Butts and Bananas

Yesterday, we had Taekwondo practice. (By "we," I mean the university TKD club.) I don't know what we did that made my butt hurt so bad, but wow am I sore. But it's the greatest feeling! Being sore makes me feel like I actually pushed myself to my limit, although it does make life a little more difficult. Going up stairs now looks like I'm Chewbacca trying to run with a lopsided backpack. Also my knee (the one I broke last year) hurts but that's basically expected after hard exercise, so no worries. 

Bananas--Today I wore my Minion T-shirt with bananas on it, and one of the professors I know but have never had and I had a long conversation about the Minion movie and other kids' movies he should watch. Deep conversation. 

It's Thursday, and I have no homework. I need to get something done...maybe watch a movie haha.

RL

The Art of Making Mistakes

It's never easy to own up to a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes...how many times have we heard that line in our lives, eh? But today, I am talking specifically about in the work world, where one person's mistake can start a snowball of tasks that can't get done simply because no one owned up to it.

In school, if I didn't turn in my homework on time, then only I would feel the consequences. It's like my mistake is at one end of a branch on a tree, and it would really only affect that same branch. However, when I make a mistake at work, then that branch could break off into a flurry of twigs and leaves that get tweaked by it. Most people are so understanding of mistakes - so it's our responsibility to patch it up before it branches off and affects more people.

For instance, I send out an email requesting information about a task that should have gotten done two weeks ago. Two days later, no response. So I send out a second, more stern, email. Again, no response. Finally, I write an email to them with bolded, underlined letters highlighted in yellow, virtually shaking their shoulders to get a reply.

That's what it took to get a peep out of them. The problem is, they had made a small mistake on their end and were trying to fix it without telling me about it first. By the time I knew they were just trying to fix a small problem on their side, the information was needed by three other people halfway across the world who had to postpone an important event because we had no information about what was going on.

I just wish I could have known that someone made a tiny boo-boo before I had to send three follow-up emails, you know?

I can't say that I'm perfect at owning up to my mistakes, but I realize that I'm not working for myself here - there are other people who need me to be transparent and accessible. This post is more of a rant than anything else...shove your pride to the side and please just tell me if there was a typo or if you accidentally forgot about an important task! That way, we can all work on it together!!

Rant over.

Toodle doo,

RY

A Little Brag But Not Really

Hello lads,

Here is an update from an earlier blog post about buying pumpkins. Because I know you are all waiting anxiously to know what happened to the pumpkins I bought.

I bought a bunch of cute little munchkin pumpkins because they are so freaking cute I can't even handle it. And I set some up on a file cabinet next to my desk at work to add some autumn-y flair to my little section of the office. My co-worker sitting near me lives on a farm, and she pinky promised me she would bring in some of her newly-hatched chickens and a bale of hay to add to the collection, but no luck yet. Hopefully soon I'll be running a little petting zoo over here.

Here's a pic of my humble autumn décor. It's already much more festive than the entire rest of the office so pat on the back for me! Hahah

Toodle doo!!

RY

Psychology Blurb

Okay so I read RY's last post about liking music after it becoming a decision she made one her own, and that's totally something called Justification of Effort. There was a Psychology study done where subjects were told to do a horribly boring task, then paid either $1 or $20 to tell the next participant that is was super fun. 

Guess who reported they actually liked doing the boring task more? The people who were paid only $1 said they liked it more--because they had absolutely no other reason to like it (since they didn't get much money).

So, RY is just trying to justify all the work she put into music by pretending she actually likes music.

Or she actually likes it haha but that's why she liked it more after choosing to pursue it ;)

Okay nerd rant over. See, Psychology is applicable to real life!

RL

Taking CONTROL!!

So we have a Danville Symphony concert coming up very, very soon.

We are still sight-reading a lot of it. At least, I am...having not practiced a single minute for this concert.

Yesterday, at rehearsal, we were playing Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, which is the last of 3 huge Tchaikovsky pieces we are attempting to do for this concert. It was far from sounding perfect. Then, smack-dab in the middle of the piece, our conductor stopped with a very contemplative expression on his face. He asked us if we felt like he was forcing us to embark on too daunting of a task with these 3 massive pieces, and gave us the option to take the Serenade off the program. After several minutes of discussion, we concluded that we should keep the piece, work hard, and prove ourselves worthy of these 3 pieces at the closely looming concert.

When we resumed rehearsing, I instantly felt a change in the music - there was a certain level of focus and determination in the room that was not there before. It must have been the idea that this piece was now our decision to play and our responsibility to perform well.

I went through a similar experience in my own journey with violin and music. I began playing at about 5 years old on my own accord, but by the time I hit puberty, violin became a chore rather than a hobby. I hated it. Finally, after months of tantrums and fights with my mom during violin practice, she gave me the option to quit. I thought about it for a long time and eventually decided to keep going because I knew it was a waste to give it all up. Since then, I've had my ups and downs with music, but now I ultimately know that it is my personal decision to pursue it. I could have quit given the opportunity, but I didn't. Just like our Danville Symphony rehearsal, I've taken charge of my violin/viola playing because I know I am the only one to blame if I give up.

