Oil Spill off Gulf of Mexico '10

It's about time that I blog about the oil spill. I wanted to wait till the problem is under control. However, it has been over 2 months and it's still spilling at a staggering 60,000 Barrels/day. Apparently every 4 days equals one Exxon Valdez spill!

This incident was initially downplayed by BP as a minor spill that can be contained very quickly. Yet we all know now what a far cry from the truth that was. This kind of cover up would certainly not have gone unnoticed by the top guy of the company, Tony Hayward. Being the CEO of a company comes with many benefits and with that comes work and tremendous responsibility. Tony Hayward basically denied responsibility for the spill, as he puts it, BP drills hundreds of wells a year and he cannot inspect everyone of them. I think it's this lack of responsibility that has affected how he handled this issue - how can one deal with something wholeheartedly if all he wants is to run away from it?! This wrong approach has deterred the response and likely fueled people's anger towards BP.

The societal consequences including job loss are pretty obvious and made very clear by the press, so I won't go there. Yet the environmental consequences seem to be determined by the amount of shoreline the oil reaches. Wait a moment, what about all the lives who call the sea their home?! Though there are some people out there trying to redirect the path of dolphins but what about the other marine lives. Just because they are not endangered does not make their lives have any less value! People are not god and yet act like they are when it comes to the environment, determining which lives are worth saving and which are not. ALL LIVES ARE EQUAL and people should treat them as such.

Let's see how this unfolds after the relief wells are completed and implemented.

New realization

I guess I've been living under a rock, but I realized only recently that natural or vaginal birth is one the most painful experiences one can go through. Some women are even cut to make the delivery process 'easier' in a practice known as episiotomy (~2 inch cut from the vagina to the anus!! sorry to be graphic). The most frightening part of this is that women generally do not feel this 'cos they are too focused on pushing! Still get shivers when I think about it. The other technique is cesarean section, where they make an incision in the abdomen to remove the baby. Extracting a child by C-section looks like something out of Alien, but then again, vaginal birth looks equally disturbing (yes, I've watched a few on YouTube - needless to say it was an eye opening experience, almost fainted at the episiotomy). And there I was already planning on how many kids I want, will have to rethink that!

I don't understand why there are so many women out there who describe pregnancy and giving birth as a beautiful experience!? The most beautiful experience I think of being a mom is watching your kid grow up, and being pregnant and giving birth is something you have to pay for to achieve that. Maybe this painful experience is what makes moms love their children all that more? After finding this out, I have a newly established appreciation for women out there who are willing to go through this. Especially my mom who went through 4 C-sections to deliver 5 kids (my twin sister and I in one go).

Money can't buy happiness?

Yesterday I cantered 3 laps around the arena! It was so much fun! To ride the canter, you just sit in the saddle and go with the flow. It's not as easy as it sounds though - because your balance has to be perfect and you have to be in sync with the horse. This gait is quite fast at around 15miles/hr so any fall would be bad. So I asked for advice if I was to lose balance and for some reason the horse wouldn't stop (I've witnessed first hand when a girl was supposed to canter but the horse went to a gallop and wouldn't stop, he finally stopped when the girl lost balance and fell off). My instructor said to look for a spot on the ground and jump to it :D It's no laughing matter though, I'm sure I'll have to do that someday! Should be interesting.

As I was driving home, I felt so carefree and overall just happy. If only I could ride more often! But that requires money and currently, I'm pretty much constantly broke. 3 years later when I get a real job and real money, I shall be riding every other day, travel around the world and make up to my parents for all the money they have given me over the years.

Who said money can't buy happiness? I say it sure can. Though you have to know how to spend it and more importantly, appreciate the things or pleasures it brings. Once appreciation is gone and replaced with taking things for granted, all the money in the world will not bring you happiness. I hope I won't ever lose sight of this - but it's not like I'll become a multimillionaire or something! If I happen to become that wealthy, I would travel around the world helping people. Not in terms of giving out food, medical supplies or shelter but more aiming at setting up education. Sorry to say this but I think it's quite short sighted to focus on the result rather than the cause. Having an education will allow people to survive and provide for themselves and that would a long term achievement. That would be fantastic to do!

