Good turnout

Things are lining up!
Our broker - who isn't a tall, grim-faced man in a suit, like you would expect someone to be who was a "broker", but a small asian girl (yes, girl) who trips constantly over her sandals but still manages to show us around all the places with broken pavement in Manhattan - pulled through for us. She got our management to send the landlord reference letter to the new leasing office today, and now we're just waiting for the credit to run and them to call us to SIGN THE LEASE YAY.
Lunch with June: not as weird as I feared. Although he did insist on paying (which is stupid, I mean, come on, I probably make more than he does), we had a pretty normal conversation and I didn't feel awkward when the silences came up. Probably because I was eating. My huge sandwich. With pickles. Mmmm....
It got a little iffy at the end when he was saying we could hang out with "some beers", but then it was better cause he invited Adam, too. And then I was like oorrrr you can teach me about Korean food! 'Cause honestly that's one of the big ones I don't know enough about and really should. I told him I had bim bim bap before and he said that was a good choice for a "beginner". Ha.

And whoever says they have some errands that they may enjoy? After work today I get to walk around in the perfect weather, return some library books, pick UP a library book (even though it's the 3rd in the series; the 2nd one is "in transit" and the first one isn't even returned yet! guh!), get my other textbook down at NYU, double-check that I know where my classroom is so I don't get lost. No, seriously. Because I will.
When I get home I'm going to attempt some yoga by myself (if Jared isn't there to make fun of me) and watch some Herrooooeeesss. And then have Jared make fun of me because he told me it was addictive. Pah.

This weekend is looking to be positively sublime, also.
Here's the lineup:

Saturday: Hopefully get the lease locked down. Look at a couch we might purchase. Go to Silver Spurs for brunch. Ignore bemused stare of busboy who we see every weekend.
Saturday night: I was going to put "Yael's barbeque" here, but then I checked and it's next weekend. Probably a good move on their part to not have it Labor Day weekend so that people could actually show up. So, instead, I may put: go home. :)
Sunday: Wake up "early" to dad cooking a simple breakfast that somehow still is fantastic. Get made fun of for waking up "late" at 7:30-8 by dad who's been up since 4. Probably get roped into doing some chores outside, which may include any of the following: spreading mulch in my bare feet, harvesting rhubarb, pulling the deck chairs up the back porch, bringing coffee upstairs to my poor mother who likes getting up at 10am and can only do so when the mug is juuuuuuust out of reach on the nightstand. Play with the dog. Forever.
Head over to Scott's Ridge to meet up with Conway, Marybeth, Jillian and Avery to watch Danielle play some travel soccer, wooooo!
Monday: Get picked up by Adam and his dad and head up to Limerock for vintage weekend. Watch some cool races. Get extremely sunburned (which always seems to happen at Limerock, even if the day is overcast). Head back to the city. Fall asleep early.
Tuesday: Go to work. Go to CLASS! AHHH!

Even adding a little drama to the none that I currently have is annoying...

Postdoc is either:
1) A nice guy who thinks its appropriate to want to have lunch with me as a coworker.
2) A little dense and wants to have lunch with me even though I talk about my boyfriend. Who I'm living with. Soon to be living with without an additional roommate.

I hope it's #1. I also hope that in his mind this is a one-time, get-to-know-you kind of thing, because I don't do staged coworker lunches all too often. Too awkward. Especially if it's just me and one other person! Maybe he got the idea from the boss, who took him to a restaurant last week... ugh... another notch in the "dislike" section.

Stress!

1) I can't hand in my Tuition Remission form until after school begins, 'cause NYU's Bursar's Office is an asshole (just like all the other important offices, i.e. bank, post office, etc.) and is only open M-F, 9-5 for the "summer". I know it's for students, but wtf! I have until Sept. 23, which is ok, but I keep getting ominous emails entitled, "Your NYU Electronic Bill is now available".

2) School starts soon, if you weren't able to figure that out.

3) The NYU Bookstore still doesn't have the textbooks for one of my classes. *stabby motion*

4) I had to call and cancel our application for 225 Rector Street, and explain to a very sad Sean that we found something else. I'll find out if we have to pay the $100 fee this afternoon... the only upside to this is if he says, "We could have shown you that building! Why didn't you call us?" I have a very legitimate answer. "Well, Sean, Antonio said he would email us a bunch of listings and take us around on Sunday, whereupon we would have cancelled our other appointment made last week and gone with you. Since he didn't, we didn't cancel, and you missed out on a sale. That is all."

