... now has food and bedroom furniture. Hooray! We used Tom's Sam's Club membership to go to Sam's yesterday and buy stuff that I use a lot: granola bars, tomato sauce, olive oil, paper towels, brownie mix (mmm), big frozen pretzels (okay, I don't eat a lot of those but they will come in handy someday when I'm craving pretzels). Also this weekend I've bought: french-style couscous in bulk at Whole Foods (I eat TONS of couscous as snack food), two containers of rice milk from Trader Joe's, my bulk oatmeal came in the mail from Amazon.com (best oatmeal ever: Zen Optimum), a couple of yogurts, ice cream (!), and brie. I wish they made soy brie (and for that matter, soy yogurt that wasn't sickeningly sweet). And a few minor other things. Luckily, I got paid on Friday, or I'd totally be broke right now. Most of my money goes to rent and bills but I have some money saved so I can afford to stock up on food like this as long as I don't like, eat it all in one week.
My dresser and nightstand came yesterday! They are so so cool. After I get my apartment straightened up from this weekend I will post a picture. They are black and have neat hardware on them, and the thing that I like best about them is that they aren't clear plastic tupperware storage boxes. I was using one box to put my alarm clock on, and two more boxes to store my clothes. All of my clothes smell like plastic. It is sickening. But now I can wash them and they will suddenly be bathed in pine scent! Which probably isn't too much sexier.
CONFIDENTIAL TO L.A.: I sleep at normal times. If you didn't ignore me so much you'd understand why I need to do this. Sorry I missed you, though.
August 31, 2008
August 30, 2008
oh my gosh, i've been so busy that i have been neglecting this little facet of my self expression.
last week i did three main things: eat, learn, and sleep.
i ate southern pizza again, because i'm a glutton for pizza-disappointment. i miss you, charlie fox's and giordano's. i tried chinese food from a place that had free delivery and it wasn't BAD, but it was extremely americanized. one night i ate chips and spinach dip for dinner, which made me feel pretty gross about my life. but last night, tom and i went to Lime and Basil, a vietnamese restaurant that everyone tells me is great, and it totally lived up to expectations. i had a chicken-broth seafood version of pho for $7.50 and it was a huge. finally i was able to enjoy what is enjoyable about asian food: the perfect blend of non-western flavors. it was excellent. the seafood wasn't great so i'll probably get tofu next time, but mm the broth and the noodles and the vegetables were perfect. mm Lime and Basil = the only good asian food in chapel hill.
i started working in lab. i only worked about 12 hours this week but i designed a sampling protocol for a video-taped behavioral experiment that the post-docs ran in june. i am going to go over the sampling protocol with them and hopefully get an undergrad to do that for me, or at least part of it. kendra (one of the post docs) brought in a bunch of wild-caught house finches from the aviary and she's going to start them on a short photoperiod so in 2 months she can stimulate them to reproduction again. she took measurements and weighed all the birds and i wrote down the data for her. i'm not on the protocol to handle the birds yet, but she let me practice holding one anyway-- you hold their neck inbetween your pointer and middle finger, and keep the tips of the fingers together. the bird has a surprisingly thin neck so this is not hard to do at all. if you have your fingers closed together the bird will not be able to escape your grip.
sleeping. i have not been doing enough of it. it's not my fault, really. i go to bed but i have trouble falling asleep. in the morning it is really hard to get out of bed. i crawl into the living room and do situps before i let myself do anything else. then i inject myself with a near lethal dosage of caffeine. no... i drink have a cup of coffee standing up at the counter (i have no chairs) while i watch Good Morning America.
my friend Tom is visiting this weekend! he drove all the way from chicagoland to see carrboro/chapel hill, delight me with his culinary skills, and be afraid for my health when he saw that i had no food in my apartment but granola bars, yogurt, Crystal Light, coffee, and condiments. we have been buying lots of food. now we are off to a coffee shop so i can do some homework. yayyyy work.
i'll try to be more clever and entertaining next time i post. SORRY Y'ALL.
last week i did three main things: eat, learn, and sleep.
i ate southern pizza again, because i'm a glutton for pizza-disappointment. i miss you, charlie fox's and giordano's. i tried chinese food from a place that had free delivery and it wasn't BAD, but it was extremely americanized. one night i ate chips and spinach dip for dinner, which made me feel pretty gross about my life. but last night, tom and i went to Lime and Basil, a vietnamese restaurant that everyone tells me is great, and it totally lived up to expectations. i had a chicken-broth seafood version of pho for $7.50 and it was a huge. finally i was able to enjoy what is enjoyable about asian food: the perfect blend of non-western flavors. it was excellent. the seafood wasn't great so i'll probably get tofu next time, but mm the broth and the noodles and the vegetables were perfect. mm Lime and Basil = the only good asian food in chapel hill.
