Boone had told me Lady Gaga's song Pokerface was about her bisexuality, but the video was super straightsville and the song is not really that interesting a song lyric-wise (although I still love it of course), so I wasn't sure. Love Game makes it clear. It was amazing! She was on this train surrounded by men and then getting felt up by them and then was in a booth making out with a male cop (or someone in uniform) and then in another scene the cop was a female cop and they were going to town. And it kept going back and forth. I loved it. That was no demure Madonna-Britney kiss. It was unambiguously bisexual makeout town. I loved it.

Still dreaming of Sims 3. I hear it doesn't run well on old computers, so I'm not sure that even my video card upgrade would work on the laptop. Definitely will be waiting until I have some kind of job to ensure the money before I buy that, which means maybe I won't be buying it . . . I'm less and less inclined to get a 10-week job, but I'm still going to look. If nothing else, it'll be a good way to get to know every nook and cranny of the city. Does "cranny" ever make anyone else stop and think "cunny" everytime they write it? Because it does me.

 I've started posting with some regularity to my more structured blog. And to entice you to visit it, I've included a frabalus link to a site that might rival Amalah's The Company Cookbook! Check it out at today's entry at tromping.blogspot.com

Here's a fun link I found. You don't need to know how or why I found it, but it's a hilarious "game" and one that's very short-lived. I'm not sure if it's meant for boys or girls, but you can make a fairly fay boy so I'm thinking it's for us "boi"s. And the address has the word "gay" in it, but, you know, it could be ambiguous? Maybe not.

Here's just one example, one's that not even that effeminate in comparison to the beauties you could be making. What are you doing on the Lord's day? Clearly not watching Mysteries of the Freemasons on History Channel and making Korean gay boyfriends. Loser.

My favorite part is that you can find him in your local coffee shop, working by the espresso maker! Yes!

And there's a new prom-style teen girl squad. Yay. (Only it's not that funny.)

I has a diploma.

It is very exciting to have and to hold, although it's too big to actually hold. It in fact could eat my other diplomas and it would still be hungry, and that includes an "award" diploma from undergrad, so that's three diploma-like things it could consume!

In order to get said diploma today, I had to be at the diploma ceremony for my department. Originally I was going to have it mailed to me, because I was not going to be at the diploma ceremony. At one point, it had been my weekend to visit Syracuse. And then when I decided I would have already gone to Syracuse, it was just to have a lazy Saturday. God knows I'm not doing shit for the university commencement tomorrow. But then I was nominated to speak at the ceremony as my program's representative. As the biggest program, at twenty or so, this was both an honor and a nightmare. I had no interest in speaking and had nothing to speak about. Thankfully I had a way out: I didn't order a cap and gown, so I couldn't participate. Phew!

As I've mentioned earlier, my advisor wouldn't take "No" for an answer and found me a cap and gown. A mighty small cap and gown, although with gowns it doesn't matter much. With a buzzed (on setting 1, which is a 1/4" I learned today with my new set of clippers) head and a size 1 cap, I looked like a bobble head. I'd wanted to include that in my speech, but when I learned that there were seven speakers for the six different programs, I cut out everything funny, which left not much. It's just as well since I hadn't written anything but notes and my advisor had taken those when she gave me the cap and gown she found. And although they were saved on a computer, it was not my computer. But I knew what I wanted to talk about. Thank God I went first. Every speech after mine was infinitely better, but at least mine wasn't trying to be something and failing as said attempt, which once or twice one of the others did.

I talked about how there were two journeys in grad school life, the intellectual and the social. My intellectual journey had been stupendous and I was going for a PhD in something I didn't really at all study as an undergrad, which was impressive and spoke volumes about how this program had prepared me. I also talked about how my social life had been less than great and how I wished I'd spent more time with my fellow grads, because when I had, it was tons of fun. I referenced the Halloween party, which got laughs from my fellow grad students, because they remember the peacock outfit plus jell-o shots plus arm wrestling. And then I said that, obviously, you need both things and that sometimes means that you have to be good company for yourself, and then I said that we should be good company to each other, too, and I think it sounded a lot more Debbie Downer than it was supposed to. At the end, I was simply thrilled to be done (and that it wasn't absurdly long, since there were eighty-five people still to go), and I think everyone else was. The speech after mine was hilarious and I wanted to hide my cap-clad bobble head, but couldn't because I was in the center of the stage next to the podium staring at hundreds of friends and family (not mine, because I told them not to come, because I didn't want to have to go - whoops!) and it was terrible. My friends in the program thanked me and said it was good. One called it sentimental, which was a good pairing with the other two Masters speeches, one of which was funny nostalgic (the good one) and one of which was guilt-inducing (and had some hiccups in the presentation - at least mine was free-flowing - just like diarrhea). When I was walking to the reception, a woman I hadn't ever seen before thanked me for my nice speech and then said she hoped my social life was better next year and I tried to explain that I had a social life this year, just that it wasn't with the people in my program (and it was diminished in many ways), but she got a phone call and I thought, This is absurd. I don't know you and will never see you again, and then I walked away and went to get food. 

In other news, I just heard from AsA that Dollhouse is being renewed for the fall. That's exciting. Now I have incentive to watch the rest of the season! And Grey's sounds like it's going crazy again. I think they're going to have a spin-off with all the dead characters. When D told me over our delicious Indian date that Grey's went back to Meredith's drowning Heaven ER, I dubbed the new imagined spin-off Anatomy of an Afterlife. Let's see if I'm right! And I'm glad to be spending tomorrow with Shmallama and downloading from her wireless the new Wii Ware game that she bought me for my birthday, The World of Goo. You have to download it from wireless and I don't have wireless, so I can't download it at my house. Therefore, I will be bringing my Wii to Shmallama's. Hilarious. D and I played (GameCube's) Smash on it last night and, well, discovered that one of the controllers was broken. My favorite game was playing giant-mode as Princess Peach with the computer as giant Peaches as well. What made it the best is that we forgot to set them to the highest level, which meant they just stood there while we grit-balled the peach out of them with our frying pans, tennis rackets, and golf clubs.

I got an A on the paper that I thought had maybe a terrible thesis. The professor agreed that the thesis was terrible and didn't buy it at all, but he said it was very well-written and well-researched. This from the man who told one of the PhDs his first semester that he wrote like an 8 year-old and never should have been admitted. Also, the same man who's never granted me better than an A-. I couldn't be more thrilled.

And I have an apartment to boot! I loves it. I would post a photo, but then you might stalk me, so instead, if you want to see it, you can email me and ask to see the picture. If I know you, as I probably will, I will show it to you.

