Acceleration.

Let me confess something most of you probably don’t know about me: I am a speed demon. [translation: I love riding in fast cars, on motorcycles, the first drops of rollercoasters... you get the picture]

There is something about that feeling of all the fear/anxiety inside my body just vaporizing after the first millisecond that is such a rush. Yeah, there’s always that split second of “oh sh!t”, and then it disappears and is replaced with concentrated adrenaline and sheer thrill that I can’t seem to get enough of.

//

As great as January was, January was that split second of worry [and I mean that in the best way possible, because January was pretty darn good] that always comes before the first exhilarating drop of a rollercoaster, and now I am ready for the ride. Every single day of February so far has been awesome– filled with lunches/dinners with old friends/roommates, reunions with my Plan II Rome group, an unbelievably soFUN-much-needed-nerdy board game night with DS, my first run to-and-from my place to the Town Lake running trail with my Rome running companion, a 4-stop shopping bonanza with my enantiomer, and things are good.

There is so much momentum in my life right now, and I love it.

//

Miscellany:

• I got my first acceptance to a Cali school today [UC Irvine], so now California is a legitimate possibility.
• Today’s ACS talk was pretty neat. Dr. Crooks talked about how metal nanoparticles are made.
• I’ve felt guilty about the [lack thereof of] work on my thesis, but today I spent nearly all day in my lab setting up a brand new reaction that I’d never done before, and it went well. Such a relief.
• My ballroom dancing class is so much fun. It’s a change of pace, nicely set on TTH during my week, and we have our lindy hop skill evaluation this coming Thursday. The person who I picked as my test partner picked me back, and he is a nerdy-looking, not-what-you-would-expect, exactly-what-I-want-in-a-lead partner for dancing. Seriously, in my ballroom class, I don’t care if you’re cute, I don’t care if you’re tall or short, I don’t care if you look nerdy– I only care if you know how to assertively lead me as a dancer, and if you can, it makes me smile uncontrollably. I love good leads; good leads make turns and swivels all the more fun
• I am crossing my fingers for no rain on Sunday morning for the Austin half-marathon. I am also considering treating myself to a massage afterward, yessssss. Currently, I feel like I’m in one of the best shape[s] of my life. [jeez, what an awkward sentence, but you get what I mean]
• You may hear me start talking a lot about the Longhorn Run that UT is putting together on May 1st. It’ll be a 10K. ALL OF YOU SHOULD SIGN UP. And don’t tell me you can’t run a 10K. 10 weeks is plenty of time to start from scratch and train to finish one. And when you finish, you feel invincible. INVINCIBLE- and no one can take that away from you.
• Today someone complimented me on my pink corduroy pants.

//

I am going to travel a lot this semester and I can’t wait. So far, here is where I think I will make stops/visits in [not all related to grad schools]:

• La Jolla, CA
• Chapel Hill, NC
• Sugar Land, TX
• Irvine, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Baltimore, MD
• New Haven, CT
• Philadelphia, PA

Accelerate, and don’t take your foot off.

The best emails…

… are rare, are sure to make me smile, and sometimes come from my brother- like this one:

<3 him.

–

Even though I made it through 4 years of college and didn’t lose touch with my siblings [my biggest fear going into college], every day I still hate the fact that I can’t be at home to watch them grow up and hang out with them.

R/P/M?

[a knock off of A/S/L from back in the days of AIM-ing away the nights]

I read this article on runnersworld– http://dailyviews.runnersworld.com/2010/02/first-impressions.html

And come to think of it, outside of being on the track team in the 8th grade [I ran hurdles, thanks to gymnastics-based flexibility], I’ve only run with 5 different people before in my life, and none of them were girls.

Route / pace / music?

[around campus, not fast at all, yes please]

Bottle, bike, bed.

[Those words are in reverse alphabetical order, in case you didn't know. Not only are the second letters of every word in reverse alphabetical order, but so are the third. Yes, I am a word nerd who makes associations like that.]

Bottle [of wine]- I had half a bottle of the most delicious red wine with my dinner tonight. Since Hyde Park Bar and Grill was out of Malbec, the waiter [who was conveniently a good friend of the person who I was having dinner with] suggested the Pinot Noir. I came home and internet stalked the wine like some people stalk other human beings on Facebook. I am going to get my hands on another bottle of this stuff.

Bike [of mine]- I have some late meetings on campus, and sometimes I go somewhere before the meeting that doesn’t require/allow me to bring my bike with me. Then, after my meeting, it’s dark and cold, and sometimes I opt to catch a ride home with friends, thereby leaving my bike on campus, by its lonesome. I feel like a bad person abandoning my bike, and I am pretty sure I have minor panicky moments once an hour where I think that someone is going to steal my bike seat or give me a flat in the less-than-24 hours before I get back to my bike. [Note: I have had my bike seat stolen once and twice discovered my back tire flat by no means of my own doing,  I have the right to be paranoid.] Tonight is one of those nights.

Bed [which I am in]- Is so warm right now, sleepy time.

The long awaited NYRs.

There are 23 of them [no, they are not all life-changing ideas, so I think it is okay to have 23 small goals to check off throughout a year of 365 days]– here are some highlights:

1. Photo 365- one picture for every day of the year. It’s going to be a year of a lot of changes and new things, so here’s to remembering them all one day at a time.**so far, so good!**
   
2. Stop letting the little things get to me and ruin my enjoyment of something. Try not to take everything so personally, when people *usually* don’t mean it to be personal.
3. Expel my thoughts- to people and in my journal.
4. Run three half-marathons. And maybe a marathon too.
5. Travel Europe.
6. Grow my hair long and get a shoulder-length haircut to frame my face. **This recalls to memory a NYR I had for 2007, to actually become a girl of some ‘maintenance’, because for a while I just had incredibly long hair and never blow dried it. Then I donated it all to Locks of Love, and now I’m growing it back out again to play around with it.**
7. Watch all the Indiana Jones movies. **No, I’ve never seen any of them. Not one. Yes, I was born in America. No, I am not crazy.**
8. Try to drink at least 1 liter of water a day, and 2 liters if I run that day.
9. Decide on a permanent “for the rest of my life” email address, and maybe a domain
10. Learn how to drive a manual transmission.
11. Try to accrue some knowledge about stocks, cars, video games, and food.
12. Try not to eat out when possible. Finish up all the food in my apartment and don’t let it go to waste by wasting money.
13. Live it up.

I’d say the rest are personal things just for myself; some of them, I’ve been trying to nail down as a way of life for a long time but quite haven’t gotten there yet. [So far this year though, I haven't been biting my nails! From a nearly 20-year compulsive nail biter, this is awesome.]

/////

In other news,

• Although the new Nike running shoes I got are great, they don’t stand up to my Asics GT 2130s at all. Lovelovelove my Asics. [due to the freezing temps outside, I did treadmill running on Sat and Sun, in the Nikes and Asics respectively.] I’ve started reading Runner’s World online and browsing running shoes and reading reviews is oddly delightful. Maybe I ought to forget that resolution about cars and read up on running, I mean, my body is an engine? [or a wonderland, according to old school John Mayer]
  
• I know I am a spoiled Texan, but I hope it doesn’t stay in the 30s for much longer. Granted, it’s still January, but I have another half-marathon to run in 2 weeks, and I’d enjoy getting in some long 10+ mile outdoor runs one of these days. If we could bump the temp into the 50s that’d be wonderful…
• Total mileage for January 2010: 41 miles. [compare that to January 2009: 2 miles-- haha]
• My apartment is so spic and span clean right now that I love it. All the dishes are done, fridge is packed with healthy snacks, and I’ve been remembering to take my vitamins every day.
• Weekend highlights include a wonderful girls’ night on Saturday, followed up by some epic BANG!-ing at the guys’ house [a remarkable comeback by Sheriff Dave too, worth noting], and a trip to Target today with Eric where I bought food and… shorts. [I like my clothing plain and simple, which is oddly hard to come by these days, so I saw some cheap, cute shorts in ivy green and had to get them.]
• Oh, I also mounted the puzzle I did by myself over winter break. Just gotta find some wall space for it now.

If January 2010 was a preview of how the rest of this year is going to turn out, I can’t wait to see what’s in store.

p.s. I am excited for this week: I think I get to catch up with ~10 people [at different times, through the course of lunch/dinner/reunion-ing] who I haven’t talked with in at least over a month.