5) 2 Gold Street seems extremely anal about their application process. Whoever heard of/needed a "Landlord Reference Letter"?? Plus, the income requirement is 45x the monthly rent, which is higher than the normal 35x-40x. This means that with a rent of $2567/month, the combined income of the people on the lease needs to be at least $115,515.00. Dah! Why are they so strict? This building is all younger, just-graduated-college kids - how is everyone making this much money?

6) We forgot/didn't realize we needed to sign the form that 15 Cliff sent us to say we weren't renewing our lease. Now it's 13 days late and it says on the bottom: "Failure to do so may result in an eviction" or something extremely stressful-and-worry-worthy. I mean, I doubt they will actually bother, but I REALLY hope this doesn't affect our application process elsewhere.

7) Now there are people in the fax room, and I feel weird telling them all to move away so that I can fax personal stuff... ;lieu;askdhng.

Get Cookin'!

I've made two things in the past two days that were REALLY good. Felt like sharing... with... myself. Haha.

Note: When I cook, unless I'm making a mixture that needs precise measurements, I just eyeball the amounts. It works out just fine.

Pasta Chicken

skinless, boneless chicken breast
olive oil
linguine
carrots
zucchini
garlic
chicken broth
dried basil
grated Parmesan cheese

Dice up chicken, saute in olive oil in skillet until no longer pink. Remove and let drain.
Cook pasta.
While pasta is cooking, stir fry carrots in same skillet in a little more olive oil, adding zucchini and garlic (mashed in garlic press, makes it so much better) after about 2 minutes. Stir in broth, basil, Parmesan and cooked chicken and let simmer for about 4 minutes.
Pour chicken/vegetable mixture over pasta and serve.

It sounds pretty simple, but this was so so so good! I think the addition of chicken broth and a little bit of Parmesan really made the difference. DEFINITELY making this again!

Summer Couscous (what I got when I searched for things with chicken broth, to use up what was leftover from the previous recipe)

1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup couscous (I used tricolor couscous, was pretty good!)
olive oil
diced tomatoes
diced Vidalia onion
diced cucumber
chopped fresh parsley
lemon juice
salt, pepper to taste

Chop everything up. Will take a while.
Heat up chicken broth in pan until just before boiling. Stir in couscous, olive oil and all veggies. Place top on pot and let steam for about 4 minutes. Fluff with fork and serve.

The recipe said that this was for 4 servings, but I ate it all for dinner. So, if you really want to make 4 servings, make a lot more. I saved about half of the chopped veggies for another go tonight, since there's no way you can use a whole cucumber for a half a cup of couscous. Really good! Nice, light and cool for a summer dinner.

Bad things come in threes? Fours?

Ahhhhh little things have been going wrong all day today! I messed up the first PCR with a bum number in the run method, had to redo that; one of the stain's tissue came off on the parafilm, had to redo that (and because of it, have to wait until 2:30pm to have lunch! guh!); dropped a couple things here and there... But I don't feel as bad as the lab next door, who have been having trouble with their mice for the past 8 months, and today just got a new batch only to discover the embryos are all infected with pin worms! They're all in there, squirming around, eating away the zona... Fun! It's so disgusting that they're calling a bunch of people who don't normally come in here to go look. Lots of "Eww, gross!" shouts from over there.

On another note, I realized it's almost August, so if the weather holds out and I get out on time I'll go over to 1 Park Avenue and snag a tuition remission form. This time I'm going to CALL the office first to make sure I'm doing it with the right timing - damn you, woman behind the window! YOU told me to bring it in after classes were over! And then YOU yelled at me that it was late! Yes, YOU specifically!

Also, the True Blood book is getting much, much better. Although there have been about 11 murders in the past 2 weeks or so, so that doesn't seem normal. And some hilariously weird quotes that I will definitely put in here. *shakes head* I still don't know if the writer truly doesn't grasp how odd some things sound, or if she's doing it on purpose...

