Hey y'all.
It's the weirdest thing. I've been in Australia now for a little over 8 weeks. Well, to be honest, almost 9 weeks. 2 days short of 9 weeks. And I've had a great time, don't get me wrong.
Okay so there were a few ups and downs along the way, but mostly ups.
THINGS THAT HAPPENED WHILE I WAS HERE:
Decided that science research just isn't for me. Which means: I'll be applying to science communication programs. And real world jobs. I'm still graduating with a degree in Astronomy/Astrophysics. But I've grown a lot in the past 3 years and it's made me become way more aware of what I need out of a job. And writing papers/going to astronomy conferences/presenting papers/day to day research: it's just not for me. I'd've been way happier doing normal intern-y stuff (making coffee, sorting mail, filing) than what I was actually doing (computer programming, using software, getting headaches)
Got my hair done. Super exciting I know. :P
Went to the telescope in Coonabarrabran (AWESOME - reminds me what I love about astronomy - the side that the public gets to see)
Explored Sydney including, but not limited to: Bondi Beach, Luna Park, Surry Hills, Paddington Market, Paddy's Market, Darling Harbor, several Arcades (shopping alleys), the Royal Gardens, the Opera House.
Made videos about most of the places I went on youtube.com/kittenpaws33
Cooked for myself. Legit food. Like chicken. And curries (with the aid of seasoning packs). Experimentally made apricot honey chicken. Quite successful.
Met and petted at least 3 kitties.
Made friends from England. And other places.
Had a boss who was Scottish.
Got sick (it is winter here, after all)
Realized how inexpensive the US is.
Got mad about seeing the exchange rate fall for AUD to USD.
Realized, once again, that textual communication is unhelpful in many cases. And that I have MASSIVE moodswings sometimes. Realization is the first step, right?
Knitted and donated a blanket.
Ate too much chocolate and Tim Tams (noms) - stopped eating said things and switched to trying to eat super healthy.
Almost collected the ULTIMATE HARRY POTTER MOVIE POSTER/POSTCARD COLLECTION but failed on the last day. Learned that I should've skivved off work.
Learned many British words.
Watched Tangled like 4 times in 3 days. Loved Tangled.
Went to the movies to see: Transformers 3, HP7part2, Captain America, Bridesmaids
Heard about, freaked out about, got into Pottermore
Missed everyone in the States SO MUCH. It's not even funny how much I missed y'all.
THE END
Monday, August 8, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Aussieland
PAUSE.
Hallioooooo. I've been in the land of kangaroos for over 4 weeks now. It's craziness I tell you, craziness!
For one thing, who ever heard of allergies in the winter? Lame Australia. Lame.
So as I sit waiting for a good friend to sign on skype (14 hour time difference? pshaw) I needed to do something to keep myself awake (it's 11:34 here).
I went for a walk today. I have put on a little bit around my hips due to the facts that:
1. Cadbury chocolate is amazing. Particularly the crunchie kind which tastes like sponge candy
2. One such chocolate bar has 26 grams of fat in it... I was averaging one a day.
(chocolate sooooo good)
I have therefore 1. eaten all chocolate in my possession so that I will not be tempted to eat it and 2. bought lots of veggies. In particular carrots. I LURV CARROTS.
But you don't read this to read about my chocolate woes (which wouldn't bother me so much if not for the fact that my only pair of jeans were no longer comfortable to sit in.) Actually, I'm not sure why you read this blog. For all I know, no one reads this blog. I do have an awful lot of content on the internet (a personal vlog, group vlog, twitter...)
Update on my life you say? Still don't know what I'm doing with it. Should probably obtain a GRE study book though...
Well there it is. A whole 10 minutes of my night taken care of. 50 more to go XD
PLAY.
Hallioooooo. I've been in the land of kangaroos for over 4 weeks now. It's craziness I tell you, craziness!
For one thing, who ever heard of allergies in the winter? Lame Australia. Lame.
So as I sit waiting for a good friend to sign on skype (14 hour time difference? pshaw) I needed to do something to keep myself awake (it's 11:34 here).
