Holiday Bowl!!

Adora and I went to the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl today. We had a fantastic time!! There were paratroopers that landed on the field, the bands to watch, fireworks, fighter jets that flew over head, and there was also a great football game. Cal won 45 to 10. So awesome. Makes me wish I'd gone to more football games during my undergraduate career. So much fun. We've decided to go again next year if Cal is in the bowl. Anyone want to join us?

That's about it. Am having a really great time at Adora's. Yay.

Home for the Holidays

After a great week with Angie (except for that darn conference!) I am home for the holidays, well, Christmas anyway. Monday and Tuesday I spent hanging out with Peter and spending time with Grandma S. Peter and I went shopping, had lunch, and just spent time together. We had a really great time. Peter is definitely a better person than he used to be. He's also pretty fun to shop with.

Today I drove up to Aunt Kathy's - chatted with her while Uncle Bob took a conference call, then we all went to lunch (Japanese), then Aunt Kathy and I went shopping. She got some gifts for Uncle Bob and got me teach yourself to crochet and knit sets along with some yarn. Projects to work on. =)

Looking forward to spending some time with Mom. Tomorrow. Also hope to get together with Zen and Julia at some point. Zen wants to see Eragon, which I am all for, and swap books. I have too many as it is, but I can definitely share with her.

Oh my gosh... I'm bleeding!

Hm... I don't know if this is a well known fact or not, but when I'm bored, stressed, or worried I tend to either bite my fingernails or pick at my cuticles. Turns out, the AGU conference has caused me to worry and be bored... which has caused me to pick at my cuticles to te degree where I looked down at my notes and saw blood... whoops... To remedy the problem I bought band-aids. It was also suggested that I wear gloves. Good idea. Perhaps I will get a very thin pair that will protect my hands but will not hinder my writing/note-taking.

Being bored is well understood... why I am worried? I have no idea whether I'm going to the right sessions (although, I assume I am because they tend to be associated with what I'm assuming I will work on in the future) and the sessions I go to tend to reveal to me the extent of my ignorance in my own field. I have pages of notes, which contain several citations of papers I need to read. Whoohoo! Hahaha. Could be worse, right?

Today was good though. Went to the conference for about 4 hours, then Brandon (one of Jim's other students) invited me to lunch with him and this guy, Mica, from Rice. Good lunch. They had an interesting discussion about samples and different theories about paleoclimate during the PETM and ELMO that I couldn't really contribute to, but that I enjoyed anyway. Didn't hurt that Mica was pretty darn good-looking. :)

Then I cut out after the conference to attend the UCB Astronomy Department Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun. Got to see all the people I used to work with; Lorraine, Patrice, Janet, Bora, Dexter, etc, etc. And the profs all put on a skit. So funny! Yay.

What will I be up to tonight? I dunno. :)

An Update...

As you may know, my first quarter of graduate school is now complete. I haven't gotten my grades yet, and am not sure I want them. That's okay. I will instead focus on the present. Am currently staying with Angie (yay!) while I attend the AGU (American Geophysical Union) Conference in San Francisco (not so yay).

Yesterday and today I took the BART over to SF and sat through hours of lectures. Some are interesting, some are alright, and some are insanely dull. It can be amusing though, when at the end of someone's presentation somebody in the audience "asks a question" which is basically a statement about how wrong the presenter is and how their own data and interpretations are more valid. I suppose I wouldn't find it amusing if I were the presenter, but as I am just an observer, I think it's just peachy.

Staying with Angie is fun. Sunday night we had Naan and Curry, yay Indian food! Last night we had dinner together and watched tv. Watched Wife Swap for the first time; found it both disturbing and amusing. Then tonight I met Angie and Kathryn for dinner at Cancun and then went and got Gelato with them.

Tomorrow, Thursday and Friday means more lectures, more boredom, but this weekend will be fun! Angie and I are going to see the Nutcracker on Friday (haven't seen it before) and then on Saturday we're heading to the city. We rented a hotel room! That will be a lot of fun. A super classy slumber party. I'm very excited. It's really nice to be around someone I feel completely comfortable with and don't have to worry I'm going to say something offense, embarrassing, or whatever.

Yep, that's all.

The Quarter is Done

But, I can't seem to relax. Maybe it's AGU looming in the foreground or the fear of failing Isotopes lurking in the background. Whatever it is, I wish it would go away.

I think... maybe... making rice krispie treats will help me relax...