Wedding #3

Ok, before I lose all steam, here's Wedding #3 from 2013!  My college roommate (the other college roommate...not the one whose brother I'm dating) got married in StL right after Christmas.  I was super excited leading up to this one because of the venues.  Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted to see my friend so happy, but The Church!  The Chase!  Despite living in StL for several years including college, I had never been to a wedding at the College Church (listed among the most beautiful college campuses for a wedding!).  I'm sure I'm biased by all the great memories in this church (though to be fair there are some sad ones too) and the fantastic choirs, but this is hands-down my favorite church.  It's just exquisite.  The reception was held at the Chase, a very fancy, historic hotel not far from campus.  We used to go see movies there in college because that's right, there's a theater in the hotel.  The reception was on the top floor, with a lovely view of the city.  The hotel block for the wedding was at the same place, and between the off-season timing and the wedding block it was shockingly affordable.

Now I knew this wedding was going to be fancy.  The bride has by far the most elevated taste of all my friends, not to mention she's the most meticulous planner I know.  Let's say I wasn't disappointed by this wedding.  Not only was there a dress change during the reception, there was a hairstyle change between the ceremony and the reception.  Her dad is Chinese, so during the reception she changed out of her American-style, traditional white gown into a red gown, as red is the traditional color for Chinese weddings.  When I'd heard beforehand that she was going to change her hair before the reception, I assumed this meant something like up versus down, or changing to a more sturdy style for dancing.  What I never dreamed this meant was a new hair cut and color!  In less than 2 hours too!

Dinner was also super fancy...we were highly entertained by the number of glasses with the place settings.  It wasn't difficult to figure out what they all were (water, white wine glass, red wine glass, and champagne flute), but my goodness!  Add to that the fact that most people got to the table with their last drink from the cocktail hour in hand and I had nearly as many glasses as I use in a week in front of me at once.  A raspberry sorbet palate cleanser was served between the salad and the entree.  I've watched enough Top Chef to know what a palate cleanser is, but I'd certainly never been served one before!  When the chargers were cleared from the table before we expected there was a puzzled conversation as to the purpose of chargers that never got resolved, even after consulting with Boyfriend's (and college roommate's) very ladylike southern mother.

While this was a much fancier wedding than I'd ever come up with, I have to say it may be the first where there isn't anything I'd critique!  Everything was incredibly well organized and just so elegant.  I know I've talked about how fancy everything was, but really the best part was the gigantic smile on the bride's face.  It's the sort of smile that makes me weepy-happy. :)

Blurry roommates!

With the college-roommate-whose-brother-I'm-dating and our fellas

That sums up the 2013 year in weddings.  I don't know of any yet for 2014, but it's hard to imagine that won't change...

Wedding #2

Before I lose interest in blogging again I wanted to post about Weddings #2 and #3 that I mentioned when I blogged about Wedding #1 - Amy's wedding last summer in Massachusetts.

Wedding #2 was that of my other Amy - a dear friend from college.  She got married on a warm October Saturday in Cincinnati.  I made this trip by myself, since Boyfriend wouldn't know anybody else there.  Amy looked gorgeous, and the wedding was loads of fun.  There were several small children at the reception who totally tore up the dance floor.  There was a kids activity table with a basket of games and little activities for them - which I thought was a fabulous idea - but they were all far more interested in the dance floor, with and without any adults.  The other fabulous aspect of the reception was the alternative wedding dessert.  Instead of a cake there was a brownie bar!  Amy's mom made a massive pile of brownies, and there was ice cream, whipped cream, sprinkles, and all sorts of goodies with which to decorate your brownie.

Amy was a fellow alto in the mass choir in college.  We spent many hours cooking and giggling.  Sometimes at the same time.  I've always loved one of the things she said about our friendship when I graduated.  Since moving apart, we may not talk terribly often, but it's the type of friendship where we can always pick up where we left off as if no time as passed.  There is always lots of news to catch up on, but there's no period of re-acquaintance if you will.  With how busy life gets I have to say I feel very lucky indeed to have such friends.  Amy is one of those friends I mean to call more often this year.

My Other Home

So I'm so behind in blogging that three months later I'm getting around to writing about going to St. Louis for Little Brother's college graduation.  It was mostly a really nice trip, and I'm always happy to go to St. Louis.  I love St. Louis.  I loved my time there.  It's such an under-rated city.  Little brother still lives there, along with Dad's side of the family, and one of my college roommates.  I can't wait to back for Wedding #3 in December!

