The numbers game is getting me down

One website had the audacity to tell me that 30 minutes of jogging only burns 170 calories. Are you kidding me? I've decided to go with the one that tells me I burn 300 in 4 miles. And that's without taking UCLA's hills into account!

It's just frustrating, that despite starving myself (okay, so that's an exaggeration) and running 40+ minutes everyday I should only expect to lose 1lb per week. I guess I just thought exercising would have a greater impact...(let me know if I read the wrong articles >_>)

And it really doesn't help that CENS keeps throwing free food at me. I'm gonna just have to suck it up and bring my own food to the free lunches and dinners. I really never thought that the day would come that I, as a college student, would lament the gift of free meals, but here it is.

On a brighter note, $217 later and my progression in French is underway! I've signed up for grammar and conversational classes avec l'Alliance Francaise. J'espere apprendre beaucoup (and the cash is worth it)!

Okay, must begin writing personal statement for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRF), despite the fact that I'm leaning more and more away from the world of research. It's too open-ended for me, too much trial-and-error, too many nights and weekends spent in the lab by PhD students, not to mention the politics of academia. So why am I still applying for this, despite the gross amount of time and effort it will require?Because people tell me I should keep all of my options open. Ugh.

So this has been a post of moans and groans, and I didn't even touch on how monotonous work has been (thank god I've got Elizabeth by my side and Pony Pony Run Run playing in my ears) or how I spent 45 minutes writing a kick-ass essay on my first practice GRE only for it all to be lost because I didn't know to hit the save button before time ran out.

Ok. So back to the chug of things.

To keep in line with my summer goals:

Tonight: Start personal statement draft

Tomorrow: Get up early to run, avoid free food!

Plans for this weekend:

Writing writing and more writing (for both NSF and for a lit review for work)

Something fun for the 4th of July

Monday off! (but probably consisting of writing and GRE prep work)

GOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL(s)

Today was a day for summer goal setting. At work, Nabil had us outline our end-goal for the 8-week program. At home, I received an email that my honors advisor sent out to all of us who are applying for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (and are supposed to be starting to write our essays) containing a link to this helpful article.

So here they are, my personal goals for Summer 2010 (along with the necessary steps to be taken to accomplish them):

1. Complete my first draft of my NSF GRF application by the time the semester starts

• Complete first draft of Personal Statement by 7/7 to be revised by writing group
• Complete first draft of Past Research essay by TBD
• Complete first draft of Future Research essay by TBD

2. Complete my N+i application by the time the semester starts

• Ask for letters of recommendation ASAP
• Start writing Projet ASAP
• Application goes live online in August - do it!

3. Take the GRE in mid-late August (and do well!)

• Attend Princeton Review course (for free! a la my REU)
• Do review course homework
• Schedule my exam ASAP

4. Lose at least 5lbs by the time the semester starts

• Run 5x per week (I'm at 3 miles with uphill sections in 34 minutes as of tonight, and ready to bump it up)
• Eat well. When they offer me free food, I will control myself.
• NO SNACKING! Every time I want a snack, I will drink water, or perhaps skim milk to fill me up

5. Learn more French

• Attend classes at l'Alliance Francaise if possible
• Read one poem from Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal per day (I found an English translation + original French version of the book at a UCLA Store sale)
• Read Harry Potter et Les Reliques de La Mort when time allows
• Watch the French Channel TV Monde 5 when time allows

6. Decide which grad schools I want to apply to

• Do research online

Lab Rat

I'm a data grunt. Not only am I collecting data, but I am also the guinea pig.

I wear accelerometers, perform exercises, and then collect the data from the accelerometer sensors. So far the exercises have including walking slowly, walking quickly, going up stairs, and going down stairs.

My favorite experiment incident yet:
Before we begin each exercise, we perform a "signature" that will be easily read in the data so we can see when the exercises begin. We were monitoring ankle and knee movement today, so the signature was jumping up and down five times. So I was performing the signature jumps before beginning the side-stepping exercise, only to be laughed at by my fellow interns in my cubicle who had not seen us experimenting before, before awkwardly side-stepping out of sight. It was perfect.

Next week we're running :)

Speaking of which, I went for a run alone today because Ryon overslept, missed the turn off of Sunset Blvd, and got completely lost. At my farthest point I asked a woman for directions...
Me: Excuse me, I'm lost. How can I get to UCLA?
Woman: UCLA?? By bus?
Me: By running.
Woman: It's so far!!!
When I was even closer to campus I asked a man weed-whacking and he had no clue.

