Biology Ninja

I am quietly getting good at this stuff. Discarded titles for this post: Iron Maiden of Genetics (too medieval), Cell Biology Samurai (too gender-identified), and DNA Assassin (completely wrong - just...wrong). Study, study, study. Distract! Flirt online! Then more studying.

I seem to have hit a groove of accepting that I always have a damn paper due, so I'm not stressing and am just getting on with it. If I am always writing, then it is not a big deal when I have to write. I was bitching (to people face to face; obviously the blog has been pretty quiet) about my last paper being a piece of total crap, and I got an A on that one, too. I think I've got the hang of this academic writing business. At least for these two particular graders (the lab reports are going well, too).

So that's nice.

The dating site is OKCupid - no, I'm not linking, you'll notice, because I do find this faintly embarassing - and it has some fun quizzes, and questions that are supposed to match you up with like-minded folks. The quizzes have established yet again that I'm an INTJ (so far, every single assessment I've ever taken gives the same result), a ninja (possible alternatives: pirate, knight, or cowboy), an English language geek, and so forth - nothing none of you don't already know. There is a kinkiness scale, too (on which I just fell off the "less kinky" part), and a sluttiness test (on which I'm at 56% slut)(okay, I hope that's not too much of a surprise, people). Go figure. The "matching up" questions get rather weird; it's a bit like the parts of "Blade Runner" where they're quizzing beings to determine whether or not they're androids. So far, no "You see a turtle lying on its back..." but it may just be that I haven't gotten that far into the system yet.

Anyway, it's distracting me about the right amount. Now and then I'll email back and forth with some cute, bright guy, which is great fun; also I've stumbled across a person or two ridiculously similar to me (hello, if you've stopped by), so that's neat, too.

Logistics are closing in with a vengeance. This is cutting the tattered shreds of my social life into even teensier bits. So I haven't seen Double Helix for brunch since , oh jeez, since the weather got cold; Carole, I haven't seen since Rhinebeck; nor have I seen much of Yarn Harpy, or Tattoo Queen, or Lucia, or Lynne, and I've been woefully behind with checking out the fine and fabulous doings chez(s) farm-witch, Mel, and Lorena (who should imagine herself getting a big hug right now on general principle) (actually, you all should. there.). Grrrrr.

At least study group is productive and fun, not to mention crazed and occasionally more than a little silly. This week, we were on the edge of deeply silly while trying to learn our beginner genetics material, because so damn many mutations mean cancer. So we'd nail down yet another thing, and somebody would pipe up "and it causes cancer too!" (all together:) "because if you can't make it stop, it's cancer!" And then, crazed laughter. Seemed normal at the time. Grim, perhaps, and maybe a little sick, but we're trying. Exam Monday night.

Picture of me trying to think last night:

Apparently the ninja-ness is invisible. This would be its stealth aspect.

Oh, I actually saw Ruth for a few minutes! Hey, wow! Jen, the "possibly offensive" picture is in the post a few back - just linked, not shown. Heh. And Manise, I will post a picture of the yarn and stocking-in-progress - er, now!


Well, there we are. The days roll along, and now and then I look up and notice that I'm different. The kids are different. (The dog is the same, wretched creature.) Gradually picking up the threads in my hands, again, and tossing the rope up to the next part we climb, guys. Thanks for coming along.