It’s hard to write with your brain full of snot.

I have a cold. In fact, the cold, the one that’s been slowly burning its way through the geology department. It got Dave (my fellow TA) last week, and my advisor, and one of the nice ladies from the office. To put it lightly, I feel like poop on a stick. I somehow survived the ...

Field Trip Called on Account of Fire 2

Just in case you hadn’t heard, bits of Boulder are on fire. That made today at school a little unpleasant. Campus isn’t in any danger, but it was very hazy (I could barely see the Flatirons from the geology building) and everything smelled like smoke. My sinuses are feeling extremely irritated now. The only mineralogy ...

Dispatches From Grad School: Still Alive, But Dumber

I’ve now officially survived my second week of grad school. Well, technically yesterday was the official survival date, but I was in Colorado Springs for most of the day. And then when I got home, I decided that a round of Plants v. Zombies was more interesting than writing anything. I think Popcap has figured ...

At least I still have time to read. (The Other Boleyn Girl)

I finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl, though my version of the novel wasn’t listed as a movie tie-in. In fact, I hadn’t realized that it was a movie AND a BBC mini-series until that point. So I’ve thrown those two on my Netflix queue, even though I admit to some doubt about the movie. ...

The Waters of Mars

No, not the super awesome episode of Doctor Who. And forgive me if I keep this short and only semi-coherent. I’ve spent most of my day staring at thin sections of fossilized sea varmint poop (you heard me right) so… yeah. It’s the glamor. That’s why I chose this educational path. However, Mars is much ...

Fluffy Kittens Are Good 2

Example provided: QED, bitches1. 1 – Post not actually about fluffy kittens. Void where prohibited.

Time to sharpen some pencils

Well, school kind of started this week. I say kind of, because classes don’t actually start until next week. But Wednesday was the grad student orientation, and now I’m in training to learn how to be a TA. I feel rusty on the whole being a student thing after eight months off. I’m a little ...

Building a Straw Mosque

I know the bizarre controversy about the Islamic community center planned in New York City a few blocks from the site once occupied by the World Trade Center has been going on for a while, but I haven’t said anything before now because I’ve been so utterly baffled about the whole thing that words have ...

Fan Number One 4

This is the funny thing about the story I just had published, particularly that it ended up being my proverbial toe-dip into the deep end of writing for profit: I really hated The Book of Autumn when I first wrote it. I quite literally wrote it because it was stuck in my head, like a ...

I’m wearing my big girl writer pants now! 2

I’m super excited today, for a couple reasons. One is that it looks like I might have landed a little freelance writing work to supplement my income going in to grad school, so I’m all wound up and nervous about that. But even more so, I’ve published my first ever short story in a pro ...