jinian

Well, I can see that it'll take me a while to convince my body that I would like to sleep more than six hours a night. Having my digestion settle down will help with that too.

One of the nice things about being awake Too Fucking Early*, though, is that Hex is all cutely active. He also seems more energetic in the bigger tank, so yay me for finally getting that set up.

So what actually happened yesterday?

( Lots, as it turns out )

( Flashback meme time. )

And if you don't want to read all that, did you know that when boats are in dry dock, they move them around using giant fork lifts? I saw it this morning!

I think I'm being plotted (against) by a petty yet Bujoldian imp at the moment. Nothing is drastically wrong with my life as a whole.* Many things are excellent.

However, the worst thing that could have happened with this experiment was:
(1) for different people to interpret it in contradictory ways -- the optimist first, then the expert, thus jerking me around severely;

(2) for one of the probes to apparently work but mark the wrong cell type, which a supposed collaborator knew and didn't tell me (he is also the optimist; the hell with this guy);

(3) and for the whole thing to need another overnight incubation to determine the final result, thus placing me in a state of ongoing stress when I need to be packing and partying.

(4) Lastly, I would discover that basically we have no usable results.

This is all precisely what did happen.

At least I was able to have amazingly delicious Chinese hot pot with my roommates last night, and they liked my Thai green curry. Tonight: farewell party, Wim arrives (we hope? he still has kind of an odyssey to get here once he lands, but the hotel reservation is here in Nagoya), FUCKING WELL FINISHED WITH EXPERIMENTS.

* Typo "howl", cue mild hysteria.

Today, I made the entire fifth floor of the South Science Building smell of pumpkin pie. It was awesome.

I had to explain the technique of proper pastry, and make it with the "two knives as scissors" method since I couldn't find a pastry cutter at all. People understood the kabocha squash and cinnamon and were excited about them, but the nutmeg and particularly allspice were mystifying. The Hokkaido butter gets unusually hard, so we had to fold the crust in four after the initial rolling, but it worked out very well indeed. Everyone seemed to like it very much.

Despite my calculations beforehand, there was too much pie filling, so we wound up making four pumpkin custards in ramekins. I love that I am working in a lab that has common-use ramekins. Noted for future lab of my own.

(People also asked me the difference between shrimp and prawns. I explained the size difference and also the prevalent confusion of terms.)

So we had an awesome party including the pie, pasta puttanesca, salad, and various pizzas including a teriyaki chicken pizza that, with cheese, was really just too salty. The celebration was because someone's paper was finally getting published after almost a year; I am not entirely clear on how this happened. There was champagne, which fountained onto a bench very festively, and kinpaku, which is sake with gold leaf in.

My own recent paper was rejected tonight, though with largely quite positive comments, so that I think we can easily revise and resubmit. I am not bothered in the slightest, because (1) I was almost hoping for a rejection since they rejected the cosubmitted paper already, which would be hella awkward if they accepted mine -- I rather think that's what the editor was thinking too -- and (2) I got home to find two packages from my ground crew! Thanks, hattifattener and marzipan_pig!

Komarr is the exact right thing to read, right down to the "lovesick mania for volunteerism."

He would not, could not, work through it all in an hour, or a day, or even a year; each day must have the challenge and response appropriate to it. One damn thing after another, Vorkosigan had said. But not, thank heavens, all things simultaneously.

And last night I did something that was the exact right thing to do: Journey to the End of the Night Seattle. Wim told me about it in the afternoon, so I wasn't really prepared for a footrace, but I got him to bring me better shoes and ditched my backpack at the lab and we went. I was so very tired, but getting chased through the city was Not Remotely Like Work and I took a chance on it (assuming I could ditch at any time and go home).

( This got pretty long, but it was great. )

We watched L'Atalante. It was confusing. Luckily, this led to amusing commentary, of which this was my favorite:

K: Are we meant to understand that they're thinking of each other lustfully?

W: They're French. Maybe this is just how they sleep.

(Also, while brownie batter is delicious, I had actually intended that to be brownies. Oops. Darn Joy of Cooking.)

++ Seeing Les Misérables for the first time. Some of the songs make WAY MORE SENSE when you see staging than when your mom just plays the soundtrack a zillion times. Also, best stage effect of someone falling ever. (Projected moving backgrounds: they mostly just looked like Dungeon Maker, but the fall was exquisitely done.)

-- Lost most of yesterday to forgotten-meds headache. Butterbur not working out as well as hoped, still trying to adjust dose etc.

+ Raspberries continue good.

- Arthropod pet has passed on for unknown reasons. We had a nice little burial, at least.

--- Apparently my uterus was NOT letting me off easy this month, it was just taking a fucking siesta.

+++ Rowing on the lake with my sweetie today was lovely, and neither of us got sunburned at all. We did not quite lose our hats.

+ Despite being antsy-energetic and grouchy, I got some good housework done today.

I will eventually post all of these, and hopefully someone will read them.

( 17 photos and a writeup )

Overall pain level after having to use crutches to get to class and around the building for one day: possibly greater than right after the accident. Last night I felt like the foot was lots better, since I could put a little weight onto it, and my arms didn't hurt that much. Waking up was NOT FUN. My arms are hurting like crazy, my foot is pissed off again, my other foot and leg are grouchy, and my armpits hurt. (Underwire is my friend, but it does not get along with crutches. Still less do backpack straps.) I guess I can be kind of proud of my abs, since they don't hurt despite the tiny-crunches nature of every forward movement with the crutches. Sheesh.

Today I am mostly rolling around in a lab chair, and for tomorrow I'm arranging a van ride to class. Hopefully this means less misery going forward.

[ETA] Oh, also Wim is awesome for driving me to and from school, putting up with my whining, and cleaning all catboxes since the accident.

Last Friday: Willy Wonka (1971) in Smell-o-vision at SIFF Cinema with grad friends, subtitled for singing along. The enhancement consisted of some candies and fabric swatches, and the subtitles said when to use which ones: "Chew the gum/ With your mouth open." The best part (and okay, I was a little high, but it was amazing) was in the bubble room part, when the entire audience was also blowing bubbles. So surrounded by wonder, way better than 3D movies. Afterward most of us got some food and I managed to blow someone's mind completely, so that was pretty great too.

Last Saturday: grad Christmas party, complete with someone in a Santa suit, someone afraid of the Santa suit, Kinect dancing game, Ultimate Fighting (did not watch), the Grinch (totally watched), and lots of eggnog. My lemon meringue pie was a hit, though I meant to balance it slightly sweeter; the sugar we have is coarse and fell out of the meringue more than it melted in.

Last Sunday: brunch at Salish Lodge, next to an overwhelmingly full Snoqualmie Falls. The gauge for water flow was at 80-85% of its capacity, and the falls was enormous. ( Largish photos )

And then dinner out for marzipan_pig's birthday, with PIG HATS.

Last Wednesday: did a little work and hung out with my dad.

Yesterday: Tron Legacy in 3D at the Cinerama: geeky and mythic and pretty, and the 3D is mostly good rather than super-gimmicky. Total Bechdel fail, of course. And while "Laser Lebowski" on the Neptune marquee cracked me up, "Return to DOS" incensed me, as "whoami" is clearly UNIX.

Last night: dinner with m-pig; intention to go to an SF reading was foiled by its having been on Wednesday (crap!); instead going to Elliott Bay, reading the Virgin Project comics, and meeting people we knew of old. Figured out what to give my mom for Xmas, thank god. Met a girl with my name, spelled the same!

Tonight: Labyrinth! with grad friends and m-pig. Considering wearing a ballgown.