Once again being a slacker when I should be studying

So today we were supposed to be happily visiting with Lauren and her family, but we will instead be spending the greater part of the day with the Pandits filling out paperwork. It looks like they will soon be heading back to India due in most part to their misplaced trust in a certain unethical Evangelical bastard who used them to prop up his failing company and then ditched them when they wouldn't convert to Christianity--(I could go on and on about this but there would be far too much swearing).

Their son Avnish is 15 now and a sophomore in high school. After so many years in the American school system he would be completely unequipped to handle the rigors of school back in India. It would be a nightmare. So in the 2 weeks that they have left in the country we're desperately talking to lawyers, etc. trying to find a way to make Ben and I his legal guardians so he can stay in the country and finish school. Ha, ha, ha.

We thought we could possibly move into their condo which would provide a lot more room and privacy for everyone involved--it's has 3 bedroom upstairs with 1 full and 2 half baths, but one of the 1/2 baths is in the finished basement which Avnish uses for his room. We would pay them what we currently dish out for rent and water charges and they would take care of the additional costs. But I'm not sure this is the smartest idea considering he is unemployed and has been for a while. I really don't want to break our lease, move all of our stuff, and then a few months later find out that Dilip can't make the payments and we're suddenly homeless. So I think we'll probably just be cramming Avnish into a corner of our living room and clearing out the coat closet for his use. *sigh* This should be a fun time for everyone involved. I think we're looking at a minimum of 1 year, but it could extend to 2 if the Pandits aren't able to make it back. Unless our income increases markedly, we're looking at some cramped living quarters. But what are you gonna do?

I'll provide updates of course, but if all you Columbus relatives start seeing an Indian boy at family functions, you'll know what happened.

Sylar just said 'nosh'!

Today I had another assertive moment. It involved Aldi and singing potatoes. I was in the fruit and veg aisle when suddenly a hip hop ringtone suddenly went off. No one was around and yet it persisted. I ended up checking my own phone because, sadly, this has happened before. I keep my phone on silent, so I've never actually heard my ringtone. Then somehow the settings got changed and when it went off in the middle of Earth Sciences I ignored it--all the while thinking that the guy next to me was such a douche for just letting his phone ring on and on like that. But the Aldi hip hop ringtone was not my own. As I looked around again and then began subtly digging through the potatoes, I felt certain I was part of some practical joke. Then the song stopped, and having no need for potatoes at the moment, I moved down the aisle. Later when I was in line, a woman came in asking one of the cashiers if they had found something. I couldn't hear what that something was, but I suspected it was lodged somewhere amongst the potatoes. That is when Brave Charitable Jaime once again stepped up and walked over to address the cashier by name (since it is Aldi and we all know each others names, life stories, and favorite grocery items--this is not an exaggeration) and ask what the woman was missing. It was indeed a cell phone. I accompanied the woman back to the potatoes and helped to dig through them to find the little red phone. And she did NOT give me a dollar--so I guess I'm going to heaven after all.

I have all these lacewing eggs that I need to hatch and feed little aphids to. Unfortunately these lacewings are highly voracious and cannibalistic--so if I turn my back on them and one hatches, it could start eating its unborn brothers and sisters . . . and the born ones too. This sucks. I have no time to babysit lacewings. No time! It was fun though when all the plant sciences people heard they'd be bringing aphids home to their apartments full of houseplants.

Amusement defies reason

Ha, ha, ha, ha!

That was an over-caffeinated laugh. Ha, ha, ha.

Studying for tomorrow's Entomology lab quiz. Cockroach guts and insect identification. Ben didn't enjoy helping me study. I feel so alone.

Today I made a profit on charity. A sweet little Asian man didn't have enough change for the bus and the bus driver was about to kick him off. So brave, charitable Jaime spoke up and asked how much he needed. One of my new Prepared Jaime features is to always have a bunch of quarters on me (along with Neosporin, band-aids, and pens). I think I gave him 55 cents. He only had a twenty (which I couldn't break with my quarters--I'm not that prepared) so he thanked me profusely. Then after a little while he made his way up to my seat because he'd found a dollar in his pocket and wanted me to take it. I tried to refuse, but he insisted. So I made 45 cents for being nice, and now my reward in heaven is in the crapper. I'll never get ahead at this rate.

Plate tectonics make me sleepy.

What with Caprica comin' up and all

More things you don't care about

I'm into my second Entomology class and I'm lovin' this one too. This is my test class--if I really dig on this then it's settled--Entomology it is. Last class we did external grasshopper morphology--which meant we poked around on their outsides and then got to tear apart their little faces to see how their mouth parts worked. I also ripped off a cicada's head in my attempt to separate its mouth parts. That was an Oh Shit moment until I realized that's how it needed to be done anyway. Insect mouths = pretty damned crowded.

I will admit here that I was pretty terrified of this lab. I remember dissections as being highly social events and I know no one in this class. I haven't done any dissection since high school and I thought without a friend I would fail, fail, fail. To make it worse I sat down at a table full of people who looked like they hated life. I was doomed. But as soon as it was time to start grabbing equipment, the people around me became talkative and human. (Except for the guy that quickly jumped up from the table and went to sit in the adjacent lab area--and he can go screw himself.) I was definitely the one who demanded the most help and feedback, but whatever. I learned an important lesson--just because the people around you aren't asking questions doesn't mean they actually understand what's going on, they're just content not really knowing. So I pestered the professors and TA, but I got my explanations darnit!

The profs. are so nice and I adore our TA. I'm pretty sure he's gay, which really surprised me. Effeminate men seem like they should be squealing when they see six legged creatures. Ah, the stereotypes that rattle around in my brain.

I know this is probably really boring to everyone, but I just have to say that bugs with piercing/sucking mouth parts are AMAZING! Respect the cicada!