Running in the winter can be a bit difficult. I don't mind the cold whether alone but when it's wet and icy outside as well, I prefer the gym and the treadmill. I get incredibly bored on it, although it's gotten much better since I got an iPod Touch and can watch movies while running. Most of this week was beautiful and sunny outside and I got to run in the park twice. On Friday I finished a whole loop around - 10 km - on the main park drive, all on the pavement, without almost any pain and I felt so great afterwords. Today was a gloomy rainy day and I really wanted to run so I just went to the gym and the treadmill. Even while watching a movie on the tiny screen of my iPod, it gets pretty boring after a few minutes - especially when you're forced to stare at the snail pace progression of time on the digital clock. So I started wondering why I run. And then I found this while searching for Lance Armstrong videos. I guess everyone runs for different reasons.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Inspiration
Are there coincidences or do things happen for a reason? I don't think anyone can know for sure but it certainly seems like sometimes we come across exactly what we need at exactly the time when we need it the most.
After getting lunch with a friend in Soho, I had some time to kill before having to head back to the Upper East Side, and since I am rarely in the downtown area these days, I just started wondering around. I found myself on Houston St. near Mulberry, close to the young designer's market so I stopped by. It's rare that I can find something interesting there: most of the clothes are super over-priced and all the jewelery looks the same. As soon as I walked in I came across this perfect black dress that I always imagined and it fit like it was made for me. I pretty much spent my food money for the next 2 weeks on it, but when you fall in love with something then there is nothing you can do.
As I was waiting for the guy who owned the stand, I started talking to his next door neighbor who was also selling clothes. He was pretty funny, offered me tips on how to bargain with his friend - ended up getting the dress $5 cheaper than he originally told me. I was trying to convince the guy to sell me the dress cheaper because I was a poor grad student. I guess that's worth about $5. In any case, it turned out that the friendly neighbor was a scientist himself, a geneticist actually. He also owns a clothing company called Dead Clothing, which he bought on a trip to Iceland. All the clothes are designed by his friend from Iceland who is HIV positive and whose life theme is "He who fears death cannot enjoy life."
He offered some advice on some of my experiments that I have been very frustrated with lately (the guy seemed to have some advice for everything) and sounded like he really knew what he was talking about. He mentioned something that I hadn't thought about and might actually be a really great idea. He did not look like your typical scientist either. Imagine a guy in his 30s with tattoos, ears pierced, wearing a funky hat, and admittedly quite hungover, who owns a fashion company and spends his Saturdays hanging out with young designers in Soho. It's not that I usually think that all scientists are nerdy, wear thick glasses and have little social skills or ideas about the world outside of their little corner of expertise, well, maybe I do sometimes...
Lately I have found less inspiration in life generally and so meeting this guy was just so refreshing and inspiring. Some people are motivated by money, fame or awards but I often find that people are more inspiring than anything else. Starting with my parents who had made it possible for me to follow my dreams on to the people I lived with in Kansas who welcomed me into their family as if I was born into it and so many teachers and coaches and others who have given me motivation. And of course, people I don't even know who are amazing and defy all odds to achieve amazing things.
After getting lunch with a friend in Soho, I had some time to kill before having to head back to the Upper East Side, and since I am rarely in the downtown area these days, I just started wondering around. I found myself on Houston St. near Mulberry, close to the young designer's market so I stopped by. It's rare that I can find something interesting there: most of the clothes are super over-priced and all the jewelery looks the same. As soon as I walked in I came across this perfect black dress that I always imagined and it fit like it was made for me. I pretty much spent my food money for the next 2 weeks on it, but when you fall in love with something then there is nothing you can do.
As I was waiting for the guy who owned the stand, I started talking to his next door neighbor who was also selling clothes. He was pretty funny, offered me tips on how to bargain with his friend - ended up getting the dress $5 cheaper than he originally told me. I was trying to convince the guy to sell me the dress cheaper because I was a poor grad student. I guess that's worth about $5. In any case, it turned out that the friendly neighbor was a scientist himself, a geneticist actually. He also owns a clothing company called Dead Clothing, which he bought on a trip to Iceland. All the clothes are designed by his friend from Iceland who is HIV positive and whose life theme is "He who fears death cannot enjoy life."
He offered some advice on some of my experiments that I have been very frustrated with lately (the guy seemed to have some advice for everything) and sounded like he really knew what he was talking about. He mentioned something that I hadn't thought about and might actually be a really great idea. He did not look like your typical scientist either. Imagine a guy in his 30s with tattoos, ears pierced, wearing a funky hat, and admittedly quite hungover, who owns a fashion company and spends his Saturdays hanging out with young designers in Soho. It's not that I usually think that all scientists are nerdy, wear thick glasses and have little social skills or ideas about the world outside of their little corner of expertise, well, maybe I do sometimes...
