Beautiful things from the months that are gone..

I stumbled upon my own blog after a long long long time. So this old friend of mine started a blog, and under fortunate circumstances, I had like 15 minutes to breathe between lab work and data analysis and there in few of the first posts in my facebook newsfeed, I saw his blog, I even clicked on it, it opened easily, was easy to read, I read his posts and then the “follow” button popped up, which followed by remembering I had my own blog followed by amazing robotic memory of my computer that remembered my log in id and password even after all this time and logged me in. This post did not have a title until I finished writing all of it and finally figured out what this post was about.

Just as an update, I am still a graduate student, still living in the same place, different house, still struggling to breathe and relax between the incredible amount of work load. However, I am a little closer to graduation than I was last time, so that’s a ray of hope. I have also managed to not let Mr.C get away and still trying to do fun things to keep my spirit from dying under something called PhD.

Let me tell you about some of the beautiful things I did or saw in the last few months.

1. I saw the moon through a telescope. It was unimaginable to see the craters on the moon for the first time in my entire life. It is true, you do feel small, incredibly small when you are looking at something so big. That thing about realizing you are only a bacteria on the face of earth is so liberating.
2.  Sunsets are really pretty in Miami. If you want to see some evidences of it and you cannot visit Miami yet, check out my instagram (@tiyashp). So, Mr. C found this place which is basically close to the port of Miami and gives you sunset in the back and buildings in the front sunset view. Believe me, that was one of the best sunsets I have seen in a while. I was mesmerized. To sit looking at it with a glass of wine in your hand could be a pretty good Friday evening. 
3. I had a bike accident last January, and after almost a year after that, I biked again this January for about 5 miles. Even if I ended up with excruciating pain after, it was worth it, to be able to overcome the fear of sitting and riding a bike again.
4. I went home and saw my parents and grandma after almost 3 years. The whole vacation seems surreal now that I think of it, almost like it never happened and it was all a dream, mostly because it was all over so soon, but none the less, it gave an amazing end to my last year.
5. Last year, also for the first time in my life, I had a real Christmas tree at home. Every time I opened the door to my house, it had that beautiful smell of pine, I had never felt more Christmassy in my life.

On that note, let me bring this post to an end. I promise to come back soon with more, with a better idea in my head to write about and more words in my pen (key-board).

 

With love,

Tiy.

A dive to 25

There are like 5 people in this world who really care about whether I am writing or not and if I am not then when would I next write. In reply, I tell them, there is only one combination of things that makes me write, sadness plus free time and in the last many months I have not had either. There are two reasons for that:

1. I found Mr. C. He keeps me happy and far away from sadness.
2. I joined a lab as a PhD student and all hell broke loose. Never did I realize it could be this hard, crazy, challenging, demanding to be a graduate student (I had several warnings I agree, but as it’s said you never believe until you see for yourself).

Therefore, what did my life turn into? Waking up going to lab, going to classes, working, studying, tests and quizzes every Monday, writing papers, writing abstracts, more and more and more data analysis, data presentations and to close the deal altogether with crying. Everybody told me it’s hard being a graduate student and guess what, I think it’s harder!

In between everything, I turned 25!

That’s a big deal! Traditionally it’s a quarter of a life and dreadfully I am just 5 years away from the big 3 OH!

Guess what I did to celebrate my oncoming quarter life crisis, I jumped off a perfectly good plane from 18000 feet.

I always told everyone that I wanted to sky dive, that I wanted to see how earth looked from up above and feel like what flying feels like but right at the moment where I was crouching in front of an open airplane door with a stranger strapped to my back, looking down to nothing but white fluffy clouds, I realized this might be the best or the worst mistake in my life. And then, I jumped.

What followed felt like dying, going to heaven and coming back to life. Initially just a whirlwind fall where I passed out for 3 seconds and came back to senses , opened my eyes, saw that I was still falling, going through clouds and rushing towards small brown squares of lands with small green spots, then opened my arms and felt like I was riding air and finally the parachute opened. That jerk over there brought me back to senses and switched my conscious brain back on. Finally I was aware of what was happening, and that I did it, I dived from a plane into nothing and my parachute worked, so I was going to live. That was when I opened my mouth to speak and told a complete stranger that I loved my parents, sister, grandma and Mr. C. and if the same Mr. C. had not jumped out of the same plane before me, I would never have been able to experience those last 2 and a half most surreal minutes of my life. In my defense, I was high then. It was the adrenaline rush going down.

Sky diving is the best mistake I have ever made and may be turning 25 would be the second best. And, now I know, I don’t always need sadness plus free time to write, I need to experience life to write about it!

Until next time,

Tiy.

