vInterview Meme again
The rules of this meme are as follows:
Comment to this post, and I will list seven things I want you to talk about. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal.
I was interviewed by xlovebecomesher; my answers are below:
1. What did you love most about living in Finland/What did you like least?
What I loved most was probably how well Helsinki was planned and the great views of the sea. What I liked least was, in addition to the temporary nature making it next to impossible to make close friends or date or anything... was that a lot of stuff was so expensive.
2. I hate math mostly because I don't get it and am always envious of people who do and enjoy it. What about math draws you to it?
I like solving problems and thinking fast, and the feeling you get when you actually solve something new can be VERY addictive. (Of course, in research mathematics, these highs can be few and VERY far between...)
3. What's your favorite area of mathematics to work in?
My research has focused on an area known as "analysis on metric spaces", which generalizes the notion of distance in weird ways and asks what we can get out of that. That said, I might be shifting gears quite a bit in the near future (e.g. to something more financially based)
4. What is your favorite Jewish memory?
I know it's cliche, but I would have to say my own bar mitzvah ceremony from 1997. It was one of my favorite/most satisfying experiences in my life... and it was impressive seeing all of the people who were there for me: both family and friends.
5. You're originally a Marylander like me but unlike me you got out! Lucky! Do you miss anything about living here?
Columbia can be VERY isolating, as I find out every time when I return back for more than a day or two (especially when nearly everyone else besides my parents have long since left). I don't have a lot of friends who are still in Columbia (and DC isn't exactly easily accessible or anything)... but I'd say that I miss my friends who used to be there and I also miss living somewhere where everything ISN'T ridiculously expensive.
6. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Obviously I spend a lot of it online (e.g. on LJ); after all, this is the one "home" I have that has stayed constant for more than a few months! (I haven't had a contact address for more than about 2 years since I was 17... or more than a few MONTHS since completing my PhD).
7. How did you get into writing on LJ?
An online friend (whom I had met from a fledgling teen matchmaking site...) had started blogging there in 2001 and then one day in January of 2002 she made most of her posts friends-only, forcing me to get a membership if I wanted to read - and this was back in the days when you needed to get a referral code from a friend to join the site without a paid membership (and being four months under 18, I couldn't sign up online because that needed a credit card)! So, I mailed in my $3 check for a month's paid membership, waited... and was finally allowed to join the site at the end of January. I then *immediately* started using it to rant about life at college, which - that term especially - was taking A LOT out of me.
I haven't heard from that friend in like 9 years... but I've stayed on that site and blogging to this day!
Comment to this post, and I will list seven things I want you to talk about. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal.
I was interviewed by xlovebecomesher; my answers are below:
1. What did you love most about living in Finland/What did you like least?
What I loved most was probably how well Helsinki was planned and the great views of the sea. What I liked least was, in addition to the temporary nature making it next to impossible to make close friends or date or anything... was that a lot of stuff was so expensive.
2. I hate math mostly because I don't get it and am always envious of people who do and enjoy it. What about math draws you to it?
I like solving problems and thinking fast, and the feeling you get when you actually solve something new can be VERY addictive. (Of course, in research mathematics, these highs can be few and VERY far between...)
3. What's your favorite area of mathematics to work in?
My research has focused on an area known as "analysis on metric spaces", which generalizes the notion of distance in weird ways and asks what we can get out of that. That said, I might be shifting gears quite a bit in the near future (e.g. to something more financially based)
4. What is your favorite Jewish memory?
I know it's cliche, but I would have to say my own bar mitzvah ceremony from 1997. It was one of my favorite/most satisfying experiences in my life... and it was impressive seeing all of the people who were there for me: both family and friends.
5. You're originally a Marylander like me but unlike me you got out! Lucky! Do you miss anything about living here?
Columbia can be VERY isolating, as I find out every time when I return back for more than a day or two (especially when nearly everyone else besides my parents have long since left). I don't have a lot of friends who are still in Columbia (and DC isn't exactly easily accessible or anything)... but I'd say that I miss my friends who used to be there and I also miss living somewhere where everything ISN'T ridiculously expensive.
6. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Obviously I spend a lot of it online (e.g. on LJ); after all, this is the one "home" I have that has stayed constant for more than a few months! (I haven't had a contact address for more than about 2 years since I was 17... or more than a few MONTHS since completing my PhD).
7. How did you get into writing on LJ?
An online friend (whom I had met from a fledgling teen matchmaking site...) had started blogging there in 2001 and then one day in January of 2002 she made most of her posts friends-only, forcing me to get a membership if I wanted to read - and this was back in the days when you needed to get a referral code from a friend to join the site without a paid membership (and being four months under 18, I couldn't sign up online because that needed a credit card)! So, I mailed in my $3 check for a month's paid membership, waited... and was finally allowed to join the site at the end of January. I then *immediately* started using it to rant about life at college, which - that term especially - was taking A LOT out of me.
I haven't heard from that friend in like 9 years... but I've stayed on that site and blogging to this day!