When whales (not pigs) can fly!

In case you thought I was making up this exquisite 2.1 meters of awesomeness, otherwise known as Bingding, the whale, let me prove you wrong.  Here are me and my labmates attempting to fly him at our annual institute retreat.  Unfortunately, film could not adequately capture Binding and all his majestic splendor in the air, but this photo should suffice for the time being.  Et voilà:

 Jealous much?  Well, don't you worry your pretty, little heads.  Someday, I'll bring him home and you too will see a whale fly.

Regal Cinemas are pretty OK

I like franchises (Regal Cinema, Panera Bread, Target, etc.) because they all look the same and hence have that familiarity that so wonderfully reflects home.  Florida on the movie screen, Florida in the pastry window, Florida in the dollar shopping aisle.  Home everywhere and again, see.

I finally finished collecting all 475 vials of flies this past week.  Oh, the agony!  I'm TA-ing Genetics lab and lecture this semester and as a part of our induction into TA-hood we were asked, nay, told to separate the male and virgin female flies into vials in preparation for next week's lab.  As one would anticipate, the experience was neither fun nor enlightening.  And of course, it didn't help that my sighs of frustration would detonate a cataclysmic Hiroshima atomic fly bomb.  BOOM--fly explosion!  But in spite of the grief and toil, I am looking forward to teaching the lab sections.  Muhahaha...oh, they will be at my mercy...the flies, not the students.  Hee hee... 

I finished reading Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude."  It was beautifully written and not surprisingly, I'm sad that it had to end.  You all ought to read it and tell me what you think.  I'd love to discuss it with you.  And with that, if you have any book recommendations, I'd be interested to know.

Do any of you use Spotify?  You can share songs and playlists here so add me (acemoliere) if you have an account!  I always find it amusing when my friends here enter my car and are surprised that I make my own mix CDs.  I thought this was a common occurrence, but I suppose not in Ithaca apparently or at least among my circle of friends.  I typically don't listen to the radio because I have the tendency to listen to a favorite song over and over again...sometimes thousands of times.  I never get tired of a favorite tune.  And now off to listen to another favorite playlist: Sleep #3.

Nighty-o.

Wants

I want to go to one of those museums where you can blow enormous bubbles--bubbles that are so big they can almost envelop you and they flicker rainbows for more than milliseconds--long seconds, 1-2-3-4-5--POP!  I want to sit beneath a starry dome and listen to a favorite tune.  I love planetariums.  I haven't been to one since I was--it's been too long, I can't remember.  I want to plant a flower garden and maybe I'll grow some mangoes because they're my favorite fruit.  What are those trees with the purple and blue flowers called?  I want a yard full of those. 

G'night. 

Bingding, the Whale

Bah.  And so frustration strikes again.  I like to plan my days and make estimates as to how long certain things will take me.  For instance: brush teeth: 2 minutes; wash face: 2 minutes; shower: 12 minutes; brush hair: 30 seconds; dress up and put shoes on: 2 minutes...then walk out door.  I admit this crawls along the edge of neurotic, but I can't change who I am.  Unfortunately, I am not one of those people who can swiftly make adjustments to deviations in plans.  But of course, life being the tricky mistress that she is, one cannot always anticipate what's to come in say 5 minutes time.  I scheduled several experiments today so that I could avoid going to lab for the bulk of tomorrow.  I wanted to reserve the day to read my book.  Oh, dear, what a sad commentary on my life, but truthfully, as I've mentioned previously, I feel as though there's so little time to do all the things I want to do and I just wanted to focus on one indulgence at a time.  Well, I'm sure you can imagine how the story ends.  Juggling too many tasks at once invariably leads to catastrophe accompanied by disappointment.  Perhaps it was really poor planning on my part, but it is what it is and with that, I must go to work tomorrow and repeat some experiments.  Blast.  Ah well, I suppose I'll try to start early tomorrow so I can leave early.  Whine, whine, whine...yeah, I know...       

