Monthly Archive for December, 2006

I’m not mad! I’m ANGRY! I’m an ANGRY SCIENTIST!

reference? anyone? kind of obscure.

I am emotionally and physically drained, yo.

This morning I had a committee meeting. Not just any committee meeting. THEEE committee meeting. Where there is no presentation of data. There is just an outline:

1. this is what I have done

2. this is what I am doing, and when I will be finished

3. when do I graduate?

annnnd…the answer to that?

March. Come hell or high water. Either I defend in march, or I will be asked politely but firmly to leave.

This is plenty of time, though. It’s just going to be a lot of work.

There is even MORE work I have to do, related to a discussion I had with my adviser. A discussion that resulted in my very near future becoming both very certain and very uncertain, at the same time.

I’m just not ready to talk about it here yet. Soon, though.

Then there was the defense. Of the other grad student in the lab - Amy, who had moved with the lab to Duke, but came back to defend.

She defended today and graduated. This is good - I’m very happy for her. She worked hard, and she deserved to graduate.

But…

She’s two years behind me, and she graduated first. This stings. A lot.

There are many reasons why this happened this way, and I’m not going to rehash them here, because it will come out bitchy and whiney and really, I don’t feel that way. I am a little sad, though. I am a mix of conflicted emotions.

I did get to see BRENDA! for the first time since she left for Boston. Oh good lord, I miss Brenda. I have a feeling she is going to be getting many calls from me over the next 3 months and will be forced to talk me down from the ledge.

(And Brenda? I know you’re going through all kinds of crazy medical shit right now, stuff that no one should have to go through. But I do have to say…you look GREAT! seriously. Boston agrees with you, you are skinny, girl. Awesome)

And to top it all off, I missed the 6:00 shuttle. I picked up the 6:20 one, which didn’t get me back to my car until 6:53.

Here’s the problem with that: I ordered prints from Wolf Camera last night. Wedding pictures. As christmas gifts for my family, which MUST go in the mail tomorrow.

And Wolf closes at 7pm. So I have a few seconds to make a decision: do I make a suicidal drive to Wolf camera, or do I pick them up tomorrow morning and just stuff them in the box to mail and have my mother deal with getting them in frames and albums.

Suicidal drive, of course. EFFECTIVE! Got there at 6:59. I have no idea how. Well, yes I do: 50 in a 35 zone. Pictures picked up, and I am saved from family drama.

So it was with MUCH EXCITEMENT that when I finally got home and checked the mailbox, I found it stuffed with christmas cards, a gift from Julie, and not one, not two, but THREE locker keys. Lockers which contained FOUR boxes: two gifts I ordered for Kev, my soap and lip balm from Serra, and a christmas gift from my mom.

(Julie got me a go-knit pouch and a booklet explaining the magic loop method for knitting socks. If you didn’t understand any of that, you are not a knitter, and don’t have to worry about it, except that it was an AWESOME gift)

and THEN, there were TWO MORE packages waiting at my door AND a slip on my door telling me I had to sign for a package at the post office.

Merry Christmas to me. One of the boxes was my grandma’s presents to us, including her homemade poppy seed roll, which will never see christmas morning. Good god, I love poppy seed rolls.

Then we made the evening complete by going out for mexican food. I am too much of an emotional roller coaster to cook right now.

annnnd…that’s it. Right?

What?

wedding pictures? yeah. I got my wedding pictures. most of them. that’s a WHOLE ‘nother post.

what, you want to SEE them? ALL OF THEM???

no.

you can see one for now. you’ll have to come back if you want to see more. I’m mean like that. ;)

loving look

successful saturday

1. sleep in -check!
2. sweaty monkey sex -check!
3. eggs and potato pancakes -check!
4. finish mom’s panta and block with scarf -check!
last gifts blocked

5. wrap Kev’s christmas gifts while he naps -check!
stockings were hung

gifts wrapped

note that his are the only gifts under the tree and in the stockings. Uh huh. Still waiting for mine to show up.

now I shall take a shower and wake up Kev’s ass in preparation for dinner at a friend’s house tonight.
BONUS SADIE PICTURES!

Sadie got an early gift - a new bed! Kev called her away while I made the switch, and when I called her back, did she pause? Sniff around? Cautiously explore? Examine with curiosity?

No. She just hopped on it and lay down, and was all “what? go away, I need a nap!”

enjoying the new bed

snoozing

the savvy among you will note that now her bed matches our new bedding.

uh huh. that’s right. I’m THAT GOOD.

signs

on a billboard on my way to work:

“Do you believe in love at first zip?”

-Earthlink

doesn’t that seem a little dirty for an ISP advertisement?

On a door I pass on my way to the pop machines:

“Please do not open this door. Doing so will compromise our experiments.”

Really? What are you doing in there? It’s not dark, I can see light coming through the foil and cardboard taped on to the window. I am now OBSESSED! What would really happen? What could opening your door possibly do? Are there fearful mutants in there? Why couldn’t you have just put a “keep door closed” sign on the door, and I would have never given it a second thought. But now it’s all I can do to walk past your door WITHOUT EXERTING MASSIVE WILLPOWER TO KEEP MYSELF FROM OPENING YOUR DOOR!!!

Two doors down from previous door:

“Beware of very friendly dog”

What????? Is there a dog in your lab? I’d open the door to check, but I’m afraid that I would compromise your experiments.

On a totally different note, I just screwed up and ruined the experiment I had planned for today. I have something else I can do today, but I felt it best to give myself a little “time out” before I go ballistic and do something crazy. Like open a door.

ooooeeeeeeeee!!!!

scene: in bed. I am knitting, and Kev is flipping through the channels trying to find something to watch.

Kev: *looks at me and grins*

ESC: what? *looks at tv* oh godDAMMIT, why is this ALWAYS ON when we’re in here?

it’s Deliverance. Back when we were first “a courtin’”, Kev used to tease me that this was his favorite movie. He’d quote it all the time: “squeeeeel like a pig!”   Can you believe I still married him?

Kev: hehehehe…hey baby…will you be my Ned Beatty?

ESC:…that is the LEAST ROMANTIC THING EVER SAID IN THE HISTORY OF EVERYTHING!

Kev: HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAHAHAAA!!!

ESC: seriously, that is the WORST thing you have EVER SAID TO ME!

Kev: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That got a much better response from you than I thought it would.

ESC: and I’m BLOGGING IT!

and his berthen is light

Messiah was a success. Whew! Glad that’s over.

Our director hired musicians to accompany us - couple of violins, viola, cello, bass. Good group. One of the violin players, though…

OK, he LOOKED normal - kind of puffy looking 40ish, mustache, glasses, lame…BUT

He greased up his hair and spiked it into kind of a faux mohawk, and dyed it PURPLE.

what’s weirder - apparently, he didn’t show up to the church like that. His hair was NORMAL when he came in the morning. He spiked it RIGHT BEFORE THE SERVICE.

Freak.

Tonight was our choir christmas party - w00t! Lots of food and booze. And I dressed EXTRA christmasy:

new red socks

Remember those socks I was debating? I ordered them. Two pair. The other pair is pale pink.
Kev really likes them. I mean REALLY REALLY likes them. Like, I put them on, and then somehow, 5 minutes later I found my self nekkid in bed. Feeling very very VERY good.

Best 10 bucks I ever spent ;)