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Le Fournil

Thursday's child has far to go.
(For me, the journey actually isn't that far... just the bus to work in Eastlake... but I hope it's far enough!)

--This week has certainly been eventful for the Yao Lab. Both resident graduate students have important meetings, and Rachel is also taking her exam as I type! We all know she'll pass; but still - quite an impressive feat!! Meng-Chao and Hui also returned from Taiwan and China, respectively, with equally respective illnesses. I'm pretty sure Patrick is up half the night finishing his law school applications; the undergraduates are staying up half the night due to approaching final exams; and Hisashi is probably just staying up half the night because... well... the man always seems to be in lab, or at chess tournaments and jazz band concerts for his little ones.

--As for me: I had to give lab meeting this week! Tremendous (yet generalized) nervousness Sunday night gave way to outright terror-stricken bouts of spontaneous research Monday. Patrick even took fifteen minutes out of his busy (yet unholy) combination of lab work and law school apps to give me some friendly advice - calm the hell down! I'd made a small mountain of articles to read concerning this week's journal article/topic... and it was actually a relief to hear Patrick say, "You're doing too much." (I'd feared I was doing too little... but that's what I get for choosing a topic that I'm not an expert in, but everyone else is in lab is an expert in.) Suffice it to say, most of Monday and Tuesday were spent doing research still. And I got very little sympathy from Rachel and Marcella (understandably). What they're confronting this week makes my "task" look like Sunday in the Park with George.

--But when the big day came (Wednesday morning), I rose early, and trudged through Seattle weather (cold, drizzle, fog) to one of several bakeries conveniently located between my house and the Hutch. (The giver of Lab Meeting is also the bearer of baked goods for the food-driven research environment so treasered by Yao Labbery.) At le Fournil, I actually took time to calm down whilst ordering my pastries. I even argued with a six-year-old who was repulsed at the fact that I got a peach pastry.

Le Fournil attendant: "Will that be all for you?"
Me: "No... let's also add a peach pastry."
Six-year-old behind me: "Eeeeeewwwwww! I hate peaches!!"
Me *turning around*: "Oh my! That's too bad."
Six-year-old behind me: "My babysitter gives me peaches for dessert if I've been bad... 'Cause I don't like them."
Me: "My goodness! I hope you haven't had to eat peaches often then. Have you been a good boy for your babysitter?"
Six-year-old behind me *beaming*: "Yes I have!"
Mom of six-year-old, *echo*: "He certainly has."
Me: "You know, when I was little, I loved peaches. My mammaw used to give them to me all the time."
Six-year-old behind me: "Eeeeewwww! You must've been a very bad boy!"

--I let the kid win that one.

--Le Fournil excursion over, I headed to work, made my transparencies, and... well... gave lab meeting. All-in-all, I suppose it went pretty well. About a half-hour into it, I was no longer nervous (at least, I calmed down enough to nibble half of a peach pastry between questions). Luckily, the discussion turned into a generalized debate on ciliate evolution and taxonomy. Fear not - I'll spare you the details. But, no matter how frustrated I can get with my work, taxonomy and molecular evolution never cease to fascinate me. I beamed at the front of the room, especially when we began discussing paleontology, and Meng-Chao turned to me (I was the only one present with any paleo background). Granted, I was off by 100 million years in my answer to his inquiries concerning the earliest insect fossils (400 million years ago, James! Not 300!). But, all-in-all, lab meeting went well; and no one complained about the peach pastries.

--In other news, Hadlers is off interviewing at U. Penn and Harvard for M.D./Ph.D. programs. She told Saboora and I earlier this week that she's been accepted to three schools already! Wo-hoo! Overachiever. She'll also get to visit with Bryn and David whilst in Philadelphia! You lucky!

--As for another overachiever, Saboora turned twenty-one on Monday. Happy Birthday, kiddo! You and Hadlers have been two of my most steadfast supporters - and defenders of my sanity - here in Seattle. You are my family. Thank you!

--Wow. Three overachievers in a row. Happy belated 23rd to Brad! Thou art truly righteous.

--In true dork form, Zach and I journeyed to the Seattle Cinerama last night to see THE EXTENDED VERSION of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Three-and-a-half hours of Tolkien goodness. Mmmmmm. They're switching to the extended version of The Two Towers for this weekend, in anticipation of already-sold-out showings of The Return of the King. Yes, I'll probably go see The Two Towers this weekend, too. Yes, I already own the extended versions of both films on DVD... but, c'mon - this is the big screen!!!!

Posted by James at December 11, 2003 08:57 AM