I work at a restaurant where people tend to go for dates, anniversaries, etc. Part of my job is making small-talk with my table. Let me tell you...it shocks me how many married couples met each other online via MySpace or dating sites. Not even just younger people - people in their forties and fifties. It's no longer considered weird or sketchy to date online, I guess.

I doubt it's changed superficial emphasis in any way. But I think people tend to meet who would otherwise never run into each other IRL, and that can make for some interesting combinations.


On a tangent, there's a mail order bride (Eastern Europeanish?) living in my apartment complex. Her husband is completely awkward and weird, and my roommmate always mentions that she looks unhappy and trapped whenever he runs into her. I've never actually met anyone who was a mail order bride (or married to one) until now.

Tags: writer's block

I've spent the last few hours trying to figure out enzyme / drug curves (and the meanings of Vmax and Km) with Keith's biochemistry book. Now I have to try and remember what Henderson-Hasselbalch was all about. Why? Probably no real reason other than it'll help me remember very basic things, like that lipid diffusion has no saturation point but carrier-mediated diffusion does. Remembering at least some of the why will help me remember all of the what, rather than continuously staring blankly at words that don't have a lot of meaning attached to them.

I was thinking about how jealous I suddenly am of people who are forced to practice medicine rather than research it - how they're faced with myriad different problems to solve on a regular basis, rather than being faced with one big problem that no one knows the answer to. I think that the sort of constant exposure to different angles of different problems is better fodder for inspiration than being locked in a lab with a grant, being forced to produce something.

Tomorrow, I get to leave the apartment for longer than a few hours at a time. I have class in the morning, then I think I'll go to my lab and do some histologyish stuff, then head to the medical campus library to look up some things I don't understand before my toxicology class.

I also talked to my mom on the phone quite a bit today. I'm going to try to go up there Wednesday, I think, and spend the day with her. She's going to balk when she sees me - even in the past few weeks, I think I look worse than I did before. Probably in part the product of injuring my toe and being snowbound as well as the med change - I couldn't compensate as well as I usually do.

And maybe then, I won't have time to constantly update my journal. :P

I was cleaning out my closet - bought a really nice paper shredder today for that reason, actually. Anyhow, while cleaning, I ran into my old country club's wine list. I think I'll use it as a jumping point from which to try new wines - wine lists (when not completely full of universally blah brands, like Mirassou Pinot Noir and Beringer White Zin) have the filter of a less biased opinion, as opposed to being directly marketed to by the wine distributors (who often don't know much about wine, and are simply trying to get rid of product) or stores (who are told to push certain things). I noticed that it had mostly Oregon pinot noirs (one which I've tried and liked), so I'm thinking I'll like what it recommends. I also noticed a Haut-Medoc French bordeaux that doesn't seem to cost an arm and a leg.

The other day, I bought the following
- Toasted Head Cabernet, 2006 - North Coast, CA
- Cartlidge and Browne Sauvignon Blanc, 2008 - Lake County, CA
- Jean-Luc Columbo "Les Abeilles" Cotes du Rhone (Red), 2006 - (presumably negociant-acquired grapes from all over Southern Rhone), France

I'm particularly looking forward to the sauv blanc, which is unoaked with the flavors of "...melon, guava, and stone fruits" as well as extended exposure to the lees. Toasted Head Cabernet is the cab that made me fall in love with all other cabs. The Columbo wine was what Bruno and I drank in the parking lot a few months back. >)

I may or may not have a glass of the rest of my Two Tone Merlot (which sadly, has been vacu-vinned for quite a while now).

Current Mood: grateful
Current Music: Jars of Clay - Art in Me

Work was slow.
The marinated chicken was pretty awesome. :) Get thee to the nearest international store and buy the sauce labeled "Korean BBQ" and marinade some meats!

Drinking Two Tone Merlot. I'd forgotten how much I like this wine. Just posted another brief review on Cork'd.

I need to YouTube the State of the Union address. What I caught was very interesting, and I think it's important to understand just what was said. Obama is a damn good speaker, that's for sure. Gays in the military = win. I heard something about taxing larger banks because they're profitable? Not so sure about that.