i started working in lab. i only worked about 12 hours this week but i designed a sampling protocol for a video-taped behavioral experiment that the post-docs ran in june. i am going to go over the sampling protocol with them and hopefully get an undergrad to do that for me, or at least part of it. kendra (one of the post docs) brought in a bunch of wild-caught house finches from the aviary and she's going to start them on a short photoperiod so in 2 months she can stimulate them to reproduction again. she took measurements and weighed all the birds and i wrote down the data for her. i'm not on the protocol to handle the birds yet, but she let me practice holding one anyway-- you hold their neck inbetween your pointer and middle finger, and keep the tips of the fingers together. the bird has a surprisingly thin neck so this is not hard to do at all. if you have your fingers closed together the bird will not be able to escape your grip.
sleeping. i have not been doing enough of it. it's not my fault, really. i go to bed but i have trouble falling asleep. in the morning it is really hard to get out of bed. i crawl into the living room and do situps before i let myself do anything else. then i inject myself with a near lethal dosage of caffeine. no... i drink have a cup of coffee standing up at the counter (i have no chairs) while i watch Good Morning America.
my friend Tom is visiting this weekend! he drove all the way from chicagoland to see carrboro/chapel hill, delight me with his culinary skills, and be afraid for my health when he saw that i had no food in my apartment but granola bars, yogurt, Crystal Light, coffee, and condiments. we have been buying lots of food. now we are off to a coffee shop so i can do some homework. yayyyy work.
i'll try to be more clever and entertaining next time i post. SORRY Y'ALL.
August 26, 2008
Blogger regret
... but not what you think. If you thought something, that is.
Today, my first day officially working in the lab, my boss/adviser came in and reminded us that the printer in lab was broken, but if we had anything to print, we could use the printer in his lab.
"Just remember to bring in your dongle" he said.
Here is where New Grad Student Elyse was unable to suppress her giggling and pretended to be very interested in a map of the songbird auditory cortex. Luckily, I was the only person in the state who knew about the alternate meaning of 'dongle.' Hopefully you'll never be my boss, Jamie. You'll be forced to fire me for sexual harassment, and sadly, it will probably have nothing to do with the word 'dongle' and more with the fact that you and I would have a bias toward hiring hot hot hot hot man candies. That, and I have no self control whatsoever.
Today, my first day officially working in the lab, my boss/adviser came in and reminded us that the printer in lab was broken, but if we had anything to print, we could use the printer in his lab.
"Just remember to bring in your dongle" he said.
Here is where New Grad Student Elyse was unable to suppress her giggling and pretended to be very interested in a map of the songbird auditory cortex. Luckily, I was the only person in the state who knew about the alternate meaning of 'dongle.' Hopefully you'll never be my boss, Jamie. You'll be forced to fire me for sexual harassment, and sadly, it will probably have nothing to do with the word 'dongle' and more with the fact that you and I would have a bias toward hiring hot hot hot hot man candies. That, and I have no self control whatsoever.
August 25, 2008
Today is the first day I've been (almost completely totally wholly) headache free in five days. I don't think it's possible to tell you what a great feeling it is to be able to move around in a well lit area without my head pounding and nausea welling up inside of me.
Jeff Tweedy has migraine headaches and he makes ethereal music. My pain causes me to wake up in the morning with schizophrenic-caliber theories in my head about neuroscience topics. I enjoy Tweedy's headaches more.
I have no social life here. I drink wine by myself in my apartment to soothe my sex drive and my headaches. I clean a lot. I do my work. I should have given up on social activities at UChicago, rather than pursuing them and experiencing frustration at their poor poor quality.
Other things I have noticed about the south lately:
Jeff Tweedy has migraine headaches and he makes ethereal music. My pain causes me to wake up in the morning with schizophrenic-caliber theories in my head about neuroscience topics. I enjoy Tweedy's headaches more.
I have no social life here. I drink wine by myself in my apartment to soothe my sex drive and my headaches. I clean a lot. I do my work. I should have given up on social activities at UChicago, rather than pursuing them and experiencing frustration at their poor poor quality.
Other things I have noticed about the south lately:
- People here dress in boring color and pattern, and everyone dresses the same.
- Girls here straighten their hair, even though it's really hard to have straight hair here.
- My hair is super wavy. No, really, I don't straighten it anymore because it isn't worth it, and now I look like a hippie/cavewoman/like someone who just had crazy sex.
- Where are all the jewish people!?
- ... And the brown people?!
- Coffee is about 75% as expensive here as it is in Chicago. That is all I need to know about on-campus dining, thanks very much.
August 20, 2008
Reading a SEED magazine that i borrowed, i came across the world "solasalgia," which is pain resulting from one's living space. Thus, i would like to coin the world "solasthesia," the exact opposite, and instead of a definition, i'd like to point to my BEAUTIFUL APARTMENT as a shining example of a living space that has eased all of my past (and sometimes present) pain.
Another word that was co-coined with Jamie: dongle. It's already a word, but we gave it a new meaning that you can ask me about in private. My new goal in life is to see a dongle and document its existence somehow. Heffalumps and woozles! And dongles! Oh my!
It was a fabulous day in the 100 acre woods, AKA Carrboro.
Another word that was co-coined with Jamie: dongle. It's already a word, but we gave it a new meaning that you can ask me about in private. My new goal in life is to see a dongle and document its existence somehow. Heffalumps and woozles! And dongles! Oh my!
It was a fabulous day in the 100 acre woods, AKA Carrboro.
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