I'm busy, but took this personality test anyway

So yeah, busy, but took a personality test because it looked amusing. Here's the results, accurate?

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion |||||||||||||||||||| 86% Stability |||||||||||| 50% Orderliness |||||||||||||||| 63% Accommodation |||||||||||||| 56% Interdependence |||||||||||||||| 70% Intellectual |||||||||||||||| 70% Mystical || 10% Artistic |||||| 23% Religious || 10% Hedonism |||||| 23% Materialism |||||| 23% Narcissism |||||||||| 36% Adventurousness |||||| 30% Work ethic |||||||||||| 43% Self absorbed |||||||||||| 43% Conflict seeking |||||||||| 36% Need to dominate |||||||||||| 43% Romantic |||||||||||||| 56% Avoidant |||| 16% Anti-authority |||||| 30% Wealth |||||||||||| 43% Dependency |||||||||||| 43% Change averse |||||||||||||||| 70% Cautiousness |||||||||||||||| 63% Individuality |||||| 30% Sexuality |||||||||||||||| 63% Peter pan complex |||| 16% Physical security |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Physical Fitness |||||||||||| 50% Histrionic |||||||||| 36% Paranoia |||||| 23% Vanity |||||||||||| 43% Hypersensitivity |||||||||| 36% Female cliche |||||||||||| 50%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com


Stability results were medium which suggests you are moderately relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.

Orderliness results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.

Extraversion results were very high which suggests you are overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense too often of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.


trait snapshot:
clean, self revealing, open, organized, outgoing, social, enjoys leadership and managing others, dominant, makes friends easily, does not like to be alone, assertive, hard working, finisher, optimistic, positive, likes to stand out, likes large parties, respects authority, practical, high self esteem, perfectionist, dislikes chaos, busy, not familiar with the dark side of life, controlling, high self control, traditional, tough, likes to fit in, conforming, brutally honest, takes precautions

stomach bugs and broken arms

So I got back from Melbourne yesterday morning. My stomach had been niggling at me on the entire journey, 10 hours on the bus. I didn't think too much of it at the time. When I'm stressed it usually makes itself aparent through my guts. I was just leaving behind my injured boy after three lovely days at home. I was stressed. But when I made it home and the stomach pain got worse, I figured it was actually illness rather than stress. Especially when, well to try and put it nicely, I got to pee through my arse. So yesterday, thanks to my mum (?) I was a stabby stomach pain, watery bummed individual. Thanks be to immodium and rest. Today I am much better. The problem with being sick yesterday was that I was supposed to be teaching dancing and couldn't make class. It had to be cancelled. Bum. But I'll be there next week and they'll have a great class because I won't be disappearing to the bathroom every so often to drop my guts, or doubling over with cramps. Yay!
This weekend was such fun, even though the bus trip was horrible. Saturday saw me arrive in Melbourne at about 8am and by 9 I was in bed with the boy, catching up on cuddles. Saturday night was spent at Mum and Dad's with the Germans (all 5 of them), my brother, his girlfriend and the boy. We (brother and I) made curries for everyone as Mum was not feeling the best, having suffered from her own gastric upset. We made an awesome Rogan Josh, vege curry and a pretty tasty dahl. There wasn't much heat in it though, we thought the chidlets might be eating it and at 3 and 5.5, they probably wouldn't be too keen on chilli. Turns out they had rice and jelly for dinner, so we could have spiced it up a notch. Still tasty though.
Sunday was a lazy day. There was a lot of sleep had. We ended up having dinner with MB and VE at Tran Tran on Victoria Street, then icecream at Brunetti's on Faraday Street in Carlton. We had planned on Gelati on Lygon street, but because of the freaking Grand Prix, it prooved too busy and difficult to go there. Was a good night, with much laughter and silliness. The salt and pepper squid was so tasty.
On Monday the boy and I went to the Jam Factory to see Hot Fuzz. We scored an awesome free park, which I think is impressive in South Yarra. We were two of only seven in the theatre and got to watch the trailers without sound. Fortunately, that was fixed before the feature started. I laughed pretty hard and really enjoyed the film. I now want to go out and see a whle bunch of cop films to work out where all the references are in the film. I've always been keen on Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright/Nick Frost as a creative team. Spaced was an excellent TV series and I loved Shaun of the Dead. They didn't disappoint, and the supporting cast were great too. Lots of my favourite UK comedy folk were there. Then we had lunch at Lucky Coq, $3 pizzas and little creatures on tap.
Monday night I had to catch the bus, so we caught the train into the city, had dinner at Mekong on Swanston and caught a tram down to Spencer Street ( I refuse to call it southern cross station). The bus was full, I was sat towards the front, by the window. I got a bit teary, saying goodbye. I hate going to Melbourne for this very reason. I have to leave again and it is always painful. I'm completely over the whole long distance relationship thing. I just want to live in the same city. I wouldn't even be too fussed if we couldn't live in the same house. Anyway, enough bitching, it's not that bad. It could be a lot worse and I should stop complaining.
The bus trip was painful, not just because of my guts. We stopped a million times, well actually 4. We stopped in Shepparton, Albury, Wagga Wagga and about 30 mins out of Canberra because we were 'going to get to Canberra too early and had to stop for a bit'. My knees ached, my neck ached and my guts poked me. I was most unimpressed with the whole thing. Never again people, never again. I'll walk from Yass at 3am after catching the train in preference.
Anyway, back in the 'berra. Working on a new interesting means of getting my deletion into flies. Trying not to kill my HeLa cells again (silly bastards got contaminated since last week), screening my transformants, dissecting some discs and psyching myself up for lots and lots of fly work to come. Woo! My life is so exciting.

Exciting(?) happenings in the life of Kate

So the boy was mugged on Saturday night. 3 guys punched him to the ground, breaking his wrist as he landed, and he has a cut lip and a swollen jaw. He managed to get away from the bastards and into a taxi and made it home. They didn't get any of his stuff, so that's good. But man, did it shake him (and me) up. As a result of this, I am going down to Melbourne town this weekend. It's Canberra Day on Monday and so I'll be coming back to the 'berra on Tuesday morning. I already have plans for Saturday dinner, if anyone wants to invite the boy and I around for Sunday lunch, I'm sure we would consider the invitiation. Rules are though, you can't make us travel too far. The boy needs the rest, and I don't know if we will have a car.
Other exciting things, and far more pleasant things, are the following : I got a compensation cheque yesterday. I am considerably richer. It's more money than I've ever had in one go. I intend to bank/save most of it. But I will be getting my pole dancing pole out of that money. I'll also be having drinks tomorrow with my workmates to celebrate. Champale for everyone!
And lastly for today, I really should be dissecting some larvae, I scored a try in touch footy today. For a girl who has no team sport skills, I did good. We still lost, 5-7, but I helped a little bit in not making it 4-7. Yay!

I played touch football

Oh dear! I've turned into a Canberran even more. Today at lunchtime I played my first game of touch football. I ran around, in the rain, trying not to get touched by people who had very obvious skills in the sport. I also ran around and tried to touch them. But only when they had the ball, otherwise it's just inappropriate. But the endorphin kick was good and I didn't completely make an arse of myself. Pity then, that lab meeting is now Thursday lunchtimes, starting next week, and I'll miss quite a few games. Oh well! It was fun while it lasted.

