meisa's lagoon

the ghost of NAMSA is back (center for nanoscience and molecular self assembly - fancy name for the building i work in). peculiar that we have a ghost so early on in the existence of the building (only 3 years old), but maybe a constuction worker died in the process of putting the building up. or maybe a grad student became disgruntled enough that they put a curse on the building - probably the more likely one, since NAMSA is full of unhappy grad students.
whenever the ghost visits, NAMSA goes weird. we start off with an eerie quiet. i guess we never notice how loud the building is, but with all those fume hoods pulling air and major control of the ventilation, it's pretty noisy in here. anyway, a strange hush envelopes the building. then all the hood alarms go off - saying, hey, don't work in here, it's not safe...we're letting all the fumes back into the lab! but then the real fun starts. we shouldn't be in the building, right?, cause all the ventilation is screwy, but the building won't let us out. huge wind gusts form in the hallways and the exit doors to the building won't open unless you have 33 grad students pushing with all their might to open them. so we can't leave, we're getting poisoned by chemicals, and then the ghost turns the heat on. so we're all sitting around sweating, breathing our death, and trapped until the ghost decides to leave. but he hasn't had all his fun yet. somedays, when the ghost is feeling particularly naughty, he backs the sewage system in the building up as well. so we're overwhelmed by the smell of the day's worth of graduate student excrement.
the good news is, that we have an excuse not to work...if only we could find a way out of the building!

Posted by Meisa at 07:09 PM | Permalink

i welcome myself back to the blogosphere. feelin' free and ready to write, i think. only the coming days will tell i suppose.
i dedicate my re-entry into blogging to the discovery center - chicago's lifelong learning center. last month i searched and searched for a place to start arabic lessons. there weren't too many options out there, but the discovery center was more than willing. once i got there and flipped through the catalog, i learned that they were also more than willing to teach classes like "learn to be a private detective and earn 6 figures a year!!", "the basics of being a dominatrix", and "learn to strip for your man". i can't imagine signing up for these classes, much less taking them in this atmosphere - an all but condemned building with stagnant water an inch high on the floor, pounding dance classes all around you, no heat, and a chalkboard that practically fell over every time it was written on. i mean, come on, if i want to learn to be a dominatrix, i need a proper chalkboard for my teacher to draw on!!!

Posted by Meisa at 06:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

you've probably noticed my lack of blogging recently. i've noticed too and have been thinking about why i haven't had anything to write about. i've decided that i have some issues with blogging - namely who is reading this and whether i think my business is their business. i installed a stat counter maybe a month or two ago, and some of the results are quite surprising to me. short of blocking IP addresses, i don't really have control over whether or not certain people read this...i guess that's the beauty of the internet for you. most of the blogs i take pleasure in reading are ones that are incredibly honest, and i find that that is usually what makes them so good, and that's what mine has been lacking recently. there have been so many posts that i've thought up, but don't want to share, because now i know who is reading and either don't want to hurt feelings, or don't think certain people need to be reading about my life.
so i bid you farewell for awhile as i think this over. i've been thinking about this entry for awhile and haven't wanted to post it. i was sure if i did, the next day, i'd come up with something i wanted to share. but it hasn't happened for awhile, and i don't see it happening in the next few weeks. so check back in a few weeks and see what's up in the lagoon - hopefully i'll be back in action. but for now, ciao!

Posted by Meisa at 04:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

i've spent a great deal of time by myself these last two weeks and there's a lot of both good and bad in that. sometimes being alone is like a reward, like a giant sigh of relief in not having to talk to or deal with anyone else. and then there are times when you get so depressed over having to eat dinner by yourself yet again, and would do anything just to be around others. for me, it's hard to tell which of these moods i'll be in. usually, i try to embrace my time alone. sunday was gorgeous here in chicago, and after spending a few hours at work, i thought to myself that i would really like to go for a walk down by the lake. but because i had no one to walk with, i headed sadly instead, back to my car. i opened my car door and just stared inside. after a few moments, i thought to myself, "no! just because no one else is here, doesn't mean you can't enjoy this rare 60 degree winter day in chicago" and instead, i wandered down the lake path for awhile and enjoyed the day and time to myself.
but for me, there's danger in spending too much time alone. i tend to turn into a bit of a hermit and start to view other people as invaders of my space (space invaders, hah!). i go back and forth from nites spent home alone where i wish and wish that andrea would come home soon, to evenings where she comes home and i become incredibly grumpy that an outsider has invaded my meisa time, which is what happened last nite. i wondered this morning why she didn't know me well enough by now to understand that i wasn't grumpy with her, but just because i'd reverted into my hermit self. but then i realized that this is really not her fault at all. i'm so unpredictable when it comes to this alone time that she really just has no way of knowing.
we'll see how things go tonite. i've been around people all day, so hopefully i won't let my hermit side show.

Posted by Meisa at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

dear knee high socks,
you are happiness in the form of footwear. your cashmere blend provides an incredible warmth, and your tight knit weave hugs my lower legs like nothing else could. i can't thank you enough for keeping my feet and calves warm and happy throughout the day. happy calves = happy meisa.
with deepest gratitude,
meisa

Posted by Meisa at 06:42 PM | Permalink

note: i don't really love martha this much. it's all become more of a joke than reality.

note II: disregard previous note. i LOVE martha. my love for her is no joke. pure admiration and respect, martha, just admiration and respect.

in her march editor's letter, margaret roach, the horribly unattractive martha replacement whose picture has been featured in every month of martha stewart living - for the love of god, martha, come back so i don't have to see her face anymore, shares with us the anticipation of spring - and MARTHA'S HOMECOMING!!!!!

"...that's the thing about martha - she is always martha...she remains ever the can-do optimist, starting letters even from prison with sentences like 'today was a pleasant day,'...martha also continues to be the most resourceful person i know. 'see what one can do with nothing?' she wrote not long ago in an upbeat letter full of anecdotes about her many adventures in creative reuse at alderson...the tales were always surprising: foraging for wild greens, such as dandelion, on the prison property to augment the limited fresh vegetable offerings in the diet there...cooking up impromptu recipes in the microwave with whatever very basic ingredients the commissary had for sale..."

oh martha, no more dandelions and microwave fishsticks. soon it will be foie gras and lemon tarragon chicken for you.

Posted by Meisa at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)