Saturday, April 30, 2005

Coincidental Pizza

Oh, coincidences.

The front desk called to tell us that our pizza had just arrived at the same moment that Dr. Robert brought a pizza to Miranda's apartment on an episode of Sex and the City.

Seriously, I paused the DVD as soon as the phone rang from downstairs. Paused on the arrival of the pizza. For the arrival of the pizza. Hee!

What are the chances of that?

And oh, when this episode of SATC is over, that means I've watched the entire Season 6 Part I box set today. (And part of Season 5.) I'm not sure if I should be sad or proud.

Friday, April 29, 2005

Good Ole SI

Staten Island's on the map.

After last night's episode of the Apprentice, a whole lot more people know where Staten Island is.

The answer: far away from Manhattan.

No kidding. :)

On the Apprentice, Tana wanted to use a Bedazzler (or is it a Beadazzler?) to apply rhinestones to their commemorative T-shirts. Nowhere in Manhattan carried it and she went all the way to a Michaels on Staten Island to pick it up. Except they didn't have it either, and she bought glue-on rhinestones. Which I'm sure they must have had somewhere in Manhattan.

In the boardroom, I thought it was hilarious when they started making a big deal of how she went all the way to Staten Island to get rhinestones. Because it's true! From Midtown to SI in a cab would be at least 30-40 minutes one way. So the rhinestone-buying ordeal must have taken almost 2 hours. Not to mention the cost of the cab ride. For rhinestones! Even Trump said SI was really "far."

Now maybe people will get it when I talk about how I live in NYC, but really far from the city. Why it takes so long to get places. Why I can't just spontaneously appear to do things. Damn commute time!

The whole thing reminds me of a study that came out about a month or so ago about how in the entire United States, Staten Islanders have the highest percentage of people with really long commutes. (Or something like that.) Even further validation for my insistence that it's an ordeal to get places in a hurry. And how bad the commute is to work from SI.

So, yes, a lot more people now know where SI is and how far away it is. And that SI is the place to go if you want to buy rhinestones. :)

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Blame the Quarters

It's going to be a hectic spring.

Just looking at my schedule makes me feel anxiety-ridden and stressed. I guess I'm going to have to do a lot of yoga to stay balanced.

(I'm hoping this will be the first and last time I whine about this. Well, the first time I have comprehensively whined about this.)

So what's the schedule?
  • Four exams: Mon, Tues, Wed, Sat. (That would be the Sat. of Memorial Day Weekend, yes.)
  • Bar review classes (program #1) start during final exams (Thurs, Fri).
  • Bar review class #1 ends, bar review class #2 starts the next day.
  • Bar review class #2 ends and then there are 9 days until the bar exam starts.
So, no mental break between the start of the current quarter (was 3/28) and the end of the bar exam (7/28). Four months? Including weekends? Wow. Even I didn't realize it was that intense. I know that 4 months straight doesn't sound like much to people in the working world, but this situation is actually relatively bad. Ask a law student.

I started to wonder... why does this schedule suck so badly?

The only answer I can come up with?

The quarter system.

There are both pros and cons to the quarter system. Before I came here, it seemed like the pros greatly outweighed the cons - the quarter system would be great! Looking back, maybe I was a little too excited at the prospect of 9 quarters. Let's take a look at some pros and cons.

