Uhhh… just woke up from a helpful 2 hour nap, still trying to figure out where the heck I am. *s*
Ok, woke up at 9:00 am and got into the lab about ~10:00 am. Didn't do lunch with anyone, didn't go shopping (except for more Roaccutane) and didn't do much but work. At the moment I have 11 new compounds in the "Orange" series. I use the term "Orange series", because all the new compound data gets packaged into individual orange folders. The last part was the "Blue" phase. If I start on another major phase, I'll come up with some new funky colour. I have 11 new compounds at the moment, and although most of them are not very novel, at least they are new. Ideally I'd like to have 20 new compounds by the time my supervisor gets back. Sure a lot of it will be thesis padding, but new compounds are new compounds even if they aren't novel.
It was mainly a lot of UV-Vis experiments today. I use a solvent called THF and it gives me pains in the tips of my fingers when I spill it on them. I actually like doing UV-Vis experiments these days, I used to think they were really finicky because you had to weigh out tiny micro-gram samples. However we have a shiny new balance which makes it a lot easier. So lots of them and a few half hour Carbon 13 NMR experiments which seemed to turn out well and that was about the most of it.
I was feeling quite tired by about 5:30 pm and having been rather productive called it a day. I came back here, said hello to Jules as he was walking back from work, picked up and gorged myself on pizza and coke. Chatted with Krissy for a bit, and without too much further ado crashed out in bed.
Tried ringing Nikki at work, but couldn't get in touch with her. Must ask if she is still interested in possibly moving out next year. Was going to shower and shave tonight, but my skin is still recovering from the excess sunlight it got in Sydney and so I'll hold off for a bit.
The fees for SRS surgery were part of a discussion I had a while back, with the figure being roughly $20,000 for Haertsch with maybe $4000 coming back from Medicare. This doesn't include recuperation time after the initial week or two in hospital or loss in income because of either. Working through the Monash gender Clinic knocks it down to about $5000 which is quite attractive, but the job is often considered sub-standard. But yeah, $20,000 *low whistle* is a fair chunk of money, I'm not sure if I'd ever somehow accumulate that much cash, given the running expenses of electrolysis. But hey, I guess it's because I'm currently a student and I'm looking up from the poorest level of all. I know a few of my good Tranny friends were equally as "destitute" as I am at the moment if not more so. I guess it's just a matter of finding a good position and saving up, maybe getting a loan and that sort of thing. I think it is a very good idea to have it paid off without the assistance of a bank loan though, because that's the last thing you want to worry about whilst you lie there with your drains in. $20,000 is probably about 3 or 4 years worth of savings, but it's definitely doable for someone with my qualifications. Given the fact that I probably will hopefully have been living full-time whilst saving up, it hopefully should just be a matter of "I'm just taking a few weeks holiday" and head off to Concord (or wherever) for the op. Chances are I would get it done in Australia, simply because I would have a greater number of support mechanisms here.
It seems interesting that I can quietly contemplate this, since the model which is often forced on people is one where SRS is the single burning desire of their lives (supposedly). I think full electrolysis, voice training and the ability to convincingly present myself as a woman is much more important. Doesn't look like I'll be joining the Monash program anytime soon. ;)
Having a passport in my birth sex isn't that much of a hassle for me (as I used to think), most everyday documents don't list sex anyway. Besides, I hope that going overseas *crosses fingers intently* will help to broaden my world view not just of TS issues, but in general. New Zealand definitely helped, so it was a nice "dry-run" so to speak.
I do think I would like a career in research. I'm not as aimless as I often appear or put on (that's just me being a drama queen), so I really would like to post-doc overseas once I finished my Ph.D. A***** will hand his thesis in tomorrow and be off to England in two weeks, and so in another year or more I hope to be able to do the same. I would like some time to rest though, he's being driven by the need to support his new family, while I hope to have a little bit of leeway. I just think that I'm going to want a rest after another 3 to 4 years of study, even if it's only a month or two. Wow, hard to believe that I've been in educational institutions since 1980, that's 20 years and I'm only 24! Good heavens, think how much this brain of mine is worth! ;)
Just finished talking to Szusza on ICQ, seems like her bag was stolen at the Spring-Out opening, and although she eventually got it back, she had to get her car towed and so forth. That must have been pretty sucky, especially with the rain and all. Apparently the rest of the night was Ok, but I'm glad I came home earlier.

12:30 am - Ok, now I'm awake and I'm bored… dum de dum *twiddles thumbs*. Well, today is now Friday, so not a bad week really. Saturday is the Spring-Out march in Garema Place, I've just emailed Red to find out whether she is still keen for us to flaunt our alternate nature. *lol*

1:00 am - Bored, still awake but going to bed. Oh, and I'm sure my hair is going lighter… (?)