Below are the most recent 23 friends' journal entries.

Friday, December 11th, 2009
jmae	5:53p	I'M DONE ALL MY MANDATORY WORK FOR THIS TERM BRB GETTING DRUNK Current Mood: YEEEEAAHHHHH (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
jmae	8:16p	Eh? I got sent to the drugstore to buy a tiny can of sterile saline from the drugstore so we could use it in data collection tomorrow. So I went to Walgreen's, searched high and low for sterile saline, and the closest I could find were the over-the-counter nasal sprays and eye-drops that came with medication and preservatives. So I went to the pharmacist and I gave the empty bottle to them asking where I could get it. They told me I needed a prescription for this stuff. .... for saline?? It's filtered fucking saltwater! With nothing else in it! Jesus God!! ********************************* Cheerful Sadistic Trainer: How you doin'? MM: It's fuckin' cold out. CST: OMG. I JUST HEARD YOUR ACCENT JUST NOW. MM: D: CST: I've seen you in here so many times and I have never heard your accent until now!! "It's fackin' coould oot!" MM: Ohh Jesus. CST: That's awesome! That's even more awesome because it was like... when you were swearing! "Fackin' coould oot!!" MM: -o-; CST: "Hey, can I booroow a doullar?" LOL *_____* I told the trainer today to be mean, so he did some kind of horrible leg-extension thing that had my legs in noodles within minutes. Then he worked my abs and I yelled FUCK really loud in the gym. He laughed at me. ********************************* Another set of data! Now if I work hard, I can have two graphs with an N of 1 each! -o-; Current Mood: tired (2 Comments |Comment on this)
jmae	8:32a	This morning's iGoogle: Where MM is: -17*C Where everybody else is: -1*C ...... I may take back that whole "psht, I'm Canadian, midwest-US winters are bullshit" statement. I haven't been to the gym in forever, so I scheduled an appointment with Cheerful Sadistic Man. Imma ask to do legs and abs, which I haven't done in awhile and which maximizes his Sadistic Potential. Yeeeahhhhh. I'm thinking I might take to going swimming at the gym. I have a swimsuit, and I'm so abysmal at swimming it should shoot my heart rate from 0 - over9000 in 15 seconds. Also, hot tub. All about the hot tub. Get travel documents signed, run subject at 1:30, go home, have 24 hours to get that poster done. Hmm, no plans for Friday night, but apparently the observatory is holding an open house then. :O Must call Raj... Current Mood: dreading the cold (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
jmae	9:07p	Fuck you guys, I want data Oh man, what a shitfest XD I told Mr. Postdoc I may/may not have somebody being tested after the Other Rotation student was finished today - depends on what time. Other Rotation student told me over lunch that she really wouldn't take that long, so there would be plenty of time for me to run a subject. I tell her that when she goes to the lab to run her experiment, to tell Mr. Postdoc that I'll be running a guy in the afternoon then, call up guy, schedule appointment for teh zappings, etc etc. She finishes her experiment late, I start hooking the subject up to the electrodes and I go to Mr Postdoc to get him to help me (since I can't do anything unless he's there). He's all O__O YOU'RE RUNNING TODAY? *WILT* and apparently he had a comedy show to go to in the evening that he would be a bit late for if he helped me .... but he stayed anyway. Super magic guilt time. *facepalm, groan* Luckily we owned the protocol and went through it really quickly without difficulty, Mr Postdoc ran off late for his comedy show, and I have one set of data. That I really really want to analyze, but I don't have the necessary programs on the lappy. Rrghhh I'm feeling that sense of antsy excitement that comes with untouched data (or as I like to call it, Virgin data >:D )! I haven't felt this in awhile! Ooooooo I'm all on edge and stuff! Current Mood: horny in a science way (3 Comments |Comment on this)
jmae	2:00p	The Springtime of Youth! High school science fair!!! A couple of fucking awesome posters, a couple of sort-of-getting-there posters. One girl actually measured the amount of calcium release at the presynaptic terminal. D: It gave us neuro kids a run for our money! (turns out her dad has a lab at a nearby university... ahhhhhh). It was a huge fucking high school, which was sort of disconcerting coming from a school where our double-cohort had 60 graduates. Dealing with education is hard, and humbling, but also exciting at the same time. But I had a good time, and talked a lot with the science teacher who invited us (who was an alumni from my program) - will probably come back at some point to give a brain speech. Argh -- I really need to get on top of my plans for visiting the 'Wood and giving a talk for Brain Awareness Week. I took a gander at the website just to see what things are like there... how things have changed! ;_; I don't know if they're good (Kirby/Gundy/Szymanski era?) or bad (Spence...) Current Mood: nostalgic (Comment on this)
