My biggest question for myself at the moment is this. Should I move out to cheap share accommodation so that I can spend the extra money on electrolysis, or should I stay in John's for the convenience and stability whilst I write up my thesis? I don't know…
In theory, I could save maybe a maximum $150 a week. That would mean about 12 weeks to afford a full clearance for electrolysis, or one hour each week, or 20 weeks to maybe afford an orchidectomy. I think one hour a week is the most likely option, and about all I can afford. The only problem is that about the only place in town uses the "blend" method and I'm not sure of it's effectiveness.
Ok, now to my social life. Tuesday I escorted Red into Civic for her name change, and we had coffee after. The I got back to the lab and left shortly after to catch a bus to Belconnen to do coffee with Szusza which was nice. Then I came back, put some reactions on and late in the evening Soba rang and we went out to dinner for all-you-can-eat Chinese. Today was quieter, Peta rang and said she might be able to do coffee but I don't think she rang back afterwards. At 2:00 pm the usual clique of us did coffee which was quite enjoyable. Then it was back to the lab until 6:00 pm (I got in at 8:30 am) and then shopping for food and then home.
9:00 pm - I never cease to amaze myself with a) how much hair comes out when I comb my hair, b) how much hair comes out when I wash my hair, and c) how much hair comes out immediately after I've washed my hair. ;)
10:10 pm - Just got back from setting up an overnight 13C NMR. I drove over because the cold makes the car hard to start after long periods of disuse. Apparently I stuffed up lunch with Peta through a misunderstanding, but we may do coffee tomorrow.
It's interesting with Red getting her name changed, I had two reasons for doing mine. One because my original name I hated and loathed, and two because I wanted a female name for my transition. Therefore it's nice to have a friend whom I've known for quite a while and who isn't Trans to feel the same way.
I also scaled the final (well, hopefully final) peak in getting my original name purged from the ANU and government systems. The woman from payroll called and said she understood my situation and could I bring over my documents to have the changes processed. I did so, and I eagerly await my next pay slip (27th) to see my details in their full glory! :)
Chemistry today seemed to go well, I am expecting the flow of new compounds to continue in the next few weeks. This is a good thing, but it means I have to collect all the characterization data which is a drag.
Yesterday's coffee with Szusza was interesting. I finally got to catch up on the gossip and other happenings from around the place. There is the usual tiff's going on and so forth, people I haven't seen for a while don't seem to have changed too much and other generic stuff.