~For your entertainment~

In an effort to coordinate my schedule, I spend a good amount of time trying to communicate via email with this guy, whom I collaborate with. He's a researcher on campus, who looks pretty serious for a first impression.

My email
---actually, would Friday be better?

His email
---new years?

My email
---sure, why not

His email
---you need a hobby

My email (I was getting a little ticked-off after reading his response)
---actually, I was planning to go ski tomorrow (i do have a hobby!). But I was going to postpone that if you want to train me tomorrow, since you are leaving town soon. That explains the previous emails. [come on, you are making it hard for me to do my hobby!]

His email
---you go skiing. science can wait until monday. You should ski while the skiing is good.

Me
---Cool! :)

Him
---YEAH! ski safe

"人有時要傻一下，要瘋一下，要能多情，也要無情。"---張小嫻

The many faces of scarves

I never knew you can do so much with tying scarf until I came upon this website.

http://www.texeresilk.com/cms-scarf_tying_guide.html

While I'm familiar with some of the basic knots, the others look pretty interesting: neck wrap (looks Frenchy to me), Twice around ascot, and the Hollywood Knot.

Today when my colleagues and I were lunching @ Indochine, a few of us ordered beers. After I placed my order for Tsingtao, it struck me that the waiter did NOT ask for my ID. I told ppl at the table how surprising that was. And my boss asked if that was a good thing, that I finally look like I'm 21. :)

~My wish list~

After I'm done passing my defense today, I finally have time to write up my X'mas wish list. Most of which can be found on Amazon.com. :)

1. Victorinox Swiss army knife (red)

2. Sweater gloves from GAP (red or white)

3. What the dog saw by Malcom Gladwell

4. Women are Crazy, Men are Stupid by Morris & Lee (you gotta love the cover)

5. Bath & Body Works® Signature Collection, Enchanted Orchid™

6. Bath & Body workds signanture, P.S. I love you

7. Candle, Fresh Bamboo

8. L'occitane Hand cream

9. A day planner

"I like challenges but this is ridiculous."--Cat

I'm quoting my friend on that. I can't wait until I wrap things up and defend my thesis. I'm grateful for many things in my life, but grad. school has been such a long journey for me, emotionally and academically. I went from a PhD student to Masters's student, then switched to a new lab due to the unfortunate experience of working for an inconsiderate advisor who lost his tenure track. I've learn not to take things for granted. And at the same time, going through so much uncertainty changed my attitude and perspective. When I'm not distracted w/ FB and reading blogs, and actually preparing my thesis and presentation, I'm surprise and nervous that I'm this close to defending and graduating. It's like...too good to be real...but I know it's real because I put in so much time and effort into it (I've made numerous backup on different computers to ensure my data are safe and sound). Again, for many ppl w/ graduate degrees out there, this is trivial, but for me it hasn't been smooth sailing, so I don't take it for granted, even if it's just a Master's degree.

And it really does suck the life out of you. At an interview today, when asked what I like to do outside of work, I said that I am a skier and love to ski. Then came the question, "how many times do you go in a season", and my answer was "2, on average". I guess two times a season hardly makes that a hobby. ~sigh~ But I really look forward to skiing more this winter. :)

"The world breaks everyone and afterward some are strong at the broken places."--Hemingway