Thursday, December 30, 2004

OK so I've avoided posting on here for awhile, but I have a good excuse! Here at home (in Oregon) the computer is in the laundry room, and when that washer goes on spin cycle it feels like a 5.5 earthquake! Here's what I've been up to:

At MHC:

I did indeed finish all my work, and I didn't give up sleeping. The last English class was fun, and I turned in all my Spanish work. I started feeling sick I think on Tuesday, so Weds. I just met with Prof. Moran, slept, and got a little work done. I made a 2.5 page outline for a 5 page paper -- I think it went OK... Thursday I felt better, which was lucky, because the Winter Social was that evening. The ESB arrived early to decorate and set up the refreshments (which were yummy), and we hauled an old bookcase down into the Cassani Room to serve as a podium (we forgot to order one). It was so lovely... Jaime helped me introduce people (thank God), and Prof. Davis read from Sedaris and Louise Erdrich. Prof. Hill read something from Thomas Mann involving icesicles, and Prof. Stephens read selections of poetry. Prof. Berek talked to us later about a course he's teaching next semester, and Prof. Stephens's daughter was so so adorable while running about. Maryanne said the next day that things came together well, so I'm happy! I went back to my room and was a tad bit sad about that being my last winter social at MHC.

Anyway, I wrote the criminology paper, and studied for the American Lit. exam. Friday I took the early test, turned everything in, wrote thank-you cards for my profs, endured a tense lunch at Wilder, and then packed that afternoon. D. Becky was able to bring me to the bus station, so we had a good chat and I realized I'm not very good at getting out of my routines and just traveling and living by the moment! This was prompted by talking about Becky's plans for travel, and of course the things she's already done which scare me (especially the mice in the tent part). Said goodbye to Becky and it finally sank in that I was done with the semester... ack. Hopped on the bus to Boston, dragged my luggage from the terminal to the T, and then met up with Andrew at the Porter T stop, where he patiently waited for me while my bus was late! That evening we ate a real dinner (yay no more dining hall food for awhile!) and relaxed. We watched Elf, which was awesome. Saturday Andrew's father arrived fairly early, and we went with Jon and Jen to the aquarium for the afternoon. Saw Myrtle the turtle again, and the puffer fish. Then we wandered around in Quincy Market, and searched the North End for this particular Italian restaurant that Jon had been to before. I had chicken and pasta and artichokes and veggies in some sort of chicken and wine sauce... yums. Very relaxing and wonderful, esp. after finals and turning in 5 grad school apps!

Afterwards we went to Mike's for pastries, which we later devoured at Jon & Jen's apartment. Chocolate cake with cheesecake... sooo good. We were really tired that evening... The next morning we woke up fairly early to meet up with Andrew's dad at the Neighborhood for breakfast. It's this cool place that serves American/ Portuguese breakfast -- the cream of wheat was AMAZING. Creamy and with cinnamon... I could eat that every morning.

Back home I napped and Andrew finished another application. Then I worked on my applications while he went off to buy sushi supplies to use with his new rice cooker (from his dad for Hanukkah). The first roll was a little sloppy, but the second was professional looking -- even Kory thought so. We tried to keep up the theme with miso soup and salad with rice vinegar. Some difficulty over the avocados -- we ended up with a "slimcado" which was huge and with like 40% less fat than a normal avocado. Yums =)

That Monday was consumed with grad school applications and packing. Early Tuesday morning I dropped off three applications at the post office and we were on our merry way to the airport. Luckily we got a ride there, it was so much less stressful than taking the T would have been. We played travel scrabble, watched an episode of the OC, napped, watched some SNL, watched A Shark Tale, and relaxed... best plane ride ever!

At the airport we met up with Mum & Mer, and stopped by at Grammy's on the way home. Arriving at the new house was amazing... And exploring it! Last time I was here it was just a framework. Everything was perfect...I love it! My room has a skylight, the living room windows capture a great view of Mt Hood... ahh!

