Passion

So, I like TED talks, and I watched this one earlier today, and I thought, "Hey. I can do that. I should do that..." So here I am.

I've been working on the wedding a lot lately. The reception is going to be pretty casual and very nerdy. Apparently there are not a lot of nerdy weddings out there that aren't just straight-up Star Wars or Lord of the Rings themed, so it's been interesting trying to sift through all the info the internet has to offer. But I think it would be a million times harder without the internet, so...

I am grateful for:
1. The internet.
2. A Practical Wedding 
3. ThinkGeek

I've actually found a lot of really cool stuff this week, so most of the decoration-shopping is just about done. Now I need to sit down and write up explanations for all the strange stuff we're going to be putting on the tables, and then figure out how to display the explanations. I think this might call for a trip to Michael's.

 I made more food. The pork chops and stew turned out really well. So Saturday morning I made Jim buttermilk pancakes (no blueberries; we were out). Then we bought blueberries, and I made blueberry crumb bars, which were wholly underwhelming. I was not at all impressed. This marks the first time I have made something from Smitten Kitchen I wasn't impressed by. Anyway, we'd bought two thingies of blueberries, which turned out to be EIGHT CUPS, plus I STILL. HAD. BUTTERMILK., so I made a blueberry buttermilk cake. Except I forgot I used the last of the white flour making the crumb bars, so the cake had to be done with whole wheat flour, which made it a little dense. It tasted pretty good, though. That recipe is solid.

Anyway. STILL. HAD. BUTTERMILK. I kid you not. It's like it's regenerating in the container. I have a Neverending Container of Buttermilk, +3 Strength. Costs 30,000 gold pieces and is unsellable.

So today - well, this is a long story. Skip two paragraphs down if you're pressed for time and/or just want to read about food (you're probably not reading my blog for the food, though, honestly, unless you're seriously confused). I couldn't sleep last night, initially because of a killer headache. Finally that went away, and killer cramps set in. Finally those started to ease and I was STILL wide awake, so I made some tea. Around 2am I crawled back into bed to try sleeping again, and some idiots pulled up in the parking lot blaring this terrible music that can only be described as "bumpin'". I expected to see red and blue disco lights when I looked out the window. Eventually they went away. I fell asleep. At 5am I was awoken by more idiots in the parking lot. This time there were like 8 of them and several were very large black men and they were ALL yelling at the top of their lungs at each other in a very angry manner, so no way was I gonna go out and ask them to be quiet, but MAN, I MISS MY OLD APARTMENT.  Finally they go away, but the cat is sitting on the pillow next to me licking herself - SLURP SLURP SLURP - so I push her to make her stop. Okay, maybe I pushed her multiple times, but it was 5am and I really was not in my right mind at this point. She bit me. It drew blood. I got up and put a bandaid on my arm and tried to go back to sleep, to no avail. Finally I just wrote into lab that I'd be taking a sick day, spent the next two hours reading, and FINALLY fell asleep again sometime after 7. I blissfully slept until noon.

ANYWAY, I tell you all this so you know why I had my afternoon free of work. I figured as long as I was free during business hours I might as well run some errands, so I did, and while I was out I stopped at a bridal boutique I've been meaning to check out for a while, and tried on some wedding dresses. That was an interesting experience. I tried some on in May with my mom in Reno at a David's Bridal, and the experience was... weird. And not great. But this place is a little local shop and the service was fantastic, and the dresses were very nice. The only weird thing was that I was there alone, which felt kinda sad. The saleslady was nice and used my phone to take pictures of each dress for me, though they didn't really turn out very well. Anyway, I'll post pictures later if you guys want. Will have to friendslock it so Jim doesn't see. :-)  I'm still hoping my mom will make my dress, but she's been reeeeeally busy lately and hasn't responded to the dress email I sent her a couple weeks ago. So no progress there.

Anyway, so after all that, I felt a little lonely, and wanted to do something with my afternoon, and had heard that the movie Bridesmaids is hysterical and totally awesome and worth seeing. So I went and saw it and yeah, it's as stupid as the trailer made it look. Not funny. (I have been informed my sense of humor is broken.) But the main character makes this cupcake early in the movie, and it started off a craving for cupcakes, so when I got home I decided to make some. AND my favorite cupcake recipe uses buttermilk.

So I made red velvet cupcakes and cream cheese frosting. And that is the long story of how I wanted one cupcake and now have 35. And of how I STILL HAVE BUTTERMILK.

Today:

6:15. Ignore alarm.
8:45. Wake up and think, "Damnit! Didn't wake up to read papers." Roll over.
9:05. Scramble out of bed and get dressed in a hurry.
(9:14. Note that internet isn't working.)
9:35. Buy breakfast and coffee.
9:55. Arrive in lab.
10:00-11:50. Work in lab, read papers.
11:50-12:30. Read papers in panicked sort of manner.
12:30-1:10. Buy lunch, ride shuttle. Still haven't read second paper.
1:10-1:20. Lie in sun. Be amazed that sun came back, despite all evidence that it had permanently deserted New England. Decide to become sun worshipper.
1:30-3:30. Sit in class and feel depressingly stupid for not remembering pKa information.
3:30-4:00. Rush home, grab nice clothes, walk hurriedly back to lab (make mental note that am wearing tank top outside for first time in seven months).
4:00-5:05. Work in lab.
5:05-5:06. Throw PCR in machine, neglect to set up culture for tomorrow, rush out door.
5:25-5:30. Arrive at Pierson, change into nice clothes, arrive early at Fellow's Dinner. Feel on top of things.
5:30-8:35. Fellow's Dinner. Eat expensive food, drink expensive wine and cognac, and discuss world politics and religion with educated real adults while supposedly representing... some population (grad students? Pierson students? geneticists?). Pretend to be knowledgeable on these topics, while admitting uninformedness to fellow graduate affiliate. Reveal plans to not be graduate affiliate next year.
(Side note--had conversation about PhD program. Which title is more impressive, geneticist or biochemist? I vote biochemist, but was voted unanimously against by the four other people involved in the conversation. Thoughts?)
8:35-8:45. Escape from fellow's dinner and walk home.
8:45. Arrive home feeling exhausted yet strangely happy.
8:47. Realize internet still doesn't work. Begin computer struggles.
9:00. Get internet working again.
9:02. Uninstall unnecessary programs to keep computer from being sluggish.
9:03. Try to listen to This American Life, realize computer sound no longer works.
9:04. Take moment to bang head on table.
9:05-10:46. Search entire internet for help getting sound working again.
10:46. Mention problem to Rico Suave Sex God over AIM.
10:47. Install file under link Sex God sends.
10:48. Sound works again.
10:49. Take moment to bang head on table.
10:50-10:55. Update lj.

Gonna go read/take a shower/knit/sleep/rinse and repeat now.

Briefly, in other news:
Started new lab rotation, like it. Favorite cousin engaged; I will be in Utah in July for the wedding (Yaaay!). Did not get NSF grant, do not know anyone who did; feel stupid about this. Am so poor can no longer afford laundry/groceries/anything else; am still buying coffee in the mornings--clearly unsettled in the head. Luckily, was told this morning that new lab has free coffee made every morning by lab tech, is plenty for rotation students.

Right, bout that shower/knit/read/sleep thing.

( EDIT: Oh yeah, and... )