I be a spaz pt2

I'm not really coping well today. I can't stop thinking about how I fucked up. I know what my problem is, I get worried about time pressures and rush through things. When I rush, I fuck up. Truth is, if I didn't rush so much, I wouldn't make those mistakes and I'd get things done right, more often than not. So why rush? Why panic? I think it's the knowledge that I only have months left of money, and lots of stuff to get done in that time.
Anyway, now I have to tell the main supervisor that I've gone and killed those flies. I told the other supervisor yesterday. She didn't look pleased. I hate disappointing people. The only good thing about this is, I'm the one who gets most affected by this fuck up. It adds time onto my being in Canberra, which sucks. But hopefully it doesn't adversely affect anyone else too much. Except that the members of the lab have to suffer my presence a bit longer.
Buh, so the only thing left to decide, do I mention the fuck up now? Or wait until my meeting on Monday? Nothing is bringing those flies back, so I can't see how a few more days might hurt. But I can also see how saying something now would get it out of the way and maybe make it a little less crap on Monday. So, people, pain now, or pain later?

On another completely unrelated note, it was my Oma's birthday yesterday. I called but was only able to leave a message. So happy birthday Oma, I hope you were having a lovely night out last night and I'll call you later.

I be a spaz

So the flies that are dead. Yeah, apparently I should have remembered not to kill them. Fuck! I really should have kept them. I, now, even remember the meeting where we discussed keeping flies even if they weren't quite right. Beh! Muh! Feh! I am having a "kate sucks" day, where I feel useless and stupid. Fortunately, I have done positive things rather than wallowing in my stupidity. I have worked and made plans and organised shit. It is all going to be fine, I'm almost convinced of that.

In other news, I ordered a pole to go in my living room. It'll take several weeks to turn up, but it's going to be fabulous. My corsetry supplies arrived today (I'm sewing a corset), and I'm going to walk up Black Mountain in half an hour and get me some endorphins. Endorphins are the shit, they make me less mental.

I read something on someone's blog today. A message that they got from a friend, I think it's fabulous:

Today is international spaz day. Please send an encouraging message to a retarded friend, just as I've done. I don't care if you lick windows, interfere with farm animals, use your strong hand to wipe your arse, can't talk or occasionally shit yourself. You hang in there sunshine you're f***ing special.

I have a new plant

As the post title suggests, I have a new plant. I usually suck at the care and maintenance of plants. Don't know what it is, but it's just not my thing. But I've decided to give it a go. Here is my lovely new venus fly trap in a self watering pot. I have christened her Daisy and she has already caught a bug, yay!


That's all for today, I have a list as long as my arm to get through!

if my life depended on sterile technique, I'd actually survive today

Yep, my cells were plated last night. There is no sign of a bacterial infection, we have a winner! I am now dealing with the stinky stuff and will be on the microscope by 11am at the latest. Mind you, now that this is working other things aren't. When flies die prematurely, like before you can cross them to a transposase to maybe mobilise the P element again, that sucks. Having to tell the supes that the fabulous idea of not waiting for the new transformants to come through, just crossing the old stock, on the wrong chromosome, to a transposase, isn't going to work because the old stock is dead. That sucks. Maybe I won't tell him. Well, not yet.
Enough of the nerd speak, I know that a whole bunch of people (well maybe 5 or so of you) didn't understand that and didn't want to. What else is news you ask me? Well, SKW, housemate and new public servant, is moving out. She's found a place closer to her job in the south. She's moving sometime in the next month, she failed to tell me exactly when. I am pleased to know that she won't be living out of her car after E moves in. Yep, we've got a new housemate lined up. So, it's all things a changy in my house.
JJF has applied for the AFP and has been accepted for testing. It would be hilarious if he was in the feds.
I have joined film group again this semester and went and saw Children of Men on Saturday night. I managed to sit, once again, next to the freak in the theatre. Hooray! I don't know how I manage it but I do. Almost every time there is a reasonably full session of a film, the freak sits next to me and wants to chat, during the film. Buh! Apart from that though I really enjoyed the film and absolutely loved Michael Caine. He's fabulous, "pull my finger".
I have dancing tonight. I'm teaching a whole bunch of people in the ANU Bar, come along at 6.30pm if you have nothing to do. It's going to be shirtloads of fun. I have made a playlist and it includes a lot of Cab Calloway. I have found he's a really good guy to listen to when you are running at the gym. Something to do with the pace and beat of his stuff. It's great. I particularly like 'A chicken ain't nothing but a bird'. Apparently you couldn't fool Columbus, because Columbus was smart, a chicken ain't nothing but a bird. Anyway, dancing should be good fun. We had a whole bunch of people there last week and it went really really well. We even made a small profit. Woo!
Oh yeah, I bough stripper shoes last week. Will post a photo when I get one. They are hilarious. Almost impossible to walk in, but they do the job for pole dancing and that's the important thing. They have clear soles and are black patent leather. *roar*
I don't think there is anything desperately interesting left in my life of the last little while, how sad. So I'll head back to the stinky chemicals and the biohazard hood and bring more tales of crap here later.

if my life depended on sterile technique, I'd be dead

So, trying to do the stinky experiment this week. You know the one with the cells that I either kill or won't attach? Yeah, those fuckers. Well, turns out my sterile technique isn't. I completely suck at tissue culture. Now this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone out there, least of all the woman who has been forced to transfect cells three times already in an attempt to get this experiment working. I think I'm cursed. The worst of it is, I am reliant on someone else to do stuff for me, to at least get transfected cells. This means every time I fuck up, the more work she has to do and I really don't want to waste her time like this. It's so frustrating. So I've had my little cry in the office, the advantage of being in the lab so early, you won't get caught. Now it's time to go to the fly room and hope like hell I haven't infected them with bacteria. At least there is little risk of that.
What to do with all the spare time I have now acquired? A bit more self-flagellation should do. Then maybe some hitting something very hard. I'm rather unimpressed that they've taken the boxing bag down at the gym, I could do with hitting the crap out of something.
FARK!

hands up who gets to go the beach tomorrow. ME!!!

Tomorrow morning is going to be a busy one for me. I'm picking up BT to take him to the gym at 5.30am. He's going to Singapore tomorrow, and doesn't want to drive to the gym and then have to drop his car back home, before coming into the city to catch the bus to get to Sydney, to get to Singapore. So I'm driving him to the gym first thing.

I'm then heading to the last boot camp of the season. It's been a hard 4 weeks. I'm still bloody sore today from yesterday morning with Vince, the hot Jamaican.

After boot camp, I'm into the lab briefly to get some fly work done and to have a shower.

Then I'm off to the airport to pick up the boy.

Then we are going to the beach!!!

We're off to Narooma for two days of sun, wearing a hat, sea, without jellyfish I hope and relaxation, read: shagging. I'm very much excited. Then after the beach it's back to Canberra.

