Memorial weekend

Friday: Let's see if you can guess what I did? It was May 26th, what finally came out today? Oh, that would be X-Men. I couldn't wait so I had to go opening night. Unfortunately, it seemed like the entire high school decided to go to my showing as well. They were so loud and obnoxious, screaming conversations across the rows. Seriously, I look back and I was never like that with my friends and I don't recall my classmates behaving like that either. The teeny boppers made so many "older" couples move their seats, and then they would start to give them crap and harassing them. Thank goodness that once the movie started, the comments weren't too annoying. Oh yeah, FYI, if you haven't gone yet, make sure you stay until the end of the credits because there's a coda. I won't spill it for everyone but if you want to know, just ask. I don't really know how I felt about the movie. I didn't dislike it but I didn't love it either. I guess I was just disappointed, I felt that they half-assed it. I definitely didn't enjoy the surprise "changes" that they had. I would have to say the best line in the entire movie was when Vinnie Jones barked, "I'm the Juggernaut, bit*h!"

Saturday: I went to KFC and had an awesome treat, one of their new bowls. What's in it? Mashed potatoes, corn, popcorn chicken like pieces, and topped with gravy. It's really good. I mean, I normally like putting corn into my mashed and I always dip my chicken into it too, so it was about time someone put it all together for me. Since it was gorgeous out (despite the 2 rain sessions), Kevin and I went to the Jackson outlets to search for any good deals. I didn't buy a lot, most of the stuff that I liked weren't on sale. I did get a muscle tank, cheap sneakers, hair accessories (clips, bands), and some sunglasses. What was the best deal that I got? I got a pair of ballet sneaks for $8.50! They're normally $40, then they were dropped to $17, and then there was an extra 50% off for shoes placed on the sidewalk. I just couldn't believe I found a pair in my size.


Sunday: I spent most of the day trying to outsmart my dog. Actually, I've been trying to the whole week, and you know what? I'm losing to him. He is the greatest escape artist I've ever seen. So I had to ask Sandy's husband for help and he went to Home Depot to make some more gate things. I played some tennis and completely dirtied my balls from all the mites that it smashed. Afterwards, while we were in the garage putting stuff away, Kevin was snooping around and noticed my archery stuff. I honestly had forgotten about it and thought it was thrown away years ago. In high school, I really got into archery. Of course my parents were not thrilled by my new found passion. Regardless, I got myself a bow, some arrows, and a target. I'm pretty sure I freaked Kevin out since that's not a normal thing you expect to find in your gf's garage. Well, we took it into the backyard and tested it out. Since I hadn't touched it in over 9 years, I was sucking and plus my wussy fingers were hurting too much from the string. Of course, Kevin decides to brag and make fun of me since I couldn't even hit the board once. Well, wouldn't you know it, right after that I hit it bull's eye, dead center right on the little "x"! I had drawn on the face back in HS and now the little man had an arrow for a nose. The timing couldn't have been better. You better believe I did my victory dance.

Monday: I decided that I would try to get rid of my Piler tendencies. Why am I called the Piler? Because everything left in my room is in piles. But they're organized piles! I have school piles, book piles, clothing piles, new bought items piles, etc. I also attempted to switch my winter clothing and summer clothing inside the closet. That usually doesn't go well since it takes forever, and I tend to lose patience once I've gotten all the winter stuff down and folded away. How come every time I try to clean up, my room looks even worse? I literally didn't have any carpet left showing. Needless to say, I stayed up until 3:30am and I still wasn't finished.

Food envy



Okay, I am so jealous of everyone who can go to McDonald's...in Hong Kong! They have these new rice sandwiches, in place of 2 slices of bread, it's these marinated rice cakes. I know that one is a chicken sandwich and the other is beef sauteed with onions. It's actually a cute gimmick, they're calling it "Fan-tastic" because "fan" sounds like rice in Chinese dialects. Aside from this, they have so much more on their menus. They have chicken wings, a huge range of desserts (cakes, tiramisu, cheesecakes), and they're now pushing a McCafe with Starbucks-like drinks! Yes, this is sad on my part that I would want to hop on a plane just to get one of these sandwiches.

See ya next season

Can I say how pleased I've been with most of the season finales this year? With most of my shows, I'm left screaming, "Nooooo, I don't want to wait! I need to find out now!!" So great job WB11, Fox, and abc! I will be pining away for your return.

On an excited note, the abc lineup was released......"What About Brian" is going to be back!! Beth and I actually sent out emails to vote to help save one of the endangered shows. I'm going to pretend it was our support that saved it.

Graduation


A surprise left on the porch


Can I walk also?

