Sushi Fix

All last week, I had a really strong craving for sushi. For Saturday's dinner, Alvin and I headed to Sai Cafe for a sushi fix. Here's some pictures:


Yum yum yum! The round plate has 2 spicy white tuna crunch rolls. That's my favorite roll at Sai and we've gotten it every time we've gone. The square plate (going clockwise) has a salmon & avocado roll, spicy tuna roll, negi hamachi maki and tako sansai maki. Just recalling the rolls makes me crave sushi again. Right! Now! :)


Rainbow Roll... the poor wasabi looks all alone and excluded from an exclusive clique of rolls.


Close-up on the rainbow roll. I think I had better stop staring at these pictures or I might start to drool as I dream about good sushi.

I also think I should probably add some more to the list in the last entry:

18. Uploaded digital photos to my computer and edited them in Picasa.
19. Wrote a blog post dreaming about sushi.

Now, I really should work. I mean, there's only 14 minutes until Angel's on. ;-) I'm so useless.

Stom II

It's 4 hours since my last post. I have still yet to open a book to do homework. Here's a list of what I have done instead:

1. Made a feta cheese omelette.
2. Read about 15 articles from the Times.
3. Read through all the blogs on my bookmarks list and all the TV sites.
   
4. Tried to call the school to find out about graduation activities.
5. Attempted to check my mailbox quota 4 times, each time finding out that the quota mail-to address from before the transition is now out of operation.
6. Deleted 155 messages from my school inbox, mostly NYTimes articles, which I forwarded to my gmail.
7. Read through my entire email account from September 2002 to January 2004, while looking for the articles in #6, and felt like I was reliving my law school life. It's quite an exercise in emotion.
8. Talked on the phone with Alvin a few times.
9. Called 4 different people to find out information about Jacksonville hotels and the costs of transportation to various places, before someone finally told me about a relevant packet they could send me in the mail.
10. Loaded the dishwasher.
11. Made 5 potstickers and ate them.
12. Threw out some expired coupons.
13. Looked at the snowflakes falling outside the window (from medium sized to just flurries to regular sized flakes again).
14. Ate pretzels.
15. Growled at the spring schedule for thwarting my plans to have afternoons free. Why are you making my last school term so miserable?
16. Downloaded music on iTunes.
17. Listened to the radio for all 4 hours.
    

It's sad, but I'm really running out of things to do to procrastinate. I might have to go do work now.

Stom

I always wake up with a certain amount of self-disgust when I unintentionally sleep well past the time I'm going to get up. It's not so bad if I have nothing to do, because then I just feel useless, but when I have things to do and had set plans for how to use my time, I just feel so disgusted by my own actions. It's just oversleeping but it makes me so mad.

It's almost noon. I have a crapload of stuff to do today. Waking up this late is unacceptable.

Not to mention that, now that I am awake, the day is not getting started either. Despite dropping a lot of cash at Costco yesterday, I have almost nothing to eat for breakfast. Is that even possible? No yogurt, no veggie burgers, nada. If that's a problem today, what am I going to do tomorrow when I actually need a quick breakfast before school?

I was also going to go downstairs to the gym to do cardio because I am pathetically out of shape. Not going to happen now because I can't afford the time. I can do small amounts of working out up here but that doesn't change the fact that I planned to go to the gym to use the machines and woke up far too late to do anything worthwhile. What is my problem??

And one of the worst parts is that it resets my sleep schedule to an absurdly inappropriate place. Waking up this late means I won't get tired until late which means I won't be able to get up tomorrow morning which means I'll either (a) miss class or (b) be falling asleep through the longest day of classes this quarter. Fantástico. I can just feel the aggravation flowing through my veins and there's nothing I can think of to make it go away. I've tried to relax, but I just feel it. I had this frustrated feeling a lot in college. It was all those times when I wished I had a punching bag. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

This isn't sounding like the most auspicious start to the day.

I'm off to find something to eat for breakfast. Brunch. Lunch. Whatever the hell time it is.

Goals

I am so out of shape.

I was supposed to be in swimsuit-appropriate shape by mid-March. But seeing as how it is the end of February and the weeks between now and vacation include the last week of class and a week of exams + studying, getting this body into shape seems an almost herculean task.

In early January, I thought about hanging a bikini on a hanger on the wall like the woman does in the Yoplait commercial. (Is it Yoplait or do I have mixed messages? "She wore an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini...") For the record, I don't own a yellow polka dot bikini. But I thought if it were on the wall, it would serve as a constant motivation to work out and not be my usual lazy self. Sort of like the philosophy that underlay my taping of my senior thesis outline to the wall above my desk in large print a few years ago.

It would help to have a swimsuit to hang up. I have some older ones but I want a black one. (If you're not going to be in peak form, might as well wear black.) I went shopping yesterday and was on a high after purchasing the cutest gray skirt, but I got so sad after swimsuit shopping. Not even entirely because of the out-of-shape thing. I was sad because I couldn't find a swimsuit I liked. There was one where the top was perfect but the bottom was horrendous. And one where the top wasn't so flattering but the bottom fit well. I put the two together and had a great match. But you can't mix and match items that come as a set. That's the other problem with bathing suit shopping at non-department or full price stores. There's also halves of outfits, but the store won't let you buy it without the match. But the match doesn't exist!

