every single night, the same arrangement

just got home from seeing the Buffy Musical - Once More With Feeling... the singalong. it was AWESOME. we sat in the front row which meant that i got a drycleaning shirt and got to dance to the mustard song! amazing!

yeah. i'm a huge nerd... but so was everyone at the egyptian tonight. well, everyone except for my date, who was actually my ride home from the cabiri show, and whom i bamboozled into coming even though he'd never watched much buffy. i think he had fun. i certainly did.

quickie

1) still not done moving. aaaargh. i'm almost done, i promise... just a goodwill/salvation army/dumpster run and maybe 2 things to come to my new place. then i give them the keys and say goodbye to that old place in the u district. and then they give me my deposit back, which i am very much looking forward to.

2) i have found myself involved with a rather elaborate stage production, going on this weekend. my friend john, whom i met in genome informatics this past quarter, is evidently the director of an aerial dance troupe that does "performative mythology". and i have to say, the show is fucking rad. sorry guys, it's sold out (has been for like a month, in fact)... so you'll have to take my word for it. but seriously cool. i'm not contributing in any meaningful way, because i just showed up yesterday, but i am actually able to help occasionally (rather than just get in the way) and i've met a bunch of new cool people. which is always good. they have me working the dressing room during quick changes - handing out costumes, hanging things up, pinning, zipping... cake. plus it gets me into the shows for free (though i had actually already bought a ticket)...

master of all he surveys

i love capitol hill

one more thing:

09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0

upon walking home from the bar, largely sober and happy

as i am walking home from the bar tonight, i feel almost like i am in another city, somewhere more cosmopolitan, more european. i've been transported to somewhere more urban and complex, more storefronts and apartments and more people. it's a strange dissociative feeling, like i have teleported to another time or place, somewhere in another life. i feel strangely like i'm in prague, or berlin, but at the same time, i know where i am and where i am going. and as i walk home over streets i've never walked, i know precisely where to go. unfamiliar, yet strangely perfect, like this really is home.

stupid design

:D

(via pharyngula)

i forget that there's a bike beneath me

it feels a little like flying. cruising down the trail, becoming one with the outdoors. i can't figure out how i survived this long without a bike.

the only problem i have with the new bike (predictably) is the saddle: it sucks. it takes about 10 minutes of riding before my seat is hurting. it's ironic that the saddle on the old bike is more comfortable than the one on the new bike, even though the old saddle is, as far as i know, stock on that 1970's bike. how funny would that be, to switch out the saddle on my brand new surly for the one on a 30-year-old sekai... heheheh.

mmmm. yes. do like riding. do want more please.

SURLY!!!

*grin*

i discovered the real reason cyclists wear gloves. it's so when you completely bite it (usually in front of at least 5 people) you don't scuff up your hands.

of course i had to fall at least once, since it's the first day i've had the bike. i almost fell on broadway, but i caught myself on some dude's car. then i got to the corner of boylston and olive and realized i couldn't start going uphill from a dead stop in the gear i was in, and didn't want to go downhill away from home, and the street turned into an alley if i went straight, so i decided to turn around. and i didn't get my left foot out of the pedal soon enough and i just sprawled out on the street. yes, in front of several people. sigh. but i just bounced back up and went on my way... unscuffed even! hard to believe. but it was from a dead stop. so i'm just not quite coordinated enough with the clipless pedals yet. i'll get better i'm sure...

food is expensive

i've been so spoiled living right by a trader joe's... everything at the QFC by my new place is about 25% more expensive (at least)! i rarely spent more than $30 on my weekly TJ's run, and that was when i really stocked up and bought beer or wine and maybe fish or meat. today, i spent $28, and i got none of the above... just produce and yogurt and a few other things... yow.

then again, i'm saving $190 a month on rent by not staying in that old place... something tells me i won't spend *that* much more on food.

first night

so i have maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of my stuff up here in the new place, and i'm in for the night. i don't have a bed, so it'll be all camping stylee, but i just kinda wanted to get a feel for the place at night. i left my kitty at the old place, since i haven't moved the bed or the couch yet, and i figured it'd be better to let her be surrounded by familiar things rather than running around all freaked out while i try to move a bed and a couch in here.

things i like about the new place:
1) location, location, location.
2) efficient stylings of a studio.
3) rad 1960's architecture.
4) POOL! heated swimming pool in the basement!
5) tons and tons of closet space.

downsides:
1) small. tiny-ass kitchen - it's just like SINK STOVE FRIDGE. not much counter space; even less cabinet space.
2) single-paned windows.*
3) ...

*fortunately, the building is heated by boiler, not by electricity, so heating costs won't be sky high in the winter... it might be a bit drafty though.

anyway, back to assembling furniture, and then probably swimming. woohoo!

yay!

the place is mine! i get to sign the lease tomorrow!

one more.

7. dude. cake. who's up for it?

more (or less) quick

5. i put $300 down on a shiny new surly today. it should be mine next wednesday... being the picky customer that i am, i'm having them swap out the frame on the complete bike they had on the floor for the slightly smaller frame they had hanging from the ceiling. it turns out i have weird proportions (very long torso/arms, shorter legs) and a bianchi wouldn't really work for me. it's cool though, the cross-check is a very solid bike for a decent price. here's hoping it'll last me years... i need to invest in some serious locks and chains now.

