Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Jenn's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, June 28th, 2012
8:59 pm	I'm officially a resident of Oregon! I'm registered to vote and everything. :D Solid State Physics was taken and passed, and JESUS GOD I'M GLAD THAT'S OVER. I'm working now in one of the labs on campus, annd...life is good? yeah. we'll go with that. :D (wank away)
Friday, April 6th, 2012
10:54 pm	A brief, "I'm not dead!" entry. Annnnd I have a 3.7GPA annnnnnnnnd really great evals from the students I work with after two quarters in grad school, wotwot? :D Though I am wondering why I thought it was a good idea to take solid state physics and solid state chemistry at the same time. D: Zed's headed up to Portland tomorrow. I'll be alone for the weekend. Well, ish? I'm going out with friends tomorrow night, because, hey, boyfriend in Portland. :) (wank away)
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
11:02 pm	Second quarter has started, I've made friends and I have someone to work under. RA position lined up for this summer (so I'll get paid, thank fuck), and Zed and I are looking at dates for the wedding. ...and I've found a local bar that I love, made it to Utah and back in one piece, hosted a couple of kickass parties, and, um, yeah. This whole "being an adult" thing isn't as hard as I thought it would be? or something? The last remaining thing to do before I feel as though I am truly settled into Oregon life is to go to the DMV and switch my license over. That should be pretty easy. (wank away)
Saturday, October 8th, 2011
3:06 pm	So I'm not getting my ass kicked by my PhD program...yet. I've also gotten paid! And stuff! :D Hurray! TAing two sections of general chemistry (lab + recitation), the special topics class was X-Ray Diffraction annnnd we've met all of once. Sadness. Ever so it goes. Annnnnd my awful roommate is moving out! Hurray. Zed'n'I are turning his bedroom into a workroom, and, yeah. Getting paid means that I have a savings account again! and I'm not LIVING OFF IT. Also I have a credit card? for the first time in my life? woo. and, um, yeah. It's me, my boyfriend, and the cats. The house will be so much cleaner from now on, omg. and we won't have strangers staying on our couch for days at a time! YAY. seriously, no more roommate = much happier me. (wank away)
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
10:46 pm	Registered for classes. Officially in the system as declared Materials Chem PhD (mat sci). I start a week from Monday. Schedule? CH 511: Advanced Inorganic (loleasy, apparently it is taught with the undergrads but with more homework) ME 570: Structure/property relations in materials (prereq for just about everything taught through the mechanical engineering department; also the prereq for the polymers class in chemE and the semiconductor class in ECE. shouldn't be awful despite my lack of engineering background, apparently) CH 616: ST Inorganic (which...no one seems able to tell me what it's about? Oh well.) and a bunch of seminars. I AM EXCITED, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. :D (wank away)
Thursday, August 18th, 2011
3:56 pm	On the off-chance that anyone is interested, I've started an Etsy shop and I will be selling my binding projects here. If'n, you know, you've ever wanted a hand-bound journal or something else. I also have a giant, "here is how you make a book" post up. :) (wank away)
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
1:17 am	we adopted a kitty! :D her name is Twilight and she, like Teasel, is solid black. so now we have two small solid black kitties. (wank away)
Saturday, July 23rd, 2011
12:27 pm	I'm formally enrolled at OSU (just need the final piece of paper from the U saying I've graduated), I'm getting sick (with a cold, I think)...and one of my friends was killed in a biking accident Thursday. He lost control while biking down Powder Mountain. Flipped over the handlebars. He was wearing a helmet, but going fast enough that it didn't help. ...I had to find out over Facebook. Chase is the only one that would have called me, I think, and since Tyler was his best friend, he was...not functional. I found out, and I just wanted to howl. I still do. It's not fair. Tyler had done more in twenty five years than most people do their entire lives. I haven't really talked about it with anyone except my boyfriend. one of my other friends is going, "how can anyone mourn one single person (meaning Amy Winehouse) when 90+ were killed in Norway yesterday?" ...I can mourn "one single person" because he was a good friend of mine. He was the speaker at our commencement ceremony and he was the guy that played Rock Band with me and the two of us would talk about physics and we both griped about taking five years to graduate and he and his girlfriend were always really good sports about participating in the murder mystery parties that Chase threw, to the point where they were really the ones that kept it going, even when it was dorky, andandand... He told really great jokes. He made everyone feel welcome, no matter what the event was. He had a really great laugh. I didn't know any of the people in Norway. I didn't know Amy Winehouse. I can be sad about their deaths; what I can't do is mourn them in the way that I'm mourning Tyler. I don't see anything wrong with that. (wank away)
Friday, June 17th, 2011
2:53 pm	OSU called me. I'm in. I start my PhD in materials science September 19th. (wank away)
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
10:16 pm	and just like that I'm in Oregon. and everything thus far is wonderful. I get to stay here. This gets to be my life. I get to have Zed. You have no idea how happy I am. :) Current Music: Lay Lady Lay--Bob Dylan (Nashville Skyline) (wank away)
Monday, May 30th, 2011
