Everyone is such a ... dork :) Yesterday at lunch, we started talking about the free Halloween deal at Chipotle... which led to talking about the quality of meat they serve at Chipotle... which led to talking about free-range chickens and cows... which led to talking about the usage of antibiotics in this country... which led to a discussion of how these antibiotics lower the pH in cows' intestines, etc.

Chipotle to the science of antibiotics in 60 seconds. :)

I was hoping that over time, the little tiny piece of paper with the lock combination will re-appear before my eyes by chance. But it has not! :( Big boxes are piling up in my miniscule studio, and I can't open the basement storage unit door because I lost the lock combo... I suppose I should send the lock company the request form, although they say that due to heightened security issues, it will take them 4-6 weeks to process the request (arghhh!?).

My place was such a big mess that I didn't have an option of not cleaning it this weekend. But instead I decided to go shop for underbed storage units, a baking dish, and clothes. After trying out 17 pairs of jeans, I found (only) 2 that I liked and actually fit. Why is it so hard to find the perfect pair of jeans?!

Ok, onto the actual business of cleaning up the place...

:)

The oboe must be the most humbling of all instruments--it's not possible to maintain your dignity and look attractive while pinching your lips around a piece of wood the size of a squashed straw and blowing your brains out, which causes your face to go red, and weird veins to pop out on your forehead.

TGIF! There's this flyer in our hallway that says "TGIF (Thank god it's final!)" with a picture of Bush waving goodbye, while holding a "Presidency for Dummies" book in his other hand. In fact, this was another Happy Hour flyers from the past. There are some hilarious ones here :)

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Leaving you with this image for the day, which is another flyer in our hallway (one day, I should just take a picture of a bunch of these because they're all pretty good!):

If you want to even make it rhyme, substitute the word "masses" for the word "herd."

There are some interesting (and/or crazy) people out there on the Boston streets, though I can't really say it's specific to Boston, and in fact, it's probably not. But in any case...

First encounter of course was from about a month ago - the delirious girl who randomly talked to me on my way back from Bed Bath and Beyond with two ginormous bags of heavy stuff. She stops me, and blurts out "hey, do you have a boyfriend?" "Er, no...?" "Good! I don't either anymore. He has herpes, he cheated on me!" ::pointing at the guy in front of her, presumably her ex-boyfriend, looking all flustered::

I kinda just walked away on that one.

This morning, in broad daylight, I'm walking to the bus stop, and there's this girl on the other side of the street, looking gothic with all-black outfits and whatnot. She's completely flushed, walking funny, and screaming something the whole time she was within my visibility. It was very strange to say the least...

Then just now, on my way back from work in the dark (this is Beacon street, I figured it's not such a sketchy street), and this old lady says "Excuse me, I was just wondering if you knew..." and I thought she was going to ask me a legitimate question, so I stopped walking. Then she says "... I need to get into this temple [points at the building next to us]. Do you know how to get in or how I can talk to the priest or something?? I just... [hyperventilates] I really need to talk to someone in there... I believe in God, I have faith, and... I just really need to get in there; they're killing my son out there... there was this talk about psychiatry over at Harvard Square... [or something... I can't remember]... there were like 4000 people out on the streets who came to listen and the psych experiments they do in this country... not even in other countries! the experiments the government does to the people in THIS COUNTRY RIGHT HERE.... it's terrible, oh gosh [hyperventilates more], and they're doing it to my SON! they're killing him! you see things like this on the news and you think: this can't happen to me... but this is happening to my SON and ... [etc]." I told her: sorry, I have to go but... I hope you find someone to talk to (?!). Not sure what I can make out of this one, really...

And then I got hi'ed by a random group of men 10 minutes later. I need to stop walking alone in the dark.

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I got my Starbucks Gold card in the maaaaaiiillll! Awww it's so pretty :) And how kind, they gave me a free balance of $0.01 to start out with.

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Severe nostalgia for being at UVA/Charlottesville and being a student continues... :( I even miss the Lawn, which is really just a field of grass! Gah.

Email #1 from HMS Office of Communications:

Regular seasonal flu vaccinations will be made available to students, faculty and staff in September, October and November, free of charge. ... Harvard University Health Services has ordered 19,000 doses of seasonal flu vaccine, up from 12,000 from previous years.

