Steamed Puddings

My PhD oral exam (defense, viva, or viva voce, depending on where you’re from) is tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday afternoon, May 6th.

This is dependent upon the two examiners (one proteomics, one placenta) getting their reports in on time like they said they would. Once the Graduate Centre has them in hand, the room will be booked. Hopefully this will happen in the next two days.

GPCW, Placentologist, and I have been writing a paper based on the two biggest (and coolest) chapters of my thesis, and it’s just reached the penultimate draft stage. Keeping an eye on this paper has helped me feel like I haven’t completely lost touch with my thesis topic. However I am pretty worried that I won’t be able to explain big chunks of the work once I get in a room with the three other people who will be there. Only two of those people will actually be judging me, and they are both proteomics people, so I think I can stand my ground there. Thank goodness I won’t have a placental person in the room.

Now to cram. Unluckily, I have a cold. Luckily, I should be well over it by next Tuesday.

I had an interesting meeting today with GPCW and Placentologist regarding the first draft of thesis paper 1, otherwise known as “all your gels are belong to us [sic]“. It turns out that even though they both said earlier this week they wanted to submit this paper to Clinical Journal X without much fuss, we spent the whole 3-hour meeting picking through each sentence of the methods and results sections I’d rewritten from the thesis. I don’t think I could adequately convey to them how little I care about this material anymore.

As usual for any meeting involving Placentologist, we figured 3 hours would be enough time to touch on the entire draft. We just barely got through the methods (which are lengthy) and the results (which are not) within this time. Placentologist kept commenting that we needed more biology in the discussion section, and I pointedly told her near the beginning that I saw this as a great place for her to contribute (read: do it your damned self). I wrote a THESIS on this stuff, and I shouldn’t have to write every word of a paper on which there are 8 authors. In the words of The Garbage Man: “Can’t someone else do it?” Bonus points if you can tell me the song that goes with that quote.

I was happy when the three hours were up and it was clear that Placentologist had other committments. Too often my meetings with her have stretched to five hours, into late nights, starting in early mornings, or over periods in which I would have otherwise eaten or peed. I have really been looking forward to the end of thesis papers 1 & 2 so I can avoid having any more long meetings with her.

She has pushed for the last year for me to get this paper written, suggesting that having an acceptance in hand before my oral exam would prevent any problems. Kiwiman has always scoffed at this suggestion, saying that if I were to have problems, the supervisors (Placentologist and CSO) should have caught them already and not allowed me to submit the thesis. I agree…but some of today’s meeting had me worried. I’m still freaked out that my oral exam COULD happen within a month.

The elephant in the room was my knowledge that Placentologist will not be at my oral exam. She doesn’t know that I know, I think. She apparently thought it would be inappropriate for her to examine the thesis in which she helped me write sections. I tend to agree, but wish she had discussed it with me…something she still has not done. Open communication is something we do not always have.

I took the bus from work to Placentologist’s office. She works at a satellite campus which is an hour’s bus ride from my house/work. I started the journey back at about 5pm. The sun was still high in the sky, since daylight saving time doesn’t end here for another ten days or so. When I sat down on the bus, I thought: “It’s so nice and sunny - I should go for a run when I get home. I slept in and missed spin class today, so I need to get moving. Last night I noticed some ‘chair spread’ creeping in, too. Must be those Creme Eggs at easter.”

As I rode across town in the Auckland rush-hour traffic: “(Yawn) I was so tired towards the end of that meeting. Maybe aerobic exercise is a bad idea. Too much work.”

When I got home: “I need a drink, and some junk food. Let’s open those yummy corn chips. Maybe I can finally get the Long Jump achievement in Portal while Kiwiman is at squash. I can go to the gym in the morning (if I get up early enough).”

I deserve an award for talking myself out of exercise. Do any of you do this too?

You asked for it, so here it is. Geeka, in particular, spurred me to action with the comment that my haircut couldn’t possibly be as bad as I’d made it out to be.

We spent the long weekend at Waihi Beach with family and had a nice time, especially when we took a day trip to Rotorua for Aix massages. Mmmm, massages.

During the massage, I started thinking about how much it would cost to have a monthly, or even weekly, massage.  For a few thousand dollars a year, I could have an hour-long massage every week.  Now that would keep me relaxed!

I have heard unofficially through highly speculative channels that my oral exam might be in late April.  This could be utter hogwash, but if it doesn’t happen in April it may have to wait until September as CSO (my main supervisor) is overseas between these times.  We’ll see what happens…

When I was in my early 20s, I used to laugh at the conventional wisdom that you didn’t really know yourself until your 30s. Preposterous! I spent the whole of my early 20s getting in touch with myself and putting pieces of my life into place.  How could I not know myself?

