We just came back from an evening at the Pritzker listening to these guys and dancing our heads off. Megan, you should have been there—they would have banished your blues in a heartbeat.

Erica, do you know how to tango?

Erica tagged me to do this meme, and while this kind of thing isn’t my favorite species of viral Internet phenomenon, I do like saying the word meme, and I also like Erica a lot. Additionally, I am lazy and haven’t written the post I was intending to write last night, or the post I was newly intending to write today (about our wonderful Chicago Architectural Foundation tour). So here you go.

8 Things I am Passionate About:

Good writing.

Good eating.

Clear thinking.

Learning about the world.

Having fun in the world.

The application of the principles of fairness and justice to everyday life (this means you, gym rats).

Ross.

My people (if you’re reading this, you’re my people).

8 (Rather Random) Books I Have Read and Enjoyed (Recently):

No Country for Old Men

Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance

The Dogs of Babel

Stuart: A Life Backwards

Mendel’s Dwarf

The Year of Magical Thinking

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

The House of the Scorpion

8 Words/Phrases I Say Often:

“Let’s make a plan.”

“Where are we, again?”

“Oof. I ate too much.”

“I wish we had chocolate.” (Usually heard shortly after the above.)

“Damn it, I forgot my…”

“Eh, it’s not a big deal.”

“I’m a dork.” (This is what I say when I do dumb things. Come to think of it, it should probably be #1 on this list.)

“I love you.”

8 Things I Want to do Before I Die:

Visit Iceland, the Galapagos, the Amazon, the Greek islands, and as much of Africa as possible.

Learn how to speak Punjabi, Cantonese, Korean, and all the Romance languages.

Know enough about biology to understand Erica’s paper.

Know enough about physics to explain the Large Hadron Collider.

Know enough about neuroscience to draw a detailed picture of my own brain.

(Be able to draw.)

Write more. Much more. Every day and more.

Own a cat, a dog, and a duck (not necessarily at the same time).

8 Things I Learned This Past Year:

When you live in a place for nine years, it becomes home.

You can have more than one home.

It’s not as hard as you might think to spend most of your days talking only to one person.

Being your own boss is wonderful.

Cleaning once a week doesn’t actually kill you.

Even I can bake.

Happiness isn’t stored inside success.

Success makes small talk easier.

8 People I want to Tag:
Oh, I don’t think I’ll do that. You guys pick up the meme if you want to. Meantime, here’s a peek at what we saw today.

I’ve seen more friends and eaten more delicious restaurant meals in the past six days than I have in the past six months. Since I last checked in I have seen Liz’s long hair. I have coveted Steph’s boots. I have clinked glasses with Anya. I have heard Jo’s laugh. I have read Hal’s hat, and it says “Old Guys Rule” (they do!). I have hugged the tall tree that is Michael. And I have eaten momos with Erica. It is a beautiful kind of overloading.

I have also lost my (new) phone, so don’t bother calling me till next Wednesday, when I will have gotten back to Chicago and hooked my old phone (thank goodness I kept it) back up. I would be mad at myself, but that would detract from my joy at being here, so I’m not going to do that. Also, I put the phone down to take a picture of a wonderful mural swimming across a wall in Jamaica Plain. If that turns out well, I’ll count myself lucky.

I do. I am. Lucky like a penny.

1) Eaten an amazingly intense dinner of bean curd skins stuffed with crab, spicy shrimp salad, and sweet/hot whole fried cod at my favorite Thai restaurant in Brookline.

2) Drunk obscene amounts of white wine.

3) Gone ocean kayaking under the beautiful sun (Hi, tough shit arm muscles. So glad I’ve been working you out for the past eleven months. Also, hi, Dana! I can’t believe we ran into you and Matt there! It was the most beautiful serendipity).

4) Wandered around the South End, stopping to sigh over the motley crew of butt-sniffing, ball-coveting, pug-humping puppies that filled the dog run we passed on the way back from the market.

5) Gotten half-soaked in the rain while walking.

6) Consumed the best portabello mushroom pressed sandwich I have ever eaten and the best hot chocolate I have ever sipped.

7) Gotten other-half-soaked (thus, wholly) in the rain while returning.

8) Made restaurant-quality pea-risotto while wearing the coziest pair of sweat pants ever (thanks, Jenn).

9) Seen a lot of this killer smile.

Edited to add (I can’t believe I forgot!)

3.5) Slept in till ten and had the perfect Sunday morning: newspaper, mug of coffee, challah french toast with veggie breakfast links, maple syrup, and strawberries as sweet as friendship.

Sigh.

When altering an alarm on a cell phone so that instead of reading “2:37pm” (whereupon it is used to wake you from a peaceful afternoon nap) it reads “4:45am” (a time that will allow you to rise with plenty of minutes in which to shower, eat and kiss your husband before getting on a bus to the airport for a 7:50am flight), it is not sufficient to merely edit the time; if you wish actually to be woken (and thus avoid nearly missing your very small, leg-room free AirTran plane), it is necessary also to press the somewhat unobtrusive button on the phone labeled “Enable.”

Just thought you should know.

I’m leaving tomorrow, very early, for Boston. Wish me luck. And if you like, you can read this while you’re waiting for me. It’s not the piece of writing I’m proudest of producing over the past year, but it does have the somewhat delightful distinction of being the first paid science journalism I’ve ever done in print form. I’m working rather hard on not letting it be the last.