They had 6 offering dates. After the 2nd date, we get another email.

Email #2:

Due to a large demand for seasonal flu immunizations amid a national vaccine shortage, Harvard University has already distributed most of its vaccine stock. As a result, the last seasonal flu clinic will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 from 3 pm to 6 pm ... The clinic will remain open until all 300 doses have been administered, which might occur before 6 pm.

I head over at 2:45pm, and they were already turning people away at the door because there were over 300 people in line inside.

Ughh... I'm too pissed off at too many things already. If I get the flu this year, it's all HMS's fault.

I went to Starbucks today, saw Espresso Truffle on the menu, and all of a sudden started missing UVA/Charlottesville/being-a-college-student. Haha, I have no idea why. But it reminded me of my daily trips to Starbucks in the wintertime, where I grabbed hot coffee on the corner, walked over to OCH, and either practiced or libraried. Sigh. I miss stressing out in a library before an exam, looking forward to pulling an all-nighter... grading... practicing for juries... procrastinating on facebook on the library computer... needlessly browsing the sheet music collection in the music library for the thousandth time...

PS: the drink at Starbucks with the most calories = Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino with whipped cream (660 calories).

PPS: Our lab calls our journal club meetings "OO Club." Anyone have any ideas what that means?! The Raps are hosting Happy Hour this upcoming Friday. Excited for the flyer :) Will explain later.

I need boots. Preferably cute and fashionable ones, but at the very least something that allows me to wear skirts or leggings in the wintertime. I walked into a local shoe store, saw the price tags, and walked right out. Ugh how does a pair of shoes cost $300?!

The cello strings are here, actually. I called the store yesterday, and the strings got here today! Stringing the cello was a challenge. I know I'm stating the obvious, but since the instrument is significantly bigger, it was harder to hold still during the process. Oh well. But the real problem was that the pegs were slipping... they drove me insane. I still couldn't get them to tune to A440, but maybe A430ish. Since I don't have perfect pitch, it's totally fine for now, as long as all the strings are relatively flat altogether. I'll try again later when I've regained my patience.

My life is always full of dilemmas -- mainly because I can't make up my mind. But I think I am going to go for this one: Starbucks Gold card. A couple of my friends told me about it before, and I felt like the $25 membership fee was too much, but now that I give it serious thought, perhaps not. The main deal is that it gives me 10% discount on drink/food purchases (among others). I did the math:

With the card, I get a free drink on my birthday (say... $4). --> Net cost of this card = $21.00

To make this deal worth it, I have to spend at least $210 on drinks/food at Starbucks in the next year.

Not very difficult.

If I buy a bag of ground coffee (~$10) once every 3 months (i.e. $40), I'm already down to $170.

If I buy a decent sized/flavored espresso drink once a week, each one costing ~$4 on average (i.e. ~$200), I've already "saved" money by getting this card. I suppose quitting Starbucks altogether would be a real way of saving money, but...

While talking to Ana earlier, I noticed a sad pattern in my food inventory at home. Here are some of the representative items from each location (ignoring some of the boring stuff I have, like my Brita bottle, ice trays, some meat, ... and actually, that's it):

Refrigerator:
- brownies
- yogurt (flavored...)
- apples
- an onion
- a 90% empty (small) bottle of kimchi

Freezer:
- a few bags of TJ's prepared frozen entrees
- a few bags of pre-made/frozen chicken... stuff...
- two boxes of frozen pizza
- a box of cheesecake
- two different kinds of ice cream
- lots of donuts (don't judge)
- one bag of frozen vegetables (ooh, healthy)
- a third of a loaf of bread that expired 3 weeks ago...

Cabinet:
- lots of sauces (about half of them unopened... so far)
- boxes and boxes of pastaroni and other similar products
- countless bags of ramen noodles
- at least 5-6 boxes of various cookie/cake/brownie mixes


Clearly, I need to go grocery shopping soon so I don't die of sugar overload or malnutrition.

