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[Mar. 12th, 2012|02:51 pm] |
Lately I've been feeling like writing, probably a legacy of my profession and past. I've been admiring the way friends, acquaintances and even perfect strangers select words, turn phrases, and create clarity. Oh what delight cleverly spun sentences brings.
So here it is, my triumphant return to the blogosphere. I do apologize for the absence, but I took a hiatus when my my arm was in a cast and, as often the case with hiatuses, it lingered until I had forgotten about the very habit I was taking a break from. I consoled myself with emails and verbal consultations, but alas, nothing is quite the same as some focused wanderings of the mind.
First let me address the broken finger. For almost a month, I wore a dorsal splint which prevented me from using my dominant hand and rendered my typing skills into that of a non-technology dependent 50 year old. That is, while I could muster semi-normal use with my left hand, right handed keystrokes required jumping the keyboard. A schizophrenic keyboard dance.
After the cast came a phantom of opera type mask for my hand, which gave me the freedom to use two digits and, since it was removable, showers. Nothing quite makes you appreciate the human body and simple everyday tasks like removing the ability to do them. Texting, showering, eating, all became a delicate balance mostly dominated by the left hand. Not to mention being benched from my [then] usual skiing, biking, and rock climbing.
It did give me some sympathy at work though.
I can still remember that day when they decided to graduate me from plaster. My hand, a disgusting shade of flaky white, was still swollen and stiff. When the doctor asked me to clasp it fully, I could only bend it half way. This, somehow, was impressive to them. Apparently, most people can't even move. Oh I would be fine, they said with smiles. So then came physical therapy. Hand exercises 6 times an hour. Putties. The tiniest massages ever (done with the back of a pencil). Hot to cold hand bathes. I did them religiously. Every week I returned, the occupational therapist was more than impressed. Of course I wasn't. I wanted my hand completely back to normal- 100%. I remember the day he told me that would never be possible and I should be happy with the progress I was making. And he was right, even today when I clasp my hand in various position, it hurts. I'll never be a jar opening hero again. But I can't complain, his horror stories of people never being able to make a fist again puts me in the solidly sold section. Of surgeries upon surgeries in hopes of the finger regaining its natural rotation. The true meaning of pins and needles.
And I'll never forget the first time I biked to physical therapy. The San Francisco streets mine again. Open skies, potholes, and what do you know, the biggest smile a girl can plaster. |
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| Too much reading, not enough analyzing. |
[Jun. 22nd, 2010|11:24 pm] |
These days I spend a lot of time reading. Like Sarah P., I read "everything." Magazines to newpapers to blogs to books. Often times I'll find something I want to update about, but never get around to it. Usually it's because my thoughts are flittering between the space of facebook and livejournal. Too long and too short, respectively. Well tough cookies, I'm updating anyways.
The current issue of Newsweek is about "Healthy Living." In it, there is an article, "This Is Your Brain. Aging." which talks about the dreaded effects of getting old. Apparently, after 25, it's all down hill from here. And without a doubt, I often chose to relent instead of critical think. Usually it's when an article is talking about advanced math and I don't really feel like following along on a separate sheet of paper, so I read on for the conclusion. Analysis done by somebody else. Sometimes, I'll force myself to work through the problem, and I can feel old gears turning, ever so slowly, but surely.
Now Newsweek never does this for my brain, as their analysis is usually on the sparse rather than dense side. So much so, that quite frankly half of the Newsweek's I read I throw down in anger (only to pick up later). Whether contradicting themselves between issues (or even worse, WITHIN issues), their one page article "Takes" that are merely overreaching opinions guised as journalism, or being plain WRONG, sometimes, I wonder why I read Newsweek at all. Oh right, the free access helps a lot.
So take with a grain of salt, what I am reporting that Newsweek reported. There is a $13 million business for brain-fitness software- and I would know, Brain Age is the main reason I bought my Nintendo DS. Unfortunately though, many of the software only drill very specific skills, such as pressing a button when a green light shows up on the screen to improve the specific skill of reaction time but nothing else. The only software that has overall brain-fitness results is by Posit and small chunk of change: $395 of it. It boasts of exercises such as a pattern is moving in one direction and then a second pattern appearing before the brain is finished processing the first. "By training the brain to improve its signal-to-noise ratio, information goes through more accurately and faster." In a study of 65+ adults using Posit one hour per day for 8 weeks, their processing speed improved to those of 40 year olds.
