Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tidbit

For my artifact analysis class we were given a take-home "quiz" (not graded) so our professor can figure out where everyone is on certain academic questions.

Question 16: What does "necessary and sufficient" mean?

Think he'd be mad if I wrote, "Cover your ass"?

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Sunday Funday

Got up fairly late today - 9:30 am - and went out to brunch with some friends at 10:30 at this restaurant called The Pike. Julia and Val tell me it's a tradition of theirs to go every Sunday morning and get breakfast burritos "Eli style" (that means with ranch and chipotle sauce on the side, which they mix together into a pinky dip) and $2 mimosas.

I tried the burrito "Eli style" and it was really good - slightly messy, especially with the dip involved - and the potatoes inside the burrito were boss! The mimosa was good too, but I limited myself to one. DUI's are waaaay too expensive to risk.

It turns out my e-mail still hasn't been updated on the listserv, so I'm going to have to physically go in to the office and have them change it there - I've sent AT LEAST four emails about it and it just hasn't been changed, so in person is pretty much my last resort.

But anyway, I'm excited about the things we - Julia, Val and I are members of the graduate anthropology association - have planned for this semester! Especially the Margaret Mead Film Festival, I can't wait to see what films we get.

After brunch I went to Target looking for spiral notebooks but they're sold out (grr) so I'll have to make do with looseleaf until they get some back in stock. I refuse to pay $5 for a fancy Mead notebook when I could pay $0.97 for a plain Target one!

So I made a quick pit-stop at Trader Joe's and got tater tots (I love their tater tots...so yummy!) and frozen blueberries before heading home. I was going to go to Sam's Club but I was so tired I decided to skip it this week, and just walked to Ralph's to pick up some groceries instead.

I spent the rest of today lolling around and watching football. I'm starting to feel pangs of hunger so I think it's time to make the barbecue chicken for supper. And then I'll settle down with a novel...not much novel-time left!!!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Saturday Night

I'm sitting at home, alone on Saturday night. In California this is more usual than unusual, but after a month at home of weekends with my family with shrimp and salmon and steak and britcoms and ice cream...barbecue chicken with frozen blueberries for dessert, and Sex and the City the Movie on dvd just doesn't cut it.
Still, it could be worse. I could be on a really awful date. Let's be grateful for what mercies that are!

Today was spent shopping, but for some reason it left me irritable. Retail therapy seems to have soured slightly.
I looked on Google for a good athletic shoe store, found one with only good reviews, and headed out there only to find it was not in a good neighborhood; all the stores had bars on the windows. I nervously made my way inside, and found they didn't carry many ladies' shoes, and left, secretly rather thankful.

I made lunch - pasta and cheese - and then headed out to Sports Authority where the very helpful sales associate showed me the five best shoes to support injured knees. Two were ridiculously expensive, and they only had one of the other three in my size, so that made my choice easy. The shoes were still $60, so I jumped up and down, walked fast, walked slow, and generally tried them out, but I liked them a lot. I used the rest of Uncle Luis's and Auntie Vera's gift card on them and it struck me as slightly humorous that I was using their card on running shoes, considering everyone in that family runs. But I'm very happy to have them, and very happy that the gift card made them a lot more affordable!

Then I went to Ross to look for dresses for Sophia's wedding and FINALLY found one! It's purple, with elbow sleeves and a knee-length skirt, and I hope it's appropriate for a wedding at Leu Gardens in February. I should really get a book on dress etiquette for things like this, but I sent a picture to Mom and she approved, and she's been to lots of weddings so I'm sure it's ok.
I also got a pretty white sundress that has these gorgeous black patterns stamped on it. It looks really nice on me, and it's strapless and stretchy so it should still fit when I lose weight.

I headed home after that, but only long enough to drop off my purchases before I walked to CVS to pick up some stuff. I got $3 in "Extra bucks" so I bought myself a new hairbrush (mine is breaking slowly), and it was $14 so hopefully it'll last awhile!! Hairbrushes are so important, especially when you're thinking about growing your hair out. I really can't decide what to do: one day I want to grow my hair out, the next I want to chop it all off.

I'm sitting here now watching Iron Chef, thinking about food. I ate a lot today, but it's Saturday so that's okay. I'm allowed one day of going "over budget" in the calorie department. I really need to make jello so that there's something extra in my fridge to help reduce cooling costs. But I'm feeling lazy, maybe I'll do it tomorrow.

Midnight...do I go to bed early or curl up with a book? I'm thinking book. I probably won't have much time to read novels once the semester starts.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Rise and shine

Some mornings when I get up and I open my kitchen window, bathroom window, and the window facing the street, my apartment fills with this chill green-filtered light, and there's a faint scent that I never can identify and never fails to remind me of Africa.