I keep checking the VA weather to see whether I'm legitimately complaining about the New England cold or if it's just as cold in VA. I think my complaints are mainly illegitimate. But! on the whole, I will say that Boston is a very windy city, and the wind makes it feel much colder than the actual temperature (which, on average, is lower than VA by just a few degrees... so far). Today's wind speed... 20 mph. Brr.

How dare you, weather! You're not supposed to get cold until I am fully equipped with cute boots and other pretty winterwear...

-----

Speaking of the weather, maybe I placed my cello too near the heating unit (I didn't think so, but it's possible I guess) -- it was really out of tune this morning, and while trying to tune it, I broke the A string, meh. The C string is also on the verge of breaking near the nut-ish area. I asked them to mail me replacement strings, but it's going to take a few days :(

-----

I keep noticing the lack of quantitative-ness in the experiments/results. For me, it'd be more satisfying to have something more solid to grab onto than "this band on the western blot looks... a little fatter than the other one." Today the grad student said it's crucial that we load exact amounts of sample in the gel wells because we need to get some quantitative information out of the gel. I got excited, asked what kind of quantitative information, and he said: "oh, just comparing the relative intensity of the bands for the amount present." I think this really just means: "this band looks about... eh, three times more intense than the other one... maybe four times." Heh.

Life is too unremarkable at the moment. This week has conformed to the following schedule:

From whenever-I-get-to-lab until 6pm, work; Go straight to rehearsal, which goes till 10pm; By the time I get home, I'm too fried to do anything and so I crash; Repeat cycle.

But this morning, I realized that I still have no idea what I want to do with my life. But once I figure whatever-it-is out, I still need to take the relevant standardized exams. I should also look into the relevant set of resume-building activities. But... when?! Thinking of all this makes me feel like I need to decide really soon so that I can prepare for the application season accordingly. Heck, if I'm going through the medical school application struggle again, I have to have a good MCAT score and enough clinical experience by next May/June, which is coming up in 8 months or so. That is really not that much time. Holy crap.

Arghhh, this is how I always go from "my life is getting boring" to "oh my god, I need a paper bag" in 60 seconds and maintain my cortisol level gloriously high.

Now that I finally got around to signing up for a Zipcar account, I decided to look for driving tips in a city like Boston. I found this book that says:

Have you honked your horn in the last hour? Do you relish finding fire hydrant parking spots? Do you think a left turn from the right lane is perfectly acceptable? Does a red light make you speed up? If you answered no to any of these questions, be forewarned: You'll never survive Boston's wild streets.

Awesome. I've noticed that a yellow light here means "go" and the first 5 seconds of a red light means "go faster." This means there are residual vehicles in the middle of an intersection when some cars get the green light signal. But of course, you get honked if you don't anticipate this change to the green light and zoom off a couple of seconds prior to the change. But if you'll remember, you can't take off because of the cars stuck in the middle of the intersection. So you get honked at anyway, and really, it seems like a lose-lose situation. Maybe Zipcar was a bad idea for me...

I bought one of those magnet sets with composers' portraits/pictures on each piece. Sadly, I correctly guessed the names to only 5 of the 32 composer magnets; for 4 of them, I had no idea what time period they were from. I didn't even recognize Mr. Brahms! Fail.

All Bostonians seem to be regular Dunkin Donuts fans (and Red Sox fans). That explains why in Boston, there is a Dunkin Donuts store every three blocks while there's a Starbucks every five blocks (on average; or so says the rumor anyway). In fact, one of the "101 ways you know you're from Boston" is:

Paranoia sets in if you can't see a Dunkin Donuts or CVS within eyeshot at all times.

Well... I finally stopped by Dunkin Donuts tonight and bought a dozen donuts -- probably not the smartest idea, since they're probably a thousand calories per piece, and I am the sole occupant in my apt responsible for finishing this box. But oh well. I got so stressed out with work stuff by last night that I think I got a little delirious, but now with this box of donuts, things should look up soon.

I walked around Harvard Square a bit today (it's a really pretty area!). Then Emily showed me where the Box Office and the Stage Door is at Symphony Hall (where the BSO performs!!). And from there, within a few block radius (I think), we also walked by the Berkelee school of music, the New England Conservatory, the Boston Conservatory, and a bunch of music stores. And of course the BU Music school wasn't too far off either. It is soooo crazy. Such a concentrated region of music-related stuff. And I splurged at the Symphony Hall Giftshop, and now, I think my credit card needs a few days off to recover.

