The Laursonian Institute

Another day, another party, another failed attempt at fitting in to my lab.  It’s enough to make a girl wonder if she hasn’t overstepped her place.  And if she’s cut out for this career at all.  FML.

October 9th, 2009 | Tags: fml, frustration, party | Category: life, school | Comments Off

Woke up rather late this morning after a long and excellent night last night.  We pulled together an impromptu barbeque and pool party with some of our linguistics friends last night.  Had a really good time – cooked some tasty food, poked around in the pool, played some games, had lots of laughs.  I really enjoy my cohort!   And we had the luck of Lewis’ parents wanting us to look after their dog in the evening anyway, and inviting us to have the party at their place.  Such luck!

This morning as sort of a bust, sadly.  I got a migraine sort of right after I woke up – didn’t even have breakfast or anything.  I’m pretty bummed out.  I was even supposed to be going in for another scanner session today with Lewis, and I had to cancel.   I might have been able to handle it, but I always feel like.. I’ve been up reading in the dark all night and I’m hungover.  That’s the best I can describe it.  Usually I get these migraines in the afternoon and can kind of coast until bedtime and sleep it off, but this 10am business is just not great.  I did take a nap later and wore most of it down, but I’ll be glad to get some real sleep tonight and wake up refreshed in the morning.

Despite it all, I got a lot of work done today.  Skimmed some book chapters, and skimmed over the stuff I might want to go over in sections this week.  I even charted out what I need to do in the next few weeks to get ready for my term papers and final presentations.  I’m going to make it… Just three weeks to go, and then I’ll have so much time, I won’t even know what to do with myself.   That’s going to be so sweet!

May 17th, 2009 | Tags: cohort, friends, migraine, nap, party, planning, reading | Category: life, school | Comments Off

Like I told Lewis earlier… today is one of those days that will probably never happen again.  Today is the day I both got a scholarship, and a brain scan!   What are the chances?   I’m pretty excited about this scholarship.  The money will be nice, though it’s not a great amount, but I feel like more importantly the outword show of faith from the department and nice CV boost are priceless.  I had been worried when I first got in to Davis with Lewis that I was perhaps an accessory to his more glorious career, but since actually getting here and starting classes I’ve felt like my work speaks for itself, and I’m showing myself to be a worthwhile asset.  This just sort of proves it, in a fancy sort of public way!  I’ve never gotten any sort of meritorious scholarship before, and it means a lot to me that this isn’t just part of some big pool of money that I got a piece of for being a decent student.  I got our department’s only scholarship – a nod from other linguists that I’m a promising student!  Yay!

So, yeah.  It was a wildly successful day, even though it got off to a rocky start.  I slept really poorly last night, and woke up pretty grumpy.  We had a great night last night, playing Apples to Apples and Zombie Fluxx with a bunch of Linguists and their significant others.  I made a chex mix-like party mix (which was really good) and a strawberry rhubarb crisp (which was tasty but amorphous) and others brough various goods.  It was originally going to be at someone elses’ house, but she got sick, so we emergency hosted, and it was a good excuse to finally clean at least the common areas in our house.  Anyway, after all that adventure last night, I just couldn’t sleep – heart palpitations and the like.

So I made muffins this morning – apple cranberry ones, whole wheat with orange zest and walnuts – and they turned out really well.  Muy sabroso.  Went to the gym after that and worked out pretty hard.  Weekends are a great time to hit up the gym since no one is there, and I had the women’s room to myself.   Worked out for longer than usual, and then I got to try all the weight machines I’ve been curious about, since no one was there to see me make a fool of myself.  Was pretty beat when I got home, but I took a real nice long shower and had some lunch and got back in the swing of things.

Ran off to Sacramento after that to visit the UC Davis Imaging Research Center, where my lab does its fMRI scanning.   I was volunteering to be a subject in the control group of  a sign language study my advisor is working on, mostly to get the chance to do an fMRI study.  Being in the scanner is hard to describe – on one hand more difficult than I would have thought, but on the other hand, also less clausterphobic and nerve-wracking than anticipated.  The tasks were amusing, and being in the magnet doesn’t really feel like anything more than being anywhere else tiny but safe while your head is strapped to a plank.  I suppose what I mean to say is the magnetization isn’t really discernable.  I was glad I had taken that fMRI class already though, because I could identify what the noises were probably being caused by, and I knew enough to know what the magnet would and would not do, and thus it was more interesting than scary.  I can see being pretty wigged out by all that stuff if you were a kid or someone without the background on RF coils and all that.  Anyway, I would certainly do it again, I thought it was rather fun.  I’m sure I’ll post a picture of my brain when the person running the study emails me a copy of some of my high-res anatomical scan data.  I’m looking forward to it!

Post-scan I was hungry and eye-strained, but happy that Lewis had come with me, and we were going out to dinner!  Hit up the Tower Cafe, where our friend Maya works, and had the most delicious dinner and wine and desserts.  Maya was even working, so we got to chat her up a bit.  It was nice, since we haven’t had a chance to catch up with her in a while.  I do hope we can do something soon, I really enjoy her company.   Anyway, came home and Lewis gave me a really nice neck rub (which I needed after that hour and a half of forced immobilzation in the scanner)  and we listed to some good jazz records.  And I got a barrage of congratulatory facebook messages in my email.  Nice way to cap off a nice day!

