More Peace, Love, and Waffles

Here's to you and better days ahead...

Battle of the Dragon and Phoenix

Every year, first year architecture students design this massive dragon which ultimately becomes the center of a parade through campus.  First year engineering students apparently have the same opportunity to build a phoenix, but I suppose nobody really cares about them and so the fate of this phoenix is lost to me. 

I gotta say though, with all the hype that was generated around here, I was anticipating some grandiose, structural masterpiece, but what we got instead was something that resembled a cross between a slinky and the Wizard of Oz's Tin Man (apologies to the College of Architecture because yee-ouch).  I'm sure I could do no better, so I'll refrain from the public crucifixion.  Regardless, the costumes and general hustle and bustle were entertaining, I got some sweet stick-on dragon tattoos, and overall, the event itself was just a good excuse to leave lab and frolic on the streets.  And yes, Dragon Day happened on a...FRIDAY, FRIDAY (Partyin').  And yeah, tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterward and no, I don't want this weekend to end because it's fun, fun, fun, FUN!  

Curse you Rebecca Black for becoming yet another YouTube sensation...    

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the long route back to my apartment.







Life isn't quite like a song yet, but nevertheless, today was not a bad day.

Cricket in the Winter/Spring?

Here are some folks outside playing cricket. Do these glimpses of green translate to the beginning of spring? Here's to hoping, though it wouldn't be the first time that I've been hoodwinked by Ithaca's mild temperatures and pleasantly cool breezes. Decent weather is usually accompanied by 2 feet of snow. So yeah. I'm on to you, Weather Gods.

I'm meeting with Scott tomorrow, er, rather today. Rotations and the wonderful, and yet really not-so-wonderful world of RNA can be such a drag. Anyways, fingers will be crossed...

My Memory Photo Album

Mike told me that one day, in a fit of panic, he opened up a Word document and started writing everything that he could remember from childhood and on for fear that he might forget all the important and even not-so-important things/people/places/events in his life. He said that when he finished, he filled 2 pages. It seems highly improbable to condense 25 years of one’s life in the breadth of 2 lousy pages, but I suppose details tend to become trivial and eventually they creep into the crevices of one’s brain, where they will remain as remnants of forgotten memories. As pieces of my past are gradually becoming indistinguishable from my dreams, I’ve decided to create my own time capsule (including but not limited to past memories as I also want to incorporate a list of things present and future) and ship it off into cyberspace.

So here is my Word document:

-Fridays after ballet, mom and I sit in ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt’ ice cream shop. I order a soft-served vanilla cone topped with an orange gummy bear. Click: orange gummy bears

-Terms of endearment: Lola (mom’s mom) calls me ‘Jing-Jing’ as a child; we always end phone conversations with “I love you and I miss you” and repeat at least 5x

-West Seneca, NY: Saturdays, mom, dad, and I play putt-putt golf; Dad wins me stuffed toys

-West Seneca, NY: best friends are Breanne and Billy; we never use the phone and instead they call across from their backyard, “Jeanne, can you come over”; Billy and I fight constantly; we collect rocks and search for rocks in neighbors’ yard

-loved to roller-skate and ride bikes

-still loves riding bikes; Click: bike rides to Lake Alice; listening to old tunes that my dad listens to

-Summer, West Seneca, NY: Lolo (dad’s dad) takes me to get pizza and we go to the Cone King after. Click: vanilla cones dipped in hot fudge

-Palm City, FL: I go on a class field trip to the beach; I wander too far and almost drown

-love catching frogs and lizards; Mom tells me I’ll get warts if I continue, but I still catch them anyways

-loves to jump and twirl; Click: laughing, feeling dizzy; snow

-West Seneca, NY: Lolo teaches me how to ride a bike; I’m scared, but eventually I learn to ride without using my hands

-loved band; 1^st chair oboe player; solo in a big school performance

-High school, Palm City Nursing Home: Mrs. Sommers tells me stories about her son. Click: burgundy armchair

- tennis lessons in elementary school

-always participate in every club

-High School: Harvard debate tournament; snow ball fights

-Jessie, first dog; miss her terribly

-from elementary school up until middle of high school, I go to Stephen and Shane’s house after school; we play and fight like siblings; Click: Power Rangers

-wants to stay in touch with old friends

-listens to music while brushing teeth

-prefers warmth over cold

-dad’s 50-something birthday, we go to the Pollo Tropical

-Keane concerts with cousins, Jennifer and Jackie; Click: meeting the band in our hotel

-loves listening to records while drinking mint tea; listens to The Platters, ‘Only You’

-don't like confrontation; takes after Lolo

-quiet; observant most of the time

-family birthday celebrations at Hunan Chinese Restaurant; making the same waiter take our picture

-never tires of watching "The Princess Bride"

-indulges in too many sweets

-wants to eat healthier, stay fitter

-loved rabbits as a child; Patty and Susan were mine

-feed cranes in backyard in Florida

-fishing on the bridge with Dad; Click: Jessie attacking a dog twice her size

-Christmas parties with parents’ friends; bored, hating it

-parties with parents’ friends during the summer; Click: everybody dancing the Macarena

-school newspaper editor

-piano lessons with Miss Craton

-high school class president; not my kind of crowd; Click: fluffy parties

-high school: Spanish Honor Society president; Click: red t-shirts; Sra. Hogan calls some kids “rat bastards”