Part of me wants to go back to get the top. The price of the swimsuit is the less than the price of a bathing suit top at the Gap, and I have a black bottom to mix it with. I'd be happy. But I'd also feel wasteful by having a bathing suit bottom that I never intended to wear and that would just take up space.

I know that everyone reading this probably has zero interest in my swimsuit shopping adventure. But I just had to share. Now that I'm completely winded from doing 100 knees-up and 50 jumping jacks, I needed to tell the world that I am really really out of shape.

PIP

I know what I need. I need a television with picture-in-picture.

If I had that, I could play an exercise DVD in the PIP while watching all of my favorite shows. The best of both worlds - lots of working out and I wouldn't have to miss any TV.

Life would be so much better.

Looking Ahead

As a 3L, sometimes I try to remember what it was like to be a 1L. The overwhelming workload, actually attempting to do all the reading for every class, taking classes with completely prepared peers, surviving on 3-4 hours of sleep a night and the pressures and uncertainties that come with being in your first year of law school.

It's funny though - I was a lot less intense than a lot of my classmates. I watched a lot of TV, hours and hours. I had a schedule set up for finals study days where I had a TV show for every hour of the day. I started studying at the very last minute. Half the people I knew were doing final reviews and practice tests before exams but I had just started outlining. Yet, even though I felt like I took things more in stride (I mean, who really cares about getting an A?), first year was still full of plenty of stress.

Things feel different now. I care, but I don't. Mostly what I feel is just like I'm waiting for something big to happen, I'm waiting for it all to be over. A year from now, will I miss it? I don't know. The free time, maybe, but not the daily homework-hanging-over-your-head feeling. I don't think I'll miss that at all. I can't wait for the days when I can really go home feeling like I've left work at the office and I'm really going home. Right now, there's just a whole lot of burnout.

What brought this on? I was watching some of the first-years doing homework in the lounge. I was talking on the phone with my mom about Project Runway (the show has sort of become an obsession), eating candy and now, blogging. They were highlighting. But the highlighters never stopped moving. I started wondering if they were highlighting the whole page. Made me wonder if I read that closely and thoroughly when I was a first year. Brought on all this wondering.

Winter exams will be over and spring break will start as of March 14th. Then it's time for the home stretch - this will really be the last semester ever that I'm in school. It's so... momentous. Yet also just more of the same.

Project Runway

It is alarming how much TV I've watched today. Granted, it was during meals and some exercise and some "work" stuff, but... not really.

Bravo ran the Project Runway marathon today, which was good for me, since I had missed all the episodes except for one. I still haven't seen the first two episodes but I'm all caught up on everything from the Banana Republic episode through to the reunion. I'm proud of me. :) I'm ready for the finale. I'd be happy with either a Kara Saun or Jay win. Wendy drives me crazy. She really doesn't belong in the finals. But the show is quite enjoyable.

So that would be 8 hours of Project Runway.

Plus half an hour of the Simpsons and then half an hour of L&O: CI (which I was only sort of watching, since I missed the first half).

The usual Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal 2 hours on ABC.

An hour of Queer Eye to hold me over until the Iron Chef encore presentation.

And now the replay of Iron Chef America.

That's 13 hours!

Alright, tomorrow I really need to get work done.

Time Travel

Today I watched two episodes on TV that dealt with time travel. The first was Charmed's "Cat House" and the second was Stargate Atlantis's "Before I Sleep." I only realized this after my nitpick with the second made me think of the first. Let me explain.

In Charmed, Piper and Leo are in therapy and Piper casts a spell which lets them literally relive their memories. Unfortunately, her sisters, their familiar and a warlock also get sucked into the time traveling spell. During one of the memories, the warlock steps on the bride & groom figurines from the top of Piper & Leo's wedding cake. The figurines had been on a shelf in the present, and after he stepped on them, they disappeared. Going back and reliving a memory altered the present and that which was destroyed no longer existed in the "new" present time. Based on all the shows and movies I've watched that included time travel, this makes sense to me.

Which brings me to Atlantis. Can someone who understands all this stuff better than I explain to me if what happens in Atlantis is possible (should time travel be possible)?

On Stargate, Dr. Weir and crew find a 10,000 year old woman, who ends up being the same person as Dr. Weir but who had traveled back in time to the time of the Ancients by way of a time machine. Here's how it happens: the Stargate crew gets to Atlantis but most of them drown because the ancient technology doesn't hold up. Weir ends up in a time machine that takes her back to the time of the Ancients. While there, one of the scientists fixes the settings to adjust for the problems Atlantis would face in the future. He also puts Dr. Weir in a stasis chamber to sustain her over the time period during which she would need to switch modules to keep the power going (10,000 years until her crew arrives).

Dr. Weir going back in time changes the past and changes the future. While the technology changed so that Atlantis would survive when the Stargate crew arrived, there would be no guarantee they would even come, that it would be the same people or that anything would be the same. But let's put that aside. Let's assume that the changes made mean that the crew survives. They exist because, due to the technological changes, their deaths didn't happen. That alternative past doesn't exist because the circumstances that gave rise to it don't exist. That makes sense to me.

