What is one thing you would change about your appearance?

And would you really change it, or is it just a part of who you are and you are okay with it making you look weird?

Whenever I ponder this question, I am puzzled by what answer I should give. I won't list off all of my flaws to you right now because if I did, then those features would stick out in your brains whenever you think of me, and I surely don't want that! But, I will say that one time one of my signature features was erased from a photo and even though I typically don't like this feature, the person in the photo simply wasn't me without this feature. And then there's the solution I tap into now and then of wearing cover-up, making my face one even tone. While I like this effect a lot, I also really like seeing my freckles and the various shades the different sections of my face naturally take on.

But, there is one feature of my face which nearly everyone I am acquainted with has pointed out once or twice which should probably go on a list of things I should want to change about my appearance. Look at the following picture.



Perhaps your eyes are first drawn to the yucky red acne, but since that is temporary (in a long-term sense of the term), I want you to look at the picture again.

Yes, you see it now. You see it in multiple locations. Here's a hint if you are not seeing it...blue.

I have very blue veins on my face, which some days seem to pop out very brightly. It doesn't matter whether I've got a tan or not, the vein under my eye is always showing through my skin. But as I said, there are some days when I get the question (even from my own mother), "What happened to your eye? Did you get hit by something?" And then there are days like today when Christin pointed out that I had veins on my forehead in addition to under my eye. I looked at myself in the mirror and felt like I was wearing make-up for an alien role in a tv series like Star Trek.

The thing is, I should probably be bothered that this vein under my eye which is so noticable and draws people's attentions. But, it is partially due to the fact that people have noticed it for so long (my entire life) that it's like them saying, "Hey, is that a right arm I see on you?"

So, ponder this question, "What is one thing you would change about your appearance?" because I think it is a more complicated question than we typically take it for.

Word of the Day: Dingsbums

das Dingsbums: thingamabob

Isn't it beautiful how in both languages the word to describe something for which you can't place the name is a goofy combination of word and letters? In both languages the first part of the word means "thing" (Ding), but the second part is just incoherent babble.

Steffi uses the word "Ding" a lot in her speech. She even refers to Dominick as "der Typ" (that guy) and "das Ding" (that thing) sometimes. It's quite funny. When I told Christin about Steffi calling Dominick "that thing", she said it is actually quite common to call someone "das Dingsbums" when you can't recall his/her name. So, it's like saying "whats-his/her-name". But whereas we have "thingamabob" and "whats-his/her-name" in English to differentiate between objects and people, apparently it is okay to mix the situations in German. You probably shouldn't conclude that they don't also have a specific word just for people because I probably just haven't been educated on this word yet.

Das Dingsbums...it just sounds so funny!

Ingredient of the Week: Lime

I tend to go on little kicks with my food ingredients, especially when it comes to flavoring meals.

This week I have a variety of vegetables on hand. The vegetables look so colorful and happy that I want to flavor them lightheartedly. In the past I have found a combination of lemon and lime to be a lighthearted combination. These past couple of days I've gone heavy on the lime part, resulting in amazing deliciousness.

The lemon-lime duo isn't just for veggies either. Sunday it went into the groundbeef and veggies pan which got mixed with spaghetti noodles for consumption. Yesterday it went in the pan with chicken and veggies. Today it just went with veggies, but the other half of my plate has dry mashed potatoes (I always find mashed potatoes dry). I find it useful to pair the lighthearted lemon-lime with heavy foods, like the beef, chicken, and potatoes because it makes the meal slide down easier.

What's with all the meat? I'll explain some of that in a couple of weeks when I produce my "Bodyweight Study" results. That study is coming along very nicely and I am very excitedly watching the results. I can't wait to share, but I have to wait in order to have results of enough significance!

A professor told my class on Friday that every slide in a presentation should have a "take-home message". So, my take-home message for this blog entry is: go buy some lime in a bottle (assuming you already have lemon at home) and squeeze both lemon and lime into your next pan of frying vegetables (or boiling, but preferably frying). Experiment with varying amounts of lemon vs. lime for a variety of tastes.

Every meal I make is a mystery on how it will taste. Be creative and enjoy stepping into the unknown!

"New" Baby Names

Sometimes when American parents are given the task of naming their children, they decide that a "normal" name would be boring, so they come up with some sort of weird combination of letters which no one can pronounce or they name the child after a common object or feeling (i.e. Sunshine, Passion, Apple, etc.). I can understand how parents can feel that there are no original names left out there without resorting to one of these two options.