There's a sheet music store called Music Espresso (I totally approve of this name), and it's fairly near lab. But I really do think I must postpone this visit before splurging once again.

Last note of the day: Oh Brahms...

Honestly, I've never been a big fan of Jascha Heifetz... until I heard his Brahms, which is incredible! A simultaneous realization is that Hilary Hahn's recording of this sounds a bit flat -- not intonation wise, she's almost painfully in tune (always!), but her Brahms is a little boring. She has the amazing, almost piercing, tone that soars, but listening to that for 30 minutes of Brahms can be a little dull.

On a completely different note, the Shostakovich String Quartet No. 11 is so grotesque. Not that I didn't know this before, but wow. It sounds much more gross than any of his other quartets (not in a bad way; in fact, I love his string quartets!). I wonder what could possibly have been going through little Shosty's mind when he wrote something like this.

Back to the Brahms Violin Concerto -- I am mesmerized by the middle movement. I always had the bad habit of skipping the slow movement when listening to concerto recordings, but not anymore! I think that the opening few minutes (notably, the oboe solo) represent one of the most beautiful musical moments; the unwritten, but generally played (I think?), breathmark at the peak of this melody is one of the most incredible musical commas I've ever heard (though sadly not written in by Brahms, as far as I know), and when Heifetz makes the epic shift at the end of the movement, it leaves me in awe...

My walk to work:

When I make my first turn onto Harvard St, there's a Jewish bookstore (or a giftshop? not sure!). One of the books on display:

Harvard Street!

Passing by a playground... pretty autumn trees:

My new favorite place (self-ban from a few days ago has been removed), their coffee is just too good!:

This is still along Harvard Street. There are too many stores and restaurants on both sides of this street. Such a tempting street to walk down before and after work! Even the Walgreen building looks pretty:

Finally off of Harvard, and onto Beacon where the T runs (but I usually don't take). This is the clock/thermometer screen that either tells me how late I am to work or how freezing it is outside:

Some pretty gated community I pass by. There are pretty buildings around here; mostly apt buildings all along Beacon street:

Some other buildings...

Still on Beacon... which, by the way, looks like this!:

Yay Boston street signs:

Now onto Longwood Ave; More pretty sights:

Entering Longwood Medical Area; no more pretty sights...:

Pretty buildings though! The Children's Hospital:

And here is the med school! Though my lab is actually in an uglier, worn-down building behind all of this beauty:

That's roughly a 1.5 mile hike to lab...

Sooooo excited :D The cello I rented!!

Heat is on in my apartment!! I felt it yesterday morning and this morning again (but it gets turned off during the day). Since heat is included in rent, I unfortunately don't have control over the thermostat. But the little heat I felt (only when I'm standing really really near the heating unit) was great. And this is better than having control over the thermostat and having to pay for heat myself, I suppose. I hear that in wintertime, it easily costs $200+ per month to keep the apartment above the lawful temperature, not even warm (there's a minimum temperature required by law in order to not have pipes crack due to the cold).

I have a rejuvenated love for Brahms. Rehearsal this morning was great, and I'm actually starting to love his first Symphony. The soloist for the Violin Concerto was amazing. Very energetic, great techniques, and amazing musicality. Fluid melodic lines, and yet such intensity! His shifts were perfect... rich :)

Speaking of this... I received my Southwest Strings order today!!! Now I have a music stand, 2 sets of new strings (I'm giving Larsen Tzigane another try; though the usual set of Dominant was ordered of course), AND sheet music -- full orchestral score to Bruch's violin concerto and the Scottish Fantasy, the sheet music to the Brahms Violin Concerto (I gave in), and that of the Brahms Piano Trio (eeeeeep! :D).

