2009 wrap up

So Reza and I have now adopted a tradition in which we reflect on the past year and attempt to sum up "things we did" and "things we learned" about ourselves, or just in general. It is difficult to summarize in a few points the personal growth and developments that occur over the course of 365 days and so much is hard to really put into words. Regardless, I will attempt. *Note: I realize this isn't nearly as interesting as last year's... I made a resolution to cut out the drama from life and I'd say it worked!

Things I did:

- Travelled, moreso on my own than ever before. Some for pleasure, some for school

- developed a better understanding about scientists and research

- Saw a near drug overdose and made my first 911 call

- Wore my prom dress again. Twice.

- Enjoyed the simplicity of summer life

- Went on a date in Central Park

- Lost a lot of sleep over teaching a class

- Was in my first art show

- Took better care of myself

- Took many photos

- Baked a lot

- Never made it to a beach this year :'o(

- Got better at snowboarding

Things I learned

- Don't sweat the petty stuff

- Egos are annoying

- What friendship really is

- Panicking should only be done mildly, otherwise it wastes time

- Aim high and go big, or go home.

- Flying through the US is something else.

- That life's coincidences can turn out surprisingly well

- Some of the best memories are made over a good meal

- Graffiti art is sweet.

- Confidence in oneself and not caring about another's opinion can carry you surprisingly far

- A great pair of tights are essential in any wardrobe

"I can't? Well fuck you, I'll prove to you that I CAN".

December 2009

Earlier last year I posted a list of things I have done and learned in 2008. When I was writing it I wondered how 2009 will play out. For most of my mature life I considered 2005 as the most eventful and 2007 the happiest year. If I had to pick a year as the year I learned more about my own abilities and what I can achieve, 2009 will be that year. There were plenty of happy and sad moments, but overall I wouldn't do anything differently. 2010 has a tough job if it wants to top 2009 and I can't wait to see how it'll do

Things I did:

-Did not read as much as I did in 2008. But had my own share of books.

-Brought Benji out to Calgary, he's not very happy. Sorry Benji.

-Played more guitar that 2008.

-Drove from Miami to New York city, conquering US's east coast. (watch out west, 2010 might be your year)

-Became a keyboard commando during the Iran's election fallout.

-Had a a video I made for youtube played on CNN!

-Re-shuffled lots of friends, upgrading some and downgrading most.

-Went to London to see Michael Jackson, he couldn't make it.

-Went to London and got drunk in more random bars than I can remember.

-Realized travelling with my mom and sister, although all inclusive... is not fun

-After not getting the job I wanted, I eventually got it.

-Got a bartending degree!( I don't remember anything from it..)

-Mourned my grandpa's death, (first family death that actually took a toll on me)

-Did not drink as much as 2008, but drank in more exotic places with interesting people

-Kept on going to the gym

-Smoked more sheesha.

-Got sick way too many times. (fucking C-train)

-Bought lots of toys.

-cut back on bacon.


Things I learned


-Vincent Donofrio is my favourite actor.

-New York is all that it's hyped up to be.

-I am much more capable than I thought I was in 2008

-Miami is a fun city and between it and New York is not much to look at.

-Americans are a lot of fun

-Sometimes life protects me from my own foolishness, most times through relentless failures in things I have no business investing my time in.

-"Staying focused, doing what it takes and getting what you want" are words that define 2009.

-Metric is an amazing band and I believe Emily Haines and I think on the same brain wave.

-Wrestling is way too stupid, no matter how hard I try to shut off my brain I can't take that stuff like I used to in grade 7.

-

A tribute to the holidays...

Persians

Today I learned that Persians are not 'brown' and calling them such results in a terribly faux pas. I was let off the hook for not having many Persian friends.

I think I need to clarify my complete and total ignorance in this.

For 18 years of my life; this was a persian:

Om nom nom nom nom.

They come from this place:
Yes. The Persian Man. And likely Italian, from the looks of the mustache... So for the majority of my life, Persians referred to a delicious dessert that was uncomplicated and that you could buy for 1$ after school from some fundraiser that would invariably be hawking them in the halls. Sure, there was some vague notion that cats or rugs or some gulf waaaay across the ocean may be involved, but... mmm.

Don't worry, I've learned a lot since then. ;)

(Sidenote, Calgary was rumoured to have a Thunder Bay day where they'd fly out boxes of persians and Labatt Crystal for us displaced persons. I think it was a lie. Sigh.)

Squash Soup Recipe - As Requestsed by Beth

So I'll admit my squash soup was pretty bomb. Why bother denying it? And for everyone who's stuck in very-snowy Calgary without a pot of squash soup, I'm afraid that my life is empirically better than yours, based on that count alone.