jmae	1:31p	Oh, why not, have a 2009 LJ review January: Hmmmm, how did I wrap up 2008? - Went to DenDen town at least 3 times - Found out I have $60 worth of free merchandise from Yodobashi Camera due to points (have I mentioned I love Japanese point cards?) - Bought the Evangelion PSP game (re-enacting the entire series in delicious PSP graphics) - Bought "My Rilakkuma" for DS (in real-time, when Rilakkuma falls asleep you poke his bum with the stylus and you get points with which to buy cake and furniture and things for your Rilakkuma room) - Y'know that infuriating game Crimson Room? Yeah, I found the PSP version, complete with Viridian Room, Blue Chamber and White Chamber. And I had a bad enough time with the first room... - Ate McDonalds a little too often for my tastes My New Year's Eve was spent in a media cafe, watching the new Gaki no Tsukai batsu game on television while consuming instant udon and a large can of beer. February: Uuurrrgghhh. Stayed up all night playing Rock Band and having deep meaningful discussions with Mike. Now I have to read papers and my head feels like cotton. Coffee is not helping. March: Today's frustration: trying to find an mp3 of the Full English version of the Street Fighter 4 opening (the video of which is OH, so pretty). For once, I actually prefer the English version of the song to the Japanese. All the mp3s I could find were ripped from Youtube videos. *sigh* The lengths I'll go to for a good song... April: WHY IS IT GOING TO RAIN EVERY DAY FOR THE NEXT MILLION YEARS?!? AAGGHHH I can't figure out whether I like C. Viper more than Chun Li. May: I got an email off the dating site by a guy who said something along the lines of "I noticed your profile and I'm interested in having a friends-with-benefits arrangement, I think we'd get along really well intellectually" Which ideally would be a boring message which I would ignore. Except, I was shuffling through his profile pictures and I found one partly of his face that looks exactly like a photo I saw on a Craigslist ad. .... next to a photo of his erect penis. .... it was an impressive penis but I don't know if that really endears me any. :S June: Wow, the airport here stopped being a silly cheap thing and started giving free wireless finally. :D :D Sure it's only 15 minutes but that's all I need. :D Also I bought my first Ice-Capp of the year -- actually, the first Ice-Capp I've had since Japan. July: Sir: So, party at my place tomorrow? MM: Yep. August: So cerebu5 is crashing at my house for the week and it's a good time. I'm actually not too used to this... usually nobody crashes at my house. September: "This brings about the problem for martial artists - the one and only dilemma - Now that you know how to hurt someone and you have the will to seriously injure someone, what level of insult or domination justifies the use of those skills?" October: Dr. Fish cancelled today's meeting because he's home sick. It's actually a good thing, it means I can devote my day to reading up on my work for Dr. Step. November: Holy shit! You know your sleep cycle is all-natural when you realize that you're missing the 6:30 alarm not because you're not working out or you're too stressed, it's because of the goddamn sun. December: EARS ARE FUCKING AWESOME. Current Mood: bored (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
jmae	10:34p	Oh Christ, if only XD Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
heddychaa	4:20p	Check out my Wizard Pairings (2 Comments |Comment on this)
jmae	11:33a	Ohh, Home Stretch!! 8:30 lab meetings can suck it. Even if there are free bagels and muffins. OH SHIT AT A GLANCE: Today: go shopping, make and mail poster rough copy Wednesday: volunteer at high-school science fair, maybe run a subject? Thursday: Personal training, get travel documents signed, run subject Friday: POSTER DUE, Lab meeting, run two subjects Saturday: Christmas shopping, Shaolin Monk performance, drinking Sunday: listen to Irish music, drinking Monday: Run 2 subjects, ??? (whatever it is, it requires drinking for consistency) Tuesday: Run 2 subjects, drinking Wednesday: OH SHIT FLYING HOME?!?!?!? O-town shenanigans like WHOA?!? Current Mood: relaxed (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 7th, 2009
