one more miracle

I finally made a new flist filter! All the ones I had were hopelessly out of date, and trying to read unfiltered is a nightmare because of all the random communities I never bothered to unfriend, SO! I have found all the still active friends around and compiled you into a handy dandy flist that will help me get back in the groove of this here LJ nonsense. Yay! Hi!

In having a few comment chats I've already realized how much I've missed LJ. Twitter just isn't the same - conversations are more out in the open there, you have to filter yourself. Especially since some of my football friends started following my "personal" twitter. I can't just come out and flail about how John and Sherlock are TOTES IN LOVE ZOMG!!1!! LJ is still my safe haven and I love you baby and I'll never leave again. (Lies, but, I want to come back for now!)

It does sadden me all the stupid things the LJ company itself continues to do. But the remnants of my community are still here and I'm going to cling to it, dammit.

Say hi if you're even still following me! I have no idea if I'm just shouting into the darkness, now. It would be justified but I'd still just like to know. So! Hi!

Look, a post that's NOT about Nicholas! \o/

So yesterday was a kind of insane day. I had class from 9 to 11 (and spent a lot of it Tweeting about how I hated the back of Nicholas's head and hoped he wouldn't talk to me after class - he didn't, but rather snuck away like a coward \o/), and then I went straight to lab... where I proceeded to do an experiment for over 10 hours. YEAH YOU HEARD ME! I didn't leave until ~9:30 PM! And I was working that WHOLE time. It was a little surreal - I forgot to bring lunch, so I had, like, an apple, but I couldn't leave the lab, so I didn't eat anything real until about 6 when my labmate forced a frozen meal on me! I was doing this big involved experiment that has, like, 7 steps, one of which ran over the night before, and the last few of which had to happen in the cold room, aka a refrigerator that I had to sit in and operate a pipet in for 20 minutes at a time. So freaking cold! At the end of all this, I basically got 96 data points for two different proteins with several conditions, and THEY LOOKED GREAT!! I was so relieved and thrilled and proud because no one in my lab had done anything like this before, so I was kind of flying on vague recommendations, a slightly related literature paper, and my own instincts (which are not terribly well honed after only 3 months in biochem!). But everything worked amazingly and this is a great starting point for an important set of experiments that I'm collaborating with a couple of my labmates on. It's all just very nerdily exciting and I am happy that my crazy day paid off!

Unfortunately, I have a test tomorrow, and yesterday was obviously totally lost to studying... so that's what I'm doing now. /o\ I'm getting a decent handle on this stuff though, and it's only 10 PM, so I'm gonna be fiiine! I caught a power nap around 9 PM when I just put my head down on my keyboard and slept for about 15 minutes, to the lilting tunes of Linkin Park blasting in my ear, ha. But now I have plenty of energy and I'm charging ahead! Woo!

I just started a paragraph about how I'm ~SO BEHIND~ on TV, but um, I'm only behind on two shows (Merlin and Castle) and tomorrow night I'll definitely have some time to catch up, SO. STFU, Anne! Ha. On that note though, I've seen a lot of people recommend that you get a hobby during grad school, some activity that takes your mind off your work and during which is decisively NOT science time. I think television/fandom is that hobby for me. And you all know I don't mean that in the potato-y way - I mean it in the watching shows with characters that thrill and amuse and sadden me, and discussing them with other lovely folks kind of way. You are my destresser! And I am so grateful to have you, and all this darling TV, to keep me sane. ♥

That said, this week's Big Bang Theory was not my favorite. Yay, let's manipulate Penny and try to make her into a more mild and tolerable person because WE ARE MEN AND WE GET EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT. >:( Sheldon, I know you fail all the time, but that was a particularly bad note to strike THIS WEEK of all weeks. And Howard and Raj's story was mildly funny (that was the most attractive Howard's ever been to me, I must say) but AGAIN WITH THE EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN! I'm glad they're presented as failing utterly (as always!) because otherwise... raaage. (That girl was totally hot, though. Ha.)

My favorite blog right now (which has entries back to SEVEN YEARS AGO, WHAT, so LOTS of backcatalog to go through) is Pipeline, which is hilariously a pharmaceutical chemist's blog. It's incredibly well-written and intelligent and informative, and I've learned a lot about the drug industry (namely, uh, I want no part of it?) and it's just been a great/terrible procrastination tool because I feel like I'm LEARNING while I'm reading it - just not things I can use on my test tomorrow! :P

Obviously this is a procrastination tool too, so I'm going to GO AWAY NOW!

Friends list cut has been ACCOMPLISHED. Starting total: 518. Final total: 235.

Christ. I'd say that was a bit overdue, wouldn't you? I had journals friended whose last entry was in 2006. I had people friended who had long since defriended me and were friends locked. I just needed to clean out that damn closet. And I feel so much better now that I've done it.

I really hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings. If I somehow cut you in error and you'd really want to stick around, please say something, it really was a huge job. But I feel a lot more honest now, because there were a LOT of journals I just wasn't reading. I'll still be filtering but mostly to keep things straight in terms of subject matter, so there's Bandom, SGA, and Other, at the moment.