I mostly took photos of family and graduation stuff, so not a whole lot to share, but here are a couple shots.

Ted Drewes.  Amazingness in a cup.  It's right on Route 66, and it's pretty much a St. Louis icon.  Grandpa (mom's dad, who lives in Connecticut, not dad's dad who lives in St. Louis) thought it was crowded.  The crowd that night hardly counted as a crowd.  After a Cardinals' game it's nothing short of a mob scene.  Ted Drewes is an essential stop on every trip to StL.

Those of you who have lived in mid-town St. Louis may recognize this UFO-like building.  Though you may not, as it is now far more classily (Yep, made that one up.  Standing by it.) occupied than when I was in college.  At that point it was a Del Taco.  And I never once in 4 years ate there.  It was a shady, shady place.  Now the university has bought the apartments behind it, and it's much more respectably occupied by a Starbucks and a Chipotle.  The flying saucer has come so far.

Time for a tangent.  My dorm freshman year was directly across the street from the above flying saucer, somewhat separate from the rest of campus.  The road was a really busy road, and we were just south of a large and apparently confusing intersection.  Accidents happened all the time.  The former Del Taco makes me think of one of the dumbest accidents I've ever seen, which happened right in front of it.  There's a light there, and a school bus - you know, giant, bright yellow vehicle - was stopped at the red light.  I was walking up the street towards campus when I heard a crash behind me, and I turned around to find a vehicle had rear ended the stopped school bus.  I don't really remember, but I think it was a jeep.  It's entire front end was smashed into the back of the bus.  We're not talking little fender bender from somebody creeping forward at the red light.  How do you miss the GIANT YELLOW BUS stopped in front of you??

At commencement all the faculty in their academic regalia process in before the students.  Check out the guy in the middle of the photo below.  It's Dumbledore!  Apparently he teaches at my old college - he didn't die in Book 6 after all!  After the ceremony we were chatting with a professor (actually a Jesuit priest who lived in the same dorm I did my freshman year) who was a contemporary of my parents when they were all students at this same college.  Dad asked him who Dumbledore was (literally, that's exactly what he said), and this professor thought about it for a few minutes, and said he teaches in the theology department.  On that description alone, he knew exactly who he was.  Priceless.

While in St. Louis I got to hang out with my college roommate (the bride in Wedding #3 this year - and I'm seriously excited for that wedding!), and she and her fiance just got the cutest little puppy.  He's adorable, and super photogenic.

I just love St. Louis.  Only 4 1/2 months until I get to go back!

Gustavo

As promised, here is the life story of a much loved pet fish named Gustavo.

Labor Day weekend, senior year of college, my roommate and I decided to get pet fish. So we went to PetCo, and we each got a beta fish. Angie named hers Bruce, and I named mine Gustavo.

Because our male beta fish were aggressive if they could see each other, one lived on the coffee table and one lived on the dining room table for their own safety.

Bruce had a short life, taking the trip down the toilet after only about a week with us.

Gustavo missed him, but soon had a new companion. Angie's boyfriend Tony stepped in and bought her a new fish, christened Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lee lasted several months before joining his predecessor Bruce.

After an appropriate mourning period, we welcomed Bruce Wayne into our household. He and Gustavo would be lifelong friends, despite spending the last year of their lives apart.

Upon graduation, Angie, Tony, and Bruce Wayne moved to the northwest, and Gustavo and I moved to Tucson.

For the 1500 mile journey, Gustavo's bowl was nestled into a 5 gallon bucket that sat between the bucket seats of the UHaul that my dad and I drove from St. Louis to Tucson. As it was July, it was quite hot, so every night Gustavo was snuck into the hotel. Gustavo and I were subject to quite a bit of ridicule from my father, but he was very tolerant when I insisted Gustavo come in with us.

Shortly after moving to the northwest, Angie and Tony got a pair of kittens, Cosmo and Dot. Alas, Bruce Wayne and his bowl had to move into a cupboard to be safe from the curious kittens.


All through the trials and tribulations of my first year of graduate school Gustavo was a faithful friend. When I went out of town my first semester he went over to my friend Dallas' apartment for a visit. Second semester, I left him in the care of my roommates.

