Saturday, July 19, 2008
Tonight I had the best food that I've ever had in my life thus far. No exaggeration. It was the BBQ Jamaican Seitan with spicy scotch bonnet crema at Horizons in Philadelphia. In fact, Leslie and I both declared, decisively, that it was the best thing either of us had ever had. The whole meal, by means of its masterful composition of sensory elements, transcended the senses and inspired us the way a great work of art might. This might sound excessive, but it really was amazing. But I'm going to stop now, because the words just sound like mystical hyperbole, which dishonors the meal.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Summary of the Day:
In the morning and early afternoon I cleaned the apartment and got ready for Leslie to come. The only other thing I had a chance to do was to check my old computer, which looks fine, although the fan isn't running. I'm going to try to get the Hill-Burton application into Penn tomorrow.
Once Leslie got here, we walked around Center City, ate at Singapore, walked around the City Hall area, went up to the top of the Club Quarters building to see the view from the balcony, chilled in Rittenhouse Square for a bit, and then came home. Singapore was awesome--it was a good decision to go there. We got orange beef and General Tso's chicken, which are both reliable Singapore classics. The orange beef was good, but the GT chicken was awesome. I think it gave Derek's Human Beef a run for its money.
Plan for tomorrow:
Breakfast, then bike around Center City and UC, drop off Hill-Burton app, hang out at Green Line café for a bit and do some work, and then ride back into Center City and get Gianna's cheesesteaks for dinner. At some point I want to finish making her a reference list of places (I got the map done), and we also need to get some groceries.
In the morning and early afternoon I cleaned the apartment and got ready for Leslie to come. The only other thing I had a chance to do was to check my old computer, which looks fine, although the fan isn't running. I'm going to try to get the Hill-Burton application into Penn tomorrow.
Once Leslie got here, we walked around Center City, ate at Singapore, walked around the City Hall area, went up to the top of the Club Quarters building to see the view from the balcony, chilled in Rittenhouse Square for a bit, and then came home. Singapore was awesome--it was a good decision to go there. We got orange beef and General Tso's chicken, which are both reliable Singapore classics. The orange beef was good, but the GT chicken was awesome. I think it gave Derek's Human Beef a run for its money.
Plan for tomorrow:
Breakfast, then bike around Center City and UC, drop off Hill-Burton app, hang out at Green Line café for a bit and do some work, and then ride back into Center City and get Gianna's cheesesteaks for dinner. At some point I want to finish making her a reference list of places (I got the map done), and we also need to get some groceries.
Monday, July 14, 2008
I've been slacking off with my posting, but I want to fix that. Planning across concrete and regular interviewsof time has already proven itself beneficial to me, and requiring myself to actually write out those plans—one of the functions of my blog—has made their benefits even greater via increased clarity.
When I wrote my senior essay at college, I discovered that writing isn't merely a record of thoughts that are complete by the time they get to the paper. To think this is tempting, but in fact, the paper holds us to a higher standard than our brains do. Merely thinking about something allows us to make all sorts of mental leaps and smudges that we either let slide or do not see. When you write, and you're forced to read back to yourself your own line of thinking, errors become more apparent. Therefore, writing and thinking are dialectical, not linear.
Plan for the Remainder of the Year:
The most important thing is that I want to complete a strong first semester at school. Academically, I want to get as far as I can with my course-work by taking advantage of the test-out opportunities for some of the entry level classes. Also, I want to have gained a sense of focus within the field and begin building toward specialization. By the end of the first semester I expect to have a decent grasp on the general issues in the field and where I can go from there. Non-academically, I want to get a good handle on the funding resources available to me and to begin the process of procuring those funds.
Also by the end of the year, I intend for my fitness tug-of-war to be over and for me to have achieved a level of fitness that I find acceptable. This means by the year's end, I will have sustained a healthy diet and exercise for longer than a week or two, and as a consequence, I will have broken whatever reliance I have on sugar.
Once my fitness goals are achieved, I'll be more inclined to cultivate a wardrobe so I can end my riff-raff appearance once and for all. The only limiting factor for this goal is money, but even so, I think by the end of the year I should be able to put together something more respectable than what I have now. Not to mention the fact that I've been working more than I planned specifically with the intention of spending that money on new clothes.
