The Soul of Wit

This is going to be a deeply dorky entry, full of my infamous ochem-relationship analogies. I think that I could write a nice book of relationship advice for emotionally/socially inept scientists and engineers, using terminology that they will appreciate, so this can be a trial run. Consider yourself warned.

This week marks my first as a tutor for Chem 3B (which, for you non-Berkeley kids, is the second semester of organic chemistry), and today was the first shift during which people actually asked me questions. It was very alarming; personally, I feel that the first chapter or so of 3B is conceptually the worst, even though most people find the barrage of mechanisms they bombard you with later on more difficult to deal with. So when the coordinator sent us an e-mail warning us to be ready for questions about molecular orbital theory and the stability of conjugated systems, I was understandably nervous.

However, one point she emphasized that I felt not only comfortable, but also eager to explain was the distinction between the thermodynamic and kinetic products. Last semester, when we were learning this stuff, I got questioned about my (lack of) relationship status, and I used this concept as an analogy; I figure if anyone asks me about the concept now, I'l use the same analogy in reverse!

So here goes: I AM A THERMODYNAMIC PRODUCT! (Acceptance is the first step. If you were wondering, "thermodynamic product" is the new politically correct term for "cold, prudish bitch.") I have a high activation energy, but once that barrier is overcome, I am assured that the final product (the Revati-boyfriend complex) will be very stable. On the other hand, kinetic people get into relationships quickly (they have a low activation energy), but the reaction is highly reversible and hence, they also get OUT of relationships quickly.

What's my point? Well, it has a dual nature.
(1) Your relationship is likely an unstable product that no one will be sorry to see dismantled, because its bonds are cleaving as we speak. (Yes, I know that being a marriage counselor is my calling. Don't even let me get started on long-distance relationships, and how EVERYONE CAN SEE THAT IT'S OVER EXCEPT YOU! That's another rant for another time.)
(2) While the thermodynamic product is clearly the preferred state, one concern to keep in mind on this reaction pathway is the fear of being a noble gas. You want to be stable, not inert. I don't think this is a problem for me: I don't feel stable enough on my own to be in possession of a full octet; I could certainly use a nice exothermic reaction to stabilize my life. Of course, I don't want to be one of those desperate alkali metal cations or halide ions, either, snatching at anything just to "complete myself." Molecules (and people) like that are just pathetic.

Okay, class over for today. Don't worry: I'll be back one of these days with that advice book on... "ochem."

Posted by Revati Nafday at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

The first week of the semester is strangely slow, as the work begins piling up imperceptibly. So imperceptibly, in fact, that I (in a fit of delusion that I will regret when midterms roll around) feel like I have time to write a nice long entry on my impressions of classes.

Bio 1B
More interesting than expected! The professor (for the first third, at least) is surprisingly un-soporific, considering that it is an 8 a.m. class and he has started off with fungi. Of course, I haven't been to lab yet, so my impression may change: theoretical biology is usually more tolerable than the practical, as most unfortunately evidenced by 1A and 1AL last semester.

Chem 4B
The majority of this class is freshmen and there is a suspiciously science-fair-like research assignment looming in the distance, which prejudices me against 4B from the start. However, the first two lectures have been okay, and we're getting into redox, a topic I rather enjoy. I'm ambivalent about the fact that the last third of this class is an intro to organic chemistry: on the one hand, it will be incredibly dull to go over bond-line structures and nomenclature after having taken a year of organic; on the other, it might boost my grade after what will no doubt be a horrible research project.

Physics 8B
"If you adapt your eyes to darkness for about 15 minutes and then have a friend chomp on a piece of [a Wintergreen LifeSaver] in the darkness. . ."
No. That is one "if" that no "then" could ever justify. With this paragraph-opener a few pages into the textbook, any wild hopes of 8B quashing my long-standing dislike of physics have been dashed. I'm pretty apprehensive about this course, largely because I have a huge mental block against electromagnetism, and I fear that, to overcome it, I may actually have to like the subject. And to like physics, as we all know, would be something of a monstrous taboo, so I intend to push that mental block right under the rug (frictionless surfaces, of course) and blindly force myself through the misery.

English 125C
Oh, right. I'm an English major. This is my first upper division English class, and it's on the European novel. The first book on the reading list - Waverley, by Sir Walter Scott - is beginning most sluggishly, but I'm still hopeful about this class. For one thing, I prefer literature courses that are grounded in history like this one is; for another, I'm just so grateful to be out of the survey of modern lit I took in the fall that I am happy to bear thousands of pages of tangents, so long as they don’t deal with race, gender, sexuality, urban disillusionment, and, generally, utter garbage. And the pages will definitely number into the thousands, as the other novels we're reading are: Notre-Dame de Paris, by Victor Hugo; A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (always nice to have one I’ve read before on the list); and War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy.

We'll see how it all goes. I've almost survived the first week (I have one more class to go to today), and in my experience, if you can do that, you can do anything. And the title alludes to Wordsworth, if you care.

Posted by Revati Nafday at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I must admit, as a New Year's entry, this one is rather belated. And as an entry in general, it is extraordinarily, embarrassingly so, for which I have no legitimate excuse. Once upon a time, I might have remedied this failing with the old English major standby: when your central argument leaves something to be desired, dazzle your readers with inventive and obscure verbiage until they are too dazed to know a hawk from a handsaw. But alas! In spite of the allusions to Ms. Rowling and Master Shakespeare, I am not as I have been. Haven't you heard? I'm a science person now, and so it must suffice to diagnose (quite clinically) that I have been unable and/or unwilling to update until the present moment.

I have a tumultuous relationship with resolutions. I never keep them, but neither can I entirely dismiss them from my mind, so my own inadequacy nags at me incessantly, forcing me into that spiral of self-loathing from which I am only given temporary respite by the arrival of the new New Year's. I have come up with many innovative ways to extricate myself from the vicious cycle - for example, by resolving to no longer make resolutions - yet I find myself here again, as ever.

The key to resolutions must be to alternate between costly dinners and free lunches. Challenging resolutions are for the superior spirit in each of us - ambition, aspiration, accomplishment and all that; freebies are for the lackadaisical insomniac student with two majors, three lab classes, and a reading list that includes four of the longest novels in the English language. So with that in mind, and without further adieu, this year I resolve to:

• Let my hair down more often. Not figuratively, you fools, but literally! Contrary to popular opinion, I don't need to relax, merely to conserve my hair ties.
• Get in touch with the aggressive half of my passive-aggressive personality. The next time someone harasses me with religion or fundraising on campus, I will politely assert my. . . disinclination to listen. And by "politely," I mean that I will not raise my voice, since venom drips quite as well from whispers. I will contest the many idiots in my discussion sections. I will not base my actions on how I think they will be perceived, which brings me to my next resolution:
• Refrain from actively making people think that I am nice, as I am not. I think the trouble here stems from my innate sense of tact. I have always considered it a vital quality, but I begin to think that too much tact is as distasteful as that much bluntness. So I will try to err on the side of offending as many people as possible.
• Stray out of my comfort zone, do the unexpected. Maybe I'll do my laundry on Saturday nights instead of Fridays! Do my chemistry homework in pen! Dare I try the pepperjack in lieu of the provolone?!
• Update my blog more frequently, if only to avoid bloated entries such as this one in the future.

Posted by Revati Nafday at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)