Friday, August 29, 2008

Mrs. Gatsby.

I have a thing for hats, something I can rarely wear because a) it's never really cold here and b) I can never find hats for my huge head. Really. Most hats are just too tight around my head. Meh.

But I do have a thing for hats, I do! If possible, I'd love to live somewhere that would grant me the weather that would allow me to wear such head gear. In particular, I'd like to wear lots of hats harking back to the styles of the 1920s. I love the 20s.

Like this one!
























I love this hat and I actually selected it in blue. This is a wonder because I basically abhor blue. Besides denim, there are only five, five!, pieces of blue in my wardrobe. It's just not my color. Perhaps it is the associations with a certain political party or because mom loves blue and wears it to death, but I am averse to it. But this hat is just screaming for me to adopt it and give it a new home.

The only thing that scares me is that it may be too costumey? Oh well...with some wide leg pants, a simple shirt, and a cardigan, it would look fab, no?

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Will he put la Llorona in a headlock?

If you don't think this is awesome, I don't know what the hell is wrong with you!



Come on! A luchador (wrestler) in a Llorona movie...excellent. I've yet to see it though.

Life without flavor.

Well, limited flavor sounds better. At least for a week. Or two. :/

I can't eat so many things it's not funny. Right now, my diet is limited to rice, beans, lettuce, and corn. And today, I'm having some cornmeal. We tried doing an almost vegan tuna burrito (as in, lettuce, corn, avocado, and tuna) and it didn't go down that well. I can't even have cereal because I don't drink fat free milk, so my stomach was reacting in a highly unfavorable manner to the fat in my milk. Wee-hoo!

I managed an appointment with the gastroenterologist for this Friday, but I know that this restricted diet is probably going to be extended. I'm trying to look at this in a positive light though. I tell myself that it's a detox! I'm not doing candy so I'll lose weight! My skin will clear up!

But, when those stomach pains hit, there's no optimism. I've also been feeling feverish and getting headaches from the pain, so that's no fun. But I'll console myself by looking at pretty things online I guess. And you can tell I have, from all the fashion posts I've been putting up lately!

Got Milk?

In my thesis research, I've come upon all sorts of things relating to La Llorona. And this one has to be one of the funniest and weirdest.



I think it's interesting how la Llorona has been revised and what direction those interpretations have taken. It went from a ghost to a unifying icon. And, in this case, to a Got Milk? commercial.

Any of you have heard of la Llorona? Thoughts on this interpretation? Or just general sharing of anecdotes? :)

More shoe porn.





















These two lovelies are from Bakers...ay ay ay. I'll be damned if the first shoe isn't hot.

Anyway, prices are 89.95 for the Orion and 79.95 for the Mamie respectively. The Orion's available in black too. The black has a definite dominatrix vibe going on...I like both colors though!

Size 11, people! Size 11! ;)

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Holy Infuriated Stomach, Nocturnal Flying Echolocator Man!

Well. Stress and a crappy diet (Ice cream! Every day! For a week! GO LACTOSE INTOLERANT ME!) have finally gotten to me again. I either have gastritis or gastroenteritis (or an ulcer) all which are equally not awesome. Let me put it this way. The pain I feel after I eat something, even drinking water, is so bad that I want to reach down my throat, rip out my stomach, and fling it to a wall. And then run over it with a Hummer. Just to offend more, since I'm using a crappy American car.

I've gotten this before (rushed to the hospital once and then again: spent my entire undergrad graduation week barely eating due to pain). I have no clue why I got it again. Maybe it's eating out more? Stress? Appletinis? (Wait, no. I will not give up my Appletinis.) Must be the ice cream...anyway, I'm supposed to be eating like a rabbit this week, pretty much. No fatty foods, nothing acidic, or oily. No lactose either. So basically, I'll be chewing lettuce for a week. Sweet.

(Save me, Blind Echolocating Nocturnal Flying Mammal Man! Save me!)

And, before you comment "GET LACTAID," I've tried. Everywhere I go, people say, "Oh, we don't have those." Like today. Woo.

So anyway, I have to get a doctor's appointment as fast as possible because, hey! I took two hardcore Zantacs! And two hours later, I was about to hurl my puny stomach contents out!

I considered not going to teach tomorrow, but I only get two days off? And I have to get a substitute so...I'll just suck it up. And if I puke, I puke. Giving them freshmen memories, yep, that's me.