5:12 pm	Officially done with school (well, undergraduate). I leave for Oregon on Wednesday. Spending my summer with Zed. Evidently we're adopting a cat? I'm gearing toward either a grey tabby or a tuxedo kitty, but as he is quick to point out, as we're going to the animal shelter, it really depends on what kitty they have that likes us and doesn't have problems that would make it incompatible with the current kitty (who is used to more kitties and thus is sort of listless and bored except when the neighbor cats are around). Um. I still haven't heard from OSU ('lol your application is pending! PENDING!'), but their graduate coordinator was kind of a jerk on the phone about it (indicating that if I haven't been accepted by now I'm not getting in), so. It's hard to be torn up about it when the person that's supposed to be helping you (you know, answering questions and whatnot) has been avoiding your e-mails (which have been sent once every two weeks) and refuses to answer questions over the phone on the basis that she "would only be speculating as to the status of your application." Right. Speculating. If Jo was able to tell me that I was in (graduate coordinator for the U), and she told me that you would be the first to know (since you mail the rejection/acceptance letters...), then what's the problem, exactly? siiiiiigh. Then again, um. The University of Rochester's toxicology PhD program contacted me to tell me that they're very interested in having me apply for their program, starting in fall of 2012. Next year. ...toxicology has been one of my Big Things for years. The junior project I had to do was actually a toxicology project—using analytic methods to test canned tomatoes for a known estrogen-mimic that's toxic in large amounts. so, um, you know. I read their letter, wailed and gnashed my teeth, then realized that, you know, maybe I'm not a total fuckup. Harvard probably doesn't want me for graduate work, but I don't want to go to Harvard. I'd really like to go to the University of Washington. They have a master's in toxicology that's pretty awesome, and I believe they have recently started offering a PhD in the field. ...so, you know. I'm going to contact a couple of people to ask if they'll do letters of recommendation for me (mostly: the prof I did that project for, the prof that told me I was setting my sights too low), and, um, we'll see? The worst they can say is no. I already know that the guy I work for will be...less than happy that I'm not coming to the U (he's been using me as unpaid lab work and letting another PhD candidate take credit for my work, to the extent that she's published my results without my name and thanks to a bunch of factors, I can't accuse her of academic misconduct and get the papers pulled—it's a long story but basically I'm really incredibly fed up with my job and I'm leaving two weeks earlier than previously stated), and I don't expect that he'll be willing to write me a letter of recommendation. So. Sometimes it feels like I'm standing on the edge of something huge. I'm getting married next year. I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing with my life. Going out to Oregon means I'll be looking for work out there. I'm applying to a couple of toxicology programs this summer (their applications open in July), and then...I don't know. Everyone keeps warning me not to take a year off. "If you take a year off, you won't go back!" But if I'm applying this summer...I'm going to be going back if I get accepted, yeah? We're having a going-away party tonight—my friends are throwing me one, I mean. Amanda and Heather and Chase and Joseph and a whole bunch of people. I turn in my keys tomorrow. I return all of my library books. In what might be a huge mistake I get to go to the bank and open a credit card. (Long story: my parents wanted me to put them on my checking account so that they could 'check on it'. Since they still owe me $3000, I said, calmly, "lolno." It's not that I don't trust them, exactly—it's that I don't want them managing my finances for me. The compromise is that they cosign on a credit card with me. They have good credit and they won't be abusing it, so, uh, that works for me, I guess? It's better than the alternative.) And that'll be it. I'll drive out Wednesday morning and hopefully hit Corvallis Wednesday night (I'm leaving godawful early to make this a possibility). And the rest of my summer can start. (wank away)
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
7:05 pm	oh my Gooooood, is the office of the registrar actively trying to fuck me over? So, two months ago: OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR: You are not eligible for graduation this semester! JENN: Whaaaaaaat? OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR: Missing BF credit, bitches! JENN: ...I thought I had that? PETITIONING THIS NOW. OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR: Haha, we turned down your request! JENN: FINE! [changes grad date to summer 2011; makes plans to take a half-semester class] A MONTH LATER: Mysterious notice arrives in mail! They've audited my degree! I go online and check it! Everything is as it should be! They haven't given me new credit! WOE &ETC, but it happens. TODAY: I went online because my professor from comp var indicated that grades would be posted today. I notice that the number of hours I have at the U has suddenly jumped by five. Whaaaat? I went to look at my DARS report. I notice, suddenly, that everything is green. Including the credit that I was supposedly missing. Everything, that is, except Calc I. Which I took at a different institution (OSU), and which had previously been showing up as completed. ...what. I e-mail my adviser. He e-mails back, requesting a copy of my DARS. I go ahead and generate a new report. ...this time, EVERYTHING is showing up green, indicating that my degree is finished! finito! I'm totally DONE. E-mail .pdf to adviser, indicating confusion re: DARS situation. His response? "What." ...so yeah, I get to go talk to the Office of the Registrar tomorrow about a REFUND and switching my graduation date to Spring 2011, because what the FUCK. (wank away)
