Beware!

I am now a P plate scooter rider. Woo! Be very scared Canberra. I'm not sure why, as nothing has really changed, but it sounds scary. It was ridiculously hot over the weekend here in the 'berra, and continues so today. It's also really smoky. I think that's because of the fires in Victoria. Which means that smoke has travelled at least 300kms, if not more to be here, obliterating our view of the sky. It's supposed to rain today (50% chance according to www.bom.gov.au), I'm hoping that will bring the temperature down and get that smoke out of the sky. But Canberra, being Canberra, it won't rain and I'll have to suffer through another pole dancing class in the ridiculous heat. I mean, how am I supposed to grip the pole properly when I'm so sweaty I slip right off? My new short shorts are going great guns though, sufficiently short for class. I still won't wear them in public though, they are only on display at home and inside the pole room. On the street, they are covered by my Draggin' cargo pants. I don't really think that the world at large is ready to see the pasty pale whiteness that are my thighs.

Goodbye cloning? Hello flies?

I may be finished with my cloning. For those non-molecular biology types, that is cutting up and sticking pieces of DNA back together. I just have to make sure that I have what I want (which I should know by Monday or so) and it's no more silly ligations that don't work for me. No more competent cells, that are more incompetent than anything else. It'll be just a lot of genetics, fly crosses, virgins and lay plates. Lots more work in the fly room and on microscopes. It also is a significant point that I can mark off in my diary, on my way to the completion of an awesome thesis.
Mind you, with all this cloning nonsense I've been getting up to of late, my Xmas shopping is somewhat non-existent. I have the sum total of .5 of a present. I have no idea what to get some people, and not much of a desire to go shopping. Oh well, no doubt they'll all end up with something in the end. I may even get my housemate's xmas bag from last year finished before this year's celebrations. Fingers crossed! It's cut out and just needs to be sewn together and a lining found. Maybe I will get some of that done over the weekend.
The good news of today is: a dear friend of mine (mother of the quilt boy) is pregnant with her second child. Due sometime in (guessing here) late June/early July. I'm so incredibly happy for her and her family. She's an excellent mum and a great friend, even though we hardly see one another.

Muh

I hate molecular biology. That is all.

just to let you know

My short shorts aren't short enough. I have a number of fabulous bruises from pole dancing. It's heaps of fun, but my shorts need to be shorter. I'm going shopping on the weekend to get myself some super short shorts. I'm very glad the class only has women in it. And that I ride my scooter to class with my long cargo scooter pants. The super short shorts will only see the pink lights of my class.

No longer a learner?

I have booked myself in for the provisional licence test. As of (fingers crossed) the 9th of December, 2006, I will no longer have L plates on my scooter. I have been riding the scoot for almost 2 years, practically every day. Aparently the test isn't hard. I'm still nervous though. I wouldn't bother going for the test, but after the 2 year mark, if you haven't done the P's test, you have to do the Learner course again. And that costs $220 or so. So, being a cheap bastard, and probably riding okay, I'm going to try and get my licence. Wish me luck, press your thumbs, or cross your fingers for me. 9:30am, Saturday 9th December,2006.

three things I didn't expect to see last night

I went out for dinner last night with a couple of lovely ladies from work and today's seminar speaker. We had lovely food and some rather nice wine. And apart from getting knocked every so often as people walked past our table, I had a lovely time. After dinner VA dropped me back at our building so I could pick up my scooter and go home. Once I'd gone upstairs and collected all my gear I made my way back to the carpark to get said scooter. Here are the three things I really didn't expect to see, in increasing order of unexpectedness.
-my office mate coming into work (at 10pm) to continue writing up her thesis
-a black cat and two tabby kittens
-approximately 8 chinese people, wandering as if lost

I was quite taken aback by these 8 people wandering through campus. The only thing that made sense to me is that they were tourists/visitors staying at uni house and were checking out the campus because they were jet lagged and not tired. But of course, for a nanna like me, 10pm is late, and I'd had a headache all day yesterday. So I don't know that I was thinking too clearly.
Today I'm without the headache, which is good. But I've upgraded to crampiness, so I'm not sure that I'm pleased.Fingers crossed the gym will help that. I'm determined to go today. No lab work is going to get in my way! And tonight I'm off to the amateur pole dancing night at the ever-so-classy lot 33 in Kingston. Woo!