Not a new girl in Miami

Most days writing does not come running up to me to be written and then there are some days when I end up thinking about every thing but what I really need to write and end up writing some crap here. Today is one of those days. I woke up sad and depressed thinking about all the adult like decisions I need to make and the pros and cons for them a.k.a Monday blues. Miami sometimes makes Monday blues impossible. Imagine how a grey cloudy rainy day would have been a perfect and conducive environment for my Monday blues to be nurtured and nourished and it would have flourished into a total and complete depressed day but turns out today had to be a scorching sunny hot day turning my blue feeling into anger.

I am into making lists, I make lists of everything. In fact I love making lists so much that one time I had made a list of all the things I need to make a list of. In about a month and 4 days its going to be a year of being in Miami for me. about a year back I had written a post about a new girl in miami. Today let me list down five things about Miami that makes me want to fall in love with this city..

1. Most of my dust allergies are gone because this place is not that dusty. I always knew living close to the coast is where my ideal habitat would be but I did not know it would be so ideal. forget dust, this place is also low on pollen which turns out makes me sneeze so hard I could recoil and go to heaven (bless me!).

2. Miami’s weather is as unpredictable as my mood swings when I am on my periods. You better look at the weather forecast before going out to know if you should carry your rain boots or not. Also, if it starts raining chances are it would stop in 15 minutes so just wait around because if you think you could just run and make it to your destination before the rain comes pouring be ready to be amazed. It takes 10 seconds for it to start pouring!

3. Pray to all the gods , old and new to have Publix in almost every nook and corner of the city. I know people who say the only two things you miss about Florida when you move out of here is the sunshine and Publix and I presume they are absolutely right.

4. You never have to think about shoveling snow out of your drive way or for that matter even bother taking out those thick and heavy jackets. In Miami there is no harsh winter which is perfect for a tiny person like me who starts shivering when its 62 degrees.

5. Last but definitely not the least, its difficult to not find something to do here to fill up your weekends unless of course you want to be a lazy ass and being that is your thing (also I wont lie , I do like to a lazy weekend every once in a while) but you can always find something to do here. outdoors or indoors, go shopping, go swimming or go to some garden or some lake, go to a bar or a club or a pub or if nothing works out you always have the near perfect white sandy beaches to go take a dip in. Unless (*deep breath*) you have a boat then just pull it out and go for a ride. oh, have I already said it enough number of times? I am a beach person. That is my thing!

In addition to the above points, I found my person, right here in this city and that just makes everything better. Home is where heart is and Miami could as well be my second home. Its accepting, not judgmental and would teach you how to enjoy mojitos and move your waist to upbeat reggae-tone songs. So its almost fall and therefore time for a set of newbies to come venturing into the city, this goes out for them. You are going to be as scared as I was but you are going to be okay and for a change a city like this will help you instead of making you feel alone.

Love
Tiy

One of the many beach days

one of the many beautiful sunsets

New Girl in Miami

I had asked for a window seat in my flight from Frankfurt to Miami because i was told the view from the window is amazing when you are entering Miami, blue water and white sandy coasts would be there to welcome me. Well guess what! I was welcomed with layers and layers and layers of clouds so thick that I thought I would literally throw up while landing! That was Miami giving me a sneak peak of the next 4 to five years and how they are going to be!(?) 

Its been just a day over 3 weeks now that I am here and all of it has been , well how do i put it , umm, intimidating! That’s the word! when I used to be that cool chick in Calcutta, I would find certain people or may be certain classes intimidating, not the whole freaking place and every little element in it! But, that’s what I chose for myself right? And, therefore it makes me sound petty when i complain. Okay, I am not complaining, this has been exciting, really exciting actually , along with being intimidating. a feeling (like any other feeling as i always say) that one cannot understand if she does not feel it herself! Unless you yourself have traveled half way across the world (9000 miles approximately) on your own to a place where you know nobody, to live there for at least a few years to come, you would not know how this feels. This time I am not exaggerating. Starting right from the prolonged jet lag to getting lost in the university to getting lost and not being able to find your own house to going for your first long drive at night to going for your first dinner out to going for your first movie and finding that first cute guy you like, it is absolutely an adventure! Whats funny and infuriating at the same time? any guesses? Oh yes, you realize, now YOU are the person with an accent. Gahh! Takes you five more minutes to place an order for a sandwich because you have to say mayonnaise three different ways before they get you, having to say most of the things slower than you would usually say them and if you don’t say “T” as “THHI”, you are done, every word you say with a t sounds like one with a d to everybody!

Honestly it has been amazing. I cant say much about Miami except that it does not feel like the U.S.A i saw in so many of those movies and tv series, it just seems like a city by the beach with a lot of palm trees and cool cars with crazy drivers . Its cool though as pedestrians still rule the road! Getting to know this place will take time, and falling in love with something so literally foreign will definitely take longer but I am hopeful! Actually, I am certain. It will be okay, it will all be okay!