Beyond fitness, I want to increase my computer savvy. First of all, my new computer has inspired me to learn more. Performing tasks and getting new information has seemed easier and, just as important, more fun. I know it's cliché, but on some basic level, the fact that my new computer simply works most all the time makes my use of it so much more satisfying.
Aside from the fun and inspiration that my new computer has caused, the technological resources that will be available to me at school will be so immense, that I want to be able to tap into them and participate in some way.
In regard to habits and routine, at some point, tightening my discipline will no longer be simply desirable but necessary. That time might be once I start graduate school. This means regularly making plans, schedules, and policies and sticking to them. My intention is for that to be automatic by the end of the year.
Regarding French, by the end of the year I want to be either nearly fluent or totally fluent. My skill level was rising rapidly during the summer and fall of 2006, but then it started stagnating after that. It's possible that my skill level has even declined slightly since that time. Now is the time to “go in for the kill”, master that thing, implement some way to keep it fresh, and move on.
To accomplish this I have three general strategies that I plan to use during the next few months. First, I will put in at least 3 hours of work per week doing reading, grammar practice, or some combination of the two. Second, I plan to watch French movies in at least a 1:1 ratio with non-French movies, if not a 2:1 ratio. Third, I will seek out conversation partners and groups and utilize them routinely.
Another skill I want to cultivate is dancing. I'm waiting until I get to school for this, since there will probably be free lessons available to me there. Not only is it fun, but it seems like one of a gentleman's basic refinements, and since I'm striving to cultivate the character of a gentleman, I intend to learn how to dance.
Continuing the ideas of character cultivation, I want to become more social and less judgmental. Getting with the 21st century and creating a Facebook was one way of accomplishing this. Others include creating my contacts list, resurrecting my AIM account, participating in the conversation groups I mentioned above, going to parties, and looking into Couch Surfing. At least as far as parties goes, the house I'll be living in apparently hosts many of the department parties, so that'll make it fairly easy to accomplish that goal. By parties, I don't mean out-of-control college keg stands, but something more subdued.
Another activity I want to get back into is playing music. I don't want to take it too seriously or spend too much time doing it, but something small on the side would be nice. I miss it, frankly. I was imagining playing a guitar-and-vocals set at a local coffee shop, something like that.
One final goal is to make volunteering routine. Once I get to Cambridge, I'm going to look into volunteering programs run through the school as well as the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. The latter sounds like something I would both find satisfying and something that would make a significant positive impact on the community. Regardless of what I end up doing, volunteering should be a given in my life by the end of the year.
Plan for the Month
I decided on a fairly major departure from my previous plan concerning my life-style between now and the beginning of school. Because time is so limited, and since I really want to do this right, I'm cutting back on social activity and the level of energy and time that I'm going to invest in food preparations. Socially, I don't feel as lonely as I did before, and there really isn't much time left before school, so I think I can tolerate retreating into my work a little bit.
Food-wise, I'm planning for a fairly austere regimen. For breakfasts I'm going to continue eating fruit, granola, yogurt, and an egg, although I'm not going to have coffee anymore as a routine item. For lunch and dinner I'm going to start having brown rice with beans and vegetables. It will help me save money and get into shape quickly. Although it sounds harsh, I did that for several months in Annapolis last year, and it wasn't that bad.
Having said this, one major exception to this will be the period of time between this Tuesday the 15th and Tuesday the 22nd. Leslie is coming to visit, which is awesome, but there's no way I'm going to act like St. Jerome while she's here. I'm going to take her out for all the classic Philadelphia foods and attractions, so during that time, I'll be in a relatively leisurely state.
By the end of the month I want to be deep into my course work so that I can attempt my test-outs. I should have a detailed sense of what information I need to learn and what resources are available for me to learn it. At that time I want to have a schedule made that will carry me until my move-out date.
Funding research should be done by the end of the month. It looks like there aren't any scholarships taking applications before school starts, but if I find any, I also want to be deep into the process of completing those.