I went for a walk today. I have put on a little bit around my hips due to the facts that:
(chocolate sooooo good)
I have therefore 1. eaten all chocolate in my possession so that I will not be tempted to eat it and 2. bought lots of veggies. In particular carrots. I LURV CARROTS.
But you don't read this to read about my chocolate woes (which wouldn't bother me so much if not for the fact that my only pair of jeans were no longer comfortable to sit in.) Actually, I'm not sure why you read this blog. For all I know, no one reads this blog. I do have an awful lot of content on the internet (a personal vlog, group vlog, twitter...)
Update on my life you say? Still don't know what I'm doing with it. Should probably obtain a GRE study book though...
Well there it is. A whole 10 minutes of my night taken care of. 50 more to go XD
PLAY.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
BEDA
PAUSE...
So yeah, long time, no blog.
I mean I had plenty to blog about (SETI Institute REU until August, my vlog, the crazy classes of an astronomy major, figuring out what to do with my life, boy drama) but, as you might have guessed, having a lot to blog about also means having very little time to blog.
But I really enjoy blogging (and vlogging) and since I haven't gotten to vlog recently due to a whole bunch of things (primarily Christine and her not starting our new season), and because it's Blog Every Day in April, I felt at least one post was necessitated. I miss this.
So what have you missed? A birthday (another year older and all that jazz). Continued questions of what I should do with my life (yes I'd probably get into graduate school but what do I want to go for? Science outreach? Astronomy? Planetary Science? Space Science? So many choices, so indecisive...) I had the prospect of a boy for all of about 5 days until he stopped texting me and I discovered that we had VERY different understandings of where the relationship was going. It ended up blowing up in a lot of ways and resulting in way too much drama. Interpersonal relationships initiated via text message result in many many many miscommunications. Oh, and I'm taking Quantum Mechanics. So that's fun.
I'm also going to be in Australia for the summer! I'm super excited, I got an excellent internship, but now I have to figure out flights and housing and all of that... Hopefully it'll help me focus on the good in life and not perseverate on my lack of romantic interest.
I'm thinking about starting a fun science blog, or at least posting some fun science here, so if there are cool experiments you've heard about and would like to know more about, cool scientists you care about, or even science related TV shows you care about, let me know in comments!!
...PLAY
So yeah, long time, no blog.
I mean I had plenty to blog about (SETI Institute REU until August, my vlog, the crazy classes of an astronomy major, figuring out what to do with my life, boy drama) but, as you might have guessed, having a lot to blog about also means having very little time to blog.
But I really enjoy blogging (and vlogging) and since I haven't gotten to vlog recently due to a whole bunch of things (primarily Christine and her not starting our new season), and because it's Blog Every Day in April, I felt at least one post was necessitated. I miss this.
So what have you missed? A birthday (another year older and all that jazz). Continued questions of what I should do with my life (yes I'd probably get into graduate school but what do I want to go for? Science outreach? Astronomy? Planetary Science? Space Science? So many choices, so indecisive...) I had the prospect of a boy for all of about 5 days until he stopped texting me and I discovered that we had VERY different understandings of where the relationship was going. It ended up blowing up in a lot of ways and resulting in way too much drama. Interpersonal relationships initiated via text message result in many many many miscommunications. Oh, and I'm taking Quantum Mechanics. So that's fun.
I'm also going to be in Australia for the summer! I'm super excited, I got an excellent internship, but now I have to figure out flights and housing and all of that... Hopefully it'll help me focus on the good in life and not perseverate on my lack of romantic interest.
I'm thinking about starting a fun science blog, or at least posting some fun science here, so if there are cool experiments you've heard about and would like to know more about, cool scientists you care about, or even science related TV shows you care about, let me know in comments!!
...PLAY
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Lassen!
Stop. Kittenpause.
buh buh buh buh bup can't touch this!
Hello my dear readers. At this point I've probably lost those of you who don't know me personally but that's okay! I promise, I'll make a concerted effort to post more.
So I spent the last week at Hat Creek Radio Observatory and Lassen Volcanic National Park. It was hugely exciting and a ton of fun.
