Ms. Tungsten

I really really really don't want to go to chemistry lecture tonight... My professor makes a fascinating subject boring. Pooh.

Well,
It's been over a month. I feel like I should write something great because it's been so long but I've nothing great to say.

I had a good, if busy, weekend. I worked at the restaurant Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday morning, I went to part of a global health conference at UW. Sunday I played two softball games and got a little sunburned. The weather this weekend was fabulous, 70-80*F, sunny with a soft breeze.

I played centerfield for the 1st game and worked my butt off. The team had about 8 powerhitters so 2/3 of the hits came to me. I caught 7 or 8 flyballs and only made one error (when a fast grounder bounced wrong and went thru my legs). So even though we lost (we got totally creamed: 28-9) I had a pretty good game.

The 2nd game, I was at second and things were pretty uneventful. It's slow pitch so most balls go to the left side of the infield. All I had to do was to tag the runner at second. I did get a couple of lefties hit grounders to me but, again, nothing really exciting. I didn't make any errors (that I can remember). We got creamed this game too. Our captain told me that I didn't want to know the score and refused to tell me.

1. The Crawling Eye
2. Jodhaa Akbar
3. Wit
4. Down by Law
5. Office Space
6. Guru
7 Starship Troopers
8. Stand by Me
9. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
10. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

*honorable mentions..
Dhoom 2 -but only because I'm totally in love w/ Hrithik Roshan
Dead Man -because Jim Jarmusch is a GENIUS
Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade- do I really need to explain this one?
Shawshank Redemption- this was actually on my top 10 until I thought about Sierra Madre, which won out by a hair

Fun Fact of the day: Katharine Hepburn's mother, Katharine Martha Houghton was the cofounder of Planned Parenthood with Margaret Sanger

On Mondays, my first class is on the north part of the campus. Afterwards, I have 10 minutes to go to the health sciences building in the very south part of campus. Then I have another 10 minutes to make it back up to the north part of campus for my last class of the morning. It's exhausting.

Over break, Tim, Kat and I watched multiple episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and last night they caught up with me. I was in that partial dream state couldn't stop seeing strange grinning men float by my window (episode: Hush) ready to take my voice and cut out my heart. It didn't help that Alicia was in Kirkland and Toulouse was going crazy. I didn't fall asleep until after 1:00.

My biology professor said yesterday that if (when registering our keypads) are unsure if it's the letter "oh" or the number "oh" not to worry that it is always the number "oh". She actually said "the number oh". I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Not a good start to making a good impression.

Softball meet and greet tonight downtown. Only 3 people from my team showed up (including me). Lame. I won a baby-soft blue T-shirt and got a free beer, though, so the night wasn't a complete bust.

Brunch today: the best yoghurt ever (The Greek Gods Traditional Honey yogurt), kiwi, strawberries, vanilla macadamia granola, fresh orange honey bread, coffee, chocolate truffles, Port Salud cheese, granny smith & braeburn apples, and mimosas with fresh squeezed blood orange juice & prosecco!

Conversations with Sara, Kat and Tim: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, hindi movies, women's rights, asian culture (Tim's an eastern studies and Japanese major), cameras, cats, relationships and school.

TV watched: 3 episodes of Buffy season III.

Afternoon with my friends: Priceless.

I had a dream last night that my knee was nailed to a leather tether. When I tried to free myself, the nail worked its way through my skin and I began to bleed. An Apache man told me to hide in the briar bushes and then started to shoot arrows at my hiding place.

I found my high school diary and it is hysterical. I was so self-consumed. I'm still self-consumed but I like to think it's a bit more subtle these days. I was also obsessed with boys.... well things don't seem to change much.

excerpt: 4/18/95 Tuesday
I have really been thinking deeply. Neal, one of my friends, called me yesterday and asked me to date him. I told him that I liked him but only as a friend and that's all I ever will see him as (I'm getting pretty good at this rejecting thing.) He was very upset. Dylan took third in nationals. I think he has study hall in gym lobby 8th period because he can be seen in the upstairs gym playing basketball (I can now also be seen there). He talked to me yesterday. He's so beautiful. Mom says he has a learning disability but he still makes honor roll. I overheard that he's going to Broome. Yippee! I've come to a conclusion about DG. I mean it's impossible to be in love with two guys. I mean I know that I'm no Guinevere. DG is nice and everything and he only has one fault, he's not Dylan. Isn't that just the most beautiful name... Dylan.... Anyway. I think I thought I was in love with DG because I love his relationship with A. I wanted the relationship, not the man. I, though, don't want it with anyone but Dylan. Eric Adolf asked me to the prom. I told him no. I feel as though I signed my own death warrant. I know I won't get another offer. I would rather go alone that go with Eric though. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm very confused.

