I biked up to the Hollywood Fred Meyer to go clothes shopping.
It was depressing. "Add a size!" exclaimed the bras, and "smooth out back fat." All of the pants talked about their "slimming" properties. Despite having taken women's studies, philosophy of love and sex, and having read Reviving Ophelia both as a kid and again a couple of weeks ago - actually going to the store and observing at length the advertising attached to women's clothing horrified me. This is how weight conscious we are, this is how seriously we think we need to manipulate our bodies? When I go clothes shopping, I'm looking for things that fit my body, not things that mold it into some shape it isn't.
I think I will take that screen printing kit I have and make a shirt that says "I love my body." Maybe on the back I will write "and that shouldn't be remarkable." It really shouldn't. I feel like doing something revolutionary. Seeing all that garbage tagged onto clothes, it was as if I'd walked in and everyone was smoking their cigarettes inside the store - so regressive! I wonder what there is to do. Are there body image support groups I could volunteer to lead, or something? I don't even know what society is trying to do about this issue.
I came home with just a couple packs of underwear. I didn't find any bras I liked. I actually found a lot of good pants, but my size and shape may change significantly as I exercise this summer, so I'm going to hold off on buying them. I learned a lot about what brands to go for, anyway. I found pretty much exactly what I looking for in terms of a shirt, but the medium was too big in the shoulders and the small was too small in the arms. Maybe that will have changed by the end of the summer too.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Spelling bee money
I won a small amount of money from the spelling bee in 8th grade. (If only I'd asked the damn language of origin and made it one round further, then it would have been considerably more money.) Anyway, through convoluted circumstances the check left my possession and nobody realized it never got cashed. Spring Break of this year I get a letter informing me of this fact. I fill out the enclosed form indicating the check has been "lost, stolen, or never received," but then lose it, send an email to the bee, forget about it for a while but never get a response, then phone them some time later wondering if it's too late. They respond to my email saying they'll make an inquiry into the matter.
Well, it all worked out and they're sending me a replacement check that couldn't arrive at a better time. With this extra money, I can actually buy some new clothes! I also really want a stereo to bridge my iPod to these nice speakers I have and should probably get some bike supplies for myself, like a pump and grease and patch kit.
Well, it all worked out and they're sending me a replacement check that couldn't arrive at a better time. With this extra money, I can actually buy some new clothes! I also really want a stereo to bridge my iPod to these nice speakers I have and should probably get some bike supplies for myself, like a pump and grease and patch kit.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Nutritional musings
Useful note: bulk grains and beans supply around 200 calories per dry 1/4 cup.
I should get some salsa next week at the store.
I should get some salsa next week at the store.
Monday, June 22, 2009
At the store
I was at the store today and I noticed a couple of funny things.
First of all, one aisle said it carried "isotonics." Isotonics? I thought. In chemistry isotonic means "having the same osmotic pressure as a reference solution." Not exactly something I expect to see in the grocery store. I wondered what the heck it could mean as a noun that ordinary people would understand, so I walked down that aisle. I found electrolyte replacement drinks at the end, which makes some sense: solute concentrations, especially electrolytes since they are usually ionic, determine the osmotic pressure of a solution; the reference solution in this case is probably blood plasma. Still, unless I'm living under a rock again and it has become a flashy new buzzword, it seems like Fred Meyer is giving people a lot of credit for being able to interpret "isotonic."
Second, in the checkout line I looked at the magazines, and apparently the two stars of Twilight are dating each other now. "But will it ruin Twilight?" the cover sensationally asked. Now I don't see why the actions of the actors should have any effect whatsoever on the movie. The movie has already been made, and although I think there are sequels planned, the point of actors is that they act - they are not their real-life selves onscreen. Even if the audience cares for some reason, how could it possibly be a bad thing for the actors to assume the same relationship as the characters they portray?
