Today I was randomly (procrastinating) on Quora. I was somehow led to the discussion fascinatingly titled Were monocles typically used for reading or distance in the late 19th/early 20th century? I guess aside from Quora, the other option would be to go to Yahoo Answers for that kind of question, and who knows what kind of answer that would be.
Monocles aside, I was astounded to see that this was posted under the History of Science section. History of Science!!! It may be pathetic that I’m this excited about seeing my field of study being mentioned outside of Harvard, in a non-academic, crazily Web 2.0 setting, but that should tell you how much the discipline really needs to pull their act together. Clicking around led me to fascinating discussions about how you can wow the world if your time machine ever leaves you stuck in the Middle Ages, why this certain person refused to remember things that were named after people (answer: possible mental disorder?); tricky questions like unanswered questions like What were all the things that Francis Crick hated, and why?and what is the total number of ideas Thomas Edison stole? I also unexpectedly discovered the origin of the term “computer science”. Which will be helpful for my tentative thesis.
There were also a few questions that just screamed out to the academic me to give input. For example, a question that touched upon themes in my current class — Did 1,000 years of Christian domination set the world backward or forward in the sciences and technology? (From history of physics: Absolutely not. The famous Western scientists we are well familiar were vastly religious and used God as point basis for their explanations. It was only an acceptance of a divine presence that allowed them to formulate and accept the theories they had.)
Anyway, suddenly I understood Quora. Before, I had looked at it when a tech article linked it as proof of omg insider remarks from Google, but I didn’t get the point. Why would people actually post on this site?
Now, it makes sense. People like talking on and on and on about their pet ideas and their favorite topics. Quora was a place where they had people who actually wanted to listen. I suppose Wikipedia works on the same concept — people like writing and giving authority to the things they love and feel like they are experts in.
(After my finals are done, I’ll probably make a Quora account…)
It’s funny how desperate the find gets for relief and change from normal routine under the stress of college and readings and impending psets. Today, my mind decided it wanted a new case for my new iPad. Inspired by the recent library sessions, I thought, hey! A book would make a perfect case for my iPad! My library buddy was not impressed. In the tones similar to when he tells me how my latest internet discovery was on reddit weeks ago, he shook his head and flatly said, it’s been done. You can buy tons of cases like that on Amazon!
Undeterred by this lack of enthusiasm towards my latest idea, I kept it in the back of my mind every time I pulled out my iPad to do a reading. Until finally, I had one reading too much, and my tired mind refused to fuse morphemes into meaningful sentences.
I poked around my shelves for some likely candidates, and settled on one soft, cloth-covered book published by the Center for Hellenic Studies. The first act was to remove the pages. This was painful for me. I have never destroyed a book as fully as I have destroyed this one. In addition, I had won this book as a result of a photo contest from my amazing days in Greece this summer. I couldn’t help but feel guilty when I looked at the cover. Greece was so fun. But the book was so dry…I only reserved my shelves for books that I loved to read over and over again.
Pages of scholarly analysis and important-looking names came out, in patches along the rubber binding. In the background, I could hear the voices of Teresa, Mata, and Marina (my mentors and teachers from my summer stay in Greece) crying out in horror at my act of desecration. I considered leaving the last chapter, contributed by our famous Professor Nagy, in the book. Unfortunately, the new iPad was just too fat. I tore it out with a sigh.
Next came making the case for the iPad. Taking inspiration from the internet, I used the box that the iPad came in. With my trusty Exacto-knife and a clumsy pair of scissors, I began cutting away at the box.
The size was perfect; unfortunately the scoring on the edges were terrible. So I cut some strips of paper to cover up the fuzzy edges, then taped the box to the end of the book.
Ta-da! All done. Deceptively still like a book on the outside and first few flips, but then…
BAM! iPad. It even fits the horrendously expensive smart case in its covers.
Now I don’t have to feel obnoxious reading on my iPad in public. Next steps — add holes for the buttons, and a hole for music, perhaps?
Had so much fun in Chicago with my dear friend…reminiscing about the past while riding the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier was wonderfully warm and nostalgic. ♥
Birthday present. My awkward rhino.
Watch Harvard’s Wushu Club perform for Cultural Rhythms guest star John Legend, then watch again as John Legend performs for us. It was an amazing performance — major props to Sean Po for choreographing the fight scene, Jon and Teake for putting together the group swords, Wesley for toying with hook swords for the first time, and Janice for getting John Legend to sing.
Amazingly gorgeous Chinese-style art by Rola Chang, an artist from Taiwan. See a full showcase here.
Happy Valentines!
Somehow we started talking about expectations.
It started off playful, of course, with silly name-calling and ridiculous accusations that neither of us really meant. I don’t remember how we got to it, but things turned serious and he said you’ve met all my expectations so far so of course I asked him what were they?
His answer came after a short, weighted pause, and surprised me in being less a list of expectations, but a list of characteristics that described me. I didn’t buy it at first. No one perfectly meets every expectation on someone’s list! I could name you three things immediately why he’s not my girlhood image of Mr. Perfect.
Were those actually your expectations? I challenged him. Or are you just listing things you like about me?
Another weighty pause. These were all the things that I was disappointed by in my past girlfriends. You’ve been great at those, plus more.
Still, I was skeptical, and I told him so.
He responds with a laugh. I have high expectations, but I don’t know what they are until they are disappointed.
That’s true. There’s many things I didn’t realize I valued until a friendship failed because of it, and many things that I thought I valued that turned out not mattering at all. And the same set of expectations don’t apply to all people. So it’s both gratifying that I’ve been living up to expectations, but also scary knowing there’s definite ways I can disappoint, since neither of us can define them yet. As my mother has always told me, it’s the little things that no one expects to ruin a relationship that ultimately breaks it.
With him, though, I’m interested in seeing if I do disappoint him, how we will work it out.
I like that. I like that for us, I’m looking forward to conflicts, even as I hope they’ll never happen. One thing my roommate has taught me to appreciate through her difficult relationship: how two people resolve a conflict is an essential indicator of how well they are together. So here’s to all the couples out there — may your conflicts teach you more about how you can be together than why you should be apart.
My sister, making a present for my mom (Taken with Instagram at Meadow Wood)
