Busy January

I was sort of surprised to look down at my watch and see that it's the 31st already. But with research in the morning, play rehearsal 3 times a week in the evening, and various TA related stuff to do sprinkled in between, time does fly by quickly.

What's this play rehearsal you say? Well, my friend Jason had written up a monologue of 20+ characters based on (ficticious) characters who died in the September 11th attacks, and the play basically explores the attacks from various points of view. Jason asked me if I could help him be an assistant director for his play, and I figured it'll give me something else to think about during the day outside of research, so I took the role. And so far, I've been enjoying going through the past 2 weeks of practice with the actors and actresses reading through their monologues. Jason has done a good job with the casting of each character, so there wasn't much hand-holding involved to explain how each character should be portrayed. Since he wrote the play, I let Jason be the bigger critic while I supplement my thoughts here and there whenever appropriate, and so far all the actors and actresses have responded very well. Hopefully this'll lead up to a great performance when March rolls around!

Do your own sand painting

Drawing isn't my forte, so maybe you guys and girls will have better luck trying to make something cool with this falling sand game

Nifty Honda Ad

No, it's not the Rube Goldberg machine one, but it's just as cool.

Test your mental might!

Thanks to Kabitizin and Velius for pointing out this interesting brainteaser. I got 15/33 (1-3, 7, 12, 18-19, 21, 23-25, 27, 29, 32), which apparently puts you into the "intelligent" category, but as Kabitizin said, this test is hardly a comprehensive test of your intelligence. Answers are posted on Kabitzin's site here.

And now for something different...

To give myself some other things to think about and not worry about research all the time, I volunteered to help my buddy Jason assist in his direction of a show that he and another friend co-wrote about the September 11 events. I'll be the first to say that I have absolutely no experience in such matters, but hey, I'll give it my best shot and hopefully be able to contribute.

Looks like the weather here in Columbus has decided to take a page out of Ithaca. This past Monday, the weather was sooo nice with clear skys and mid 50 temperatures. I wake up Wednesday morning, and there's SNOW on the ground! And the outlook for Thursday: 50 degree weather....

Fun Facts

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Kungfucius!

1. Kungfuciusomancy is the art of telling the future with Kungfucius.
2. Medieval knights put the skin of Kungfucius on their sword handles to improve the grip.
3. You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching Kungfucius.
4. It is impossible to fold Kungfucius more than seven times.
5. About one tenth of Kungfucius is permanently covered in ice.
6. All of the roles in Shakespeare's plays - including the female roles - were originally played by Kungfucius.
7. In Chinese, the sound 'Kungfucius' means 'bite the wax tadpole'.
8. There is actually no danger in swimming right after you eat Kungfucius, though it may feel uncomfortable.
9. It's bad luck for a flag to touch Kungfucius.
10. Birds do not sleep in Kungfucius, though they may rest in him from time to time.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Scientific study...

Jay Leno does a study on how far people will go to get free pictures...

In other news, sing along with the World of Warcraft characters as they sing about what the internet is for.