Saturday night we're going to the Stomp at the Albert Hall for some good tunes and the dancing. I think I'll be mostly doing the dancing and the boy will be listening to the tunes and eating his body weight in chips that are usually on the tables.

What's news you ask? I have bruises again from pole dancing. On the tops of my feet no less. I have sore muscles from boot camp. I have tissue culture cells that hate me and don't want to spread out like good little cells. I handed out a lot of flyers today advertising my swing dancing class. ANU, Monday night, at the bar, 6.30pm, $10 students, shit loads of fun. My flyers read:
Good music-guaranteed
Great dancing -guaranteed
Getting laid- guaranteed*
*not a guarantee

It got some giggles and amused me. I hope some of them turn up! Otherwise it's hanging about with Chris and trying to stop myself from drinking lots of beer.

Most importantly in the next little while though is the visit from the boy. I am hanging out to see him. It's been about 6 weeks and I'm ready for a visit. I'm not sure when we'll see each other next, so I'll have to make the most of his visit. Work is going to get very busy from now on and I don't know how much time will be devoted to travelling. But I've rabbited on enough about that already.

Oh, yeah, and I settled with the insurance company today. Give me 6-8 weeks and I'll be richer. How much richer, you may ask me in private.

why I suck at tissue culture and other stories

I've got one experiment that requires tissue culture left to do. It's a positive control for the really shit labeling system that I was trying to get to work in Drosophila. Unfortunately, I suck at tissue culture. I have no idea why I suck so badly at it, but I do. I had cells ready to go yesterday, but they weren't adherent enough, so I figured I'd leave them for the night and get in early this morning. Which is great in theory, but not so great in practice. I get here at 6.15am and find that the cells are flat, they are all spiky and not looking great. Certainly no good for the labelling steps that were required. FUCK! So now I'm in the process of trying to get more cells set up so that maybe I can do the labelling this afternoon. Maybe. It's so frustrating to suck at something that others find so simple. This time I don't even know what was wrong with the cells. Only that they weren't right. At least last time it was obvious that I had bacteria wriggling around in there.

I even got someone to do the transfection for me so that I wouldn't contaminate the cells too early in the process. I wish I'd been able to convince that same person to get the cells onto the slide for me. Maybe if this fucks up and I don't have any cells to work with I can convince her to do it. It's a massive favour to ask, but perhaps chocolate will be my friend and get me the help I need. Or diet Coke, or sushi?

Onto other stories. Last night we had an awesome thunderstorm. I made it home just in time to avoid the rain. I got to sit inside and just enjoy the fact that the garden was getting some water and that I didn't have to go out again. I had the house to myself. LJS was doing a bomb search (she's in the bomb squad, how cool is that?) and SKW was, as I found out later, in Sydney for some purpose or other. On a side note, SKW has started her new job doon sooth and is looking for somewhere else to live. With the rental market so tight, I think it's been difficult. This has meant that bomb-girl and myself have been asking around for a new housemate. Not to put the mockers on it, but I think we may have found someone. Will tell more when I know more. But it could be really, really good!

So anyway, doggo and I spent the night in front of the teev,waiting for my lamb curry to cook. I've made this curry before, it's from a packet mix from the indian shop, that is below the pole dancing studio. It's a very, very hot curry, or at least, hot to me. But it's so goddamn tasty! I made enough for three meals and added chick peas for a bit of variety. I'm quite looking forward to eating it. It did, however, take a long time to cook. So it was a late one for me last night, which made getting up before six even more fun.

What else you ask? I'm off to a WIS (women in science) yum cha today. Should be good for a giggle and full of pork and prawns to boot. Last time I went to yum cha in Canberra, I ended up going with a muslim and a jew. You realise how much pork and prawns are in yum cha when two of the 6 people you are eating with, can't/won't eat them. But I love a bit of pig and am not too adverse to the shellfish, so today will be great. I'm looking forward to the pork buns and the various dumplings and all that good stuff. I'm salivating as I type.

Yesterday, thinking of food, I went to the multicultural festival. This predominantly consists of lots of food stalls and displays of various national dances and music on two stages. I was watching some, guessing here, dancers from Vanuatu(?) while eating some souvlaki. I had to leave, though, when the song came on that had approximatly the following lyrics "We're your mate. Something something great." It was really painful to listen to. Give me crazy singing, give me drums, give me interesting instruments I've never seen before. But please, don't go into the 'look at us, we're Aussies, we are. See, we're using the term mate to show how we are totally Aus'. I'm completely convinced that they're Aussie. I don't need some John Howard-esque use of mate and mateship to convince me that you belong here. I'd much rather see you showing off the culture of the country your family came from originally. Even if they came here 200 years ago. You can, I would hope, as an Australian, be proud of where your family originally came from, and be proud of the stuff you get up to here. I know I am. I love all the German stuff, and it is definitely part of who I am. Got to love a bit of bratwurst and sauerkraut and punctuality. I don't know where I'm going with this rant, so I'll stop. Suffice to say, the dancing was great, the song was shithouse.

I'll get into the joys of little britain later and tell you all about my 'I'm the only gay in the village' t-shirt. But for now, I'm off to the fly room to collect me some virgins and yell at the little bastard to breed!

little britain

I'm going to little britain live tomorrow, in Sydney. It's going to be awesome! I have a friend who I'm currently doing the pole dancing course with, who went in Melbourne. She loved it. I think I'm going to have to do something to ensure my face doesn't hurt from too much smiling/laughing. Yay!

I had a really good meeting with my supervisor today, huzzah! Looks like I'm going to Europe to go to two conferences. The first is a cell/molecular/developmental biology conference in Dresden and the other is the 20th European Drosophila Research Conference in Vienna. It's going to be great fun. The boy and I are going over together and looking for work/visiting people while we are over there. I'm very excited about it. It also gives me a good goal, get my lab work finished before then. I'm probably going to have to book tickets pretty soon. At least I'll get my ticket funded. The rest I'll have to fund myself, but that'll be okay I'm sure. So, I'll be off in late August and back by the start of October, end of September at the earliest. Yay for science and yay for nature magazine that showed me the first conference, which you can find more information about here: elso2007.elso.org

Okay, what else is news? My friend JJF has actually really decided to leave Canberra, after threatening it for 2.5 years. He's apparently sick of the whole place and is looking to move to Melbourne or Perth. I've got my fingers crossed for Melbourne, but that's just me being selfish and wanting to be able to hang out with my mates. BT is about to head off to Singapore for a family holiday and his delightful girlfriend GT is about to go to Vietnam, then Singapore. Lucky buggers! Because BT is one of three boys, GT gets a lot of attention from BT's mum, and gets lots and lots of really tasty food. I'm quite the jealous. I wish I had someone so delighted by my presence that they cook me really good food.

Oh and as a final note before I go to the gym, we cleaned our carpets on Saturday. The three ladies of chez Scullin hired a steam cleaner after the cleaners cancelled on them. It was hard work, especially as it was hot on Saturday, and the crap that came out of that carpet and not even worth thinking about. But the carpet is now quite lovely and clean-er. I don't think it would hurt to give it another going over. But I'm buggered if I'm doing that again, it really was hard work. Add to that the wet carpet smell that you get after, it'll be a while until I want to do that shit again.

laptops, bootcamp and pole dancing

New things in my life include, a macbook, bootcamp and pole dancing classes again.