jmae	3:00p	drinking beer makes me a better scientist WHO WANTS SLOPPY SECONDS ON THAT FUCKING EXAM?!? I know now I didn't get 100% (the core complex isn't essential for vesicle fusion? What were you thinking, dumbass) but I got 80%+ easily. No skipped questions, and went batshit insane on the 26-point essay question at the end (as an aside: who the fuck decides to toss a 26-point essay question at the end of an exam?!?!? "Compare and contrast the auditory and olfactory systems". More like "DUMP EVERYTHING YOU GODDAMN KNOW ON THE TWO SUBJECTS LOL") Left early, then went to the pub, scarfed down a medium-rare burger and am now moderately tipsy off Guinness. I can now: a) Do work b) Go home, try to do work c) Look at those pretty red corsets they have at Victoria's Secret. Hrnnnnnnnnn. Current Mood: triumphant Current Music: Enter the Haggis - The Litter and the Leaves (1 Comment |Comment on this)
jmae	7:29a	Harmonin/Myosin1c/Synaptotagmin/Calmodulin/CaMKII/T-SNAREs/ShuntingInhibition/whisperwhisperwhisper Up early, getting my oatmeal in, chugging that coffee, and I look good and classy like I can take on the world..... sexily. Re: today's final exam -- OSU!!! Usually before exams my brain feels like it's humming with all the knowledge I have just sitting there, like the words are waiting to bust out and spill all over the page. Don't have that feeling so much today, I feel like there are gaps. But I'll run through everything on the train just to be sure. It could go either way but I think I'll be fine. Current Mood: determined Current Music: Andrew WK - Party Hard (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
jmae	11:57a	*punchpunch* Date with Grish turned out nicely. Split two plates of mussels, taste-tested a bajillion kinds of seasonal Belgian beer. He's a pretty laid-back, relaxed sort of guy, so I felt a bit of that pressure sometimes to always keep the conversation rolling but it wasn't awkward at all. Might join him for Irish music next Sunday. And he hasn't seen the first Boondock Saints yet so I told him I'd come over and we'd watch it, get drunk and eat chicken fingers. And I didn't scare him away! Which is always a plus. Last study day!! I'm a bit behind schedule but I'm sure I can plough through all the rest of this. YRRRGHH I CAN DO EET!! *pumps fist in the air, volcano in the background* now I have a huge hankering to watch that episode of Naruto where Rock Lee gets drunk. ......fack!!!!! Current Mood: busy (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 5th, 2009
jmae	2:18p	Oh Hell, like I can pass this up IT'S THE 30-DAY SKILL BUILDER CHALLENGE!!!!!1 It's a simple challenge: every day for a month, learn a single new skill. It doesn't have to be complicated or noteworthy, just learn how to do something you couldn't do before. Examples: learn how to tell if a melon is ripe, learn a phrase in another language, learn how to play a single chord on a guitar. The sky is the limit, just don't waste a day by not learning anything. Come January 1st, look back and consider how far you've gone in a single month. I don't need more on my plate but I do like these challenges. I should keep a log of the stuff I learn over time. It's not something you pay attention to per se but looking back and being like "wow, I learned all this stuff, I didn't realize" is an awesome feeling. *********************************** Today: cleaning the apartment, cracking open a Sam Adams Winter Lager and studying. Personal training cancelled; date with trappist beer and mussels tonight. Guy's half-Irish.** Why do these guys keep finding me?! ** other half is Greek. Therefore his nickname should be Grirish, Grish or Ireek. None of which sound good. Hrnnn. Current Mood: relaxed Current Music: Enter the Haggis - DNA (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, December 4th, 2009
jmae	10:18p	Aaaaand Deflate Man, tonight I'm going to curl in bed with internet, Enter the Haggis and my Bailey's Irish Creme Haagen Daaz. Sleep, delicious sleep!!! One of the less-skeevy-but-still-sort-of-dumb guys I met at the casino while studying last night keeps texting me. I shall name him Falco. He may or may not have entertainment value; I'll give him the benefit of the doubt like always although my tendency to do that tends to get me in more trouble than it's worth. Current Mood: lazy Current Music: Enter the Haggis - Sea of Crutches (Comment on this)