Life is good :)

I am banning myself from entering the following establishments until further notice:

1. Peet's Coffee & Tea

2. Starbucks

3. Panera Breads

4. Trader Joe's

First gig opportunity in Boston!! A performance of Haydn's "The Creation." The pay isn't amazing, and the schedule is a little tight, but even little cash is extremely welcome these days, and this could be fun :)

This weekend is gonna be... interesting. Orchestra rehearsal on both mornings until 1pm and then a concert Sunday night. This sucks only because everything's in Newton, which means that I need to take into account 1-1.5 hour commute time to/from Newton (not because it's far distance-wise, but because I have to rely on the buses...). I will also need to learn both pieces on the program in the next 48 hours. Brahms - here I come!

Lots of random notes:

1. Email response from AMCAS:

"Since a letter of evaluation requirement has not been satisfied in your 2009 AMCAS application you are receiving an automatically generated letter notification status e-mail. You will continue to receive the e-mail until either the requirement has been satisfied or the application closes. The 2009 application is anticipated to close sometime during October 2009."

Well, thankfully, it's already October.

2. It's already October?? Holy cow. How is that possible? Sadly, this reminder came to me this morning, around 9:15am, after I had been waiting for the bus for at least 15 minutes. I actually entered the bus, and shit, I realized I forgot to buy a monthly pass for October, which I meant to do before today. So... being a cheap skate, I decided that I was gonna power-walk in the 49-degree weather to work (I could see my breath this morning; it's getting a little too cold a little too early for me). So I made it to work by 9:45am, although I really meant to come earlier. Sigh...

3. Yesterday was an 11-hour day. What's even more sad is that I *seriously* planned a trip to the cello rental store for yesterday (they're open till 8pm on only Wednesdays, which is as late as they go), which would have required me to leave work at 6 or 6:30pm. Obviously I could not.

4. My check for October's rent went out yesterday. Amusingly enough, my biweekly paycheck that I got yesterday almost entirely balanced out the rent. Actually, not so amusing...

I am fairly certain I got hit on by the taxi driver. The adventure to the UPS Center started off frustrating; but the taxi driver situation started amusing me; and it all ended a little creepily.

I wanted to pick up my package (from parents) *today* before UPS closes at 6pm, so being the determined person I am, I call the cab company at 5:25, and ask for a taxi. Public transportation would have taken me over an hour. So a taxi comes around 5:35. I tell the guy that I need to be at the Watertown post office before 6pm, and he tells me that's gonna be tough. And then began the crazy drive, where I'm pretty sure the guy was going like 20 mph over the speed limit, but then hitting the brakes hard because there are soooo many traffic lights and heavy traffic due to rush hour.

As this is taking place, I watch the meter go up. I count how much cash I have ($19...), we still have 5 more minutes to go according to the GPS, and the meter is already at $18.30 (after just 10 minutes of drive...). Craaap, so I ask the guy if he can take my credit card; he says no, but since I'm in a rush, he'll take me to the store anyway and we'll figure something out. I say okay, and we get to the store at like 5:55. I get my package, and ask him to drive me to the nearest ATM. He then asks where I live and how I plan on going back with the big box (though it was just bulky, not heavy). At this point, the meter was already at $27. I couldn't afford to pay $50+ just for a round-trip cab ride. So I told him I live in Brookline but that I'll just take the bus back. He then stops the meter, and makes this long drive to an ATM. I cash some money, get back to the car, and he's like, where do you live because I can just take you home. And I'm like uh well, how much extra is that gonna cost because I really can't afford too much. Then he tells me he'll just take me home for free and that he's turned off the meter anyway so it doesn't matter.

So then ok. After some small talk that took place, he asks me if I have a boyfriend back in Virginia, and doesn't accept my "no, I don't." He's like what, no, was it the long distance thing because I don't see how you don't have one. I turn the topic around (though not soon enough), and somehow it got to how he thinks I should explore downtown Boston and I can meet nice guys there -- and this somehow gets to how he hopes I can find nice guys soon -- and this gets to how if I'm going to bars or wine places, I should make him my designated driver, and how he hopes that he'll see me again, etc. It was getting weird. Finally we move onto talking about Brookline, and he mentions a couple of cool places around. I respond with "oh cool, I didn't know that before," and this prompted him to ask me if I wanted him to take me there right now ("you want to drive over there? I can drive you back afterwards" [we were a block away from my apt at this time, so almost home]). I managed to refuse.