Packing and lyrics.

No, I’m not actually doing any packing. Not yet, at least. Grad school visits don’t kick up until late February and all through March I think.

Earlier today though, I was at Settlement Home with a handful of OJs, and while we waited for the go-ahead to spend time with the girls who stay at SH, we [the OJs] were discussing all sorts of things– and summer abroad stuff came up, and along with it- the topic of packing.

One person mentioned “oh, I just hate packing“– and I intuitively expected her to say “because I always overpack” which I’d say is a pretty typical answer for most girls, but I was surprised by her answer of “because I feel really uncomfortable knowing that my things aren’t in the place they’re supposed to be when I’ve packed them all“, as it made me think about how I actually feel about packing.

On the one hand, I love that packing usually means I’m going somewhere… regardless of where, I love traveling. I love the idea of going somewhere that’s not-the-usual for me– be it summer camp in elementary school, band camp in middle school, band competitions/math conventions/leadership retreats in high school, and now most recently chemistry conferences/studying abroad in college– something about the thrill of travel gets to me on a level like nothing else. I think I tend to get cabin fever if I’m cooped up somewhere for TOO long doing the same thing over and over again, so travel has always been a nice way to keep myself sane. Traveling means I get to take myself in the here-and-now, and go off somewhere to adventure for a few days, a week, a month, and imbibe new experiences like a fresh gulp of water after a long run.

If I had to label myself, I’d say I overpack more than I tend to underpack, but I just hate to be underprepared for any given situation. Still though, I usually manage to sit on the duffel bag/suitcase and cram everything I brought [and accrued, while adventuring during my travels] back home without needing to hire a sherpa.

Okay, but what I mean to say is this– although I will be doing lots of packing in the year 2010 [to visit grad schools, to go to conferences, to travel Europe]– the packing that perhaps scares me the most, is when I’ll have to pack to leave my apartment, for good. I think this kind of packing, which happens only 1 out of, say, every 30 times I ever have to pack for something, unsettles me because it means I’m having to compartmentalize my life [as I know it now] into boxes and bags, only to open up those boxes and bags somewhere entirely different, and hope that I’m able to rearrange all my belongings just like they were before, possibly in some hope to rearrange my sense of ‘home’ to be just like it was before.

I wonder, when I move wherever I end up for grad school, how long it’ll feel like I’m living out of boxes and bags, before I finally suck it up and unpack everything. As if living out of a bag still signifies that somewhere else is home, that you have somewhere else so much more familiar and welcoming to return to. You know, that habit we all have of, when we travel, we live out of said luggage item for the travel period, with items taken out and put in without a second consideration, since living out of the luggage is only temporary with respect to where you call home. Texas is my home.

Hell, my checks will still say Texas. My billing address will still be in Texas. However, Texas, I demand you fix this weather issue we’ve been having. I want sunny rays and blue skies all of the spring semester. NO MORE RAIN. period.

///

And about lyrics, I just have to add that one of my favorite non-romantic lines of all time from a song comes from “If I Am” by Nine Days [who people only know for their "Story of a Girl" hit... despite the fact that the entire The Madding Crowd CD is one of my all time favorites]–

The answers we find,
Are never what we had in mind.
So we make it up as we go along…

Balderdash, potpourri, miscellany.

• Have started going to trivia nights once or twice a week. Nice to pick the good ol’ brain for bits and pieces of useless info and unwind with friends
• Decided to stick with the half-marathon, after talking to lots of runners I know, and based on the 3 who I know run the most mileage and have the most experience- two of three said to just stick with the half [and save the full for a time when I really can enjoy it].
• Own a brand new pair of Nike LunarGlide+ running shoes, courtesy of Nike. They’re definitely lighter than my Asics, and I don’t think I’d run more than 3-4 miles in them ever because in the end they don’t have the support I need since I pronate a little.
• I accrue free stuff like you wouldn’t believe: enjoy a free bagel… or a lot: http://bagels.static.contextoptional.com/einstein_coupon2.html
• Will post about NYR soon… just, need to be in the mood for it. But, one of them was to save money by eating in/bringing my lunch more often, which has been turning out great. Plus, I make some sweet homemade mashed potatoes.
• Successfully drank an entire gallon of milk by myself and finished it only one day past the printed date. [this is a success for me, I drink water a lot and usually forget about my milk]
• Slept through Grey’s Anatomy tonight. Boo.
• Picked up this collage of my family I put together [my family is goofy, and I love it ]:
  
• Also, a calendar I put together from pictures taken throughout my college career came in the mail today. It is amazing and filled with people I love. I wish there was some way I could put it up online to show yall, but all I have is the hardcopy desk calendar from Walgreens. It’s got 49 pictures

Running.

