One Norwegian Alaskan in Madison.



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Hey there! You're awesome for thinking I might have posted something - I decided to surprise everyone by doing so for once! ;-) This weekend has gone by so fast. So very, very fast. And it's been wonderful, for a couple different reasons.

Monday night (this is before the wonderful) I decided to blow off studying for both my physics and orgo tests, because I was wallowing in a minor case of burn out (which I think started at the beginning of this quarter...). Rena had a phys test the next morning as well, and instead of sleeping (since we'd already rationalized not studying), we stayed up till 3 just hanging out together. We figured out we could see our apartment from our window if we lean out a little. That's when the Bastard and the Mezzican saw us, because they were up on 12 studying/leaning out the window too. I love my phys boys. XD

Tuesday was a hell of a day, partly because of Monday night. My breakfast of free Middle Eastern food! from the night before (we didn't really steal it...it was free...) was fantastic, however, because who eats saffron rice and pitas with hummus in the morning, really? That would be me. And who might have done ok on her phys test despite her complete and utter lack of preparation? Me again. Not so for the orgo, however. That one will be dropped. And I won’t make eye contact with my professor when I get it back, either. It doesn't hurt so badly when I don't think about it.

The ResLife guy is a bastard. Ro and I met with him to "discuss" why he won't let us out of our dorm contract. This is the only detail standing between us and our beautiful, perfect apartment - they refuse to let us move out.

His reasoning: We signed a contract to live in the dorms for the entire year, so we're going to pay to live there for the entire year.

Our reasoning: So did Saralita, but they let her out of her contract. And they didn't give us any other choice than to sign the one-year contract, even though we're going to be juniors after this quarter and should be allowed to move out. And we can't afford it anymore, because they went and made the meal plans mandatory. And…and…

So we're working on how to make them let us go (barring committing any major crimes), but since we can't do anymore till Monday, Ro and I aren't stressing about it for the weekend (right?)

Rena reminded me how awesome it is to be in this city. On the way to the train station that night we crossed over I-5 on a bridge further south than we usually use, and the city at night was perfect. So beautiful. I'm going to miss the view from our window - all the glittering lights are like a field of stars below us. I love this city. I felt like I was coming home when I flew in this fall. Note to self: Don't mention that to my mother.

Her family is so eerily like mine sometimes, minus the scary parts. We went shopping Wednesday morning, and I don't know why I never realized my love for Orange Julius back when we had one in the Cottonwood Creek "mall", because it is mmm mmm good. And who loves impulse shopping for high heels? Aww yeah!

I stayed with my Grandma Pat in Tacoma over Thanksgiving - saw the Great grandparents again. They are sweet...and very old...and then on friday I got to put together a Christmas tree with my uncle Tony up in Ballard. So cool! I love those fake trees that look so perfect when you make the branches bend the way you want. We are an awesome tree-decorating team. And in addition, the front lawn is now festooned with a) a million sets of those net lights, b) a lit trellis arch thing that we screwed together, and c) a rediculous row of lit up alternating plastic santas and snowmen. My aunt was...intrigued...when she got home. We might have gone a bit overboard. Maybe. But I love it, seeing as I will completely bypass the snow this christmas. So all in all, I love my family and this break really was a break, which I needed so very much. Let's make another holiday for next weekend, yeah?


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Bwah ha ha ha! I have successfully infiltrated Sarah's blog! That's what she gets for setting everything on her computer to auto-login and then running off with my laptop, leaving me to blog from her computer. It may take her a week or more to realize I was here, since she so rarely updates. Victory para mi! Oh, and y'all should visit MY blog, since I update almost every day. And because I'm cooler than Sarah. Naw, she's pretty special. After all, she puts up with me on a regular basis.
--RO


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Stayed up till 8 this morning finishing my damn chem prelab so I could actually go to the lab, which was against my will. But it did mean that I watched the sun rise from my seat in the lobby, and then got up and walked out the back door of the lobby to look across the street at the house I'll be living in with my Ro and Saralita once this quarter gets itself finished (because it's getting no help from me). That's right, we got the verbal ok from the landlady, so now all we need to do is bend her to our will on multiple points. That and figure out what her renter's agreement says in the first place. If it exists. But i'm excited, and therefore I will party. Or sleep. Because I must get up in less than 5 hours and go get immunized for Ghana before physics class starts. Ok, sleep wins. Maybe my plane tickets will come tomorrow... !Noche!