Things that are good about the quarter system:
  1. Since there are 9 quarters, you can take so many more classes, thus sampling all the areas of law you want to learn. (This would be great - except: (a) you exhaust all the areas you want to learn by the beginning of the third year; (b) the classes conflict and you can't take them anyway and have to fill the gaping holes with other things; or (c) you get tired of learning and the prospect of picking even more classes to take more exams in is disillusioning.)
  2. The quarters are shorter, so if you don't like a class, it's over faster. (Yes, this is true. But since the quarters are shorter - 8 weeks in the spring! - the professors pack even more material into them, making them more intense.)
  3. You don't start school until September. (Sure, that's great. But you don't get out until June.)
  4. It makes your school unique. (Who cares, really...)
  5. It's easier to take classes in other parts of the university since you're on the same schedule. (This has never affected me, since I haven't taken anything that's been either cross-listed or in another school. And how do other schools do it when their law schools are on semesters and other schools are on quarters? Somehow it works, doesn't it?)
  6. Exams are over before breaks, and you have a more relaxing spring break. (Yes, true, more relaxing spring break. But you don't need the quarter system to have exams before winter break.)
Things that are bad about the quarter system:
  1. First year ends in June. You end up with a really short summer because of when on-campus interviewing starts. People doing fellowships or jobs with required lengths end up not taking a vacation.
  2. Second year ends around Memorial Day. You miss the start of your summer program. Not a huge deal, but missing out on a great experience always sucks. (Sitting in bankruptcy class last year thinking about how everyone else was meeting each other and starting the summer program was unpleasant.)
  3. Third year ends around Memorial Day and graduation is in June. Graduation and final exams conflict with bar review classes. There is no break between finals and the horrible experience (so they say) that is studying for the bar.
  4. Since the quarters are shorter, professors pack more material into the term, making it harder to keep up.
  5. Since the quarters are shorter, the exams are sooner, which means you have no time to slack off should something else important come up.
  6. There are more exams.
  7. You have to work harder, which means maybe less time for other things. Everything seems to be on a shortened time frame. (See #4, 5, 6 above.)
Hmm. I'm leaning towards the cons right now. The only real pro seems to be the stress-free spring break. Or maybe that's just the nervous anticipation in me doing the talking. I think the spring/summer will be okay once I'm in a routine. But it would have been sooooo nice to have a break before bar review starts. Even just a few days! Mental breaks are so underrated.

Oh well. It's not like any of this matters if I don't get writing credit. The super-huge thing hanging over my head, making graduation seem like it is in the distant distant distant future. Sigh.

I'll try to think about happier thoughts now. Like, I don't know, the fact that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are dating? Nah. I'll just think about how nice it will be to go see Hitchhiker's this weekend. At the theater down the block. :)

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Wednesday of Riches

There are some eras in television when there's just nothing good on TV. Or not enough good stuff, rather. You have some great programs airing but there's some nights when there's just nothing to watch. Dead space.

Luckily, we are not in one of those eras.

There is a ton of great programming on these days. From veteran dramas and action shows, to veteran reality shows, to the new wave of scripted drama that has finally found its time, there is a lot of good stuff on television right now.

The downside of that is that, sometimes, there is too much to watch in a single day. And it becomes impossible to do so. And you have to make choices, hard choices.

Wednesday is one of those days. The only broadcast network that does not make my life difficult on Wednesdays is CBS. Every other network - ABC, NBC, Fox, UPN, WB - they've all got something on. And of course, they all conflict. (I suppose, if I were a CSI junkie, this CBS exception would not apply. And if I were a CSI junkie, that would make Wednesday nights even more problematic.)

So, what's on?

During the first hour of primetime (8 eastern/7 central): Lost (ABC), America's Next Top Model (UPN), Smallville (WB). Thank goodness networks like UPN and WB do reruns during the week.

During the second hour of primetime (9 eastern/8 central): Alias (ABC), Revelations (NBC), Jack and Bobby (WB), American Idol (Fox). I have skipped American Idol thus far because Alias wins for me, but this hour is definitely a problem spot.

During the third hour of primetime (10 eastern/9 central): Eyes (ABC), Law and Order (NBC). Probably the most manageable hour - because 3 of the networks don't have programming!!

So much good TV, so little time. I shouldn't complain.

What will I be watching tonight? Well... the Lost clip show. With ANTM during commercials and will probably catch the rerun (or tape it) Friday. Alias. American Idol during commercials. Taping Revelations. Jack and Bobby hopefully on Easyview over the weekend. Haven't decided on the Eyes/L&O thing yet. We'll see. :) What a busy life I lead.

And now that I have discussed my love for TV extensively, I'm going to the gym. Elliptical time for me!

Monday, April 25, 2005

Yellow to Green

The oddest thing happened to me this morning.

My drive to school usually starts with exiting the garage, making a right on Illinois Street and immediately another right onto the street that becomes a ramp to enter Lake Shore Drive.

There's a light at the entrance to the ramp, a 3-way contraption that is almost always red when I get there, depending on when I turn. Sometimes it's been red for awhile and turns green shortly after I stop. Many times the light just turns green as I begin my approach. Only if I speed up can I make it on the yellow. And barely make it.