Plus, I got to meet and spend time with Jill Tarter. You know, that person that the book and then movie Contact was based on? yeah. Her. AWESOMESAUCE! She's a crazy driver!
My favorite part of the week was on Friday when a bunch of us went to Burney Falls. We walked over to the viewing deck which was cool and took some pictures and then I complained copiously that I wanted to go down closer to the falls. But the usual trail was closed! Finally somebody noticed that there were people walking down there and someone else started walking the other way and we ended up finding the alternate path. Which was such such fun. We got to the bottom and then scrambled out onto the rocks. As we stood there it seemed to me a better and better idea to jump in the water (and how cold could it be, really?) So I did. It was MUCH MUCH colder than I thought it would be. Like 40 degrees. I got in and swam like halfway to the waterfall and then went "My arms aren't really working properly" and swam back to the shore. But it was TOTALLY worth it!! So so soooo glad I did that.
That day we also went to Subway Cave which was formed from the volcano eruption. And I had brought my bicycle headlight for my flashlight which happens to have a blink feature on it. So I instigated a cave rave. It was awesome.
I also got to see Devil's Kitchen and the Jumbles at Lassen which were cool, but I wish I would've had more time to just explore.
A bunch of people went backpacking but since I didn't have the right equipment and my back has been acting up (essentially my bad posture is catching up with me) I decided it was unwise to go backpacking even though I would've loved the hike.
We also got to see some really kick-ass fluorescent and phosphorescent rocks the one night. They looked normal under regular light but under UV they were these gorgeous neon oranges, greens, purples, and even some pinks! It was soooo cool. Sumac, for example, is luminous under black light. Makes me wonder what those rocks my parents just threw out would've been light under an appropriate light source ;)
Anyhow I keep on trucking. I've met some really nice people here and no one is particularly hateful or mean (although being with people for a week pretty much nonstop if I don't particularly love them is hard for me. Definitely wished I would have had internet in my own room or at least cell phone use). I have to remember to tell myself to be nice and play nice and not overreact or take things too far. Which I sometimes have the tendency to do. And I apologize for that. Sometimes I am just not a pleasant person to be around :/
The Doctor Who series (to us Americans, season) finale was great and I can't wait until series... 6? If any of you aren't watching it you should!
I'm currently on the hunt for a new old show to watch and catch up on. I may do Lost or Star Trek, but I'm not sure so if YOU have ideas, let me know!
All right. Proceed with your regular business.
PLAY
buh buh buh buh bup can't touch this!
Hello my dear readers. At this point I've probably lost those of you who don't know me personally but that's okay! I promise, I'll make a concerted effort to post more.
So I spent the last week at Hat Creek Radio Observatory and Lassen Volcanic National Park. It was hugely exciting and a ton of fun.
Plus, I got to meet and spend time with Jill Tarter. You know, that person that the book and then movie Contact was based on? yeah. Her. AWESOMESAUCE! She's a crazy driver!
My favorite part of the week was on Friday when a bunch of us went to Burney Falls. We walked over to the viewing deck which was cool and took some pictures and then I complained copiously that I wanted to go down closer to the falls. But the usual trail was closed! Finally somebody noticed that there were people walking down there and someone else started walking the other way and we ended up finding the alternate path. Which was such such fun. We got to the bottom and then scrambled out onto the rocks. As we stood there it seemed to me a better and better idea to jump in the water (and how cold could it be, really?) So I did. It was MUCH MUCH colder than I thought it would be. Like 40 degrees. I got in and swam like halfway to the waterfall and then went "My arms aren't really working properly" and swam back to the shore. But it was TOTALLY worth it!! So so soooo glad I did that.
That day we also went to Subway Cave which was formed from the volcano eruption. And I had brought my bicycle headlight for my flashlight which happens to have a blink feature on it. So I instigated a cave rave. It was awesome.
I also got to see Devil's Kitchen and the Jumbles at Lassen which were cool, but I wish I would've had more time to just explore.
A bunch of people went backpacking but since I didn't have the right equipment and my back has been acting up (essentially my bad posture is catching up with me) I decided it was unwise to go backpacking even though I would've loved the hike.