It's official, I've graduated with my Master's finally! I can't believe how quickly time has flown by! I am amazed that I've been able to commute for this long and that I stuck through it until the end. I'll admit it, I did want to walk. I really am giving myself the pat on the back. I've never worked this hard before. In all honesty, my motivation was to learn and to do it for me. It wasn't about getting the grades, I wanted to give my 110% to prove to myself that I can always do better. The ceremony was indoors and it took around 2 hours, not bad at all. It would have been even shorter if the ceremony was only for the Master's program but it was undergraduate as well. The diploma holder was really nice, so much better than my RU one. But of course the parentals wanted me to get those crazy wooden frames to store the diploma. After the ceremony, we just went to Chinatown in Philly to look for a restaurant to have dinner. When I got home, there were balloons all over my house. My aunt had decided to surprise me. Actually, I was more freaked out than surprised. She had placed the smiley balloon man in our garden/porch area and when I pulled up onto the driveway, it was dark and all I saw was a shady figure. I so didn't want to get out of the car! Now that it's inside the house, it's freaking Cinnamon out as well!

Oh yeah, it's good to know that I wasn't the only one confused by the graduation gown. It has these extra droopy things on the sleeves and I kept trying to stick my hands through them but since there's no opening, I wasn't able to. Like a few of the girls I know, we ended up using those droops to house our cell phones! See how resourceful a MA will get you? Hehe, just kidding.

Girl loving

I had one of the strangest encounters today. Though, I could just be extra sensitive and reading things wrong. I was looking at jewelry in a boutique that sold items from HK and Korea. The moment I got in there, this petite girl working there is totally up my grill. As I picked things out, she would comment on them and at first I thought she was just doing her job. Then I noticed that whenever I was deciding if I wanted something, she kept staring at me. I thought, "Ok, you can relax, I'm not going to shoplift or anything." Finally, she stops staring and she starts asking me personal questions, like how much I weigh, what size I am, what I like, what are my hobbies, etc. She got real excited because we were both practically the same size, especially with our tiny wrists. So she starts telling me how she loves the thick band watches and I tell her I do too except I can't wear them because those can't be fixed. Then she starts talking about this Guess watch and I totally knew what she was talking about so I told her I thought it was cute too. Upon hearing that, she gets all giddy and says, "Oh, now that you say you like it, I'm definitely going to go out and buy it this weekend!" Afterwards, she starts suggesting items and putting them on me. She got a little too touchy-feely for me, especially when she kept putting bracelets on me. Like, she so could have put them on & off without having to brush upon my arms and hands. I was a bit weirded out. She tried pushing hoops onto me and I told her that I stay away from them ever since my sophomore year incident (very painful and horrifying experience). Somehow, she didn't quite understand me and thought I was in the army, and that was the reason why I didn't wear hoops. Yeah, I didn't really get that either? Though, I'm wondering if it was because of my jacket? I was wearing my army-colored one but that shouldn't mean that I'm in the army. Whenever new customers came in, she would go greet them but them I'd see her immediately fly right back to me. Then she starts taking these clips and putting them in my hair, telling me how she thinks it looks cuter with my hair clipped to the side. Uhm yeah, my goal is not to look like I'm 5? She moves onto putting belts around my waist. Seriously, I didn't see her doing this to anyone else in the store, nor did I see the other girls working there being up someone's grill this much. I don't know, maybe I'm just a weirdo, but there are times when certain people just give you this different vibe and that's what I was feeling.

Happy Mother's Day



I had to wake up early today to pick up my mom's gift since she was leaving for work right in the morning. I'm surprised by how cute these edible arrangements are! It's funny, the first time I heard it I thought it was something diiirty.

So what did I spend today doing? Oh, working. My aunt and uncle had to go to Boston for my cousin's graduation so they were short handed at the restaurant. I can't get over how hot it gets inside that kitchen. I'm such a wuss though, I must have burned my fingers numerous times, yet it doesn't phase anyone else to be grabbing the take-out containers. Lesson learned today? Wearing flip flops in the kitchen is not a smart idea.

Celebrate!

Great news....I can eat REAL food!! Oh yes, I threw myself a party to celebrate the fact that I can eat again. Ok, it wasn't really a party, more like a pig out session for myself.

Feed me

What I wouldn't give for a burger, some fries, and an extra-thick chocolate milkshake right now. Heck, I'd just like to have some real food already.

I got some sort of food poisoning/intestinal bacterial virus on Friday night. I woke up around 2am with huge stomach cramps and ran to the bathroom only to start praying to the porcelain god. In a few hours, the food decided to come out the other way non-stop. It was so bad that it was impossible for me to walk around and caused severe back pains too. On Sunday morning, it was the worst. I was hysterically crying from the pain and actually was ready to go into the hospital. But through my dad's friend, he went to open up his infirmary just to see me. He prescribed me heavy medication. So since then, I'm been on a high, very out of it. It sucks because I can't eat any real foods at all. My diet has consisted of drinking bottles of Gatorade, plain saltines, and the occasional powdered chicken noodle soup. Now I can never eat at a "certain" restaurant again, which goes for their desserts as well. The strong UCS and UCR pairings will probably make me want to hurl anytime I think of the place.

Everyone who has seen me has been like, "Wow, you look like crap. You need to eat something." Uhm no shi*t? You think I like the fact that I've been starving since Saturday night and haven't really eaten? I tried to move onto something solid today, some plain bread and it was not a pretty sight at all. I figured I'd have to drive for seminar so I wouldn't take any pain killers and I needed food for strength. Yeah, real well that went.

