20100131

Scholarly Sunday - Pre-Midterm Attack Plan

Here's how it is going to go:

TODAY: Wake up at 10 AM and print out practice questions for Behavioral Genetics.
Read over them, come up with some answers.
Cook ravioli for lunch (super excited for this one).
Read for Dev in Adolescence until Amy picks me up for...
Beh Gen study group at 1.
Study until around 5 or so... can't afford to study much longer.
Eat dinner, probably going to be something frozen or maybe Chipotle if I can talk myself into it.
Beginning absolutely at 6 PM, start reading like a maniac for Dev in Adolescence. Maximum of 1 1/2 hours on each article and annotated bibliography.
With luck, finish at midnight, and finish statistics assignment.

MONDAY: Wake up at 8:30 AM and read for Beh Gen. Go to class, come home.
Have lunch and edit/print stats assignment.
Avoid crashing in stats, come home around 4 PM, and sleep/eat. Review for Beh Gen and Stats midterms.
Go to sleep at reasonable hour.

TUESDAY: Wake up whenever, review for Dev in Adolescence, involve self in discussion...
Eat, review for midterms. Generally take it easy.

WEDNESDAY: Wake up at 9:00 AM, review for Beh Gen whilst eating blueberry pancakes.
Take Beh Gen midterm.
Eat delicious lunch of sorts and do final review for Stats.
Take Stats midterm.
Return home for fried-brain activities including naps, tv, movies, internet, and pizza.

How I am looking forward to Wednesday night... oh, yeah.

20100130

Thankful Thursday + Fantasy Friday + Snapshot Saturday

Um, so this is the weekend before midterms which really means I shouldn't be hanging out on the internet doing things. I've sort of had a lack of ideas about anything besides interpreting regression coefficients... so I am just going to let this weekend slide on by... though I'm not thrill to do so. Oh, well, such is life.

However, to somewhat cover Fantasy Friday and Snapshot Saturday, I have a plan with pictures. The tenant above me does a lot of drawer closing and door slamming (with pocket doors? I am perplexed) as late as 3:30 AM and as early as 9:30 AM. It would be fine if it was one of these two extremes. But I require at least 8 hours of sleep to be human. So I searched for ways to muffle sound from above. Most were for condos where people can install second ceilings and such. Obviously, I can't do that. But another option is to drape fabric across the ceiling...
While I am not sure how well that would work, I love the design idea. I have a large piece of fabric above my couch effectively imitating art and distracting from the bland walls. But what if I got an even bigger piece of fabric and drape it across my ceiling all the way to the other side of my apartment? I think it would look so, so cool. I already have two fabric ideas picked out:
This one is the what I currently have above my sofa.
Another idea...

So this project is going to take some thought and most definitely another person, but I think it will look really cool... and maybe make my apartment a little more peaceful.

I hope to have enough time to blog tomorrow, but if not, I will blog again Wednesday night or Thursday when midterms will officially be OVER! Wahoo!

20100128

Written Wednesday - Recruitment Weekend

So...

I have nothing profound or creative to write. Therefore I'm going to tell you about something that's happening in the next few weeks!

Stephanie (a cohortie, as I now call them) called me to tell me that a friend of hers go into UC Davis and is going to come! That's quite exciting to pretty much already have a new friend up here (I hear he's really cool) and it's also exciting because recruitment weekend is coming up soon!

The program I'm in does a weekend for recruits, involving tours of the various labs on campus, meeting faculty, going to parties, and mingling with current students! It will be fun to see who got into the program and be asked the question, "So, what do you study?" And give the answer, "I'm not sure yet. I'm just a first year...." It's weird because I knew what I wanted to do a year ago. But then I starting finding out about doing stuff with fMRI and social anxiety in adolescents, and genetics, and Autism Spectrum Disorders, so I'm in a world of indecision. But in one year I'll be writing my thesis.

But I'm looking forward to meeting all the future first years and the free food and wine!

