work while you sleep

This may sounds crazy...but I often work in my sleep. Ok, this doesn't sound right. More precisely, I often have dreams about doing work (e.g., thinking about research ideas, writing up IRB proposals, etc) and wake up realizing that I was actually asleep. Some good research ideas have been generated in sleep...but I often forget them within a few minutes after I wake up. Then, the impression of having great research ideas remain in my consciousness without the idea itself.

I should stop having these nightmares soon. I finally (this time for real) decided on the research topic for my method class. Yay!!!! I'm so super excited.

More I think about cultural differences in self concept, more I get interested in this topic...I had an interesting conversation with my mentor today. She's doing a project on domestic violence in Asian immigrant communities. One of the measures she'll be using is Singelis' Self-Construal Scale. She thinks that collectivistic orientation may be nurturing when the women are in a good relationship but it may be detrimental when the relationship is bad (e.g., abusive). I agree with that. Some self-concept or behavioral orientation may be functional in one situation but not in others. individualism or collectivistic orientation--neither one of them is good or bad, but one is better than another in certain situation or vice-versa. We, as individuals living in the U.S., feel that individualistic orientation is better and healthier. But is it always so? My mentor mentioned that so-called "commitment phobia" may be a side effect of extreme emphasis on individualism. Hmmm...that's kinda interesting. Inviduals with high individualistic orientation may feel close or commited relationship as a threat to their sense of self... It's all speculation, but I think there is some truth to this statement... Maybe I can conduct a study on this!!! hahaha.

Tax season, here it comes! It turned out that I can't file tax as a non-resident. ugh. tax, tax, tax. why do i have to pay???