That was the situation today. I made my right onto the street, heading toward the light, and I was about 3 car lengths away when it turned yellow. I hit the brakes, muttering under my breath, because I hate stopping short and wasting gas (especially now that gas is so expensive). Luckily it turned yellow early enough that I didn't have to stop that short.

Since the light had been yellow and I was stopping, I had ceased looking at the light. After about 3 seconds, I looked up and to my surprise, the light was green.

Green?

I know I saw the light turn yellow. So it went from green... to yellow... to green??

I'm glad I was able to "make the light" in the end. But it was just bizarre. I thought maybe the light broke and every direction turned green. But no one else was moving. They seemed to be waiting for me to go, as if it were my normal turn. But I definitely saw the light turn yellow. I felt like I was living in a strange alternative universe. Very very strange.

Has that ever happened to you? A light turns yellow and then turns green? Is it possible? Or do you think I'm just seeing things?

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Wandering Minds

I am completely unable to do work today. I take a break after every paragraph and do something else. Every paragraph! (The last thing I did was dance around my room.) Is that how short my attention span is today? It's taking me forever to read a not-that-long assignment. Kind of pathetic, if you ask me.

Today I went to Costco and the grocery store. I watched Jack and Bobby, Simpsons, half of Charmed, Contender, Desperate Housewives clip show and Grey's Anatomy. Then Family Guy on Cartoon Network, other random things Alvin's been watching. Explored the Hitchhiker's website in a futile attempt to find out what theater it will be playing at on Friday. (Hoping it's down the block!) Why can't I focus??

Help! Need a remedy! Need to figure out how to focus!

Hortatory

I looked up "hortatory" on Merriam-Webster Online.

The entry gave no definition but 2 other words: "hortative" and "exhortatory."

"Hortative" = giving exhortation
"Exhortatory" = using exhortation

Really helpful. Really.

So I clicked through to exhortation.

Definition 1: an act or instance of exhorting

Great. Thanks. (To their credit, definition 2 was "language intended to incite or encourage", but that's not the first definition!)

Finally, clicking on "exhorting" led me to exhort and a real definition. All that work to find out the exact definition of hortatory! Can't they make it any easier? Can't they make it so that I don't laugh when looking up words?

A Stephen Chow Night

Last night, we made it a Stephen Chow night. And oh, what fun it was!

After a quick dinner at Burrito Beach, Alvin and I headed to the (non-stadium seating... *sniff*) theater to catch Kung Fu Hustle. The movie opened about 2 weeks ago in NY and LA, but didn't open in Chicago until this weekend. I'd been looking forward to seeing it for a long time.

And it didn't disappoint. I won't write a "review" or anything here, because I don't want to spoil it. The only thing I knew going into the theater was what I saw in the trailer... which, honestly, doesn't give away all that much, or as much as you might think it would. But read any review and you might find out more details than you want to know. (That's why I read most reviews after I get home from the movie. I read the Metacritic blurbs because they don't give away the plot, and then I read the reviews afterwards.) It's nice being surprised!

The movie was great. It was so much fun. Lots of laugh out loud moments. Lots of references to other pop culture movies. Lots of great action sequences. I was positively giddy when I left the theater, because the movie was just that much fun. It's how you want to feel when you leave the theater - like you've just been on a fantastic ride. It was well worth the $9.50. :) I love comedies that really make you feel happy.

I was on such a high leaving the theater that my immediate thought was, "I kind of want to go watch Shaolin Soccer now."

And so we did. Came home, put in the DVD and watched a movie I've seen at least 3 or 4 times by now. But it's still as funny as the first time. I think I was already in a pretty giggly mood by the time we got home from Kung Fu Hustle, so I might have even laughed more with Shaolin Soccer than the last time I watched it. Lots of fun.

To close, I highly recommend Kung Fu Hustle. It's no wonder it won Best Picture at the 2005 Hong Kong Film Awards. It's fantastic. :)

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Gun-Toting Penguins

This picture series is hilarious. What do they think? The penguins are carrying guns?



Poor little penguins... waddling through the metal detector. At least they look like they're having fun.

