It don't mean a thing

09:21 pm - Validation!
I uploaded a picture to JPG maybe two hours ago, one of my favorite pictures from Russia, and look at the nice things people wrote!

Also, my friend Jane's excellent picture from Korea is listed as a "hot" picture, which is pretty darn exciting.

Today I conned my friend Sarah into doing a track workout with me. It was the first I'd done one since...well...track. In high school. I predict soreness ahead.

Tomorrow, anticipated soreness notwithstanding: picnic with the students, then drive to Manlius, NY for a Russia mini-reunion. Woo!
Current Mood:

delighted

July 15th, 2008

08:22 pm - Radish radish radish
Pictures from last weekend and the b-day are here.

On the menu for tonight: radish salad. Tomorrow I'm going to do something with the radish greens. Yay for new foods!

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July 14th, 2008

06:22 pm - New Hampshire life
Spotted on the drive to work this morning: a mama turkey and two baby turkeys. Squee!

Purchased at the farmer's market on the way home from work: three different kinds of squash, two of which I've never bought before, radishes, and a pint of fresh blueberries. Yay dinner.

This weekend passed in a blur of delightfulness. Friday we took the students to Franconia Notch State Park, next to the White Mountains. We first walked up to the Flume, a stunning natural rock formation of granite and basalt. Then we took the tram to the top of Cannon Mountain where we ran around in the mist and pretended to be bears. I love my students. We stopped for ice cream on the way back at a little stand that also had a kind of petting zoo, so I got to feed the piggies. The Japanese kid took lots of videos.

Friday night I drove into Boston for the first time, to go to a Lindy mini-exchange - a dance and a house party with more dancing, then a BBQ on Saturday afternoon. At the BBQ someone got the idea to lindy bomb a free concert on the Charles, so we all piled into various vehicles and headed off. When I was in high school in Anchorage, I used to read about lindy bombing, and I dreamed of being part of a dance community that would do crazy stuff like that. So this was pretty awesome. We danced on the sidewalk at the concert for maybe half an hour while it slowly got dark, then headed to the dance at the Boathouse, where a dance floor was set up on the wooden dock. It was bumpy and uneven, crowded, dangerous (I got kicked a lot), and completely wonderful. I loved dancing under the moonlight, with the boats drifting past and the breeze off the water. So perfectly romantic.
Current Mood:

content

July 10th, 2008

09:52 pm - the yay factor
Just did the math and calculated that for the past week my car got just over 30 miles to the gallon. I did a lot of highway driving, but still. W00t!!!
Current Mood:

pleased

09:18 pm - Notes from the homefront:
It has been a manic week. Lots of ups and downs. A few highlights, in no particular order:

~For Fourth of July I went to MA to hang out with my aunt and uncle. Visited my grandparents' graves to pull weeds and plant flowers. Instead of being sad, as I expected, it was a nice peaceful way to remember them. In the afternoon we watched the end of a crazy bike race - 100 miles and it finished up the side of a mountain! And that was one day out of three!

~Spent the rest of the weekend with Lisa and Jon. Many delicious things were baked by Lisa, including zucchini brownies and peach bread, both from the awesome cookbook Simply in Season, of which I now have my very own copy, a b-day gift from Lisa. I made some truly awful Dark and Stormys - you really, really need Gosling's, not Bacardi(mega ew). On Sunday morning Lisa and I ran a personal best of one hour sixteen minutes, nearly twice around the Avon Reservoir. We rule.

~One of the other teachers alerted the students to my birthday five minutes before class, so they all ran off giggling to the MUB and bought me a birthday muffin and some birthday M & M's. Then they sang happy birthday to me and then we had to take pictures. I love my students.

~Gave blood for the first time since I've been back from SE Asia - guess the malaria risk has finally worn off. The blood donation restrictions in this country seem oddly Draconian to me. The good news is, east coast blood donors also get cookies.

~For my birthday, a couple of my friends took me candlepin bowling for the first time ever in my life. I won the first game, despite being shy a pint of blood. I kind of dig the strategery involved in candlepin, what with the lane not being cleared between tries. Also those little balls really go fast! And Dover Bowl serves Red Hook. ;)

~DMV hassle continues unabated. Thank God the girl I bought the car from is being really patient and helpful.

