Hello peoples. Two weeks since my last post. Whew time flies. I dont even have anything to write about, but I have to make an effort to write about something otherwise it will be 2 months.
Winter finally started dropping some snow--its pretty cool to be swimming outside in a blizzard! I should add that to the list of perks of swimming at FAC that I outlined in my last post. Also, I have ridden my bike to school every single day since I have lived in colorado = 2.5 years. Rain, snow, ice, nothing can stop me. One time I rode through about 14 inches of snow! This is a shot from this week on the way home. No big deal really. It gets a little slick.
I have kept the swimming up and recently have been collecting swim caps. As I mentioned in the last post about swimming, the coaches include Dave Scott and Simon Lessing, and each of them run their own coaching business which they promote through swim caps. Haha. I was getting a lot of crap for my old cap which is orange and see through (sorry Joanna), so Simon gave me a cap to wear (Boulder Coaching). Well, that cap was not kosher at Dave's practices, so he gave me one too. Now I have to make sure I wear the right cap on the right day!
Oh yeah I dont think I wrote about this yet, but one of my roommates Ginna is in school for acupuncture and other Chinese medicine rituals. She is like a witch doctor (Sorry Ginna, I am a chemical engineer, I cant handle non-science (though I certainly do believe in the placebo effect...)). She works on Rob and Nate sometimes (my other roommates) but I dont let her touch me with any of them needles. Why? Here is a perfect example. I come home from school one day and she is lighting her foot on fire. Literally. With some herb that smelled a lot like marijuana. She is a runner (which is why I still love her (plus she is super nice)) but I think she was trying to remedy a case of plantar fasciitis? I dunno if it worked, but it blew my mind.
Besides that, I also failed to mention in my last post the awesome law classes I have been taking. So, just to be clear, I am still doing a PhD in Chemical Engineering but have finished all the coursework required for that degree--more than a year ago--so now I just have an undefined amount of research in my future. So, just for fun, I have been taking energy policy classes in other departments, and last fall, I took Energy Law in the Law School. It was mind blowing. Of all the different departments I have now taken classes (both in undergrad and now in grad school) including engineering (duh), the business school, environmental science, environmental policy and law, law is by far my favorite, probably because it is also the most erudite.
And, my professor has a PhD in science as well as a J.D. so I think he has a soft spot in his heart for scientists. Anyway, he convinced me to take Environmental Law with him this spring. I am such a sucker for learning; I signed up. Law school is sooooo cool!
Maybe it is just because I have a flipping amazing professor, but I have learned more in these two classes than in anything else I have ever taken, I think. Well, I probably learned a whole heck of a lot in graduate thermo but not much of that applies to everyday life...plus it is still kinda fuzzy what exactly we did learn...it was all abstract stuff like partial derivatives of thermodynamic properties which honestly make no real physical sense anyway even though pretentious enginerds pretend that they do; dont let them fool you. (Rule of thumb: just because someone's area of expertise makes no sense to anyone does not mean they deserve deference.) In contrast, law is just rational thought applied to everyday circumstances. Its like, "Joe Schmoe is angry because his land is now covered in toxic chemicals from the chemical factory that got built next door." Its like yeah I get it Joe, I would be mad too. Figuring out the solution in terms of the law can be complicated (and funky) but the circumstances of the case are pretty easy to understand.
Anyway, reading for the class is taking all my spare time, but I am also ramping up the piano playing as of late. I recently learned Requiem for a Dream, the theme song from Peanuts, Moonlight Sonata, and Dawn (theme song from Pride and Prejudice haah). I am working on Claire de Lune, but its pretty tough, not gonna lie. I have a tendency (OCD/perfectionism/possibly both) where I cant stand learning the watered down version of piano music because I feel like I would be offending the original composer, but in the case of Claire de Lune, I really dont know how it is physically possible to even hit all those keys with only 2x hands. Claude DeBussy must have had like 4 hands at least. When it feels too daunting, I just look up and Mohammad Ali tells me that impossible is nothing (I have had that poster since high school).
Also, I am having some serious problems right now because my electric keyboard has only 76 keys (though it was only $50 on craigslist). Naturally, all of these pieces I am learning pretty much require the full 88. A real piano is kinda out of the question at this point, but one day I will have one... mark my words...
Rudy
No comments:
Post a Comment