Data Not Found

Did you run a search on Google or Yahoo and find this site? Oh well. I'm afraid you're not going to find anything more than my ranting and raving. Probably not what you were searching for. (Unless you searched for this site specifically...)

Now I realize this will not help, and will probably increase the number of searches that come here looking for these things, but here is a list of things people have searched for and that they will not find on this site:
  • Trailers to Grey's Anatomy (or descriptions of trailers)
  • Carly Patterson's butt
  • Solutions for cravings for grilled cheese sandwiches
  • Crayon wrappers
  • Desperate Housewives pictures with apples printed on them
  • Theme song to the Contender - you won't find the name of it or the song itself, but you will read that I like it (although a lot of people arrive here looking for it!)
  • A picture of Apprentice 2's Ivana showing her underwear
  • Data on the target audience of Grey's Anatomy
  • Diet Coke Sparkle commercial (I do like the ad, though)
  • How much a spicy chicken sandwich costs at Wendy's (but the answer is that it varies by geographic location)
  • Restaurant crayon packs
  • Chickpea ceviche pictures
  • Earplugs
  • Grey's Anatomy theme song (I don't even know what it sounds like, it's so non-descript - no offense to the composer/artist, I just haven't really paid attention)
  • Verizon commercial about "wondering what clothes to wear" (although I thought that was actually SBC Yahoo here)
  • Boston + dinosaur + curse + Red Sox + Museum of Science --> I have no idea what this person was looking for, but I don't have it
And frankly, I'm disappointed. Almost 97% of the searchers arriving here came from Yahoo, and only 3% from Google. Are that many people still using Yahoo to search? Nothing against Yahoo, but I've been using Google ever since I was alerted to its existence freshman year. I'm a groupie, I know.

And umm, a lot of these searches are TV-related. What does that say about me?

And this list isn't to make people feel bad if they did arrive here searching for these things. I just think that, in the interests of full disclosure, I should let people know upfront that they won't find them here. Saves them time and they can move on to a more relevant search result. I think I should do this periodically. It's fun. :) I am amused by the smallest things.

Unbelievable





Your True Birth Month Is November



Patient
Secretive
Romantic
Inquisitive
Trustworthy
Determined
Hardworking
High-spirited
High abilities
Unpredictable
Never give up
Sharp thinking
Thinks forward
Always thinking
Motivates oneself
Loves to be alone
Has a lot of ideas
Difficult to fathom
Extraordinary ideas
Unique and brilliant
Brave and generous
Well-built and tough
Careful and cautious
Dynamic in personality
Deep love and emotions
Uncertain in relationships
Honest and keeps secrets
Can become good doctors
Less talkative but amiable
Stubborn and hard-hearted
Fine and strong clairvoyance
Not able to control emotions
Does not appreciates praises
Thinks differently from others
If there is a will, there is a way
Hardly become angry unless provoked
Knows how to get secrets out of others


Flipside

It's extremely jarring to see Chris Noth as the overly arrogant Mr. Big one minute and as the super-serious ass-kicking Detective Logan the next. I guess that's one of the problems with watching Sex and the City on DVD before Law & Order reruns on TNT. Makes me all confused. :)

Friday, April 22, 2005

Totems

I think I'm happy with this result. I mean, I don't think I would prefer being a salmon, would I?




You scored as Dog.

You are the Dog. You are the most loyal of your friends and you protect them at all costs. Being what you are makes you happy and your friends like that about you.

Dog


83%

Bull


67%

Stag


67%

Wolf


67%

Eagle


58%

Crow


58%

Dragon


58%

Fox


58%

Salmon


58%

Deer


50%

Ram


42%

Horse


33%

Bear


33%

Snake


25%

Which animal totem best suits you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Tirades

It's great to start the day off with a good laugh.

So last night I watched my first episode this season of America's Next Top Model. Hey, it's not my fault that it conflicts with Lost. And that last week I watched Smallville. (What's with Wednesday scheduling anyway? It's the most packed night of the week for me!)

I had read online last week about Tyra Banks's huge explosion at one of the models sent home, but reading it did not do it justice. My jaw dropped as I watched that scene in the previouslies. It was crazy. You have to watch it. I think it's online. If you want to know where, ask me and I'll find you the link. The actual episode wasn't bad. I was rooting for Kahlen based on the show's website, and after the ordeal she went through, I'm really glad she made it out okay.

