60 Degrees F is Heaven on Earth

You know, when I first came to Wisconsin, I was hesitant about the weather. I mean, what do you think of when you think of Wisconsin? Frozen North? Frozen Midwest?

Yes, the weather gets a hell of a lot colder and windier here, to the point of your face and ears wanting to fall off and shatter on the sidewalk, but it's undeniably sunny, and with days like today where it was in the high 60's. . . I think it's better than all those dark, mushy winters on the East coast.

I also love being in a town that's progressive and liberal, kind and down-to-earth.

One of my friends just made the decision to leave the PhD program and move back home. Typing a letter to him, I was reminded that by this time last year I'd made a big life-changing sort of decision as well. By this time last year Dave and I were officially over. For a long time after, there were moments when my gut gnawed and I worried I wasn't doing the right thing. Relationships are difficult, when the intial high wears off, and though we certainly did love eachother alot, there was not enough common ground between us to keep us understanding one another. Neither was happy, and getting angrier with the other by the day.

I feel for my friend who is leaving. I know there are going to be moments where he freaks out a little. Big decisions are never easy. But when you make those decisions for honest reasons, you will likely make the right one.

At this point, with a year's distance, I am sure that I did. For many reasons. It's all going to sound like one of those inspirational posters they have in gym class, but what the hell: I feel like I've gotten out of those woods finally, as much as I can get out of them. And now I'm travelling in new shoes, taking on new adventures. Ach. . . so cheesy!

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As something completely unrelated, there are so many awesome games on homestarrunner.com! Trodgor the Burninator still brings me such joy. . .

No Spoilers, But the Ring 2 Sucks

It really, really did. In a sense, it was so un-scary that it has healed some of the trauma of the scariness of The Ring. I mean, lots of things are scary until you see them enough, and The Ring 2 was all about showing the creepy girl SO much that you got used to her. The magic is gone, my friends. Spend the money if only to see Sissy Spacek, and to be less scared of The Ring.

There's only been a few movies I've been so scared during or after that I am inevitably changed. Top Five are as follows (no particular order).

1. House on a Haunted Hill (remake) MINUS the last 15 minutes. It was somehow crazy scary until then.

2. The Ring (American Version)

3. It

4. Blair Witch Project

5. Gremlins

Watching any one of these will still scare me, but I'm hoping not to have to watch them alone again ever. I love them all dearly, but I love sleep even more. "Signs" also did a good job of scaring me, but it requires not thinking hard about anything.

Today was a beautiful day--40 degrees feels so wonderful, and the sun was a-shinin', so I skipped out early with the boy and scored an awesome 35 cent lobster baking mold to add to my growing collection of lobster-related items. Ran into even other kids from the program whilst out and about. Everyone needed to take a break.

Spring break is magical, what with there being practically no undergrads around (quieter bus rides and streets and bars) but still I work. I've got a presentation coming up--the last big one I'll have to give this semester--so I have to get moving on that. Less than two weeks to go, and it needs to be good. I'm having trouble multi-tasking between the project I have, the microscopy stuff I want to learn, getting ready for this presentation, and grading damn lab reports. I should clear the lab reports out of the way first--I work better with less things to hop between.

Anyway! In summary, school, life in madison, love in madison, friends and such all continue to be good. I won't be going home for easter, and that feels kindof bad, but I'm getting used to it. Spring may come soon! but it probably won't!

Snowy, springy Saturday

Well, earlier this week I had started a entry about things I'm afraid of, but I lost motivation on that one, and it basically sums up to about three things:

1. Very tiny and Very large things with sharp teeth

2. Being lost in pitch-black darkness, which is tied with being suffocated.

3. Screwing up things for stupid reasons.

Number 3 is obviously the most valid fear, but fearing it is sortof stupid in itself.

In other news: Lab baby is born! To clarify, one of the grad students in the squid lab is now possesing a baby boy, and that is wonderful.

Most exciting research development: I do NOT have to give up my current project, as I did an experiment this week that showed that my mutant can colonize the squid just fine by itself, but if it has to compete with the non-mutant strain, it has alot of trouble getting all settled in the squid. This is known as a "competition defect."

This is beyond awesome, because if I mutate this gene, and it puts my strain at a disadvantage in colonization, then I have reason to ask, "what makes this gene important for colonization?" I get to move on to more interesting questions, and I DO NOT HAVE TO TOSS THIS PROJECT ASIDE. YAY! It's a huge relief.

Currently? I'm bakin' a cake for Andy's birthday--straight from the box baby! It's got about ten minutes left and smells delightful. Sharon's out of town for the weekend, and it's a fun novelty to have no roommate. I can run around like a nut and try crazy outfits on and bake cakes and play my obnoxious music very very loud.

Ahhhh, quiet time!

I've been sitting in my room for the last hour, reading up on some weblogs I haven't checked in a while. People talk alot of trash about weblogs, and how wasteful and boring they are. And yeah, rarely are any of them literary classics . . . but the humanity in them is sometimes addicting.

I mean sure, people type only 1/10th of what's REALLY going on in their heads, but usually that's more than what I'd hear from them. They are edited, but open diaries just laying about. I read one of my own too, the one I didn't publish ever, but just vented heavily into. I was so unhappy last year around this time, and now this year things are looking up like some musical comedy. Perspective. I got some. It's been a full year since getting un-engaged, and it was the right thing for both of us.

So, I spent the week anticipating getting the flu from that boy I like, and I think I got something fluish, but it never amounted to much. Sitting around, over-analyzing every weird symptom my brain registered. . . it was a lesson in psychology and immunology and how they might mix. Whatever I had, I woke up thursday morning feeling released! HUZZAH! We had a little birthday celebration for Sharon (Happy 24th Fowl Temptress!). Andy's birthday is coming up next, and then spring break!

Overall, I continue to be so busy in such a good way. If I get a nice tax return, I may even be able to buy new contacts and get my car checked, and start socking away some cash . . .maybe. I have some directions in research to pursue, and class is going alright, so I've got no complaints. Naptime now perhaps?