Two weeks' worth of the usual routine stuff won't take very long to cover, but there have been some rather extraordinary events. also, i do want to get some thoughts out of my head. let's start with events, then move to thoughts later.
from the last post, you'd know that the date and i were talking about ways to express love, aka. love languages. remember posting about them before, but i guess a quick refresher never hurt. according to the thing i read, there are 5 main love languages: quality time, gifts, words of affirmation, acts of service, and physical touch. different people will naturally tend to favour each method to different extents. for me, i'm a physical touch and quality time person. and before you say it, physical touch doesn't have to be M18. it can be as simple as a hug, or holding hands. the date told me that their main one was acts of service, and that physical touch was rather low on the list. so...ok. it's a difference between us, but nothing we can't both work around. just have to be more mindful of each other's feelings and moods. on that note, the date did something which i was (and still am) extremely happy about, and grateful for. they invited me over for dinner last sunday. the mother had bought pork ribs, and made bak kut teh. it's the second time i've had it at their place, and the standard maintained across. after that, we had a quiet evening of talking, gaming, and a short nap together. it gave me this warm, fuzzy feeling, which i've been trying hard to hold on to, and recall when faced with trying situations (traffic being the prime example). you know, i wonder if your "giving" love language can be different from your "receiving" love language. i suppose it has to, because it's supposed to suit your partner. but removing the partner from the equation for simplicity's sake, is it possible to like different things depending on the direction relative to you? say, someone may like receiving gifts, but may not like buying gifts for others. or someone may not like to receive affirmation, but enjoys encouraging others. seems to me that it's possible for everything except quality time, because it's given and received at the same time. also through interactions with the date, i've been reminded that although we feel some love languages more strongly, it doesn't mean that we don't feel the rest. for instance, i do feel a sense of warmth and gratitude when the date buys me something (usually clothes, despite my usual aversion for clothes shopping). so...that's nice. though i do worry about the date's spending sometimes. after all, it's not like my options are severely limited, and i'm not dressing up for my chemicals. but well...it's the thought that counts, i guess. i do hope that i'm pulling my own weight on the balance, but that's not for me to judge, is it?
my gym membership is due to expire soon, and i'm switching over to anytime fitness. did some weighing of pros and cons, and i figured that no matter how much convenience my current place offers, the limitations on timeslots and training hours are the biggest pitfalls. anytime fitness has a few things going for it, in that it's literally "anytime", because you have your own key. and more importantly, they're opening up a branch at rivervale mall! i caught their promotion roadshow this past thursday night, and signed up to take advantage of the special. $88 per month (vs. usual rate of $98). too bad i found out about it so late...the first 100 sign-ups paid $68/month, while the next 100 got a rate of $78/month. well...not complaining too much. a year's membership there is still cheaper than 6 months at the current gym. unfortunately, that leads to the downside of anytime fitness. they use what i call the "DLC" marketing scheme, which is a reference to (paid) downloadable content for computer games. in the era of phone gaming, i suppose the analog is in-app purchases. $88 nets you a basic membership, that you get access to the gym at all hours, and share equipment with other users. the premium content comes in the form of personal training, which goes for $70 an hour (usual price $85). factoring in one session per week, the monthly membership cost goes up to $368. that's too steep for me. after talking to the people manning the booth, i decided to try one month with the personal trainer, and see how things go from there. the good thing is that with some foundation, i can adapt and extrapolate. not to put the fitness industry down or discredit any professionals, but i figure that if i can apply the scientific method to my reactions, i should be able to do similar for their training programs. only thing i have to watch out for is my own body's response. and a small part of me is thinking of picking up yoga at the judo club (there's a separate class on thursdays and saturdays), for promoting muscle recovery and flexibility. will see how that goes.
