happy thanksgiving!

happy thanksgiving everyone! I'm at home in los angeles for the rest of the week. I flew in very very early yesterday (my flight left at 6am pst - eww). yesterday, after taking a nap, I hung out with my mom for a bit and then just kind of did nothing the rest of the day. we went out to dinner and then watched west wing (supposedly my mom's favorite show which is weird because she slept through most of it and because she would probably never vote for president bartlett - but whatever. I would). I slept in a bit this morning, watched the end of the macy's thanksgiving parade and then got stuff ready to go to my aunt and uncle's house for the big dinner. almost everyone in the family was there which was nice, especially my little cousins whom I don't see very often and who are growing up so fast. my littlest cousin just started talking and walking. he's sooo cute! anyway, I spent most of the evening telling everyone how much school sucks and that I'm going to London after christmas and trying to avoid any conversations about politics (my family is predominantly republican and crazy). so it all went pretty well. I had lots and lots of food, didn't watch any football (yay) and had a pretty good time. now, full of turkey and triptophan, I am off for a long sleep, which I am very thankful for.

things I am thankful for: my friends and family and our health, really bad physics jokes, easy mac, my ipod, and rainy days when I'm stuck inside with a mug of hot chocolate.

another long week, but with a good ending

whoever thought of the semester system needs to be shot. I am exhausted. if I was still on quarters, I would be two weeks into my winter break by now. and it sucks even more because everyone else is used to this 15 week marathon. (but, me thinks that they wouldn't be able to handle winter and spring. muahaha). anyway, I can't wait for the thanksgiving holiday this week. tomorrow I will be up all night doing homework, but I will get to sleep on wednesday after my early morning flight to los angeles to my mom's house. then on thursday I can eat lots of food and sleep all day friday. and then maybe go shopping on saturday or something. then I can work on some more homework, sleep, do homework, and then come back here on monday evening. we'll see what really happens.

so, as for last week, I barely made it through. kept sleeping through my alarm in the morning (which hopefully I won't do tomorrow because I will still be awake) which is not so good. last sunday I was up until 9am and then the following night slept 12 hours, tuesday I slept 3 hours and then 12 on wednesday night. what a mess I am. I need a vacation.

friday was nice because I went to rubio's for dinner with adam and angel and then went to trader joe's which I hadn't been to since I left san diego. adam and angel were excited about it as well, so I think I'll be able to hitch a ride with them again to get more groceries from there. after that, adam and I went to see "finding neverland" starring johnny depp which was really good (and not just because johnny depp is amazing). so that was nice. after that, katie persuaded me to go to this spanish restaurant to go salsa dancing with her and alec and angel. we had lots of sangria and had lots of fun. we definitely want to go back sometime for some yummy tapas for dinner (when we actually have money).

saturday I spent the afternoon with my aunt who lives in phoenix and we took a trip to ikea (she hadn't been yet). so that was lots of fun. it was much more relaxed than the time I went last week (but not much less crowded). I ended up buying the dining room table that I was looking at last time (and cute red cushions for my chairs and a matching oven mitt. hehe). so that was fun. after that, katie and I went grocery shopping and I decided to have a couple people over for dinner to christen the new dining table. I made a nice pasta dinner, complete with caesar salad, garlic bread, and some red wine. katie also made brownies which capped off a lovely evening. I showed everyone how the magic table could double its size by folding and twisting the table top, which definitely impressed everyone. yay for ikea.



the dining table's inaugural dinner! alec, katie, angel, and adam were in attendance


another view of the lovely dinner I made (and another view of the magic table)

"it's getting better all the time"

what week it has been. I think today things are finally looking up again. I had a not-so-great weekend (except for a few isolated nice incidents). friday night was nice because alec had a bunch of the grad students over to his aunt's house and she made us a real dinner. it was really good. ever since a week and a half ago (around halloween) I have been having lots of trouble sleeping. I think I have some kind of insomnia or something. it's not good, whatever it is. I can only sleep about 4 hours a night, and even that is difficult to get all at once. I don't know what the problem is. even when I'm tired (like on sunday after my soccer game) it is difficult to fall asleep. anyway, so the weekend was pretty much spent trying to figure out how to be not tired any more, which meant a lot of reading and watching tv (and working on my research project of course). the soccer game on sunday went alright. we tired 0-0 which was a bit disappointing for me. our forwards are not working hard enough and just can't score. it's frustrating since I play defense and don't have much of a say about how many goals we score (just about how many the other team scores). anyway, I still couldn't sleep and therefore slept through my alarm on monday. luckily, because of veteran's day today, all of my sections to teach were cancelled this week, so I didn't miss anything (although I wouldn't have missed that, but whatever). monday night I still couldn't sleep to save my life. I think I got about 3 hours in between 4 and 7 am. tuesday night was almost worse. I was exhausted when I got and fell asleep at 9pm, which is basically unheard of in my world. unfortunately, when I woke up and looked at the clock, it was only 1am. I found stuff to do for a few more hours until I was sort of tired again and got a bit more sleep around 5am. I think I managed almost 8 hours that night, although it wasn't all at once. things started looking a bit better on wednesday because that was the day of the grand opening of the new ikea store here in tempe. I absolutely love ikea and was very excited about having one close by again. so, me and jen and angel went over there around 2pm and battled through the crowds (and the parking mess). it was pretty crowded, but not too horrible. unfortunately, jen and I had class at 4:40 so we kind of had to rush it in order to get back to school in time. we didn't really get to fully take in the wonderfulness of ikea, but at least we could say that we were there on opening day (and we got free ikea key chains that are also a measuring tape. hehe). after class, I came home and wasn't quite tired enough to sleep. so I watched some tv and then katie called and wanted to rent a movie. so, me, katie and angel rented eurotrip and watched it over at her house (after doing a small bit of impromptu grocery shopping). when I got home after that, I crashed on my bed and got a full seven hours of sleep. yay! I was so excited when I woke up this morning. well, that and the fact that katie wanted to go to ikea, so headed back there around noon. because we didn't have classes today and because our mechanics homework assignment got pushed back to monday, we had the whole day free to enjoy. so, we ended up spending about 4 and a half hours at ikea. the parking was absolutely horrendous. and it was even more crowded than yesterday. but we still managed to get a lot of good stuff (and big wish lists of what to get next time) and had lots of swedish meatballs. oh yum. today I finished the day off with soccer practice and some mint chocolate ice cream. things are definitely looking better. (oh, that and I am seriously considering going to london for a week after the semester ends. what do you think?)

