weekends

awareness / family / food / relationships / weekends / writing — Comments Off on I feel good today for some reason
15
Dec 08

I feel good today for some reason

I mean, I usually feel pretty good, but it *is* Monday, which normally calls for the blahs.

Could be because my new boss has started, and I finally have some real work to do. Being bored really does take a toll on morale, even for lazy someones like me. Also, I’m all done with school assignments, and I have just one more class, this Thursday, which will be discussing a bunch of readings. Finally, I’ve had a good couple of conversations with my mom recently.

She seems to be holding back her worries, namely her vision of MB’s and my “future” – ie, getting married and buying properpty, contrary to *our* vision of not getting married (but still having kids, scandalous!) and traveling the world – and is enjoying the idea of my being happy for a change, or again her vision of my being happy which equals being with someone who treats me well. I was perfectly fine on my own, but my parents will never believe that.

My mother and I are so alike with our worrying. Sometimes now I wake up and think, Shouldn’t I be worrying about something? Before my worries mostly had to do with my job. How awful it was! The demanding, incomprehensible boss with career expectations for me that I didn’t want! The forced socializing with sales people! The high-pressure presentations! I’d wake up at 3 in the morning and apply online to random, low-paying jobs, that’s how bad it was. I thought about quitting and being jobless. I thought I’d like to do something completely non-stress, like being a crossing guard.

This weekend I had the chance to work on my manuscript. Rereading it is always like reliving the past, though not in a harmful way. They’re far enough away that I have some distance, and reliving them sometimes reveals more memories, more layers to add. I remember visiting my cousin in Portland shortly after she came from China, and how she and her husband were so lovey dovey, to the point I wanted to shout, “Get a room!” They didn’t make out in public, but they’d do things like blow each other kisses, write “I owe you one kiss”on a post-it and put it up, tell each other that they loved each other in front of everyone.

Yeah, actually, it was kind of gross.

But at the time, it also made me feel lonely. I was married and I knew my husband loved me, but we were never like that. We never got so carried away we forgot about the rest of the world. He was always very concerned about what others thought. But at the time, I didn’t let myself think that it made me lonely, watching my cousin and her husband. I just made snide remarks.

I’m also glad I never had a kid with my ex. One, I’d still be connected to him, and two, there was so much pressure from his family. “I want my grandsons to go to Eton,” my ex-FIL said one time. There are so many things wrong with that statement, I don’t even know where to begin.

~ ~ ~

Now the boring update! :) Friday night was lazy for me. MB suggested going to a late movie, but I was so tired, we just watched a bunch of stuff on Hulu.com, and I went to sleep before midnight.

Saturday I worked on my writing a little before we headed out to run some errands. It was freezing that day, and really hard to motivate myself to get outside. But I did, and that night we ate at this soba noodle place for the first time, Soba Koh, on East 5th Street. It was so good and perfect for that wintry night. We both had the early bird special for $19: a daikon salad, egg custard with crab (and other weird things), and hot or cold soba with a variety of tempura. We both got hot.

It didn’t look like a lot of food but it was pretty filling. The tempura was really good. I’m used to it with a ton of batter, but these were perfect. Also included is ice cream, vanilla or green tea.

Later we saw a midnight showing of Poltergeist at IFC. It was fun, not scary, since I’ve seen the movie so many times. As a kid it scared the shit out of me, especially that clown doll. Also, Jo Beth Williams and Craig T. Nelson are really good in it! If they weren’t so good, the movie would have been over the top and cheesy.

Sunday I was able to get more writing done, despite getting up at 11. We didn’t do much except grab a late lunch at 3. We went to one of our usual places, Zucco: Le French Diner, where I had for the first time, something du dimanche. Ack, I can’t remember the name! Anyway, as the name implies it’s served only on Sundays: a potato cake filled with goat cheese and topped with a poached egg, served with ratatouille and lamb sausage.

I totally just made myself hungry.