Here's what doesn't make sense in my mind, and kept me from enjoying the episode as much as I could have. (I know, suspension of reality in TV, but this kept bothering me!) Dr. Weir in the original landing goes in a time machine back in time. How can she exist in the "second" coming of the Stargate crew when she is in the stasis chamber? Are we supposed to believe that everything happened in the normal way and another Dr. Weir grew up in the future and went on the Stargate mission while the other one languished in the stasis chamber in Atlantis? How can she exist in both the stasis chamber and the present time?

Writing this out, it seems like it makes a little more sense to me than it did when I was thinking about it before this post. Before, I couldn't see how she could possibly exist if she went back in time and existed there. But I guess maybe if you think about that as an alternative universe thread (like how they tried to explain it away), maybe we could think that the rest of her lineage would continue along as it would normally and there could be a second Dr. Weir that exists at the same time. But how can they exist together and actually be the "same" person? Maybe it's like the "original" Dr. Weir doesn't exist for the purposes of the present? I'm confused.

Help me understand! :)

Bzoink II

Shouldn't it be "choose between"? I need to stop correcting grammar and spelling on these quizzes. It will never end.

Chose between...
Created by bhappy99 and taken 6946 times on bzoink!
Free movies for a year or free CDS for your life?	Hard one... I guess free movies, with plenty of free time to see them all
School or work?	Undergrad (currently prefer work to law school)
Christmas or birthday?	Christmas
Peanut Butter M&MS,Regular M&Ms, or Peanut M&MS?	Regular M&Ms
Dozen Roses or 3 boxes of chochlate?	Roses
Sandra Bullock or Julia Roberts?	Sandra Bullock
Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise?	Tom Cruise
Vanilla Pepsi or Vanilla coke?	Neither - don't like vanilla
American Eagle or Abercromie and Fitch?	Ugh. NOT A&F... they're racist.
Driving or flying?	Depends on my mood and where I'm going
Roller skating or ice skating?	Ice skating (although I'm not very good)
Apples or oranges?	Apples... and mandarin oranges
Paris, France or Florence, Italy?	Both, please!
Punk'D or The Newlyweds?	Newlyweds (there goes my IQ)
Jay Leno or David Letterman?	Letterman
New York or LA?	New York (except the weather)
AOL messenger or MSN messenger?	AIM
Jennifer Aniston/Brad Pitt or J.LO/Ben Affleck?	Umm... neither of these couples are together anymore.
Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger?	Whatever fits
leaf raking or snow shoveling?	Snow shoveling
black pen or blue pen?	Either, as long as the ink flows well
WalMart or Target?	Target!!
picnic under the stars or horse carriage in the park?	If you had a picnic under the stars, it would mean it's at night. It would have to be warm, so lots of bugs & mosquitoes. Eww.
chochlate chip cookies or peanut butter cookies?	Chocolate chip
Kobe Bryant or Shaq?	LeBron James
basketball, baseball, or football?	I'll watch them all - follow baseball and football more.
Hiliary Duff (Lizzie Mcguire) Or Lindsey Logan(Freaky Friday)?	Uh, it's Hilary and it's Lohan. I've never actually watched Hilary Duff in any movies, so I can't really say.
French fries,curly fries, or tator tots?	Curly fries
Ben Affleck or Matt Damon?	Used to be Ben Affleck, but Bennifer I and II got on my nerves
Phoebe, Monica, or Rachel(off of FRIENDS)?	Monica
Create a Survey | Search Surveys | Go to bzoink!

