Tagged by Finding Normal

A - Attached or single: Very single.
B - Best Friend: Erica
C - Cake or Pie: Do I get graham cracker crust?
D - Day of the Week: Friday at 4:30
E - Essential Item: Bicycle
F - Favorite Color: Purple
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: I like to bite the heads off the bears
H - Home town: Frederick, MD
I - Indulgences: Grocery shopping at Central Market. Being on foot is really just an excuse.
J - January or July?: I like the beginnings of seasons better than the middle, so May AND November.
K - Kids: Please Jesus, not for a long time.
L - Life is incomplete without: Books, friends, rugby
M - Marriage Date: Much later
N - Number of Siblings: 2
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples
P - Phobias or Fears: Failure
T - Tag Three: BMW Mechanic, Brooke in Sacramento, Scrumhalf Connection
U - Unknown fact about me: The scabs on my palms itch right now
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: *Rolls eyes*
W - Worst Habit: Being judgy-judgy
X - Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds therapy is great!
Y - Your favorite food: Shrimp, avacado, feta, steak
Z - Zodiac Sign: Libra

um, yeah...

So, I keep writing blog posts. I just don't actually post them. Because I read back over what I've written and they are complete crap.

There are photos from Chicago, though. If they ever make it from my camera to my external hard drive to the computer I might actually post them. But I'll keep trying to write something I actually want to share with the world.

At the moment I'm sitting in an increasingly noisy and crowded Casino El Camino alone, waiting for my friends to show up. Feeling increasingly conspicuous in my plain grey t-shirt, naturally colored hair, and naked of eye liner. Hungry, but waiting. (The fries smell amazing.) Does any good ever come of being punctual?

cuz there's not a whole going on this afternoon at work

Last night during a rather chilly training S and I got off on a tangent about Muppets. While we should have been listening to our captains describe a drill, of course. S mentioned something about Animal and somehow I wound up on even more of a bunny trail thinking about Muppets playing rugby. Animal is definitely a hooker.

1. Cookie Monster
2. Animal (because it takes a special kind of crazy to love the front row)
3. Sweetums
4. Big Bird
5. Sam the Eagle (why are the tallest muppets birds of all things???)
6. Gonzo (classic crazy flanker)
7. Telly Monster
8. Rowlf the Dog
9. Kermit the Frog (manager of the chaos; The Muppet Show or a rugby match)
10. Grover (every team needs a super hero)
11. Ernie
12. Dr. Teeth (he looks like he could tackle)
13. Fozzie Bear
14. Bert (Ernie had to pester him into it, but then he fell in love with rugby at first ruck)
15. Rugby Tiger (our fullback has been known to imagine herself as panther when she plays)

Muppets make me happy.

currently listening

Last summer I saw Kina Grannis play an acoustic show with my friend Josh and a few others. Last week she won the Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" competition I can't stop listening to her. She's talented, she's adorable. She's so much more that just "the Doritos girl." And she just posted a new video in a myspace bulletin.



Hopefully Austin will see more of her soon.

Makes My Day

One Sentence stories...funniest one yet.

Harry Potter and other goodness

And I'm reading it again, because I think I missed a bunch of stuff. (No spoilerage under the link.)

Today was a good day. An extremely good one, particularly considering how it started off. I got new rear tires because I am blessed with some amazing friends and while at the the tire shop a company I submitted my CV to a few weeks ago left a voicemail in reference to a position as a "Project Director." It's a desk job, but their benefits package is very tempting. I received a response from a contact I emailed at the state finally, but all she had to say was they would be starting the initial screening "soon." No indication as to what "soon" means in state bureaucracy terms, though in my case it means I need health insurance by the time rugby season starts. Not to mention that I'm getting really sick of not making enough money or truly utilizing my talents and degree working at a bar.

Early this evening I went to dinner with my old lab and one we(they) collaborate with closely. My ex-boss footed the bill for some excellent Indian food (I have curry leftovers in the fridge!). Seeing my old lab mates made me realize how much I miss them, and listening to the ex-boss reminded me how much happier I am out of that situation. Upon parting ways after dinner I felt so light I would have sworn I could fly.

New music: Colbie Caillat (myspace.com/colbiecaillat)

In anticipation of the rugby world cup...

