Sonia (Begonia)

This is pretty cool: sex reassignment in the future might be accomplished as gene therapy!

In other news, OH GOD FINALS. My social life has been eaten by homework. For the last few weeks, I've been consistently sacrificing social time to do essential things like get groceries rather than get drank (or go swing dancing, or knit, or what have you). Is this what graduate school is like?

In other news, happy (imminent) Channukah.

HA! I have officially unclogged our kitchen sink using baking soda and boiling water! I am so cool.

So, I am considering chopping off le hairs again and getting a bob again.

Thoughts?

So I have officially dropped Language Theory, which means that I am also dropping down from a computer science major to a minor. I may also be gaining a medieval-renaissance studies minor. We shall seee.

Also it is sad when I cannot sleep, especially if I have gone to bed late. SILLY WHAT.

Whee! I am in the lab. I have just fixed problems. I shall be going home shortly.

BUT the song that just came on my Pandora is awesome, so I'm waiting for it to finish.

Here is a thing I do not know how to fix: I have written a few programs for the use of this lab, data-analysis-wise. All they require is to change a couple variables (the input file name and location), and for you to hit shift+enter. Often, these programs do not work, because the input file is wrong. The rest of my lab is really scared of fixing the input file, it seems, or of trying to figure out what could be wrong, because whenever that happens, they ask me to fix it. But I don't think they should be afraid of it. How can I make it seem less scary to them?

THOUGHTS?

Okay so this is how this works. I have FIVE words that Samjolnir gave me. My task is to tell you about each of these five words! If you want words, you should say "WORDS!!" in my comments, and I will give you some.

Knitting
It is true, I enjoy knitting. I enjoy it because I fidget and I like to produce things, so any way I can combine the two (especially FOR SCIENCE) is awesome! This is also why I do things like sew and chainmail. I learned to knit when I was quite small because my mom wanted me to shut up and stop fidgeting during movies, so she taught me how to knit on my fingers and then graduated me to knitting needles some time later. She couldn't remember how to purl at that time, so I taught myself how to purl after a year or two of garter stitch and have been teaching myself every since. YEAH

Stripes
HA I love stripes. I have mild astigmatism and if I get dizzy looking at myself I know I'm dressed proper. Also, I recently discovered some black-and-white striped fabric and some B&W polka-dotted fabric that I shall be using for evil dress-making purposes eventually. I've liked B&W stripes as long as I can remember, stemming from this one boat-necked shirt I had in elementary/middle school, if I recall correctly. It definitely helped me enjoy Tim Burton movies more and when I first went to Warped it was like finding a zillion other Sonias because there were black and white stripes and fedoras and suspenders and stuff EVERYWHERE!

Chainmail
I like making things. DAMN STRAIGHT. Chainmail I started doing because there was a workshop at my local metalsmithing studio. Interesting that Sam gave me both knitting and chainmail: one time when I was visiting Justin in Maine and he took me over to his friend's house for a little chainmailing party. I had some knitting with me that I was working on, and his friend made some offhand comment "Chainmail is knitting for boys." I was mad PO'd because I had been chainmailing for longer than his ass, and told him so.

Rice pudding
Is delicious. QUESTIONS? There will be much of it in our awesome house.

Mosh pits
Mosh pits are awesome. Sure you're hitting each other but it's all about brotherhood maaan. Seriously I could go on for hours. There's no place you feel more alive and connected with and love for your fellow human.

DO THIS BITCH

Hot diggity DAMN mothafucka

I have ORGANIC FARM-FRESH EGGS!

Their yolks are so good and their shells are nice and thick and they're so big and juicy. Mmm. I made eggy-in-a-basket and they were like spillin' over the bread, that is how oversized and delicious they are.

I want me some chickens, yo!

I'm cooking my third one today. YEAH, that's right. Eggs, mothafucka.

GUYS GUYS GUYS OMG I JUST DISCOVERED THIS and I'm really excited!

I have a food processor. That means ... I can make peanut butter. YES!

Woot, I am in the Albany train station on the way to Chicago! I have not updated much over the last few weeks, because much excitement has been occurring.

First, I was in PITTSBURGH! Yay! I was visiting Anna and Lindsey, and totally forgot to give Lindsey her shirt back that she had forgotten in Poughkeepsie. Whoops. Anna and I spent a lot of time wandering around Pittsburgh and my legs are awesome now. Also we had a super cute birthday celebration involving tasty dumplings and a mixed drink or two.