Granted it all ended for the best because I ended up running longer (5 miles! Not straight though, I walked up a big hill and spent many a minute waiting for the pedestrian crossing lights to change at every intersection because LA police are jerks and ticket for jay-walking), and I made it back to campus with just enough time for a quick cold shower and breakfast before it was time to head to the lab.

I'd go again tomorrow morning, but it's my first chance to sleep in in over two weeks, heck maybe even three. However, I will be going to the LA farmers market :)

It blows my mind...

...that two weeks ago, TWO WEEKS ago, I was in France. Only 15 days ago I visited Supelec and later walked the rainy streets of Paris. Only 14 days ago I said goodbye to good friends, and I said goodbye to the country that I miss more than anything (who knew that a big chunk of soil and a bunch of buildings could leave a girl heartbroken). It seems like it's been months.

But I'm supposed to be living in the present right? *Takes a breath* Alright. LA is going well. The CENS intern group is awesome - we've only known each other for four days but we all feel like it's been longer. By the end of these 8 weeks we're gonna be one big, hopefully not too dysfunctional, family. Tomorrow night is Zak's birthday. We're spending the evening at Ryon's and Zak is making dinner (it's what he wanted to do when we asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and I'm all for it <_<).>

And you know how life is serendipitous when things are meant to be? Well, turns out Zak knows a guy who went to Supelec. I just sent him an email tonight, asking for the honest truth about my future alma mater.

Elizabeth, my roomie, arrived this afternoon. She just got back from studying abroad near London yesterday. I'm pretty happy that my room mate is someone who also just back from sharing the epic, life-changing, most valuable and wonderful experience that is studying abroad. We've already swapped some stories with eerie similarities.

And gosh, I just love the CENs crew. Tuesday and Wednesday we were at a nature reserve that is a CENs lab test bed site. We spent maybe an hour working (taking out old sensor posts) and the rest of the time getting to know each other. Tuesday night we made s'mores and played a very intriguing game of two truths and a lie. And on Wednesday afternoon we hiked to the top of the mountain that the lodge was on. It was called the 4 Saints hike, because from the top one can see the four mountains in the area named after saints (along with LA smog...). It was beautiful! Click here for pics.

I should hit the sack about now; early to rise for a morning run. My friend Ryon is my running buddy. We went out today, and he tricked me into going the hard way (the night before he said we'd go the easy way). The hills here are killer! And the view isn't as scenic as it is in Cergy (parks, woods, farms, traditional French homes...have I mentioned yet how excited I am to go back to France? <_<)>

Bonne nuit!

Where is my mind?

During the day I'm at UCLA. Today was orientation. My fellow CENS students are great (there are about 18 of us). They've got personality and the same thirst for adventure and fun outside of the lab. It should be a summer full of hiking, beaches, Magic Mountain, Salsa dancing, and the list goes on and on. I'm excited :)

As for my work, apparently the project I was told I was going to be working on and really wanted to work on didn't receive funding. Instead I'll be helping to design and program an apparatus that analyzes physical movement, for sports training and physical therapy applications. It doesn't fit into my "save the natural world!" life purpose, but it will at least give me Matlab skillz :P

And more free food has been all but thrown at me then I can handle. I just can't say no to the free leftovers...And I took some of the plastic plates, forks, and cups as well, to use for the next two months. God I feel like a shady scavenger, but I'm a college student, so it's okay.

The next two days are going to be more fun than work. They're taking us camping (not tenting, but in cabins) for a night on a nature reserve that is where CENS technology first started out , monitoring bird reproduction and such. It's completely off the grid, so I apologize if I don't answer anyone's texts for the next to days - no service. I'm super excited for the hiking. And they're giving us grilled chicken and steak for dinner, with S'mores around a bonfire for dessert :D

Oh, and I lost my Trader Joe's virginity last night. People really hype it up, but I say Wegmans is better.

During the evening I'm alone in my room (my room mate is studying London and will get here on Friday) and my thoughts drift back to France. Jackie and I have made the sacred pinky oath to be in Paris together next summer (starting in June). We're thinking renting a flat, finding an under-the-table job as waitresses or such, and travelling in our off time. Then I'll be starting up at either Supelec or GTL in the fall. Merde, I love my life.

Countdown to my return to France: 11 months (that's less than a year!!! :D)

A pun? Yeah, I went there.

Bienvenue!

I've been having too many amusing/interesting/cool experiences to not write them down, thus I've decided to start up a new LJ. I replay my day-to-day experiences enough in my mind, as if I were telling stories to an audience, so it makes sense that I do so to an actual, non-imaginary audience, decreasing my odds of developing schizophrenia ;)

So please, enjoy!