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!

Years Past

I am copying you, yes. But I liked this one!

Grade School

Where did you attend grade school? Ridgebury Elementary School

Who was your principal? Mr. Monty – he STILL recognizes me and remembers my name, some 20-odd years later.

Who was your best friend in 3rd grade? Stephanie Demers, Lauren Marker, Andy Murdoch …

What was a memory you have from Kindergarten? When Patrick Mott stabbed me in the arm with a plastic fork because I didn’t have any fake money to pay for the fake apple at the fake store so I just grabbed it. He took that personally, being the fake cashier at the fake store.

Sixth Grade? Eating Jolly Ranchers while practicing writing 5 paragraph essays – can never have another Jolly Rancher without thinking: intro, supporting 1, supporting 2, supporting 3, conclusion!

Seventh Grade? I think I did the Germany exchange trip in 7th… not sure. But if so, then woooo Oktoberfest in Ingelheim!

Eighth Grade? Climbing the rock wall in the side gym, and one kid not paying attention when he was supposed to belay and letting the person fall. They trusted us too much, sometimes.

Who did you have a crush on during Elementary years? Chris and Andy… there’s a “Chris + Chris” sign written in crayon on my basement stairs, and I went on my first conceivable date-like thing with Andy to the fair.W

hy did you like that person? Chris was cute and funny, things he still hasn’t grown out of, and Andy was very cute and smart.

Do you still like them? Do you still think of them? Chris is my friend/sometimes confidante/former boss – have random IM, facebook and phone conversations now and then; Andy changed a lot, went to a different school and I haven’t talked to him in years.

Who did you have a crush on in middle school? Lots of stupid little ones, and none that I would ever actually want to follow up on – I’d figured out by then that most of the guys in my grade from the other elementary schools were jerks.

Why did you like that person? Attractiveness factor only

Do you still like them or think of them? Absolutely not

What was one of your favorite songs in middle school? Probably some Backstreet Boys thing… *grin

What was the ultimate crush song in middle school? Stairway to Heaven.

Did you go to a lot of the dances in middle school? Yes, but it was mostly for the food and running around outside the gym where the actual dance was going on. That was much more fun than standing there, mortified, as someone else tried to physically drag you across the room to dance with someone else.

What was your favorite field trip in middle school? Sturbridge Village – we got to smell all the farm animals and churn butter for a day! or the Maritime Center – we got to go on a boat and then touch slimy ocean creatures!

Who was your best friend(s) in middle school? Allison Schnidman and Stephanie Mower

Do you still talk to any of them? Was friends with Allison through high school, then she went to Johns Hopkins and it died off… Stephanie, didn’t see her too much in high school, kind of ended there.

Have you seen them recently? No, Allison is going to live in London and Stephanie is still at Northeastern getting a business degree.

Have they changed in any way? Not really sure – doesn’t seem like it. Maybe Allison got a little more self-confident, judging by her facebook pictures? Yay!

Any gossip you know about some of your old friends? Lots are getting married/having kids. Not cool – for me, anyway.

What kind of car did your mom/dad/guardian drive? Old school woody station wagon, then a Saab, Oldsmobile, Volvo, Intrigue… and the newest addition is a little silver VW.

Was it considered the cool car for the field trips? School… bus?

Did you pick on any of the kids in middle school? No – if I didn’t like someone, I just didn’t talk to them. But I actually did talk to a lot of the unpopular kids because I either liked them or felt bad, sometimes. It also sometimes backfired on me. I went to a Power Rangers-themed birthday party. Wasn’t the best…

Were you the one picked on in middle school? No – at this point I was still taller than just about everyone. And I stayed away from those kinds of mean girls.

Who was your favorite teacher from middle school? Frau Venus for German

Did you ever get suspended in middle school? No

What was your favorite thing to play during recess? Didn’t have recess in middle school – in elementary it was either tag or playing on the tire swings.

Would you consider yourself to be popular in middle school? No

High School

What did you want to be when you were going into high school? I knew I liked biology, art and writing – hadn’t put a career to one of those yet, though.

Did a lot of your friends go with you to high school? There is only one high school, so yes.

What highschool did you go to? Ridgefield High School

Did you transfer a few years later? To where? No!

