The Great Amorphous Purple Blob

But first, a NOTD - OPI You're Such A Kabuki Queen

You know, I may just stop taking pictures of my NOTDs until/unless I get a better camera. It doesn't look like this picture at all in real life. It's best described as, well, medium pink. Not jelly at all. It's so purdy! (contrary to what this pic suggests)

Moving on...the Great Amorphous Purple Blob.

It's been sitting in my room since yesterday night, and now it is in a cozy corner, perfect for basking in the soon-to-be spring sunlight. It's kind of huge. I'm going to dub it Barney, because what could be better than naming after the most famous Great Amorphous Purple Blob of all?

Fickle Computer Speakers

They work again! After like two months of left-side-only music, my right-side computer speakers decided to start working again at full volume. I think it's just a loose connection inside that sometimes works and sometimes not. Sometimes I get really faint sound from it, but usually just silence. I'm so happy that I can finally listen to the intros of Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Snow (Hey Oh)" and Weezer's "Island in the Sun" without cringing! Not to mention the opera section of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

I miss GRT so, so much.

Both building drivetrains and the wonderful people.


(not limited to the three pictured above)

Sabritas Habanero Limón

Ever since I had Lay's Chile Limón chips at Ann's house, I've been hunting them down, to no avail. Even the big Safeway didn't have them, and they had Cheddar/Parmesan Cheez-Its Duos! I finally found them at the Tressider Express...I think...

*edit 02/24/10: I just ate these chips (finally), and they are death in a bag. Seriously. Mexicans (I'm assuming it's Mexican-ish) do not fool around when they put a chili pepper on the bag. It tastes really sour and salty, and then afterwards you realize your mouth is burning from the spiciness.

RBA Rough Draft

Thursday. Last PWR class before three-day Presidents Day weekend.

Professor: Since you guys have a three-day weekend and are probably super busy (ski trips etc), you guys can just turn in an outline of your essay instead of the rough draft! But bear in mind that you'll get fewer constructive comments.

Class: Yayyy!!!

Me: (thinking) Yay! I'm not doing anything this weekend, and now I can slack off!

Tuesday. End of class. Everyone turns in a frickin' thick 10+ page rough draft. I turn in a half-assed one-page skeleton outline I wrote at 12am the night before. D'oh!

Hence, I am now staying up late to redo my rough draft. Because I didn't work on it yesterday either. I suck.

P.S. The Research Based Argument has a final length of 12-15 pages. FML.

Milk and cereal...cereal and milk

I don't get why people put milk in their cereal. Why milk, specifically? Why not water? Or...Trader Joe's French Village Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt?

Mmm.... :9

I guess cereal just does not dissolve well into somewhat viscous non-liquids. Plus yogurt is a bit more sour than milk.

Presidents Day Valley Fair Hauls

I'd say this was a pretty successful shopping trip. I took advantage of some sweet Presidents Day sales, I only got what I set out to get, and I got all I set out to get! Nice.

First, I got 2 Forever 21 tank tops, in fruity colors (blue turquoise and bright pink), for $3.50 each:

Then I hopped over to AE in search of dark skinny jeans, but they didn't have any in my size on sale (I had to size up because they were skinnier than me). However! I found this pair of corduroy black skinny pants on the clearance rack, just in my size (eeeeee!). It was marked for $40, but I went to the register preparing to pay up to $30. Turns out they were $7; with my discount card, $6 something. Win! Here they are, but in black:

Next stop: Old Navy. I'd never even known that Valley Fair had an Old Navy. Turns out it's its own separate building, just outside the mall. On the far side, where I rarely venture to. Anyways, I'm glad I visited there, because I found this awesome orange/peach lightweight scarf there:
They were full price, but I can take a $12.50 hit.

The last thing I got was a nude bra that actually fit. I hope. It was at Gap Body, and since the whole store was 40% off, it was just under $25 including tax.
There was a huuuge line to buy stuff because of the great deals. Plus their computers were half down. 'Sok. It was worth it.

These tights are not pants.

