Lady Gaga FTW!

Okay, I'm admitting it. I am officially obsessed with Lady Gaga. I would gladly bear her children if it were medically possible (actually, now that I think about that it is technically possible sooo...yeah). If you haven't already seen her new video for telephone you should (see below). I always love an oddball who's not afraid to flaunt it, and I'm excited to see what she comes up with next!

YEEEESSSSS!!!

It is officially spring break. Woot woot!

What Am I Loving Now?

This wins the nummy award!

Cooking Fail

Okay so I tried a new recipe today, and it was a major failure. It was a "mock" cornbread recipe made with great northern beans and it was GROSS. I should know better than to try to cook something that's supposed to end up tasting like it came from a completely different food group. So tomorrow I'm going to go back to the store and get supplies for something that I know is tasty. I need some yummy snacks!

I'm A Lazy Bum

Wow, so I totally suck. Of course my last post said I would be posting regularly and then I disappear for two weeks. I can't even blame school for that one. Sorry guys! Thanks for all of the book suggestions, I will be getting off my lazy bum and heading to the library sometime this weekend hopefully.

Not much has happened in the two weeks I've been gone. I aced all of my exams, woot! I dyed my hair again, it's brown for now...I'll probably end up going back to blonde by the end of this month. I've decided to start eating healthier so I started the south beach diet last week. The first two weeks you're basically only allowed meat, dairy and vegetables (to eliminate cravings for processed food and sugar), and then you add natural fruits and grains after that. Basically I'm just trying to cut down on my processed food consumption. We'll see how it goes! A great side-effect to all of that is that I'm starting to cook again, which is always super fun. I'll take some pictures tomorrow of what I'm going to make, it should be yummy!

The best thing about these past weeks? Spring is in the air! It's getting a lot warmer here and it should be in the 50s this weekend. I can't wait until it's time to open the windows and do a little spring cleaning. I hope you all are having nice weather!

Thank God For The Weekend

So when I wrote that post whining about four quizzes in the second week of classes I had NO IDEA of the hell that was in store for me. I had four EXAMS and a quiz this week, three on the same day. This is my excuse for not posting at all this week, and now I am obviously trolling for sympathy. I could suck it up, but it's my blog and I'll whine if I want to :p So again, hopefully I will be posting a lot more regularly from now on...until finals week.

On another note, I need to start reading again. I started a "mystery" "thriller"-type book and I was bored to tears by the time I got halfway through it, so I just stopped. I hate hate hate giving up on books halfway through, but I think I'm going to have to do it this time. So now I'm looking for something new to sink my teeth into. Any suggestions?

Zooooombieeee

Weekly Exam Count:
2 down
3 to go

V-Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Otherwise known as Singles Awareness Day, depending on who you are...^_^

Oh. My. God.

I am addicted to Youtube medical videos! Seriously, this is starting to be an obsession. My favorites are ear wax and related "removals". They are soooooo satisfying. I was recently directed to Dr. Janakiram's videos, and they are AMAZING! Gross, but perfect. I especially love the random soundtracks that accompany the videos. For your viewing pleasure, I have selected two of my favorite "operations". If you are squeamish or think medical videos are gross, then you should probably not watch these...

EDIT: Now that I watch these again I think I should strongly warn you that the second video contains larvae, live larvae. Watch at your own risk.

Awesome

So guess who has a snow day today? Me. Guess what it hasn't been doing all day? Snowing.

Snow Pictures!

Here are some pictures I took from the monster storm we had. Sorry that they are a little blue, but I had to take them really fast and I put the camera on the wrong setting. I hope you like them though!

I'm Alive, Take Two!

So after 48 hours without power it finally came back on about a half an hour ago. I'm just waiting for the hot water heater to do its magic so I can take a scalding hot shower...I feel so gross. And guess what?? ...We're supposed to have more snow tomorrow -_- Hopefully the power won't go out since we're only supposed to get a few inches, but I'll try to write a longer post tonight maybe, after I can shake myself out of my power-outage stupor. Hope you all were safe and warm!

Oh Boy...

What's In A Dream?

Okay, I had the weirdest dream last night. What do I think about the minute I wake up? I need to write a blog about it, of course. I don't know how you would interpret this one, and to be honest I'm not sure I want to know...