Who was your first new friend in high school? Jacqueline Robinson

Are they still your friend? I would say so – it’s just hard to keep in touch when she’s in California and then in Ridgefield still.

Were you popular in high school? No – but I had a lot of friends in a lot of different groups. A floater, you might say.

What was your favorite freshman year course? Art or English – they FINALLY divided people based on how good they were, whereas they did that in math in middle school. Frustrating! Also, Earth Science with Condosta.

What was your favorite sophomore year course? Biology with Noyes.

What was your favorite junior year course? AP English Language, go Ms. Wassall! Let us convene in the broom closet!

What was your favorite senior year course? AP English Literature – god, that was insane. Lots of extremely loud, irrelevant fights, my anonymous first chapter being picked for our joint novel and Indian food to celebrate the end! And AP Biology, with the talented Mr. Jeffrey “Jazzy” Jaslow and his ridiculous quotes: [As Kate goes to crush a bug] “And that would be a poor, innocent member of what phylum?”

Who was your favorite teacher (s)? Wassall, Jazzy, Ercole “Spin Doctor” Spinelli, crazy leprechaun Condosta and the German-woman-who-lives-up-to-the-stereotype-gloriously, Frau Kavilauskas.

Did you play any sports in highschool? Soccer for 2 years, skiing for 4.

Any big victories for your team, or your high school teams in general? Skiing: we were undefeated a couple times, won divisionals a bunch of times, won divisionals and states while going undefeated once…! And the football team won states, I think. More people cared about that. :(

Were you in any clubs? I forget the name of it, but it just served to be on my resume and it was kind of fun.

Did you do student government? Ugh, no. The people on student government were all nutjobs.

How were your grades in high school? Good, I guess – something like 3.5-.7, unweighted.

Who were your best friends in high school? Freshman year: Allison, Katie, Cate, Steph, Andrea, soccer team girls
Sophomore year and beyond: Jack, Meena, Steph, Katie, Micah, Dave, Ryan, PJ, Nick

Any good memories? Riding a bicycle off a dock into the lake in the rain.

Another memory? Piggy back race across the golf course at night.

And another good memory? Camping on the bluffs, Marcus Dairy Diner in the morning all scruffy and dirty.

Did you go to the dances in high school? In the earlier years, yes; went to junior prom, but not senior.

Were they fun? What was the song in high school? Got a little better at dancing, and it started to be about actually dancing instead of stalking your oblivious crush, so sure, fun. There were so many bad songs in high school, I forget.

What was the ultimate crush song in highschool? I forget because it wasn’t that important.

Did you drive to school in high school? Junior and senior years, yes, and we even evaded the mud lot.

Did you have any younger/older siblings that went to HS with you? Mark, was freshman when I was a senior, he didn’t know how lucky he was to get rides freshman year. It was nice to have him there, too, as long as he didn’t mess with the heater in the winter.

Where was your senior trip to? What?? If we had one, I didn’t go.

How was grad night? I probably just sat at home with my family. Lame.

Did you party a lot in high school? No, chilled a lot though. In the woods, snuck into people’s pools/hot tubs, relaxed in cars and on couches in the basement. Also, had some mad fun soccer and frisbee games in the muddy rainy fields.

Would you consider yourself popular in high school? Eh, no. Like I said, I knew some people who were, but I was not in that general group.

Was your car cool in high school? Totally. Wrangler. Kickin’ it like the stereotypical suburban kids.

Did you have any boyfriends/girlfriends in high school? Adam, after he’d left.

Did you break up? No

If so why did you break up?

Did you have a crush on anyone in high school that you asked out? Never. I’ve never asked anyone out.

Did you ever date someone from high school, but after graduation? Same person, so no.

Did you pull any senior pranks? I didn’t, but remember those jerks I was talking about? Almost the entire male body of my class? They poured cooking oil on the stairs, left a dead fish in the cafeteria ceiling and let mice go in the halls. The previous class was so much better: one kid rode a tricycle down the middle of the ONLY road that gets to the high school from the south side of town. Everyone was late.

What kind of high school did you go to? uniforms? Public school. One friend brought her baby to school junior year for a day.

