Wow, it's been quite a week. All this week we were preparing for the arrival of a guy from the NSF (Dr. MC). We wanted to put on a presentation for him so as to give him a good idea of what we're doing here and it's potential applications. By Thursday I finally had my part of the PowerPoint presentation together for Friday. We spent an hour with him with going over our results, and then after that our group was assigned to take him over to lunch. After lunch he talked about the NSF and it's grants scheme.
The other thing that had been going on was me hanging out with Tiffany. She's a Computer Science major who I met a few weeks ago, and she asked if I wanted to go up to a concert in Great Falls. I agreed to go up on Friday afternoon once we had finished with the guy from the NSF. Her younger brother picked us up about 4 pm and we started the drive. It took us about an hour or so to get to Helena and then almost two hours to get to Great Falls. The drive between Helena and Great Falls was really something, with vertical gorges lining the route as it criss-crossed back and forth over the Missouri River. We got to Great falls around 7:30 pm and had to wait at a gas station for Tiffany's friend Doug to lead us to the concert. The venue was nothing special, but I was thankfully I'd packed a black singlet top as it was a pretty grungy crowd. There were a few Goths here and there, plus a few miscellaneous rock types which I guess I never really associate with small town USA. We got in for free, Tiffany having won tickets for us in a radio promotion. One of the locals bands had just finished as we got there and the next band up was Society One, of which Tiffany's brother was a big fan. Next was the slightly more mellow Tapping the Vein which I got up close to the stage for. There was a break between acts, and only now (about 9 pm) was it finally getting dark. Zug Island was the next act up and there were pretty cool, the little mosh pit was a little to close for comfort, but I stuck it out. Tiffany and her brother were right up the front in the midst of it all, caring about her as I do I was keeping an eye out to make sure she didn't go under. Truth be told I know she's much more experienced than I at this sort of venue. Zug Island wrapped up after what seemed like a fairly short set and I went back to sit with Doug outside, we has a friend of his come up and start talking to us, obviously Doug was well known and well liked. The crowd was now about maybe 250 people filed back in for the grand finale of “Dope”. Dope is a moderately well known band with two major songs, a cover of Dead or Alive's “Spin me right round” and the charmingly entitled but unexpectedly catchy “Die Mother f***** Die”. I dragged Doug in for “Spin me right round” before he went back to his position towards the back. Again the set was quite cool but seemingly rather short and we all finished up outside about 12:30 pm. I'd had 3 or 4 Jagermeister/Red Bull combinations over the course of the evening and somehow ended up chatting with the bassist from Tapping the Vein. He was cool, but was nothing compared to Tiffany's awe at shaking the hand of the lead singer of Dope.
We could have gone on partying, but Tiffany's brother is under 21 and so we decided to head home. I was a little worried about driving 3 hours in the dark through mountain passes, but Tiffany's brother did an admiral job getting us home around 4 am.
The next day I was somewhat tired and hung over such that I didn't get out of the house until after midday. Part of that was because I had to wash my hair which was rather disgusting due to cigarette smoke and sweat. Tiffany and he brother were driving back to their parents place on the other side of the state, so they dropped by quickly to give me some stuff I'd left in the car. The rest of the day was rather sedate, I had intended to go to the movies, but I actually spent much of the day cycling around town getting some exercise and enjoying the sunshine. In the evening I chatted with Ally and then Mum.
Today was also fairly sedate. I woke up early enough but lounged around, determined to enjoy the long weekend. I eventually made it up to the lab to check my email and experiments and talked to Ally for sometime. The movie “Searching for normal” came into the conversation and we both gave it the thumbs down. I cycled around and eventually ended up at the Museum which is not far from the University. I used my Uni ID to get cheap entry and spent an hour or so wandering around enjoying the exhibits. I also went and saw two Planetarium shows which helped kill much of the afternoon. On the way home I decided to go and get groceries and just as I was leaving a great thunderstorm swept rough. I was happy enough to delay my return as I sheltered near the supermarket and although I still got wet on the way home it could have been a much worse drenching.
Tomorrow is of course the Memorial Day holiday, and I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do. I have the feeling I might be a little bored, if only because I've still to make a firm base of friends here and I'm still working out what my hobbies are.