Not that this scent smells like Africa - Ethiopia and South Africa smell different, but still distinctly African - but it reminds me of many mornings waking up in guest rooms, grabbing my clothes and taking the hottest shower I could to warm me up. I wonder if it has anything to do with trees?

I especially like looking through my street window from my desk: the street is hidden from this angle and I look straight into the branches of the large tree that sits outside, although I've never been able to figure out what kind of tree it is. Sometimes there's a squirrel clinging to a branch "chucking" angrily at me for daring to peep in what I'm sure he thinks are HIS windows.

All the street noise definitely reminds me of hotels, you never hear any street noise from my parents' house, with the occasional exception of a police or fire siren.

My kitchen window has an even better view, as it looks out over my neighbor's balcony, the street, and the Veteran's hospital across the street: also if you get right next to the window and look down you look right into a pineapple guava tree. I wish the screen weren't there so I could pick them when they're in season. The sky always looks its best through that window; bright, light blue in the morning, softer haze during the afternoon, goldeny as the sun sets, and then it transforms first to a deep dark blue, then black with the pinpricks of stars. All the lights from the hospital shine at night, and it's really a pretty building, with millions of windows, so it's quite nice to look at, if you don't think about what it's for.

I'm doing laundry and I just had to switch the clothes from washer to dryer. I stupidly included a sock in the pile of stuff I brought back to hang dry...hopefully it dries out quickly. I also stupidly thought my purple polo shirt was actually my fancy going out purple shirt so I didn't tumble dry it, since the fancy shirt is air-dry. Oh well, I'm sure not being tumble dried won't hurt the polo for a change. It could be worse, I could've tumble dried the fancy shirt!

I also realized, when sorting out my laundry, I left my second pair of jeans in Orlando which is HUGELY uncool since I really can't exist with just one pair of jeans (laugh away, I know you're all laughing!) so I'll have to ask Mom to please please please send them to me in one of those flat-rate boxes.

I have to write another email today, and run a couple errands after the laundry is done, but once again it's a pretty relaxed day for me. Maybe I'll go dress shopping this afternoon while everyone is still at work instead of tomorrow morning. It also occurred to me that I need to spend my Amazon gift certificates NOW otherwise they'll be automatically used when I order my textbooks next week...and I definitely don't want that!

No sooner do I speak of Amazon but they knock on my door - my two Pern books are here! Oh, I do love this yearlong free trial of Amazon Prime (you get a year free if you're a college student)...but I don't really use Amazon enough to justify BUYING it when this runs out. What a pity!

Enough dilly-dallying, it's time to get my errands out of the way so I can have lunch. Mmm...chow mein :)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Keeping busy

Classes start on Monday and I'm trying to keep myself busy to get used to working again...instead of sleeping all day :)

Today I got up fairly late, showered, made myself a waffle with delicious maple-agave syrup, and then walked to campus to pick up my paycheck. I got there at 11:15 and there was a note on the door saying, "Back at 10:45". I decided to sit and wait, and luckily the secretaries turned up five minutes later. I asked Ms. Azevedo (one of the secretaries)about my class scheduling problem: one of the classes I want to take overlaps with another class I want to take, but apparently the professors are fine with it and I just need some paperwork to sort it all out. She called a couple people and we SEEM to have it figured out, but I'm waiting to get a reply from Professor Rodrigue to make sure it's okay with her first. I really want to take that class...if not, it's the seminar class for me!

Then I walked home, got my stuff together, and went out. First to the bank to deposit my paycheck and get a roll of quarters for laundry tomorrow (ugh). Then I stopped by BigLots looking for a calendar. I didn't find one but I did find a nice six-pocket folio, some scotch tape, and a box of envelopes that I seriously needed.

I decided to go to Target (I really needed a calendar) and found a nice one that is now taped up on the wall above my desk, and got 2 ten-packs of hangers ($1.27 for a pack!!) as well as being evil and getting a jar of pure maple syrup. I used the gift card that Uncle Luis and Auntie Vera gave me, so I felt it was the perfect compromise between what I need and what I want!

After that I headed home and had lunch. Then I ordered some books off of Amazon with the gift certificates Nicky and Steven sent me, so I'm really excited about that. I got two Anne McCaffreys that I didn't have before (once these arrive, there are only three short stories I don't own from the Pern collection, and one is supposed to be awful so I might not buy it). I don't include the ones her son wrote, they're dreadful and two were more than enough to confirm my opinion of this. I also got a Chalet School book for $4 (including shipping), so it's the first step towards the entire 60+ book collection!
Some days, I imagine being a millionaire and buying every single book I want RIGHT AWAY. But if I did that, I probably wouldn't be a millionaire anymore.

