sometimes i can't believe my life

today was supposed to be cleaning day. to get the apartment spic and span for when we move out. it was scheduled for 9 am. i know i was still in bed until then. i assumed that the two guys wouldn't be showing up at 9. and i heard no sounds of the girl so i knew she wouldn't be there on time either. i got up, ate breakfast, and showered all before anyone showed up. the two guys showed up first. surprisingly. though once it was past nine, i knew she wouldn't be there.

one of the roomies immediately started vacuuming. i thought 'well... that's fine. it needs to be done.' the other was obviously futzing around. so i told him to clean the bathroom. he immediately asked what needed to be done. i almost went into shock. what needed to be done?!?! everything! it's nice that the cleaning was going to be done by two people who had no idea how to clean. when they were done with those items, i didn't know what else to have them do. there is still all of the furniture to be moved, so in order to clean we'd have to move it all around. not my idea of a good time. and i like cleaning.

at this point, with nothing to do that wouldn't involve moving furniture, they suggested that they take out the trash then leave. i was fine with it. it's not like they were going to be of any real assistance anyway. and the third roommate still hadn't shown , so cleaning was done with.

as soon as they left, i left too. i still need to register for my classes, and i needed information from my adviser before i could do it. both tasks involving the use of the internet which we no longer have. i knew walking out of the apartment that my third roommate would show up while i was gone. and would be pissed about how little was done. she was. she called me a short while ago, fuming. and that's her problem. i don't intend to make that place spotless. why bother? it's disgusting and the new tenants should know that. plus half the mess is covered by all of her stuff that hasn't been moved out. not my problem. i have no real intention of cleaning until thursday (or until all of her stuff is gone).

i just can't believe that i've been living with two guys that don't know how to clean and a girl who doesn't care. (she only cares now, because she's in desperate need of that security deposit.) no more! thank god i'm out of there!

tumbling

everything is slowly falling into place.

i'm mostly packed besides a few side things. (mostly my clothes, but i need to do laundry for that.)

i started to freak out about everything i need to do for iit, before classes start. my immunization records are the top of that list, but i have to wait for the postman in order to accomplish that. but in the mean time i made an appointment with my doctor so she can look at them. later this week.

and registering for classes. whew! how was i going to do that?!?! but i'm meeting with my advisor today. so that's out of the way too.

meeting hilary for lunch right before that. so i'll have to be on time!

yeah luck of the irish! or, of course, god could just love me a lot!

packing update 3

so i've finished packing. well, as much as i could do with all of my roommate's stuff in the way. the landlord was intending to paint today, but since the roomie's stuff is everywhere he gave up on that idea. supposedly she'll be out by wednesday. i'm not sure if she's ready. she hasn't even touched the kitchen.

i do have a few things left to do. finish with the kitchen (i can't get to the few things i have left in there), take down my shelves, pack up my computer stuff, pack for ireland, and clean out the closet. i have no intention of doing any of these things until she's gone. so i have nothing to do until thursday. yeah me!

also i took some pictures to show the craziness. enjoy!

this is roomie's pile from the back of the hallway, my pile of boxes (look how organized!), and her pile in the kitchen.
this is my roomie's room, more of it, and the view of the hallway pile from my room.












this is the pile from the front of the hallway. it's ridiculous!

packing update 2

today started poorly. i was woken at 2.30am by the roommate's drunk boyfriend, and a collection of other people celebrating (as i was told this morning) the end of our lease. i spent an hour and a half trying to fall back asleep.

with everyone who was supposed to be facilitating the move completely hungover this morning, i had to start on my own. i woke up at 8.30am to get some time by myself and to get a good start on the day. i was showered and fed by 9.30am. i decided to dismantle my computer and remove the hard drive instead of trying to wipe it clean. and that took more time than it should have as i assumed that the whole computer needed to be taken apart to access the drive. in reality all i needed to do was remove one screw and push a latch. once i figured that out, i decided it was time to venture out and complete my errands.

errand one: get a library card. much easier than expected. i was handed one within a few minutes of being in the library.
errand two: check email and other websites related to my other errands. pretty successful once i had the library card. when you try to access a library computer it asks for your library number and that's it. you're on the web!
errand three: recycle my (now dismantled) laptop. i took the bus down roosevelt rather than walking my monster of a laptop to best buy. i think they are supposed to charge $10 to recycle computers but they didn't charge me anything. yeah me!
errand four: get milk. this was simple enough. walk from best buy to whole foods and buy milk. this is exactly what i did.

upon returning home, everyone was still asleep. so i tried to think of ways to entertain myself. i decided to pack some stuff. FINALLY! last night, before i even went to sleep (to be woken in the midst of it), i marked on my list of boxes which day i would do which boxes. when i did this i didn't set aside a day for cleaning, so i needed to be a day ahead of schedule to allow for that time.

