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Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
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11:32 am - got a fever... fever in the morning... fever almost every night
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Not feeling well physically today. But I did get enough sleep! This in and of itself shouldn't be impressive, but ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dark_towhead and I did put together Rock Band and play it together last night. Poor ladyscience. I'll try not to abuse her ears too much.
Squeeeee Rock Band!
dark_towhead and I started a girl band we call MÿowKløk. (Yes, we're Metalocalpyse fans.) My drum set works, but I'm still brutally sucky at the foot pedal thing. I'm in the process of opening the main setlist via solo vocals on medium. (I like singing, and it is the quickest way to burn through since I'm pretty familiar with the main setlist by now... though playing through the drums might not be a Bad Idea.) We still need to acquire another guitar if we want four people to be able to play. Fortunately, Guitar Hero 4 (aka SuperDeeluxe Rock Band) is coming out soon, so hopefully older guitar controllers will go on sale!
Life is fun.
In other news, I tried to order the trilobyte pin and discovered they were sold out. :( Krosp! (That's the bad part about trying to avoid impulse buys.) Hopefully they get some more in before Jul 16th.
current mood:  sick
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| Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
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11:59 am - Pre-Shower Morning Conversations, or I re-learned something today
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For some reason, this morning when I asked dark_towhead if he was ready to shower (pronounced schawa, because I was feeling silly) it reminded me of my elementary school grammar lessons.
Did anyone else remember colorful cartoon illustrations of the 'schwa'? or the 'sneaky schwa'? I remember thinking that it was one of the more stupid things we kept repeating in grammar school. (Yes, yes, there's a lot of repeated stupidity in grammar school - for some reason this sticks out.) I realised in the shower this morning that I didn't even remember what it was, much less why the grammar books seemed so obsessive about it. (Now, homonyms, synonyms, and antonyms were way more fun, IMHO, but that's because I got to learn new words!)
Turns out a schwa is the vowel equivalent of zero or a place holder... similar to dropping syllables when talking quickly. I still have no idea why I remember my grammar books' obsession with it. I suspect it was a handwaving attempt to explain why we don't pronounce all the vowels in English. This might be useful to a native speaker of say, Japanese, but most American English speaking kids will probably just accept that some words are pronounced and spelled differently and go on their way. Sheesh. :)
current mood:  amused
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| Monday, May 19th, 2008
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9:33 am - parties, philosophy, friends, and over-thinking
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Well, my science sucks right now but I need to go re do the pcr insertion. I can't think of any other solution to my problem, and the pcr insertion boils down to about a week of molecular biology work that I'd rather be spending on my thesis introduction. Meh.
So that whining aside, I have a conundrum. A pleasant one, but a conundrum nonetheless.
1. I have a large, diverse group of friends (yay!), not all of whom get along. (hrrm)
2. I have a small apartment shared with two other people.
3. I have a thesis defense party I'd like to plan.
4. Sometimes I have trouble with large crowds of people (especially in small spaces).
5. I don't want to make dark_towhead feel like he has to plan three surprise parties so we can deal with my neuroses as well as the fact that I don't believe in forcing all my friends to try and get along with one another.
Advice? Thoughts? Opinions?
Right now I'm leaning toward a picnic as a celebration for my thesis defense, as the best compromise for 2-5. But I'm not sure if that's the best answer. So I turn to y'all, and hope for suggestions. Sticking my head in the sand and planning no party probably wouldn't be the best idea anyway, though as the stress increases it begins to sound better and better. ;)
current mood:  pensive
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| Friday, May 16th, 2008
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10:48 am - Hey look, a salmon!
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I got tagged by an AbsorbentSalmon this morning. On a whim, I decided to chat with the salmon, and met a nice LJ fellow in England who likes science fiction. (I couldn't resist; he opened with "I am a walrus." which hit my funnybone.)