Now the lame part of my week: after a really solid streak of about four years hanging on to the same pair of glasses (no small feat for me, the original Ms. Spazztastic), I managed to lose my glasses yesterday in the library. Since I'm driving into Boston tomorrow night, that posed a serious problem. After much running about to secure an eye exam and get a prescription, I discovered that my health insurance doesn't cover optical. I sucked it up and paid LensCrafters the hellish fees they want for the one-hour glasses. The happy ending is that the new specs are not only clearer due to a stronger prescription, but are seriously Naughty-Librarian sexy. Pictures soon!

Tomorrow: hiking with the students all day, blues dancing in Boston all night. Pretty sweet Friday, I think.
Current Mood:

bouncy

July 1st, 2008

05:36 pm - I depend on me. And my mom.
I treated myself to an extra hour of sleep this morning, given that I didn't have to get up early for the bus. Pretty awesome.

I put on an old mixed cd in the car this morning on the way to school. The first song was that Destiny's Child song about independent women. I might have rocked out a little to the part about "the car I'm drivin'...I bought it". Maybe.

Pics of my pretty car are here.

The DMV is being a BITCHY PAIN IN THE ASS on the subject of registering the car. To be fair, I am not helping the process by wanting to register the car in Alaska so as to keep my residency, and the girl who sold me the car really did not help by signing the title on the wrong line. Neither of us helped by waiting until the absolute last minute before she moved to the other side of the country to complete this transaction, so that she is no longer physically present to sign things.

Sigh.
Current Mood:

up n down

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June 30th, 2008

07:32 pm - A damn fine weekend.
Friday night: bus to Boston and train to Jackie's house. Absolutely fantastic sushi with Jackie and Chels. Jackie designed the owner's eyewear so we got free chocolate souffle. Drabk cocktails and giggled a lot. Friday ruled.

Saturday: Got up way early and drove to the Cape. Helped Jackie and Mark prepare the house for the first renters of the season. Spent the late afternoon collapsed on the beach with occasional forays into the water. Found some pretty shells. Sunburned my cleavage. Ate awesome seafood for dinner and drove back to Jackie's house. Saturday ruled.

Sunday: Went for a run in Jackie's neighborhood - a new personal record of one hour, eleven minutes. I'm guessing that's about seven miles. Grilled shrimp and asparagus for lunch. Jackie made two kinds of pie. Train back to Boston and bus back to Dover. Sunday also ruled.

Monday: BOUGHT MYSELF A CAR.

WOOOOOOOOO!

It's a 2003 Saturn L200, light blue, leather seats, super comfortable and pretty. And it's all mine. Which means that I CAN GO ANYWHERE. And I will.
Current Mood:

stoked

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June 27th, 2008

08:40 am - Fantastic.
A quote from one of my student's papers, in response to the question "What is your profession?":

"I'm profession on dealing with money and run business."

That is just...it almost...what?

I love my job.

This weekend: off to the Cape with Jackie and Mark and my sister.

Also, finally bought plane tickets for August. The itinerary: Boston, San Francisco, Denver, Anchorage, Seattle, Boston. In two weeks. Eeek!
Current Mood:

summery

June 20th, 2008

10:28 pm - Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
So I have just watched Dr. Strangelove for the first time in my life (I know, I know, that's a travesty, but at least I watched it). All I can say is:

What the hell?!?

Completely brilliant, and completely bizarre.
Current Mood:

bewildered

June 17th, 2008

08:39 am - phone resolution
Signed up with eBay last night and found a phone very similar to the one I lost for about $70, which should arrive this week. That's a significant improvement over $350. Thanks for the idea, Rich!
Current Mood:

cheered

June 14th, 2008

04:39 pm - the good, the bad, and the stupidly expensive
The good: I finished my first ever 10K race this morning! I ran the whole way and finished just under 1:04, which was definitely way down at the slow end of the spectrum of runners, but faster than I thought I could do it. The best part was, I wasn't completely wiped out at the end - tired, but not dead (which probably means I could have run faster, and will next time!). I can't wait for the next race. Anyone want to train for a half marathon with me?

The good, part 2: Yesterday we took our ESL students on a field trip to the Boston Museum of Science. It was awesome. I saw a crazy IMAX movie about climbers in the Alps, played with a robotic dog, and watched some baby monkeys eat leaves. Best of all I went into the absolutely magical butterfly garden, and let exotic butterflies land on my head. My favorite were the irridecesent blue ones. Pretty!