Some of my other favorite dishes are the pain perdu, or French toast; the pate sandwich, which is served with cornichon, these delicious little pickles; and the risotto des legumes. The coffee is really good too.

I need to eat lunch soon.

library / weekends / writing — Comments Off on Now it’s really over
10
Dec 08

Now it’s really over

Information Technologies class, that is.

Last night we gave our site visit presentations, which was immensely boring. By the time class ended, our group still hadn’t gone. Most of us were relieved, thinking we’d go next week, but then the professor said, “Who wants to stay late and finish the presentations and not have class next week?” Everyone but us raised their hands.

In the end though it was good to get it overwith. I was the very last one, and so everyone appreciated my going quickly.

It’s over, it’s over! WOOHOO!!!

I think I still have my other class next week, but like I’ve said before, that is not stressful.

Last week I had a mild panic attack. While waiting for the subway, I ran into one of my former classmates. We talked about our schedules for next semester, and she mentioned an internship.

“Is that required?” I asked. I didn’t think it was but wasn’t sure.

“Yes,” she said. “To graduate, yes it’s required.”

This threw me for a loop. I had already planned my next two semesters, which would have me done by next summer. How could I fit in an internship?

On the train ride home, I kept muttering, “It can’t be required, I don’t remember seeing it with the requirements,” while MB made some kind suggestions about getting an internship at my company, although our only “library” is online.

To be sure, I emailed the adminsitrative office, and yay! an internship is only required for a museum certificate. Whew! Of course an internship would probably be better since I have no job experience. But it’s also 150 hours over a few weeks, and working full time, it’s just not feasible.

I also finally figured out how to subscribe to my department’s listserv. I had tried it a couple of times, to no avail, but it turns out I kept putting the wrong command. Dehr.

I’ve really missed out on a lot not being on the listserv, mainly scholarships. You’d think they’d make this kind of information more readily available. Last week in class someone congratulated someone else on a huge scholarship she got, and I felt so out of the loop that I 1) didn’t know she had gotten it, and 2) hadn’t known about the scholarship so that I could have applied for it! I actually have no idea what or who the scholarship was for; I’m just competitive that way.

~ ~ ~

This weekend, aside from doing the site visit for my other class and writing the paper, MB and I saw Synecdoche, New York. I can’t decide if it was good or not. It was definitely interesting and I was never bored, but I don’t know if that was because the whole time I was trying to figure out what was going on. Overall I think it was too self-indulgent.

We also braved the cold and managed to run some errands, like getting a curtain to put between the kitchen and rest of the apartment (ie, bedroom/living room/study, all in one!). Not that it bothers me, but MB is often up late praciticing or computering. The curtain doesn’t block all the light, but it does somehow improve the apartment to have that subtle separation. Also got a little space heater since our heating is erratic. The cold doesn’t bother me, but MB is freezing most of the time.

This weekend I won’t really have any homework, just a few articles to read for next Thursday. What will I do with myself, and over the next four weeks??? It’ll be the longest break I’ve had from school in a whole year.

Mainly I need to finish up my manuscript, that’s for sure. I’ve been “finishing” it for a good year now. Also, I need to follow up with the two agents I wrote to, namely my teacher’s, and write to a bunch more.

MB will still be on break so I hope we spend some weekends just walking around, like we did last winter, if the weather isn’t too bad.

family / friends / holidays / photography / weekends — 5 Comments
01
Dec 08

The long-ass weekend

Busy but fun.

Thursday
MB and I managed to get out of the house by 12:30 (that boy sleeps late but gets ready fast). For some reason I thought traveling on Thanksgiving Day wouldn’t be as bad, but Penn Station was still a madhouse! I guess Wednesday was worse, but there was still a line waiting to buy tickets all the way across the station. Luckily it moved pretty quickly.

The ride overall was fine. We were able to find two seats together and both had iPods to tune out annoying conversation. The only thing was people kept standing in the aisle instead of moving up a few cars and sitting their asses down. Got to NJ around 3:30 and spent the rest of the day eating: a light, late lunch, then Mongolian hotpot for dinner, then the apple pie we brought for dessert.