It's raining, it's pouring and I'm going pole dancing

It rained yesterday, and it's pissing down today. I have been able to borrow my housemate's car (she's sick with tonsillitis and isn't going anywhere). I think I should complain/comment about the lack of rain in Canberra more often, we might actually fix the drought right there. I was just on the Bureau of Meterology's website checking out the radar scans. We are in for some serious rain in the next hour or two. Hooray! It does, however, make me more homesick than you'd expect. Grey cloudy day? Rain? Homesick. Oh well, only 8 or so months until I can move home, or so I hope.
Yesterday was a movie extravaganza at our house. Due to the sickness of the housemate, and the exhaustion of me (in the lab until 10pm on a friday night, woo! go my social life), we decided we'd stay in all day and watch DVDs. We watched:
- March of the Penguins
-Mrs Henderson Presents
-The Family Stone
-Cars
-Take the Lead
Actually, it was just me watching Mrs Henderson and The Family Stone, someone else needed a nap. The evening was capped off by a trip to the supermarket in the pouring rain to get supplies. I got groceries for the week and spent up big, due to the space afforded to me by the car. The housemate, LJS, got herself supplies for making chocolate fudge. It was a lovely trip, sad as that may sound. I quite like doing the 'late night' trip to the supermarket for supplies. Bread is always really, really cheap at that time of day. 50c for a loaf of wholemeal bread, yum! The whole day provided a lovely break from the lab and thinking about my thesis/lab work. I was almost planning a trip in, just to collect virgins but was told in no uncertain terms by the other housemate, SKW, that that just wasn't on. And I'm so glad I decided to stay home, I'm actually keen to be back here and I think the break did me good. I think there should be a new rule, 1 day off per week, or else.
Anyway, rather than drivel on about that for longer, I'll drivel about something else. I'm going to my first pole dancing class tonight. It was supposed to be taught by a friend of mine, but she switched her classes around. I think that it might actually be better to not be in her class That way if I hit my head on the pole or fall on my arse, my lab won't know about it immediately. I'm quite looking forward to this class, and a little apprehensive. I want to know, how short do my shorts have to be?

um.... sorry

Kidney beans are some of my new favourite foods. Along with chickpeas and anything green and vegetably. Problem is, too many kidney beans make for some stinky times. I'm so lucky I don't share an office with anyone at the moment. I feel sorry for my supervisors, we're having a meeting in 20 mins and I can't promise it won't be fragrant. Uh oh!

Things that make me smile

I was heading over to get a massage today (something that makes me smile) and was reminded of something else that makes me smile and occasionally giggle. There are quite a number of speed humps on the ANU campus. People who own stupid lowered cars quite often have difficulty getting over them if they drive straight at them, lots of scrapeing involved. So they have to drive over them at angles and really manouvre the car in an awkward fashion to get across safely. I find it really quite amusing. It's even funnier in Manuka (local cafe strip) when they are using the opportunity to show off the car to all those sitting outside. Simple things amuse simple minds I suppose. Still, it's funny.

I got my second flower in 7.5 years

My boy is not big on giving flowers, he doesn't like 'giving something that is dead' as a gift. Which I kinda get, but I kinda don't. Because I really like getting flowers as gifts. Here is my second flower in 7.5 years, and actually in about 1 year too. I was very impressed by his sneaky way of getting it to me, via VE. She had to carry it from Melbourne on the plane and present it to me in Brisvegas. Thanks mate!

Tikka, I don't think I'm in Melbourne anymore

I realised today why I cannot consider myself a Melbournite anymore, and have to concede that I'm a Canberra-type person. I no longer carry an umbrella with me everywhere. When I first moved here, and indeed for the first 18 months or so, I had an umbrella in my bag at all times. You just never know when it's going to rain. But I've learnt that there may be rain forecasted for Canberra, but that means nothing. You have about a 10% chance of rain. However, in Melbourne, it will rain if there is rain forecast, simple as that. This weekend, there is rain forecast for Brisvegas and Canberra. I don't have an umbrella with me for my trip up north, I'll probably need it. I don't think I'd need it if I were staying at home. My prediction for this weekend, it will rain in QLD, it won't in the ACT. I've been here too long, I don't carry an umbrella with me anymore. I don't even know where mine is!

I'm going to a wedding!