It’s only been in the last year or two (my late 20s) that I have felt really comfortable in my own skin, with my own hair, etc. Makeup finally “works”. Clothes fit (well enough, anyway). And I recently got a great haircut - see blog entries and photo. It’s amazing how much self-confidence is gained from feeling in-tune with your appearance.

Conversely, a bad appearance can really put a damper on your mood. I found this out yesterday when I went back to the salon and asked for a slightly shorter version of my existing cut. I figured this was what successful people with great hair did - go to the salon regularly to prevent that look of “it’s grown out a bit too long”. Gotta keep the cut looking optimal!

Here’s some of the conversation I had with the hairdresser yesterday, a woman who did such a stellar job on my last cut that I was willing to enter a monogamous long-term relationship with the salon:

What I said: “I originally just wanted a fringe [bang] trim, because my fringe is way too long.”
What I thought: “Remember when you told me during the last cut that I should grow my fringe out? It’s getting in my eyes now.”
What she heard: “Please cut my fringe so it’s only 1 cm long. I want to look like a Vulcan.”

What I said: “I really love the cut I have right now!”
What I thought: “Mess this up and die - the last cut made me feel confident and professional - dare I say sexy, even?”
What she heard: “Please cut my hair in a totally different style.”

What I said: “I like being able to curl up the ends to look a little funky.”
What I thought: “I do this sometimes, but it’s not the only style in my arsenal.”
What she heard: “I want to look funky, ultra-modern, and flipped-up every day, like I’ve stuck my finger in a light socket.”

What I said: “I’m willing to experiment with the length.”
What I thought: “A little shorter wouldn’t hurt, but not too short!”
What she heard: “Please cut most of my layers at ear length, not chin length, so they’ll go really well with the very Vulcan fringe.”

Me: “This cut looks great! Thank you so much for fitting me in today.”
What I thought: “She’s f&$%ed up my fringe!”
What she heard: “I’m a totally satisfied customer, though I got a bit quiet after you cut my fringe.”

Now I know the wisdom about recovering from a bad haircut dictates that communication is essential, and that if you’re dissatisfied enough you should return to the salon and ask them to fix your hair. I want to take a hands-off approach to this one as I think any more cutting would only be more disappointing. I’ve put the word out to the hairdresser’s other client friend (who has an appointment next week) that I’m not at my happiest and I expect that time will help me get over the short length. Really, nothing else can! The fringe will be better in a week or two, and the rest will get tousled as best as possible to keep it presentable. If I’m feeling brave, I’ll post a picture next week after I’ve had a few more chances to see what goo will do.

I did notice after the chop that I felt much more like hiding my head in the sand.  I had another errand to do at the mall which I nearly postponed from fear of walking through the mall looking like that.  I avoided the cafeteria at afternoon teatime today to prevent anyone noticing the new hair.  I’m going to a barbecue this evening to catch up with friends who have been in England for a year, and if it hadn’t been for Aselle and Davanea’s attempts with the office GHD styler, I would have seriously considered not attending.  The GHD has done wonders (don’t they always?) and I think I can show my face to people tonight, though they may wonder why I’m not speaking Vulcan.

Easter is coming! We’re off to the beach this weekend. It’s my first visit to Bowentown since well before I started writing my thesis more than a year ago. Hopefully I’ll get in some tennis and jogging while I’m down there.

Oh, fancy-schmancy WordPress blog, I have not forgotten you.  I’ve just been busy with that thing some people call “real life”.

Here’s what’s been on my mind in the last week:

• Portal - this game is awesome, and I’m glad I waited to play it until I finished my thesis.  I still suck at FPS-format games (as usual) but I’m having a lot of fun playing with this one.  I’m not quite at the levels yet where things will start to shoot back at me - that might happen tonight.
• The Keeper - one of my friends spoke positively about the Diva Cup, and then I remembered that I had a Keeper in a drawer waiting to be tried.  It was great for the first couple of days, and awful for the next few.  I’m trying a slightly different version next time.
• cheese - Kiwiman and I went to the tasting portion of the Cuisine Champions of Cheese awards this year.  For $35 each (ouch) we got to taste our way through a purported 400 cheeses, though I suspect there were only about 100 there.  Even better, we bought gigantic offcuts of the sampled cheeses for $5 each.  We are now eating cheese daily, which is great for my taste buds but not so good for arteries and waistlines.

I’m also churning out papers at work.  This week’s task is the smooshing of two gigantic thesis chapters into a manuscript.  The text is whittling down nicely from its current 58 pages - I expect it to end up between 30-40 (excluding figures and tables).  It will be the next week+ of work and it’s due with the other authors just after Easter.