(By the way, I'm eating a very tasty salad with peas and cottage cheese on it. Sort of a weird combo, but I'd always make it for lunch when I volunteered at PCMC... and before I was dxed with Celiacs, I'd get the salad and a grilled cheese sandwich. Mmm...)

20100127

Tasty Tuesday - it's NutRageous!

Davis, CA
10:30 PM
On a Sunday

After having spent 4 hours straight on one article and one annotated bibliography, Natalie suffers minor meltdown but decides to not freak out... and instead, walk over to the Fast and Sleezy to buy chocolate and Diet Coke.

Armed with a $10 bill, keys, and a cellphone, she walks directly into the mini mart, to the refrigerator... Diet Coke *check*. Next, to the candy bars... Rolos, no. Hersheys... she wants something nutty. Snickers are boring and she eats too many Butterfingers. Love/hate relationship with the way crunchy peanut buttery substance in Butterfinger sticks to back molars.

NutRagous... that sounds good. Haven't had one of those since high school.

Full-blown meltdown avoided and able to work straight until 3:30 AM.

That is a good, under-appreciated candy bar right there. Yum.

20100126

Media Monday - TV Shows I Love


  • It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (dying for a new season!)
  • Community (gets funnier each week... and I'm sort of developing a crush on Joel McHale)
  • Forensic Files + The Investigators + Murder by the Book, etc
  • The Daily Show
  • The Colbert Report
  • And... embarrassingly... Frank the Entertainer in a Basement Affair
That last one is bad... really bad. But I'm kind of
addicted to it. Frank the Entertainer was my least
favorite character on I Love Money (I believed I
blogged about I Love Money in a post about
embarrassing things I enjoy... here I go again)
which is why I cheer when a girl gets out of his
house!

Scholarly Sunday - Erikson

For my adolescence course this week we are learning about self and identity development. One of the articles assigned was published in 1966.

When something is published pre-1970 or even pre-1980, you know you're in for something good.

It was a study by an apparently pretty awesome researcher named Stephen Marcia. He operationalized Erikson's four statuses (identity attainment, foreclosure, moratorium, and diffusion) of identity development. It was neat to read about actual measures, though I am skeptical of the definitions... but that's just me, skeptical. Anyway, Marcia looked at how college males different on self esteem and other measures as a function of their statuses.

Now, of course, this is 1966, so are people still using Erikson's theory?

Yes!

This is quite exciting because I spent a lot of time reading Erikson as an undergrad (Identity and the Life Cycle, Youth: Identity and Crisis, and Childhood and Society, to name a few) and I really enjoyed it. Some of his ideas were a little hard to swallow (he was a Freudian, after all) but things like his epigenetic principle make my heart sing. And, at least for our society (it's pretty well accepted that his theory isn't applicable worldwide), his ideas make sense... to me. So the papers written and the books read were not a waste of time! Yay! (I at least could explain to a member of my cohort what a 'crisis' was.)

Anywho, sorry for the late post but, you know, I'm up to my ears in stuff to do!

20100123

20100121

Written Wednesday - Taking Flight


I love taking off in an airplane.

It's so exhilarating. The speed, watching your environment fly past, the sounds, the little bit of fear when you leave earth... it is incredible.

Landing is almost as fun, but those few minutes before you land are amazing too. Close enough to ground, you can see the roads and cars, lights and textures beneath you. There's something so incredible and powerful about seeing the world beneath you. Sometimes I'd love to be a bird. Soar high.

My favorite places to fly into are Sacramento and La Guardia. My sister and I flew into La Guardia a number of years ago at night. It was incredible to see New York City at that time, from that location.

Sacramento has a completely different landscape. It is like an intricate quilt - patches of browns, oranges, and greens. Like I said, there are so many different textures. The patches are separated by roads and rivers. It really is gorgeous.

Of course, I can't not mention Salt Lake City. I haven't flown in this way for a long time, but when you fly from Newark, you go above Logan and south to Salt Lake. I flew in one wintery morning in March. My Rockies, dusted with snow, well, it's home.

I love flying.