Lately I have found less inspiration in life generally and so meeting this guy was just so refreshing and inspiring. Some people are motivated by money, fame or awards but I often find that people are more inspiring than anything else. Starting with my parents who had made it possible for me to follow my dreams on to the people I lived with in Kansas who welcomed me into their family as if I was born into it and so many teachers and coaches and others who have given me motivation. And of course, people I don't even know who are amazing and defy all odds to achieve amazing things.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thanksgiving Parade
This was my first Thanksgiving spent in NYC and I figured that at least once in my life I have to go see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I have watched it on TV many times before, and I have to say that if you wanna see the floats or the marching bands you should stick to the TV. The atmosphere was really fun though, lots of kids and families, people dancing to the music, warming each other in the crowd. It was a nice experience although a bit cold after a couple of hours of standing outside.
The city is now ready for Christmas, there are trees and lights everywhere, and it's really pretty. The fountain was finally turned off in the hospital courtyard and X-mas trees with lots of lights were put in it, they smell so good!!
The city is now ready for Christmas, there are trees and lights everywhere, and it's really pretty. The fountain was finally turned off in the hospital courtyard and X-mas trees with lots of lights were put in it, they smell so good!!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Comfort food
I can't write about how I feel today. I really want to but there's too much in my head and it's too confusing. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I feel anxious, a little sad and homesick and I wish I could go home and yet I am also excited to spend the holiday in NYC and to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and to have my Thanksgiving meal at a French restaurant with relatives.
Lab has been horrible, my mentor thinks I am too negative, which is true, but he could be a little more understanding. He told me that he was worried about my mental state just yesterday, in front of other people. It was not the slickest thing, made me upset but also made me think. I have been too negative. I need to focus on the good things.
So today I left lab early and went food shopping - for some reason I am worried that things will be closed tomorrow, and I am so used to just running to the deli on the corner for a salad or a sandwich that I don't know what to do when the deli is closed - so I bought all this food, and made my ultimate comfort food: chicken and mashed potatoes. I think it makes me feel so cozy because my Mom used to make it so often when I was growing up. Of course when I make it, it doesn't taste nearly as good as it does when my Mom does. Then I went a little crazy. Cooking or baking makes me feel calmer. So I decided to make sugar cookies. I didn't plan on it when I went to the store, but happened to have all the ingredients, and it's so easy to make. So this is what happened:
People who have been to my apartment know how tiny the kitchen is, so I had to put all the cookie sheets in my room for the cookies to cool. They came out delicious! Dipping them in a warm glass of milk, yummmy!! I feel much calmer and happier.
Here's the recipe I used: Easy-Sugar-Cookies, the most important thing is to melt the butter completely before mixing in the sugar...
Time for an early night as I have to get up early to get a good spot at the parade tomorrow morning.
Lab has been horrible, my mentor thinks I am too negative, which is true, but he could be a little more understanding. He told me that he was worried about my mental state just yesterday, in front of other people. It was not the slickest thing, made me upset but also made me think. I have been too negative. I need to focus on the good things.
So today I left lab early and went food shopping - for some reason I am worried that things will be closed tomorrow, and I am so used to just running to the deli on the corner for a salad or a sandwich that I don't know what to do when the deli is closed - so I bought all this food, and made my ultimate comfort food: chicken and mashed potatoes. I think it makes me feel so cozy because my Mom used to make it so often when I was growing up. Of course when I make it, it doesn't taste nearly as good as it does when my Mom does. Then I went a little crazy. Cooking or baking makes me feel calmer. So I decided to make sugar cookies. I didn't plan on it when I went to the store, but happened to have all the ingredients, and it's so easy to make. So this is what happened:
People who have been to my apartment know how tiny the kitchen is, so I had to put all the cookie sheets in my room for the cookies to cool. They came out delicious! Dipping them in a warm glass of milk, yummmy!! I feel much calmer and happier.
Here's the recipe I used: Easy-Sugar-Cookies, the most important thing is to melt the butter completely before mixing in the sugar...
Time for an early night as I have to get up early to get a good spot at the parade tomorrow morning.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Feeling guilty
I used to be a much more confrontational person. I told people exactly what I thought and how I felt, and I thought that made me an honest person. It took me some time to realize that it just made me unkind and ruined some relationships. It took some effort to become more aware of the things I wanted to say to people and to be able to filter those things. I have by now possibly crossed over to the other side where I am almost unable to confront people. When something bothers me, it just swells inside, I dwell on it, but try to avoid bringing it up, and it eventually turns into a kind of knot in me, and I get incredibly stressed out about it. When I finally get to a point where I can't hold back anymore, I usually still try to avoid face to face confrontation, and turn to our generation's favorite mode of communication, email. As soon as I hit to "Send" button, I feel guilty. Even if I think I was in the right.
Feeling guilty has absolutely no point. What has already occurred can't be undone. We just have to stop dwelling on the past and look into the immediate future and try to do things a little better the next time. Try to be a little more mature and maybe force ourselves to communicate like human beings are supposed to. And remember that we can't always agree on everything, but that's what makes life so interesting, and having an argument face to face is not the end of the world.