It's in a residential, mostly two-family house neighborhood by two cemeteries. I love me some cemeteries, for some reason. There are two bedrooms, with a third room for an office, which I'm making my deliciously eclectic library. Boone can have the guest room for his office when he moves in. There's also a large kitchen, separate dining room, adjacent to the living room via a huge, almost wall-length archway. The living room has a working fireplace and is attached to a sun porch, or solarium as I like to call it. That's the only room that's carpeted, which is fine although it's probably going to be the dirtiest room, with painting, maybe yoga, and plants. Whatever. It still needs to be painted, since the previous renters did a terrible job. Right now I'm packing up my apartment slowly every day, so that when it comes time to actually move, I'll be ready and have purged a bunch of shit.

Less thrilling is that my other prof, with whom I'm meeting tomorrow about my paper and my speech, has found me a cap and gown she thinks will fit so now I have no excuse not to do the diploma ceremony speech. Hilarious. My speech right now is a piece of shit and I think not what it's supposed to be, but maybe she'll help it along. I of course fell in love with it while writing it, as often happens, but I think she's going to say it's overwhelmingly cheesy. Hopefully she likes my paper, though.

And I'm done now! Hooray! I worked on that last paper yesterday morning (during work - oh well) and then last night I finished editing it and filling in the gaping holes of my argument. It's not great, but it's okay. And that's all it needs to be at this point. Now I can waste away by life by playing silly games online, like facebook's new Restaurant City. Thanks, playfish, for being as greatly terrible as bigfish!

I can't wait to go home and play some Wii and some Sims. I got to spend a little time with my dear Simmies this morning. Yesterday after finishing up the paper, I was so excited I couldn't sleep, but forced myself to anyway. I'm not sure how it worked, but eventually it did. Until 6:30 when my brain remembered I was done and woke me up 90 minutes before I'd planned to. Delicious extra time for Sims! It was fun to get back into that little world, even though it hasn't been so long. Maybe tonight I'll play with MySims, the infant's Wii version. It's adorable and a half though, and not nearly as annoying (or salacious, sadly) because there are no needs like sleep and peeing, etc. At least not that I've noticed. Thank God for that!

This morning, after or before playing Sims, I can't recall, I got an email from my one professor, not the one whose paper I just turned in, but the earlier one, and she had an invitation she wanted to extend to me over the phone so wanted my digits. I was nervous because I thought it might be to be my department's commencement speaker. As Shmallama and I were learning about things we a.) had nowhere near enough foundational knowledge to understand, and b.) couldn't care less about at a student research event, the prof lady called and said a number of students all nominated me. I said I really appreciated it, but hadn't planned on being part of Commencement and as such didn't get all the crap you had to get for it. (I don't have money to burn, kids, and I'm going to be part of yet another graduation, so what's the use in overkill?) She was disappointed but promised to let me know whether that would pose a problem or if I could give the shpiel without the garments. I also suggested someone I thought would be phenomenal.

I guess I couldn't do it without the robe and the other girl I mentioned didn't want to do it, because they just put out an email asking for people to speak "for five minutes" about really anything. Hilarious/sad. I guess that's what happens when you alienate everyone in the program except those are already moving on to other things. Ugh, and I found out I have one more duty rotation, the first week of summer school. If any of those shits gets hurt, I don't know what I'll do. I didn't end up punching my one student, though, so that's a good sign of patience to come.

Speaking of patience, I am having not such great luck with my apartment search. I recognize that I waited until the last minute, but still, I figured with all the listings I would get more viewing options. Alas, that isn't panning out. A few of the listings are gone now and others are going soon, and some just had incorrect information. There are a half-dozen or so legitimate options (maybe not that many), but we'll see when we get there I guess. It only takes one . . .

Oh. I almost forgot. Last night I had a fourth dumbass pothead light up in my building. Jesus, people. Couldn't you wait a week to do it back at home? I don't need this when we're both leaving . . .

Unlike my dear DiDi, school's not quite out for the summer. It will be soon, though! I've finally finished my last paper. I still need to revise it, but even if it's a piece of shit, I don't think I'm going to revise it overly much. I realized that I just did not care much about the project as I thought I had.

I also don't care enough about one of these students I have, one of the potheads. I really cared that he not be a douchebag by the end of the year, and now I don't. He's trying to get out of doing his last few hours of community service and I'm ready to tell him he can go fuck himself. I'm going to ask my boss what to tell him instead. I am happy to jump to enacting his suspension if he doesn't do it. Burn in Hell, mothafucka. Just kidding. Or am I? Maybe I should take my lack of caring for the arrogant prick and just not let him bother me . . .

Hopefully he's my last situation. He's of course part of a pair, but whatever goes for one will go for the other, and of course they're both a few hours under. I think one tries something and then when it fails the other one tries a new something, so that it doesn't seem as if they are each asking for too much. Of course, they each are. <Punches them both in the imaginary face.>

 Another 8AM breakfast for work with not much for me to contribute? Sure! Sounds like a blast! Especially with my body half-broken from my first boot camp in a few weeks. (And it was a hard one.)

In other news, it's Boone and my Wood-iversary. Five years. Yowza. Go Go Gadget Gay Monogamy. I can't wait for his visit tomorrow and then my birthday fun, organized in part by delicious D, on Saturday. But for Shmallama, who'll be out of town, we're pretending it won't be fun.

In other other news, I finished one of my papers for class, which means I just need to make a few notes for a presentation on it, and then I'm done with that class. Hallelujah. (I also need to make sure my bibliography is complete and has the correct sources. Sometimes I have books for classes from previous semester's on them. It's not clear how Sister Carrie got there, but she did . . .)

 My friend, cowbelle , posted a fun link to MASH, the game to predict your future. To avoid controversy, I listed Boone as all five of my "crushes." Here are the pretty sweet results (minus the fact that either I or Boone 5 has started to wear dresses):

I've been putting off posting since Tuesday, which isn't all that long, but it is certainly some time. Here's the rundown

Sernt Lews
It was lots of fun, minus the driving and minus the being sick. Literally the first 200 miles I averaged a tissue every 5 miles, and I was trying to hold back. It was terrible. It eased up slightly, after multiple allergy pills, which I normally wouldn't take, but it wasn't better. By the time I was at cowbelle's, I was ready to die. Instead I took a shower and we went to Fitz's for a good college days dinner and then stayed up and watched bad TV, including a new fave that I'll never watch on my own because I don't watch TV if it's not HGTV, vh1 music videos, or Unbeatable Banzuke / MXC / Similar (and I don't get G4 anymore - tear for me). It was . . . Chelsea Lately. Hilarious. It might have been the drugs, or it might have been all of her terribly unfunny co-contributors, but that woman was dyno-might!

