It was really a lot of fun getting to celebrate my nation’s birthday while I was actually in Canada. That hasn’t happened in a while. And while many people think that Canada isn’t very patriotic a country, they would be amazed by the outpouring on the 1st of July. In addition to being around for the party, a Canadian Celtic Folk Rock band, Spirit of the West, that was a big part of my junior high / high school soundtrack played the free show before the fireworks.
So all in all the wedding went really well. I think everyone involved had a really good time including the minister and the photographer. It didn’t quite go off without a hitch… the organist started playing the recessional before the minister had gotten to her last line… but she handled it brilliantly and it ended up adding just the right amount of comedy to the event.
It is so strange… you spend hours getting ready with the hair and the dress and makeup etc… you get to the church and then the service seems like its over before you can blink. Even the receiving line we did as people left the church didn’t seem to take as long as I’d imagined … and then we spent a good two hours playing around with the photographer (we had such a blast, there will be some beautiful photos but there will be some really great character shots as well). If it weren’t for the rings on our fingers and the inability to not crack a smile every time we glanced at each other I think it might have felt like one big photo-op…
Dinner was tasty and filling, dancing was fun (though hard in that skirt I tell you), and I got a chance to visit with almost everyone I don’t see as much as I would like. When the limo arrived to take us back to the hotel at 11:30, however, I was pretty tired and quite ready to get the ~100 bobby pins out of my hair.
In the end it was a fabulous day and a whole lot of fun, which is exactly the way I think these sorts of things should be.
And in other news…
(Way too much fun… that or I am easily amused…or possibly both)
2 sleeps until I head towards Winnipeg (with all the packing that entails)
6(ish) sleeps until the postdoc application has to be mailed
9 sleeps until the wedding!!!
10 sleeps and I wake up a married woman
11 sleeps before I a) likely find out if my paper is accepted b) find out if my first international talk is accepted
12 sleeps until we leave for Japan!
(and after that we cross the international date line and so counting in ’sleeps’ goes right out the window)
with the warm wind blowing 。getting on a roll 。’the bestest’ 。feel the fear and do it anyway 。12:34 
…and because I am a glutton for punishment.
Today was a nice day. I was up too late last night but most of the wedding service details are planned out. I heard back from the Ryokan (japanese inn) in Kyoto with the amazing reviews and cancelled our slightly less researched reservation with a Ryokan that had only scattered and sketchy reviews. I contacted the organist and confirmed that yes, we do have one - which is good. I called the florist because though giving my friend Mike, who is one of my bridesmaids (for lack of a better term), a bouquet amuses me to no end we have decided to go with a “manly bouquet” of a few roses done in a very simple way. And on my way home just before sunset I decided to take a short walk in the forest preserve near the lab and got some nice photos (at least as far as I can tell from the tiny little display screen on my camera).
All this was a real coup on a day when I was seriously lacking sleep.
While I was eating dinner I noticed the most recent addition of Physics Today, the monthly magazine sent to all members of the American Physical Society, of which I am one. On a lark I decided to flip through the job postings section as I will be starting to look for post-doc positions at some point in the next year (I’ve been thinking about getting that paper out, getting married and going to my first two big international conferences first). Having not really started writing my thesis in earnest yet I figured applying for things was a bit premature.
After crossing out all sorts of things I am not qualified for:
when out of the blue I flipped the page and saw this:
FY2009 Foreign Postdoctoral Researcher (FPR), RIKEN, Japan
I was completely blindsided by this; completely overwhelmed by a combination of excitement and terror. Now to put this in context, it is probably obvious to all of you by now that both Myk and I think that Japan is fascinating. Myk has always wanted to teach English there for a while. And for me, well, there is a brand-new world-class facility for the type of physics I do that has just started operations. As a future-wish sort of a thought we have toyed around with the idea of me trying to get a post-doc there. This is a fantastic opportunity. Applications for positions starting between April 2009 and March 1010 are due in two weeks!. I have to put the whole thing together before the wedding, while finishing up planning the wedding, packing, and planning our existing trip to japan. And I haven’t even thought about applying anywhere yet. Ah!
