The elusive paycheck

I'm looking for volunteers to

a) quite unannounced not get any paycheck on next payday
b) take an unannounced 35% paycut, effective immediately

Any interested parties can switch identities with me for the summer and live happily. Or so my department thinks.

Shunned

Sometimes I find it hard to believe I am still here. Sometimes I get angry at myself for not ditching people who ditch me. I have to fight myself to not become the mother of all bitches, bitter and enraged.

But this is what I wanted. Better grit my teeth and get it over with.

Kuldaboli

It was cold in Ithaca last night!! In fact, it was so cold that I lay shivering under the duvet (yes, a real duvet) and couldn't for the life of me fall asleep, lest I be asphyxated in the little cocoon I had wrapped myself in. Therefore I got up in the middle of the night and put on my ski sweater, fleece pants, woolen socks and elf hat. So dressed I crawled into bed again and viti menn, I fell instantly asleep.

Such are the small wonders in the life of a grad student.

Oh, and then there's the back yard. I'll tell you about it shortly.

Stress out the window

After the stress-overload of the last few weeks I finally feel like a human again.

Remarkable times

I find it quite remerkable that the Progressive Party (again, what a misnomer) is contemplating continuing the coalition with the Independence Party. Isn't it time to face the facts and retreat?

Important day

Yes, we made it, us skötuhjú:

Shan took his A exam today and passed (needless to say). His friends (and I... ehemm) took him out for lunch and a BBQ is planned for tonight. Congratulations!!

As for moi, I took my last final EVER today. Environmental engineering minor - done!

And I did it again:

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Quite the schizo, me.

And since I am at it:

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Tragic, innit?

Friday forty-two

This is all Ali's fault. I should be working (and so should she).

1. What is your occupation? Dishwasher-in-training, i.e. grad student in geochemistry
2. What color are your socks right now? Socks?? Are you out of your mind?
3. What are you listening to right now? The buzzing of my office mates' brain cells.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Multi-grain Cheerios
5. Can you drive a stick shift? I can't drive anything else
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? erm... white?
7. Last person who you spoke to on the phone? Shan. He's the only person I talk to on the phone.
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? erm... of course, you silly!
9. How old are you today? erm... 29? *chuckle chuckle*
10. Favorite drink? Icelandic water (I'm very much a nationalist when it comes to water...).
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Tour de France, and Cornell hockey.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? erm... are you serious?!!?!
13. Pet's Name(s): Shan
14. Favorite food? Southwestern salad with chicken from freshtake... if it's the only thing you got you might as well like it.
15. What was the last movie you watched? Spiderman 3. It mildly sucked.
16. Favorite day of the year? December 23rd, but only when I'm in Iceland
17. What do you do to vent anger? Rant, rant and rant some more.
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? A yellow doll called Disa and an orange teddybear in a dark-blue suit. He ended up in a glass of chocolate milk because I wanted him to be brown.
19. What is your favorite season? Spring in Svalbard and summer in Iceland
20. Hugs or kisses? Can I have both, please?
21. Cherries or Blueberry? Blueberry
22. Do you want friends to do this quiz? What friends?
23. Who is most likely to respond? See #22
24. Who is least likely to respond? See #22
25. Living arrangements? In sin
26. When was the last time you cried? Probably when I watched some soppy TV show on DVD... you can count on me for that sort of things
27. What is on the floor of your closet? Good question.
28. Friend you have had the longest that this is being sent to?
29. What did you do last night? Had dinner with my boyfriend and his friends (see #22), graded some papers, watched Lost...
30. Favorite smells? Clothes that are dried outside in the wind and sun
31. What inspires you? Open skies and open vistas
32. What are you afraid of? Becoming food
33. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Chicken nuggets?
34. Favorite dog breed? Charlotte's dog, Big.
35. How many years at your current job? Are graduate studies a job?? Anyway, I've been here 4 years... omg
36. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
37. How many states have you lived in? 1, and 5 countries
38. Favorite holiday? Christmas (as long as the family behaves)
39. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? Snowmobile, is that heavy machinery? whether it is or not, it certainly is fun!
40. Who's your favorite NFL team? NFL... what's that ;)
41. Do you have a house phone that is NOT cordless? A house phone?? That is so passe.
42. 10 inches of snow or 100 degree weather? Both, as in 100 inches of snow. Please.

Knowing my friends (see #22), they will have either answered all these already or kill me if I tag them. Let's therefore call it a day with pop quizzes, shall we?

Done, done and done!

The grading is over. Phew.

Grading...

... sucks. Ever read 100 assignments on the same boring topic, written by variably verbally skilled/eloquent students? OMG, GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! NOW!!!

Björk-time

Finally Volta is available here in the US. I had it on pre-order on iTunes and now it's on my hard drive, waiting to be enjoyed.

As always when Bjork releases a new album, I'm not going to listen to it until I have some peace and quiet. It'll be me, my iPod, my headphones and Volta. Looking very much forward to it.

Happiness...

... is lauging over assignments to be graded:

"... it would seem that even the natives knew of Honolulu's temperate weather conditions."

Currently making my day:

Uppljóstrun dagsins

Fylgdi fordæmi tölvuóða tónskáldsins og tók prófið:

Stuðningur við Sjálfstæðisflokk: 12.5%
Stuðningur við Framsóknarflokk: 20%
Stuðningur við Samfylkinguna: 37.5%
Stuðningur við Vinstri-Græna: 50%
Stuðningur við Frjálslynda flokkinn: 38%
Stuðningur við Íslandshreyfinguna: 60%

Skoðanir þínar eru í mestu samræmi við skoðanir Íslandshreyfingarinnar!

Þessar niðurstöður koma lítt á óvart... nema þá kannski stuðningurinn við Framsókn... á dauða mínum átti ég von.

Gaman líka að því að ég fæ nánast sömu niðurstöður og tónskáldið. Það er bara vel við hæfi þar sem það var jú á æskuheimili hennar sem ég fór fyrst að spá í stjórnmál... þá sirka 5 ára.

Pirr pirr pirr pirr!!!

PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!
PIRR!!!
PIRR!!!!

Reykjavik - the last dayz

Al: Is the volcanism in Iceland Mid-Ocean-Ridge volcanism or Hot Spot volcanism, Georg?
Georg: Are you sitting down, Al? It's BOTH!!

(Al Pacino, as himself, president of Iceland
Georg, a really bad guy)

So, the students in the class that I'm TAing this semester had an option to do a little presentation for the class on a disaster-related topic for extra credit. The presentations were given today. One group had created a movie proposal, where the evil president of Iceland, Al Pacino, sets out to destroy Reykjavik by a volcanic explosion on Heimaey. They acted out various scenes and my favorite is the one above. The facts may be all messed up but these guys were so funny, I was almost in tears by the end of their presentation.

Smart

Today I attended the last lecture in the last class I am taking for my minor in environmental engineering. Then I get back to my desk and read in the news that they're going to use wastewater from beer production to produce electricity. Excellent timing. At no other point in my existence would this news item have meant anything to me, but now it does. Gaman að því.

This class has been pretty hard, probably because I missed the first few weeks b/c of my field work in the Philippines. And sometimes I'm just not so sure why I'd want to learn about biologically treating dissolved poop. But hey, it's not as bad as it sounds... and I finally understood the details of some biochemistry stuff that's been eluding me for a long time. Plus, I might one day actually get a job with this education. That's always a bonus.

Oh, and even more importantly: This is probably the last class I will take EVER (at least at Cornell...)!!! Here's cheers to that!