Trying New Things and Continuing Things that Work

So, throughout my life, I've been given advice, most of it good, some of it not so good. One piece of advice that stands out though comes from my father, though he usually gave it in order to convince me to eat new things: Try new things, you don't know if you like it until you try it. I can say that I will try new things if I think they'll be good or can make me a better person. In this photo, I've a bowl from Silantra in downtown Lancaster, PA and the mix of rice, grilled veggies, seaweed salad, shrimp, and yellow curry sauce was delicious. Although I've had food similar to this before, the restaurant I ate at was a new experience for me (though if my dad reads this, he'll probably bring up Chipotle's burrito bowl being a similar concept). Also pictured is my bullet journal, which I can only try to describe it as a mashup of whatever you want it to be with bulleted lists playing a central role. My bullet journal tends to be my daily planner and to-do list, with a page dedicated to tracking headaches, and other pages full of information that is relevant to me. I started it right after school let out in May and so far it's been working pretty well for me, so I'll keep writing in it.

My Bullet Journal and a recent dinner

Math, without numbers

This sheet of paper contains an important idea in terms of meteorology. From the two equations of horizontal momentum (one for east-west, one for north south), this paper contains the derivation of something called the vorticity equation. I could explain the process but I'm just posting this on my blog because this is essentially math, but without numbers as most people are used to seeing. Thank goodness my higher level mathematics courses such as Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis, and Partial Differential Equations still use numbers.

River Views

One of the things I like about the hills and mountains of the east coast are the spectacular river valley views and being able to see so much below me. For example, here is a photo from Chickies Rock in Lancaster county, PA with a panoramic view of the Susquehanna River Valley below.

The Four Seasons as I see them

The Four Seasons as photographed by me

Seasons come and go and come and go year in and year out, a seeming constant in my life. Over the years I've come to make some connections between seasons and life.

Spring to me represents birth and rebirth. The trees and the flowers bloom, animals wake up and come to life, and weather starts to get more exciting with thunderstorms and tornadoes.

Summer represents maturity. The leaves on the trees are at their peak green, the weather has settled down compared to spring.

Fall represents old age. Leaves start to turn pretty shades of yellow, orange, and red. Animals start to prepare for winter. We as people tend to harbor nostalgia all the time, but there's something about fall that makes the nostalgia stronger as we reflect on our past.

Winter represents death. The leaves have fallen off the trees, there is not much activity abuzz outside, the sky is often gray and temperatures frigid.

Personally I try to see the good in all the seasons, even though I'm biased towards spring as I was born in spring. I like the spring for its nice warmth and anticipation of things to come, summer for the sunny days and the many possibilities for action, fall for the crisp, cool air and the beginning of soup season, and winter for beautiful swaths of snow and Christmas.

Workstations

My workstation back home

I probably place too much currency on the humble desk, as it is essentially a table, but the desk is a place where much progress can be made and can reflect an individual personality. I like to keep my desk as uncluttered as I can, as any mess will distract me from my work. Sometimes I wish I had a bigger desk so I can comfortably do more work, but the size limitations of the desks I use force me to better plan and use the minimum amount of space to do the maximum amount of work.

Tiny Origami

Recently, as I've been doing more and more origami, I've been pondering how to expand my repertoire of origami skills. I figured tiny origami would be more challenging than origami with regular sized paper. So far I've found it a good challenge, though my wish of a braided wreath origami using 3x3 cm paper has not been granted so far, the pockets vs tips struggle is real with smaller paper. On the other hand, 4x4 cm paper works for making a wreath and I made a tiny crane with 3x3 cm paper.

Today I'm hungry for

Japanese Pork Katsu Curry