[tiffy trying] to finish a 15 page paper

One of my classes has an online discussion board where students are required to post their experiences for that work week, share insights they've gained, or pose questions to the class. In a nutshell, it's like an online forum meets blog meets official debrief meets support group. The following paragraph below is what I posted last Sunday night, regarding my progress on the 15 page paper I have to submit this coming Sunday night. It was apt then, and it still feels apt now.

T-3 weeks until I become a master of something!



My desk at my summer fellowship is a reflection of my brain at the moment.

A huge mess.

On Wednesday, I was finally able to get some detailed feedback from my mentor regarding the outline I sent her last week. This turned out to be good thing and a bad thing.

The good thing was that her feedback about ways to make the white paper better was incredibly helpful.

The bad news was that I didn't do too well on the outline. I had spent last week crafting an outline that ended up being too "nitty gritty." It wasn't necessary for me to write the steps out, field guide style. She could see that the information was in there but she wanted it reframed into something more strategic than tactical.

(Disclaimer: No babies were harmed in the production of this discussion post. 

My ego on the other hand… just kidding!)

So back to the drawing board for me. I spent the rest of the week editing the outline and writing the draft. I tried to recruit some minions so that I may outsource some of the workload to them. They weren't very helpful. 

But in all seriousness, based on my mentor's feedback, I ended up reframing it into a different, hopefully much better paper. Instead of getting into a crazy level of detail, I ended up following her suggestion of picking out a handful of challenges and then writing out the solutions that some experts have suggested. I supplemented these with examples so that there would be interesting anecdotes interspersed with the facts. It's a rough draft but I'm hoping that this is shaping up into something my sponsor company will like. 

To the rest of the class, I'd like to say... 

You can do it! :) 

<3,

Tiffy

[tiffy trying] summer semester: of me & memes

My spring semester ended a few days after my last blog entry. I had two short, blissful weeks of summer before the new semester and my work fellowship began. It's funny for me to be typing this now because in one month, my summer semester and life as a full-time grad student will come to an end. I'm having mixed feelings about this.

[on one hand, I'm thrilled that homework is coming to an end.

on the other hand, I'm sad to be re-entering the "real world" when academia's been so nice.

on the other hand, I'm excited to do something w/ everything I've learned AND earn an income!]

And what happened to blogging my grad school adventures?

[ image credit: Gemma Correll] 

Well, that kind of fell by the wayside... sort of.

I ended up replacing Blogger (temporarily, because I'm back! I think...) with a mixture of Instagram and Twitter. Instagram was a way for me to document some of the activities I've gotten into over the course of the summer, while Twitter was a way to keep tabs of my cutting edge (if I do say so myself) research project (for my fellowship) on the utilization of Social Media in Emergency Preparedness and Response. I'm still in the process of finishing this up but so far it's been such a wonderful adventure. I love doing research. I love social media. I love writing. And I love thinking about how communication can actually make things better. This research project allowed me to combine all of those cool things. I read a lot of news bits and post mortem analyses on events, reached out to key folks in the industry and got to pick their brains, checked out the DigiDocs center at the American Red Cross HQ, and got to use a mix of traditional research and social media to get all of this underway. I feel like I'm making great progress on the topic but I'm also enjoying the entire process that's going along with it. So, I already feel happy and rewarded (and exhausted).

Aside from that research project, I am immersed in two other projects for my other classes. One project is on rebranding a city to make it even more of a tourist destination. The other project is an environmental campaign to get DC grad students (like myself) to embrace reusable water bottles instead of purchasing disposable plastic ones repeatedly.

So far, I'm pulling A's in my classes. #HumbleBrag

[ Angry Expectations Asian Father would be pleased. 

I'm proud too because of all the hard work I've been putting in]

Moving on...

The non-academic parts of the summer have been wonderful. I oscillate between NY and DC during weekends exploring new parts of these two cities that I haven't gotten to see yet. I've gotten to spend a lot of time with K's family and my own family as my parents made a quick detour to NY to visit. K and I have gone on a lot of date nights to make up for all that time apart doing long distance. Together, we've managed to hit up a lot of the food events in NY, double dated with a bunch of other couples, attended two weddings, hung out with different groups of friends, squeezed in some time for fitness activities, and caught up on a bunch of TV shows (although admittedly my taste in TV seems to skew heavily towards embarrassing reality TV). On a more serious note, I feel incredibly happy that I've been able to balance all of these fun things with my schoolwork and still feel okay.