In the middle of July, the summer after my first year, I noticed that Gustavo had become unusually lethargic. A few days later, on Angie's birthday actually, I came home from school to discover he had died during the day.

When my roommate Lisa got home, she instantly knew something was wrong. She kindly agreed to flush Gustavo up to heaven, as I was too squeamish to do it myself.

Bruce Wayne did not long outlive Gustavo, dying just a couple weeks later. (Actually, neither Angie or I quite remember when Bruce Wayne died. I only remember it was the same month as Gustavo, but it sounds better this way.)

And that, is the story of Gustavo the fish and his friends Bruce, Bruce Lee, and Bruce Wayne.

Wanna see my fish tank?

On the way back from Albuquerque, I noticed this sign (not my photo, unlike the Continental Divide, I didn't know this was coming to be ready to stop for it, and this really wasn't a very stop-able section of I-25):

Speeding by at 80 mph, I'll admit the only words that really caught my eye were VERY LARGE ARRAY. I'm also going to go ahead and admit that I found and still find this incredibly funny. It turns out that this is a very spiffy (and legitimate) radioastronomy site, but in my super mature mind, it just sounds SO dirty. Similar to how I imagine "protonate" sounds to my college roommate. Hey baby, wanna come and see my VERY LARGE ARRAY?

Which brings me to a couple of sort of related stories that really ought to be shared.

Freshman year of college, during welcome week, they had a seminar all about sexual health and safety - date rape and such. That's where they gave every freshman a rape whistle, which I (and many of my friends) still have actually. I went to this with a bunch of the girls from my floor, and a couple of boys from the 3rd floor of my dorm. One of these guys had gone to an all-boys, Catholic school, and was VERY conservative. Quite possibly the funniest part of the entire experience (except from the part I'm getting to, of course) was watching him squirm through the entire presentation, extraordinarily uncomfortable and embarrassed. I'm pretty sure any mention of anything related to sex would have made this guy uncomfortable, forget when sitting with a handful of girls.

Anyways, the woman giving this presentation, is trying to convince us that guys will say just about anything to get you back to their room, and that their intention is to have sex no matter how unrelated whatever they just said. The example she gave? If a guys asks you if you want to come see his fish tank, he really means, come back to my room and have sex with me. This instantly became a standing joke among the entire freshman class. You could walk through any freshman dorm, and find some variation of, "Hey baby, wanna come in and see my fish tank?" or, "Large fish tank inside," written on the dry erase board on any number of doors.

The other story is from one of my college roommates. She works on a college campus. I don't remember the exact setting, or all the details, but they were looking at sexual health videos for one reason or another. One video was to encourage condom use, and it presented a scenario in which you (a female) have gone home with a guy (whom it seems you've just met at the bar, apparently we're ignoring the poor decision you've already made), and you're trying to figure out how to tell him you want him to wear a condom. What does the video suggest you say? "I think you'd look good in ribbed."

Here's where I take a page out of my sister's book, because I don't know what to say about that besides O.M.G. I laughed hysterically over that with my officemate, and again at home with my roommates.

Why is sex so damn funny??

Seminar Notes

Yesterday I went to a seminar from a faculty candidate - we're trying to hire a biochemist and a biophysical chemist (I think there might be a third position, but I'm not sure). I'm assuming this was a candidate for the biophysical position, as he is a theoretical chemist. Not gonna lie, I don't have a whole lot of use/patience/interest for/in theoretical "chemistry." If you combine it with experimental data, ok. It has some value as support or motivation for experimental work, but in my mind means just about squat on it's own, especially when you say stuff like this:

"...transition states only a theorist could love."

"...the theory works really nifty swell."

"...which goes to show that in our country money can buy you anything, including an article in Science." [Apparently some company R&D division had an article in Science that I gather contradicted his conclusions.]

"If somebody held a gun to my head and told me to pick out the important vibrations by looking at a structure, I'd make sure my affairs were in order." [Ok, so this isn't completely absurd scientifically, but who says that?? Especially during a job talk. Actually, I'll tell you who. Somebody with a Napoleon complex who thinks he's a lot funnier than he is.]

And my favorite:

"I'm way too shy to show you these [experimental] results, but let me assure you it's working."

Seriously?? Right there you've just lost any credibility. You know it's bad news when I spend the seminar writing down the completely ridiculous stuff you say. It's like I'm back in gen chem writing down Chuck gems like, "now give yourselves a temporary partial lobotomy..."