Recording Joy – January 2025

2024 was a doozy of a year for me, and not in a particularly heartening manner. In some ways, it’s a marvel that the sun came up on the first of the new year to see me still breathing and in one piece. Yet despite the ups and (mostly) downs, I am committed to bettering myself. Maybe in the past I would start a year with plans of grandeur– things like waking up at 5:30am to take virtual Spanish and Japanese lessons or reducing my calorie intake to a simultaneously laughable yet scary point. But with dawn of 2025, I realize that the things I need to work on are very different now.



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Painting Science in a New Light

Back in 2022 when I attended the Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology GRC, I saw a poster with an unusual figure. It was a model of their work, but rather than being made digitally, either through BioRender, PowerPoint, or other software, it was hand-drawn. I had never seen something like this in a professional scientific setting before. Although at the time I was still a first year grad student, trying to just figure out what I was doing at any given moment, I told myself that I would one day try to approach science this way.



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Alex’s Defense! (EDIT: Now Dr. Alex)

One of the worst things a grad student can hear is “so, when are you graduating?” Even the best of grad students (whatever that means), with a set and followed timeline, will know it’s not just finishing some classes and leaving. The final thing you must do when completing a research-based degree is defend your thesis/dissertation. That oh-so-simple question calls to mind the journey one is about to embark on in order to finally be set free. Years of work, cumulated in a huge written document, then presented publicly, and then scrutinized by your committee. Despite not having my PhD defense for a few more years still, I got a good taste of it when defending my Master’s thesis back in November. Let me tell you, that was a LOT. Now, after years of grueling lab work and months of being cooped up furiously writing, my lovely partner Alex has defended his PhD dissertation. Obviously, I need to celebrate him.



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Book Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch follows the Gentlemen Bastards, a group of trained thieves, as they plan their biggest scheme yet. Rather than steal from the poor, why not take a some thousand gold crowns from the highest echelons of Camorr? It’s not like they’d miss it. Yet despite fooling even the highest crime boss in their land, things suddenly start to go awry. A coup in the crime world and sudden suspicion from those in power complicate their plans. Will Locke and his gang be able to keep their game up while surviving the bloodshed?



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Book Review: How to Write a Lot

Back in March, when I was traveling to the Fungal Genetics Conference, my PI finished a book he was reading and immediately handed it to me– mid-flight– to read. Unfortunately for him, I was in the middle of a book (El Oro de Los Sueños) and had another (Remarkably Bright Creatures) all queued up. But as airplanes are somehow the best place for me to read as of late, I finally embarked on the book he made me read suggested on my latest trip to Boston.



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Book Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures

For 70-year old Tova Sullivan, working as a night cleaner at the local Sowell Bay Aquarium helps keep her busy. Between the monotony of polishing glass and sweeping floors as well as the gentle presence of sea life, she can escape the grief of losing her loved ones. Five years prior her husband died of cancer, and thirty years ago her teenage son died via suicide, or so the police say… Tova has never believed this, though. Each night, she talks to Marcellus the Giant Pacific Octopus, and each night he listens.

One night, she finds him out of his tank, tangled in cords after raiding the trash bin for a snack. After saving his life, he vows to help her in some way. Giant Pacific Octopus are, as the sign in the aquarium says, remarkably bright creatures. Although they can’t speak with humans, they have a high understanding of patterns, information, and the world around them. Throughout the book, we are given snippets of Marcellus’s internal monologue as he tries to help Tova. Will he be able to before she retires and he, being extremely old for a Giant Pacific Octopus, dies?

Click here to be taken to this review on goodreads


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Book Review: The Body Keeps Score

TW: trauma (of course), SA, war/combat, etc.

Recently, internet reading communities have been re-recommending the 2014 book The Body Keeps Score. It has a pretty blue cover with Icarus by Henri Matisse, often paired with peaceful music and “Self-Help Books that Changed Me” titles by book content creators. I became curious, in the same way I now need to read Song of Achilles from how largely it made its rounds on my for-you page and friends’ goodreads lists.

The Body Keeps Score discusses the effects of trauma on the body by Dutch psychiatrist and trauma expert, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk. He goes through the book using real patient stories to discuss how it affects the psyche, the physiology of trauma, and different non-medicinal treatment methods. From a general perspective, the book is informative on the different types of trauma, how trauma survivors’ bodies and brains may respond and why, and ways people can approach their trauma to better themselves.



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It’s About Spelunking Time!

I’ll admit it, I was quite upset that I couldn’t attend Ice Fest this year due to my move to Virginia (read: spent way too much time sulking about it). To add to the sting of being in a new university with new people in a new middle of nowhere, I now couldn’t feasibly attend what I hoped had become an annual thing. And not just any annual thing– an annual thing that gives me an absurdly huge boost of self-confidence and lets me escape from the stress of being a grad student. I ended up contacting folk from the group I’ve gone with before about missing this year, so hopefully next year I can coordinate with them to go again. But in the meantime, no extreme, adrenaline-pumping sport for me… or so I thought!

In a funny turn of events, I saw a poster hanging for an outdoor rec group associated with Virginia Tech. It listed their events for the semester, things like a spring break backpacking trip and paddle boarding dates. It also had listed a few dates with caving outings. I decided to look into it and register for one of them. I mean, why not? I love going on cave tours (Carlsbad Caverns, St. Michael’s Cave, Mammoth Cave, Cumberland Caverns, etc.), but always thought caving was too dangerous to try. Seeing that it was guided, all supplies provided, and beginner-friendly, I figured at worst it’d be dorky and I’d just get to walk around a local cave for the day. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a lot more involved!



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Top Secret Valentine Craft

Whoo. The site is back up and running. It was absolute chaos with Bluehost losing my site data and then needing to re-post everything from my backups. Definitely gonna switch hosting services in three years from now when my current plan ends… BUT, now that things are mostly back in order, I can get back to posting.

Today I want to share with you my little Valentine’s Day craft for Alex! I was on Pinterest when I saw a wedding invitation in the style of a secret agent spy letter. It reminded me a lot of those “solve the murder” puzzle boxes that put you in the shoes of a detective. I really loved the idea and came up with the idea to put together a Valentine’s puzzle. He must solve each clue to spell out the words to the question (“BE MINE?”).



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Polish Kołaczki Cookie Recipe

When it comes to the foods we consider comforting, often times they are those we grew up eating and have sentimental memories of, regardless of where they come from. Despite not having much Polish cultural heritage, I grew up on the south side of Chicago in an area with a high Polish population. It was common for me to walk to Polish delis in my neighborhood for a quick lunch or have a Polish neighbor’s mom make snacks when I was over. Not to mention, some parts of Polish culture are similar to Lithuanian, so whether you wanna call your dumplings pierogi or koldūnai, it made no difference. But in the case of today, I want to share a very simple recipe for a Polish cookie I loved as a child and to this day– kołaczki.



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