today i did sunday's boxes. two book boxes and a dvd box. i'm very shocked about how accurately i assigned the boxes. after packing the first book box, i thought i might be able to get away with only one book box. but after i collected all the miscellaneous books and magazines from around my room, i found that two boxes were in fact in order. that's fine i had already planned it that way.

tomorrow, i intend to buy the sunday paper. to have plenty of packing/wrapping supplies. and do a few more boxes. i think the miscellaneous ones are ones to do.

also i've started to clean the refridgerator. i would have finished the bottom half but annie and i have already started to take it over. so i was only able to do the drawers.

more later, now onto more important things. (iit and the like)

packing update 1

the packing frenzy has started. finally.

two of my roommates, the two that are moving in together, are frantically packing all of their stuff. i guess they plan on being out of here asap. both started earlier today. and are actually almost done. the hard parts are always the kitchen and bathroom. you never pay attention to how much stuff you have in either place.

i plan on eating most of my food by next friday. and i've already planned boxes for my toiletries. the pots, pans, and baking dishes are going to sneak up on me. though i have lost one pan while living here, i did acquire a baking sheet, a muffin pan, and a large colander. i have my only large box set aside for them. a medium box for my food. my freezer bag for refridgerator and freezer items. and a small box for the toiletries.

i'm mostly scared that once i start packing i will need something i've already packed. the good thing is that most of my stuff is already in boxes, or box-like containers. so little real packing is required. the other fear is of packing for ireland. i don't want to forget anything. or pack something to move that i'll need for ireland.

wish me luck.

miscel

today was almost unproductive. but it was saved from complete failure.

i made a trip to the drug store with a short sidetrack of hanging out with a friend. and made a trip to the grocery store, in the rain. ending with an internet search for financial aid.

i wanted to do a day after day update of my moving status. still nothing has been packed. though i did purchase some wrapping plastic today. and i found out that i can return any moving boxes that i don't end up using. hurray hurray!

also i need to finalize my packing list for ireland. can't really pack up all of my belongings until i've separated out what i will need. slight problem arises, because i don't intend to do laundry until the day before i leave. argh...

hurray for me!!!

i got into grad school!

i've been planning on going to grad school for a while now. for about 6 months. when i was laid off, it became my primary goal. and apply i did. a month or so ago. but i forgot to send in my transcript for malcolm x. i had forgotten that i had listed it as a college i attended.

they emailed me today that i got in. the best!!!

moving

i hate moving. to be sure, i love being in a new place, especially if i've moved to a new city. but i hate moving. if i could go to sleep at night and wake up the next day in the new place. with my stuff all organized i would. short of some sci-fi contraption being built, i'll have to do the whole thing myself. unless i could hire the people who move the new president into the white house. they move him in during the inauguration and the parade. in less than a day the president and his family is fully moved into their new home. that'd work for me too. still, in my current situation, i'll have to do the whole thing myself.

i already bought boxes, more than i know i'll need. i need to buy some of that plastic saran stuff to wrap items in. i've enlisted my boyfriend to do the carrying. and i have two weeks to do all of the packing. and i don't have to clean the apartment when i leave. sounds ideal right?

god i hate packing. more than moving, i hate packing. tearing down what i've established over the past 12 months as my space, my room, and placing it into ugly brown boxes. a jumble of what it was originally. i haven't even started any of it. i did make a list of what i intend to put in what boxes. with some of them extra.

what makes this whole experience more tedious is that i have a full month between moving from my current situation and moving into my new apartment. i am going to be homeless for a month. i've guaranteed that the whole thing will go by super fast. i'm spending almost 2 weeks in ireland (much more on that later) and a week traveling by train through texas with the boyfriend. so that leaves a week of entertaining myself. and if i get into grad school, that is how i will be entertaining myself.

then i have to move again. it's down two flights of stairs to get out of my current apartment. and luckily my friend's (where i'm storing my stuff) is on the first floor. then it's two flights of stairs into my new apartment. at least i won't be terribly sore from going down the flights then up the flights on the same day. that would be total hell. but is it any worse then having to move on two different days, that far apart? i guess i'll see.

for your perusal my packing list:

procrastination

i've been procrastinating a long time about updating my school projects for my portfolio. a long time. in reality it's been a year and a half. but it's been more important then ever for the past 3 1/2 months. ever since i was laid off, i should have been working on my portfolio, making it better. but nothing. i've done some general work. rethinking what i'd like to put in my portfolio. that's about it. while i was working, i reconfigured it so it could be printed on 8 1/2x11 paper. and i also figured out my sample pages. finally.