MB also spent most of the time helping my parents download these Korean soap operas. For years they’ve had dial-up but just got cable expressly for this purpose. Downloading the videos wasn’t bad, but my mom prefers to watch them on TV, so that involves burning the videos to DVD, which took HOURS AND HOURS. They had to be converted to something, then something else, then the actual burning. MB and my dad explained the whole process to my mother again and again, but she just kept asking, “Is it burning? Is it burning?”

By the next day, they were finally able to get a couple of DVDs done, but because of some weird glitch, the files were humungous so only one episode was able to fit on a single disc. MB and my brother both recommend that my parents get a Mac Mini, which we will probably get them for Christmas.

I tried to keep that a surprise. My dad kept saying he wanted to get the Mac, and I kept saying, “We’ll take care of it,” and my mother kept saying: “But it’s $800! $800!! $800!!!” Finally I had to come out and say, “WE WILL BUY IT FOR YOU FOR CHRISTMAS!” Jeez.

MB also spent some time fixing up my dad’s computer, removing files and programs he doesn’t need so hopefully it will run faster now.

Friday
More eating, lounging around, and messing with the computer. During the day, if my parents don’t have mah-jongg or karaoke plans, they watch game shows. There are so many! I’ve never really watched Deal or No Deal before, and got totally sucked in. The whole time I kept saying, “This is so dumb!” and yet I couldn’t stop watching.

We ended up leaving after dinner since MB was so determined to help my parents with their videos. They were EXTREMELY appreciative, and happy that we had stayed another meal.

We took a 7:15 train back, and although there were quite a few people, it was pretty quiet. I think everyone was tired.

At home we just lazed around, watching TV shows on Hulu.com. I still managed to stay up till 2, and MB till 4, which he has been doing since school let out.

Saturday
I wanted to get a bunch of stuff done before ES came into town, but I didn’t get up till 11. Luckily she came in a little later than planned so I had time to do laundry and clean the bathroom, yay!

ES was staying YP’s. After she got in, we hung out for a bit before ES and I headed over to my neck of the woods. She saw our place, MB demonstrated some music stuff as he does for all our guests, and we grabbed something to eat at our favorite Italian place.

Afterwards ES, YP, and I went to the movies (MB begged off, wanting to practice). We had wanted to see Australia or Bolt, but they were sold out. So we ended up seeing Quantum of Solace. It was pretty good – non-stop action – and of course Daniel Craig was sexy. But I thought the Bond girl was dull and couldn’t stop wondering what the heck “quantum of solace” meant (they never explain it or even talk about it, I think).

After the movie, we went over to YP’s and had some wine. Later MB came over too, needing a break from practicing. We had fun, yakking and laughing.

Sunday
Saturday was another late night, but Sunday I was up by 9 for our photo expedition. Unfortunately the weather was awful – cold, rainy, and windy. I brought an umbrella but no gloves (duh) and my brand new boots, I soon found out, were not waterproof.

Still, after breakfast, we sludged through the day (the theme was “LES” or Lower East Side), taking pictures when we were able to pry our frozen hands out of our pockets. We lasted about an hour before needing to head back inside. We chose Teany, which I pass all the time and have never tried.

I had a chai latte, which was delicious and gave me a total boost. I thought I didn’t like chai, but this Indian restaurant MB and I sometimes goes to serves it at the end of the meal, and I decided I liked it. The first chai I ever tried was from Starbuck’s, probably not a good benchmark.

YP had had enough wet, cold, picture-taking by then so we walked back to his area, and caught the train near his place to the Canstruction exhibit at the World Financial Center. By then ES and I had had enough of the weather too, and so were content to hang out there for the rest of the afternoon. In addition to the exhibit, there were a few stores open, and we both did some shopping. ES got some stuff for her parents, and I got a few shirts for MB.

When we were almost done with the exhibit, we both realized we were starving and had some sushi in the food court. It looked better than it tasted, but it was good enough.