Unrelated, I picked up my graduation regalia. Why is it always so expensive for such cheap quality? Esther and I were joking saying that we should just really share one and pass it off as we get our diplomas. Her last name starts with a "K" so I would be done way before her, except for the fact that it would be way too short on her or either way too long on me. Well apparently the Masters gown has longer sleeves and as this interesting scoop to it. I really don't know how to explain it at all. The hood is longer than our BA's, and the collar is mostly light blue (for education) and the back shows the school colors. I liked the pink tassel but apparently that's for music, mine's light blue for education as well. I'm finally starting to get excited about it! I can't believe I've commuted for this long and stuck to it even there were times I felt like quitting. It definitely has been a tough program and I've had a few over demanding teachers but I've also learned a lot, so I appreciate all the good and the bad. It's good to be challenged and have your ideals shaken up a bit.

Cookies? Check! Let's go backpacking!


All ready with my new sting ray toy!


Touch my stuff and I'll rarrgh your ass!



I've been searching for a backpack for Cinnamon for the past few months. All the ones I've come across are either huge and are meant to sit on his sides, or they are meant go onto the leash. Why does he need one? I wanted to put his cookies in there so that when he does his business outside, he can still get a treat. Plus, I thought it would be cute if he carried his own treats. Well, I finally found one today. Yes, I know it's pink but they only had one left and I had to get it. Whatever, there's nothing more manly than a boy wearing pink. His new toy obsession is the sting ray I got him. He had a grooming at PetSmart on Tuesday and I always feel compelled to buy him a toy as his reward.

Where's the mute button?

Words can't even begin to describe how aggravated I was in seminar tonight. Every time I think about it, all I want to do is scream "arrggh"!! There has been one girl in my seminar that has annoyed the crap out of me from day one. Oh, and it's not just me, most of my friends can't stand it when she talks either. The girl has such a whiny voice, not to mention she sounds like a 7 year old when she speaks. Every night we have seminar, she always asks the most irrelevant questions and talks about the most random things. I swear, she acts like she's in a philosophy class. She'll ponder things like, "Oh what if the negative society wins and we're all screwd? What if nasty students prevail over teachers? What if, what if, what if?" When we have a chance of leaving early or leaving on time, she'll find a way to keep us in there with her pestering comments. Most of what she says is total bs and she acts like just because something worked for her, it should for everyone else. Everyone wanted to leave earlier tonight because it was a study day as is. Of course she starts whining and asking a million questions. First she asks the professor if he could give her a hint and tell her what questions he would be asking. Uhm, is this your first day in graduate school?? It's called a final! It's not a elementary spelling test where you're given the words and all you have to do is memorize. Then she continues whining about how sometimes she gets confused...blah blah. News flash, most of us do extra work to understand this research stuff. Then she starts asking the professor if we would be using our TU IDs on the final like our midterm. Dude, you just answered the question yourself. You've been taking classes for over 2 years and you still can't remember if we use our IDs or our names? So he actually encourages her on by asking, "Why, would you prefer to write your name? Does it make a difference?" She replies, "Well, I was thinking that if you saw my name, you'd be sympathetic with the grading!" The professor responded back by saying, "Well, what if I don't like you very much?" Of course she just started giggling and continued whining about the content. It takes a lot to get me this annoyed with someone but she just seriously has been pushing my buttons since day one and I guess she pushed my limits tonight.

Tattle this, tattle that

I was talking to M and she asked if I would miss hearing my last name being screamed every other second. It's funny how life is, when I'm in the class it's gets overwhelming when they call you every second but when their little voices aren't there, you miss it. But anyways, let me get to the point. During the last few weeks, the students were becoming very mean to one another, a lot of teasing and rude comebacks. One of the most time-consuming activities they LOVE to do is tattling. I hear, "He's looking at me. She's touching her pencil. He rolled his eyes at me. She was skipping in the bathroom." You get the point. I explained to them unless it involves someone getting hurt, that they need to check their stories at the door. It just takes away so much school time when they go on and on about what someone "supposedly" did. Well, during the last few days, they changed it up on me. They started tattling on themselves. Oh yes, on themselves. Whenever I picked them up from prep, someone would come up to me and say, "Uhm, so and so is going to tell you that I hit her by accident. I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident." or "She's going to tell you that I ran but I didn't." The funny thing is that in the end, no one ever comes up to me to tattle about the incident.

Family dysfunction

I finally finished reading The Glass Castle. I had been dying to finish it but I didn't have much time for leisure reading these past few weeks. It's an amazing memoir. I am so amazed by her strength and thirst for a better life. There were so many "wtf?" moments as I read about what occurred in her life. While reading, I kept wondering when Jeannette would show signs of anger and resentment towards her parents. Instead she has illustrated the true meaning of forgiveness, letting things go, and the unconditional love one has for their family.