[ how I look like at the end of every week day]

Well, maybe not TOTALLY okay. I'm definitely exhausted as heck, but I'm utterly grateful for everything and extremely excited for what's to come, whatever that turns out to be. :)

[ I actually, for real, dance like that]

<3,
Tiffy 

[tiffy trying] touristy DC things

Two weekends ago, my friend, Mela invited some friends to check out the National Arboretum in DC as part of her farewell-to-DC bucket list. She's off to grad school in the fall but leaving DC this week to travel around the world before school starts.

[ national arboretum, DC ]

[ 400yr old bonsai tree ]

[ pretty bonsai tree with red & gold leaves ]

[ magnolias in full bloom ]

I also got to check out another picturesque DC spot this past weekend. Mela held her despedida picnic at the Georgetown waterfront. It actually took me and K a little longer than expected to get there because we ended up on the wrong bus. Oops. But that was our little side adventure for the day. Georgetown waterfront is a wonderful place that's ideal for both sports and just, plain laying around the sun. We went on a particularly nippy day so there weren't hordes of people in the area. 

[ georgetown waterfront 1 ]

[ georgetown waterfront 2 ]

In case you think that all I do is just traipse around DC and enjoy the sites and the pretty weather, I've actually spent a lot of late nights doing homework and stress snacking like mad. 

[ all nighter - research paper writer - deadline fighter ]

The above picture was taken after a particularly crazy night of researching, writing, and heavy duty snacking. Hard work, I assure you. 

I also managed to find time to experiment in the kitchen but that's another story for another time. 

<3,

Tiffy 

[tiffy trying] to do homework but updating blog instead

   4 Final Papers
+ 3 Oral Presentations
+ 2 More Weeks Left in the Spring Semester
----------------------------------------------------------
1 Stressed Out Grad Student

To illustrate:

welp!

And now, back to homework. 

<3,

Tiffy  

[tiffy trying] domesticity

Friday is usually the day I get to catch up on housechores. Mondays through Thursdays I'm usually buried in my school books and weekends are typically spent enjoying couple time with Karl or catching up on more school work (or TV shows that I don't get to see during the school nights).

As a result, I like to spend my Fridays doing housechores. This usually consists of paying various bills that tend to add up exponentially behind my back:

[ makes me dizzy ] 

Playing floor hockey against Team Feral-Dust-Bunnies: 

[ I won! I think...]

And cooking a healthy dinner for date night: 

[ stove top multi-tasking ] 

I still have a long way to go before achieving the kind of domesticity that my cousin, Ginger has manager to pull off. Easter Sunday brunch a few weeks ago was a well decorated affair and a delicious feast of carbs, more carbs, pork, and all manner of desserts. 

[ rabbit infestation for easter ]

One thing I'm incredibly grateful for is the appearance of spring! She took her sweet time getting here but she's pretty much here in full force. Actually, she came late and left the party way early because it feels more like summer weather than spring weather. Last Wednesday, class got cancelled (due to my professor being out of town) so my friend Viv and I decided to check out the famous Cherry Blossom Festival. 

[ pretty cherry blossoms ]

K & I actually tried to check out the festival last weekend but the blossoms were still hiding inside their little buds. We decided to make the most of the gorgeous weather and walk around some of the famous DC sites- we saw the US Capitol, Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool, World War II Memorial, a garden with modern art sculptures, and walked around Chinatown after picking up apartment supplies from Bed, Bath & Beyond. 

The housework never seems to end. 

<3,

Tiffy

[tiffy trying] a vacation out of my comfort zone

I'm a city girl through and through. My typical vacations oscillate between two extremes- a jam packed schedule spent walking through famous sites or a zero-plans day spent lying down and reading a book or catching up on much needed sleep.

This vacation was something completely out of comfort zone. And I loved it.

K and I spent 5 days in Dominica, a country that's different from but always mistaken for the Dominican Republic. It is a beautiful island with delicious food, incredibly wonderful people, and utterly gorgeous scenery. But what made this vacation special?

[ dominica scenery ]

1. We stayed at a lovely resort (Jungle Bay) that had unparalleled customer service- welcome emails when we booked, reminder emails about what to pack, airport pick up and drop off service with snacks,  and friendly staff who always made us feel welcome.

