Passion

Oh wow, has it really been this long since I updated? Where did the last month go?

Things are going really well here. We've definitely settled in, to our new apartment and our new jobs and our new life. I can honestly say I'm happier than I've been in years. I like my job, I like where my life is, and I LOVE being back on the west coast. I know I keep going on about the food, and the weather, and the FOOD, and the WEATHER, but I can't stop. I marvel at every perfectly made sandwich slathered with fresh ripe avocado, at every November morning that's warm enough for me to bike to work in a t-shirt. In the three+ months I've worked here, I can count on one hand the number of times I've been forced to eat lunch indoors due to inclement or cold weather. There is SUN! And good coffee! And something called aioli! ::dies::

So. I'm also thrilled with the amount of STUFF to do. I've hung out with friends, gone to a vampire-themed ball, seen people fling themselves into the bay in poorly-designed homemade aircraft... Tonight I went to a tiny little cafe on the other side of the city to see Lauren O'Connell sing. I discovered her two or three years ago on youtube (I can't even remember now how I found her. through Julia Nunes maybe?), and she has an absolutely incredible voice, coupled with a real talent for songwriting - the way she takes emotions and puts them into neat little words that don't diminish their feeling at all is just... mindblowing. Anyway, so I got to go see her sing tonight, and she's just as awesome in person. And is an awesome person. It was one of those times where I became the awkward nerd I really am deep down inside, and she was super friendly. I told her my name just once, when I first walked into the cafe 20 minutes before the show and she was standing by the door, and she remembered it. She called me by my name an hour later. Wow.

Jim is out driving for SideCar tonight, and was far away when the show ended, so I actually used the SideCar app myself for the first time tonight. The woman who picked me up was really friendly, and we had a nice chat. She's in the global health program here and suggested I look into it or something like it. I had forgotten how much energy and passion there can be for science, and I feel like there is a lot of it here in this city. People here want to do things that matter. And, astonishingly, they ARE. It's terrifying and intimidating and inspiring.

It's late, and I know I'm rambling, so I'll just stop. But yeah. I'm happy. That's new. It's cool. It should keep... doing... that.

 Weeee!  I had such a fun weekend.

Thursday I got dyes and white yarn from Knitpicks.com.  I LOVE knitpicks.  They have such great stuff, and their prices are insanely low.  So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each I dyed a skein of yarn.( pictures of the skeins I dyed )

Friday night Mike D and I went to see Wilco in concert in Ann Arbor.  It was EPIC.  Except for two guys in front of us who were a little too into it, and were bopping and jumping and twisting all over the place like they were on ecstasy and it was a techno concert.  There was a short woman behind them who asked them if they could calm down so she could see... and they said NO.  And got more boisterous.  And then got out tiny bottles of vodka and drank them.
Now, I'm all for enjoying a good concert.  I danced and jumped a bit too.  And I played some pretty kickass air drums (Wilco's got some great sequences where the drums are just... oh man...).  And I love me some vodka.  But seriously?  When you're interfering with other peoples' ability to enjoy the concert, and you're doing it willfully?  That's when you're a jerk, and you have a problem.
But anyway!  The concert itself was so good.  They played I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Radio Cure (yes, I cried), and Jesus, Etc.  They didn't play Hummingbird or Via Chicago, or Reservations or Poor Places... but I figure, with something like 97 cds out, I was lucky to get 3 of my all-time favorites.  And I liked everything else they played, too. :-)  The only downside was they weren't selling cds after the concert...  I think I'm actually 2 cds behind schedule now.  I have YHF, Summerteeth, AGIB... and then I need Sky Blue Sky and I think there is one after that.
(And yeah, the icon for this post is Mika and not Jeff Tweedy. But, uh... deal with it.)

Anyway.

Saturday Jim and I lounged about and, after I stopped dyeing yarn, cuddled on the couch and watched Underworld.  It was a relaxing day.