I learned today that even though ketones will 'never under any circumstances' (as stated verbatim in lecture) act as the electrophile in aldol condensations, they will if there is the added stability of a 5-6 member ring formation in a intramolecular reaction, which wasn't mentioned in the book or in lecture but came up when I was trying to write the electron pushing mechanism for the reaction. 'Never under any circumstances'.. well except for this one which I wasn't going to mention and who knows how many other reasons I won't mention either. Arghhh!

I got into all the classes I wanted next quarter. I'm so excited! Yay! I also have one more final this coming Monday which means I'll be celebrating (read: drinking heavily) for 2 reasons!

And speaking of boys...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnOIvkaQddk

I have a 5:30 chemistry lecture on Wednesdays and my class prior to that is finished at 11:30. I usually stay on campus between and study at the library cafe. People tend to be quiet but it is a busy cafe and tables are often shared. Yesterday, a man/boy sits down across from me and pulls out a business calculus book. I know because I peeked, if someone shares my table, I always look at what they're studying and then judge them by it. It's weird but it's what I do.

Anyway, I ignore him after that and he ignores me and life is happy. Well, about 30 minutes after he sat down, a girl comes over, kind of giggles, stares a moment at me, and then stares at him. I had my headphones on so I didn't hear what he said the first time around. As I took them off, I prepared what I would say in outrage if he had the gall to ask me to move. But I was surprised.

The girl pulled up a chair while the man/boy told my that they were conducting a psychological experiment. He sat across from me for 30 minutes while the girl recorded all of my behaviors trying to determine how his proximity to me would affect me. They then wanted me to fill out a survey about how I felt when he was sitting at my table.

As I filled out the survey, I noticed all the notes she took at the bottom of the page, fumbled with calculator (I was trying to uncover it not only single handed but left handed), dug in bag, rubbed pen across chin several times (I've never thought about it but I do do that when I study) etc.

I filled out the survey and wished them luck and restrained myself from telling them to do more basic research. The location was stupid. EVERYONE shares tables at the suzzulo cafe. No one's behavior is going to be altered because of a shared table, unless the guy is really really SRK cute (and he wasn't). And how could they determine if my behavior changed unless they observed me for a period prior to his sitting down. I don't know, maybe they did.

Maybe their experiment is based on how my behavior changes after being told my behavior was observed and noted for a period of time. That would be an interesting research project. It's creepy to think about being spied on and afterwards, I certainly made a point of not chewing my cuticles AND I sat up straighter.

I think SRK is so dreamy....

So I'm addicted to this online boggle game. I'm always playing 'just' one more game... I have to beat Alicia (my Jeopardy! winning roommate, a classics scholar who knows all the archaic noun and verb forms of every language ever...) Anyway, I'm doing fairly well, even against A. but once in a while I come up against someone who blows me away. I just played Ms. C. and got walloped and as I scanned her list of words, I was outraged. I don't have A.'s vast vocabulary but there were 30 words I don't recognize! 30! I looked them up in my Oxford American Dictionary....

1. aesc : Not in my dictionary
2. ahs : Not in my dictionary but an interjection?
3. ceas : Not in my dictionary
4. ceca : Plural for the pouch at the junction of the small & large intestines
5. dae : Not in my dictionary
6. das : Not in my dictionary
7. eas : Not in my dictionary
8. ecad : An organism that is modified by its environment
9. ecads : Plural
10. ecce : Latin for 'behold'
11. ehs: Not in my dictionary but an interjection?
12. eses: Plural for a suffix?
13. ethe : Not in my dictionary
14. haet: Not in my dictionary
15. haets : Not in my dictionary
16. sae: Not in my dictionary
17. sese: Not in my dictionary
18, sha: Not in my dictionary
19. tec: Not in my dictionary
20. tecs: Not in my dictionary
21. tes: Not in my dictionary
22. theca: A loose sheath around the spinal cord
23. hae: Not in my dictionary
24. haes: Not in my dictionary
25. est : Acronym for Erhard Seminars Training & the 3 person singular of the french être
26. eth: An old english letter
27. cee: Not in my dictionary
28. cea: Not in my dictionary
29. ceas :Not in my dictionary
30. daces : improper plural of a freshwater fish

Well... I obviously need to take more biology and get a new dictionary.
My cat's fine, by the way.

