well, as it turns out, i begin my way towards a DrPH this fall…..which means my pledge to never return to school was just one big fat lie.

Houston, Texas: 9:28am May 14, 2003

in my little windowless cubicle at work, nibbling at a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, cilantro and pico de gallo and listening to the “About a Boy” soundtrack on my headphones. without my headphones, all i hear are people typing softly on keyboards and the occasional cough.

like most days lately, I’m staring at piles of work waiting for my attention…..work that’s mostly meaningless, uninspiring, and only reminds me of how small my daily world has become. and, like most days lately, i spend my free time pouring over rtw travelogues and lonelyplanet to fuel my dreams of leaving all this behind for a while to explore the world. on my drive to work this morning, i started to brainstorm places i could get part-time work on the weekends to help fund my trip.

my computer monitor cycles photographs of places i want to visit….Paris, Stockholm, London, Bruges, Budapest, Bangkok, Saigon, Kakadu National Park, Barrier Reef, Edinburgh, Ulaan Baatar, Beijing, the Trans-Siberian/Mongolian Railroad, Posnan, Moscow, etc., etc. my only consolation for being in this office is that forecasters predict that the heat index for houston would reach 100 degrees today.

i actually wouldn’t mind geting laid off. too bad that almost never happens to state employees.

in other news,

renegade democratic texas legislators hunted by state police made their stand against a republican congressional redistricting plan and holed up in a hotel across the border in oklahoma on tuesday….

so, last friday we were forced to attend a full-day, mind blowingly dull seminar held by the office of protocol research & quality assurance. nine straight hours of mini-lectures on the history of research, informed consents, source documentation, audits, and what to do if the FDA comes a-knockin’ on our doors. yeah. it was an exercise in maintaining consciousness.

anyways, one nice thing about boring lectures is the opportunity for doodles. some of my favorite doodles were borne out of sheer boredom during classes like quantitative research methods, biostatistics, greek mythology, and western european history. inorganic chemistry was definitely a doodle class - not only because i was bored, but because i had no fucking idea what was going on. needless to say, i did very poorly in that class. yeah, not very model minority of me.

ennyhoo, here are some of my doodles.

we’re about to pilot a project targeting female ex-smokers who’ve given birth within the last 180 days. it’s just as exciting as it sounds. the project is called PROJECT MOM, so i played around with some logo ideas.

doesn’t that second doodle look like the woman’s holding a fetus? it’s kinda creepy.

thinking about babies inspired this:

i think these pictures offended a few of my coworkers, including AnnoyingGirl and LoudCubicleNeighbor, since they’ve got little kids themselves. i don’t hate babies. i think alot of them are very soft and cute, and they usually smell good. so, i drew this to make up for it.

this face was supposed to look mean and scary, but it just looks like the dad from Everybody Loves Raymond.

well, there it is. a day in the life of a state employee. and for all you texas residents - this is where your tax money is going.

nothing too new and exciting to report. it’s getting humid here in htown - hell is a southeast texas summer.

i went to petco and got two new additions to the fishtank. i have a 6 gallon eclipse that used to contain four happy goldfish, until i added a red betta who promptly assassinated everyone. well, i forgave the betta and thought i’d get him some tankmates - two red claw crabs. i figured with their little claws, they’d be able to keep betta in his place. as it turns out, all they do is hide in the filtration system, which means i’ve got to open the filter everyday and scoop them out. yeah, what fun they are.

i finished reading on the road by jack kerouac. apparently, someone thought it was an amazing book. it was interesting, but turned out to be just a story about two white guys, one of them clearly manic, driving back and forth across the country. i mean, how many times can a person keep going to denver before it gets boring? once. what i really enjoyed was the alchemist by paulo coelho. what a beautiful book. after i finish a house somewhere, i want to read the rest of his books.

well, off to bed.

here it is, evidence from my frying pan incident. sorry, there’s still some oil in the pan. yuck. see the hole?? see??

a few people have asked about the fate of the pork chop - i ate it.

some nice men came by today with a new stove. it’s one of those flat ceramic/glass cooktops, and looks pretty nice. the best part is that the kitchen looks less 70’s than before….now it looks more early 80’s. it’s a step in the right direction.

my first meal on the new stove: fried pork chop.

well, it seems that better luck tomorrow is loosely based on a true story…..although justin lin says differently. (see the 03/20/03 entry)

well, i broke the stove.

seriously, it was a freak accident. i was cooking a pork chop in a 1/2 inch TFal frying pan, on medium high heat, on an electric stove. the meat was cooking nicely, so i turned around when all of a sudden i heard a piercing BRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEE sound. the cat jumped 3 feet in the air and shot out of the kitchen. i turned back around, and there was an extremely bright, white light coming from the middle of the frying pan. and i mean bright. it lit the entire kitchen like a 500watt halogen bulb. it was surreal. then, a tiny, neon white flame shot up from the frying pan, then died. when my brain finally started working again, i turned off the stove, and grabbed the frying pan to discover that it had a HUGE gaping hole in the middle. and i mean huge. i can stick my finger through it. i have no idea why or how this happened. i just know that this shit only happens to me.

anyways, the stove doesn’t work anymore.