Ok. So I've continued experimenting (read: trying) things out, and I thought I'll do a little update about the things I've tried.
1) Podcasts.
Oh no. I'm a little addicted now. Well, sometimes. Sometimes I get the urge to listen to podcasts and not do anything else. Which isn't very good. But at least I'm enjoying myself listening.
I'm using Overcast on my phone to listen to the podcasts... Because the stock Apple podcast app irritated me when I couldn't find the 'download' podcasts button. The internet at my workplace is so ridiculously slow it can't even stream a podcast. My favourites are still the TWI-series by Vincent Racaniello, no thanks to *somebody* for getting me addicted. But I like Vincent's voice, really nice and soothing. And of course, the content is interesting too. I've not listened to any of his parasitism episodes yet, but I'm liking the microbio, virology, and his latest in the series - evolution. Love that a lot, because it's the subject matter that I'm most familiar with. Heck, I never even knew that people did such cool stuff with evolution. When I heard about the kind of interdisciplinary stuff they were doing, combining molecular biology with field work with this and that I'm like. Shit, I want to do that. Well. That's the trouble now. The more fields I learn about, the more choices I'm aware of... The harder it is to narrow things down. But it's good I guess. Never too late to go on a journey of self discovery. Ha.
Some other science, but much easier listening podcast I've tried.
The Story Collider. Now that's a good one. People share about their own encounters with science, and for the most part the story is more about people's lives than it is science. The speakers I've heard so far are good though. Humorous and charismatic. And of course, the best part. Each podcast is only about 10-15 mins long. A short bite sized podcast for when you need some cheering up. Unlike the TWI-series which are usually 1 - 1.5 hours long and full of hard science (they usually discuss a paper or two, which is great because I've never had a journal paper discussion before), this one is purely for casual listening.
Stuff to Blow Your Minds by howstuffworks.com is also another great podcast. Also on the casual listening side, though the topics vary greatly and can range in terms of their seriousness and difficulty. I listened to 3 podcasts from them so far, one was on the organic food debate, another introducing Akademgorodok, a science town in Siberia, and the last podcast was on the use of acids in video games and Hollywood VS the real acids that we have in science.
Inquiring Minds is also an interesting podcast to listen to, presenting topics where science, society, and politics intersect.
Yeah. That's all the podcasts I've listened to so far... Not that many, since I'm mostly listening to the TWI series... And this brings me to my next point...
2) Ingress.
I've hit level 8, and I'm pretty much giving it up. I still bother to log at least once a day when I'm out to hack a portal or two. Or three. But with podcasts to listen to, Elevate and Peak apps to practise, fics to write, and news to read... There are too many things to do on the train ride. And Ingress is not on the top of my list anymore. Level 8 reached, goal attained. I guess I can say goodbye again. (Plus, getting level 8 resonators and bursters is hard!)
3) Fics/writing.
Definitely writing a lot more now, and started writing fics again... Taking my inspiration from dreams and real life this time, since I'm still not watching any Arashi shows. Let's see if I can finish the other two dream series fics... So that I can release all four at once.
4) Studying.
Still coming along way too slowly. Esp for JLPT. No good. No good at all. And N1 is way beyond my abilities... No good, no good...
5) Crafts.
Doing some random crafts here and there, when I feel like it. Just last night, I made a washi tape box, and a blog post about it.
6) Going out...
Meh. Well. Last week J was in Sg, so I bought her around a little. But otherwise... Even for lunch I'm eating alone quite a lot. If I don't run into someone, esp my China colleagues, on my way out. I've been having lunch with them a lot. A little too much maybe. Too much Chinese. I message them in Chinese on WeChat. Talk to them in Mandarin. Have discussions in Mandarin. And somehow when the PhD student GJ messaged me a while back he suddenly used Chinese. And so I replied in Chinese too. Yes even when talking to the 'big boss' it's mostly in Chinese. Someone talk to me in English please? (Of course, I speak to my parents mostly in Mandarin too). I need some intelligent discussion in English. Talk to me. Someone! Ok. I do go for lunch with English speaking colleagues sometimes, but the discussion hardly leaves me satisfied... *Gets bricked*
Hmm I wonder who reads this stuff... Does anyone even read this? Though it's linked to my FB through IFTTT... I miss you unsup! (You should go read my LJ too...) *runs away and hide*
7) Catching up with Arashi stuff.
Nope, not happening yet. But I'm excited about my iMac that's stated to arrive on Tuesday! Hurrah! With 1TB of hard disk space... And at least a USB port that works... I can start downloading Arashi shows again. Well, the USB ports on my own lappy still works, but it takes super duper long to recognise anything. It's old. Sigh. Looking forward to being able to mass download stuff again. I don't want to do it on dad's lappy because I'm killing it already... :P
I guess that's all for this post?
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