Olympia by Edouard Manet 1863  

random observances from work...

Okay I need to get out more. Seriously. Its summer and my nerdiness has risen to new heights. I'm currently at work (with little hopes for escape for another hour and half, hence the blogging), doing some lovely data entry. Basically I'm typing up numbers from one excel file into another excel file, only (here's the kicker!) the new one is horizontal while the old one is vertical! Madness I tell you, sheer madness!
So anyway, the numbers are sales amounts of the stores for each day and are mostly in the low thousands. I've noticed that whenever the numbers resemble a historic date I start trying to remember what happened in the year. Like for 1863.56, I would think of Manet's painting of Olympia or for 1939.24, I think of Germany invading Poland and the start World War II. My inner (hell, who am I kidding, I've never been able to hide this) history geek is rearing its date-loving-historical-fact-quoting head. I've been doing this all week and have been pefectly entertained. Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right?

Permanent markers do not equal blue pens

In case you were wondering, while both these writing implements can be used on various mediums, in actuality they are not on equal footing and should not be used in exchange of each other. Maybe I should send out a memo to my coworkers, as this morning I arrived at my desk to find it bereft of all of my blue pens, but somehow gaining in permanent markers. Which are not as valuable to my daily activites as the blue pens. Sadly. But at least instead of finding my desk completely empty of supplies, this time I still have some. Maybe I can use them to barter for some new pens. Sigh.

I have measured my life with coffee spoons

Or more accurately, with books. Its that time of the year when I move all the objects that make up my life from one living arrangement to another (in truth, I'm little early, its usually the end of August when this joyous occasion occurs, but anything that will get me out of the Inland Empire sooner I'll take). So I've been boxing up my possessions, which are mostly made up by the large amount of books that I own. 364 days our of the year I love my books, but on that one day when I have carry each and every one of them from one place to another, they are definitly not on my happy list. But as soon as they're in their new room, I'll take solace in them once again, and try to forget just how heavy they are all together. In a sick way, I enjoy moving, there's such a hieghtening of expectations and anticipations of what the new place will bring. And I'm really excited about this new place. First of all, its in downtown Claremont, and might actually be the first place that I've proactively wanted to live in. It has a soul- unlike the apartments of the past. I'm also hoping that perhaps with a new living arrangement will come new trends in my life, maybe I can finally close up some slightly open doors from the past. A literal fresh start. As I learned last night, I would not be the only one to do so...
I'm writing this as I sit on hold for what appears to be until the end of time. Sigh. Between the holding and my computer trying to die slowly, I could really use a vacation. Permanently. Perhaps with my living situation, I'll be gifted with a new job. One which doesn't involve the hated data entry. A girl can dream.

Harmony in Red by Henri Matisse 

In the future I'll be realizing how young I was...

It's official. I'm getting older. This realization didn't come alongside a birthday celebration (because mine's in December, hint hint), but instead out of a conversation I had with one of my students. We were talking about 1983, for some reason which I can't remember, and then about what year were born. Nicole is in the fifth grade, and was born in 1994. Which was bad enough. But when I told her the year I was born- 1981 (a great year, by the by), her eyes about popped out of her head! She couldn't even fathom such a long time ago. And that was when I realized that I was officially older. Not ensure consuming, depends wearing oldness (despite the bursitus and various other elderly ailments), but I'm definitly moving away from my youth. Which freaks me out. I'm content with the knowledge that I'm slowly becoming more adult like, but at the same point, I wonder what exactly I have to show for my aging.
The other night, I spent some quality time at my local Barnes and Noble (as I frequently do), and I started reading Prep by Curtis Sittenfild (which was pretty engaging, I'll definitly read more the next time I'm there). After reading the auther information, I noticed that she was 27 or 28 and she has a best selling book published. Shes four years older than me. Which not such a great difference. I'm constantly hearing about people who do amazing things in their mid twenties, who have actual accomplishments. Which makes me wonder what accomplishments I'll have by my later twenties (as I'm already somewhat immersed in those middle years at the ripe age of 23). The only thing I'm pretty certain of at this point is that I'll have my masters degree, which will hopefully lead to some job, that ideally won't involve data entry, and instead be heavy on the creative aspects. I suppose only time will tell at this point. And whenever that mysterious future becomes the equally mystical present, I'm sure I'll still be experiencing these twin tensions of feeling both young and old, and desiring to accomplish more. Weird.

photos

www.flickr.com More of Alexandra the Great's photos

Note to self: Don't leave wine bottles in car on hot afternoons...

