00:11
Do you have anything else? Do you have other like weird things you find about me?
I think you were quick in sharing what you found as a new interest.
コーネってたぶん、すぐにシェアしたいって。 This is like, you want to share right away.
それが、It's so interesting to me. It's like reading some news articles for me.
Like you found, say, you recently found some nice costume and you shared one with me. That was very nice.
例えば、こういうものが、なんて言ったらいいんだっけ。 Even for shopping or something you encountered on the street or whatever.
You shared something with me very instantly and that is like 速報 to me. It's like breaking news.
I found this and this is so good. This is tasty. This is pretty. すごいそれは楽しい。 It's really fun.
I do realize because, okay, I don't do this to every single one of my friends just to make sure
that I don't sound too too weird, but I do this because you always respond positively to my stupid little news.
これ美味しかったとか。 That's very important to my life.
I send you like a weird Chinese street signs that I found in Hong Kong and like
いや、これどういう意味だよみたいな。日本語の理解でいくとだいぶ面白いよみたいな。
すごいたくさん面白い話があって。 We can talk about it like forever.
だけど、To answer your questions, I think you share small discoveries to someone.
それって、To me, it's what the scientists do.
They always try to...
Maybe I'm observant?
そう、なんかね、でもすごくね、面白い。 Well, I'm glad you find it entertaining, but...
Yeah, it's very entertaining and これはみんなやるのかもしれないけど、
You helped me with my essays in the past.
で、その時に思ったのが、Your document is very neatly designed.
03:00
I'm not talking about the grammars or like your writings right now. Those are beautiful.
But I'm just talking about how the essay...
Like the layout.
そう、レイアウト。それがvery organized.
You know, when I was writing the essay, I was, you know, in panic moment and I don't have time to lose.
And I cannot focus on the layout itself.
I was just more into what I say, what kind of ideas I convey in the essay.
だけど、なんかこう、すごいね、Asamiが書いてくれるそのword documentは、It's very neatly organized.
And that is another thing I don't, you know, usually encounter.
Like, so for everyone who don't know me, I work in the entertainment field, like exhibition, theater and those fields.
And すごくそこにいる人たちってnot necessarily very academic always.
We exchange or even interviews via emails, for example.
Those were, you know, happening randomly on my emails.
And そういうのって絶対 never organized.
だけど、Asamiに何か聞いて書いて出してくれたりするときってIt's always in a, you know,
なんかとてもgood layout.
I can, you know, forward it instantly to everyone.
だからそれってすごくspecial.
And I think that's one of the identities I associate with the field of science.
Oh, I didn't even think.
I mean, okay, I do care about sort of visual presentation of my PowerPoint or my documents whenever I create one,
especially if it is to share with people.
But I'm, yeah, I didn't realize that that's my thing or science things.
Because I guess, you know, most of the time when scientists are communicating with one another,
the content itself is, you know, complex and not straightforward.
Even if you work in the same subfield, like even if both of us work in the same, I don't know,
like ultra fast x-ray scattering field, it's still complex ideas we're sharing.
So we don't want, like, anything else to be interfering with that, I think.
Like, out of necessity, we keep it neat.
Because like, yeah,
話してること自体さ、
That's helpful.
そうそうそう、コンプレックスなのに、
なんかレイアウトがアーティスティックだったら困っちゃうから。
06:00
I can never digest what it says.
そうそう、だけど、
It's very, you know, easy to read, at least by the visual impression.
Like, the content itself is very complex.
だけど、あさみが作るものは、
Very neatly organized.
で、それで思い出した、
Another aspect I can say.
Keep it going.
Do you remember,
あの、Googleカレンダー?
Like, you kept your schedule on,
I think that was on your PC.
And then, right after we met at the college,
I do remember that you were doing something with your Google Calendar on your PC.
And you put different colors for, I don't know, classes or dance classes.
Like work, lab,みたいな。
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that was like a puzzle.
