Refraction

I don’t post about much these days; few things seem worthy of the trouble of opening up WordPress, and those that are I’d prefer not to discuss on an open blog.

But anyway. This xkcd comic is about the Henry Gates/James Crowley affair, and for that alone it’s pretty good… but the title-text puts it over the top.

My biology grad student friends tell me that different types of alcohol don’t actually have different effects. I trust their expertise, not because of the ‘biology’ part, but because of the ‘grad student’.

(My lab mate is really good at chemistry puns, actually…)

Anyway. I’d like to think I totally rocked the conference–my presentation even picked up a prize, and I met some really awesome people (how could they not be awesome? They’re chemists!) Despite my misgivings about the small town of K—, it turned out to be irrelevant: We chemists know how to drink. And enjoy board games. Especially drunken board games.

Chemistry drinking socials are vaguely amusing for the first hour or so. I really only went because a former co-worker of mine was going to be there; not having seen her for a few months, I jumped at the chance to catch up a little bit. This turned out to be a mistake, actually, as she and I never really went beyond workplace acquaintances. So we chatted briefly–she was already a bit buzzed and so was a little distracted. We parted ways soon after.

The crowd at these things tends to be a mix of undergrads and grad students; now and then a prof will wander in–I saw the head of the department there, actually, though I didn’t speak to him. Later, friends of friends start arriving–I met a physiology major, a math/comp sci major, and a few engineers…

I need to learn how to mingle a bit better. It’s always a bit awkward in situations like this where people often come in groups–how do you break in? Is it okay to break in? I had tried to rustle up a friend to come with me–I popped by his lab, and he assured me he’d “meet [me] there in half an hour”. He never showed up, of course.

Because he wasn’t there to save me from social interaction, I did get to know one of the other Honours students a bit better, and re-connected with a few people I’d seen before. I also ran into (if that’s the right term) an old classmate from elementary school. That was interesting.

I’m not exactly sure why I keep going to these things. I think it’s really more to chat with people than the cheap alcohol; I don’t like beer, anyway, and nursed one drink for most of the evening.

Some of these are short-term, others… not so much.

1) Study for inorganic midterm.

2) Study for finals, especially organic.

3) Go drinking.
I think this one requires a bit of an explanation. Surprisingly, I managed to handle living in Quebec in university res while staying completely sober. Not only that, this was in a town where the supermarket downtown had 300 kinds of beer. And where beer was sold at $2 a pint (mercredi soir) at the bar 10 minutes away from uni.

Anyway, as Eric said once, if you’re going to get drunk for the first time, it should be among friends. Soo…..

I’m fairly certain I’m a pretty cheap drunk anyway, so 😀 I don’t expect this to be a very expensive venture.

This is one thing on my ‘to-do’ list before leaving for the big city small town. It’s kind of naive to think I won’t be invited to get drinks one day, eventually, by people I don’t know particularly well (er, well, actually I was invited today to grab at beer at noon–NOON!!!–so…) and I don’t think that would be a good time to make a fool of myself.

4) Go karaoke.
Maybe this could be combined with the drinking 😀

5) Go bubble tea.

6) Find my sanity.

7) Buy a laptop.
This is where I need from laptop-owning people. What features should I look for? What vendors should I avoid? Should I go for an ultra-portable?

8) Buy a music player.
I’m thinking about getting an iPod, but I wonder if a regular mp3 player will do just as well. I’m not fond of iTunes’ interface, but, eh…. Nanos are so CUTE!

9) Go Christmas shopping. For other people.

10) Make up a budget for all this drinking, singing, eating, and technology-buying.