jaina

Eeee, you guys, you guys! I just won third place in my category (Daywear/Career Wear) at my school's annual fashion show! Here is my pretty model in my dress:


I was totally shocked! I kind of hated this dress while I was making it; it wasn't turning into what I wanted it to look like, but I had to keep making it because I had to turn it in. But after some consultation with my teacher I recut the side front panels so the stripes were better-arranged, and now I kind of love it. When it came out onstage I was like "Oh, that looks way less shitty than I thought it would!" And third place! There were, I don't know, maybe 15 or so outfits in my category? And a lot of them were really, really good! I honestly didn't think I had a shot, since my dress was so simple compared to a lot of the looks.

The fashion fabric is linen or a linen blend, I'm pretty sure; peddler_creates and aviendiora, it's that stuff I bought at the FIDM scholarship store that last time I was up in LA. Dollar a yard, baby! I'm really glad I got four yards since I used almost all of it. There might be enough left for a skirt. My model was like "Can you make me one of these? I love it!" and I was like "Find me some striped fabric, and sure!" She wore it really well. Anyway it probably wasn't the best fabric choice, since BIAS PANELS ARE BIASY LOL, but whatever, I totally love the stripes. Oh and I forgot to mention, I made this for Patternmaking II. So I flat-patterned this dress from a basic sloper. (I'm really tired, can you tell?)

ETA: Here is the dress that gave me the idea for the chevrons down the front, although I did the rest pretty differently. I bought the fabric because I loved it, but I honestly wasn't sure what to do with it. So I basically went back through the Dress-A-Day archives (and did some googling) looking for striped dresses until I found one that I really liked.

( More pictures under the cut! )

Dear [me],

I am pleased to note that you have now completed all requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences from the Group in Biomedical Sciences. Your diploma will be forwarded by the Office of the Registrar at a later date.

To quote schneck128, I am a master...of SCIENCE!

And hopefully this will be the last post about school any of you will ever have to endure ever again!

It is FREEZING in lab today. On the upside, I just got an email from the coordinator of my other class this quarter, saying basically, "The last lecture is cancelled, the exam is cancelled, and you all get As." Rock.

In re Serenity: It was reported on the Browncoat boards that a link has gone up for June 23 at 10 pm at a theater in Riverside, CA. It is not currently known whether this is *actually* Serenity. We and several others have called the theater, and the basic gist is that they think it might be but don't know for sure. We bought tickets anyway; the guy at the theater said we could get refunds, although the Fandango fee is probably gone for good. I sure hope this is real, because two hours to Riverside sure as hell beats five hours to Vegas or Phoenix. (If you are James, Whitney, Dan, Debby, Alex, Tree, Matt, or Thomas, then don't worry guys, we have tickets for you too. If you don't want to come, your ticket (assuming the screening is legit) goes to a needy Browncoat. But I don't think any of you read this journal.)

Tonight is skating, and tomorrow a local Browncoat is teaching me to knit Jayne hats for Comic-Con prizes!

My day just got infinitely better when I got a call telling me my new laptop had arrived! Dell Inspiron 6000, about as tricked-out as dmbtuxwaddle could get it for $1800. So *this* is why I came to work today! *g*

Will have more to say about the weekend's events later. For now:

My training grant is buying me a computer!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! I have $1800 to spend. Suggestions on a good laptop would be wonderfully welcome, since I know pretty much nothing about them.

My TAing is drawing to a close. There's a week left, and it's just reviews and the final; we had our last actual lab on Friday. *sniffle* I'm gonna miss these kids.

However. I had to miss last Friday due to Nationals, and apparently one of the groups decided that in my absence, they'd make a pipette-tip-and-masking-tape voodoo doll to take my place: ( clicky me )

Over the week, VoodooDoll!Caitlin gained a friend and some scenery: ( clickity )

( And for kicks, a picture of the lab where I teach )

So. tired. Skating, shopping, grading. Can I have another weekend to recover from my weekend?

And why is it way more fun to help *other* people shop for their registries? "Yes yes, you need the bright yellow towels! They totally go with that shower curtain!"

