We can sleep when we're dead.

[cherry]

I know I often go missing for extended periods of time, but guys: I have been incredibly missing.

My goodness, the last few weeks have been a gong show. I didn't know that starting grad school was going to be so tricky. I think this is probably a new admissions hurdle: can you actually figure out what you need to do? I'm hoping that's a hurdle I won't take down as I attempt to leap over it, as I still have no idea what is going on.

I've had imaginary classes, invisible seminars, people playing musical committee chairs, a supervisor previously in Germany but now a-continental (somewhere in the Pacific), governmental red tape with my funding (not helped by said a-continental supervisor), a surprise!undergraduate class, a mischievous monkey eating my email, and to top it all off: I think I might have a problem with plants.

I mean:


As a point of reference: the orchid at the front is just under two and a half feet tall. That's 20 plants, not counting the 12" peace lily in my bedroom, and the three or four plants on my balcony. I have a one bedroom, north-facing apartment, people. The orchid is new, and might be what twigged me into said problem, as there is no way in which I have enough light to sustain it.

I guess there are worse ways to bury your anxiety than in greenery?

In other news, I am signed up for vid_commentary for my Batman vid. It was not at all the winner of my magically inserted poll (surprisingly, that was my Criminal Minds/Dexter one), but someone wanted to do a partnered commentary.

Edit: And yes, those are balloons in the background.

Comments

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of plants. (:

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

It is a ridiculous number of plants. A ridiculous, absurd, number of plants. Alas, because my lighting conditions are odd, I sometimes have to trial-and-error for new additions. Though at this point, I can probably say that no additions are necessary.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I understand trial and error when it comes to plants; we've had to do that in our garden, to figure out what works there.

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

It's a bit of a pain in the butt, isn't it? I've found that I can keep moderate light plants as long as they don't need anything direct, and lost low-light plants that do need some direct light. Variegation sometimes means doom -- I had a really nice pink and cream rubber plant that just couldn't make it, even though my regular one is doing just fine. Alas! I think I might have to succumb to a full spectrum bulb or two.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

*nodnod* Our biggest challenges right now are timing (SF has a pretty weird climate) and pests. So many things are eating our yard! We've been getting very enthusiastic with the organic pest control options, but the caterpillars are voracious.

[par-avion.livejournal.com]

a new admissions hurdle: can you actually figure out what you need to do? Hahaha, OMG yes!

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, I spend far too much of my time sitting around, going ... What just happened? Never mind what comes next. *G*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bounce_/]

That's a lot of plants. On the plus side, this is what God created hydroponics lamps for. ;) You're in the frozen arctic wastes half the year (even if the weather was amaazing that time I visited) so surely there are some going cheap somewhere?

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

Hey! It's 32 C right now. This has been the most ridiculous year ever -- a steady string of -30, -40, followed by what my 90-year old grandmother calls the coldest and wettest summer she's ever seen, and we've had a bunch of days over the last few weeks where we broke 30. Last week, we had a 'feels like 37' day.

I think I shall have to look into getting some full-spectrum bulbs. It would be nice to have something that blooms -- right now, I have a lot of greenery. Even my African violets won't rebloom. The foliage is gorgeous, but not a blossom in sight.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bounce_/]

It's been an INSANE year - this is the warmest winter I can remember, even by our standards. I don't even need a jacket most of the time during the day and this was Sydney yesterday. That's not even counting the 47C day we had back in February or the total lack of rain.

I think they'd be awesome to get. Flowers are good. (Spring is when the winter flowers get supplemented by the Spring/Summer ones. Flowers are good.)

[amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com]

Hi, you don't know me from Adam, but you're listed as a mod over on better_with_3. I don't know if you know, but the page has suffered some kind of cataclysmic failure in the display department, and could use a flying visit by Team TARDIS to reverse the neutron flow, and plug the interdimensional hole that the page is being sucked in to :)

[cherryice.livejournal.com]

The community layout is now displaying again. Thanks for the heads-up!

[amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com]

:))