general update

zoe's doing much better. she's been on the antibiotic for her cold since friday and has made a fantastic recovery. she can actually smell and get high off of catnip again. on sunday morning she thought it would be fun to make me wake up around 6ish to play. i'm not a happy camper around 6am for anyone, but especially a kitten who wants to play "let's bite the owner." not good times. last night she was a total freak show. she was literally trying to climb the walls and apparently practicing for the cat olympics by running the apt circuit (my bed, my chair, my sofa, the stairs, the kitchen, to return to the ottoman) in about 4 secs flat. she's amazing. it was a good thing that she did that before bed, because she managed to actually sleep last night (why do cats always managed to sleep in the middle of a queen size bed? honestly, zoe's like 5 lbs and attempts to take up the whole bed...).

i also made my first trip to a laundromat today. aside from the $20 in precious quarters it cost to do my laundry, i managed to burn my christmas blanket :-(. overall, it's okay, but it has spots where it apparently melted (this is very sad). meanwhile, the down blanket did not complete dry, so it has to hang on my shower rod. yeah, i hope to never have to do that again. ever.

about me.

in no particularly order, here are random facts:

my cat and i have several things in common: we're both clumsy, feisty, and we're big fans of fish (whereas i usually prefer mine cooked, and she'll take it raw, in the can or from my plate).

i check my email about 938 times a day.

i try to be cynical but i'm really a hopeless romantic.

i want to live in a city for a year.

when my day has gone badly, i either need a) satc, b) grey's anatomy, and/or c) a vanilla milkshake.

i'm proud that i was homeschooled. mostly because DE public education is about as good as learning from a high school drop-out.

i'm addicted to super nes. no, seriously.

i think intelligence is either super sexy or incredibly repulsive.

i love the smell of my laundry detergent (Tide).

if i play too much tetris, i'll play it in my dreams.

when i'm drunk, i tend to take my own picture. (there are a lot of self-portraits.)

i like to watch football. and no, not to impress the guys.

i love the eagles, despite the way they break my heart.

i occasionally like how my feet look.

gerbera daisies are my favorite flowers.

i would quote satc and "when harry met sally" all the time if it wouldn't annoy the s**t out of people.

i love living in new england. most days.

i will eat nearly any ice cream with brownie pieces in it.

i refuse to allow people to see what i'm listening to on my ipod. it's probably embarrassing.

i'm a cheeseball about sad moments on tv or movies. i'll usually cry at the end of home makeover

i like to get flowers randomly.

i want to go to Europe more than anything. or almost anywhere out of the counrty.

i don't have a passport. i need to get one.

i only give "the finger" to people i trust. and sometimes to people i really really don't like.

my "must have" in a relationship is lots of laughter.

if i could meet someone in history, i would want to meet rev. martin luther king jr.

my favorite song is "what a wonderful world" by louis armstrong.

my favorite thing to do in the whole wide world is laugh. period.

i own a TO jersey. i still wear said jersey during games. i don't like TO anymore. and he's not an eagle. okay, that's not about me...

i think accents are incredibly sexy.

i watch "my best friend's wedding" after break ups. i don't know why.

i'm addicted to coffee shops.

[LAST UPDATED: 16 Apr 2006]

oh, and PS

my mom and i talked VIA AIM (whoa!) about my satc quote. so i'm putting up a couple more (one that fits me and another one that is inappropriate...)

Carrie: I do not pick the wrong guys. They pick me.
Miranda: So what, you're like a flystrip for dysfunctional men?
Carrie: Yeah, but one of those really pretty floral scented ones.

****

Samantha: Ladies! Seamen, twelve o'clock!
Miranda: I pray when I turn around there are sailors, because with her, you never know.

zoers

i got zoe back yesterday. she purred as soon as i let her out of her carrier. she ran around the apt (which she's not supposed to do because she's got stiches, but honestly, how do you stop a cat from doing what she wants? they are not like dogs for crying out loud...) and made sure i didn't screw anything up while she was away. and then she promptly fell asleep on her blanket and we watched sex and the city (again, it's the obsession).

last night was fabulous. actually LOST sucked, but drinking wine and making fun of TV with laura and marianne was, um, fabulous. it was like old times...with new people. zoe was excited to make new friends. she especially bonded with laura. this is progress because the shelter says that she's "shy" and needs to make lots of friends to sort of break her out of that. i didn't know there was a psychological aspect to owning a pet. anyway, marianne was appalled that laura and i knew so much about the gauntlet 2, which, i have to say, i'm embarrassed to admit on my blog.

so yeah. zoe has been exploring the apt today and trying to knock over everything she possibly can. a complete pain in the ass. i had to put away her toys so that she wouldn't run around too much, which i think pissed her off a bit. but somehow it's still really nice to have her around.

on a lighter note...

so, given the sad tone of my last post, i've decided to post again today. first, i would like to thank 1-800-flowers for sending the right flowers this time (my favorites: gerbera daisies :-)). thanks mom and dad: they look lovely in my livingroom/study/dining room/tv room.

