Textless Thursday (31)

Zadar - Miami - Ma_nhattan - Ma_belly.
Yum!

I just swam a mile.

My girl M and I made a solemn pact before I went back to New York and she made her big move (both flights out happened in a matter of days, so you can imagine the degree of gooey emotions and all-around panic).

Yards, feet and inches. Say what?

We had agreed we'd pick up our good, but sadly neglected, habit of swimming regularly. As a way to fell better, and, more importantly, because being in the water is the best freaking thing in the history of forever. So she found a pool close to her home in her new city, with me following into her footsteps in my own city a few days later. We're on, bitches!

Cool vintage looking locker room. 

And we both loved our respective ones. My pool is a community one in my neighbourhood, exactly halfway from home to work (yup, convenient!). And being a community affair, membership is really affordable and the whole atmosphere is very down to earth and relaxed. Not a very common good here on the fancy UES, by the way. And I figured I'd go and splurge and bought a 3-month membership. Talk about commitment.

Putting those Miami Beach flipflops to good use.
No comment on that fish cracker there, not mine.

I finally made it to there today after work. The pool itself is small. A half-size, so 20 yards long. Which roughly translates to 18-something meters. I had no idea the yards vs. meters thing would give me such trouble. The original plan was to do 1000 meters + a little warm-up and cool down, which translates to 55.5 aka 56 lengths (I did the advanced maths all on my own!!!). Since I am colossally out of shape, I figured that would be a good start.I am by no means a serious swimmer, but having virtually grown up in a 25/50 m pool, I am sort of used to those lengths and, apparently, so are my strokes. I lightly bumped either my head or my arm into the edge a few more times than I care to admit and I shall never speak of it again. Back to serious workout now. I'm going to talk imperial, as it's just easier in this context. 

The first 400 yards, aka 20 lengths, were pure hell. It was awesome to be IN the water, but moving around in it? Strange. Very strange. Fortunately, after a while I found my pace and boy it felt good. So good in fact, that I ended up doing a mile. A MILE, as in 1.61 km. I feel on top of the world right now. 

Coolest cap & goggles ever.

You, proper swimmers who munch miles like it's nobody's business, can shut up and let me have it, ok? It is very likely that I won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning, so I am enjoying my endorphin buzz while it lasts. Dinner also helps.

SOTD: From Disney's The Little Mermaid - Under the Sea. 

Because: duh!

As mentioned before, I will very likely resemble something dead tomorrow morning when my muscles decide today's adventure was a bad idea. But until then, I'll enjoy my buzz and do some work around that sciency thingy I love doing so much. 

Source.

Just do what Dory days, just do what Dory says, just do what Dory says.

Jules

A horsey bowley beery weekend

So. Two major things happened this past weekend. One was the lunar aka Chinese new year. On Friday, the water Snake left us and the wooden Horse began its gallop into the year 4712. 

Chinatown. Colorful. Cheery. Confettied.

Supposedly, the year of the wooden Horse will be a fierce one, so watch out and be prepared to pick your battles.

Probably one of my favourite shots from Saturday.

I order to bid the Snake a proper farewell, I spent Saturday afternoon roaming Chinatown, drinking ginger tea and eating away my weight in red bean cakes and coconut custard tarts. It was fun and colorful...

... And a great intro in a dorky Saturday evening spent in the lab. Oh, lentiviral transfection, how I cherish thee!

On Sunday, I had actually planned to return to Chinatown to watch the parade, but instead, 75 % of the day got eaten by annoying student paper grading. Which did not exactly put me in the best of moods. Luckily, there was this great Superbowl beer party in the evening. I mean, I have no idea what american football is all about, but judging by the amount of buildup going on all around New York, the Superbowl is apparently a ginormous deal. Europeans, think FIFA Champions League finals on freaking steroids! I mean, I get that it's the final game of the season, Clash of the Titans of some sort that determines who's this season's champion. But the marketing stuff was just so intense with ads, all around the city, since the fall, you would think Earth's destiny was going to be decided or something.  

Source.

Things have been hyping up a lot (hello, junk food and beer on super sale everywhere for the past ten days) and there was no way I was going to miss this quintessential American thing. 

Even the Empire State Building was lit up in
NFL's colours in honour of the 48th
Superbowl

Honestly, I got into it mostly because of the beer and the company. And even more honestly, I still am not sure that I understood what the game is all about (ups!), because the Broncos (orange team) did not do much on the field and they seemed to be totally smitten by Seattle's action. So, rookie dilemma: is that what NFL games usually look like? One team standing there while the other hammers the crap out of them? 

And WHY for the love of all that's holy is the sport called FOOT-BALL? They hardly ever touch the ball with their feet. Unlike in proper football... 

Moving on.

It's Monday. So I guess The Compulsory Complain-About-The-Weather Note is to make its entrance: after a balmy weekend spent wearing cute flats and a light jacket, this morning looked like this:

Snow-covered UES

I'm so over winter!

SOTD: Bruno Mars & Red Hot Chilli Peppers - XLVIII Superbowl's 

halftime show. Because every now and then, even I dig Bruno Mars.

I like the month of February well enough, but I am seriously waiting for spring!
Jules