a new school year, fun weekends, and shiny things!
The new school year has been begun at MIT. I'm co-TAing (along with a friend, which should be fun) a class that teaches undergrads how to design experiments and analyze the results. I think that kind of class is a good idea, and it should be fun to help teach, but it's started out a bit disorganized. It shouldn't be as much work as the first class (Intro to Psych) I TAed, though more work than the class I TAed last year.
I'm taking a natural language processing class, which I'm looking forward to. I took one as an undergrad, but a lot has happened in the field since then, and a lot has changed for me since then, in terms of my knowledge and goals. It should be fun but a lot of work, but hopefully I can use my research for part of it. I'll also be sitting in on an advanced language acquisition seminar at Harvard once classes start there, which should just consist of a bunch of cool reading and discussion. I've given myself permission to miss it sometimes if things get too stressful, though. Figuring out how to not get too stressed this semester is a high priority.
I've decided that one day of every weekend I will do my best not to work. Instead of spending some or all of the weekend not working and feeling guilty about it (and often sitting around inside all day), I'm going to make an effort to get out and do fun things. I will try not to sit around in front of my computer all day goofing off, though scheduling some time for writing or movie watching or something fun is certainly allowed. But I think I get depressed and impatient feeling when I just faff about on the web too much, much though I like doing that in small amounts. So I'm going to try to fill my time with plenty of other good things.
These past two weekends I've already been quite successful. Last weekend I went to the Boston Harbor Islands. I explored Georges and Peddocks Islands (thanks for the recommendations, wyrmofbooks!). It was great fun. On the ferry ride out, I met a family that was going to explore the islands for the first time, too, and they asked if I wanted to go with them on a tour of the old WWI and WWII military base at Peddocks. I accompanied them on the tour -- just us and the park ranger, who had spent most of his life exploring the islands and climbing around in dangerous old boarded up tunnels and buildings, and had lots of great stories. Fort Andrews was used to house Italian POWs in WWI, as well as a bunch of military officers, and I was struck by how nice the POW quarters were. They had a gym and movie theater and piano and other stuff, and were allowed to wander around the island during the week. On weekends, they were given passes to go stay with host families in Boston, and a lot of them ended up staying and settling in the North End after the war. Our treatment of POWs has sadly changed over time.
I also hiked all around Peddocks -- it has three different wooded headlands, with beach and marshland separating them, and I visited them all, trying to stay out of the yards of the occasional small summer/fishing cottage I ran across. I also found an astounding number of very flat stones and had fun skipping them for a while -- I can't recall doing that in a decade or so. Then I returned to Georges Island and wandered some more around Fort Warren, the old Civil War fort. I'd only had about 20 minutes to explore it in the morning before the ferry departed for Peddocks. In the afternoon, it was less spooky; there were a bunch of international students from one of the local universities enjoying their last days before class, playing soccer in the courtyard. Their cries bounced through the halls of the old fort and reminded me that there were other people around as I explored. Still, as I went into the depths of some of the tunnels, the grafitti revealed by my bobbing flashlight were sometimes the only signs of any recent human habitation. I read various messages sprayed onto the tunnel walls sloppily -- did they have to set down their flashlights to do it? I did not want to let go of my light in the quiet of these halls, and I was in fact clutching my tiny backup flashlight in my pocket a few times, too -- and wandered to the most remote bits I could find. Then I went out and sat on a lonely lookout on the beach for a while. The family I had toured with on Peddocks had offered to let me go along on a tour of Georges as well, but I didn't really want to hear about the Black Lady who haunts the fort walls, or the largest powderhouse in some area or other. I had a lot more fun just running around, climbing up and down, exploring nooks and crannies and trails. I felt like a little kid, and it was great fun.
This weekend I worked a lot yesterday, so today I took the day off. I wrote a little bit of my novel this morning (and am hoping to have time for more before bed), and then I went off to buy a bike. I've been thinking of getting one for some time, and plotting all the things I would do with it, and researching bikes and stores. So finally, I went for it. The bike I got was definitely on the more expensive side of what I wanted to pay, but I test rode several bikes, and it was by far the best (better than others in its price range, too). I fell in love with it when I took it on a test ride, and the people in the shop (who have been recommended as knowing what they're talking about) said that it is a great bike that would partially make up its cost in terms of future maintenance (they also do a free tune-up and some other maintenance for the bike, which is nice). It's a hybrid (a Coda), a bit more roady than mountainy. I'm going to ride it to MIT many days, and also go on some long day trips. I ran some errands with it and then rode it home, and some of the streets were pretty scary (potholes, no bike lanes, asshole drivers), which is always the best situation in which to remember how to ride. The good news is that most of my route was the same as the route I'll take into school, and those roads are mostly smooth and wide, and there's a bike path for a good portion. And the other good news is that I'm in much better shape than I ever was before when I had a bike, and even burdened with art supplies and bike supplies and groceries, I felt like I was flying along the streets. Yay! I love my bike! Though my butt hurts already and will probably be unhappy this week.
I need to make a mask for a masquerade ball (and possibly more of a costume; I'm not certain yet how much I'm constructing and how much I'm buying or renting). I'm going to build one that is lightweight and perches on my glasses, since I don't wear contacts (and don't want to be blind). I have some really cool ideas about layering tissue paper and/or feathers and then covering them with something hard and shiny. I'm about to test some of these ideas out. And then maybe I'll have time to write a little more. It's been a fun day.
