14:00 today will mark the twentieth hour I have spent on one of my research projects this week. Twenty hours. I’m being paid for four, and I have time for eight if they are on Saturdays. This does not equal twelve hours during the week plus nine or eleven more on Saturday. Particularly when I have three exams I’m not ready for (plus one I am) next week. I cannot do this. Dr. M is looking into hiring someone to help me, and I shall soon be working exclusively on Saturdays. She now knows she’s not going to be able to drag me off campus for the undergrad conference next…

I’ve been in a strange mood to dance this evening. I think I completely surprised Nikolai by walking into the study room he has usurped and starting to dance to whatever oldie-but-goodie he was playing. It’s Friday, baby, and no matter that I’m studying late tonight and am in lab all day tomorrow, it’s Friday. Legend – Bob Marley and the Wailers. Could you be loved? Don’t let them fool ya. Hell, Bob Marley gets two mentions. Cuz I don’t wanna wait in vain for […] love. Although the waiting feel is fine. Naked and True – Randy Crawford. That king’s horses and his men are so damned incompetent. Everyone…

I just got a personal “atta girl” for the article I wrote for the paper this week. Dr. W is rapidly becoming one of the coolest profs on campus in my book.

Reese’s cup #3, 23:30: Thorn finished and submitted and the office cleared out for my people-quiet, music-loud, quality alone time with my Discrete and Combinatorial Algebra book. However long it takes, baby. Oh, yeah.

Reese’s cup #2, 15:30: Completion of the first draft of The Kernel, the monthly technology newsletter published by my third employer. I must have looked like some kind of shit today, because after the Chemistry Safety Seminar, Dr. M said, “Let’s cancel the [weekly research] meeting tomorrow morning. You look tired; sleep in. I’ll see you Saturday morning anyway.” So now I have a nice, large block of time in the morning to learn some discrete math. Not five minutes later, I ran into the Cool CS Guy, who also remarked on my apparently evident fatigue. I mentioned I’d been struggling with homework, and he offered to hang with me…