Growing in Love

Halloween seems to be the week for parties! I've been invited to all kinds of events this weekend. Unfortunately I don't have a costume because I am a creativity fail. But I can still eat candy! At that, I am not a fail.

One of the events was a barbeque for my research group on Wednesday. Although the grill was shut down by the fire marshal (eek!) it was fun and I spent most of my time hanging out with my fellow grad students. I did talk a bit with this undergrad that my co-advisor Vassilis introduced me too. He's new at UCLA and new to our group as well, so Vassilis probably wanted me to talk to him and make sure he felt welcome.

So I was describing the evening to my best friend on the phone afterwards, and after I mention my talk with this guy she sort of paused, and then said:

"I just think it's really impressive how you don't even like, look at other guys, or wonder for a split second what it would be like to be with someone else. It's like you don't even have to make a choice--Jay's it for you."

I was taken aback at this (just because it kind of came out of no where). My response was that well, of course. It would be like considering someone else for my best friend! A person's best friend has been with them through all sorts of fun and drama, the big excitements and the devastating tears. To me, it's like that: why would you even want to consider someone else? Since then I've been thinking about it a little more.

When I was single, I would hang out with guys and I would think, "Hmm, he's smart and funny, I kinda like him." In college I would tell my sisters and my best friend about mini-crushes that I had and we would debate the pros and cons of that person. But it's true that, now, I no longer have those thoughts. I don't wonder about whether some rando and I would be more compatible, or what it would be like to date them. It's not that I don't force myself not to, it just literally doesn't happen--and the only reason I'm even thinking about this in the first place is that Nicole brought it up.

Yes, Jay and I are very serious, but it goes beyond that ... I don't need to look any further. I've found the best, for me. I really don't like the term soul mate, because it seems to imply that there is only one person for you, which I don't believe, or even worse, that you are not complete without them. I am my own person without Jay, and if I ever have to live life on my own I will still be 'complete'.

With that said, for who I am now and what I want to be, Jay is the one I want to share my life with. He completes me, he is better where I am weak and vice versa. We share dreams and goals. We respect and support each other. We have three years of shared experiences and helping each other through tough times. Why would I want anyone else in the face of that? Why would I even think that?

The below video, although funny, makes the point somewhere in the middle that "love is nothing to do with destined perfection, the connection is strengthened, the affection simply grows over time....
And love is made more powerful by the ongoing drama of shared experience and synergy and symbiotic empathy or ... something."

I think that really says it all. How could someone different offer me that same shared experience, the support of being there? As soon as if I'd ever wondered what it would be like to have a different best friend or a different mother. It's not even a thought.

You don't fall in love with someone--you grow in love. Together.

Mmmmm coookiieeeeee

Ok. Look guys. You better be fuckin STOKED. Cause you've got a meanass Oatmeal Raisin Rum Cookie coming your way.

And I know what you're thinking so don't even THINK or SAY "oh, I don't like oatmeal raisin cookies, HOW BLAND" because

YOU'D BE JIZZWAFFLIN' WRONG, SIR.

Yeah, so like normally when you think 'oatmeal raisin cookie' you think of a crunchy, stale, gross, flavorless cookie that really makes rotting deer flesh look better at that precise moment, but this oatmeal raisin rum cookie you're about to bake and place inside your mouthal cavity in your head is just...

Moist

Dreamy

Flavorful

So sit down, shut up, and make the cookies. You won't be sorry.
(Unless you do it wrong)

Freakin CRAZY Oatmeal Raisin Rum Cookies of Awesomesauce
2 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp rum
1.5 cups raisins
~
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
~
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 cups oats

Lightly beat eggs, vanilla and rum. Add raisins. Soak for 1-3 hours, preferably in room temperature, covered with aluminum foil.

Preheat oven to 350º. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Drain the egg mixture into a large bowl, and cream with the butter, sugar and brown sugar. GENTLY stir in flour mixture, only until flour is no longer visible. DO NOT OVERMIX OR YOUR COOKIES WILL NOT BE HEAVENLY.

Gently fold in the oatmeal and raisins. Spray a baking pan with nonstick spray. Plop cookies two inches apart, throw them in the oven for 11-12 minutes or until they still look a little bit gooey underneath the golden, crackly tops of goodness. (Yum.) Don't overbake them, but if you do, just sit them on top of a slice of bread overnight and they won't be completely unheaven-ized.

Enjoy. Especially straight out of the oven. Have a glass of milk and a soft place to swoon and faint on to nearby. Give them to everyone, watch the marriage proposals roll in. Bribe your state lottery executives with them, watch the moolah roll in.

FACT.


(Note to Jenni: If you make these, make sure to call me and put me on speakerphone so I can tell you if you're doing it right since your cooking sucks kinda. BY WHICH I MEAN I LOVE YOU!!!)

peace

PS. Food porn to come once I make them.

Map of the Internet - Online Communities 2

Sweet, XKCD updated their old "map of the Internet". Check it out:

http://xkcd.com/802/

Some of my favorite things:
- Where the privacy controls are located in Facebook land
- Pretty much all of the named "Bays" and "Gulfs"
- The Great Firewall
- Livejournal! It's small but still there! Aww
- WoW island

Do that many people play Farmville? Seriously?

Here's a link to the old one if you want to compare: http://xkcd.com/256/

Wow, look at how HUGE Facebook has become, and how MySpace has disappeared. I can't find a date for when the original was posted, but it can't be that long.

Why I want to be THOR when I grow up.

10. Mjollnir. Seriously. Thor carries around this badass hammer. Not only does it have a cool name that looks like Thor just drunkenly typed it on a keyboard one time and laughed his ass off and it stuck, but the thing can pulverize shit and LEVEL MOUNTAINS. You can TERRAFORM the planet with this thing. That and it never misses its target, and always returns right to Thor's (I mean... my...) hand. It's like part boomerang.