Score one for the fishes, and hi, mingmerciless! :) Thanks for being cool.
current mood:  good
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9:56 am - more random amusement as I write introduction sections
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Think I need this for my thesis defense? O=)
I think it'd be awesome. Biologists never get jokes anyway. ;)
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| Thursday, May 15th, 2008
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8:45 pm - things that make me go hrrm
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From Wikipedia on Xenopus Laevis;
"X. laevis is also notable for its use as the first well-documented method of pregnancy testing when it was discovered that the urine from pregnant women induced X. laevis oocyte production. Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is a hormone found in substantial quantities in the urine of pregnant women. Today, commercially available HCG is injected into Xenopus males and females to induce mating behavior and breed these frogs in captivity at any time of the year."
This reminds me of Torchwood, and the oestrogens in the rain. Not to mention the feminized fish, and how human hormones can affect other creatures.
...And if I ever write a science fiction novel where a science exploration vessel crashes, now I know how to resolve dramatic tension about whether or not the hot shuttle commander is pregnant!
Learn somethin' new every day!
current mood:  nerdy
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12:19 pm - Yay, demographics
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I'm listed in my Facebook profile as female, married, and 30ish. I've noticed I tend to get the following ads, listed in my own personal order of frequency. These are not application ads, just the ads on the side of the screen.
#1 with a bullet. Weight loss ads. (Typically those that show pictures of just tanned, skinny bare bellies, occaisionally ones that show muffin tops with EWWW text.)
Close second - Pictures of babies. These include invitations to click on baby name sites, buy diaper services, sites that tell me how to improve conception, as well as links to dating sites in case I want to stop dating and pop out kids. (sigh)
way less than 1 and 2:
3. Requests to fill out surveys for wedding type retailers about how my wedding went.
4. Travel agencies.
5. Other, usually gizmos. My current favorite was 'GET YOUR OWN PINK IPHONE IN FREE TRIAL' Pluses for a gizmo ad, minuses because I would have to sign up for more credit cards and there was no option NOT to get a pink iPhone. (In case you're reading this, APPLE, STOP ADVERTISING A PINK PRODUCT AS AN UPGRADE. IT'S NOT AN UPGRADE BECAUSE IT DOESN'T HAVE ANY NEW TECH. IT'S JUST A COLOR. PLEASE STOP INSULTING OUR INTELLIGENCE. KTHANXBYE.)
What's funny is combining these with the app ads. So on Scrabulous, I get ads to date Asian women... and baby ads. Or I get ads to play roleplaying games with sexy anime babes... with more tummy ads. Sigh.
Big Brother doesn't care what I think, he just wants me to know what he wants me to think. Bastard. :)
What does Big Brother want you to think?
current mood: amused
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| Monday, May 12th, 2008
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4:04 pm - eh, who needs a title anyway? ;)
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I have four project to do lists. This is a bit more than I'm comfortable handling at once.
I have the 'Science' list, which right now is largely on hold. I have one more experiment I must do as a control. The control mocks me with its monkey pants and refuses to do much of anything. Sigh. Waiting for reagents now, so must attempt other lists.
I have the 'Deal with Bureaucracy' list for graduation crap. Right now this one is (I think) up to date.
I have the 'Write thesis' list, with the subheader 'break thesis up into manageable chunks so you don't run screaming' sublist. I've got the beginning of the introduction done and need to write more blocks o text to put in it. I'm dead certain that I'm probably being briefer than I could be, which means I mostly have to beat that bad boy out so I can send it to my AWOL boss so he can respectfully suggest where it needs expansion.
I have the 'find job' list. The resume is ready, I just need to write more cold letters. (I also need to ask my AWOL boss to write me a letter of reccomendation that he can copy and paste a bunch of times.) The infinite joy I feel at the prospect of cold emails to people who don't know me is certainly helping the letter writing get done. (/sarcasm)
Yikes. Now to split cells and go home to read all the papers I've printed.
current mood:  stressed
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| Thursday, May 8th, 2008
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10:37 am - As I get older, I become more radical/feminist. What's up with that?
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Got some links from Bitch PhD, some from amanda_lodden, the NYT, and some from ABW. Possibly interesting to those who wonder (aside from amphipathic lipophiilic proteins and osmosis vs active transport) what's occupying my headspace. Things that make me uncomfortable, in a good way. :)
First up, amanda_lodden's recs:
Sex, Lies and (Magazine) Advertising. Longish, not surprising in subject matter but shocking in some of the details. Steinem's essay is still as meaningful now in 2008 as it was in 1990.