Also, don't stick my face the unknown grocery bag at the bottom of the pantry, because there just might be month-old potatoes creating rank aromas in said bag. Thank you roommates. I've learned so much on this random Friday. The day started out normally enough; the morning was spent by me being bored at work, as usual. Then I headed out to Claremont and found a place to live! I'm living in a house a block away from campus with one other girl who's doing a one year pre-med program. The house is super cute and I'm pretty excited about the whole situation. After that I went to he Ford dealership in Claremont because Tina won something from them in the mail (and was out of town) and needed me to pick it up. I had to pretend to be Tina, which was funny because people who know us get us confused sometimes too. It turns out she won a free 3 days/2 nights stay at her pick of a bunch of hotels in the US. So we've decided to go on a romantic vacation together some time, because everyone at CGU already think we're lesbians, so it makes sense. The dealership was seriously random, they asked me all about my car, if I had payments, the mileage, etc., and I also got to spin a prize wheel, where I won a visor cd holder, yay. Totally random. After that I drove home and hung out for a bit, until around 5 when I decided to go to the library, because yes, I am that cool. As I started driving, I noticed that my car smelled a lot like wine. Interesting, I thought, glancing at my backseat, only o discover that the bottle which I had in my backseat (because I brought it to Tina's house last week, but we didn't drink it, and then I was going to bring it to Elaine's tonight, so I had just left it in my backseat- no because I'm an alcoholic...) had exploded! Apparently, in the desert heat, the cork exploded out of the bottle, and wine escaped onto my seats. So now my car smells like the inside of a wine jug and I have a large red stain on my seat. Awesome. So these are the things I learned yesterday. All in all, quite a random day!

pirates and jedis, oh my!

My Pirate Name: Mad Dog Bonney
Part crazy, part mangy, all rabid, you're the pirate all the others fear might just snap soon. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

So if I ever decide to embark on a civilization-free life on the open seas, I guess I have my name all picked out. Awesome.

Other things that are awesome: freakin' Episode III of Star Wars (yes, I've already seen it, because I watched it at midnight last night!) Maybe its my inner geekiness coming out, but I totally dug the movie. And I don't care who knows it. The force is strong with me.

working thoughts

"Oh coffee,
you are so awesome."
-Ode to Coffee

I've tried to deny my feelings for some time now, but I can't keep quiet any longer. I'm totally addicted to coffee. Every morning, I drag myself out of bed and to work with only the hopes of sweet sweet coffee waiting for me to keep me going. It might be the only redeeming quality of this job. Because the its not the joys of data entry that keep me coming back. Yes, it must be the free coffee- oh and the paychecks. Those help too.

Continuing the grand tradition

So it's been a while since I've posted at work. Mostly because some of my most recent jobs have not been as computer oriented as this one (which I just started a few weeks ago, under seriously random circumstances). Which makes me reflect on just how many jobs I've had in the past year since I started this blog. As of last summer, I've babysat, worked in a bookstore, worked in a museum, tutored, worked retail (whose name shall not be spoken), worked at multiple shoe store offices (seriously, I'm on my second, both of which found courtesy of craigslist), taught in an after school reading program, and have become a research assistant. I'm not a flighty person who goes from job to job, so I'm not entirely certain how this happened, but that's how I've been paying the bills this past year. What's really scary is that there were few months where I didn't work at all. But hopefully this summer I won't be adding anymore positions to my resume and just be sticking with my current jobs of teaching, researching (which I'm so excited about! published work, yay!) and the one where I update my blog at; office assisting. Other plans for the summer include reading for pleasure (I acquired a library card from the city of Rancho Cucamonga, because yes, I am that cool) and taking lots of fun trips and adventures. I have some high hopes, which I think will be met. I suppose only time will tell :)

a few more hours and i'm halfway done!

