Journal

Harmonies From Hell

The Birthday Party

Yesterday, I attended a birthday party of some sort. It was all a quite simple and comfortable affair, though there weren’t really many people around that I actually knew. The highlight for me was the birthday song, which in these events tend to be about a lot of clapping and a bunch of strangers trying to come together to sing a 30-second song in tune. It didn’t quite work, though there did seem to be some conscientious effort on all of our parts to not embarrass ourselves. In the end, it turned out to be some humdrum humming and then some harmonies from hell. Very lovely stuff.

I also realise that when I begin to space out, I tend to slip into this mode where I try to turn everything into a story. I’d always wanted to write a slightly sad (the total darkness sort) or maybe slightly horrific (the nightmarish sort) story about a party of some kind and call it The Birthday Party, although that title has long been taken by the Pinter play, and then I’d have to live with the pressure that I could never ever write anything even remotely as brilliant as that, so I’ve always thought that I’d just forget it.

In any case, happy birthday again to the birthday girl, who it seems is fast catching up with me. We are all old people.

Catch-Up

Speaking of catching up, there’s quite a bit of work that I’ve got to catch up with. I didn’t imagine that I would be this far behind at this stage off the semester (well, it’s not that bad, but I kind of didn’t expect being behind at all), but I’m sure I’ll be able to work it out in the next couple of weeks.

Which is not to say that I’ve been doing nothing all week. I mean, the lab report alone took me twice as long as I thought it would. I did an assignment too, and then whatever time I had between my other commitments were devoted to the project. Brr.

September

But look at time go, with all the speed and swagger of a roadrunner, all the ferocity of a shoryuken. It didn’t seem that long ago when I’d just finished the first draft of Bukit Merah, and it’s been some two or three months since. School plows ahead like a Malmsteen solo and I’m just floating around trying my best to get a firm grasp of everything. It’s really kind of the best I can hope for right now.

But September is a great month. It always is. For instance, this page is going to turn one in September. That’s supposed to make it a good month.

Anyway, I’m determined to see that this week ends spectacularly (in a good way) so, fingers crossed.

Molecular Pictures

And to end off, scientists have imaged a molecule. [via PhysOrg]

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© 2009 a modest odyssey.