Feeling guilty has absolutely no point. What has already occurred can't be undone. We just have to stop dwelling on the past and look into the immediate future and try to do things a little better the next time. Try to be a little more mature and maybe force ourselves to communicate like human beings are supposed to. And remember that we can't always agree on everything, but that's what makes life so interesting, and having an argument face to face is not the end of the world.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Back to the future
Finally my new Moleskin calendar arrived last night! As strange as it sounds, I can't live without that little black pocketbook anymore. For the past couple of years I have had the same calendar, and my whole life is in those books. Without it, I would never make it to any appointments and could not organize my life even to the small extent that I have managed to do so lately. As the new year is drawing closer, I have been looking all over the place, have gone to pretty much every Barnes & Noble store on the island of Manhattan, and could not find the particular calendar I wanted, so finally I ordered it from Amazon.
I am craving more order in my life now. Maybe it's because I am getting older or just realizing that I am so much more efficient when things are in order. A while ago I organized my stuff in lab: put everything away in nicely ordered folders, labeled everything so now it's easy to find data from experiments I had done months ago. I cleaned my desk too, and overall, I have been feeling better about work because of the order. Those who know me well know that I am not the tidiest person and certainly not a clean-freak. There is a certain level of clean and order that I absolutely need though. Part of that is writing down everything I do in the little black book both to keep track of what I need to do and to remember what I had done.
As I started leafing through the pages of my new calendar and writing down things I already knew I had to do, I realized that January was just around the corner and how busy I was going to be. Last weekend I went to an all-day fencing seminar and took the written test to become a rated referee. Having passed the exam, the person in charge hooked me up with the East Coast college fencing league coordinator, who organizes all the competitions around here. Immediately, I was booked for 5 different tournaments along the East Coast, and with some other competitions I had already agreed to referee at, I managed to sign up for every single weekend in January and February for fencing meets. I think I should feel stressed about how I am going to have time for all this next to lab and school, but I am actually excited about going to all these competitions.
Is this strange? Am I a masochist deep down? Standing up for sometimes 8-10 hours a day, having to focus for that long, getting yelled at from all directions, people always looking for things to criticize about you... all of these are parts of being a referee. Why am I looking forward to doing this to myself? I have been fighting against this feeling ever since I stopped competing more than 3 years ago. I have been refereeing ever since, mostly in high schools in the NYC area and at college meets back at Northwestern, but never very seriously and most importantly, never admitting that I enjoyed it. However, when I went to Chicago a few weeks ago, I decided that it was time to stop fighting this feeling that has become very obvious to me by now. I miss fencing, I miss being around fencers, I miss being at competitions. When I walk into the gym in the morning of a competition, I have the feeling of belonging and familiarity, no matter where in the world I am. There is this thing called fencing that links me with all the other people in the world who do it. Of course, it also helps to be going back to the same places time after time and be recognized by people; it gives me a certain sense of importance and authority that I like.
It feels good to have stopped fighting against the pull of the fencing world, although I am a bit afraid of being sucked back and trapped in it once again like I felt I was 4 or so years ago. Hopefully I am older now and more mature and have enough experience and other responsibilities and hobbies that I will be able to keep a healthy balance in my life.
I am craving more order in my life now. Maybe it's because I am getting older or just realizing that I am so much more efficient when things are in order. A while ago I organized my stuff in lab: put everything away in nicely ordered folders, labeled everything so now it's easy to find data from experiments I had done months ago. I cleaned my desk too, and overall, I have been feeling better about work because of the order. Those who know me well know that I am not the tidiest person and certainly not a clean-freak. There is a certain level of clean and order that I absolutely need though. Part of that is writing down everything I do in the little black book both to keep track of what I need to do and to remember what I had done.
As I started leafing through the pages of my new calendar and writing down things I already knew I had to do, I realized that January was just around the corner and how busy I was going to be. Last weekend I went to an all-day fencing seminar and took the written test to become a rated referee. Having passed the exam, the person in charge hooked me up with the East Coast college fencing league coordinator, who organizes all the competitions around here. Immediately, I was booked for 5 different tournaments along the East Coast, and with some other competitions I had already agreed to referee at, I managed to sign up for every single weekend in January and February for fencing meets. I think I should feel stressed about how I am going to have time for all this next to lab and school, but I am actually excited about going to all these competitions.
Is this strange? Am I a masochist deep down? Standing up for sometimes 8-10 hours a day, having to focus for that long, getting yelled at from all directions, people always looking for things to criticize about you... all of these are parts of being a referee. Why am I looking forward to doing this to myself? I have been fighting against this feeling ever since I stopped competing more than 3 years ago. I have been refereeing ever since, mostly in high schools in the NYC area and at college meets back at Northwestern, but never very seriously and most importantly, never admitting that I enjoyed it. However, when I went to Chicago a few weeks ago, I decided that it was time to stop fighting this feeling that has become very obvious to me by now. I miss fencing, I miss being around fencers, I miss being at competitions. When I walk into the gym in the morning of a competition, I have the feeling of belonging and familiarity, no matter where in the world I am. There is this thing called fencing that links me with all the other people in the world who do it. Of course, it also helps to be going back to the same places time after time and be recognized by people; it gives me a certain sense of importance and authority that I like.