beyond these updates, i haven't done a thing. so after talking a bit with one of my sorority gals, i actually felt up to looking at the projects i had set aside for updating. opening the files and really looking them over. what did i do wrong? i'm pretty critical of all work including my own, so i knew it wouldn't be perfect. and i knew i wouldn't be pained by dissecting my work so. plus i picked only the better projects to be updated, so that there would be less work to be done on them.

i started in on the redrawing. it wasn't particularly hard, except the layer work. when i drew these drawings i had little understanding of the program. i had to hunt down my original lightweights and layer names. something i should have done when i originally bought this computer. after updating a few things, i decided the best route would be to make a list off to the side of things that needed to be done. that way as things came up while i was drawing something else i could put it down and get to it later.

i've mostly updated the whole of that project, and yet i have no feeling of accomplishment. that i actually even looked at the things was normally a good day. and yesterday i actually spent a few hours drawing, and nothing. maybe cuz now i know how easy it was, and that i really shouldn't have been procrastinating that long.

well... today i'm finishing up that one project. there is some rendering that needs to be done. that might take a while. maybe that'll make me feel better?

pride and prejudice

for the past week or so i've been lost in a jane austen daze. more specifically, an pride and prejudice daze.

i have in my possession the bbc pride and prejudice mini-series. the bbc version NOT the a&e version with colin firth. i do like that version, but i love the bbc one. it has a lot more of the impudence and the haughtiness of the characters. and screw the movie with keira knightley. she slaughtered the role of elizabeth and made her an unbearable bitch.

in a loss of what to do with myself i watched it. all 5 hours. this always starts it. i watch the series, then start to eye the book. i own two versions of the novel. one is part of a volume containing all of jane austen's works. the other is a book of it's own with the original illustrations that i got for 8 bucks from borders. reading pride and prejudice is so much more entertaining with the illustrated copy. it gives an idea of what the characters would have more likely looked like.

soon after watching the series, i ran out of books to read. by ran out i mean i ran out of newly purchased books to read. to bridge the gap between the end of one book and the arrive of my new purchases by mail, i knew i would have to indulge in one of my previously devoured books.

looking upon my shelves i was instantly drawn to pride and prejudice. it's been at least 6 months since the last time i read it, and i thought now was as good of a time as any to go through it again. it took me two days to get through it. elizabeth bennett and her sister jane. mr and mrs bennett and their three other daughters. wickham and darcy. bingley and his sisters. and you can't forget mr and mrs gardner and mr and mrs collins.

books like this always remind me that i was born in the wrong time. i was much more intended for corsets and ringlets then miniskirts and suffrage. not that i'm against women's rights, but i envy the simpleness to previous eras. i can image myself as an elizabeth. strong minded and outspoken for her status and age. elizabeth bennett taught me to like my own name; elizabeth being my middle name. i never understood why my mother chose such a haughty and formal middle name, but i've learned to love it. i love my name in full now. and even plan on giving the name to my daughter. though i plan on calling her ellie. not lizzie or beth or any of the other atrocious nicknames that are derived from elizabeth.

i am as impetuous and strong minded as lizzie is in the book. and i've always looked for darcy's characteristics in the men i like. though it never works quite like it does in the book. my current boyfriend is more like colonel fitzwilliam than darcy. upon reflection i remember that elizabeth quite liked fitzwilliam. the intelligent conversation and the good manners and the kind regard. maybe i'll end up with fitzwilliam instead of darcy. which is better?

grey days

sunny days are good. as are rainy days. but days that are gray in hopes of raining, but never really doing so, not so good.

it is days like this that all i want to a wood-burning fireplace and a book or good movie. i'm horribly lacking the fireplace so there's no chance of this happening anytime in the near future.

so i spent the day trying to ignore the gray and the lack of a fireplace. i went out to lunch, something i resolved to do last night. skipped breakfast to do so. then remembered that i needed to pick a b-day card for my cousin. that entailed a trip to target. i ended up purchasing the card, toothbrushes, and laundry detergent. after wandering all over target looking for other stuff to purchase.

then i was home. with nothing to do. i watched my new netflix (zegfield follies) cozy under a blanket. sans roaring fire. and since nothing. i'm so boring. now onto love actually and dinner. i'll read myself to sleep with pride and prejudice.

boo gray days!

deliciousness on a hot summer day

iced tea that is. more specifically peppermint iced tea. my mom is a big iced tea drinker. i've never liked the bizarre plant flavor that is tea. but a year or so ago i was introduced to peppermint tea. pure peppermint. it's like a hot melted watery peppermint stick. delicious on a cold winter night. last summer my roommate recommended iced peppermint tea. i wasn't so sure about it.

