Mmm...look at that dollop of wasabi. Rachel got us into experimenting with her copious amounts of free vegetables and random package of seaweed, and here's my final creation. Also, warmed vinegar with a bit of sugar and salt makes normal rice become sushi rice. Magically delicious!

...and even in black and white. ::shivers::

...at sunset...

...by night...

But to clarify, I mean by day...

Also, Seattle rocks. That is all.

Hehehe. (supposedly pointing to the wtf post.) Not that I relate at all. No no. It's just...umm...funny.

Have a good Memorial Day, everyone!

Mmmmph. *Wipes mascara off of face* I haven't slept till noon in a long time. I can't remember doing that since I was on summer break during high school. And yet I feel magically delicious, not unlike those poor, harangued frosted Lucky Charms.

We met another Moscow boy the other day. Possibly the entire complement of this crowd from Moscow, ID has filtered through our apartment at one time or another. First we met all the ones who actually live here: Blake, Nathan, Marta, Melissa, and Hana (by association, even though she's from CdA). All of these people lived on our floor last year and came from the same town. Smell fishy? And then we met more of them!

Blake moved in with Nolan, Aaron, and Chris this year, all of whom came over from Moscow to live in Seattle for random, temporary reasons. Nolan and Chris are back in M now, but not before introducing us to Cory (who lives in Portland, whew) and Chris #2 (initially introduced as "Craig" to attempt to keep names straight, but eventually just adding to the confusion), who was in town for the Jason Webley concert.

Ryan is the latest in this stream of ex-pats. He showed up the other day when Aaron needed to head off to work, and ended up hanging out over here for a while. He's cool, doesn't say much (a trend in these later guys), and thinks Kevin Spacey is a kickass actor. So we're good. We stayed up watching The Usual Suspects and American Beauty last night, so my Plan to Get All My Stuff Together for finals is off to a slow start.

I'm starting to believe that either a) Seattle is recruiting Moscow teens to come saturate the number of aimlessly wandering young people in this city, b) Moscow is looking to relocate, one person at a time, and has targeted Seattle as ideal, or c) This is the forerunner of a very large cult migration to the coast.

We found our future car in Safeway's parking lot. It was waiting for us and had even let its windows down to make entry irresistable. So why wouldn't it start? And why was everything so blurry?

Almost a month ago the four of us set off to Spokane for Rena's Grandma's pad and the Bloomsday run. After a long night slaving over little boys' shirts with magic markers we were ready to run. And grab something...

Kat and I went down to Pike Place one day when she was here two weeks ago. We found some shops down there I'd never heard of before. She knows what I mean. Sadly, the famous fishmen weren't tossing anything of note when we paid our respects to Rachel the pig.

Rena and I got up this morning bright and early for John Kerry. Rumor had it he would be at Pier 62 at 9, so we waded through the rain and got in after standing on the sidewalk for a stretch. Highlight: we were overlooking a small dock and one of the nearest boats was named Tu y Yo. We were ready to move into it right then.

The crowd in front of us had glommed onto the bleachers, so we joined the standers about 20 feet from the podium - seriously, there were only about ten people between us and the pre-President. He was introduced by Congressman Adam Smith, who spoke well and was entertaining/interesting until the rest of the speakers arrived/worked up the courage to get wet.

When Rena told me about the speech last night I was excited to see Kerry speak in person, if only to see what he's like in person. Not a smart vote-decider compared to...you know, policy or the like, but now I can put a voice with all the soundbytes and quotes. So now we've seen him in person and got to hear him deliver what ended up in quotes a few hours later. The most memorable thing he said? That he's aiming for the U.S. to be 20% dependent on alternatives to oil by 2020. It's his main war cry for his environmental stance, and seems a wee bit ambitious, no? It's a great goal, though, and if nothing else, will get us pointed in the right direction, and hopefully open up some more fantastic job opportunities to research alternate energy sources. His timing is perfect! *rubs hands together with delight* Now he must only get elected and carry out these plans. That and further develop his proposals to make college more affordable.

Aiiieee! I get to go with awesome people (including Mark) to Mexico next Christmas! The best decisions are usually made at the last minute. ;) It'll only be for a week, and we'll be back on the 17th, but we get to build...and build! What more could I ask for? Perhaps only that Saralita were going over Christmas break, instead of Spring Break. :/

Now I suppose I should tell my parents about my plans, eh? After Ghana, Mexico won't be much of a surprise. I love them and their accepting my choices so calmly very much. They're really smart too. Odd, how much it seems they know compared to a few years ago... ;)

I mentioned a recipe for Ethiopian bread (injera) to my mom the other day, and she started off about how good teff (the main ingredient) is for you. Since when has my mom been into Ethiopian? And why did we never see any evidence in all the food we never thanked her enough for? Seriously, she's been holding out. Maybe I should talk to her more, hmm?

