Well that was embarrassing.

Allow me to relate a quick cautionary tale of why you should never allow lab equipment to get out of control:
Today, after setting up the experimental circuit so that my supervisor could observe the voltage waveforms and current waveforms, I sat in the chair beside him at the lab bench and began to idly toy with a 50kohm terminator whilst waiting for him to fiddle with the oscilloscope settings. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the device, a terminator is a resistor in the form of a steel cylinder about the size of my brass rat and about as heavy. A terminator is often screwed onto the output of a signal generator in order to provide it with a resistive load. Unfortunately, this particular 50kohm terminator slipped from my hands, and I accidentally sent it flying through the air and hit my supervisor in the crotch. On his birthday, no less.
Fortunately, I think this faux pas was graciously overlooked, as he did invite me to share some of his birthday pie later in the afternoon (my brother later asked me "are you fired?" to which I replied "thankfully, no").
The quest for food was fruitful and cheap this afternoon, which pleased me greatly, as this time, I did not get lost whilst in search of the local Taco Bell. Then again, some may consider the Taco Bell lunch a great loss altogether, as, well, I'm not sure the beef tacos can be technically considered "meat." Not to mention the fact that I experienced a mild amount of digestive discomfort almost immediately afterwards. I certainly hope the other intern who came along with me didn't get ill from her food, as this was her first visit to Taco Bell (apparently, dirt-cheap fake mexican food isn't very widely available in Hong Kong). I'd feel bad explaining to her that "yes, this is a normal side-effect of dining at Taco Bell" - especially since she seemed quite pleased at the fact that she'd gotten so much decent food for so cheap.
Speaking of which, I've noticed that I write a lot about gastro-intestinal disorders in the Bubonic Plague Luncheonette. I hadn't quite realized before the extent to which I'd been writing about it - but now that I'm aware, I'll definitely cut back. I hope this hasn't turned too many of my readers away in disgust.
In other interesting news, congratulations go out to Carsten, who claims to now be sharing his gift for wind magic with his *extra fortunate* roommate. Way to let 'em rip.
And on a final note: Humor is the savior of us all - without it, we'd tear friendships apart without the benefit of the doubt, and have all the regrets in the world.
I've been a lot of different kinds of dumb in my day. You can see it in the pages of the Bubonic Plague Luncheonette - days of joy and exhiliration, days of sickness and nauseation, days of angst and drunkness, Days of Air and Darkness, days spent wishing that nothing is as it is now, but not sure of what they should be. But none that I would change or disregard the validity of just from reading in retrospect - after all, it wouldn't be an honest-to-life journal without the emotional impact. As for regrets? I can only regret the loss of friends that comes with impolitic decisions made, and the lines of alliances that are inevitably drawn, rifts unable to be crossed ever again. "We'll burn that bridge when we get there," and all too soon, it seems we do. With time, the Bubonic Plague Luncheonette, too, will disappear, as will those of you who are my friends and beloved readers now. And so a drink to everyone of you - right here and right now. I want you all to know I love you now, today, because tomorrow, or perhaps years from now, who knows what kind of rifts will divide us?

Further bulletins as events warrant.

P.S. Dido's song White Flag is quite nice.