Moving on!

PANIC AT THE SAUCE


Ugh, STEVEN SMITH. Why do I heart you so hard? He starts the interview with "I, I, I love you." And the boys kind of giggle and Brendon goes "We love YOU." Hee! And dude, when did Ryan become the comedian?? He's rambling about how he got his scarf in the SHIRE and his boys are just literally falling over laughing. SO FUCKING CUTE. And the whispering! And the high fives! SO MANY HEARTS IN MY EYES, YOU GUYS. I can't wait for the SURS clip :D

teaspoon just posted about how - wait for it - Steven Smith and Mikey fucking WAY are going to be JUDGING A KARAOKE COMPETITION at ANGELS & KINGS.

I'll let that sink in for a moment.

Is that not the most lolarious and awesome thing you have EVER HEARD? Mikey Way! I don't know what to do with you! Judging a karaoke night at your ex boyfriend's bar! If this gets us some Mikey/Pete pictures, well. THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. And Steven! Steven who has a ginormous crush on Gerard! And who is just adorable beyond the telling of it!

I really hope this heralds more interaction between the MCR and FOB camps to come. Because that would just be unspeakably awesome. It is my life's dream to see Gerard and Ryan have a conversation, OKAY? Bwee.

Now I am sleepy. Goodnight <3

Happy birthday foxxcub!! I hope you have an absolutely lovely birthday filled with lots of adorable band boys making out for your pleasure :D

Guys, I'M REALLY EXCITED. I'm making plans to go on a fun voyage across the UK during Christmas break!! I'm going to see the5thmarauder in Cardiff, immorallily and unamaga in Oxford, and theaeblackthorn in Brighton. YOU KNOW YOU'RE JEALOUS! *beams* I've already bought my first plane ticket, so it's really happening! Bwee! I spent last night working out planes and trains and whatnot, and the total price comes to only about 130 pounds, which is like 260 dollars, and I don't have to pay for accommodation since I have awesome friends, and hurrah! It's gonna be so much fun, eeee. I'm going from Thurs Dec 27th to Sun Jan 6th, getting back just in time for classes! Yaye.

Also last night, my daddy bought HIS plane tickets for him and my sister to come visit me in March! HURRAH! They're coming over ON St. Patrick's Day, which I didn't realize until he'd already booked the tickets, whoops. But he's coming in early morning, so it shouldn't be too bad yet, and he'll get a heck of an introduction to Dublin! *laughs* I'm a little worried about my sister (she's 13), but we can just hole her up in my apartment, and it might just be a bit too intense for all of us, so we could all hide if necessary, haha.

So. Yay for trips and visiting people and huzzah!

I've been listening to Pencey Prep (Frank Iero's old band) a bit lately, they're pretty fun. Mostly I think Frankie's voice is adorable, hee. I uploaded their stuff for pau494, so I'll pass it on! Pencey Prep. Enjoy!

I have a committee dinner with Sci Fi Soc in a couple hours, which should be fun. Plus, free food yaye, haha. I'm totally ordering a beer with dinner - how novel! :D

So here I am, waking up before sunrise on Monday morning for a 9 oclock class. I don't know how I'm going to cope when the amount of daylight shrinks even MORE over the next two months. Oh Ireland, you so crazy!

This is a fitting start to what promises to be the most exhausting yet awesome week of my entire life. Let's have a rundown of what's going on, shall we?

• Monday. Classes until 5. Meeting at 9 with roommates and one of our program coordinators to deal with "issues" that are cropping up amongst roommates, not really me but we all have to be there. FUN! (Okay, so the fun doesn't really start here. Meh, Mondays.)
  
• Tuesday. Classes until 4. TOM MCRAE CONCERT AT 7:30!! \o/!!
  
• Wednesday. Classes until 3. Flight to London at 7 PM, followed by train to Hampton Court getting in at 10:12 PM. Meeting erode!!!
  
• Thursday. MOTHERFUCKING MCR CONCERT AT THE O2!!! AHHHHH!!!!!
  
• Friday. Flight back to Dublin in the late afternoon. Meeting huggenkiss at the Dublin airport because she has a flight from the same airport in London to Dublin a half hour earlier than me. Ahahaha, life, WHAT? But YAY AMANDA!!!
  
• Saturday+Sunday. I can has Amanda!! \o/
  
• Monday. Class at 9 - if I'm still alive!

HOMG. I want to go to sleep just thinking about it, but it's all going to be SO MUCH FUN YAAAAY.

Everything I'm hearing about Jsquared from the Chicago Con fills me with UTTER GLEE. The video of the cheek touching story! The darling pictures! OH BOYS. Never stop, seriously. ♥♥♥

GIP! I made a bunch of MCR icons because needed mooooore, and I'm really happy with how this one turned out. ICU Mikeyway and Bob! <333

Okay, well, off to face the day!