(Photo courtesy of www.megascenery.com)

20100120

20100119

Tasty Tuesday - Smorgasbord

Dear Blogosphere,

After a marathon of thinking (4-hour seminars are mentally exhausting!), I can't really think of a theme for today. So, I'm just going to post an assortment of thoughts, a smorgasbord, if you will.


  1. Those, above, are insanely delicious enchiladas. I love them. They almost make having Celiac Disease worth it. The surprising thing is that they come in a frozen box. (Amy's Cheese Enchiladas.)
  2. I watched Giada make Herbed Quinoa a few days ago and I think she answered my foodie prayer! I have some quinoa but didn't have any ideas. This recipe looks really good... mmm... lemon.
  3. Hanging out in the Co-op's bulk foods section last night, I decided to get some dried papaya and pineapple. So sweet.
So, those are just some random food thoughts. I hope you all had a wonderful Martin Luther King, Jr Day weekend! I'll end this post with one of my favorite quotes from the Letter from Birmingham Jail.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

20100118

Correction

Yeah, I just realized that today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day... not President's Day.

Wow. Hahaha.

Media Monday - Best of Netflix

Dear Bee-logosphere,

The person whose Netflix account I have been using is canceling their subscription. I looked at getting my own account but decided that I'd go check out the library instead (+to list of things to do) and save myself $9/month. But I thought I'd post some of my favorite movies that I've watched.
  • To Be and To Have: A French documentary about a modern-day one-room schoolhouse and the incredible teacher and students that work and study there.
  • Sugar & Spice: A lighthearted teen comedy about a pregnant cheerleader and her daring squad.
  • The Education of Shelby Knox: A documentary about a courageous girl fighting for comprehensive sex education in Lubbock, TX (the town with the highest teenage birthrate in the US).
  • Sound and Fury: An eye-opening documentary about the deaf culture, the cochlear implant and how it creates tension in two families.
  • Frontline - the Medicated Child: An episode of Frontline that looks at the use of anti-psychotics in children suffering from "bipolar" disorder.
  • The Business of Being Born: A documentary that gives us the other, non-hospital point of view of birthing. The documentary certainly has its biases against our culture's way of delivering babies, it is helpful to learn about options that mothers-to-be have.
  • Tap: An AMAZING movie starring Gregory Hines, young Savion Glover, and a bunch of the "old guys" - Sandman, Jimmy Slyde, and others. There are so many great tap scenes in this show.
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: One of my favorite movies. A great love story with some interesting ideas about event memory. Totally not plausible, but still thought-provoking. If you could completely forget the person who broke your heart, would you?
  • Spice World: An underrated movie! Critics hated it. But that's because they didn't the point that it is the Spice Girls and it is supposed to be silly. Full of great cameos: Meatloaf as the bus driver, Elvis Costello as the bar tender, Hugh Laurie, and Elton John as himself.
  • The Royal Tenenbaums: This is one of my favorite Wes Anderson films. I don't know how to describe it in a few sentences though... other than to say, you should see it.
  • Coupling: This is the British version of Friends, but it is a whole helluva lot funnier.
  • The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: This is a documentary about a homeless man in San Francisco who feeds and cares for the parrots that have curiously and surprisingly found a home in the Bay Area. It's very touching and I cried at least twice.
  • Cabaret: Bob Fosse directed and choreographed this amazing musical. Liza Minnelli will make you laugh and make you cry. Oh, and you'll definitely hate Nazi's just a little bit more after watching this.
  • Cannibal! The Musical: I was so excited when I saw this online. It's a very campy musical by the creators of South Park.
  • Helvetica: A documentary about, you guessed it, Helvetica. Helvetica has shaped the world we live in. Some graphic designers love it, others hate it. This is a film that changes your perception.
  • Kicking and Screaming: A very funny movie written and directed by Noah Baumbach. It shows what happens to four college grads who aren't willing to step out of college life and into the real world. The dialogue is really good, sometimes pretentious but it works for the characters. My favorite character, though? The bartender who has taken every class by every professor the unnamed college offers. It's the perfect "I just graduated movie" and I definitely related to the guy who refused to go to grad school.
It's been an entertaining few months, but between my sweet cable package, the library, and Hulu, I think there's plenty of films and shows at my fingertips.

