Dancing Generation Gaps

At a wedding, the DJ’s played the requisite Electric Slide.  Only the older generations filled the dance floor.  They cleared it for the Cha Cha Slide.

Tags: cha cha slide, electric slide, generation gaps, little story, observations, wedding

First Year of Grad School: DONE

As of today, I finished my first year of graduate school.  I am officially half way through my Master’s degree.

Time to dance.

Tags: gifs, grad school, happy, school

I’m Giddy With How Things Are Falling Into Place

Thanks to the graciousness of Justin (who is graduating this summer and going on to Auburn), I’m going to be taking over as Subject Pool Coordinator starting in the Fall semester.  I’m in charge of recording the efforts of students in introductory psychology to participate in research for school credit.  I enter in grades and answer emails.  I have office hours 4-6 hours a week, but I’m told that very few people actually come in during those office hours.

There are a lot of perks to the job, but the main one is the tuition waiver.  I nearly cried with joy when Justin told me how little I’d be paying to attend school.  The assistantship pays a lot of money as well, so I won’t have to take out any more loans.

And I get to keep the job I love at the library.

Tags: grad school, happy news

Music Monday: C.W. McCall’s Convoy

Most people will be going, “Huh?”  The people in the know will be going, “Hell yeah.”

(And frustratingly, I can’t find a version I want that I’m also able to embed.)

Tags: convoy, cw mccall, music, music monday, video

Wednesday Cavalcade: Mostly Nerdy Things

• I’m thrilled that Amazon has made a deal with libraries, so that we can borrow Kindle books.  Very thrilled, even though I still need to read through the 20-some books I have collected over the past month.
• The Euthanasia Coaster seems like… uh, a fun way to go?  If you like rollercoasters.  I imagine people who don’t like rollercoasters won’t be as happy.

• I kind of want to try the Dorito Nacho Cheese shells that Taco Bell’s testing.  But I’m so addicted to the tacos that I never get anything else.
• I also kind of want this job for the summer more than anything else.  I’m going to apply, even though I don’t really fit what they’re looking for.  Fermilab is so crazy cool.
• Amazon has The Walking Dead, season 1, on sale for $10!
• Neural images are always beautiful.  These images of a schizophrenic brain are no different.
• This creepy candle is amazing.
• And what was an April Fools joke has now become reality.  Order Cthulhu idol-shaped chocolate!

Tags: amazon, chocolate, cthulhu, dinosaur, dvd, fermilab, geek, job, kindle, psychology, rollercoasters, schizophrenia, the walking dead, video

I Feel As Though I Should Be Panicking

We are halfway into our last full week of classes and I feel remarkably not overwhelmed, which has the lovely effect of making me wonder if I missed something.

• Social development paper due Monday
• Stats project due Tuesday
• Social development final next Wednesday
• Gallery installation on May 2nd
• Behavioral neuroscience final on May 3rd
• And a take-home stats final due May 3rd

It doesn’t seem like a lot.  It seems like I have everything under control.

I still think I’m missing something.

Tags: finals, grad school, papers, paranoia

Music Monday: Flogging Molly’s Punch Drunk Grinning Soul

Tags: flogging molly, music, music monday, punch drunk grinning soul, video

I Learned How To Crochet!

I’ve admired amigurumi for several years now and I finally decided to pick up the hooks and learn how to crochet myself.  I started out with a very simple pattern for an octopus.  (The pattern says it is from Knit 1 Magazine, but I can no longer find the pattern online, and I ended up ignoring the pattern after a while.)  I would have finished it within a two-movie span (I measure a project by how many movies it takes for me to complete it), but I got bored with a single chain of crochet, so I waited a couple days to finish it.

I’m very proud of my little dude, even if he is a little awkwardly lopsided, his legs are uneven, and you can kind of see stuffing here and there.

I plan on making a lot more amigurumi, especially as presents.  Crocheting goes a lot faster for me than knitting, so people might actually get their presents on time.  (I promised a blanket for Jon a long time ago.  I finally finished square 13 out of 25!)  For now, I’ve got a couple toys and dice bags on the list of things to make, but I should probably wait until I finishing traveling to acquire more yarn.

Tags: arts 'n' crafts, crafts, crochet, diy, octopus

Wednesday Cavalcade: Loaded with Science

• Science is awesome.  Scientists have grown a test-tube retina.  So cool.
• I need to have this brain-shaped lightbulb.  It looks a lot like the brain cupcakes I made for Psi Chi functions back in undergrad.
• Hel, the Norse queen of the underworld, is a bad ass and I need to learn more about her.
• I need more rainbow foods.
• This gold cup looks really good after being used for target practice by someone who didn’t know better.
• I am all about the recipes lately.  This baked potato soup is amazing and I may have made it three times already.  I keep adding just a little too much pepper, but it’s still delicious.
• And here’s another recipe (sort of)!  These are deviled eggs I would actually eat.
• I love when Failbooking posts wins.
• How cool would it be to be a space pilot!
• Ben Folds is awesome, Amanda Palmer is usually awesome, Damian Kulash is awesome, and I’ve heard that Neil Gaiman is awesome.  (I’ve yet to read any of his books.  I know; I’m a bad geek.)

Tags: amanda palmer, ben folds, brain, damian kulash, failbooking, hel, history, neil gaiman, norse mythology, rainbow, recipes, science

Before Anyone Else Misunderstands

I wanted to write a disclaimer to the story I told about testing, before anyone else misunderstands my intentions.

That story was not intended as a “Haha, transpeople are weird” story.  That story was intended as a “That kid is so silly for thinking that’s the worst thing about pregnancy” story.

Gender and sex are often confused terms.  Sex is your biology and what your genes say about you.  Gender is the more social construct.  It is how you feel.  It is not always clear cut and there are not always two genders/sexes.

Some people feel that they were assigned the wrong gender at birth, and this could have come around in a variety of ways.  It is not an evil thing.  It’s not a bad thing.  It’s not a ha-ha thing.  It’s just a thing.  If the individual feels that they would feel happier or more comfortable as another gender, then they should change.  I don’t necessarily mean that they all need a sex change operation or hormones, because, believe it or not, those can be difficult to come by.  Some individuals may feel they have changed enough simply by acting as the other sex.  If it makes them happy, why not?  They are not any more deviant than someone who feels comfortable in their assigned gender.

No one gender is ultimately better than the other.  They may have certain differences due to their genetics, including brain chemistry and make up, but this does not make one gender better than another, and anyone who says differently is a dipshit.  At the same time, anyone who says the genders are exactly the same and that the only differences are from the neck down are simply misinformed.  Again, I want to stress that no one gender is ultimately better than the other.

And one final note: It’s insulting to say that no girl wants to grow up to be a man, or that no one cares that the little girl wants to grow up to be a man.  We ask all children the same questions.  The only thing we change are the pronouns.

Tags: essay, gender, gender identity, psychology, righteous anger, soapbox