This week has been one of my lighter weeks because it's an off week for one of my classes that has a bi-weekly set. Yesterday (Tuesday) was pretty awesome. I had a big presentation in the morning for my Neurobiology of Disease class. I presented on a paper titled "Optical Deconstruction of Parkinsonian Neural Circuitry." I know that probably means little to people unfamiliar with biology, but it's a really cool paper because it was one of the first to demonstrate the capabilities of optogenetics, which is a recently developed technique that gives scientists the power to completely control neurons. In a simple sentence, optogenetics lets you turn off or turn on exactly the neurons that you want to target using a fiber optic light. This paper discovered that exciting a specific neuron type could completely reverse the motor dysfunction that is symptomatic of Parkinson's. Anyway, I did well on my presentation, and this class is really important to me so I was very happy with that.
Using fiber optic light to control neurons in a mouse model.
Then came the active part of my Tuesday! I had boxing practice in the afternoon and then in the evening I went to Tempest, a free running and parkour gym about 40 minutes from campus. I had gone a bit last year and this was my first time back after the summer. Here is the gym video if you want to see what a free running gym looks like. I got my back tucks and aerials back, and though form was not pristine I was landing well on my feet and I still think it's super exciting. These are very basic moves for free running people but I really don't care if I'm not doing the fanciest thing on the mat. It's still fun. And it's still a back flip. Boxing is definitely a highlight of my week and Tempest is probably my second favorite active hobby so I am very thankful that the way my homework worked out allowed me to do that!
It is now Wednesday and I am deliciously sore just about everywhere from boxing, free running, and lifting but that's just fine since I'm back in a working groove. You're probably wondering how a girl at Caltech has time to go to a one and a half hour boxing practice and then a three hour free running session all in one weekday. It was at least partly luck because I didn't have anything due on Wednesday, but I also tend to work around things so I can do what I want to most. I'd rather go out on a Tuesday and then work harder other days of the week, when I can't box or free run. I'd rather study on a Friday night so I can go paddling during the day on Saturday (what I'll be doing this weekend) than do something mediocre Friday and study at more acceptable study times. I think maximizing my free time by taking advantage of things that are temporally flexible is one big thing that keeps me happy. It's not always a perfect system, but I'm much happier working on a set all night because I chose to do something I really enjoyed than working on a set because I procrastinated. I am similarly more able to stop procrastinating if I have something great to do at the end of the tunnel. Until next time :)
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