More from my Beach Day

Since I had such a lovely day at the beach on Saturday I thought I would post about that again. Mostly because there isn't much else going on with me. Just some reading and writing and exercising. The other stuff that is going on is not at all interesting. I'm waiting for my Navy application results, which should be in by the first week in February. I'm thinking about a possible job in CA. A little cooking... Oh, I'm going night running tomorrow with FERP, which should be fun. And that's really it.

So, the beach was just a wonderful break from mundane for me. I thought I would share a moment with you all from when I was looking at the waves. It reminded me of a recent Radio Lab episode called Numbers.


In this episode the last story (beginning at 43:55) is about a student and his math teacher. They discuss that the calculation of waves is done by using infinity. But to calculate the creation of waves that don't repeat, that die out or that grow, you need a kind of infinity that sits in the space between two numbers; a kind of infinity that isn't just the adding and adding of numbers, but a higher kind of infinity. And when I look at the ocean and I look at waves and the seeming forever-ness that is the sea, I really enjoy the thought that there isn't just infinitesimal space, but that there are infinities which I haven't even imagined yet. Infinities that are so advanced and complex that my mind cannot image them.

ANYWAY, I took a few of the photos from Saturday and entered them in National Geographic's Your Shot contest, which they have every month. They may not win because my camera isn't good enough and because i refuse to digitally enhance my photos, but you never know.

Oh and today I learned something excellent. Platypuses have venom. True story.

Stay safe, don't touch platypuses. And be one with your own infinity.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

New Novel

Yesterday I listened to a podcast called "(so-called) life" from the WNYC radio show Radio Lab.

What I heard on this show blew my freaking mind into tiny little pieces and then as I got up off the floor of the living room and put the pieces back together I decided two things: #1 I was tired of not writing, and #2 I was going to write a new novel about the DNA factory.

While my initial reaction to the episode was "they've found the gene strand that makes things glow in the dark??? I WANT TO GLOW IN THE DARK!! I want to glow in the dark and fly and HAVE SONAR!!! And I will be the GLOWING WOMBAT!"

My SECOND thought was more along lines of "well everyone is going to want sonar... people are going to want to customize themselves and their children to be superheroes..."

And if I don't have the expertise to make the Gene Factory myself, similar to my Black Hole necklace idea... maybe you guys don't know about that... it's another Radio Lab spawned idea of mine... Srsly, don't ask people, I have too much free time.

ANYWAY, if I can't profit off of the ACTUAL gene factory at MIT, then I'm gonna profit off of the novel.

Because, as I see it, someone should because we live in a capitalistic world.

YAY!

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

P.S. Look at the time stamp, ooooooh sad for you my idea is copyrighted. *sadface*

Rewriting and Spreadsheets

Hello peoples.

I have started rewriting the novel I began so long ago in Kenya. You all remember that old project from my SIT study abroad time. Problem is that I absolutely cannot edit my own work with an objective eye. I'll take a paragraph, and instead of adding a comma, which would be the only complaint to an outside reader, I will become entirely dissatisfied with the section and rewrite the entire paragraph. Now on many levels this is a positive thing. For one, it increases the level of my writing as well as updates my work from 21 year old me to 24 year old me. For another thing, it expands the work, adding details and clarifying points before sending it to an external editor. The way I wrote it while in Kenya was as a quick project to get a grade, and part of this rewriting needs to be expanding on the basic structure and plot.

However this is taking me SO MUCH LONGER THAN IT SHOULD. Part of the problem that I am having a truly difficult time being inspired. But "lack of inspiration" is kind of a cop out. As is "I have other things like work," even though these interminable spread sheets for the committees are getting in my way with not only my book but my other United Nations duties. Point is. I don't know what is blocking me from just sitting down and working on this project as well. Yesterday I found my self wanting to read a brief entitled, "The Effects of the Financial Crisis on IMF Debt Repayment in Low-Income Countries" instead of writing. It was 34 pages long. (Let me just add, if you are ever given the choice between, say, reading this paper and putting your hand in acid, I hear that the latter is not as painful as it sounds, and cosmetic surgery should take care of any scarring.)

SO I now am asking that if you have any advice for getting over writer's block, please email me or paste it in the comments below. kthanksbye!

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya