Guess who just figured out how to 1) install Japanese fonts and 2) force Photoshop into accepting foreign characters? Oh yeah. Three months too late for what I originally wanted it for, but handy none the less!

I'm fairly certain there are more useful things I could be spending my evening on, but eh. And if Yana decides to finally show up at like quarter 'til midnight, I'm going to kill her, because I've been waiting around for her for the last hour and a half, and plan on actually going to bed at a reasonable time tonight.

And I'm going to kill Guy Upstairs (whichever one it is, may as well kill all of them for good measure), because I've been back a week and the noise is already getting to me. Three more months.

I've had lot of things on my mind lately - some good, some bad, and some that's not really either. Still, largely not really the type of stuff for this blog, because it's all hideously long-winded and introspective, and it won't help me to post any of it, and some of it is best kept to myself, I think. But it's a strange state to find myself in - good for me, though. There may be bits and pieces here, probably mostly science-related - I've found myself contemplating that a lot recently, and I find myself somewhat without an outlet among my friends - almost all of you guys are Arts-kids, and while I love you for that, sometimes I need someone who knows what the hell I'm talking about when I go off on tangential rants about the possibility of Yersinia pestis as a bioterrorism agent and the like. Yana does, although she gives me the 'silly Microbi geek...' eyeroll a lot (big words from a girl with the Krebs cycle on her wall), but that's it, really.

Speaking of science, I've added another resolution for myself this year - read one new scientific paper a week. Because I realised that while yeah, I don't understand a lot of the terminology or concepts, I have two options - I can sit on my ass until third and fourth year, when they start teaching some of these concepts, or with the amazing power of the internet, I can sit down and do the little bit extra I need to learn something new. We'll see how it works out.

No classes today, because physics labs don't start until next week. So I slept for twelve hours, and wanted to sleep more, but it was four and I had some stuff I wanted to get done today. I'm still exhausted for some reason - I hope it's just jetlag and I'm not getting sick.

The term is shaping up to be busy, but interesting. Chem is going to be almost exactly the same as last term (same prof, same lecture times - I just have a Tuesday morning lab instead of Wednesday afternoon, to avoid the Wednesday From Hell again), which is good. Physics will probably be boring but survivable. Bio should be easy, although still pretty interesting - intro cell bio, using bacteria as a model, and it's administered by the Microbi department instead of the Bio department. All stuff I pretty much know already. Intro to Theatre...I think I'm going to switch this for an English class. It's too abstract and theoretical for me, and the English class means an extra hour of sleep.

I'm working once a week, although I may pick up more shifts 'cause I need the money. My Wednesday night partner is fun - if a plastic flamingo painted bronze apears outside of Buchanan sometime soon....well. Also starting a tabletop campaign soon (finally!) - 50 Fathoms, so Age of Sail meets fantasy. Julie's character is the River Tam of our ship's crew, which, as her older brother, sort of makes my character Simon, except less dumb and more resigned. He's also the pilot/navigator. More on that to come later, most likely.

And I got packages from Melle, Lissa, and Nicole, as well as a card from Amberlee - the food-stuffs are delicious all around (I'll find the cranberry cookies a good home, Nicole - don't worry about it), and Melle, the scarf is adorable. And Matt, I'll be out on the Island next weekend, if Amber didn't already let you know, so don't say I didn't warn you XD;

So, on the plane yesterday, I discovered that there's something wrong with my headphone jack that's making it cut certain frequencies, annoyingly right in the human vocal range. So as I couldn't watch tv on the plane, I went through some of my old files, finally ending up in a folder of documents and papers about Ebola and Marburg, as well as a somewhat randomly-included file on NIH's safety guidelines for a level 2 biohazard lab (random because Ebola and Marburg are level 4 - I didn't save the files in the folder, someone else did, I just kept them because they looked interesting).

And one of the things under the basic lab safety stuff is '4. Mouth pipetting is prohibited; mechanical pipetting devices are used'. This is also included in my chem lab rules, and it was included at least verbally in the lab rules for the plant physiology lab Yana and I were in, although it's not on the print copy. And this leads me to wonder - why anyone would ever think pipetting by mouth was a good idea, ever? Even if you're not using something horribly infectious or toxic, you run a decent risk of contaminating whatever it is you're pipetting with your own spit. I can see why it's included, but I dunno, seems like common sense to me.