Yesterday was a chilly 60F, but today was a bit warmer, which I appreciate. I hope it stays warm tomorrow when I do laundry. (I'm saving the laundry for tomorrow because I don't have anything else to do tomorrow and I want to keep a little busy.)

I still need to buy a USB hub but I'm not exactly sure which one is best yet. I wonder if Consumer Reports ever did a page on them? I should ask Mom and Dad.

I can't think of anything else to write about right now. I think I might curl up with a book or something. I don't feel like going for a walk particularly, and I'm hunting for a dress for Sophia's wedding on Friday or Saturday...yes, I think a book is a good idea.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Back to California

Safely back in Long Beach. Utterly exhausted.

I stayed up all Monday night with the exception of an hour spent snuggled in my bed, enjoying my last few minutes of tempur-pedic glory. Lidia and I left home at twenty to four and got to the airport at 4:40 am.
I checked in in plenty of time and had a fruit cup for breakfast ($4 for a fruit cup!!!) before settling in to a chair in the gate lounge, half-asleep until boarding. The plane was full, but luckily there was an empty seat between me and the lady in the aisle seat. We talked a little, she's a DC businesswoman and she travels a lot for work. She had an iPad and was studying some sort of business report most of the flight.
Just as we were sitting in the plane the pilot came over the loudspeaker and said there was ice on all the runways at Dulles airport so we had to sit on the tarmac and wait for the all-clear to fly there. I took out my phone, turned it on again, and started to text Mom, but before I could finish the message the pilot came over the loudspeaker again and said the edict was lifted and we were going to take off immediately.

I slept for most of that flight, it was a major relief to get some sleep. We landed at Dulles and it turned out we landed at the exact gate (66) that my plane to Long Beach would be at! It was also the same gate for the plane I took to Orlando in December...kind of funny actually.

Storms delayed us for an hour at Dulles, I had a burger and fries and had to throw most of the fries away because it was just SO much food. I spent most of the time at the gate, trying to sleep comfortably in those tiny chairs with the fixed arm rests...it almost worked.

Luckily we managed to fly quickly and made it to Long Beach just half an hour late. I slept for the first couple hours, then watched Friends and Law and Order - I do appreciate Jet Blue's live broadcast tv! The only unfortunate bit was when I got back to the apartment and turned on Friends it was the exact same Friends episode I'd watched three hours earlier!

Once we landed and I'd picked up my suitcase (I nearly had a heart attack, it took so long to come out) I went to the taxi stand and was helped into a taxi. The driver was confused by my address - no one seems to know my apartment complex - but I managed to explain where it was and we got there in $15 worth of minutes. I did choose an excellent apartment! I got into the complex, and checked to see if my car was there - it is! (very dusty though) - and managed to drag my suitcase up the stairs and collapsed into my apartment.

I replugged the fridge and turned to unpack and found out that the TSA had cut the lock off of my bag and inspected it!! WHY does the TSA have this infernal infatuation with my luggage?! Luckily nothing seems to be missing, but one of my nail polish bottles came mysteriously uncapped and my nail polish bag is coated with my very expensive gel strengthening coat. Now I have to find a Sally's Beauty Supply around here to replace it...what a pain! At least it didn't get all over the entire contents of my suitcase, it's only the bag that got messy so I'm in the process of cleaning it and the other things that were in that little bag.

I'm unpacked now and everything is organized except for all my toiletries and jewelry...I'm too tired to get onto that now, it's 1 am to my brain and I already had a half-hour nap. I got a bunch of groceries as well as takeout for dinner, and tomorrow I'm going to take care of my car and go to Sam's Club, Albertsons and Trader Joe's. And I have some emails to send...I'll deal with that tomorrow.

I'm so so so sleepy...I think it's bedtime now.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

One More Week

How do I only have a week left here in Orlando?? This vacation has flown past, probably because I've been catching up on my sleep to the tune of 10-12 hours a day. Now I know what it's like to be a cat, and I have to say that I'm jealous they get to do this all the time!

My birthday was pretty low-key, but I had fun, and I have seen a half-dozen people I really wanted to see so, that's good.

I have taken pictures, but they're not edited yet so they'll be posted later, hopefully. I still haven't edited my Thanksgiving pictures! Maybe sometime this summer, because I foresee this semester being ridiculously busy.

I hear a timer going off in the kitchen, so that must mean it's dinnertime, hooray!