tonight i attempted to make stuffed shells in an effort to not have to cook so much this semester. yeah...let's just say it was comparable to a surgeon's first time doing heart surgery: it gets done, but the procedure is just not pretty. i don't know how i managed to get sauce everywhere, have extra cheese and run out of sauce and usable shells AND use all my baking dishes. i was a mess with cheese and sauce everywhere for about an hour. they better be the best damn tasting shells i've had, simply because i'm never doing that again...

so now that the "shells episode" is over with, i'm going to watch a little sex and the city before watching america humiliate itself with american idol and then my favorite, house (dude, i sound like a lazy bum...). i have to admit that sex and the city, which happens to be on dvd at my local blockbuster, is my most recent obsession. i think it's fabulous. a bottle of wine, and a couple episodes and i'll be your best friend, or at least in a wonderful mood. my favorite quote? [mom, grandma: please don't read this...seriously]:

Adam: Come on, give me a little BJ, up and down a couple times, you're done, it's easy!
Samantha: Easy? You men have no idea what we're dealing with down there. Teeth placement, and jaw stress, and suction, and gag reflex, and all the while bobbing up and down, moaning and trying to breathe through our noses. Easy? Honey, they don't call it a job for nothin'!

BECAUSE IT'S TRUE! ;-)

that is all.

does this mean i'm really staying?

so i finally hung a couple pictures that had been on my floor for about five months. i almost cried when i put the hooks in the wall because somehow those two hooks meant that i'm staying here. don't get my wrong. i love mass and i love being with my friends and do occasionally like my students. but i'm here. and everyone else in the world is "there." it was just a tough feeling. i know this is where i'm supposed to be and what i'm doing is exactly what i'm supposed to do, but two hooks for two pictures finally made me realize: this is my home now.

per my dad's request...

nothing new going on in my sector of the MA-world. i'm pretty bored and looking forward to classes starting again -- not because i want to take classes, but because i need something to keep myself occupied. yeah.

anyway, the kitten is finally getting over her cold. okay, people colds are disgusting, but at least we're able to care for ourselves, namely when we sneeze. i had no idea that cat snot is a real thing which FLIES when a cat sneezes. did you know that cats sneeze? they do. and zoe has a massive sneeze. the other night it was like a scene from jurassic park, you know when the dinosaur sneezes on the kids. but she's doing much better today.

per my dad's request, here are some more pictures of her (mom, i think she's adopted the red blanket. sorry 'bout that...) and the flowers that they sent me (which i have to say, until i realized who sent them, really scared the goodness out of me). oh, and it started snowing again.

you looks so cute when you're sleeping; you're a monster when you're awake

zoe has succeeded to wake me up several times the last two nights. it's like having a freakin' toddler. she hasn't attempted to mess anything up in the rest of the apartment, only my bedroom. which is fabulous. and by fabulous i mean a complete pain in the ass. overall, i like having her around, especially right now. she's mostly cute and sweet. her thing is to follow me around to see if i will trip over my feet trying to not trip over her. at which she laughs hysterically. my cat is part evil, apparently.

so that's about as much as has been going on. just zoe. and reading and tv. i haven't been this lazy since i can't remember. although i did manage to spend yesterday and today cleaning. my apartment smells wonderful. you should come see/smell it. wonderful.

A new friend for the adventure...

meet zoe! she's my new roommate. she's three months old and so freakin' spunky. ;-) i'm enjoying having the company. more later :-)

home(MA).

for anyone who was nervously biting their nails (you know all three of you who read this...), i did make it through the horror states to get back to MA. good times. it took me a small millenium to get my xmas/break acquistions into my apt, which was a little painful because it was freeze-your-ass-off cold out last night. i need to go to the store to get some carpet cleaner because my complex uses a mixture of salt and dirt and it mixes with snow to make (gasp!) mud, which was tracked into my apt when i brought my stuff in. i'm trying to keep myself really busy so i've managed to put away all my xmas decorations and organize my apt with all my new belongings. i need to run to the grocery store because i have nothing in my house. i may also head to an animal shelter later to see about getting a small furry thing.

so that's the agenda. i already miss my family. it's amazing how strong you are when you're surrounded with people who love you regardless.

ah, kate's

this has been a fabulous weekend to end my visit home. friday was a little crazy. i snuck into DRC to say hello to all my friends there. of course, it was a big esteem booster, especially with everything a little mixed-up in my head right now. after that, i had an almost 4 hour lunch at shaggy's with my aunt. we talked about everything. i think we annoyed the wait staff, but frankly, i don't care. i rarely get to see her and i needed someone to reassure me about life. anyway.