Happy President's Day, Blogosphere!

To Find a Friend

(I can't think of a title for this posting, so I went ahead with the title of the song I'm listening to.)

Today is sort of a new beginning for me. There are so many things I haven't done in Davis and knowing how uncertain life is, there are so many things I want to do, including:
  • Walk every street Downtown and in Old North Davis.
  • Check out Armadillo Music.
  • Eat some Thai food! There are SIX Thai restaurants downtown and I haven't been to one of them.
  • Hang out on the farm-side of campus and get chased by a turkey.
  • Go to a performance at the Mondavi Center.
  • Go to a film at the local indie theater.
  • Check out the various clothing boutiques in town.
  • Snag a lemon.
I'm going to add to the list. Outside of Davis I want to go wine tasting and check out a winery, try some of the supposedly amazing Mexican food in Woodland, go lay on a beach, and go to San Francisco more often! I also need to go back to Berkeley and give it another shot. I want to go to Half Moon Bay and Suisun, too.

If you have any ideas of things to do in Nor Cal or life in general, please comment!

20100117

Scholarly Sunday - Blue Denim

"I got nothin' to say about puberty that you haven't heard before."
-Ben Lee

We're reading about puberty in my adolescence course this week. And, automatically, I get Blue Denim by Ben Lee stuck in my head. The line above is at the beginning of the song and always makes me laugh. The song reminds me of high school and my first boyfriend... and those weird, awkward moments that are still making me laugh.

Anyway, aside from Ben Lee, I have a plan. First, I'm going to lightly read X article for keywords and theory. Second, I'm going to do a deep reading of it focusing on methods and limitations. Third, I will write the AB whilst reading back through it. And hope that my AB is shorter than a page. I figure this won't take too long. So, I am going to get back to work!

Nerves


For one of my classes we write annotated bibliographies for each article we read. They are supposed to be our "personal research notes" but there are particular things the professor wants and a lot of rules... like how long they can be, etc. It's a great exercise in boiling papers down to what's important. And I really don't mind writing them.

The prof warned us that she would be really thorough with our first set of ABs. And... yeah, she was definitely thorough. For five articles, I had about a page and a half of constructive criticisms. And I got, what is to me, a really bad grade. I reminded myself that the first quiz, test, or assignment DOESN'T MATTER because I'm still figuring out what the professor wants. Last quarter, one of my professors loved my annotated bibliographies... this professor doesn't care for them. It's ok.

So that was what was going on consciously.

I started to download this week's readings and I got a bolt of sharp pain through my T7 dermatome. I cringed and mumbled a few choice words.

Two summers ago, I noticed a strange set of bumps on my ribcage. They were in a diamond shape and were a little bit itchy but nothing I couldn't handle. I looked up what they might be and started to read about all sorts of crazy horrible diseases. After consulting with my mum, I decided to book an appointment with my doc. He took one look at them and said, "Shingles."

I didn't believe it. I was 20. 20-year-olds don't get shingles.

But... as the bumps blistered, I realized that, yep, it was shingles.

Anyway, I've had this pain before, but only once or twice, so this is the first time since I've moved to California that I've felt the nerve damage from my chickenpox friend. Between this and (sorry... TMI coming right at you!) my enlarged lymph nodes, I'm thinking I need to chill out. But how do I chill out and get above a 3.5 this quarter? And how do I stifle the fear when I start down the road of Impostor Syndrome... which is basically feeling like the story of my life.

Oh, I'm nervous about my first stats paper, too... maybe it was too concise?!

^See... this is a problem. And it's not always conscious... that's the really scary part. I rarely have emotional meltdowns... it all gets channeled to my body.

So my latest line of thought goes like this:
"Graduate school is strictly optional. You don't have to do this. But you want to. If it gets to the point where you can't do it anymore, no one will judge you if you jump into a 'real job.' But it won't get that hard. Lots of people have master's degrees. Lots of idiots have master's degrees. You can do it. Or at least get through this week... this month... this quarter."