Tidbits about the future

Subject # 1: School
After having a mini-self doubt episode at the end of last semester (before I got my grade, before I talked to my boss about class schedules, and before getting support from Adam), I've decided to keep going with classes for as long as my schedule allows it and for as long as this current job holds out. I get free tuition, a really good salary, somewhat flexible hours - not bad. I missed the advising appointment deadline before the summer, so I have to make one starting August 10. Based on my time schedule (that's it, really) I've got to choose between BioChem I (with a second half to it in the spring) and Special Topics in Physiology. I would much rather do the Physiology, since the background requires mammalian anatomy/physiology, of which I have in Systems Physiology and Mammalian Ecology, so I really don't think that would be hard at all and might even be fun. Prudence points to BioChem, however, being that it's one of those standard, foundation classes that I'm going to have to take anyway. I'm not too afraid of it, being that my knack for memorizing things is still going strong - even though I haven't ever taken it *gasp*. We'll see what my advisor says.

Subject # 2: Apartments
There was this weird time of tension between Stacey and Jessie (roommates, Stacey is Jared's loooong-time girlfriend) a little while ago about apartments. Jessie said she didn't know if she was going to stay in the city for next year, Stacey wanted to move out and room with Jared (Finally! No, like, seriously. 7 years?) and they also had to decide to sign their lease renewal with only about a week left. When Stacey said that if Jessie was unsure if she was going to stick around that she might want to move out, Jessie apparently threatened her with a friendship break, citing that Stacey had said she would room with her for 2 years (it's been only 1). This is from Stacey's mouth, who tends on the more melodramatic side, so I'm not sure if that was meant but it sure was taken that way. So, of course, Stacey signed the lease renewal with Jessie, resigning herself to a possible vacancy and new roommate search if Jessie suddenly ups and leaves for a new job out of the city. I thought this was... not the best idea. If they don't sign it, then they have all their options open. If they do sign it, then all of their options are null. Whatever. Not my choice. Anyway, before this, we had been thinking, wouldn't it be great if ALL of us (me, Adam, Jared, Stacey, Jessie) all roomed together? We could get an absolutely SICK place, three bedroom, for not too much money each way. That was kind of crushed. :( So Jared tells us, all right, we're just sticking together, we have to think about if we want to stay here or not, too. So, tra la la, couple weeks go by - and suddenly, one night, Jared informs us that he is going to live up there with Stacey and Jessie! Because he decided he wants to room with Stacey after all! Adam and I are like, um, ok... way to figure this out before... we all could have gotten a place together, a much better place.. but ok, thanks for telling us when you had this epiphany. Shrug. So that means it's going to be either just Adam and I, in a (most probably) dingy little place, since I can't put up that much each month. ORRRR... *drum roll* .... Adam talks to Hart, a college friend, who is living by himself in an awesome apartment in Gramercy, to get us three and maybe Hart's girlfriend living together. I really hope they aren't too far off our cycle to work (we got an extra month, sounded good at the time, but in reality it just put us off everyone else's cycle) because that would be almost better than our previous idea. Meet new people, have another roommate who's willing to spend more, etc. etc. Adam is going to talk to him this week, so I'm waiting to hear the news soon!

Subject # 3: New faces
Apparently that post doc who visited before is joining! He's mostly going to be in the main building, the other lab, but we're going to make a little space for him here, too. Yay, not being alone all day! I'm glad he decided to stick with us - he wanted me to teach him some Excel work... ha ha ha...

"The Sharing Knife: Beguilement (Vol. I)" by Lois McMaster Bujold

Review of "The Sharing Knife: Beguilment (Vol. I)" by Lois McMaster Bujold

(points out of 10, highest possible total = 100)

Introduction - 8
Character development - 8
Main character(s) - 7
Supporting characters - 8
Antagonist(s) - 10
Dialogue - 8
Prose - 7
Plot development - 7
Overall story - 7
Denouement - 7

