It turns out grad school doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging, and a lot has happened since I last posted. But here is the story of the biggest thing that has happened.
"Why don't you sign up for OkCupid.com?" That was my friend Jules' suggestion when I complained about how long it had been since I last dated. I followed her advice, and before I had even finished making my profile I had my first message. If you are a woman who has ever tried online dating, then you know the number of messages you receive can be overwhelming. But as I sifted through all the garbage I received, I began an online conversation with the first messenger, which involved, amongst other things, a daily exchange of riddles.
After a couple of weeks, I suggested we move our conversation to e-mail, and a little while after that, Will and I met in person at a local coffee shop (after I used the university website and Facebook to check that he really was a grad student like he claimed).
I arrive at the coffee shop five minutes early. Will was 10 minutes late. I found out later that we had arrived at almost the same time, but he was so nervous that he had walked around the building several times to calm himself down before he went in. Once he entered, he joined me at my table, and we talked for about half an hour before deciding to walk around the nearby lake while continuing our conversation.
Two hours later, I suddenly realized how much time had passed and called my roommate (who was standing by to make sure everything was all right) to reassure her that all was well. Three hours later, Will and I realized that we'd been talking for five hours on such important subjects as our research fields and favourite X-Men. Neither of us had eaten before meeting up, so we parted ways.
When I got home, I sent Will a text to tell him I'd had a nice time )which was also my way of giving him my phone number), and by the end of the evening we had plans to meet later that week.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Fairy Land
Words.
I'm searching for them
Blindly
In the dark.
Feeling for them
With my fingertips.
The scratch of pen on paper
The texture of keys on my finger pads
The invisible, unfeeling touchpad under my deft hands.
So many
Mediums.
So many ways
To write.
Yet I stumble over the
Words.
My pen fails
The keys stick
My hand forgets the way.
I am blind
And someone has rearranged the furniture.
The
Words
Are all the same.
So many ways to find them
So many ways to become lost.
Don't you know
It is the story
And not how it is told
That matters?
Don't you know the
Words
Are meaningless if they say nothing?
Fairy Land is just
Words.
Of course it is.
What else could it be?
What more could it be?
Merely
Words?
Wherefore "merely"?
This world
Here
Is merely.
Merely sights
And sounds
And smells.
Merely touch.
How "merely"
Words?
What more is there?
Shall I tell you?
There us nothing more.
Nothing greater.
In the beginning was
Words.
Once upon a time there were
Words.
That is all.
That is enough.
One day,
Happily ever after,
There will be
Words.
Not merely
Words.
Just
Words.
Enough
Words.
All
Words.
For that is all there is
Here.
In
Fairy Land.
I'm searching for them
Blindly
In the dark.
Feeling for them
With my fingertips.
The scratch of pen on paper
The texture of keys on my finger pads
The invisible, unfeeling touchpad under my deft hands.
So many
Mediums.
So many ways
To write.
Yet I stumble over the
Words.
My pen fails
The keys stick
My hand forgets the way.
I am blind
And someone has rearranged the furniture.
The
Words
Are all the same.
So many ways to find them
So many ways to become lost.
Don't you know
It is the story
And not how it is told
That matters?
Don't you know the
Words
Are meaningless if they say nothing?
Fairy Land is just
Words.
Of course it is.
What else could it be?
What more could it be?
Merely
Words?
Wherefore "merely"?
This world
Here
Is merely.
Merely sights
And sounds
And smells.
Merely touch.
How "merely"
Words?
What more is there?
Shall I tell you?
There us nothing more.
Nothing greater.
In the beginning was
Words.
Once upon a time there were
Words.
That is all.
That is enough.
One day,
Happily ever after,
There will be
Words.
Not merely
Words.
Just
Words.
Enough
Words.
All
Words.
For that is all there is
Here.
In
Fairy Land.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Injured
I want to run.
Considering how long I've been a runner, this is actually a rather novel feeling. While I often enjoy my runs once I start them, or feel good after I finish, I rarely want to get up at six, lace up my shoes and head out the door. Instead, I lay in bed a good 10 minutes after my alarm goes off talking myself into getting up and runnig. But now I want to run; and now I can't.