Bzoink

Series 1-8
Created by andy and taken 13867 times on bzoink!
[ series 1 ]
Name	Marissa
Birthday	November 17
Birthplace	New York
Current Location	Chicago
Eye Color	Brown
Hair Color	Black
Righty or Lefty	Righty
Zodiac Sign	Scorpio
Font	Verdana/Palatino
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
[ series 2 - your favorite ]
Music	Listen to almost everything
Cartoon	Jetsons/Drawn Together
Color	Blue/Pink
Car	Mine :)
Slushy Flavor	None
Magazine	Real Simple/US Weekly (nice contrast)
TV Show	Amazing Race/24/Alias/Lost & more
Song at the Moment	Beautiful Soul/Rich Girl (contradictory?)
Language	Favorite language??
Spice Girl	I don't remember
Food & Beverage	Ethnic food & anything but soda
Subject in School	Geography/English
Weekend Activity	Movies/Restaurants/Travel
Frozen Yogurt	Umm.... I don't know?
Roller Coaster	Those that don't go upside down
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
[ series 3 - what is ]
Your most overused phrase	Haha
First thing you thought when you woke up	Too tired, going back to sleep
Last image/thought you go to sleep with	I try to go to sleep with as clear a mind as possible (that's what yoga's for!)
First feature you notice of opposite sex	Overall appearance
Best name for a Butler	Won't ever have one
Wussiest Sport	Don't like this question
Your best feature	Loyalty
Your greatest fear	... A lot. Like I would list it online!
Your greatest accomplishment	Senior thesis/making to 3rd year of law school with my sanity
Your most missed memory	If it's missed, how can it be a memory?
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
[ series 4 - you prefer ]
Pepsi or Coke	Neither really, but Cherry Coke if I must
McDonald's or Burger King	McDonald's Filet-o-Fish and Burger King onion rings
Single or Group Dates	Single
Adidas or Nike	Either
Chicken nuggets or Chicken fingers	Chicken fingers, except Wendy's chicken nuggets
Dogs or Cats	Dogs!
Rugrats or Doug	Rugrats
Single or Taken	Taken (is this "you prefer to be" or "you are"?)
Monica or Brandy	Either, don't care
Tupac or Jay-Z	Either, don't care
Shania Twain or LeAnn Rhymes	Either, isn't there a typo here?
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea	Don't really drink iced tea
One pillow or Two	Two (or more)
Chocolate or Vanilla	Chocolate
Hot chocolate or Hot cocoa	What's the difference?
Cappucino or Coffee	Neither, don't drink coffee
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
[ series 5 - do you ]
Shower everyday	I try to...
Have a crush	In a sense
Think you've been in love	Yes
Want to go to college	Been there, done that
Like high school	NO
Want to get married	Yes
Type correctly	Yes
Believe in yourself	As much as possible
Have any tattoos? Where	No
Have any piercings? Where	Ears only
Get motion sickness	Sometimes, mostly on buses
Think you're a health freak	Not a "freak"...
Get along with your parents	Usually
Like thunderstorms	Yes, unless I'm walking outside getting soaked
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
[ series 6 - the future ]
Age your plan to be married	It's "you"... and you can't really plan things like that
Number and names of children	Don't know
Where will you be at age 20	I think I'm starting to see that this is supposed to be a quiz for high schoolers... I spent my 20th birthday in New Haven
Dream wedding	One that leads to a happy marriage
How do you want to die	I refuse to answer questions like that. Flat out refuse.
Dream job	One that makes me happy
Country you'd like to visit	Too many to list, check the blog sidebar if you need to know my vacation daydreams
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
[ series 7 - opposite sex ]
Best eye color	Anything - eye colors are beautiful
Best hair color	I don't really care... should I be using these questions to describe my wonderful boyfriend? Hehe.
Short or long hair	Short
Best height	Taller than me! Which would be... almost all guys
Best weight	Proportionate
Best clothes	Clothes that look good on them
Best first date location	There is no "best"
Best first kiss location	Someplace private
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
[ series 8 - other ]
Last time you slept with a stuffed animal	I don't remember
Rings before you answer the phone	However many it takes to get to the phone
What's on your mousepad	Don't have one - touchpad!
How many houses you've lived in	1
How many schools you've gone to	7
Bedroom carpet color	Grayish
Shave your head for $5,000?	No
Stranded on a desert island. Take three things. No people	Camera (unlimited battery & memory), journals, photo albums
Best time of your life so far	Hard to pick one... and I plan to make many more good memories. :)
Create a Survey | Search Surveys | Go to bzoink!

Pizza Pizza

While getting ready for bed, it occurred to me that, with the exception of the Valentine's Day dinner I cooked, I've had pizza for dinner every night this week. Not the healthiest of habits...

We ordered a pizza from Lou Malnati's on Sunday night. It was Alvin's birthday and we were originally going to go out to eat, but it was pouring and who wants to walk around in the rain to get to dinner? Since the pies are huge and we also had a spinach bread appetizer, there were plenty of pieces left over.

Monday night brought stir fried salmon with vegetables and pineapples (yum), but Tuesday night, it was back to the pizza. Leftovers in the oven while Alvin had a farewell dinner with his co-workers. Wednesday night, he had a call night for work. More pizza in the oven. There's still one piece left - tomorrow's lunch?

When we went grocery shopping on Sunday, I noticed that DiGiorno pizzas were on sale. A huge discount - not like 50 cents off or anything. Over 2 dollars off the regular price. I couldn't resist picking one up, so tonight we ate a spicy chicken deluxe while watching the Apprentice.

Pizza, salmon, pizza, pizza, pizza.

I love pizza ... but I'm ready for it to be done. Ready for the next food fad of the week. ;-)

Another DVD PSA

While searching through my old posts for the last time I forgot to insert the counter code into the new template, I came across my old DVD PSA with release dates for TV on DVD sets based on the release schedule on TVShowsonDVD.com.

Since the old PSA ended on February 15th, I thought it was the perfect time to do it again! So here goes (if anyone cares):

February 22nd: South Park 5

March 1st: Brady Bunch 1

March 22nd: Pretender 1

April 19th: Garfield 3

Wow. What a short list. How sad. There were so many more last time! What's wrong with this picture? Where are all the DVDs?

It's a short list and out of the whole list, the only one I'm likely to pick up the week it comes out is the Pretender. (I loved that show. Jared was the best!)

I really hope the June rumor for Amazing Race 1 is right. Finally getting TAR on DVD would be a dream come true.

In the meantime, I guess the box sets I already have should keep me busy. I'm only up to episode 3 of this box set of Dawson's Creek. Plenty more to go. :)

Deja Vu

I did it again.

I checked my Statcounter all day, and I'm like, "no one's viewed my blog since yesterday!"

I felt so unloved.

Then it hit me - I updated my template but I never reinserted the counter code.

*slaps forehead*

I'm so dumb!

Then another thing hit me - this is the second time I've done this! The second time I've switched templates, seen my counter stationary all day and taken all day to realize that I forgot to insert the code! What's wrong with me?

At least now I can tell myself that people viewed my blog and I'm not unloved.

Anyway, it's the weekend! What are your plans for the weekend?