So it started out at a hair salon. I was going to a new person and he started cutting my hair and when he was about halway done he left. I knew he left because I could see him getting in the back of a van with like five other people. I thought that was a little weird, but I figured he just had to make sure they got through the gate (we were at some kind of military base). After about 15 minutes I went to the front desk and told them that my hairdresser had split, and right then he comes walking in the door. Awkward moment, right? But not really, it seems like there are no hard feelings and he starts cutting my hair again. But now something seems a little off, like when someone compliments you and then they just keep staring a little too long. He seemed a little too happy to be chopping of my locks. For some reason, I let him convince me to go for a drive (huh?). The drive is taking a long time and after a while I get to the point where I realize that something is wong (you think?). I ask him to pull over but he doesn't so now I know that this is some kind of kidnapping scenario, and I'm trying to think of how I can get away. Eventually he stops on his own though, and now we get to the really weird part. We are now walking through a pirate convention/festival (that's right, I said pirates). I'm asking people for help but they're pirates so they really don't care that I'm being kidnapped. I elbow the guy in the gut and I run away to the back of one of the tents. He catches me again, and now I know that no one is going to help me. How do I know this? Because the tent is full of children torturing people with kite strings...yes, kite strings. The people were wrapped up in the strings and somehow the children flew them like they were kites but instead of flying they were just a huge bundle of pain and misery (say what?). So to be honest I was probably better off with Creepy McCreepster. I decide to do what every self-defense class says you should and I yelled fire. Well, everyone just ran away from us then because they thought something was on fire. So finally I channeled my inner Miss Congeniality and I stomped on his instep and elbowed him in the gut again and I turned around, and you're supposed to smash his nose in but I didn't think I would do it right so I punched him in the balls instead. And then I ran away and called a taxi and started going home but I could see he was following me so I went to the police station instead...and then I woke up.

What is my malfunction?

Favorites!

I love "get to know me" posts, and I thought I would make one of my own. Instead of telling y'all specific "little known facts" about me, I'm going to list my top three movies, music, etc... I don't know what it will say about me, but I'll leave that for you to decide!

Favorite Movies
The Lost Boys
Charade
Sense and Sensibility

Favorite Bands/Solo Artists
Queen
Emilie Autumn
Nine Inch Nails

Favorite Colors
Green
Black
Plum

Favorite Actors
David Niven
Alan Rickman
Javier Bardem

Favorite Actresses
Katharine Hepburn
Rachel Weisz
Kate Winslet

Favorite Foods
Watermelon
French Dip Sandwiches
Macaroni and Cheese

Favorite School Subjects
English Literature
Foreign Languages
Anatomy

Favorite Animals
Penguins
Siberian Tigers
Huskies

Favorite TV Shows
Criminal Minds
Heroes
Bones

Favorite Authors/Poets
Harper Lee
Lord Alfred Tennyson
Edgar Allen Poe

Okay I can't think of anymore right now, but I think that's good enough. I hope you like some of my favorites! Hope y'all are having a great day ^_^

I Love!

It's been a while since I've made a love list, and I think today would be perfect for it! So here it is...

Black Hair
"Snow Days"
Little kitties curled up in a ball
Blue nail polish
Lysol disinfectant cleaner
Hazardous waste buckets
Youtube videos
Macaroni and cheese
Family
Ramen!
Mail
Cookies!

I think that's all for today, I hope y'all make your own lists!

Finally!

Here are the long-awaited Florida pictures! I took a few hundred but these are just some of my favorites, especially the Flagler Beach one. If you click on the image you should be able to see a larger picture. I figured these would be great to look at after all the snow we've had! I don't know about you but I've been craving some warmth and sunshine, I guess these pictures will just have to do for a few months. Hope y'all are staying safe and having a great weekend!

Snowpocalypse, Take Two

Our power just came back on, yay! It was out for about an hour and a half, and we were a little worried that we wouldn't get any power back for a while. Hopefully we'll have power for the rest of the storm now. I'm very glad to be at home for this one, because a few weeks ago in that really awful blizzard my family and I got caught on the road and had to make an emergency stop at a hotel for the night. Thankfully, we were lucky to hitch a ride the next day with someone who had a Jeep, but it was very scary for a while there. If any of you guys are also experiencing the storm, I hope you're staying safe and warm!

Je suis fatigué!

Oh boy, well so far this week I have taken/will take FOUR quizzes. That's right, four quizzes in the second week of school. I'm pretty sure they're trying to take out the entire student body one sad, overworked soul at a time. I'm taking 3/5 classes this semester (five if you count lab classes separately from lecture, which I do) and they are all very time intensive.

French should be easy for me, and I did very well on the first quiz, but since I skipped a class I'm having to scramble and catch up so there is still a lot of work to be done, and I probably have more homework in that class than any of the others, which is saying a lot.

Microbiology is...interesting. My lab instructor is a little scary, I normally love sarcastic people, but not when I am living in constant fear of mockery. But he's good, and my microbiology lecture instructor is nice too, but having the class at 7-8:30 at night does NOT help with concentration...it's probably better than the 8:30 A.M. class though.

And then there's A+P. This is the second class in the duo, and it looks like there's going to be a lot more work in this section than there was in the first one. And we have to dissect cats! Poor kitties...when I came home after the last lab my kitty wouldn't stop talking to me for at least a half an hour, I think she knew what I had done :(

So yeah, thought some of you might be interested to read what's going on in my life at the moment. Again, I'm sorry that I won't be able to post as frequently anymore, but I am thinking about all of you! Hope you have a great day!