Then, I went to Assfuck, Pennsylvania (aka BEN-sylvania, thank you Foster), where Ben (guy I met at IRCS, the UPenn workshop) lives. That was pretty quiet: his next-door neighbors are Amish.

And last but not least, Mickey came up to Vassar to help me move into my SOCO! The best SoCo ever. I was just knitting a towel for it on the train to here. Woo. Anyway, Mickey is clearly the best person evar and helped a bunch of us move crap around that isn't his because he's just that nice. I should bake him a cake.

For those of you reading from CHICAGO: I'll be back tomorrow morning!

Awesome.

That is all.

Me: Sews, knits, green thumb, knows how to prepare and cook meat, can make metal tools and gadgets, can drive a nail straight, doesn't eat much, vicious if attacked (or perceives an attack). I also own a small suitcase full of useful tools such as hammers and clamps and sandpaper and a fire striker and saws and drills and suchlike.

YOU: Handy with a shotgun, can recognize edible plants, know the tricks to camping safely (ie without getting eaten by bears). Good hunter of big game and know how to smoke or jerk meat. Ideally, you have a car that runs on something renewable, like vegetable waste.

Our plan will be to take and hold a small and sturdy building (brick or stone). In the event that we cannot find a good building, we will be living out of your car, so I hope you've got a good one.

I am sewing a dress!

It will have polka dots and flowers and it is made of flannel and it will be soft and comfy and MINE. ^_^

Also I am sewing it with polyester thread because damnit if I don't break cotton thread whenever I try to use it.

HOORAY!

And of course it's black and white. Duh.

Anonymous redhead: "Fingering minors" is perfect as it is already! What more do you need? ... I'm drunk and not responsible for my words!

Scene: Vassar College library circulation desk.
Me: Hi Belen! I have a book to pick up. Don't judge me.
Belen: Oh, I won't. Don't worr- oh.
Me: I said don't judge me!!
Belen: I'm sure you have some research paper to write about teenaged vampires or something, don't worry.

So yeah, I picked up a copy of Twilight, because I have to know how bad it is. I HAVE TO KNOW.

Also: Apparently there is an episode of Buffy where we get to see Spike's RV. And he is wearing goggles. And he looks damn good, and a lot like Dr. Horrible. And just as I commented this, he said: "I'm puttin' the hammer down!" WHAT.

Also, I am excited because Lindsey is coming on Wednesdayish! YAY!

I had a good Friday and a good weekend! Apparently my lab missed me while I was gone. As soon as I was back they asked me to change the code on Mike (our swimming biomechanical testing robot), which I did in like 2 minutes. Apparently they had tried to change it while I was gone and ended up totally breaking the robot. SO, I felt useful. And then Mike's servo broke, so Jon and I had to replace it, but then Mike couldn't turn his servo all the way to the right. Troubleshooting happened! I discovered that the range of the new servo was bigger than the range of the old servo, so we had to change the code. So I figured it out and fixed it. And they were all very appreciative. And now I am done bragging. YAY

Annnd then there was a Rachel (Jackie's sister!) and a Sam (not Jackie's sister!) and we played Thousand Blank White Cards and now I have bruises.

And now I am studying for the GREs, supposedly. Also, trying to figure out a face-tracking thingy to use for my THESIS. Eek. Anyone know of any face-tracking algorithms that are ready-made for me to use? Aaanybody? :(

OMG I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW. I have mulberries! Life is AMAZING! Om nom nom nom.

Katy Perry power metal.

Did not expect that.

Anyway, YAY I'll be in NYC all day today and I'll be back in Poughkeepsie tomorrow! ^_^

*drumroll* ... I have been ( tagged. )

Booo. Throwing up is a bad way to start your day. Also there is a thunderstorm (which has kept me up since ~7). Stress + low blood sugar + not sleeping too well > my stomach's strength, apparently.

OH WELL the lectures should be cool today.

YEAH

I'm in Philly.

There was major excitement getting here (the Quik-Trak things aren't working, so I was worried Amtrak was going to cancel my reservation. But then I called customer service and they said they wouldn't cancel my reservation if I picked up my tickets at Penn, and the nice conductor man on the first leg of my journey let me ride even though I didn't have a ticket. YAY). And then there was major excitement finding housing (I got lost, and it was very hot out, and I was carrying a lot of bags, wah). But now I am all checked in and in my room, which is in this sweet sort of apartment thing with a kitchen and a bathroom. Nice.