Gmail Me

I got a really amusing email today. Way back in April, when Gmail first officially launched, I entered my email in that box to be notified when there was more information and accounts were available. Soon after (thanks to Katie! yay!), I got gmail (the best email ever) and it became my primary email account about a week later.

The email I got this morning came from Gmail. It said that they now have an invite to offer me and to thank me for my interest. What is amusing about this is that my alumni address was the one they sent the email to, which forwards to... my Gmail. :)

I should be getting ready for class but instead I'm blogging, eating peach yogurt and watching Ellen. Terribly irresponsible. ;-)

The Notebook

I like how the new bluish-toned template (has anyone even viewed it yet? Leave me a comment if you have... haha) reminds me of writing in a real notebook. I'm not sure why, but when I look at the posted entries, I think about a notebook.

It's before 1 am and I'm going to sleep. 'Bout time. :)

Never Sawyer

I have to post again. As much as I love Kelly Rowan and Kirsten is one of my favorite O.C. characters, it was just weird coming to my blog and seeing a giant picture of her on the screen. So at least now it won't take up the whole screen. :)

I love my primetime TV watching. Is it a bad goal that I want to be able to watch my TV before doing homework? Or is it just senioritis?

Lost was great. I love Sawyer. "I Never" was fantastic. I want to see more of the Sawyer-Jack past connection, because I know there is more there. Alias was great. I love Mia Maestro; she's gorgeous. And now we're only 2 episodes away from the rumored continuity from past seasons. And next week - old villains! Sark! I love Wednesday nights.

Wife Swap now. Homework next. Class, break, class, yoga, OC/Survivor, Apprentice, Without a Trace tomorrow. And then it's the weekend! Woohoo!

OC Fun

You scored as Kirsten. You are a perfectionist. Be weary of being too rigid and limiting your openness to varied experiences. Neat freaks are just as irrational as slobs. A half messy person is, in fact, the ideal. Optimal evolution (according to the research) is dependent on a sufficient amount of random variation and being overly regimented inhibits variation. Julie 78% Kirsten 78% Jimmy 61% Caleb 50% Marissa 50% Seth 50% Oliver 45% Anna 39% Luke 33% Summer 28% Hailey 22% Sandy 22% Ryan 6% What OC character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Zodiac

According to the quizzes on blogthings that evaluate how much like your horoscope sign you are, I am:

40% Aries
47% Taurus
53% Gemini
80% Cancer
20% Leo
80% Virgo
47% Libra
93% Scorpio
47% Sagittarius
67% Capricorn
40% Aquarius
40% Pisces

I wonder what sign I am. Hmm. This is a hard one. :)

TV on DVD

So far this school year, in addition to all the movies and live television I've watched, I've also managed to watch (or should it be re-watch since I saw them all live?) all the episodes of season 1 of the O.C. and the original Apprentice.

What's in my DVD player now?

Oh, season 4 of Dawson's Creek.

(Nevermind the fact that I haven't seen seasons 2 or 3.)

Somehow, between Saturday and now, I've kept myself to only watching 2 episodes. But I'm not sure how long that will last. It feels like trouble.

But I've got lots more season sets to go once this one's done (Angel, Buffy, SATC, Alias, Jetsons). Senioritis is here and in fine form.

Cupid's Calling

The Sonnet
Deliberate Gentle Love Dreamer (DGLDf)

Romantic, hopeful, and composed. You are the Sonnet. Get it? Composed?

Sonnets want Love and have high ideals about it. They're conscientious people, caring & careful. You yourself have deep convictions, and you devote a lot of thought to romance and what it should be. This will frighten away most potential mates, but that's okay, because you're very choosy with your affections anyway. You'd absolutely refuse to date someone dumber than you, for instance.

Your exact opposite: Genghis Khunt Random Brutal Sex Master

Lovers who share your idealized perspective, or who are at least willing to totally throw themselves into a relationship, will be very, very happy with you. And you with them. You're already selfless and compassionate, and with the right partner, there's no doubt you can be sensual, even adventurously so.

You probably have lots of female friends, and they have a special soft spot for you. Babies do, too, at the tippy-top of their baby skulls.

ALWAYS AVOID: The 5-Night Stand, The False Messiah, The Hornivore, The Last Man on Earth

CONSIDER: The Loverboy

What's your result?

Pili Pili

Tomorrow is Alvin's birthday! Everyone wish him a happy birthday!

To celebrate, I took Alvin for a birthday dinner at a Mediterranean/Provencal restaurant in River North called Pili Pili

Appetizer: Artichoke Tarte Tatin (with caramelized fennel, red onion, oven dried tomatoes and olive emulsion). The flavor was fantastic.

Appetizer: Scallop ceviche. Mmmm. I liked the artichoke tarte tartin better, but mostly because the scallops were good and the other ceviche parts were good but I didn't eat enough of them together because of the way it arrived in the martini glass.

My entree: sauteed cod with mussels, clams and pistou of Provence vegetables - it was so good! The fish was perfectly cooked and the flavor was exactly what I like.

Close-up of the fish - doesn't it look yummy? It's so rare to find a place that makes really good entrees, usually the appetizers are so much better (appetizers were good here too).

Alvin's entree - braised rabbit with a ragout of white beans and spinach

Panisses: chickpea and cumin fries - these were amazing!