Other than jumping into my course work, I want to continue chipping away at my task list and maintaining my routine tasks, like French. Task-list wise, it seems plausible to finish my loan paperwork and sell my old computer, PDA, and other miscellaneous electronics before the month's end. Of course, another crucial, on-going task is doing what I need to do to prepare for my move to Cambridge. I refuse to let this move be as rushed and stressful as all my previous moves have been going all the way back to the beginning of college. I have already set aside an entire week to complete the majority of the specific logistical tasks associated with the move, as well as the move itself.
The only thing I should mention here is the possibility of my Annapolis trip taking place around the weekend of the 25th. The other time I'm considering is the weekend of August 8th.
Plan for the Week:
As I mentioned in my plan for the month, Leslie is coming this Tuesday and will be here for the remainder of the week. This should be a blast, but it means that the change in my food policy won't happen until next week and also that there will be a greater quantity of fun in the balance between work and fun.
Stuff we'll do will probably include biking up Kelly Drive and into the park, going to University City, hanging out in Rittenhouse, going to coffee shops, checking out some historical things, going to some of the museums (including the Barnes, Art Museum, and maybe the Franklin), doing architecture tours, going to a concert at the Curtis institute, and eating a lot of food. In preparation for her arrival, I intend to print out some maps and information for her.
To further my primary endeavor at the moment—my academic preparations—I plan to spend 4 hours Wednesday, 4 hours Sunday, and 4 hours in smaller sessions throughout the week doing course work and funding research.
Work-wise, I plan to go into Media all day Thursday and part of the day Friday. On Saturday I'm proctoring a test for Kaplan. My previous GRE class ended on Sunday, and my next one isn't starting until next week.
In terms of other work, one major thing I plan to do is to clean the apartment before Leslie gets here. This includes cleaning the bathroom, washing sheets and pillow cases, moving all of Eva's stuff, and doing a general cleaning. I also need to do some grocery shopping, but I think I'll wait until she gets here to take care of that.
Some individual things I want to do this week include getting my Hill-Burton application to Penn (they lost the first one I sent them), doing another diagnostic check of my old computer to get ready for its sale, and to advance whatever I need to advance to take care of my loans.
Plan for Tomorrow:
The first thing I plan to do is to take my Hill Burton application to Penn. Then I will pick up wherever I left off with my house work and other preparations for Leslie's arrival. She comes at 5:30, so I think I'll be able to finish getting ready with some extra time left over before she gets here. With that extra time I want to test my old computer, do loan paperwork, and possibly get a head start on that extra four hours of course work.
Once Leslie gets here, I was thinking we could go to Singapore for dinner, stop at Trader Joe's for groceries, and maybe go to a coffee shop afterward.
I debated with myself about which vegetarian chinese restaurant to go to, and I eventually chose Singapore. I chose Singapore because it has been the best overall on a consistent basis.
Despite the fact that Kingdom gets the most hype, I've only had one thing there that I liked out of going there 4 different times and trying multiple things each time. That one thing also happens to be the most expensive thing on the menu. Furthermore, their food always seems to be luke warm when it comes out.
Charles Plaza is good, but it isn't dedicated to vegetarian food 100%, and sometimes that seems to hurt the quality of their veggie stuff.
Su Xing is good, but not as consistently good as Singapore.
Finally, there's Harmony, which is a close second to Singapore. In their favor, the best vegetarian chinese meal I've ever had in Philadelphia was at Harmony, but on the other hand, one of the worst vegetarian chinese meals I've ever had was there as well. It just seems inconsistent. Singapore is almost always at least solid, and I'm quite familiar with their menu at this point so I have a couple dishes I can order that I know will be excellent.
When I wrote my senior essay at college, I discovered that writing isn't merely a record of thoughts that are complete by the time they get to the paper. To think this is tempting, but in fact, the paper holds us to a higher standard than our brains do. Merely thinking about something allows us to make all sorts of mental leaps and smudges that we either let slide or do not see. When you write, and you're forced to read back to yourself your own line of thinking, errors become more apparent. Therefore, writing and thinking are dialectical, not linear.
Plan for the Remainder of the Year:
The most important thing is that I want to complete a strong first semester at school. Academically, I want to get as far as I can with my course-work by taking advantage of the test-out opportunities for some of the entry level classes. Also, I want to have gained a sense of focus within the field and begin building toward specialization. By the end of the first semester I expect to have a decent grasp on the general issues in the field and where I can go from there. Non-academically, I want to get a good handle on the funding resources available to me and to begin the process of procuring those funds.
