Bourbon & Black Holes

I spent the better part of my night watching shows on black holes and on super black holes on the science channel. Yeah, that's how cool kids spend their free nights. What have I learned? Well, to be honest, nothing new. Its all the same stuff about how you can see a black hole and how Einstein's theory of relativity isn't actually perfect and how the laws that govern the movement of massive bodies do not combine well with quantum mechanics mathematically and no one really has a great answer as to why. However, the shows were still fun to watch. I especially loved the visualizations of space and Niagra Falls. Oh and I learned that the Keck telescope is the largest in the world. I guess that counts as something new. The shots of the sky passing over the Keck telescope and its rotations to compensate are super awesome. I've just passed into the bourbon phase of the night.  Bourbon does make everything better, especially physics.

VCU vs UR

So far this game has me glued to the screen. That split second where Richmond was in the lead really had me upset there for a hot minute. Luckily the VCU boys fixed things...

Shout Out

I don't really have a lot of interaction on my blog. Instead, I have friends mention posts to me in person. That's pretty cool and all, but I always wonder if anyone out there is really seeing all of this. In comes Google Analytics. Its oddly addicting. The best part is that apparently I have readers in Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, India, and Indonesia, in addition to the expected readers in the US and Mauritius. Most popular recent post? The one on Mauritius, of course! So consider this a shout out to all of the awesome random people who check out my blog periodically. You made my day!

Worst Captcha EVER

brought to me by someecards. thanks guys.

New Etsy Banner

So as some of you may know, I have recently opened a little shop on Etsy. Today I made my first banner! I'm determined to get this shop rolling...slowly but surely. First, though, I need to figure out how to get word out about it in the first place..

Photos from Mauritius

A few of my favorite people-free photos from my recent trip to Mauritius.

Mauritius 1

So far the trip has been awesome. Tons of family, talking, good times. Today we went to Pereybere beach, on the northwest of the island. We woke up late, so by the time we headed out there it was pretty cool. The water had a chill to it when you first got it, but after a few minutes it was just right. I wish I had a pair of goggles so I could swim laps. The beach has changed a bit since the last time I was here. The main difference is that now there's an enclosed area for swimming. Last time there was no netted boundary, so my sister and I swam out to the coral reef with my cousin, scaring my dad pretty badly.

I got some awesome pics of Vikram in the water, silhouetted against the setting sun. I'll post pictures soon. Hopefully he'll guest blog a bit, & raise my reader numbers :)

kdrama

A few months ago I discovered hulu's collection of korean dramas, and let me tell you, I'm hooked. Maybe its because they remind of when I was young, in highschool, and I would spend hours pouring over korean teen magazines while listening to L'Arc En Ciel & HOT, or maybe its because of the awesomely hilarious story lines. Whatever it is, I'm hooked. As such, I figured I should do a quick review of the serials I've seen thus far.


First, I started off with a drama called Boys Over Flowers. Based on a popular Japanese manga series, this show was really quite good. What really got me hooked was how convincingly the actors played their roles. The story is about a poor girl (Jandi) who all of a sudden finds herself going to a rich, exclusive private school, as a result of saving someone's life. Once there, she rubs the "it" crowd of boys the wrong way at first, but slowly they all come to like her. She really likes a brooding, quiet, musical-type guy named Jihoon at first, but ends up falling in love with Junpyo, the richest guy, who at first comes across as a real jerk but slowly warms up through the series. Boys Over Flowers was definitely a great way to start out.


Next was Pasta, a show about a struggling sous chef who falls in love with her head chef. The thing that struck me most about this show was how much detail they incorporated, not just about Italian food, but the technical side of cooking. The details are what made the series convincing for me. The drama seemed realistic because it wasn't just about interpersonal relationships, it involved things that really go on in a kitchen, like resentment over one person holding the line up, etc.

Finally there was My Lovely Sam-Soon, which has been my favorite so far. Actually, every time I watch a serial I think that one is my favorite, so who knows. Anyhow, My Loveley Sam-Soon is about a chubby patissier in her late 20s who finds herself desperately alone as she approaches her 30th birthday. She loses her job, her boyfriend of three years cheats on her & leaves her, and finally when things seem like they can't get any worse, she gets hired by a french restaurant owned and operated by a punk in his mid-20s who thinks money is the answer to everything. Of course they eventually fall in love, and she changes him for the better. The part that I like, though, is that over the series she changes, too, so you get to see some real character development.

Next on my queue is Coffee Prince. I don't really know what its about yet because all I have seen so far is previews in Korean without subtitles. I'm guessing it has something to do with a girl who could pass as a boy who gets a job as a waiter by pretending to be a boy. Sounds strange, but let's see.

Puerto Rico!!!