One of the desserts called "floating heart"... vanilla meringue in raspberry soup with strawberries... yum.

Chocolate bombe... white and milk chocolate mousse with flourless chocolate cake and fudge topping, served with guava sorbet... does it look like it could possibly NOT be good? Of course it was good!

What every table got after dessert... some little treats.

Happy dining adventurers! :)

Overheard

I was sitting in the food court in one of the malls on Michigan Avenue, indulging in a snack from Taco Bell, when a pregnant woman with blond cropped hair walked by with a man wearing a charcoal gray shirt.

They passed right next to my table, engaged in conversation. I didn't hear any part of their conversation except when the man distinctly said:

"Do you think your husband is going to find out that it's not his baby?"

My eyes widened and I tried not to stare. Do people really have conversations like this while walking through open spaces in the mall? Do people actually ask straightforward questions like that in real life and not just on television?

And then, as I related the story to my mom on the phone because I was so flabbergasted, I just kept wondering what their family life must be like. A wife that is pregnant with a child from some other man. A husband who is probably anxiously looking forward to the birth of a baby that he doesn't know isn't his... Heartbreaking, really. But my guess is that it probably happens more often in this world than I care to imagine. The truth always comes out eventually... doesn't it?

Amazing Race 7.0

Watched all the pre-race interviews for the TAR7 teams. It premieres Tuesday, March 1st - so all of you people who never got to see TAR before, you should watch from the start! Based on the pre-race interviews, here's how people rank for me from pre-like to pre-hate (just from interviews, this could change once the race starts), although I don't really hate anybody, which is a good start:

Standings (spaced apart in "tiers"):

Ron & Kelly
Susan & Patrick
Rob & Amber (I can't help myself)
Lynn & Alex
Ryan & Chuck

Meredith & Gretchen
Uchenna & Joyce
Debbie & Bianca
Brian & Greg

Megan & Heidi
Ray & Deana

I can't wait until March 1st!!!

Far In Debt

I've gotten 8 hours of sleep (or close to it) for the past two nights. Yet, I'm finding that it's near impossible to get through the day without wanting to sprawl out on the couches at school for a nap.

I know that you build up sleep debt whenever your body doesn't get enough sleep, or at least the amount that it wants. I know that I seriously deprived my body of sleep while working on my paper and during some of the time leading up to it. Who am I kidding? I haven't had a real block of days of uninterrupted quality sleep since . . . . . .

Have I ever?

I didn't like to sleep as a kid. My parents said I never took naps. I didn't like to sleep at night. My own memories of when I was a kid are few, but I do remember weekend mornings waking up and reading books while waiting for my parents to wake up. I remember my red and blue fold-up mat from kindergarten (which I subsequently used as an exercise mat in college) on which I would rest, but never nap. I didn't take cat naps in the car until I turned double digits, at the earliest. I would bring enough stuff with me to keep me busy for the entire car ride. I would look at the license plates of all the cars, all the street signs, read books, anything.

I don't remember much about sleep and elementary and junior high school. I don't remember if I got enough, if I wanted to sleep... completely blank.

But high school, oh, high school and sleep. Those two go together like oranges and spicy mustard. (No offense to people who like eating oranges doused in spicy mustard.) There were the days freshman year when I was up showering at 5:30 am with the radio blasting. But there were also the many days when I barely made it to lab on time at 7:15 because I couldn't drag myself out from under the covers. And all the days senior year when I either bolted out of the car running to my first class or got a late pass from my yearbook adviser. I think I may have gotten more sleep in high school than in college, but with school starting so early in the morning? There was no sleep to be had. (I'm glad that all these studies say that high schoolers need the most sleep, yet that's when class starts the earliest.)

In college, I slept in on Fridays and tried to never have class before 10:30. College was fantastic, but my journal writing and sleeping habits both suffered terribly. You would think that with no classes before 10:30 and plenty of time to nap, I'd be well-rested. But it's college - everyone's sleep deprived. And you know you must have racked up some sleep debt when people come up to you all the time saying, "you look so tired", even though those were the days when you felt the most well-rested.

In law school, staying up has been more of a necessity than for fun. I think the best sleep I ever got in law school was that time last year when I was really really sick for like a week and never got out of bed because I felt so rotten. I got a lot of sleep. It was amazing. And it's never happened again since then.

Hence, my February resolution. I'm really going to try to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. So if you see me online late at night, ask me why! It will mean I'm not following through on my resolution and I had better have a damn good reason. I know you can't really erase your sleep debt (I couldn't know this before I started accumulating it?), but at least I can try to stop it from getting any worse.

Fight that debt! :)

Smart Prez

I love the Daily Show. (I know it's a repeat, but still.)

They showed Bush at a press conference saying something along the lines of, "Foreign policy is not an either/or subject."

On screen: "Two years earlier..."

Bush speaking to people: "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."

You can't make this stuff up. If voters actually paid attention, the liar would be his own worst enemy.

Reality TV

All day today, I've been going around repeatedly gushing to those close to me, "I feel like a real person!"

I'm not sure what being a fake person would feel like, but from the moment I woke up this morning, I've just felt so alive and refreshed and like a real person. It's like I have my life back. I guess I was so tired yesterday that the relief didn't set in after I submitted my paper. But this morning, I felt like the weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was finally free!