I might be able to save on postage though as they do say: “…and post mail or hand-deliver to the host laboratory”
From all of the pictures I’ve been posting people might be starting to think I’m counting down to my trip and not my wedding… but being 1000 miles from my fiancee and most of the remaining planning there isn’t a lot to take pictures of. Planning for the trip has been interesting, because I have been writing all these e-mails to make reservations at Japanese Inns and have been using the phrase “My husband and I…” (私と私の夫…), because at that point he will be. It is simultaneously strange and exhilarating.
Getting stuff for the trip together is now in full swing, and I am working on putting together travel journals for the two of us in my ’spare’ time (yes my paper got submitted but there is a proposal deadline tomorrow :p ). I’m really liking how they are turning out:
And I picked up our rail passes today!
Yesterday was a good day. I finally submitted my paper to be considered for publication. It feels so good to have that off my plate for a few weeks while it passes through editors and referees.
Also, Myk and I have booked most of our rooms for the duration of our trip! We have been picking through travel books and scouring the internet to find neat places a reasonable prices and have been succeeding remarkably well. And ever time we make a decision that finalizes our plans in some small was a little part of me worries that we aren’t making the best choice and we might miss out on some fascinating detail of the country as a result - and then a google search or flickr will bring up a bit of fascinating information we hadn’t known when we made our choice, or an image that takes my breath away and I realize that the trip is probably going to keep blowing me away at every turn. It is going to be such an adventure and I am so excited about going adventuring together.
(by sky-genta)
Today started with a in incredibly touching and uplifting and hopeful post by Mir at Woulda Coulda Shoulda. It has me ready to go and seize the day so in the words of Kal Barteski Go!
(not todays photo… but it seemed to have the right mood)
26 sleeps! (can you tell I’m excited?) 。getting e-mail from Japan (rooms for the first few nights are booked!) 。and more e-mail from Japan (a collaborator who I’d hoped would want to be included on my paper) 。having my paper almost done (I should be able to hand it in tomorrow!) 。e-mail from far away friends
Well, the move is complete and I’ve almost settled in to my new room… there are still piles of boxes in the corners but at least I have more that 3 sq feet of floor space like the first week (and I’ve even cleared enough junk off my little desk thing to be sitting at it while I write)
I’d say I’ve been in a writing lull except it only looks like a lull from this perspective because I’ve been writing furiously behind the scenes. I almost have my first paper ready for publication… it’s pretty exciting
Also on the exciting news front: Less than a month until my wedding! Most of the planning is in place and now we just have to wait. Myk is so excited he’s been keeping a running countdown to the wedding which includes minutes. I’ve been taking the “number of sleeps” method not because I’m any less excited but because it’s always been my countdown method of choice. I took my ring in to be be rhodium plated last night so that it will match my wedding band (white gold yellows just slightly with wear). I will only have to be without it until noon today… it’s so crazy how strange it’s felt to be without it. Apparently I play with it constantly.
Only 3 sleeps after the wedding we are heading to Japan. It has always been tradition in my family to write a travel journal whenever we’ve gone anywhere and I’ve found that being able read about my impressions of the day and the things I’ve seen is better than pictures for being able to remember that particular day, even 10+ years later. For my trip to England I bought a London Moleskine notebook which was great. It included a London city and subway map as well as blank pages for writing. I was disappointed when I found out that the Tokyo Moleskine isn’t going to be out before I go… and so I’ve been working on making my own and one for Myk as well. I don’t think I’m going to have whole city maps included but I am certainly including the subway maps for Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto and maps of the Shinkansen bullet train routes. I made sure to look up how to properly write the kanji for “emergency telephone numbers” to go along with the English in the back of the book. That was a fun and challenging exercise… the kanji are at least twice as large as the english letters and even I can tell they have that “little kids writing” look to them, but all the lines are in the right place so I assume they are still legible. I bought tickets to a Bunraku (japanese puppet) show over the internet while on the phone with Myk last night. It’s so exciting and the little things like that are starting to make it seem so much more real.
What I'm up to
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