-eating fries and ice-cream with Mom in a small, unknown fast-food restaurant in California; Dairy Queen in Jensen Beach; talks about life, my fears, the future; can tell Mom anything because she never judges

-high school: driving Alex to school everyday; Click: playing Christmas music in September; blowing up the school (in our imaginations of course)

-high school: AP Chemistry; dry ice explosion; pranks on Erik

-loved high school; best friends: Kim and Alex; friends for over 10 years

-Dad listens to Linda Ronsdadt, ‘Blue Bayou’, on his new stereo; coming home from college to Dad listening Dusty Springfield, things like ‘The Windmills of Your Mind’

-When asked what he does for a living at restaurants, Dad answers "I work for my wife"; good answer

-Dad talks computers; loves building computers; Click: building computers; parts; dad wears light strap around head

-Uncle Danny’s wedding in Australia; dancing

-Lola downstairs in the kitchen listening to The Spiral Starecase, 'More Today Than Yesterday'

-Celebrating cousin Mary’s birthday on Christmas in California

-walking together up the hill; lab lunches at the Copper Monkey

-lunches at the Reitz Union with Kat

-lucky crystallography duck socks

-always go to parents for advice; their philosophy: “Let her bloom.”

-gets along wonderfully with mom and dad; daily phone conversations

-tries to call Antonette, best friend from lab, every Tuesday and Thursday evening; Click: drinking tea and eating graham crackers until the wee hours of the morn; drives to the Orlando airport; John’s karate lessons; chats in lab; walks to Shands’ cafeteria

-tries to talk to Bala on phone, best friend from lab, at least once a month; Click: dinners at IHOP; chats on the playground; nerf tag; seeing Venus at the observatory; trips to the Gainesville Public Library

-late night lab parties with Antonette and Bala

-lab pranks; ‘Mc-Bowl-A-Board’

-game nights

-ice cream with friends in Gainesville

-CHESS; click: kit-kats, Billy Joel ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’

-lab cruise in November; lots of food; Click: Everyone dancing; Mavis vs. Balu dance-off; Rob dancing

-Gainesville: meteor shower watches with Jennifer

-late night talks with Jennifer; runs for ice cream; Click: Peach Valley Café, No Doubt ‘Spiderwebs’ and long drives; life

-long talks with Claudia, best friend from lab; Bentos dinners; loves llamas; tries to maintain Skype dates when we have the chance; Click: Chris Martin; Luna's Pizza; silkies; laughing; The Cheesecake Factory; Travis, 'Sing'; Christmas in Disney World; hand-crafted cards

-long chats with Harald, best friend from lab; Click: Maude’s

-long lunches with Miorel, my favorite lunches; Click: Miorel lip syncing Franki Valli, ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”; conversations about life and family; orange peel curls; karate; French competition and good feelings

-Miorel’s mom’s pen and drives home, U2 'The Sweetest Thing' and Coldplay 'Viva la Vida'; Click: warm and breezy day; “Row, row, row, your boat…”; computer graphics room; Science For Life and a cream-colored suit

-07/14/13: Debbie’s 24^th bday

- McKenna lab Christmas parties

-lab water bottle fights

-regularly attends Sunday mass

-likes things with a history

-prefers delayed gratification over instant

-appreciates a real good conversation

-Lolo and Lola (mom’s folks) dance to The Righteous Brothers, ‘Unchained Melody’ on their 50^th wedding anniversary, this is their song

-Lolo gets two aneurysms; Lola jokes about their younger years and how he chased plenty of girls; Lolo frantically shakes hand and sloppily writes, “only you”

-Grandma (Dad's mom) good night hugs; cooking suman; playing outside

-Dad singing Frank Sinatra, 'My Way' at karaoke

-Jennifer singing 'The Macarena' during our family New Year's Eve karaoke competition and missing new year's

-likes to lay supine in the dark, listening to a real good song, high volume

-ACA 2008; 9-hour car ride to Tennessee; Click: Rob’s spirit fingers

-ACA 2009; night strolls; CN Tower; Click: Rob texts “Meet in the lobby in 5 minutes…”

-sketches with graphite pencils

-wants to learn how to make an origami rose

-becomes emotionally attached to people and years

-has trouble letting go, but must let go

-loves and never forgets

-bad sleeping habits; hopes to sleep better; dream more

-wants a marriage like my grandparents’

-white picket fences are nice, but it doesn’t matter where I live; home is wherever my love is

-wants a big family

-likes the smell of gardenias

-reads poetry in book stores

-cries at really sad films

-loves trips to the planetarium

-not afraid of the dark

-misses home

-used to sleep with a stuffed bunny my mom got for me, but still keeps it around for good measure

-sunsets over sunrises, but still enjoys a nice sunrise

-riding bikes downhill

-keeps a journal

-worries too much; will try to worry less

-chews food slowly

-careful; sometimes too cautious

-will learn to play violin better

-prefers sneakers over heels, but skirts over pants

-loves flowers

-likes reading “Dear Vincent” letters and letters to Fanny Brawne

-living

-Dream, dream, dream… All I have to do is dream, dream, dream, dream…

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Here's the view outside my window in lab. I tend to daydream pretty frequently, but it sure is a beautiful distraction.

Listen to Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'. I love his cover.

Fall Creek Gorge