It feels good to have stopped fighting against the pull of the fencing world, although I am a bit afraid of being sucked back and trapped in it once again like I felt I was 4 or so years ago. Hopefully I am older now and more mature and have enough experience and other responsibilities and hobbies that I will be able to keep a healthy balance in my life.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Mama Afrika
Quite by accident, I got to go to a very memorable concert at a very nice place called Le Poisson Rouge - The red fish, which apparently means goldfish, but the French call them red fish for some reason. My friend who's from Belgium and also half Congolese invited me last minute to this tribute concert to Miriam Makeba - better known as Mama Afrika - who had just passed away last weekend. I have to admit that I didn't know what she was talking about at the time, but as I have written about this before, I am in an adventurous "let's discover new music" and "don't turn down opportunities to try new things" phase in my life, so I said I'd go with her. I looked Makeba up in Google and found out that I really should have know about her, as she was a world-famous South African singer and performer, who singed in all different languages all around the world, was a political activist and toured with really big-name artists like Harry Belafonte and Paul Simon.
There was a line outside the venue when we got there, which is not so unusual in NYC, but for a Sunday evening, the place was crowded. There was a nice mix of people, black and white, and a great atmosphere. It was truly a celebration of a great person's life, who fought against apartheid in South Africa and for civil rights in the US while brining together all kinds of people from all around the world with her music.
The performers were mostly from Africa, some who had known her, some who admired her, people recited poetry and sang her songs, told stories about her or just showed pictures on the screen behind the stage. I felt like I was getting to know her too. The whole room went nuts when someone commented on how she got to witness the election of a black president in the US right before her death, something that apparently was a lifelong dream of hers.
And then, an older man with a cane came out to talk about how he had met her decades ago in London. It was Harry Belafonte. He is still very good-looking at 81, and incredibly well-spoken. Unfortunately, he didn't sing, but told some stories about Makeba and I think made a lot of people in the audience tear up.
And that wasn't all. After Belafonte left the stage, an even bigger star appeared, to the surprise of pretty much everyone, Paul Simon himself. I couldn't quite believe that I would get to see and hear him sing for a suggested donation of $20 at this concert.
It was quite an evening! Besides the great music, it felt amazing to be in this huge melting pot that was the bar, that are NYC, the US, and truly, the world. Where people from different continents and cultures and languages come together to celebrate something that's so human and so beautiful, even though it was quite a sad occasion, it was also wonderful, and just being there made me feel like I was part of something bigger and better, and that there was hope for humanity after all.
One of the artists who performed was a young Somali rapper, K'naan, who had escaped with his family to Harlem when he was a child. I am not a huge fan of rap, but his song "When I get older" honestly made me cry.
"When I get older, I will be stronger.
They'll call me freedom, just like a waving flag"
There was a line outside the venue when we got there, which is not so unusual in NYC, but for a Sunday evening, the place was crowded. There was a nice mix of people, black and white, and a great atmosphere. It was truly a celebration of a great person's life, who fought against apartheid in South Africa and for civil rights in the US while brining together all kinds of people from all around the world with her music.
The performers were mostly from Africa, some who had known her, some who admired her, people recited poetry and sang her songs, told stories about her or just showed pictures on the screen behind the stage. I felt like I was getting to know her too. The whole room went nuts when someone commented on how she got to witness the election of a black president in the US right before her death, something that apparently was a lifelong dream of hers.
And then, an older man with a cane came out to talk about how he had met her decades ago in London. It was Harry Belafonte. He is still very good-looking at 81, and incredibly well-spoken. Unfortunately, he didn't sing, but told some stories about Makeba and I think made a lot of people in the audience tear up.
And that wasn't all. After Belafonte left the stage, an even bigger star appeared, to the surprise of pretty much everyone, Paul Simon himself. I couldn't quite believe that I would get to see and hear him sing for a suggested donation of $20 at this concert.
It was quite an evening! Besides the great music, it felt amazing to be in this huge melting pot that was the bar, that are NYC, the US, and truly, the world. Where people from different continents and cultures and languages come together to celebrate something that's so human and so beautiful, even though it was quite a sad occasion, it was also wonderful, and just being there made me feel like I was part of something bigger and better, and that there was hope for humanity after all.
One of the artists who performed was a young Somali rapper, K'naan, who had escaped with his family to Harlem when he was a child. I am not a huge fan of rap, but his song "When I get older" honestly made me cry.
"When I get older, I will be stronger.
They'll call me freedom, just like a waving flag"
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Music I've been listening to
I bought a new computer a couple of months ago and as I was transferring all my music from my old computer, I realized that I had been listening to the same artists for the last 5 or so years. So I went on a hunt on this great website last.fm, where you can listen to all kinds of music for free, see upcoming concerts and look for similar artists. You can also make your own library of music you like and share it with your friends. This is how I came upon a Norwegian singer called Ane Brun, who actually lives in Stockholm, a city I really loved when I went to visit in August. In any case, she caught my eye probably because of this and also because she has an absolutely enchanting voice and her songs have quite chilling lyrics. This is one of my favorites from her album "Changing of the Seasons".
"I was gonna love you till the end of all daytime
and I was gonna keep all our secret signs and our lullabies
I was made to believe that our love would grow old
we were gonna live in a treehouse and make babies
and we were gonna bury our ex-lovers and their ghosts
baby we were made of gold."