6. tessa... ask me sometime about the job i am applying for. i don't want to post it on the blog, but you'd be totally excited about it.

quick things.

1. why did i step over horse shit on my way to bartell's this afternoon? really, there was horse crap on the sidewalk on 45th. what gives?

2. moving. i just filled 2 boxes in the span of 10 minutes. that was the easy stuff though... need to go through/get rid of lots of stuff.

3. moving... to capital hill! i'll be just a few blocks off Broadway. sweetness! and for less than i'm paying now! double sweetness!

4. in case you hadn't noticed, tons of new flickr pictures. i ordered a pro account, so expect photographic diarrhea. except awesome, not gross.

shutterbug

my new camera got here last night, but i haven't quite figured out how to use it or taken any pictures worth posting yet*. i'll try to snap some shots at graduation, but it's raining*, so the camera might stay in my bag. but it's the sweetness... manual aperture, shutter speed, ISO, even manual focus. 15x optical zoom with image stabilization. 8.1 megapixels.

*okay, here's one.

a portrait of frida, with macro mode on, and relatively long shutter. hopefully i'll get good at using this thing... i'm excited :)

**it's like raaaaiiaaaiin, on your graduation day... or something.

food for thought

watch this video. now.

watch some of the other ones on that site, too. then go to worldchanging.com and learn more.

kicking it hipster style

i looked at the most awesome apartment today... i have my fingers totally crossed. trying not to get my hopes up, since there were tons of people looking at it, but i think i might have gotten my application in first.... so i might have a shot. it was this funky, cute little loft studio in old town ballard, in a building from 1902. it's a bit farther out, but by bike it is 20 minutes to the lab, on the trail or flat streets the whole way.

it's a tiny apartment, maybe 400 square feet, but it has super-high ceilings and a loft above more than half the apartment, meaning it has plenty of storage space. exposed brick walls... non-square floorplan (it's a triangular building)... climbing a ladder to get in bed at night... it just felt like home somehow. so i'm hoping he calls in the next day or so. that would make my life so much less stressful right now. and i'd have an awesome apartment. something tells me the kitty would like a loft to prowl.

cross your fingers for me... i have to have this apartment.

i'm done.

well, i'm not done done, I have a paper due on Friday, but it's for a 500 level class and thus doesn't count; i'm done with my undergrad. FINALLY.

though the paper is definitely proving to be a pain in the ass. i've got everything i need conceptually, i think, but the words just aren't coming together. it's annoying.

so close, and yet so far.

wow... commenters!

ok, this post about bikes has created by far the biggest discussion ever on my blog. thanks for all the advice guys... i think i am just going to go into freerange and see what they can do for me. (after graduation.) (and after john recovers from whooping cough(!).

ps jared and tessa, i saw you on the trail at the 25th crossing last night, brian was driving me home with my new shiny.

FAUX News

I guess all black people look the same to FOX... check out this clip of them announcing the indictment of Congressman Bill Jefferson on corruption charges... the video in the background is of John Conyers, not Bill Jefferson. One black congressman, another black congressman... what's the diff?



They aired a weaksauce apology the next day, but didn't mention anything about who it really was in the video, or what the video was of... FAUXkers. (I guess they couldn't actually mention that it was footage of the AG* testimony, since that would be, like, fair or balanced or something.)

* Has anyone else noticed that Alberto Gonzales' initials also stand for Attorney General? And Bush's secretary of education is Margaret Spellings. I think he picks these people based solely on their names, or nicknames, and not at all on their qualifications.

whew

biochem final: exactly like the practice finals. good thing i spent last night poring over the practice finals and their solutions. I think I ended up doing ok (by my standards, which = very well by anyone else's standards)

thinking about buying this bike. it was recommended to me by a friend... never heard of the brand, but he knows his bikes, so i trust him. or maybe this one. according to another friend, "you can't go wrong with bianchi." but the jamis comes in a female-specific frame, which is an advantage. plus it looks like it's got the horizontal brakes, which i kind of like... i think after graduation i'll go into a dealer and get fit. see what they have to say.

tuesday

biochem final this morning... boy will it feel good to be done with it. i fear that i blew off classes this quarter due to senioritis and lab work. so hopefully the biochem final won't kick my ass *too* much.

t minus 4 days... huh?

i think i might go to the apple store and buy myself an imac this afternoon. it'd certainly make writing my paper more fun/easier. i'm going to get the 20" one.

another weekend come and gone...

t minus 6 days until i'm a college graduate, a bachelor of science. weird.

i signed up to take the GRE in august. i need to get my ass in gear and start studying for that. bleh standardized tests.

two finals and one paper, and then i am officially done. paper's due on friday, but with a little luck i'll have it done before that. (not that i've gotten *anything* done this weekend, i've been kind of a waste. i blame the heat and the senioritis. i'm ready to be done.

OMG

I CAN HAV PLAY NOW PLS?

(via

severus, please.

Phoenix Rising, the convention of All Things Hogwarts, gets a great writeup at Salon. makes me kind of wish i could have been there.

it also makes me want to get a costume and dress up for the 5th movie/7th book this July... also, to go to a Parselmouths show sometime this summer. because what could be more fun than watching a couple of 19-year-old girls dressed up like Slytherins sing about how great it is to be wicked?

also, just in case there was any doubt:

I'm a Ravenclaw!