wtf?

wow. so I guess the first thing to say is that I'm really depressed. although I guess I would say I'm not surprised or shocked by the outcome of the presidential election today, I really didn't think it would happen. I suppose that I overestimated the intelligence of the american people, but it's still not good whatever the reason. last night I was up until about 12:30, glued to cnn, hoping against hope that things would turn towards kerry. but of course, it got close, but just didn't make it. what surprised me, though, was how much bush won the popular vote by. actually, I guess I should scare, that's what scared me. because this means that his presidency and the last four years and all his mistakes and blunders and bad judgement have been validated. the world can no longer assume that it was just a fluke and we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into four years ago. but now we know and there's no excuse. if the world hated us before, I can only see it getting worse.

and not only did we re-elect the moron, but 11 states passed initiatives to ban same-sex marriage, many denying same-sex couples even a civil union. this depresses me too. some of them were passed with a huge majority. how is it possible that so many people are prejudiced and arrogant and homophobic? it just makes me sad. everyone should be allowed to have the same rights, no matter who they happen to spend their life with.

here's an interesting editorial that a friend sent to me: http://66.161.86.126/notes_from_editor.asp?id=8049

the other thing that I am really pissed about is what happened to me when I went to vote yesterday. I had to wait about an hour or so to vote, which wasn't so bad. I was expecting a wait, so that wasn't a big deal. however, when I got up to the table, my name was not on their list of registered voters. I registered to vote here in arizona well before the deadline. I have my receipt and everything, which I showed them. but, regardless, my name wasn't on the list, so I had to fill out a provisional ballot (which isn't such a huge deal or whatever because my vote doesn't really matter in arizona too much anyway). anyway, I was upset. and here's why: I registered on campus from some guy that had a table set up and had been registering people for a couple weeks or so. two of my friends also registered at the same time. neither of them put down a party preference when they registered. I did (as a democrat). both of them received their voter registration cards and sample ballots last week, about when we were expecting them. when they looked at them, they had been registered as republicans. I never received mine at all. although there is no conclusive evidence, it is extremely strange and suspicious. I'm sure I'm not the only one that this happened to, either.

our nation is definitely polarized. it's almost as if we are living in two different countries. and I don't know how to repair the damage. but I do know that there is no way that bush will be able to do it.

but yay for obama. I have a sliver of hope left.

insomnia

so it's 3am and I can't sleep. I don't know why. but it's really annoying. I only got about 4.5 hours of sleep last night due to me being up until 4am working on homework. sigh, isn't grad school wonderful? so, I was sure that tonight I would be super tired and be able to fall asleep at a normal hour (say, midnight). however, I am not tired and therefore cannot sleep. I tried watching tv since there was a west wing marathon on, but unforunately the episodes that were on at the time were the re-election ones so I started thinking more about election day (today now) and all that and so that didn't make me tired, just nervous. although I don't think that is the reason for me not being able to sleep. it might have something to do with james, but I doubt that as well, even though I miss him a lot, I have a better idea of when I will be seeing him again, so that is helpful (even if it is a few weeks later than we originally thought). it's not school stuff, since I don't have anything due this week (some kind of miracle occured. I think it has something to do with hell freezing over after the red sox won the world series). so, I really have no idea why I can't sleep and the fact that I don't know why is making me more unable to sleep I believe. le sigh. ok, maybe I'll try reading. that might help.

and for goodness sakes, don't forget to vote today! (and with your brain, preferably)

oh, and days 10 and 11 are posted on my travelogue (link to the left)

halloween!

saturday night, brian and steve had a halloween party at their house. a good time was had by all. here are some highlights in pictures:


katie, the disco queen and me, marilyn monroe


katie and angel, dressed as her baby grape (long story, don't ask)


the hamburglar (steve) plays beer pong (and quite well, I might add)


katie and alec


alec and tedman, in tedman's signature look


macbeth and his lady


katie and brian after the wrestling match


brian as a ma-na-ma-na man (or something like that)