Trekkies

Well it's the moment you've all been waiting for. Pictures we took after our little Star Trek outing. Yes, we wore these to the movie. No, no one else was dressed up but us. Sadly. It was still fun, though.

To Boldly Go...

Well, I saw the new Star Trek. It was awesome. One of the best parts is that I saw it with these two guys. And yes, I was dressed as Uhura. :)

the end of finals

For weeks the the stress and tension and anticipation had been building up. All the hard work all semester long, all the late nights, stumbling home on the last train at 1 am only to get up at 7 and go back in to school to finish assignment after endless assignment.... all the hours sitting in class, scribbling notes, reading textbooks late into the night... all the studying for midterms working through old problems again and again... trying to balance teaching, grading, and some small semblance of a social life (usually the first thing to get axed) along with cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, paying bills, eating, sleeping... all of it lead up to the final exams that could make or break one's grade. Plasma waves, dispersion relationships, plane wave solutions, linearizing, collisions, MHD, cold fluid equations, Landau damping, Hydroxy radical, rigid rotors, books from the library, studying on trains, equation sheets in a ziplock bag in the shower, falling asleep with books all over my bed, last minute cramming, whining to Dipesh, gathering fresh pencils, filling my water bottle... then suddenly it was all over. Too soon. The end. Finals taken. Anticlimax. I'm left with a feeling of emptiness and lack of direction and motivation. I didn't do nearly as well on my exam as I wanted to. It's frustrating. But moreso than the frustration is this weird feeling that I have nothing urgent to do. There's nothing keeping me awake at night. Nothing I have to finish before bed, and nothing that wakes me up in the middle of the night from stress. I can sleep when I want, and, for once, I can sleep enough. I can read books for recreation. I can watch movies. I can go to the park. Or I can sit on my bed and do nothing. And think. That's what I've been doing. It feels weird.

rant

Today I read an article entitled "First Lady Michelle Obama steps out in Lanvin sneakers and they're only $540!" Granted, the article was making fun of her a bit for wearing such pricey shoes... it went into detail about some designer, or clothing line, or something, called Lanvin, that I frankly couldn't care less about, and then explained "Dresses and strappy pumps cost upward of $1,500, while tops go for $400 to $1,000." Holy. Cow. That is more than I spend in clothes over a period of probably 5 years. I don't care how much money you have, spending $1,000 on a shirt is wrong. Seriously, there is a special place in hell for people that spend hundreds of dollars on extravagant, useless clothing purchases while people are dying all over the world from starvation and disease, kids aren't getting the education they deserve because they can't afford it, science programs need more funding... there are so many other, much more worthwhile places you could spend that money. There is nothing that can make that shirt worth 5000% more than a $20 shirt from Kohls. You want to buy nice clothes, fine. Old Navy or H&M not your style?, okay. You want to pay a little more than $20 for a shirt?, go ahead. But spending on the order of $1K per ARTICLE of clothing, not fine. Mrs. Obama's shoes were described as "suede, with grosgrain ribbon laces and metallic pink toe caps." Let me tell you what I think of those shoes after seeing the picture: hid-E-ous. I wouldn't have bought those shoes if they were on the discount rack at Marshalls for $7.99, and they fit me perfectly. They're ugly. Though, apparently they "come in denim and satin versions, and have been a brisk seller all spring." I'm willing to bet you would get nice, better-looking, and higher quality shoes if you payed about $80. I have no experience with these fancy designer, trade-in-your-firstborn type of shoes, but I doubt they are all that durable. Why should they be? If you can drop $500 on a pair of shoes, you probably won't be wearing them that long before switching to a new, trendier pair. The shoes made for us regular people have to be made well, because we will quit buying them if they keep falling apart after extended use. If I part with $40 of my hard-earned cash for a new pair of shoes, I sure as heck expect them to last over a year, with the kind of wear I put into them. The shoes I'm currently wearing I've had since a couple of months before I left for Denmark back in '07. So it's probably been about 2 years. Not only that, I wore them all around Europe on my month-long backpacking trip. I'd say they were worth the $20 I payed for them on sale at the Sports Authority.

I'm not saying everyone in the world has to buy the cheapest clothes and shop at Shopko. Some people are more into fashion and designers and all that crap than I am, and that's okay. But if you're going to pay over hundreds of dollar for one pair of shoes, can't it at least have some semblance of being worth that much?!? Seriously, those shoes are hideous. I wouldn't wear them if someone gave them to me. (unless they were really really comfortable, and then I'd wear them for working in the yard and stuff)

/rant

I love...

physics, Monet, Foucault pendulums, train rides, icebergs, Star Wars, Stonehenge, Christmas, fireworks, mathematical proofs, the night sky, soccer, meteor showers, The writings of the Apostle Paul, rain, snowflakes, hiking in the moonlight, fractals, praying mantises, pizza with egg, hugs, my bike, Chris, popsicles, Denmark, gardens, soundtracks, flowers, things that sparkle, astronomy, my family, walking in the rain, swinging on swings, Love, telling jokes (especially when people actually laugh), fresh strawberries, playing with cats, cuddling, having someone to talk to, giving gifts, 90s music, birthday parties, pictures, making friends, surprises, camping, learning new things, fine structure transitions, meeting people at the airport, having laptop parties, laughing, playing games, plasmas, singing, harvesting, fall leaves, Newton's Cradles, seals, archery, musicals, speaking Spanish, holding hands, flavored lip gloss, getting email, reading books, Star Trek, roller coasters, goldfish crackers, yepzen, exploring, hawks, stalactites, Doppler shift, my roommates, effective gravitational fields due to acceleration, spring mornings, summer nights, the periodic table of the elements, the beach, cupcakes, flags, kayaking, maps, California, socks, living on the East Coast, waking up and realizing I have a couple more hours to sleep, free stuff, getting text messages, teaching Sunday School, when strangers are nice to me, racquetball, making polymers, the sound of typing, cheesecake, my church, going for a walk, watching movies, getting mail, my nalgene bottle, waterfalls, new carpet, driving a stick, swimming, Legos, free pizza and root beer on fridays

Elevators hate me

Today when I got to school I pushed the up button on the elevator, which was in the basement. I watched the little arrow turn on the dial as it began to rise, reaching the first floor... then (PASSING ME!!!?!?!!) the second... then the third... clear until the 5th and top floor of the building. It paused there for a while, and then proceeded to return to the first floor where the doors opened and it FINALLY let me in.

Elevators hate me.

Don't even get me started on automatic doors.

A polymer!

I don't have a lot of time to write right now, so I will just leave you a picture of me playing mad scientist in a polymer lab. :) It was a great Saturday activity.