last noteworthy thing. one of my chemistry friends proposed! not to me, obviously...to his girlfriend of 7 years. their story has a few more twists and turns than the typical romance, but it seems that things are working out well for them right now. i volunteered to help set up the proposal venue, which was a room he booked in a boutique hotel in the somerset area called lloyd's inn. the service was on the poor side of average, though i thought the receptionist redeemed the hotel's face somewhat by wishing my friend good luck upon seeing his nervousness. 2 of the girlfriend's friends, and 3 of us from chemistry went down to help. the date was invited too, but i thought that (1) my friend was asking to be polite, and (2) it was going to be menial labour and so didn't really check with them. turns out my friend was serious, and the date would have loved to go. so i got into some trouble yesterday. well...i promised the date that if any more of the chemistry friends proposed and we were still together, i'd ask them along. let's see... of our entire group of 13, 4 are engaged/married, 5 are seeing someone, and 4 are single. that's an oddly even split. hopefully the single ones find their someones soon (if they're looking), and hope that those already seeing someone move on to marriage (provided it's best for them). for the date and i...marriage is kind of off the table, for a multitude of reasons. i'm ok with it personally. hope the date is, too.
as my friends tie the knot one by one, i do wonder how they found the courage to take the plunge. that especially applies to my friends who already have kids. how does a person know that they're ready to be responsible for a life? i mean, i don't feel ready at all. let me illustrate with a short anecdote. in designing the layout of the house, someone thought that it would be a good idea to have some plants in certain locations. one of those locations is the bathroom. thing is, i don't see those plants get watered. so every few days, i'll pause in the middle of my shower to aim the showerhead at the plants there. that's about all i feel confident for, actually...watering a plant. even taking care of a pet, say a fish or dog, sounds too daunting for me. let alone a baby. well...good thing i'm not too fond of kids. and as i've said before, i can be the favourite uncle for all my friend's kids. just play with them, and hand off to the respective parents when the kids cry.
right. that's it for now i think. research is coming along nicely, though i'm a bit worried for my minion. supposedly-simple organic synthesis reactions aren't working. thankfully, my platinum stuff is proceeding as planned. will need to talk with my professor soon, and get another compound out before i can begin an assay.
from the last post, you'd know that the date and i were talking about ways to express love, aka. love languages. remember posting about them before, but i guess a quick refresher never hurt. according to the thing i read, there are 5 main love languages: quality time, gifts, words of affirmation, acts of service, and physical touch. different people will naturally tend to favour each method to different extents. for me, i'm a physical touch and quality time person. and before you say it, physical touch doesn't have to be M18. it can be as simple as a hug, or holding hands. the date told me that their main one was acts of service, and that physical touch was rather low on the list. so...ok. it's a difference between us, but nothing we can't both work around. just have to be more mindful of each other's feelings and moods. on that note, the date did something which i was (and still am) extremely happy about, and grateful for. they invited me over for dinner last sunday. the mother had bought pork ribs, and made bak kut teh. it's the second time i've had it at their place, and the standard maintained across. after that, we had a quiet evening of talking, gaming, and a short nap together. it gave me this warm, fuzzy feeling, which i've been trying hard to hold on to, and recall when faced with trying situations (traffic being the prime example). you know, i wonder if your "giving" love language can be different from your "receiving" love language. i suppose it has to, because it's supposed to suit your partner. but removing the partner from the equation for simplicity's sake, is it possible to like different things depending on the direction relative to you? say, someone may like receiving gifts, but may not like buying gifts for others. or someone may not like to receive affirmation, but enjoys encouraging others. seems to me that it's possible for everything except quality time, because it's given and received at the same time. also through interactions with the date, i've been reminded that although we feel some love languages more strongly, it doesn't mean that we don't feel the rest. for instance, i do feel a sense of warmth and gratitude when the date buys me something (usually clothes, despite my usual aversion for clothes shopping). so...that's nice. though i do worry about the date's spending sometimes. after all, it's not like my options are severely limited, and i'm not dressing up for my chemicals. but well...it's the thought that counts, i guess. i do hope that i'm pulling my own weight on the balance, but that's not for me to judge, is it?