Total - 77

The introduction was at that difficult-to-achieve medium between boring description and completely-takes-you-by-surprise plunge. I appreciated some interesting hooks that weren't quite explained yet, but also the fact that Bujold felt compelled to give a little third-person background. (I've started reading the first book in the True Blood series, and that one is extremely annoying in its introduction: completely first person, with a too-intimate voice, as if you know everything about the protagonist already. Also, totally improbable. But this I will save for later).
Character development was done seamlessly, even if it didn't take quite as long as Goodkind did for Richard/Kahlan, for example. It mostly was a thought, then a background, then tra la la things happen, oh! some interesting and relevant news from the past! Good setup.
The main characters were quite good. Believable, capable of existing, but each with some special kind of spark that distinguishes from normalcy.
For clarification: There are two different kinds of people in this series. There are "farmers", who include farmers but also townspeople with any number of different livelihoods. Basically, farmers are people who aren't Lakewalkers. Lakewalkers, on the other hand, are these kinds of nomadic, magical people who look down on farmers as helpless, rather stupid sheep that need protecting. Farmers view Lakewalkers as evil cannibals, with lots of overgrown horror stories.
We open with Fawn, who is very small, cute and rather naive. She is 18, a farmer girl, unhappily pregnant and unmarried, traveling by herself to distant town. Her one quirk is that she is quite smart, but her entire family sees her nonstop questions as a sign of being "stupid", so she presents low self-esteem, even though she trusts in herself, etc.
The other main character, Dag, is "old" (we later find out he's 55 - Lakewalkers live longer than farmers, so he looks about 35-40), a Lakewalker patroller; he is very intense, can be lethal and has a troubled past, kind of like that veteran who to strangers seems harmless but his friends know to treat him with respect. His groundsense, a special 6th sense kind of feeling that is sensitive to all life, including peoples' emotions, is extremely powerful for a Lakewalker (who have it, while farmers don't).
I took some points away because Bujold made Dag a little too intense. He lost his left hand in battle and has all these attachments for it, and by the middle of the book he's broken his right arm, too. Also, even though I know it's supposed to be shocking... an 18 year old and a 55 year old?! COME ON.
Supporting characters had enough personality to lend a real background. Fawn's family, with the grim father, busy mother, extremely annoying older brothers and loving aunt, were very convincing. Dag's older but she-means-business aunt patrol leader and friendly, full of pranks patrollers didn't have as much buildup, but from what I can tell, they will in the next book - along with his family.
Antagonists get a 10 because it was something new that didn't resemble anything else I'd heard before. There are "malices", evil creatures that suck life out of the ground, steal animals and shape them into human-like creatures ("mud-men") who are very strong and completely controlled by the malice. They can also snare people and control their mind, but only after they've grown a bit. Unless someone kills them, they will just keep growing and growing and eventually, theoretically, kill all life on earth. The only way to kill them is to "share" a death with them, since they are technically immortal and don't know how to die. This brings in the sharing knives, which are bones (mostly thighbones) from Lakewalkers who donated theirs upon their death and "primed" with the death of another Lakewalker (usually as they were just about to die, they will stab themselves in the heart). Only these primed sharing knives can kill malices. These practices grew into the cannibalism tales told by farmers about Lakewalkers, obviously.
The dialogue was fine, not Stephenie Meyer quality (aka absolutely riveting), but not boring or too long either. Since dialogue is a tough thing to do right, that's an 8 in my book.
Prose gets one point less than dialogue because Bujold kept doing this weird thing with interposing little thoughts in between a sentence, which can be helpful but it also was distracting and a little confusing at times. She switched back and forth between Fawn's and Dag's viewpoints with decent fluency, and I got used to the inserted bits after a while.
The plot development was flying ahead nicely in the first half of the book, where there were fight scenes, daring rescues, evil mud-men and malices, some love interest... and then in the second half it fulfilled the love interest bit (I'm used to waiting 3-4 books for that! Too quick!) and focused entirely on it for the rest of the time. No more skirmishes, raids or escapes :(. I can't complain that the love story was boring, because it wasn't, but I like that stuff mixed in there - not becoming the whole show! Also, the apparent driving force of the second book is only mentioned here and there and I'm still kind of confused about what it actually is. Obscurity, much?
The overall story was good, at least interesting enough to start the second book. I want some more evils to fight, though.
The denouement was kind of a disappointment - there is a kind of fight scene as the climax in there, but it's easily dealt with and then what you expected just kind of happens and then... they... ride off into the woods, and the book's over.

The next one in the series is "The Sharing Knife: Legacy (Vol. II)" - that review will come soon!

