I Hate Airports In General But The Free Wireless is Helping

Happy Thanksgiving buddies! And I'm sorry I haven't been better about posting. It will be my December resolution to get my ass in gear and start commenting and writing more.

Life in St. Louis has been crazy, ultra, mega busy. It seemed like September went on for six thousand years and then I blinked and suddenly it's almost the new year. I'm trying to remember some October highlights.

A big thing that happened was that an experiment I'd been working on forever started working; and with it's working came the promise of collaboration with Pfizer, big papers for my boss and lots and lots of grant money. Also lots more work and stress for me. I'm taking it in stride, mostly, though now instead of trying to fill the hours between 9 and 5, I'm trying to plan my days so I can leave before the grocery store closes at 9.

My boss, Mary, and I are also becoming really good friends. We really seem to balance each other out and I think we make a good team. I can't tell you what a difference having a great boss makes. I just sent her a text message to the effect of, "I would hate this lab except that I love coming to work because I know we're going to sit around for two hours hiding from A. watching hilarious videos on youtube." I know, I know, you wouldn't think we would be that productive at all except that all that time spent fucking around on the internet has bonded me to her in such a way that I'm very motivated to be efficient at the bench. It's a weird relationship.

Speaking of bonding, I'm getting pretty attached to St. Louis. Even though there are things about the city that bother me, I am definitely coming to appreciate it for what it is; not Chicago; not the East Coast but a nevertheless beautiful place with pockets of culture and art, food and parks; and a really kickin' intellectual scene. In some ways it reminds me of Richmond. If you don't look, you won't find reasons to love it. It also helps that I've finally found a niche for myself in a really wonderful group of friends. I'm planning on moving in with two of them; into a much, much nicer apartment next year (wood floors! enormous kitchen! cabinetry! free espresso bar! (but not really because the rent is astronomical)). Last weekend we had a raucous birthday weekend for my two buddies, Erin and Ben, and I realized that these folks are making the place for me. Which I appreciate, given how miserable I was here for a long time, a lot.

Anyway, I was just in Bloomington a few days ago with Janna, Abby, Zeina and Mary Trinh. Even though I have a life that I like in STL, it was still nice to see some Earlham folks, hear some beautiful music (we saw the Magic Flute at the IU Jacob's school) and be reminded of how formative and important my semester in Vienna was for me. Let's see...we also went to the amazing Bloomington farmer's market and picked up fresh pumpkin bread and kale and apples and made a rockstar breakfast for Abby and her roomies. In the afternoon we watched a German WWII flick about Jewish lesbians (we've got a nack for picking these things out. I wonder why). It was a quick trip, I came back to STL on Sunday morning-ish. Now I'm headed to Chapel Hill for Thanksgiving. My parents and grandmother are picking me up at the airport and then we're getting 30 pounds of raw oysters for the famous Godwin-family Thanksgiving tradition: oysters in butter and champagne and bourbon for dessert. Other than that, I'll try and hang out with my brother a bit. He's already planning on taking me to the liquor store with his debit card and my ID. Oh, frat boys.

Alright, I'm headed to Starbucks to get one of those amazingly caloric and delicious pumpkin spice lattes. If I have to sit here...heh.

I love you guys so much and I think of you so often. I'm really grateful to have such wonderful friends.

November update

Pirates vs. Tsunamis has been the theme of my life lately, culminating in a presentation of the same name last week. School work is keeping my time occupied, but I've still found time to hike with my friends Lauren and Trevor (he's Lauren's bf, visits a lot from his school in california) and hit various bars with buddies. Mark and I broke up recently, sort of a mutual thing. We realized that after nearly six months of dating, we've gotten to a place where we're great friends, but not like we're soul mates and perfect for each other, and like it just wasn't going anywhere. We still hang out, but with a lot less of the sleeping together thing, lol. He's the best friend I have in Austin, and this is the best thing to do for now.

I just got back from Tuscon AZ, where I met up with my whole family for my grandpa's memorial service. It was an upsetting couple days (I learned that he killed himself, three years to the day my grandma died, in the canyon we scattered her ashes). But it was wonderful to see all my cousins, and to have everyone there, remembering him together. We stayed in cabins in Madera Canyon (Jess,your parents have been there for the great birding) and had a great time hiking, catching up, playing cards, drinking the remainder of my grandpa's liquor and beer stash (the aunts and uncles took all the good wine!) and having spirited discussions about eugenics, human evolution, science ethics, vegetarianism, crochet vs knitting, and many other things. My cousins are pretty much the coolest people I know. It was a hard weekend, but also came with a sense of rejuvenation and a clearer sense of what is important to me right now.

Purple pants..

Well as some of you know the holy grail of my weight loss epic has long been my beloved PURPLE PANTS.. they fit me in the bygone days of high school but never again since.. until now!! All of my co-workers are teeeeeeeny tiny and their eating habits combined with really enjoying running and working hard at work have gotten me back into my faaaaabulous purple pants. Now I just gotta keep going in my running and I'll be ready for that half- or full marathon in the spring!


Life overall is wonderful. I love my job and my co-workers and Port Townsend. A few of us are even considering asking to stay an extra year at the Marine Science Center. If I didn't do that I'm not sure what I'd want to do... it might be nice to do another AmeriCorps position and pay off another good chunk of my loans while covered by health care. I know I'm not ready for grad school next year so it feel really right to not be applying right now.

The only sour part of my life right now? I miss you guys! Emily, I do believe you have dropped off the face of the planet.

tell me about your lives!
love you all!