Much has happened in my monthlong hiatus. Read on:
Changeness:
-Turned 23 a few weeks ago. Old am I. Big Holysh*t: a friend of mine masterminded a surprise birthday party! I was floored. Still am. Greatest shock: They flew in Sarah from the QC to spend the weekend here. It was fabulous. God as my witness, she is going to move here.
-Moved into my permanent room in the Castle. It's huge, and I've already made it a horrific mess. An uncontrolled assemblage of IKEA furniture, hand-me-downs, and the Howard-Till Memorial Furniture Collection (consisting of an old kitchen table and two bookshelves donated by a labmate and her husband). I finally got around to hanging stuff on the walls - including the eversosacred Ewan McGregor poster.
-Know of any cheap basses in Seattle?
-The Jane Austen Binge of the Summer 2003 hit a Snag: Got through Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion (LOVE IT!), and Northanger Abbey just fine. But Emma is kicking my ass. I shall keep trying. After that, it's Mansfield Park, Sanditon (maybe), and Pride and Prejudice to finish it off. But, either way, it's now become The Jane Austen Binge of the Summer 2003 that Trittled into the Autumn of 2003 because James is a Slow Reader.
-Go see Kill Bill, Volume 1!
-Turkey Sub.
-My car is a corpse, apparently. Needs to be reanimated. AAA, anyone?
-Yao Labbery is going as well as can be expected. With Meng-Chao's departure looming on the horizon, we're all anxious to glean as much as we can from him: paternal advice, stock options, Tetrahymena tidbits.
-(skip this bullet if you're not into biology) I'm between projects now: helping Marcella with her smc4 tagging, and starting a pseudo-RNAi experiment with Patrick. I swear, both endeavours would be so much easier if Tetrahymena weren't binucleate.
-New glasses, new hoodies, clean teeth.
-From what I can gather, my parents are getting along quite well these days. Both have been out to visit now (separately). My father and I had quite a time at IKEA in a failed, clownlike attempt to fit my new bedframe into his rental car. Something to laugh about when I'm 80.
-For my birthday, my sister gave me the first three seasons of Absolutely Fabulous on DVD. It's scary how well she knows me.
-Seattle recycles everything.
-Apparently, not many Americans know the capitol of Nunavut. What is the world coming to?
-The Basic Sciences retreat last month was spectacular. Got a free t-shirt, stayed in an expensive resort, lots of free food, great converstation, SCIENCE SCIENCE SCIENCE, talks, posters, wine, beer, bonfire, bonding, and sleeping in the car all the way back home.
-Still have yet to go to Canada. Ferry to Victoria soon?
-Friends visiting in Thanksgiving, Ellen visiting for Christmas; don't know when I'll get back to the midwest yet (three more months until my vacation time kicks in), but I have a flight "coupon" from ATA for whenever I fly back. Seems to me a Chicago-Missouri-Iowa City-Quad Cities loop is on order to cover everyone I want to visit!
-Volcanoes: Mount Rainier (with Tahoma), Mount Saint Helens, Mount Adams, and now Mount Baker. It's still shocking to see more mountain peaks than cornfields whenever I look out a window.
-The Seattle winter is approaching: 8 hours of day and drizzle. But, in the meantime, today is sunny, cool, and breezey. Bliss.
-I'll pay the extra money to see the third Matrix installment at the Boeing IMAX Theatre.
-I've a crush on a friend of mine; he's not interested.
-A different friend of mine has a crush on me; I'm not interested.
-I've actually ventured to Seattle gay bars. Not as horrific as I thought they'd be. 2 down, 12,000 to go?
-Am I really asocial?
-I want a Cheat hoodie. Medium or large.
-I think I should paint my toenails again. It's going to be a long winter.