No offense, Posit, but having a freakin' pattern move one way, then a second one move another is basically advanced PONG. NICE TRY, but how about I take your little patterns, morph them into ARMIES which I MICRO AND BUILT, using a down to the second ORDER, timed and marked by fiscal EFFICIENCY and call it ANY REAL TIME STRATEGY GAME. Which is why I'm pre-ordering Starcraft 2, and when I disappear from the world, you guys can miss me but will never convince me to come back as I will be improving my overall brain fitness, so I can be a lonely 80 year old with the brain fitness of a 30 year old, kthnxbye. |
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| I CAN HAZ A PULL UP? |
[Jun. 11th, 2010|03:52 pm] |
At the climbing gym, there is a contraption that allows you to do pull ups with assistance. It's a beast of a machine that allows you to stand on a movable platform, which levers weight. When I first started climbing, I'm not sure where I was at. I wasn't looking at the machines, I was looking at the colorful rocks on the wall. At some point though, I could do a pull up with 18 lbs of assistance. Then for the last month, it was 6 lbs. Which is REALLY, REALLY close.
Let's rewind a little more. I have never been able to do a pull up. I remember in elementary school they'd have all the fitness requirements, I think set by the good 'ole PRESIDENT of the USA and I would pass every single one except pull ups. Which at some point, went up from the requirement of 0 to 1 for girls. I was at 3/4's. They didn't round up. This never changed. For most of my life, even when I was MVPing high school sport teams, I could not do a pull up. Sometimes if I jumped up to the bar, I'd kick my way up, but the beast machine doesn't allow you to kick, because you are standing on a platform. No pull ups for me.
The other night, I thought I'd give the BEAST MACHINE another try, before climbing with Molly and Laura. Just for kicks, I took off all the weight, instead of the 6 lbs I have been putting on. And then, I got on, and pulled...up...and up...until, my god, the platform wouldn't go up anymore! And my head? ABOVE THE HAND HOLDS!!!!!!!!!!! PULL UP, DONE!
There's only two things I'd like to attribute to this feat. (1) Losing about 10 lbs over the last year (maybe half year). While I have certainly been this weight before, it's been at least a decade, since when I first started driving. As in, driving myself to McDonalds. And KFC. And my friends. And then so my mom wouldn't know, I would eat her meals too. Hi Mom, sorry to have to tell you this in a blog.
Which links us directly to (2) eating sustainably. Turns out, to no one's particular surprise, that McDonalds and KFC are not sustainable. Neither is pretty much anything you can impulse buy. And even if it is, it's definitely not more sustainable than cooking it my own kitchen, with passive heat considerations, with compost, and with reusable utensils. So when I walk or bike past these things, I no longer hear their call. I don't see commercials since I don't watch much live tv. Also, eating less meat, even if the meat is sustainably grown in the first place, is more sustainable. To that end, I probably eat about a quarter to half of the meat I used to. It was not only a painless move, but a fun and creative one, since I've found more and more ways to cut up and cook the meat my meat CSA delivers. So to losing 10 lbs without trying and to being able to do a pull up at a ripe old age of 25, I thank you green gods, for always making my life better. |
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| Farewell Ski '09-'10 Season! |
[Apr. 28th, 2010|01:15 pm] |
Wow, what a season. While Squaw is tentatively set to close on May 10th, I'm hanging up my skis now. The untenable tide of weekend hang out requests has come full rush and cannot be resisted any longer. So I resign myself to the fact that instead of skiing, people want to be doing other things. Like camping. Sweet.
At the beginning of this season, I was coming into comfortable with skiing off trail or non-groomed trail runs (aka moguls). Groomers were cruised down so fast, it most certainly crossed my mind that if I spent any more time on them, I'd break my neck. Moguls were always a pain in the neck, but at least gave me a fair challenge.