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For your reading pleasure:

JULY:
Fun to be with. Secretive. Difficult to fathom and to be understood. (Hey, pretty straightforward over here. Right?) Quiet unless excited or tensed. Takes pride in oneself. Has reputation. Easily consoled. Honest. Concerned about people's feelings. (only half the time, honestly. Sad? I don't know.) Tactful. Friendly. Approachable. Emotional temperamental and unpredictable. Moody and easily hurt. Witty and sparkly. Not revengeful. Forgiving but never forgets. (Give me time and I won't remember) Dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things. Guides others physically and mentally. Sensitive and forms impressions carefully. Caring and loving. (many times, no.) Treats others equally. Strong sense of sympathy. Wary and sharp. Judges people through observations. Hardworking. No difficulties in studying. (Ha. Hahaha.) Loves to be alone. Always broods about the past and the old friends. (I can't help it lately, dammit. And I'm not a brooding person. Grr.) Likes to be quiet. Homely person. (Hey! Say nothing, you. :P) Waits for friends. Never looks for friends. Not aggressive unless provoked. Prone to having stomach and dieting problems. Loves to be loved. Easily hurt but takes long to recover. (I wouldn't admit it to myself, at least.)


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Heh, I'd like to apologize for the length of the previous entry. Sorry bout that. Have fun with it.


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Hey, this weekend was beautiful! Want to know more? Read on!

Friday we walked down to the Meridian to buy tickets to the Matrix that night. After we had the tickets in our hands and were getting ready to leave, a random man came up to the four of us there and gave us the best "give me money" proposition I've heard yet. For our attention (and hopefully our money), he would do a trick. He was very much alcoholed (at least the smell lingered) but was able to pull off a back flip off a wall and then add in another back flip for good measure. And they were quality back flips. I can't do that sober. So very worth a donation to his booze/food/whatever fund. I was kind of creeped out at first by his proposed deal, but when I thought about it, it made perfect sense. Why the hell not?

Oh yes, the Matrix. I have to say the action was beautiful, but the overdone parts of the script made Jenny and me laugh at all the wrong moments:

Neo: "You can't die"
Trinity: "Yes, I can."

We weren't serious about the movie going into it, and that just didn't help. I'm so sorry to all the people we pissed off. Whoever you are, please don't be too rageful about that.

Saturday morning I got up hella early with Saralita and spent the day in Redmond at a Habitat for Humanity build site. I got to spend the day with some people I love and I worked with an awesome girl from the UW majoring in architecture. We made a floor together. No, really. They gave us a small room and together we cleaned it, cut out the underlay for the floor, glued and nailed it down, and started laying down the tile on top. And by "cut out the underlay" I mean we measured the various sizes of underlay we would need, went down to the sawhorses and grabbed a piece of the material, and used a circular saw and a jigsaw to bend it to our will. All by ourselves. Is that not awesome?! I can circular saw the hell out of anything now.

Partway through the day I started thinking about what else I could be doing, and realized how much I love Habitat. Instead of sitting in my room studying/sitting in a coffee shop studying/pissing away my time I was covered in sawdust with lots of power tools and a board to cut. I couldn't have been happier. So here's to building things. Why pay someone else to do it when you've got two hands and a brain?

And last but not least, Sunday came around and made the weekend perfect. I woke up, took a shower, ate some spaghetti, and joined Saralita for a bike ride to Alki. This was ambitious, as I hadn't ridden my bike for at least a month prior. Poor thing - it's been kept in the dark storage locker for so long.

We got on 12th and headed down to Jackson, which we followed to the water. During this time we were not allowed by law to terrorize the pedestrians on the sidewalks, so were required to ride in traffic...with the cars. And trucks. And big big buses. Freaky! But we got to use the cool hand signals, so I'm not complaining.

At the water we took the Alaskan Way Viaduct down to Spokane Way and followed this half-hidden trail onto the lower West Seattle Bridge, which has these 3" gaps in it at strategic positions of its curvature. I might have lain down in the middle of the trail and looked through the gap at the water below. And I might have sent something down to splash in the water. Why grow up?