About two weeks ago, I noticed a pain in the big toe of my left foot. Not a sharp pain, but a deep one that xran up my foot a bit whenever I stepped on it. Years of knee problems have taught to run through pain, and since it didn't hurt too bad, and was just my toe, after all, I ignored it. That Saturday, I ran on it. Just a short run, but halfway through my toe had gone numb and lost feeling, like it had fallen asleep. I figured I'd ice it, and give it a few days off. But by a week ago last Thursday, the pain had gotten so bad I was limping. Enough is enough, so I went to a walk-in clinic.
I must have described the pain well to nurse, because the doctor came in and before even examining my foot said I had tendinitis in my foot, common in football players which gives it the name "turf toe". Basically, it's carpal tunnel syndrome all over again, only in my foot. I'm even on the same anti-inflammatory pills. And I'm not allowed to run for at least two weeks. The doctor was a runner himself, so at least he was sympathetic about tn is instead if wanting to know why on earth I would want to get up at 6 and run 10 miles in the first place.
So now I'm taking a forced break from running, and much to my surprise I miss it a lot. With luck I'll be as good as new soon. In the mean tine I'll be swimming laps in my apt. complex's pool, the most boring workout in the world.
Considering how long I've been a runner, this is actually a rather novel feeling. While I often enjoy my runs once I start them, or feel good after I finish, I rarely want to get up at six, lace up my shoes and head out the door. Instead, I lay in bed a good 10 minutes after my alarm goes off talking myself into getting up and runnig. But now I want to run; and now I can't.
About two weeks ago, I noticed a pain in the big toe of my left foot. Not a sharp pain, but a deep one that xran up my foot a bit whenever I stepped on it. Years of knee problems have taught to run through pain, and since it didn't hurt too bad, and was just my toe, after all, I ignored it. That Saturday, I ran on it. Just a short run, but halfway through my toe had gone numb and lost feeling, like it had fallen asleep. I figured I'd ice it, and give it a few days off. But by a week ago last Thursday, the pain had gotten so bad I was limping. Enough is enough, so I went to a walk-in clinic.
I must have described the pain well to nurse, because the doctor came in and before even examining my foot said I had tendinitis in my foot, common in football players which gives it the name "turf toe". Basically, it's carpal tunnel syndrome all over again, only in my foot. I'm even on the same anti-inflammatory pills. And I'm not allowed to run for at least two weeks. The doctor was a runner himself, so at least he was sympathetic about tn is instead if wanting to know why on earth I would want to get up at 6 and run 10 miles in the first place.
So now I'm taking a forced break from running, and much to my surprise I miss it a lot. With luck I'll be as good as new soon. In the mean tine I'll be swimming laps in my apt. complex's pool, the most boring workout in the world.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Don't be like George
If I had to pick one picture book from my childhood that sums up my family, it would be Loudmouth George and the Big Race. My little brother and I grew up in a running family, a rather rarer occurrence when we were children than today. So finding a children's book about training for and running a road race was a pleasant surprise.
In the story, George, a rabbit, and his other animal friends are excited when a race is going to be held in their town. But every time a friend asks George if he wants to train, George has an excuse for why he can't, and finishes by saying "I'll start my training tomorrow". I won't ruin the ending for you, though it's pretty much exactly what you think it is.
"Being like George" quickly became an expression in family to mean procrastinating on something. Whenever my brother or said that we would do something later, or tomorrow, we'd get the response, "All right, George". The warning was clear: Procrastinate on this and you will probably dislike the results.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, I'm afraid I've a bit of a George this past week. Helping at my church's Vacation Bible School (outside, chasing small children around for several hours each morning) left me exhausted, and I hit my snooze alarm each morning with the promise that I'd get up earlier tomorrow to run. And then, suddenly, the week was over and I hadn't put in any milage.
So, I'm back on my training schedule this week (10 mile long run!), and back to the pact my running partner and I made when we started training together. No excuses. Don't be like George.
