VOCABULARY!!!

While it is a relatively common word, I had no idea that “matrix” had quite so many meanings. It’s pretty awesome.

Definition of MATRIX

1

: something within or from which something else originates, develops, or takes form

2

a : a mold from which a relief surface (as a piece of type) is made

b : die 3a(1)

c : an engraved or inscribed die or stamp

d : an electroformed impression of a phonograph record used for mass-producing duplicates of the original

3

a : the natural material (as soil or rock) in which something (as a fossil or crystal) is embedded

b : material in which something is enclosed or embedded (as for protection or study)

4

a : the extracellular substance in which tissue cells (as of connective tissue) are embedded

b : the thickened epithelium at the base of a fingernail or toenail from which new nail substance develops

5

a : a rectangular array of mathematical elements (as the coefficients of simultaneous linear equations) that can be combined to form sums and products with similar arrays having an appropriate number of rows and columns

b : something resembling a mathematical matrix especially in rectangular arrangement of elements into rows and columns

c : an array of circuit elements (as diodes and transistors) for performing a specific function

6

: a main clause that contains a subordinate clause.

also, purleiu:

pur·lieu

noun \ˈpərl-(ˌ)yü, ˈpər-(ˌ)lü\

Definition of PURLIEU

1

a : an outlying or adjacent district

b plural : environs, neighborhood

2

a : a frequently visited place : haunt

b plural : confines, bounds

*Definitions from http://www.merriam-webster.com

Take me OOOUUUUUT toniiiiiiiight!

(read that in the tune of Out Tonight from Rent)

Last night turned out to be a night out on the town in New Orleans. My friend and I hit the Bourbon Street karaoke bar Cat’s Meow (I truly did want to sing Rent, but karaoke bars typically have very little material from musicals (with the exception of Grease. All karaoke bars seem to have at least three songs from Grease. I don’t understand…)).

I started off the night with some classic Pat Benatar action, my friend rocked it with some Ke$ha. The bar had a game where the first person to be able the artist of a track one free shots. I’m really good at those games.

On the way back, I decided to take the long way back to the flat, and I ran into the Clover St. Grill, where they advertise that they cook their hamburgers under Real American Hubcaps.

I’m not sure why this is a point of advertisement, but I am *so glad* it is. People are fantastic.

Neighbours on the Horizon

Confession:

I… *love* soap operas.

Unfortunately, here in America, Soaps are a dying slowly dying out. I spent a summer with a grandmother, and we would talk about every episode of As the World Turns as we watched for it’s final three months.

I spent a summer slipping rocks into my friends’ shoes so they would sink into the couch in the living room, giving into the “tornado of lethargy” as we called it. We would watch my soaps, and we would watch flocks of baby quails during commercial breaks.

When I was in middle school, I wrote and performed my own soap. I would write the episode for that day during classes that I was ignoring, and then I would play all of the parts and I would spend our lunch performing for my friends.

Now, I get to return to a land of soap operas. In August I will be reunited with Neighbours, which I have been without for over two years now. It’s like returning to old friends. The plots don’t really change, so even if I’ve missed something, I haven’t, really. It’s not terribly difficult to pick up. Someone will be pregnant, someone will be getting blackmailed, someone will be cheating on someone. Someone will be in jail, someone will be in the hospital and someone will have amnesia.

I think that just about covers every soap opera plot, *ever*.

I can’t wait!

Wandering Minstrels Met

Yesterday I was sitting out on the front porch, luxuriating in the warmth of New Orleans. I had my lunch and my ukulele, and I’d been there for perhaps five minutes before who should walk by but a fellow wandering musician!

A young man with a fedora and a uke walked by. I said “Hey. Nice uke.” He said “Hey. Nice Uke.” and then we jammed for the next three hours or so.

I love musical cities (and people. People are *incredible*).