But the tirade... that was stunning. Or should I use Simon Cowell's ambiguous "astonishing"?

So the good laugh...

This morning I was listening to a morning show on my drive down to school. I was flipping channels looking for music, but there wasn't any. All talk or commercials. But as I flipped, I heard Tyra Banks's infamous ranting... "We were all rooting for you!"

I stopped channel surfing immediately.

They played her whole outburst. And then having derived so much pleasure from hearing her madness, they played it again.

Then one of the hosts said it made her feel better to hear it. So they played it again.

And then they played it again.

It was just so bizarre and so strange and so hilarious that I was literally laughing aloud driving to school. I think I got as much pleasure out of it as they did. :)

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Broken Record

I don't have the attention span to write long posts anymore. Or to sit in front of the computer. All I want to do is watch TV, go to the gym, walk outside and sleep. What an exciting life.

But if you have seen me anytime in the past few days or weeks, I think I have sounded like a broken record. (I sincerely apologize.) A short list of phrases:
  • "I hope I graduate!"
  • "I can't wait for school to be over"
  • "If ____ doesn't happen, I won't be able to graduate!!"
  • "So I was looking at apartments..."
  • "I'm going to sleep"/"I took another unintentional nap"
  • "I'm up to episode __ of Sex and the City"
  • "What do you want to do this weekend?" (said on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays....)
It's so sad. I have zero attention span. It's hard to enjoy the present, when the present is work... but the future is freedom. Yeah, I guess I consider Barbri freedom (warped view...).

Really hoping I can graduate... it's actually a source of anxiety! When I finally get the diploma in my hands, that will be the greatest relief ever.

Cheap Getaways

Wow, I wish I had known about those $1.86 US Airways fares over the weekend. I could have made plans for so many cheap vacations! Sigh.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Decades

As part of their 50th anniversary celebration, McDonalds opened a new flagship restaurant in downtown Chicago (River North). They tore down the old Rock n' Roll McDonalds (which I never had a chance to visit), and put up (at amazing speed) the new McDonalds, modeled in design after the first. It opened Friday to much media fanfare and there were lines around the block waiting to get in.



The McDonalds itself isn't anything spectacular on the ground level; the food's the same, just more expensive. Well, there's plasma TVs, but that's about it.

But if you take the escalators upstairs to the "living room", it's pretty amazing. They have a "bistro" bar where they have various desserts and gelato, as well as coffee and cappuccino. The front half of the floor has black leather couches and modern decor with clear display cases in the walls holding McDonalds souvenirs and Happy Meal toys. Not what you'd expect from a McDonalds.

But my favorite part was the back half of the floor. If you follow the curve around, you pass through every decade of McDonalds history - in two different ways. One way to see the changing decades is through the seats and the overhead lamps; they change based on the style of the decade. The second is through display cases on the walls - it's like a museum of McDonalds memorabilia and American history! And if you know me, you know that's right up my alley. Pet rocks, Rubik's Cubes, etc... the decade section was so much fun. :)

But no, I didn't eat at the overpriced McDonalds. We put our money to much better use at Portillo's. :)

Friday, April 15, 2005

Linguistics



Your Linguistic Profile:



50% General American English

30% Yankee

20% Dixie

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern


Thursday, April 14, 2005

Accuracy



You scored as Romantic Comedy. What the fuck? You scored Romantic Comedy. You love sappy shit. You're oblivious to what's happening as long as you have some guy for eye candy and a happy ending you wish you could happen in your own life. Time to rent some new movies.

Romantic Comedy


90%

Sci-Fi/Fantasy


80%

Mindless Action Flick


70%

Sadistic Humour


60%

Mindfuck


45%

Drama/Suspense


40%

Artistic


30%

Movie Recommendation.
created with QuizFarm.com

Buona Notte

I love that my Gmail settings are in Italian and my cell phone is in Spanish.

Too bad I can't turn the template for my school email into French and the buttons on the top of my browser into Portuguese.

Yes, I have problems.

But I'm so used to my cell phone being in Spanish that it was jarring to see my mom's phone (same model) in English when I went home a couple of weeks ago (has it been that long?).

