This is your brain on amoxicillin and giant ibuprofen.
The science-y part: My advisor changed his mind as to what project he wants me working on. Previously, he was leaning towards a seizure-imaging one using PAT, but now, he has an idea that no one's tested before that I'm going to be checking out. That's all the details I'll offer, just in case the idea actually works and some glory-stealing hobgoblin is lurking about here, waiting to devour my plans and claim them as his own. Anyway, a post-doc is working on the computational part, while I'll be on the experimental side, coming up with a phantom design and collecting the data. I'm really psyched about this. I mean, labwork is always pretty fun, but to be toying with something brand new? To play with a concept that you're not sure will work at all? Exciting.
By the way, no matter your field, if you're not currently reading New Scientist, you ought to start. It's jam-packed with a lot of really interesting research that you probably wouldn't hear about otherwise. Just look at this piece; if that's not breath-taking (and giddiness-inducing), then I don't know what is.
The arts-and-crafts-y part: Just as I was getting back into crochet, cross-stitch took control of my fingertips. I'm (slowly, but surely) working on this pattern at the moment. After watching me stitch some, Jaime's even gotten a little interested. He learned some crochet basics a while ago from me, and now it's looking like he may eventually pick up some cross-stitch from me as well.
It's funny - we go to Michaels on a regular basis, and during one visit to the Port Charlotte location, the cashier told me that since my coupon was a register-issued one and the one Jaime had was a newspaper one, I could use them both at once. Y'know, just for future reference, so Jaime could wait in the car of whatever. It had never before occurred to me that the two of us tooling around there might be perceived as me dragging him in to be a coupon-bearer. Really, Jaime's a craft person too. Sure, he's more on the beading side of things, but that's not any less Michaels-supported. And anyway, we like looking at stuff together. I'd rather not go to Michaels than haul an uninspired assistant around with me. There was another time where a cashier made some remark about Jaime purchasing stuff so I could use two coupons, and I smiled and said, "Oh no, he's good - he's even started learning to crochet." The guy in line behind him commended his guts. For his part, Jaime just laughed.
Engineering is supposedly a male playground, while crafting is for women, yet somehow, Jaime and I each enjoy both fields. Go figure.
My main creative endeavor lately has been icons. I've been following a few icontest communities and having fun; I've even won an award or two. It's a nice, not too time-consuming activity to distract from bigger work for a while without eating all my hours. Unlike...
The game-y part: So - Nocturne. Whee! Okay, I've died twice already, which is rare for me and probably doesn't bode well, but I'm liking it thus far. I was rocking the femme fatale party - High Pixie, Hua Po, and Lilim - for while. Now, I'm trying to level up an Inugami so he'll get Media and making happy squeaking noises at my Jack Frost. High Pixie's still hanging around, too. I think I'm going to have to switch out the Inugami, however, as he is sadly weak to Force and I'm in the Ginza Underpass, which is rife with Sudama. Tiny, force-wielding, disc bastards. I'll likely replace him with a Sudama of my very own for justice or some such nonsense.
Stepping away from the mechanics for a bit, I'm digging the style. It's so very... MegaTen. I don't know. This is definitely a spiritual sibling of Digital Devil Saga, which is quite a good thing indeed. If there's one thing DDS did flawlessly, it's style. I know Nocturne came first, so I'm really getting this backwards, but this is the order I ended up playing them in, so what can ya do? Anyway, DemiFiend (or Phillip J. Fry in my game, thanks to Jaime's input) is badass, Chiaki is worrying, and even though I've only seen Isamu for a few moments, I can't wait to run into him again. The hat! Is amazing! How can I resist?
Now, 'tis time for sleep. Iku.
By the way, no matter your field, if you're not currently reading New Scientist, you ought to start. It's jam-packed with a lot of really interesting research that you probably wouldn't hear about otherwise. Just look at this piece; if that's not breath-taking (and giddiness-inducing), then I don't know what is.
The arts-and-crafts-y part: Just as I was getting back into crochet, cross-stitch took control of my fingertips. I'm (slowly, but surely) working on this pattern at the moment. After watching me stitch some, Jaime's even gotten a little interested. He learned some crochet basics a while ago from me, and now it's looking like he may eventually pick up some cross-stitch from me as well.
It's funny - we go to Michaels on a regular basis, and during one visit to the Port Charlotte location, the cashier told me that since my coupon was a register-issued one and the one Jaime had was a newspaper one, I could use them both at once. Y'know, just for future reference, so Jaime could wait in the car of whatever. It had never before occurred to me that the two of us tooling around there might be perceived as me dragging him in to be a coupon-bearer. Really, Jaime's a craft person too. Sure, he's more on the beading side of things, but that's not any less Michaels-supported. And anyway, we like looking at stuff together. I'd rather not go to Michaels than haul an uninspired assistant around with me. There was another time where a cashier made some remark about Jaime purchasing stuff so I could use two coupons, and I smiled and said, "Oh no, he's good - he's even started learning to crochet." The guy in line behind him commended his guts. For his part, Jaime just laughed.
Engineering is supposedly a male playground, while crafting is for women, yet somehow, Jaime and I each enjoy both fields. Go figure.
My main creative endeavor lately has been icons. I've been following a few icontest communities and having fun; I've even won an award or two. It's a nice, not too time-consuming activity to distract from bigger work for a while without eating all my hours. Unlike...
The game-y part: So - Nocturne. Whee! Okay, I've died twice already, which is rare for me and probably doesn't bode well, but I'm liking it thus far. I was rocking the femme fatale party - High Pixie, Hua Po, and Lilim - for while. Now, I'm trying to level up an Inugami so he'll get Media and making happy squeaking noises at my Jack Frost. High Pixie's still hanging around, too. I think I'm going to have to switch out the Inugami, however, as he is sadly weak to Force and I'm in the Ginza Underpass, which is rife with Sudama. Tiny, force-wielding, disc bastards. I'll likely replace him with a Sudama of my very own for justice or some such nonsense.
Stepping away from the mechanics for a bit, I'm digging the style. It's so very... MegaTen. I don't know. This is definitely a spiritual sibling of Digital Devil Saga, which is quite a good thing indeed. If there's one thing DDS did flawlessly, it's style. I know Nocturne came first, so I'm really getting this backwards, but this is the order I ended up playing them in, so what can ya do? Anyway, DemiFiend (or Phillip J. Fry in my game, thanks to Jaime's input) is badass, Chiaki is worrying, and even though I've only seen Isamu for a few moments, I can't wait to run into him again. The hat! Is amazing! How can I resist?
Now, 'tis time for sleep. Iku.