So I have my last paper of the semester due tomorrow, and I could not be more excited (or stressed). I'm super excited to be done, and to have some actual free time that doesn't involve reading for class. Of course I still have a good five pages standing between me and that happy dream. I'm writing a paper about the relationship of the artist and the postmodern society, which is a topic that I'm really interested in, but unfortuanately at this point I just want to finish it. Sigh. What can you do? On a totally random note, my friend Joe emailed me a story that was in his textbook (he's studying in China right now), which was about a young girl and her family. Keep in mind that this story was in a textbook about family life in China. (the asterisk's are joe's comments)

My House is Still Happy/Harmonious.
At first glance, my family is a happy and harmonious home. My dad is a factory supervisor. My mom is a manager at a market. And me, I’ve already started middle school, and am the class leader/captian *this is a much cooler thing in Asia than in the States*. My classmates and I jokingly say, “Everybody’s house is official. Who could be in charge of who?” …*ok I don’t know how to translate that joke…, apparently it’s funny though*… Everybody feels that their house is a happy one, an I feel the same about mine. Until one day I accidentally overheard my mom and dad talking.
Even though the door was closed, I could still hear my Dad’s solemn voice coming through it: “Tell me, Is Little Hong Mr.Zhang’s child, yes or no? Tell me the truth!” I simply could not believe my ears. I thought my mom would become so angry, loose her temper, maybe even go so far as to hit my Dad. After a while, I still didn’t hear anything from my mom, I was so anxious! Suddenly, I heard mom cry, then right after that, she confirmed Dad’s suspicions.
My dad isn’t my blood-dad, he had suspected that since I was two years old. But he always thought that it didn’t matter, because the thought that my Mom still loved him, and that that was enough. Now, more than 10 years later, why has he all of a sudden brought this all up again? Because, he found out that the man he suspected 10 plus years ago of sleeping with his wife is not just a past lover, but is still my mom’s lover!
Hearing this, I in my heart uncontrollably blamed my mom for this: mom, why would you lie to dad for so many years!? You know what I think? My Dad is the best dad in the whole world!
My mom had told the whole truth. The inside of the room was silent. After a while, dad said, “So many years have gone by, I originally couldn’t, wouldn’t, ask you this question, but I cannot endure you constantly making me look like an idiot. You have to make a choice today: you either stay with me, or with him. If you go with him, then we will immediately divorce.”
What? Divorce?!!! That’s way too frightening/horrible! I quickly rushed into the room and yelled, “You CAN’T divorce! Dad, isn’t mom being honest enough with you?” then to my mom I said, “mom, can you honestly say you want to be with that other man? If you divorce dad, I’m going with him, and you’ll lose your me, your daughter, forever!”
When I ran into the room, dad had been very surprised. Mom was even more so. She took my hand, and while crying said, “child, I can’t loose you both.” Hearing my mom’s words, I turned away from her, crying, I yelled out, yelled out for my dad. I saw my dad was crying too. Dad pulled my hand over and said, “This problem will only stop if you draw a period in it’s way. *…something like that…* But you will always be your father’s child…
A few days went by. Mom wouldn’t speak. She never stopped working, And dad, like always, helped her work. Slowly, mom started to smile again. The day before yesterday, my mom bought my dad a suit. It fit very well. I saw my dad’s face slowly crack into a smile too. Now, our house is still like before happy and harmonious. And from the bottom of my heart I say, “ Dad, you’re amazing!”