*falls over*

Yesterday evening we got our DSL hooked up, and for the first time in a month, I have internet access in the place where I'm living. Hurrah! So hopefully I will be updating my LJ much more frequently, assuming I have stuff to talk about. And even if I don't, I'll probably ramble on about nothing.

Anyway. Life since May 16th.

After seeing Episode II at midnight, we had our usual last-minute scramble to get Con stuff ready (my fault this time), slept for a couple hours, and took off for the airport. Vegas was fantastic, and it was a really great con. So wonderful to see everyone again, and the con was just so-- mellow. Everyone was relaxed and happy, no tension in the air, just a bunch of people coming together and having a good time. Dunc's got a bunch of great pics on her blog at http://www.undermine.net/tracy and Yav just posted some too, but I haven't got the link handy. The flight(s) home were a total nightmare-- well, not the flights themselves really, they were fine, but the stuff before and between. Long, nasty story, and I won't bore you with the gory details.

We came back to MIT, I packed, took my 7.27 final, packed some more, and then got on another plane to go home. We watched Sean graduate in record time-- the entire ceremony, for all 300+ grads, was only an hour. Saw Lindsay and William at the ceremony, also saw Rachel Brickman and Ben Morris, but from a distance. Lindsay and Rogue and I hung out on Saturday. Fun to catch up. :) Mom and Dad took Rogue and me to Ruth's Chris on Sunday, after Sean and Grandma & Grandpa had left. Mmmmmmm, sooooo gooooooooood....

It was nice to relax and do nothing in the week and a half I had before starting work. I took care of some minor stuff in the room (gluing drawer back together, laundry, etc), but mostly just crocheted and watched movies. Empty time is nice sometimes.

I started my summer job (internship at Enanta Pharmeceuticals) last Monday. It's been awesome so far; my project is really interesting and my boss is really nice. :) And my work computer is hooked up to the Internet (although it really hates MIT webmail). Only thing I really don't like is the commute on the bus-- the bus is fine, and the commute's not long, but ugh, lots of sketchy people on public transportation.

I'm being CRB rep for Assassins, and last night was the first night of auditions. It's really funny; I think I learned more about how to audition in that one night of watching 8 people than in almost 3 years of auditioning for shows myself. Second night of auditions tonight; Steeeeeeeve and thedan should be auditioning, so I have lots of auditionees to hug. :)

Since I'm not doing a show this summer, I'm planning to skate a lot-- BU has cheap ice time starting in July, and I have a coach for the summer. Yay! Maybe I can learn an axel. Maybe. But just being coached again, to have someone correcting my little mistakes that have only gotten worse in the three years since high school, will be wonderful. And Heather's really nice.

OK, I should actually be working, so there's enough of an update for now. I doubt anyone's read this far, anyway. ;-)

Awwwww yeah. Bio department dinner was tonight. Free food at the faculty club. :-D I had two pieces of chocolate cake. Got to spend some QT with Ali and Margaret, who I never ever see anymore. At least Ali and I will have a class together next semester. Maybe then I'll actually *work* on my classes! (Novel idea, eh?)

The Logs came and sang for us. I firmly believe that "All the Small Things" is the best, most appropriate song they'll ever sing. I get an idiotic smile on my face whenever I hear them sing it.

As we went around the room and all the seniors talked about their memories of course 7 and what they were going to do next year, I found myself thinking about what I'll say a year from now, when I'm one of those seniors. And honestly, I have no idea. I don't know where I'll be, besides 'somewhere in California', and I really hope that I'll get to make some fun memories next year. I wish course 7 had more of a sense of community-- it's almost enough to make me want to be a 7.02 TA. Except that there's so much else I want to do next fall, and I just don't think I'll have the time. Well, maybe I can do it in the spring. We'll see.

I got back my BEH.109 module 2 report today, finally. I did really well; amazingly well, actually, for having written the damn thing in a marathon 20-hour allnighter. Funny, the one thing they specifically commented that I should include in the rewrite was something I had consciously left out of the paper because I didn't understand the reasoning behind it. I could have included Thomas's calculations in my paper and BSed their explanations, and they'd never have known that I didn't have the foggiest clue what I was talking about.

I wish they would give you credit for being honest and admitting you don't know something, instead of pretending you do.