Learning About Her Professional History

Last night Kendra, David, Eduardo, and Ben went to see Copenhagen at the American Repertory Theatre.

Aside: The ART sells student tickets at an excellent rate: $12 each if you buy a 5 ticket student pass, $15 for day-of rush tickets. It’s only marginally more expensive than going to a movie.

Copenhagen is a play I’ve meant to see for some time – after all, it’s a physics play. It revolves around Heisenberg’s visit to Bohr in 1941, and raises questions about Heisenberg’s involvement and intentions in the German attempt to build an atomic bomb. All of this wasn’t exactly new to me – I was once a teaching assistant in a history-of-science type class whose reading list included exerpt from the play (I can’t remember if we read sections of the play aloud in class).

The American Repertory Theatre staged the play with a very sparse set and a fantastic model of the atom above the set (which switched between a classical and quantum mechanical mode – very satisfying for the physics geeks). As is always the case at the ART, the acting and staging was superb, but the play was long (two and a half hours, plus a single intermission). I have to confess to falling asleep during the second half. I don’t think this was really the actors’ fault – I was just tired, and it was getting late.

Home Again

I’m back in Boston, and I can’t explain just how much of a relief it is. Thanks to a couple of long layovers (in Kuala Lumpur, and again in LAX) I think this was the longest it’s ever taken me to fly from Perth to Boston, but it really wasn’t as bad a trip as I had anticipated. There were a few things I did that I think made a huge difference.

• Used noise cancelling headphones. I can’t tell you how much the purchase of a pair of noise cancelling headphones has changed my traveling experience. I sleep better on the plane, and they’re nice to have on hand to block out the endless flight and security announcements in airports.
• Paid money to be in a relatively quite place. In Kuala Lumpur I payed for 6 hours in an airport hotel, and in LAX I purchased a daypass for the Admirals Club. In both cases this gave me a relatively quite place to relax (and, in the case of KL, sleep) and access to showers.
• Took sleeping tablets. This was especially important on the LAX-Boston flight. Aside from the fact that it was a red-eye, it was packed with drunk men heading to Boston to watch the AFC Championship game. As I boarded the plane I was filled with dread – sure that it would be a difficult flight – but I ended up sleeping through the whole thing. Phew.

in Malaysia

I’m on my way back to Boston, and my journey takes me through Kuala Lumpur, where I have a longish layover (more than 6 hours). To deal with this, I’ve booked myself into the airport hotel, which turns out to be reasonably nice and reasonably priced. In fact, KL has a pretty nice airport – after the disaster that is the new Bangkok airport I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

I’ve been away for too long (almost a month) and I’m looking forward to being home and sinking my teeth into work. My time in Perth was great – lots of time with family (the main reason I go back), and I think I’m made in-roads into learning how to return on a more permanent basis (and continue to be a scientist!!) – but there’s no question that my work has been neglected. And while I really haven’t missed Boston’s winter weather, I have missed my friends and work colleagues, so it will good to be back.

Enjoying the Australian Tennis Season

I really love to watch sport. Given that I’m terribly unco-ordinated and really don’t enjoy actively participating in sport, I always find this a bit surprising. The sports I enjoy watching most are those that I’ve followed for the longest – Australian football, tennis, and cricket – but I’ll really watch anything. I’ve become quite enthusiastic about baseball, and would happily take two weeks off to watch the Olympics. One of the unexpectedly nice things about my current trip to Australia is that I’m here right in the middle of the Australian summer sport season: Australia is currently hosting a test cricket series against India and the Australian Open tennis tournament. I warmed up for the Australian Open by going to the Hopman Cup one evening with my mother, Laurie and Clare.

We were a little bit limited in the days and times when we all could go, so we ended up at an evening match: Argentina vs. Chinese Taipei. I was sure that we’d be in for some really boring tennis; I expected Argentina to take care of Chinese Taipei without too many problems. Instead, we watched two hard-fought matches, and Chinese Taipei prevailed in both!

Today, the Australian Open started. One could easily spend the whole day watching tennis (with a short break for the news and children’s programs in the afternoon) but I restrained myself and waited until this evening to turn the television on. I watched Alicia Molik move through to the second round of the tournament, but couldn’t make it through Rafael Nadal’s opening match, which turned out to be surprisingly hard-fought (at least for the first two sets).

I’m looking forward to catching some more of the Australian Open tomorrow – although by then there will be a cricket test match competing for my attention!

Making Socks

I’ve been knitting Diagonal Cross-Ribbed Socks from Favorite Socks, using Patons Patonyle. I’ve never used it before, but have used Patons yarns in the past – long ago in my knitting infancy (when I still lived in Australia). I really like it – it has a bit of a tendency to split, but is super-soft, and has excellent stitch definition. I’m a bit worried it will pill, though.

I’ve finished the first, and the secon is underway. These socks are a thank you present for a kind (male) friend – they’re a bit big on my small feet. I have to say that I love this pattern – aside from being well-written, it’s reasonably simple to execute, and the end result is beautiful.

An aside: I recently painted my toenails for the first time in my adult life (the inspiration was the purchase of a fantastic dress and co-ordinating open-toed shoes). I’m continually surprised by how much better red toenails make my feet look, even when the polish is poorly applied and/or chipped (which is pretty much always the case).