Wow, I'm rambling. Must be reading all these students' papers that has me boggled. AND THE MEDS, WOO.

Anyway.

For some reason, listening to the Music & Lyrics soundtrack is cheering me up. And since I want to scar you all (but not too extensively), here you go.



8D

Good night.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Chasing booties!


I have an obsession with boots and I cannot lie. I have about five pairs and I can't wait to wear them come the "cold" weather (which we all know is just...what, 60 degrees? Still, cold enough for me). After readingSeptember's Lucky magazine, I have even more boot fever. Here are some faves...






All of the above boots can be found at Victoria's Secret. (The website, of course.) If you want them, act now! They're having a 20% off special until September 18. And if you feel generous, I'm a size 11. ;)

Friday, August 22, 2008

Random facts continued...

1. I am equal parts a quitter and stubborn-ass. There's pretty much no middle ground. Either I want to give up or I'm going to follow this to the end just to prove that I am going to do this.

2. I cannot recall my parents ever saying that I was pretty. They put much more emphasis on the value of the mind and the personality of a person. Only now that I'm much older does my mom say, "You're pretty." (And I'm not saying that I am pretty, I just can't look at myself that way generally. It's only occasionally that I say to myself, "oh, you look good!")

3. When I finally got my driver's permit, I developed this peculiar phobia of cars. They terrified me; I just saw them as huge dangerous weapons. It took me a year or so to get over it.

4. I do not drink coffee, or tea, or soda. I rarely ever have juice either, only when I'm sick or when I'm staying over at someone's place. My drink of choice is water.

5. As a child, I had a brief stint in ballet. Close to a year? Not my thing. Preferred much more violent pursuits, like chasing and roughing up boys. Call it tough love? (Note: I do not beat Damian. Don't go around calling the police, ok?)

6. I actually have memories of my first Christmas. People say it's impossible, but I do. I remember my mom putting me under a very seventies-style artificial silver tree and surrounded by presents. I thought I had imagined it until I saw a picture that confirmed what I had experienced.

7. I have this fashion peeve with exposed platforms. I cannot wear a shoe with an exposed platform.

Coveting, part I give up counting.


Seriously, these boots? I'm about to make out with them. But at $398, I feel like I'm being wallet raped.

Still.

Would you just look at them? Lord God, they're luscious.

Link.

"It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling."

This post is entirely due to the awesome Mighty Girl, long may she blog.

As I was finishing my course outline (hah, revised it four times already and it's been less than a month of class), I decided to mosey on over to MightyGirl.com and see if there were any new posts. There were and the one that motivated this post is "Eight books that changed things for me." While I'm sure many (most of us) have more than eight books. Or maybe you even have less. But there has to be at least one book that made you change. And for me, one of those defining literary moments was Kurt Vonnegut's story "Harrison Bergeron."

If I am not mistaken, I was in second grade when I read this short story for the first time. I was a nerd and I possessed the habit of reading all my fall semester books during the summer, before classes started. And that's when I met Harrison.

Not only did I romanticize Harrison (I thought, this is what a boy needs to be!), but I was shocked when I realized that...even though it is not as obvious as the handicaps imposed upon the talented in Vonnegut's story, society did and does oppress you. It wants you to be like everybody else. It glorifies mediocrity and it will not tolerate that you, yes you! will attempt to be something more. For a second grader, that was a hardcore slap in the face delivered by reality, specially when the reader finds out what society, in the guise of the Handicapper General, does to Bergeron.

So here it goes. To you, Bergeron. To you, Vonnegut.

And you, dear reader, I'd like you to take a gander at Mr. Bergeron himself. You may think that the story reads simplistic nowadays, but I tell you. It changed my world. And I love it just as much as I did then.

Click here for "Harrison Bergeron."

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Random facts.

1. I generally dislike eating fruit, but I really like fruit products. The only fruit I thoroughly enjoy eating are strawberries. (But hey, when you're hungry, you eat anything.)

2. I lived in front of a cemetery until I was almost six years old.

3. I like the smell of the paper in new books and magazines.

4. I love bargain hunting. Seriously. It's ridiculous.

5. I get too sad, to the point of tears, when I see homeless people and animals.

6. As you can tell, I have insomnia. Wee.

Off to bed with me...I hope.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Bleh.

Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking. About life, the universe, and everything. And it's just sad. I wish I didn't have to live here anymore, didn't have to write this stupid thesis. Didn't have to witness people be hypocrites. But I'm really not going to get into it as I have a privacy policy.

I'd like to clarify that I don't think a lot of people read this blog, but I am aware that some people I may not want to might be reading this blog. So that's why certain topics are strictly forbidden.

But I miss the days when I didn't have to worry about deadlines. When I didn't have to worry about people being traitors. When things were better. I miss so many things it hurts at times. But most of all, I miss innocence. I miss not being jaded. I miss actually having faith in people. I don't think I do anymore, for the most part. (I'm not saying that I've lost faith in everybody, but in a good amount of people, yes.)

Oh God, I sound so emo. *waits for Tovi to comment on the emo*

Maybe all of this is due to so many things happening at once. Those intense weeks of working on my proposal, then prepping for work. Then my uncle passing away and seeing so many people suffering. Add to that that I keep finding out that people talk behind my back about things that, honestly, are either untrue or none of their business. And now, my laptop seems completely dead. Which pisses me off because hell, all my stuff's in there and because it's another investment that needs to be made. I don't want to because I want to save money so I can move.

I don't want to alarm anyone with this post. Or trigger more gabfests. But I just want to put it out there in case you see me more tired than usual.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Hell. Yes.


IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST AMEN.

(Am not endorsing religion, am just exceedingly happy that my proposal is my finally approved. Fuck yeah.)

So now that I've had time to settle down, stop stroking the paper, and barely succeed at containing the urge to make out with it, I've got to say, as if it wasn't clear enough already, that I'm very happy with this. This is the beginning of a new chapter in my university career. Nay, graduate career. I am finally in the process of working on my thesis. No longer in the dreaded, demonic, and painful proposal stage. I am one step closer to graduating!

I'm not going to lie, I was very very lucky. A sequence of events occurred that made the chips all fall into place. I got the missing signature, the department director finally managed to speak to the other professor who's signature I needed (she had approved, but I didn't get her signature before she left on vacation: d'oh), and the registry block was removed just in time for me to register thesis once again. Awesome, positively awesome. Because, of course, you know this means...I HAVE A JOB.

Wee!

At last, no more asking for money whenever I needed cash to get gas, or go out, or simply have some emergency funds. I did have a certain amount saved since the beginning of the year for precisely this dry spell, but it has been depleted. The comfort of having a paycheck, oh, only those who earn it know the relief...

Anyway. On a sadder note, one of my uncles passed away. He was 72 years old and unfortunately had been in a car accident. He had a good life, but it's sad to see him go. Mom and I will be going to the funeral tomorrow (though I'll have to sneak out several times because I still have to pay school fees and get a new parking permit, urgh).

I'd like to thank everyone who put up with me, helped me, egged me on through this proposal period.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

The Pencil Trick.

I originally intended for this post to have a video of our dearly departed Heath Ledger as the Joker performing the aforementioned pencil trick in The Dark Knight. Unfortunately, all videos of it have been removed from YouTube because of Warner Bros. Wee.

Anyway, the point was to illustrate the stress I'm in (and also to point out what I wanted to do to certain people that are making me going, no pun intended, batshit insane). Seriously. All I've been doing this past week is working on my proposal and going to teaching assistant seminar/workshops. That and dealing with the problematic professor. Nothing is ever good enough for this person and I'm at the point of saying, "You know what? My thesis is going to be about how la Llorona is really the Oscar Meyer weiner. So back the fuck up." Such are the levels of rage I'm under.

So you're wondering what in the world I'm doing making a post? Just wanted to notify you folks that I'm alive. Sure, I'm more down the side of absolutely loony, but I'm still here. I've got three more corrections to go and I'm (hopefully) done with my proposal. I need a rest before my brain explodes. My back hurts from being hunched over so much because I've been using the desktop. Tsuki, my laptop, is out of commission because yet another power supply has bitten the dust. What the shiz, Apple? Seriously, making better plugs before I go find you and beat you with them.

Ehem.

As you can see, I'm a bit hostile. I hope that everything will be solved by Monday. In the meantime, everyone take care. And stay out of grad school.

Edit: Yay! Damian found me the pencil trick video! Here it is, for your viewing pleasure. :)