Research Assistant?!

The GTF coordinator must be kidding. She emailed me today to tell me that I was assigned to a professor as a research assistant. I've registered three seminars this term, and it means I will be already killing myself. On top of that, and in addition to doing teaching assistant to a class with 110 students, do I have to do research assistant?! What is worse, I haven't heard good about the professor. Please, someone, tell me my research assistant assignment is a bad April Fool joke ...

Billy Taicho!

My tummy hurts :( I did Billy's Boot Camp (of course, the ab exercises version, the easiest one in the series) for the first time after seven months since I came here. My waistline is ... miserable, thanks to butter, cheese, oil, chocolate, beer and so forth, and I need to fix this!

From Sun to Rain

It's always sad to say goodbye at the airport. It was today, too. DM and CM saw me off at the airport. Hugging and kissing for the last time, I realized how much I was relaxed to be with them. Did I express how much I thank them? I don't think so. I had so taken for granted to be treated as their child almost. I can't apprecite them enough.

Anyhow, I had to leave. So, I left New Mexico to Phoenix, to Seattle and finally to the hippie town. Oh man, the weather! It was almost 80F in New Mexico, but it turned to be 40F in Seattle and here. I can't stand this cold weather! I want to go back to New Mexico for physical warmth as well as human warmth :(

The Cavern

Here we are! After spending a night in Carlsbed, we came to the Carlsbed National Park to visit the famous cavern. Yeah, I understand why it is famous. It is really something. It was terribly windy and cold outside, but once going down 700, 750 feet with the elevator into the cavern, it was quiet, peaceful and kind of warm (about 13C).

The cavern is huge. You walk up and down along the trails by looking at weird, mysterious, amazing beauty which the nature has created.

DM teased me, saying that I appreciated more the cavern than Palomas which they took me to the other day. To be honest, I did. I was much more impressed by this natural beauty.

Go 200 Miles East!

DM and CM took courage to take me to the Carlsbad National Park which is approx. 210 miles away from their town. We waked up early, oh well, DM and CM usually get up early so I am the person who woke up earlier than usual. In fact, getting out of bed around 10 or 10:30 has become my routine since I came here. I'm lazy, huh? In other words, I'm enjoying the spring break fully.


On the way to Carlsbad, we drove up mountains. See this amazing scenary! The south of New Mexico is basically the desert. But the interesting thing is that as the higher it is the greener it is because the air contains more humidity as the altitude goes up. The end of the geology lesson.


We dropped by a little town to have a lunch and chose this coffee shop. We found that they serve great sandwiches, oooh, that was really tasty (expensive, though).


Again, we dropped by another small town for snack. In the former town, it was so cold that I needed a jacket. But here, it was 33C! Man, what a desert.

Border Town

DM and CM took me to Palomas, Mexico, where recently drug gangs have made headlines by shooting each other and threatening police officers (actually, the police chief fled and sought political asylum in the United States). Anyhow, Tijuana (another border town of Mexico) gave me a terrible impression when I visited there more than 10 years ago so that I didn't have good images of Mexico at all.

We parked the car before the border and walked across the border. Before crossing the border, you see those ugly fences built between the United States and Mexico. I don't think those fences prevent illegal immigrants (or terrorists) from crossing borders, in fact, they are coming from Canadian-U.S. borders.


Palomas, as I imagined, is a poor, dusty town with street vendors and beggars everywhere. But you know, this is a town of the Third World next to the First World, and what do you expect?


I met a cute buddy in a pottery shop there. He used me as the shade ... :(

Coffee Afternoon

CM and I biked to Boba Cafe, which I was longing for visiting again. In this town, it is kind of difficult to find small, local coffee shops here (Well, Starbucks are everywhere). I guess it's because it is kind of a new town.

Anyhow, Boba Cafe is one of rare local coffee shops here. They serve good food and drinks. Last time when DM took me there, I had Thai roll-ups which were so good. In addition to food and drinks, the atmosphere is also good, relaxing and friendly. In general, waiters and waitresses are merry and jolly. Among others, one of the waitress wore an impressive eye makeup today, and I found a handsome waiter, too. He was cute.

Apart from the cute waiter, it was comfortable to spend a peaceful afternoon there, reading. Probably, I could go there one more time before I leave here :)

Blue and Beige

It's become my routine to read outside since I came here (March 19). The sky is clear blue. Oh man, I'd been missing the sun and clear sky so bad. The hippie town where I live is OK, but the weather makes you depressed if you stay there for long. I will enjoy sunshine here until I go home in a week.