A tag printed by American Apparel on its tights:

BAHAHAHAHA

Monochromatic blues

I'm wearing my blue (grey-blue? stormy blue? used-to-be-navy-before-several-washes blue?) AE pullover hoodie with jeans, and they were basically the same color. I wanted to wear a bright t-shirt underneath to provide a pop of color (or, now that I think of it, break up the monochromatic line and therefore make me look short). So, I went to my t-shirt drawer, and I find 2 blue shirts, several shades of red (go Cardinal!), and a heckuva lot of grey/black/white. That also kinda describes my whole wardrobe. Next time I go shopping, I must remember to get some fruity-colored shirts. I'm thinking a bright pink, a pale yellow, and a peachy light orange. I do have more fruity colored shirts in my closet, but they're a) out of sight and out of mind, and b) usually colored or buttoned or lower-cut (read: less warm), and I always think I'm too lazy to change into a PJ shirt at night.

From ae.com: AE U-Neck T in Lemon Icing

Genius Next Door

NOTD - OPI You Don't Know Jacques!
I love this color. It looks and sounds so awful (mushroomy taupe??), but it's actually perfect, and it looks really nice on my skin tone. It's actually a little more dusty in real life.

I'm trying to learn Regina Spektor's "Genius Next Door" on piano. I got the sheet music online but it's kind of wrong in some places, so I'm just going to use it to write out the right version. It is such a pretty song.

*update: I got an A on my PWR paper!! It's the first A I've gotten in a paper, like, ever. Maybe just in the last three years or so. I'm so excited!!!

My favorite opera arias

I think ever since we watched the modernized version of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman in IHUM last fall, I've been slightly obsessed with The Doll Song, aka "Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille."

Today I started listening to "Canzonetta sull'aria" from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. It was the song Andy Dufresne played over the PA system in The Shawshank Redemption. Absolutely beautiful. I was playing it in my head during my chem midterm, and it was quite calming.

I've also been listening to "Exsultate, jubilate", but on my recording on iTunes, not this youtube video, which is too vibrato-y, a bit too fast for my taste, and out of sync with the visuals. Plus Cecilia Bartoli has a crazed look on her face while she's singing. I don't know who sings my version though, because it just says "Vienna Symphony." It's from the 25 Mozart Favorites CD.

My other longtime favorites are "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen!", aka the Queen of the Night's Aria, and "Pa-pa-pa-pa" (which is the second Papageno/Papagena song, I think), both from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (aka The Magic Flute). Hmm, Cecilia Bartoli again. But she's vastly less annoying in this video.

So basically the reason I've been breaking out so much opera (besides the fact that it's awesome) is because it's midterm week, and I can't study to things with recognizable words. I have been listening to other classical music, but don't even get me started on that. (I did find out that my favorite composer is not Mozart, as I had previously thought, but Sarasate, with Paganini as a runner-up. Although Mozart is still high on my list. His pieces have a pretty good mix of playing ease and listening ease. *edit: I forgot Mendelssohn! His pieces are great too.) I actually only have one class with midterms, because the others have either weekly quizzes (stats) or papers (IHUM and PWR). Plus I'm taking a lecture series on professors' work. But there's also other stuff. Observe my schedule this week:

Fri: Research Grants Workshop
Sat: Job Fair, accupuncture
Mon: PWR paper #1 due, Chem pset due
Tue: IHUM paper due, stats quiz, CDC appointment (for finding summer job)
Wed (today): Chem midterm
Thu: lunch with pre-major advisor, PWR (short) presentation, getting stuff at San Antonio, Spotlight On (I'm not doing it, just attending)
Fri: Visit BOSP to ask about study abroad, visit GRT (weather permitting), and one of two campus music performances
Sat: Dance Marathon (24 hrs)
Sun: accupuncture
Mon: PWR paper #2 due (draft, but still)

And then I'm done. Wooooooo...

I've also been on a nail polish hiatus, until my gross eczema-ed fingers heal. I started putting Desonide on it, and it seems to work. When I start NP again, I'm going to do OPI You Don't Know Jacques on my tips and China Glaze Emerald Sparkle on my toes. Yeah, I know I don't have a toe polish ban, but I just haven't had time to do them. (Yet I have time to write out this blog post? If mum were here, she'd give me the look. I just know it.)