Boredom makes chemists do odd things… like just now, I was presented with twin dilemmas where not only did I find that my chocolate had been lying around in the hot office all day, but how was I going to dispose of half a liter of liquid nitrogen…

As it is, right now I'm smelly and I figure I'll go home. At least I can finally get library books out. More later…

I opened up ICQ and saw that a friend was online, so I said hi and she went offline… it's kind of difficult not to take that sort of thing personally…

Something from Salon

It's the nature of life in these times, though, that the bond of friendship isn't strong enough to withstand the outgoing tide and it snaps. This happens all the time between perfectly decent people: Friendships that once seemed permanent simply melt away for reasons that have nothing to do with ill feeling. Things change. And frankly, most friendships are fairly shallow and based on some fizzy table talk and youthful enthusiasm and some common experience that fades pretty quickly. A true friend is someone you could call up and say, "I'm a wreck and I'm coming over and staying with you for a couple days." Or you could say, "I'm sorry to call you at 3 a.m. but I'm sitting in a truck stop confused and missing my pants and need you to come get me." Not many people have the sense of loyalty to get them over the dry stretches and be real friends. A person is lucky to have two or three of those in a lifetime, and when they die off, they're hard to replace.

I just have to keep remembering that…