About mid-season we found this slope on the back of KT-22:
 It took me 30-45 min to get down this beast (which of course, from the bottom looking up, doesn't look bad at all). Last weekend, we did it in 10-15. Wow.
I honestly thought, after skiing 10 days when I lived in Sacramento, that I wouldn't improve again. After all, I've been skiing since 7 and it hasn't looked much better after college. I thought I'd have to stay a mediocre mogul skier who essentially cheated her way down. But I was wrong, and for that I am thankful. It brings me endless joy to tell people I can point my skis down and take moguls properly for an, albeit, limited amount of time. That I started landing cornices (after Julia has gone, of course). That ice, while not ideal, is doable. And not just by sliding down the entire thing either. But most of all, thanks to Julia and Robert who kicked my ass and gave me pointers too. They also sheltered and drove my butt up and down from Tahoe and in general, are severe geniuses. We calculated how many times we went up (30 for them, 22 for me) which comes down to $15 for them and $20 for me per time. Although if you consider that they bought me 1/3 of the pass as my 25th b'day present in the first place, then I'm down to around $15 as well, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And while I am jealous they will enjoy another season up at Squaw while I take this next season off, what must be done must be done. My mother wants me home.  This is my favorite chair lift, even though I don't go on it very much. Watching people being catapulted up to the top of Siberia lift is like watching giants play with humans as toys.
 Lots of good memories at down the middle of Squaw Creek. It was the first powdery off-trail run we took in the season and one we kept coming back to. Oh the sweet, sweet powder.
Goodbye Squaw. May we meet again! |
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| Gym Rat |
[Feb. 23rd, 2010|11:59 am] |
I'm no gym rat, but I do like exercise. And nothing futhers this drive than an unlimted pass. You'll have noticed that I've been skiing a lot recently thanks to Robert and Julia (and getting a Squaw season pass with them), but I also joined Planet Granite this month. It felt weird to me being active for 7 straight hours on the weekends and then sitting around on the weekdays (save my biking, then I'm sitting around on a bike).
So for $40 a month (heh heh, I won't elaborate on how I maneuvered this deal), I get unlimited access to climbing, a full gym (including a sauna), and unlimited yoga classes. This reminds me of when I was in martial arts and they gave me unlimited classes so I went every day. Well, needless to say, I've been there every other day the past 6 days (as in Thurs, Sat, Mon). I'd go more, but my forearms are in a constant state of soreness.
Last night was my first yoga class...in my life! I know, I know, every other girl in the world does and loves yoga, but to be honest, I've never been a fan of gym classes. Like a group martial arts class, there is no individualized attention so who knows if you have the right form? But this wasn't bad, I only looked at the clock every 15 minutes (that's 3 times for an hour long class) and I definitely felt challenged. It was an abs & core class, and gave exactly what it advertised. My lower abs are quite sore today. As are my forearms.
It was cool though, I biked 30 min to get to the gym, just enough to be warmed up for yoga for an hour, which stretched and limbered myself for another hour of rock climbing. Then, I went home and finished cooking the short ribs (which I had already put 4 hours into, 2 for the chicken stock for it's braise, 2 for the braising), broccoli, baked potato (bacon bits, grated cheese, and butter), and buttered homemade bread. 100% guilt free =D. |
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| SF Conservatory Shocks and Awes Again |
[Jan. 27th, 2010|10:30 pm] |
Everytime I go to the SF Conservatory, I wonder why I don't go more often. Tonight, I saw a fantastic cello recital. Cello is my favorite instrument, even though I cannot play it myself. Today the student, Jerry Lui, performed works I had never heard before. Two were Chinese, the rest were modern. As in Metallica transposed for the cello and classical guitar (another one of my favorite instruments). But the highlight of the night, by far, was the second act which featured beautiful melodic pieces by Yiruma (River Flows in You) and Apocalyptica. Actually, I want to revise that statement because Jerry, apparently a renaissance man, composed and played a piece himself that was completely bowless and completely awesome. It was as if the cello had been turned into a guitar, he strummed it gracefully and softly.