9. In order to carry and use his drunken typo hammer, Thor had to wear a drunken typo belt and drunken typo gloves (look, the Vikings drank a lot, okay?) that doubled his strength. We can only assume that Thor thought the name of his hammer was so funny, he had to name his fricken awesome belt and gloves some names even more ridiculous: Megingjardir and Jarngreipr. Actually I'm gonna go out on a limb and say everything in Norwegian is a typo, but the Norwegians are so awesome that if you try to tell them that, they might invade your country and stomp your balls to teach you a lesson in linguistic respect.

8. Thor is so badass that he doesn't need human sacrifices like Odin did. He just kicks ass and takes names all on his own without needing the dead souls of warriors to do it with him.

7. Thor totally pulled a Mulan. One of the stories I just read involved some giant stealing his hammer, so Loki struck a deal that he'd marry Freyja off to this giant for the hammer back. Thor dressed in Freyja drag, and totally went to marry the giant, but stole his hammer back and proceeded to open a big can of whoopass all on the giant and any other giants he saw in the vicinity. Bitchin.

6. Why lie? The 2011 movie looks like it'll be pretty damn cool. And the guy who plays Thor has the same birthday as me.

5. For all his kickassness, Thor isn't just a blood-thirsty warrior. He's a god of the peasants too, so he's associated with blessings, hearth, marriages, justice, etc. He's all around awesome.

4. Again, for all his badassness, guess what his chariot is driven by? GOATS. Cute, fluffy scruffy goats like the ones your kids feed at the zoo and you sit there laughing and videotaping while the goats harmlessly chase and terrorize them. Hahahah, how cute, right? (Thanks, Grandma.) You'd think that. But these aren't just any goats... their names are Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr, which are Norwegian for 'Teethsnarler' and 'Teethgrinder.' Awesome. And Thor eats them every night and brings them back (nevermind that they were made lame by some kid who broke one's leg bone or something one night while eating it to get at the marrow. just ignore that part.) Goats. Driving the chariot of the craziest, most powerful freakin god in mythology ever. It's almost as though Thor is lookin at you getting ready to say, "Yeah go ahead and make fun of my goats. Do it. I will totally stomp your balls with lightning and then we'll see who's laughing."

3. Thor isn't allowed to cross Bifrost because all the other gods are afraid that he's so badass with his usage of heat and lightning and stuff, the bridge would just crumble. I'd like to see Chuck Norris have that on his resume!

2. He has his own day of the week! Thursday... Thor's Day (Thunor's Day?)... seriously, if you don't believe me, look at Wikipedia.

1. Look, I just always wanted one of those Viking helmets, okay? Is that so wrong?!?!

Sometimes the US sucks

::sigh::

You know, I'm all for "we're the greatest country in the world" rhetoric because for the most part we have it pretty good. But COME ON AMERICA. Stop being such a fail.

But what can be done? Kudos to Rachel Maddow for at least drawing attention to the issue. I kind of doubt it will have any effect.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Consciousness

Okay hopefully this appears in blue ...

Currently I'm reading Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's the first in a classic trilogy on humans living on and eventually terraforming Mars. It took a while to get going at the beginning, but now the characters are all arguing about terraforming ... most are for it, while a minority is against it. They want to preserve Mars, both for any native microbial life that may be there and for the beauty and geology of the natural planet.

During one of the debates, a pro-terraformer stands up and basically says, we are the life on Mars. His speech really resonated with me, especially this part:

And yet the whole meaning of the universe, its beauty, is contained in the consciousness of intelligent life. We are the consciousness of the universe, and our job is to spread that around, to go look at things, to live everywhere we can.

This speaks to so many of my own personal beliefs, and why I and many others are passionate about human space travel. What is the universe without life, especially conscious life? (I think it's a stretch to say that all humans are intelligent ;-) ). The stars are only beautiful because we are here to look at them. Without us it would be just so many atoms.

And as the only intelligent life we know of, it is not only our dream but our duty to explore, to leave the comfort of our known home and strike out into the vastness of the universe, not only to study and understand, but to live. It's hard to remember that when there are so many problems here on Earth ... but it is vitally important to our species.

First post!!!

Mostly I just wanted to see if it would post in red like I want it too. Cause what's the point of having a cool awesome tandem blog with meine schwester if we can't even make different coloured posts??! Fo shizzle.

So WHATSUP NON READERS SO FAR!! I don't think anyone like reads the first post of a blog ever. This is the unreadable post. Even if you're reading this, you're totally not, because you don't know this blog exists yet. ...or something like that.

I bet you're asking yourself, what is this dealio all about, anyway? What are they going to blog about? Cause all blogs have to have a topic, yeah? NO. BITCHES. (I'm an onion.) Our blog is going to be anything and everything. But it's a tandem blog. So some posts will be me, some posts will be her (in blue) and some posts will be created via GoogleWave (No product placement here, folks!) in conversation form.

And then I avoided the question! Kind of. Cause you wondered what we will write about, not who 'we' is. Well... a lot of stuff. Including but not limited to:

• Apples
• Politics, Religion, News, and other such offensive topics
• Culture
• Recipes
• BOOKS!!
• Dumb cool internet graphics and cartoons we might find
• Shit we did that day
• Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll
• Quotes
• Folklore
• Money
• Pretty stuff, like faeries, gemstones, and gossamer
• Beauty, cosmetics and bath salts!
• Holidays and seasonal stuff
• Music, movies
• Cute Animals
• Art (including my photographyyyyy)
• Cool crafts and stuff
• Aliens
• Technology and Science
• Funny stuff
• Geeky stuff
• Travel
• Random rants, musings, etc

So yeah. Enjoy!