my phone alerted me with warnings that sf was windy and rainy today, but it's mild compared to what i've experienced in malaysia. T woke me up at 7:30 for my mri at 8 a.m. getting out of bed was the hardest thing in the world. i paid the $25 copay and waited impatiently for my turn. i was toled to put everything i had into a locker, and be left with only my underwear, i asked if i can keep my socks on. i wore the hospital gown and went into their mri room. this was a closed mri, where your body goes into a cylindrical tube. they also put a body coil on my pelvic area, which i just learned acts as an antenna to receive the radio frequency signals embitted by our body tissue during an MRI, to improve the image quality. i wore ear plugs and a red headphone, and the process started. my body slowly entered the enclosed ring and i started counting down the minutes. i started to feel anxiety since it went up to my neck, and since i was instructed not to move, i felt slightly claustrophobic, but it went away quickly and i went into a dream-like state. the machine vibrated softly which felt weirdly comfortable. went for lunch with professor Y, she has so many interesting stories. i'm starting to appreciate and realize the importance of learning how to tell stories, they help people connect with you, and it pays to be a good story teller. you also need to live an interesting life to have stories to tell, and that requires stepping out of your comfort zone. the rest of the day was "maximum effort" on the ml class contents. i have a deeper understanding of pca, svd, and mf now through this class, and it's something i wouldn't force myself to go through without an exam.