I like living a multi-lingual life.... even if I don't really speak any other languages anymore. That thought depresses me. :( Must go learn Mandarin or something.

But, as far as obsessions go.... at least I'm not done with Season 2 of Sex and the City yet. :)

Good night!

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

American Idol 4.29

So the theme really was "the year you were born." I'm so amused.

Which, of course, prompted me to research 1980's songs, so that I could decide what song I would sing, if I had the ability to sing and were on the show.

Possibilities?
  • Do That to Me One More Time - Captain & Tennille
  • Magic - Olivia Newton-John
  • Working My Way Back to You - The Spinners
  • Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen (if I were a guy with a low voice)
  • Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar
Don't know which one I'd pick. Picking a song from the year you were born is harder than I thought it was! Or maybe 1980 wasn't the strongest year for talent show-type music. *shrug*

So what did I think of the people who actually sung? I have a bias toward smooth voices, so remember that when reading my opinions. :)

Liked: Anwar, Fedorov (really good song choice), Vonzell

Not great, but I liked it anyhow: Carrie (somehow she managed to have the same edge/tone to her voice as Pat Benatar... even if the performance wasn't that great)

Not bad, but I couldn't stop laughing: Constantine singing Bohemian Rhapsody

Good but forgettable: Nadia (not a great song choice), Bo

Go home: Scott! Because he can't sing... and because who goes on TV to tell the audience - that is, the voting audience - that there are millions of us that don't have the nerve to do what he does? He has such a bad attitude. I wanted him to go home last week... and other weeks... go home already!

A Day's Work

It's Monday. Back to the grind.

(I know the datestamp reads Tuesday. But to me, it's still Monday. I'm going to sleep soon. And when I wake up, it will be Tuesday.)

So what work did I do today?
  • I did my con law reading.
  • I went to pilates.
  • I watched 24. (Don't laugh - the suspense gets your heart rate up.)
  • I went to two classes.
  • I watched all 12 episodes of Season 1 of Sex and the City.
Yes, the madness has begun. Madness, because I have all 7 box sets that make up the complete series. Got to watch them sometime, right? What better time than now? :)

Monday, April 11, 2005

Bewitching

Wow, talk about coincidence. I was browsing on Amazon on Friday and decided to look for the Bewitched season set DVDs. I guess I was just thinking about Bewitched because I watched another movie trailer and was thinking about how I don't have TV Land and Nick at Nite no longer shows the episodes. [I will leave aside my alarm that shows like "Roseanne" now qualify for Nick at Nite... we're getting old!] Bewitched is one of my favorite "old" shows and I was hoping there would be DVDs. Out of luck.

I went onto TVShowsonDVD this morning and what was the top new announcement? Bewitched DVDs! Coming out in June to coincide with the movie... and they give you a free movie ticket to see Bewitched. Fantastic! Very amusing coincidence.

Week in Review

I haven't done this in a very long time. A week in review entry! Not that my week has been so noteworthy that I have to write about it, but I thought it would be nice to get back into a nice blogging routine. I'm trying to inspire myself to write again. All attempts lately have just been so... blah. Not that a list is going to be all that inspiring, but like I said, routines can't hurt.

So what have I been up to lately?

Monday, 4/4: Monday was relatively nice and relaxing. I had a good night's sleep, woke up and had breakfast, leisurely packed, watched TV, skipped class and relaxed back home. Went to Wendy's for lunch and had a mozzarella chicken sandwich (I guess this is the new promo thing), and then headed to the airport. For once, I had a flight that was actually on time! That was pretty nice. Took the Blue Line downtown and the weather was gorgeous. The weekend had been so rainy in NY, but the weather was glorious in Chicago. It felt good to bask in the sun. Pilates, dinner (Alvin made a huge tray of mostaccioli for the week, yay!) and homework to do. Also, a fantastic episode of 24... but a disappointing NCAA finals. Oh well.

Tuesday, 4/5: Class. Beautiful weather so I walked to Subway instead of driving. Ate my sandwich at Subway in front of a plasma TV showing Y&R. Falling asleep in the library. Napping on my book. A very very long class where I thought we weren't going to get a break, and I was hungry and had another half-sandwich in my bag and all I could think about was food. Home. Amazing Race. Sad that Brian & Greg are no longer on the show. Animals in Botswana are gorgeous. American Idol is such a sad sad show.