We also got to see some really kick-ass fluorescent and phosphorescent rocks the one night. They looked normal under regular light but under UV they were these gorgeous neon oranges, greens, purples, and even some pinks! It was soooo cool. Sumac, for example, is luminous under black light. Makes me wonder what those rocks my parents just threw out would've been light under an appropriate light source ;)
Anyhow I keep on trucking. I've met some really nice people here and no one is particularly hateful or mean (although being with people for a week pretty much nonstop if I don't particularly love them is hard for me. Definitely wished I would have had internet in my own room or at least cell phone use). I have to remember to tell myself to be nice and play nice and not overreact or take things too far. Which I sometimes have the tendency to do. And I apologize for that. Sometimes I am just not a pleasant person to be around :/
The Doctor Who series (to us Americans, season) finale was great and I can't wait until series... 6? If any of you aren't watching it you should!
I'm currently on the hunt for a new old show to watch and catch up on. I may do Lost or Star Trek, but I'm not sure so if YOU have ideas, let me know!
All right. Proceed with your regular business.
PLAY
Saturday, May 1, 2010
The Beginning of the End & How to Procrastinate
Surprise! It's kittenpause time again!
I know, 5 months, no excuse.
To be fair it's been a very long, frustrating couple of months in my land, and free time was more likely to be spent on mind deadening things than anything else.
Anyhow, exams will begin Monday and be over by 1:15 on Thursday at the latest so... I'll try to be a more prolific writer. Although I won't have my own computer for almost a month, so my ability to post may be limited. BUT once I get to SETI (where I'm working this summer!) I'll try to post what I can and keep you all apprised.
Onto the meat of this post... procrastination strategies!
STRATEGY #1: sleep. This is an excellent form of procrastination. Just don't get out of bed. Side effects including feeling gross and the need to shower.
STRATEGY #2: watch Hulu. This also applies to regular tv, youtube, any website with video content, really. Basically watch everything you find interesting. Then search for new shows.
STRATEGY #3: Find friends. They are very diverting and distracting. Go for a walk, go on an adventure, forget that you have to study for things in general.
STRATEGY #4: make a list of things you need to do. Don't do any of them. Feel that this is enough work and read a book, play a game, check all of the above to see if anything new is going on.
STRATEGY #5: learn an instrument! Not well enough that you can actually play, just well enough to annoy people.
STRATEGY #6: Realize it's too late to start anything. sleep some more.
Who else has effective procrastination strategies? I think zoning out is also pretty effective.
Thanks for reading this brief kittenpause. Now back to your regularly scheduled life.
PLAY
(finished SG-1 ages ago)
I know, 5 months, no excuse.
To be fair it's been a very long, frustrating couple of months in my land, and free time was more likely to be spent on mind deadening things than anything else.
Anyhow, exams will begin Monday and be over by 1:15 on Thursday at the latest so... I'll try to be a more prolific writer. Although I won't have my own computer for almost a month, so my ability to post may be limited. BUT once I get to SETI (where I'm working this summer!) I'll try to post what I can and keep you all apprised.
Onto the meat of this post... procrastination strategies!
STRATEGY #1: sleep. This is an excellent form of procrastination. Just don't get out of bed. Side effects including feeling gross and the need to shower.
STRATEGY #2: watch Hulu. This also applies to regular tv, youtube, any website with video content, really. Basically watch everything you find interesting. Then search for new shows.
STRATEGY #3: Find friends. They are very diverting and distracting. Go for a walk, go on an adventure, forget that you have to study for things in general.
STRATEGY #4: make a list of things you need to do. Don't do any of them. Feel that this is enough work and read a book, play a game, check all of the above to see if anything new is going on.
STRATEGY #5: learn an instrument! Not well enough that you can actually play, just well enough to annoy people.
STRATEGY #6: Realize it's too late to start anything. sleep some more.
Who else has effective procrastination strategies? I think zoning out is also pretty effective.
Thanks for reading this brief kittenpause. Now back to your regularly scheduled life.
PLAY
(finished SG-1 ages ago)
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Christmas Traditions
It's time for a Christmas-themed KITTENPAUSE.
