Fun and Hobbies

I have been a huge fan of the LOTR ever since i saw the movies as a teenager. My favorite movie of the trilogy is the 'Fellowship of the Ring' - I will respectively argue with anyone for days on this regard :) I also enjoy the Hobbit movies and will watch them for fun every so often so dont even try and argue with me that they arent great... 

I have recently been engrossed in all of Tolkein's legendarium and really really enjoyed the Silmarillion and the Unfinished tales. 

We have two cats (bonded brothers) who we adopted in 2018 from the Michigan humane society and named Fili and Kili. They take up a lot of our time, lives and about 95% of the photos on our phones! 

I started to enjoy running long distances during the PhD, mainly as an escape mechanism from long hours of staring at the computer screen. This recently culminated in me running my first marathon in Detroit 2019. I finished with a time of 5:04 hrs and I consider that one of my most amazing experiences! I have recently run half marathons in the New Haven/Hamden CT area at around the 2-2:13 hrs and am currently training to finish within 1:45. My goal before I turn 40 would be to participate and finish the New York and Boston marathon at least once. I love listening to podcasts on my runs as they let me essentially forget about the issues of the work day and concentrate on a topic while i disassociate from the run. I could not have finished the Detroit marathon without the help of amazing 'The Dream' podcast by Jane Marie and Dann Gallucci. I am currently absolutely enthralled by the 'Youre wrong about' and 'Maintenance Phase' podcasts to name a couple on my recent runs. 

I love traveling and enjoy hiking and going on long walks in new cities to learn and see parts of cities that arent on the normal touristy map! 

Also enjoy finding local breweries sampling beer! have slowly fallen off the IPA track and have started to enjoy pilsners and lighter lagers...(possibly a sign of getting older)

Since the pandemic, I have slowly started being more open in my identity and expression! This is a part of my self that I have been suppressing since I was very young and I am starting to be more comfortable with who I am and what i enjoy doing. I have come out as non-binary with a trans-femme expression. I use they/them pronouns if need be but essentially prefer if people just use my name or Dr/Prof :) 

I really enjoy expressing my feminine self with different dresses (very much into Salwar Khameez and Anarkali Kurtis recently) and varying hairstyles (my favorite and go-to is the long black one that I LOVE braiding!). You might see me in different outfits or styles depending on the day and how i feel :) For example, the day might feel like a long black braid with a Anarkali and skirt or ombre curls with a kurti or it could call for a shorter length one if the weather is way too hot as it often is in Nashville. 

I have been dealing with a lot of self-doubt and internal conflict about this for the past two decades but i believe i have the strength to face this openly now. I am still in a period of exploration into my happiness and self joy so feel free to come and talk to me about it. I am selectively open about this change thus far to people in my life who i know will take it in a positive fashion. I do not have all the answers at this point but I am just following my heart towards the direction that its taking me.