Managed to find awesome presents for four different people today, as well as the elusive black long-sleeved shirt I've been looking for for months now (AKA Asher-shirt). They were $10, so I bought two. New clothing quest - short-sleeved silver button-down to wear over Asher-shirt for club-type things. And because it would be awesome. I also managed to box all the cookies up, and they will be in the mail in the next couple of days. I think pretty much everybody I have an address for is getting something, save people I'll be seeing in person soon.

I also packed for my flight, which ended up being a bit of a nightmare, but it's done. I leave Logan at 5pm, get into Vancouver at 10pm and will probably take a cab home (luggage + bus + 11pm = NO). So this will be my last post before Canada, most like, unless Chicago has free wireless.

And fun fact of the day! Leon's jacket is really obviously a bomber jacket, but more specifically it's a B-3 bomber jacket, which I think was used during WWII, and Wiki tells me that most of the bomber crew other than the pilot wore them, usually. More importantly, though, there's about four or five places that do reproductions, which is nice, as I was previously informed that repros didn't exist and you _had_ to buy vintage.

AND NOW, SLEEP.

EDIT: I lie, looks like it's actually a B-6. Which it seems that there may also be repros of avalible (the difference between it and the B-3 are small - one collar strap rather than two, and shoulder straps)

It's near impossible to find info on summer internships in Canada, and the ones I _can_ find are all government, and I am thus ineligble for them as I'm not a citizen or permanent resident. I'm expecting the main body of the university to be equally useless, because Co-op is the internship program, pretty much, and I'm not eligi8ble for that until after second year. There's extensive lists of US stuff, including about fifteen different positions here in Massachusetts, but I really don't want to live here over the summer.

I wish I hadn't left my MISA mentor's e-mail address back in my dorm. I think I could definately use some advice from someone with more experience in science than me, and who's more connected, too.

(Oh, and the pants were too damned big. I can't delude myself out of it, I'm going to have to buy another pair)

Went to Crypt at the Toast Lounge in Somerville tonight, by myself as nobody else was free, and it was pretty damn awesome. A little more goth than I was expecting, both in terms of people and music, but it meant I didn't get hit on by sketchy old men. It was also a lot smaller than I expected - maybe thirty people at it's busiest, and never more than ten or so on the dance floor at once. Everybody was really nice - the manager introduced himself (and, uh, paid fifty cents of my cover, because I really really thought I had more change than I did), and introduced me to some other people.

The playlist started out a little too goth for my liking (it's okay to listen to, but not so much for the dancing), but around midnight it took a wonderful synthpop turn. Particularly when the DJ played 'Fearless', because oh god do I love that song. Favorite VNV Nation song, and kind of my personal anthem, in so much as I have one. So yeah, I think I'll go back again next time I'm in the area.

The good old recap post, now with bonus resolutions. In 2006 I:
-graduated high school
-moved out
-started uni
-finally admitted denim is not the devil's fabric
-discovered awesome music
-reconnected with some awesome old friends, and made several awesome new ones (shout-outs to my WA/Island amigos, as well as Julie, Yana, and the Wargamers)
-got drunk! (although not wasted)

Resolutions for 2007:
-continue working out and getting back into shape (gym at least twice a week, some sort of cardio)
-work on dealing with my anxiety issues, which I've realized are the source of most of my other problems
-pull my grades back up to at least ~80% in term 2

Just a reminder that there's a little New Year's Eve informal party/get-together at my place tomorrow night. All local friends invited, and if you want to bring a friend or two, go ahead, as long as they're not going to cause tons of drama. I've got snack food, drinks, and some games - if there's something specific you want to bring, feel free. I'll probably be around most of the evening, as it doesn't look like there's much First Night stuff going on. I know Grace is coming around 10:30 after work, but...that's it at the moment >.>

Also, why has it taken until now for me to learn that there's a local goth/industrial/synthpop night? Well, local as in Boston, but close enough. I'm totally going Wednesday - anybody want to come with? It's 18+, $7 cover.

I just saw Army of Darkness for the first time. It's easily the funniest movie I've seen since...well, probably the original Dawn of the Dead over the summer. It's like Romero directs Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail. It's awesome. Seriously. Why did I wait so long to see that movie?

I totally need to find a good video store near campus and continue my classic cult film education.