#computer
Didn't sleep that well so I stayed in bed until 8:45 ish (relatively early these last few weeks). Made breakfast: a loose and big sandwich of fried eggs, turkey deli meat, lettuce, and TJ's garlic aioli mustard; made some coffee; tried to go to Dr. Boudewyn's office hours, but she wasn't present. I thought she had already finished her office hours. It turns out (she mentioned this in seminar) her Zoom rooms are just a game of whack-a-mole. Scrambled to pack up around 12:25, and then headed out ASAP. MatLab Thursday lectures are over Zoom, so I took it in the conference room of the CaT Lab (Dr. Manago yesterday encouraged us RAs to relax in the lab room between lectures, so... :-) ). I'm glad I did, because I volunteered as script-writer. I had some problems understanding the loop, but we made it through and completed about 80% of the groupwork script. I think MatLab might be my favorite programming experience so far. Loops still worry me, but mostly because I know I need to spend a good few minutes working them out — I can't do them in a one-shot write-up. And so time is always the pressing factor.
After that I swung by Brainwaves seminar, tried to absorb as much of the experiment reviews as possible, and near the end of class talked with Cat and Crawford about how to use the N400 component (see seminar notes). Boy, you know — if I had any doubts about being gay, seeing a young man's teeny tiny crow's feet, blonde scruff, and lankier build close up obliterated them. (Now I remember: I was going to add those observations to my Bluesky men thread. I'm more embarrassed I didn't get around to doing that than the ocular indulgences. I'll have to write down my computer tasks on good old paper.) Talked with Dr. Boudewyn about office hours logistics and the last reading after class, and headed back to the CaT Lab. I scribbled some stuff on the whiteboard and read the poster, and honestly lounged for another 35 or 40 minutes in there waiting for my old roommates to text back with their dinner availability. Around 6:45 I just called it quits, told them I'd be available tomorrow, and headed back to Scotts Valley. Got a little frustrated on the drive back after I missed my exit, but no danger; just a little speeding. (This is one I'm properly embarrassed of.) Got back around 7:35pm. Since I didn't defrost my chicken thighs, I just busted out the Trader Joe's kimbap, defrosted my last piece of salmon, and had a small head of broccoli real quick instead. Typed up some more CaT Lab notes into the Discord and wound down for the night.
Yesterday Wednesday was easily the highlight of the week, albeit tiring. I had my meeting with Emily and Dr. Manago to plumb out the rest of the research question. To be honest I was a little spacey (not scatterbrained... implies loaded working memory... didn't eat eggs for breakfast yesterday... low choline?) I found it difficult to keep up, even with my computer and handwritten notes, and just tried to absorb as much info as possible. Funny enough the discussion tapered off about 45 minutes in, and we had some bonus time to talk about grad school. I'm really considering it. I won't get much money, and honestly I'm not sure how much money I'll get in industry after — but I've come this far with too much research and learning in my head to just give it up.