To the contrary to the blue sky, everything is beige here. Yeah, it is a desert town, and what do you expect?!

Indian Movie, not Bollywood Movie

IN organized a movie night this evening. She is an expert of Indian arts so that there's no reason she shows a movie other than Indian movies. So, she showed us an Indian movie, which is not a typical Bollywood movie. The movie she introduced to us is called "The Square Circle", which turned out to be really Indian, really interesting and really unique (because it contains kiss scenes!). Without IN, I would have never seen that movie in my life.

What I was surprised is that this movie is a part of trilogy. I wonder how the director made sense by connecting three "unique" movies. Now I'm curious about the other two movies of the trilogy.

Sunny Afternoon in the Park

Oh, I love this park. So green, so quiet, so peaceful.

It was warm and sunny, I went to the park to read for a while. It was relaxing, and the interesting thing is that I could more concentrate on reading than I do in my apartment or in the library. Well, reading or working in my apartment is the worst thing to do. My apartment is not a place to do something important.

Anyhow, I thought I could come to the park more often next term because (I assume) the weather would be much nicer during spring (fingers crossed).

Potluck

Oh man, I missed MA, EA, and Mamma's Italian food sooooo bad tonight.

GL organized a potluck party tonight, and I and her husband brought pasta, which tasted soooooo good! GL's food is also good, A's homemade brownie ... wonderful. Wine was also good, oh man, everything was lovely.

I hope we will have this kind of homey party frequently next term (oh well, I know I'm gonna die next term seriously due to the qualitative method class).

Term-End Celebration with My Cohort

Man, I love my cohort. We are getting to be almost like a family.

As we did at the end of last term, we celebrated the end of the winter term at Excelsior, chatting stupid things, making fun of everything and exchanging information, thoughts and ideas. It's really fun to share something in common.

Yeah, I'm so glad to be in this cohort, and I hope we keep this good relationship for good.

Term-End Celebration with Professors

It's really nice to be involved with these professors. Even though I'm not in their departments (actually, they are all from different departments. A diverse group of professors!), they treat me like a friend (I hope, fingers crossed). And I'm getting more and more comfortable being with them. You know, I'm a person who needs some time to get used to a new environment.

Anyhow, we went to Ring of Fire to celebrate the end of the term. Oh man, food was good there, and I now regret that I ate too much. My stomach is so heavy.

She's "Wonderful," I Mean It

Jeez, my mom is so wonderful.

Tonight (Saturday afternoon in Japan), a cable guy visited her place to set up the optical fiber broadband. And as I wrote here a couple days ago, she didn't have any idea about the wireless router even though she's using it. So, guess what? Yes, she called me while the cable guy was there and let me talked with him over the wireless router. Mom, she made an international call all the way just to let me explain the wireless thing on behalf of her.

Man, she's really wonderful, you know what I mean?!

How to Handle A Beach Ball

There was the third session with my counselor this morning. I told him that I encountered the beach ball in the past couple of weeks. When he asked how I reacted, I told him that I tried not to look at it and wait until it's gone because I was not confident enough to see it squarely. But at least, I didn't try to fight with it as I used to do, you know? Then, he gave me a piece of advice. He told me I should train myself to look at it objectively, like, "OK, here's the beach ball coming toward me. OK, let's look at myself. Well, myself is feeling nervous, anxious. The beach ball is passing by and gone. Now, I'm feeling relieved." According to him, as long as I avoid to look at it, nothing can be solved. It needs training, and after I get used to it, the beach ball becomes just a beach ball literally.

Man, it's really difficult (and expensive) to get over this breakup thing.

The Term is Over!

Yay! The winter term's over! I'm free! Oh well, I'm not totally free yet because I still have two papers to hand in, and tons of undergrad papers to grade and the final exam to grade, damn it. But anyhow, I'm done with my presentation this evening, and that relieved me a lot. Phew. No more presentation (at least in this term).

Coen Brothers!

Jeez, I never understand Coen Brothers. SA and I went to the $1 theater to see "No Country for Old Men". Initially, we were thinking of seeing "Michael Clayton", but it's already gone. We missed it.