なんか、テトリスみたいな。
それは、ただただ、
ただただ、大学の時に、
予定を詰め込みすぎてただけだと思う。
Yes, so that was my first impression.
And I still vaguely remember
what I saw on your PC that moment.
Wow, okay, I don't even remember this.
Oh, you should go back and find.
すごくね。In a way, beautiful.
You know, this is like maybe where I find myself a little bit of 成長,
because in that time in undergrad,
there was one time,
and maybe that overlapped with the time we met,
there was like a year where I did way too much.
I did, I had,
I was taking like three chemistry courses
and a physics course,
and also doing two dance groups outside of my chemistry stuff.
And also on top of the dance performance groups,
I was doing dance, like technical classes,
like classes, you know, just regular classes.
And yeah, and I think that was not good.
I realized that there is such a thing as doing too much.
And because, you know, our undergrad,
I feel like everyone was doing so much.
And it felt like, it felt like my schedule was nothing,
because I knew girls who were like,
I am, I'm part time interning at the courthouse in downtown,
while also volunteering at like homeless shelter,
while also doing double major between political science and mathematics.
09:00
And like, you know, that kind of thing,
like all these like multi hyphenate people
who have way too much talent and too much energy.
I know.
Who did everything.
And because when you're surrounded by it,
you were like, oh, I'm just doing science and ballet.
Like, that's not much.
You start to think like that, right?
Yeah, I know, but our school is like,
yeah, that's the henge, like a positive henge.
Everyone is too talented
and they have multiple options for their future.
They were very, you know, full of energy.
Like, I was taking one of the classes,
like open classes in New York City,
and that starts at 11.30.
And I have a friend from my school, the college,
who took the math class in the morning,
and then ran to the studio and take class from 11.30
and then ran back to the campus and take classes.
So, take, I mean.
Like, it's crazy that it is pretty aruaru,
like this kind of schedule.
And then even they, you know,
took trains, the metro and the thing,
to go to the studio of the city.
Yeah, since then, you know,
we lost the sense of like,
what the ordinary level of the life is.
もうすごく詰め込んでも、
Okay, maybe we can survive.
But I think I also did learn from that year
that the outcome of that 詰め込み予定 year
was basically me just being really tired
and kind of going through the motion
rather than enjoying the dance class or the labs.
I just kind of woke up, did the thing,
got back to bed, slept, right?
And I think since then,
I have started to be a bit more mindful
in how I spend my time.
Not just being busy,
but, you know, if I'm busy,
if I'm working really hard,
what am I getting out of this?
Right? Like, what am I,
like, is this worth being busy?
Basically.
Right.
And I started to think about it more in my grad school,
because when you do research,
you can work endlessly, right?
Much like how you work for your exhibit or stages,
there's always something more to do.
And you could, yes, work over hours.
But like, to what extent do you make yourself do that?
Is that really meaningful to you?
12:02
Or are you doing this to please somebody?
Or just because you feel like you need to do,
not even being asked, you know?
And I became better in grad school
at, like, saying, you know what?
Like, that's it for today.
Like, that's it for today's brain.
You know, me staying later than this
is not going to make me a better scientist,
a better grad student even.
So I'm going to quit, go home, and eat dinner.
Actually, one of my postdocs at the lab,
he always said,
Asami, ask yourself,
are you, by staying here tonight,
are you going to get a publishable data?
And my answer is probably almost always no.
And he's like, well, then go home and get some sleep.
Oh, that's so cute.
That's so nice of him saying that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But, so I'd like to think that I'm,
my schedule is a little bit more open now.
I still do dancing.
I, you know, work out,
do things that makes me excited about.
Or, like, I find meanings in doing.
I try not to busy myself with things
that isn't going to either make me learn new things,
or give me money.
Right, that's right.
Yeah, so.
So I have evolved from my Tetris calendar days.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Since I knew that Tetris calendar.
