First Published: 2022 January 8
Something major that I’ve started doing since stopping my blog last is yarn craft. The spring break after I got back from London, one of my fellow Grinnell Singers taught me1 how to knit.
When I returned to work at the math lab, my boss asked if I wanted to learn crochet. I did, and found that I significantly preferred crochet to knitting, mostly because it is much more freeform. With knitting, you’re by and large limited to rectangular shapes due to the nature of using two needles to put stitches on and off.
Crochet, on the other hand, is primarily left off of the hook, so you can craft whatever shape you’d want much more easily. Anyways, in 2021 I don’t think I crocheted much of anything, but in the first few days of 2022 I started again, and I forgot how good it is as a destresser2.
First Published: 2022 January 8
Whoops, I spaced to post yesterday. The orange came out really well though!
First Published: 2022 January 6
As someone who does a lot of math-adjacent work1, I often have to do lots of repetitive calculations. Since I am easily bored, I tried to find a way to not have to do the same equation 100 times with only minor modifications. Growing up in a CS heavy household, I realized that I could try to use computers to do some of the math for me.
So, I asked my family “What language should I learn?” They responded2 Python, because lots of reasons which boil down to:
It’s easy
It’s commonly used
But as I worked in Python, I became dissatisfied.
Anyways, flash forward to today where I’m now learning Racket. Racket is built on Scheme which is built on Lisp. Lisp is a language3 that developed in parallel to C4-like languages, which is based on the idea of lambda calculus.
It uses a lot of parentheses, and it has been fun to figure out how to use it. Today I wanted to see if 12 steps to the octave really is the best approximation5. Turns out it is in fact the best up to 47 divisions of the octave! And I did that in Racket, which is fun and exciting. If you want my6 code, feel free to message me.
First Published: 2022 January 5
If you’ve seen some of my earlier posts, you might notice that I sometimes used to mention recipes I’d cooked here. Mostly this serves as a way for me to1 recreate these dishes at a later time.
My brothers kindly gave me a2 5 kilogram chocolate bar for Christmas. Now, if you’re anything like me, you immediately thought of the same thing to use the chocolate for! That’s right, candied orange peel.
Well, being fair, my mind went:
Chocolate and Christmas
Christmas = Orange3
Chocolate and Orange
Chocolate Oranges
...
I’m sure you can catch the rest. So, without further ado, I present my4 recipe for chocolate orange (peels).
Cut orange in half polewise
Remove Skin
Boil skin in water for 30 minutes
Remove skin and cool
Scrape pith5 off with a knife or something
Put orange slices and skin together with sugar and reserved boiling water
Cook until candied
Drain and Dry6
Coat in chocolate??
First Published: 2022 January 4
Tonight I had a lovely date which included visiting a local ice skating rink. It was absolutely incredible1 to try ice skating again for what I’m pretty sure is the first time in more than a decade. That’s something that I find I often see in the new year: I try things again that I haven’t for ages and find that it’s at least as fun now as it was then.
as all of my time with her is↩︎
First Published: 2022 January 3
Something that I reflected on at least once in my initial blogging1 is why I wrote it. In part it was due to an assignment to journal more, and in part it was to keep people in my life updated on my whereabouts and doings.
Of course, a lot has changed since August 2018. That class ended, for one. I’ve finished my semester abroad. I’ve graduated college and started my Ph.D. Program. I’ve moved to a new city and state, where I will2 be for the next 3 or so years. Most of my day-to-day isn’t surprising to anyone who knows me.
So I have to think about what this blog is for anymore. It’s not enough for me to think of it as a way to force myself to write more3, because I can write in other ways or in other places. It’s not enough for me to claim that this could be useful for my family, friends, and loved ones4 to know what’s happening in my mind, because I self censor far too much for that, and I talk to them besides. It’s not even enough for me to reflect on how great it was to see what I wrote while in London as a way of remembering my own past, which was incredibly enjoyable the other day.
Instead, I think my goal for writing this blog in 2022 will be to see it as5 screaming into the void. As a scientist, one metaphor that has stuck with me is the idea of the sum of human knowledge being represented as a sphere.6 Our job as scientists is to pick one infinitesimally small point on that sphere and push it just the slightest bit forward.
In time, our protrusion into the void of the unknown may be the starting point needed for others to push their own ideas forward and bring the world into a better way. Or, the protrusion may end up simply remaining there, unused but known.
In this image, all of science7 is dedicated to looking away the safe and comfortable bubble of the known and used, and staring into the void of the unknown, trying to pin something down to add to the bubble of safety.
In some sense, that’s one of my goals here. Every way that I self-reflect, whether talking to others about myself, thinking about myself, writing about myself, writing as myself8, or even just existing pushes me into new truths about myself. If my goal9 is to know myself, how can I say that I’m working towards it if I refuse to expand my bubble of knowledge into the void.
