The wii rocks - makes me feel like I'm 8 again. Didn't get rock band yet, maybe this weekend. Time to figure out what the music scene here is like. I haven't seen a show in ages.

Back! And I passed my prelims, meaning I'm not a total screw up and they will permit me to continue. I think I'll treat myself with a wii and rockband tomorrow.

Will be back in 2 weeks.

Gonna start building the Alton Brown Flower Pot smoker today so I can show these yanks how we cook meat in Texas.

The link:Smoker How-to

I finished the first half of my comprehensive-demonstrate-everything-you've-learned-ever-and-aren't-a-fuck-up exam Friday. Two weeks of prep, no alcohol, no going out, no video games... That first beer Friday afternoon was one of the best beers of my life. I have to do it all over again, starting preparations this Friday and finishing Aug 7th. I will know sometime this week how I did on the first half and how fucked I am for the second half. And now, a list of some of the other best beers of my life:

Abita Purple Haze at the Balcony Bar in New Orleans at 18
Shiner Bock at a co-op party in Austin after touring UT Austin, also 18
Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout on the first night in my first apartment, Austin, 19
Stella Artois at my party for UT Graduation, Austin, 25 (yes, I know, but finishing late is better than never finishing and that made the beer taste all the better)
Shiner Bock on my porch in Galveston, TX after clearing the driveway of hurricane debris

No AC is a little tough. I don't know how you Northern dwelling folks do it. I realize there are only a few days like this out of the year, but man it's hot (in a relative way). I would be hot in Texas too, but at least I could chill out under the AC vent instead of sweating to death.

I hate studying, and not just in the "Math is hard, I don't want to study" sort of way. I've been in school for fucking-ever now and I there is nothing more pointless to me than studying for the sake of taking an exam. I'm a big fan of discimus agere agendo - we learn to do by doing - so if something isn't stuck in my head it's because I don't need it or don't want it to be. I'm studying for a prelim exam - a graduate level exam that will test me on all the biomedical science I know, and will determine if I'm fit to continue being a phd student or if I need to get the hell out.

I think I'll pick this back up. I'm in a strange land, far to the north, and things are very un-Texas. Need to learn what's up in the great lakes area - and maybe put up a profile pic that isn't 5 years old.

Human after all.

Holy shit - more than 5 months since an update. Well there is only one thing to report...

I just got back from Coachella, and Saturday night my world was permanently rocked by Daft Punk. I've seen alot of concerts, clubs, and raves, but *I ain't never seen or heard anything like that.

I may have been under the influence heat stroke, but abosultely nothing else - and they still rocked my brain out and my ass off.

The next day at the festival, walking around the desert with all those people around seemed just a little more real. I went from observer to full on participant, and it gave the phrase "human after all" just a little bit more meaning.

Yay. I graduated, finally, a little behind schedule at the age of 26. I am now a biochemist and everyone keeps asking me, "what's next?"

I dunno - eating, drinking, sleeping, screwing. All pretty standard functions, none of which require much training. I do appreciate everything I've learned, and I want to do something like grad school. Most of all I need to figure out my surroundings all over again now that I'm not a student.