Boba Pops! Pick a flavor to match your mood! Matcha, Milk Tea, or Thai Iced Tea.
Boba Pops, Intuitive Fractals, Mertens Conjecture, Lost Frequencies, Radiohead & Glass
Originally Published June 30, 2021
I live in Suburbia and I LOVE IT. I have always been the girl who knits, sews, cooks, obsesses over what to cook her man, loves frilly clothes, and would spend hours looking at fashion. I know it is diametrically at odds with what I do, so I kept that part of me hidden for decades. On the outside, I embodied what I thought most professional women were supposed to be… tough, no nonsense, not an ounce of femininity, a badass, worker who outputted whatever was needed, at anytime. (I still do that, though). It was a daily bind that really sucked ass because deep down all I wanted to do was offer them a cookie, hopefully not have to teach or redo their work, and work on music, efficiently (so I can go out and have fun).
A couple of days ago, I pulled into the coffee shop with my husband and saw two women in a minivan. I was dressed like them: prototypical suburban mom attire, yoga pants, cute tank top, luxury athleisure, when they both looked at each other, the blonde driver, looking sheepishly at me. Bewildered, I cracked a smile. A few minutes later, they both came out of the minivan, and it smelled like a nuclear bong. It was 9:30 in the morning! They were afraid I was going to mom shame them! I just smiled, laughed, and checked my morning emails.
Now, as a mother and wife to a young child, I’m at the age where I’m seeing friends go through difficulties within their own marriages and families. Unlike years before, when going out for a heart to heart would’ve sufficed while single or without children, I sometimes feel helpless not knowing how to help or fix a problem due to the immense responsibilities and implications of marriage and parenthood. (I guess you just need to smoke out in your minivan. Hilarious!) You can still do everything “right” but there is absolutely no assurance that you’ll get the desired outcome. In many ways, coming to that realization (as your funny, musician mom) has freed me, my family and my friends from unrealistic expectations of perfection (except when it comes to work). Even though it still pains me to see relationships bomb, it pains me more to see families and couples, unable to reconcile their truths. (Btw, it just matters how you fight and how you make up. Don't hit below the belt and when you do, get creative on how to make up for it.)
It took me years to understand that even though things are "technically" right, if it feels wrong, you have to work it out. I’m stubborn (Taurus) and truly believe there’s an answer to anything as long as you work hard enough. But, alas, relationships can’t work like a math problem or can it? Mathematics is about absolutes and precision but it boggles my mind that the higher you go, the more intuitive it becomes and we can’t understand it. Just because something checks out on paper doesn't mean it'll work. Life is chaotic and too many people fall into the trap, thinking following traditional structures will insure success.
Check out fractals and the Mandelbrot set. (By the way, I haven’t taken a math class since high school because I tested out of it in college. Now that I think of it, I probably wouldn’t of gotten into nonsense if I hadn’t tested out of stuff…) I especially like the Mandelbrot set because it introduces modalities where non-specialists can be interested in the subject.
Fractals are also found in human pursuits, such as music (duh), painting, architecture, and stock market prices. (That I knew). Mandelbrot believed that fractals, far from being unnatural, were in many ways more intuitive and natural than the artificially smooth objects of traditional Euclidean geometry. Btw, we all know stock evaluations are based on emotion regardless of data set.
There’s tons of videos about the Mandelbrot set due to its visual appeal. Most of music is actually an aural realization of this. There’s a misconception that creating music is purely inspirational but in actuality, the process of creating and producing music, is more technical than it is based on dumb luck. It’s usually a balance of intuition, inspiration, and technical execution. If you get a chance, please check it out. I find it pretty funny that complex numbers that are supposed to iterate “stability” sometimes, go insane and you can’t always predict where that boundary can be. It’s like dealing with a kid or a really highly functioning creative! (Which we all know is all of Hollywood.)
What's so special about the Mandelbrot Set? - Numberphile
Here’s a great video about Mertens Conjecture, basically, that even when all the computational evidence points to a certain direction, the conjecture is proven false. It’s like when you try to judge a book by its cover based on other things. (Suburban soccer moms secretly toking it up in the minivan. Looks a certain way but totally not!) You might be right or you might be wrong, but if things don’t add up, maybe you didn’t get the whole truth. Boo!
A Prime Surprise (Mertens Conjecture) - Numberphile
Instead of smoking out in a minivan (still hilarious, please don't drive!), I bliss out on piano minimalism. I have a soft spot for Steinways and black and white photography encompassing pianos. I hope this makes you escape, think, or provide inspiration.
Philip Glass - Metamorphosis | complete
Because life is a combination of intuitive knowing and working towards everything in its right place.
Radiohead - The Numbers: Jonny, Thom & a CR78
Because we all survived! (I think I'll annoy my husband and turn my kitchen into an EDM festival.)
Lost Frequencies - Rise (Official Video)
I don’t know why I connect to this but I do. Every intellectual part of my brain is judging my taste but this video makes me intuitively happy. Totally spared down compared to his huge LIVE shows, it's electronic and visual minimalism. Best played after a long day, in the evening. Happy breaktime!
Lost Frequencies – INSIDE OUT (Live set)
Thanks for reading! I hope this makes you smile, laugh, and think! Maybe that soccer mom isn’t so “perfect” after all! Have a great week! Xo, Melissa
Yes. You need a frozen boba break! So pretty!
Boba Pops: Matcha, Milk Tea, & Thai Iced Tea
I love boba but sometimes, it’s more convenient to have something at the get go. I make these boba pops when I know I’ll want a boba break during the week and just have a few minutes to do it. Throw them into the popsicle maker, freeze, unmold, and keep in the freezer when you want a boba break without the hassle.
Ingredients
9 Tablespoons of condensed milk (You can use whatever kind of sweetened milk you’d like.)
3 Oolong Tea Bags
5 Tablespoons of Trader Joe’s Matcha Green Tea Latte Mix
2 1/2 Tablespoons of Thai Tea
3 cups of water
Handful of 5 minute Boba
Popsicle mold
Directions
1. Brew the matcha, oolong and Thai tea in 3 separate cups. (I did this and let it sit while I worked.) Discard Oolong tea bags. Sieve the Thai tea. Let cool. (I made a shortcut and let it cool to room temperature with the tea bags so it’s intensely flavored.) Decide how potent you want your brews.
2. Boil 5 minute boba. (I eyeballed about a cup. It depends how much boba you like.)
3. Add 3 Tablespoons condensed milk to each of the tea mixtures: Matcha, Milk (oolong) and Thai.
4. (I was a purist this time so each popsicle mold had its own flavor.) Add a few Tablespoons of Matcha, Milk or Thai tea into it’s own individual mold. Next, add the boba. (Don’t switch it! I did that on an earlier attempt and the popsicles looked like it had bear ears!) Fill the popsicle container with the respective tea.
5. Freeze for a at least 4 hours. Unmmold. Enjoy!
#bobapopsicles, #matchabobapopsicles, #milkteabobapopsicles, #thaicedteabobapopsicles, #mandlebrotset, #mertensconjecture, @numberphile, @phillipglass, @radiohead, @lostfrequencies
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