For the longest time I’ve wanted to write a post about running, but I’ve always put it off on account of “oh, I just got back from running and I have 432789 other things to do still”, so I never do it.

But, as I sit here with my legs feeling not-too-sore from this morning’s 3M half-marathon, I figure I ought to dump a few thoughts of my own out for public perusal. Note, I currently feel like I have the knees of a 50-year old, not a 22-year old.

On “my favorite [and not so favorite] things from today’s half-marathon”
It was my first half-marathon ever. Up until today, the longest I’d ever run was 8 somewhat-hilly miles, and I was definitely a little apprehensive about tacking on 5 more miles to that number; granted, the 3M half-marathon is marketed as an ‘entirely downhill’ route, which for the most part it is. There are some slight inclines, and only a couple sharper inclines [nothing like the Cap10K route though, from what I remember]– the rest is flat or downhill, which helps with the huffing and puffing. You do have to be careful not to cause your legs to cramp up due to forward momentum when going down a hill, but that’s another story.

Some of my favorite posters that people held up along the race route:
“Palin ran, SO CAN YOU”
“Nice Legs, Keep Going”

[tangential backstory: The lab I work in is on the 5th floor of Welch; my professor's office is just down the hall from Dr. Iverson's, and consequently, I walk by Dr. Iverson's office every now and then on my way to lab. On Friday, I stopped by his office to ask him a question about running "goo", aka the pure carbohydrate gel that runners eat in order to keep their carbohydrate levels up once their muscle glycogen reserves are close to being empty; running tangent- otherwise, if you burn up all of your muscle glycogen reserves, you have to defer to liver glycogen for carbs. Thing is, liver glycogen is the only kind you can use to keep up your blood sugar level, and if you deplete it, you start to feel like shit, basically. LONG STORY SHORT, Dr. Iverson recommended these chewy gummy-like carb powerups, and to top it off they have caffeine in them too.]

So, I’m forever indebted to Clif Shot Bloks for about 66mg of caffeine and looots of carbohydrates to keep me going the last third of the half-marathon. I ate one blok [yes, they're spelled like that] at each of miles 5, 6, 7, and 8. Not that I think anyone who reads this will care or understand that.

The only not-so-great parts about the half-marathon? The fact it was running 45 minutes late, due to the other not-so-great part about the day in general: the ridiculous winds! It was in the 50s, but the wind was not friendly to a bunch of runners dressed in short shorts and running tops. Also, I got a wicked painful blister on the base of my fourth toe on my right foot [I took pictures of it because it was so ridiculous, but I'm not sure that people would want me to post them without warning...]

Nonetheless, the day was great, and I’m proud to say I’ve run a half-marathon now!

On “things I like about running”
I know it’s bad on your knees, I know it seems stupid to pay a chunk of money to run a race and have someone tell you a time when chances are you own a stopwatch, and I know “running sucks” is the general consensus of most people I talk to– but for the most part, running and I get along. [when I have the time to run, and it's not freezing cold or sweltering hot outside]

In some ways, running is like cleaning to me. It’s something that’s incredibly daunting at times [say, vacuuming and swiffering my entire apartment, along with doing a few loads of laundry as well as the dishes], but completing the task is entirely within your power. Yes, the weather can act up [as it did this morning], but running boils down to three things: conditioning your legs, conditioning your cardiovascular system, and thinking positively [which, running gives you endorphins, so it ought to be self-perpetuating at least a little bit...?]

My genetics lend nothing to my running ability; I’m short, I feel like I have a small lung capacity, and the fact I’m a girl means my center of gravity is lower. So, whenever people tell me “oh I could never run”, I just want to say YES YOU COULD. Baby steps, baby steps. I’m no 6-minute miler; I comfortably do 10-minute miles and go on for quite some time at that pace. All you need is a pair of quality running shoes [I <3 my Asics] too. I find myself staring at the ground a lot when I’m around runners, just to see what shoes they like running in.

