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[Nov. 30th, 2009|08:50 am] |
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Is it unreasonable to ask my roommate not to make bacon at 7 in the morning and stink up the whole house? Who the fuck makes bacon at 7 in the morning every fucking day? |
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[Nov. 17th, 2009|10:37 pm] |
I am much happier in DC since I started biking to work. I'm finally getting a feel for what the city actually looks like, how the streets are laid out and where they connect with each other. I no longer feel like a blind mole, stuck underground with no way to control where it's going. And I get more sunlight. |
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| My circle of nerdery is complete! |
[Nov. 16th, 2009|10:31 pm] |
Steven Pinker reviewing Malcolm Gladwell! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html?em
A well-put point for science writers everywhere:
"An eclectic essayist is necessarily a dilettante, which is not in itself a bad thing. But Gladwell frequently holds forth about statistics and psychology, and his lack of technical grounding in these subjects can be jarring. He provides misleading definitions of “homology,” “sagittal plane” and “power law” and quotes an expert speaking about an “igon value” (that’s eigenvalue, a basic concept in linear algebra). In the spirit of Gladwell, who likes to give portentous names to his aperçus, I will call this the Igon Value Problem: when a writer’s education on a topic consists in interviewing an expert, he is apt to offer generalizations that are banal, obtuse or flat wrong." |
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| Deadline tomorrow, 10 am |
[Nov. 1st, 2009|04:14 pm] |
I seem to always try to come at writing sideways, as if I can sneak up on it and catch it. If I approach it head-on, it’ll see me coming and skitter away; only if I try to forget what I was thinking about can I get it down on paper.
This is false, of course. It doesn’t work. I wish I didn’t do it. |
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[Oct. 28th, 2009|10:57 pm] |
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Eeeeeee why do my "quick goodnight" phone calls with Martin always last an hour? Need some sleep... |
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[Oct. 12th, 2009|01:05 am] |
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Martin has the flu. He had a 102.8 degree fever yesterday, and there's nothing I can do to help. I don't want to keep calling because he can't really talk and it's probably better for him to just sleep undisturbed anyway. I'm sure he'll be fine, and there's not a lot I could do even if I were there, but not even having the option of bringing chicken soup and leaving him alone is tortuous. Stupid DC. Stupid Seattle. Where's my teleporter? |
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| Ken's the president of my fan club |
[Jul. 21st, 2009|12:04 am] |
Ken: oh man LisaI forgot I was at work today when I first got your email I mean not at work at Scrabble blah and I'm in the middle of a game and I'm like "oh, apparently something smashed into Jupiter and my friend just reported on it" and people are like "ooh, ahh" and then I played NOTIONs across a Triple, crossing sCOWS (COWS I played earlier while saying "Moo") for 80 points Your thing was still better (: |
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| To Ithaca, or not to Ithaca? |
[Jul. 16th, 2009|11:57 pm] |
I have an important dilemma: Should I go to Ithaca this weekend or not?
The case for yes:
- Ithaca in July is the best thing ever.
- I haven't seen Drew since like January.
- I haven't seen a bunch of other people in at least as long.
- Possibility of going to the Grassroots festival.
- I don't know when else I would get to go otherwise; Martin's coming on Tuesday and staying for two weeks, CTYers are possibly coming August 22, Ben is possibly coming sometime in between there, and I'm moving out of this apartment and finding somewhere else to live (I should figure that out!) the weekend of the 29. This might be kind of it.
The case for no:
- I'm freaking exhausted, and I've only spent one weekend in Boston so far. Maybe I should just relax, especially since Martin's coming on Tuesday. I don't want to be too tired to enjoy him being here.
- If I cover a talk Neil Armstrong is giving in DC on Sunday (cover it remotely, I wouldn't go to DC, but still), I can take a day off next week. When Martin's here.
- Going back to Ithaca might be really emotionally draining--it's the last place that really felt like home. Do I want to do that right now?
- Awesome Boston roommate's best friend is coming to visit, and it'd be cool to meet her. Also it'd be cool to hang out with awesome Boston roommate more, though she'll probably be busy with the best friend.
Help, O collective wisdom of the Internets! |
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[Jun. 28th, 2009|10:34 pm] |
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I have so many people who love me. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|01:05 am] |
Today I did everything. I think Wren's philosophy of badassery must be rubbing off.
I wrote the awesome story I reported yesterday, and my editor liked it. I rode my bike along the river to Harvard and showed up half an hour late for chorus. I sang. I went out with chorus people after practice (they're pretty awesome). Then I came home and did my laundry and made cookies to bring to work tomorrow because Saturday is my birthday. And I bought bus tickets home for the weekend.
Wow.
Also: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17380-solar-xrays-may-create-dna-building-blocks-on-titan.html
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|11:07 pm] |
What a day!
I woke up at 8 and finished Tam Lin before going to work (the fairies finally showed themselves! I was satisfied with the ending). My editor told me that the Technology section of the magazine (the actual print magazine, on paper!) was interested in a story I had pitched to her yesterday. I got to talk to the elusive blogger at the arXiv blog, who until recently was entirely anonymous. Now I know he's an editor for New Scientist in London. Ha!
Reporting for my first New Scientist story (which will go online tomorrow, I'll post it) was a mess. The main researchers were in Brazil and I couldn't get them on the phone, my outside commenters were all traveling somewhere or other, and my email turned out to be broken (I can send stuff out but not receive replies). By contrast, this story was a breeze. I emailed the main researchers in Hong Kong (which you'd think would be harder to reach than Brazil!), and they wrote back within an hour to schedule a phone call for 9 pm my time (9 am tomorrow their time). I had a delightful conversation with a famous British physicist at Imperial College London (also more time zones away than Brazil!), and surprised him by asking detailed questions about coordinate transformations of Maxwell's equations.
