My email signature for yesterday: "Homework due day and pay day countdown: when one door closes another sure opens." ;-P you know what I meant~
Had class this morning, the last lecture on the experimental part for the "Physics for the LHC" course: well since the professor's office is across the door from mine I would not say I'd miss him.
12 days to go till the end of the quarter.
During which I needa finish one hw set, 3 project papers, 2 ppt presentations and 1 poster presentation. Oh yeah we still have one more week of class. and my RA duties.
But of course I am the forever cheerful-when-there-is-nothing-to-cheer-about-self-deprecating-jokes-would-always-work kinda girl, so I actually find my days filled with fun.
Here are some snapshots:
Monday, Physics for the LHC lecture.
Prof.: we are going to have a mid-term this Friday.(Apparently he was joking, and the class was fully aware of the fact that he was joking, and he was fully aware of the fact that the class was aware that he was joking.)
Iris (genuinely stunned and frightened): what?@!!
(silence for 2 seconds; all eyes on Iris; all laughing at Iris...)
Prof.: okay we are going to have a mid-term on Friday, for Iris ONLY.
Friday, Physics for the LHC lecture.
Up on one side of the blackboard, a dreadfully long problem titled: "Midterm exam: for Iris ONLY".
Prof.: Okay while Iris works on her mid-term, we can go on learning about SUSY (super-symmetry).
Iris: (WHAT THE ............ignored the problem ,listened to the lecture)
In the midst of the lecture.
Prof.: Iris, how's the mid-term?
Iris: oh, my SUSY partner is working on it.
(silence for 3 seconds; all eyes on Iris; all laughing...and thinking how "ultra-clever" this gal is)
After class.
Iris (talking to pal): would the Prof. fail me after my remark?
Pal: no don't worry； his SUSY partner would fail your SUSY partner.
Iris: ...................................
Well aside from a hard-ware experiment/research course, the other two courses I'm taking this quarter are, Physics for the LHC and Particle Physics. (talk about being 100% HEP this quarter?) And apparently both demand a final project paper plus presentation.
Iris (talking to Pal No.2): would it be possible if I write the same paper for both courses...
Pal 2.0: well I guess no because C*** (instructor for one of the courses) and his wife (instructor for the other course) are married?
Iris: needa amend the Sixth Amendment---no double-jeopardy attached here!
Anyway, I guess I've wandered far enough away from the title of this blog.
Another perfect Friday.
Had class this morning.
Lunch time. Called two Chicago Anthro stores trying to locate the Hinterland dress.
First store.
The lady apparently did not know the Hinterland dress. And neither of us thought of getting the item No.
SA: would you please describe the dress?
Iris: well it is a faux-wrap dress, flowery prints on white cotton material. It's not been out for long but it's already sold out online...it's really pretty...(I was one step away from saying Roxy and Chrissy and all the other lovelies from the blogger world had just reviewed it) oh oh let me give you the official description "Golden tulips and amethyst irises grow wild on pieced and pleated cotton sateen..."
(Iris burst out laughing: obviously she found this "poetic" description funny)
SA (thinking she got a crazy customer on the other end): no we do not have the dress.
Second store.
The SA asked for the item number (that's called "professional") and a size2 was happily placed on hold for me.
Iris (to office mate): I located the dress! It would be mine!
Office mate: okay...?
Iris: I really thought I missed it. Oh I was about to call store after store till I find it. And I found it here in one of the Chicago stores!
Office mate: okay...? (slowly turning his chair/head away)
Iris: shouldn't you say sth. other than okay at this moment for my effort trying to locate the dress and being able to locate one at last?
Office mate: okay...?
Iris: shouldn't you say "congratulations"? !!!
Office mate: okay...? CONGRATULATIONS!
(one more remark from Iris the very brilliant *** who believes the Higgs would soon be changed into his name, as particles are always named by the ones who find them, would be going nutter than the can of cashews on Iris's table.)
Iris: Thanks! Wanna some cashews?
Leaving a very dazzled office mate, I went shopping.
And the rest is history.
I often takes pride in myself being a physicist+shopaholic (when the Prof. talked about black holes this morning, my immediate reaction was: hey that's my shopping wishlist, i.e. nothing escapes and it is never full): how can you make shopping into a science? How to study the properties of a store, combining its sale cycles (including extra discounts and second mark-downs), popularity of a certain item, necessity of getting the item etc. to decide when and where and what is the most optimal combination to score an item? How to analyze the lay-out of all the shopping destinations on Mich.Ave (and beyond: like Anthro's on State Street), store locations, expected time spent in a store, likelihood of purchase in a store, expected spending at a store, capped budget and all the others, and get the most time/energy/cost efficient itinerary to hit all the stores in mind and come out with the best purchases the limited amount of dough can buy? And there's the art of "passive & active selection", sth. I'll not mumble on here.
Anyway, Iris the physicist/shopaholic spent 5 hrs shopping downtown today and came back with the following.
From Benetton: a white shirt(size xs) and an umbrella, both 50% off
From White House Black Market: the Nautical Striped Chain SS jacket (size4), White Short with Striped Belt (size2), Starfish Jean Belt(size xs); all on sale about 50% off, extra 5% off with WHBM card, extra $25 off $125 with coupon, and extra $20 gift card earned.
From Ann Taylor Loft: khaki colored cotton&linen blend dress with sash, $79.5 original price, and I brought the final size0 (my size in Ann Taylor/LOFT) for $9.8 after tax.
From Bloomingdale: an Anne Klein dress, $148 original price, marked down to $96, extra 40% off sale today, and extra 20% off with coupon ->$50 after tax.
From Anthropologie: well the Hinterland dress, the size2 fits really well (I am amazed to see the curves my body displays wrapped in this dress: I'm 6' tall and I'll not reveal my weight but I am a size0/2 ) I love the prints and the length is ideal: just a few inches above my knees so the back slit would not cause me extra worry (why wouldn't Ann Taylor make her dresses just a bit longer, and a more defined waist pls pls pls?)
And all the extras: skincare from Clinique and Origins, a purchase from VS, and two bargain books from Borders (both politics related: yes, physics, fashion, and all the politics/crime/warfare/law related stuff, the three passions of my life.)
And made some quick returns here and there. And read through this June issue of Vogue at Borders: frankly fairly disappointed, a rather thin and unsubstantial issue; I checked twice to see if there were chunks of pages missing.
Gotta go to bed now. Will sleep in tomorrow and start on one of my final project papers.
Thinking about watching a war-related movie for Memorial Day. "Flags of Our Fathers" seems to be a good choice for now. I should read the book this summer.
Iris, fighting the end-of-quarter Battle of Iwo Jima with foreseeable casualties of free time.
God bless all.