my gym membership is due to expire soon, and i'm switching over to anytime fitness. did some weighing of pros and cons, and i figured that no matter how much convenience my current place offers, the limitations on timeslots and training hours are the biggest pitfalls. anytime fitness has a few things going for it, in that it's literally "anytime", because you have your own key. and more importantly, they're opening up a branch at rivervale mall! i caught their promotion roadshow this past thursday night, and signed up to take advantage of the special. $88 per month (vs. usual rate of $98). too bad i found out about it so late...the first 100 sign-ups paid $68/month, while the next 100 got a rate of $78/month. well...not complaining too much. a year's membership there is still cheaper than 6 months at the current gym. unfortunately, that leads to the downside of anytime fitness. they use what i call the "DLC" marketing scheme, which is a reference to (paid) downloadable content for computer games. in the era of phone gaming, i suppose the analog is in-app purchases. $88 nets you a basic membership, that you get access to the gym at all hours, and share equipment with other users. the premium content comes in the form of personal training, which goes for $70 an hour (usual price $85). factoring in one session per week, the monthly membership cost goes up to $368. that's too steep for me. after talking to the people manning the booth, i decided to try one month with the personal trainer, and see how things go from there. the good thing is that with some foundation, i can adapt and extrapolate. not to put the fitness industry down or discredit any professionals, but i figure that if i can apply the scientific method to my reactions, i should be able to do similar for their training programs. only thing i have to watch out for is my own body's response. and a small part of me is thinking of picking up yoga at the judo club (there's a separate class on thursdays and saturdays), for promoting muscle recovery and flexibility. will see how that goes.
last noteworthy thing. one of my chemistry friends proposed! not to me, obviously...to his girlfriend of 7 years. their story has a few more twists and turns than the typical romance, but it seems that things are working out well for them right now. i volunteered to help set up the proposal venue, which was a room he booked in a boutique hotel in the somerset area called lloyd's inn. the service was on the poor side of average, though i thought the receptionist redeemed the hotel's face somewhat by wishing my friend good luck upon seeing his nervousness. 2 of the girlfriend's friends, and 3 of us from chemistry went down to help. the date was invited too, but i thought that (1) my friend was asking to be polite, and (2) it was going to be menial labour and so didn't really check with them. turns out my friend was serious, and the date would have loved to go. so i got into some trouble yesterday. well...i promised the date that if any more of the chemistry friends proposed and we were still together, i'd ask them along. let's see... of our entire group of 13, 4 are engaged/married, 5 are seeing someone, and 4 are single. that's an oddly even split. hopefully the single ones find their someones soon (if they're looking), and hope that those already seeing someone move on to marriage (provided it's best for them). for the date and i...marriage is kind of off the table, for a multitude of reasons. i'm ok with it personally. hope the date is, too.
as my friends tie the knot one by one, i do wonder how they found the courage to take the plunge. that especially applies to my friends who already have kids. how does a person know that they're ready to be responsible for a life? i mean, i don't feel ready at all. let me illustrate with a short anecdote. in designing the layout of the house, someone thought that it would be a good idea to have some plants in certain locations. one of those locations is the bathroom. thing is, i don't see those plants get watered. so every few days, i'll pause in the middle of my shower to aim the showerhead at the plants there. that's about all i feel confident for, actually...watering a plant. even taking care of a pet, say a fish or dog, sounds too daunting for me. let alone a baby. well...good thing i'm not too fond of kids. and as i've said before, i can be the favourite uncle for all my friend's kids. just play with them, and hand off to the respective parents when the kids cry.
right. that's it for now i think. research is coming along nicely, though i'm a bit worried for my minion. supposedly-simple organic synthesis reactions aren't working. thankfully, my platinum stuff is proceeding as planned. will need to talk with my professor soon, and get another compound out before i can begin an assay.
-random thought of the day: Under all situations, stay calm.-
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