You know, it's really uncomfortable to have to sit through a verbal reaming that is not targeted at you. We have group meetings for our lab on Monday mornings, and today my boss decided she had several things to get off her chest, including rants about how her students never meet deadlines and how none of them have plans for publications and if they don't get publications they won't get their PhDs. It was all rather melodramatic - somewhat necessary, but I felt it could have been handled in a rather more measured fashion. Meanwhile, because I am but a rotation student and will be leaving within a month, I just sat there meekly and tried not to look at people. Awkward!

On the other hand, during this same meeting I met the eyes of the Hot Guy who works in the lab I think... 2 or 3 times across the table. He was looking at me! He's so pretty, you guys. He's got tattoos on every limb and wears Tool sweatshirts but is also a nerd. I am very fond. I may or may not work up the balls to ask him out for coffee when I leave the lab - we'll see.

Health care reform passed! Amazing! All the biggest stuff comes into effect in 2014, which is just about the time I'll be graduating with my PhD and therefore losing my grad care health insurance - A+ timing! But more than that, of course, I think this will actually do really good things for a lot of normal Americans. I'm very happy. I also wish that this would shock some sense into the Republican party - not a single one of them voted for this historic victory. The party is so petty, selfish, hateful, and vicious - and they don't see any of these things as a problem. I'm sad that we still have to deal with this legitimized fanaticism, but at least we squeaked something around their obstreperousness. (Yes, my "political" icon is Obama with a small child. Don't judge.)

Man, Mondays suck even more now that I have to spend the whole day bouncing and waiting until I can LEAVE and watch The Pacific! I watched about 15 minutes while I ate breakfast this morning, and ahahah - so not a good idea. I just love a little gore and death with my morning yogurt, don't you? :P

Lalala that's it! Science time!

You know, having the answers to the physics problems I'm studying for my test tomorrow in a PDF file that I have to read on my laptop makes it REALLY hard to focus. I keep clicking over to Firefox and poking aimlessly at the internet, even though I'm basically entirely caught up with everything. LAME.

The studying's going okay though. I'm not particularly worried about the test, just annoyed that it's at 8 AM. Rar.

Have you all seen the pics of the Obamas with the NEW PUPPY? Or reading books to kids for Easter? CUTEST FAMILY EVER Y/Y?! The fact that they live in the White House and that the daddy is one of the most powerful people in the world continues to completely blow my mind.

Have there been any significant developments regarding #amazonfail? I've caught wind of a few different trends in the conversation, but Amazon hasn't said anything else yet, right?

When I got to work this morning I told my (gay, awesome) boss about the Amazon fail, and he hadn't heard about it. Within half an hour he was completely caught up and we talked about it for a while. We then shifted to gay marriage, and he talked about how he and his partner, Ken, are worried because Rick (my boss) is so much older, and therefore likely to pass away first, but he owns the house and because they're not married, Ken would have to pay inheritance taxes. It was just really moving to hear about the difficulties of inequality directly from a person I know quite well, and makes me even more staunch in my gay marriage position (if that's possible).

I really should get back to the books, rar. Next up: the Death of Classical Physics! \o/

IT'S BARTLETT AND JOSH OBAMA AND RAHM IN THE OVAL OFFICE!!!!

:D :D :D

ETA:


MY FACE IS RIDICULOUS RIGHT NOW :D :D :D :D

In the crazy world
Anything can happen
If you will it to
I'm just a hazy girl
Blurring all the edges
Only seeing blue

It's a wild hope
A wild hope
A wild hope
Everything will be alright

Obama starts speaking around 3 minutes:

Happy New Years, my loves! May 2009 treat us and the world with much more kindness than 2008 did.

