Yeah, I am a skeptic. Things that sound too good to be true usually aren't true. Sometimes I could maybe use a little more belief I admit though.
90-year old very talkative man at the ER tonight, called me over to chat, well, thinking I was the other volunteer, first he told me I am also attractive - I think it's cute when old men do that, in a non-creepy way - but older (the other volunteer I usually work with just graduated from college), he says, oh not by much, but a few years, I can tell. It's true, I was impressed right away, he was very sharp. He didn't have a whole lot of clothes on, I was wondering the whole time whether I should put a blanket over him, but instead, just decided to listen. He told me about a tree whose bark will cure all cancers and a backpack that will once make people fly. I was a little skeptical, but he swore he read about all of this and it's been proven. He mentioned my skepticism and said it could be useful in some situations. Then he told me about himself: he's a composer, music scholar, orchestras around the US play his symphonies. I was smiling and nodding, being a little skeptical, although i had the feeling he is with it completely. He could tell and at the end, as I was about to leave, he said in a playful voice: I bet you don't believe a word I said.
So I checked his name tag and voila, he's a famous composer and his works have been played all over the country, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. I gotta trust people a little more sometimes.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
What things are called.
Names we attach to things, or people, are very important determinants of what we think of them, what we use them for, how we relate to them. And of course, how we judge them, people mostly. I don't know if it's just me and some friends I have, but we have a tendency to take a certain point, a characteristic out of context, and judge based on that. Not even judge necessarily, it's more playful, but here it is: we name people. Nicknames, funny names, connected to funny stories. It's a way to keep people whose names we do not take the effort to remember in our heads somehow.
For instance, we are interviewing a bunch of candidates for tech positions in our lab. There are kids - they seem so young - walking up and down the hallway in nice suits day in and day out: there was "Babyface", "C cubed", "Quiet girl", "Crazy guy" and so on, I don't even remember them all. I'm sure that if some of these people actually join our lab and we become friendly with them, we'll all learn their names, but for now, it's easier this way.
And then there are other nicknames, mostly made up by a particular friend, who gets confused when I tell her about the crushes I have, or the crazy men I have met throughout the years. So she has given most of them nicknames: "Homeless guy" (he wasn't actually homeless), "Old guy", "Child molester" (we were never sure he was actually one), "Postdoc candidate", "Gymnast from ground floor", "Semi flat basketball aka SFB" (don't even ask!), "Flakey guy", "Scooby Doo" and "Ex future husband" - this latest one, it was my fault entirely. One day I saw this guy at a coffee shop and I announced that he was going to be my future husband. Surprisingly, I ended up meeting the guy not much later, and after a few coffees together, it turned out he was already someone else's husband, hence, "Ex future husband". So it's possible that names given to people can change and thus, the way we relate to them changes.
And then there is a person I call "The love of my life" sometimes, quite misleading, actually, and it's all my fault. It's just that he has been the only man I was ever romantically or physically involved with, who has always treated me with respect, who has never lied to me and who's been a more or less consistent presence in my life. So it was tempting to believe that this is in fact what I should strive for, hope for, whatever it is that we do when we meet someone we think might be the one. The One. But none of this matters because he is already someone else's One and despite of what I've been making myself believe, it's not unfair, it's just life. It's rather fair to him and his One, and I just haven't met very many good guys. That's just it. I don't know why today was any different, but something we talked about this morning made me think all day. Nothing conscious, it was just in the back of my mind all day. And then one moment this thought popped into my head: he's no the love of my life, he's my friend. A friend who listens, a friend who compliments, a friend who makes me feel really good.
Suddenly, things seem to make more sense. Not everything is so black and white.
For instance, we are interviewing a bunch of candidates for tech positions in our lab. There are kids - they seem so young - walking up and down the hallway in nice suits day in and day out: there was "Babyface", "C cubed", "Quiet girl", "Crazy guy" and so on, I don't even remember them all. I'm sure that if some of these people actually join our lab and we become friendly with them, we'll all learn their names, but for now, it's easier this way.
And then there are other nicknames, mostly made up by a particular friend, who gets confused when I tell her about the crushes I have, or the crazy men I have met throughout the years. So she has given most of them nicknames: "Homeless guy" (he wasn't actually homeless), "Old guy", "Child molester" (we were never sure he was actually one), "Postdoc candidate", "Gymnast from ground floor", "Semi flat basketball aka SFB" (don't even ask!), "Flakey guy", "Scooby Doo" and "Ex future husband" - this latest one, it was my fault entirely. One day I saw this guy at a coffee shop and I announced that he was going to be my future husband. Surprisingly, I ended up meeting the guy not much later, and after a few coffees together, it turned out he was already someone else's husband, hence, "Ex future husband". So it's possible that names given to people can change and thus, the way we relate to them changes.
