It's almost New Years, and it's been a long time since I've updated. I've been in limbo since the last update, not having too much to do while I wait for my supervisors to read my work, and get their comments, changes and approval back to me. One supervisor has been great, and got everything back to me a while ago. The other has been much, much slower. I am supposed to get my stuff back from him on Jan 5th (the same day that I start my new job), but I am not holding my breath. This limbo state has been very boring and frustrating, and accordingly I haven't had much to write about. These same people are chasing me up during my holidays to do unpaid work for them. I think they can get stuffed until they have done their jobs, and my thesis is back in my hands.
But it's almost over! I'll go back to being a normal person working normal 9-5 (or more accurately 8-6, then finish your writing after dinner). I am still not sure what project I am working on, but I apparently have 3 months to whip together something publishable. Blah. I am keen to get back into some cell culture, though - I have missed growing up cells. I have 100% surety that they will see me in there at midnight on weekends again, but at least I have a car to get myself there these days.
I have had a nice and relaxing Christmas break with family and friends, and after Christmas I bought a bird. I bought it yesterday, actually. It's a cockatiel (or Quarrion) called Choco
(pronounced like "Choko" the vegetable, because the other way seemed vaguely racist in an old person way). The name is a reference to the real similarity between baby cockatiels and chocobo - the birds from the Final Fantasy series. This similarity is sillustrated in Figure 1, below.
Figure 1. Illustration of similarity of baby cockatiel (left) and chocobo (right), justifying the moniker "Choco" for our new birdie.
So yeah, a new bird for us! And to finish this post, a picture of the lovely little thing. He's full of personality and has started bonding with us even after 1 day of company and me stuffing things up a few times. He's already eating out of our hands, climbing onto our fingers with the "up" command, asking for head scratches and rubbing up against our cheeks for hugs. We intend on teaching him a wide range of Mario and Zelda themes, as well as an R2D2 whistle. Then... YOUTUBE DOMINATION!
Figure 2. The newest resident of Unit 6 - Choco.