Then more folks joined in and then more and it seemed as if every plan we made was based around our next meal, which is how I think it should be when visiting friends or having friends visit. It's really just about lounging and eating. I didn't go to the big "party" at a club for the reunion. It was the last night, which meant I could get into serious unpleasantness before having to drive another ten hours. So I tried to read and that didn't happen. That means I had 170 pages to read on Sunday night after my ten hour drive. Add an hour for trying (and fail-dogging eight times) to get around the annual marathon downtown. It would not have been a problem had the highway by the school been open, but it wasn't . . .

It was tons of fun, but it's hard to explain when you're not in it. The sheer hilarity of playing chess with a piece of lettuce and of bright red velvet cake batter ice cream lips, of seeing all the people with nicknames from college times that you barely remember, and of the silly shit we all accidentally and intentionally say - it all just defies storytelling. As does the fury with which I finished reading a dense mystery novel on which I was leading discussion, reading done after getting home at 10:30PM. I was only up a little past 1:00AM, which is shocking. It was enough to make me fury-filled, too. Then the next day after work, FOR THE SAME MOTHEREFFING CLASS, I worked straight through until 1:00AM again on a progress report for a paper on which I'd made no progress, so it also involved watching a movie I was comparing to a novel . . . Good movie, but still . . .

After Sernt Louis and my Mothereffing Class
Things have gone way downhill with my willpower. On Tuesday, I didn't go to class, because I didn't have time to read Tuesday's assignment, not that we ever discuss it, but it was a reading I didn't want to do anyway because I'd already wasted 180 pages of my life reading this nonsense text about blacklistees, which should really just be a list of blacklistees and the movies/TV shows they worked on, which references to connections, since that's all it is, just in paragraph form. And I don't really care about blacklistees, not really. It turns out that it was reading from a text I did care about, the comics book we're reading. We had more of that reading for Thursday though, a class I did attend, and I did that reading. It was also the part about comics in the '50s I care about - censorship. There were comic book burning parties then! I can only imagine how badly those jerkoffs are kicking themselves now that they see what their old crap is worth . . .

I also didn't go to Wednesday's class, which is the mothereffing class, because our prof (Prof Meanie from my progress report example) had the nerve to assign yet another complete novel for a class, so for Monday and Wednesday, we had to read the dense The Last Good Kiss and the less dense Devil in a Blue Dress and a progress report with bibliography, thesis, and outline. Walter Mosley, if DiaBD is on my reading exam list, I assure you I will read it, since I own it. If not, maybe some day, buddy. Maybe some day . . . <Walter Mosley is not actually my buddy. I don't have such high-profile buddies, if I can be said to have "buddies" at all.>

Skipping was the best idea I had for either class! I'm now on top of my work and I hope to finish the final paper for one class (we have presentations next week, but the paper itself isn't due for two weeks) this weekend. It's half written already since it has to be 15+ and I already submitted 12 pages, to which she said, "Keep going. It's great, just keep going." I've twice reduced this project, but my twelve pages still only covered one third (albeit the most interesting third) of the primary source, so I'm hoping it's feasible. It will mean I just have to work on the mothereffing class, which includes reading the 450-page Blacklist (coincidence?) for Monday (and Wednesday) discussion. But it's at least only one text.

Reading and Other Non-Reading Activities
So Tuesday night when I got home at 8:30 and didn't have to do any reading, what did I do? I installed Sims 2: Apartment Life expansion pack that I'd come home to find on Sunday night. Talk about willpower! I came home from a ten-hour drive taking eleven hours and didn't play the new video game I'd just gotten! And I didn't on Monday. I should count my successes and not just my failures. Is that actually a success though? Before I do that, though, let's count the awesomeness of this game.

I bought Apartment Life, because I live in an apartment and I like apartments better than houses, and I had been trying to create "apartments" in Sims 2, which were actually just disastrous attempts because Johnny would use Suzie's toilet and sleep in her bed if she hadn't already claimed it. (I don't, by the way, name my Sims Johnny or Suzie. Often the men have some kind of phallic first or last name, usually because they're romance-oriented and therefore sex is on their brains. And the women often have funky names, like Olga, Frenchie, or Pirot, which isn't a name I don't think.) Anyway, the idea with AL is that you can have separate apartments and have a bunch of people on one lot, while only have to control some of them. It's perfect. Friends next door, because I never make enemies.

Or I didn't until this game, because in addition to apartments (and spiral staircases, and floating shelves, and industrial pipes, and the ability to move things up and down on a wall for ideal placement, and a butler - all things I've desired for a million years), there are witches - good, neutral, and evil witches, who love to wreak havoc. (This is not so weird, but I didn't know going in. There are also zombies, vampires, werewolves, plant people, and robots, depending on which expansion packs you have.) This is Sims heaven, let me tell you. I have one of each - the High Witches look suspiciously like Glinda and the Wicked Witch/Elphaba, except the white one has black hair, too. The neutral witch wears orange or brown or something innocuous and earthy. But it's perfect. When they're strong enough, they can clean the whole house with one spell. And they can fly to work (or anywhere else) on a broom! I have yet to train a warlock, but I is in love.

Related to Sims and a lack of productivity on my part, I got up early yesterday morning and played an hour (where I turned some predisposed ladies into witches - evidently their friends don't really like that they're witches . . . weird. I know I'd love it) and it was sufficient. Then I got home and was supposed to exercise with AsA, but he got locked out of his house and had to cancel, which meant that my pre-determined stopping point had just left me. So after an hour with a couple of pre-made families, I went to see if I could conver this big ass loft I had made into apartments and . . . I couldn't. Womp womp. So instead, I made it a super swank hang-out pad and within a week it was a level 10 business and raking in serious cash for the unemployed (but loaded) man. Anyway, this is all unimportant to everyone but Shmallama, except that I got lost and all of a sudden it was 9:45 and the program crashed. And in Sims, if you don't leave the lot, which my business runner did not, and you don't intentionally save it, it doesn't have any reason to save. So everything was gone . . . It was tragic, but I learned a lot and he's going to move into a real apartment and run a nearby gym and have a much more fulfilling life. I could have cried though because my calculated risk of having continuous fun on Sims with the promise to do more reading over the week was thwarted. I did have lots of fun with it though and as here is no "point" to Sims (it's very realistic that way . . .), I didn't lose three/four hours of progress toward some end goal.

So instead of reading 100 pages of Blacklist last night, as was my goal. I read five. And I don't really remember them, because I read them yesterday morning while waiting for a meeting to start. I figure though that since it's the last book, I'm not going to make/take many notes, which will move the reading process along. Senioritis much?

