Saturday, February 28, 2009

Girls Rock!

I had fun today, helping Girl Scouts make electric guitars. Each girl got to make her own; it had one string, a hand-wound (by us, painstakingly) pickup, and an amplifying circuit. Plug it into your computer speakers, and rock until your parents take it away! The physics guys mostly made the circuits, which they soldered into card stock instead of circuit board, which I think is infinitely cool. I think it was fun for everyone, and I didn't once feel the need to strangle someone's child. See how I've grown!?!?!? Actually, these were really well behaved kids. Nobody got frustrated or upset, most everyone seemed interested, and they all left with a working physics toy. We had a couple extra guitar strings left after the kids were done, so I even got to make one for myself.

Of course, I've been up since 0630, in a failed attempt to go to the YMCA and exercise this morning. Turns out they aren't open that early. That's probably a good thing, because I was standing or riding my bike from about 0830 to 1700, and I'm so so very sore right now. Zero studying was accomplished today, for the record. Zero. 100% nothing.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

BSG Drinks

Last night, while watching Battlestar Galactica, Danika and I tried some of the BSG Drinks from BattlestarExtras. So, I have some info for those of you who like both BSG and alcohol.

Okay, the Lay Down You Burdens is good, but strong. Recommend adding more milk, and taking a lactose pill beforehand. Choca-booza-holics rejoice! Needless to say, the super-sweet, fatty, adult beverages gave me a bit of a tummy ache. I recommend not drinking like 3 of the LDYB.

Ionian Nebula is like drinking cherry chocolate cough syrup. I do not recommend it at all. Or maybe buying a higher priced cherry brandy, or subbing half the cherry brandy for regular brandy. Something, anything. Gag. Down the drain.

Then john rushed out to buy us some orange soda so we could try a Knuckle Dragger. Quite tasty, and a refreshingly light drink after all the creamy sweetness.

Be advised: we made all of these shaken or on the rocks, because we were far far too lazy to bust out the blender. All our opinions should be taken with a big rim o' salt.

In non-BSG drinking news: I acquired the ingredients to make a Sidecar. I'm going to try making one tonight, and hopefully it will be my new favorite drink. I'm tired of only ordering Long Islands and Amaretto or Whiskey Sours.

I also got a copy of some video and pictures from a very fun drinking night in December. I'll re-watch it sober sometime this weekend and maybe post it for you to laugh at me.

I'm still working on not double-spacing after a sentence. Its harder to change than you might think. It appears that either Facebook or Blogger goes back and fixes it for me; odd.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Regenerations

Who fans know that The Doctor changes. Something happens to him and he's the same, but different. As Jason said: "Looking back at my life i realized i can do the same except i don't get the whole new face thing to go with it." He wanted to know if anyone else felt like their lives go in regeneration stages, so here we go:

The First Me:
I would say that my first incarnation was this terrified, timid, lonely kid. I'm naturally pretty quiet, and moving schools every 6 months and being teased kept me completely within my shell. There were several years where I can say I had no friends, zero, none. I was once assigned a friend...which still makes me not really trust that people want to spend time with me. This began to change towards the end of middle school, when I put my foot down about the changing schools thing.

The Second Me:
I guess that's the beginning of the second version of me, the first regeneration. I began speaking up for myself, speaking opinions and knowing that others would not agree. I was still painfully shy in many ways though, and most people from back then would be surprised to know that it was an improvement. Having a consistent set of sincere friends, joining a few groups/programs, and getting back into band all helped me become more comfortable with people. My family was still pretty nomadic, but within the same couple of counties, and I insisted on being driven to MY school. I think this version of me, the one that continuously improved, lasted through me joining the military and my first year in Okinawa. I tried to keep it going through the first year of my marriage, but, well we know how that goes.

The Third Me:
Lets say this regeneration started as I lost a lot of ground when I met Michael. He was such a social type that I expected spending time with him would make me more social. Instead, I was partitioned off from his social life, unless it was some event "We" were invited to by mutual co-workers. My social awkwardness embarrassed him, and the loneliness of being married was far far worse than the loneliness that drove me to get married. I still completed my associate's degree during this time, and developed a few work friends. We aren't going into the ultimate downfall of the marriage, but lets just say trust is an issue again. I don't know that I can trust myself anymore to know that someone is bad for me. I don't trust my own decision-making.

The Third Me(current incarnation):
Hoo-boy! This one is more interesting than the previous, and it took longer to come about. First I left the military, started a physics degree, and finally the divorce finished the regeneration. I'm still getting used to the new me. She buys clothes, the kind with colors other than grey and black! She can do more with her hair than just messy ponytails! She can even wear makeup! (no shit, I've learned to wear makeup) She flies to see a hot friend at the drop of a hat. But this is just surface change, a reflection of the internal changes I've brought about. I'm still not ready to articulate those changes, its too soon. I may not even be able to recognize them until the next regeneration...

But for sure, one of those changes involves not double-spacing at the end of sentences. Apparently it is soo last decade. Who knew?!?!!