Hell hath no fury like a woman denied dessert

Today was the genetics program "Science Fair". It goes by a fancier name, but for all intents and purposes, it's a science fair. I got to the event at 7AM. That might as well be nighttime for me. I got home at about 10:30PM. Long day.

Most of the day was spent sitting on my butt, watching powerpoint presentations and listening to scientific mumbo jumbo. There was one entertaining seminar from a crazy faculty from a nearby university who insisted that one man's junk DNA is another man's treasure. Or something. (About 97% of human DNA aren't "functional genes" and for the most part we don't know what this "junk" is for. As egotistical humans, we like to think every molecule of our body is of great worth, but when it comes to DNA, we're clueless). The keynote speaker didn't do anything I was interested in particularly, so I wasn't really into his talk and I didn't make an effort to talk with him.

Lunch was catered by a deli. I lucked out and got a roast beef sandwich with light mayo and baked chips. I was trying to be good with the diet by bringing my own snacks of yogurt and fruit because I had the feeling that the snack foods were gonna be butter laden, and I was right. Among the brownies, cookies, muffins, crossiants, and cheese, there wasn't a single lowfat item. Plus, I wanted to save my calories for the free dinner at a fancy restaurant the end of the day.

I really look forward to this event because I like free expensive food. We went to Ouisie's . I kept singing the theme song to the Jeffersons in my head. I had shrimp and cheese grits. The grits weren't as good as the polenta I had at the Crossing at Casey Jones in La Plata, but all in all, it was a good meal. The bread was good and the appetizers were alright. I don't consider myself a foodie. I'm not a cook and I have a hard time isolating tastes. But I was impressed with myself or I was surrounded by food ignorant people. One girl mistook a spring of rosemary for thyme. I identified the cilantro in the dip. I figured out that some broccoli was seasoned with anise seeds *YUCK*. Anyways, I wasn't thrilled with my entree, but I wasn't disappointed either because I didn't crave anything else on the dinner menu. It's kinda sad, but I'm craving fried pizza from Pizza Hut more than anything else. But the WORST part of dinner was that we didn't get DESSERT!!! We apparently had to stick to a budget of under $1000 including tip. And apparently we couldn't afford dessert. BUT we apparently could afford 5 bottles of wine and I didn't even drink. So I was BUMMED. I was pretty damn full off the grits, but still. There's a special place in your tummy for sweets, I swear. Like cows or something.

Anyway, this is out of order, but we also had a poster session during the day where all the students (8 masters/precandidacy phd and 8 postcandidacy phd) stand next to their posters and answer questions from mystery judges. It's often easy to figure out who's a judge because they're trying to hide a clipboard for their scoring notes behind their backs. Anyways, I ended up with 3rd place in the masters/precandidacy division. Kinda cool because I've never gotten anything for my work here. I get a certificate and a small monetary award, which I'll probably spend on dessert.