look at that, two strawberry blondes

in my ever so timely fashion, here is a Top Nine Things I Did About a Month Ago list, during the great sisterly reunion of 2009:

1. played cricket in celebration of Australia Day; stopped when i hit the ball over the fence; hung head in shame
2. went to the opera, which was excellent
3. visited NASA; found out they do not have a zero gravity room; was disappointed
4. went to the zoo; stopped growling at the millions of small children long enough to stare at the elephants

5. used my six-year-old umass ID to get in to howl at the moon, the dueling piano bar, without paying cover; requested Sweet Caroline and Crocodile Rock; sang obnoxiously along to both
6. ate entirely too much food
7. made the mistake of bringing morgan, the most sensitive of all bleeding hearts, to the mouse room at work to see all the babies i would eventually kill; gave a rambling speech about necessary evils, penicillin, cancer, etc. to no avail
8. met someone who calls himself Big Joe at the bus stop, who took time out from his breakfast of Olde English in a tall can to tell the two of us we were very pretty (i'm paraphrasing)
9. spontaneously decided to cook two lobsters; named them lawrence and leonard on the way home; housed them in a pot of water in my sink until dinnertime; shrieked when one tried to make a break for it; reenacted Annie Hall

this would have been a top ten but it was all so long ago that my alzheimer's has done away with the last one.

backscratch

found out last week i'm 'immunocompromised'. no, that does not mean the hiv. it means i am itchy, and hurty, and it is driving me insane.

are there people you can hire to scratch your back on command? there should be.

cinema

[-]
they're remaking last house on the left? whyyyyy? the original is so terrible it's awesome.

[+]
new movie about whitey bulger, possibly involving matt. daaamon. and daniel day lewis, sigh. so basically, the departed 2: hotter and irish-er.

[-------]
i'm still mad i wasted two hours of my life on he's just not that into you. i would rather have spent it doing so many other things, like braiding a rope to hang myself with should i ever have to see this shite again. am i overdramatic? hardly.

that's a word?

you stay classy, san diego.

another prolonged absence. my excuse is legit though, as this guy and i have been spending a lot of quality time together. (sidenote: i loathe my camera.) in the words of a 15-year-old, last week i was all, 'rice is never gonna call me, i should return these music history books to the library', and then the next day rice was all, 'hey we want you to come in for an interview and take a bunch of exams', and then i was all, 'oh shite'. so i pretty much moved into my own little carrel at the library for the week. it was enjoyable in a strange sort of way, and a little bit sad too, because i realized how far away i've gotten from the things that i like. those things do not include, however, medieval chant and baroque church music. bah.

cupcaaaakes

oh herrow, Newest Baked Good That I Will Be Attempting in the Near Future:

car bomb cupcakes. with bailey's frosting.

courtesy of smitten kitchen, the greatest food blog ever. sorry, self-frosting nutella cupcakes, but these guys just pushed you out of the top spot.

i could play basketball, i'm tall

hook hook!*

what do dave and biggie have in common? they both have twitter accounts. 'yo, anybody know how the fuck Poppa supposed to get this damn sweater back in shape? shits stretched like mickey rourke' = quote of the day.

my newest t shirt endeavor:

slightly time-consuming, but a few lengthy phone conversations plus a few episodes of green wing made the seam-ripping go by quickly. i'm wearing it today, so we'll see how it goes over.

as if you required another reason not to name your child something asinine, a study shows adolescents with unpopular names are more prone to commiting crime. brilliant.

this is quickly degenerating into a random list of pictures and links. in that case, i find this strangely awesome.
a floating tent at the venice architecture biennale. speaking of italy, i would kill for a lemon fanta right now.

and for good measure, here's a picture of a baby panda. (baby dave!) wow, this went downhill fast.

*one of my favorite quotes from good will hunting, a very quotable movie. it's four inch heels day today so i am quite tall. unfortunately i'm not as good with minnie driver's accent.

feeding my addiction

I WANT.

doc martens in colors. mm.

3 2 1 blast off

morgan and i went to NASA.

where are my moon boots???

hopeful

"'It's kind of disheartening," Freeman said. "In the little town we live in — this is a really small town — I don't know how you can live in such a small place and try to be separate.'"
actor freeman foots prom bill in sundance doc - david germain in AP

not to be a downer on a day like today (i won't lie, i got a little teary-eyed at the end of obama's speech this morning), but i just can't contain my amazement at the idea of a town that does not allow black and white students to attend the same prom. so morgan freeman paid for them to have one.

"Dr. Mason and other legal experts suggest that President Obama might be able to change things significantly for young women in science — and young men — by signing an executive order that would provide added family leave and parental benefits to the recipients of federal grants, a huge pool of people that includes many research scientists."
in 'geek chic' and obama, new hope for lifting women in science - natalie angier in the new york times

not very many PI's at the three institutions i've worked at have been women, and even fewer have had families. i understand that to succeed in any profession a lot of personal sacrifices have to be made, but in science the whole 'you can have it all' dream of a family and a career can seem fairly impossible for women. for people who pretty much rely solely on government funding, the next four years could be a good change.

back?

i have writer's block. too many thoughts in my head equals none in the blog. sorry.

after more than a week of vacation it was hard to come back to work and remember how to deal with people who are borderline autistic. awkwardness lives at baylor.

i experienced karaoke for the first time recently. michelle and i sang 'can't get you out of my head', because being a kylie fan is mandated by australian law.

excitement abounds because my sister is arriving tonight for her first visit to texas. i've spent the last few weeks compiling a very detailed list of things to do, but in all reality she'll probably end up watching a million dvds at my house while i'm at work. together, however, we will stay at home with wine and cheese and watch Fame, one of the greatest 'so bad it's good' movies of all time. seriously, it is awesome; keep in mind i will also sit down and watch Purple Rain if it's on.

just an hour left and then it's time for lab dinner at onion creek. mmm frito pie and a can of pearl.