I told you I didn't have a very exciting week! I don't even have pictures...

Wednesday, 4/6: The usual class thing. Lunch from Taco Bell. I love drive-thrus. This one has a "double drive-thru" but only one side is ever open. Home and TV. Lost was awesome. Alias was great. (Vaughn's going rogue! Agh!) Eyes was fun. I love my Wednesday night ABC. Oh yeah, the toilet broke and that took a while to fix. Blergh.

Thursday, 4/7: Class. White Castle. Onion rings are better at Burger King but the sandwiches are better at White Castle (and cheaper!). Class. Freedom! Nap? Yoga. I look forward to yoga at the end of every school week. I love yoga generally. End of Ulong on Survivor, horrible people on the Apprentice and a satisfying Without a Trace.

I really didn't do anything exciting this week, huh?

Friday, 4/8: Took a long time getting ready in the morning after sleeping late. Went to the bank. Bought some red shirts at Marshalls. Went to Walgreens to buy "free after rebate" stuff. Weather's getting nicer. Spring is coming, spring is coming!

Saturday, 4/9: Alvin didn't have to work so we walked around for a little bit which was nice. It was actually pretty cool outside, but I thought it was warm because our apartment is always so hot and humid, so I was dressed for summer (tanktop and skirt with sandals) while all the other people walking around looked like they were dressed for March (leather jackets, jeans, sweaters). Oops. Lunch at Potbelly. Did a little shopping but mostly looking. Watched Angel. Fell asleep - I think I took a LOT of unintentional naps this week which is horrible, and I'm convinced Daylight Savings Time (or is it off now?) has wrecked my entire body schedule in every possible respect. I'm lost in my own body! Agh! (Clearly, it is late and I am tired because I sound like an idiot.)

Alvin went to basketball and then we went out for a late dinner. Ended up going to India House, which was nice. Never been there before. Had Fish Tikka and some eggplant dish that I don't know the name of, and both were very good. En route to India House (since we were looking for somewhere to eat, but were aimless), we attempted to go to CPK (a wait), ESPN Zone (private party), Rockbottom Brewery (wait), etc, etc, etc. The only uncrowded places downtown were for ethnic food. I don't get it - why are people so unadventurous that the Thai, Armenian and Indian places are the only ones with seats? (I do not count places like Ben Pao and P.F. Chang's as ethnic food. Puh-leeze. They're not. Everything at Ben Pao is like orange chicken + some other sauce.) I don't mind necessarily because I like these cuisines more... but it just makes me wonder why all anyone ever wants to eat are burgers, steak and pizza. How... I don't know, unexciting, that makes me feel. Don't get me wrong - I like going to a brewery, getting a turkey burger, or heading somewhere like Red Lobster. But there's only so much of the cookie-cutter menu that I can handle. Rant over. On Saturday, I also finished my DVDs of Angel Season 1. Yippee!

Sunday, 4/10: Woke up late, an hour of power yoga, watched the end of You've Got Mail on TNT. What's up with TNT today? It's like romantic comedy day. When I was awake because of the subwoofer last night, I watched Serendipity. When it finally stopped and I went to sleep, they were about to show Kate and Leopold. This afternoon, You've Got Mail. Then the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (finally saw it). Then Miss Congeniality. Oh I get it. From last night to tonight, it's Meg Ryan + Sandra Bullock Day. Especially since While You Were Sleeping was on one program before Serendipity. I really love TNT. Someone there really shares my taste in movies. :) Although I'm not crazy about What Women Want. Can you put on When Harry Met Sally instead?

Went to Target and Dominicks to pick up some groceries. Attempted to do homework. Watched Charmed (the "Cole is evil" seasons were definitely better than the series is now), Desperate Housewives (I hate Carlos) and Grey's Anatomy (I could not be a surgeon). And then since nothing was on, I've now started SATC Season 3. I should have started with 1 and watched straight through to the end of 6, Part II. Oh well, I'm dumb. I guess I can switch it later.

