*I re-developed an old lab ritual I did last summer: sending out a weekly email summarizing stuff I'd be doing. The senior scientists and Dr. C don't mind and they think it's a good idea. I certainly want to minimize errors from mistakes I or they can catch with pre-planning, so I like this.

*I Talked to people, got the friday situation resolved, and found out people were sympathetic. After two years here I wouldn't be to me, but they do have it right that there's a lot of circumstantial stuff I was dealing with. And only Dr. C knows about their being a death recently. There was an awful lot of them meeting in one another's offices, but I'll choose to assume that was coincidence/not about me.

*I got a very long email from one of my assistants. She's quitting the project. She has major concerns about allergens and parasites and cleanliness issues. I respect and understand that, especially based on what she mentioned about allergen sensitivity of those she lives with.

*I went through old applications and found the next best candidate, Kaitlyn. She was the potentially too attractive candidate that wore a mini-skirt to the interview. I may have some problems with Rachel, my other assistant, adjusting her schedule to accomodate Kaitlyn's, but I'm hoping it'll work.

*I got a very, very long email from an abnormal psych student who had to get a 0/50 on the last exam. She would have basically failed the course even if she got a 50/50. I sympathize with the whole getting mono then getting depressed from it, and that snowballing into overwhelming anxiety during the subsequent year. That she's been asleep for only 10 hours since last tuesday is troubling. And her sleep patterns are a lot like Scott's were: up for several days, down for several days. So I recommended a bunch of stuff.

*A strange-looking woman with dyed red hair and what looked like a faux costume smiled at me for no reason today. I waved back. One of these days I will respond to friendly gestures with something other than my automatic scowl or silent confusion.

*I talked with Mr. S about his HIP variant. He'd just done one subject for a grant. So Drew was mistaken. He seemed happy we wanted to use the variant. I think mostly because he expected our meeting to take way longer. I'll take what I can get.

*I wrote a very carefully worded email to the Cold War colleague, who inquired about my meeting with Dr. C's collaborator who came in to give a talk. The guy invited me down to UNC and to help analyze data. I told her I hadn't firmly set anything down "due to the concern you had with my encroaching on your work or contacts." And some walking-on-eggshells faux submissiveness thereafter. Really I just need her expertise in getting an initial grip on neuroimaging. After that I could care less how encroached she feels. No one owns their techniques, and certainly not within the same lab. So hopefully I can dance this game of swords and keep her ego appeased. If not, I know for a fact Dr. C will quickly put her in line if he knew what I know. I'd rather keep up the appearance of well-meaning subordinate to her, though. It gives me an advantage. This is ridiculous but then I didn't decide to suddenly get all weird.

*I met with Kris O. on at least 4 occasions. The abnormal psych prof I TA for is her intro psych prof. He gave only her access to downloading roster scores and submitting final grades. Yeah, we have no idea why. So we've been coordinating to get final grades submitted for the abnormal psych students. Trouble is, you need a final curve to assign final grades. And that was supposed to come this morning. Then early in the afternoon. And finally it came when she was gone. I could've gotten it from him while she was still there, but he wanted to check things over once. No complaint about that, it's just the whole thing is kinda absurd.

*Along with the above, I met the prof in his office to deal with the issue of the very, very long email girl (see above), 6 mysterious students, and what to do about the two students taking incompletes. And a partridge in a pear tree.

The very, very long email person got her response about a much shorter email she wrote asking for an incomplete (i.e., wouldn't happen). Several hours later she went on to write said very, very long email.

I offered to help the two students with incompletes take their exams over the summer. One of them is Katie. Yes. That Katie. I've been debatting whether there is sufficient conflict of interest for me to report my friendship (?) with her. I wouldn't ever help her cheat, but I still wonder if telling the prof is appropriate without compromising my privacy.

And as for the 6 students, I noticed while meeting with Kris that they all were borderline F kids. One had the lowest D possible. I surmissed they just didn't bother showing up. The prof thought this was a really good insight.

So that took care of the odd cases, and got me one step closer to being done with being a TA for (quite likely) the rest of my life.

*I worked on my presentation for a national conference in two weeks. Damn that thought is vaguely sorta scary. Mostly I'm worried about getting my suit jacket tailored. Oh fuck, and reserving a taxi at the airport so I don't have to sell a white child into slavery to pay for taxi service to my hotel.

*I had thai noodles at Noodles with about 1/4 a container of Sriracha sauce. Liquid. Red. Crack. And just what I needed.

*I wrote some for the game project, then in this diary.

*I went to bed.

- - -

I want hot nacho cheese sauce and blue cornflower chips all the sudden. I'll opt for floss.

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