A Culture War, or Why There Are No Web Standards, thanks.
These seem sensible: 25 Rules To Grow Rich By. Finally! A way to grow money that doesn't simply say 'Gee, if you buy your own coffee maker and take your lunch to work in a brown paper bag, you'll save lots of money!' ;)
Moms Rising, credit to BPhD. I really like this because it reminds me of the strong women in my family, and I like the phrase 'feminism's unfinished business'. It rather crystallizes the dissatisfaction I feel with Betty Friedan and her followers. (short version; class is just as important as gender in politics.)
On Feminism 2, by ABW. An interesting intersection between feminism and a science fiction convention, WISCon. (If I'm repeating this one, I'm sorry.)
Male Summer Movies, by NYT. I'd noticed the trend to teenage boy summer movies, sappy (or possibly artistic, or both) women's autumn movies, but apparently trending has codified into policy. Hey, movie-goers! Do me a favor this summer. Count during the trailers and let me know if I'm right that trailer #3 is the Designated Slot for the Girlfriends in the Audience. (These usually advertise Lifetime-style pap or dumbed-down romantic comedies.) I've got a theory about how they rank and market movie trailers. I've seen quite a few over the years.
current mood:  uncomfortable
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| Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
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10:41 am - Well, that happened.
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Got home from SnB last night and wrote the f*cker. 1200 words that made me cry. Worst part was referring to Mom in past tense for the story. I'm going to mail a printout to her today in the post, along with the bottle of perfume. I miss my Mom and I want to hit her at the same time. Right now, I'm thinking she's a manipulative bitch. Thanks, Mom.
She only gets one. I'm not going through crying like Mom has died again until she has an accident or the main event.
Now for lab calculations. ;p
current mood:  tired
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| Monday, May 5th, 2008
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12:04 pm - Rant: Today I feel... Snarky!
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Called Mom last night. Had to do some verbal footwork, but came out with it that it really did sound like she wanted me to write her eulogy, and that this made me very upset as I didn't want her to be dead yet. This gave Mom a jolly laugh and she told me that a eulogy wasn't what she meant, she just wanted to give me some structure for the assignment. And that she wasn't depressed and I didn't need to talk to my father about seeking treatment for Mom.
However, she didn't take me off the hook; she said she still wanted the story.
Right now all the stories I can think of are ones she doesn't want to hear, with 'why is it that Mom comes out with this wierd shit at the worst possible times?' at the top of the list. You know, when I have three writing deadlines already, and she hands me an emotional nut kick that makes it nigh impossible to deal with those until this kidney stone has passed?
Fine. I'm going to try and make her cry. ;p You want it, you get it. Throw down. RAAAAR!
current mood:  snarky
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| Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
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5:24 pm - Mom
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I asked Mom what she wanted for Mother's Day. She responded with the fact that she hadn't given any thought to Mother's Day this year as all the people she needed to buy for were in the ground.
After a week, she came back and told me she was really excited. She knew what she wanted and it was good news and I didn't have to spend any money on her, and 'not that much time, not like knitting something'. What she'd really like was if I wrote her a short piece. How I'd introduce my mother to a group of people reminisicing about their mothers on Mother's Day.
She did apologise for channeling her inner English teacher. She did have a sense of humor about me saying 'oh dear' after her first line.
Right now I'm trying to grapple with putting the complex relationship I view us having into what could fit into a Hallmark card with roses on it. I suspect it's that version of the relationship that she wants for her scrapbook. She wants me to tell her how I'd remember her to strangers? She's my Mom. For a long time, she was a force of nature that I was terrified of and still loved. Now she wants to be my friend. How do you doll that up?
Really, the bottle of perfume would have been easier. ;p
current mood:  quixotic
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| Thursday, May 1st, 2008
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11:04 am - Happy May Day!
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Big experiment today. Wish me luck. Go have fun outside for me!
current mood:  jubilant
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| Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
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11:08 am - doing better today
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Largely, the doldrums have passed. Yesterday didn't work out the way I thought, but it worked out in the end, and I'm feeling better today.