Since I had to come back at 9 to talk to Hong Kong, and I'm not allowed to get paid for more than 40 hours a week, I left early to go to a yoga class with Cassandra. It was in a 97 degree room. I was drenched. I haven't sweat that much since band camp. But it was excercise, I guess. Cassandra came over for dinner: broccoli soba noodle stir fry with a soy sauce mixture, blueberry beer (surprisingly tasty!), and marshmallows roasted over the gas stove for dessert.
Then I rode back to work to talk to the Hong Kong guys, who said "Good morning!" and were cheerful and excited throughout. Guys, I really love this job. I'd better do this story justice in 450 words, it's so cool. And it's going to be on paper! :-D
Now I'm full of sleepy. Ahh.
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|08:33 am] |
Starting at New Scientist today! This is a first for me--I'm starting a job where I have a fair idea of what they'll expect me to do, and I feel like I can handle it. That's never happened before. Previous jobs included working in labs on poorly-defined projects and working at a coffee shop. But still. Is this how it feels to be a grown-up?
Still nervous, but excited. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 21st, 2009|02:54 pm] |
I woke up at 6 to take Martin to the airport. I rode all the way there on the bus with him, then stayed on the bus and rode it back alone. I tried to distract myself by going to Boston Commons, but it was cold and raining and still only 7:30 so everything but Starbucks was closed. Eventually I got back on the T and rode to Central Square, feeling defeated.
On the T I listened to Brahms' Requiem. ( Geeking out about Brahms. )
I felt a lot better after that, oddly enough. I found a cute Middle Eastern cafe in Central Square and had hot tea with cardamom and some delicious eggs and tomato thing. I found a sci-fi, fantasy, and gaming bookstore and had a nice (if a bit one-sided) conversation with the owner about time travel (sci fi bookstore owners are some of the friendliest people!) and bought "To Say Nothing of the Dog." Then I came home and made chai and am now futzing around online and reading "Tam Lin" by Pamela Dean. I'm about 300 pages in and I'm still not sure what it has to do with fairy abduction, but it's cute. It's about a group of college kids in the '70s; it's very nostalgic, and I suspect autobiographical. It goes into an absurd amount of detail about apparently irrelevant things (did we really need to know all the stage directions in that production of Hamlet they saw? Really?), but it captures how college feels quite well.
I have surprisingly little nostalgia for college these days. I've been walking around Harvard a lot, through the leafing greenly quads and the big old buildings that just ooze collegiateness. A few years ago it would have been intoxicating, especially in the summer--CTY firmly planted the association between a college quad in the summer and everything being right in the world. (Actually, now I have the idea that it would look exactly right covered in snow, too.) I used to just be in awe of the whole idea of college, people spending all their time at a place of learning and contemplation, and now I'm just...not. They're beautiful buildings. I love learning. I don't want to go back to school.
Good to know. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 20th, 2009|07:56 am] |
For the past few days I'd been missing phone calls from an "Unknown" number. They didn't leave a voice mail, so I had no idea who they were or how to call them back. I just shrugged it off.
Yesterday morning I got an email from the editor in chief of Science News. I was in their top five candidates for the summer internship but ultimately didn't get it, and I applied again for the fall. The email says:
"Hi Lisa, I have been attempting to call for several days about your application but you never answer your phone. Please give me a call at [this number] as soon as you get a chance."
First thought: crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!
Second thought: Wait, what the hell? What journalist doesn't leave voice mail? If he'd left a message saying exactly what his email said, I would've called him back in seconds. Surely he must know that. I am confuzzled.
So I call him back immediately, still in my pajamas and terrified that my unreachability would reflect badly on me, and explain about the Unknown number. We chat a bit about my move to Boston and how I'm starting at New Scientist on Monday. He asks when I'm done here, and when I'd be able to start if I got their internship. I start to get excited. Then he says,
"And you'd definitely accept if we offered?"
"Oh, yeah," I say.
"Okay. Well, we're offering."
:-D
So as of October 5, I will be an intern at Science News in Washington, DC. Rob will be happy.
Anyway, Boston is great so far. My roommate is awesome, my apartment is beautiful and within a half-hour walk of almost anywhere I'd want to go (including the Museum of Science! But not including Jamie Z, who moved to Brookline. Ah well), Martin is still here, I'm enjoying it. I'm going to be sad when Martin goes, though. Like that's anything unusual.
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| This is the "I'm moving across the country again in three days" song |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|11:14 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | GSH | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  freaking the fuck out | ] |
ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod
At least I'm taking Martin with me. It will be okay. But.
>.<
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| Good days. |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|12:50 am] |
Yesterday I hiked to the top of a mountain at Big Sur, "graduated" from SciCom, and saw a condor, a whale, a snake, and an alligator lizard. We named ourselves "Class Condor" in the condor's honor. The alligator lizard pooped on my classmate's hand.
Today I saw UP and played Scrabble with Ben, sang Haydn in a big fancy theater, ate ice cream, and gave my phone number to a pretty girl dressed as Harry Potter. |
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[May. 29th, 2009|02:12 pm] |
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I need to find a way to not feel like I'm missing out on everything. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 27th, 2009|10:19 am] |
I'm writing a story on a paper by a grad student at UW, who I emailed for advice when I was applying there for astrophysics. Weird. It's a weird "that could've been me" feeling. I hate how every decision I make kills off thousands of potential Lisas. I know that's a creepy and unhelpful way to look at things, but sometimes...
Except then someone else would be calling me up for an interview and it would be the most exciting part of my day, and I'd have to go back to crunching data while they had their byline on the internet.
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thefieldsbeyond's journal
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