Clothes

I am beginning to feel a little ashamed. My parents brought me another dresser this weekend because I have three boxes I can not unpack. My apartment does not have a lot of storage, so I have no where to store sheets, blankets, and towels. That aside, when I get everything shifted around, I will have two dressers full of clothes, a 3-shelf thing with my linens, and a long closet rod in my "closet" (i.e. storage space) full. This feels excessive to me.

My friend astutely noted that being a grad student in New England requires a complex wardrobe. I have gym clothes, summer clothes, winter clothes, beach stuff, ski stuff, dress clothes, non-dress clothes, and lab clothes. I have relative equal amounts of a lot of this stuff. I do not have to dress up for work, but I am involved in student council so I try to look somewhat presentable most of the time. I also keep around some of the crappy stuff for just lab. :-)

Pet peeves

I really dislike the shortcuts people have started taking with text messages and emails.

Working on a college campus and interacting with undergrads regularly, there seems to be a general decline of correspondence etiquette. I understand that texting takes a long time and abbreviations are helpful. I am not sure they are so necessary when writing an email though. Some of the things undergrads write are incredible: Hey Prof, when you gunna be available, etc. Spell it out properly, for crying out loud. And FYI, hay is for horses.

What makes this irk me even more is that recently MY use of text messaging and online chatting has increased, and I have seen my use of proper capitalization, punctuation, and etiquette declining. NOT COOL.

Tell me it's not true

Is it true that calico cats are moody?

Lexi and I had our first fight on her second night here. She was still adjusting, sure, but come one. She was scratching on a chair so I tapped her nose a couple of times. Literally. A tap. And the little brat swatted at me.

I have since learned that she has a spot somewhere on her chest where she does not like to be pet. I am fine with the pseudo bite if she does not want to pet me somewhere. The follow-up swat is unacceptable though. Um. Hello? Who is bigger?

She is really very sweet. And I am a pushover. I was not going to do the wet food thing until she meowed at me soooooo much the first morning that I had to. And then one night she was meowing at me in the kitchen AGAIN so I HAD to give her more wet food, of course. Just a bite. She just gets a bite and has been eating her dry food.

If I stop petting her on the couch, after a few minutes she looks at me and meows. Like, "HELLO! You're supposed to be PETTING ME." So I do for a few minutes, then go back to my computer and we repeat the whole process.

She loves the little fur mice that she can pick up by the tail and throw around.

She is still not a fan of being picked up yet.

She has found a box of towels I have not unpacked that is right in the sun with a view of the street where she spends most of the day.

I still have not dared to cut her nails. I think I will have the vet do it to save my hands...

Not enough hours in a day

In case you all were not aware or missed the memo: there are not enough hours in the day. I REALLY want to get back on my schedule I had going last spring into the summer. I was getting up just before 6, heading to the gym, getting to work around 8, getting home by 6, in bed by 10. I mean, how can that schedule be bad? Tonight would have been a perfect night to get back into it. I just need to get my lunch together and get in bed super early (i.e. 8:30-ish) so I can get my exhausted butt out of bed in the morning. Instead, I got home, made something quick dinner (Annie's Mac N' Cheese - YUM), picked up a bit, am online for a course I am taking, watching How I Met Your Mother, making out a grocery list and clipping coupons, and ultimately skipping the Patriots game (sad), and probably will not be in bed before 10:00.

So if there were about 3 or 4 more hours in each day, I think it would be perfect.

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

So what would you say if someone you met a couple of months ago, and had been talking with/texting/messaging with online suggested that he come visit. Then he figures out it is a 13 hour drive, and the logistics of flying or taking a train. Then he drives 2 hours to get on a train for about 18 hours to visit for 3 1/2 days, only to do the train and car drive in reverse. And he keeps mentioning that he is looking forward to getting away and visiting and relaxing for the weekend. You know, hypothetically speaking?

Meet Lexi *Updated already!*

I got a kitty! This is Lexi. She's been checking out the apartment. I thought it might take her a while to warm up to me, but she just had a little love session on the couch within an hour of coming home. She keeps talking to me too.

*Update* I think she's settle in.

GROSS?!?!?!?!

I am a neat person. Clean even. Just ask around.

The first few weeks I was in my new apartment were creature free. Why would I have creatures if I am clean?

The day after my Come-see-my-new-place party, I found three ants. They were big. I smooshed them and got nervous

It was either that same day or soon there after when I found four silverfish in my bathroom. They were all in the tub, so I assume they came up through the drain.

I bought some bug killer stuff, which I sprayed in the tub. I bought ant traps, which I put in strategic locations.

Today? Another tiny little baby silverfish in the tub that I smooshed.

Just now? I smooshed a freakin' house centipede thing and put its twitching body parts in the toilet?! I would post a picture of what these things look like, but they are gross. Google "house centipede", and you will see what I mean. We have these things at work because it is a really old building, and we have cockroaches. These centipedes are supposed to eat other bugs and hence eat the cockroaches. Really, I would rather not have any bugs than have bugs that eat the bugs. I'm just sayin'.

Too much excitement to handle

I have a new baby.
I also just got my internet connected at home.

I also will be getting a new cell phone in the next few days because I reached the 2-year mark with my phone plan again so it is free.

I also still live in my new apartment alone.

I also am looking at adopting a kitty. I already have a litter pan, litter, litter scoop, and toys. I am committed.

Hmmm...I think that's it for now. Look out though - as soon as I transfer all my files to my new baby, I am going to be a machine of a grad student writing up my work and graduating...or posting regularly to my blog and visiting others' blogs more regularly, whichever seems more enjoyable.

I totally called it

My friend and I were talking recently about how we both find Korean men particularly attractive in general. Yes, Koreans. Yes, it is possible to tell what East Asian country someone comes from.

I was tutoring last night and this cute nervous undergrad comes and asks about getting help with his paper. As he walked away, I thought, "Huh. He's pretty cute. I bet he's Korean."

I was right. :-)

Singing along...

I've fallen many times in love and every time
it's been with the wrong man
Still I'm out there living one day at a time
and doing the best I can
Cuz we've all made mistakes
that seem to lead us astray
But every time they helped to get us where we are today
And that's a good a place as any
and it's probably where we're best off anyway

Happy Fall!

My heat came on for the first time this morning. Previously, my apartment would be just not cold enough for it to come on, so it made it a little easier to get out of bed.

It definitely is fall. I have been apple picking twice. Where jeans and sweaters and vests because it is chilly. I have been baking up a whole bunch of fall-type stuff. Apple pie. Apple oatmeal muffins. These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies.
They are pretty darn good. For the record, they are pumpkin because it is fall, not because by adding pumpkin you take away butter.