All organized

Spent the first 3 days of the week organizing my workspace, and I am proud to declare that I am done!!!! I even had some free time this afternoon to update my website (a little) and to make a CV.

I hope it will be the start to a more efficient me.

My babies. 

Happy momo 

My tank in the lab. 

My much neater desk. 

My new bench. 

Flat

I got up happily this morning, put my helmut on and was about to get on my bike when I noticed that the rear tire looked a little flat. A squeeze with my hand confirmed it. So I got out my super ancient bicycle pump, pumped it to a satisfactory firmess, and as I leaned over to put on the cap I hear a hissing sound. Subsequently I found that a torn had gotten embedded in my tire. So I had to remove my wheel, stick the thing in my car and haul it over to the bike shop (did anyone tell me that trying to move a bike with a flat tire is a nightmare? I ended up having to lift it most of the way) where Steve is going to put in a more thorn-resistant inner tube. I realise that I "could" have tried to fix it myself. However, I was not in the mood this morning, and to be honest, I don't really have an idea of how to do it. I figured I'll ask Steve to show me when I go back to pick up the bike so if this happens to me in the future I'll know what to do.

Spent the greater part of my day in the lab cleaning and moving to Takuya's former bench. The new postdoc is arriving in September, and it would look bad if I were moving when she got here (you know, taking the better bench and all), so I'm doing it now. So now I have a slighter bigger space with a view of my fish tank (albeit from the back, but better than nothing).

I've been feeling this urge to do a good amount of cleaning lately. Sort of to get rid of all the trash in my life, literally and figuratively speaking. So I've moved my bench (in the process cleaned and tossed out a lot of stuff), and have started on doing the same with my home. Tossed out some old boxes and a good number of science magazines. Things just accumulate, and I am sick of the clutter. Also decided to knit a cover for my printer. It's not as strange as it might have sounded, for LA gets pretty dusty with all the carpet, plus I have two shedding cats. So when the print head gets too much dust and not much use I get poor print quality. I have a trash bag covering it right now, but it is rather unsightly.

I think I am becoming and old lady.

My new ride. 

New Developments

1. Jaimin Nam arrived on saturday at 4lbs 11oz. Mom ended up needing a c-section but all is well. Dad looks really tired though.

2. The Tosca performance was a success. We screwed up a little (the audience heard wrong :P) but the sound was good. It was pretty fun, but I am not sure if I will do it next year. The drive to Redlands is just brutal. There is another opportunity to sing Tosca with Celestial opear company in S Pas. I am still deciding. I don't think there will be that many rehearsal times so it might be fun, and S Pas is very close by.

3. Decided to start taking voice lessons again. My new teacher is Kathleen Roland, who is on the faculty at Pepperdine voice and diction. We'll see how it goes. At least now I won't have to drive 40 min for lessons.

4. EHD has another little project for me. He needs it completed by next monday, which doesn't give me a whole lot of time. But at this rate he'll be able to pay for my voice lessons AND my bike, which brings me to...

5. I have decided to buy a bicycle to commute from home to work. This partly stems from the fact that the school decided to start charging us for $35 in parking each month. But I had been thinking of getting a bike for a while. It would be fun to ride around in a bike, and perhaps even do a tri one day. Steve at Open Road cycles had suggested I get a beat up bike to avoid theft, but I think that I will get a hybrid bike and store that somewhere in the building. Something that is decent, but not terribly expensive. Funny thing, I ran into George yesterday on campus and he told me he just got a bike....ha ha! I am a little apprehensive about riding on streets. I had never really done that, in fact I hadn't really ridden a bike for over 10 years, and never owned on with gears. Now one never forgets how to ride a bicycle, but I would need a little practice I think.

Eric

Harry defended his thesis yesterday. I haven't seen him and Shelley since they moved up to Berkeley almost a year ago. Seeing them reminded me of, in a way, the good old days. Those days when we first arrived, young(er) and enthusiastic about going to graduate school. Shelley was my roommate for 3 years in grad school, and was the one who introduced me to cats.

So why is this post titled Eric? Well, because seeing Harry also reminded me of all the things that have happened in the past few years, including Eric. Harry and Eric were like the best of friends. Back in the first couple of years of grad school we had all hung out together a good deal, going to lunch, dinner, parties. And then we all chose labs, I became a lot more preoccupied with the singing and research, and spent less time with them.

Until the summer 2 years ago, that is. I was at the rose bowl getting ready to go on a run when I noticed that I had a voice mail. It was Eric's sister, Emily, leaving a message to tell me that Eric had passed away. She had been going through the names in his cell phone and calling people so they would know. Later, as I talked to Chris, everyone thought that I already knew, so no one told me until his sister called. Eric hadn't shown up to work for a few days, his friends got worried and had his sister go check in on him. She found her brother dead is his apartment. No one really knows what happened, other than the fact that he died of a drug overdose. It's unclear if it was an accident or suicide.

Later I found out that Eric had been in trouble for almost a year before his death. He was doing a lot of drugs, showing up at work high and shutting his friends out. And there was an issue with a girl. Not that any one of us may have been able to do anything to change things, but I think in a way we all felt that perhaps we could have been a better friend to him. I know I could have. I had been pursuing other interest for a while by then, and the last time I saw him was a month before his death. Who would have know that the next time I see him he would be lying in a casket?

Harry mentioned Eric in the acknowledgements to his defense yesterday. He could hardly bring himself to say "suffice to say he was my friend." That still brings tears to me. Yes, he was our friend. And though he's no longer with us, at least we are left with all the good memories.

mobile blogging

I just set up my phone such that I am now able to post to this blog from my cell phone. What a geek! I wonder when I will actually do that, perhaps sometime when I am very very bored waiting around or something? I don't know, but the concept sounds intriguing.

Told J that I need to start working on my project alone from now on. He understood what I had to do right now, and now that he has his own thing to focus on he will be plenty busy himself.

Off to tosca. Our last rehearsal at Culver City before going to the Redlands bowl.