Divergence and parallelism

Well, it's Thursday, which means that I have two lab meetings today. Yes, I'm weird, and attend two lab meetings per week. I've recently returned from one of the meetings and am awaiting the start of the next one, so I thought that I'd quickly blog about some of my mid-day musings.

What's interesting to me is how differently these lab meetings run. In lab A, we first spend a lot of time gossiping (the advisor for lab A calls this "professional development" or "gleaning insights about the culture of science"...heehee). We then usually move onto discussing our research ideas. Emphasis on the word "idea." We talk in generalities, and this advisor wants us to always be discussing how our general idea is going to move the field forward. In lab B, we first spend some time discussing specific questions that we have about some recent paper, talk, or analysis. We then usually move onto discussing our research projects. Emphasis on the word "project." We talk in specifics, and this advisor wants us to always be discussing how our specific methodology is going to address our project's hypothesis.

It's also interesting to see how differently I react to these lab meetings. When I leave the meetings for lab A, I feel the need to zoom out of my own little research world and look at how my questions fit into the broader context of science. I also feel a desire to relate my work to other disciplines that are looking at some of my overarching questions from a very different setting/framework. Yay for interdisciplinary work. :) When I leave the meetings for lab B, I feel the need to bury myself in the literature that most closely resembles my area of interest and ask how my questions can best be addressed given what others have already done. I also feel a desire to gain a deeper knowledge of some really specific projects that were well-crafted and elegant.

I'm convinced that both approaches are helpful to my progress as a grad student, but in very different ways. And I have to admit that I'm thankful to have both at this stage in my career. Together, they provide a helpful approach to thinking about my own work. From lab A, I'm constantly encouraged to look at how my work fits into the big picture. From lab B, I'm constantly encouraged to focus on specifics that are real and important considerations in any project.

Things I've noted about myself, both in the grad school context and in the "life" context: I easily lose sight of the big picture goals when I'm concerned about nitty-gritty things. And I also easily lose sight of procedures and realistic steps towards progress when I'm focused on more broad and long-term goals or ideals. A balance exists somewhere...right?

Just going with the flow...

If you feel comfortable doing so, please fill out these two little online quizzes for me...

My Johari window

My Nohari window

Thanks!

In the spirit of questions...

I used the word "spiritual" in a conversation last week, and ever since then I've been sortof pondering what exactly I meant by it. It strikes me that the word means different things to different people.

So...how do you define the word "spiritual"? Or if you don't want to give an exact definition (I find that to be very difficult), what sorts of things leap to mind when someone uses that word to describe a state of mind, a person, or an experience?

The obligatory post

In honor of Valentine's Day, here is my favorite cartoon, from PhD comics:

The true meaning of Valentine's Day

By the way, if you're a grad student, you should definitely be reading "Piled Higher & Deeper." If you need to be convinced, check out the some of the fan favorites under the "New to PhD?" section on the lower left corner of the screen.

And now, time for an amusing story (at least some of you who know me will think it's funny). I met up with one of my guy friends at a dance last week. He decided that he really wanted to set me up with one of his friends, and started going over all of the reasons why it might be a good idea. After hearing enough to think that it wasn't going to work out long-term anyway, I declined the offer. But he kept trying to persuade me.

Finally he said "Come on, Katie. Just think, it will give you someone to..." he paused, searching for just the right word "...analyze."

Heehee. :)

Music Therapy

I had forgotten just how theraputic playing in an ensemble can be for me. Handbell rehearsal last night was wonderfully fun, thanks to both the insanely crazy music and the insanely crazy people. And the music got in my head and stayed there...annoyingly, it stayed there even after I tried (unsucessfully) to go to bed. But I'm really excited this term because we're playing 3 of my top 10 favorite bell pieces of all time.

What are my favorites?

