S’true.

From Overheard in New York:

Little boy: Daddy, daddy! I wanna make a bear!
Buff dad: Nigga, I done told you a thousand times, thugs don’t make bears! [Tiny black boy bursts into tears.]

–Outside of Build a Bear Workshop, at 6th St & 5th Ave

I have been laughing at the weirdest stuff lately.  This really got me.

Better living through video games?

Something weird is happening to me.

In the last, oh, 4 months or so I have been doing a lot of singing.   In front of PEOPLE.  Don’t get too excited, the venues are dorky…it’s either at Laurel’s apartment, Andy and Bahareh’s house or occasionally Steph and Alyssa’s.  The reason?  Video games.  Specifically Singstar for Playstation 2 or Rock Band for XBox360.  They’re basically scored karaoke, though Rock Band also includes a drum set and a guitar.  I’ve never been into video games AT ALL so the fact that I’m doing this is a little odd in and of itself.   But the really weird part is that I am singing.  In front of other human beings.  And I’m not having a panic attack.  And I’m not awful!

Granted, the people who hear me singing are my friends who are kind and generous people who wouldn’t dream of laughing at me.  And I’m singing into a toy microphone, for chrissakes, accompanied by a game.  But still, I know for sure that maybe, oh, a year ago, even the idea of singing anywhere other than in my car would have immobilized me with fear.  I’ve always been on the shy side, way underconfident, always sure that people would laugh at me.  But I’ve been realizing that I feel that way less and less.  I’ve been standing up for myself more, both in social situations and at work (when I think it may help).  I feel less like I am horrendously ugly, though I’ve basically looked the same for the last 10 years.  I feel like I’m making better choices when it comes to things that are good for me (with a few exceptions) and I’m just generally feeling more capable.  What the hell is this all about?  Is it because I’m playing this game somewhat regularly that encourages me to do something that makes me uncomfortable?  Or am I choosing to play this game now because I am becoming more confident for some other reason?  The latter seems more likely, but the timing is suspicious.  Either way, I like feeling okay about myself for a change.

I think I need this

It might be because I have no motivation to do anything productive, but I have been sleeping in all the damn time.  I turn my alarm clock off and go back to sleep and then I’m good and late for work.  Help me, Clocky!

Nunchucks skills…bowhunting skills…computer hacking skills…

“Girls only want boyfriends that have great skills!”  Napoleon Dynamite is so right.

I went Moosejaw last week to get fitted for my new pack and the guy helping me was fairly attractive.  He was completely average-looking, polite and mildly friendly…mostly unremarkable.  Except that he knew a TON about backpacking equipment, which apparently turned him from “meh” to pretty damned interesting.  It’s funny to me that skills and knowledge can have such an impact on general attractiveness.  A few years ago Wendy and I went to Jersey Giant’s Subs to get lunch.   I was kind of eying the guy making our sandwiches.  I glanced and Wendy and saw that she was doing the same.  After we got our food we discussed the situation and agreed that he was wasn’t anything special to look at, he gave us no clues about his level of intelligence and he didn’t appear to be overly friendly.  What was the deal?  Basically his only outstanding feature was his skill with the meat slicer, and it was pretty hot.  Granted we both love sandwiches.   But still.

The point is, I wish I had a skill.  Eh, I know I have lots of skills, but I mean I wish I had a SKILL.  Something I’m really good at, significantly better than others around me.  Even if it’s something small and meaningless.  Even if others don’t know about it.  I just want something that is MINE.

I know this is probably as old as the internet itself…

…but it still makes me giggle.

http://www.peepresearch.org/surgery.html

Damn, I love science.

I have a new science crush. It may even rival my current science crush, my boss Marc Breedlove. Sorry, Marc, but can you compete with this?

This is Robert Sapolsky, and he is a BIG DEAL. He came from Stanford to give a talk this afternoon and it was the best talk of my life. He studies glucocorticoids and their long term effects on the hippocampus and memory. He’s looking at this from the molecular level all the way to the behavioral level and I LOVE THAT. Nothing makes me happier than thinking about both the small and big pictures. His science is kick-ass, but what he is really well known for is his ability to explain that kick-ass science to the general public. Even though what he was explaining was fairly technical, I felt like anyone off the street could have fully understood what he was saying.

I don’t think enough effort is put into accurately explaining current scientific discoveries to laypeople. Researchers get so into their tiny little niche and caught up in the politics of the scientific community. Passing what we learn to those outside the people who are already studying it feels like an afterthought to me, if it happens at all. Most of the information we are discovering gets watered down, misconstrued, and doled out to the masses via reporters who only have a cursory understanding of the concepts. And that is only for hot topics like cancer or Alzheimer’s or other stuff that is arbitrarily deemed “important.” I answered a phone call from a reporter from Cosmopolitan magazine who was doing “one last fact check” before a story was printed that mentioned some work done in our lab. She had the facts completely backwards, and the article was delayed for another month so they could rewrite the whole thing. Not that anyone should be reading Cosmo for scientific information, but still.

I don’t have a good solution for this, I’m just whining. But really, what is the point of all this work if not to inform the rest of the world? I would be a lot more excited about what I do if I thought your mom might one day hear about what I’m working on.

PS:  His beard was much larger in person.

Inquire within

I will literally pay someone upwards of $10 right now to come do my laundry.  Why am I dreading this so much?  I’ve been somewhat sloppy for the past week, so I spent this afternoon vacuuming, and cleaning the kitchen and bathroom.  Laundry was definitely more of a priority, but I just DID NOT want to do it.  I figured once I got into cleaning mode it wouldn’t be so rough.  Well, it’s 10pm now and it’s looking like no laundry will be done tonight.

Seriously.  $10.  Will accept other reasonable offers.

Yum!

I made a batch of macerated strawberries for the first time today and I am IN LOVE.  They were supposed to go with the almond panna cotta that is currently setting up in the fridge, but the strawberries were so good I ate them all on their own.  Who knew that strawberries with balsamic vinegar would be so delicious?

Dolla dolla bills, y’all

Anybody else have a giant list of ways to spend their tax return? Here are some of my contenders:

• 100mm f/2.8 lens
• 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens
• Speedlite 430 flash
• Plane ticket to SF ( even though the Wendy Jones Challenge shirt has already been claimed for 2008 )
• Bike rack for my car
• This desk from West Elm that I absolutely do not need, but have been looking at for 3 years. The underneath part rolls out! I want it so bad!
• Plane ticket to Oregon
• New sleeping bag and backpack

Of course, I could just put it in the bank, but I am tired of saving my money. I am going to stimulate the hell out of this economy!

Boo-urns.

I showed up for my photography class tonight to find a note on the door explaining our instructor is no longer able to teach at the scheduled days and time.  If we want to continue with the course we need to start coming to the daytime class.  Since I don’t want to take time off work each week to do this, I guess I’m dropping the class.  I’m disappointed; even though I wasn’t learning as much as I had hoped, it was generally a positive experience.  At least now I’ll have more time to devote to taking pictures again, so I guess this might not be entirely bad.