Tea, Chocolate, Snow
Dec. 31st, 2019 01:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
allekhaI suddenly got a sharp pain in my throat about twelve hours ago. Blegh. I'm not feeling sick any other way yet, so crossing fingers that it's just a random inflammation and it goes away.
Been busy the last couple of months and sort of lost track of DW things (and others) for a bit. I've been working on and worrying about thesis stuff, and then earlier this month my advisor approved me to write it all up \o/ so now I just need to finish that so I can present it to the committee for approval and then try to get the actual thesis out the door so I can get out of school and find a Real Job!! My advisor is well-connected so hopefully that part shouldn't be too extremely difficult - certainly he didn't seem worried that I'd be able to find work. And I also have to write this paper and these other things won't read themselves and....
A campus research group I'm in (despite not really doing what most everyone else in it is doing) had their annual round-up lightning talks, where you only get a couple minutes to describe your research. I don't usually look forward to it too much, but it's another opportunity to practice projecting. This time, an undergrad from the physics department came up to me afterward, really interested in my work. We met up later and had a long, interesting talk about my work and related topics, and ended up doing a book exchange - I lent him my copy of Steve Grand's book on artificial life, and he loaned me his book on complexity sciences. Only read part of it so far but it seems interesting.
Passed a quiet Thansgiving with my parents, doing work and chopping firewood for a break - I still get a rush of 'wow, I'm an adult now!' whenever I set the fire up by myself, haha. The train ride was mostly quiet, too. I spent a lot of it making skating gifs. I don't know why they're so addictive to make, but it's easy, doesn't take much brain power when I'm tired, and it's a fun way to share things like that one video of a woman skating in reinforced pointe shoes because who does that. I am in awe of her ankle strength and balance.
My train did get delayed on the way back due to the snow, as our train had to rescue another train that had lost power. And then because of the snow, nobody was driving because it wasn't safe and I had to wait an hour at the station before I managed to split one of the few rideshares crazy enough to be out there. It wouldn't have been that bad of an experience if I hadn't had a migraine for the whole experience. At least it was a reminder to refill my emergency ibuprofen bottle in my backpack :| Ventured out the next morning in the snow above my knees to grab some basic groceries, and then gave up and walked on the road back home because it was so much easier. But I don't mind the snow once I'm not traveling through it with a headache. It melted away a week later when we got rain; I'm at my parents' again for the holidays and I wonder if there will be any on the ground when I go back.
K had his usual mostly alcohol-free holiday party this year, and I went and caught up with him, as well as my friends S and A. S has a Real Job out in California now, and it seems like she's doing well :) It was great to see everyone from back home again even if I won't get to ring in the new year with any of them.
I went to the movie theater three times this month, which must be a record for me. I think I only went once or twice the rest of the year? Maybe three times. And I only needed my earplugs twice! I saw:
Promare, the hot new anime movie that was in my theater for two screenings only. I had no idea what it was about going in, only that it was by Trigger, and... it's about what you'd expect a Trigger movie to be like. Heavy on the crazy awesome, don't think about the plot too hard (but with less of the gendered fanservice than in something like Kill la Kill). It was so great. It goes 100% for 95% of the movie, the animation is amazing, and I'm still listening to the soundtrack. I walked out wanting to see it again. I still do!
The Nutcracker - the ballet, livestreamed from the Bolshoi. I think it's so cool that we live in a day and age where that can happen. I don't know that I've seen the ballet itself before, though I did watch a movie version years ago. Our local theater didn't do it when I was a kid, I don't think. Anyway, it was as fluffy and sugary as I expected, but that's nice sometimes. The costumes were pretty and the kid dancers were really cute! The only part I didn't like was the "Coffee" section; the 'Chinese' dancers were kind of cringeworthy, but at least that section didn't last very long. The 'Indian' dance lasted minutes and was so stereotypical and awkward. I can't imagine a large American theater doing it like that nowadays and now I'm really curious what they do... skip it? Hire an instructor with knowledge of an actual Indian dance style?
Star Wars because Z really wanted to see it. Here's my spoiler-free three sentence review: the lighting was really noticeable in a good way. There were a few cool shots and concepts. The writing was absolutely terrible and I don't know how it got made unless the higher-ups just didn't care.
