This Is Nothing

Insane Graduate School Edition

Tuesday, August 06, 2002




Even Superman once worked in a team

Take the Cartoon Hero Quiz?.


Well now that's done and I'm glad it's over

Somehow I'm reminded my title may be a direct quotation from T.S. Elliot's "The Wasteland"--which I obnoxiously did a report on specifically because my highschool English Lit. AP teacher said if anyone wanted a "real challenge" they would do it. I'm a dork, thank you :)

So I spent all day Monday being anxious, drank waaaay too much diet pepsi and ate too much chocolate. Eventually it was presentation time, and it was very informal and I think I did a decent job. My two greatest feats were giving everyone outlines of my project--I am excellent at visual and written materials I'm finding--and I brought Peppridge Farm cookies. The latter may not seem very impressive, but Ned soon confessed that during one of his post-doc jobs he used to go to the corner store every day and buy mint chocolate milanos and and a quarter gallon of milk--it was his daily vice. And these just happened to be the cookies I bought. They were on sale at Safeway. Life is weird, and so is my brain. I felt like I wasn't being very intelligent throughout the presentation, and Cheryl--who gets a bit protective--interjected rather often with the information I didn't know. I was concerned I would look like I didn't know much at all. Is this the case? I don't know. I'm NOT going to worry about it, because I have had tremendous luck with my project, and I've gotten alot of work done (especially since I came in every weekend) so screw being insecure about how I talked. BAH.

Super-cool grad student Jess was leaving for a tour of the mainland with her boyfriend. Because they so rarely can afford to be over there, they try to pack several destinations into one vacation. I was plating colonies when she left, and she gave he a hug and a kiss. I'm going to miss her I think. She was only a couple of years older than I am.

I eventually went home, and went to Safeway to treat myself for all I'd been through. I bought myself a issue of Cosmo just because it had Sarah Michelle Gellar on the front, tako poke and korean shrimp poke (I think tako may be octopus, and it was pretty good!), and some little sushi rolls with pickled radishes in them. So it was a veritable feast at the Manoa Manor, my food laid out before me and my chopsticks in hand. I watched Witchblade and was once again greatly entertained by Mr. Swarthy Man who speaks only in silly cryptic messages. I think it's becoming the main reason I watch the show, because the plot isn't that exciting. But Swarthy men, that's a start. And then to make one act all dramatic and brooding and put him all in black and make him act like some sort of pirate/dork is just too much fun. I still don't understand why he has a chain on his wallet--it's an incongruity--and that makes me laugh too. So enough about Witchblade. The best part of the evening was watching an old episode of GI Joe where Shipwreck wakes up with this whole new life and he thinks he's just got amnesia, but then all the people begin melting and he realizes Cobra Command has fucked with his head. . . it's a really trippy episode that I still remember seeing for the first time many many years ago. GI Joe was quite a cartoon.

I was damn damn tired, coming down off my various highs from caffeine, chocolate, and adrenaline. So I eventualy went to sleep, and slept in. In the morning I cleaned up everything I could, because Art (man of the house) is coming home today, and I wanted things to look as presentable as possible despite the fact the construction workers cut a whole in their floor and tore out an entire closet. Eh, it's worth a shot.

My way into work was quite productive, as I FINALLY got a bus pass for August--I have to get off the bus earlier than my usual stop to pick one up at the 711, and last time they were completely out. Then I bought myself a Jamba Juice to sip happily and marvel at how fantastic a food item smoothies can be. Then I went to Ross (one of those discount clothing stores) and just went wild. You have to treat yourself when you work hard, you know? So I bought pants that make me happy, because I tend not to buy enough pants I think. So now I have crazy giraffe print pants that I may never wear but still love, a black mini belted with a leather fringe on the side, and great black pants that are plaid pants ala 80's--they are black with thin blue and green lines. Then I went back to the racks and bought shirts shirts shirts, realizing that indeed the 80's had returned. I had to keep myself from buying too many black lacy tops--I mean, how many do I actually need, really? I always have to be careful about black clothing, because I have a tendency to buy lots of it and I'm not goth, so I guess I'd be an imposter of sorts. and MAN, I dont' want that. So, I'm lugging a big bag of clothing around now :) I have no idea where it will fit in my suitcase.

Tonight I'm supposed to go to Waikiki with Dana, Sam, and Kenneth (the undergrad crew), although I don't know what we're planning on doing. Originally we were going to go paint pottery, but to quote Kenneth: "That just isn't my scene" and I don't want to exclude people. So who knows what will be? And also tonight I should meet Art, who is an ethnobotanist. As if that wasn't neat enough, Cheryl tells me he's also a Samoan Chief. . . .I dont' know the story behind that. So all this time I've been watching over the house of a Samoan Chief. . . .man.