Finally it was time to head back to YP’s so ES could pick up her stuff before heading out to Penn Station. She took the train there, and I walked home through the terrible, terrible weather. It was so windy and raining so hard! I was completely soaked and freezing by the time I got home.

I did not want to go out again so MB was sweet enough to run to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner. We had what we had Wednesday night again: bbq chicken, stuffing, and string beans. Yum!

Today
It was really hard getting up this morning, and difficult to focus on any actual work. And of course the weather today is just gorgeous! Almost 50 degrees, sunny, and NOT raining. Oh well.

MUST go to the gym.

library / weekends — 1 Comment
24
Nov 08

Glad for a short week

For some reason I had trouble sleeping last night. I think I slept way too much the night before, like 12 hours. I wasn’t up till 11.

This weekend was so cold, I didn’t want to leave the apartment. But on Saturday I braved the bitter temperatures and did my site visit at the New Museum.

We were supposed to put in three hours, but I was there only about 90 minutes. The Education Center of the museum is so tiny, and the museum itself isn’t very big. It’s not one of my favorite museums, to tell the truth, especially since I can’t get in for free.

I wrote my paper and presentation yesterday. Didn’t take very long. Now I’m just revising them, and will upload to our group website.

MB and I didn’t see any movies this weekend, if you can believe it. Sunday we took a walk up to Kiehl’s on 13th Street (we both needed product), and back. Later we went grocery shopping. It’s funny how Whole Foods can seem like a mad house, but then you get on line (the regular line, not the type-A express line), and there’s no one waiting.

What a boring post. Oh well.

family / food / friends / holidays / weekends / work — Comments Off on How did a whole week pass since my last post?
20
Nov 08

How did a whole week pass since my last post?

Lazy, I guess.

Last weekend
I had a fun time with my brother. I took Friday off and met up with D. at his hotel. His room was nice! The regular rooms are supposed to be shoebox size, but he got an upgrade and it was totally decent, big enough for two people. It was also very clean – hard wood floors, white bedding, very white bathroom. Quite Japanese in a way. The downstairs was all hip.

We had lunch at Sarabeth’s before walking up to The Whitney, which I haven’t been to in a long time. The only special exhibit they had was on Calder, which was pretty cool but too crowded. MB was supposed to meet us, but he got a late start and didn’t show up till we were almost done. But of course my brother and I had totally rushed through so it was good to look at the exhibits again.

Afterwards we had an early dinner – Italian – then went back downtown to show D. our place and neighborhood. We also got some drinks. I didn’t get quite so plastered this time. Nursed one vodka tonic and was fine.

The next day D. and I had lunch near his hotel. We picked a random Japanese place – well, not that random, he Yelped it first – and it was really good! It seemed more authentic than other places, and had a lot of good noodle choices. I got a curry noodle bowl with duck. It was yummy! In fact, it makes me hungry right now. After lunch we walked around a little before D. had to run off to get ready for his friend’s wedding.

Sunday I mostly worked on the usability report that was due for Information Technologies. It wasn’t difficult, just tedious. I kept getting bored and wasting time. But I got it done.

This week
Very quiet at work, as it has been for a while, though that might not last long. Now that my boss is fully transitioning to his new position, a lot of the communication-related stuff he did will fall into my lap, which is good because it means I’ll be needed.

Info Tech class on Tuesday sucked. It was really boring, then stressed me out because it made me realize how much work needed to be done (or redone) on our website. In fact, I woke up an hour before my usual wake up time on Wednesday, thinking about it. But it was good because I got a shit ton done (at work, haha). Now I *think* we’re in good shape. Or at least there’s nothing else I can do as webmaster before my group turns in their stuff to me.

Last night I got my hair cut, yay! It was driving me crazy being all mullet-like (I exaggerate, but it felt like a mullet). I asked Yoli to make the back very short but leave the top longer. Now I love my hair! It’s rather like Twiggy’s.