I have not been online at all so I am completely and WOEFULLY behind on LJ. But I'm really okay with that. If anything big has happened in your lives, tell me? Or just come say hi! I miss you all <3

I'm at Michigan with the cousins that I lived with for a summer a couple years ago. They are my most favoritest cousins in the world and I'm having a great time. Last night a family they're friends with came over just to hang out and have a great dinner and some drinks, and they have three adorable kids, and it was just a lot of fun. We played board games and took shots of this drink that Meg (my cousin) made up, which is Kahlua, vodka, and coffee creamer. SO GOOD. This morning we just spent two hours sitting around in the kitchen talking about how deeply awesome Obama is, and sharing stories of our experiences during the campaign, etc etc. We're SO EXCITED for this dude. Whee!

We're planning on watching Merlin because they're always looking for shows that the whole family can watch. Their kids are 7 and 13, so it's a little hard to find something everyone will love! I have a feeling they'll adore Merlin though. They're big fantasy geeks just like me, right down to having a Renaissance themed wedding (he dressed as a knight, she in a beautiful maroon gown) so it should be super fun in that way. And the kids should love it too. I'm so excited! Arthur's beautiful face on their massive 50 inch TV! Woo!

On a hilarious side note, Hazel (7 year old) was having me read some books with her last night, and one was called DR. MERLIN'S MAGIC SHOP. I loled a lot, obviously, and Merlin turned out to be this evil scary old man, which, hilarious. But the best part is that he had A DOG NAMED ARTHUR. Ahahahaha. He was big and fluffy and white and I was so amused.

Now I'm gonna go back to hanging out and having ABSOLUTELY NO CONCERNS AT ALL. It is the most glorious feeling in the whoooole world.

I hope you are all well! xoxoxo

McCain just conceded, so I would like to reiterate:

CONGRATULATIONS PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA!!!!!!

This is such an historic moment. Let go of your fears and embrace it!!

YES WE DID!

SEE ICON.

Except no, this time, this time WE'VE got this. WE'VE GOT THIS. We are going to vote, and volunteer, and hope and fight and win.

Today is a historic day. Take part. Find your local campaign office - you'll be blown away. Follow Huffington Post as the day progresses and stories roll in about record-breaking lines, stories of endurance and courage and hope. Last night I read about a woman who had just had a Caesarian section and had her husband drop her off at the early voting booth so she could vote, still in her hospital slippers. A 90-year old woman, bent in half over her walker, who waited in line so she could cast her vote for Obama.

Thousands of these stories will ring across the nation today. Don't get lost in despair when you hear this polling location or that is getting a bit FUBARed. For every fucked up machine, there are thousands upon thousands logging vote after vote for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. So far on my flist this morning I have seen stories of record breaking lines twice.

This is not a run of the mill election.

Yes we can. Yes, we can.

♥

(Please feel free to share your election day stories here with me! And don't forget: VOTE!)

Just a quick little post before sleepies.

I have SPN downloaded but have not yet watched! I never got back to my live-watching schedule after Dublin, especially since I don't, uh, actually have TV in my apartment! I hear good things though :)

I'm reading papers my putative PhD advisor has published, and it's actually really encouraging. I'm reading her methods section and finding that I have first hand experience with almost everything she's doing. There's a huge organic synthesis component, and I'm VERY familiar with that, since it's the major subject of my independent and summer research thus far. There's also protein purification and assay, which I've done in my biochem class this semester, albeit not very extensively, but I have experienced it! Then she does drug tests in rats, and while I haven't done that, I have worked with live rats (which were then, um, not live so I could study their intestinal veins...) during my summer at Michigan State University. This makes me realize how truly blessed I am with the extent of experience I've been exposed to as an undergraduate, and actually really excited to move forward with this PhD!

My friend Brad sent me a Youtube link to a S Club 7 video. LOLZ. 90s flashbacks!!! The dancing is SO LOLAWFUL. Heeeee.

Still minorly addicted to Britney. Send help.

Bandom was fairly AWESOME today. Northern Downpour video -> precious AND beautiful. I spent most of it wanting to molest country-boy Bden or tell Ryan to stop squinting :P Bob Bryar's blog -> MADE OF WIN AND PUPPIES. Actually, hilariously, his writing style reminded me a lot of Dara's. BUT ANYWAY. New puppy! He shot up his garage and it was fun! BOB BRYAR WHAT. His faaaace. I love how he was going to tell us about the other boys but then, like, doesn't feel like it. AHAHA. Ilhim lots, not gonna lie. I CANT WAIT FOR THESE BOYS TO BE IN OUR LIVES EVERY DAY AGAIN. The texting updates are going to be ENDLESS FOUNTS OF JOY AND LULZ, I can just tell!! <33333 (Frank is going to be LETHAL with that, ahahaha.)

