Do something new every month

This is probably the most boring ‘something new’ on earth, but—I attended my school’s weekly cognitive science symposium. Actually, I attended twice. Last week they had a very famous neuroscience guy in to talk about the (possible) neurobiology of autism. And then this week a professor from the university of ontario came down to give a talk on world knowledge and on-line sentence processing.

I was really most excited about the last one, not just becasue I’m an incredible geek, but because I UNDERSTOOD THE WHOLE THING. That’s the first time I’ve ever sat through an hour long cognitive science research symposium and not gotten lost once. I’ve changed my mind – that is definitely worth noting as ‘something new’ this month! :-)

I took my husband to see the Monterey jazz festival band! Alright, alright, so we actually went on the first of March, but the February 29th show was sold out. So it still counts. Neither of us had ever been to see jazz live before; we were really excited. It was so great, and the band was so talented, funny, and entertaining. And what’s more, that makes two months in a row I’ve stuck with this goal. Woohoo!

...turned out to have a bunch of new things tied into it automatically. New semester, new classes, new schedule. On the other hand, I’m not sure how much of that counts toward this goal, since they were for the most part obligations, not specific efforts at challenging myself. In any case, I’m gonig to pick teaching a 3-hour night class as my significant “Something New” for the month, since I was pretty intimidated to take that one on. Good luck with everyone else’s “Somethings”!

I’ve run a few 5K races (a long time ago), but I’ve never been a part of a run/walk for charity. This was a great opportunity. Some of the students in my Language Development class organized the race to benefit Operation Smile, an organization that repairs craniofacial problems like cleft lip for children in developing countries. My husband and I just took it easy and walked, but it was still a lot of fun. It was also a great way for students and friends in the area to come together for something good. Being so close to Virginia Tech, it’s been really hard. This morning was good for everyone involved.

Today my husband and I went to the St Patrick’s Day parade in Roanoke. Neither of us had ever been to one. It was pretty cold outside, but it was still fun to watch.