We got to the start of the beach before we realized we had to turn around and get back to Campion for nothing but the best brunch ever. Mmm. We made it back 5 minutes early and after taking the fastest showers you've heard of, rushed upstairs to find the 12th floor lounge packed with people.

I should mention the reason for this brunch's awesome nature: someone got it into their head that since both the Spanish/French floor and the Chinese/Japanese floor have excellent brunches, a Spanish/French/Chinese/Japanese brunch would be the best of both worlds. And it was. I've never eaten such great free food. There were random casseroles, quiches, sushi, curry, potstickers, three-milk cake, apple torte, lychees, grilled chicken kabobs, both savory and sweet crepes, and so many things I couldn't identify. It was delicious. I love my floor.

This morning I got back from a lovely barrage of generally-directed-at-the-entire-class harsh criticism from my phys prof, Dr. Morgan (Jack Sparrow crossed with a flamboyant gay man) and called my team leader, Malinda, for the Christmas trip to Ghana. I haven't sent off for my visa yet, nor have I gotten any of the immunizations I need. Oh right, and I should be fundraising, too. But after talking with her I feel right on track, and all my stress over that has disappeared.

I took care of my advising appointment today, too, and the big picture seems so clear right now. I had a great discussion with my advisor about where all this crap is going and what each class is really like. I may even be able to pull off a French minor if I play things right. And go to Nicaragua for my undergrad research project. Granted, that's a pipe dream and a bit of a ways off, but the head of the chem dept is working to certify some coffee growers as organic down there, and speaking Spanish is kind of a good in to go with her one of these years. It's going to stay in the back of my head for the year and I'll see where it leads.

I meant to do loads of homework this evening, but with that not accomplished I still don't feel too guilty. Ro, Saralita, Jenny and I had a great impromptu dinner of baguette, brie, and a dessert of creme brulee ice cream with nutella. Damn. We won't be doing that again for a year, at least. But we do have a pint of Bailey's Irish Cream ice cream in the freezer...hmm...

I got some non-homework work out of the way, and tomorrow will be about looking for an apartment (we've all got bikes, so it should be pretty speedy) and getting some food from the I-District. And making my todo list a bit shorter...right, the first thing on that list is sleep, so I'll leave you with a wish for sweet dreams and a productive/relaxing day. Noche!


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*blink blink* Mmm. So I chose "dinner" and "party" from the menu Friday night. And both were fabulous. :D

Hilary (as a tree), Jenny (as Shirley Manson), Sophia (as herself), and I (in your beautiful skirt and much eye makeup, Ro) went to dinner at the Ginger Lime about 6:30 and had a great time being ourselves. It was pretty intimate in there, so we started talking to this other group there that included Colton from our floor, in incredible drag. Seriously, it turns out he has better lips and legs than anyone I know. And that's just not fair. Speaking of drag, Marc can pull off (and by that i mean "wear" :P ) a little girl's dress surprisingly well. And Bernie looks amazingly hot in a grass skirt.

When we got back from dinner I met up with Saralita (as a very cute leopard. rawr.) and ended up being something most people decided was a gypsy, though it had an Indian/Thai theme going on. Hilary lent me a gorgeous purple and gold silk wrap skirt from Thailand and I wrapped my hair back with a gold scarf. Jenny helped me with my makeup, and if you want pictures, I have a few.

Jenny took a huge group of us over to Sean and John's place down Broadway and we stayed there until 3, I think. I vote for vodka and cranberry. So good. We were playing speed for drinks for a while, and then played "let's evade the odd guys" by making a subtle mass exit from our little card room. Much better. Halfway through, my old RA and her plastered fellow post-RA boyfriend (go biochem majors!), as a farsighted gynocologist, showed up and made our evening. I love them so much, especially like that. Hmm, I don't remember any other big things. Malibu rum is not so good. Nor is the green apple variety of schnapps. Mint schnapps = beautiful. Mmm, I bet it would make the perfect hot chocolate...and I vote for screwdrivers, too.

That's the run down. No one fell over or got lost, and we all made it back by 3:30 or so. Pretty much the perfect non-hangover night. And on that note, noche!


About me

  • Homebase Madison, Wisconsin
  • I was raised in Alaska, am the shortest person in my family, and I can wiggle my ears.
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