What teacher did you hate the most? Rachel Black-Unger. Even the name should instill fear into your heart.

If not the same, what teacher did you fight with the most? No, probably her. She told me that my organizational skills were lacking. As if!

Did you ever get kicked out of class? No

About how many times do you think you had detention? Never in high school, a couple times in middle school because my stupid house group decided to never bring in homework, so anyone who innocently forgot theirs in the entire year had to eat lunch in perfect silence in the history room. NOT FUN. Thanks guys.

Did you ever run for student government? No

Did you do better in English or in Math? Or Both? English, by a long shot.

Did you get into the college that you wanted to go to? Every one, yes.

What college do you go to now? Went to BU.

Do you want to be there? Loved it.

What made you decide to go there? Boston seemed cool, in that perfect distance that was too far away to go home every weekend but still close enough to do so without too much trouble, and they had a good bio department.

What is your major? Biology and German Language and Literature

Any minors or emphasis in anything? No

What have been your favorite classes so far? Systems Phys, Neuro, Mammalian Ecology, Weimar Era Film, Der Romantik…

Any classes that you hate? I disliked Gen Chem.

Any classes that you have failed? Failed calculus the first time around, big time. I blame the teacher and myself. Got A’s when I took it in the summer, though. TAKE HARD CLASSES IN THE SUMMER.

Do you go to a big school, or a small school? Middle-ish, I guess. Nowhere near the size of some of those monstrous state schools.

Do you have friends from high school or elementary there with you? Mmm, no close friends, but I knew some people.

Are you still friends with anyone from HS or elementary school? Sure, whenever I can hang out with them, I definitely do so.

Who was one of the first friends you made in college? A real, solid friend? Raj. Played ping pong with him the very first night.

Did you live in the dorms? Towers, Hojo, StuV

How is/was that? I disliked Towers; my roommate was nice, but extremely awkward. Hojo was better. StuV obviously kicked some butt.

Did you like your roommates? Ok, Yes, Ok, Yes, Yes!

Do you like the people that go to your school? What, as a group? Um … for the most part, they’re cool, but some of them I just wanna… *shakes fist*

Have you ever gotten in trouble at your school? No

Has anything major ever happened at your school? Hockey team took some names – after I’d graduated… and freshman year was when the Sox broke the curse, so that riot was pretty intense.

Do you still have the car from highschool? No, it’s dead now.

Are you going to finish college in 4 years? Indeedy did.

Are you going to go on to a higher education later (masters)? ‘Swhat I’m doing now.

What are you going to be when you grow up? I don’t think I’ll ever consider myself grown up, so probably nothing ever.

Are you satisfied with that? :)

How many times will you change your job interests? How am I supposed to know that??

Are you dating anyone? Yes

If so how did you meet them? Invited by a mutual friend to go see Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life and then fell in love with his car. And him.

Are you going to get married in college, or after college? Uh, I think that one’s set just about now.

Any fond memories of college? Thao teaching me step at 2am – people under us probably didn’t appreciate that.

Another? Getting seriously sketched out with Jen and Danielle at clubs, then laughing about it over late night pizza.

And another? Dim Sum with Jia, Steph and Debbie :D

How long until you graduate from college? Almost exactly a year ago.

How well have your grades been? Sucky at first, then much much better.

Have you done any college sports/clubs? Played a couple of games of IM soccer, did some Ultimate.

Is your school known for anything (academics, sports, ect)? Hockey, biomedical engineering, I guess…

Any great acknowledgements you have recieved in school? I … got a German award? Seeing as I was one of two German majors, I thought it was pretty unsurprising. And Dean’s List once.

Do you think college prepares you for the real world? Depends what you do during it. Probably not, though.

What was helpful for college that you learned in highschool? Teachers love you when you stay after class and ask questions.

Alphabet time!