1. Tempest (Kevin McChesney) - Any piece that is so absolutely crazy has to be good. Time signature changes abound, and the melody in the rollicking 6/8 section is one of my favorites. My left arm wants to fall off by the end of the piece, but that's okay. And I worked up an actual sweat practicing this last night! You can listen to a snippet of the song on Ring of Fire's website (scroll down to Tempest, track 3) . We'll push the tempo faster than they did, though. ;)
2. Festive Dance (Bizet/McChesney) - Based on Bizet's 'Farandole' from L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2. The goal of this piece is to get it to be as fast as humanly possible while maintaining precision and phrasing. Besides the fast part, I also love this piece because of all of the great memories it brings back for me.
3. Greensleeves (arr. Cathy Moklebust) - A hauntingly beautiful melody. Fabulous use of the eighth octave of bells.
4. Reunir (The 'adorable Dr. Payn') - If played correctly, whisks the listener through several passionate moods. Also creates a very full sound in some beautiful passages. This piece was commissioned by my current handbell ensemble.
5. Change Ring on Divinum Mysterium (Fred Gramann) - I usually can't get enough of this piece. Based on the melody "Of the Father's Love Begotten."
6. Heart Melodies, Part I (Payn) - In this piece, a bell choir is to be accompanied by orchestra, though the middle passage can be played alone with bells. Based on the theme of love, Payn weaves a complex yet sweet landscape of sound.
7. Imagenes (Payn) - I include this piece because the beginning and ending sections are sortof mysterious and intriguing. Also, the 'B' section sounds like remotely like theme music from Zelda. :)
8. Hava Nageela (arr. Douglas Floyd Smith) - A Jewish piece for bells! It's fantastic -- and the last half of the piece is basically just one huge accelerando.
9. Gethsemane, Reflections on the Passion Chorale (Nancy Hascall) - I just got introduced to this piece recently, but I already love it. It's very very moving (and very, very, slow...the beginning section is at quarter = 60). Plus, one section of it is in e-flat minor...6 flats! Yeah man!
10. Meditation on Beautiful Savior (Moklebust) - Another very moving piece. Sounds the most "churchy" of all of the above pieces.

Although the list above is ordered like a top-10 list, it is subject to change depending on my mood. I also expect that Gethsemane will move up on the list as we play it more.

Poor swans!

Hehe...okay, so I was going to post a serious post today, but then I found a really really funny article on The Onion. Check it out!!

EPA Warns of Dangerous Levels of Romance in Air

Wormholes

Ever have an experience that suddenly transports you to a different time? To a different place? I had one of those experiences yesterday.

I was sitting in mass, listening to the readings and totally oblivious to the time travel that I was about to experience. The Catholic Church operates on a three-year cycle of readings for mass. Therefore, yesterday's readings were identical to the readings of a sunday in February of 2003. Partway through one of the readings (that I've actually read many times in the last few years), I thought "Hm, why does this sound so familiar?" And suddenly it dawned on me that I last heard it spoken three years ago.

And whoosh -- all of a sudden I was transported back in time to that mass. It was weird. I can remember where I was sitting, the general gist of a song we sung, my reaction to the homily that day, the confused and concerned glances of a friend I was with, and my general lack of trust in myself and God that day. What's weird is just how vividly that memory returned to me. I was really surprised.

This has led me to believe that there may in fact be wormholes in the fabric of the universe. Weirdo. :)

Presticogitation. Yargh.

Some of my new favorite words:

Presticogitation – rapid mental processing that commands compliance because of its speed and beauty

This word was created by James Vanden Bosch, a professor at Calvin College. In describing the exact word he was looking for when creating “presticogitation,” he comments: "I wanted a word that would refer, playfully, to a phenomenon that had not yet been named, namely, the fast and powerful thinking that so dazzles the listener that the sheer speed and brightness of the performance brings the listener into quick, even grateful, compliance or agreement."

I like it. :)

Yargh – this one is difficult to define directly, but a friend and I have been trying to dissect its peculiarities for weeks. Sometimes context clues help, so here are snippets of our conversations about yargh:

* “I could be fairly described as yarghed.”
* “Being social while in a state of yargh is…difficult.”
* “We need to find unyargh times to deyargh.”
* “At least acknowledging the yargh diminishes some of the yarghness of yargh.”
And my personal favorite…
* “This (mood) can only really be described as yargh, because I don’t know how to break out of the yargh, which is pretty much the definition of yargh.”