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Today was one of those days where I wanted to commit a reverse hate crime. In composition we were talking about morals, in a very abstract sort of way, as a way of studying argument. Many of the examples dealt with saving one person or group at the expense of another. One of the questions was whether to save an aging AIDS researcher or a young person. It was an obvious question for me. The young person might do something great to change the world, but the researcher was doing something great to change the world. A classmate raised his hand and said:

"Save the young person. Why should we worry about curing AIDS? Haven't we got a huge overpopulation problem as it is?"

I totally messed up my organic chemistry lab today, but it turned out for the better. I dropped my entire 4mL of water miscible (completely mixable) solution into about 200mL of water. This was relatively early in the procedure. Instead of having me restart, my lab instructor pulled out a massive set of equipment which would supposedly remove most of the water and leave my product behind. This was an ancient rotavapor unit. If you happen to be familiar with a rotavapor, this one is much older. If you're familiar with an old rotavapor, this one is still probably a bit older. Still though, the entire unit was incredibly shiny. The amount of transparent glassware and running water involved nearly made me orgasm right there in lab. The fact that I applied heat by flame made it even better. A classmate has pictures on her phone, so when (if) I get them I'll put them up.

Okay, so that was incredibly geeky. Sometimes orgo just consumes my life.

I was reminded tonight that I have a happy place. Just two days ago I was helping Amby with meditation, trying to help her establish one, but I didn't even think of my own. It's been far too long since I've meditated. For me, meditation is like induced lucid dreaming. I pick the starting point, but the whole thing is generally very free-form, and I don't try to control too much. It's just a nice way for me to relax.

My happy place is more of a thing than a place, but bear with me. It's a blue convertible, top down, at night, on a full moon. I'm driving south along the Pacific coast, and it's around 77°F out. The radio is off, there are no console lights, and the moon is so bright that I've turned off my headlights. The road is on a cliff a hundred or so feet above sea level, with another cliff rising on my left. I'm alone. I'm wearing a pair of mesh shorts and sandals, so I can feel the wind. Sometimes I'll just pull over and stare at the reflection of the moon on the ocean.

I love Wal*Mart. What other store contains as large a variety of incredibly useful and incredibly useless things? I saw beverage warmers for A DOLLAR. A mere dollar could insure that my warm beverages never become cold before I finish with them. They also have socks and pens and milk, and because the one here in Cobleskill is one of the massive 24 hour operations, sausage and produce and other grocery-type items. I can fill my prescription there, get my taxes done at the H&R Block booth, or even get checked out by their on-site optometrist. Yes, my Wal*Mart has an optometrist. Will the wonders never cease?

Actually, my favorite thing about Wal*Mart is the fact that we can do completely random things and not be questioned for it. I'm not sure if it's because the employees have seen so much of it that they don't care, or if they just aren't paying attention, but it never fails to amuse me. For example, Lisselly was demonstrating earlier that she already had a pair of those underwear, only the girls' version, and she was wearing them at that particular moment. This is an important thing to note. Also, I'm not sure she took me seriously when I told her there was going to be a picture of her in her underwear on the internet.

Today is absolutely beautiful. It's overcast, breezy, and rainy. I suppose you'd have to live in upstate New York to appreciate it, but this is absolutely gorgeous weather for this time of year. When I walked out the door on my way home from work, it smelled like rain. I love the smell of rain. There were even people outside playing hackey sack. I do believe spring has sprung.

How did Amby spend her day? Like this:

I installed Gallery last night, which means it will be much simpler to post photos here, and save me a lot of hassle compared to using flickr. That means once I figure out how I want to style things, I'll be posting more pictures, and more in general.

Last week was my spring break.I went in to it planning to get so much work done that I would be bored this week. So much for that idea.