Afterwards I shopped a little and ended up buying these short Born boots for $90 (25% off). That makes five pairs of boots now. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I keep trying to find comfortable boots but haven’t had much luck. I have a brown pair from Clark’s with heels that are too high, a black pair with high heels, a black pair from Clark’s that are too narrow (maybe I should stop buying boots from Clark’s), and an old winter pair.

I think I can get rid of the old winter pair, which I’ve had for years. And hopefully these new ones will be comfortable and sturdy enough fro walking around the city, which MB and I do A LOT. I’ve been wearing my Keds, which are great, but I want more wintery ones. I tested the new boots out last night and they seem comfy. Time will tell.

Tonight I have my other class, which is relaxed if boring. And I’m glad it’s not raining! It rained all last week, which made traveling the city a pain.

This weekend I need to do my site visit for Info Tech. I picked the New Museum, which should have a lot of interesting technology. Although it’s not due till 12/2, I’ll be glad to get it out of the way before Thanksgiving weekend, which will be busy between going to the ‘rents’ and seeing friends (yay!).

family / library / TV / weekends — Comments Off on A Jean-Claude kicking, dim sum eating, drunk gay-zombie-movie watching kind of weekend
10
Nov 08

A Jean-Claude kicking, dim sum eating, drunk gay-zombie-movie watching kind of weekend

After the election last week, I was barely able to do anything except look at news stories and videos and cry, cry, cry, in a good way of course.

This weekend was kinda busy. Friday night MB and I saw JCVD, which was actually pretty good! I’ve never been a huge Van Damme fan, though I did enjoy Timecop, but the movie was well-done. Of course MB loved it. Jean-Claude was supposed to be there that night, but for some reason couldn’t make it.

Saturday I headed out to NJ. My brother’s in town this week, and will be in the city in a few days, but my mom wanted me to come home so that we could all be together. My brother’s plane wasn’t getting in till later that night so that afternoon I just lazed around. Read, took a nap, then actually got some homework done. And of course ate, then ate again when he got in around 10.

Sunday morning I was up fairly early, around 8:30, and got more homework and a tiny bit of writing done. Then we all went to the mall, the usual Jersey thing. My brother got some shirts; I got a brown hat to go with my new green and brown scarf. Then we got some dim sum, which was tasty but very salty.

I got back into the city around 6, and MB and I went to meet YP to see Otto, or Up with Dead People. We had drinks beforehand, luckily, because the movie was – I can’t even say it was awful. It was just really bizarre, and not in a David Lynch way. We expected it to be a zombie movie with some gayness, but actually it was gay porn with one zombie, who may or may not have actually been a zombie, and the parts between the porn parts were pretty boring.

But like I said I was drunk (from one drink!) so I didn’t care much, except now I’m totally hungover.

At home MB and I watched the new 30 Rock on Hulu, which was HILARIOUS (Liz Lemon: “Madonna’s arms are CRAZY!”), and a Burn Notice, which we are enjoying a lot.

Today I need to finish some reading for school tomorrow. Thursday I have a paper due but I already finished it. Wednesday I’m leaving work early to see a taping of the Conan O’Brien show with my brother (connections!), and I’m taking Friday off to hang with my bro again.

I guess I should try to do *some* work today.

library / news / weekends — Comments Off on Vote However You Like
03
Nov 08

Vote However You Like

I am loving this video.

The choreography is off the hook!

And yeah, you should totally vote, no matter your choice.

~ ~ ~

MB has finals next week so he spent most of the weekend practicing, which was fine by me since I had a paper to do.

Friday I got out early – last half-day Friday for a while – and after an afternoon and evening of lazing around, reading, and wasting time on the internet, MB and I saw a midnight showing of My Name Is Bruce. It was funny in a dumb way, and really you’ll only like it if you’re a Bruce Campbell fan, which MB is. A pleasant surprise was that Bruce Campbell was there! He just sauntered in before the show started and answered some questions. He was hilarious, acting like we were all freaks for being there at midnight and calling out dumb questions.