I'm Alive!

I'm so sorry for not posting anything this week, starting classes has been even more hectic than I had thought it would be. I apologize that this post is a little rushed, but I will try to be better about posting now that the initial frenzy is over.

This week I thought I would write about something that is very near to my heart: gay rights. I spent a long time trying to come up with my thoughts on the subject, but my words seem to be failing me tonight. So instead I'll just talk about what brought this post on...or rather, who. Cindy McCain has thrown her support of overturning proposition 8 into the ring, posing for a campaign with NOH8.Image from Adam Bouska and the NO H8 campaign


I think anyone who adds their face to this cause is amazing, but Cindy McCain just floored me with her support. There are so many things to love about this, I don't even know where to start. I think most importantly is that she is now making a huge impact on what people think it means to be a republican. I'm a libertarian, but anything we can do to make this issue one about basic rights and not partisan politics is a step in the right direction, and I applaud Cindy McCain (and daughter Meghan too) for such a courageous move.

Thanks for reading, and I promise next week I will try to post much more!

Books!

Hey everyone! I'll be posting pictures from Florida soon, but I wanted to get these book reviews out. I'm starting a new semester tomorrow, so this week is going to be a little hectic but hopefully I'll get through it!

The first book I read was Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles. You could read it in a night if you really felt like it, and it was pretty entertaining. It was interesting to compare the Holmes from the book to the one in the old shows and now Robert Downey Jr.'s interpretation. To be honest, the "book Holmes" seemed a lot more condescending and frankly annoying than any other ones. Maybe something picks up in the translation from text to film. Anyway, it was fun to read and as one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most recognizable works it's probably important to be familiar with it from a purely cultural standpoint.

My sister gave my mom the second book, and then she gave it to me. It was When You Are Engulfed in Flames, but David Sedaris. It's a collection of comedic personal essays and they are hilarious! I told my mom afterward that I would never be able to write anecdotal essays because I would have to admit to the world what an amazingly awful person I am...and I would probably end up alienating every family member, friend and aquantance I have ever had. But I am perfectly content to laugh at/with other people braver than I. I would definitely reccomend this book to anyone interested in the genre, and even though it is pretty large I finished it in two days because it is so hard to put down.

The last book was The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. What a depressing book. If your idea of a good time is giving up all hope in humanity and spending the rest of your night curled up crying in the fetal position in the loneliest corner of your room, then this book was made for you. It was...good, though, if that's really the right word. I saw that they had made a movie based on the book last year, so I'll probably end up being sad and masochistic and see it. I guess I would say it was tough to read but worth it in the end...probably.

Hope you all have a great night!

I'm Back!

Hey everyone! I'm back home finally, all safe and sound. I'll be writing a much larger post tomorrow but I just wanted to say hi really quick. Florida was pretty nice, a little cold though. I took a lot of great pictures, and got a few antiques for my room. I'll be posting pictures tomorrow along with a few book reviews. I have lots of catching up to do, hope you all had a great week!

Greetings From Fort Jackson!

Hey y'all! After a seven hour drive, we finally made it to Fort Jackson, in South Carolina. Another six hours tomorrow should get us to Palm Coast. We're in an officer's cabin on the lake on post, and it is gorgeous! I wish it were warmer so I could take a walk around the lake, but it's been in the mid-30's all day. Oh well, there's a fun window seat in my room so I'm happy to curl up with a book for tonight. I'm crossing my fingers for some great Florida weather!

Oh, and I finished Sun Storm last night. The Amazon link to it is in my sidebar, and you can also find any of the books that I talk about/read on that list. If you're a fan of thrillers, you'll probably enjoy this book. Åsa is a great writer, and the book was filled with very subtle plot manipulations and quite a few interesting characters. It was a little difficult for me to read at points though, I should know by now that whenever a book or movie puts a dog into the mix it won't be ending well. If any of you ever write a novel that has a dog in it, let it survive for me, please?

It's Tiberius!

Tonight was movie night, and can you guess which movie was on the menu? That's right, Star Trek. This is the second time I've watched it and I really do think it's a great movie. In my opinion Zachary Quinto as Spock completely stole the show. It touched one of my many nostalgia nerves for the series, and, as you might be able to tell, my favorite captain of all, Jean-Luc Picard. I wasn't around for Kirk's heyday, and then I was not particularly interested in Picard's successors. It's just not possible to improve on perfection, yeah?

