Wow, I haven't been here in years.  Feels like visiting an old friend - who is now married and lives in a different country and has kids and doesn't like any of the same stuff and barely remembers my name.

So, the occasion: February 29!  Nobody is doing a damn thing to make this day special (it's not a holiday, not a half-day , not a weekend... it's just a few bonus dollars if you pay monthly bills but get paid hourly/daily/weekly.)
SO - to make this day special, or... more accurately, to NOT make this day special, but have some written record that I actually DID something on this rare day, I'm writing in my old Xanga Blog.  (I'd make a joke about internet dust... but no.  Meta instead.)

My life?  I can sum it up in two words: Grad School.  Yep.  That's about it.  Well, that and Christine.  My life is good, and has been mostly good for the past three years (definitely some stressful times, but they come at lesser intervals than they did in College.  Unfortunately, one is coming up very soon: I have a 30 minute research presentation to give this Wednesday, and I haven't made my slides yet.  Also, a paper of mine got rejected, so I have to reformat it for days - literally - before I can send it to a different journal.  Lame.)

So... oh yeah, was I dating Christine when I stopped posting?  Hmm, I think so.  Anyway, it's been almost three years and we're still doing well.

I have a website now, some short stories (3 are here) and beginnings of novels, a bunch of random artwork, some fabric-painted shirts, and - most importantly - homemade liqueurs.  (Bubblegum liqueur, anyone?)  I also had my golden birthday (my family gave me 25... everythings.) and grew out my hair again, for some reason.  (Avoiding barbers, just like I avoid dentists and eye doctors.)  My research is going well; I've designed a capping motif for beta hairpins!  Woot!  Nobody cares!  (Certain biochemists will care, as it is interesting from a protein-design perspective, but most people have no idea what "beta hairpin cap" even means.)

Yeah, that's about it.  Nothing meaningful or philosophical (a happy, complacent lifestyle lends little inspiration for philosophy) - just a life update. 

See you again next February 29th!  May the February Extension Fairy bring you a bounty of February-29th-related goodness!