In the story, George, a rabbit, and his other animal friends are excited when a race is going to be held in their town. But every time a friend asks George if he wants to train, George has an excuse for why he can't, and finishes by saying "I'll start my training tomorrow". I won't ruin the ending for you, though it's pretty much exactly what you think it is.
"Being like George" quickly became an expression in family to mean procrastinating on something. Whenever my brother or said that we would do something later, or tomorrow, we'd get the response, "All right, George". The warning was clear: Procrastinate on this and you will probably dislike the results.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, I'm afraid I've a bit of a George this past week. Helping at my church's Vacation Bible School (outside, chasing small children around for several hours each morning) left me exhausted, and I hit my snooze alarm each morning with the promise that I'd get up earlier tomorrow to run. And then, suddenly, the week was over and I hadn't put in any milage.
So, I'm back on my training schedule this week (10 mile long run!), and back to the pact my running partner and I made when we started training together. No excuses. Don't be like George.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Rain on Bricks
It rained today.
I actually missed the rainstorm because I was in my office, but when I was leaving the reflection of light in the window caught my eye. The window looks out towards a courtyard surrounded by smooth brick walls, and clinging to the bricks were tiny droplets of water, bouncing light around like a dispersed kaleidoscope.
And it made me think about how we see the world.
The world we see and interact with seem so huge, so solid. Yet if water was really as slippery and formless as it seems, and bricks as smooth and uniform as they feel, then there is no way that water should be able to form itself into tiny spheres and cling to stone. Yet it does.
We see so little of how this world is actually made, never giving much though to the fact that "solid" is only an illusion, that everything is in fact made of minuscule quivering atoms with space between them.
I'm not sure I'm going anywhere with this, but now you know what I think about when I see rain on bricks.
I actually missed the rainstorm because I was in my office, but when I was leaving the reflection of light in the window caught my eye. The window looks out towards a courtyard surrounded by smooth brick walls, and clinging to the bricks were tiny droplets of water, bouncing light around like a dispersed kaleidoscope.
And it made me think about how we see the world.
The world we see and interact with seem so huge, so solid. Yet if water was really as slippery and formless as it seems, and bricks as smooth and uniform as they feel, then there is no way that water should be able to form itself into tiny spheres and cling to stone. Yet it does.
We see so little of how this world is actually made, never giving much though to the fact that "solid" is only an illusion, that everything is in fact made of minuscule quivering atoms with space between them.
I'm not sure I'm going anywhere with this, but now you know what I think about when I see rain on bricks.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Why Rabbits Are Better Than Dogs
10. Rabbits wiggle their noses. I'm fairly certain this is the single cutest natural behavior of a domesticated animal.
9. Rabbits don't drool.
8. Rabbits have cute little tails that don't knock things over.
7. Rabbits are too short to get onto your table to steal food.
6. Rabbits (even non-fibre ones) are super soft.
5. Rabbit breath smells like parsley. As opposed to the horrible smell that is dog breath.
4. Rabbits don't roll in smelly things.
3. They can be easily litter trained.
2. Rabbits are much more likely to eat the veggies you don't want than a dog is.
And the number one reason rabbits make better pets than dogs...
1. They don't bark.
9. Rabbits don't drool.
8. Rabbits have cute little tails that don't knock things over.
7. Rabbits are too short to get onto your table to steal food.
6. Rabbits (even non-fibre ones) are super soft.
5. Rabbit breath smells like parsley. As opposed to the horrible smell that is dog breath.
4. Rabbits don't roll in smelly things.
3. They can be easily litter trained.
2. Rabbits are much more likely to eat the veggies you don't want than a dog is.
And the number one reason rabbits make better pets than dogs...
1. They don't bark.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Serial Saturday (again)
Hey, it's Serial Saturday again! Funny how that happens every week, huh? Anyways, if you click on the "Undestined" tab, or here, you can check out the latest entry in my serial story. And I will be trying to post more regularly again here. Sorry for getting off track last week :)
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