joy and shadows

Looky, I made something with Sculpey!

( Diao Chan's necklace )

I was dreading starting this, but when I was blabbering at my long-suffering husband about how to make different parts of Diao Chan's outfit, it occurred to me that it would be easy to make her necklace with cookie cutters. And BOY DO I HAVE A MILLION COOKIE CUTTERS. :D

Came out okay for a first pass!

I seem to have read a lot of articles like this one about how the number of foreign grad students is declining yet again. Numerous factors are cited, which I won't get into. In short, research programs in the US depend on students from China, India, and Russia.

I agree that this is a problem, yes! But how about this for a change: WHY AREN'T DOMESTIC STUDENTS MAKING UP THE GAP?

I'll tell you why.

Because my sister-in-law, who works in insurance and who has never graduated from college, makes 15K more than I do.

Because my cousin, who works for an investment firm and who double-majored in history and English, the latter of which (do pardon me here) I could have done in my sleep, is making THREE TIMES what I do.

Do I grudge them their salaries? No, but I do find it frustrating. I went to school for six years post-grad, got a PhD, and there's no monetary reward at the end of it. Sure, I have a pretty sheepskin on the wall, but the fact remains that there is no financial incentive to go into science. You're doing it for the love of the field and not because you're going to be compensated for it.

Meanwhile, all your friends who went into finance or computers are sitting pretty, because they didn't spend years in school and have experience and seniority and all that. You can't make up the years you spent in grad school while everyone else was working, so you have to live with being on the short end of the stick.

So who's the schmuck? Not my cousin or my sister-in-law. Me.

So there's your reason for the shortfall. The underlying problem isn't just that foreign student enrollment is dropping, it's that universities are dependent on them to get the research done. They're dependent on the foreign students because they're far more likely to put up with the lack of pay and long hours that grad school requires. To solve the root of the problem, it's time to bring some respect - and reward - back to the scientific profession.

Did my civic duty this morning and got the voting over with.

Husband and I went to the normal polling place only to find out that it had moved. There was another guy in a Jetta who did the same loop but headed off with purpose, so we spun stones and slalomed off entirely too fast to follow him down the hill. Turns out that the new polling place was the municipal building, so that was a short drive.

A woman toting a baby bucket didn't understand how to use the machine and hit "cast vote" after voting for prez was complaining when we walked in about how hard the machine was to use. She was unhappy that she didn't get to vote for anyone else and felt that you should vote individually instead of picking everyone and hitting the button once. However, the instructions were posted right next to the machine. My thought was "no, the machine is fine, how about YOU Read The Fucking Manual."

Then I considered that this kind of not RTFM'ing and then whining about it ("It's not my fault! It's the machine's fault!") is exactly the kind of shit that's going to mire the outcome of this election in judicial mud if the outcome is anything less than a landslide. Sigh.

Husband and I both voted for the write-in candidate for township committee, since the Republican candidate seems to be widely regarded as a turd. This charming fellow blocked a landing pad for a Medevac helicopter because it would be adjacent to his $8 million estate. I'd like to think that if I had an $8 million estate that I'd be happy to see the heli go up and down, because it would mean someone was getting help.

Anyway, get out and vote. Vote for the Communists if you don't like either candidate. Just vote.

When the going gets tough, the tough bake cookies.

Mom Q asked for chocolate biscotti for the wine pressing this weekend, so last night's project was to make those. I went a little crazy and put four kinds of chocolate in them (white, semisweet, dark, and bittersweet) and ended up having to cut them very carefully to avoid shattering.

Something nice happened yesterday, got an email back from the girl I mailed to ask how she made her Dian Chao wig. She gave a helpful description of how she made the wig, linked me to where she got hers, and expressed interest in seeing the finished product. One of the problems with email is that it's easy to ignore and I've become accustomed to people not bothering to email me back when I ask them questions, so it's pleasing to get the opposite result.

This weekend is going to be a welcome respite from this week. It has been very stressful and tiring, and I keep telling myself that getting disheartened is not going to help anyone. Being frustrated at work is a fact of life and everyone's going to go through it sooner or later. Throwing one's hands up in defeat or running away after the first battle shows a poor work ethic and a lack of dedication. It's all going to be over soon and I'm fixing the mistakes as best I can.

I started cutting my Rosette Christopher outfit tonight.

First, the fabric shrank from 45 in to 42 in, so the skirt back was too wide for the fabric.

Dealt with that.

Then, I compromised my shrinking length of fabric by cutting a piece I didn't need.

Dealt with that.

Then, I discovered that McCall's puts their measurement guide in a place I wasn't looking for it, and I should have been cutting for a medium all the while instead of cutting for a small.

Can't deal with that.

Furious.

My mom bought me that fabric as a present, too.

That's the worst part, that she will ask to see what I did with the fabric because she takes pride in my few-and-far-between creative accomplishments, and I'll have to tell her the project got trashed. Don't know if I can find another bolt of the same type of fabric in the same color.

This goddamn cosplay was arsed from the start and now I just feel sick about it. Fuck it, after today's outing at the bloodsucking VW dealer ($600) and the bill coming in from the cardiologist (another $600), there isn't enough money for plane tickets AND Christmas.

Fuck.

Originally seen in tiggymalvern's journal.

by e. e. cummings

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

Last ep was so freaking funny, and after this one, I just want to cry.

Damn.

Stupid hormones.

Samurai Champloo 6 is:

--A good-natured poke at Westerners' conception of Japanese homosexuality

--Surprisingly pervy

--Surprisingly out-front about homosexuality for an anime that doesn't have "bishie" written all over it (e.g. Gravitation, Yami no Matsuei)

--REALLY FUCKING HILARIOUS

Don't ask me how I knew the nationality of the visitor. It was probably the shoes, but I still laughed my ass off.

CONCLUSION: SAMURAI CHAMPLOO KICKS MIGHTY ASS

(oh, and discs are on the way for the ppl who asked for them. Woohoo!)