP form from
the registrar's homepage (Forms link on the left side), fill
out the student information at the top, and get the form
to me for my signature. There is no rush to do this, so
long as it is done by the start of C10.

Dave


AWESOME.