ETA: AND what might be the BEST TAI TV EVERRRRR. Fan-written BODYSWAP. Bill and Sisky! NOMG! THE PRECIOUSES. And Travis of WTK tells them the secret! I AM LOLING SO HARD. Bill and Sisky's FAAAAACES. Hahahaha boooooys <3

Obama continued to be DEEPLY AWESOME. And McCain continued to ride the failtrain into the sunset. Highlights:

• Rachel Maddow interviews Obama. I REALLY love how he comes across here. Rachel pushes the flaming liberal thing a bit, and he brings it back to the middle with sense, compassion and extremely intelligent assessment of the state of our country. He doesn't want to alienate the entire Republican party because it's NOT the whole party at fault. It's a "incompetent subset" that has "kidnapped the party". And to a large extent he's right. It's for just this reason that he's been able to cross party lines everywhere - he didn't start out partisan. He started out American. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.
  
• McCain rally in Ohio a pretty spectacular faceplant. For one thing: 4,000 of the 6,000 in attendance had to be bussed in from surrounding schools. !!! And for another, McCain calls on Joe the Plumber to stand up.... but he's not there! WHOOOOPS! It's hilarious, go watch!

And FiveThirtyEight.com continues to rock my socks, but that's not news :) Lots of nasty stuff flying around, but that's to be expected. Obama seems to be largely rising above!

FIVE DAYS.

So I could talk about how Prof Moss gave me an A and preciously glowing comments on my Cinema paper ("extremely insightful" and "a pleasure to read", as well as telling me he actually learned something from it! Precious <3), or how I have another massive biochem lab report due tomorrow and the clock is ticking, or how I'm just perpetually tired, or about PANIC IN FIVE DAYS!!, or BECCA IN FIVE DAYS!!!, or the freezing, shitty weather we're having, or any number of things.

But instead? MOAR POLITICS! \o/

Today was a wonderfully Obama-ish day! In the college center, there was an Obama table with info and volunteer sheets and posters, so I took an absolutely gorgeous poster and signed up to volunteer on Saturday and Election Day. YAY OBAMA! Then I went to the mail room and my Obama t-shirt had finally arrived, YAY AGAIN! I'll be all ready to gear up for volunteering! Then I went to my job at the library, and the book I had requested, Barack Obama's memoir (because our library's copy had been missing for two months, boo), had arrived, so I abused my position as cataloging room worker and processed and checked out the book for myself :D Then I went to the bookstore and picked out a present for my friend Fei's birthday, a book called Obamanomics, because she's an economics major and an Obama lover! :)

Reading Sean Quinn's "On the Road" series over at FiveThirtyEight.com has really been a major source of fuel for my optimism and passion. He's written so eloquently (accompanied by gorgeous photos by Brett Marty) about volunteer efforts across the whole country, about thriving Obama "Campaign for Change" offices scattered everywhere, more often than not paired with practically (or literally) dead Republican offices. It's uplifting and illustrates in a very real way the sea change that is happening in this country right now. Quite often he makes me cry, and this week was no different. Here is his most personal anecdote yet. It makes me want to give him a big old hug. His MOM left a comment on the blog saying how proud she was of him! Say it with me: awwwwwwww. So anyway, yes, here, have some of Sean Quinn's beautiful words:

"Now I have a confession. Even Brett doesn't know this. I hope it doesn't lessen the professional work we're trying to accomplish in chronicling this historic election on the ground, but if it does, I'll live with it. There is something stirring in America.

Back at the rally, after the march had left MLK Gardens, I'd gone back for the car while Brett took photos, and I spotted a very old black man in a sharp Sunday suit walking slowly at the very back of the huge march. He hadn't yet arrived at the voting center, and I decided to find him when I got back.