So for anything, if you keep yourself accountable for what you do, then it tends to feel like there is more at stake. If your conductor or your mom is telling you what to do, then it is easy to just do it halfway because you are not personally invested. Am I being preachy?? SORRY!

Toodle-oo!

RY

Brunch: A RAE-view

Maybe I'll make this RAE-view thing a recurring thing. Read my first RAE-view HERE.

Today I rant about my view on the idea of brunch. Breakfast + Lunch = Brunch. Here we go..

If we eat a meal between the flexible hours of 10am and 2pm (mostly on weekends only), then we call it brunch. BUT WHY????!!! If it’s your first meal of the day, then it’s breakfast! Or you can just say you skipped breakfast and call it lunch! WHY MUST WE HAVE ANOTHER NAME FOR IT?

The idea of brunch is nice – you get together with people you hopefully like a lot, drink mimosas, have a meal, and laugh about the tomfoolery from the night before. But the diverse menu ranges from syrup-soaked pancakes to overflowing pastrami sandwiches. I mean, IHOP sells steak at all hours of the day soo…..if you want steak for breakfast, then I would say that it is still breakfast. I’ve had “brunch” at 10am, noon, 3pm…I feel like it’s a word we use to label that random meal on weekends when we’ve woken up too late in the day to feel good about calling it breakfast.

IT’S BREAKFAST, YA’LL. Or lunch. But I’m not judging. I’ve been pulled into quite a few brunches in my day and I can’t complain. It’s fun and delicious. But when I think of the word “brunch,” I just think of sundress-clad ladies with teacup pigs drinking breakfast champagne with their pinkies up. Maybe I pretend to be too avant-garde for that. Or is brunch avant-garde? I dunno.

Toodley doodley,

RY

Growing Up Up and Away

A lot of children can’t wait for the day they get to move out of their parents’ home and live all by themselves. What an independent life, right? They will get to do whatever they want, watch the amount of tv they want, and go to bed whenever they want.

First of all, the usual night for me includes going to bed by 9pm on my own accord. So no issue there.

But also, I’ve found that moving out and being a “real adult” is not all that it is cracked up to be. There lots of bills to pay. Dishes to wash. Floors to sweep.

What I really don’t think is that fun is living alone. I have several roommates right now, so that’s not really a problem for me. But sometimes when my roommates are gone for an extended period of time, it starts to get a little too quiet around the place. I’m so used to living with my family and living with roommates in college, so my ears are so accustomed to kitchen pots clanging around and multiple televisions blaring noise all the time. When I have a whole house/apartment to myself, it is so freeing during the first little etchling of time – I can finally wander around with no pants on and eat a whole pizza without fear of judgment.

But then I cross a threshold of time when I begin hearing all the creaking of wood settling and it gets strangely silent. I’m not saying that I get freaked out or afraid, but I guess I just become overly aware of the solitude. It becomes strange that I am the only thing there that makes the background noise that I am so used to. I don’t even know where I am going with this blog post, but it’s just an observation and a conversation topic that I had with a co-worker today during my ROUTINE SNACK BREAK IN THE KITCHEN (refer back to this blog post about that!!).

Toodles!!

RY

Random Things

1) My beta fish is sick :( Well he's not actually sick like my last fish was (my last fish got a parasite infection and I gave him medicine and he kind of healed, but he still wouldn't eat so he died 3 months later)...but he's lethargic and won't eat anything so I think he's cold? But nothing I do helps...

2) The weather lately is cold in the morning but hot in the afternoon so every morning I wake up like "should I wear pants or shorts" and then I have a wardrobe crisis.

3) Fall break is this Friday. Yes, we at WFU only get one day off. Does that really count as a fall break? Anyway, I'm looking forward to it even though I only have two classes on Fridays. I think they should make fall break a Monday because I have 6 classes on Mondays.

4) I have a paper due Friday and a research paper due next week so I'm really just blogging because I'm procrastinating.

5) I broke in 10 new reeds for my clarinet this weekend but they're still pretty hard (because they're new) so the 4 hours of rehearsal I had yesterday really tired me out and I think my mouth is actually sore today...

6) This week we're starting a new study in my research lab, and I trained for it yesterday so I had to be the experimenter and then act as a guinea pig for other experimenters twice and that really exhausted me O_o and my EKG signals flatlined halfway through, so apparently I'm a zombie :P (the wires just got loose)

7) I'm hungry. 

8) I want to drink some coffee so I can focus on writing my papers, but is it too late to have caffeine...? Hm.

RL

Punkins

Went and got some little pumpkins this weekend at Maple Springs in Winston!!! Signs of fall are everywhere!

 
They're EVERYWHERE!!!

 
Don't these pictures make you want to frolic in the pumpkin patch and play the banjo.

 

I think he was happier than this picture conveys!!!

 

Anyway, that is my weekend update. Now it's back to the grind until the weekend rolls around again.

 

Toodles,

 

RY

Washing Dishes...So Stress Relieving?

