Enough of the serious side for now. I have the wackiest sisters on earth; whenever I’m with them I can let down my guard and just be plain old me. We still sneeze at each other’s faces whenever we could. We still dry our wet hands on each other’s unsuspecting backs. We still observe other people and laugh about their appearances. We still communicate in our special language and sisters-only words. Baggy sometimes couldn’t understand what in the world we are talking about. We are all Daddy’s girls.

Miss you both, you wicked sisters.

Lai, hindi balanced. Karen and I still need an additional little head to insert between us 😛

Excerpts from an article written by Raj Persaud in September 10/11 issue of Financial Times (highlights are mine):

Winning Mental Ways

What is it that determines your sense of well-being? Is it the events in your life or your perception of what might have been?

An example of such thinking, referred to by psychologists as “counterfactuals,” is what takes place when you run to catch a train. If you almost make it, before the doors close on your face, you are often more upset than if you had arrived half an hour late for the train.

One of the most intriguing and controversial studies found that at the Olympic games in Barcelona 13 years ago, bronze medallists appeared happier than silver medallists. The finding was surprising not least because winning silver is by definition a better outcome than winning bronze. Why, then, the relatively long faces of runner-ups?

Why is it that silver medallists don’t look down rather than up when comparing themselves with fellow athletes? If a downward comparison makes us feel better in life, what drives some of us to incessantly compare ourselves with those doing better than us and, as a result, ensure we feel inadequate?

Both academic psychologists and economists have noticed that substantial increases in wealth are not accompanied by similar rises in well-being, and have explained this paradox by a human tendency to compare themselves asymetrically – in other words, we focus on those doing better than us.

Study after study on wealth and income finds that it is who we compare ourselves with rather than what we objectively have that determines our overall well-being, so it is the CHOICE of reference group that now becomes crucial in determining our happiness.

An intriguing exception to this thinking has been found in a study by Claudia Senik, an economist at the University of Paris at Sorbonne, and published in the Journal of Public Economics. She discovered that in unstable economies such as Russia’s, individuals take the reference income of the wealthy not as a discontented comparison but as an indication of their possible future. Senik argues that in certain economies individuals observing richer people around them take this as a sign that their own income may soon increase, which then adds to their happiness.

If it is what could be that determines our happiness, rather than what is, the good news is that we can seize control of our well-being by becoming more aware of what conspires in our environment to direct our attention to particular comparisons, expectations and alternative outcomes, and what moulds our thinking.

Yesterday we went around the block near our hotel, and to our surprise, found that most of the interesting sights could really be found practically around the corner. We went to see the famous Capuchin vault (foundation stone laid in 1622), the place where they kept the Imperial crypt. Crypt, you ask? Yes, a bunch of old bones of the Habsburgs imperial household. Surprisingly, it was not creepy at all. There were actually many visitors to the vault. We had to pay 4.00 Euro each to get inside.

The double sarcophagus holding Empress Maria Theresa (1717-1780) and her husband Franz Stephan (1708-1765).

Well, it’s all in the packaging (as in my title above). The double sarcophagus was so enormous, so elaborately done that it would be almost difficult to imagine that it was holding the bones of some dead persons inside. Well, not just any “ordinary” person. I guess even in death they want that to be known. They lived no ordinary lives. But then again, they’re no deader than the commoner buried in an unknown cemetery elsewhere. Death is humbling, the great equalizer. No doubt about that.

This is the last entry here while in Vienna. We will be leaving today for Japan. That’s an 11-hr, 30-min flight for us.

For the record, I would like to say that this is probably the most educational trip for me. Probably for Baggy too. We’d been to so many churches in a span of one week (and that’s many times more than we had ever been to in any given year, hehe). I will be posting more interesting pictures in our photo album later.

Plague column at the Graben square, high baroque built 1682-1693. Originally wooden, it was erected in 1679 and dedicated to the Holy Trinity to commemorate the plague which hit Vienna.

So what does it feel like to be in this amazingly vibrant, old but progressive city? Never mind the exhaustion and the jet lag, this is the place to be! We are currently lodging at Astoria Hotel, right smack in the middle of Karntner Strasse avenue, the haven of tourists and shoppers alike. The first night we spent here, we were treated to a piano solo-concert by some lady playing just across the street. Because there is no airconditioner in our room, we usually have to open the windows to let in the cool, fresh air from the outside. Thus we are usually treated to all sorts of sounds streaming in through our window, ranging from soothing music to outright annoying noise. Walking along this avenue, one can find all sorts of musicians and other performers doing their stuff for the amusement of passersby and gawking tourists like us. Walking along this avenue, we saw live performance by string musicians, a puppet show, a colorful native dance, and a number of young men doing breakdancing. So much vigor, sights, and sounds in one place.

It was pretty weird to actually visit the renowned Belvedere palace, after seeing the miniature replica in Tobu World Square. I can assure you that it is the real thing that was photographed here (hehe).

St. Stephen’s cathedral, undoubtedly by far the largest Gothic cathedral I’ve ever seen, is a few hundred meters away from our hotel. This cathedral is the city’s symbol, and is actually incorporated into the logo of this year’s conference. In fact, I agree with the president of the Vienna University of Technology when, during his welcome speech, he told everyone that Vienna is probably the most “culturally dense” city in the world. In our hotel room we have this large replica painting of Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss.” Albertina, which houses a large collection of paintings, is right next block. We have already visited it and were treated to a visually enthralling collection of Rudolf von Alt’s works. Within a 2-km radius, one can access museums, theatres and operas, churches. Most shops are closed on Sundays, so we were told, because Viennese people are so religious that they all go to church. But then again maybe not everyone goes to church, really, as evidenced by the hordes of people walking along Karntner Strasse last Sunday when we went out.

At Schonbrunn Palace

Ah yes, the conference. The main reason why we’re here in the first place. Tried to absorb as much as I could, hoping to scavenge for new ideas in relation to my work. For some reason I feel as if this year’s Eucas doesn’t possess the same oomph as it had in the previous years. The largest delegation, as usual, comes from Japan. Well, that is not surprising at all.

Unfortunately, Aya has been sick since yesterday, and so we couldn’t go around as much as we normally could. Too many tourists in one place, I tell you – it is just the perfect brew for catching viruses and such. We really have to be choosy about where to take our little precious next time. We have learned our lesson the hard way. Still…the thought of spending all that time away from your loved ones…it could get pretty lonely and depressing when traveling alone. In the long run, it is really not the place where you go to that matters, but whom you go with. It is heartbreaking to think of our little trio not being able to go places together again.

Get well, Aya. We’re going home soon.

Been too busy to blog lately. No time for dillydallying and other trivial matters. Finally, my poster is finished and ready to go to the EUCAS conference next week. Before we leave, I thought I’d put here a preview of our poster.

When Baggy saw it, he could only utter one word. “Colorful.” 🙂

This is just one third of the total area of my poster.