So I got this job last week, working for a company that sells telescopes. It's an admin position, and I have zero admin experience, but I like astronomy and have a couple of telescopes, so they hired me. It's about a 35% pay cut from my restaurant job, but I get to wear nice clothes and don't come home smelling like burnt garlic and get to leave ( Read more... )

Two good things ( Read more... )

I was in the thrift store a while ago, trying to find jeans (no luck, if you were curious). The thrift store always has the easy listening station playing on the radio, so while I was fruitlessly flipping through racks of denim I had to listen to the mild-mannered, middle-aged DJ going on about this study, which Mr. DJ found "shocking". He was of ( Read more... )

( Books )

I did the first workout in a Couch to 5k program tonight. It felt awesome. It was a gorgeous, clear, starry night, and I could see Jupiter shining brightly in the east, so when I got home I took my telescope outside and had a look. I could see three of its moons, and two clear cloud bands. Four hours later I checked it again and could see 4 moons. ( Read more... )

These are the books I read in 2011. Much lower number than in 2010 -- I had trouble finding English books in BKK. Major thanks to wiscck for sending me a big box of books when my complaining got to be too much ( Read more... )

My friend Cristina is very slowly making her way through the Harry Potter books. Yesterday she sent me this text:

Bellatrix kills Sirius with a shot/spell to the chest!

I can't wait till she reads Half Blood PrinceNB: If I spoiled you, I'm sorry, but the book came out 8 years ago, and the movie 4. Even Cristina, who's a major spoiler-phobe, knew ( Read more... )

Back in Vancouver. Just a few thoughts:

1. Holy fuck it's cold. And the air is so dry! It's awful.

2. Korean Air, despite what you may have read about them in Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, is a very nice airline. They give you free booze in economy ( Read more... )

So after I wrote my last post we went out for Mexican food and then went to a bar here that is rapidly becoming our Cheers or McLaren's. The bartenders gave me a drink with a sparkler in it and Scott was thoroughly trounced at chess by a computer engineer from Israel. When we went back to our bungalow around midnight we found it had been broken ( Read more... )

It's my birthdaaaaaay! I went scuba diving and my dive master was named Tintin. Scott rented a motorbike and toured around the island and now he's really sunburnt but he didn't crash or hurt himself in any other way so I can stop fretting about him. Tonight there's a full moon party at a bar near our bungalow. We'll drink buckets and go to the ( Read more... )