I was excited to see that she had an upcoming show at my favorite new bar in Brooklyn, Union Hall. So last night a friend and I went to the show, and I had such a great time and discovered a couple of really great artists I had never heard of before. The first opener was a singer songwriter named Mia Riddle and her group. They were playing similar indie acoustic kind of music and they were pretty good, apparently from Brooklyn, but tour all over the pace, even in Europe. We got to talk to Mia after the show and she seemed very nice.
Here is a video from her album "Tumble and Drag".
What I really like about these smaller shows and concert halls is how cozy and friendly they are and that the artists hang out at the bar with all the fans and it's real easy to go up to them and talk. So we got to talk to Ane for a few minutes too, she is just so cute and sweet, and we got to take some pictures with her.
One of the things I like so much about Union Hall too is the decoration. The walls in the bar area are lined with bookshelves and old looking books, there are old black and white family photos everywhere, including hanging on the wall behind the stage in the downstairs room where they have all the shows. The picture is of an older woman, looks a little scary, like it could be one of those photos in a haunted house that might start talking to you any moment. In any case, the whole place has a very cozy feel to it, like you were visiting long-lost relatives in their big country house.
Then it was another Swedish artist, Tobias Froberg, who had a really nice voice too and performed a few songs with Ane Brun.
Ane Brun was really amazing! It was a small enough concert that we were way in the front, some people were even sitting on the floor in front of us. For one of her songs, she invited people from the audience on the stage to hum with her. If I had any talent in singing, I would have loved to do that. It was the kind of live music experience during which I just closed my eyes and gave myself over completely to the melody and the next time I was conscious, it was an hour and a half later and the show was over.
Pretty amazing!
"I was gonna love you till the end of all daytime
and I was gonna keep all our secret signs and our lullabies
I was made to believe that our love would grow old
we were gonna live in a treehouse and make babies
and we were gonna bury our ex-lovers and their ghosts
baby we were made of gold."
I was excited to see that she had an upcoming show at my favorite new bar in Brooklyn, Union Hall. So last night a friend and I went to the show, and I had such a great time and discovered a couple of really great artists I had never heard of before. The first opener was a singer songwriter named Mia Riddle and her group. They were playing similar indie acoustic kind of music and they were pretty good, apparently from Brooklyn, but tour all over the pace, even in Europe. We got to talk to Mia after the show and she seemed very nice.
Here is a video from her album "Tumble and Drag".
What I really like about these smaller shows and concert halls is how cozy and friendly they are and that the artists hang out at the bar with all the fans and it's real easy to go up to them and talk. So we got to talk to Ane for a few minutes too, she is just so cute and sweet, and we got to take some pictures with her.
One of the things I like so much about Union Hall too is the decoration. The walls in the bar area are lined with bookshelves and old looking books, there are old black and white family photos everywhere, including hanging on the wall behind the stage in the downstairs room where they have all the shows. The picture is of an older woman, looks a little scary, like it could be one of those photos in a haunted house that might start talking to you any moment. In any case, the whole place has a very cozy feel to it, like you were visiting long-lost relatives in their big country house.
Then it was another Swedish artist, Tobias Froberg, who had a really nice voice too and performed a few songs with Ane Brun.
Ane Brun was really amazing! It was a small enough concert that we were way in the front, some people were even sitting on the floor in front of us. For one of her songs, she invited people from the audience on the stage to hum with her. If I had any talent in singing, I would have loved to do that. It was the kind of live music experience during which I just closed my eyes and gave myself over completely to the melody and the next time I was conscious, it was an hour and a half later and the show was over.
Pretty amazing!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Celebrities
In New York one should always carry a camera around. Here is why: walking around in the city one never knows what kind of event one might run into on the way. As I was limping home from my last acupuncture treatment last night, I saw all this commotion around the Lincoln Square Loewe's movie theater with tons of cameras, photographers, lights and of course, the red carpet. There was much noise to be heard as well. By the time I fought my way through the crowd, the star of the night had already entered the building. Sadly, I only found out about 15 minutes later when I was getting tired of waiting around and asked the person next to me about whether or not he'd seen Daniel Craig already, as the event was the NYC premiere of the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, which I am super excited to see!
Of course I didn't have my camera, and my phone could only take this rather shitty picture above many heads, with no zoom.
I only saw the late-arriving guests which included Julia Stiles, Debra Messing from "Will and Grace", a guy from Gossip Girl whose name I don't know, and Jeffrey Wright, who I guess starts in the movie. This is what people with the big cameras saw right before I got there:
From now on I will always carry my camera with me, wherever I go.
Of course I didn't have my camera, and my phone could only take this rather shitty picture above many heads, with no zoom.
