Been a while since I last wrote. I'm going to try to keep up with things better. I have a job now. It involves digging through articles for a professor who wants to make a new class on "advanced metals", by which we mean "here's nine materials whose only common factors are that a) they are metals, b) we don't teach them since they're not steel or aluminum, and c) someone may give us money/research opportunities/co-ops for undergrads if we teach them". It's sort of depressing that I feel obligated to use airquotes every time I explain what I'm doing.

The work is a little tedious; as much as I like metals and the science involved, most articles in science journals just aren't that interesting. Occasionally you get fun tidbits like the crucible that melted at destroyed an oven or what sounds like Soviet propaganda in a post-Soviet article, but it's mostly paragraph after paragraph describing the corrosion and wear resistance of titanium hip replacements. Which I actually find interesting to know, but it's very dry most of the time. So in summary, learning a lot, doing something useful (which is really, really nice-- busywork does not lead to job satisfaction), and a little bored.

In other news, I'm 24 words away from the minimum word requirement for femgenficathon. The fic will be more than that, but not by much, which is about what I set out to do. I'm not terribly good at wrangling my ideas into a neat plot arc with proper pacing, but it's doable if I work with a small, simple concept. Also, I'm a slow writer, and I'm a bit out of practice, so I was worried about getting in over my head if I tried to something more ambitious.

Coming back to writing after doing almost nothing but lab reports and essays for a couple of years is strange. I feel like I'm less eloquent than I was, but I've (mostly) avoided letting it bother me. That doesn't surprise me, really. What is odd is that it feels different. It's calmer now; writing used to feel... manic? I guess. Like I'd think riding a bull is like: never fully in control, just desperately hanging onto something while it goes where it wants to go, and if you fall of, that's it. Now it's calmer. There's still that feeling of being inspired, of being caught up in an idea or emotion and having the words seem more a natural response to what I'm feeling than something I consciously shaped piece by piece, but it's a steady, plodding sort of inspiration. It sounds little dull to me, reading that phrase back, but it's relaxing instead of cathartic, and I like it.

I need a shower now and then to flee to the air conditioning of a movie theater.

I just got back from voting in my first ever presidential election. It was unexpectedly exciting: by last week I'd hit the point of being annoyed at the non-stop coverage and just wanted the darn thing to be over, but when I headed off to the polls today, it was all shiny and new and exciting again. It probably helped that it's a beautiful sunny day here, there was absolutely no line at my polling place, and I got free pizza afterward.

I think everywhere should do free pizza for voters; it'd definitely help with turnout.

My power is back. Yay!

So the last remnants of Ike blew up through here (or at least that's what the paper said-- in any event bad storm last night) and now my power is out and might not be on for another four days. Besides the risk of losing the food in my refrigerator and freezer, which I can't really afford right now since I'm not working at the moment, the most annoying thing is that I'm not able to do much work at home because I need the internet or at least my computer to do some of it (and it's really hard to read and write by candle/flashlight) and able to do even less in the computer lab because my books are too heavy to haul all of them the mile and a half to campus.

So life sucks a little, but not as much as those poor people south of me. I'm mostly just surprised by how much more electricity-dependent I am now. Part of it, I suspect, is that I've rarely been without electricity for more than a few hours and never for the five days it might take to get me power again, and that there's always been someone else to worry about the food and stuff like that.

Last week, I started having cravings for muffins. Since I've been wanting a muffin pan for a while, I decided it was time to indulge myself a little. Sadly my local itty-bitty but within walking distance grocery store only had a mini muffin pan, but I bought it anyway. After a small batch of blueberry muffins from a mix, I decided to make some from scratch using this recipe, but opted out of the dipping in butter and cinnamon sugar part because it seemed a little too far past my standard of not too unhealthy snack. I sprinkled cinnamon on instead, which made some rather tasty but not perfect muffins. Naturally, this has led to experimentation.

I followed the recipe almost exactly but added a pinch more nutmeg and a heaping 1/2 teaspoon on cinnamon directly to the batter (and skipped the butter dipping part again). It was tasty and the batter was delicious, but the muffins didn't quite have the kick I was looking for, so next time I will try increasing the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon and maybe adding a little vanilla extract.

