Back again

My goodness, it’s been eventful around here. Let’s work backwards, shall we?

Biology lab assignments were posted tonight – I am assigned to Monday night labs, so (fingers crossed) I will actually be able to show up at Javaroom for a while next week. Woot!

Bio’s actually fun. We’ve (the 200+ people in the class, I mean) got some study groups going, and the bunch of folks I’ve stumbled into to work with are really neat, so that’s a very good thing. First study group gathering was this past weekend; about half the group is also in orgo (organic chemistry), no other neuro geeks, sigh, sigh, I will manage somehow. We’ve happened on a good mix of strengths, I think.

And I’m on for a couple of other classes, too, mostly filling requirements and having an interesting time. I’ve figured out that I need to always sign up for courses with Official Harvard Instructor whenever possible, ‘cause there’s a requirement for a whole bunch of those. The trick is to try and get stuff that falls into more than one category—one of the courses I’m doing hits a ton all at once.

I’m getting the tattoo done! Really! Friday, I hope; if not, then Sunday (but I’d have to cut short time at study group, so that’s why trying to get it done earlier). Pics when done.

Went to my first meeting last night of the town government board I’m now on. Surprise, I’m a numbers person, so surprise, guess who gets to keep track of numbers? Oui, c’est moi. I like this stuff. Really. I’ll spare you the breathless excitement of the long term bond repayment schedule, unless you ask very, very nicely.

Friday (21st – backwards, still) – memorial/celebration of the life of a wonderful man who lived across the street from me, and who died on Sept. 15th. My newly widowed neighbor is apparently not eating, so I’ve bugged her about it (soup is good). “He was convinced that a young woman should not go out into the world innocent of differential equations.” Quite right, too. Huzzah, Sam! And huzzah to wonderful wife and children and grandchildren.

Biggish deal (for me) from mid-last week – I asked a guy out to dinner, and he said okay, so we went on out and had an extremely geeky time (I wouldn’t have asked if he had not been deeply geeky about stuff I also geek on—this wasn’t random) Many hours of conversation about computer models of neural function and biological neural function, which was amazingly fun. Imagine! I could talk about modeling of Hebbian learning with someone Actually Interested In Such A Thing. It was also strange and confusing and, well, all that stuff I’ve been hearing single people complain about for years? – um, yeah, I get it now, it’s strange and confusing. (He’s on the other side of the country for the foreseeable future, my dears, no you will not be hearing further installments of this particular story) (well, probably not, anyway)

Sunday night, all of the residents chez Weasel went to see Amanda Palmer and Sxip’s Hour of Charm at ART. It was Wonderful! And Amazing! And Great! Aerialist, and circus guy with metal hoop, and rockin’ accordion music and soundscape stuff and—wow! We all had a blast. There was an encore, a soul song (with detailed instructions) entitled “What About Blow Jobs,” but other than that, which youngest child found rather confusing, it wasn’t even terribly embarassing to this mom from the burbs. I was a good mom, too: the girls are huge Dresden Dolls fans and so yes, we stayed afterwards so they could get Amanda’s autograph. Which the diva most graciously gave. Yay for art and artists and mischief. Also fun.

Saturday – my sister came up and stayed overnight, and that was a good thing. The day itself was something I inched up to and kind of braced for, and yes, it turned out I did need to. It sucked, but it was okay, too.

Thank you for the virtual (and actual!) hugs, everybody.
I still don’t sleep much.
I don’t cry every day.
I’m having a glass of wine.

How are you?