More like music than chemistry, I expand into the void not by study and measurement, but by creation and action. By writing this blog daily, staring into the void which is the genesis of my writings, I hope that in time I will be able to better see how and why I act the way I do.
Of course, there are other benefits I hope to enjoy as well. For instance, my Sunday reflections on the Gospels I hope to use as a way of deepening my faith and my connection to the Lord. My study posts I hope to use to pass my classes.10 My posts about concerts and events I see I hope to use to encourage myself to go to those events more, so I have an easy excuse not to self reflect for a day.
One final reason, though it’s less cheerful than the rest, is similar to a reason my inspiration for this blog came from. He wrote11 his blog in part because of the knowledge of his own mortality. When he is no longer here, he hopes that the blog he writes will be a source of fond memory and a way to connect with him for his family and loved ones. If I’m being honest with myself, that has to be a part of what I’m doing too. I hope that something that I write here, as I scream into the apparent void of unlisted urls, unpublicized blogs, and my own unknown mind, that at some point the signal will reach someone I love long past when I wrote it.
So, if you’re here and want to drop me a line, feel free to message me and let me know you’re reading.12
though I cannot find the post now↩︎
hopefully↩︎
though that is certainly a large part of what I’m doing it for↩︎
these circles are not mutually exclusive in any way↩︎
much like the title suggests↩︎
or sphere-like object, because soon we’re deforming (though if I’ve learned anything about topology [or physics], it’s that everything is basically a sphere↩︎
using a more historical meaning of science, moreso learning than STEM↩︎
because who else can I write as↩︎
which it is↩︎
not actually, I am truly in the part of my life where I’m more concerned with the learning than the grade, which is horribly exciting↩︎
writes?↩︎
if you don’t know how to contact me, I’m unsure how you got onto this blog, but I’m sure you can find me somewhere↩︎
First Published: 2022 January 21
Matthew 2:10: “They were overjoyed at seeing the star,”
In today’s reading we are told that the Magi were “overjoyed” to see the Holy Family. This upcoming year that’s something I’d like to focus more on. Too often I feel like I do not really engage wholly with the Real Presence in Adoration and Mass.
In the first reading, we hear that “(n)ations shall walk by your light, kings by the radiance of your dawning”2, which this year for me is a reminder for me that we are not called to keep the joy and love of our Lord hidden beneath shades and covered up. Rather, we are called to be the light in others’ lives through all our words and deeds. As I begin this year, this message is calling me to be the bright light in the lives of those around me.
First Published: 2022 January 1
I just finished a read through1 of the blog on here. It’s really interesting to see a glimpse into my life three-ish years ago. I noticed a couple of major things. First, it’s really fun to me that I’ve basically just caught back up to the point in the liturgical season we’re at because readings loop every three years. Second, seeing my public2 comments on different portions of my life let me remember some of the parts of my days I didn’t write which is fantastic.
Since my last end of/beginning of year post had five things I was most grateful for and the same number things I was looking forward to, in 20213 I was most grateful for4:
Meeting fantastic people, including a special person in my life
Composing again (for the first time since graduating)
Really learning about my research5
Got vaccinated!
Presented at my first conference as a graduate student!
Five things that I’m looking forward to6 in 2022 are7:
Passing my Thesis Background Exam
Growing deeper in my relationships
Continuing this blog again8
Taking a class on the interstellar medium9
Growing more independent in my research
Going into 2019, I never could have predicted what fantastic things would happen,10 though all five of the events I was hoping for11 happened and were wonderful, so I can only assume the same will be true in 2022.
Anyways, since this blog more or less exists nowhere visible anymore, this may be functionally a virtual diary. I’m excited for it nonetheless.
Posts I’m planning12 include:
Talking about writing villanelles
Writing about good books I have read/am reading
Studying for the Patent Bar13
Anyways, happy 2022!
It’s been a little under three years since the last time I wrote on here. It seems like it might be a good time to restart for a variety of reasons, which may be elaborated on further. This post is very short because my goal is relearning how to update my blog
read-through?↩︎
ish↩︎
wow it’s weird that it’s 2022↩︎
in no particular order↩︎
I joined my research group in November of 2020, but had minimal idea what my research would look like before January↩︎
hopefully happening↩︎
again, in no particular order↩︎
the older I get the more I feel like ’blog might be the correct spelling↩︎
getting the opportunity to do research that fascinated me, and so much more that is flying out of my mind right now↩︎
other than debatably the “learning the accordion” item↩︎
for my own reference↩︎
also probably an explanation of why I’d study for that↩︎
First Published: 2019 March 3
I’m still so far behind. That’s ok, I’ll catch up now.
First Published: 2019 February 25
For I think the first time since starting this blog almost 6 months ago, I’ve fallen so far behind that I can’t catch up all at once. But, c’est la vie.