Am almost caught up with readings for one class. The others loom. I decided somewhere along the way that I like the frantic, heart palpitation-inducing stress of finishing my paper at 3:29 so that I'll have that one minute margin to sprint it to the professor's office on the third floor of the building two blocks away. This wasn't a concious decision, but I haven't enough willpower at the moment to change it.

All three of my lovely roommates are blowing with the wind to various parts within the next few weeks, while I will stay on to triage my educational career. It's not that bad, according to my advisor, but I've been royally knocked off my "impervious to failure" pedestal. It's about time, I guess. High school pursuaded me that studying wasn't usually necessary, and it's taken till now for college to convince me otherwise. So this summer I'll be sitting in a hole getting to know my organic chem book intimately, and eating from time to time. With the content of two o-chem quarters compressed into eight weeks instead of twenty, I'm forecasting an exam each week or so. Mmm...tasty.

I need roommates, though I don't expect to see them much in my hole. Lindsay (Saralita's old and future roomie and all-around awesome girl) says she can stay for a month or two, but I've yet to hear from Jenny (my old and hopefully future roomie who's off exploring France at the moment), so I may be begging old acquaintances and those I don't know at all to come live with me. Should be a good time to get my pursuasive powers honed.

With this extra dose of edumication prescribed over the summer I've been chewing and mulling about Biochem. Why am I in this major? Did I ever really like Gen Chem, or my run-in with O Chem? Not as much as physics and calc, if I recall. Actually, I only liked being able to do them, and do them well. I didn't have to put in that much effort to get good results. But I'm not interested in being a physicist or mathematician - I wanna be a Biochem major, dammit. It just seems right. I'm not sure whether I'm just scared to really consider other majors, or whether I'm being...intuitive? I won't know till afterwards. Or if a coconut hits me on the head and I wise up.

Biochem (or any chem, evidently :P) is the challenge that I...need?...was looking for? I'm just being a pansy and moaning about it. It's hard. Other people can do it, though, and I want/am going to be one of them...after this summer, when I miraculously get my act together. Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy my advisor? She pretty much reads me like a book, tells me to shape up (kindly), and tells me why it's not so bad and how this, this, and this are all I need to do to be on track. I feel lucky to have her advising me, since she's the main Biochem professor and I'll be seeing a lot of her in two years. By then I hope I'll have figured out how to be a good student.

My ponytail is just long enough to put high on my head and whip around like a helicoptor propeller blade. I missed that. :D

I am busy tinkering with all these new options, now that I've realized they're available and the weekend has finally arrived. Once I get "Hello" to let me log in, I will be a happy girl and you will see many photos. Until then, enjoy the rain if you're in Seattle, and don't if you're not. :P

Effective substitute for Old Faithful (that would be Mountain Dew):

1 cup hot water
1 bag Arctic Mint tea
1...ok 2 tsps Folgers instant coffee pebbles
1 packet Swiss Miss instant hot chocolate

Instantly caffeinated! Now to the second 6-page paper.

Instead of writing about the reasons and ways sexuality has been influenced in specific timeplaces in "Asia", I've been reading this.

Gah! Too...much...*choke* studying to do... Must not become distrac- ooh! Shiny!

Somebody, throw me a life preserver. Or a Krispy Kreme. Whichever is closer at hand.

Hey, peeps. No, not the yellow, squishy confections responsible for (a small) part of my Easter coma. You. We're off tomorrow morning for parts unknown (rumored to be the Bloomsday run in Spokane), so wish us luck! I have yet to drink one entire Nalgene, not to mention the five per diem Rachel has advised. I'll make up for it during tomorrow's car trek, I promise. If we have to pull over every 20 min, so be it. Kidneys, I apologize in advance for what I am about to do to you. Bladder, that goes for you too. Guys have it so good.

If all goes well, this house of chicas will be back Sunday evening with cool new shirts and a healthy coating of pure, shiny sweat. I might consider melting into the grass right there at the finish line if it weren't for the jar of Classic Vlasics and half gallon of Swiss Chocolate Orange sherbet awaiting my ministrations back here. Put in some good couch time for me!