Simply put, "No Country for Old Men" leaves the audience behind when it ends. That's the best description, I think. But I like this left-behind kind of feeling of Coen Brothers. You've got to think after the movie like, "What does that thing mean?" "What is the relationship between them?" "Where did the money go?" and on and on.

Anyhow, it was a nice pastime after finishing the term. Oh well, SA has class to teach tomorrow though. Thanks for coming with me, SA!

She's "Wonderful"

Well, my mom is "wonderful," and I know, have known, that (for a looooong time).

For a change, she called me on Skype this afternoon. When she did, I was in the library and couldn't talk. She is not good at typing, you know. So, as soon as I left the library, I called her on the phone. I was kind of worried because my mom normally doesn't call me but she called me today. I thought of something bad. Well, I found that I was worrying over nothing.

"Hey Mom, what's up?"
"Hi Duck, a cable guy is coming next weekend to change the ADSL line to the optical fiber. We want to have wireless connections at home, but how can we ask him? Is he gonna charge extra?"
"Well Mom, your house already has wireless connections. You see the wireless router sitting next to the phone? I set it up, remember? So, ask the cable guy to use the wireless router when he comes. Then, he's not gonna charge you extra because the extra charge is the rental fee of the router from the broadband Internet company. But you don't need to rent it because you have it already, OK?"
"I don't understand what you are saying. Will you call here when he is here next Saturday?"

Doh! Why do I have to make an international call all the way to tell the cable guy to use the existing router?! Man, my mom is "wonderful."

Friends

It was such a lovely day today, well, I'm not talking about the weather. In fact, the weather was terrible.

I was so glad to come across people who know me on campus. Actually, I met a lot of friends today even though I don't have class on Fridays. I like to feel that someone regards me as his/her friend. That kind of feeling makes you feel special, you know, and it is really important, especially in an individualistic society such as the United States.

Oh man, I'm so lucky to have those people here. They might never know how I feel and what they do to make me feel that way, but I really appreciate them and what they have done for me. I'm overwhelmed ...

Nice Night Out

Oh, I'm so glad to be involved in this social network of female professors. They are such lovely people. On top of that, I'm so lucky to have people who think of me as their friend. Man, I'm emotional now.

Anyhow, we went out for dinner to release our stress (oh yeah, all of us are stressed out). We explored a new place and found that the place is really nice and cozy. Thanks, IA, for choosing this place. It was a wonderful night out.

Presentation Week

Man! This week is a presentation week, man. Monday, one-hour lecture, today, a presentation of my research project. Man, man, man ... As for today's presentation, I was told to do Tuesday night! I didn't have enough time to revise my paper, prepare, or practice, damn it. I'm not a native English speaker, and I can't give a presentation on the spot. I can say this again and again. Anyhow, I'd better feel relieved now because I'm done with it. And I have to appreciate my cohort and the professor. They gave me good suggestions and compliments. Man, I'm so lucky.

But there's something disturbing my equilibrium. I'm trying to think it's just a beach ball running down the river. It's just a beach ball, just a beach ball ...

Guest Lecture

Man, I'm so glad and relieved that I'm done with my guest lecture. No more practice, no more worrying!

Some of students looked bored during the lecture, but who cares? In the first place, some of students come and sit in class only for credits, and they don't pay attention to lecture regardless of topics of lecture, right? Am I trying to convince myself?! But, some students gave me compliments on my lecture after class, and those students made me happy. My efforts, practices, preparation and time were paid off by their compliments. Yeah, I'm a simple person.

Anyway, it's over!

F*** Literature Review!

The literature review for the qualitative method class is giving me a terribly hard time. Damn, I spent the whole afternoon in the library even though I was not sure if I was reading the right literature.

Apart from the literature review, I saw something in the library this afternoon. Because I needed to call my friend, I looked for a place where I do not disturb people in the library by making a phone call. Actually, there is a meaninglessly left empty spot isolated from the studying area by a couple of doors. When I was about to open the door to enter the spot, I saw a girl with scurf praying by kneeling on a piece of carpet which appeared to be her personal belonging. Yes, she was obviously Muslim. On the instant, I thought "Jihad?! Is she a suicide bomber?!" But I thought twice, "Who is willing to blow a university library in a small, hippie town like here for jihad? No one would pay attention to his/her jihad. It's waste of life." Well, it was not jihad anyway (or did it fail?!) because I'm alive here, still plagued by the literature review. Damn, I'm gonna kill the literature review!