First of all, one aisle said it carried "isotonics." Isotonics? I thought. In chemistry isotonic means "having the same osmotic pressure as a reference solution." Not exactly something I expect to see in the grocery store. I wondered what the heck it could mean as a noun that ordinary people would understand, so I walked down that aisle. I found electrolyte replacement drinks at the end, which makes some sense: solute concentrations, especially electrolytes since they are usually ionic, determine the osmotic pressure of a solution; the reference solution in this case is probably blood plasma. Still, unless I'm living under a rock again and it has become a flashy new buzzword, it seems like Fred Meyer is giving people a lot of credit for being able to interpret "isotonic."
Second, in the checkout line I looked at the magazines, and apparently the two stars of Twilight are dating each other now. "But will it ruin Twilight?" the cover sensationally asked. Now I don't see why the actions of the actors should have any effect whatsoever on the movie. The movie has already been made, and although I think there are sequels planned, the point of actors is that they act - they are not their real-life selves onscreen. Even if the audience cares for some reason, how could it possibly be a bad thing for the actors to assume the same relationship as the characters they portray?
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Camping!
I just got back from a great camping trip with my family and Lost Rocket's family, although Lost Rocket wasn't there. We rented a Forest Service cabin around Cottage Grove. We were hoping for sun, but it was at high elevation and it was tremendously foggy. This was fun in itself, though.
I thought I'd brought my phone, but once there I couldn't find it, so I rarely knew what time it was. We all got up very early (once in a while someone else with a phone revealed the time to us) except for Lost Rocket's 13-year-old sister. I'd have preferred to sleep in longer, but I was woken by the cold. That's the thing that sucks about camping sometimes: you wake up cold, and as soon as you get warm, you're sleepy again because you didn't actually sleep enough. I read lots of Atlas Shrugged, but I'm still only about 15% of the way in, because as stated before, it is fucking long.
I went on two beautiful walks on the same trail: one by myself, in which I appreciated the ecology of the forest, and one later with everyone else, in which we focused on the geology of the area.
On my solo walk, it was still very foggy. I loved looking at the diversity of plants; there were rhododendrons, a trillium, a pretty deciduous plant I didn't recognize, a funky fungus I've never seen before, and the usual smorgasbord of Oregonian evergreens trailing a lichen my sister says is called Old Man's Beard. Tiny Douglas firs grew in the middle of the trail and something not quite a nurse log flaked apart like salmon. I thought about how much damn life is tied up together in a forest like that; even a little piece of fallen branch on the ground is an entire ecosystem. There's the wood and needles from the tree, and then invariably there are at least two kinds of lichen, each of which is a fungus and an alga meshed together; it's caked with dirt and bugs crawl in it, not to mention all the prokaryotes that are constantly mediating every living system that exists. Eventually I came to a nice bit where the edge of the trail looked out over a steep hill and there was an empty space in the closest trees. Looking down the hill one particular tree was visible and one could imagine being sucked down by its very presence. Looking any further out or up, impenetrable fog. To all sides, trees stood tall with stringy lichen swaying in the mist, and I could hear myself breathing amongst brief birdsong into the chilled atmosphere. The overall effect was of a localized enchantment, shrouded from the rest of the world by vapor.
On the group walk, we discovered that the area has been mined, and there were a couple of abandoned mine shafts. The miners were likely looking for gold, and in the process pulled giants chunks of rock out of the earth, many of which had veins of quartz. We split a particularly large rock to reveal a plate of tiny quartz crystals. Some of the quartz crystals appeared to have rotted, and it made me wonder what in the natural world can dissolve silica. There were plentiful colored rocks on the path, and a robust iron content was betrayed by the patterns of red and orange across white. Interestingly the red and the orange rocks had different characters; the red seemed to appear in solid patches, while the orange meandered and swirled looking like an orange creamsicle. One orange rock had sharp straight lines, where fine cracks had conserved water in the rock and oxidized it into an X pattern. I wanted to keep that rock, but it was too big to justify and I brought home a swirly one instead, along with a red one that looked like a pumice stone and was flecked with white, a plain one that looked greenish when wet. Some of the rocks on the trail were not especially pretty, but amazingly complex, with reds and greens and stripes and spots. The prize beauty was a small piece of the crystal plate that snapped off while I was handling the big rock.