Went to my lab orientation at MCV earlier today. There was carrot cake. ♥

I've cooked a lot today - biscuits and gravy for breakfast, sauteed green beans and new potatoes for lunch. Dinner will be my salad during my shift at work tonight.

I will probably have a 45 minute catnap before I leave for work. And really, that's about it. Life isn't terribly exciting. (When did that happen?) Although, I'm beginning to think I've overbooked myself this spring what with volunteering in two labs (10 hours each), being a half-time student, and working 30 hours at my serving job. I don't even get to have the joy of Adderall anymore. This should be very interesting...at least, to me. It doesn't leave a lot of time for lulz.

Current Mood: sleepy

My first day of classes was awesome. I even got cookies and a nap in between.

Still trying to figure out what sort of students are in Intro to Toxicology. There are some pharmacy students, some forensic types...most of them took this course as an elective. At any rate, I really enjoyed the first lecture, and am looking forward to more. Even if it means I have to study the names of various people who were important in the history of toxicology.

Experimental Methods in Psychology, on the other hand, is going to be a huge drag. Statistics courses just don't seem to sit well with me. I really wish I could like stats - I could get a sweet job straight out of college doing stats if I liked it enough.

Just made kimchi fried rice, which Keith and I devoured. It was okay - I swear my mom makes it much better. :/ I miss my family.

Current Mood: discontent

The only thing I have going for me right now is my one goal: getting into graduate school.

And even that isn't looking too great at the moment. I can't even get a lab job, how am I going to get into graduate school?

On another note, I really hate it when my guests steal my pens, particularly when I use my Zebras in a pinch.

Current Music: Beatles - Strawberry Fields

It's stupid, but my eyes actually got worse, and my vision is a lot better now that I have new contact lenses. It's a little scary how much more I notice now that my eyes are fix0red.

Armed with coffee, I am unstoppable. :)

chthonic: Dwelling in or under the earth; also, pertaining to the underworld. Chthonic comes from khthón, the Greek word for earth. [dictionary.com]

I'm embarassed at how many words I thought I knew, but didn't. I guess that's part of formal intellectual growth. :-)

quotidian - repetitious
surreptitious - stealthy [has nothing to do with the word "repetitious")

Looking at the roots of the words explained in detail helps with remembering the definitions.

For example:
quotidian - Latin quotidie, "daily"
surreptitious - sub, "under" + rapere, "to seize; to snatch"

The word "expatiate" is a little more difficult to remember because it could either come from spatiari (to walk about), and then there's "expatriate" with the root patria(country).

But who needs expensive GRE flashcards when I have my Zebra pen, notebook, and Word of the Day?

My next activity on my day off is to learn adrenergic agonists, their chemical structure and their dynamics and kinetics. I barely have enough background to understand what Goodman and Gilman are talking about.

I wonder if I should feel crippled because in order to learn something, I have to not only absorb it somehow (reading, hearing) but write it down. I envy those who are able to obtain and retain information so easily...but maybe that kind of learning only happens when you have firm background knowledge. So maybe I'm not crippled after all?

It may generally be a negative trait that I analyze things too much, but occasionally I think it helps answer questions that we all ask ourselves sometimes, but generally ignore.

Somehow, I don't feel like I'm doing this wine justice today. Granted, it's been a very stressful, terrifying day.

This sensual cabernet is light-to-medium bodied, inky-to-garnet purple with a rosy hue. Nose of sawdust, cocoa, licorice. Very intense palate - tannins are well-integrated, seamless with the beguiling licorice flavor and fine-grained undercurrent of black pepper toward the finish. Soft, dark currant and black cherry beneath. Long, smooth finish.

Cold-soaked. Aged in 31% new French oak.

This wine is black. Like my soul.

I fully condone spending the $27 I dropped on this bottle at Kroger, despite being able to get it for $5 less at Total Wine. I need to try Franciscan, Mt. Veeder, and some other relatively high-end cabernets.

Purchased a bottle of Two Tone Merlot for less than $10. Ridiculous.

Keith and I had Korean food for dinner - bulgogi, kimchi, and perfectly steamed brown rice from my new rice cooker. :)