Happy Monday!
This might sting a little. Or tickle. Or smell like bacon.
--Reason #367 why Mark is a good friend: the boy asked me to dinner last night, and went ahead and planned the rest of our evening - relieving me of the Burden of Decision. Vietnamese soup, sarcasm, a two-hour cruise to Bremerton and back on the Kitsap (and the Washington State Ferries serve alcohol - score!), and then the late showing of Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World. Mark, I don't think you read this site, but thank you just the same. Sometimes it's just nice to have it all planned out for me.
--As for Master and Commander, I would, for the most part, agree with the Poje on this one. I quite liked it. (Big surprise - a movie about sweaty men in close quarters pleases me, right? Oh, stuff it.) Honestly, I thought the story was interesting, and the plot took some interesting turns I didn't expect. The acting was pretty good, and exceptional in some cases. Of course, many of the men were handsome. *blushes* Especially the ship's surgeon!! The biologist in me loved their excursion to the Galapagos Islands; though, I seriously doubt half the audience got the pun about "the first naturalist to explore these islands." *shrugs* Ah, what a time I live in!
--The previews for the film included a new disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow. The premise: the Greenhouse Effect begins in earnest, and raises havoc across the globe. Twisters devour Los Angeles, while tidal floods and freak snowstorms wreck New York. Everyone flees south for friendlier weather. I'm pretty sure the movie won't be anything deeper than Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, but for some reason I'm drawn to it. I think I'm drawn to Disaster Flicks in general (perhapsI'mpsycho?), though, when I end up seeing them, I find I empathize with the characters way too much. Especially with the poor anonymous schmoo who got vaporized when this-asteroid-slammed-into-the-Chrystler-Building or the random dip who was swept-away-by-that-giant-wave-slamming-into-Battery-Park. And why must New York be destroyed in virtually every "modern" disaster film? Jeez.
--Speaking of films, The Return of the King is approaching. Bow down. Maybe they'll reinsert Christopher Lee's scenes showing the fall of Saruman. I'd love to cram as much of the book into the film as possible. Yes, it's nerdy. Yes, you love it.
--This weekend was eventful in so many ways, and restful like you'll never believe. Work had been hard on my soul lately; so it was good to take two days off, and not set foot in the Hutch.
--As for work, looks like this week is going to be a bit busy. I touched base with Meng-Chao today, a necessity that is actually getting easier and easier. Talking with my PI, at least today, didn't induce a mild coronary episode with me. I actually felt more confident than I had before about the work I'd done, and what I wanted to do next with the experiments I'm tackling. Of course, Meng-Chao put in his two cents and changed the course of this week altogether. But I walked out not feeling like a COMPLETE moron, unlike all the other previous times we'd "touched base."
--But, as a result of our conversation, now Patrick and I are going to tackle a procedure neither of us has ever done before - Biolistic Transformation. I won't go into details, especially since few biologists view this site, and fewer biologists still know much about biolistic transformation in Tetrahymena. But, here are the basic materials: DNA, gold particles, and a "gun" (no, not a firearm - I'm just a research technician!). You can guess which of those three is my favorite! But, Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be long days - especially since this technique is new to Patrick and myself.
--Seeing Patrick apply for law school, and all that, keeps me pressured to at least CONTEMPLATE graduate school on a daily basis. It hasn't left my mind yet. Sometimes, I just think I should take the damn GRE and get it over with. Other times, I think, "Why? You haven't studied one bit. And you KNOW you don't retain information that well. It'd be a waste of money." Still other times, I think, "Good score or bad, you had pretty good grades in college. And you might get good enough recommendations to at least get in a middle tier graduate program..." Blahblahblah. No clear thought has made signifcant headway in my mind. It's a constant tug-o'-war. But, the fact that the ideas are still floating around in my brain is at least encouraging. I haven't given up on the idea... yet.
--I think Jane Austen and I need to split temporarily. Emma is fantastic; but I'm not reading on a consistent enough basis. I might start J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians tonight instead. As always, pray for my brain.
That is all.
Posted by James at November 17, 2003 08:37 PMJames, my dear. I am feeling the same way when it comes to graduate school. I've started looking at taking the GRE and researching schools around chicago, but I don't know. It's all very scary.
Miss you.