cats

Me: I don't really like having cats.

Him: Yes, you do.

Me: No, I really don't. I *like* having dogs around. If this cat died, I would not get a replacement cat. If the dog died, I'd get another.

Him: You are the darkest form of evil I have ever encountered, I must leave the room.

processing

Still internalizing the new American reality.

Not super common knowledge, but my mom is the first gen of my family born here.

I remember government cheese, and hitting the pawnshops before birthday shopping for her man.

And this time next year, I'll be defending my doctoral dissertation in molecular microbiology.

Ultimate success of "I want my children to have a better life than I had."

And now, I wake to a New Year (shout-out fellow Cocks!) in which people have been banned from returning to their homes. Our home. Based on where they were born, or how they pray.

How do I, a somewhat broke fulltime grad student with not a lot of cash and even less free time, find a way to RESIST THIS?

friday night

this: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/07/roughly-100-fantastic-pieces-of-journalism/390318/

and this:

Loop #29 http://loopgame.co

*such* a handcramp

charybdus

circa 2003? deep sparks house.

found a stack of physical photos from ye olden times.

pebble review, one month in

a month in, I really really love the pebbletime.

1. built-in music remote works great with rdio, my streamer of choice...which is like a whole new world for listening to music in the shower. :D

2. voice replies to sms and email through my wrist is a game changer - dogwalks and driving are revolutionized by never having to pull my phone from my pocket.  also loving the ability to reply by emojii with two button clicks.

3. only one app has bricked anything...but it sure did a solid. Twebble (twitter app for pebble) had me working a hard reset workaround and uninstalling the pebble appstore...once completely uninstalled, everything has been smooth sailing and we shall never speak of it again.

4. notifications from all apps are pretty great - it really does save me battery life on the phone, never having to turn on the screen...but the flipside is that I only get about four and a half days of battery life from the watch...which is still pretty bitchin, considering what I am using the phone for all the time (several of the apps are set to update several times an hour, I use the rdio remote ten or eleven hours a day, fitness tracking is always on, etc).

5. speaking of: WatchPop may be a bit of a battery suck, but it is SO worth it. I know having my own pics as watchfaces seems like a tiny thing, but I think it is an essential part of my internal idea of what makes a watch "smart"...and the auto-slideshow to show an entire folder on rotate is genius. well-executed, definitive part of loving this watch.

6. although I am not a programmer, I had to get some API developer accounts/permissions running in order to use certain weather apps (hello, weather underground), which was a tiny bit intimidating, but also pretty interesting, seeing who has opened up their functionality to the people.

7. ready for a screen protector! am pretty hard on my stuff, and screen already has some scuffing and small scratches. nothing to affect the legibility, and I've already ordered protectors from gadgetwraps...but a little disconcerting considering the nature of the device is such that those scuffs are not from dropping it onto concrete from a height - they are from typing on a macbook (I wear my watch with the face on the inside of my wrist).

all in all - loving it, wouldn't go back to watchless (I did not wear a regular watch previous to the pebble purchase).

july tenth is The Sleep.

seconds

the cotton anniversary means t-shirts from two chicks and tour shirts tonight! >.<