Seven Quick Takes

 

Visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more quick takes!

1.

I have been thoroughly brainwashed by the astronomy students. I can’t even write “astrology”* any

more. When copying out my History of Natural Sciences notes** for review, I had a perfect streak of SIX PAGES (and that includes all the Greek names!) until we hit Ptolemy and I had to scratch out every third word because of compulsively writing “nomy” instead of “logy”.

*As you all know, “astrology” is the stuff where they say I am antisocial because the Sun used to be visible when looking in the general direction of a specified clump of stars (that are not at all connected in any way) during the month I was born in, if not for the fact that Things Changed and it’s somewhere else entirely now. “Astronomy” is the stuff where they say I’m antisocial because I’m a physicist.

**It is, by the way, a very good thing that I have chosen celibacy as my life path, because you betcha that I would have called my firstborn son Eratosthenes.

2.

The coffee machine was marked “out of order”, although when provided with credit and the right input on the key pad it presented a hot liquid, resembling coffee just as much as its usual output.

This changed the usual coffee machine gossip into a discussion centred on two questions: the realistic but only vaguely important one, is it toxic? and the much, much more essential, are the caffeine levels the same? 

3.

Because of what shall only be known as “The Bike Pedal Incident” or “Thank Heaven for those eight years of ballet classes” I have now ripped my favourite skirt three times (and three others two times, and the remaining two one time each. This academical year). I think that donations for my postulant clothing fund can be arranged via Sr. Rosaleen.

4.

Disturbing: I was writing a word (with a pen, on paper) and wasn’t sure about the plural. While writing, I waited for the red wavy “yous = wrongs” line to appear. On the paper. Physical paper. 

I don’t even have a red ink pen in my pen case!

5.

And then the coffee machines went from Producing Cups Of Unidentified Brownish Warmish Liquid to Producing Empty Cups. Two hours before my History of Science exam. I am sure I don’t have explain why coffee is essential to studying history. Like it is to producing science*. And to exams. Imagine the horror!

No, really, please do. I couldn’t, I was still asleep.

(I am not addicted to coffee, by the way, but I am currently living a bit above healthy studying levels, and it provides me with several extra non-drowsy hours. And the exam went as well as my test anxiety ever allows me to believe (translation: most people who are not me think I passed. I just hope that includes the professor**).)

*That must be the Wikipedia stub with the most categories I’ve ever seen. 

**Our professor was insanely quick with marking (which he does himself for some obscure reason). I scored a 95%. Booyah. The main reason that I’m happy about this is that my highest mark used to be “Presentation and Communication 2b” and honestly, no-one wants to go down in history as The Girl Who Can Make Real Cool Posters About Wave-Particle Duality. Not if you just spent five years learning how to do things that won’t be of any help the rest of your life.

6.

Sometimes, you’ve been doing a little too much physics (not that I ever really get to that point – laziness prevents me) and you’ve got pages upon pages of awkward half-self-invented mathematical shorthand, and suddenly you get confused about your definitions and are absolutely sure it’s all wrong and you have to do it again, and then the book comes up with something like

(to save you two extra pages halfway through a problem). And you weep with joy at the beauty.

Typesetting that was nice for procrastination.

7.

My mum is coming back from Middle America tomorrow. I haven’t seen her for six months (to the day). I wish I wasn’t so busy with exams and thesis :( While we’re used to not seeing her for long stretches (she normally lives in France, after all, and nearer to Barcelona than Paris), the Council of Siblings decided some weeks ago that enough is enough already.

Unfortunately she’s caught something that made her quite unwell several times over the last six months, so I hope she’ll be able to bear our enthusiasm about her return…