A Night in New Orleans

Last night I found myself in a flat in the French Quarter of New Orleans. There’s a porch, by the road, and I sat out and played ukulele until 2:30 in the morning.

Exceedingly drunk men in three-piece suits would come stumbling by, and they would ask me to play for them. It was wonderful.

It’s been a long time since I’ve spent a night in a city. It’s so alive.

This morning I got up and went for a bit of a walk around. The French Quarter is fascinating; it’s a tourism-based economy, which is something I have very little experience with. There were buskers and bars and gift shops; people with cameras strung around their necks. I saw some truly spectacular sun burns, as people would dash towards businesses to get away from a morning rain shower.

It’s so warm here. I love it.

KITCHEN SCIENCE!

Yesterday, I was given two small children to corrupt, while the elders present had some “adult time”.  So, they spent about an hour being boring *talking* at the dinner table.

*We* did kitchen science.

Our three experiments of the night were: Adventures in Curdling, Dish Soap Fireworks, and the ever-classic Science Fair Volcano.

 

Our evening began with Adventures in Curdling, in an attempt to explain the affects of acidity. We poured sprite into a bowl of milk, and watched the protein molecules start to clump together as the ph value of the fluid changed.

After this, we moved on to Dish Soap Fireworks, where we poured some milk into a clear jat, and then topped it with about a quarter inch of dish soap. The soap floats on top of the milk. We added some food colouring, which gets caught and suspended in the dish soap. Then, we poured salt in, which punched through our layer of dish soap and creates awesome fireworks from the food colouring mixing with the milk.

Our final experiment of the night took place in an empty beer bottle (which was placed in the sink for easy clean up). We did this one several times, filling the bottom of the bottle with baking soda and then pouring in vinegar, and then standing back as it explodes! We even added food dye a few times, to add to the dramatic effect.

 

We finished off our evening with microwave s’mores, which, while not quite an experiment, involved sitting around the microwave and watching marshmallows as they mutate in the heat. It was *Awesome!*

TRIPLE THREAT

It could be a band name

It could be an album

It could be a kick-ass single:

 

GRAVITY GONE BACKWARDS

Snakes (But No Planes)

So, I was learning about boa constrictors and I learned that no boa has ever grown large enough to eat a person.

Reticulated Pythons, on the other hand, can TOTALLY EAT PEOPLE.

They don’t.

BUT THEY COULD.

There have been cases of people getting killed by Reticulated Pythons, but there has been no evidence of humans actually being consumed.

Reticulated Pythons can be over 20 feet long (nearly 7 meters). The largest preserved specimen was actually so big it could not be preserved in alcohol or formaldehyde, (this was clearly in the days before things like “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living“.) so the snake was skinned and saved as a skeleton at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

*Awesome*!

All in the Timing

I’m not always very good with timing; there have been many times in my life when I’ve wished I had just been a few moments sooner, or a couple of minutes later.

Last night, that was not the case.

Last night, I went into town to go see a movie, and while I was gone a Termite swarm INVADED the house that I was staying in. They came in through the windows and all of the cracks in the house.

I didn’t know this about termites, but after they swarm, they drop their wings, and become just little insectoid bodies that look very maggot-like, and they were absolutely *everywhere*. They become pretty much the definition of “creepy-crawly”.

IN THE HOUSE.

Not my idea of pleasant.

So my timing was impeccable, and I was not there.

YAY!

A Wander and a Storm

Yesterday I went on an adventure that included finding several music stores (awesome!), a distinct lack of helpful coffeeshops (what kind of coffee shop closes at 3:00 in the afternoon?), and a good bit of a walk through some of my favourite weather (it was warm and overcast and humid, with a strong wind; portents of a storm).

Then I got to go on one of my favourite types of trips to the store: an Emergency Supply Run. The list comprised of two items: beer and ice cream. Good times.

After I got back to the porch, it had just barely started to  rain, and we saw the first firefly of the season.

The lightening came after midnight.

Life is magic.