after my dad afixed a new muffler (you could hear me coming home in baltimore...), i went to meet lauren and her grad crew at timothy's. (one of my TAs from freshman year was there and it was just a little freaky drinking with her.) we all looked like something that cat dragged in and around 11:30p, i couldn't stand the fact that i didn't fit in (i.e. i wasn't showing cleavage -- even if there's none to show -- and let's fact it, my sweater was entirely not form fitting enough for the hip-hop club scene that emerged) so i bailed.

yesterday was good times. after helping austin/blair move from the gross sewage/moldy apt to a nicer one, i hung out with a friend from DRC. we watched the redskins lose at iron hill and then watched the patriots lose at kate's. (i called both games, which made me excited because i'm only so-so at following the whole NFL -- i'm pretty good about knowing what's going on with the eagles...). anyway, the highlight of my evening: i did an irish carbomb. whew! i'm not sure i'll ever want to do another one ever again, but at least i know that i can do one, if so required. all of this was followed by a pool-sized amount of water. the worse part of the evening: when i got back to my car, i had my first ever newark parking ticket :-p. how sad.

so today i get to drive back through NJ CT NY and MA with a mild hangover and $5 less in my pocket. but it was totally worth it.

how i'll miss my delaware friends

okay, so last night was good ol' times. i watched lost with lauren and manuel and have to say that i miss them very very much. it was fun to analyze and discuss elements from the show. i found out that my favorite character was a bully in nigeria. this makes me sad, but i can't wait to find his more of his back story because it can only get better. i had to apologize to manuel because i give him a lot of grief for having john lock, who i think is cool but insanely creepy, as his favorite character. after last night, i guess ecko has a few skeletons in his closet as well.

in other news, i'm planning on getting a cat. after someone told me that a relationship is probably never going to work out (he being my sole reason for not getting a cat - well, that's not entirely true. i do like not having cat fur on all of my belongings....), i've decided that i need to have something in my life. we'll see. i keep going back and forth on it. it was challenging to go to sleep last night, so i was thinking of names. i'm leaning toward "emile" (after durkheim, although he's not my favorite theorist, i like it better than "karl") if it's a "boy" cat (i can't believe i'm gendering my potential cat...) and "lis" if it's a girl cat. and duckie if i want to go with something genderless. idk. i should probably think this through some more. any thoughts on whether i should get one?

one week left...

so one more week in DE. i was going to leave on thursday or friday, but i think i'll stay until sunday. i haven't been able to get anything done down here, so i should be heading back this week as i need to spend some time boning-up on calculus and reviewing stats when i get back. i also want to squeeze in one day of skiing, so if you're in the area and want to go, let me know. i'm thinking: berskhires, MA. i'll save VT for another year.

i can't wait for all my buddies to get back in town. we need to go out for a drink (or maybe several) and discuss the holidays and the up-coming semester. it's going to be a lot of work, but i'm in the mood for staying busy. i want this year to be a "work hard, play hard" year. i think my new years resolution (a week late) is to start living life to the fullest, which means putting the past in the past and moving forward to whatever i want to do. i'm not going to be afraid of things or hope for things that will never be. i'm making my life happen this year.

national constitution center

my parents and i went to the national constitution center yesterday. i have to say that mapquest directions suck, but we were able to successfully navigate our way around the city. it was a lot of fun to hang out with my parents. the center is absolutely amazing and i would highly recommend going if you are in/near philly. they had an exhibit on benjamin franklin (a fave of mine -- i know feel inspired to read his biography) and their regular exhibit is pretty good as well. i felt like i was back in the homeschool day because someone (my dad) kept getting in trouble for trying to touch stuff. only thing missing was having to drag my younger brothers through and make them interested in something (okay, maybe they wouldn't have been that bad...). they have a performance before you to go the main exhibit that nearly made me cry. it was so amazing and well put together. it did bring back memories of my horrible poly-sci class, but i was okay with that.

From Truth and Beauty (A. Patchett)

"Only now, as I'm typing this, have I realized the only thing I wasn't thinking of was how lonely I was. I guess I was my old self for awhile there, my better self. Lately I've been completely obsessed by my loneliness: it colors (note I didn't say colours) everything I see these past few weeks. It's okay to be lonely, I know that, but I don't like the way it's become the thing by which I measure everything else. I can't seem to try to not be lonely: it only seems to happen accidentally, like this afternoon."
- Lucy in a letter to Ann

in another fabulous decision...

(pic from www.thesims2.com)
i bought sims 2. what was i thinking? apparently that my life isn't exciting and that i should live vicariously through animated, computer generated lives. anyway, after two wasted days, i have decided that i need to attempt to continue practicing stats and i should get a refresher book on calculus because our stats prof is evil and going make us understand the basis for statistic, unlike every other first year stats professor ever. ugh. so, if i end up playing sims more than doing school work next year, i think that will mean that i need to quit grad school and find a big person job and burn that evilness that is sims.


PS - i cant make my sims "woo-hoo!" if you know what i mean. i get the girl's SO (he's not her bf because she has committment issues) to stay over and it just never happens. even my sims don't get action. how ****** is that?