The unexpected

I am a creature of habit. I have a routine. I'm generally not spontaneous and don't like surprises. I feel this life style allows me to have control and predict life, avoiding unpleasant situations.
That said, a surprise now and then is healthy. Evolutionarily species that can adapt are more likely to survive. The unusual also makes one think outside the box. A property of modern art that I've come to appreciate in recent years.
So with that in mind let's imagine the Ithaca Commons on a Saturday evening. A surprise is near certain.
Here I am, sitting outside Madeline's with three friends enjoying a Cappuccino Martini and Tiramisu. Tiramisu always makes me think of Germany, but that's routine. Looking over our shoulder's we see a guy with a small table pleasantly lit with a shaded table lamp, two boxes of pizza and a cooler with Californian lime juice. Now a couple guys with pizza may not be so surprising. Maybe they're just trying real people in and save them with the Good Book. But it's really the table lamp that makes this whole operation a surprise. That lamp exists way outside of the box. We discussed what they're motivation is. What do they want. I commented that it is depressing, that we are suspicious of possible random acts of kindness.
After we finished, we ventured over. They in fact just wanted to brighten some people's night. That's right. This is Ithaca. 10 square miles surrounded by reality. Tonight it's true.
Next I walked by a guy talking to someone invisible while playing with his ferret.
Don't forget to stop and look around at the roses.

Something else along these lines. I was reading the text to a song by my favorite German band. This is for my German-speaking friends.
Das Lied heisst "Stiller" von Wir sind Helden.
Schau mal den Text an:

http://www.wirsindhelden.com/txt_soundso11.php?lang=en

Hier ist meine Übersetzung, aber ich bin mich nicht sicher mit einigen Sätze. Was meint ihr? Würdet ihr etwas anders schreiben?

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Daily I dictate my life to myself
by stops on the subway schedule
from above without grounding
without keeping quiet
disquiet, never helpless
never speechless
the words don't come to me

I try to explain the world to myself
as though there were lines between the points
as though the words divide the world into stripes
I grab, but I can't understand

What good are my hands
when what they touch disappears
just like the things that, when the words find them, disappear
fall silent and unwind

I am not silent
the words just don't come to me
I am not silent
the words just don't hit their target
I am not silent
I would love to keep quiet
and silent, more silent
just show everything and be silent
silent and dazzling

I try to explain myself to the world
as thought there were lines between the sparks
as though the words could only graze
to what I reach and I can not understand

What good do these nice thoughts do
that are bogged down by all the others
because the heart of all thoughts is made out of lead
because everything they find is gone

New place

So I finally managed to take some photos of my new place.
Here I am in my room. Notice the short(er) hair.



Here's another corner of the my room showing off my cool window.



And here is part of the living room and hallway:

The last closed book exam of my life

So it's over. The written Q. I'm now a veteran of academic hazing. And as the procter said while collecting the exams, it may be the last closed book exam of my life. Though I do have at least two, if not four, semesters of class left to live thorough.
Actually the exam went ok. I won't now for sure until the results of course, but I don't feel so bad about it. That probably means I did worse than I thought.
Tomorrow classes start. It will also be my first day as a TA. Tomorrow I meet my class. I'm TAing an observational astronomy class for non-majors. It's a hands-on, lab-based course, which I'm pretty excited about. We'll see how it goes I guess.
Otherwise now that the Q-exam is over I have to get on all those things I've been putting off because of the exam. Such is life.
Sweet dreams everyone!

Night before

Oh have things been busy lately.
Number 1 thing on my mind right now is the qualifying exam, or Q-exam for short. Tomorrow's finally the day. Three hours. No notes. Just me, the questions and my pencil. We now second-years have been studying all summer for this exam, and I am ready for it to be over.
But no worries! I haven't been studying myself into the ground. I've made time for other things. Last Thursday I donated 10 inches of my hair. Now it's about a foot shorter, which brings it to the middle of my back or so.
Saturday I made a trip to Corning, NY to the Museum of Glass. A very interesting museum. Also a beautiful day for a short drive.
The undergrads have returned to campus. Suddenly there are people all over the place. It's ridiculous. The semester really, really is just around the corner.
I'd best be getting to bed. The brain needs to be well rested for tomorrow.