I have a stupid cat. I love her but she's a pain in the ass. It all started because Sara lost my camera. No.... It all started because Sara gave me a pen with feathers. Toulouse loves that pen.... well... she loves to try to destroy the pen and because I like it and don't want her to ruin it, I had hid it in a small decorative chest, the same chest I keep the warranties and user's guides to stuff. So... I had to figure out the replacement cost for the camera and I needed the exact make of the camera and battery and stuff and when I opened/closed the chest the feathers from the pen must have stuck out a bit and Toulouse saw. So using her masterfully dextrous paws (she opens doors and cupboards too) she opened the chest and retrieved the pen but when extracting herself, she got tangled in the short ribbon that connects the chest lid to the body and strangled herself. I heard noise and went back into the room only to see her violently thrashing her body about with her head attached to the chest (which is quite heavy) and her breathing labored. I tried to still her to free her and was dreadfully cut up. I wasn't able to free her until she almost passed out. I noticed blood splattered across my bedspread and realized it wasn't mine but hers. I rushed her into the dining room and she laid limp, not breathing, bleeding from the mouth and with her eyes open and dilated. She didn't move. I thought she had asphyxiated and freaked out. I called Sara (I love her profoundly, despite giving me a really cool pen) and tried to revive the cat by massaging her chest. She woke up and yowled, a deep mournful howl, and I thought it was the yowl of death. I thought she was dying. Sara arrived and looked up the nearest emergency animal hospital while I gathered Toulouse. We rushed out and to the hospital and they rushed her away. 11 hours and $550 later, I brought one doped up, but hopefully not brain damaged, cat home.

Thank you Sara for being willing to immediately drop everything and come over without any explanation. You can't have the cat, but my firstborn child is yours.

The weekly Wednesday tradition of 'Soup Nite' was held this Thursday at the Orange Splot art gallery. Basically, someone hosts and makes the soup and the other 40-60 people come, bringing the wine and the bread (and bowls..). It's been carried on by an ever changing circle of friends for the last 5 or 6 years and is a great way to meet new people (which is otherwise really hard in Seattle because the only new people you ever meet are stupid 20 year old undergrads and bus drivers... ) So I arrive at this party (Sara went early because she wanted to help the other Sara with the soup prep) and lo and behold the crappy date (that I mentioned last time) was there and proceeded to stalk me the whole night. He said he was with Sadie, who I don't know but that's not unusual, I usually only know a handful of people at these things. Kevin (I love him..) rescued me and I spent the entire evening brushing him (stalker-boy) off me (figuratively).

Sara, Kat and I had brunch this morning (my new Saturday morning tradition, mimosas yay!) and when I mentioned him to them, Sara laughed and said that the entire group had spent the night trying to figure out who they were. It turns out that they crashed the party!! And... I got back this afternoon and found an email from stalker-boy asking me to meet him for a game of pool on Tuesday. Oooooohhhh, (insert sarcastic tone here) I'm so tempted.

I was able to see Juan del Gastor, the renowned flamenco guitarist yesterday. It was a quiet venue with only 〜60 people in the audience including Eric and Encarnación from COTR. The show was amazing; Juan demonstrated several styles and described the deeper meaning behind each. His wife sporadically interpreted at the start but soon tapered off when she realized that the entire audience could understand him directly (me included!).

I also signed onto a softball team for this summer this weekend. That's going to be scary (for my teammates!).

I last updated this a long time ago....

I'm off to class now. Aprendo español y química orgánica! Tuve un examen ayer y voy aprender los resultados esta mañana probablemente. Had a date last night after class and it was crappy. The man didn't have an original thing to say just "Me too!" even if I had just contradicted him. I also decided to drop my ethics course. It's not worth the stress and the worry about biased grading. I can't imagine NOT having a better experience next time. Attila the Hun would be an improvement. I ended up writing a scathing 'rateyourprofessor' critique. I wasn't going to, but someone else had the same day I had spoken to the TA about my difficulties with the class, and I couldn't risk anyone thinking it had been me. Not that I disagreed, it's just that they had used your instead of you're. In my little fantasy life, my leaving the class is a serious comment on the crap course because I'm so brilliant ;) and couldn't have people think less than that!

I started classes again. Last quarter ended unfavorably but I feel newly encouraged by the promise of this quarter. Yay! My classes are difficult but conceptually so. I expect that they'll be more gratifying. I've finally organized my application to UW; so it's just a matter of finishing my essay.

Well it's boiling down to the last couple of hours of 2006 (I'm in NY). I'm not much for New Years resolutions or any of that typical sappy stuff but I am feeling a bit reflective tonight. I'm with my family for the first time in several months and I've had a couple of glasses of wine (scary combination). I've had quite a year with school, work, travel, the new bf. I've made enormous strides in gaining some direction (and some obsession...). I'm even contemplating admitting my nerdiness. Maybe by the end of next year... I hope everyone has a great holiday and all that.

Well, here's my first post.. I'm tired and grumpy. My cat is irritatingly spastic tonight. That's it.