moving on

It has been a good week.
Monday: we won our first set in volleyball! There are only two games left, so it was about time. We almost would have won the first set too, but I think we got nervous, when the numbers were 24:24. At least I did. And we could get the ball over. But we were so close!

After we went to the Honest Lawyer to celebrate Elias' birthday. He got 23. First there were all his accounting colleagues. And then they all left early (working people, you know), and then it started to pour in guys. Alex among them, which was really odd, because he was working at the chem lab counter last year, and we chatted all the time. He's a really nice guy. And then it turned out they all belong to the fraternity. I found it SO interesting! First I was trying to find out some stuff about sororities from one girl next to me. But she was slightly too drunk to make sense. And the boys too, weren't in their soberest state. But I found one dude, Kyle, who was not drinking. And we ended up chatting until 2.30 am. Their fraternity (Omega Theta Alpha) was just founded in 2002. Talking about young, eh. And they also have pledge period and rush period (nagu siis testimise periood ja rebaseaeg). The pledge period is just a few weeks though, and ends with the crazy party when they are accepted as full members. And this is one of the nights. Apparently the sorority and fraternity did it the same night, and then they had common after drinking. And so on. Very interesting.

Tuesday: one before last TAing. It was the galvanic cells and electroplating lab. I'm not a fan of this lab. First I don't understand these electrons going everywhere idea, and second part is flammable. They take a penny (1 cent), which is made of copper, and then they stick it to the boiling Zn-NaCl mixture. And the Zn covers the penny, so it is silver and looks like a nickel (10 cents). Cool, yes. But it gets messed up often. One year one dude melted their penny on the hot plate. And also Zn is flammable. So if the students are not careful and get Zn somewhere, then it can start a fire later on. The first time I TAed, we had a fire between my section and Jennys section after the lab. The flames started at 2 am, and there was lots of damage... Crazy.
Anyway - we have survived this week.

Wednesday: we made the BMI Christmas party tickets. That is - Mike designed, printed and cut them, and I wrote the numbers and distributed to sellers. Exciting times!
Then I got home and felt tired and bored... I had a nap.
At 9 I decided to get something done. So I started on the promoter study thingy and ... next thing it was 7.30 am. Where did they night go, I don't know. But - I finished the figure! And made a table.

Thursday: I had 2 hours of nap and then we had the Faculty grad studies council meeting. It was great, because after I presented BMI Chrismtas party idea, they were jealous. That wow, what does BMI have, and why isn't there one big faculty party. They wanted to extend the invite to everyone, but thankfully I got out of this. It would have been too much money spent and too much organizing. And then I presented our up-coming Career Day idea, and they were also impressed. It all felt GOOD!

At 9 I went to the movies with Adam. To see Taarka (Estonian movie within the European film festival). It was a great movie. I was especially impressed with the technical part of it. The angles, the details, the sets... Often it looks very "home-knitted" with Estonian movies. But this one was awesome. But the topic - it was very heavy. I didn't know it's that heavy. It's a story about one woman in Estonian Setu community/kin. The story happened 100 years ago. It's about woman-run society, where women do everything (take care of homes, food, kids, field work, plus singing) and where men mostly drink and use women (and rape them). And how it's always the woman who is guilty when a guy should be the one to judge. Once you are fallen, it's hard to stay yourself, but you have to. Taarkas life starts from the rough point, because her dad uses up her dowry (special silver jewellary) for drinking. So she is not marryable. Then she gets pregnant. And the village does not take her as one of them. But Taarka finds her ways. She is a strong woman. She sings, so she can bring up her kids. Her singing will get her the silver eventually. And all she wants, is one guy. The guy she has been wanting since young age. And he did want her. And then, he says no. Why, I'm not sure... I didn't understand this part of the story...
Eventually she gets a real house (as opposed to living in the smoke sauna), but also the lifes cruelness doesn't leave her, and gets her through her daughter.

So it's not a happy movie... But life is not happy always either...

Friday: I worked on my paper and got lots done... And we had a symposia at work, with some real nice sandwiches. And Corona:)
And I think I found the new "victim" to take over my presidency role.

I also had a very successful chat with my supervisor - we covered the new figure and table and the discussion. So I hope on Monday I can pass it on to my co-authors. And then I can move on to the Chapter nr 3.