And then there is a person I call "The love of my life" sometimes, quite misleading, actually, and it's all my fault. It's just that he has been the only man I was ever romantically or physically involved with, who has always treated me with respect, who has never lied to me and who's been a more or less consistent presence in my life. So it was tempting to believe that this is in fact what I should strive for, hope for, whatever it is that we do when we meet someone we think might be the one. The One. But none of this matters because he is already someone else's One and despite of what I've been making myself believe, it's not unfair, it's just life. It's rather fair to him and his One, and I just haven't met very many good guys. That's just it. I don't know why today was any different, but something we talked about this morning made me think all day. Nothing conscious, it was just in the back of my mind all day. And then one moment this thought popped into my head: he's no the love of my life, he's my friend. A friend who listens, a friend who compliments, a friend who makes me feel really good.
Suddenly, things seem to make more sense. Not everything is so black and white.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
A few good weeks
It's been a while. Life has gotten in the way of blog updating. But I am back now.
I am trying to recap the past few weeks in my head, it's hard. Let's see, it was only 2 weeks ago to the day that I ran a new PR (personal record, 1:51:51) on a half marathon, namely, the Fitness/More Magazine Half Marathon, which is a women only half in Central Park. It was a perfect day: chilly but ideal for running, not a cloud in the sky, my best friend visiting from home, her first time in NYC, in the US, and the first thing she got to experience was the atmosphere of a running race with 7500 runners and plenty of spectators, on a perfect New York day! Ahhh, I was on a high all day that Sunday, as we spent hours walking around South Manhattan, taking the Staten Island ferry, and by the end of the day, I felt like I could just lie down on the sidewalk and sleep there all night - that sweet feeling of exhaustion from running 21 km's and walking maybe that much in a day. Luckily we made it home :)
I don't have a whole lot to say about the days that followed. Let me just say that in the end, I passed my defense, which was not at all pleasant but now is over and I am trying to put it behind. The party that followed was a success and much fun, thanks to my wonderful coworkers and friends. Let me just point out THE CAKE!!! By Janice, naturally. A masterpiece I call "A walk in the park", a 3-tiered cake (green tea and white chocolate) with a path going up around it and landmarks of my life written on little pieces of paper along the way - of course, I got to read them all out loud, not at all embarrassing!! There was of course much champagne and all kinds of presents - most notably, a rather substantial amount of money collected from the floor in the lab put on to an American Airlines gift card, so I can go home! I don't know how I deserved to have such amazing people I get to work with!
Needless to say, the next week or so, I didn't do much work. Szidi and I spent a lot of time touring the city, lots of fun touristy and not so touristy things. I think she got to have a nice overview of the good, the bad, the pretty and the ugly that is all NYC at the same time. We did a lot of fun party-type things and laid-back staying in kind of things. There aren't too many people in this world I can spend 2 weeks with - almost night and day - and not only not want to kill her by the end, but wish that she could stay another 2 weeks at least! We were inseparable as teenagers and then didn't see much of each other for almost 11 years - except for my visits home - and now, after all these years, we just picked up where we left off at 17. Soul-mates, I suppose, are meant to be that way. And here are many pictures we took, which are worth at least a thousand words.
I am trying to recap the past few weeks in my head, it's hard. Let's see, it was only 2 weeks ago to the day that I ran a new PR (personal record, 1:51:51) on a half marathon, namely, the Fitness/More Magazine Half Marathon, which is a women only half in Central Park. It was a perfect day: chilly but ideal for running, not a cloud in the sky, my best friend visiting from home, her first time in NYC, in the US, and the first thing she got to experience was the atmosphere of a running race with 7500 runners and plenty of spectators, on a perfect New York day! Ahhh, I was on a high all day that Sunday, as we spent hours walking around South Manhattan, taking the Staten Island ferry, and by the end of the day, I felt like I could just lie down on the sidewalk and sleep there all night - that sweet feeling of exhaustion from running 21 km's and walking maybe that much in a day. Luckily we made it home :)
 |
| Fitness Magazine Half marathon |
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| Szidi in NYC |
I don't have a whole lot to say about the days that followed. Let me just say that in the end, I passed my defense, which was not at all pleasant but now is over and I am trying to put it behind. The party that followed was a success and much fun, thanks to my wonderful coworkers and friends. Let me just point out THE CAKE!!! By Janice, naturally. A masterpiece I call "A walk in the park", a 3-tiered cake (green tea and white chocolate) with a path going up around it and landmarks of my life written on little pieces of paper along the way - of course, I got to read them all out loud, not at all embarrassing!! There was of course much champagne and all kinds of presents - most notably, a rather substantial amount of money collected from the floor in the lab put on to an American Airlines gift card, so I can go home! I don't know how I deserved to have such amazing people I get to work with!
 |
| They gave me a PhD |
Needless to say, the next week or so, I didn't do much work. Szidi and I spent a lot of time touring the city, lots of fun touristy and not so touristy things. I think she got to have a nice overview of the good, the bad, the pretty and the ugly that is all NYC at the same time. We did a lot of fun party-type things and laid-back staying in kind of things. There aren't too many people in this world I can spend 2 weeks with - almost night and day - and not only not want to kill her by the end, but wish that she could stay another 2 weeks at least! We were inseparable as teenagers and then didn't see much of each other for almost 11 years - except for my visits home - and now, after all these years, we just picked up where we left off at 17. Soul-mates, I suppose, are meant to be that way. And here are many pictures we took, which are worth at least a thousand words.
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