Saturday I spent the afternoon at the library, researching my paper. MB practiced the whole day, only stopping to eat and watch a little TV.

Sunday I worked on my paper, which took FOREVER. It wasn’t difficult, just tedious. More practicing for MB. We did take a walk that afternoon, and finally bought a bookcase to replace the one that MB broke months ago. Now we’ll have a place for our books currently on the floor and overflowing from the other bookcase. Yay!

This morning for work we had a global webcast, and it went swimmingly. My first high profile gig.

family / food / friends / weekends — Comments Off on No clever introduction. Launching right into a weekend recap.
27
Oct 08

No clever introduction. Launching right into a weekend recap.

No clever title either, apparently.

Friday
Friday night MB and I went to that jazz/house/disco band performance. It was pretty fun and a lot less of a pain than seeing his classmate perform heavy metal Wednesday night. We had time to eat dinner, and even dessert. And we did *not* have to wait outside.

The music was fun but a lot of the audience was annoying. It seemed to be mostly gay men and straight women. We were sitting at a table against the wall, and when we went to the bathroom, had to step over a lot of people. When I did, these women just stared at me. Like, what? Is this a private party or something? Then when MB did, one of the women said loudly to her friend, “People should really say excuse me when they walk by!” Oh gee, maybe people shouldn’t sit with their legs all splayed out in a very crowded club right in front of the bathroom.

Then there was one woman who seemed to be swimming in a sea of gay men. She had on this annoying silver scarf, and kept dancing right up to the tiny stage, putting a thumbs up or clapping like a robot right in the lead singer’s face. Then she’d turn around and blow kisses at one of her gays sitting at the table behind her, and do horrible vogue-wannabe movements with her arms. Then suddenly stop stock still and start Blackberrying madly. Then start dancing crazily again, over and over.

I wanted to kill her.

At least the music was fun.

Saturday
Exhausting overall. At about 1 I went to pick up my parents from Penn Station. From there we hopped the subway to the theater. Chicago’s been out FOREVER, but there were still a zillion people waiting to get in.

This is the fourth time I’ve seen this show. The first was many years ago in Boston with ES. Then I saw it through work for free, and then I think ES and I saw it again because we got cheap tickets. All the performances, including this weekend’s, were good, but the best had to be the time both Bebe Neuwirth and Ann Reinking were in it (I think that was the time through work).

This performance was very good. We had great seats – orchestra right – and most importantly, my parents really enjoyed it, my dad in particular. He kept saying how “professional” everyone was. Plus we were so close we could see the sweat glistening on the dancers’ bodies, including the amazing pecs of this one guy. *squeeze*

After the show we headed over to the restaurant, where MB would meet us, having decided to forego the musical portion of the day. It was a challenge because suddenly it was all rainy and windy. And my parents walked really slowly. I tried really hard to slow down, but they would still end up way behind me.

I wanted to take my parents somewhere other than Asian food so I picked Kellari Taverna, this Greek place I *think* I went to through work. The food was pretty good. For appetizers we had fried octopus in this delicious vinegary sauce, and fried zucchini and eggplant “chips.” Then we just got a couple of pounds of fish – I forget which ones, I let MB do the choosing – and a couple of sides, potatoes and green beans. For dessert we shared a chocolate souffle, which was incredible.

The food was good, but a little overpriced. Still I was happy to treat my parents. Most people have big banquets when they turn 70, and spend thousands of dollars. But my dad wanted something low-key.

After dinner we took my parents back to Penn Station, made sure they knew what train to look out for, and headed home.

Although I was pooped it was still early, not even 9. We thought about going to see the midnight showing of Monty Python’s Holy Grail, but then MB noticed that Swedish vampire movie we’ve been wanting to see was out.

It was GOOD. The vampire stuff was very subtle, and we noticed that they didn’t show a lot of violence, which I think is how it is with lot of European films. For instance, a guy would be slitting another guy’s throat, and they’d only show the guy from behind, but it was just as menacing and disturbing.