A-Z

A
Available: rarely
Age: 22
Annoyance: those who cannot read social signs
Animal: wolf

B
Beer: Schneiderweisse, Franziskaner, Reissdorf...
Birthday: April 12
Best Friend: Adam
Body Part on opposite sex: dark hair, must have
Best feeling in the world: falling asleep watching the summer sky in a leafy tree
Best weather: 75 and sunny, jeans, t-shirt and sandals
Been in Love: once
Been on stage?: oompa-loompa in 5th grade, clarinet and guitar in middle school
Believe in Magic: with what I read, I should, but no
Blind or deaf?: obviously not the former

C
Candy: skittles
Color: green, brown
Chocolate or Vanilla: vanilla
Chinese or Mexican Food: i can't decide
Cake or pie: pie... strawberry rhubarb
Continent to visit: Australia/New Zealand
Cheese: can't have enough (ate feta by itself for dinner last night)

D
Day or Night: day
Dancing in the rain: if it's warm enough

E
Eyes: hazel, apparently evil-looking
Everyone’s got: to do the best they can
Ever failed a class? yes!

F
First thoughts waking up: yay, what's for breakfast, which book should I read, what's the weather?
Food: sometimes a necessary annoyance, sometimes a delight
Full name: Christine Elizabeth Rice
Flaws: motivation for things I feel are trifling, not calling people back, temper

G
Greatest Fear: death - I like my life too much
Goals: be happy
Gum: makes me feel icky
Get along with your parents? great. they feed me. I entertain them.
Good Luck Charm: don't believe in luck - everything happens for a reason, not because you're lucky
Hair color: medium brown, reddish tint
Height: 5'8.25"
Happy: usually
Holiday: when?!

I
Ice Cream: vanilla bean, coffee heath bar crunch
Instrument: not musically inclined, but played viola, guitar and clarinet

J
Jewelry: watch for work, earrings sometimes
Job: launchpad

K
Kids: disliked them before, getting better at it
Kickboxing or karate: kickboxing (not that I've ever)
Keep a journal? had a diary in elementary... what do you think THIS is?

L
Letter: exchange with grammie and cousins; grammie's has $$, cousins have cute drawings
Laugh so hard you cried: four nights ago about some kind of animal noise I involuntarily made

M
Milk flavor: ugh, regular, plz
Movies: animated, old school B&W silent
Motion sickness? never until college
McD’s or BK: BK, food seems more substantial

N
Number: 3

O
One wish: make it count

P
Pepsi or Coke: die-hard pepsi until high school, coke now
Perfect Pizza: three-cheese. mm fontina feta
Piercing: 7 in ears... don't like em for guys

Q
Quail: eggs are next to the emu eggs in whole foods... who'da thunk?
Quiet?: unless with family/close friends

R
Reason to cry: books
Reality T.V.: I refuse to acknowledge its existence
Roll your tongue in a circle: can do
Ring size: looked it up, promptly forgot
Radio station: Top 40, rarely though

S
Song: Layne - Staind
Shoe Size: 9.5
Salad Dressing: balsamic or just lemon juice
Sushi: atlantic salmon with cucumber
Skinny dipped?: no, but would... lakes up north are too cold
Strawberries or blueberries?: strawberries for desserts, blueberries for freezing
Slept outside: too many times to count
Sing well: *snort

T
Tattoos? no, never - like them on guys, though
Thunderstorms: love them... thundersnow is even better
Time for bed: 11:15

U
Unpredictable: not at all

V
Vacation spot(s): Europe, outdoor things like camping, hiking

W
Weakness: socially awkward
Which one of your friends acts the most like you? Danielle
Worst feeling: guilt
Wanted to be a model?: no - career is probably over at 25
Worst Weather?: freezing cold but yet raining - how does this happen all the time?!
Where do we go when we die? don't know, but I hope we stay ourselves

X
X-Rays: have had them, discovered my broken toe
Ex’s: nonexistant

Y
Year it is now: cow or something?
Yellow: "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; short story, read it: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/bl_gilman_yw.htm

Z
Zzzzz’s: only 7.5hrs, kthnx
Zoo animal: monkeys

Last
You fell asleep next to: Adam
You went to the mall with: Mark and Adam for xmas shopping
Went to dinner with: Jia, Steph, Debbie (yey!)
Talked to on the phone: Adam
Made you laugh: Adam
Hugged you: Adam
Said they loved you: Adam
Held your hand: Adam
Spoke with online: Jimmy

(ok, that's... overboard. even I'll admit it.)