Anyway, since this isn't a scientific article, I don't have to cite my original sources (thank god), but most of the directions came from the food network site, which has never actually given me a bad recipe.

1 large Butternut squash (~3 pounds/1.3kg)
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
5 cloves garlic
olive oil, crushed
1/2 tbsp curry powder
5 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup whipping cream
salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds etc., score the surface deeply with a knife and rub in olive oil (at least a tablespoon per side). Generously season surface with salt and pepper. Put face up on a baking sheet (I covered with foil, not sure if that's necessary). Roast for 40 minutes or until cooked through.

Sautee the onions and carrots over med-high heat with olive oil and some salt for ~5 minutes, until softening noticably. Add garlic and curry powder, reduce heat to med-low, cook another couple minutes.

Scoop squash out of skin with a large spoon (sounds easy, doesn't it? Well it's not, and I burned the shit out of my fingertips to prove that. If anyone has a better way of doing that, I'm all ears.) and add to the pot along with chicken stock. Stir to mix and bring to a boil, put on a lid and simmer for 20 minutes at lowest heat setting.

Use an immresion blender (I now own one, just ask) to thoroughly blend soup. Add nutmeg to taste, season with salt and pepper, and add cream.

Cynic!

Summer Reading

Beth wants your book recommendations. :)

The F Word

Let me just start this out by saying that I don't consider myself a feminist in any particular way. I usually enjoy Chef Ramsey's work - Hell's Kitchen is pretty entertaining, and Kitchen Nightmares is another somewhat interesting show, they usually do pretty well for background noise and a few laughs.

His new show however really got to me - I couldn't even finish a full episode of it. The F word, which mixes a few different concepts like cooking contests, new recipes, and celebrity restaurant stuff is part of a campaign by Ramsey to get women back in the kitchen.

Wtf? Are we in the 21st century here? Sure, basic concept, that women don't learn how to cook in school anymore, that's true. And he points out that 21 year olds don't think it's an important skill to learn, which may be true in some cases, and may, as he claims, lead to 30-somethings that can't or don't cook. Alright. But that's not truely a "women only" issue.

So Ramsey goes to this one house, and the woman he's talking to is a doctor, which in my mind is arguably one of the busiest professions, and she admits that she eats frozen food. Gasp. Shock. And hasn't cooked in 9 years thanks to a fish pie disaster that she tried to serve her parents and in laws. The thought of a fish pie in general is pretty nasty. So whatever, he gives her some simple recipes and helps her cook something good. The husband in all of this? Sits by prettily and enjoys the food. He doesn't have "Dr" in front of his name. Not sure what his excuse for ignoring the kitchen is but apparently that doesn't matter.

I don't get it. In this day and age where women are no longer stay at home mothers who don't get jobs I don't see the point of focusing exclusively on women in this case. Men are also more then capable of following a recipe - or maybe he thinks that professional chefs can be male, but in the family it's only the woman that should cook?

Whatever. It just ticks me off every time he says that women need to get back in the kitchen.

Love, etc

Reza does The Way

Reza does Pretty.

Yup. Geek.

Music and neuroscience go well together. The host of this clip is a little... um... hmm what's the word... painfully nerdy...? But stay with it, it's kind of interesting. And amusing.



Synesthesia seems cool.

The things I have to study....

Fading out of reality while reading paper upon paper about what amounts to -nothing- made me wonder if I could make them any more interesting. Maybe if it all came in comic form. I could turn all the developmental mutants into characters.

Sonic Hedgehog's a given. But other proteins could make it too... I could totally see Forkhead and Fox. Maybe have Lunatic Fringe lurking crazily around the edges, coming up with devious plots. Fear Of Intimacy and Abstinence By Mutual Consent could be sort of awkward characters that pop up once in a while. And the background could be the alphabet soup of usual crappy names.... speaking of which...

I'm kind of jealous of the grad student or PI that decided to name a protein creating the acronym "CRAP". And then I realize that I'm only jealous because that would make a good conversation starter and poster title and realize that there are no limits to my geekiness.

Can't wait til this semester's over.

Eff.

demotivationals

Too lazy to write, here are some demotivationals












And my favorites:

Back in Calgary

things to do:

brush teeth
shave
shower
laundry
clean room
take out garbage
unpack
call tom lee music
call bartending school
go to storage (monitor and guitar)


things to buy:

shoes
milk
cereal
dates
pasta sauce and pasta
meat
bacon
beer
bread
pizza
amp?
underwear
socks

10,000 hours.