The bad: on Thursday afternoon I lost my phone. I'm 99% I left it on a park bench in Portsmouth. I'm an idiot. Many frantic emails and much assistance from various people, including the surprisingly accomodating Portsmouth PD, failed to recover the phone. Sigh.

The stupidly expensive: since I haven't had the phone long enough to qualify for an upgrade, and I didn't have insurance on it, I had to buy a new phone out of pocket. The cheapest new phone at the Verizon store? $350. Ouch. Starting to wonder how badly I need that car.
Current Mood:

worried about money

June 12th, 2008

08:28 am - you know, the OTHER kind of wheels
So yesterday afternoon I was trying to figure out how I could get home from campus after the softball game, as the game started at six and the last bus to Dover leaves campus at 6:10. Try to bum a ride from one of my teammates? Call one of my friends? Then I remembered: I can got home by myself. I have a bike! My adviser, who is leaving for the University of Toronto, gave me her old bike a week or so ago. I'd yet to test it out, and I don't have a helmet, so I've been reluctant to commit to what I've heard is a forty minute ride home, but I had to start sometime. I must admit that riding an unfamiliar path, partially along the highway, in the falling darkness, with no light and no helmet, was mildly terrifying. But, I made it safe and sound and completely under my own power, which felt pretty darn good, not to mention the simple joy of the wind in your face and the exhilaration of whizzing down a hill.

I've been so caught up in the car hunt recently that I'd completely forgotten that there are other ways of getting around in the summer. Ones that get FANTASTIC gas mileage.
Current Mood: accomplished

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June 10th, 2008

09:23 pm - Yet another reason I love teaching ESL
It was the third day of 90 degree mugginess in New Hampshire today, so I busted out a sleeveless dress and then added some nice heels to make it more professional. This afternoon I got an email from one of my students about a class presentation, and at the end he wrote:

"P.D.: wow today you was so gorgeous :)"

I find that my students (male and female, it's not a sexual thing) are very appreciative when I dress up, and their compliments tend to be kind of exaggerated, due to a lack of vocabulary. I mean, "beautiful" is one of the first adjectives you learn in a foreign language, or at least it's one of the first I learned in French and in Russian. Still it's awfully nice to walk into my classroom and hear one of the Korean girls exclaim, "Oh, teacher, today you are very beautifur!"

Sometimes my job rules. The car hunt continues to suck green monkey dicks, but my job rules.
Current Mood:

flattered

June 8th, 2008

08:38 am - Faith in humanity slightly restored
After ranting on LJ, I called a couple of other car rental places and found one that would rent to a person with a debit card, albeit for twice as much as the other place, and after some persuasion even agreed to come pick me up. So I did manage to salvage enough of Friday afternoon to look at one car, a beat-up Honda Civic I think I will take a pass on.

Friday night as I was collapsed on the couch feeling sorry for myself, some of the kids from the UNH swing club called and invited me to go dancing in Portland. Hell yes! Solid live music and some awesome blues guys made for a great end to a crappy day.

Yesterday I drove to the Manchester area and looked at three cars. The first was a Corolla that is unfortunately way out of my price range, but the people who are selling it were incredibly nice and very honest with me, which made me feel a lot better about Craigslist. See, Craigslist connects you with regular people, some of whom are thoughtless, some of whom are jerks, but some of whom are just nice folks who need to sell or buy something. So even though I won't be getting their Corolla, I was cheered up by the encounter.

Next I went to look at an '03 Honda Civic hybrid in the Manchester area. It's got a lot of miles on it, and rattles quite a bit, but the dealer agreed to drop it off at the Honda dealership for me on Monday, saving me another trip out there to do so. He also seemed willing to negotiate on price, which is good because he's charging way too much for it now. I am super excited about the possibility of owning a hybrid - the coolness factor is off the charts - but I'm not convinced this particular hybrid will be a good deal. We'll see what the dealer says.

Driving to the next place, I stopped at a tiny country store and treated myself to an ice cream cone. It was over ninety degrees yesterday and seriously humid, so that cone went quickly. But sitting in the shade, looking at the beautiful countryside, chocolate dripping down my hand, I felt pretty content. Western New Hampshire, incidentally, is gorgeous - lush and green, with lots of pretty lakes.

