Just one of those weeks, I'm being very productive in terms of the number of experiments which I've run, unfortunately the experiment consistently likes to turn to polymer. I had the regular meeting with my boss moved to Thursday (yesterday) because on Wednesday he had a raging toothache, not wishing to be afflicted similarly and living in the land of the cavity, I made my own dental appointment.
The new Chinese post-doc arrives today, or to be more specific he arrived at midnight last night after an 11 hour lay over in Detroit. It should be interesting to meet him, I hope his English is understandable, though I am also not all that willing to share my office space, but that's another thing we'll have to negotiate.
It's about three weeks until I fly out, and I'm sure I'm going to obsess over this for a little while, but as interesting as it is to live in another country, I still am a little homesick for Australia. I suppose that it's due to being outside Oz for real for the first time, but as mushily patriotic as it sounds, I think I'll definitely try to get an Australian Flag to bring back with me. I don't miss the cockatoo's or vegemite or meat pies all that much, but knowing that I could yell at the "damn birds" or tell my friends about the giant cans of Fosters they have here is definitely something I will enjoy.
The new post-doc arrived yesterday, and he seems like a nice guy, slightly more open than the grad student, though I did end up having to share my office, as it is I spend most of my time in the lab anyway. I had my bike repaired because the rear brake cable snapped, fortunately there is a place just up the road on US1.
It was a little pathetic, I worked at the lab until 9 pm because I had nothing else to do, no friends to hang out with or the like, so I called Allison and we talked for 3 hours (thank heavens for phone cards). It's interesting though, because the phone is a medium in which you have to talk and yet we still find things to tell each other.
9:30 pm - Needy again. I rollerbladed into the lab today, I flung caution to the wind and didn't wear my ubiquitous baggy white shirt. I'm rather paranoid because I'm tall and muscular and I don't really want to attract too much attention to myself, I think I did anyway but it can't be helped. The Chinese were in as well, so I skated around them in the lab and worked on my talk, I'm finding it hard to put in a good effort, though I will try and run through it once before 4 pm tomorrow, either way I'm not particularly fussed.
I just wish I had some friends here to hang out with, and talk to. The Gaming guys are very nice although they usually only get together on Tuesdays, and of course it wasn't on this week, which probably explains why I've been down the rest of the week. I know things won't be any better if I move, but in terms of social life I don't have too much to lose.