On Monday, I asked them who their heroes were, a 4/9 tradition.  The first student answered her parents, even though I distinctly told people not to say their parents because most people say their parents and that's beautiful, true, unique, wonderful, amazing, but I still want to know who else they admire, because I feel like that tells me more about them.  They'd already done their grammar, and they're intermediate, so I don't spring so many deep subjects on them.  Even so, I wanted to know their heroes.  The second talked about an Olympic athlete from Kosovo who had made them proud and more famous.  Then I got to a student from Okinawa who used to be a flight attendant and went on to casually reveal to us a few weeks into class, when asked if she'd ever won something, that she had been the Miss Japan 2011 finalist.  She stands up by her desk, as they are all required to do, and she says I am her hero, which immediately elicits a laugh from all, including yours truly (I've heard such creative answers before).  But she says it's because I help her and her classmates improve their communication with each other, and that makes it possible for them to talk more and have more fun.  I clapped vigorously while enthusiastically encouraging the other students to follow suit.  "Now that's how you answer a question!"  Alas, the rest of them tended to like sports stars or people who save lives.  Fair enough.

Today nothing out of the ordinary happened, except on the way to work I took a look around me and remembered what I'd just written about flying to work on a (sometimes) high-speed platform surrounded by beautiful people, so I decided to look around, and yes, there was something beautiful about them, at least while I could look in between them and the river in the distance, with that early morning crisp blue sky above all the construction near the new Columbia buildings.  After work I got home and took a power nap, I walked across the bridge to move my car, and it was close to sun set on the Hudson River to my right.  I enjoyed a peaceful 7 minute walk with the sun's rays dancing on the waters below, took some photos through one of those rectangles they cut in the fence, got in my car, drove for a minute, parked, and then walked back along the bridge, this time with the sun on my left.  It was about to set, living the waters to clear my mind.

We'd read earlier about researchers discovering the nearly constant activity of the right temporal lobe--which is related to facial recognition, connecting memories and understanding language--implying the best way to problem solve isn't to constantly focus on the issue, but to let your mind wander and get it relaxed somehow.  They say that there are 2 seconds of rapid activity before inspiration strikes, or as they called it, a "Eureka!" moment, with respect to Archimedes.  If you're like him, you could try a bath.  I prefer to walk outside.  It's easier to run with clothes and shoes on as opposed to naked while covered in soap suds... at least until spring warms up.  But to each their own.