magical magic

Sometimes I don't know how I managed to find this guy. It must have been the one time in my life I ran into some luck, since I don't routinely (or ever) win raffles or sweepstakes or fabric giveaways. But we ended up in the same project group, and four years later he's still making me laugh with his silly faces and non-serious responses to everything. Even when I'm feeling indulgently upset, with tears streaming down my cheeks, he manages to make me laugh over gmail chat, and a giggle squeezes out between sobs. What kind of crazy skill is that? How is it possible to cut my legitimate sad mood with an instant message? How can I be this lucky to know this guy.

philosophically

I had a kind of blah weekend. Maybe it was because James stayed up in NH to study for a midterm, and I kind of putzed around and played hockey. Maybe this is my new pace of life, post-presidency... but I'm not used to it. I need to refill my schedule; can this be done at the pharmacy? What kind of prescription do I need now? I've been crafting a lot more lately, and playing squash and hockey, and doing much more research than last semester. The pace of research has been much more satisfying than before, although the communication with the advisor still needs to be worked out. This new advisor is the complete opposite of the old one in every way - length of meetings, number of words spoken, relationship to industry vs. basic science, relationship to lab group dynamic, presence in the lab itself, spending habits, working hours, relationship between facial expression and actual feeling... I could go on. But I will not. Would it truly be graduate school if I had a perfect relationship with my advisor?

a secret chord

I don't usually watch American Idol because the judges' comments always annoy me (especially Paula), but somehow this season I've always been looking for something to watch while eating dinner on Tuesday evenings, and AI is there to fill the void. A lot of the guys in the competition this year are very good-looking, which always makes it more enjoyable to watch. However the guy who's becoming my favorite is actually the one whose style I'd be least likely to like - the dreds guy with his tight 80s jeans... but he's got these light blue eyes and this innocent, modest smile. And tonight he sang Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah, one of my favorite songs ever, and now he's definitely at the top of my list! That song arrests me, as it did from the first time I listened to it. Dred-guy sang it with some obvious Jeff Buckley style, and I like him more for it. Yay!

Now the show after AI is starting, something about an immortal cop. But they've got a Decemberists song in the background. Another yay! But anyway, I'm not going to watch it. I like to feel like I had a fully productive day, and watching too much tv makes me feel like I'm wasting my life or something. Same goes for browsing the internets aimlessly, but that's a harder habit to crack. It's almost psychological with me - if I'm feeling dissatisfied about my day or my research or my life, I tend to feverishly browse news sites instead of going to bed at a decent hour. This sounds kind of weird, and makes me wonder what people did back in the 70s when they didn't have laptops that never left their 1-foot personal bubble.