Hiya Moses/Em/Momo/Mo,
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How was "prom"??? Just today, my coworker was asking me about my high school prom experience, since her son was attending his own soon. Fun fact, my high school prom was hosted at the Exploratorium as well. I mainly remember my feet hurting and wandering around the exhibits. Please send outfit pics if you have any!
Your interpretation of "not overlapping tires" is spot on. Usually, it is the person in the rear who is at most risk of crashing if their front tire catches on the rear tire of the biker in front of them, should the front biker suddenly veer.
On the topic of the Bay, this past weekend I stopped to smell the roses at the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden. My friend, Ant, had a corporate event involving a "walkathon" fundraiser at the rose garden, so I tagged along to appreciate the spring bloom. Here is a photo he took, since my film is still undeveloped. This is entirely empirical, but I found that the yellow rose varieties usually smelled much sweeter than any other color. On the drive back north, we stopped by Mussel Rock Park to take pictures of his car (I was trying to emulate the vibe of the movie poster for Drive My Car). Anyways, the drive along Highway 1 with the view of the Pacific Ocean and California coast was just breathtaking.
I also thought about your hobby of roller skating, and how it has elements of risky exhilaration (at least in my newbie experience) and pain, albeit in a form much more spontaneous and sharp than the more sustained and predictable kind that comes from cardio.
I didn't necessarily anticipate a complex plot for Monkey Man due to NPR's coverage; I think I just am uninitiated to that particular genre of "John Wick"-esque action movies (i.e. I never watched John Wick before). There were moments in Monkey Man where we flat out chuckled in disbelief at the over-the-top violence (no spoilers in case you watch), but I can see a cathartic component in the over-abundance. I watched Monkey Man also with Ant, whom I suppose I was never disconnected to, but never mentioned to you before. We tend to bike and Bart together, so I admit these new hang out activities were a little disorienting.
I actually am terrified at the notion of a hobby car, given my lack of formal mechanic training and the fact that I would have to operate a vehicle potentially sabotaged by my untrained monkey hands. The most I'll do is change a tire.
As for LA, we (Vivian, Iris, Vivian's old roommate Michelle -Susan was busy) took a rental (Camry!) down. We had so many conversations in the car, from analyzing our values, to discussing recent abortion legislation, to strange names that parents name their children (r/namenerds). I last took PTO around Christmas, so I think I was still adjusting to the dearth of academic Spring Break when I made my escape to LA.
I'm not sure if we discussed this before, but I also owe a lot of my younger music taste to my older brother, by virtue of sharing an iPod. However, he had a taste for Glee covers and bossa nova. (Btw I'm listening to your Wee(b) kid days (nice) while writing -ah Nujabes! I'll let you know my impressions of visceral after listening.) Hmm, in terms of song recommendations, I've been listening to Fujii Kaze (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1wt1xM3SE7MlUQfZUTfGnv?si=7f1b77a315304acb) and this playlist lately (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6l4ttPHUT14g5IR3Wag9zc?si=f3cab5e5975242f1). I also like The Last Dinner Party!
The festival was indeed crowded, but we didn't acquire any new books. The amount of self-published authors was pretty cool! Two booths that I remember are one of children's books written by children, and one of African folklore/fantasy YA. I did finish Boys in the Boat, and it made me curious about the concept of "swing", which apparently is this magical moment when the crew is entirely synchronous and the boat feels as if it were flying. I've also heard about body asymmetry from my dragon boat friends! Which side of the boat did you row on? Julia also joined the Cal rowing club her Junior year, and I have memories of tagging along to the rowing cage in the basement of the RSF to try out the rowing machines (erg). The amount of sweat I saw from her team members erging was astounding.
I'm glad you are okay!!!! How are the car insurance shenanigans going?
I think the midterm is nicely balanced! Overall, it felt pretty conceptual, and I liked the puzzle-ish feelings on the ones that did have some computation. It's great news that the class is improving!
Ahh I've been very curious about your motorcycle class experience -thanks for sharing! What was so terrifying about the motorcycle that came to light only when faced with the physical task of operating one -was it the clutch? As in, I can imagine a bunch of scary things about riding a motorcycle right now, but it seems like you were okay with that notion up until the practical portion (if that question makes sense). I'm glad you got the hang of it in the end 🙂
Congrats on your teaching position(s)! Have you initiated your intra-Berkeley move yet? And yay, I hope to see you more in SF as well!
Is there anything particular in biophysics that has caught your interest? And how is the diffusion simulation going? For me, stochastic simulation reminds me of phase transitions and Ising Models 😀
I'm glad you've been so social and active in connecting with others! I admire your social battery, and I've been wondering how to expand my own capacity. How is Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian), if you started?
Ahhh! Did it hurt? Are you happy with the results?
Now, a question for you:
Do you have thoughts on personality quizzes? Pseudo-science? In any case, here are two I took recently: https://nsq.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_09skGWMAzEiru3s,
P.S. Is there meaning behind the various names in your signature?
Here for the foreseeable future,
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