Socks and Fall Weather
I’ve honestly talked a big talk over the week about sock wars, but I know for sure that I’m probably gonna get eliminated in the first week. I’ve never been super good at these types of games.
Just as I suspected, I was eliminated very early last week during the sock war. By “very early,” I mean literally within 24 hours of the game starting. Monday was a holiday (Canadian Thanksgiving), and Alex had sent an open invite to the lab Slack for a (late) Thanksgiving lunch. By this point, I knew that I had him as my target. Through a combination of laziness and thinking that a holiday would be a pretty shitty day to sock someone, I went sockless and safety-item less to the lunch; hoping that the other attendees would think the same.
When I had arrived, Alex was understandably shifty. I assured him that I wasn’t going to sock him (technically I didn’t lie and say that he wasn’t my target), but that didn’t stop him from being suspicious any time when my hands weren’t visible. We enjoyed a nice meal, and made our way to a coffee shop, where Arthur mentioned he would be joining us. Along the way, Alex and I mused about getting a Starbucks cup 1, but we thought: “What are the odds?” This is where things began to go downhill.
We met up with Arthur a block away, and just a few minutes later, I felt someone tap my shoulder. With a sock. And with that, I was out of the game. Since I had Alex as my target, this was the perfect opportunity for Arthur to sock Alex, and of course, this would happen before the end of the day. Thus ends my saga as a sock wars player. That said, I’ve been having a bunch of fun just sticking notes and vaguely threatening messages for folks who are still in the game. I totally understand that they know that it’s me doing it, but it hasn’t stopped me at all.
Fall Weather
The weather has decidedly turned from later summer into fall over the course of the past few days. Vancouver pretty much drowned under a couple of rainstorms, and it’s really been the perfect time to stay in the lab and enjoy a coffee or tea. Alex brought in some orange pekoe and milk. I haven’t really had milk in tea 2, but he showed me how to make it and it’s not bad. I might go for it more than coffee. Brewing with a chemex is cool but it does take a bunch of time.
Research has been… chugging along, I guess. It’s hard to know if I’m doing enough since there aren’t any hard deadlines or milestones besides the rather ethereal “graduation date” of August/September 2022. That said, I think Gail and I have converged on something that we can explore for the next while. I’ve always hated explaining what my “thesis” or “research” is. As a result, I’m making a “one-pager” for my thesis topic be one of my self-imposed deliverables this week. If I feel somewhat good about it, maybe I’ll link to it in next week’s newsletter.
That’s it for now, stay dry!