But, just a short jump across the pond and Europe provides a whole slew of new names up for grabs. Here's some "new" names to try:

Sabastian, Basti
Christoph
Ingo (male)
Inga (female)
Inken (female, heard it in a movie)
Rike
Mirko
Josephine, Josi
Francine, Francie
Axl
Felix
Brigitte
Magdelena, Lena
Julianna, Juli, Anna
Katherina, Kathe
Ferdinand, Ferdi
Ulrike
Ronny
Niesel (I find this name funny because "nieseln" means "to drizzle")
Steffen
Marcel
Carolla

These are only German names. When Poles were here at BTU for our frisbee tournament in December, they brought along a whole new name vocabulary.

Ola (I'm told a very common name)
Marek
Mikolaj
Matan
Sylwia (the w is pronounced like a v, also a very common name)
Karola
Lucjan
Ulle
Nynek
Rafal
Kamil

In the United States it is common to see "Baby Names" books in bookstores. I can't claim to have flipped through many, but from the couple I ever did flip through at the library (remember, I worked at libraries for a few years), they all contained pretty normal "American" names.

I think an international baby name book needs to be created. You know, travel the world collecting names from various countries. Of course, many names are mispronounced when out of the context of the original language. So, the spelling of names would need to be tweaked in order for American speakers to get the pronunciation correct while still trying to maintain the original beauty in how the name looks.

I think such a baby name book would be really helpful to a lot of American parents who are on the brink of committing a horrible mistake in naming their child/pet.

Confidence

Word of Life: Confidence

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines confidence as

1a) a feeling or consciousness of one's powers or of reliance on one's circumstances

1b) faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way

I think that this word holds the key to life for me. In whatever I do, from relationships to work to play, I am required to be confident in myself.

I often don't feel confident. Every look, whisper, word put in my direction feels like a pillow being stuffed over my face. But, inside my head I have a dialogue running, telling myself positive statements.

Confidence can work in my life in a great variety of ways. One important way is knowing what will make me happy as an individual. Everyone around me always has expectations and judgments of me, but confidence is my key to fulfilling my own expectations and judgments of myself.

Family Photos in New Mexico

These photos were sent to me today by my mother grace a my aunt grace a my uncle. They were taken in Fall 2008 when my brother Walter and I visited my Uncle Richard (Mom's brother) in southern New Mexico.

I've included the photos on the blog today for a couple of reasons. One, you can see how lovely my brother and I look. Really, I think we look nice in these photos! Second, you can see my uncle. Third, the scenery is gorgeous!

Walter and Me with beautiful New Mexican mountains in the background.



Uncle Richard, Me, and Walter

More Tabu

and some Body Talk too!

Yesterday evening I joined several of my frisbee comrades for a game night. It was wonderful to hang out with this group outside of frisbee. We played Taboo and Body Talk (like Charades) and watched a classic French movie called "Louis and the out-of-this-world heads of cabbage". The main actor, Louis de Funes, is very famous here in Germany for his collection of comedy roles from 1946 to 1982. The movie was pretty corny, but something interesting to watch with a group.

I learned a few new words from the games. One of the Body Talk cards I passed on because I didn't know the meaning happened to be this lovely statement "in die Nase popeln", which means "pick one's nose"!!! I love learning such important phrases like that! One night at frisbee several months ago I had a wedgy, so I asked a girl how to say that in German. The phrase sounded so cool, "arsch frisst Hose (say 'hose-uh'), that I proudly declared my new knowledge to Christin when I got home. She asked me why someone taught me such a phrase and I told her that I learned it because I asked! My German language skills are still at the 4 year old level, but constantly growing in all directions!

Espana

Being that I am living in Europe, I decided that a trip down to Spain is in store during the semester break in March. I have spoken with a few (female) friends about the idea and a couple have affirmed that they would like to join me for at least a few days. Not that I want to stay a long time, only about 12 days. I have planned it out so that I have time to visit several important cities and attend the only festival occurring in Spain during the month of March (Las Fallas in Valencia). There are many more amazing places possible to visit in Spain, but I have kept my list down to three major cities and the three important cities near them.

Madrid and Toledo

Barcelona and Girona

Valencia and Stagunta

Plans aren't set yet, but I am bursting to share and I didn't want to set anything in stone before any one of you has the opportunity to say, "But...", obviously followed by an amazing suggestion.

Action Photo

I was browsing the website of my frisbee group when I found this photo of me at the tournament we held on December 19 in our gym. I couldn't tell you who ended up grasping this frisbee, but it sure looks like I had a good chance!

Some Favorite German Words

Naturally, as I learn German vocabulary there are some words I love and some I hate. I've been watching a lot of the tv show "Scrubs" lately and I just love how the character Elliot says "mist" all the time. I'm not exactly sure what she says in English, but the general meaning of the word "mist" is along the lines of "shoot, dang-it". Another word I like is "ne", which is a slang way of saying "no". You pronounce it kind of like you were pretending to be a horse. Whenever I come across words I love I try to figure out the reason why I love them, but it is difficult to pinpoint reasons. Sometimes they just flow out of the mouth in a nice way. Sometimes it's the way people say them with emotion.