Also on race day, nothing warms my heart more than the people who give up their time to stand along the route and cheer. Whether they’re cheering for everyone or one specific person, I have always thought it’s a really sweet gesture, and it always puts a smile on my face. There is almost always entertainment of some sort as well; today I saw people: playing guitar, juggling, playing harmonica, playing accordion, playing bagpipes. I can never pass up an offer for a high five either; guaranteed smile on my face afterward

Plus, it’s almost bathing suit season. Running gives you beautiful legs. Great for wearing heels. Plus, on race days, you always get a crap ton of free stuff!

On “things that annoy me as a runner”

1. Mr. and Ms. “I am standing in the middle of a sidewalk idling, and I see you running towards me, but I am not going to move out of your way.” [I send bad karma vibes to these people!]
2. I sort of have to consciously remember to eat [or not eat] at certain times, so that whenever I think I’m going to go for a run, I won’t have a full stomach and feel sick. [more science-y information: If you eat before you run, all the blood goes to your stomach to digest food, instead of your extremities to fuel your limbs! No good!]
3. When I get a cramp in my side. However, I didn’t get one today at all!
4. Running up MLK from east to west; said road is SO FREAKIN’ steep.
5. [this could go in the 'what I like' category, but sadly, it nearly happened to me, so it goes in the dislikes category] Drivers who think that they can ignore yield and stop signs, simply because I am a runner and not a car. NO, you still have to obey the sign!

On “routes I’ve run”
So just a note on running around campus/Austin; as much as I like running Town Lake [or Lady Bird Lake], the last time I remember being there, I thought it smelled really weird, which was a bit of a turn off. I actually prefer the routes around campus, if only because I tend to run at night and so I feel a little safer staying close to the masses.

My normal 3 mile route goes around campus: Dean Keeton, to Red River [lots of nice hills], to MLK, to Guadalupe. Nice circular route; I always go clockwise.

In the last week, I figured it’d probably be smart to crank up my mileage. I went on the 6-mile run below:

Then, Thursday night I went for the longest run I’d ever run until today, seen below:

www.mapmyrun.com is a great site for planning out a route and/or calculating how far you ran.

—————

Anyway, I think I might keep up running all through the years… I’m sure I’ll get really busy in grad school and when I have to do adult stuff in life, but it’s something I think I’d be proud of keeping up through my ripe years.

p.s. every time I get a race number for a race, I hopehopehope it has a 3 in it. 3 is my lucky number.

p.p.s. season 6 of Grey’s Anatomy has been amazing. perfect show to watch in bed while resting my legs!

I love my classes.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time now, and I want to do it before I have a second class of any of the classes I’m taking and possibly change my mind. At least so far, I can tell that this semester is going to be quite different from any semester I’ve had so far…

Firstly, if I were to make a line graph distribution of the number of hours I’ve been enrolled in each semester here at UT, it’d be incredibly right skewed. Last semester I took 15 hours and this semester I’m taking 14; the lowest number of hours I’ve taken up until my senior year was 16– and that was first semester freshman year. It’s nice to have a little bit of space to breathe, granted I ought to be spending it all cranking away at my thesis this semester…

Classes, plus lots of lab time [or at least I ought to spend this much time], plus meetings and lunches result in a schedule like so:

I figure giving myself Friday morning off would be smart- what with wanting to squeeze in as much Thursday night dancing as possible this semester And, I’m not TAing anything this semester, which frees up a couple nights and my weekends as well. Lookin’ forward to running regularly again

Okay, so about the classes.

My only TTH class is a fun one. Intermediate Ballroom Dancing is awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Spunky female teacher, and the best part? Every guy I danced with [and this is triple step, we're talking about] during Tuesday’s class, had: A. a personality of some sort, B. the knowledge of how to lead when dancing with a girl, and C. acquired the agility to not step on my toes at any point. Things are looking up from back in the day of beginning ballroom dancing… I’m excited to bring my ballroom dancing heels to class tomorrow too- those things make spinning so easy.