He drops me off in front of my building, and at this point, I figure ok, he doesn't know which apt # I live in, so that's ok. You need a key to get into the building anyway. But he voluntarily carried my package from the trunk for me, and of course mom had to print out my full address in like a size 72 font to tape to the box. But right in front of the locked building door, I told the taxi guy "it's really ok, you can just leave the box right here, I can take it up from here!!" and he left after a couple of "hope to see you again, enjoy the rest of your day" line.

Wow. At least... I got to and back from the post office in one piece, with my package, and for (only) $30?!

Whenever I miss a USPS shipment (because, of course, everything gets delivered when I'm in lab), I have to go to the nearest USPS store and pick it up myself with a valid ID. Last time I did this, I ran into the problem of my ID information not matching up with my shipping information, thereby defeating the purpose of showing an ID.

On my ID: Legal name + Mechanicsville address.

Shipped package: Nickname + Brookline address.

The guy was nice enough last time (though hesitant, understandably), but I need to figure something out soon, especially for some recent online purchases I made under "Lauren Lee" before I realized this was a problem. Eh...

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Over a year after I dealt with the AMCAS craze, I am *still* getting reminder emails from AMCAS stating that I did not assign a recommendation letter packet to University of Illinois (for the 2008-2009 application cycle, by the way). It's annoying the hell out of me but I have no idea how to stop getting these emails.

I have to confess: with the exception of the 4th movement (which is quite amazing, beautiful... very Brahmsy :)), I'm not a big fan of Brahms 1. I really don't want to say that it's boring, but... I liked Brahms 4 much better. But that's no excuse for the fact that we have the first concert in a week, and I just sight-read the inner movements of the Brahms Symphony in rehearsal tonight. Bah.

Peet's Coffee & Tea is my new favorite place. Their drinks are not only delicious, but pretty strong... wow. Not just today, but the last couple of times I went there as well. I liiiiike it :)

I've never really been much of a drinker, and I don't remember if alcohol in Virginia was any cheaper, but holy crap, alcohol is expensive. But after hearing a rave about this one bottle of wine at the cashier line last time, I decided to try it today. I usually hate wine, but this stuff is really good.

"Muscat de Saint Jean de Minervois is deep yellow-gold in color with a gorgeous nose of apricot, lychee, and floral notes. It is rich and full-bodied on the palate, with a long, seductive finish."

I don't know what they're talking about with the "floral notes" and the "long, seductive finish," but it's fruity enough that I like it.

--------

Today at lunch, I was talking to one of the visiting professors, where I went through the whole conversation having misheard one crucial word:

Connie: So I joined this book club here, it's been really great.

Me: [mishears the word "book" for "bug"] Oh...? What's that? [thinking I had heard "bug club"]

Connie: So we meet about once a month, we pick a book [a bug], and we discuss it over lunch; it's really fun.

Me: Wow, interesting. [wow, people here are dorks... who joins a "bug club"??]

... [conversation continues]...

Connie: Yeah, I had a hard time finding this next one though, must be a rare one; but my husband found it for me for my birthday! [which was yesterday]

Me: Haha, that's awesome! ...

Connie: Yeah, it's a fictional book about the Salem witch trial, which is really interesting to think about now that I'm here -- this happened like an hour north of where we are!

Me: [ohhhhh, smacks myself in the head; I must have sounded idiotic not knowing what a "book club" is]

CNN: "18 things to teach your sons about women"

1. Pick your battles.

2. Walk on the outside (closer to the street) of your female companion.

3. Saying "You're being crazy" is never an appropriate response, unless you want her to go postal on you.

4. Cooking, cleaning, and taking care of kids are things men can actually do as well as women.

5. Keep backup supplies of quality chocolate in the house for her to raid.

6. Buying tampons and other feminine products shouldn't embarrass you --everyone knows they're not for you.

(Haha, the other day at Shaw's, I was in the feminine products aisle, and so was this other old guy. He looked really confused, and he was on the phone, presumably with the person he was shopping for; he hung up pretty quickly, grabbed a bag of pads, and really quickly ran off the aisle, it was pretty funny.)