Tabu!

On Monday evening Christin invited Steffi, Dominick, and I out to sushi dinner with her and her boyfriend Andres to celebrate her birthday and as a going away event because she'll be moving out soon (to move into an apartment with her boyfriend). Dinner was a jolly and delicious time.

Back at the apartment Christin, Andres, Dominick, and I played a couple games of "Taboo", written as "Tabu" in German. I wasn't sure if I should try playing because the game is all about describing words to your teammate without using a certain group of words listed on the gamecard. I figured I would just be a hindrance to my partner and it wouldn't be fair of me to put someone in such a losing position.

But, I decided to give it a try and I'm glad I did. A great thing about the game is that if you pick up a gamecard with a word you don't know or don't know how to describe, then you can just put it down and pick up a new card. So, did I hinder my teammate? A little, but not significantly. I look forward to playing again!

I'm a Quack

Actually, the ducks in this video are real quacks!



I was walking a dog from the animal shelter along the Spree river and then we crossed a bridge. I was very amused by the large number of ducks and reasoned that they must have been begging me for food. My dog was not amused by the ducks, but patiently put up with my photo/video session.

I even caught a few photos of a mouse peaking out from his house...



and running along the bank.

The Evil Assignment

I hate writing essays about things I barely understand. I try to read all the stuff written about the things which confuse me, but all they end up doing is confusing me more. Everything is too complicated and it's no wonder my interpretation of the information comes out all complicated and oversimplified. I try to simplify things into causes and effects which make sense to me. Then, my work gets edited and I'm told things don't make sense. Well, they make sense to me! I try to write for my audience, and to do so I reason, I am also a member of the audience. Most of my assignments have gone relatively well this semester, but this one deals with chemical reactions, and I hate chemical reactions (because they are complicated). Sometimes I want to just accept that I'll never win certain fights. But, I have to try and it's so frustrating!

Understanding Bodyweight

You are all probably going to think I'm neurotic, but I've really just got a curious mind.

I gifted myself a scale and have begun a study to understand how my weight fluctuates throughout the day depending on such activities as sleeping, eating, exercising, and lazying around. The preliminary results after only one week are fascinating.

It appears that I gain about one kilogram between waking up and going to bed (yes, I will be speaking in kilograms and not pounds; 1 kg = 2.2 lb). Then, during the night I lose weight, as is normal (Dr. Rosen for Psychology Today, 2009). The amount of weight I lose during the night depends on how long and deep is my sleep. I had difficulty falling asleep the first few days of the week because I was trying to sleep too early (compared to my holiday schedule), so I only lost a few decimal points during the night. Later in the week when I was able to go to bed late and sleep late, I lost closer to a kilogram during the night. So, if I gain one kilogram during the day and lose one kilogram at night, then my weight remains about constant.

Dr. Rosen says in the article "Lose weight while you sleep (for real)!" that a study found it was normal to lose about 1/4 lb per hour of sleep. If I multiply that by nine hours, that comes to 2.25 lbs, which is just about 1 kg. The study showed that people lost more weight during sleep than just lying around awake in bed. The cause of the weight loss during sleep is that REM sleep uses a lot of energy. I love to sleep and most nights I travel well away to dreamland (a sign of REM sleep). On those nights when I don't sleep long enough, like at the beginning of this week, I still lose 1/4 lb per hour, but over the duration of only a couple of hours, so the resulting weight loss is less.

So, what can I recommend to those of you trying to lose weight? Do some aerobic exercise to tire yourself out and then sleep for a long time.

Movies I've Seen Recently

The observant blog reader would notice that my "Movies I've Seen Recently" list has increased in length by about a third over these past two weeks.

The two weeks involving Christmas and New Years are always horrible for normal tv watching because all the regular scheduling is replaced with movies. I usually hate this aspect of the holidays because in the United States movies get edited for television and I never really feel like I can claim to have seen them. German television, on the other hand, wins points with me in that it shows films in their full-length entirety (swearing, nudity, and violence are all there). There is the little downside of the language barrier, so there are still some movies I need to see again in English in order to understand all the jokes and wordplay. But, I've also had the opportunity to see a couple of original German movies, which has been great for cultural education.

Favorite? You're out of luck because I don't do favorites of nearly anything!

Note: "Recently" in my context here means the past 365 days (otherwise known as 1 year). I would wipe out some of the films from last January, of which there are a few, but I like using the list to remember which movies I've seen "recently". Hey, as long as a scientist defines her terms, she's allowed to use them as she wishes!