I love my new shiny laptop! It's white, and pretty and is going to be dear friend over the next year while I write my thesis and work hard. Hooray! I got it yesterday and am just waiting for the IT guys to come and install all the software I need on it. Then it's bombs away and I'll be going nuts! Wheeee!

Bootcamp has been going for two weeks now, I've been 3 times. It's been hard work, especially getting up at 5am. I am always nervous when I have to get up early and as a result I end up waking up too early, or having nightmares. I had a horrible on on Wednesday night about dismembered corpses being found in my building. I woke up at 4.30am, freaked out and needing to pee. Buh! But apart from my nighttime silliness, the bootcamp itself is pretty good. Tuesday we have Vince, who is 6 foot, with lovely muscles and a lovely accent. I think he's from Jamaica or somewhere like that. He rolls his r's as he tells us to rrrrun, rrrrun! *roar* He's also really enthusiastic, and that helps with motivation. Thursday is Michael, who I think is pretty bored training us. But we still work hard, just with a little less enthusiasm. I'm enjoying the energetic feeling I get after the early mornings with lots of exercise. But, the evening slump, which had me in bed at 8.30pm last night, is less great. Two more weeks to go and I'll see if I'm any fitter as a result.

Pole dancing started on Tuesday night. I have my first bruise of the season and it's all good fun. I'm going with a good mate from work. We laughed ourselves silly and I think we're both looking forward to next week.

Hmmm, what else is news? I'm going to Sydney next week to see Little Britain live. That should be great fun. I'm going with my mate JJF, we're driving up and maybe staying with his brother. That would be good, as the brother has a pool! Whee! We'll be coming home the next day, I have too much work to do to spend the weekend in Sydney, fun though that would be. Work is going well, just a little busy. I'm getting rather excited and have lots of plans. I have a meeting with the supes on Tuesday. I am hoping to be well organised for that meeting and present an outline for my introduction. Anyway, work to to, flies to do horrible things to. Best be off.

commitments and timing

So, the PhD is going okay. Not fabulous, but okay. I'm not completely fucking it up as I used to (at least I don't think I am). I'm pretty focused and I have plans. But turns out some of those plans may not work out. My plan was to make it home by July, to write the thesis etc. Thing is, the supervisor doesn't agree with me. He thinks more like the end of the year to start writing full time, ie my lab work will continue for the majority of this year. The thought of spending another 3-4 months in Canberra, away from the boy, makes me very sad and frustrated. We will have then been apart for the best part of 4 years. 4 years is a very long time.

The other problem with this is the following: I said to a dear friend that I would go to a swing dancing event in Perth in April. But at the moment, if all my experiments go well, I'll be working very hard in April. Like 2X a day, every day (7/week) in the lab, regardless of weekends and the like. I had promised previously to travel to this event. But circumstances, both timing and financial had prevented me. Now the finances will be fine (my insurance payout is going to be significant), but the timing couldn't be worse. I feel awful. I really don't want to disappoint a good friend, but my thesis and my chances of getting home by July have to come first. Fingers crossed they'll understand. Even better if I could actually afford the time off because the flies are going faster than expected. I don't know, stuff sucks sometimes and it's hard to sort it all out.

Apart from the depressing idea of being stuck in the 'berra for another few months, things are going well here. Boot camp is hard, but fun. Pole dancing started last night. One housemate is planning on moving out, and while that sucks in one respect, at least with such a tight rental market we are likely to get a decent replacement. We can finally afford to be choosy. Previously, it's been a matter of desperation. We've done okay out of the current one, but the one before that sucked the big one.

Anywho, I should get back to the thesis and the planning. No time to waste for me, if I'm ever to make it back to Melbourne.

Tikka learns about walking

My mate BT is a legend. The man has not only tripled his wage in the last year, go you go thing go! But he has also the most patient soul I know. Seriously, he's so patient. Last night he and JJF came by with Bailey, the blackberry dog. They were out on a walk, and decided to ask if I wanted to come with. Unfortunately, Tikka's lead was in LJS's car, and she was out. I found some rope though, so it was used to keep Bailey in check, she already knows how not to pull. Tikka, on Bailey's lead, was a pulling maniac and BT took over. He managed to get that dog to actually walk alongside him for a little bit. Amazing! She usually needs her gentle leader to get her to stick to a decent speed. The trick, and here's where the patience comes in, was this: everytime she pulled, he'd stop, and make her sit next to him. At first she was only going a couple of steps and then pulling like a crazy dog. But after a little while she managed up to about 6 steps or so. Still not great, but a great improvement.
This morning, I took the Tikka dog out for a traning walk. We managed about 10 metres at one stage of walking alongside me without pulling. I think if I keep this up, she'll never need her gentle leader again. We'll probably go walking with the boys tonight, but I think I'll use the gentle leader. She might actually get some decent walking in then, rather than just around the block.
Enough of dogs though, I have news. I have written an outline for my introduction to my thesis. It's a brief document that outlines the topics I'll cover and the order I'll do it in. All I need now is approval from the supervisors and some help getting it just right and I can start writing the bastard. I've been doing a lot of reading recently, and it's been making me ask a whole bunch of questions, which in turn leads to more reading and more questions. I've got a lot to learn about my gene/protein, it's structure and all about pleckstrin homology domains. Wish me luck! I'm hoping that by next week I'll be actually composing the thing.
Other thesis related news, I have transformants. Perhaps only one, but if the insertion is on the X or II then I'm sorted. For all the non-geneticists out there, sorry, nerd speak there and now too. I'm using yellow+ as the selectable marker, rather than white+ and I'm finding it interesting to pick the transformants. I have one definite, I thought I had a white- fly on my pad, rather than a yellow- white- transformant that was a little bit dark. I wondered how the little fucker had got into the vial, until I realised he must be a transformant. Whee! A boy too, which makes it easier.
Best be off, I have to get up ridiculously early tomorrow, I'm starting boot camp with a mate from work. I have to get from Belconnen to Narrabundah by 6am. Guess who's getting up at 5am for the possible 30 mins scoot south? ME!

I can't stop sleeping in!

I've been trying for the last week to get up early. By early I mean somewhere between 6.30am and 7.15am. I have lab work to do and it's been ridiculously hot, so riding early in the morning is preferrable. But can I get myself out of bed before 8am? Nope. I've tried and I've tried, but it just won't work. I blame the hot weather we've been having. It's been over 30 for over a week, every single day. It was 40 one day last week, and no cool change with a lovely storm to get rid of the blistering heat. It sucks! The bom.gov.au website is giving me no joy either. All the temperatures for the next 4 days are above 35 and then above 30 for the next 3 after that. We're supposed to have a storm this afternoon, there are thunderstorm warnings a-go-go. But the chance of rain is only listed as 40%. Looks to me as though it'll be bone dry all day, bloody hot, and then it won't even rain. I can't sleep properly with all this darned heat. BUH!