My life according to Godsmack

Pick your Artist:
Godsmack

Are you a male or female:
Mama

Describe yourself:
I Am

How do you feel:
Safe and Sound

Describe where you currently live:
Situation

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Moon Baby

Your favorite form of transportation:
Trippin'

Your best friend(s)?
Vampires

You and your best friends:
No Rest for the Wicked

What’s the weather like:
One Rainy Day

Favorite time of day:
Awake

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
Someone in London

What is life to you:
The Journey

Your relationship:
The Awakening

Your fear:
Stress

What is the best advice you have to give:
Now or Never

Thought for the Day:
I Thought

How I would like to die:
Time Bomb

My soul’s present condition:
Serenity

My motto:
I Stand Alone

Potentially Hilarious "Party", Sunday Barbeque Destruction?

Had fun at Yael's dinner last night, met some new people (finally!) and got invited to a party tonight. Yay for filling blanks on my calendar! I was initially skeptical because the party is one of those things where your friends invite you and it turns out to be like... a presentation on some company.... this is hard to explain, but like a Tupperware party, right? Like you go for a purpose and it's not just hanging out. And for this one they're going to try to sell us makeup. Oh well. Not really into makeup, but I know I'm going to be bored out of my skull tonight if I stay in (Jared is leaving for Ridgefield after work, which means Stacey won't be over, either) and maybe I can laugh about it later. Also, it's only 2 hours. Not bad.

**Edit** The address is in Queens. Not sure if I want to go by myself looking for a place I've never been to in the dark. I'll ask Yael if she's going, and if not, then it's a no-go.

The weather looks sheisty at the exact time of the scheduled barbeque:
Sunday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after noon. Some of the storms could produce small hail, gusty winds, and heavy rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. South wind between 9 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
So there's talk of cancelling. Some people can't do Saturday, which of course is going to be gorgeous. There's still a chance the forecast will change, so I think we're going to wait it out until Saturday night to decide. THIS is why you don't schedule things 6 weeks in advance, people!

Oh well... at least I got my chill time with Chris all sorted out.

Changes!

These past couple weeks have been ones more of action than inaction (which is why I feel the need to write here now, instead of before, which would have garnered a boring onslaught of sameness), a welcome change to the monotonous routine of work, exercise, sit, sleep. We went on vacation, which I have already discussed far too much of and posted far too many pictures of, so no more mention of that here. Changes and otherwise exciting events that occurred between the return and now:
- Got my hair cut drastically shorter
- Bought a bunch of new, smarter-looking work clothes to wear
- Began wearing heels much more often (read: actually wearing them at all) to work; getting some of them worn in so they don’t hurt as much
- Went home for the entire weekend to see au pair and her family
- Got Jillian’s phone number, so now I can stay in closer contact, which Conway loves
- Spent some quality sibling time with Mark
Monday: Sabine, Rüdiger, Paul and Tim were in the city, we met up after work; showed them my apartment and went out to dinner. Next time I’ll see them…? Paul will be a teenager… :O

Tuesday: Went to see Harry Potter (by myself!) which turned out rather good, relaxing, and a magnificent waste of time that otherwise would have been spent sitting at home and doing nothing

Wednesday: Epic battle with the New York Public Library. Details include: their not having any books that I want, and the ones they do have are in obscure branches out in the boonies and will ship in no quicker than a month; most of their copies are hardcover and huge, making it hard to carry more than 4 at a time (I got out 6 – probably a mistake); waiting in a 50-person line for circulation; being the next one in line when they underwent a shift change, aka a 5 minute period when no one was getting helped; them being pissy about using Adam’s card; them being pissy about me not having something with my “current address”… at least they held my books for me while I wasted an hour going home and getting a letter and bringing it back again. So, you can see, rather epic.

Tonight: Going out to celebrate Yael’s birthday! Dinner and drinks at Havana Central, for which I am trying to decide whether to wear heels or not (see above)

Friday night: Undecided, threatening to be the one night with nothing to do, since Jared is leaving. May return shoes to DSW for lack of anything more stimulating.

Saturday: Going home, meeting up with Chris?

Sunday: Barbeque at Jared’s with Stacey, Jessie, Rob, Marc, Heather… fun!

And then it gets a little fuzzy, so I have to think of some more stuff.

Also, soon to come: Since I’ve gotten a few books from the library and plan on getting the ones I want shipped to Mid-Manhattan, I think I’m going to start a running commentary/review system (purely for my benefit, since a) almost nobody reads this and b) only one of those who read this I know is into fantasy...) that I hope will keep up my writing skills and also be a little bit fun, like filling out quizzes for the characters/writing style/plot, etc.

Watch out for it!