Happy Holidays!

Some jerk cleaned out my checking account with a shopping spree in Southern California! I didn't even lose my debit card... they just somehow used the number, 500 miles away.

Tis the season for identity theft, fa la la la la.....

Post-Finals status update

Just finished my last final. ::Huge sigh of relief::
My last one was Ancient Mediterranean Art, the class that has been challenging me the most... yet I've been getting the best grade in. I guess my old excuses for getting bad grades in middle school are starting to have merit... "But daaaaad, I am not being challenged enough, that is why I have a C average...."

I'm sitting outside the Memorial union eating a snickerdoodle, a chocolate chip shortbread oatmeal concoction (that leads me to believe that it's healthy), and I'm drinking a pomegranate strawberry odwalla... which I chose because it advertises "Only 50 Calories!"

Yeah, my brain isn't working yet.

Tonight we've got Mark's company Christmas party, so I'll be trying to find something both warm and nice to wear, something I don't really think that I own. We'll see.

It's 60 degrees. I need to go home.

H = ?

Funny moment of the day:

I'm taking my friend Weijing to the airport tonight to fly home to Mexico City for the holidays.

She needs to take a shower first, so I hand her a towel and she goes in the bathroom.
The water goes on, the water goes off, then on again...

She comes out in a towel and says,

"Um, is there hot water?"
"Of course there is..."
"Well I turned on the C knob, for Caliente, and it was cold, then the other one was cold too."
::pause::
"Honey, C is for Cold.... "

"aaaaaaaah!"

Gotta love her.

Tea Pee

Got the papers done on time. Next up: Finals. My first final is tomorrow evening, then one each day for the rest of the week. I'm not too stressed out... I have enough time. Quite honestly, compared to paper writing, testing seems like a vacation. I wish that I could just test my way through college. I understand that it would be a horrible system, much like the standardized crap that k-12 students are shuffled through, but it would work for me. :P Anyway, once finals are over, I'll be on break until January 5th. I'll be utilizing that free time to work on the "office" we are going to have in the 2nd bedroom. As of right now, that room mostly functions as the habitat for our pet random-stuff eating monster. Everyday, we put important and uncategorized things in there, to be consumed by said monster and to never be seen again. He apparently covets the giant boxes of stuff we have put in there, as they have accumulated to Mt. Everest sized proportions.

And, just in time for late night studying, I have become obsessed with tea. My favorite blend right now is this deliciously fragrant mix of jasmine green tea and a tropical rooibos tea. I can't stop brewing and drinking this stuff, which means I sleep no more than 2 hours before waking up and having to pee furiously.
...but at least I wake up first, right?

So, for any of you that have been completely stressed out about what to get me, your beloved one and only Michelle, for Christmas...relief is here! Tea. Loose leaf, delicious tea. The more exotic, the better. I bought this latest mix from a lovely store in Sacramento called Teavana, however I think it's way overpriced. I mean, hello... it's tea. People of all incomes and walks of life drink tea, so when the cost of a few ounces of tea is equivalent to the monthly salary poverty line in Indonesia, something is terribly wrong.... and so very American. (BTW, the poverty line in Indonesia is $20/month.)


On a lighter note, I just barely saw this video today, although it has already made the rounds online... so if you haven't seen it, enjoy! Or not, depending on your political/moral/whatever stance on Prop 8.



I'll be back here after finals!

Christmas Lights!

We just put these up....


yay!

Sia

I just illegally downloaded mysteriously acquired this album, and I love it.

Sia
Some People Have Real Problems (2008)

About halfway through, I realized that Sia sang for Zero 7, another fave of mine. Whoops.
So here's my thorough, knowledgeable review:

I like it. You might too.

:)

Okay back to writing my paper(s).

New Furniture and Weather Patterns

Time is really flying by. Somehow, this week is my last week of instruction. Whaaaaat? I just got here!

We did some shopping this weekend in hopes of catching post-thanksgiving deals. The main event was our visit to IKEA. Oh man, that place is amazing. I had never been there before and I walked around touching everything and dreaming of the possibilities... And we bought a new bed! We have a glorious mattress already, but it was just laying smack on the floor. We were going for that minimalist look...
Anyway we bought the frame and the matching nightstands, hauled it out to the car, and THEN thought about how we were going to get it home in Mark's car. 30 ft of twine later, we got it all in and headed home.
The rest of the day was spent assembling the damn thing. Tedious, frustrating, but so worth it. I think this is the first time I've ever had a real bed frame. I love it. And just in case you are in the market for one, I can attest that it doesn't squeak.
So the bedroom is almost complete. We'd like to add some desk lamps on each side, or maybe wall mounted reading lamps above the bed... who knows. Good lord, I love IKEA.

From this:

To this!

I've already suffered blunt force trauma to my shin from this thing, proving that I cannot try to navigate in the dark anymore.

Desert Rat observations of the week: Fog is crazy. I like it a lot, actually. Probably because I don't have to drive in it... just my lovely bike commute to campus. So this is what my normal route looks like:

Add some fog...

I try to focus on the beauty of my surroundings rather than my aching legs and shortness of breath as I bike to school. But in all seriousness, it's so damn nice. I still think the desert is beautiful, but this sort of weather and environment is so new to me. I mean... seasons! Before, it was just hot and not hot. Here in Davis, the trees change colors and there are actual seasons. Shades of red that I have never seen before...

I just love it, I love this town and I love this weather. We'll see how I feel about it when it starts pouring.

aaaaaand... the Christmas tree is up! But not decorated yet. We also bought lights for the house, but I haven't been able to get Mark to put them up yet. I'm excited to have a comfy-cozy-holiday-decorated house. eeeeeeeeeee!!

I still need to write 2 papers this week. Then there's finals next week... so it should be a busy week.

Now... onto my delicious bed.