jmae	1:53p	With a smile on my face and a bottle in my hand, you'll find me in the gutter in the morning MM: Okay so here's the plan. Irish picks me up at my place, we go to the casino. I hang out at the bar with my neuroscience textbook and a cocktail in hand, studying for my final exam. Irish goes off to gamble. I check on him periodically, and if he starts getting either a sizeable surplus or he starts losing horrendously I entice him away from the craps table with my feminine wiles. And then I mooch the free buffet. ....... why exactly am I doing this? This has no conceivable benefit to me whatsoever apart from a free dinner. Jake: Wait, you're seriously doing this? **************************************** Only had half an appletini, buffet closed too early so it was on an empty stomach, bought an overpriced sandwich, Irish lost another $250 and I got hit on by some skeevy guys who tried to get me to leave Irish behind to go have a drink with them. On the upside, Irish has fucking fantastic taste in music and Enter the Haggis is now on my playlist (listen to the cd online!! Go go go go gogogogogogogo) **************************************** Dr. Step can't be zapped today either!!! AAggghghghghgh! Studying until 4pm when an important guest lecture happens, then maybe I'll steal some of the cheese wheels at the reception and do a bit of study group. This weekend I'm hibernating with my books and a pint of Bailey's Haagen Daaz. Current Mood: busy Current Music: Enter the Haggis - The Litter and the Leaves (Comment on this)
heddychaa	11:00a	Grad Well, I am officially graduated! Having a nice lie in this morning before I do paperwork all day. Gotta apply to the BCTF for my license but also for a job as a sub with the district, especially since Derrick is gone most of the week and wants me to sub: Good money! I still can't believe it's over, to be honest. I kind of felt like this day would never come. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
heddychaa	11:00a	Grad Well, I am officially graduated! Having a nice lie in this morning before I do paperwork all day. Gotta apply to the BCTF for my license but also for a job as a sub with the district, especially since Derrick is gone most of the week and wants me to sub: Good money! I still can't believe it's over, to be honest. I kind of felt like this day would never come. (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
jmae	4:45p	Charity Event DrunkBox: Wanna do a charity event 12/15? MM: *arches eyebrow* Define charity event. DB: Pay $25 to get into this thing... get 2 drinks & appetizers for "free"... and your $25 goes to benefit some poor bastards who got fucked in the ass by a typhoon. MM: Since when do you care about other people? DB: I don't. I just wanna drink and meet hot chicks. ;) MM: Why the balls are you trying to pick up at a charity event? DB: Why the balls not? My friend from work is semi-hosting it... so I'm gonna go. [shrug] MM: Ohhhh, okay. .... how nice do I have to dress? DB: Like a whore. MM: Yeah, too bad. That in itself is a charitable gesture. Current Mood: exasperated (Comment on this)
jmae	12:11p	Oh Shit, it's your Daily Science EARS ARE FUCKING AWESOME. Take outer hair cells in the cochlea. They barely do crapall for hearing in and of itself - inner hair cells account for 95% of input to the auditory system while outer hair cells take up the remaining 5. THAT DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE NOT IMPORTANT GUYS. Turns out, outer hair cells are also tuned to specific frequencies, depending on where in the cochlea they sit. And when sound comes along and vibrates the basilar membrane to make the hair cells move, if the vibration is sort of small the outer hair cells provide amplification of that vibration to provide crisper resolution of different frequencies. How do they amplify vibrations though? Why, by moving up and down. Like gluing your shoes to the end of a see-saw and jumping up and down. Turns out outer hair cells express a single protein called prestin that isn't expressed anywhere else in the body, and this one protein gives the cell the ability to convert electrical information (changes in voltage) into cellular motility. In a broad view, this is what contributes to the wide hearing range of mammals and gives us the ability to appreciate complicated things like speech or music. As a more immediate benefit, you can make them dance. 8D Current Mood: happy (1 Comment |Comment on this)