I was planning to write a first day of school entry, but I didn't feel much like writing when I got home that day, so I'm doing a midweek update instead. My class schedule this semester is going to be rather rough despite being only 15 credit hours, largely because 2 of those credit hours are from a lab with 6 official hours of class and god only knows how many hours of extra lab time. Unfortunately, I've only got one class that's supposed to be anywhere near easy, but I saved enough money over the summer to not need to work this semester, and I'm not trying to run a game like I did last semester. With a little luck and a lot of staying on top of things and doing my work early, I should be okay.

I found out Monday that one of my professors was in Georgia when the Russians attacked. He made it out okay but is currently stranded in Turkey due to visa issues and might not be back for a couple of weeks. That's a shame because he's one of my favorite teachers (I'm taking his class solely because he's teaching it) but I'm mostly just relieved that he's okay.

As for my not so favorite professors, my thermo professor neglected to tell the bookstore what text he was using, and Amazon needs to special order, so I won't have the text for more than a week if I'm lucky. This wouldn't bother me so much if the professor didn't expect us to be reading a chapter a class from the text or assign homework due early next week from the book. A direct quote: "Not having the textbook is not an excuse." What's worse is that he has a copy of the book, so I know that he picked the book out at least a couple of weeks ago and probably much earlier. We're supposed to xerox pages from the reserve copy in the department, but as undergrads, we don't have access to the department copier, and I don't have enough free time tomorrow to be sure that I can access to the book to do Friday's reading.

I actually have another professor who didn't tell the bookstore what book he was using, but since he's offering to get us books for about $20 less than Amazon, I'm not upset with him.


In sort of awesome, sort of "I'm really glad I have a reasonable amount of savings right now", I have a new computer. My old laptop started having issues with making sufficient contact with the power cord, which was the latest in a long line of problems but the one that actually motivated me to get a new computer because buying a new power cord every three months after normal wear on the electrical contacts prevents it from charging (especially since last time it happened was right before finals when I had a major paper due in less time than it would take for a new cord to arrive) didn't make sense when it was becoming increasingly apparent that I'd need to invest in a new computer soon anyway.

I now have a brand sparkling new Toshiba Satellite U405D, which isn't top of the line but is a step up from my old computer, weighs only four and a half pounds, and cost less than I was expecting to pay. (Hooray electronically inclined boyfriends who know how to find good deals!) It's one of those ultra-glossy finishes which I find annoying because I don't want to have to use a micro fiber cloth every five minutes to keep it decent-looking. I'm not sure I like Vista yet, and I'm a bit irritated by the amount of random junk offers I have to clear out, but I'll live with it. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy.

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com/.
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top fifteen results



1. Forensics Specialist
Spent a big chunk of my childhood wanting to do this. Not sure when that changed.
...May have to contemplate this
2. Pharmacologist
Meh. There would be measuring, yes? I suspect this has something to do with the chem question.
3. Chemist
4. Computer Programmer
And another career I wanted as a kid. Heh. It doesn't really surprise me that I haven't changed.
5. Agricultural Engineer
Why agricultural? Because I like working outdoors?
6. Computer Engineer
7. Explosives Specialist
That would be awesome, but I'm not sure I should be allowed near things that go boom without supervision.
8.Chemical Engineer
9. Conservator
The library and museum type apparently. Okay. Seems this list is hitting a lot fo the things I used to dream about doing.
10. Biological Tech
Biology's my least favorite of the sciences.
11. Multimedia Developer
Sounds fun, but I've never really had enough patience when it comes to art.
12. Aerospace Engineer
Once again, why aerospace?
13. Mechanical Engineer
Should I just stop typing that question now?
14.Computer Support Person
No. No way in hell. I really hate dealing with people all the time.
15. Business Systems Analyst
Ooh, this one sounds like fun.

I just got my internet back!

Curiously, the soda listed drawing hordes of undead to the drinker as a feature.

Finished HP7 and am off to read all the stuff behind spoiler cuts. More later when I've decided how I feel about it.


EDIT: Okay, so I've started to process, and I have my first opinion.
( Cut for spoilers. In stream of Quin's babbling consciousness style )