Resolutions 2014

It's a week into a the new year and I've been thinking about resolutions personal goals for the year. Looking back at last year's resolutions, I think I can say that I did pretty good on doing the things I set out for myself (particularly the baking toward the end of the year). I say yes more often then I say no when it comes to new experiences and social gatherings now. I ran a 5K in October of last year, which is impressive to me because I still sort of hate running. I even went on runs and hikes during my winter break home. I still need to work on drinking more water but that will probably be a lifelong thing.

For me, 2013 was the year of independence. It was the year that I kinda finally got a steady job (read: picked a lab), where I signed my first lease, where I got to furnish a room, got a bike, and committed to semesterly bus passes. I started buying food for myself on a regular basis and went to my first concert that I sought out and bought tickets for (I think. I saw both the Flobots and Macklemore. Also my first hip hop concert.) I learned what I liked and who I was outside of the "high school context" or the "college context." I stopped being afraid of stepping out of line and let loose a little more. Even though I am not fully involved in the 401K real world yet, where my community won't be so easily carved out for me, I feel like I've stepped foot in the door and have started to be able to make more definitive decisions about what I want with my life. And I realized that if I motivate myself, I can carve out a pretty good life for myself.

However, I have realized that in this search for myself, I have started to leave the most important people to me behind. Living across the country from those you love is hard, and I thought if I could show that I was doing well and keeping busy, I could prove that no one back home needed to worry about me. I also hoped, I think, that if I didn't think about anything important, nothing important would change. We all do this right? Try to paint our lives with vibrant colors and take snapshots of the happiest moments so that our stories seem brighter and more beautiful. The dark thoughts, the scary scenarios, have no power if you don't let them take hold, and the only way for me to really be able to sleep at night was to not think about the what-ifs, to focus on the now and to not think at all. But time ticks on whether you notice or not and my plan to keep myself from getting hurt has also led me to keep those that I care most for at arms length.

2014 will be the year that I reconnect, with family and with friends. Though I would like to eat better and be healthier this year, as in every year, if I were to set one personal goal it would be to stay in touch with everyone who is important to me. Amid the craziness that is to happen in my career (qualifying exam!), I want to appreciate and show appreciation for those who have gotten me to where I am now. Without you, I would be completely lost, and I don't think I can ever stop needing the love and support you give to me.

So thank you, anyone and everyone who has been there for me in my 23.5 years of life. And let it be known that this year, we are going to rock it out.

Blogmas Days 5+6: Performances

Yesterday, I had Winter Showcase for my dance group. I have decided that I am definitely no longer an undergrad. This is a couple of years late, but every time I am in a room with screaming, hyper teenagers, I get a little grumbly. It's probably because I don't really know any of them. Goodness knows I still scream like a little girl around my friends.

Today, K and I went to Top of the Hub, Boston's tallest dining experience, on the 52nd floor of the Prudential Towers. Dinner was seafood filled and totally filling. Then we saw the Boston Pops Holiday Concert. I miss orchestras and orchestral concerts. They played Hallelujah and I was immediately taken back to high school and the billion times we played it. There was also a singalong portion that I greatly enjoyed, and a narration and accompanying soundtrack to The Polar Express. 

It's now late and rainy. Signing off!

Blogmas Day 3+4: The Last Classes

I thought that I was done with "last class" experiences after finishing my last real class last semester. But yesterday was the last class of the class I am teaching. Usually, I feel very bittersweet about the last times for things. For every last lecture of classes that I've taken, I get a pang of sadness, even when the class has been pretty boring. I've always been very sentimental and have disliked changes in my routine and the ends of things.

But this time, there is not really a bittersweet feeling. I don't really feel sad that the class is ending. It's not that I've disliked my students. In fact, I've found them to be wonderful and it's been great to watch them grow this semester. I've even learned quite a bit this semester. It's just that teaching takes so much time, and working across the river, I feel like I haven't had much time to really devote to research. Classes aren't really my priority anymore and that's ok.

Tonight, I'm giving my last section. I suppose that this should also be a bittersweet occasion, but I really just want to get it over with. Cell signalling is interesting, but ultimately, not my cup of tea. Here are pictures from today: the river and a group of people being festive. Random.

Blogmas Day 2: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I knew Christmas season was starting when coffee shops started putting out their holiday cups and serving holiday drinks (current favorite from Starbucks: Gingerbread Latte...yum) and storefronts started displaying snowflakes and mannequins in thick scarves and festive hats. Cambridge does this thing where they string up nets across the lampposts and make patterns of lights in them to make the whole street sparkle.

But today, as I stepped off the T in Harvard Square, I noticed my first nighttime lit Christmas tree. And though it was only a marginally chilly 37 degrees out, it suddenly felt a lot more like winter and Christmas here.