Every morning I say "good morning" to Ron, one of the custodians in our building and we usually chat about his weekend plans, his garden, or his grandchildren.  I would say he's in his mid-70s now since he just attended his 55th high school reunion.  Today he told me that he came to work at 3 in the morning to wax the floors.  I always feel terrible whenever I hear about folks his age with such arduous work schedules since by now I'd expect these people to relax, sip some lemonade, and enjoy life.  But alas, here he is waxing our floors and amazingly all with a smile.  I guess I just have a soft spot for the elderly.  I used to volunteer at a nursing home and almost instantly, I'd fall in love with everybody there.  Ron is one of those lovable characters...the kind you want to hug all the time.  If anything, going to work extra early tomorrow would allow me to exchange another "good morning" with Ron which I don't mind at all.   

I've recently made some impulse purchases.  It's been so windy here lately that I've taken up kite-flying.  What a way to relive your childhood.  I'll post pictures of my new kite soon.  It's an enormous, blue whale (2.1 meters in length) named Bingding.  (Brief account on the origin of Bingding's name: I was doing a gel extraction one day in lab and as I opened the kit, I noticed that one of the buffers had a typo.  Instead of "Binding Buffer" the label read: "Bingding Buffer."  Come on, tell me that wouldn't make you snicker!  Ah, the little things, eh?)

I also bought a keyboard because gosh darn it, my music playing abilities have severely deteriorated and I'm afraid I'll lose my music abilities altogether if I don't do something now to prevent this from happening.  There are lots of free sheet music that I found on ze internetz that I'm excited to learn, namely Unchained Melody.  That ranks high on my "Favorite Songs of All Time" list for various reasons, but mostly because I associate it with some truly happy moments in my life.  

As always, I miss all of you, but more so these days.  I hope you're all terrific and safe.  xx 

You're only a day away

The world--it's out there with the resources to do, see, and learn readily dispensed at our fingertips.  I don't feel that time should be a limiting factor in wanting to achieve all the great things you want in life, yet somehow there's always an excuse to temporarily postpone certain goals.  I'm learning so much in lab and it has for the most part sustained my appetite for such knowledge, but admittedly, I tend to relapse into a fit of discontent because I can't seem to reconcile this desire to do more with the limited time I have.  Ah, see...more excuses!  I realize that sometimes it's not very feasible to read every book, to learn how to play more new instruments and to draw everyday (among other things), but one can certainly try.  I guess this wanting to do "everything" is a consequence of being my father's daughter since he's the same way too.  I hope this restlessness isn't a sign of depression, although I did take Oprah's test for happiness and according to her I'm quite happy so nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh all you preaching folks who caution those who are not complacent in their lives.  Eh, whatever.  I'll do what I can because tomorrow's another day. 

Luke Top and something about friends

Sometimes when the going gets tough and when "you're not the building or the bird, but instead you're just the crap in between," that's alright because I know you'll be around.  If it's true what they say that we are just composites of our experiences and the people that we encounter in our lives, then heck, I'm lucky just to know you because then a part of you becomes a part of me too.  Good friends (and I mean really, really good friends) are hard to come by.  I listened to your advice and this week was pretty good.  Thanks for being around and saying and doing without any hesitation and fine, fine, fine... I'll stop now because I know you hate all that sentimental garbage, but I felt like it needed to be said so there.  I hope you're ok too and you're not just saying that, but you know I'm never really a thousand miles away. Just call. So have a good time, watch some decent movies, learn new songs, keep shredding on your bass, and yeah...enjoy life because years from now we'll wonder how we wasted so much time agonizing over the things that would soon lose its relevance anyways.

What music looks like

There are a few truly remarkable things that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime, and even fewer that I've been fortunate enough to capture on film. This happens to be one of those few truly remarkable things.

Can you hear music? I didn't even need my headphones to hear it.