Now on to my next task: sitting around with nothing to do for twelve hours. I better get started!
Why does ‘Elrond’ mean ‘secret meeting’?” Annie asked. “Are we going to make a momentous decision?” Bruge Ng asked. “Exactly,” Venkat said. “How did you know that?” Annie asked, getting annoyed. “Elrond,” Bruce said. “The Council of Elrond. From Lord of the Rings. It’s the meeting where they decide to destroy the One Ring.” “Jesus,” Annie said. “None of you got laid in high school, did you?
I don’t want to look dumb in front of the aliens.
It’s a weird feeling, scientific breakthroughs. There’s no Eureka moment. Just a slow, steady progression toward a goal. But man, when you get to that goal it feels good.
I’ll be playing with high-voltage power tomorrow. Can’t imagine anything going wrong with that!
I’ll give my dad credit; he never claimed it was to build character or teach me the value of hard work. “Snowblowers are expensive,” he used to say. “You’re free.
I envy one thing about Earthers – they get much faster internet.
All my brilliant plans foiled by thermodynamics. Damn you, Entropy!
If I make any mistakes, there’ll be nothing left but the “Mark Watney Memorial Crater” where the Hab once stood.
That’s the thing about crying yourself to sleep. When you wake up, the problems are still there.
I ask for a picture, and I get the Fonz.
You don’t expect J. Worthalot Richbastard III to clean his own toilet, do you? I’m one of the little people.
Man, being an American scientist sucks sometimes. You think in random, unpredictable units based on what situation you’re in.
I washed it down with some Martian coffee. That’s my name for “hot water with a caffeine pill dissolved in it.” I ran out of real coffee months ago.
It occurs to me: Now that I might live, I have to be more careful about logging embarrassing moments. How do I delete log entries?
So I go out every night with a homemade sextant and sight Deneb. It’s kind of silly if you think about it. I’m in my space suit on Mars and I’m navigating with sixteenth-century tools.
Ever set up a camping tent? From the inside? While wearing a suit of armor? It was a pain in the ass.
For tonight, I have to get back to Three’s Company. I stopped last night in the middle of the episode where Mr. Roper saw something and took it out of context.
Abby preened. “You asked who could tell you the radius of Earth. Trang can tell you. I answered correctly.” Outsmarted by a thirteen-year-old.
They’ll probably say, “Thanks for gathering samples. But leave them behind. And one of your arms, too. Whichever one you like least.