Okay, I think I've bitched enough about the weather. Onto other things, like what else I've been up to. I went and saw my 'independent medical expert' yesterday afternoon, as part of my insurance claim. It felt like a pretty futile effort. I know that I'm better and he pretty much confirmed that. He was partly deaf, reasonably condescending, and not very chirpy. It was great fun to have to ride in 37 degree heat to get out there. But at least it's done now. Apparently, it's the last thing I have to do before the solicitor gets the final offer from the insurance company. I'm hoping for it to be resolved very soon. I needs to buy myself a laptop, and the cash from this claim should cover it.

Hmmm, what else is news? The Bree dog is moving out. I don't know this officially, as the owner of Bree (SKW) hasn't said anything to me. But I know from a mutual aquaintance that she's going up to Brisvegas next week. I'm not sure that I will miss the Bree dog too much. She's very cute, but can be a little overwhelming at times. She likes jumping up and sticking her nose on you. I was at home working on the thesis last week and I got up to go to the toilet. Bree was on the floor in the living room, where I had been working. I went to the toilet and as I emerged from the bathroom, Bree was sitting outside, waiting for me. It can be just a little full on. Labradors are just a little too enthusiastic at times. But I know that her owner SKW is going to miss her.

My exercise and eating regime continues with great success. I am (when conscious) much more energetic that usual and I don't get major lulls in my energy levels. This eating six times a day thing is good for that. Usually after lunch I'd be lethargic and useless for at least an hour. These days, no problemo! I'm also craving healthy food, even on my 'day off'. Eating well, by which I mean lots of fruit and veg, really is good for you. Who knew? (probably everyone really)

Tonight I'll be going out dancing. I'm going to Balboa class first and then there is a social dance. I plan on taking a large bottle of water with me and a towel, as I can see myself getting very sweaty. Another disadvantage to all this stupid hot weather. Grrr!

Best be off, my timer is about to beep at me and I need to go fix some embryos.

bloody hot

It is bloody hot in Canberra today! The top temperature was 40.5, it's still 39. I had plans to be at the gym today, doing the whole cardio thing. But it's so freaking hot! I think I'd melt. But I might go, later on tonight, after it cools down. Seems to be a theme with me this week. Tuesday and yesterday had me at the gym at about 8.30pm. It was so busy earlier in the evening, I really couldn't get anything useful done. It was pretty good going later, but meant I had to make sure I made myself go. It would have been so easy to stay at home and sleep or watch crappy TV.
Today has been a day of finding out about PH domains. That stands for pleckstrin homology domains. They bind phosphinositides, and help localise proteins to the membrane of the cells. Apparently though, they also help the DH (Dbl homology) domain do it's thing, catalysing the exchange of GDP to GTP on a GTPase. Exciting huh? Go science go! It's very very nerdy, but very very important that I know those things. No doubt I'll get around to reading those papers properly soon, but for now I think I'm going to scoot my way home, eat some dinner and then eventually make my way to the gym. Wish me luck!

why living in canberra sucks

The boy had a migraine on Friday. He was so bad, he ended up in hospital. He was so bad they thought he had meningitis. He had a lumbar puncture, morphine, spent 11 hours in hospital. He was still feeling shitty today. He went to the doctor. The doctor was so worried about him, they sent him to the hospital in a taxi, with a cab charge. He's there now, doped up to the eyeballs on drugs. The lumbar puncture they gave him didn't seal up again properly and it was making him feel nauseous and dizzy. They are doing something tomorrow to fix him up and he should be able to go home. I hate living so far away from him. Not that I could have done much more than his housemate, Val, has done. He took the boy to the hospital on Friday and picked him up again. He's going to pick him up tomorrow. But I just wish I was there. I'm a little bit over the whole 'long distance relationship'. I'm also a bit over share house living, but that's another story.
Living in Canberra sucks.

Project Healthy

I want to tell you a story, most of you will have heard it from me over the holidays. It's a little funny and a little annoying. It kinda links into project healthy, but not really. I'd planned to attempt the project healthy before Xmas, and before this incident. I was just waiting for Xmas to be over and all that jazz to be over, so I could get myself into a healthy routine, with exercise and everything. So here's my story:

Just before Xmas, I was feeling a little dizzy. I went to the doctor to have myself checked out. Make sure I didn't have an ear infection or something similar. So, the doctor, after telling me that my symptoms were pretty vague, checked out my general wellbeing.
She measured my blood pressure, a little high at either 132/90 or 125/85. She checked my temperature, normal. She tested my balance, good. She measured my height, and my weight, and looked at her chart. There I was, smack bang in the middle of the healthy weight range. Huzzah! She turns to me as we are walking back to the chairs and and says "hmmm, that's interesting. You must have small bones, because you look a little bit overweight"
WHAT THE FUCK?! What part of, demonstrably in the healthy weight range, did you not see, you psycho bitch? What possible motive could this woman have to tell another woman, who wasn't overweight, that she LOOKED overweight? I am still a little pissed off with this woman, and I'm just trying to decide what to do about it. She suggested I come back in a few weeks and get my blood pressure checked again, to make sure it wasn't artificially high for some reason. She also suggested I get the same person to measure it, her, because it can be a little variable with different operators. Question is, do I want to go back to that nasty woman? And if I do, do I mention the fact that it was totally inappropriate for her to say that to me?

Anyway, before she had been so mean to me, I had intended to start a bit of a health kick. I go to the gym regularly, and I try, most of the time, to eat well. But I never seem to be able to run any faster/further or get the gym thing going long enough without a break to get really strong. So, I decided to put myself on a health kick. And drag my parents along with me. So, here for the record, are my goals for the next three months:

-go to the gym 3X/week
-be able to do the splits!
-increase my upper body strength so my pole dancing is better
-get some definition in my muscles
-reduce my fat % (so you can see my defined muscles)
-be able to walk up Black Mountain via the more difficult path, without stopping

If, in three months, I'm getting somewhere near those goals, I'll be pretty happy. It does, however, mean making time for exercise and not making excuses not to go. It means eating well, more often than not. But having goals I think will help keep me on track. And knowing that my parents are trying to get healthier too helps. It shouldn't be too hard for them, if they can give up dessert, and fish and chips for a while, they'll be halfway to their goals. Add a bit of exercise, and they're sorted. One of the dogs, Mac, needs to lose some weight too. About 3-4kgs off his 13.8kg frame. I'm sure they can help each other beat the bulge. But this blog isn't about them, so I'll leave it there.

So, I'm less than a week into my health kick and it's going pretty well. I can't really be arsed to go to the gym today, although it is gym day. But I'm going to go and make the most of it. My food has been healthy and tasty and you'll all be pleased to know that I'm not starving myself. I'm eating 6 times a day and all of it is fresh and chock full of veges and the like. I'm even getting the hang of drinking lots of water. The only problem there is how much you end up needing to pee. Tell me it gets better as your body gets used to it? I will no doubt, occasionally, update you on progress. The splits are still a long way away, but I reckon I'll get there in the end. If only my hip flexors weren't so tight!