[ beautiful jungle bay resort ]

2. Food was fresh and organic. For city folks used to processed meat and fast food this was a huge, much-needed, and delicious shift. The dishes were well prepared and so flavorful we couldn't even believe that these were healthy.

[ fresh food prepared by the resort + fruit plucked from a tree ]

3. K and I are no strangers to working out. But being active on vacation wasn't something either of us had ever done. We had hikes everyday that ranged from moderate to strenuous along with yoga classes at 7am each day. And we had an amazing time.

[ tricky hikes ]

[ one of the streams we crossed on the first day's hike (3 hrs) ]

[ crater pool by the ocean at the end of glasse trail. 2 hour hike ]

[ en route to the valley of desolation and boiling lake ]

[ morne trois pitons national park looks like an enchanted forest ] 

[ finally arriving at the valley of desolation ] 

[ strenuous hike towards boiling lake ]

[ boiling lake w/ some spooky fog ] 

[ swimming in this sulfur pond to cool off in the middle

of the long 7(!!!) hour hike was so refreshing ] 

4. 2 hour flight delay followed by a 15 hour flight delay. And no matter how stressed out and disappointed we were about it, we still managed to keep our cool and and our sense of humor intact.


It was a wonderful vacation. K & I joked that it was like a teambuilding trip for us because we went through so much. We can't wait to go back to Dominica and check out all the other gorgeous sites we missed.

<3,
Tiffy

[tiffy trying] a DC snowstorm!

It's been a while since I've updated. So long in fact, that another snowstorm has decided to hit the Northeast again. This time it's hitting DC, although from the weather reports it seems that it's hitting Virginia and Illinois more than it's hitting DC. This snowstorm is being dubbed "Snowquester" because of the controversial Sequester (budget cuts throughout the nation) that kicked into effect last Friday. Mother Nature seems pretty upset about it.

[weather today]

[yikes]

[blankets + leftover pad thai + super awesome light saber chopsticks]

So, I'm spending today under the blanket in front of the TV watching Sex and the City reruns interspersed with CNN while researching and typing up homework. Grad School work is insane and it seemingly never ends. I've got a bunch of stuff due next week before Spring Break (yay!) and then a bunch of stuff due after (boo)! The last few weeks have just been piles of reading and writing and I can't believe I'm already approaching my 7th week of the semester. Time is flying by really quickly!

[photo from one of the late nights I pulled writing a paper]

Last weekend though was a nice change of pace from all my NY weekends. K came down to visit and spend time with me here but unfortunately he had come down with something and spent all weekend feeling pretty terrible. I did my best to make him feel comfortable. We went out briefly to have lunch with my friends V&N and to grab groceries so I could cook dinner. Indoors, we installed my new Xbox Kinect and had some fun playing around. 

[cheat day dinner because I was too busy with 

homework to cook]

[double date feast at hot n juicy. 1lb crawfish + 

2lbs shrimp + corn + sausage + fried zucchini]

[at-home date night: chicken noodle soup, greens,

baked chicken w/ olive oil w/ parmesan & bread crumbs]

My NY weekends have been really great though. K and I went out for a belated Valentine's date at Brushstroke which is an amazing Omakase restaurant downtown that served the freshest, most delicious Japanese food. We also celebrated my cousin's last weekend in the States by feasting at Momofuku and ordering their famous duck platter, which was massive, yummy, and ridiculously filling. 

[hilarious v-day surprise that brightened up my thursday]

[duck feast]

The week after that, I was able to check out Sleep No More, which is a pretty alternative theater experience loosely based on Macbeth. Basically, the audience wears masks and has the opportunity to wander around the McKittrick hotel and poke around and follow the cast as they are doing scenes in various parts of the hotel. Pretty cool stuff. 

[sleep no more mask and cards]

[sleep no more lobby/bar]

Also managed to take some pictures of gorgeous NYC. 

[5:30am subway ride]

[empire state]

And here are some pictures of some of my pasta experiments. 

[tuna on whole wheat pasta w/ olive oil & black pepper]

[farfalle with tomato, basil and peas]

I'm hoping the weather clears up by tomorrow so I can make it up to NY for another whirlwind weekend. I've got 2 despedidas, 3 birthdays, and K's football playoffs that I'm looking forward to attending. 

<3,

Tiffy