An Evening With Picasso

Last Friday I coerced my family into seeing the Picasso exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibit was ending soon and I had wanted to go for quite some time. Friday was special, though, because there was also an "informal conversation" at the museum with a photographer who had photographed Picasso.

Honestly, the lecture was the best part of the trip. The photographer's name is Frederick Baldwin, and he had the most amazing story I've EVER heard. There's an online book of his experience with Picasso (available here), and although its pretty good, its nothing compared to the way he tells the story. Through his words you can almost see yourself right there with him in Cannes on a hot summer day. He takes you through the emotional roller coaster he experienced: excitement, fear, dread, anxiety, hopefulness, excitement. His talk was beyond inspiring. He's working on a book about life lessons he has learned, and I'm pretty sure it will be amazing. In summary he said there are 4 things you have to do in life:

1. Dream.
   
2. Use your imagination to come up with ways to make your dreams come true.
3. Get over your fears.
4. Act on your dreams.

It sounds simple, I know, but when you think about it, its really quite hard to implement. Most of us have step 1 down, but somehow we usually get stuck around steps 3 or 4. I want to be able to look back on every stage of my life and feel like I truly lived and learned. I need to find a way to get a print of his letter to Picasso. It would be a great reminder of that spark that life is really all about.

Raw Goodness

In yet another attempt to master my body's incredibly annoying stress responses, I've decided to try out a mainly raw food diet. What do I mean by "mainly"? Simply that the bulk of the foods that I consume each day will be raw.


Day 1, yesterday, was pretty rough. I had a severe headache all day, I was tired all day, and basically, I just wanted to quit. Instead of quitting, though, I amended the requirements with the following exceptions:

1. Dairy is allowed. I need the calcium, vit D, and protein.
2. Cereal is allowed for breakfast only. Almost every weekday of my entire life I've had cereal for breakfast. Disrupting my breakfast schedule was extremely upsetting, so I've made that an exception to the raw food requirements. So now I can have a single serving of cereal in the mornings, as long as the cereal is not one of the super sugary ones.
   
3. Meat is allowed. The abysmally low energy levels of day 1 made me realize that without carbs, dairy, legumes (because so far I haven't had the time to soak or sprout any), and meat, I really had no significant energy sources in my diet. So cooked meat is now allowed, in moderation, with the caveat that it must be lean. The weird thing here is that in my normal diet I don't eat meat very often at all. But now I feel the need to have some long term energy source in my diet.
   
4. Condiments are allowed. I don't know why I didn't think of this one earlier, but boy does it make life so much better.

Even though it sounds like there are a lot of exceptions, this still means I'm eating a minimum of 2 raw meals a day.

The upside: Today (day 2) went far more smoothly. This is partially because of the exceptions, but also I think a lot of it has to do with dealing with sugar withdrawal a lot better. I never thought I had a lot of sugar in my diet, but since this started, the constant craving of sugary carbs has made me realize that my body must be missing something. Sources of sugar that I've eliminated: tea/coffee will now be sweetened with stevia if at all, sweet desserts are replaced by sweet fruits (dates, berries, etc), and starchy carbs are replaced by fibrous veggies. Also, I've drastically increased my water intake. As I charted my daily food and drink intake I realized how little water I've been drinking recently. I'm sure the added water helped get rid of that headache.

The scary part is this diet has me finally on the upper end of the FDA fruit and veggie requirements. I always knew I could use a few more fruits and veggies, but I didn't realize just how much. Also, the past two days have made me realize how much cheaper processed food is. So far I've spent about $150 on groceries for just me, and I'm not sure they'll get me through the whole week. These include: oranges, strawberries, blueberries, apples, lettuce, 2 salads in a bag (for when I need a grab and go meal), pineapple, dates, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, cheese, some naked fruit smoothies (things I used to avoid but now can indulge in), bananas, broccoli, olives, hummus (even though the garbanzo beans are lightly steamed, I'm counting it as raw), cauliflower, and red bell peppers. As I look at the list, it occurs to me that I need more veggies! I want to make some "raw spaghetti" out of zucchini and yellow squash, but I think it might be better later in the week when I'm running out of food. Other veggies I want to include: mushrooms, wheatgrass (do grasses count as vegetables?), green beans, cabbage, peas, and kale. I also need to add some nuts. Luckily we have walnuts, almonds, cashews, peanuts and pecans at home, so that won't have to be added to my grocery budget.

Also, I feel its important to note that this diet takes a lot of prep and planning. When I went to the local grocery store today and saw how many different kinds of precut veggies and fruits they had, I was pretty surprised. This is probably a good way to cut down on prep time, but the inner OCD in me can't fully trust precut, prewashed produce, so I'll probably only use that kind of stuff when I'm in a pinch. So far its been a lot of planning and prepping the night before.

Hopefully this works out! I'm actually really excited about it.