My first horse show!

Today I went for my first horse show. I was rather nervous given there was only 3 people in my division (hence the high likelihood of coming last) and I got Wisconsin, my 3rd preference of horse to ride. My first choice, which was Ohio (the easiest horse I've ridden) is in the same competition as me! So yeah, I was quite apprehensive but also full of anticipation going in.

A typical ride starts off with me tacking the horse, so I went off to tack Wisconsin. I couldn't find his bridal and he was not in his stall! WTH? Where is my horse? I asked around and was told that he is currently in a show! This meant that I only have a few seconds to change the tack from the previous rider and use mine. So I carried all the tack with the help of a friend (from Caltech) next to the competition arena and waited there for the show to finish and used the change time in between to put on my tack. I rode Wisconsin for a couple of strides before we were called in to start the competition. The others had a lot more time to warm up - now, a horse needs warm up but more importantly you need to 'warm up' to the horse and he has to 'warm up' to you. The previous rider on Wisconsin probably weighs twice as much as me and Wisconsin needs to take awhile to be warmed up to me. You can see how seriously I'm taking this.

Before I get into the details of the show - just for context, I was in the Walk/Trot 18+ division. These shows are divided into 2 parts, the first part is Equitation where 'the effectiveness of the rider and overall aesthetic of horse and rider combination' are judged, the second is Pleasure where 'the responsiveness of the horse and overall pleasantness of the horse' are judged. In my opinion these two are basically the same thing, you cannot do well in one without doing well in the other.

Walking on beautiful Wisconsin

They first asked us to walk around then to pick up the rising trot. Wisconsin just wouldn't pick up the trot even though I was kicking him with all my might, then I resorted to using my crop. To which he responded by nearly going into a canter - so I slowed him down to a trot all the while thinking, damn it, I just blew this. Anyway, I did the best I could. After 10min they told us to line up so that our numbers would face them (my number was 415). I was smiling and awaited for the last place call. Amazingly, I was 2nd place - I couldn't believe it!

Rising trot

Then the Pleasure part of the show started, they asked us to pick up the rising trot. At this point, Wisconsin was already listening to me and my rising trot pick up was smooth, then we did a change in direction whilst keeping the trot etc etc. We then lined up again, waiting for the placements - they said 1st place, 415! I came 1st! I was so happy...

If I have ridden Ohio, I would have come first in both sections - there is no doubt about that. But under the circumstances, I'm just thrilled to have gotten 1st and 2nd places.

My ribbons

I've just placed my ribbons on my bed post, and there will be plenty more where they came from! Feels like a child doing it, but hey, there is nothing wrong with being proud of your achievements. This made me think about my past achievements, other than academic wise. I don't really recall any other types of awards - maybe a few for sports? But they were nothing like this, at least nothing that I myself wanted to get into. So this is extra special for me.

Sunrise Lake Isabella 052210

This morning I went for a drive because I wasn't feeling well yesterday (thankfully it's all over now, I'm both relieved and glad!) I decided to catch the sunrise at Lake Isabella which is nestled in Sequoia National Park, about 3hours drive north of LA. So I got up at 2.30am and left home at 3.30am. First, I drove up I-5N to Bakersfield - there were so many trucks on the 5, literally the right 2 lanes were full of them. It was also very windy along there. No wonder there are many accidents involving overturned trucks there. I then drove via scenic 178E to Lake Isabella. At one point, I thought I was going the wrong way and there was no signal on my iphone. But I saw that I was constantly following a river (Kern river) and guessed that it's likely an off-let from the lake. Thankfully I was going to right way, it would be a shame to miss out on the sunrise after getting up so early! Finally, I reached Lake Isabella at around 6am. It was a beautiful sight. The lake looks pristine and I love it's peculiar shape and the many little islands within it.

