3/19/01

I've been working, a lot. From last Monday until Friday, I worked 12-16 hours a day, every day. Saturday, I was in the lab for about 9 hours. And then on Sunday, my manic streak came to something of an end.

These past two weeks have just been completely overwhelming. I had two experiments ending at the same time, and I had to present at lab meeting last week, and then I have the stress of preparing for my qualifying exams hanging over my head, as always. I think I finally managed to find a time when all of my committee members can actually get together for me to take the exam. It's probably going to be on the morning of May 24th.

So, before then, I have to write a thesis proposal and learn everything I can about my field. The exam will consist of 2-3 hours of both defending my proposal and showing the members of my committee that I have a reasonable amount of background knowledge pertaining to my field. The tricky part is figuring out what your committee will consider to be "relevant" background.

I did get out a few times this weekend, though. On Friday night, I went with Andy to see "State and Main." I know, that movie came out months ago, but I just got around to seeing it on Friday. I think it was only the third movie I've seen all year--the only other ones I can remember seeing are "Requiem for a Dream" and "Dark Days," and both of those came out in 2000, as well.

Saturday I had lunch with an old college friend visiting from Chicago. The weather was beautiful, so I was glad to have an excuse to get away from the lab for a couple of hours.

Then on Sunday, I was finally able to take some time off work. In the morning, I went for my weekly long run. This was an "off" week, so I only went 13 miles. The main goal of that run, though, was to practice refueling on the run--I'd bought some of those "energy gels" at the local running store and I wanted to try them out to see if they did anything for me.

One difficulty I foolishly did not anticipate with the gel was the difficulty I had in opening the foil package with my sweaty hands. I had to stop for several seconds and wipe my hands off on my shirt to get it open.

The gel was vanilla-flavored, and it tasted sort of like warm, slightly salty, vanilla pudding (it was warm because it had been sitting in my pocket throughout the first hour of my run). It wasn't bad, but vanilla pudding isn't exactly the kind of food I generally crave after I've been running for an hour on a hot day. I guess I had a little more energy after I had it, and it didn't upset my stomach or anything, so I'll probably try it again on my future long runs.

In the afternoon, I decided to head over to Berkeley in search of some new sports bras that wouldn't give me huge welts. I'd been having a hard time finding decent ones here in the city, so I decided to go to the Title 9 Sports retail store. So, I hopped on a train and headed to Berkeley.

To get to North Berkeley from my house on a Sunday, you usually have to take 3 trains, but since they were doing track work on the N-Judah, I wound up having to take 3 trains plus a shuttle bus. I was having a bad public transit day. As I walked down the hill to catch the bus, I saw a mostly-empty bus pulling away from my stop, but I was too far away to run and catch it. Of course, the next bus took almost half an hour to come and was completely full.

So, I suffered on the crowded bus, got on the first train, and then onto the next. The second train was a BART commuter rail train headed for Oakland, and was only about half-full. I got on and had a seat to myself, and then two teenaged boys sat down in the row in front of me and spread themselves out across all four seats by sticking their feet up.

One of the boys was eating M&M's and when his friend across the aisle asked for some, he threw several M&M's at him. Most landed on the floor. One hit the man sitting behind the other boy, but the man didn't say anything.

I think anyone who takes public transportation regularly eventually en counters a similar situation--teenagers who engage in disruptive behavior and are seemingly tolerated by all the other passengers. I know that I've experienced it several times. I guess there are a few reasons why people are so reluctant to call these people on their behavior. I know the reasons why I don't do it. One is fear--teenagers are unpredictable, and confronting one could lead to an unpleasant confrontation or even physical aggression. Another is the realization that I don't really have any authority over these kids. I'm not a transit authority employee and I'm not their mother. Granted, I am a fellow passenger, and I have a right to ride the train without M&Ms flying around my head, but I doubt these kids would see it that way.

Anyway, as the train ride went on, these boys got more and more rowdy and I found myself fantasizing about confronting them. After all, I thought, what do I have to lose? I don't care if they yell at me, and I figured that the fact that I am a woman and far smaller than they were might deter them from attacking me physically. The other passengers on the train were giving the boys dirty looks, so I figured they would back me up if I said something.

But then I thought to myself "what would confronting them really accomplish?" And I didn't really think it would accomplish much. So, I just went back to glowering in my seat.

Eventually, my transfer stop came, and the boys stood up to get off at the same stop. As I walked past their seat, I saw that they had dumped far more M&M's on the ground than I had realized--at least 30 or 40 of them. I was so shocked by their carelessness that my internal censor was momentarily stunned, and I blurted out "are you just going to leave those on the ground like that?"

The boy who had done most of the M&M throwing turned around and looked surprised but still fairly nonchalant. "Uh-huh," he said dismissively.

Lamely, I continued on: "you know, someone is going to have to clean that up. It's really disrespectful to just leave garbage on the train like that."

"Whatever," the boy replied with a shrug.

Then the doors opened and we all walked across the platform to get on the same train. I walked towards the back of the train to avoid being on the same car with them again. Even though what I said was completely lame, I had a certain feeling of self-satisfaction. I think maybe I might have even embarrassed them a little bit. I don't know, maybe not, but it felt good to call them on their actions, especially after having not done so so many times in the past.

Anyway, I finally arrived at my final stop and proceeded to get completely lost finding the store. I eventually did find it, though, and bought some running stuff, and then I had to ask them for directions to get back to the train station.

On my way home, I stopped downtown to do a couple more errands, and then by the time I got home it was already after 6 p.m. I had dinner with my Chicago friend, and then headed back home so I could go to the grocery store. I was completely exhausted, and after all that I just wanted to go home and veg out, so I bought the April issue of Elle magazine. Not only was my junior high classmate Uma Thurman on the cover, but I was shocked to read inside that two of my other classmates are the subject of a documentary movie by Hegedus and Pennebaker which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and which will be in theaters in May.

I knew that the guy who is the main focus of the film, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, had started a company called govworks.com. Kaleil has always been a real go-getter type, so I don't think anyone from our high school was too surprised when he turned out to be our class's first internet millionaire. His accomplishments are actually pretty impressive--this guy is my age, and he started a company which has Henry Kravis on the Board of Directors. He also had a strong arrogant streak, so we also weren't too surprised when we read in the news that his company had wound up $30M in debt. But I didn't know until yesterday that his cycle of success and failure had been made into a movie, although that doesn't really shock me too much, either. Kaleil has never shied away from the limelight. I can't wait to see the movie...

Anyway, today I'm back at work again, but I'm struggling with an overwhelming case of spring fever. The weather outside is gorgeous, and I'm really sick of the lab. I think I might take off early and go sit in the park for a bit.

In the forum: Juvenile Delinquents.