Right, enough procrastination, the fly room and the gym awaits. I've spent most of today at home, reading papers and thinking about my thesis/experiments I've yet to do. It's time to get some fly pushing in and some weight lifting going. Grrr!

sigh

So, I've returned to the nation's capital. My flies are going great guns and I'm probably starting on my introduction today. But I just feel bleh. Today I would much rather just lie on the couch all day watching crappy infomercial television and then tidy my room. But, I'm at work, trying to psych myself up for the day ahead. I'm not sure if my new year's flatness is due to returning to Canberra/leaving Melbourne, or whether it's a general life grump I've got going on. It could just be PMS. Let's hope for that and move on.

When I'm feeling less flat, dejected and grumpy, I'll tell you about Xmas and New Year's and all that jazz. Right now, the fly room awaits and my iPod will be with me. I do not need to interact with people today.

Bruises a-go-go

So Monday was my last pole dancing class. It was 6 weeks of hilarious fun and lots of bruises. I ended up with, what one housemate desribed as, legs that looked like someone had attacked them with their thumbs. I have bruises on the tops of my feet and also on both inner thighs/knees and a fabulous one on my left thigh (outer). But, the best bit is, they don't actually hurt. Well, not much anyway. But they look really impressive. They're varying shades of purple and orangey-red and green. I'm quite proud of them, I have to say.

I got to practice going upside-down on the pole on Monday. I did pretty well. I didn't smash my head into the ground and was able to get onto the floor in a pretty elegant way. I think that upside-down is going to be one of my favourite kinda of things. It requires strength and a little bravery, and it looks very cool.

I recently read an article on news.com.au about pole dancing. It was an opinion piece about how women doing pole dancing were fools. I was quite taken aback. The article, summarised by me, went along the lines that women saying they were 'reclaiming their femininity' or were making a feminist statement by doing pole dancing, didn't know what they were on about. Thing is, I don't think anyone in my class would claim they were doing pole dancing to be more feminine, or to make a feminist statement. I think they'd say they were there to have fun, get some upper body strength and laugh like idiots. I know that's why I'm there. I love that I'm getting stronger arms and abs, I love dancing around like a fool to crappy music and I love the gymnastic ability required for the class. I'd say it'd be much like doing an acrobatic/circus class, something a little different, that requires somewhat acrobatic skills. Much fun as going to the gym is (and I really enjoy it), my pole dancing class is so much fun. I'm not doing it to impress a man, I'm not doing it to land a man (already got one), I'm doing it because it makes me happy. Buh, anyway, enough justifying my new habit, I love it and that's the most important thing.

What else is news I hear you ask? JJF and BT moved into their new place yesterday, along with Bailey the black Labrador. They are now literally stumbling distance from my house. And with their surround sound and yo-yo tricks galore, I don't know how often I'll be at home. I'm still quite giggly about the whole thing. I got to ride JJF's scooter from his old place in Torrens, up to the new place. It was quite scary, scarier than I'd imagined. I think it was because it was so windy last night. I nearly got blown off on Adelaide Avenue. But I made it safely, and realised that I quite like my own scooter, even if it does have a smaller engine.

Last night was also our Xmas at my house. LJS had her parents around. I had the boys over and SKW had J and N with her. We all ate dinner separately, but dessert was a shared affair. SKW had made sticky date pudding with caramel sauce and we ate that, along with icecream. It was heavenly. LJS had also bought a chocky cake, so we were well fed. It was a lovely evening, Bailey was there too and all three dogs played with each other. Bailey and Tikka had a small fight, and it looks as though Bailey is top dog among those three. It'll be interesting to see them play more over the next while, as I'm sure Bailey will be at our house quite a bit.

I totally scored in the present stakes. LJS got me a lovely Vespa diary thing and a swivel chair for me to use for sewing. SKW got me Degrassi High season 1 on DVD. I spent this morning watching a little bit of it as I sewed, sitting on the new chair. It's still as classy as ever, which means, not at all. But it does deal with a lot of 'issues' that faced teenagers in the late 80s/early 90s. The fashion is pretty astounding, go the mullet! BT and his lovely g/f GT also got me something, yay! It was totally unexpected, but totally useful. I got a new wallet. My old wallet from RU, while lovely, has not had a functional zip for quite some time. It was time to retire it, but I was just waiting for the sales. No need anymore though! The new wallet is red and snazzy.

That's all that's news from my world. Except maybe the dizzy spells of the last few days. But it sounds like a lot of people have been getting them, so maybe it's something to do with the weather. I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow to get it checked out. Probably just a minor ear infection or something. We'll see.

Riding my scoot- lots of fun

So, I went for my first 'ride' on Sunday. I have pretty much only had my scooter as a means of getting around. A cheaper option than a car. But I have some swing dancing friends who have motorbikes as a fun way of getting around. They also have cars! So, it was decided that we should all go for a 'ride' together, somewhere out of Canberra a little way.

We decided on Tidbinbilla (I hope I've spelled that correctly) and rode out there. It was quite hilly and we were travelling for the most part at about 80-85km/h. That way my scooter could keep up with the other bikes, I've worked out my absolute top speed is 90km/h and that's downhill. It was probably around the halfway mark that I noticed that my petrol reserves were a little low, or rather, a lot low. We made it to the big dishes, but there was no way I was making it back to Canberra, or even to Tharwa, another 20kms away to get petrol.

I'm now forever indebted to my friend Stephen. He found some hose from the security guys and syphoned out petrol for me. First, from his own 1300cc bike into my scooter, and later, because it was too hard to get the petrol flowing, from Kristina's 500cc bike into a coke bottle. He filled the 600ml bottle three times and all of a sudden I had a lot of petrol in the tank. We made it safely back to Canberra and I hit 90km/h on the way back into town, on a hill, probably with a tail wind.

It was so much fun, riding with other riders, nice and safe in the middle of the pack of 5. The weather was perfect for riding, blue skies, a few clouds and a lovely 27 degrees, lovely. The riding did, however, make me want to get a bigger bike. Say a 250cc scooter, something that can do 100km/h no worries. But the sensible side of me knows that is silly. I'm only in Canberra for another 6-7 months and once I'm back in Melbourne, I don't know that I'll need that much power. The little 100cc should do the job admirably. So, I just have to cope, knowing that my riding could be a lot more fun, out on the open road, if I had a bigger bike. I promise Mum that I won't use my insurance money to buy a new scoot, I promise!

The riding part of the day ended at Gus' Cafe in the city. I nearly lost my mouthfull of food at one stage though. Stephen told us about how he'd once headbutted a duck. The duck had been flying up in front of his bike, and hadn't made it high enough. It smacked into his helmet, but continued up and I'm pretty sure survived. Funny, funny stuff. I've been hit with bugs before while riding. I've even had a bee in my helmet. But I've never headbutted a bird before. Nor do I think I'm likely to. I'm sure there's time enough for that in the coming years of riding.