Nine people and five dogs fit in that cabin. My parents want to rent the place for a week during a hotter time next summer. I'm looking forward to it.
I thought I'd brought my phone, but once there I couldn't find it, so I rarely knew what time it was. We all got up very early (once in a while someone else with a phone revealed the time to us) except for Lost Rocket's 13-year-old sister. I'd have preferred to sleep in longer, but I was woken by the cold. That's the thing that sucks about camping sometimes: you wake up cold, and as soon as you get warm, you're sleepy again because you didn't actually sleep enough. I read lots of Atlas Shrugged, but I'm still only about 15% of the way in, because as stated before, it is fucking long.
I went on two beautiful walks on the same trail: one by myself, in which I appreciated the ecology of the forest, and one later with everyone else, in which we focused on the geology of the area.
On my solo walk, it was still very foggy. I loved looking at the diversity of plants; there were rhododendrons, a trillium, a pretty deciduous plant I didn't recognize, a funky fungus I've never seen before, and the usual smorgasbord of Oregonian evergreens trailing a lichen my sister says is called Old Man's Beard. Tiny Douglas firs grew in the middle of the trail and something not quite a nurse log flaked apart like salmon. I thought about how much damn life is tied up together in a forest like that; even a little piece of fallen branch on the ground is an entire ecosystem. There's the wood and needles from the tree, and then invariably there are at least two kinds of lichen, each of which is a fungus and an alga meshed together; it's caked with dirt and bugs crawl in it, not to mention all the prokaryotes that are constantly mediating every living system that exists. Eventually I came to a nice bit where the edge of the trail looked out over a steep hill and there was an empty space in the closest trees. Looking down the hill one particular tree was visible and one could imagine being sucked down by its very presence. Looking any further out or up, impenetrable fog. To all sides, trees stood tall with stringy lichen swaying in the mist, and I could hear myself breathing amongst brief birdsong into the chilled atmosphere. The overall effect was of a localized enchantment, shrouded from the rest of the world by vapor.
On the group walk, we discovered that the area has been mined, and there were a couple of abandoned mine shafts. The miners were likely looking for gold, and in the process pulled giants chunks of rock out of the earth, many of which had veins of quartz. We split a particularly large rock to reveal a plate of tiny quartz crystals. Some of the quartz crystals appeared to have rotted, and it made me wonder what in the natural world can dissolve silica. There were plentiful colored rocks on the path, and a robust iron content was betrayed by the patterns of red and orange across white. Interestingly the red and the orange rocks had different characters; the red seemed to appear in solid patches, while the orange meandered and swirled looking like an orange creamsicle. One orange rock had sharp straight lines, where fine cracks had conserved water in the rock and oxidized it into an X pattern. I wanted to keep that rock, but it was too big to justify and I brought home a swirly one instead, along with a red one that looked like a pumice stone and was flecked with white, a plain one that looked greenish when wet. Some of the rocks on the trail were not especially pretty, but amazingly complex, with reds and greens and stripes and spots. The prize beauty was a small piece of the crystal plate that snapped off while I was handling the big rock.
Nine people and five dogs fit in that cabin. My parents want to rent the place for a week during a hotter time next summer. I'm looking forward to it.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
This is what my calendar looks like
Or I would show you what it looks like if the "add image" feature were working. I'm on a library computer so I don't have time to troubleshoot. I'll post it later.
Here's the plan for the summer:
Reading-
- Read the Iliad
- Read (or at least begin) Atlas Shrugged
- Keep on hand that biography of Einstein that I still haven't read
Health-
- Eat healthy, low-fuss, built-from-basics food
- Continue running 4x a week
- Bike everywhere
I'll make a few good efforts at looking for work, but I'm not super optimistic about it.
Yesterday, I hung out with Senor Evergreen and had dinner with my family. Today, I went to the gay pride parade. I met the people in the "big house" and we were going to meet at pride, but I think they couldn't hear their phone. I'm in Central Library now and I'm going to see if I can update my voter registration while I'm downtown before going back home to get some food.