I am reading Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book “Outliers”. I was a big fan of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point” and I have to say his new book doesn’t disappoint. Although a lot of stuff he talks about follows various types of fallacies in their presentation, the main point itself paints a valid picture of what it takes to be successful. His main argument in the book is that successful people who are proclaimed “self made” owe a lot to their environment and people who helped them along the way. He argues that it takes more than brilliance and genius to become successful. How you were raised, the culture you grew up in and the people you interact with have a much underrated affect on your level of success.

What I found most interesting was what he called “the 10,000 hours” rule. Gladwell argues people like Michael Jordan, The Beatles, Bill Gates, Michael Phelps and Mozart, who are known to be brilliant, have put in at least 10,000 hours of work before they actually became what they are. He argues that no one has ever been able to reach that level of success in one skill without putting in at least 10,000 hours. How long is 10,000 hours? If you were to put in three hours of practice in to playing basketball every day, it would take you just over 9 years to clear 10,000 hours. If you were to start playing the guitar today and not stop until you’ve done 10,000 hours, it would take you almost one year and two months to clear that. That is if you were to practice 24 hours a day seven days a week, non-stop.

What I thought was interesting is how quickly we stamp people as genius and assume they’re gifted with a talent where in fact the difference is only 10,000 hours. I haven’t finished reading the book yet; it’s a fun piece of work and needs to be read with an open mind. Some of the stuff he says leaves a lot of room for argument. He tends to make scientific conclusion without being scientific in his premise. But the book flows nicely and keeps you interested throughout.

Zap Zap

Following suite to Reza's post, I too thought it would be appropriate to present some musings about this past year. Often my friends and I reflect upon the year in "best and worst" with a particular category but for the purpose of this post, I will do as Reza has:

2008:

Things I did:

Presented at an international conference.

Almost fell off the side of a mountain and subsequently saw my life flash before my eyes

Consumed more wine than I had in my entire life previously

Taught a class and loved every minute of it

Made loads of new friends and met tons of people

Found a bit more of myself

Saw a stab wound victim

Was a bridesmaid

High tea at the Empress

Put my toes in the pacific, twice.

Got my nose pierced, again.

Baked a lot.

Saw a Californian sunset.

Got loaded with supervisors, present and past.

Burned out and bounced back. Repeatedly.

Fulfilled a life long dream of seeing a Koala.

Filled each day with more and more laughter.

Things I learned:

Friends are the things I cherish most in life.

What bad wine tastes like

What bad wine violently ejecting out of my nose tastes like.

The richness of life

Dating/love hangovers suck

Hangovers suck.

To be assertive and myself

How much I love neon yellow

I am a hedonist and it's ok!

How to swallow my pride, when it's appropriate

To show kindness and express appreciation all the time.

How to do measurements on an ultrasound machine.

That endothelial function can be preserved with proper diet and exercise however the flow mediated dilation commonly used in clinical settings may not be appropriate for young and healthy trained individuals. 

How to make fortune cookies.

Hiking in waist deep snow is dangerous.

Karma does exist. 

Happy New Year!

2008 in review:

Things I did:

Read more books than watched movies.
Moved out of residence and lived off campus.
Infected my passport by going to Iran.
Got lost in Amsterdam.
Got a B.S in Computer Science (finally).
Took out my wisdom teeth.
Stayed up most nights and slept during the day.
Realised once again how amazing Mulder is.
Got a 3.0+ GPA.
Smoked dubious amount of sheesha.
Went to all my classes.
Fell in love with Crackberry.
Supported Ron Paul, then Obama.
Went to the last Montreal Grand Prix.
Started working out once again.
Unlike 2007, lost money in Vegas.

Things I learned:

Champagne makes me sick.
There is a magazine dedicated to hunting with bows, called Bow Hunter.
I can NOT ride a bike with no handle bar.
The Cranberries are a great band to listen to while smoking sheesha.
I have a soul mate and her name is Kylie Minogue.
Globe Fish is the best sushi joint in Calgary.
I have a lot to say in a Philosophy class.
Sociology classes are more fun than Poli Sci classes (too late now..)
A plant can die in 13 minutes if it is exposed to -40 degree weather.
I have a very bad short term memory.
Vitamin B makes me happy.
I have a very bad short term memory. (har har har).
I hate Linux.
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are not very funny now that the election is over.
Slow cooking bacon is the way to go.
Americans know how the have a good time.
South Park is the smartest show on TV right now. (I kinda already knew that).



-That's all that comes to mind for now.

Looking back at 2008