Sunrise, Lake Isabella (West End)

Lake Isabella (East End)

I drove around the lake a full turn and then back on 178E, and afterward along 14S and returned back to Pasadena at about 11am. Not many days have I traveled 400miles before noon! I then went into the lab to plan some experiments. There are many interesting research projects going on and I have planned them - just have to grab my lab coat (correction, I don't wear lab coat but probably should) and goggles and do them!

After about 4hours in the lab, I went for a work out in the gym. In summary, 350 calories on the elliptical (30min), rowing 1km (5min) and cycling 200 calories (20min). As you can see, I haven't been working very hard. But that might have been due to the fact that it has been a long day!

Indeed, I'm starting to feel quite tired now, it's 10pm - a 20hour day! Though I have to say it was a refreshing and fulfilling day.

Bitten by a horse

Last Sunday I got to ride Maryland. She is the dominant horse in the barn and one of the few horses that has to be tacked up in her stall. Maryland also needs to be given treats for anyone to enter her stall. So I expected some trouble in tacking her but off I went with a couple of carrots in hand and into the stall. Oh my! She is gigantic, dark bay colored and very beautiful. As I was brushing her coat, her ears pinned back to show her anger and she kept turning her head around to try to bite me. At that point, I was actually more afraid of her turning around and kicking me than biting me. That's how angry she looked and I was thinking what the hell have I gotten myself into?! The stall was very small and if she does decide to kick me there is no escaping. Suddenly, she chomped on my arm - it freaking hurt! Now it was my turn to be angry, I shouted at her and slapped her on the neck a couple of times. She looked innocent with ears forward no longer angry. I realized that by using a stern voice I can somewhat curb her from trying to bite me (she resorted to biting her food bucket). I have to say though that it was hard for me to do that, I often try to use positive reinforcement but in this case, that obviously was not working out. Later I learnt that Maryland has bitten everyone who has tacked her. But hell, she was a great ride, very responsive and smooth. I took a photo of the bite to remember it by (currently that area is burning hot, I'm guessing the recovery process).

2 days after bitten by Maryland

Road trip 051510

Just came back from a short road trip today and thought I'd blog about it while it's still fresh in my head. I got up at around 7am (was supposed to get up at 5am - next time for sure) and drove to Lake Mathews - around 1 hour south-east of Pasadena. The lake was beautiful with different shades of blue and green. Today was especially nice because it was quite foggy and the lake looked almost surreal.

Lake Mathews

I then drove further east and came across some outlet stores in Cabazon. I decided to go in and take a look. I have to say that there were some heavily discounted clothing stores, but I was good and only got a couple of t-shirts. I have decided to wear conservative clothing in summer such as t-shirts instead of singlets. No matter what, people still reach quick conclusions about you by what you wear (I am guilty of doing that too!) and I should dress appropriately for campus. Also as a bonus, I don't have to worry about applying sunscreen on my back which was always such a pain!

After that I thought about going to Palm Springs, but it's all desert and I don't like deserts where everything seems dead - I like mountains, lakes and lush forests much more. Anyway, I checked my always helpful iphone and decided to cut down south across Mt San Jacinto via 243 and 74 to Lake Hemet. Driving up and around mountains is always nice and soon before I knew it I was already 6000ft above ground level (or was it sea level?). Along the way, I saw many people on motor bikes wearing what looked like skiing goggles and they looked rather strange...can't quite explain why but they looked like they were from the 60's. Also, I thought I saw an ant eater by the side of the road and was about to grab my camera, but upon closer examination it was just a wheel cover. So yeah, there were many random car parts on the road which lead me to be cautious for my tires when I saw a shiny thing just ahead across the road. As I swerved around it, I realized that it was actually a snake slithering away! Soon I arrived at Lake Hemet, there were so many campers there and their tents were literally side by side covering the entire east end of the lake! I think this defeats the purpose of camping not to mention I can't take nice photos with all the campsites in view. So yes, I was somewhat disappointed about that.

Driving on 243 (San Jacinto)

I then headed back home while the sun was setting. Overall, it was quite a nice drive. (I'll get up early to catch sunrise next time - I promise!)