Et cetera
Speaking of which, I got a fellowship for my grad program. Huzzah! I now don't have to/get to teach the first year. Instead I get more money without having to commit "20" hours per week of work. It's great. I also get a fifth year of that same funding with no teaching requirement, which I think means I can take it with me and not have to work an additional job the first year "out" of school while I want to do more dissertation research. I also get to put on my CV that I'm a University Fellow, which sounds much more exciting than having a Teaching Assistantship. It is a little weird that the person who should be the most intellectually prepared or research-driven or whatever (and therefore should be ahead of his/her peers) gets more time than everyone else. Oh well, I'm just excited for all the research I could do outside of direct dissertation research and publications I'm going to go after. I hope to spend a little time this summer writing a new novel for fun and revising the old two - the second one is almost a year old now and still I have yet to read it as one whole text - but I also want to go over one or two of my old papers and see if I can make them publishable. I also want a temporary job. This could be an interesting time management problem for my last lazy summer . . .

So in addition to my ambition schedule to both exercise every day and write this final paper this weekend, I also have three work events - a "fun" event tonight that I might just not go to, and two 90-minute trainings on Saturday and Sunday. Yorg. But then those are done. It's too bad that I'm on the same schedule as everyone else, though, so everything has to be done at once. Then I'll have the most fluid and laxidaisical couple of weeks playing Sims and not packing for my move. Or I might hang out with my friends and be uber-social before moving into a potentially totally-isolated summer life. Speaking of which, Boone may go for a job in Michigan, so that he'll a.) get a promotion and be more desirable work-wise, and b.) his company will move him closer to me for free. And then we'll just be on opposite sides of the Great Lakes. It means a slight delay, but with the economy the way it is, I was figuring on a delay anyway. It's part exciting and part frustrating, but it would have been merely frustrating otherwise, so this is a far better option. And maybe Syracuse will seem like a not-terribly cold place to be after Michigan, instead of after Phoenix!

Well, the student I was supposed to be meeting with for the last thirty minutes never showed up. Thankfully he sleeps next door to my office, so I can just knock and see if he wants to meet now or later today some time. (And then I can punch him in the face.)

I'm at home, taking a sick day. As I mentioned in the last post, I've been sick. I thank my job for handing me the sick baton and one of my friends for picking me up in his car and driving me to the finish line. On Friday night, I had to help with work by standing outside in wet and the cold to make sure that none of our overly-eager students were hit by cars while they were carrying shit across the street. I'm shocked it didn't happen. All I can say is we have very cautious drivers on that street. The students were not helping themselves, in fact sometimes they were just being assholes. I can't entirely blame them, well I can but I can also understand them. Having done student theatre, I understand the panic of trying to do the impossible with awkwardly shaped pieces of wood. I also understand the idiocy that inspires someone to carry heavy metal objects down roads. Unlike my students who caused 30-second traffic jams by standing in the middle of the road, I caused a traffic jam by dropping a 5-gallon bucket of screws, sorted into their different sizes, in the middle of the street. I justify this by the fact that I was trying to cross speedily and the 90-pound orange piece of plastic just fell out of my overexhausted hands and into a university-owned street (not a public access street as Friday night's debacles involved). It's inspiration for my new children's book, Make Way for Morons. Ducklings just ain't realistic enough these days.

So after spending four hours, from 6 to 10, in the evening mist of 35 degree hell, I decided to go out for drinks with a friend who was in from out of town. I thought we would get a beer and dessert or something. We didn't. We went to the gay martini bar and got beers instead. A strange place for beers, but martinis hit both of us pretty hard. After two, we wanted to dance, so I suggested other gay bar down the street, which actually has no dancing, but it at least had younger guys, which are his type. The martini lounge/bar/whatever tends older and yet beer was cheaper there . . . So three beers and a rum and coke later, I was happily chatting up a lesbian librarian wingwoman while my friend chatted up her unwinged friend. It was great fun and I chatted with the other guy, too, while my friend met up with other friends. And the librarian and I discussed her drama with her ex and the librarian's friend who wants said ex and doesn't want the librarian to talk to said ex. (The best reason for people to date different genders is because it makes telling romances less complicated. Jesus. You have to be specific with all those unnamed lesbians around.) And then my friend was meeting up with other friends so he dropped me off at home and went his scandalous ways. I then woke up with a minor headache that fled from a combination of coffee and Emergen-C (a lot of B6 - I think that's the one that's helpful). I then had more work that I had to do that day, which involved buying art supplies and teaching some students how to do this new art technique, acrylic sprayed drip paintings. Or something like that.

In case it's not clear by my titling of said technique, I have no idea how to do it. I watched David Bromstad do it on one of his episodes of ColorSplash (I've been playing a lot of Sims, which means simultaneously "watching" HGTV because it's great background noise). And by watched him do it, I mean he called it something like I called it and I watched him dab paint at the top of his canvas and spray it with a mister. And within 15 seconds, he had stopped doing it. I couldn't find it anywhere online, so I just boldly winged it. It's in fact why I was coming, to show it. I had only promised to show the host of the program I was attending how to do it, which meant finding a video online or something. Since I couldn't, I had to show my skank ass up. So I did, and I hated doing so, but I got a neat painting out of it that's hauntingly familiar in some ways to another abstract painting I made. The only thing that's missing (other than everything unique to that style of painting) is the central figure. Where did he go? I don't know. He got sick of waiting around.

So then I was sick. I didn't do too much more that weekend other than play Sims (I can't really think why I play it, but I feel such a compelling need to play - it's like this emotional push me-pull me, because they grow up and get old and then die the longer you play with them, so it's like you want to play and then play another family and just see them on the sidelines. It's a sickness) and read for class. We had to read The Long Goodbye, which is a long book to read for an 80-minute seminar, let me tell you. It's 375 pages, although many of those are about three sentences long before the many chapter breaks, so it wasn't as long as it sounds. It was plenty long though and we barely scratched the surface. I contemplated not finishing it, because I knew it wouldn't really matter to the quality of my comments in class, but it was too damned good. I couldn't put it down, so I was a good little camper and read it all. I'm glad I did. I just wish I could do a million things at once.

I could feel myself getting sick by Saturday night and Sunday morning it was on. I had been fighting it, but the Friday night 1-2 punch was just too much. (Am I right, Ciara? Am I right?)

Monday was fine. I got home and didn't play any Sims, not before work, not after. It was intense cold-turkey. I had shit to do. We have a progress report due on Monday, in addition to another long novel to be discussed in 80 minutes for the same class. (There's even more for Monday, but I'll get to that!) It involves knowing not only our argument, but knowledge of our sources. I haven't looked at shit. I'm comparing (too much, but I digress) two novels with the popular Production Code era versions of those two novels to see how they use homosexual male villains toward different or similar ends, questions of adaptations and queer masculinity. My topics, great. But then I'm also offering a brief contrast to the pre-Code version of one film and the post-Code version of the other, to see how those controversial figures (no gays in Code era films - sort of) are interpreted in a less censored time. Great project, although too much for ten pages (strict upper and lower limit). But he approved it, so I guess it's going forward. When I tried to suggest it was too much to include the comparison films, he wanted me to, so I guess they're staying. Oh well. So there are six primary sources. I have read the two novels and seen one of the popular films. That's only half of the sources and I won't get the other two films from Netflix until Monday, so I'm definitely not going to have seen those before this progress report is due. I wish we could write honest ones. This would be mine.