Sunday was a lovely day out with the gang of swinging riders. 2 scooters, myself and JJF, 3 bikes, Stephen, Marianne and Kristina. Perfect weather and great friends who looked after me and made sure I could make it back home. I think next time I might ask Stephen if I can ride pillion on his bike. That thing is enormous. It's like sitting on an armchair. Totally cool and really noisy.

Another note about the scoot, riding and the like. I passed my Ps test a few weeks ago, but only managed to get myself to the motor registry yesterday. So I am now officially a P plate scooter rider. I just have to attach the P plate to the back of the scooter and I'm ready to roll. It took some 25 mins to see someone though. Luckily, I'd brought some sewing with me. I'm in the process of repairing a dress I made VE for her birthday last year, the lining had come a little loose and one of the straps was also starting to come away from the dress. In that 25 mins, I not only fixed those problems, but I also read about 1/3 of a paper. It turned out to be a rather successful wait. I'm now waiting on my housemate to turn up with some cable ties from the mouse house. I'm going to use them to attach the P plate.

I GOT IT!

Hooray, and champers all round! I got two clones that are the right thing. All that is left is to send DNA to Adelaide for injection into flies, sequence said DNA and run around the lab screaming "WHOOP!" at the top of my lungs. No more cloning for me (it would seem) and lots of fly work and other things. I love molecular biology today. And in accordance with a request by VA (supplier of awesome chemically competent cells) I now renounce my love affair with electro competent cells and wholy embrace chemically competent cells as the way of the future. I shall use them forever more for my cloning endeavours and agree that they are much better and more efficient than their electro siblings.

speedy mc-speedster

Yesterday was an excellent day, for the most part. I had a meeting with my solicitor, about my personal injury claim. Looks like I only have two things left to do before we can settle. I have to visit an 'independant medical expert' and have my shoulder assessed. I also have to get some kind of documentary evidence that my thesis was put back by about 2 months due to the accident. I think my supervisor might be able to help me out there. Must remember to ask, and ask nicely. Once this is done, NRMA will make me an offer, I'll pay the solicitors for their work and whatever is left over is mine. Huzzah! Fingers crossed it'll only take another couple of months or so.

I had colonies on my ligation plate yesterday morning and am in the process of confirming whether they are the right thing or not. I've grown up 12 of them and am digesting the DNA now. Give me an hour or so and I'll know whether I've finished cloning for my PhD or not (assuming the sequencing goes well). This is a bit of a milestone for me, as I may have mentioned previously, so that's cool too.

We had a farewell lunch for Nelida yesterday. She's a lovely Chilean woman in her 70s, who has been working at RSBS for 30 years. She is a phenomenal support, both scientifically and emotionally. I'm going to miss her hugs and advice. But, I figure she's probably allowed to go and do something other than work in our lab. The lunch was in the botanical gardens and we were visited by many water dragons. I'll post pictures once I'm organised.

So those were the good things about yesterday. Now for the amusing and not so great bits. My scooter decided that everywhere I went yesterday, I was travelling no distance and at 0km/h. I hoofed it down to the scooter repairer and it was a simple job to fix. The speedo cable had fallen out of it's place and wasn't connected properly. I got it all fixed up and I now know how fast I'm travelling. Which is useful. The other shitty thing yesterday was the evil headache that came upon me at about 4pm. I think it was my usual PMS headache, turning up a few days late to confuse and irritate me. It didn't go away, even with drugs. But, sleep killed it pretty well.

So yeah, yesterday was mostly good, but also a little shit. I'm hoping today will give me DNA to sequence and good flies to work with. Fingers crossed it'll also bring me chocolate, finished Xmas present shopping and a lovely early night. Man, I'm such a nanna!

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!

That might be okay for laughing person

Okay, so I wrote a long post, it was great, but I kinda didn't save it and then lost it. So this will be a pared down version of the same thing. I have been back from Melbourne for just over a week. It was an excellent weekend away. There was the mad dash to get myself some shoes for the wedding, after I realised the shoes that were 'in my old wardrobe at mum and dad's' weren't. There was the pre-wedding overview of my MC duties with the groom, which included watching Father Ted and drinking vodka. There was the delight at seeing this
at the wedding. It's my brother with his scary and funny handlebar moustache. With only this moustache, a pair of sunglasses and a beanie, he managed to make sure that no-one sat next to him on the train a couple of weeks ago. Go tiger go!
There was the reaction of the family to 'the dress'. My cousins and I used to dress up for the grown-ups when we were kids and perform. We'd make up skits and then act them out. I can't remember content, but I can remember that my cousin Keiran (now a married father of two) always used to wear an old ballgown of my grandmother's. I found the dress at my aunts and after some adjustment to my less-than-ample bosom, we had a dress that fitted. Everyone was most impressed and recognised the dress. Well, those of us who were old enough to remember. Keiran didn't seem too upset that I'd stolen his dress. Here is a photo of me in the dress, standing next to the previous owner/wearer, Grandma.

I, unfortunately, do not have any better photos of the dress (with me in it) at the moment, so this'll have to do. I'm banking on someone else at the wedding having taken a better shot at some stage. I certainly remember posing for one or two.

I had a good time MCing and didn't swear once, if you don't count bugger as a swear word. I think it all went pretty well and the food was excellent.

I had the good fortune to be able to catch up with some friends over the course of the weekend. MF and her beautiful son Jack came over for lunch and we had some yummy bagels while Jack scared Sheddy the local cat who likes to come and visit. Sheddy evidently doesn't like babies, actually, I don't think any cats like babies. He decided against joining us for lunch.
We had dinner, the same night, with newly married couple EE and ME and with good friend VE. It was Mekong for mains, noodle soup all around and Max Brenner's for dessert. EE ordered a choc/orange hot chocolate that looked like this: VE made a comment about it's appearance. Apparently, it looks like a vagina. We giggled to ourselves about this. But were laughing very much out loud when EE's husband took a sip and said 'that tastes familiar'. We, according to the boy, laughed so loud that the entire restaurant was looking at us. I think EE was a bit put out by that, so apologies mate, it wasn't directed at you. We just have dirty minds.

In other news, I have knitted a fair few pair of socks in the last couple of weeks. JJF finally got his red socks:
which are slightly different reds. I ran out of the first lot of wool without finishing the first sock. So I made them kinda similar, with the body of the sock being one colour and the toe being the other colour. I think I'd forgotten that dye lots could vary so much and that JJF has really big feet. But it's all fine, he's colour blind so probably can't really tell the difference between them anyway. I have promised to teach him and my housemate SKW to knit in the near future. I think we'll be starting with scarves and beanies.
I've also started on a sock knitting project. I have a group of really good friends, who are currently dispersed all over the countryside. I am making us all pairs of socks that have red toes (the linking factor) so we can remember that group of friends, even when we are a long way away. It's a bit daggy I know, but I want to do something to make these people remember me! So, I have just received foot size from RU, finished the socks for MB (who's birthday it was this week) and started on the socks for VE. Once I work out how big size 7 is in European sizes, I can get started on EE's socks too. Here are the completed and semi-completed socks.


Next time I'll tell you a tale of mountain climbing and shoulder repair.

I'm sick, so photos!

