Tuesday, November 21st

3 dogs and myself alone at home. Just had to wake one of them up, hanging over my knee, quietly snoring. Big dog is back for thanksgiving break and decided to lie in something that looks rather disgusting. Now I feel I should clean her up but unfortunately I can't find the doggy shampoo... Went to work today thinking I'd catch some people before they left for thanksgiving break. I only caught one person about to leave, the rest of the afternoon I was pretty much the only living soul in the building. Weird feeling, it's a maze of a building, weird to wander through the gray maze on your own. Actually slightly scary too so I left my door closed (it locks automatically).
Yes, so this is the American thanksgiving. I don't remember it from my last visit to the States but it is kind of like Christmas. I am really really glad I have been invited up to Amherst for the 2 real thanksgiving days, otherwise it would be very lonely here (although L is not going anywhere). Luckily I can spend my time learning medialab. It's an incredible program, it is completely unclear to me when and where it accesses folders. Today it started using an old file that happened to be left on the desktop (oh and now I see why suddenly, so my weblog is even good for medialab problems). But anyway, this program keeps surprising me, which is somewhat worrying given that by next week Tuesday I need to have mastered it well enough not only to not be suprised anymore but to actually have a program that runs without crashing. And only on Monday do I discuss it with J., so if I have to change stuff I wont have much time left. But then who knows, I may not be running it anyway, if my worst fears come true.
Not much else to tell, having some supervision issues, not with J, and that's all I'll say. I'll also say that it worries me. A lot.
J I have not seen much recently, run by once a week and take 5 minutes to ask some questions. I hope he's just busy, not that I have been too much of a nuisance recently, or his irritation about my IRB attitude has lasted. He seems less concerned about what I am doing. Or is it just me worrying again? Perhaps in my tenseness of the past weeks I have become an unpleasant person to him, too goal oriented? Am I too goal oriented? Most of my questions are because I am scared I have done or will do something wrong. I am supposed to pluck up the courage to invite for a self cooked dinner, knowing that his wife is a super cook. Will I dare to do that? I wonder whether he will want to come, he does not really socialize individually with his grad students.
Well, just enjoying a sip of wine having visited the wine shop to get some thanksgiving presents. Since J (L's boyfriend) told me that the owners of the wineshop don't drink because they are muslim I don't ask their advice anymore. Makes it difficult to buy a wine you don't know. I hope I did well, I still need to follow a wine course to get some wine knowledge (or just talk to my father and also take notes). Uff, difficult typing when you have a sleepy head hanging over your arm. I'm going to read my nice new book, "The Ha-Ha".