From Wes Clark at Rugby Readers Review:

Aussie Rules

• From BBC: "Rapper Snoop Dogg has been banned from entering Australia after failing a character test, according to officials. The star - real name Calvin Broadus - was due to co-host the MTV Australian Video Music Awards on Sunday. The 35-year-old had his visa cancelled after recently pleading no contest to gun and drug charges in the US. 'He doesn't seem the sort of bloke we want in this country,' Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews told Sydney's Macquarie Radio."

Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Australia orginally settled as a prison colony?

my thesis is finished

My thesis is finished.

98 pages total, which includes a fair amount of graduate school-required formatting. The table of contents is pretty, though.

I took the day off yesterday, got a few things done, but mostly watched Battlestar Galactica. I'm hooked. (I blame you all, you know who you are, for this.)

Yeah, that's all I've got right now.

faith and science

There is a rather eloquent blog post to be written somewhere in between this CNN article on Collins and this blog entry refuting Dr. Collins ideas and opinions. Right now I don't have enough presence of thought to write said post.

Suffice to say that faith is intrinsically not quantifiable. That's why it is referred to as 'faith' and not something more solid. Attempts to force views on either side of the faith question are never going to win converts, merely escalate arguments.


Data analyzed...working on results section and discussion, albeit slowly and painfully and stressfully.

music city

It's late and I really ought to be finishing packing. Or sleeping. But I'm too excited, the Valkyries are headed to Nashville tomorrow for NashBash! This is my first big 15s tournament as a rugger and I'm totally psyched, as is the rest of the team. Our theme for the social rocks, too; we even have a song!

Okay. Back to work. Still have three discussion sections to teach and a lecture to sit in on between now and my flight out.

steam-powered

Maybe it's just my obsession with all things Firefly and Firefly-like (which this somewhat resembles) but this Steampunk showcase at SXSW looks awesome. I could totally use a time machine booth these days.


ah yes, the thesis count: 38 pages, 64 references, and hybridizing arrays tonight!

squeak

Okay, Grey's Anatomy. That moment, the one where George announces that thing, I jumped and I squeaked. I squeaked. And I continued to do so until after the commercial break. Pathetic, perhaps, but there was no helping it.

Even stranger, I was so absorbed in what I was working on with my thesis I missed the first few minutes of the show. I looked up from reading a review on miRNA biogenesis and function and correlating the citations and it was suddenly 8:04. Maybe I really can do this...

Spent today on class stuff, so the count hasn't really changed...

ice day

This should be the requisite "OMG! It's snowing! We're in Austin and it's SNOWING!" post. I missed out on that yesterday. Not out on taking pictures of it, because yes I was outside when it started and I was most certainly grinning like an idiot. Because I'm in Austin. And it really was snowing. I haven't seen snow since February of 2004 when Stillwater (photo on the right) was covered with the white stuff and it was so cold the brick courtyard in front of the Edmond Lowe library was a sheet of ice for a week. No, I'm missing out because I left the adapter cord for my camera at work and therefore can't upload any of those photos of the ice I took until it is retrieved.

So I spent yesterday working on just about anything except my thesis. On a positive note, however, my kitchen is cleaner that it has been in quite a while. I also spent loads of time playing with the photographs already on my computer as well as on flickr. I finally uploaded my Thanksgiving pictures, including some adorable ones of my youngest cousins. I also came across these incredible images from Ophelia Chong. I wish I were half as creative. I never even contemplated collages of the sort despite the large amount of it I did in college. Not entirely a wasted day, but one I could have utilized better.

nothing

I'm battling a serious lack of inspiration to write. Or maybe not battling, since I've more or less given in to it. Heading into this semester I can feel the stress looming over me, which makes me want to burn up hours and hours with staying in bed, watching episodes of Firefly over and over, reading fluff fiction, and drinking hot chocolate with irish creme in it. Burn hours spending time with my friends instead of reading endless journal articles with neuro terminology I can't pronounce and that refuses to lodge in my brain.

Four months.

Okay, I'm going to make solutions now. At least that is something I can pretend is productive.

post script

And in further procrastination: I heart Emma Thompson for many reasons, this article displaying a few of them.

"What I tend to do is lie in a fetal position under my desk and weep for a while. Then I get bored with that and I write something."