jmae	11:00a	*sad hamster face* I was going to run Dr. Step as a subject today, and I would really rather get this done soon just so I can have the protocol reviewed with someone who knows what they're doing and so I can get comfortable enough to run this on other people and know that I'm doing it right. Fell asleep late last night, stumbled around this morning trying to get out the door, came to work early, found out he's home sick. Ahhh, another day gone. Well, I can run my classmate this afternoon. If I wanted to be ambitious I could run two classmates this afternoon but I don't trust myself just yet. So if I really up it next week and there isn't too much shuffling around of people, I can probably get an N of 4 for this poster, which isn't so bad. 4.5 if you count Mr. Postdoc's half-valid set of data but I might end up dropping that if only to make the stats easier. I don't need the numbers per se by the due date, just a rough poster that shows that I actually did something. Which I might have. I'm not too sure yet. :/ Toss in arranging my next rotation, signing my travel documents so I can get back into the US, booking my plane tickets, buying those tix to the Shaolin Monk performance... uugh, son of a bitch. Fuck booze or even sex, I just want a good cuddle. Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)
Monday, November 30th, 2009
jmae	1:15p	Blurgh Today, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: - sick - bleeding - tired - no breakfast - messy apartment - no time for my morning e-mail fix so intarweb withdrawal is itching - left early, but was late for class anyway because I had to miss two trains because I couldn't fit on the train with everybody else - computer's such a piece of shit my wireless won't connect and I'm writing this on notepad (cyber monday shopping? hrrmmmm) I don't want to do anything today. I could play an ideal montage in my head right now where I'm writing shit, planning my schedule, downloading poster guidelines and rocking labwork with Party Hard playing in the background, but the real me that's emptying her face into a kleenex and holed up in a ski jacket does not want to carpe diem at all. I'd rather get under a blanket with some peppermint hot chocolate and snuggle. Maybe next to a fireplace. Good news though, poster deadline is next Friday, which makes studying for the final my #1 priority. Current Mood: apathetic Current Music: Zatoichi - Festivo (2 Comments |Comment on this)
jmae	1:06a	Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fan-dan-go I'm back home, and I'm not dead! Yay! Came home to a messy apartment, a pile of dishes in the sink, clothes all over the bed, an empty pizza box in the living room and a full trash can. No flies, though. I'm guessing the house centipedes are doing their job. I said thank you in the hopes that they'd hear, but warned them again if they ever crossed my path there'd be hell to pay. This week is Hell Week. I'll be getting the bulk of my subjects run for the experiment I think; this is even more necessary considering my one pilot subject crapped out data-wise. On top of that, final exam is in a week. I didn't get as much work done during the weekend as I would have liked. At the same time, I'm glad for the time spent resting because it makes me antsy to get back into the grind. Remind me again why I'm watching Trailer Park Boys with Irish tomorrow night? ( ahh, TMI ) Current Mood: *cough cough* Current Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4 (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
jmae	8:10p	Lady Luck, LOL Weekend appears to be a-okay. Over the cold for the most part, went out for chinese buffet today and stuffed myself. Weather was unnaturally warm (like, 18 degrees or something) so I went for a walk, got Dairy Queen, went back to Mike's house. Evening consists of being torn between writing notes and watching the Science channel and looking for stand-up comedy on Youtube. Tomorrow Mike's dragging me to a casino. I personally don't understand the appeal since I've never actually gone and spent an evening in one, but everybody seems to love them. Drunk Box likes them, Irish blew $500 the other day... I suppose it would be interesting, and I should try it at least once before knocking it. Especially if I went, like, all out and dressed up like a classy lady and shit, hanging off some hot guy's arm like Vespa in Casino Royale. ....hm, Daniel Craig... Current Mood: bored (3 Comments |Comment on this)