The people behind us were, guess what, ANNOYING. They kept making loud, snarky comments all during the previews. Now I know the previews aren’t the movie, but they are like mini movies so everyone should shut the fuck up. Then when the actual movie started, which it did so silently, with no music, against a scene of softly falling snow against a dark sky, the girl behind us goes, “It’s so QUIET.” Really? Do you think it’s cuz YOU’RE IN A MOVIE? Luckily they all shut up once the film started.

Sunday
I was semi-productive in the morning, getting a load of laundry done. That afternoon I headed out to meet YP to see The Secret Life of Bees. I actually had no idea what the movie was about. It wasn’t bad, of the Fried Green Tomatoes/Steel Magnolias type. Some melodrama, some stereotypes, and lots of crying.

At home I found that MB had bought another guitar (!!!). That makes four. Oh well, he really loves it and a got a good deal.

After getting some food – noodles at the Lower East Side Noodle Bar – we had a quiet evening in. There was a new It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Hulu (that show is frigging hilarious), plus we watched the pilot episode of Sons of Anarchy (enh) and an old Family Guy.

~ ~ ~

In other news, I decided to start a movie blog, in addition to my book blog, to keep track of all the movies I see. I may or may not add very short reviews, or at least one word ratings (eg, Sucked, Just Okay, Pretty Good, Awesome). At the very least, the movie posters are cool to roll through.

family / library / weekends / writing — Comments Off on Wow, so lazy
20
Oct 08

Wow, so lazy

I have been so lazy about blogging lately. This is what happens when I get caught up in my writing.

I think I wrote that I attended a “how to sell your first book” seminar, and that the instructor, a former teacher of mine, suggested I contact two other former teachers for advance blurbs for my agent letter. Well, I finally sent the revised letter about a week ago. One teacher returned a blurb that night, while I just got the other one. Yay! I didn’t think I’d ever get that second one. Problem is now the letter is too long. Time to cut.

I don’t remember if I already wrote about this, but I decided to restructure my book (again!). Right now it sort of alternates between what I’m calling the China and adultery stories, and while the China sections were pretty much chronological, the adultery sections were not. In a way it’s interesting because certain events resonate, but it was too confusing.

So I’m putting the adultery sections in chronological order too. But the whole books open with a pivotal scene so that readers will know immediately what happened. It’s not about maintaining suspense but about exploring why this and other events happened. Also, putting these sections in order is also helping me fil in the blanks with additional anecdotes and whatnot.

I’ve also been somewhat busy with schoolwork. I had a paper due last week, and a short presentation to give this Thursday, based on a resource. I was going to look at the book on Sunday, but it was at a branch of the library that was closed. :( So I have to go at lunch today. I totally could have done it on Friday or Saturday, but I was feeling lazy.

MB is deep in music-school-world now. This weekend he got a keyboard, 61 keys. It’s fun to have a keyboard in the apartment. He’s been encouraging me to play again and bought a beginner’s classical book, saying that it was for himself to learn out of. But he totally knew I’d want to start playing those pieces, which is what I did most of yesterday afternoon. Now I want to pick up some old piano books from my parents’ house.

The only thing about the keyboard is that you can’t play louder and softer. In that way Bach is more fun to play since he wrote for the harpsichord, which also was not adjustable in terms of volume.

This weekend we saw Quaruntine, which was pretty dumb but also pretty scary. Why is people behaving like animals so disturbing? This upcoming weekend I’m taking my parents to see Chicago for my dad’s birthday. It’ll be my fourth time but I don’t mind since it’s for my dad who has never seen a Broadway musical before, and it’s one I really like. Plus I got a special deal through my credit card, $100+ tickets for $60! Orchestra seats.

Okay, work time.

friends / library / rant and/or rave / weekends — 2 Comments
07
Oct 08

Venting, and an update

I hate my information technologies class.

We have a group assignment due today, basically a group web page. It doesn’t have to be 100% complete but it does need to be in web format.