The bike ride from my place, through Ladd's Addition, to downtown is really beautiful.
Here's the plan for the summer:
Reading-
- Read the Iliad
- Read (or at least begin) Atlas Shrugged
- Keep on hand that biography of Einstein that I still haven't read
Health-
- Eat healthy, low-fuss, built-from-basics food
- Continue running 4x a week
- Bike everywhere
I'll make a few good efforts at looking for work, but I'm not super optimistic about it.
Yesterday, I hung out with Senor Evergreen and had dinner with my family. Today, I went to the gay pride parade. I met the people in the "big house" and we were going to meet at pride, but I think they couldn't hear their phone. I'm in Central Library now and I'm going to see if I can update my voter registration while I'm downtown before going back home to get some food.
The bike ride from my place, through Ladd's Addition, to downtown is really beautiful.
People UO has given me
(A post I've been putting together since the middle of finals week)
Some of them I got to know, some of them I've traded email with, some of them are simply people I noticed. Here's to the people that made this year stand out. There is...
Dancing Physicist, to start out with. Everybody's heard about him.
Then Fidelity, whom I knew in high school but didn't really get to know well then. I ran into her once fall term, and she brought back my pottery for me. Winter term we were in the same math class, and this term we've had lunch together almost every day after math. We will both be in Portland this summer.
Then there was that really beautiful girl in my chemistry class. I noticed her after a couple weeks; she might have been that "feisty voice" who told Williams he ought to take something from the physicists in response to the disappearance of the stick. We talked a few times - she liked my lip piercing - and gave each other notes when the other was out sick, but never got close.
Another girl sat right next to her. She runs and she lives in the dorm right next to Dancing Physicist. We talked a few times too.
Also from chemistry, a cute guy sat behind me whom I didn't really notice until a few weeks ago. He's funny and can calculate damn fast. I was chatting him up after class when Fidelity came in for her physics class (held in the same room directly afterward) and broke into the conversation trying to figure out how we both knew him. Turns out he's a 28-year-old postbac student who's taking only science. Never would have guessed.
My women's studies discussion first term had a lot of loud voices in it, one being a girl from Minnesota who joked with the GTF, also from Minnesota, about the "snow" we get here. She mostly disappeared winter term, but at some point I found out she was friends with someone I sort of knew from MLC in 8th grade. Things really kicked off when one day I went looking for Dancing Physicist and found him folding cranes, being taught by this girl. We've both been very fond of her since then. Just a few days ago, she called out to me on the sidewalk. I looked over at the group the voice came from... and recognized two people as her. It took me a very confused couple of seconds to remember from women's studies that she has a twin. We've traded email and I genuinely hope we stay in touch.
This Saudi exchange student walked by Dancing Physicist and I in Carson one time while he had his Arabic book out. They immediately struck up a conversation in half English, half Arabic. Since then we've both run into him all over the place. He's in Portland for a short break before continuing classes in the summer term, and I'm going to hang out with him next week.
The most Portland-y person I know from UO was a radical queer activist whom I first met because (he) started a sex positivity group. (She) came out as trans partway through the year, lives in a cool co-op off campus, and always seemed like the most down-to-earth of people I knew on campus.
There was a girl on my floor who was always really friendly to me. (She was always really friendly to everyone, but it was still nice.) I didn't expect to stay in touch with her, but she came in and made big show of saying goodbye when she left so I traded email with her.
Dancing Physicist's former roommate is a cute math major whom I only met twice, but I gave him my email the second time.
Oh yeah, and my own roommate, who spent most of five months ignoring me. Gotta love dorms.
Some of them I got to know, some of them I've traded email with, some of them are simply people I noticed. Here's to the people that made this year stand out. There is...
Dancing Physicist, to start out with. Everybody's heard about him.
Then Fidelity, whom I knew in high school but didn't really get to know well then. I ran into her once fall term, and she brought back my pottery for me. Winter term we were in the same math class, and this term we've had lunch together almost every day after math. We will both be in Portland this summer.