I wanted to go talk to him, to ask him what this moment meant to him. He was a guy who you take one glance at, and know, that guy's seen it all. I wanted a quote. I had my journalist hat on. I thought, this will be great.

So when I got back to the voting location with the car, I went to find him in the line. Eventually I spotted him, and was ready to walk up the few feet between us and introduce myself when I stopped in my tracks.

A young black boy, no more than eight years old, walked up to this man, who was at least eighty. The boy offered the man a sticker, probably an "I Voted" sticker, but I couldn't see. The man took the sticker and paused. Silently, he looked down at the boy, who was looking back up at the man. The man put his hand gently on the boy's head, and I saw his eyes glisten.

I didn't ask the man for a quote. I didn't need to. I walked over by myself, behind the community center, and I sat down on a bench next to the track, and wept." ~ Sean Quinn (Raleigh, North Carolina. 10/28)

One more week...

So I should probably do some work and/or eat some food today, but the internet has just been TOO AWESOME! Also, it is raining and gray, which always fails to motivate me.

1. PANIC BABIES AND THEIR FACES.
   
   
   I just. WHAT. THEY MADE IT THEMSELVES!!! With the dancing and the FURRY and the clapping and the lipstick and the giggles and the falling over and the DANCING. I don't even know what to DO with them! UGH BOYS HEARTS. I get to see them in a WEEK omg!!!!! Possibly on barrier in a massive arena, during which I might DIE, but it will be a happy death indeed! :D
   
2. Fall Out Boys nomg! America's fucking Suitehearts! It's SO GOOD. All loud and catchy with the most delicious guitar riffs, but slow and beautiful too, and NOM NOM NOM. It's the kind of song that makes me dance around my room ridiculously and play air guitar, then switch to hairbrush microphone for the beautiful verses. <333333
   
3. Also, Guy Ripley on the set of I Don't Care! I LOLED. My favorite part is Ryland and Gabe reenacting the "Charlie bit me!!!" video, which me and my Dublin girls LOVE RIDICULOUSLY, so I appreciated that shout out :D
   
4. I skipped over to The Used's Myspace to see if there was any stuff from their new album, and they had a link to a teaser, but the LINK DIDN'T WORK D: However, it did take me to a video director's website, where I found the video for Against Me!'s "Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart", which is definitely my favorite song off the album New Wave. I didn't know who the female guest vocalist was, but it's Tegan or Sara! It's a beautiful vid, and I have gained a new appreciation for the very attractive Against Me! lead singer :D (Note to self: find out his name!)
   
5. Saturday's a slow day in politics, but the headline at Huffington is about how the Republicans and particularly the McCain camp are completely divided over Palin. Methinks you can't win an election if half of the campaign staff doesn't support the other half of the ticket. JUST SAYIN'. Meanwhile, at 538, Sean continues to abscond with my heart over and over. Today he wrote up a bit on North Dakota and why it's so ridiculously tight for the first time in, well, ever. ♥ NINE DAYS!!
   
6. Being back in love with Supernatural is KIND OF AWESOME. The past two episodes have been exercises in fantastic lolarity. And I must say - Jensen Ackles is a fucking REVELATION. He bounces between heartwrenching drama and gutbusting humor with such astonishing ease. His little wide-eyed scared face is kind of my favorite thing ever ever <333 The new promo shots are also making me happy (inmypants) - the original post with the HQ seems to have been locked, but UGH LOOK AT THEM. With the cheekbones and the forearms and the eyes and the body language and I just. OM NOM NOM. (They live together!!! *expires*)

*deep breath* Phew! It's been a long time since I've been so spazzy about fandom. I totally didn't even mention Gerard namedropping Alfonso Cuaron for the Umbrella Academy movie (!!!!) or claiming that he wouldn't survive the Zombiepocalypse (SADFACE!)! TOO MUCH AWESOME, WORLD. I don't have TIME. I have lab reports and and... okay, well, just lab reports right now. Which is kind of awesome :D