May the heavens strike me brilliant!

I find as I'm working on this beast of a fellowship application (1 of 2 I'm working on, this month!), when I'm stuck I unconsciously pause and throw my hands wide, palms upward, and roll my eyes skyward.

I'm not certain if I'm attempting to invoke Athena and the Minor Deities of Laboratory Science, or if I'm hoping for lightning to knock me flat on my ass and into next week, so that I'm not working on this grant for that amount of time.

Hrmmm.

I think that was a compliment.

The lab has obtained a new undergrad. The Wondergrad is departing at the end of the month, on to bigger things (I daresay better, too--I'm not that conceited). The new guy (for once the male/female balance is tipped toward the XY end) sets off my geekdar something fierce. Alas, he's not a gamer, I cannot put him to use for nefarious U-Con related purposes. Instead, he's a science/music geek, who plays the cello, participates in a punk-string-duo with a violist, and composes some of his own stuff on the side. I'd told him that if he ever wanted to bring his own music collection in and throw it on the lab iTunes, he was more than welcome. That ~90% of the music on there is mine (and eclectic and highly variable) shouldn't put him off.

Today on his way out, after iTunes was on all day in the lab, he asks me what sort of speakers I have at home. Hunh? I describe what I do have, and he replies with "Given what I've heard of your collection on iTunes today, I'm going to bring in some of the stuff I've composed and have you review it. It needs a good subwoofer, though." Oh, okay then.

Heh. I do believe that was a compliment. A very geeky and convoluted one, admittedly. But still, a compliment.