Only a day left in this year... here's hoping for a good 2020!
Been busy the last couple of months and sort of lost track of DW things (and others) for a bit. I've been working on and worrying about thesis stuff, and then earlier this month my advisor approved me to write it all up \o/ so now I just need to finish that so I can present it to the committee for approval and then try to get the actual thesis out the door so I can get out of school and find a Real Job!! My advisor is well-connected so hopefully that part shouldn't be too extremely difficult - certainly he didn't seem worried that I'd be able to find work. And I also have to write this paper and these other things won't read themselves and....
A campus research group I'm in (despite not really doing what most everyone else in it is doing) had their annual round-up lightning talks, where you only get a couple minutes to describe your research. I don't usually look forward to it too much, but it's another opportunity to practice projecting. This time, an undergrad from the physics department came up to me afterward, really interested in my work. We met up later and had a long, interesting talk about my work and related topics, and ended up doing a book exchange - I lent him my copy of Steve Grand's book on artificial life, and he loaned me his book on complexity sciences. Only read part of it so far but it seems interesting.
Passed a quiet Thansgiving with my parents, doing work and chopping firewood for a break - I still get a rush of 'wow, I'm an adult now!' whenever I set the fire up by myself, haha. The train ride was mostly quiet, too. I spent a lot of it making skating gifs. I don't know why they're so addictive to make, but it's easy, doesn't take much brain power when I'm tired, and it's a fun way to share things like that one video of a woman skating in reinforced pointe shoes because who does that. I am in awe of her ankle strength and balance.
My train did get delayed on the way back due to the snow, as our train had to rescue another train that had lost power. And then because of the snow, nobody was driving because it wasn't safe and I had to wait an hour at the station before I managed to split one of the few rideshares crazy enough to be out there. It wouldn't have been that bad of an experience if I hadn't had a migraine for the whole experience. At least it was a reminder to refill my emergency ibuprofen bottle in my backpack :| Ventured out the next morning in the snow above my knees to grab some basic groceries, and then gave up and walked on the road back home because it was so much easier. But I don't mind the snow once I'm not traveling through it with a headache. It melted away a week later when we got rain; I'm at my parents' again for the holidays and I wonder if there will be any on the ground when I go back.
K had his usual mostly alcohol-free holiday party this year, and I went and caught up with him, as well as my friends S and A. S has a Real Job out in California now, and it seems like she's doing well :) It was great to see everyone from back home again even if I won't get to ring in the new year with any of them.
I went to the movie theater three times this month, which must be a record for me. I think I only went once or twice the rest of the year? Maybe three times. And I only needed my earplugs twice! I saw:
Promare, the hot new anime movie that was in my theater for two screenings only. I had no idea what it was about going in, only that it was by Trigger, and... it's about what you'd expect a Trigger movie to be like. Heavy on the crazy awesome, don't think about the plot too hard (but with less of the gendered fanservice than in something like Kill la Kill). It was so great. It goes 100% for 95% of the movie, the animation is amazing, and I'm still listening to the soundtrack. I walked out wanting to see it again. I still do!
The Nutcracker - the ballet, livestreamed from the Bolshoi. I think it's so cool that we live in a day and age where that can happen. I don't know that I've seen the ballet itself before, though I did watch a movie version years ago. Our local theater didn't do it when I was a kid, I don't think. Anyway, it was as fluffy and sugary as I expected, but that's nice sometimes. The costumes were pretty and the kid dancers were really cute! The only part I didn't like was the "Coffee" section; the 'Chinese' dancers were kind of cringeworthy, but at least that section didn't last very long. The 'Indian' dance lasted minutes and was so stereotypical and awkward. I can't imagine a large American theater doing it like that nowadays and now I'm really curious what they do... skip it? Hire an instructor with knowledge of an actual Indian dance style?
Star Wars because Z really wanted to see it. Here's my spoiler-free three sentence review: the lighting was really noticeable in a good way. There were a few cool shots and concepts. The writing was absolutely terrible and I don't know how it got made unless the higher-ups just didn't care.
Only a day left in this year... here's hoping for a good 2020!