I'm taking a natural language processing class, which I'm looking forward to. I took one as an undergrad, but a lot has happened in the field since then, and a lot has changed for me since then, in terms of my knowledge and goals. It should be fun but a lot of work, but hopefully I can use my research for part of it. I'll also be sitting in on an advanced language acquisition seminar at Harvard once classes start there, which should just consist of a bunch of cool reading and discussion. I've given myself permission to miss it sometimes if things get too stressful, though. Figuring out how to not get too stressed this semester is a high priority.
I've decided that one day of every weekend I will do my best not to work. Instead of spending some or all of the weekend not working and feeling guilty about it (and often sitting around inside all day), I'm going to make an effort to get out and do fun things. I will try not to sit around in front of my computer all day goofing off, though scheduling some time for writing or movie watching or something fun is certainly allowed. But I think I get depressed and impatient feeling when I just faff about on the web too much, much though I like doing that in small amounts. So I'm going to try to fill my time with plenty of other good things.
These past two weekends I've already been quite successful. Last weekend I went to the Boston Harbor Islands. I explored Georges and Peddocks Islands (thanks for the recommendations, wyrmofbooks!). It was great fun. On the ferry ride out, I met a family that was going to explore the islands for the first time, too, and they asked if I wanted to go with them on a tour of the old WWI and WWII military base at Peddocks. I accompanied them on the tour -- just us and the park ranger, who had spent most of his life exploring the islands and climbing around in dangerous old boarded up tunnels and buildings, and had lots of great stories. Fort Andrews was used to house Italian POWs in WWI, as well as a bunch of military officers, and I was struck by how nice the POW quarters were. They had a gym and movie theater and piano and other stuff, and were allowed to wander around the island during the week. On weekends, they were given passes to go stay with host families in Boston, and a lot of them ended up staying and settling in the North End after the war. Our treatment of POWs has sadly changed over time.
I also hiked all around Peddocks -- it has three different wooded headlands, with beach and marshland separating them, and I visited them all, trying to stay out of the yards of the occasional small summer/fishing cottage I ran across. I also found an astounding number of very flat stones and had fun skipping them for a while -- I can't recall doing that in a decade or so. Then I returned to Georges Island and wandered some more around Fort Warren, the old Civil War fort. I'd only had about 20 minutes to explore it in the morning before the ferry departed for Peddocks. In the afternoon, it was less spooky; there were a bunch of international students from one of the local universities enjoying their last days before class, playing soccer in the courtyard. Their cries bounced through the halls of the old fort and reminded me that there were other people around as I explored. Still, as I went into the depths of some of the tunnels, the grafitti revealed by my bobbing flashlight were sometimes the only signs of any recent human habitation. I read various messages sprayed onto the tunnel walls sloppily -- did they have to set down their flashlights to do it? I did not want to let go of my light in the quiet of these halls, and I was in fact clutching my tiny backup flashlight in my pocket a few times, too -- and wandered to the most remote bits I could find. Then I went out and sat on a lonely lookout on the beach for a while. The family I had toured with on Peddocks had offered to let me go along on a tour of Georges as well, but I didn't really want to hear about the Black Lady who haunts the fort walls, or the largest powderhouse in some area or other. I had a lot more fun just running around, climbing up and down, exploring nooks and crannies and trails. I felt like a little kid, and it was great fun.
This weekend I worked a lot yesterday, so today I took the day off. I wrote a little bit of my novel this morning (and am hoping to have time for more before bed), and then I went off to buy a bike. I've been thinking of getting one for some time, and plotting all the things I would do with it, and researching bikes and stores. So finally, I went for it. The bike I got was definitely on the more expensive side of what I wanted to pay, but I test rode several bikes, and it was by far the best (better than others in its price range, too). I fell in love with it when I took it on a test ride, and the people in the shop (who have been recommended as knowing what they're talking about) said that it is a great bike that would partially make up its cost in terms of future maintenance (they also do a free tune-up and some other maintenance for the bike, which is nice). It's a hybrid (a Coda), a bit more roady than mountainy. I'm going to ride it to MIT many days, and also go on some long day trips. I ran some errands with it and then rode it home, and some of the streets were pretty scary (potholes, no bike lanes, asshole drivers), which is always the best situation in which to remember how to ride. The good news is that most of my route was the same as the route I'll take into school, and those roads are mostly smooth and wide, and there's a bike path for a good portion. And the other good news is that I'm in much better shape than I ever was before when I had a bike, and even burdened with art supplies and bike supplies and groceries, I felt like I was flying along the streets. Yay! I love my bike! Though my butt hurts already and will probably be unhappy this week.
I need to make a mask for a masquerade ball (and possibly more of a costume; I'm not certain yet how much I'm constructing and how much I'm buying or renting). I'm going to build one that is lightweight and perches on my glasses, since I don't wear contacts (and don't want to be blind). I have some really cool ideas about layering tissue paper and/or feathers and then covering them with something hard and shiny. I'm about to test some of these ideas out. And then maybe I'll have time to write a little more. It's been a fun day.