7. Women like compliments and gifts.

8. Earning less than her shouldn't be emasculating.

9. Be on time, even if she usually isn't.

10. Don't be a pouty puppy when shopping with her.

11. Find out what her favorite flower is.

12. If you like her, then don't buy her shoes; it's bad luck.

13. Smiling and nodding aren't the same as listening.

14. It's OK to cry in front of her, but keep the blubbering to a minimum.

15. Personality goes a long way.

16. At some point she'll be more important than your mother.

17. You will never completely understand women.

18. Oh yeah, and no woman will ever be good enough for my baby!

10 least-affordable cities:

1. California - La Jolia

2. California - Beverly Hills

3. Connecticut - Greenwich

4. California - Palo Alto

5. California - Santa Monica

6. California - San Francisco

7. Massachusetts - Boston

8. California - Newport Beach

9. California - Palos Verdes

10. California - San Mateo

Wow, California.

And wow Boston for making the chart among all the Cali cities.

IKEA Trip #2: I planned on being back home by 1pm. Reality -- 4pm. I left at 8:30am, so this was a 7+ hour trip! :( I even had a shopping list, and my goal for the day was to *not deviate from the list.* But at places like Ikea, that is tough. For instance... weighing scale - $5 (I will be returning the BB&B one very soon), pen holder - $1, an oven mitten - $3, FOUR dish towels - $3, a floor lamp - $9, fleece throw blanket - $2.30, a pretty alarm clock - $3... etc. And the list continues. How do you let those opportunities pass??? They aren't unnecessary items either :)

So now my place is completely furnished (or will be by the end of this weekend, once I assemble everything). This trip ended with me dragging up (literally... one step at a time) a 65-pound box up to my second floor studio from the front door of the building.

But because this trip took so long, no cello this weekend :( Oh well, next weekend perhaps. But after realizing how much money I've spent since yesterday (or since I moved here, for that matter), I'm not so excited about paying for this cello rental, and I am fine about waiting. A week.

I went to Bed Bath and Beyond, hopefully for the last time for the next while. I bought a huge load of stuff, and it costed a ton, but most of them were necessary items!

For instance, I bought a bag of coffee about a week and a half ago, thinking I'll feed Starbucks a little less money. But I didn't have any coffee filters, and didn't for another 2-3 days. But then I realized this is all useless anyway because I didn't have any cups or mugs. I literally would have had to drink out of the coffee pot, but I passed on that.

But now! I have cups, bowls, AND plates. Among many other kitchen utensils/appliances, like knives I can cut vegetables with (which, I bought yesterday, but realized I couldn't do much with them).

----

On another note, labwork is hard :( It's not getting easier yet.

This is the year of Brahms...? It's kinda weird how much Brahms is being performed around the Boston area this year, especially because it's such similar repertoire.

• The Newton Symphony is starting with the all-Brahms program (Brahms Symphony No. 1 & Brahms Violin Concerto).
• The Cambridge Symphony also has an all-Brahms program coming up later this season.
• The Boston Symphony Orchestra is performing the Brahms Symphony No. 1, No. 3, and the Brahms Violin Concerto.
• The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra is performing the Brahms Violin Concerto...
• The Bach Society Orchestra is also performing the Brahms Violin Concerto.

Four performances of the Brahms Violin Concerto, literally all in the next 3 months, is just ridiculous. It's one of the hardest Violin Concertos out there too. Strange.

The grad student I am working with: "proteins... sometimes they like to have other proteins around them because if there aren't any, they can get quite lonely. So when in doubt you should add some BSA and they'll be happier."

On another note, I got my Jacqueline du Pre DVD order in the mail! I've only checked out parts of it so far, but the video excerpts of her performing various parts of the Beethoven Cello Sonata in A -- it is sooo incredible. She has such a magical way of drawing all listeners/viewers into her performance. A trip to a cello rental store this weekend is definitely in order :)

Oh, internet, how I've missed you!

After 10 days of my new modem worthlessly sitting in my apartment (because Verizon wouldn't activate my service until today) and an hour on the phone with the customer service department (because the installer wouldn't work), I finally have internet (wireless!) at my place.

Will post something more interesting later. But I have to say, how is it mid-September already? At this rate, I'll soon be saying "where did my two years in Boston go?!"