Two lovely friends of mine are getting married this coming weekend, in Brisvegas. I am quite looking forward to going up north and seeing all the people in that friendship group and getting myself a little tipsy at the reception. I'll be using the opportunity to catch up with a number of lovely people. VE of the 'vagina hot chocolate' fame. EE and ME, newly married couple. MB, who I haven't seen since last Xmas and am dying to catch up with. I'm also having dinner with the boy's Dad and girlfriend (the Dad's girlfriend, not my boy's, that would be weird). I'm a little bit scared of the boy's Dad, so lord knows why I decided it would be a good idea to have dinner together. I'm hoping we can discuss motorbikes and dogs, and not academia and science. I've got a few instructions from the boy about subject areas to avoid. His motorbike, marriage, his PhD. I think we'll be safe. I think if I need to feign illness, I am quite capable of doing so.
I don't have a wedding present, as my presence is their present (as it even says on the invite). But I will be giving the bride her 'red toe socks'. Part of the collection. I hope she likes them, they look like this:


EE will also get her socks, and MB. They are the following pairs:


I'll leave you with something I saw at a craft shop yesterday. It disturbed me, but then I have a dirty mind.

Maybe it's something specific that kids in Canberra say to their friends? I just don't know.

a comedy of errors

I had my scooter accident about 6 and a bit months ago. My scooter went in for repairs a total of 3 times, the final time being today. I am hoping when I get there this afternoon that there will be a scooter that is fixed for me. I really do hope that. Here is some of damage that was done in the accident:

There was some other stuff done to the foot rest area and the mudguard, but I haven't uploaded those photos to flickr yet. Anywho, I took the scooter in about 3 weeks ago now to get it all fixed. YAY! Unfortunately, the company had sent the wrong colour parts, doh! Fortunately, they were couriering (is that a word?) the correct parts over and I could pick up my scooter in a couple of days time. Unfortunately, the courier was late and it didn't get done. so, last week I took the scooter in again, everything except the mudguard got replaced. Unfortunately, the company had sent the wrong model mud guard. Today, my scooter is getting a new mudguard that is the right colour and then all will be fixed and well. I'm almost sure of it.
In other news, I have managed to get myself sunburned on two consecutive Sundays. Two Sundays ago it was my head while dancing at the Kingston Markets. This Sunday it was while I was walking up Mount Pleasant. I took a photo of the 'mountain' from the other side of the lake, the day of the scalp burning incident:

That's the carillion (spelling?) on the right there. It's some kind of bell tower thing. I think.
Here is the view from the top of that hill:

You can see the following in this photo: the captain cook memorial jet, black mountain telstra tower, the monument given to us from the US, and right at the back, the museum. It was, as you can see, a very clear and sunny day, I should have been wearing sunscreen. This Sunday I will definitely not get burnt, I'm almost sure of it.

one day I will be more sensible

One day I will be more sensible and not tell my aunt about anything personal of mine, like this blog, or photos I have online that anyone can see. Then I won't have to deal with the comments that come from a woman with evidently too much time on her hands and a sometimes nasty mind. With great respect Matriarch, I'd rather you didn't try and be 'amusing' at my expense.
In other news, I am in the lab on a Sunday, trying to get some useful work done.

thoughts from the head of me

My mind was blown yesterday. I was buzzing like a very large buzzing thing, and not just because I'd had too much caffeine. I went and saw David Suzuki talk about his life. He's in Australia promoting his autobiography. It was a fabulous talk that was far too short, despite being 1.5hours long. I could go on and on about it, but time constraints mean that I can only tell you a few things about it.
-I got Dr Suzuki to sign a copy of my 'an intoduction to genetic analysis' textbook. It was my textbook for my second year genetics course. The first time I'd managed to score a H1 (first class honours) grade during my undergraduate years. We briefly discussed my PhD topic!
-I found out that long distance relationships where the female partner moves away to study do work.
-I'm totally inspired now to do my bit for the world. Not that I wasn't trying already, but it was just inspirational to hear him talk about all the things that had happened in his life to do with conservation. So inspired.


In other news, I was shopping in the local mall recently. I was thinking about getting some makeup or something similar to aid my appearance at a friend's upcoming wedding. I'm not much of a girly girl and rarely wear the stuff. While wandering through the cosmetics section of Kmart (yes, I'm the last of the big time spenders), I saw the concealers. It reminded me of when I was 12 or 13. I went with a friend to Greensborough Plaza. I wanted to get some lipstick. She got something pink, I wanted something 'natural'. With my absolute lack of makeup knowledge, I ended up buying concealer. The stuff you are supposed to cover zits with. We went to the ladies to try on our purchases. I can only imagine what the other women using the facilities must have thought of me, trying on my 'lipstick'. No wonder I've never really gotten into the whole makeup thing, it's too confusing. I think I'll rely on my small collection of makeup items to beautify myself at the wedding. It's all too much effort. I may not even bother. 2 weeks to go today until I leave for Brisvegas. Wish me fun and no sunburn.

oh dear god

this is a better version than the one I heard on news.com.au this morning. But not much. They scare me and that's 4 mins of my life I'm never getting back. Update: here is the news.com.au version, ouch!