I got to visit shadowravyn in the hospital yesterday. She's mostly bored; her ulcerative colitis was flaring up again. I love hanging out with shadowravyn; she brings out the feisty in me. :) Send good vibes to her stomach so that she can feed her Internet addiction soon, among other things. (Maybe we need a steak night out with shadowravyn... I know she'd complain terribly, especially after being on the 'clear fluid' diet.)
I managed also to visit nightskyre and anitra briefly last night, which was way cool. Hopefully I'll get to see them Friday eve. anitra is starting to glow, and happily she's eating again. Life is good.
Today the street sweepers were supposed to come, so dark_towhead and I had to abandon nightskyre and anitra early so we could get up early. Yay. I wouldn't complain about going in early tomorrow, as tomorrow I have a big uptake experiment; last design, first iteration. Hopefully this and its repeats go off well. dark_towhead intends to sleep in tomorrow even if the sweepers haven't done their thing yet.
Lastly... I have a thesis defense date. It is July 16th at 9:30am, room 816. It's in the Lazare Research building at UMass Medical School in Worcester. Y'all are invited, but I understand completely if you'd rather undergo surgery just get the short version in the comfort of your own home sometime. ;) So... deadlines. Shit just got real.
current mood: good
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9:48 am - LibraryThing Meme
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Meme borrowed from expoeticsoul and juldea; comes with the caveat that dark_towhead might own some of these books, so I may own them without knowing. (I lost track of our library at some point.)
These are the 106 top "unread"-tagged books on LibraryThing. Bold what you've read, italicize what you started and didn't finish, star what you read and would recommend. (I'm also adding OS, for 'on shelf'. If dark_towhead sees fit later, we can further edit this list so I know. I figured I'd own up to my 'sins'. :D )
( Book list nipped )
current mood: amused
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| Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
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10:30 am - Gray Books
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There's no reason I should be gloomy. Yet I am. I suppose there's a reason I'm stressed, but right now it's tempting to sit on my butt, think about how I'm such a wierdo outsider, and eat 'despair cookies'. Why do I get this way? I know that I need to get off my ass and DO SOMETHING if I want things to change. Am I so afraid of the changes to come? Damn it, I know when I'm being irrational and yet it doesn't seem to change anything.
I've finished the Picture of Dorain Gray. This witty meditation on youth and privilege was good, but probably not helpful in lightening the mood. =) I look back on the sunlit pictures from the photo shoot and think about fat, wrinkles, aging, and death. I hope the portrait of my soul is not so disgusting.
Bleh. I suppose the cold and rainy weather doesn't help. I'm a silly human.
What's next? I'm working on Money Shot, by Christa Faust. Damn that woman writes a great hard boiled. If you like hard boiled at all, you must read this!
current mood:  gloomy
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10:13 am - Happy birthday, mattieflap!
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Go hot mama! :)
current mood: jubilant
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| Monday, April 28th, 2008
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4:22 pm - weekend
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Probably played too much this weekend, but it was fun.
Saturday I went to work and then had a GPC shoot. I was so happy it went off! The shoot was great, the weather was great, and we were hot. Life is good.
Yesterday I went out with expoeticsoul, dark_towhead and katvrimag for katvrimag's birthday. We had Girly Shopping and the Red Robin, Cold Stone Creamery, and then Dr Who. katvrimag proclaimed herself content. (I had a great time too)
I got my construct back. Today I split a hojillion cells (hojillion for you, ddrpolaris) and I'll have a big experiment Thurs. I'm excited. :)
Okay, I'm supposed to go home and write thesis bits. Part of me would prefer the swimsuit game. later!
current mood:  working
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| Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
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12:34 pm - random collection of articles I found interesting this week
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| Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
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12:17 pm - My teeth hurt
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I think I've figured out my airhead cell problem. My airhead bacteria seem to have clipped the vector so the protein sequence is no longer carried within it. The cells are dutifully overexpressing a vector with nothing in it. I apologise for calling my HEK's airheads. Sigh. RAAAAR!
I really, really want to scream and hop up and down. Instead, I've been clenching my jaw like Seth Bullock these last few days, and now my teeth hurt.
Maybe I should be wearing my jawpiece to work until I can get this straightened out.
Need to kill: RISING!
current mood:  irate
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