SALLY RIDE!!!

[twentysixacid]

Sooooo the greatest thing about Berkeley is that it has one of the best physics departments ever. And a benefit of that is that you get special guests who come to visit the campus, people like...Sally Ride! So on Monday night she ave a lecture with pictures taken FROM SPACE, but mostly she talked about the importance of science education among the k-12 group and the need to get women and minorities to stick with science. She had soem great statistics/research/data and anecdotes, and it was really interesting. But then she opened the last 1/2 hour to questions and I got to ask one! Since I want to be an astronaut after I get my PhD in physics, I asked her to elaborate on the training process. And then a little later, the Chancellor Birgeneau told me he hoped I was the first Berkeley astronaut! I was so tingly and excited I couldn't do a whole lot more than squeak (I mean seriously, how often does a college freshman get told by their chancellor something so awesome and encouraging????). And then today, because I am a Compass undergrad (and Compass is awesome), I got to see her in a much smaller setting when she talked to some Compass students (both undergrad and graduate) and some women from SWPS (Society for Women in the Physical Science) who may or may not have also been Compass students--I didn't know them very well, but they're cool. Anyways we got to hear what being in space is like from A REAL LIFE ASTRONAUT and she signed a poster for me (one of the official posters put up by the school announcing the event) that is now hanging on my wall.

So a bit on what being in space is like from A REAL LIFE ASTRONAUT:

• You can't swim in space like they do in Hollywood space. When she reminded us that air is incredibly not-dense, unlike water, that made sense. Apparently you look kind of stupid if you try to swim in the air. Following off that...
• You can get stuck in the middle of a room if you push off from one wall and don't quite make it to the other wall.
• You will find that Newton's Laws are a bit more noticeable in space. When you press a key on a computer keyboard, the key will push you back and exert a force on you. It's kind of a "duh" thing after taking basic physics, but since its so contradictory to Earth norm it's still cool to think about. Also,s he says that if you try to open a drawer, you may just pull yourself into it (rather than open it) and hit yourself in the face.

HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT????

And this is just shaping up to be the best week ever. I GOT A FRIDGE!!! My dad came up on Sunday, I took him out to megadelicious Thai food (I love you forever, Berkeley Thai Noodle), and then we installed my fridge and went to Berkeley Bowl (best groccery store ever!). So I've been eating real food, and not crappy school food. I'm not even that bummed that I lost my student ID (and therefore can't use my mealpoints) because it gives me an excuse to eat my real food. It was a bit stressful because I also had no cash, but I have cash now so I can get crepes (again, I love you forever Crepes A-Go-Go). And hopefully someone turns in my ID, because I already lost it once like a month ago, and I don't want to pay for another replacement and another bus pass...

Yeah. Life is just good. I got over my cold that my despicable roommate gave me, the weather has been warm and sunny and wonderful in Berkeley almost every day since I've been back from winter break...yeah. Plus, today was tuesday, when I have physics, math, and FemSex, all my favorite classes on one day! It's just so GOOD.