Also by the end of the year, I intend for my fitness tug-of-war to be over and for me to have achieved a level of fitness that I find acceptable. This means by the year's end, I will have sustained a healthy diet and exercise for longer than a week or two, and as a consequence, I will have broken whatever reliance I have on sugar.
Once my fitness goals are achieved, I'll be more inclined to cultivate a wardrobe so I can end my riff-raff appearance once and for all. The only limiting factor for this goal is money, but even so, I think by the end of the year I should be able to put together something more respectable than what I have now. Not to mention the fact that I've been working more than I planned specifically with the intention of spending that money on new clothes.
Beyond fitness, I want to increase my computer savvy. First of all, my new computer has inspired me to learn more. Performing tasks and getting new information has seemed easier and, just as important, more fun. I know it's cliché, but on some basic level, the fact that my new computer simply works most all the time makes my use of it so much more satisfying.
Aside from the fun and inspiration that my new computer has caused, the technological resources that will be available to me at school will be so immense, that I want to be able to tap into them and participate in some way.
In regard to habits and routine, at some point, tightening my discipline will no longer be simply desirable but necessary. That time might be once I start graduate school. This means regularly making plans, schedules, and policies and sticking to them. My intention is for that to be automatic by the end of the year.
Regarding French, by the end of the year I want to be either nearly fluent or totally fluent. My skill level was rising rapidly during the summer and fall of 2006, but then it started stagnating after that. It's possible that my skill level has even declined slightly since that time. Now is the time to “go in for the kill”, master that thing, implement some way to keep it fresh, and move on.
To accomplish this I have three general strategies that I plan to use during the next few months. First, I will put in at least 3 hours of work per week doing reading, grammar practice, or some combination of the two. Second, I plan to watch French movies in at least a 1:1 ratio with non-French movies, if not a 2:1 ratio. Third, I will seek out conversation partners and groups and utilize them routinely.
Another skill I want to cultivate is dancing. I'm waiting until I get to school for this, since there will probably be free lessons available to me there. Not only is it fun, but it seems like one of a gentleman's basic refinements, and since I'm striving to cultivate the character of a gentleman, I intend to learn how to dance.
Continuing the ideas of character cultivation, I want to become more social and less judgmental. Getting with the 21st century and creating a Facebook was one way of accomplishing this. Others include creating my contacts list, resurrecting my AIM account, participating in the conversation groups I mentioned above, going to parties, and looking into Couch Surfing. At least as far as parties goes, the house I'll be living in apparently hosts many of the department parties, so that'll make it fairly easy to accomplish that goal. By parties, I don't mean out-of-control college keg stands, but something more subdued.
Another activity I want to get back into is playing music. I don't want to take it too seriously or spend too much time doing it, but something small on the side would be nice. I miss it, frankly. I was imagining playing a guitar-and-vocals set at a local coffee shop, something like that.
One final goal is to make volunteering routine. Once I get to Cambridge, I'm going to look into volunteering programs run through the school as well as the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. The latter sounds like something I would both find satisfying and something that would make a significant positive impact on the community. Regardless of what I end up doing, volunteering should be a given in my life by the end of the year.
Plan for the Month
I decided on a fairly major departure from my previous plan concerning my life-style between now and the beginning of school. Because time is so limited, and since I really want to do this right, I'm cutting back on social activity and the level of energy and time that I'm going to invest in food preparations. Socially, I don't feel as lonely as I did before, and there really isn't much time left before school, so I think I can tolerate retreating into my work a little bit.
Food-wise, I'm planning for a fairly austere regimen. For breakfasts I'm going to continue eating fruit, granola, yogurt, and an egg, although I'm not going to have coffee anymore as a routine item. For lunch and dinner I'm going to start having brown rice with beans and vegetables. It will help me save money and get into shape quickly. Although it sounds harsh, I did that for several months in Annapolis last year, and it wasn't that bad.
