Sunday, July 16, 2023
By:
Hey Alexa, play “Super Shy” by NewJeans! The amount of times I have blasted this song in my eardrums during my evening walks is probably unhealthy. Week 7 flew by so fast, I’m not even sure if I even processed it happening.
Research has been very interesting this week! I have begun looking at the metal abundances of galaxies from MUSE DR2. It was also fun to read more papers and compare my work to those of works based on previous data releases. This week, I’ve also learned more on how to use LaTeX. I usually use Overleaf templates for school, but this time I had to use a local LaTeX application in order to efficiently access files on my computer. It was kind of a stressful process, to get the code to run for 141 galaxies. Please join me in hoping for the best for the memory space for my computer. Hopefully, everything will work out soon.
This week, I tried to do some self-care activities to recharge my mind. Some of that includes listening to rain sounds on repeat. I am crossing my fingers that listening to rain noises for 2 hours a day will not significantly affect my Spotify Wrapped.
On Monday, I found a nice little spot in GW to sit and journal. It was a good spot to look at squirrel chases and the big fluffy dogs walking by. The only con was the mosquitos that were thirsty for my blood.
The next day, Tuesday, a couple of interns and I took a little walk to the river and watched the sunset. There was also a family there who were trying to catch fish, and it was very exciting to watch their fishing poles bob up and down. I really enjoyed spending time sitting beside everyone and just staring out at the sun’s reflection in the water. That was definitely a good way to destress and end the day.
Wednesday was also really fun. In the early afternoon, a couple of interns got the opportunity to participate in a focus group for Physics Today. I’ve never volunteered to be in a focus group before, so this was a really fun experience! After work on Wednesday, Brynn, Ruthie, Colin, and I went to Georgetown to shop for Barbieheimer clothes. Pink is such a great color :’) I love pink. Georgetown is such a dangerous place for my wallet because I just so happen to be part of the target demographic of the stores. I will be going back (but someone please stop me).
On Thursday, I got to learn many tips and tricks on photo composition from the workshop! I even got to try out what I learned using the mini sumo wrestler figure and Julia’s water bottle. Not going to lie, I think one can do some good film analysis on the 8 second short film I made with the sumo wrestler.
That night, we also had an intern potluck. The theme this week was “Hometown Glory,” so I made some Taiwanese scallion pancakes. It has been quite a few months since I last had it, so the potluck was a good excuse to eat it again. Everyone brought very delicious dishes and desserts. There were even dino nuggies!
On Friday, I hung out with my friend Anna at the National Museum of Asian Art. We got some really nice paper fans. Those will definitely carry us through the rest of this DC heat. We walked through the exhibits and got to see artifacts from India, China, Japan, and the Middle East. There was also a cool feature to scan a QR code to look at a virtual 3D print of an artifact not on display. It reminded me of my good friend back in California, so I was really happy!
The weekend was very chill and filled with Barbie. It was very nice to take a little chill break after such an eventful week. Thank you for reading, and I’ll catch you later!
Till next time ~
Tiffany Liou