Frenetic

I'm feeling a trifle busy these days. This past week, there was a two-day intensive workshop on an area of biological theory that's complex yet fascinating: several brilliant biologists flew in from out of town to converse on the subject (multilevel selection theory), and I felt like I was able to make many connections between different ideas. A lot of the connections are still on an intuitive level, so I can't quite explain them without doing a lot of back-explaining. And I don't really have time for that right now. Heh.

Along with the workshop, one of "my" undergrads has started her second series of intensive behavioral observations of leafcutter ant colonies: five days of ten hours of observations per day. Everyone in the lab is pitching in to help out, and this morning I'll take a five-hour shift so L gets a bit of a break.

I took yesterday off so that instead I could ride my bike to the Downtown Phoenix Public Market with some friends. Among other things, I bought two small tomato plants and a beautiful bunch of rainbow beets, but the award for most awesome purchase goes to sblat for the purchase of a goose egg. They don't make goose-egg cartons, though: they gave her the egg in a styrofoam cup. We'd brought the trailer for ease of plant transport, so we were able to snuggle the egg into a cushy spot to ensure its survival. We also enjoyed a most delicious breakfast at Matt's Big Breakfast--one of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten, perhaps THE best.

In the afternoon, I hosted a backyard Crafternoon so I could get at least one of my myriad projects done (a long-overdue wedding gift) AND spend time with my friends. It was a perfect day to be crafty in the back yard, and everyone had a great time working on some incredibly creative projects. While crafting, I also twice-roasted some beets (mmmmm) and baked a chocolate cake in my giant cupcake cake pan. That cake pan produces an extremely adorable cake, if I may say so myself. If I remember to bring my camera home, I'll even take a picture of it.

And then there are the dinner parties: on Friday night, my ceramics instructor hosted a party at her house, where we enjoyed some utterly delicious foods (the brie and roasted figs were a definite winner, though it was hard to choose). Last night, a newlywed graduate student couple held an informal wedding party, which was also quite lovely up until I couldn't handle being around other people anymore. I enjoy solitude.

So. This morning I'll watch ants, and then I'll meet up with a high school friend who I haven't seen since graduation. I seem to be having a lot of reunions with old friends recently. If I'm lucky, I'll then have time to go to the grocery store. I can only hope.