Sunday Mike and Andrea D took us to a local orchard, Wiard's.  We ate donuts, drank cider, watched a guy fill up a tray with apple pulp so he could mush it into cider, went on a hayride, solved a corn maze, looked at rescued bunnies, and enjoyed a lovely fall day with lots of sunshine.  We were so lucky with the weather--it's been mostly rainy for the last several weeks, and Sunday was only slightly cold and had a gorgeous blue sky.
I took a bunch of pictures but don't want to post them all here, so go check them out on Flickr. :-P
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dnatheory/sets/72157622621492488/

All in all it was a fantastic weekend.  Life is, temporarily, very good.

Oh! Almost forgot--

Obligatory Claire photo.

So, since my desktop PC is packed, I have access to virtually none of my music. My laptop has, essentially, nothing on it. This means my music selection has been very sparse lately. I've been listening to Mika, Death Cab for Cutie, Elliott Smith, Matt Nathanson (really, just one song of his, because I can't find him on the internet, which is especially frustrating since I HAVE both CDs somewhere in my ten thousand boxes), the Aquabats, and Wilco. I also went out and found Harry and the Potters and that one song Hey There Delilah by the Plain White Ts, 'cause it's been stuck in my head for a few days. Any suggestions for new bands to look into, keeping these tastes in mind?

(Also, as to my earlier request for books--I have solved the dilemma by re-reading HP7 three pages at a time, which will surely last me until quals start. Maybe I should just break down and order something from Amazon, since I can't seem to find the time to go to an actual bookstore....)

(Also also, lab was good today. I actually got to DO stuff. Hurrah!!)

Damnit, I have about eight pages' worth of stuff I want to write, and I've only got enough awakeness left to get through about one. I'm soooo tired...

This weekend was awesome. Friday Elizabeth took me on a "date" to a benefit concert for Darfur. It was three hours long, which I expected to be extraordinarily painful (or at least depressing), but it wasn't at all. They had an a cappella group, and the New Haven Ballet, and some bhangra dancers, and some African drummers, and some other really neat little one- or two-song acts, and most of them were inspiring and hopeful. Then they brought out this guy called Matt Nathanson, whom I had never even heard of before, but he was awesome. Elizabeth and I bought his CDs afterwards and had him sign them. I've been listening to him all weekend and he's AWESOME. Plus, he was hilarious and he's from California. What's not to love?

Yesterday I was dragged out of bed at the ungodly hour of 8 am (I was bribed with coffee), and driven somewhere up north to a place called Ragged. There we (Andrew and Emily and I) met up with a bunch of other climbers, and we took a short hike up to these awesome rock cliffs, and spent the entire day climbing outdoors and sunning ourselves. It was fantastic. I love love LOVE real rock. I tore up my hands and sunburned my face just the tiniest bit, and felt alive and wonderful. And I got to tie Emily's arm to her torso so she wouldn't use her injured shoulder. Life is good.

Today I got up early again (curse you, laundry!). Around noon I had my "date" type thing. I guess at some point I should actually explain about this guy... I met him on the internet, through a reputable dating site, about a week and a half ago, and we've been exchanging the world's longest emails since then. He's British, and a technology/engineer/banker type guy, and he's awesome. We met today just after noon at a zoo in Trumbull, and walked around for three hours looking at the critters and talking. Then we went to Starbucks and sat and talked for another two hours. It was awesome. Really awesomely awesome. I mean, I'm not in love with him or anything, obviously, having just met him, but he seems really cool, and normal, and I like him. He was fun to hang out with. Plus, my shoulders got sunburned and that means it's summer, and he likes to be outside. I think we'll get along really well.

And tonight Elizabeth had a dinner at her place, so I got to eat fantastic food with great people, and then watch really bad scifi TV. All in all, it was a great day. It was a great weekend. I accomplished nothing academically, but my spirits are very high, and I think I might do a fourth rotation. Silly Kara.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get a chance to update more this week, but right now I'm taking my tired self off to bed before I collapse in front of the computer.

:-)