Here are my gorgeous, 1920s style T-bar shoes. I got these at a bargain price and they were perfect to go with my 1920s style dress that I wore to a wedding in Tassie. The next photo is of the shoes that I bought recently to make myself feel better, but on the feet of the bride from the wedding in Tassie, if that makes sense.

pretty, yes?
Next up, my brother and I, see he's the tall one, I'm the short one. But I'm older, I promise.

From the same night, but a different perspective, my dogs. Hamish first then Macbeth. Hamish certainly does love feet and Mac loves snuggling. Which do you think is cuter? I know which one is smellier (mac).


And finally, I'm looking forward to meeting again the person for whom this quilt was made. Jack Peter Forbes. I've been friends with his mum for quite a number of years and we're catching up on my next trip to Melbourne. Apparently, he loves searching for the cat, the dog and the car. This was so much fun to make. Lots of squares, lots of handsewing (I hand pieced this quilt) and a mad search for some nice flanelette for the back. Enjoy! Fingers crossed my brain will be once again functional next week and I can produce more than photos.

there were going to be photos. . . . .

I had intended to post a whole bunch of cool photos today that i'd found of craft projects, my brother (he's quite the silly and tall) and my dogs. But flickr is having a massage or some shite, so I'm stuck with words yet again.
Today's theme is my immediate family. They are great. Really great.
MUM -IK
My mum is a worry-wart, but I know it's only because she cares. She has the same passion for Pride and Prejudice as I do, and the same passion for knitting and sewing. I guess it's hardly surprising, perhaps it would be more correct to say that I have the same passion for those things as her. In any case, we can craft shop until the cows come home, and then we can sit at home with our purchases and watch Colin Firth for hours too.
DAD -CK
My Dad doesn't necessarily look after himself as well as I would like sometimes, but he certainly keeps a keen eye out for me. I can rely on Dad to give me sensible advice and to consider all sides of the story before coming to a conclusion. Again, he has the same passion for science that I do, or rather I share his passion for science. We studied pretty much the same areas of study during our respective BSc's but mine was just 30 years later. His former lecturer runs the lab next door, and gave me a chocolate today. Dad would always let me stay up past my bedtime to watch Quantum with him on a Wednesday night.
BROTHER- PK
My brother can bug me like no-one else and has some 'interesting' ideas. But he completely understands my sense of humour and the ridiculous. He and I share a delight in jazz and rhythm, I as a swing dancer, he as a drummer. We, obviously, have a shared history and as such can understand each other better than a lot of other people. Friends of mine have often been surprised at how well the two of us get along. We, at least from my perspective, have a really good sibling relationship and are pretty close.
Recently, I've been reminded of how good my immediate family are. Dad has been calling (now that he's employed again) from work and updating me on Grandma's position and advising me on various issues. Mum has called from home to let me know similar things, but from her perspective. PK has also called to get my advice for his girlfriend, A, on attire for the upcoming wedding and to discuss sneakiness (more on this later). Mum flew from Melbourne to Canberra as soon as she could to look after me, after my accident. Dad followed shortly afterwards. I'm very lucky to have such a nice family, very lucky. So, thanks Mum and Dad for looking after me and PK so well and creating a pretty kick-arse group of adults (and pet dogs).

Next post. . . . . . . . .pictures of the dogs and the craft and the brother and the other stuff that is interesting and cool and not so sappy as this crap.

Sunday evening musings

This weekend has got me pretty tired. I've been on a mission to get black velvet ribbon, about 4 cm wide. Does Lincraft have any? No. Does Spotlight have any? No. Do any other fabric shops in Canberra have any? No. It's ridiculous. I think I'm going to have to get the boy to go and get me some from his local Spotlight (assuming they have some in Melbourne). But the other thing that is making me tired, is my late night last night and the walk up Mount Taylor this morning. Seeing as they are in chronological order in that sentence, they will be in the following description.
Last night was an excellent night. Just enough of a mix of some excellent, and sometimes scary, dances and the social element that I love. I had some wonderful chats with my fellow swing dancers. Topics ranged from comparison of poor vision to our mutual delight of the dance known as Balboa. My vision isn't nearly as crap as I thought, but I'm about the only one with crap vision who actually wears glasses. The rest of them are contacts people. I'm far too lazy for contacts, but was wishing Saturday morning that I had some. (couldn't find my glasses because I wasn't wearing them, which is the evil paradox of poor vision) I had a few really nice Bal dances with DC from Sydney and also with JJF and some regular lindy hop dances with A and J. Lots of fun. I was given a Lincraft voucher (they know my heart well) to thank me for my time on the committee, which I recently quit. And to top the evening off, some students from my Monday night class that I teach with CP turned up and had a good time. YAY! Excellent night.
Unfortunately, an excellent night is quite often a late night. So after about 6 hours sleep, I woke up to get myself ready for the walk up Mt Taylor. After a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and crispy bacon, JJF, myself, UW and SKW made the trek up the STAIRS OF DOOM and looked down over the cold wintery, windy Canberra we had this morning. I don't think my thighs will be thanking me tomorrow, I think they will be trying to find ways to cripple me, so I will never do that to them again. Next time we go up those stairs I'm getting a photo to prove how evil they are.
So I'm now just sitting in the lab waiting for a few things to get sorted out before it's off home to sleep until next week. I will probably dream about stairs that say they lead to black velvet ribbon but actually lead me to more stairs and more stairs.

random shite

I went to a dancing thing last night, it was a 'masters class' and then social dance with Dax Hock. Admittedly, I decided against doing the class, I was worn out and Dax isn't exactly my cup of tea. He's a fabulous dancer and the like, but doesn't really inspire me. Instead I was door bitch extraordinair and ended up having an hour long chat with another dancer about this and that. It was a good night, especially because I didn't have to ride the scooter and I also got a couple of really fun social dances. Yay social dancing.
So today, the plan goes as follows:
-dissect gential discs from 3rd instar larvae
-fix said discs
-go to spotlight for velvet ribbon and some goldy-greeny thread (for 'the' dress)
-hang out and knit/handsew with JJF
-head off to the dancing birthday party

So, in the land of crafting projects I have a few on the go, alas no photos, maybe one day. I have the socks for JJF, one is already completed and has been confirmed as a sock that fits. I have the petticoat to wear under 'the' dress, all it needs now is a hem. I have 'the' dress alterations to allow for my lack of bosom. And I'm desperate to make a moebius scarf and have found some yarn that would be fabulous for it here after reading about it on this man's blog. I'm totally stealing his idea/project, but the yarn sounds fantastic and too good an opportunity to miss out on. Hooray for the internet and purchasing thing via it's international goodness.

Something else I've wanted to get onto is stenciling, as seen around the place, using freezer paper. Alas, Australia is somewhat lacking in freezer paper, unless you count the stuff that they charge exorbitant prices for in craft stores. I'll have to wait until I'm next in Melbourne to steal some from my Mum, who got some from a friend on their way back from the states. It will happen, I'm sure of it. Then I can make a t-shirt for my cousin that says 'phwheat' and another that says 'muscle beach is cheese'. He'll love both of them I'm sure, well at least the first one.