Having said this, one major exception to this will be the period of time between this Tuesday the 15th and Tuesday the 22nd. Leslie is coming to visit, which is awesome, but there's no way I'm going to act like St. Jerome while she's here. I'm going to take her out for all the classic Philadelphia foods and attractions, so during that time, I'll be in a relatively leisurely state.
By the end of the month I want to be deep into my course work so that I can attempt my test-outs. I should have a detailed sense of what information I need to learn and what resources are available for me to learn it. At that time I want to have a schedule made that will carry me until my move-out date.
Funding research should be done by the end of the month. It looks like there aren't any scholarships taking applications before school starts, but if I find any, I also want to be deep into the process of completing those.
Other than jumping into my course work, I want to continue chipping away at my task list and maintaining my routine tasks, like French. Task-list wise, it seems plausible to finish my loan paperwork and sell my old computer, PDA, and other miscellaneous electronics before the month's end. Of course, another crucial, on-going task is doing what I need to do to prepare for my move to Cambridge. I refuse to let this move be as rushed and stressful as all my previous moves have been going all the way back to the beginning of college. I have already set aside an entire week to complete the majority of the specific logistical tasks associated with the move, as well as the move itself.
The only thing I should mention here is the possibility of my Annapolis trip taking place around the weekend of the 25th. The other time I'm considering is the weekend of August 8th.
Plan for the Week:
As I mentioned in my plan for the month, Leslie is coming this Tuesday and will be here for the remainder of the week. This should be a blast, but it means that the change in my food policy won't happen until next week and also that there will be a greater quantity of fun in the balance between work and fun.
Stuff we'll do will probably include biking up Kelly Drive and into the park, going to University City, hanging out in Rittenhouse, going to coffee shops, checking out some historical things, going to some of the museums (including the Barnes, Art Museum, and maybe the Franklin), doing architecture tours, going to a concert at the Curtis institute, and eating a lot of food. In preparation for her arrival, I intend to print out some maps and information for her.
To further my primary endeavor at the moment—my academic preparations—I plan to spend 4 hours Wednesday, 4 hours Sunday, and 4 hours in smaller sessions throughout the week doing course work and funding research.
Work-wise, I plan to go into Media all day Thursday and part of the day Friday. On Saturday I'm proctoring a test for Kaplan. My previous GRE class ended on Sunday, and my next one isn't starting until next week.
In terms of other work, one major thing I plan to do is to clean the apartment before Leslie gets here. This includes cleaning the bathroom, washing sheets and pillow cases, moving all of Eva's stuff, and doing a general cleaning. I also need to do some grocery shopping, but I think I'll wait until she gets here to take care of that.
Some individual things I want to do this week include getting my Hill-Burton application to Penn (they lost the first one I sent them), doing another diagnostic check of my old computer to get ready for its sale, and to advance whatever I need to advance to take care of my loans.
Plan for Tomorrow:
The first thing I plan to do is to take my Hill Burton application to Penn. Then I will pick up wherever I left off with my house work and other preparations for Leslie's arrival. She comes at 5:30, so I think I'll be able to finish getting ready with some extra time left over before she gets here. With that extra time I want to test my old computer, do loan paperwork, and possibly get a head start on that extra four hours of course work.
Once Leslie gets here, I was thinking we could go to Singapore for dinner, stop at Trader Joe's for groceries, and maybe go to a coffee shop afterward.
I debated with myself about which vegetarian chinese restaurant to go to, and I eventually chose Singapore. I chose Singapore because it has been the best overall on a consistent basis.
Despite the fact that Kingdom gets the most hype, I've only had one thing there that I liked out of going there 4 different times and trying multiple things each time. That one thing also happens to be the most expensive thing on the menu. Furthermore, their food always seems to be luke warm when it comes out.
Charles Plaza is good, but it isn't dedicated to vegetarian food 100%, and sometimes that seems to hurt the quality of their veggie stuff.
Su Xing is good, but not as consistently good as Singapore.
Finally, there's Harmony, which is a close second to Singapore. In their favor, the best vegetarian chinese meal I've ever had in Philadelphia was at Harmony, but on the other hand, one of the worst vegetarian chinese meals I've ever had was there as well. It just seems inconsistent. Singapore is almost always at least solid, and I'm quite familiar with their menu at this point so I have a couple dishes I can order that I know will be excellent.
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