Last stop was a tiny dealership in Manchester to look at an Accord. When I showed up, there was one guy with his two year old son, who assured me that the other guys would be back soon. So I made friends with the little boy while we waited. The other mechanics arrived, and promptly discovered that the Accord, despite being in pristine condition cosmetically, refused to start. So for half an hour the three of them tried everything they could think of to get the car to start, and the kid and I chased bugs around the parking lot. Finally they threw in the towel, I agreed to call them next week (um, maybe), I got a sloppy cheek kiss from the little boy (so cute!), and away I went.

All in all, not completely unsuccessful, I think. Today, I like people again.
Current Mood:

reassured

June 6th, 2008

01:29 pm - Why?
Ok, so. I need a car. I've been riding the bus and walking to the grocery store like a good little green girl for six months now, and have been coping with it not too badly. However. It is now summertime, which means the university reduces the bus system to about a third of what it is during the school year. I have been going to campus at 8 and coming home at 4:30, just to teach from 10-12. Even that I can kind of cope with. But now I've been offered a really nice tutoring gig, and I just plain need a car.

The problem is, it's nearly impossible to BUY a car unless you already HAVE a car. Because you can't get to car dealerships or people's houses on the bus. Because in America, it is just assumed that everyone has a car, and will drive it constantly. So after two frustrating weeks of trying to find a car I want within walking or bus range, I finally gave up and decided to rent a car for this weekend, so that I could look at cars farther away. Fantastic. I found some very cool deals in Manchester, a big-ish city about an hour away. I found a good deal to rent a car over the weekend. I made appointments to test drive cars, to meet people privately, to have cars checked out at local mechanics. I printed out directions and had them all organized. I cribbed a ride to the car dealership. I was excited.

Yesterday afternoon, my credit card company called and told me that there were some unusual charges on my card, and had I made them? Nope. Card's been compromised. Better cancel it. New card in 7-10 days. Sucks, but what can you do?

Yesterday evening, the owner of the car I'd been most excited about, with whom I had exchanged at least eight emails over the past week setting up an appointment for this evening, told me the car had been sold. Damn. Again, that sucks, but it's Craigslist, what can you do?

Today, after a frantic dash to the rental place, I am informed that a person with an out of state driver's license must have a credit card to rent a car. No exceptions. It doesn't matter that I have a local bank account with an ATM card, or that I'm locally employed, or that I do in fact have a credit card account. I must have a valid physical credit card. There's no other way to do it. The guy was nice about it, but that's the deal.

So here I am, sitting at home, all my elaborate plans shot, no way to get to all of my appointments, no way to get anywhere in fact, soaked from the rain, and incredibly frustrated. I'm smart. I'm organized. I even have money. Why is America like this? WHY THE HELL DOES THIS SIMPLE THING HAVE TO BE SO GODDAMN HARD?
Current Mood:

seriously annoyed

May 31st, 2008

01:00 pm - Music meme!
It's a rainy, muggy, thunder-y afternoon, perfect for blogging. I stole this from my friend Meagan:

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through when someone gets them right
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING.

Here are mine:

1. Man, you ought to finish what you started, can't leave me here alive.

2. Hands in line, arms close to my side, I'm fighting tides, of an ocean's undertow and I figure that I might not make it

3. I know you think that I shouldn't still love you, I'll tell you that

4. Over the sea and far away, she's waiting like an iceberg, waiting to change

5. ~~I got my first real six string, bought it at the five and dime~~

6. ~~It was infinitely late at night, the stars are still up there, but they're all out of light~~

7. I guess you don't need it, I guess you don't want me to repeat it, but everything I have to give, I'll give to you

8. Take your head around the world and see what you get from your mind

9. ~~I love you Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ I love you yes I do~~

10. Coming of age during the plague of Reagan and Bush, watching capitalism gun down democracy, it had this funny effect on me

11. ~~Cigarettes and chocolate milk, these are just a couple of my cravings~~

12. I need a gun to keep myself from harm

13. ~~I didn't ask, they shouldn't've told me, at first I laughed but now~~

14. ~~Love love me do, you know I love you~~

15. Downstairs they're playing kitten, house set to swing

16. Caught in the middle, Carol we're middle class, we're middle-aged

17. ~~My sister and I had an act that couldn't flop~~

18. Current is strong from what I've heard, it'll whisk you down the stream

19. Was a time when I had nothing to explain all this mess I have made

20. Step through this trampled wall, the unhinged door betrays it all, that far within our faith we were all waiting

21. ~~She has a boyfriend all of a sudden, she's never had one before~~

22. She lay in bed all night watching the colors change, she lay in bed all night watching the morning change

23. Stranger danger, danger stranger, when you gonna follow through

24. What has been done to you has been done for a reason

I skipped a couple that had no words, and a surprising number that were in Russian, and one that was a remix of a song already on the list, but otherwise, there it is. Enjoy!
Current Mood:

amused

May 27th, 2008

07:45 pm - Pictuahs
You know, east coast ones.