So being confined to a tiny apartment is just no fun. I realize I should probably be working on Goldwater and my poster and REU applications, and the various and sundry things I have to do, but motivation level is low and that's my excuse.
I'm done with Siah and the first semester from Hell! Surprisingly (at least for me), ObLab was not the worst part about this semester, and the one class that I quite enjoyed going to, was actually my worst grade (take "worst" with a grain of salt, I'm a perfectionist).
I thought I'd share some of my Christmas traditions and maybe other people can share their Christmas/whatever holiday you celebrate traditions.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the traditional Polish Wigilia. We have home-made pierogie (cheese and sauerkraut, yum!), mushroom soup, fish, mashed potatoes, and other stuff I'm probably forgetting. Usually my family hosts, because we rotate holidays among the family at large, but not always (for instance, this year there just isn't the room). Sometimes we have traditional pierniekes - polish anise cut-out cookies, though those aren't specific to Wigilia. We also do Oplatek (Oh-pwah-tek) which is a sharing of the Christmas wafer during which you wish every other individual good things for the new year (in our household, it's usually "health, wealth, and happiness"). This is also the time my family exchanges gifts with my Dad's parents and siblings.
Christmas Day
Wake up really, obnoxiously early because you're soooooo excited for presents! Wait at the door to the parents' room until they finally come out, and Dad sets up the video camera so we can open presents. Open everything possible, go to Mass, come back for some of Grandpa's Polish sausage, scrambled eggs, and rye toast.
Around 3 o'clock it's time to go to "The Estate," the house in the city where my great aunts and uncles live, and where my Dad's father grew up. Here we have a Christmas dinner, also generally Polish food, and open more presents! But you get a number and you have to wait until your number is up to open them. Also I generally get deigned "Santa's Helper" and have to run the gifts to everyone.
So that's what I do for the two days of Christmas. There's also the tradition of watching Rudolph, A Christmas Story, and The Santa Clause while eating Boy Scout caramel popcorn, which happens over the duration of the Christmas season, but hasn't started here yet...
What does anyone else do? Favorite gift ever? Christmas decorating with carols and dancing? Percy the Puny Poinsettia singing?
all right, you go have a very Merry Christmas with your family!
KITTENPLAY
So being confined to a tiny apartment is just no fun. I realize I should probably be working on Goldwater and my poster and REU applications, and the various and sundry things I have to do, but motivation level is low and that's my excuse.
I'm done with Siah and the first semester from Hell! Surprisingly (at least for me), ObLab was not the worst part about this semester, and the one class that I quite enjoyed going to, was actually my worst grade (take "worst" with a grain of salt, I'm a perfectionist).
I thought I'd share some of my Christmas traditions and maybe other people can share their Christmas/whatever holiday you celebrate traditions.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the traditional Polish Wigilia. We have home-made pierogie (cheese and sauerkraut, yum!), mushroom soup, fish, mashed potatoes, and other stuff I'm probably forgetting. Usually my family hosts, because we rotate holidays among the family at large, but not always (for instance, this year there just isn't the room). Sometimes we have traditional pierniekes - polish anise cut-out cookies, though those aren't specific to Wigilia. We also do Oplatek (Oh-pwah-tek) which is a sharing of the Christmas wafer during which you wish every other individual good things for the new year (in our household, it's usually "health, wealth, and happiness"). This is also the time my family exchanges gifts with my Dad's parents and siblings.
Christmas Day
Wake up really, obnoxiously early because you're soooooo excited for presents! Wait at the door to the parents' room until they finally come out, and Dad sets up the video camera so we can open presents. Open everything possible, go to Mass, come back for some of Grandpa's Polish sausage, scrambled eggs, and rye toast.
Around 3 o'clock it's time to go to "The Estate," the house in the city where my great aunts and uncles live, and where my Dad's father grew up. Here we have a Christmas dinner, also generally Polish food, and open more presents! But you get a number and you have to wait until your number is up to open them. Also I generally get deigned "Santa's Helper" and have to run the gifts to everyone.