Yup, still not studying

Instead of studying, I've decided to share some more random observances on my life. First of all, let me say that I'm typing this as Access Hollywood is on in the background (I'm waiting for the OC, bitches!), and can I just say that I'm over Britney and her baby? Not that I'm wishing her harm or anything, but the amount of press that this has generated is a bit obscene. As my favorite morning show Kevin and Bean on KROQ said, if the pope had impregnated Britney, then yes, that would be newsworthy and deserve a lot of press. But she's a pop star! So maybe people can calm down a bit, for my sanity. In other baby news, I was listening to NPR this morning and they did a story about a woman who was surrogate for an impotent couple. Apparently, she's going to have quintuplets-unplanned. The reporter started talking about her $15,000 fee, and I must admit, I was totally expecting to hear how she was demanding more money or something. But the lady had waived all the money, saying that the parents were going to need all the money they could get. Now that's a baby story that deserves press. But seriously, I thought that was such a wonderful gesture, and it was a great way to start off my morning. Which was very full, as I started my new job today. At another shoe company. I don't know what it is about me and shoe companies, but apparently I have an affinity for assisting offices that deal with shoes. I'm not sure what that says about me, but it's money so I'm not complaining. Instead, I'll stick to complaining about my classes and reading and paper writing and more reading etc etc etc...

This is how much I don't want to study

So here I am, sitting on my couch. I should be writing my paper, or reading some poetry, or something about colonialism, or primitivism, or postmodernism... are you catching a drift? But I'm not. I have no motivation whatsoever. And I don't care. So put that in your pipe and smoke it grad school.
So instead, I'm going to write about the lovely things I saw today. While driving home, I saw a truck with the decal that said "My Other Ride is Your Mom." I only wish I was joking. Then, not two seconds later a car full of shirtless highschool boys, who made gestures at me and my roommate. Thank you Inland Empire for these lovely memories that I'm sure I'll treasure. If only these were the exception and not the rule about life down in Rancho Cucamonga. Hopefully soon, I will find a cute one bedroom place close to campus and I'll never have to leave Claremont's city limits. I'm counting the days.... seriously.

Blame Grad School

So yes, I realize that I have been more than lax in my postings. I can only offer one explanation. I have become a slave to my books-they control all aspects of my life. In fact, I had to lie and tell them I was doing research on buying more books just so I could sneak onto the internet. But seriously, just a short post before I have to get back to the joy that is Amiri Baraka and his angry angry writings. Recap this past month: lots of reading, little bit of polo (yay! so excited to be playing again!), some social activities, and more reading... try to contain your jealousy.

The epic battle rages on

Okay, so I'm the first to admit that I'm not the most technologically advanced person. But nor am I a dimwitted fool. So today I decided that it was time to jazz up this sorry excuse for a blog and add some pictures (and also it was better than studying). So I made my way merrily to the blogger site and followed the lovely directions and downloaded the needed software, etc. etc. All was going well until I thought to take things a step further and actually go about adding some pictures to my blog. And that's when it all fell apart. I attempted to sign in, only to be viciously halted by the statement that my email needed to be verified. "Alright," I thought to myself, "a minor setback, but I can get through this." I typed in the correct information and waited patiently for my email to arrive with further instructions. It was non-existent, so I tried again. And again. And then some more. Hours (and work and various other nighttime activities) later my emails are still somewhere in cyberland, taunting me with their lack of presence. I'm finding myself at an impasse- unable to move forward, yet completely discontent with this present state. Sigh. Will this story ever have a happy ending, possibly one with visuals? Only time will tell.

A short rant

Parent's hide your children. Don't let them near the tv. Run for the hills. The terror is upon us. Spongebob Squarepants is gay. And not just in the he's happy to be living in his pineapple under the sea sort of gay. No, I'm talking about the sweet sweet same sex loving sort of gay. Spongebob was alledging seen in a "We Are Family" remake video promoting his special brand of love, alongside such other shady characters as Barney (also gay, hence the purple suit) and Clifford (the big red communist!) I guess Tinky Winky converted him. But seriously, I'm in shock that a) people continue to read entirely too much into cartoon characters (c'mon, they're cartoon characters, half the time they're not even supposed to make sense!) and b) that in a video made to promote diversity and harmony that its wrong to include a supposedly gay character. Because they don't deserve to be treated the same as everyone else. The last time I checked, this was the 21st century, not 1950, right? Now I know I definitely lean towards the liberal side of life, but this is really going too far. I'm not saying that everyone has to agree and promote everyone else's ideologies, but I think a certain amount of respect between people can be reached. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking... but I hope not.

the glamorous life of a grad student...