The pieces by Apocalyptica were magnificent on a different level. They featured 4 cellists, that's right, a cello quartet! Oh my god, did it work! I was smiling like an idiot and my heart was soaring all at the same time. There is nothing like sitting right in the front, where you can see the musicians at their best. Just beautiful. Watching it on youtube is just not the same.
I have now added every single cello, guitar, orchestra, and violin concert into my calender. Best part being, of course, that they are free. No, the best part is how close you get to sit to the action! No, it's the amazing talent!! Oh man, so happy! |
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| Navy Showers- Just 3 Gallons of Water |
[Jan. 11th, 2010|02:04 pm] |
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I have a, what some may consider, neurosis of green practices, but I'd like to take this time to quickly explain just one. Navy showers. According to Wiki the steps of a Navy showers are as follows: "1. Turn on the water
2. Immediately wet the body
3. Turn off the water
4. Soap up and scrub
5. Turn the water back on and rinse off the soap
6. Turn off the water
The total time for the water being on is typically under two minutes."
And no, I haven't frozen to death. But because I use shampoo, conditioner and soap, I repeat 3 and 4 once, conditioning then soaping in the same round. My bottle of conditioner wants conditioner in my hair for an obscene 2 minutes, so might as well use that time to soap up. Why is this important? Well the average shower head flow is 2.2 gallons/minute. Average water pressure is 50 psi, and if I pretend I know what that means, then a 10 min shower uses around 14-16 gallons of water (see here). Holy crap, that's a lot of water! Well, if you take a navy shower, you save 11.8-12.8 gallons of water. SAVE! Amazing. Then, if you want super extra bonus points, you cut upon old milk gallon jugs and collect the cold water as it warms up.  Like so! Future dish washing water.
Other uses for milk gallon jugs? Filling them with water and put them into your toilet tank for a simple hack (regular toilets use 3.5+ gallons of water per flush). Fill with water and put it in your fridge or freezer (if it can fit). Use as plant pots (poke holes in the bottom). And I suppose you can do the boring old recycle. Of course, a post that was going to be one simple green tip, became 14. Haha, enjoy!
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| The Year of Living Biblically |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|06:01 pm] |
Once in a while I'll do a book review. Actually, this may have occurred only twice before in this entire journal, but today I've finished a book I'd like to share with you all. By author A.J. Jacobs, it's a funny but introspective book where he tries to follow all of the Bible's commandments for a year. That's 731 of them, not the OG 10.
When Jackie told me about this book, I thought it would be funny and educational, like his other book The Know-It-All (where he reads the entire Britannica Encyclopedia). She described a scene where he "stones" an admitted adulterer. Granted, it was a pebble and only one throw, but his intent to strictly follow the Bible was there. I knew the Bible was full of unpracticed commands so figured this book would be complete ludicrous.
It wasn't. What it revealed was the saddest part about agnostics/atheists, the most common criticism, that we believe in nothing at all. For instance, of how believing in a higher being means we are all connected and that makes him feel, for the first time, significant. He writes of the joy he is finds in praying. When thanking God, it forces him to be grateful. When bowing down before a meal, it forces him to respect life, connected to the animal, the farmer, the grocer, the circle of life. The rituals he forces upon himself, making him part of the religious community at large, makes him part of his Jewish ancestry.
Now, I consider myself an agnostic- not that I think about it often. But I am spiritual (see http://madcow23sg.livejournal.com/311268.html for how nature inspires me). I believe in community, we should fight for the poor and weak (just like the Bible). I believe in the glory of the world. Here, it's less about the glory of God's creations but instead because everything is such an amazing feat of evolution. Just something as simple as throwing a ball and catching it is something nonprogrammable in a robot (it didn't used to be anyways). A lot of things he was reading, such as "thou shall not covet," I've long believed leads to a happier life as well. Imagine, the liberation of not having to compete with the Jones.' I have rituals too, my navy showers, fanatic reusing, and countless others. Some of them make my life "harder," but they also give my life meaning. When I ride public transit even if they take me twice as long, I know I'm doing my part to save the environment. It's integral to my identity and the rituals have become easy and second nature.