May 2nd, 2009 | Tags: cooking, excited, fmri, friends, game night, party, restaurant, scholarship | Category: life, school | Comments Off

Long day full of not a lot.  Didn’t have class this morning, so I got to sleep in and make Lewis a tasty weekend-like breakfast with some of the tasty hot sauce he made yesterday.  I did manage to mow the lawn today, which was a really nice excuse to hang out in the decent weather and sunshine.  Did a little weeding even, and spend a while gazing lovingly at the waxwing flock in our tree.  I need to spend more time outdoors that doesn’t involve moving from one location to another.  I’ll be happy when it’s toasty enough for long enough to read on the lawn again.  It’s been so damp this winter!  You know, for Davis.

Did manage a few accomplishments today.  Bought my tickets to San Diego for my grandparents’ joint 80th birthday party in April, so that ought to alleviate some parental worry.  Also turned in my neuroimaging quiz, which went slightly crappier than I could have hoped.  I’m definitely a little out of my league, so getting a decent grade I’ll consider a triumph.  I really have no idea what I’m going to get as a final grade in that class – as far as I can tell, it’s going to be entirely dependent on 3 quizes, the second of which I just finished today.  Got an A on the first one, and I’m feeling B on this one… so hopefully I can nail the last one as scrape by with an A- or such in this class.  Phew.

I also baked a loaf of bread!  I haven’t made this recipe for potato bread for a few years, so it was a nice one to come back to.  The potato in it always makes it turn out nice a moist and smooshy, which is great.  I did forget to put the butter in, but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference.  All in all, pretty great.  After all that, I was pretty pooped today, so I sort of slugged around and ended up needing to go out for dinner, despite having lots of food here.  I was just too knackered to cook, and was feeling really ready to get out of the house anyway.  So Lewis and I had a great sushi dinner, and I was feeling much more relaxed and put together by the time I got back home.  Though we did reneg on a pictionary party with the philosophy grad students.  We’ve got a party to go to tomorrow, so I’m not feeling too bad… but we are so terribly unsocial some times!

February 28th, 2009 | Tags: bread, grades, lawn, party, quiz, sushi, travel, unsocial | Category: home, school | Comments Off

Happy new year and all that!   And happy birthday to my sister!

Nice party last night at a big mansiony place out in the boonies.  Good lazy day today watching football (USC -> Rosebowl) with the in-town Weasels and making the rest of our Xmas essens.  Now I’m off to get a little relaxing massage from my sweetie!

January 1st, 2009 | Tags: birthday, football, lazy, massage, new year, party, short | Category: life | Comments Off

exhausted

cowed

aprehensive

anticipatory

resigned

nervous

steeled

defeated

relaxed

blessed

loved

okay.

——————–

Made Christmas cookies today.  Spent all day mixing, rolling, cutting, baking, frosting, and fraternizing.  Saw immediate and extended Lawyer family.  Wasn’t sure how well it went off… seemed like the actions were there without the cheer, somehow, though looking back on it now that can’t have been true.  I guess it’s just not the same without my sister and Lonnie.  I miss Lisa, and I’m really not looking forward to Christmas this year.  I feel like I did a shit job with presents, and I don’t know how I could have done better.  I’m worried about making phone calls on Christmas day to try and sound enthused about what I sent, though it was the best I could do with my time, money, and resources this year.  I guess I just don’t like sending anything but the best to my sister and my parents, and I didn’t give anything anywhere near what they deserve this year.  Stupidly, this all makes me feel like I’ve done something wrong, like said something I shouldn’t have, and I should be in trouble for this sort of behavior.   Boo.

Here’s to tomorrow, which is now today, and it being more cheerful and lighthearted.

December 23rd, 2008 | Tags: cookies, ennui, holidays, malaise, party | Category: life | Comments Off

Had our number crunching party tonight!  Went off very well – I think I got the info I needed for my paper, and it was neat to get to work through the program with my own data, having a clue about what various things mean and what would be unexpected, etc.  Good times.  I also made a lasagna for the crowd, and managed to stuff some of my leftover peanut butter pie down them as well.  All in all, quite a lovely night to cap off a lovely weekend.  Ooh, we got bulbs planted today as well!  Such productiveness.

November 30th, 2008 | Tags: cooking, data, fun, gardening, party | Category: home, school | Comments Off

Pretty successful day, for sure, but busy as heck.  Feeling a little too disparate to blog successfully.  It’s rather late.

Went to class, collected our first round of homeworks from the undergrads.  Most everyone turned them in!  Much success.  Class went well and everyone seemed to be into the morphology thing.  Chatted with some kids after class, and busted over to office hours.  Spent most of office hours talking to my co-TA and other TAs in the office about Warcraft and other slightly-more-relevant topics.  Good times!  I do really like the grad students in our department.  We’re good folks.  Anyway, had my last two sections this week and they both went really well!  I think I learned from my Wednesday mistakes and moved forward.  Guess we’ll see how the content shapes up this week, when I’ve really got to do the “teaching” part of the ol’ job.  Linguistics Graduate Group party after that, which was fun!  Went over with another one of the 1st years, who I really like, and chatted with many of the rest of the 1st years.  Again.. what a great group!  Students and faculty alike.  Yay.  Came home and graded homeworks and watched crap TV while Lewis was out celebrating his friend’s birthday.   These homeworks are gold, but truthfully I’m really glad to see how well all the kids are getting the material.  And those that aren’t… pure gold.  And lots of material for next week’s discussion sections!

Weekend.  Tomorrow.  That’s all I really have the steam left to say.  Yay!

October 3rd, 2008 | Tags: homework, party, taing | Category: school | Comments Off

Much to tired to post a proper post. But let it suffice to say our housewarming was a total success, and our friends are all so lovely! I’m full to the brim with satisfaction in so many ways. Also… how on earth did we all manage to eat so much? A question for the ages.

August 30th, 2008 | Tags: party | Category: home | Comments Off