でも十分忙しいのかな、旗から見たら。
そうなの、そうなの。
That's the point.
あのね、今も忙しいのよ、あなたは。
だけど、
I, yeah, but I quite agree with you.
Your life is, like, getting a little slower.
I mean, easier.
Like, healthier.
You also have the power to do that, right?
At work, you have a little bit more say
in how you're going to do your work,
rather than, like,
はい、はい、何でもやります!みたいな。
Like, that phase is over.
Which was necessary, probably,
the first couple of years.
But now you know,
okay, this is the part they need me,
and this is the part they don't need me.
That's, yeah, that's a very important stage.
To go through.
So, okay.
So, like,
手取りすせい人だった頃も
確かに変な人だなって思ったのね。
なんか変っていうわけじゃないけど、
wow!って感じ。
それ変じゃん!
それ変な人じゃん!
15:00
そうそうそう。
だから、変人ってそういう感じかも。
Like, with surprise or eye-openingとか、
すごいこう、刺激。
Like, oh, this is very new to me,
and this doesn't exist in me.
っていう感じのことに没頭してる人とかを見ると、
Yeah, like positively changing.
何がそんなに楽しくて、
are you so excited about lasers?みたいな。
そうそうそう。
でもそれも一緒じゃない?
I think that's the same.
Like, even in science, I don't know,
like, people are doing research
on very different topics,でしょ?
だから違うフィールドの人のことを考えたらさ、
Why are you interested in that specific field of science?
ってなるだろうし。
I think that's why I like, generally speaking,
I mean, not everybody,
but I do tend to find sort of fondness
towards people who do research for a living,
because that probably means
that they're really passionate about something,
whether that is, you know, molecular biology,
or linguistics,
or economics,
or, you know,
and these are like super,
you know, at the PhD level, at least,
like, they are really asking very specific questions.
And it's kind of crazy,
sometimes how simple it sounds,
like, there's somebody I met in my PhD
who's studying mathematics,
and he described his research, if I remember correctly,
as like, oh, I'm doing a research on how to count.
And I'm like, what?
You're working towards a PhD in mathematics,
and you're trying to learn how to count?
Like, how does that even make sense?
And, you know, he shared with me
all of these sort of, you know,
specific ways mathematicians define counting S,
and how there's so much unknown.
Like, I was like, I thought we all know how to count,
but like, turns out we don't.
And these are like weird things
that people spend lifetime over.
I think it's also sort of like a self-selective group
of people who can get,
like, who have enough tenacity?
Like, 忍耐力?
Or, like, I don't know, what's tenacity?
I don't know how to say that in Japanese.
No, that's not quite 忍耐力だけど。
I don't know what you're saying.
なんて言うんだろう、なんかしぶとさ?
Like, you can, you know, you can stay focused
18:03
and stay working on it.
Like, I really don't know.
結果が全然出なくても、
私たちすら楽しくいれる。
I think that's sort of a pretty common quality
in at least the researchers I respect.
They all have these in their respective field
and their research questions.
And some of them can be really weird.
But it's like when you see them talk
with their eyes light up,
and it's kind of hard not to like them.
They're having so much fun.
And I think, I mean, it doesn't,
it's not really limited to researchers.
You know, anyone with any interest,
much like how I see you dancing,
and you can just tell you're having so much fun.
Like that already is super,
it's a very joyous moment.
It's a joyful moment.
And I really think that,
I just, I like doing research
because I have a high chance
of meeting other researchers
who are having that kind of like,
their own henjin moments.
And they're spending their lifetime doing that.
They're ready to commit their lifetime doing that.
I think that's why I really like doing this,
despite many things,
like many other things I could be doing.
You know, I could be doing something else entirely.
Yeah, but I think I choose to do research
to be around these people.
But like in the same vein of things though,
I feel like ballet dancers are also very weird.
Don't you think?
That's it for the show today.
Thanks for listening.
And find us on X at Eigo de Science.
That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E.
See you next time.