But if my fellow agnostic/atheist feels lost and meaningless, then I might wish religion upon them. Because if you feel like you are just one insignificant person in an American rat race, then I understand why you would feel like you shouldn't buy your way to happiness, why you might abuse an unseen stranger, why you feel lonely in a time of mass communication. Humans evolved for society and as such, crave structure and community. Religion may be the opiate of the masses, but it is an opiate. But whatever you choose, I hope you find it. |
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| A recommendation I wrote for a favorite teacher |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|06:53 pm] |
To Whom It May Concern:
As a former English student of Ms. Kwon, I am honored to write a reference letter for one of my most influential teachers.
Junior year is a hard year for most students- in the midst of growing up, but not fully grown. Teachers often are faced with an impossible task of not only educating, but also molding our future leaders. Ms. Kwon always managed this task with intelligence and patience.
My class of almost 30 was regular English. I had been a shaky student before, alternating between A's and C's depending on my motivation and thus, hadn't quite qualified for honors English again. My classmates were mostly underprivileged students and minorities as well. So although Los Altos High School saw many wealthy individuals with active parental support, this class had a dearth of them.
Somehow though, through creative projects and individual care, Ms. Kwon was able to grasp our minds and attention. For instance, I still remember one of her first assignments was a personal questionnaire. From this, she was able to glean some of our personalities and interests to shape an engaging curriculum.
Additionally, she was a strong, young, Asian woman. Her minority status reflected ours and she made sure to choose curriculum that could speak to us. For instance, she assigned Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, exposing us to minority voices in an American English class. A tale told in our own voices.
But most importantly, Ms. Kwon somehow knew in that year I needed a mentor to look up to and to motivate me. She was always available after class for discussions, whether personal or educational. We spent many hours discussing the state of a society I didn't fully believe in. She instilled high standards and challenged me intellectually when she knew the basic curriculum would not suffice.
This continued even after I left her as a student. For instance, when I was a senior, she allowed me to lead a discussion group on Ishameal, a book that had changed my life. It was inspiring to be able to come up with lesson plans together to influence younger minds. Thus, not only did she convince me that I could succeed, but that I would. And that I should use the success to make a better world, instead of rejecting it.
This year I graduated law school, turned 25, and passed the California bar exam. I work in public service, doing policy research that will hopefully influence our legislature for the better. I have no doubt in my mind that my education with Ms. Kwon's and her individualized attention helped me achieve all that I am today. For that I thank truly her.
Sincerely,
Janet Young, Esq. |
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| Squaw! |
[Dec. 12th, 2009|12:24 am] |
I'm going skiing this weekend!!! It'll be my first time up this season, and it's my favorite sport these days, with endless variation (tree skiing, jumping, moguls, groomers) and challenge (tree skiing, jumping, moguls).
This season, Julia, Robert and I got season passes to Squaw at the end of last season, for less than 50% of what they are selling for now. Also I just discovered it is ranked best out of all the ski resort for environmental policies. See http://www.tahoeloco.com/archives/3627. They were ranked on habitat protection, protecting watersheds, addressing global climate change, and environmental practices and policies. Not that that affected our purchase, at the time we just wanted to get in on their 60 year anniversary deal and my Kirkwood vote was trumped. Oh democracy.
Good to know though! Ski resorts aren't exactly environmentally friendly. They ruin the natural landscape for slopes, encourage development, and those pesky snow makers/lifts/thousands of people driving up from the bay. And in the summer, when the snow is gone, the impact is so much more apparent (as you can see from my trip to Whistler last summer). But from all the "Keep Tahoe Blue" bumper stickers I see and from the actions of my fellow ski buddies, it's clear that more exposure to nature means more deep seeded environmentalists.
Summer in Tahoe
 It's a beautiful place. Hopefully we'll make it up there and back just fine! Robert is far more enthusiastic (or otpimistic?) about the weather this weekend than I am. What can I say, "severe weather" forecast of weather.com sounds daunting.
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