No problem – it took me less than an hour to do it. But that’s the problem: it took ME, by myself, less than an hour to do it.

I’m no martyr. I mean, I volunteered to be “webmaster,” mostly by default, but the way this class is being taught makes no sense whatsoever. Instead of practicing HTML in class, the professor lectures about it and we read about it, but we never actually do it.

That’s all well and good as an introduction, but our assignments, ie what we get GRADED on, are web pages! For me it’s no problem. Our page is really simple and I do simple HTML for my job. But for those who have never done it before, all they’ll do is take what I’ve created and change the text. So unless they work really hard on their own outside of class, they’ll probably never learn to do even simple HTML coding.

Then again, maybe they will. In addition to the group page, we all have individual pages that link to pages that house our assignments. I’ve created the basic templates and now they need to go in and replace the verbiage, which forces you to try to understand what’s going on with the code. I’m definitely not going to do it for other people. They need to do it themselves.

You know what else gets my goat? Last night we were supposed to meet as a group to tie up loose ends before today’s presentation of our page. Only 3, including me, out of 6 showed up. One I knew couldn’t make it, though she was totally lame with her last minute excuse of, “Oh, I thought I could get out of class but I can’t – I owe everyone ice cream!!!” Yeah cuz ice cream’s gonna get the work done. One had a legitimate excuse of being stuck in traffic and was very apologetic. One just “forgot.”

*Sigh.* I don’t know why professors think group assignements are a good idea, especially for those of us who have been working. I mean, hello, I’ve worked in a “team” for a good 15 years, I don’t need a refresher.

My other class is a little boring, but at least I feel like I’m learning. Who knew there was such a process around helping people with their research questions?

For my last two semesters, I’m taking all traditional library courses. No more of this tech bullshit that I can learn on the job or read out of a book, or that I already know just from playing around on the web.

~ ~ ~

This weekend we thought we didn’t have anything planned, aside from a Margaret Cho show with YP and some of his friends on Saturday, but it ended up busy anyway.

MB forgot one of his friends was in town so at the last minute on Saturday, we ended up having lunch with him and his girlfriend, then taking them around SoHo and the West Village. It was fun. Both friend and girlfriend were really nice with good senses of humor. (You’d think that’d be more common but it’s not.)

After that we had just about an hour before meeting YP and his friend for Korean dinner. On that very day there was the first ever Korean Day Parade and Festival, so it was madness in Koreatown. The restaurant YP’s friend, who’s Korean, originally picked had a super long wait. Luckily she was able to find another one with no wait at all.

The food was good. Though it’s hard to go wrong with bibimbap and spicy tofu soup.

Margaret Cho was performing for one night at Radio City so the sidewalk outside was craziness! But once we sat, we noticed lots of empty seats. Weird. As always, she was hilarious. Lots of sex talk with a dash of mother impressions. Plus this guy was a guest. You know I’d never heard of that “shoes” video till I went to another one of Margaret Cho’s shows last year.

It wasn’t even 10 by the time we got out, so MB and I had energy to see a midnight showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I haven’t seen that quite as many times as other movies that have played at that theater (eg, The Shining, Spirited Away) so it was really fun. The special effects seem so cheesy compared to now. And Harrison Ford was hot! I’d forgotten.

Sunday was a practicing music day for MB and a shopping day for me. I need pants! but didn’t have any luck. I did manage to buy some other stuff I needed, including a shower curtain. At home I took the opportunity of a temporarily shower free tub to clean the bathroom. Yay, clean bathroom!

That night I finally got my schoolwork organized and realized that I’ve fallen behind in my reading. But now I’m all caught up. This upcoming weekend will be all about homework. I have assignments due Tuesday and Thursday.

It’s getting chillier and chillier. Yesterday I bought some sweaters from Barami, buy one get one free. But the turtlenecks, which I didn’t try on at the store, threaten to choke me so I need to exchange them for regular sweaters. Since moving and getting rid of old stuff, I feel like I have practically no clothes.

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