I had a bio lab that was all about microscopy.  That probably sounds boring.  If it weren’t for the fact that I’m in the research-stream version of my cell and developmental biology class, it probably would have been.  As it happens, though, I am.  The awesome thing about being in the research stream is that you have really small classes, and Really Sweet Toys.  While the other classes have to use the crappy old microscopes, we get to use Totally Freaking Awesome microscopes.  Where they get an old jury-rigged TV setup for fluorescence microscopy, we get Real Lab Equipment.  Bliss, I tell you.  Sheer bliss.  So anyway, my lab partner and I spent a good portion of our morning geeking out over the gear.

Okay, so we were only looking at tomato leaves (and the fine hairs on the stems), but it was still pretty nice to work with microscopes that you can actually adjust properly.  Refreshing.  Also, it is rumoured that in a later lab this term, we get to remove the ovaries from a female Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as a fruit fly.  I have no idea how that’s going to work, but I’m hoping for a Honey-I-Shrunk-The-Kids sort of scenario.

In pottery news, I have a couple of pieces from last week to show off:

Jonathan immediately pointed out that the shape of the handle is reminiscent of the Pompeii mummies, so this shall henceforth be known as the Pompeii mug.  I can’t unsee it.

The interesting thing about this simple yellow cup is that I used no yellow glazes on it.  The yellow colour is actually from an interaction between two brown glazes.  It’s also (in my opinion) a nicer colour than any of the actual yellow glazes.

I learned a new skill tonight, too - I trimmed my first foot:

I’m so pleased with it that I think from now on I’ll be trimming all of my wheel-thrown pieces.  It makes such a big difference to the look of the piece.

Finally, I tried my hand at a larger bowl than any I’d attempted before.  The elbow got a bit thin, though, and it started to collapse.  I managed to collar it just enough to rescue the piece, but it’s a bit lopsided.  Still, I liked it well enough to set it aside to be trimmed next week.

Last night I became a cyborg.

Electrodes in my hair.  Awesome.  Electrode gunk not washing out in the morning shower, less awesome.  Itchy rashy bits from tape, totally not awesome.

Still, I did have this totally sweet control panel:

I don’t know what any of this stuff does (well, aside from the gloves XD), but it was right outside my room.

My phone home finger gave me awesome powers

…which I used to gain access to a massive supply of totally inadequate blankets.  Being a cyborg is chilly work.

Dragged the Reluctant Husband to a family BBQ this weekend.  Over-ate, made small talk, harassed the family doctor, watched the kids be kids, and discussed parthenogenesis in phasmids.  You know, the usual.

Highlight of the day was the noisy and prolonged destruction of the pinata:

There was also some excitement over the discovery of two spiders on neighbouring leaves of a bush.  I wasn’t able to get a good look at their backs without disturbing them, but they look to be the exceedingly common Araneus diadematus (cross spider, if you prefer) found in gardens throughout Europe and North America.

Before I decided to go back to school to be a boring biologist, I had a brief love affair with 3D modeling.  I spent a couple of years making low-poly props for a video game called Firearms:Source, based on the Half Life 2 engine.

Mostly this involved making boring stuff like sandbag walls, barbed wire and other typical war-zone obstacles.  Occasionally I got to do something interesting like a severed arm.  Incidentally,  searching Google for appropriate gore images to use as reference material for a severed limb is not something I’d recommend for the faint of heart.  My favourite models were the ones that don’t belong in any war zone:

These make me want to go back to modeling.  I have no idea what I’d do with any models I made, of course, even if I had the time to make them.

Maybe someday I can combine my affection for modeling with my interest in biology to make models of bacteria or something.  If I can find a modeling program that doesn’t suck and that works on the Mac.  Sigh.