So since Andrew has been here, we've been trying to keep busy. That night I remember eating enchiladas and unpacking a bit after exploring the house. The next day I got the metal bar in my mouth removed (8 years I wore that after my braces were removed!) and Mer took Andrew on a hike while I had my teeth cleaned. Hmm. I think Mer's blog is probably more accurate at this point, but I remember we went shopping in the Dalles one day before Christmas, and I wrapped a bunch of stuff. We trimmed the tree to Amahl and the Night Visitors (see Mer's blog -- Licorice! Licorice!), went to Arlene's for Christmas Eve (MacKenzie was adorable dancing to her singing guitar), had a quiet Christmas here at home and dinner with Grammy, visited my Dad, went up to Timberline Lodge and had hot cider, etc... Two days ago we went on a hike up at Laurance Lake, watched Dodgeball... hmmm I hope I'm not mixing up my days... The day before yesterday Mer had friends over, and we all went on a walk, had bbq-ed hamburgers, played games, and roasted marshmallows over the bonfire... Yesterday was our big Portland trip... Andrew drove, which was funny... We went to the zoo in Portland which wasn't too crowded since it was a pretty dismal day, saw tigers, elk, jaguars, hippos, owls... Saw some of the "zoo lights" before we left. Then we stopped at Powell's where Mer had a rendezvous with Alex, and we sat in the cafe drinking odwallas and coffee. Next stop was Buffalo Exchange, where I found cool jeans and Mer found 3 pairs of pants in like ten minutes. Our parking time was running out, so we just ran into the same big dressing room and threw jeans at each other to try on while frantically looking in the mirror to see if the jeans made our butts look baggy or OK. Fastest shopping trip ever!

Next we really really needed to eat something (we hadn't eaten since breakfast). Andrew & I flipped through the remnants of the restaurants section in the yellow pages at a pay phone booth, and saw half an ad for Thai Orchid. I really wanted mango fried rice and/or pad thai, and this place was just 12 blocks up. Luckily we squeezed into a parking spot, and the restaurant looked nice, so we settled on that place quickly. No mango fried rice, but everything was great, and we introduced Mer to Thai food (and tea!!) She liked it, yay =)

After dinner we waddled down to a Goodwill that was right next door, and Mer found ANOTHER two pair of pants, one a retro style pair of Gap jeans that I wish I could squeeze into.

On the ride home we got stuck at the same weird alley-looking area that points to I-84, and then I had the bright idea to stop at Multnomah Falls. Pretty even though it was dark out... Back in Hood River we split a PB cup blizzard and got high on sugar. Last night we played another game of Scrabble in which I lost (boo!)

OK now must go eat! (I know, it's the common theme in my blogs.)

Monday, December 13, 2004

It's been awhile... Short story of why: Grad school applications and the end of the semester.

Andrew and I have had two super productive weekends here at MHC, while still managing to have fun. Last weekend I think we worked Friday night, most of Saturday (until we went to dinner at a Korean restaurant & got ice cream at Herrell's), and most of Sunday (until we went to Vespers). I loved Vespers, and we sang Mum's favorite "O Come all Ye Faithful." When the lights were out and the choir walked up the aisle holding candles, Andrew turned to ask: "Are we getting inducted into a cult?" It was a funny moment. And I wasn't bored during the boring parts (ie, songs without words in English or Spanish). Handbells were great!

The past week was crazy with grad school applications. 5 down, 5 to go. Oh yeah, and between last Thursday and last Tuesday, I wrote 29 pages of my thesis!!

This weekend we had more fun -- Friday we played Balderdash (I'm never going to live down the Scottish landlord's infamous eviction notices) with Emily & Julia & Korisha, Saturday we did a little mall shopping (so many crying children and irritated parents) & went to Karuna's very fun birthday party, Sunday we slept in and did a little more shopping, had dinner at Judie's. It took me 20 minutes to decide what to order.

More on Karuna's birthday --
At one point, D Becky carried me back into the sun room. Andrew didn't know where Shakespeare was born. I was very loud (I hope not too annoying). Claudia & Kim will never again be on the same Trivial Pursuit team. Very fun! =)

OK now back to the essay for class tomorrow. Here's the countdown: this essay, memorize a poem, write a 5 pager for Criminology, take the English self-scheduled exam, turn in my 395 progress report, and write thank-you's for my recommenders. I'm hoping to make my grand exit on Friday night.