Weekend Update!

And unfortunately, Jimmy Fallon isn't here to help me out. However! It was a great weekend here in Oxford, you should be jealous you didn't get to participate with us. Unless you did, in which case, congratulations and you're welcome.

Matt already gave a pretty good recounting of the tour guide "Pool Party Extravaganza" that he and I hosted at our apartment. Eric managed to sleep through the type A personalities fighting to be heard in the living room. I say give him 2 points. I feel like I should also add that not only were we wrapped in towels when we entered the Recreational Sports Center, but one Laura Flamm was wrapped in a stolen African blanket. And before you go all humanitarian on her ass, it was technically a stolen "South African Airlines" blanket. Tour guides never take from the needy.

Anyway, the night before the Extravaganza, I was in Hueston Woods with several members of my lab, as well as their husbands/wives/boyfriends/girlfriends (By the way, have you heard I'm single?). It was a lot of fun. I got to play with Theresa's baby (who kept giving me dead leaves; in an attempt to return the favor, I recieved my leaves back, regifted), and had a beer with Ni, my research lab mentor for the past two years. Also included was a grad student who had TA's Mike's general chemistry lab two years ago when we were sophomores. He was really cool, and backed me up when I said that all the Cubs fans I knew were rediculous. Nelson, the husband of another researcher from our lab, was the cook for the evening. According to his wife, his favorite dish is "meat with a side of meat." Needless to say, I wasn't surprised when I was served two spicy bratwurst as an appetizer. With onions. Yum. Could it get any better?

HELL YES. Next up was steak wrapped in bacon and topped with portabello mushroom. Apparently heaven is heavily wooded with a large lake and a lodge-style hotel. The steak was absolutely amazing. And to cap off the meal, an amazing cake baked by a Japanese post-doc's wife, featuring more strawberries than I've ever seen crammed into a cake. After cake, I taught Ni how to make s'mores. Apparently in China, where Ni is from, the translation of the word they use for "marshmellow" is "cotton sugar." I wonder what they call cotton candy...? Anyway, I got Ni hooked on s'mores, and then he took me back to apt212, as it was quite dark.

In other news, I beat Eric in Frisbee golf yesterday (by 6 points, not the 17-point blowout that had been suggested), though he played well, went running (partly with Eric, until he "got bored), and then woke up at 5:30 (albiet not as planned to the sound of the THX Movie Intro [i.e. Deep Note]) and went to the rec with Eric, who was made quite tired. Then I did a bunch of sciencey stuff all day at work.

Oh, this was funny/clever/I think you'll like it. At church on Sunday, there was a visiting priest from New York, and as part of his mass closing, left us with this "Irish Proverb." I liked it, and will share with you:

"As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters always point the other way."