MWFs start off with another female prof [I don't think I've ever had 2 female profs in one semester, yay!], and I’m already liking her a lot. She’s so well-articulated, cultured, and seems like she’ll be a great lecturer and listener as well. I haven’t ever had a bad female professor at UT, come to think of it. The class is titled European Empires in Asia, and it’s a nice compliment to the fact I’ve taken Intro to China [which was an early Asian history, and this is a late Asian history, but it covers an entirely different part of the continent and culture]. I’d love to travel around India one day, that’s for sure. I also don’t know a single person in this class, lol. Also, take-home final and only one midterm? YESSS.

Next is a graduate class in organic chemistry, which is half-taught by my research professor. Let’s see– I’m the only girl, the only undergrad [I think], and I think there are like 10 people in the class. There’s really only one assignment [no tests or finals!] to determine my grade in this class, which is a research proposal [and I, of course, could always pass/fail this class]– and I’ve written 3 of those at this point in my college career, so I think I’ll survive. I also love classes where the prof uses the chalk board and not power points.

My analytical chemistry class is huge, but I’m sure people will skip class all the time, just like they did last semester. I also can skip the final if I’m happy with my first 3 midterm grades, whee! [I could potentially have a semester with NO FINALS, *gasp*] We do an independent project in this class entirely on our own and then present it [and chemistry undergrads are horrible at presenting work, like, you have no idea]. The lab director gave the absolute worst/most pointless lecture today though; granted, she’s new to the job, but as fourth year seniors, WE CAN READ YOUR POWERPOINT SLIDES TO OURSELVES JUST AS WELL AS YOU CAN MUMBLE THEM TO US OUT LOUD.

Last but not least, my trusty Dean’s Scholars seminar with Dr. Laude. We’re spending the semester discussing [via readings from books, which people are presenting on] how randomness basically rules our lives. I’m down.
New Year’s Resolutions will come sooner or later

I really ought to sleep soon.

I think of things to blog about all the time. While I’m running, while I’m walking, while I’m eating… you get the picture. Thing is, I always have something else to do right afterward, so I never actually sit down to blog, and soon enough, the thought/urge is gone.

Here are some things I’ve been ruminating about as of late.

1. The city of Austin.
2. Running.
3. Grad school.

//

Okay, so Austin. After my ridiculous car ordeal getting back to Austin [which depresses me to think about, ugh], I was thinking about what draws people to Austin… and what about Austin people might not like. In my head, I came up with the following lists:

You might like Austin if you:

• like running and enjoy having great running trails all over the place
• like having an entire stretch of street devoted to drinking and dancing, not to mention free cover
• like good Tex Mex
• enjoy having a wide variety of coffee shops to choose from
• like being in close proximity and walking to places
• like making friends with people because you are all different

You might not like Austin if you:

• get really scared/irritated by homeless people
• like good Chinese food
• don’t like driving on pot-holey and uneven roads, ugh
• can’t stand the Greek scene
• don’t like triple digit temperatures in the summer
• want to make friends with people who are exactly like yourself

//

Running. I’m running my first half-marathon this coming Sunday at 6:45am. Today, I ran 6 miles for the first time since I ran the Capitol 10K LAST MARCH. Hahaha.

But, a lot of people think running is tedious, painful, etcetc., but for me, running is sort of a proud badge I wear. It’s sort of like, running is a self-contained sport. You control exactly how you do [short of the weather and whatnot], but the feeling of accomplishment you endow upon yourself when you’ve completed a race is great. It’s something that no one can take away from you, and something you can always tell people you’ve done, and at any age, I think running habits are still impressive.

//

Grad school. While I was out running earlier tonight, I thought of this- currently, my situation makes me think of the TV show “Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place” [I never watched the show]– but I mean to say that my grad school status right now fits the same poetic rhyme: Two Acceptances, An Interview, and a Rejection Email. [I've gotten into UNC Chapel Hill and UPenn, I got an interview from Scripps-- which, Scripps doesn't do straight up acceptances, so this is fine by me--, and a no from Princeton-- but it's too cold there anyway, jeez.]

//

I check the mail obsessively now too. That, or I bake cookies.

Coming up eventually? The run down on New Year’s Resolutions. So far I’ve kept up with Photo 365, which is resolution #1.

Goooooodnight!