I'm actually cheating here and writing Rant # 662 before I do Rant # 661. 661 has to do with going to the Warped tour and hence will take up a few pages on it's own, therefore I thought it best to try and stay up to date with the rest of the previous few day's happenings.
Saturday I woke up early, but was still very tired and my ears were still ringing somewhat. I got up about 11 am and spent some time trying to get comb all the knots and curls out of my hair. In the afternoon I headed over to the lab and spent a few hours there setting up some reactions. Bernie was off to work down at one of the DOE labs for part of this week, so I had a quick chat with him. I came home in the afternoon about 5 pm and I talked to Tiffany on the phone. The last showing of “As you like it” was being performed by the Shakespeare in the Park” troupe that night, and we were both keen to see it. It was a pretty miserable day all round, with clouds and the occasional shower. About 7:30 pm I headed over, taking my tarpaulin with me for us to sit on, I finished some postcards while I waited and Tiffany and Brandon (her brother) joined me about 8 pm. The play kicked off not long after and was a lot of fun. Even if I couldn't understand the language (Ye old English) a lot of the time, the intent was clear and occasionally quite funny. I couldn't even begin to tell you when I last saw a Shakespearian play, the last actual play being “The Complete Millennium Musical” which I saw with Peta B in Canberra.
The play had a good mix of star-crossed and the parted lovers, cross dressing and the court jester which we've perhaps come to expect from The Bard, however the Monty Python soundtrack was unexpected. No words mind you, but tunes such as “The Lumberjack Song”, “Sit on my face and tell me that you love me” and “Always look on the bright side of life” are impossible to miss for one with a trained ear like myself.
The rain was unfortunate, and at one point, Tiffany and I were sheltering under the tarpaulin to keep us slightly dry, her brother being too macho perhaps to want to be scared of rain. It wrapped up about 10 pm, and I cycled home after saying goodbye and tried desperately to get warm again.
The next day I was in good spirits, I woke up about 9 am with the ringing finally gone. I had time to kill, so I finally decided to get some use out of the 52 speed CD writer which came with my computer. I assembled a selection of mostly Australian artists, 19 songs in all which just fit onto one 80 minute CD. I burnt copies for myself, Allison and Tiffany. I will probably burn more copies for friends when I get the chance. I sent an email to Tiffany reminding her that Curtiss was having lunch again at 1 pm if she would like to go. She called me about 12:30 pm to check on whether I was doing the same. I walked over to her place twirling my umbrella, with the dark clouds looming over the valley. I picked her up from her place and it only rained slightly on the way over to our destination.
Curtiss was in fine cookery form, although I had to let him know that I don't eat pork, as he had made pork chops. Nevertheless, some pasta and salad later we were happily fed. His room mate was watching “Mars Attacks” and so we couldn't avoid that, fortunately it's a really good movie and we all enjoyed ourselves. Curtiss, Tiffany and I sat around talking for a while after that, just discussing life, such as high school experiences, life in Eastern Montana (not me obviously) and so forth. Tiffany and I left around 3:30 pm and we walked slowly back over to her place, I was almost not going to go inside, but fortunately I changed my mind and we went up to her room to sit, talk and hang out.
Monday was fairly quiet, Bernie was away of course, so I was helping out the high school teacher who is here this summer on a scholarship. I didn't see either of my bosses and was feeling somewhat uninspired. I worked on the paper which has been on hold, and set up an experiment or two. I had to help out some of the people in Physics with some literature sources, and hopefully this collaboration will pay off. I also finally got a chance to run some light scattering reactions, the meaning of which none of us can interpret. I was feeling very uninspired about 5 pm and so I came home about half an hour later. Alas I made the fatal mistake of having a shower which rendered me all sleepy and warm. I crawled into bed about 8 pm with the latest Harry Potter book and by midnight I was finished (I'll give me opinion of it later on). I talked briefly with Allison and then crashed shortly after midnight.
Tuesday was an alright sort of day. I woke up late because the falling rain had lulled me into a deep slumber. I didn't get into the lab until a bit before 10 am. Nevertheless, one of my boss's was in and so we talked for a bit. I gave him the paper I'd been working on and we talked a bit about various things. I helped the science teacher out as Bernie probably won't be back until Thursday, and set up some more reactions which I'm quite intrigued about. Helena our undergraduate student came in after she got off work at the diner, and so she, my boss and I had a three-way discussion over what should be her objectives for the coming semester. I didn't leave until about 6:30 pm and once I got home I cooked some pasta (Da Vinci wheels) with snow peas and capsicum. I had an icky taste in my mouth after dinner, and decided that since it was only 9 pm, that a run would be the best thing.
I ran up and around the University housing and then up the hill to the library and across behind the chemistry department. I came back via the park where they were actors troupe were having their second play “She Stoops to Conquer”. I get going and came back to my apartment for a few stomach crunches and the this diary entry. I feel a lot better to have gotten out in the cold evening air, and now will probably sleep a lot better.
This evening I finally got to finish “The Lost World” By Arthur Conan Doyle, and if I have time I'll get properly into :Where is Everybody? 50 Solutions to the Fermi Paradox”.