about two months ago i had the strongest craving for peppermint tea. but being summer, hot tea wasn't the way to go. i went online and researched how to make iced tea at home. upon deliberation i decided i'd make sweet tea. i like my tea sweetened, and if i can do that while making it instead of afterwards, i figured i might as well. it took some experimentation but i've made some good sweet peppermint tea as of late.

i thought i'd share my recipe.

sweetened peppermint iced tea

cook time: 10 min
total time: 1 hr 20 min

ingredients:
6 cups water
4 teabags
2 trays of ice
1/4 cup sugar

boil water. at boil, add tea bags. turn off heat. put lid on pan and let sit for one hour.

after the hour, remove tea bags. add the sugar (more less depending on taste). return to the heat. stir until sugar is disolved.

fill pitcher with ice, then pour tea into pitcher. refidgerate.

serve over ice.

gifting

i'm the supreme gifter. i always find something meaningful for the receiver. sometimes it comes down to a gift card to a store i know they love, but most of the time it involves an inside joke or a random comment made in passing conversation.

my latest is for a good friend of mine from college. in the conversation concerning her bday and the gift, she asked me to send myself. (we haven't seen each other in a while.) not that i'm against that, i've used myself as a gift before, namely for my best friend's college graduation. but it couldn't have been managed. so i suggested one of those full-sized foam cutouts. i wasn't even sure if you could get one made. well you can. for $150+. not my budget. so then i moved onto paper dolls. i found a woman online who would make one of you in an outfit of your choice. awesome! unfortunately she has closed her business.

so i was left trying to do it myself. i'm not a bad artist, when i'm generally drawing stuff. but self-portraits aren't my strong suit. i just did as much as i could, knowing that my head would be maybe an inch tall. i think the whole thing turned out quite well. it is taking much longer than i expected though. but all for my friend. i put myself in a purple tri-sigma shirt (which is the sorority we're in together) and a jean skirt with leggings. kindda my staple outfit. i also provided her with a pink sweater, a white tank top, a pair of skinny jeans, my puma flats, and two hair styles. it's pretty rocking.


another example of my awesome gift giving skills: i'm giving my friend amanda, who is the biggest dog lover i know, a copy of the west highland herald - a fake newspaper written by dogs.

gidget

gidget is probably one of my secret pleasures. very few people, i mean of my age, know who she is. she started as a young girl in southern california. as she learned to surf, and this was the 50's when girls didn't surf, her father - a screenwriter - became intrigued. eventually writing a book. this book is about a girl named gidget, obviously based on his daughter. the book soon became a movie with sandra dee, spawning two sequels, and a tv show with sally field.

i love them all. my first exposure was watching the tv show late at night on nick at nite. sally field as gidget. she was such friends with her father. i was staying with mine at the time. we were not such great friends. then when nick at nite stopped playing it. i went to google. i found out there were movies. blockbuster i went. fell in love with the movie too. eventually i realized that i should just buy the dvd. i went to find it, and found the two disc set of all of the movies. what a score! bought it right then. i've even rented the tv show from netflix. one dvd at a time. so painful! but after a recent binge of gidget, i looked closer at the box. "based on a novel by frederick kohner". i knew it was originally a book, but i never thought about owning it. i immediately went online and bought the book.

after submersion in gidget culture for a week now, i have to say she's amazing! something that i intend to get my daughter hooked on. something that sits on my shelf until she's bored and is looking for something, anything. i know that she'll find it and love it!

new month

it's been a while. a week to be exact. it's been a crazy one.

one of the more impersonal events was that michael jackson died. pretty crazy. not that anyone was particularly shocked but still bizarre anyways. he was on so many drugs and had so many things done to himself that no one seems shocked. so to commemorate i downloaded the essential michael jackson. it's a pretty thorough collection of his hits. from jackson 5 to the jacksons to his duet with his sister, janet.

some of the songs are pretty eleborate set-ups about relationships with women. i guess at some point of time he was quite popular with the ladies. but as of late his personal relationships have been a bit bizarre. i would even include his marriage to lisa marie presley. i think every one was disturbed by their kiss on the mtv music awards. crazy. the uniting of two of the largest music kingdoms. the kind of rock's daughter and the king of pop. whoa! btu after their divorce and his marriage to that nurse to really only produce children that don't even look like him in the slightest. (a sperm donor, maybe?)

but back to the music... no one can deny the greatness of thriller. billie jean. and scream. amazing amazing songs. it's a collection 46 songs and i know all of them. i know a lot of music, especially lyrics, but really 46 songs all by one individual. that's a considerable impact. and listening to it now brings back so many memories. mostly of watching mtv late at night when i was supposed to be sleeping. that was the first time i had a tv in my room. it was awesome. i remember the lead singer of inxs dying. now this generation will remember michael jackson. granted i've lived through quite a lot of famous people dying. one more to add to the list.

oh god... who's bad?

RIP Michael J Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)