The other day, my dad sent me a TIME article called “Washing Dishes Is a Really Great Stress Reliever.” What a fantastically passive aggressive way to tell me that I should wash dishes more often, eh? J But really, it wasn’t so much about actually washing grimy old dishes, but more about the importance of doing things mindfully.

I’m not the best person at practicing mindfulness and focusing solely on the tasks at hand, but I can understand how it works. On the rare occasion that I actually set aside time to clean my room, I actually find it quite relaxing and satisfying. I pop in some good music, and all I really think about is organizing my room and making things more visually bearable than the usual wreckage.

Another task that I actually enjoy doing is mowing the lawn…strange, right? Mowing the lawn means that no one bothers me for the 40 minutes when the engine is whirring loudly and it looks like I’m too busy for anyone’s business.  Again, I put on my headphones and tune everything out. It’s pretty satisfying to walk back and forth along the grass and see the leveled grass behind me as I mow. I give myself time to do a thorough job and not rush it. I think that’s probably part of the mindfulness – taking simple tasks, doing it with intention, and allowing myself to feel the satisfaction of completing it.

It’s a nice thing to try to do sometimes, if not every day. Life can feel like such a blur if we let all of our responsibilities zoom by. We have to take things one at a time and allow ourselves to be consumed with them as we check things off our to-do lists. Similarly, we have to embrace the leisure moments as well – when we go out with friends and family, focus on having a good time with them instead of checking Twitter to see what we COULD be doing instead. There is a time for everything!

Better said than done, eh? One step at a time. J

Toodle doodle,

RY.

P.S. Here is the link to the article.

http://time.com/4056280/washing-dishes-stress-relief-mindfulness/?xid=newsletter-brief

"Femininity" Does NOT Mean "Weak"

One of my subjects for lab a few days ago (I won't tell you which day for his confidentiality) threw me for a loop. And then I thought back on it, and I wondered, why should it have? He walked in, he was tall but had a softer, higher voice and feminine handwriting. And so I wondered if maybe he was female to male transgender and couldn't quite place his gender. 

But since when is it my place to place someone's gender? Gender is such a socially constructed idea that, especially in Western cultures, places emphasis on the biological characteristics of the sexes. And yes, there is a difference between sex and gender. Here in America, people are forced to choose between 100% male and 100% female starting at a young age. Children are shoved into gender roles that are enforced through media and positive and negative reinforcement (i.e. being rewarded for trying on parents' makeup as a girl, and being punished for it as a boy, even if the two sexes' bodies are fundamentally the same before puberty). 

In reality, most people fall within a spectrum between the two genders, and that's something that a lot of people fail to recognize, including me when I was considering my subject. Why should I care if he has feminine characteristics? That's the type of judgment that leads to stereotypes and bullying.

Google synonyms for "masculine," and you will find words such as "strong," "vigorous," "courage," and "independence." But do the same for "feminine," and you find words such as "delicate," "sensitive," and "weak." Weak??? Really?? Even "How To" articles say becoming masculine requires commanding authority, getting physical, and taking risks. The same article teaches femininity as wearing the correct clothing for body type, wearing makeup and perfume, and being polite and eloquent. 

"Females Accessorize"

"Males Command Authority"

But this assigned role is also harmful to males. Boys are always taught to be strong and not show emotion, which has a huge impact on the psyche, and studies show that even though males appear to not get stressed out as much as females, they recover more slowly because of not having an outlet or even being able to acknowledge their emotions. Males are emotional people too. 

There is something seriously wrong with society when a whole half of its population is constantly oppressed, even if gender equality appears to be fine. Just the other day, the President of Planned Parenthood went to Congress to talk about funding, and the (primarily male) Republican Congressmen interrupted her constantly and rarely let her finish a sentence. Regardless of where you stand on the matter of Planned Parenthood, this is extremely disrespectful and demonstrates gender inequality perfectly. 

RL

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Eight little ways I find myself being exactly like my mom:

 

1.       I slather myself in lotion after I shower in the evening, to the point where I can’t touch anything for 10 minutes. Including my hands and feet. TMI? IDC.

2.       I have pretty much the exact same haircut as my mom, minus the bangs. But I imagine one day I will go for the bangs too.

3.       I really really like yogurt. (she liked Yoplait, but I like Greek yogurt… Yoplait is sooo 1990s).

4.       I enjoy public speaking and I like to think I’m sort of decent at it. Maybe I just like to know people are listening to me blab.

5.       I love wearing super bright colors. I don’t care if I look like I’m ready for the disco.

6.       I plan my adventures around the awesome restaurants that I meticulously research beforehand.

7.       I like singing loudly and badly no matter who is around, and I pretend to know the words to all the ABBA songs.

8.       I guzzle a ton of water in one sitting, wait a few hours, and guzzle more. I rarely ever sip water.

 I have yet to copy her with the super-wide flare pants that she was known to wear all the time. And the Thai-style baggy tshirts. I’m not at that level of hip yet. One day I'll be rocking those styles, I don't doubt it for a second.

 

Toodle oo!

RY