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
10:27 am	well. I've been offered acceptance to the U's graduate chem program. I need to accept or decline within a week. I haven't heard from Oregon State. I am, obviously, very AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH about this. I don't want to stay here! ...but I don't want to not to go graduate school, either D: eta: and of course the boyfriend is very understanding. "Talk to OSU. Find out what the story is. Tell them that you need to know, promptly, whether you've been accepted or rejected, because you've been offered acceptance to another program and you have to accept or decline their offer within a week. Do it politely, though. Then, if you're accepted to OSU, great! If you're not, OK! Accept the U's offer, come out here for the summer, and you can decide if you want to try to find work out here and take a year off, or if you want to go back in August. My lease is up in August, so if you want to move back to Utah and do graduate school there, we can do that! Seriously, though: BREATHE. Everything will work out OK." this because I was weepy on the phone about it :( (wank away)
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
11:13 pm	oh God. Graduation is on the 6th (as in, A WEEK FROM TOMORROW) Zed arrives Wednesday, and then we get to tell my parents HEY WE ARE GETTING MARRIED The U lost my application to graduate school (?! WHAT), but the graduate coordinator is like, "oh no we need to fix this!" and thus overturned my rejection because she has a thing for my boss I have a math final TOMORROW that I am totally unprepared for I have promised myself a burrito after I finish my final ;______; v. much looking forward to seeing boyfriendtypecreature (fiancetypecreature?), but ohhh my God there are two finals standing between me and that right now. :x (wank away)
Monday, April 11th, 2011
10:43 pm	... ...I sweartoGod I did not bring it up. I PROMISE. Zed proposed. I said yes, obvs. who could say no to a boyfriend that proposed with a preorder for Portal 2? :3 (6 little wankas wank away)
1:49 pm	my required sporadic update I've started making art, almost by accident. I think the really terrible part is, I'm not bad at it. That is the inside of a book I hollowed out (approximately 8"x4") and made into a tiny bookcase. The itty-bitty books inside are roughly 1"x.5". ...so, yeah. Graduate soonish. Waiting to hear back from a couple of places about graduate programs. I, um, applied to three PhD programs for materials science. I'm going to be that kind of chemist, assuming I'm accepted. If I don't get in this year, though, I work for a year and apply for a master's program. I have a plan and all of that nonsense. I won't be terribly torn up if I'm not accepted, even. My application was a last-minute kind of thing, and while I'll be excited if I am, right now I am so burned out on undergraduate I am like, "OK, wait, I want to do what, exactly? How many more years is that? GOOD LORD." ...and, um, yeah. Zed's talking about getting engaged. I am more OK with this than I thought I would be. Anyway, he has a ring picked out, apparently, and if we do end up engaged we won't be getting married for a couple of years. Both of us are laid-back about this kind of thing. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure that I want to get married, but whenever I think about the rest of my adult life, I think about books and cats and living in Oregon with him, so...might as well do it for the tax break. (wank away)
Monday, March 28th, 2011
7:22 pm	We did not, in fact, get a kitten. that's waiting until I come down in June. he's going to try to come out for graduation in May. which is a little over a month away (!). ...so, uh, yeah? (wank away)
Saturday, March 5th, 2011
10:37 pm	boyfriendtypecreature wants us to get a kitten. Well. He has a cat already, said cat is used to being in a house with MORE KITTIES and is thus unhappy; boyfriend is like, "I would get a full-grown cat but I don't know how well it would work with current kitty so I kind of want to get a kitten and let her mother it." So. I'm going out to Portland for Spring Break (and then I'm moving out there permanently in June...), and that's that. He wants to get the kitten while I'm down for break, so I have a little bit of say in it (even though it's going to be his cat). I asked him to wait until I was actually out there before getting said kitten (so I could help with litter-training also I WANT TO TEACH IT TO WALK ON A LEASH :D), buuuut he wants to get it done now. I guess. So, yeah. Kitten. (wank away)
Sunday, February 27th, 2011
7:48 pm	I made a choose-your-own adventure for my bookbinding class. Ish. Long story. Long, long story. (2 little wankas wank away)
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
11:03 pm	...huh. The guy I work under has just been named to the "Brilliant Ten" by Pop Sci. What does this mean for the group? Fuckall. What does it mean for him? ...uh, he was interviewed and it's in this month's issue? idk. I love my research position, I'm just amused that it keeps getting, well. Better and better. :x First with David going, "sooo we're publishing and we want to put your name on what we do", and now with this thing. ...anyway. I made it out to see Zed. Visit was excellent, &etc. V. glad the week is over—had an exam in PDEs, and a huge lab report due today. Both went OK. (wank away)