{wanderlust}

It's spring break (finally!) but I'm staying in Seattle this year. While finally getting to set up my lab and enjoying the campus without the 30,000 undergrads is fantastic, I came across this web magazine the other day that just makes me want to hop on the next flight somewhere and have an adventure: 

Wayfare is full of beautifully locations and cultures. I want to visit them all! (well, except maybe the truffle hunting in OR, as I'm not sure I'm a fan of truffles...)

click here to directly read the magazine, but you should also check out the blog on their website!

hair.

for the first time since 2009, I'm itching to change up my hair. I haven't dyed my hair since that summer, and I'm pretty happy with my natural color (surprise!) but the one-length thing is starting to get boring.

also, it gets fluffy in the rain and falls all over my face when I'm trying to study. and no, I can't pull it back - I easily get dull headaches from pulling my hair back too much :(

right now: the longest it's been in probably 6+ years?

         

I've had my fair share of short haircuts and non-traditional colors during college:

{one of my favorite looks, kind of hard to maintain and hard to grow out. did not look all that great when just left curly}

{summer before freshman year - red, blonde, black and a little natural brown left :) }

{fall freshman year of college. I was water for Halloween. I still love this cut and color combo.}

{I rocked the under-the-hair blonde streak for a solid year}

 {this one was probably the worst. never ever try to go blonde from being a brunette redhead with a home-blonde kit. worst hair decision ever.}

 {at one point in time, it was really red-ish. also note that I can't keep my eyes open when it's sunny outside....}

 

{shortest it's been in the last couple of years, I kind of really liked that haircut. It was great curly and straight! And yes, this is a NASA picture in a really messy lab. somehow it turned out cool. maybe the blue light?}

and now it's just been fairly mid-length and curly and brown for what seems to be forever....

but I'm just not sure what to do. I'm bored with the status quo, that's for sure.

{side note: watch how this girl's hair changes over the years! such a cool project!}

so. tired.

I'm not sure I've ever been as exhausted as I have been every single day for the past week. up early, up late, never getting my list all checked off, etc, etc, etc. I faintly remember being this exhausted during my microgravity experience, as that was also one of the most stress-filled times of my life.

my solar cells class just completely took over my life. I'm sure my test scores are not going to reflect either my effort or my learning in this class, as I started from such an elementary level that learning everything this quarter was just too much to ask. I've accepted that fact and plan to spend time next quarter and over the summer slowly going back over the course material, hopefully learning it in such a way that I begin to think intuitively about how changes to my solar cells will affect their output.

speaking of which, I'm writing this while waiting for the software needed to run the solar cell simulation software I need to finish my last homework assignment. I found out that of the two programs that I could use, only one kind of runs on mac - thank goodness I never uploaded my older laptop, the software won't run on Lion. the second software only runs on Windows, so now I'm downloading an emulator that will hopefully run the software. I'd like to avoid dual-booting my computer, as I think the Windows OS is only going to eat up my HD space. I rarely use .exe programs anymore. Like 2 in the past 5+ years.

oh. looks like it's done downloading now. fingers crossed I can get this to work!

{unrelated Hubble pic. apparently this is the 'bubble nebula'}

fine. and other words.

lately, I've noticed a pattern in my response to the questions "how are you doing today?" or "how was your day?" Mainly, that I just respond with "fine," regardless of who asks the question. I'm tired of only saying 'fine', but I also don't even know how to articulate my emotions and perspective to myself, let alone to others. So, I guess until I find new words, 'fine' will have to suffice.

on a lighter note, I recently found a site called Futility Closet, which is just full of funny/random things, and they had great section called 'language,' where I found the following words:

cunctator - n. a procrastinator.

perpilocutionist - n. one who expounds on a subject of which he has little knowledge.

charrette - n. a final, intensive effort.

apricity - n. the warmth of the sun in winter.

though they are not adjectives, I feel like all four words describe me/my life in recent times.

yes, sometimes I even feel like a perpilocutionist when I talk about solar cells. I know (most of) the words, but am still nailing down true understanding. (also - anyone know how to pronounce that word? or any of those words??)

-------

Unrelated to the words theme, but I always find it funny when sites like xkcd or phdcomics have cartoons that so elegantly illustrate situations I am currently experiencing. This one for example, published this past Monday, has been my life for the past half a week with my mathematica solar cells homework:

=^.^=

 

I think there might be two-ish weeks left the quarter?? Maybe? I have no earthly idea if or when I might have a final in either my solar or defects class....probably should get on top of that. 

so much left to do.

anyways, here's to the extra day - it's been fun, February 29.

{apollo's angels}

Ballet...was a system of movement as rigorous and complex as any language. Like Latin or ancient Greek, it had rules, conjugation, declensions. Its laws, moreover, were not arbitrary; they corresponded to laws of nature. Getting it "right" was not a matter of opinion or taste: ballet was a hard science with demonstrable physical facts. It was also, and just as appealingly, full of emotions and the feelings that come with music and movement. It was blissfully mute, like reading. Above all, perhaps, there was the exhilarating sense of liberation that came when everything worked.


- a PhD graduate student in physics to the author of apollo's angels. 


probably one of my favorite descriptions of ballet.

{via ballerina project}

Imaginary Number

The mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
is not big and is not small.
Big and small are

comparative categories, and to what
could the mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
be compared?

Consciousness observes and is appeased.
The soul scrambles across the screes.
The soul,

like the square root of minus 1,
is an impossibility that has its uses.

{BY VIJAY SESHADRI}