Example:

I'm at home now and watching Divine Design, probably my favorite design show of all time (perhaps because of the host's tendency to flirt shamelessly with the carpenter(s)). And I'm horrified that my beloved Candice is going to ruin this beautiful dark brown paneling the current owner hates. It did seem as if she was trying to save it, so "controversial" as Candice recognizes it's going to be to her viewers, they're painting it white, like the dumb beach bum wants. Gosh. I can understand though. As Boone said, when you have carpet you want hardwood and when you have wood floors, you want carpeting. Vomit. Give me hardwood. (Mind out of the gutter, kids!)

The other thing I'm doing, other than feeling my eyes bleed and burn out of my head (I think I'm a little sick, but I'm hoping it won't get bad, since I'm consciously fighting it by resting more), is drinking cardamum masala chai. As I was walking home, I decided I would stop at the Indian deli right by my apartment. I got samosas, which have risen to the shocking price of 90 cents each (shocking that's all they cost, in my book, although they used to be 80 cents each). I also got this chai, which was about 8 cents per bag. And then I bought a Cadbury Flake bar. Delicious! My sister and I had these whenever we went to England and even growing up in English-dominated Dubai. They're so good . . .

I don't really know what I've been doing of late, other than homework and playing Sims 2. Unfortunately I haven't done too much research on my one project (I did for the other, because we had ten pages due for it . . .) and that sucks because I go away this weekend for a five-year reunion and don't want to do that research while I'm gone. I already have to read a novel and present on it (for the same class). My two professors have gone fucking mean crazy, not just crazy and not just mean, but a horrible combination for which I have to pay. And instead I've been playing the Sims. I'm not sure what's going to happen for next week though, since I've done all my work for this week and I could work, but I really don't want to. It sucks to have projects and then homework that are totally unrelated, because it seems as if the work for the week has been done, but it hasn't.

And then there's the work at work. I'm pretty much done for the year, which in some ways is great and in other ways is horrible. I get real bored and I start playing Big Fish Games. Remember those? Well, I could watch TV shows, but that seems too uninteractive. I need to be doing something. Watching TV doesn't count. And watching movies doesn't really count, either! Although . . . tomorrow at work I could watch that one film on Netflix Instant Watching I still need to watch. Hmm . . . that would get some research for that one project done!

Anyway, this is a horrible post, but Shmallama reminded me that it's been forever since I posted. I don't really know what's worth posting. Other than this room Candice made! Love it. I can't wait until I have my own space to redesign constantly! I've been going over things in my apartment while trying not to. It'll be one of those things where, once I start, I'll want to be done and moved within the next 24 hours, because I hate being between things. Speaking of which, I need to find an apartment and a temporary job, but that can wait until when I visit with my parents and hopefully Boone for mother's day weekend. Finally my life will be like an HGTV show and it turns out to be one of the kinds I hate (Suzanne Wong, I'm talking to your show).

 

What is your "bare: a pop opera" persona?
Name	"tsquaresogreen"
DOB	"mind your own damn business, bitches"
Favourite Color	grey
You're in love with	Jesus
You are loved by	Lucas
You want	absolution
You're known for your	good grades
Your song is	"Plain Jane Fatass"
Your R&J role is	Lady Capulet
<input ... >
This QuickKwiz by nederlandergirl - Taken 7 Times.

I did date/hook up more than once with a drugs dealer . . .  I think I do want absolution, I just don't know what for. And people assume I would look good in drag. Un/fortunately, I don't. It's too bad, because my mom's real pretty and I look a lot like her. I've also never heard "Plain Jane Fatass" but I like the characters who sing it.

Today was v. productive. I got my hairs cut and confirmed with my hairdresser that when I move I should totally go for the buzzed look. She recommended a "1" level, which is how long my facial hair is. What convenience! I can be like Remy or whatever his name was, the Israeli hottie with Greco-Roman design on Project Runway season 4(?). That was once a really good show . . .

Speaking of once really good shows, I have finished Battlestar Galactica and the ending was good, although the final scene was a.) a sweet smack in the face, and b.) a clobbering over the head with "message." It could have been more subtle. No "angels" needed, for those of you (anyone? anyone?) who watched the finale. It was a good way to end the series and I still have plenty of questions that will go unanswered. Sort of like my question about The Big Sleep, the book and the movie, "Who killed Owen Taylor?" Purportedly, even Raymond Chandler didn't know, so that's something.

But back to my day . . . I then had a useful therapy session today and we talked about how I only have five or six sessions left and what that meant for me. And then I met with prospective students for the MA program I'm in. And I gave them my feedback and info about my experience, so that was great. Unfortunately, I've had a headache all morning and I cut the edge of my mouth on a bagel I was eating this morning. I can explain . . . I was at the bus stop and I thought the bus would be coming shortly (it wasn't too long after all, but it did not right away), so I quickly shoved the sweet crunchy top part of the bagel into my mouth and chewed it/ate it while I poured the melted peanut butter I had gotten onto the rest of the bagel. Well, it was raining and I had my umbrella tucked under my chin and I was using my teeth and tongue to get the bagel in there because I already needed three hands without the bagel there, and it was too wide for my face. And since the cinammon crunch (c'mon, you knew it was that one, don't act so surprised!) is made entirely out of crystallized sugar, it sliced my mouth open. Actually, you can't even tell, but I feel like the right half of my face belongs on the Joker . . .

And then I exchanged a hundred dollars in cash with one of my students, which probably looked really shady, but they're going bowling and the place doesn't accept credit. What can you do? Not go, I suppose, but that wasn't really an option for me. Anyway, then I went to the big office and hung out with Shmallama and checked my mails and all of that stuff that I haven't done since Monday because our usual Wednesday meeting got canceled. It was fun. We duct taped her walls and listened to music videos, because our jobs demand staying in the know with youngins these days.  It started with a comment about The Ting Tings' That's Not My Name, not about the drummer, though I agree with you that he's hot, but about the cheerleader in the black-light cool costume. I described this sweet move and then of course, the uncooperative lady in the video didn't do it this time. Or ever. And yes, I agree that the lyrics are entirely worthless. Then we moved on to Lily Allen's The Fear, which has cussing, so we couldn't reallly listen to it. Instead we talked about my final project, ten pages of which are due on Tuesday, nicely coinciding with a little visit this weekend (not Aunt Flo, I don't have one, although it does sound like that type of visit), and that conversation got us to the song "Brick House," which I thought was sung by Tom Jones. Shmallama disagreed and, thank Christ for search engines, I was proved wrong. Or, rather, I was "Tom Jones'ed."