Exciting, right? Now I'm going to sleep. No more Communications Decency Act for me. Not that I've read anything about it since I stopped brushing my teeth...

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Neighborly Norms

Inconsiderate neighbors are the ones that turn on their subwoofer at 2 am.

Inconsiderate neighbors are also the ones that turn on their subwoofer at 7 am.

Inconsiderate neighbors are the ones that turn on their subwoofer at 7 am, but also don't answer the phone when multiple calls come in from the doorman with noise complaints from neighbors.

My neighbor is an inconsiderate neighbor. How hard is it to not put your subwoofer on a wall shared with someone else? Oh, right. You'd need to be a considerate neighbor.

Saturday, April 09, 2005

Angel

Just finished Season 1 of Angel. Took me a lot longer than I thought it would. :) Especially after that 10 episode marathon that I did that one day.

So that means that this school year, in addition to all the TNT-broadcast episodes of Angel, Charmed and Law & Order and all the regular prime time TV, I've done the first season sets of The Apprentice, The O.C. and Angel. Does TV qualify as a hobby? I sure hope so.

Watching Gilmore Girls on ABC Family now. :)

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Dream Land

I had a weird dream last night. Dreams, rather. I only remember two snippets.

In one, a group of people and I were going on an emergency trip to Rome. That's really all I remember about it. I don't remember who was going with me or why we were going, but the feelings I remember surrounding the trip make me think it has something to do with the Pope's funeral.

In the second, there were tornadoes. On some tropical island. I was in a hotel room on a high floor looking out over the island shoreline. Looking to the northeast, there were thick inverted cone shaped clouds. It was really dark and windy outside. In that direction, there were a large lush green hill/cliff. Over it, the cone shaped clouds were swirling. I kept seeing huge sparks coming off the ground around where the tornado was. But it wasn't really moving. It just stayed there and kept making sparks come off the ground.

But around the big tornado, there were a lot of little tornadoes. They just looked like gray coils and were maybe 3 feet tall. And they were moving quickly. One passed by my window and I could see the coil. They were sort of like big dustballs flying through the air while the big tornado made sparks in the distance.

The interesting thing about last night's dreams, at least the parts I remember, is that nothing really happened. It's just two snapshots - the planning for the trip to Rome and the image of the tornado and the flying coil. I don't know what to make of it. But the Rome thing just felt so... real.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Maintenance

You know, I'd actually like to do homework right now. I came home and intended to finish all my reading before Lost starts. That way, I can enjoy the full ABC prime time lineup of Lost, Alias and Eyes. (You should watch!)

But can I work? No. Because my toilet won't stop flushing! It's been at least 15 minutes of constant flushing. I can't get it to stop and I don't know exactly what's broken. And it's loud. And a huge waste of water. I called maintenance and they'll be around... sometime later today. Argh!

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Procrastination

Google Maps launched its new satellite feature recently and I've spent all morning playing with it. This is bad, bad, bad. When Google Maps first came on the web, I spent many hours just amusing myself by looking at different parts of the country. That's when there were just street names - now I can see buildings! Argh, temptation.

Google-owned programs and sites are such great procrastination tools. After all, what am I using right now instead of doing work? That's right. Blogger. :)

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Astounded

Wow. I didn't blog for a week?!

Well, a week in school terms anyway. How shocking!

It didn't feel that long... and I kept intending to blog but was just so tired every night that I couldn't find the energy to write. I had no idea it had actually been the entire school week! Shameful.

I should have realized though... because I haven't updated the photoblog in a while either. But that only felt like I missed two days! I'm a terribly inconsistent blogger...

And now I am supposed to blog about my eventful day... but again am utterly exhausted. And packing, because I am going to New York for the weekend. And I was searching for my checkbook, which has been lost since vacation, but luckily Alvin found that one for me. Off to finish packing and then I need to sleep.

To a new tomorrow!

Friday, April 01, 2005

Prelude

My fingers are still numb, but once they regain feeling, I can tell you all about my wonderful day, starting from being awakened at 7 am by a neighbor's subwoofer continuing to almost getting hit by multiple cars and culminating with a cold freezing rain. I really hope whatever gray cloud I've been operating under today fizzles out when I hit the pillow tonight. More of the story to come later.