I only saw the late-arriving guests which included Julia Stiles, Debra Messing from "Will and Grace", a guy from Gossip Girl whose name I don't know, and Jeffrey Wright, who I guess starts in the movie. This is what people with the big cameras saw right before I got there:
From now on I will always carry my camera with me, wherever I go.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
A wonderful morning
A new day, new opportunities. I woke up today a bit later than planned, as usual, opened my window, and it was so cold outside, I immediately gave up on going to the park to run. After managing to get out of bed and opening my blinds, I saw the amazing bright sunshine and decided that I should really go. Yesterday I was a bit discouraged again: after running twice over the weekend - super short distances - my leg was a bit sore again just walking around. I went to see my PT and she showed me some really cool active stretches I can do at home before even leaving my apartment and put more funky tape on my leg. It looks something like this.
She ran out of the blue colored one once she put it on the inside of my shin, and wanted to put a smaller piece on the tendon that was swollen before just to get some "lymph flowing" is what she called it. So there, I now have blue and pink magic tape, and I actually like that combination, bright colors do put me in a better mood.
So after doing my fun new stretches I was ready to go. Today was the first time I tried out my cool new running tights too. I bought them a while ago for winter running, but haven't been able to run since and it had been warm outside too until this week. These tights are supposed to have compression bands that support different muscle groups. Other than that I think they look really cool, and make me look like a real runner. There is even scientific data supporting that they work: http://www.teamrunningfree.com/blog/2007/10/19/the-benefits-of-compression/
In any case, I put them on and felt like a superhero, except that the pink tape was visible under the bottom of the tights. Oh well. I am trying to do a few things differently now that I am getting back into running, hopefully this way avoiding the injury to come back or new ones from appearing. First of all I bought new shoes and arch supports which are really comfortable. The running analysis I did with my PT showed that I leaned back too much and didn't carry my right leg through after my stride. I need to get my upper legs stronger - that's the only part of me that's strong from fencing, so it makes no sense to me - so I will be putting less stress on my lower legs. I noticed that if I try to flex my quads and upper leg muscles when I walk, the pain around my shin goes away, voila! Doing this while walking or running takes quite a bit of concentration, and it's been difficult for me as I have been having trouble focusing on anything for more than a few minutes lately.
So this morning I put on gloves and a scarf and walked to Central Park. It was pretty chilly outside but amazingly bright like it only gets here in the fall. I really love the weather in New York around this time of year. Out of all the places I have lived before, it is only here that we have amazing bright and crisp autumn and winter days. Both in Budapest and in Chicago, most of the winter used to be gray and cloudy. I really missed Central Park! I used to go almost every day in the spring and summer, both to run and just to hang out. Since it's been so warm until now, the leaves are just now really turning yellow and falling. There are still amazing colors everywhere and lots of people with their kids and dogs and running and biking. I guess today is a holiday - not where I work - and the park drives were closed and there were tons of people out, the park was vibrant. I ran a little more than a full lap around the Reservoir and felt great. Running is my high and endorphins my cocaine! I could have gone on but I stopped myself, trying to be more careful this time around.
Lots of people were wearing their NYC Marathon gear from last weekend and it made me think of running in it. I am hopeful that if not in Miami, next year in NYC, I will run in the marathon and finish it!
She ran out of the blue colored one once she put it on the inside of my shin, and wanted to put a smaller piece on the tendon that was swollen before just to get some "lymph flowing" is what she called it. So there, I now have blue and pink magic tape, and I actually like that combination, bright colors do put me in a better mood.
So after doing my fun new stretches I was ready to go. Today was the first time I tried out my cool new running tights too. I bought them a while ago for winter running, but haven't been able to run since and it had been warm outside too until this week. These tights are supposed to have compression bands that support different muscle groups. Other than that I think they look really cool, and make me look like a real runner. There is even scientific data supporting that they work: http://www.teamrunningfree.com/blog/2007/10/19/the-benefits-of-compression/
In any case, I put them on and felt like a superhero, except that the pink tape was visible under the bottom of the tights. Oh well. I am trying to do a few things differently now that I am getting back into running, hopefully this way avoiding the injury to come back or new ones from appearing. First of all I bought new shoes and arch supports which are really comfortable. The running analysis I did with my PT showed that I leaned back too much and didn't carry my right leg through after my stride. I need to get my upper legs stronger - that's the only part of me that's strong from fencing, so it makes no sense to me - so I will be putting less stress on my lower legs. I noticed that if I try to flex my quads and upper leg muscles when I walk, the pain around my shin goes away, voila! Doing this while walking or running takes quite a bit of concentration, and it's been difficult for me as I have been having trouble focusing on anything for more than a few minutes lately.
So this morning I put on gloves and a scarf and walked to Central Park. It was pretty chilly outside but amazingly bright like it only gets here in the fall. I really love the weather in New York around this time of year. Out of all the places I have lived before, it is only here that we have amazing bright and crisp autumn and winter days. Both in Budapest and in Chicago, most of the winter used to be gray and cloudy. I really missed Central Park! I used to go almost every day in the spring and summer, both to run and just to hang out. Since it's been so warm until now, the leaves are just now really turning yellow and falling. There are still amazing colors everywhere and lots of people with their kids and dogs and running and biking. I guess today is a holiday - not where I work - and the park drives were closed and there were tons of people out, the park was vibrant. I ran a little more than a full lap around the Reservoir and felt great. Running is my high and endorphins my cocaine! I could have gone on but I stopped myself, trying to be more careful this time around.