I know some people that read this blog are going to grad/professional school or thinking about going to grad/professional school. I hope this post doesn't discourage you. Grad school, I think and force myself to believe, is do-able and I felt great after I received my grades after the first quarter. But it isn't all great... and it's, obviously, stressful. But so are "real jobs" and life and so was undergrad! The moral of the story is do what you want to do, do what you're passionate about, then, when you feel like you're failing and the mountain seems way too steep, you can at least say, "there is no way I could study or work in any other field."

And, let's just hope that our minds and bodies make it through with little long-term damage! Ha ha.

-Natalie

P.S. A little comic relief never hurt anybody... I love the Simpsons.

20100116

20100115

Fantasy Friday - No Plans!

Dear Bee-logosphere,

A few people have asked me what I'm doing with my long weekend. I don't know... and it's Friday, so I ought to have a plan. I am thinking about going to San Francisco tomorrow but San Francisco isn't very much fun without my sisters and I don't want to spend any money... get Natalie anywhere near an H&M, Sephora, Tiffany's, or Nordstrom and all bets are off. Somewhere, some money will be spent. Money that she definitely shouldn't spend. Well, also Stephanie and I are planning at trip to SF next month to check out a fantastic piano bar. So, I think I will hold off.

So, I am going to spend this weekend kicking back and *maybe* getting ahead in my classes. Emphasis on maybe... haha, there is just something about deadlines and me! We love each other. We like to get as close as possible.

I suppose I'll update the blogosphere on stuff and Davis...

I've been back in Davis for a whole two weeks now, and my body has finally adjusted back to the carless Davis lifestyle! I've done quite a bit of walking and found my new favorite walking spot: the arboretum. It is so peaceful and quiet - I can hear my thoughts! I can't wait to see the arboretum in the spring. Gorgeous. But always on my walks I run into a plant that we used to grow in our kitchen or a fruit tree. A few days ago I walked past a little spinach patch. Mmm, I think I'll just snip a little here and there!

Speaking of lettuce, if you were wondering what the Farmer's Market is like during the winter, lettuces seem to take over. I bought some arugula last week... so tasty. There are also loads of oranges and clementines (California, the home of the cutie), dried fruits, nuts, and winter squash. But no zucchini or bell peppers to be found. I am so happy that the farmer's market continues during the winter! It's marvelous.

One of my favorite things about Davis is the trains. Sometimes at night I can hear them in the distance.

Well, that's about it for Fantasy Friday. I hope you, my dear reader, have a great weekend! Do something out of the ordinary!!

Alton Brown's Gluten-Free Cookie Recipe

I might attempt to make these sometime soon...


Ingredients

  • 8 ounces unsalted butter
  • 11 ounces brown rice flour, approximately 2 cups
  • 1 1/4 ounces cornstarch, approximately 1/4 cup
  • 1/2-ounce tapioca flour, approximately 2 tablespoons
  • 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 ounces sugar, approximately 1/4 cup
  • 10 ounces light brown sugar, approximately 1 1/4 cups
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tablespoons whole milk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Once melted, pour into the bowl of a stand mixer.
In a medium bowl, sift together the rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca flour, xantham gum, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
Add both of the sugars to the bowl with the butter and using the paddle attachment, cream together on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the whole egg, egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
Chill the dough in the refrigerator until firm, approximately 1 hour. Shape the dough into 2-ounce balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes, rotating the pans after 7 minutes for even baking. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on the pans for 2 minutes. Move the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely. Store cooked cookies in an airtight container.

20100114

Thankful Thursday - Friends, Weekends, Sun, Sleep

As I sit in the library, quite pleased with myself getting this statistics assignment done over 12 hours before it's due, I think of things I am oh so grateful for...
  • New friends
  • Long weekends
  • Sunny days
  • Sleeping in
Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you have a fantastic President's Day weekend!

20100113

20100112

Tasty Tuesday - Double Post!

