11/11

Holiday, celebrate. Wait, let me get my leg warmers and a headband.

Last week was tough. Actually, I had a three-day workweek but it was tough anyway. 2ndJob is not always fun. Most times anyway it's more like doing a favor for a friend and getting paid, so sometimes I even feel guilty (not often, though.) I really love the kids, and I really love their moms, but I really love a day off too, which is what yesterday was. I fed guppies to the turtle and did a little dusting and then we went to Wolfgang Puck and then we saw "Femme Fatale." I wonder what all those old people in the front were thinking. I wonder if Eugene's Brother's mom would be pissed if she knew we took E's B's brother to see that. The funniest part (skip to the next graf if you're going to see it) was where Antonio takes off his leather jacket and prances around waving his hands and lisping in order to get into Rebecca Romjin's hotel room. It was a somewhat artsy movie (good catch-all descriptor for a film set in France with very little dialogue?) with lots of gratuitous sex but no male nudity, and an ending kind of sort of like "Signs" but not.

Brother Mart is home. He says I have to return his flannel sheets. He's still sick but at least he's not stomach-sick anymore. He spent all his money on tea and VCDs. He says he looked in every bookstore from Luoyang to Hong Kong -- no Harry Potter. So now I'm tapping my student resources in Zhongshan, HP enthusiasts. We'll see.

Have to go write my midterm now. Still haven't figured out Fred Savage -- everything he says is peppered with sarcasm, and on the rare occasion when he doesn't use any, we're left confused and in the dust of his rambling. Maybe writing three sarcastic essays for my midterm would get me a real A, whereas three nonsarcastic essays would probably get me a sarcastic A. Maybe I should pull a Fred Savage and write two sarcastic and one nonsarcastic and leave him scratching his head. Of course then I might get a B or something. That would suck a lot more than a sarcastic A.

Might as well go make an outline.

p.s. power to the pasta! this is Eugene's Brother's creation, adapted from Jamie Oliver, readapted by chef Dean Kim of Silverdale, Wash.

11/14

I went to school today wearing two slippers that not only didn't match but weren't even the same size. one was my dad's, in fact. his foot is a whole lot bigger than mine. and I managed not to notice until I was off the shuttle and on my way to get a taco. needless to say i ran to class and hid my feet for half an hour instead.

Once I wore two different shoes to work, nikes that weren't even the same color. I don't know how I do these things either.

i turned in my midterm yesterday. Nonsarcastic. though the last line of my second essay was "Did I miss something?" I guess I should have asked that before exam time.

I have a presentation on Saturday. gearing up for it now. I picked up chunky soup and donuts (which Eugene's Brother never buys me anymore for some reason) and mountain dew because it's going to be a long night again and I don't like espresso hangovers.

It's puddly and gray outside, perfect weather for a little lovin' ... or at least instant noodles and chinese movies. But I guess it's just me and Eric this afternoon ... we'll probably carry on till the wee hours of tomorrow morning. ERIC = 2200 digests, abstracts and citations from over 980 education-related journals ... this is gonna take some serious stamina.

I also have to use PSYCinfo (a less user-friendly database) for an extra-credit assignment for HD. I just have to print three abstracts and write a short paper. on anything. and I couldn't think of a topic. Fortunately just then my mom handed me the MHS alumni glossy publication in which i discovered another of us has earned a freaking doctoral degree (did they go to college during our high school lunch breaks or what?! talk about the benefits of AP classes) and I set right to work researching erikson's fifth crisis, industry vs. inferiority.

ta.

11/16

No more presentations now, only exams. I still think the physical pain is worth getting it all done as early as possible, but I have to say this most recent bout was the toughest to get through.

Yay, utter euphoria, great balls of fire and all that.

Went to see "Harry Potter" last night. Stood in line(s) for over an hour. The movie was ok but I have more to say about the people sitting behind and next to us. The people behind brought their toddler who had absolutely no interest in the movie whatsoever and was solely concerned with what had happened to her popcorn. For two hours and forty-five minutes she wanted to know what happened to the popcorn and if she could have ice cream. And her parents, for some reason, never once thought to tell her to be quiet or sit down. (For some reason she didn't have a seat, and nobody held her on their lap.) Well, the common-sense-less adults were smart enough to keep their own eyes glued to the screen whenever I turned around to check that they were still there and hadn't actually abandoned their child, because they sure were doing a good job of ignoring her. The people to the right of us, somewhere halfway into the plot lost track of what was happening and had to discuss what was going on for the rest of the movie. I have bad luck picking seats at movies. Generally bad luck. The movie itself was all right. Messages written in blood, a hanging cat, pod-race quidditch, funny little screaming plants. And another lord of the rings preview. If I were a Christmas day moviegoer I'd see that on Christmas day. But going to the movies on Christmas seems sort of wrong. So I guess I'll wait.