I now know how to get rid of telemarketers

My aunt regularly sends me links to various things she has found amusing. She sent one such thing this morning. how to get rid of telemarketers

my dogs are so cute!

So, I was looking through the gallery that the boy has set up on his computer at Monash. I saw some photos that I took recently while I was in Melbourne, on his camera. My brother and I had taken the dogs down to the park and they were frolicking and enjoying themselves. I found the most adorable picture of them that i think could ever exist! It's lovely. So rather than tell you about my insurance victory or my cloning victory. I'm going to show you my baby bears. So sweet!

I have green shoes

What more is there to say? Today I am uninspired and lacklustre. My PCRs did not work. My dancing thing was a bit of a flop, with too few people. I have blisters on my feet inside the shoes because I was stupid enough to dance on concrete. I just want to go home, go to bed, wake up and it be tomorrow already. So enjoy my green shoes, I'm going to try and muster some enthusiasm for tonight's class. woo.

5 months, 5 years and 76 years -September 11

Hello again all (all 3 of you). I'm back from Melbourne and back into the daily grind that is my life in Canberra.

Today has multiple significances for me, as the title may suggest. Today is five months since my accident. Five months since my shoulder and elbow were sore and grumpy. Five months since I got out of lab meeting (and I've got another one tomorrow!). I'm pleased to report that my shoulder is almost completely healed. I've only got the tiniest bit of pain left and it's almost as though it's just in my mind. I'm most impressed. The physio doesn't want to see me for about a month and I think when I see him again that I'll be declared fit for anything. Or at least my shoulder will be.
Other good news relating to my accident is that my insurance company have determined liability in my personal injury claim and I'll be getting all my medical expenses covered. I'm so incredibly happy about this. It's the first time in the whole situation that I've really felt believed about the whole thing. They agreed with me, I did absolutely nothing wrong. Huzzah! It's going to be great, getting back the money I've already spent on physio, it's something like $700 or so. Enforced savings can be great sometimes.

Obviously, five years ago today was 9/11. I'd comment on it, but don't really feel qualified. It didn't affect me personally, at least not directly. I didn't know anyone who died, wasn't friends with anyone who knew someone who died. It's all pretty removed from me. That said, I think it affected a lot of people, at the time and still now. I still remember where I was when I heard. I was at the boy's place (which at the time was in West Brunswick) and we were watching the late news on Channel 10 with Sandra Sully. I think I may have been snoozing, I'm hardly a night owl and he was probably working on his computer. We watched it all for a while and after a couple of hours (?) fell asleep. The next day I was in at uni in the Genetics Dept and that was all anyone could talk about. At home that night, the only thing on TV was coverage. It seems as though a big deal is being made over the 5 year anniversary. I have friends who are in NY today, will have to ask them what it was like. Whether it was any different on the anniversary.

Today is also a good day! Today my Opa turns 76. He's my only grandfather left now. He's a fabulously funny man who I'm sure will be enjoying his birthday to the full. Probably taking Monty for a walk (he's a jack russell), perhaps going to the club for lunch and having a nice day with Oma. I'll give him a call this evening and find out if I'm right. Happy Birthday Opa! I hope it's full of good fun and I'll see you in a few weeks.

I could continue with other news about what has been going on. But I can tell that it will no doubt result in me crying behind the keyboard and not getting any work done for the rest of the day. So, I will leave the update for after my lab talk and just note down a few key points here.
I spent a month in Melbourne, spending time with my grandma. She was at home, with an oxygen mask, shirtloads of morphine and a hospital bed. She died on the 7th of August at around 8.45am. Her funeral was that Friday.
My parents left the same day to go overseas on a trip they'd been planning a long time. They got caught up in the Heathrow incident (much amusement all around).
My housemate LJS is in Peru, as of last week. She sounds like she's enjoying it and I have her car while she's away. Huzzah! No scooter for a month.
My friend JJF is in the states with my other friend MT. They are going to the all balboa camp in Detroit, after sampling some of the delights America has to offer. I expect to hear much about the stupid mongy things they will get up to.
I went to the "Corowa" conference, this year held in the Yarra Valley. Was also good fun.

Updates on all these adventures and the like later, I have a lab talk to write!