When there's nothing to do but wait till it's cooler outside... why not write a little?

SURF: The fifth set of in situs didn't work. The RNA in situ probes I made last week are horribly degraded - I've transcribed them now for a third time, and hopefully these will be ok. The bacteria I transformed - with plasmids containing precious, hard-won 5' ends of the A. miniata Tbrain gene - and plated last night? Most of the plates look like the colonies lysed - there's nothing left but a few colonies on the rim of the plate. Guess I'll be going in again tonight to replate...
Fate, why do you spite me?

Movies: Watched Fiddler on the Roof (2nd time in the past week) with Joe last night. The movie is fantastic - humour interspersed with somber realizations about change. I remember Dad mentioning this movie and referring to 'the good old days when fathers were heads of the family', but I'd never seen it before last week. Dad, all I have to say is, thank goodness for progress. ;)
Two nights ago, I watched Caddyshack with a bunch of moles plus a few lloydies (Joe and John) - I haven't seen a Chevy Chase comedy in years. The last time was when I was a HS freshman, staying with my aunt, uncle and cousin in Plano for a week in the summer, and Uncle Gary rented "Vegas Vacation". Caddyshack's definitely the more entertaining of the two (if the more dirty ;) - long live the gopher.
Tonight: Went out with Rebecca and Andrea K to see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Hey, it may not *sound* like a good movie, but it's hilarious. Great light comedy dealing with Greek/American culture clashes - reminded me of Fiddler on the Roof, as far as the Orthodox church and the 'father as head of the family' attitude.
Among the amusing lines:
Toula's Father: "A respectful boy, he would ask *my* permission to date my daughter!"
Ian: "All right... may I... date your daughter?"
Father: *couple seconds elapse* "NO!"
(sounds like my dad...)
--
Toula: "He's a vegetarian. He doesn't eat meat."
Aunt Thea: "What do you mean, he DON'T EAT NO MEAT??" *rooms goes silent* "That's all right... I make lamb."
--
Next movie to see in theaters: Possession. Anyone want to come?

Reading: Finally got through the whole LOTR trilogy (3rd time) - every time I read it, I find something new to think about, a new perspective on the characters, little details I'd missed the time before. I still find it amazing that Tolkien created whole languages for the different races, not to mention the rich mythology he invented for Middle Earth - such dedication to a world of his imagination. Hopefully the movie rendition of The Two Towers (coming out this winter) will be as good as The Fellowship of the Ring was last year.
Currently reading Foreignor (Cherryh) - not that great. The past 500 pages have been nothing but the ambassador to an alien species worrying whether or not he was about to be betrayed by his bodyguards or the emperor. And being pretty wordy about it. I'd quit reading it, but I'd go mad wondering if he ended up being assassinated in the end. At this point, I'm ready to see him die. Only another few hundred pages to go...
Next* on the reading list: Rocket Boys (Hickam), Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig), Emma (Austen), biology texts (Genetics, Biochem, Neurobio), H142 novels: Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck), Days of Obligation (Rodriguez). other assorted sci-fi, fiction as catches my eye.
*order subject to change on a whim

Music: Flute's coming along ok. I feel like I'm backsliding, which isn't so good... I really should practice earlier in the day than 1 AM. Perhaps being completely awake will help my focus. It'd be nice to have new music to work on as well... I wish I could play in the orchestra rehearsals during september and the concert right before term. Then again, I'd miss three rehearsals, arrive at LAX 2 hours before the concert and have 4 wisdom teeth taken out just a week before the concerts. *sigh* Of course, the wise decision (since I still have my teeth ;) is to pass it up. It's just... irritating. Thinking of how I refused braces through HS and the summer before I came here because dental work messes with your embouchure... and now, I'm stuck. Ah well. Hopefully everything will heal quickly.

Ah well. Time to go re-plate some bacteria, practice flute and go sleep. Working on Labor Day? But of course. Bacteria wait for no one. Night all.