I could talk on the phone without worrying about the Word file ominously glaring at me from my laptop. I could set up an appointment for my haircut. I could call Barbri with those questions that have been on my mind for a week. I could do online shopping. I could actually do reading for class and go to class without worrying about what I should be doing instead. I could clean my apartment. I could watch TV without my laptop in front of me, clicking away as the plot unfolded. I could relax and listen to music. I could write emails to family members on the other side of the world. I could celebrate Chinese New Year without feeling imprisoned by responsibilities.

I did all of those things. And that productivity? It felt damn good.

Two classes, hours at school, a McDonalds double filet-o-fish and a trio of Lost + Alias + Wife Swap later, I am now ready to go to bed. And possibly will even make my 1 am resolution time.

There are posts coming (I say that a lot and then never write them for whatever reason), including one on tonight's wonderful Wife Swap episode, but since I'm sleepy and trying to keep with the self-discipline, those will just have to wait another day. And that'll just have to do. Sleep is so underrated.

I feel like I'm plugged back in to the real world. Did you miss me?

4703

Happy Chinese New Year!

The apartment is (relatively) clean, we had Chinese (well, Malaysian) food for New Years Eve and the leftovers for tonight's dinner. I wore red. Sounds about right. The only thing missing is the hong bao. (I don't know how to do transliteration. Oh well.)

I wish I could have had a more festive New Years... but with that paper thing going on, no time to prepare. Hope that you have a great new year celebration!

Un-Relief

I thought I would feel more relieved than I do, once the paper was sent. Maybe this has something to do with the graduation information meeting that they used to strike fear into all of our souls today. I'll write more on that later.

But for now, a status update:

Paper sent. Timestamp 3:45 pm. Received confirmation. Phew.

All the sheets of paper used in putting together the paper are now tied up in plastic bags for storage until I get credit for the paper. Just in case.

All that's left is to print out a copy, file it away and then it's off to clean up the whole apartment in time for New Years.

Lenity

I'm so tired! (I guess that's what happens when you sleep at 6... I should know this by now...) It's hard to focus when there are commercials instead of music on the radio and your eyes are begging you to nap but you really want to finish the actual writing of your paper by 4 pm (and it's almost 1 pm).

Anyway, here's a quiz:

You are the Rule of Lenity! You interpret ambiguities in penal statutes in favor of the accused. You're a laid-back kind of rule and concerned with not being too quick to judge. You're soft on crime.

Which Canon of Statutory Construction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Five AM

It's 5 am and I'm wide awake. This is not good. Very very not good. Although I am writing. So I guess that's good.

Maybe I shouldn't have made that resolution earlier this month to go to sleep by 1 am daily. It's only been five nights since then, but I think I've only kept to it once and just barely. It feels like I made the resolution weeks ago, so when I went back to look for the post, I was shocked that it was from last week.

Time passes in such an odd manner when you're engulfed by a paper or a big exam. Every day feels like a week, and your body is proof of that level of exhaustion. Things that happened only a few days ago seem like a distant memory. Every day flows into the next without much meaningful division, since you're really doing the same thing day after day, hour after hour. Monday looks a lot like Saturday and you forget that there's other things you're supposed to be doing. I keep hearing promos for 24 on the radio while I'm working, but I feel like I haven't watched an episode in weeks when the last one was on not even a week ago. I also feel like I've been outlining and writing this paper for weeks and weeks and weeks when it... really hasn't been as long as it feels.

But it's after 5 am now, and somehow I'm wide awake. I was so tired and exhausted earlier in the day and went through a distracted spell a couple of hours ago when I got nothing done. My brain's operating now, but I really wish I were sleeping instead. Alertness is very important for tomorrow...

Superbowl XXXIX

Here's my Superbowl roundup:

The Game

Yay Patriots! I really dislike the Eagles, so I was worried at many points during the game. But it ended well. Yay! Congrats to Deion! Even with my dislike of the Eagles, I do have to say that it was great football.

---

The Halftime Show

Fantastic! Paul McCartney was great! "Hey Jude" was lots of fun, although I do wonder about those electric blue circles that were lit up and moving all over the stage. Much much much better than last year's halftime show, wardrobe malfunction or not.

---

The Commercials

I took notes on the commercials throughout the game. Looking over the list, I had no idea that there are so many different commercials! Usually when the game's over, I can only recall 4 or 5 good ones. I guess those would be my list of the "best" commercials, since I liked them and they made the most impact on me. I also have my list of the ones I liked and didn't like, which I took during the game. The ones I don't care about are mostly ones that either I've seen before or I just could care less about them, but didn't particularly dislike them.

The Best Ones:

• Careerbuilder.com: 3 different ads showing the plight of a human male stuck at a company full of chimps. They were hilarious! They had chimps photocopying their butts, doing no work and even literal ass kissing! It was great series.
  