Blogmas Day 1: New York Adventure

Blogmas 2013: This year, I shall include at least one image with each blog post!

New York, in December

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It's December! The holiday spirit has hit me (it hit in mid-October, but who's counting) and after the awesome NYC adventure I went on with KKS, I decided that I would revisit Blogmas this year, particularly because I won't be spending Christmas with my family.

K has come to Boston for Thanksgiving, one thing I have to be very thankful for, and besides cooking a turkey and gravy and Brussels sprouts for our Friendsgiving potluck, we've been bumming around Boston doing some light Black Friday shopping and hiding from the rain by watching movies and playing music. But this weekend, we went to New York, for a bit of a nostalgic adventure as well as to see Twelfth Night, my favorite Shakespeare comedy, staring Stephen Fry, one of my favorites as well, as a wonderfully sympathy-inducing Malvolio. We got seats on the stage, and I was so close to Mr. Fry that I could have reached out and touched him as he was leaning against our booth. (Disclosure: I refrained, but the older lady sitting next to me did not.) I was so close that I could see the spit flying out of the actors' mouths. (They were all actors; an all male cast with men playing the women as originally done in Shakespeare's day, which made for some very funny hysterics.) I was so close, in fact, that when the Fool was dressing himself in a cloak and fake beard, I GOT TO HOLD THE BEARD.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and even though I did not get pictures of the play itself, I did get this:

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Today, we wandered around the West Village with IS, got some coffee near NYU, which had all the stereotypical hipster students wandering about, and strolled along the river, marveling at the dog owners and their dogs and talking about generally non-important things. Our bus ride home was elongated greatly by the three accidents on the road and I learned that the toilet on the bus was nothing more than a hold over a huge vat of disinfectant. Joy.

But I'm back home in my room now, safe despite overturned trains and malfunctioning cars, and looking forward to the next couple of weeks before going home. I'm excited for LJ to return bearing Christmas decorations for our little apartment, as well as Christmas baking and gift giving.

There is not one photo that encompasses my New York trip, so I shall include some. Happy Dec. 1!

"You are halfway."

Halfway through my run, my training app will let me know that I have gone halfway. Usually, I can gauge how fast I should go depending on where I am in my run. However, in the last week, the ratio of run to walk has increased so that I am running twice as much as I am walking and suddenly, I am running much further than I have been. It's kinda awesome, since generally, I am not dying by the end of the run (yay!).

I've also, at this point, made it halfway through the training regiment. 4 weeks down and I'm feeling...like maybe I can see this through? I have found that I'm not so good at running by myself. I tend to overexert myself in the beginning which leads me to get tired around 3/4 of the way through. Hopefully, I'll be able to work on this in the coming weeks.

Other adventures of the week:

Monday: Labor Day. Our lab website goes live! I've been working on this for about 2 months and finally setting it live was a great feeling.

Tuesday: Classes started. For the first time, I've sat in the class as a member of the staff and it's definitely interesting seeing it from this side. I feel like I appreciate the information so much more even though I know it already and I know that a lot of it is gross oversimplification. Also, I've found out that I need coffee. And a way not to spend all my money on coffee.

Wednesday: GOT A BIKE! I love her, but she still needs a name.

Thursday: Halfway through Couch to 5K! Electric run in 4 weeks!

Friday: Mustaches and Bow Ties Party. This was a thing that happened.

Week 2 Day 1

For anyone who knows me, running is not on my list of high, or even moderate, priorities. I suppose I might think differently if I were late for a meeting or being chased by slow moving zombies, but my semesterly run is somewhat of a running joke (ha. ha.) between myself and my college friends.

However, late at night about a week ago, LM and I were alone in the apartment, abandoned by our roommates for the weekend, and somehow convinced ourselves that now was the right time to run a 5K. Because there was this one, the Electric Run, that was coming to a place near Boston and was going to be an explosion of light, color, and amazingness. Now, to anyone who has any endurance, 5K (or 3.1 miles) is not very long. In high school, my friends would regularly run 3 miles during our weekly runs in P.E. But I'm not like that. I don't run. It's never something I've really found pleasure in, or something that appeals to me.

But now, I'm training for a 5K. We're doing this "Couch to 5K" training program and yesterday was Week 2 Day 1. I've made it a week and in general, I just feel...really hungry. Hungry all the time. And headaches. Need to drink more water. Other than that, I actually feel pretty good. I have short term goals and somehow, I'm meeting them. LM, LJ, and I are motivating each other and it's been really good for me.

I will try to keep weekly updates about our progress, because this has actually become pretty important to me.

7 weeks to Electric Run.