Ooh, a double post... but I must tell you what's happening in my kitchen:

*Two cans of enchilada sauce
*Twenty-four corn tortillas
*Four cups of cheddar and jack cheese

Enchiladas, my friends! The aroma is incredible.

-Nat

Tasty Tuesday - Ready Rice + Rain

Dear Blogosphere,

It is raining outside! Pouring! Oh, it makes me so happy. My windows have been opened so that I can hear the drops of water collect in puddles above the bookstore's roof. Rain is so romantic. Even if you are chronically alone. :-)

This rainstorm came after I had a little sobfest. TMI? I don't know, but the sobfest ended with me coming up with a very funny joke... one, though, not for the blogosphere's ears. I decided to listen to some music and even though the blasting-volume headphones, I hear the rain.

So, to celebrate the happiness that comes after a sobfest (the harder you fall, the higher you bounce) and the rainstorm, I decided to "cook" a comfort food. Rice. That you microwave in a pouch for 90 seconds. Mmm...

Sometimes that's all you need to make for a Tasty Tuesday.

-N

20100111

Schoalrly Sunday - Short, Sweet, and Controversial

Dear Blogosphere,

Due to my keen procrastination skills, I ended up spending an hour tonight trying to figure out/fix EndNote. Endnote just may be the worst software I have used in the past 5 years. It seems so buggy and remarkably slow for what, by all appearances, appears to be pretty simple stuff. Anywho, so spending an hour on that means I am behind on some reading. I'm hoping to get a decent amount of sleep, so I am going to keep this: Short, Sweet, and Controversial!

Here are some interesting things I've learned this past week:

1. Rosalind Franklin rocks. And I want to read a biography of her. I feel, historically, women scientists haven't been recognized (like Franklin). But if they were recognized, it was rarely in a positive light (Rachel Carson, anyone?).
2. The social sciences (psychology, sociology) are changing the routes bench sciences (genetics, biology) take. A fairly new field, called epigenetics, is blowing peoples' minds! I'm thinking about taking a class on just epigenetics next quarter... so cool. (This is a field where people look at how environment affects genes -- through methylation, "turning on/turning off," expression, etc.)
3. According to Steinberg, et al (2009), cognitively, adolescents are on par with adults, but psychosocially, adolescents are in their own place. This is why the APA issued a statement against the death penalty for minors and later issued a statement against required parental consent for minors to terminate pregnancies. If you're interested in this article, I'd be happy to pass it along (totally fascinating no matter your political views)!

Now I am going to hit the journals and read about "Association of Anxiety-Related Traits with a Polymorphism in the Serotonin Transporter Gene Regulatory Region" and "Sexual Dichotomy of an Interaction Between Early Adversity and the Serotonin Transporter Gene Promoter Variant in Rhesus Macaques." Fun, fun!

-Natalie

20100109

Snapshot Saturday - Oranges!


Every gray cloud that won't seem to leave no matter how much you wish it would has a silver lining! Overcast == good photography situation. So, on my Saturday stroll, I found this gorgeous orange tree and decided to pop in the shot.

Happy weekend everyone!

20100108

Fantasy Friday - Gray Days

It has been perpetually gray lately. I love the low morning fog, but not seeing the sun for 3 or so days is making me a little blue. But fortunately, it is raining today. Hearing the rain hit my windows reminds me of a cheesy love song... something about rain falling on the tin roof. Late 1990s. Agh! What is the name of that song??

Well, the plan for the day is to complete everything for my middle childhood and adolescence class for Tuesday. If I can get all of that done, I can spend tomorrow lazily doing assignment #1 for stats. Then spend Sunday lazily reading for behavioral genetics. I feel like this quarter is going to be a lot more mild than last quarter.

For fun this weekend I'm going to get some 5x7s and 4x6s printed up. I found a steal at Target - 20 frames of various sizes for $12 so I'm all excited to go through my iPhoto library and pick out some good ones. Probably get those printed up at Rite Aid, where I will buy some Command hooks and figure out how to hang these really cool paper lanterns my mom gave me for my birthday.

Good times! See you tomorrow for Snapshot Saturday!