On another note, I'm not sure how regularly I'll be able to post this week. I will be visiting my grandmother in Florida and since she doesn't have Internet access I might only be able to post once or twice when I can get to a wi-fi spot. But when I get back I'll have lots of pictures to show you! Until then, lots of love ^_^

Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. These three phrases are the backbone of Michael Pollan's amazing book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. Chock full of common sense, this book is not going to tell you anything radically different from what you already intuitively know. It does, however, provide more than enough research and statistical evidence to prove it. All of this is bundled up in a great package of prose, heavily peppered with incredible insights and conclusions into the politics and science (most of it faulty and unfounded) of the food industry. This was a quick and very enjoyable read, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in where our food comes from and the history of the industrialization and politicization of the food industry.

Transitioning now to the world of fiction, I've been trying to add a few modern novels to my reading list, and I picked up The Inhabited World on a whim on one of my trips to the library. I'm glad I did. To be honest, it wasn't instant-classic good, but it was enjoyable to read. Sometimes you do just want an easy, steady-paced book that doesn't require wading through long-winded monologues or pages upon pages of description. This is what I would call a dessert book, and as one is a success. It's about a man dealing with a sort of purgatory after his death, and is mostly a collection of his significant memories. There was a side-plot, dealing with the woman currently living in the house that our main character is "haunting", as well. The characterization of our "hero" is really the shining achievement of the book, grasped through his understanding of the defining moments of his life. I would recommend this book as a fun, fast read if you have the time.

I have about ten more books to read from my last trip to the library, but I'm already thinking of my next list. What have you been reading lately, and do you have any books that you love and wish everyone would read?

The Quote Post

I love quotes like nobody's business. Little snippets of wisdom or hilarity that tell so much in just a few words. I go hunting for them when I can't formulate the right combination of words myself for what I'm feeling or thinking, and I never come up empty-handed. Here are just a few of the many quotes that I love.

Those who fear the imagination condemn it: something childish, they say, something monsterish, misbegotten. Not all of us dream awake. But those of us who do have no choice.
~ Patricia McKillip

Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus.
~ Wallace Stegner

If the world were really a logical place, men would ride side-saddle
~ Unknown

Joy's smile is much closer to tears than laughter
~ Victor Hugo

Carlos: So, what, were they psychos, or...
Seth: Did they look like psychos? Is that what they looked like? They were vampires. Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are!
~ From Dusk Till Dawn

It is a fine thing to establish one's own religion in one's heart, not to be dependent on tradition and second-hand ideals. Life will seem to you, later, not a lesser, but a greater thing.
~ D. H. Lawrence

Snorgles!

What am I loving today?

Re-dying my hair the right color
Scooby-Doo ringtones
Reading a good book by the fire
Searching through the library stacks for hidden gems
Comfy flannel "man-shirts"
Pumpkin cheesecake
Being able to start my car this morning
Giving my adorable, long-suffering cat lots of snorgles

Sex With Ducks

I just discovered Garfunkel and Oates the other day, and I am IN LOVE! These girls are amazingly talented and pee-your-pants funny. This video is one of my favorites, and you can find many more of them on youtube. Enjoy!

Who's Watching You?

Well, after a marathon reading session I finished 1984 in two days. My brain is something close to soup. Satisfied, well-read soup but soup all the same. I have to say out of Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and 1984, 1984 definitely takes the horrifying parts-of-it-are-so-similar-to-daily-life-now-that-it-takes-less-of-a-stretch-of-the-imagination-to-think-of-this-actually-happening-but-parts-of-it-are-also-so-alien-that-it-scares-the-shit-out-of-you award. I'm still keeping Fahrenheit 451 as my favorite, but maybe that's just because it's slightly less mentally exhausting and painful than the other two. Either way, 1984 is definitely all it's cracked up to be. I definitely hope you'll read it if you haven't yet.

On a related note, I went on a bender at the library yesterday, and got a HUGE pile of books to keep me company in the next few weeks. I've already started Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and it is absolutely heartbreaking. Actual content aside, there can be no doubt when you start reading her prose that she is an amazing poet. Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow, but for now I'm taking off my crazy-underground-hermit reading glasses and maybe opening my blinds so the sun can come in...maybe.

Spring Cleaning

I love fresh-cut flowers, especially in winter when it can get so gloomy. Tulips are some of my favorite, they're making me feel like spring is just around the corner!

And what better way to celebrate the impending spring season than with some pasta...um...yeah. So here's my recipe goodness for the day! I made Giada De Laurentiis' Farfalle with Turkey Sausage, Peas and Mushrooms, and it was delicious!


I couldn't find the cheese that she specified in the recipe, so I just went with a Parmigiano-Reggiano instead. I would give this recipe a solid four stars out of five. Very tasty. For dessert I made a yellow-butter sheet cake, and that ended my day full of yum ^_^

On a different note, I finished Brave New World, and it definitely lived up to expectations. Fahrenheit 451 is still my favorite "scary future apocalyptic" book, but Brave New World comes in a very close second. To continue with the theme, I'm starting 1984 tonight. What books have you been reading?