Good night Gracie!

Hmmm.... Tired.... Only one more day before Q exam.... So much left to study.... So little time...... Also need to practice... Not prepared enough for the audition on Wednesday..... Eh. Should sleep..... La la..... Dark office corner. Move or not?... Too much to do...... Didn't get that picture taken for Mom. Er. Too dark now....
This chapter in life is ending. Next one is about to open. I can feel it. I'm in a sentimental phase. School divides life into such clear cut divisions. It would be strange to live without those divisions.

Fantastic voyage

This weekend I embarked on a fantastic voyage to the windy city. At 2 am on Saturday morning two physics grads and two astro grads piled into a Subaru Outback and headed west. Eleven hours later after braving thick fog, sweater-wearing reindeer and many cups of coffee later, we arrived in Chicago.
Now the whole motivation for this fantastic voyage was to surprise a former Cornell astronomer who recently started grad school at the University of Chicago. We had to be devious and cleaver to avoid spoiling the surprise. And in the end we were successful. She was quite shocked when the four of us walked around the corner in the pizza place. After eating way too much Chicago stuffed pizza and finishing off two bottles of wine, we headed to Millennium Park via Starbuck's. In Millennium Park we found a giant, metallic bean. It was pretty awesome. Especially in our half-delirious states brought on by wine and too little sleep.



Saturday involved a trip to the Shedd Aquarium. Always, always entertaining. Dinner was a massive meal at a Mediterranean place with the world's best hummus.
At around 10 pm we piled back in the car, and headed east.
A breakfast stop in the Corning historic district turned out to be both delicious and entertaining beyond all expectations thanks to a small-town diner run by an energetic woman named Donna. It helped that we were all exhausted and just about anything was funny. Even Lake Michigan.
Finally we returned to Ithaca and the end of the fantastic voyage. It was the vacation that I'd been needing for weeks. Now it's time to focus. The Q-exam is in one week and classes start in 10 days or so. Where or where has the summer gone?

Moving Day 2, 3 & 4

Moving Day 2 - Hauled the heavy stuff. Only the mattress fit in the (ex) room mate's mini van. Need a new plan for the box spring. But desk and book shelf went up without a problem.
Two friends from the department checked the place out. It is apparently "dope". Which is a good thing I think. Otherwise the place has a working nickname...Gryffindor. Thanks to our yellow and magenta stained glass windows and crazy sloped ceilings.

Moving Day 3 - Lots of cleaning of old place. Cleaning is no fun. Tied box springs top of friend's car and some how managed to get it up the stairs.

Moving Day 4 - Finished cleaning. First pass on organization of room. Things are coming together. Now it's time to figure out how to take a shower and make coffee without hitting my head on the the "dope" ceilings. In about half an hour I'll be completely free of the old place. ::Sign of relief::

This weekend...crazy adventure. Stay tuned.

Moving: Day 1

Today I picked up the keys to my new apartment and moved three car loads of stuff in. Morals of the day...
1) I have too much stuff. I am a pathologic pack rat. I blame it on genetics.
2) Moving into an apartment on anything other than the ground floor is a pain in the rear, legs, back, arms...
But the new place is awesome. Even better than I remember. The windows are great. (I have a thing for windows.) The ceiling is all slanty at fun and exciting angles, which right now gives it great character, but after I hit my head on it for the umpteenth time, it'll probably get old. It has a gas stove, and I'm allowed to hang stuff on the wall.
In other news one of the oldest grad students (Dauerdoctorant) gave his B-exam today. By oldest I mean he's been here for nine years. Yes, nine. One of my professional goals: not to be the new Dauerdoctorant. But in all seriousness he will be sorely missed when he leaves Ithaca.