The Tao of Who?

Upon Markus' recommendation, I picked up The Tao of Pooh at the VT library today.

According to Lao-tse, the more man interfered with the natural balance produced and governed by the universal laws, the further away the harmony retreated into the distance. The more forcing, the more trouble. Whether heavy or light, wet or dry, fast or slow, everything had its own nature already within it, which could not be violated without causing difficulties. When abstract and arbitrary rules were imposed from the outside, struggle was inevitable. Only then did life become sour.

Words to live by my friends . . .

Random

I've been listening to a lot of Weezer lately. It's rather nostalgic, not because I listened to them in the mid-90's (which I didn't), but rather everyone else did.

And so begins our odyssey . . .

Well folks, things just seem to have a way of working out for me lately. Somehow I have managed to find myself in a relationship. For those who don't keep up on the blog (or don't feel like reading through the last post) her name is Kristyn, and she is a grad student in my department. I'm going to spare you the romantic reasons for why I like her so much, and just tell you that I think this thing is going to work out for a good long time . . . Kristyn is currently on her way to Italia to tour Tuscany, Umbria, and Florence with her family. It just so happens to be the same exact tour my parents took in May. She'll be getting back August 19th.

While I am slightly saddened that this new cool and interesting person is going to be gone for a while, I have more than enough activities scheduled to pass the time. The rest of this week (and early next week) will be spent finishing up my Ph.D. research proposal. It involves looking at the erosional processes that have occurred in a bedrock stream in Alaska since the Little Ice Age. This will involve me spending several summers in Alaska, getting airlifted to my field site, and frolicking with grizzlies!

I plan on going home next week, stopping in Pittsburgh along the way to see Mr. Chris Stetson at the Heinz Ketchup Factory. I will probably remain home until August 4th, at which point I will return to Blacksburg to partake in some New River rapids until I'm required to be at school on the 13th.

I am getting pretty pumped to start teaching classes. I will be attending a TA orientation August 13th -17th, after which I will be able to mold young minds as I see fit. The orientation week will also give me the opportunity to meet the other incoming grad students. Classes and teaching responsibilities begin on August 20th. I'll be taking three classes (Fluid Mechanics, Advanced GIS, and Active Tectonics, if you cared) and TA'ing two Physical Geology lab sections a week. The TA appointment is going to take a lot of brushing up on rock and mineral identification on my part, as I haven't done anything like this in four years, and when I did have the class, I didn't pay attention (Hey! I was an engineering student). But, I think things will work out just fine, it seems to be the general trend down here in Virginia.

Of relationships and such

As promised, here is the follow-up to the possible relationship post:

I have become quite attracted to one of my co-workers, the grad student whom I've been helping in the field since I arrived at Virginia Tech a little over 3 weeks ago. It all started on a weekend outing in the New River Gorge, WV. We had plenty of down time to talk about everything under the sun, and eventually we arrived at the subject of relationships.

My view on the subject, and one of the main reasons I am still single, is that I am looking for someone just like me . . . only female. My reasoning: the "opposites attract" paradigm works well in the short term. Both parties are enthralled about this new world they get to experience through the other person, and all is good. Eventually though, you run out of things to discover, and you make the biggest mistake you can make in a relationship: you start to change. Don't get me wrong, all relationships involve a degree of give and take, but when these give and takes result in you changing your fundamental ideals, then you have problems. You eventually become bitter towards the other person for somehow turning you into something you aren't, and the relationship dies. So naturally to avoid this situation, one would look for someone with similar interests and ideals to them. Kristyn (the grad student) happens to share just about all of my interests and life ideals, effectively making her a "female Billy." Sounds great, right?

Wrong. While she has confessed to me that I am "everything she is looking for in a relationship," and really wants to try this out, she has some loose ends to tie-up before we can start this thing. She is currently still involved with another guy in the department. While this guy is great in his own right, he does not share the same ideals as Kristyn regarding relationships. While Kristyn wants a serious relationship, this guy wanted to remain single but still have benefits . . . you know the type. Why did Kristyn get into this "relationship" in the first place then? Because, dear reader, this guy was the only single person available to her, and she needed someone during the transition to grad school. She has since recognized that this guy is not for her, and she has turned into something she doesn't like because of him. So, not a problem, right? Just dump the guy and move on to greener pastures?

Wrong again, reader. A day after our "bonding" experience in the New River Gorge, she received a phone call from this guy. I'm not privy to the details, but apparently something really bad has happened to this kid. So bad that his license was taken away because of his mental state due to this situation. She is concerned for his life, and as such does not want to abandon him and start something new until he stabilizes. I spoke with her last night about the situation, and let her know that I am not trying to rush any decisions on her part. We both acknowledged that we share a special bond that you don't find every day, and that bond will still be there when we can finally be together.

We then laid awake in bed all night, sharing stories and goofing off.

Tattoo you

Arts Fest weekend has kicked off here at PSU, and that means tattoos!

Well, maybe not. After all, this is my third Arts Fest, and I am just now sporting my first tattoo. For those with bad eye-sight, it's a tattoo of a compass pointing to the northeast. The compass symbolizes outdoorsiness and direction. The bearing is to remind me where I have come from. All in all, I am very happy with it.

The getting a tattoo experience was less painful than I had anticipated . . . but it sure was painful! Jessie ended up getting a tattoo on her wrist before I went, which she described as feeling like a small electric shock. This was not my experience at all. Mine felt like the guy took a dull swiss army knife and cut the shape into my arm, then poured some ink into the wound to give it some color. He mentioned before I got mine that women tolerate tattoos a lot better than men, and I can second this.

Will post early next week on the rest of the happenings of Arts Fest.

Thou didst mold us . . .

After a long 6 hour drive, braving the thunderstorms plaguing Virginia, I arrived back at dear old state around 2 this morning to partake in Arts Festivities. My day was spent talking with professors and reacquainting with old friends. The department put on an ice cream social on the ground floor of Deike Building, which was one of my main reasons for coming down early. I had two bowls of PSU Creamery's Wicked Caramel, and about made myself sick. Good times.

I'll update later regarding the rest of Arts Fest and details on a possible relationship . . .