Thursday, December 02, 2004
Snow has fallen...
Things have been, overall, quite good.
Today I spent the day at school setting up for the lab exam that will transpire tomorrow and the following Monday - I feel like an evil TA who laughs to themselves: "muhahaha they'll never get this question!"
Concurrently, and ironically, I'm back to reading the Dalai Lama's Teachings on Generating Compassion.
Maybe I should try.
I've been back into running, in order to sufficiently train for the 5K Running Room Resolution Run on the 31st, but now my knee is giving me problems so I'm on another (short) hiatus. Hopefully I will be ok to re-train tomorrow. It was tough getting back into it given my lungs' delicate condition, but I want to overcome this obstacle and give a decent performance on race day.
I've been rehearsing for my seminar tomorrow and was trying to discover the best way to speak. I decided that ideally I would talk like one of the announcers on Top Gear, who seem to throw their energy and enthusiasm into giving relatively factual information. I also plan to use my hands and pause frequently. This should stop me from speed-speaking.
I don't generally get too nervous about public speaking. I don't enjoy being graded on it, though.
Lost was good last night, although I'm feeling rather lost watching it and every time I get an idea of where the show is going, it actually goes the weirder route. I'm sort of worried that in the end it'll be disappointing - as in - they don't actually know where it's going, and there is no point to the island. It's sure entertaining though - and it bothers me each time it ends "Next week on LOST..."
...Frigging hell.
I guess that's why people watch TV.
In other news, my telephone stopped working. So um - people can't call me. Good timing though - right near exams.
Today I spent the day at school setting up for the lab exam that will transpire tomorrow and the following Monday - I feel like an evil TA who laughs to themselves: "muhahaha they'll never get this question!"
Concurrently, and ironically, I'm back to reading the Dalai Lama's Teachings on Generating Compassion.
Maybe I should try.
I've been back into running, in order to sufficiently train for the 5K Running Room Resolution Run on the 31st, but now my knee is giving me problems so I'm on another (short) hiatus. Hopefully I will be ok to re-train tomorrow. It was tough getting back into it given my lungs' delicate condition, but I want to overcome this obstacle and give a decent performance on race day.
I've been rehearsing for my seminar tomorrow and was trying to discover the best way to speak. I decided that ideally I would talk like one of the announcers on Top Gear, who seem to throw their energy and enthusiasm into giving relatively factual information. I also plan to use my hands and pause frequently. This should stop me from speed-speaking.
I don't generally get too nervous about public speaking. I don't enjoy being graded on it, though.
Lost was good last night, although I'm feeling rather lost watching it and every time I get an idea of where the show is going, it actually goes the weirder route. I'm sort of worried that in the end it'll be disappointing - as in - they don't actually know where it's going, and there is no point to the island. It's sure entertaining though - and it bothers me each time it ends "Next week on LOST..."
...Frigging hell.
I guess that's why people watch TV.
In other news, my telephone stopped working. So um - people can't call me. Good timing though - right near exams.
Monday, November 29, 2004
A day of unsought validation! Whee!
I had a lucky day indeedy!
I was racing for my bus, watching as the people climbed aboard, and thinking with the distance between me and the bus that I would never make it in time, when a car screeched to a halt directly in front of me. It was my grandparents, out to do their mall-walking (a serious sport, I'll have you know) - and they offered me a ride to school. Insisted, even - my grandma wanted to see me! Awww... I love my grandparents.
In class - my prof approached me, gave me (welcome) advice to how to apply to grad schools in my field, progressed to talk about careers in that field to the whole class, then came back up to me and told me that I could count on him for a letter of recommendation, because I'm so excited about entomology. I've never really had good things come out of just effort - so I love that it can happen! :)
My partner for seminar and I then got through making our powerpoint presentation - and we finished it just in the nick of time as I had to head to lab.
In lab, as I was feeling like just about the stupidest teaching assistant ever, some of the students actually thanked me for doing a good job! Can you believe that? (How nerdy am I to get excited about that?) But seriously - and this is a lesson to all those of you out there - if your teachers are actually good, tell them so! I learned this year that you always feel like you don't know what you're doing in that circumstance. When you explain something to someone else, you tend to doubt yourself.
After lab - had a nice interlude with the boys - they're doing a challenge to get fit - I can't wait to see the results! Go boys go!
And to top it all off, I came home, my mom had bought me a subway sub (mmm) and THEN I went down to the basement for a nice run, weights, and some kung fu stances. This was my first full workout since I first became ill - I lost a lot of lung capacity with the bronchitis so it'll be a while before its' restored.
For all you Rings nerds - check out the 6-minute trailer on the main webpage here.
It should come up as a pop-up in quicktime - extended edition soon, guys!
I was racing for my bus, watching as the people climbed aboard, and thinking with the distance between me and the bus that I would never make it in time, when a car screeched to a halt directly in front of me. It was my grandparents, out to do their mall-walking (a serious sport, I'll have you know) - and they offered me a ride to school. Insisted, even - my grandma wanted to see me! Awww... I love my grandparents.
In class - my prof approached me, gave me (welcome) advice to how to apply to grad schools in my field, progressed to talk about careers in that field to the whole class, then came back up to me and told me that I could count on him for a letter of recommendation, because I'm so excited about entomology. I've never really had good things come out of just effort - so I love that it can happen! :)
My partner for seminar and I then got through making our powerpoint presentation - and we finished it just in the nick of time as I had to head to lab.
In lab, as I was feeling like just about the stupidest teaching assistant ever, some of the students actually thanked me for doing a good job! Can you believe that? (How nerdy am I to get excited about that?) But seriously - and this is a lesson to all those of you out there - if your teachers are actually good, tell them so! I learned this year that you always feel like you don't know what you're doing in that circumstance. When you explain something to someone else, you tend to doubt yourself.
After lab - had a nice interlude with the boys - they're doing a challenge to get fit - I can't wait to see the results! Go boys go!
And to top it all off, I came home, my mom had bought me a subway sub (mmm) and THEN I went down to the basement for a nice run, weights, and some kung fu stances. This was my first full workout since I first became ill - I lost a lot of lung capacity with the bronchitis so it'll be a while before its' restored.
For all you Rings nerds - check out the 6-minute trailer on the main webpage here.
It should come up as a pop-up in quicktime - extended edition soon, guys!