So that's what I do for the two days of Christmas. There's also the tradition of watching Rudolph, A Christmas Story, and The Santa Clause while eating Boy Scout caramel popcorn, which happens over the duration of the Christmas season, but hasn't started here yet...
What does anyone else do? Favorite gift ever? Christmas decorating with carols and dancing? Percy the Puny Poinsettia singing?
all right, you go have a very Merry Christmas with your family!
KITTENPLAY
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Fail.
Kittenpause!
I'm back from the deceased! And by that I mean I've finally gotten around to posting something again. Yay for finals and interesting ways of procrastinating!
My thermo teacher is still evil, by the way. We had our last test before the final that's on Saturday. I made two silly mistakes but hopefully he doesn't take too much off for it.
okay so I came up with three ideas to talk about:
1. Improbability of the moon and the Universe in general
The moon, our moon, is precisely the right size and at the right distance to allow total eclipses. What is the significance of this? Does it imply that life needs total eclipses? Does it imply that the moon didn't form naturally? IS THE MOON ACTUALLY A SPONGE (obviously not).
2. The weirdness of the internet culture. Just in general, but in specific the fact that you can know pretty much anything about another person and they can have no clue you exist. This was always weird with movie stars and such, but now even more "average" people are becoming well known, and that's kind of skivvy. I mean, for all I know, you all have figured out every last detail about me - where I go to school, how old I am, my favorite place to read... and I mean you've learned this about me not from seeing me face to face, but just from what I like to call "facebook-stalking" - you make friends with someone and then look at all their pictures and try to figure out what kind of a person they are... whether to decide if you want to be "real" friends with that person or you have a more nefarious purpose in mind... Just in general, it's weird how much someone can know about you without you ever knowing anything about them.
3. Stargate - SG-1 - About a month or so ago (maybe 3 weeks? not sure...) I started watching SG-1 on Hulu because Stargate Universe just came out and I wanted to get more background for the series. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with SG-1. I'm in season 3 now, and the plots seem to be better thought out, moving away from cultural encounters to scientific adventures... it's on Hulu if you want to join me in my adventure. It's going down March 5 I think, and there are a ton of seasons, so get started as soon as you're done with finals!
Okay. Good luck on finals. Enjoy life.
SG-1 current episode: 3.13
kittenPLAY!
I'm back from the deceased! And by that I mean I've finally gotten around to posting something again. Yay for finals and interesting ways of procrastinating!
My thermo teacher is still evil, by the way. We had our last test before the final that's on Saturday. I made two silly mistakes but hopefully he doesn't take too much off for it.
okay so I came up with three ideas to talk about:
1. Improbability of the moon and the Universe in general
The moon, our moon, is precisely the right size and at the right distance to allow total eclipses. What is the significance of this? Does it imply that life needs total eclipses? Does it imply that the moon didn't form naturally? IS THE MOON ACTUALLY A SPONGE (obviously not).
2. The weirdness of the internet culture. Just in general, but in specific the fact that you can know pretty much anything about another person and they can have no clue you exist. This was always weird with movie stars and such, but now even more "average" people are becoming well known, and that's kind of skivvy. I mean, for all I know, you all have figured out every last detail about me - where I go to school, how old I am, my favorite place to read... and I mean you've learned this about me not from seeing me face to face, but just from what I like to call "facebook-stalking" - you make friends with someone and then look at all their pictures and try to figure out what kind of a person they are... whether to decide if you want to be "real" friends with that person or you have a more nefarious purpose in mind... Just in general, it's weird how much someone can know about you without you ever knowing anything about them.
3. Stargate - SG-1 - About a month or so ago (maybe 3 weeks? not sure...) I started watching SG-1 on Hulu because Stargate Universe just came out and I wanted to get more background for the series. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with SG-1. I'm in season 3 now, and the plots seem to be better thought out, moving away from cultural encounters to scientific adventures... it's on Hulu if you want to join me in my adventure. It's going down March 5 I think, and there are a ton of seasons, so get started as soon as you're done with finals!
Okay. Good luck on finals. Enjoy life.
SG-1 current episode: 3.13
kittenPLAY!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)