Lots of people were wearing their NYC Marathon gear from last weekend and it made me think of running in it. I am hopeful that if not in Miami, next year in NYC, I will run in the marathon and finish it!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Losing my mind
Lately I've been thinking that the closer I get to a PhD, I am starting lose common sense and the ability to function well in the real world. Yesterday I was in the grocery store with a friend, who is also getting her PhD, in Psychology, and we decided to use the self checkout line. We couldn't figure out how to weigh tomatoes so we had to get the guy from a register to help us! Then the other day, I left my place with the single intention of going to the pharmacy, which is all the way down the street 4 blocks from my apartment. On the way there I was making a list of things I needed in my head, then started daydreaming, and woke up 2 blocks past the pharmacy. What is going on? Isn't more schooling supposed to teach people to be better at life? Not graduate school I guess. We're learning such specific information and techniques that it's pushing out the real important things from our brains, like how to weigh potatoes and get to the pharmacy in a straight line.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Research
Friends and relatives often ask me about what I actually do in lab. I always have a hard time describing it: I move small volumes of liquids from one tube to another in hope of finding something exciting out about how our bodies work. When I think about it from an outsider's perspective, it really doesn't make any sense to me either. One of my close friends used to say that I was curing cancer. Even though my research has nothing to do with cancer, I liked that. It sounds important and I do know some people who are actively trying to do just that, of course it's all on a much smaller scale than people usually imagine.
Today, as I was doing a very frustrating and long experiment, I was thinking about all this. It involved standing in a refrigerated room for almost an hour and a half, moving small amounts of liquid from tube to tube. I was freezing, my hands were getting stiff, and I was wondering why the hell anyone would chose to do this. I guess at the end we all hope that what we do will somehow better the world or at least one person's life - at least that's what my qualification for a meaningful job is - but it's hard to see that when you're freezing your butt off in a large fridge. Of course much of what we know about our bodies and biology in general come from these types of experiments and back in the day, before we had advanced technology, research must have been a million times harder and more frustrating. I am just not 100% certain that I have the patience for this type of work on a day-to-day basis.
Out of 10 experiments I do, maybe 5 will have worked - since research is often very technical and a million things can go wrong along the way - and out of the 5 usually 4 will have negative results - as in impossible to interpret - and then the 1 that works usually is unreproducible. Today, the possibility that water might have a genome arose in a discussion during lunch, and while it is really funny to have these conversations, an experiment a friend did in lab suggested this. So she is now focusing on trying to figure out the sex of the water we have and see if we might be able to make water-babies :). (We actually do talk about things like this during lunch, but these nerdy comic reliefs are absolutely necessary to survive in the lab day after day.)
Without the great co-workers I have, I would not be able to survive for sure. Especially not without the lab outings and parties, biweekly happy hours and the amazing cakes that Janice bakes! And if you survive grad school and then a postdoc, which usually pays under the minimum wage, and become a tenured professor at a university, then you might be able to afford to live in a place that has a roof with this amazing view of Manhattan. (Actually, my boss's wife is a partner in a law-firm, so maybe there's really no point to this after all.)
Today, as I was doing a very frustrating and long experiment, I was thinking about all this. It involved standing in a refrigerated room for almost an hour and a half, moving small amounts of liquid from tube to tube. I was freezing, my hands were getting stiff, and I was wondering why the hell anyone would chose to do this. I guess at the end we all hope that what we do will somehow better the world or at least one person's life - at least that's what my qualification for a meaningful job is - but it's hard to see that when you're freezing your butt off in a large fridge. Of course much of what we know about our bodies and biology in general come from these types of experiments and back in the day, before we had advanced technology, research must have been a million times harder and more frustrating. I am just not 100% certain that I have the patience for this type of work on a day-to-day basis.
Out of 10 experiments I do, maybe 5 will have worked - since research is often very technical and a million things can go wrong along the way - and out of the 5 usually 4 will have negative results - as in impossible to interpret - and then the 1 that works usually is unreproducible. Today, the possibility that water might have a genome arose in a discussion during lunch, and while it is really funny to have these conversations, an experiment a friend did in lab suggested this. So she is now focusing on trying to figure out the sex of the water we have and see if we might be able to make water-babies :). (We actually do talk about things like this during lunch, but these nerdy comic reliefs are absolutely necessary to survive in the lab day after day.)
Without the great co-workers I have, I would not be able to survive for sure. Especially not without the lab outings and parties, biweekly happy hours and the amazing cakes that Janice bakes! And if you survive grad school and then a postdoc, which usually pays under the minimum wage, and become a tenured professor at a university, then you might be able to afford to live in a place that has a roof with this amazing view of Manhattan. (Actually, my boss's wife is a partner in a law-firm, so maybe there's really no point to this after all.)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Boston - in pictures
Due to such an exciting beginning to this week, I haven't had a chance to write about my weekend in Boston, which was a lot of fun. I am thinking about what to write, trying to keep the memories alive before other things push it out of my brain, but now this is all I have time and energy for. A picture is worth a thousand words anyway.
