I don’t know if I’m unhappy this week because the steroid booster I was on (Methyl-pack, a week of tapering prednisone, to try to get rid of the ringing in my ears) was not working, or because it was working and that feeling under the weather/depressed is a common side effect. The ringing has not subsided, but that’s ok… It’s annoying but not especially bothersome nor does it effect my daily life. But also weird that on Tuesday (before working out) my knees were already really swollen, and I couldn’t really finish the set of squats, but on that day I was still on a higher dosage of the steroid? Mrrrggggggggnhggg

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)

Glucocorticoid

Cytokine

Interleukin-1 (IL-1)

Recently, my life has consisted of:

1. School
2. Research
3. Stamps
4. Stanley
5. Ice Cream

I have pretty much been spending all my spare time not on campus making stamps and I am kind of worried because it seems like I’m addicted. It makes me kind of antisocial (this is a lie, I am just antisocial) but it is just SO FUN and I’m getting really good at it and can it be my full time job please?

Also, Breyer’s chocolate is officially my favorite cheapo brand ice cream. I’m halfway done with my 1.5 Q container and it’s been three days? Maybe four?

well i had prepared a post with photos documenting the process i went through to make the stamps for my sister’s wedding place cards, but stupid me deleted the photos by accident from my SD card so screw that, i’m pissed at technology fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

so i leave you with this instagram photo from my phone

I forgot to mention that at CHAMPs last weekend, we had an egg drop competition. I made my own structure because we had extra sets of materials and I’m proud to say that my egg survived the one story drop! Granted, the structure was destroyed, but we modeled the requirements as a spaceship landing so I think that’s totally acceptable. I’ve never participated in an egg drop competition before so it was exciting and I’m glad my egg didn’t break because there was so much pressure (“She’s a mechanical engineering graduate student!”) etc etc

I brought my new postal scale to Calteach today on a whim, which was good because Lynn (NSF GK12) was having trouble setting up her demonstration and so Kevin Paulsen (the teacher) had me give an impromptu presentation to stall the kids. After class, he and Lynn tod me that I did a really good job. Kevin said that it takes three things to be a good teacher: knowledge (“which you have, UCLA grad”), a connection to the kids (“which you demonstrate from your interactions with them”) and presence. He told be that I have a huge presence (even though I’m small) such that the kids know to listen when I talk, and pay attention, etc. He said that if I went into teaching, that would be my strongest trait because nobody would ever want/tell me to leave. Paulsen said to really consider teaching because I could go far with it.

Also when Lynn was having issues with her experiment (reaction times vs concentrations) I suggested diluting the concentration she knew worked (0.1 M) into the two lesser concentrations that were giving us trouble (0.05 and 0.02 M) so then the demonstration would be sure to make sense and not trip out. Originally the three concentrations of the same solution came from three different sources, and weren’t in agreement. She didn’t seen to understand at first but when I explained it more clearly she was so surprised and seemed to think it was genius.

Omg my bicep is 25 cm

Yesterday’s workout was the hardest so far. (I’ve been to TBC four times now.) We did HELLA lunges and squats, and then more of them. Today sucked and I was miserable walking like a penguin awkwardly all over campus. I never really thought UCLA was that hilly, but now that every slight angle or step makes me cringe, I definitely am noticing it more.

I decided to get my hair cut at Aveda to a pixie a week after I get back from my sister’s wedding. That gives me a week to play with my hair and cut off essentially as much as I want for funsies and mess around until I get it all chopped off. These are the hairstyles that I’m thinking of trying:

In the above picture I have cordially photoshopped my face on top of various celebrities’ faces. I tried to do a good job (ie 10 seconds) matching saturation and hue for each picture. I want to try: at the shoulders, at the chin, possibly an angled bob? maybe a fade????, various lengths of bangs and parts, and maybe a fauxhawk before cutting it to a pixie. This’ll be really fun and I’m really excited!!!! I don’t think I’ll be doing any color, since it’ll be a waste of $15 and a few hours to buy dye and then dye my hair and then cut it off. But maybe… dark blue? red? purple?

PS. Miley Cyrus, Anne Hathaway, Nicole Ritchie, Natalie Portman, Diana Agron, all from Google

Do overweight people have more joint problems because they are putting more pressure on their joints? Or have their joint-muscles gotten used to the greater-than-norm amount of weight subjected to them gradually, so that their muscles can compensate better for their joints? Because I remember (and am occasionally reminded) what it’s like to hurt to walk, and if they are going through that every single day because of something they have (kind of) control over, then I can’t imagine not wanting to make a change and carrying through with that resolution.

• Still 24.5 cm in my biceps
• I think I finally rid my basil of aphids. By putting it outside every day so the sun could dry out the dirt. Also my Rosemary is growing but my thyme is looking sad… I planted some tomato seeds a few days ago and I noticed a sprout today
• People that drink a big bottle of soda after working out????? Why???
• Had a serving of muscle milk post work out today. It’s awkwardly sweet with a weird after taste; I don’t like it.
• I rearranged my workspace so my monitor is off-center to the right. Is this bad for my posture/neck?
• This and this.
• My < 1 ft^2 sink has trained me to prepare all of my food in the toaster oven so I don't have to wash any pots or pans...
• It’s Tuesday

Curious, so I decided to start collecting data. I don’t have a scale at home and none of the other scales in my life are consistent, so I’ll measure my BICEPS. And stuff.

Max bicep circumference while flexing – currently 24.5 cm. My neck, unflexed (Stanley says it’ll get bigger????) – currently 31 cm.

Had Total Body Challenge (TBC) yesterday again, and I’m more sore but less sore this time around. Like, overall magnitude of soreness is less, but I’m sore ALL THE TIME. I dunno if that’s weird, whatever.