20100107

Thankful Thursday - MBP, IBU, Profs, & Cohort

I am so very thankful for...
  • My MacBook Pro. *Hugs* And Google Scholar. How did people do grad school without the Internet??
  • Ibuprofin
  • Friendly professors who tell you that the lowest grade they've ever given in a particular graduate seminar is an 'A-'
  • Being back in Davis, studying with the coolest people ever. HDGG Cohort 2009 FTW!

20100106

Written Wednesday - Assorted Thoughts

Walking to Ace on Sunday, I passed a tall man standing alone. I said, "Hello." He said, "Hi." And as I had passed him by a couple of feet he asked, "Would you mind writing down your definition of compassion?" He held out a notebook and pen. I stopped, thinking about compassion, coming up with a response. I was puzzled. I told him, "I'll need to think about that. But I will be walking back up this way."

As I continued walking, I thought about compassion. I tried to think of my own definition. But I couldn't. Then I got to thinking about why on earth I couldn't come up with my definition. It made me a little sad... I consider myself compassionate, but how?

I avoided him on the way back, taking 2nd Street instead of 3rd.

* * * * *

He asked me, "Do you think I'm normal?" That threw me off. Kevin said, "Well, according to so-and-so [a poet I had never heard of] people ask questions like that due to inner..." "I don't think he's that deep," I, rather brashly, interrupted.

No, I don't think he's normal. But then again, I never knew him.

* * * * *

I spent about two hours at Borders tonight. I read Adbusters and skimmed through a few bad parenting books. I bought a set of three small journals. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but the idea of a fresh journal sounds appealing. I also bought a small address book. I was going to get a larger one but realized that I probably wouldn't even fill the smallest one.

Tasty Tuesday - Double-Yolk Eggs and Such

Dear Blogosphere,

Happy Tasty Tuesday... a little late! Ha ha. I have eaten a couple of marvelous things since I've been back... let me share.

At the Farmer's Market, I decide to give in and buy some eggs. They were from free range chickens, which is cool by me, brown... organic, etc. But when I asked for a half-dozen large eggs, the woman asked me a marvelous question: "single or double yolk?" I didn't know... what to say. You see, I'm a city girl, unaware of things like double-yolk eggs. So she recommended half and half. When I cracked one of the double-yolk eggs I was pretty thrilled to see two small-ish yolks. I'm easily excited. I made myself a plain omelette with one double-yolk egg and one single-yolk egg and it was of course very, very delicious.

The other tasty thing I made was fried polenta with pesto and garlic. It was the store bought kind, basil and garlic flavored. I fried 1/2" slices of the polenta for quite a while until both sides were crispy and brown then threw fresh minced garlic in the pan and spread pesto on top of each round. Cooked it until the garlic was absolutely amazingly fragrant, and subsequently sprinkled parmesan on top. Yummmmmmmmmmmmm.

As I have made it through my first week of my second quarter of grad school, I'm treating myself to In-n-Out for dinner then a little browsing at my local Borders.

...Then I shall return for some Endnote-figuring-out-stuffness...

20100104

Media Monday - Big Love

The new season of Big Love starts next week and I'm rather sad that I won't be able to watch and discuss with my mum!

Here's a trailer... oh man, looks so good!

20100103

Scholarly Sunday - New Quarter!

Dear Blogosphere,

Tomorrow begins a new quarter! Here are the classes I am taking:
  • Genetic Correlates of Behavior
  • Correlation and Regression
  • Development in Middle Childhood and Adolescence
Exciting, eh? I am really excited for the genetics course as the topic will be new to me! We'll even be learning about animal models, which is very, very neat.
Correlation and Regression will be my fifth course in statistics! Wowza. I've heard good things about the professor and we will be using STATA which rocks.
Middle Childhood and Adolescence should be very interesting as I haven't taken a course yet that focuses on these ages. Hopefully I will run across some things to narrow down my focus even more.

That's it for this Scholarly Sunday! Hopefully next week I will have some more scholarly things to talk about...