Lucky Star Chinatown bus - it's an East Coast thing
Boston Commons - much smaller than Central Park, but very nice too
I did not plan on dressing up, but having worn mismatching colors and I guess having a nose piercing automatically meant I was a hippie
Clown, Drakula and Spider
On the street... not sure what he was supposed to be
Our host and authentic Drakula - Karoly is actually from Transylvania - needed some help with his belt
And of course, Sarah Palin...
Our other host, Marci
Ready for the Freedom Trail
William Prescott is about stab Karoly, who's trying to take a cool picture
Kicking leaves in a park in Cambridge
Apparently, his only job is to stand there half naked and attract women... I was scared to go closer
Kata and I in front of MIT
MIT - 2 days after Halloween - who knew?
Lucky Star Chinatown bus - it's an East Coast thing
Boston Commons - much smaller than Central Park, but very nice too
I did not plan on dressing up, but having worn mismatching colors and I guess having a nose piercing automatically meant I was a hippie
Clown, Drakula and Spider
On the street... not sure what he was supposed to be
Our host and authentic Drakula - Karoly is actually from Transylvania - needed some help with his belt
And of course, Sarah Palin...
Our other host, Marci
Ready for the Freedom Trail
William Prescott is about stab Karoly, who's trying to take a cool picture
Kicking leaves in a park in Cambridge
Apparently, his only job is to stand there half naked and attract women... I was scared to go closer
Kata and I in front of MIT
MIT - 2 days after Halloween - who knew?
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election day
Today is a very important day not only here in the US, but for the future of the whole world. I have been thinking about politics and about my life in the US a lot lately, and I just realized that it's been almost exactly 8 years since I moved here, and that coincides with the the beginning of the Bush administration. In 2000, when he was first elected, I was too young to know or care much about politics. I witnessed the craze after the elections from Kansas, and at the time, didn't understand what was at stake. I don't think many people did. Of course, it's very easy to judge from 8 years later, knowing everything that has happened since. Except for the first few months I lived in the US, my whole time here was spent under the Bush administration. It is similar for a lot of Americans in my generation who had turned 18 around 2000. It is understandable why these elections are so exciting and important for so many young people.
This morning I was out and about in the city, and walked by several polling locations, all of which had lines outside on the street. People looked so excited and didn't seem to mind the waiting. I really wished I could go stand in line with them and go vote. Since I can't, all I can do is wear my opinion on my jacket: I was pretty much forced to put on an Obama sticker this weekend when I encountered some last-minute campaigners in Cambridge, MA near the Harvard campus - not that I had to be forced too much, I am happy to wear it, if it makes just a single person stop and think, then it was already worth it. I have to say that since having the sticker on, I have been smiled at much more frequently on the streets of New York than anytime before this.
In Cambridge, sporting my new sticker
The line outside of a polling station on Columbus Ave.
My friends Rachel and Albert voting this morning
The city is extremely vibrant today. After work I went to the grocery store to buy some ingredients for brownies to take to the election party I am going to later. There were more people in the store than I had seen at this hour before. It looked like many people were going to or hosting parties. People looked excited, they were more upbeat than they usually are in New York. The atmosphere on the streets is different too. People are excited and hopeful. Walking down the street, I want to skip and sing and smile. I just hope it'll stay this way come tomorrow.
Some people are worried about the future already: what if someone tries to assassinate Obama? What if he becomes a scapegoat after the economy plummeting even deeper in the upcoming years? What if he isn't going to be a strong president? etc... Well, first, we should worry about tonight and the outcome of the election. Already there's going to be change, we wil just have to see what happens. It's exciting to see democracy at work, even if I can't fully be part of it. Go Obama!
This morning I was out and about in the city, and walked by several polling locations, all of which had lines outside on the street. People looked so excited and didn't seem to mind the waiting. I really wished I could go stand in line with them and go vote. Since I can't, all I can do is wear my opinion on my jacket: I was pretty much forced to put on an Obama sticker this weekend when I encountered some last-minute campaigners in Cambridge, MA near the Harvard campus - not that I had to be forced too much, I am happy to wear it, if it makes just a single person stop and think, then it was already worth it. I have to say that since having the sticker on, I have been smiled at much more frequently on the streets of New York than anytime before this.
In Cambridge, sporting my new sticker
The line outside of a polling station on Columbus Ave.
My friends Rachel and Albert voting this morning
The city is extremely vibrant today. After work I went to the grocery store to buy some ingredients for brownies to take to the election party I am going to later. There were more people in the store than I had seen at this hour before. It looked like many people were going to or hosting parties. People looked excited, they were more upbeat than they usually are in New York. The atmosphere on the streets is different too. People are excited and hopeful. Walking down the street, I want to skip and sing and smile. I just hope it'll stay this way come tomorrow.
Some people are worried about the future already: what if someone tries to assassinate Obama? What if he becomes a scapegoat after the economy plummeting even deeper in the upcoming years? What if he isn't going to be a strong president? etc... Well, first, we should worry about tonight and the outcome of the election. Already there's going to be change, we wil just have to see what happens. It's exciting to see democracy at work, even if I can't fully be part of it. Go Obama!
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