So then we watched and listened to BritBrit's If You Seek Amy, which I referenced because we'd watched half of the other songs I can stand on vh1's JumpStart morning music videos. I said, "I have never seen the video in full. I always only catch the end of it and it makes no sense. Is the point that she's supposed to be torn between being this picture perfect girl and a party animal? That she perfectly represents the virgin/whore complex?" (I of course only asked the first and second question, but I'd been thinking the third earlier today when I saw it and was thinking of possible dissertation topics I wouldn't want to bother writing.) And then Shmallama showed it to me, and I was more confused at the news anchor's heading "Obscene Lyrics in Britney Spears' Title" and Shamallama said, "See? The news lady doesn't get it." And I said, "I don't get it." And then she said, "Ifffff. U. See. Kay-meeee." And I said, "Oh shit. Okay." And then we watched BritBrit have sex with all the girls and the boys. And then as I was leaving the office, I called Shmallama to confirm that she had again Tom Jones'ed me, well, I thought we had both been Jones'ed, but apparently not, and that March came in like a lion and [March] went out like a lamb. I had been saying March came out like a lion and April came in like a lamb, but that was awkward. And I heard Shmallama say that March came in like a lamb and went out like a lion, although she says that I'm a dirty liar, cheat, and thief. So what can you do?

Now I have to head out to a happy hour with the prospective grad students, which should be awkward. There aren't as many of them as there are of us, not nearly, so I'm sure they'll get ignored because people will assume that with all those people they couldn't possibly get ignored. I would try to solve this problem, but I won't be there more than 45 minutes, because I'm going to the airport to pick up Boone. Funnily enough, Shmallama will probably have just left l'aeropuerto by the time I get there. Good thing she and I had such fun this afternoon. Less funny was that D and I were supposed to see AsA and another friend, who once had a name I think but I can't now recall it, perform in Angels in America. That was when Boone was arriving next week, though.

In related news, anyone want Wednesday the 15th tickets in the Grand Circle (third row) of the Benedum to see RENT? I've got a few . . .

I'm posting in Safari, so let's see what sort of annoying thing it does. Hopefully nothing!

I am having an annoying sort of day, all related to the fact that I have a satellite office. I recommend that no one has multiple offices, at least not that they might have to go to in the same day. It's annoying to waste time in transit. And in resettling. Resettling takes me forever. So I've decided I'm not going to the satellite office. I worked this morning in the main office and now I'm standing at a student computer kiosk and have been doing my work there, which means that I haven't gotten much done. It's definitely been one of those days. At 8:30 AsA texted me to say that he wouldn't meet me at my building to walk to campus (he's taking a class at my school on Mondays and Wednesdays at the same time that I should, in theory, be at work) but would be at Starbucks. I of course had totally forgotten we would be meeting, despite twice weekly meetings that I always forget come Monday morning. You'd think I would learn, but no. So 8:35 comes and I decide to check that random text and see that I have zero time to get to the place I promised I would be months ago. So, I had no breakfast. And then I got a muffin at Starbucks. And then I had egg and cheese on a bagel at the greasy eatin' place right by work. And then Shmallama came in with chocolate cinnamon dulce de leche filled, cream cheese (or vanilla?) frosting topped mini cupcakes. Mini or no, one should not eat three. It turns out dulce de leche is baked and steamed sweetened condensed milk. No wonder it tasted so familiar! Yum for Taiwanese bubble teas and Thai iced teas :D

And then I had fruit snacks for lunch. And they were in a giant pouch, so it was 2.5 servings. Nutritionally, I should be dying soon.

I was at big office for lunchtime, eating fruit snacks while on the phone with the post office (for days it seems). Then I had a meeting with a prof at 1:30 that was supposed to end by 2 so I could got to this 2-3 forum I needed to attend. Then my prof didn't come into work until 2, so I have missed said forum and need to go to the makeup one after class, which is of course when I have a meeting. So the meeting is happening right after the forum, despite the fact that I was supposed to have another meeting right after the forum. And neither I wanted to have then, except that I had this stupid meeting with this stupid prof who couldn't show up to his weekly scheduled office hours on time. It's one hour a week, bitches. Show the eff up on time!

But I had such a great week last week, learning how to do a back handspring with Shmallama and Hotdog's help (in one hour!) and playing ungodly hours of Dragon Quest VIII and The Sims 2. I did my homework and even a smidgeon of research though, and I ate all of my meals, with the exception of a dinner with D at delicious but overpriced Indian, without spending money. Poor D had her wallet ganked, so how could I refuse? It all comes out in the wash. Maybe this week I'll learn how to do more gymnastic stunts. Maybe next week. I do know that I won't be playing video games, much as I would dedicate my life to playing them. Boone is visiting this weekend and I got some shit to do before (and after) then! And my renewed library books are due on Wednesday.

Oh. And the meeting with the prof? Not really helpful. Is anyone surprised? Now I have class with him. I should just not show up to show how worthless he was, but I don't think he would notice . . . I do need to cancel that one meeting last minute though. I hate that.

*I FUCKING HATE CHROME AND LIVEJOURNAL - WHY DO I EDIT IT ON CHROME, I ALWAYS HIT SOME BUTTON AND LOSE ALL OF MY STUFF BECAUSE IT AUTOSAVES ONCE A YEAR*

Before this evening, I had wanted to post a blog. After a failed incident at an easy recipe Shmallama sent me, I've forgotten my old topic.

Microwave-made brownie cake thing or the solution to our energy crisis?

When I bake, it's a foregone conclusion that it will be a disaster. Normally this is because I don't use the correct ingredients. When I do (and use the correct measurements), things normally work out just fine. This brownie thing did not. My eyes still sting from the smoke.

It wasn't the recipe, it was my microwave, or at least if it was, it was in conjunction with my tools and the microwave. I would post the recipe, but I'm sure Shmallama will on her blog. And I don't want you to try it at home, at least not without a legitimate source, like Shamallama's site.

I did everything correctly and made a delicious looking brownie batter. It didn't taste like candy, as I was hoping it would, but I figured it had promise. (I recommend adding the chocolate chips that were suggested, because those would taste yummy.) The trouble came when I was picking my heating container. The recipe called for a large coffee mug or 2-3 ramekins. All of my large coffee mugs are at work, waiting for oatmeal on mornings I forget to eat breakfast. And ramekins? I don't even know what those are! They sound like dildos from Oz. I'm not as fancy as my foodie friends though. So I looked around and wondered what I might use instead. (Commence baking substitution game show music.)