Then there was that really beautiful girl in my chemistry class. I noticed her after a couple weeks; she might have been that "feisty voice" who told Williams he ought to take something from the physicists in response to the disappearance of the stick. We talked a few times - she liked my lip piercing - and gave each other notes when the other was out sick, but never got close.
Another girl sat right next to her. She runs and she lives in the dorm right next to Dancing Physicist. We talked a few times too.
Also from chemistry, a cute guy sat behind me whom I didn't really notice until a few weeks ago. He's funny and can calculate damn fast. I was chatting him up after class when Fidelity came in for her physics class (held in the same room directly afterward) and broke into the conversation trying to figure out how we both knew him. Turns out he's a 28-year-old postbac student who's taking only science. Never would have guessed.
My women's studies discussion first term had a lot of loud voices in it, one being a girl from Minnesota who joked with the GTF, also from Minnesota, about the "snow" we get here. She mostly disappeared winter term, but at some point I found out she was friends with someone I sort of knew from MLC in 8th grade. Things really kicked off when one day I went looking for Dancing Physicist and found him folding cranes, being taught by this girl. We've both been very fond of her since then. Just a few days ago, she called out to me on the sidewalk. I looked over at the group the voice came from... and recognized two people as her. It took me a very confused couple of seconds to remember from women's studies that she has a twin. We've traded email and I genuinely hope we stay in touch.
This Saudi exchange student walked by Dancing Physicist and I in Carson one time while he had his Arabic book out. They immediately struck up a conversation in half English, half Arabic. Since then we've both run into him all over the place. He's in Portland for a short break before continuing classes in the summer term, and I'm going to hang out with him next week.
The most Portland-y person I know from UO was a radical queer activist whom I first met because (he) started a sex positivity group. (She) came out as trans partway through the year, lives in a cool co-op off campus, and always seemed like the most down-to-earth of people I knew on campus.
There was a girl on my floor who was always really friendly to me. (She was always really friendly to everyone, but it was still nice.) I didn't expect to stay in touch with her, but she came in and made big show of saying goodbye when she left so I traded email with her.
Dancing Physicist's former roommate is a cute math major whom I only met twice, but I gave him my email the second time.
Oh yeah, and my own roommate, who spent most of five months ignoring me. Gotta love dorms.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Very zen
Fidelity and Dancing Physicist and I went on a nice run last night. We are surprisingly successful as a social group of three.
I finished my lab report this morning and turned it in. Managed to get my last set of pottery out of the "bonus bisque" and glaze it in time for the glaze deadline. Then I backed up and restored my computer to "its original crapware-infested condition," so that all my data now exists on a small flash drive and five DVDs. When I'm done in the computer lab, I'm going to go study for my first final.
I finished my lab report this morning and turned it in. Managed to get my last set of pottery out of the "bonus bisque" and glaze it in time for the glaze deadline. Then I backed up and restored my computer to "its original crapware-infested condition," so that all my data now exists on a small flash drive and five DVDs. When I'm done in the computer lab, I'm going to go study for my first final.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
We're all geeks yay
Today was the last day of classes, and this evening there was a barbecue for the honors chemistry class. It was at Prof. Page's house and Prof. Williams was there too. It was lovely. I realized many more people in the class know me than I know, because I've sat in the front row all year! It was nice and relaxed and we all cracked jokes about lecture and lab and told stories about calculus teachers we weren't sorry to leave behind.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Looking up?
It rained this morning, my professor told me exactly how to handle my lame data set, I had pasta for lunch, I talked to Senor Evergreen yesterday, I told my other professor I'm going back to Portland for the summer, the chemistry class is having a barbecue tomorrow, and after just one more set of differential equations I'm done with homework. Things are looking up.
Oh, and reading my thiosulfate report from high school was rather painful. A materials and methods section does not consist of a grocery list of chemicals and a stepwise procedure. It also does not include notes like "rinse out the graduated cylinder."
Oh, and reading my thiosulfate report from high school was rather painful. A materials and methods section does not consist of a grocery list of chemicals and a stepwise procedure. It also does not include notes like "rinse out the graduated cylinder."
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