Lots happening, too busy to write.
I have been quite spectacularly busy the past few days. Have been to the Paralympics twice, about which I will write more later. (Though I shall note that Richard & I were at the Athletics event described in section "You can come second and set a new world record", and had to puzzle out how that was possible.)
Today I was supposed to be at College setting up my first organic synthesis in something like 16 years, but my body decided to give out on me entirely and I spent the day asleep. I will be making a chalcone on Friday instead, and am getting progressively more anxious. Since it does not go back as far as 1996, my livejournal does not relate the story of Evil Pink Stuff, which was the last organic synthesis I ever did. It was supposed to be o-benzoylbenzoic acid. Absolutely none of the starting, intermediate, or final compounds are pink. Neither was the catalyst I put in & am pretty sure removed correctly. Yet pink was what I obtained. Pink, gelatinous precipitate, instead of a fine white powder. Gods only know what it was. I'm not sure I had enough time to do all the tests to find out. And I'm traumatised enough by other happenings that year not to want to poke into the box of Here Be Dragons that contains, among other things, my second year lab reports - though definitely curious enough to consider it.
Another point: my phone is being strangely evil of late. I used to frequently comment on livejournal (and deadjournal) from it, but for some reason when I type now, I keep hitting the full stop key by mistake. So I end up with Sentences. That. Look. Like. This., which look terrible and require lots of painful correction (since I don't get on with touchscreens), unless I take the artificial and non-ergonomic step of only hitting the space bar with my left thumb. This slows down my typing, and is actively uncomfortable, and as a result I'm not commenting on anything anywhere near as much as I used to. I've got to figure out if it's me or my keyboard at fault. (Hand positioning, or sticky keys? Or some sort of software "upgrade" that's making the keyboard more sensitive?). Anyway, it means I'm not replying to things when I want to, since I mostly do "social" internet from my phone. But I still love you & care about things in your lives.
Today I was supposed to be at College setting up my first organic synthesis in something like 16 years, but my body decided to give out on me entirely and I spent the day asleep. I will be making a chalcone on Friday instead, and am getting progressively more anxious. Since it does not go back as far as 1996, my livejournal does not relate the story of Evil Pink Stuff, which was the last organic synthesis I ever did. It was supposed to be o-benzoylbenzoic acid. Absolutely none of the starting, intermediate, or final compounds are pink. Neither was the catalyst I put in & am pretty sure removed correctly. Yet pink was what I obtained. Pink, gelatinous precipitate, instead of a fine white powder. Gods only know what it was. I'm not sure I had enough time to do all the tests to find out. And I'm traumatised enough by other happenings that year not to want to poke into the box of Here Be Dragons that contains, among other things, my second year lab reports - though definitely curious enough to consider it.
Another point: my phone is being strangely evil of late. I used to frequently comment on livejournal (and deadjournal) from it, but for some reason when I type now, I keep hitting the full stop key by mistake. So I end up with Sentences. That. Look. Like. This., which look terrible and require lots of painful correction (since I don't get on with touchscreens), unless I take the artificial and non-ergonomic step of only hitting the space bar with my left thumb. This slows down my typing, and is actively uncomfortable, and as a result I'm not commenting on anything anywhere near as much as I used to. I've got to figure out if it's me or my keyboard at fault. (Hand positioning, or sticky keys? Or some sort of software "upgrade" that's making the keyboard more sensitive?). Anyway, it means I'm not replying to things when I want to, since I mostly do "social" internet from my phone. But I still love you & care about things in your lives.