My eyes landed upon my mortar and pestle, the mortar being about the same size as a large coffee mug. Unfortunately, it was a.) expensive, b.) textured on the bottom so I knew brownie would be stuck there next to the patchouli forever, and c.) probably not microwave-safe. I don't normally have a problem with that last qualification, but it wasn't something worth risking given the other factors. I then realized that I could substitute that "perfect" solution with an equally good one - a cheap, non-textured, microwave-safe bowl that's even more like a large coffee mug. Good substitution! So I did and gleefully put it in the microwave for the appropriate five minutes. With 20 seconds left, I smelled the burning. It was bad news bears.

I hope you appreciate my ability to capture the drama as smoke pours off of the charcoal brownie and out of the open window. It took all my might to break off a chunk of it. I hope I don't have to throw away that cereal bowl. I love them so.I tried it again with three minutes and ended up taking it out with 30 seconds left. It was fine, but definitely needed the extra punch of some mix-ins.

While I was making the brownies parts 1 and 2, I started watching Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai ("I love you," or something similar) starring Hrithik Roshan. It's a Bollywood romantic comedy from 2000 and I'm really only watching it because I loved him in Dhoom 2 and my friend duckofspeed  recommended this one (along with a dozen others). I have to say, I'm more a fan of Bollywood action films than romantic comedies (I also prefer Hrithik as a sexy villain, although he is sort of a pirate in part of it). The beginning of this film has a pretty funny scene, though. While it is typical of comedy, it seems somehow funnier because of the heroine's innocence. Her father has bought her a car and Hrithik, the hot young car salesman who wants to be a singer, has dropped it off at her house. She runs outside to look at her gift and finds him at the door. After some cute banter between her off-screen father and her about its look and color, the father then asks, "Wouldn't you like to take your gift for a ride?" The daughter blushes and laughs. It's totally inappropriate and I love it. Hrithik sadly doesn't play into it and instead points to the car and she's shocked. She thought she was going to ride him. I would have been disappointed too, sister . . . (Since I originally wrote this, they've been stranded on an island, gotten into a gunfight, and been involved in a highway chase that ends in the singer's drowning in the ocean right before his debut mega-concert. We'll go with the vaguely titled "romance" instead of romantic comedy - it ties in the fantasy element of breaking out into song and dance, although not as great as in Dhoom <drool>)

And I remember what I was going to post about before! A short anecdote about grocery shopping! Some of you know that I love "Laughing Wild" by Christopher Durang, a play about crazy folk (wild=crazy here). You can read much of it, including the part I love, which is the first few pages, on google books. I highly recommend it. It's the story of a woman who flips out at the grocery store. I can relate.

My story is about my trip to the grocery store yesterday. I had to gone to pick up more food to fill my diminishing stock from last Saturday. It turned out I bought more, including unground coffee beans and dish soap. Oops. Anyway, I had done all of my shopping except for dairy, which is the last aisle. With basket overflowing (hey-ay!) and milk and butter going bad as I stood there, I hesitated over yogurt. I bought more Fage, but the non-honey kind. It was zero fat and as healthy as cottage cheese without the honey and whatever else was in that deliciousness in the honey Fage pack I bought last week. But I still needed individual packs to bring for lunch . . . My arm was getting tired, so I was beginning to become annoyed with myself (I also hate grocery shopping).

The problem was that there were too many options for individual yogurt. It's absurd. And after the cream-based yogurt I'd bought from Trader Joe's, which was like eating cream cheese, last week, I wasn't sure if I could go back to my watery nonfat cheap shit. I contemplated every kind, including the individual with-topping kinds that I broke the bank buying in college every week. I mean, for that price and those many calories, I might as well just buy a biscotti at Crazy Mocha every morning and call it delicious! So I stood there while this woman danced around me, first at my right, then at my left, and finally, all up in my basket (not the grocery one), chattily noted, "There are so many kinds."

I tried to smile, but instead I just panicked. I groaned, said "I know," then grabbed a pack I'd not even noticed beforehand. It was colorful, but it had yogurts with strawberries and some with other berries. I have no idea what it cost and I don't care. I said, "God, I'll get these," grabbed them, and ran to the cash register. It wasn't until I was at home and putting them all away that I realized what I had grabbed: Hannah Montana yogurt.

 I don't know what is wrong with me, but I did it again. I got behind on my BSG. And tonight (8 minutes from now) is the finale. I've been SO behind that I didn't know it was time for the finale until I was flipping through channels last night at the hotel in Syracuse while looking up neighborhoods to live in. (My PhD life was signed and sealed this morning and they were thrilled, as was I.) I was watching XFC or something like it on Spike, because I always think, oh, I like martial arts, I'll like this. No, this is boxing with fancier footwork. This is beating the shit out of strangers for fun. Not so fun for me. So I flipped through the stations and saw a second's worth of preview on Sci-Fi for the finale. Where have I been?

So tonight when I got home, I watched the three episodes available online for free on hulu.com and scifi.com, which of course doesn't get me caught up. It's always a week behind, so I won't get to see last week's until late tonight or tomorrow. This is actually not really a problem because I don't have Sci-Fi anymore anyway (if I did, I wouldn't be behind), so I couldn't watch tonight's episode even if I was ready for it. Unless Smug had invited me over as he said he would, the bitch. I did forget he existed until two days ago, though, when I decided it was probably time to facebook wall him, but that's no excuse for backing out on promises to invite me over for the finale of the TV show that serves as the one and only actual link in our thin friendship chainmail, besides being gay. I'm over it. Now I suppose we don't ever need to talk, which was unintendedly what was going on until I walled him (that sounds deliciously filthy), because I'm not waiting to be invited somewhere. I'm sure Boone will be thrilled (if he even remembers that boy exists) and Didi will be devestated. Oh well.

Syracuse was great, obviously, since I signed my life to them (the people there are great, especially the director and coordinator for the program, who are both insane, but in opposite ways - one's an anxiety-ridden bisexual bachelor who has no idea how world outside of academia functions and gave her real estate agent a unique woodcut she had made - I sense a theme with English profs and woodcuts - in return for what she later discovered were cheap Target mugs and not a thoughtful gift, the other is sort of a biker chick with long nails, an eyebrow ring, a Red Bull addiction, and a predeliction for falling asleep in tattoo parlors - both are amazing), although it was definitely chilly. It was warmer yesterday than usual and I'm hoping today was about normal for them and not warm. I decided I would wander through downtown instead of driving through it, so I could really see the downtown area. I'm glad I did, because I got to see it and took a picture (maybe five, really) of the lovely buildings they have scattered throughout. I had originally been planning to go to Friendly's, but a Reese's pieces sundae with marshmallow sauce and melted peanut butter and hot fudge with whipped cream, a cherry, sprinkles, and, naturally, Reese's pieces just doesn't sound like a good choice for 10AM. And since I got into Syracuse at 10PM after stopping at a Tim Horton's an hour or two beforehand, I really didn't need to get said sundae before going to bed. I couldn't fall asleep as it was!