• Budweiser ads: I'm usually a big fan of Bud ads. This year was no different. My favorites were the one with all the animals who wanted to audition to be with the Clydesdales and the Cedric designated driver dance ad. The animal one was great, because I loved the one last year with the donkey that had joined the Clydesdales. And Budweiser is all about continuity. :) I also really liked the tribute to the troops coming home. I may strongly object to the war, but support the people who are out there, stuck in hellish conditions for no reason.
• NFL players singing Tomorrow. I think they had an ad like this last year too, but it's still really amusing and entertaining. "Tomorrow, we're all undefeated again." Absolutely.
• Prius ad about how we've been moving but not moving forward: went through multiple locations around the world showing people in motion but the scenery not changing. But the Prius is the only thing that actually moves. I thought the artistry was great.
• The FedEx/Kinko's ad near the beginning was pretty smart too. They made an ad about all the elements of a successful Superbowl commercials and labeled them. Good job.
• Mastercard priceless commercial with all the character icons from food products - Starkist Tuna, Mr. Clean, it was so cute.
  

Other commercials I liked:

• Verizon ad with a chimp talking on a banana during the pre-game
• The football players in an American Idol promo during pre-game
• Bud Light skydiving: guy is afraid to jump out of the plane, instructor tosses out Bud Light and the pilot jumps out with no parachute. Kind of dumb, but amusing.
  
• Olympus mrobe - I liked it for the product. It's a camera/music player in one!!
• Budweiser - Cedric's fantasies.
  
• Diet Pepsi "Stayin' Alive" ... Walking down the street and turning heads. Carson made that commercial even better.
• Budweiser - 2 guys go to the game and one gets pictures on his phone from the guy that gave them the tickets - "that's your apartment, that's your girlfriend"... haha
• Subway toasted subs - 2 guys in a car with fogged up windows with the cops looking in - amusing, not the greatest but good
• Pepsi iTunes giveaway - take the cap off the bottle and you hear music. Not bad.
  
• Degree which had a fake promo for a Mama's Boy action figure... had no clue what it was for during commercial though.
• Robots trailer - I've seen other trailers before, but this one was new and specifically made for the game, unlike those other movie trailers.
  
• Ameriquest cat and sauce commercial - the Ameriquest slogan was "don't judge too quickly." Cat knocks over red sauce onto the floor from the stove and the boyfriend picks up the cat. Girlfriend comes home and thinks boyfriend killed the cat.
  
• War of the Worlds trailer - new.
  
• VCast: product and cute ad. But can't remember what it is now.
  
• Moto Razr ad.
  

Commercials I didn't like:

• Mustang convertible (and they played it twice or three times!) - man frozen in car and cop goes to check on him. Blah blah blah.
  
• Diet Pepsi trucks (also played more than once) - "P. Diddy drives a Pepsi truck?" Blah.
  
• Volvo and the rocket, just not very good, even if I like Richard Branson
• Visa Check Card - woman screams help, superheroes come, find out she has a Visa Check Card, are disillusioned. Liked the superheroes, not the commercial.
  
• Ameriquest robbery - dumb. They think some guy is robbing their store but he's not.
  
• MBNA credit cards - bleh. Don't remember it much.
  
• Lays - throwing things over the fence that are old fads. Yeah yeah.
  
• Cadillac V series, boring - what was it about?
  
• Budweiser - girl has a bird (cockatoo?) that talks and defends her. Not very good.
  
• Michelob rich and smooth ads - kind of dumb
• Dunkin Donuts raspberry mocha with arrows like Cupid for Valentine's Day. Boring.
  
• Tabasco sunburn. Eh.
  
• Napster - think I'm just sick of it from my paper, $15/mo sounds pretty good.
  
• Staples easy button ads - sick of it.
• Cialis - blah blah blah.... reminds me of last year's shock at hearing "erections lasting longer than 4 hours, though rare, require immediate medical help"... and it's still there
• Some Honda truck - boring
• US Cellular ad - boring
• Snow day Lexus ad - seen it a lot already, didn't like it the first time
• Emerald nuts - bleh. Characters looked cute though.
  

Commercials I didn't care about:

• O2Optix: they wanted to spend that much money for that?
• Constantine trailer: I've seen this enough times, I don't need to see it again.
• Bubblicious
  
• The Pacifier trailer: seen that one already too.
• The Longest Yard trailer: seen that one too.
• LincolnFry.com - It was amusing but not so good at the same time.
  
• Quiznos - seen that one for awhile
• Hitch - seen already
• Taco Bell grilled stuffed burrito - nothing special
• American Airlines dog commercial - cute but nothing great
• MSN searching - boring
• Yahoo "wonderful" "wondering what clothes to wear" : seen it too many times
• Sahara trailer - saw that one too
  

Hmm. Not very descriptive. But I was taking notes while watching and now going back through it, I don't even remember what half of them were. Oh well. My 3 top favorites (in no order) are the Budweiser animal auditions, Careerbuilder chimps and the Mastercard ad.

Yay Patriots!

Congrats Pats

Yay Patriots! :)

I am a very happy girl.

Summary of commercials to come soon.

Avo-Mania

Saw this in the WSJ:

"Americans will consume 43.8 million pounds of Hass avocados during the Super Bowl, according to the Hass avocado board, an industry group. (Hass avocados are a common form of the fatty green fruit, with pebbly skin.) "With this many avocados, Jacksonville's Alltel field could be covered end zone to end zone in over 10.5 feet of guacamole," according to Hass's press release."

Mmm. I love avocados. Should have picked up guacamole at Costco last week. The grocery store was out of it today. :(

But the imagery in that quote? A football field covered in over 10 feet of guacamole? Wow.