Snapshot Saturday - January 2nd

Snapshot Saturday should involve a picture... but I didn't take my camera on any outings today, so words will have to suffice.

It's 3PM on a Saturday. I am walking to the Co-Op, headphones on head, listening to ABBA. I cross Russell Boulevard on 3rd Street. There are children playing in the park and adults chatting whilst sitting at the picnic tables. I am wearing a long sleeved shirt and a relatively thin jacket. It feels like autumn, though the leaves have all fallen. After I cross the street, I see a father wearing only a long sleeved shirt on a bicycle being followed by two children. A girl wearing a sweater and a younger boy wearing a smart jacket. I stand in awe.

...January 2nd?

20100102

Fantasy Friday - Past, Present, Future

I have been experiencing difficulties coming up with a topic for Fantasy Friday. Enter mindless Myspace quiz (reformatted, of course).

~PAST~

I was born one dark gray morn... in Salt Lake City. As a child, my favorite toys were Polly Pockets, Barbies, and stuffed animals (remember when Beanie Babies were big?). My favorite hobbies were making mud pies, playing, listening to music, playing the piano, and tormenting adults. My childhood in one word? Epic. I went to preschool for two years and remember it being a lot of fun. My two most vivid memories of preschool are playing at the water table (it seemed soooo big when I was little!) and "putting on our thinking caps" to learn the alphabet. The first school I attended was the Coppertop, but I went to the late Rosslyn Heights for kindergarten. I never moved during my childhood, though I did switch schools for 6th grade. The biggest part of my childhood, I would have to say, is when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It changed my life. My first "boyfriend" was Nick in preschool.
I have changed a bit in the past year. I feel very autonomous and strangely powerful. In a way I feel lost but I don't mind it. I don't feel like I found my identity during high school... rather, I think I'm just starting to figure myself out. It's exciting. I have really changed in the last five years. I feel like I spent adolescence at one extreme or the other. I think I have found homeostasis.

~PRESENT~

I currently attend the University of California at Davis. It rocks. I live in Downtown Davis in a cozy little flat. I have many friends, some closer than others. My current style... for my apartment it's modern/Scandinavian, though it has been interpreted as "Asian," for clothes it is simple but changes with the seasons, other style? I guess I just like things clean and bold. And I will never say no to something burnt orange or avocado. :-) My current mood is content. Though, ask me that question in two days and who knows what you'll read! Current hobbies are walking, traveling, reading (though, is it a hobby if it is assigned?), and socializing. My talents include: a vicious clown laugh, reading large quantities of academic literature, cooking tasty food, and the ability to take part in lengthy sleep sessions. My current philosophical beliefs are somewhat... unstable at the moment. I guess the easiest term to describe them is agnostic, as I don't know what I believe. I have a lot of hope, though, which is probably all that most people attain anyway. My favorite food varies by moment, but right now I will say enchiladas. Ooh, craving 'em! My favorite drink is probably Diet Coke but I love a lot of different things! My least favorite food would have to be anything with gluten in it. Yuck. My least favorite drink is wine... but I've only had it once.
Something that you may not know about me... well, I already told you. My clown laugh. It is similar to Krusty's. No one outside of my immediate family will ever hear it though. Another thing you may not know about me... I don't like heights but I love flying in planes.
Last year, I would have never expected everything I have learned in the past year. Holy cow.

~FUTURE~

I am very excited for the future. "The good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems" (Billy Joel). I expect very little in my future mostly because of where I am right now. I know what I'll be doing next year at this time, but the year after that? I have no clue. What do you want to do with your life? the quiz asks. Well, I want to make a big ripple in the ocean of humanity. I want to find out something new and share it with the world. I want to help people. Attempt to give back everything the world has given to me, though I know that is an impossible task.
My dream house is a small Victorian or Tudor, three-ish bedrooms, filled with wonderful people. I'd like for it to be an older home with walls full of memories.

...The rest of the questions in the quiz thing are about death which, frankly, I'm not in the mood for! Ha ha. Well, there's a wordy post for you! See you in a few for Snapshot Saturday.