Life/Science: Time to be honest. Eat meat first.

October 2017 is going fast.

Regarding my science research project that is taking me to a new direction, I have been doing my homework. Today, I was asking a consultation to my colleague about an idea.

After a few email exchange, she closed her email with a sentence; "You are the leader to think what direction you want to lead your story."


Ha. She's right.


Since the manuscript has not been accepted, I cannot write any detail about the project yet. But that is an interesting project with potentially a big reward.

In that case, probably I need to be very honest to myself now. Be clear about what I want to do and what I do not want to do (or what I can and cannot do). There will not be a time to waste on a side project that is only modestly interesting.


Eat meat first. Keep it simple.


I leave this thought in this blog for my own reminder.

[Steak photo in Wikipedia]

 [by https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9924437]

Book: "Capitals for Happiness-- Three Capitals for happiness and 8 combinations of them" by Akira Tachibana (Japanese)

Are you happy? If so, why do you feel happy? What makes you happy?


These are important questions in your life. The book gave me a nice framework to answer the questions.


This book is one of my Japanese Amazon purchases, "Capitals for Happiness (幸福の資本論)" by Akira Tachibana (橘玲).


The author asserts there are three Capitals for your happiness.

  (1) Financial capital/ money and freedom it can buy
  (2) Human capital/ your ability to work and earn satisfaction from it
  (3) Social capital/ Friends, family, and other human connections



You can draw your happiness from any of these three Capitals. 

The author defines the state of "poor" as lack of all. In the case, it will be hard to be happy (imagine that).



Depending on your personality, your emphasis or reliance on a particular capital varies from others. 

For example, if you are an introvert, your reliance on social capital to be happy may be less than that of extroverts. 

Or you may be used to tell yourself that money doesn't matter. You may have found ways to stay happy without money.


Since there are three Capitals, you will have 8 patterns of combination of them.

If you are retired, you may have money and friend, but may not have a satisfying work.

If you don't have a lot of money, you can still be happy with fine job and friends, or with friends alone or with fine job alone.

When you earn a lot of money and have a rewarding and satisfying job, you may get by with few friends.

etc.etc.

The author points out that (1) money and (3) family/friends tend to have a conflict, so it may not be easy to achieve "have them all". Sounds convincing.


This concept is very helpful to understand what you value for your happiness, and what kind of "portfolio" of the Capitals you currently have.


Personally, I would be happy with money and satisfying work (and some good friends). I'd aim for that combination as my goal. 

But naturally your optimal portfolio and combination of the Capitals will be different. You may be one of these people who says FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!. If it works for you, good for you.


I like the book's concept, because it allows each of us to decide the portfolio for Happiness. It pleases my libertarian-ish part of character.


Recent America is in an era of politicizing everything, and both ends (both right and left) can lead to totalitarian/authoritarian approach that tries to enforce their idea on others. Beat it. Let people pursue their own way of Happiness (and don't infringe others).

                              [We had a Birthday/Halloween WCS Party on 10/21/17]

Dance/Life: Tulsa Fall Fling 2017, Laptop shopping

Last weekend (10/14/2017) there was a mini (one-day)-event of West Coast Swing, Tulsa Fall Fling, in Tulsa, inviting Kyle Patel from Kansas City as featured instructor.


Depending on the year, this fall event fluctuates in the size. When they decide to meet conditions to be a Swing Dance Council point event (like Tulsa Spring Swing), it takes a lot more efforts to organize, but the event attracts contest-conscious and point-hungry dancers from neighboring states and gets bigger. When not, the event stays relatively small and local. Contemporary WCS is practiced that way around here, apparently.

But "relatively small and local" does not mean there was no energy. It was the opposite. The party was fun. They had Newcomer and novice-level Jack and Jill and Strictly Swing, both gathering 15-18 couples.  

I'll keep this entry short, because my home laptop died and I don't want to take too much time to write today.


Following is my Facebook post as an obituary for the Lenovo. [10/18/2011-10/17/2017]

"My laptop died exactly 6 years after the purchase. Fair enough. It traveled to Japan four times, published two books, helped writing several papers, survived a marriage, and bought many items online. RIP. May the replacement HP be as productive as (or more productive than) the Lenovo." 



My work is done in my office, so I don't need all the software for professional work. At home I don't play video games nor very fussy about graphics. So the new laptop does not have to be state-of-the-art and fancy-and-pricey. I don't see laptop as a status symbol, either. I'll just buy what I need. Recent 7th gen i7 chip should be able to handle all the tasks. I'd have to get used to Windows 10, though.

I'd prefer not to mess with existing windows files and work environment. Although I used to use Mac, switching to Mac now is like switching religion. It takes a lot.


This time I picked up 17 inch screen. I don't plan to travel with it very often, so size disadvantage for carrying does not count much. Larger screen should be easier for my eyes. I'll give it a try.


I'll be picking up the replacement this Saturday from the shop. Let's see how the new one perform. 

And I got to make sure the backup was working properly.

Science: work to end something, work to begin something

Today we sent out a research manuscript to a journal. Fingers crossed.


Each manuscript or publication has a meaning.

There are research manuscripts that are to end something, like reporting results from a funded grant or a completed project.

And there are research manuscripts that report a beginning of something.


The manuscript we sent out today is the latter. 


I do not know how the manuscript would be received by the journal and editors yet. But this work has certainly been an exciting one for me, and we will continue to work on the projects that have spawned from the work.

[Scientists (top panel) are so cool. Much cooler than some gods (lower panel)]

((What's with the helmet !?))

Dance: Matt Auclair WCS workshop and party (9/30/2017)

Last weekend we welcomed Matt Auclair, six time US open champion and excellent WCS teacher, from St Louis, MO.

The workshops and following party were held at OKC swing dance club, and gathered good crowd.

He has been active since his childhood, and has a long career. Former OKC swing dance club director Paul was boasting his long time knowing Matt since Matt's childhood.  


Matt has a recognizable style. 

If I call a dominant leader's style in contemporary WCS a "cat"-style, which is smooth, slick, cool, and use high contrast in stillness and quick motion (think Jordan Frisbee), Matt's style is a "dog"-style.

The "dog"-style is energetic, fun, step more on the beat, solid yet not boring, and probably easier to follow by most than a cat. The musicality is excellent. He has some signature moves (like the "wash machine"). And above all, entertaining. 


In fact, he has been a very strong contender in invitational Jack and Jill. I've seen him won many J&J. And there is no wonder. In his winning dance, his partner shines, too. It's very important in partner dances.

J&J is supposedly a contest category for social dance. Dancers draw each other from a pool of partners, and dance to a song picked by the DJ, meaning that the dancers do not know the partner or the song beforehand. In the situation, a dance in which both seem enjoying and having fun can easily stand out.


I had a chat with Ben (Clemons) who was in charge of inviting Matt. We agreed that Matt is popular and is dependable in gathering crowd here.

And that is a crucial trait for a professional. He is good.


Thank you, Matt, for coming to OKC.