Some are arty, some have cool people in them. Unfortunately, the two categories don't seem to overlap much.

Mom, I seriously think this digital camera might be the best gift you've ever given me (not counting life).

In other news, I met my summer session students today, and they are a pretty cool group so far. Japanese, Korean, Libyan, and one way chatty be-ponytailed guy from Venezuela. Crossing my fingers that the one bratty potential student doesn't show up tomorrow (sigh).
Current Mood:

calm

May 25th, 2008

03:45 pm - the days are just packed
As of last night, I am home again in Dover. The past week has been packed with awesome. A few highlights:

Hartford, CT (recap): Excellent girl time + cute small town CT with Lisa. Plus cats.

Manlius, NY (partial recap): Excellent girl time + Korean culture with Youngmee. Many delicious things made of tofu and ginger and garlic and Korean herbs were consumed. Youngmee also introduced me to this ridiculous Korean historical drama called Jumong, which is sort of what would happen if you set Xena in ancient Korea and added rampant nationalism and fake hair. It was a pretty sweet way to spend a rainy afternoon.
Youngmee also took me along to her belly dance class, where I wiggled to the beat as best I could (not particularly well, but way fun anyway), and this fantastic tea house in Syracuse. We stopped by the free tasting at the local wine store and discovered the best-named wine ever: Woop Woop from Australia. I usually think chardonnay is sort of unpleasantly mineral-y, but this was yummy. And Woop Woop went oh-so-nicely with our dinner at Boom Boom Mex Mex (actual name of the restaurant).

New York, NY: Excellent girl time + Fleet Week adventures with Chelsea. Spent all of Weds shopping in Manhattan with my wonderful sister, who has just gotten a fantastic new job (yay Chels!). We met up with my friend Megan for dinner, and while waiting for our table outside the restaurant a group of Marines came by and rather drunkenly asked for directions to a local bar. Naturally, we couldn't find them at the bar, and ended up sort of running around the East Village looking for guys in uniform. Fleet Week!!
I cribbed a free dinner from the Middle Eastern restaurant where Chelsea works, and managed to set my napkin on fire, much to the amusement of the kitchen staff. I put it out myself with what I thought was an admirable lack of fuss, then was applauded by the other patrons.
Also squeezed in a Google lunch with my friend Michelle. The Google cafeteria was reassuringly full of exactly the sort of people who worked there the last time I ate at Google.

Boston, MA: My friends Sarah and Jonathan were nice enough to let me crash on their floor so I could hit the Friday night of the Boston Independance Exchange. The bands were great and the dancing went on til 4 am. We watched the sun start to rise as we walked home.

Portsmouth, NH: I managed to keep up my running during this trip, and possibly as a result I finished the 5K this morning nearly a minute faster than my previous time! This despite not sleeping Friday night and the suddenly summer-ish temperatures. I rewarded myself with free beer and BBQ. There are advantages to having a brewery sponser a race, free beer being the most obvious, the preponderance of tattoos and mullets on the participants being another.

Now, the sun is shining, the neighbors are blaring Johnny Cash, the ice cream truck is circling, and I'm off to restock my fridge. Class starts on Tuesday!
Current Mood:

proud of myself

May 17th, 2008

06:17 pm
Thursday morning: ran on a pretty trail around a reservoir with Lisa. Kept going for more than 50 minutes!

Thursday afternoon: explored historic downtown Weathersfield, CT with Lisa. Ate really delicious chocolatey things...lots of them.

I think the day balances out.

Throw in a "Sense and Sensibility" viewing, a bottle of red wine, and some snuggly cat time, and you have a very successful visit.

Now in Manlius, NY hanging out with Youngmee. Yummy Korean food for dinner tonight!
Current Mood:

relaxed