This morning, though, I did get Dunkin' Donuts and it was delicious, better than Tim Horton's any day. The problem was that I was so eager to see downtown that I ate the donut but left holding my bagel with cream cheese in its bag in one hand and my coffee in the other. Then the cold forced me to hold both in one hand, and then the cold forced me to eat the bagel and down the coffee so I could keep both (ungloved) hands in my (medium-weight) jacket. (Surprisingly, my unhatted head, scarfless neck, and thin sweater-covered torso were not miserable, just sort of there and cold. I can't usually feel my feet when I'm in less than 100 degree weather, so I don't know if they were any colder than normal. I'm not sure it's possible.)  The trouble with said plan was that the bagel was a.) cold frozen by then, and b.) cream cheese-eriffic. Also, c.) my lips were frozen so they didn't move the way I thought they were going to. Cream cheese ended up everywhere and I couldn't really tell where, since I couldn't feel the area around my lips. I wiped away a lot and then didn't know what to do with my messy fingers because I wasn't sure there was enough wet saliva to even lick them clean. I ended up throwing half the bagel out. Let's be honest though, the bagel was not why I had been to the Dunk!

So then I tried going into this "Emerald City" sustainability project exhibit, but it had yet to be set up, so the doors were locked. And then I just kept walking. It was cold, but it was really just like, I had already become cold and wasn't getting any colder. It was fine until Boone called and I couldn't make "p" and "b" sounds, but the conversation wasn't really missing much and he probably thought it was just my crappy phone or that I was drunk. (My mom complained to me about how she can never hear me on my phone. I'm not sure why. It's not just that I speak quietly. I think there is junk trapped in the one dot they pretend is the microphone/sound input space.) When I was in the sun (and there was so much sun there, it was so weird! I loved it), it was warm enough to speak and breathe. And I quickly made my way back to my car in the university area. I then drove through the neighborhood where most grads and faculty (and undergrads) live, although it's sort of divided by status in the school. I like the proximity of it, but it's all these single-family houses with small lots on a 1940s grid of population expansion and doesn't really offer much more than being close to other people. I know that's important, but I'd also rather be near something that's interesting to look at, like the lake, or an old art deco building, or something. So, I'll be weighing those options with any others I come across. It seems like those are the only two sane options, though, unless you want to buy a house outside of the city for real cheap. And of course downtown is expensive and there's no infrastructure for living there. Sounds like home (read: Pittsburgh) to me! It's not really viable, but I hear there are some gorgeous places . . .

Now it's time to catch up on reading for class. I have work this weekend, which is infuriating. Tomorrow and Sunday, 1-4PM. Stab me in the ojo. And this woman at work is upset with me for something that is one-third my fault, but I am also over that. Work, that is. I was so bummed as I came back to my neighborhood and remembered the responsibilities that awaited my return. I can't wait to be a student with a shit ton of different responsibilities and less pay! Yay!

Syracuse is home to both Friendly's ice cream shops and Dunkin' Donuts shops. Decision made. I bet I'm going to totally hate them both within a few months. The mystique will be utterly destroyed.

Also, I'm super excited for my trip. I hope the weather stays nice. I'm thinking of not going to class, even though I did the reading, watched the movie, and posted to the discussion board already . . . I just don't want to be filling my tires with air in the dark, you know? Ugh, and there are tolls.

Also, I'm really tired from effing duty calls last night. I just want to sleep through tonight and have a super trip tomorrow. Night-ski!

Also also, boot camp was super fun tonight. Just intense enough without being too intense. Shmallama almost made me crap my pants though. It involves Fiber One bars . . .

When Shmallama and I get bizé, this is the result.

I just finished a post-work snack, granny smith apples + havarti, peanut butter + honey on bread, and two Bissinger's bon bons with coffee. And now San Pellegrino. Delicious. And more than a snack. I was starving - what can I say? Saturday I had an acupuncture treatment and, since it's right next to Trader Joe's, I went grocery shopping right afterward. I bought a bunch of food that will hopefully keep me from breaking the bank eating out. Saturday I had lunch at home (and leftovers for dinner) and then all three meals at home, and today again all three/four meals have been or will be at home, so I think already I've more or less recuped my costs. I'm not sure though. I'm guessing I spend $15 a day on food eating out and groceries were close to $45, so by the end of tomorrow, I will definitely have made up the difference and I have a smidge over half the havarti left (not to mention other less exciting items)!

I did not buy the bon bons. Those were a gift from cowbelle , also referenced in the last post, for getting into Syracuse with money and knowing (more or less) that that's where I'm going. Very thoughtful, Ms. Belle, as always. Normally I only have one in a sitting, but with the coffee it was like too phenomenal to not have more than one. And let's be honest, over the weekend I would have two in a day, so why not two a day during the week, back to back?

I have yet to save money on coffee, although I have more than made up for the $25 my Starbucks gold membership cost me. It's a little sick, but it's true. For example, I saved $1.99 yesterday on the French press I bought! It was $20, which was more than I'd wanted to pay, but it's a Bodum, so that seems at least legit. And it seems a little sturdier than the one Boone got and broke. And I had been to Coffee Tree Roasters, an amazing local coffee chain, and saw one there as part of a set with two double-lined mugs, like the ones my friend in Chicago had, for $40. I mean, those mugs are cute, but I have enough mugs. Thanks though. I'm using the old Dunkin' Donuts coffee I bought a million months ago, but it honestly tasted just fine. I think the strainer is a little better on this press too, so that helps, and I think I let it sit for a minute longer, so it was great all around. When I run out of that, or when I realize it tastes like poison because I'm not drinking it with bon bons in hand, I'll buy beans and grind them fresh for each cup. I do have a grinder, also from Boone, after all. When I get into that routine, then I'll really be raking in the savings. Until then it's mistos (cafés au lait) for me. Thanks, Real Simple, but I'd already thought of that particular savings plan.

In the meantime I'm trying to stay motivated for school work. This time of year, after the midpoint, I get so excited for the next term, that I kind of give up for a few weeks. It's like I'm at Hogwarts and can't wait to get out of stupid Intermediate Divination and take Numerology instead. Or something like that. Who thought those were the most exciting parts of the book? Anyone? No one else? WTF? I am staying focused though and trying to do research for my two final papers in little chunks. I did a bunch this past week, writing about five pages of inflated introduction for the one and downloading fifty articles for the other. Oops. I had to do a proposal for that one and until late last night, I wasn't really sure what my thesis/question to explore would be. I finally know. I just hope the professor accepts it and can give me some ideas of where to go next. I realized that I had told my other professor that I would work on this essay on gay superheroes I had done as a final for last semester and try to reorganize it over the break so that I might eventually be able to have something publishable by June. And you know what? I forgot the thing even existed until this morning. Amazing.