meisa's lagoon

i just donated to the red cross hurricane relief fund. it seems like so little that i can give compared to the massive amounts of money and time it will take to restore new orleans back to the way it used to be, but i guess every little bit helps.
i've been watching the footage on tv and the internet and weeping. it's so hard to imagine that the city i spent so much time in as a child is no longer there. i think about all the little things that stand out in my mind about the town, all the unique homes, all the silly shops selling loads and loads of beads year round, the "it's our secret" store shokufeh and i used to pass and whisper to one another "shhhh...it's our secret", the beignets at cafe du monde - which i haven't had in years now, but still drool over, and of course, my aunt and uncle's home on napoleon avenue. who knows if any of these places are there anymore.
i'm having a hard time expressing my sorrow over what's happening down there now. i've been thinking about it nonstop and only wishing that i could do something to help, crying for the people of new orleans, those i know and all the rest that are devastated by the state of the place they call home. it's one of the towns that has touched my heart most in life. i can only hope that the spirit of the people that made new orleans the amazing place it was will be strong enough to carry the city to overcome this tragedy.
my thoughts and prayers go out to all of you affected by this disaster.

Posted by Meisa at 06:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

after posing for this picture, shokufeh and i definately felt as though we were expecting the birth of our incestual lesbian love child, or ILLC as sam put it.

Posted by Meisa at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

that's it. i have officially gone insane. i just sang to a flask in my hood that i love it. i held it close, gazed at it, and sang "love! i love you!"

maybe it was inspired by the love ballads of air supply that our korean postdoc, mistaking it for good music, has been blasting all morning.

but i think it's more the four years here that have finally gotten to me.

Posted by Meisa at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

i'm sorry. i know the entry i just wrote (see below) was horribly dorky. my apologies.

Posted by Meisa at 09:01 AM | Permalink

i was reading in the paper yesterday that bono is one of the 166 nominees for a nobel prize. i mentioned this to khalid and he brought up an interesting point. he goes "notice how they said 'nobel prize' instead of 'nobel peace prize'? most people out there think of the nobel prize as being only the nobel peace prize. they typically aren't aware of the prizes given out for the sciences." i have a hard time believing this could be true. he did mention his ex with whom he knew this to be true (let's lay aside here that she is an idiot. we'll just pretend that she is representative of your average person who is not a scientist).
i know i am in a very tight knit community of scientists in my program, but do people really not take interest in the prizes for chemisty, physics, and medicine? i mean, you don't get a nobel prize unless your work has made a HUGE impact on the world. the world. not just scientists.
as a side point, but still on the subject, i'd just like to say that i really hope that the chemistry nobel prize this year goes to a chemist, not a biologist which seems to be the trend of late. come on already, get your own prize category!

Posted by Meisa at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

so my high school made the list last time, but this time, my beloved william and mary was featured in newsweek as the "hottest small state school". go tribe!

Posted by Meisa at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

sometimes you just have to realize your own limits. i've been miserable and tired the last 4 days stressing over my presentation for this monday. i had a wonderful time with my mom, shokufeh, and sam who were all visiting for my birthday and lacey's wedding, but the second they left, i realized how little i'd done at work while they were here and how much i had to do before my presentation. so i've been going a little mad over the stressing in my head, trying to get more experiments done (not just done, but get them to be successful), and put together my presentation. yesterday was particularly dreadful as i did an experiment i've been building up to for a year and a half, only to find that it didn't work. but as soon as i stepped out of the building, i took a step back and thought to myself, "it's okay. you'll try again. don't keep pushing to get this done before your presentation. things aren't going to work if you rush through them. it's just not worth it to be miserable like this." so today when i came in, i let go. i took a deep breath and just decided to take it little by little. and whatever happens on monday will happen and i will come out on the end just fine. and maybe with this attitude, i'll actually have a pleasant weekend. one full of work, yes, but not one full of stress.

Posted by Meisa at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

for my birthday, khalid metamorphsizes into a frog.

Posted by Meisa at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

not only was lacey's wedding fantastic because it was lacey's wedding and it just had to be that way, BUT, it was the first union of the entire (minus 1 member) fam-lay.

Posted by Meisa at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)