"You know you need money!
Marky, give us a call!
Sell us your soul!
Just... kidding!"

Okay, so it's Friday and once again, I'm being a bad employee at work. Shocking, I know. Well, I officially started my spring semester this past week, and so far it's going pretty well. That might have something to do with the fact that I've only had one class (my others are on Monday), but hey, who's counting? Anyhow, things are going pretty well down here in SoCal. The weather has even mellowed a bit- it was freakin' 80+ degrees here last week. Seriously. I wore a skirt and sandals the other day, in January. Not that I'm complaining per se, I definitely prefer this weather to the other options of snowstorms etc. that can be found in the rest of the country. But still, you have to admit, it's very unnatural... My cold has receded to a minor annoyance, and it seems that my family is also on the road to various recoveries, for which I'm thankful. The only blight on this otherwise happy day would be the lack of my paycheck. I feel as if a limb is missing- the limb that pays for things. My boss- who for the record is crazy (not kidding on this one; the other day he called the office to ask what time it was. No explanation. Just demanded the time and then hung up.) doesn't know where the checks are. He's also not here right now, so that may have something to do with it. The other guy who handles administrative issues is also gone and also has no idea where my money is. So that leaves me who, as you can guess, is also wondering where my monetary goodness could be. I'm a little worried, mostly because I'm really depending on that check so I can buy my friend Patricia a wedding present for the wedding, which is in a week! So thats how my week has been, warm and poor. Come to think of it, that's how most of my weeks are... interesting.

What a week!

So after an eventful week, I've come to the conclusion that it is not a good time to be a Dove (and no, I'm not talking about the bird- that's a whole different story). This epiphany came to me after spending the past weekend at my palacial country estate in Moorpark (otherwse known as the house where I grew up in the middle of nowhere). I went home after receiving a phone call from my mother saying that she broke her arm, which as you can imagine definitely freaked me out more than a little. Fortuanetly, it was a clean break, and she's had her surgery and is waiting for her spiffy new cast. The doctors said her bones were very strong and that she should heal relatively quickly. But still, not a good thing. Then the next day, my grandmother tripped on her sidewalk and hurt her knee- not excessivly badly, but this is not something that one of the elderly generation should be doing. And my dad's been sick with a cold, which he lovingly gave to me when I was home. So basically, everyone in my immediate family has an ailment of some sort. I'm thinking of calling my family in England, just to make sure that they haven't caught the plague or mad cow disease because after this weekend, I wouldn't even be surprised. So this has been the excitement of my life, just in time for classes to begin tomorrow, yay. I'm hoping that we got all the bad stuff out early in the year and that it will be smooth sailing until 2006... I guess only time will tell. On a happier note, shout out to Liz and her entrance into the barista lifestyle, congrats! I'm definitely expecting some quality, lovingly made coffee when I'm up in Northern California next weekend :)

Another year, another blog...

Wow, I haven't posted anything in over a month. I can only wonder what the heavy impacts of my fateful decision on my billions of readers might have been. So to all you thousands, I apologize for this lack of support from me. It wasn't that I wasn't thinking about the millions of you, its just that I wasn't posting anything. See, doesn't that clear everything up? I'm glad we had this moment. Well, anyhow, its officially a new year, which means... I'm not quite certain what this means, but its still a new year regardless. I have a feeling that I'll be spending this year in much the same fashion as I've spent the past one. Lots o' reading, lots o' paper writing, and lots o' random postings that make very little sense. And on that note, I'll end this little post with high hopes for this upcoming year...