My neighbours.

Two posts? One after the other? What?

Yeah. I was going to sign off but my neighbours were acting up and I thought I'd talk about them since we have been living here for the past 5 months or so. The title brings back memories of elementary school. You know, when you had to write about dumb things - my pencil, my pet, my family, my blahblahblah. *wistful look* Those were the good ole days :)

Anyway, we don't really know our neighbours since they mostly stick to themselves BUT, there are two who really stick out. The first is our next door neighbour. They're an older couple, probably retired. I've seen the old man but never talked to him. His wife however, is that well-meaning, nosy old woman ever neighbourhood has. Flora's real nice but we secretly call her the crazy old cat lady. Two reasons. The first being that she came over and introduced herself like five times and didn't seem to remember that she had already done it the first few times. And secondly, she always calls out for her cats when it's time to feed them. Apparently, one is named Rocky and the other Lucky. Before we knew this, we wondered why she kept shouting for so long. It makes more sense to know that she's calling for two of them. I don't know what she thinks it'll do to call for them since they're not dogs but like clockwork, the call comes three times a day in shrill tones so loud it wakes us up. Annoying, but somewhat endearing too :)

It seems that some of the other neighbours think so too. Without the endearing part. My sibs told me about another one of our neighbours bitching her out. Seriously, it's just a few minutes worth of annoyance a couple times a day. Let the old lady do whatever she wants. I seriously can't believe she yelled at Flora. Both my sis and I think she's a real ass.

Which leads me to the second set of neighbours we kinda know. We share a house with this young couple. We have the front part, they have the back. Separate entrances and everything so we're all good. Uhh...not really. It might just be that our part of the property was vacant for quite a while so they've never really had to practice being good neighbours but they kinda suck at it. The guy's alright. If we see him, we usually exchange nods and a hello. It's the girl who is the problem. She's the one who was mean to Flora and she's quite rude. She also likes to get drunk and start fights with her boyfriend. It's really lovely since we can always hear their arguments complete with slamming doors, obscenities and (according to my sis) loud make-up sex - day or night. There is also the tendency to play loud music (like right now which prompted this post) on weekdays epsecially till about 4 am on Monday nights. I realize the walls are pretty thin but it can get pretty annoying (like right now) when they play clubbing music (the same three songs over and over again) so loudly that the floors and walls vibrate with the beat and I feel like I'm in a club despite being in the living room with the tv on.

I'm not sure if it is my own bad luck or the fact that the houses here seem to be made out of paper and fluff but I always end up hearing more than I ever need or want to know. Ahh, what I wouldn't give for a solid brick house with real walls and no possibility of hearing the neighbours go at it.

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i saw boobies! and my professor. But not together!

Van's debut in the world of burlesque was interesting. I have to admit that I didn't really get to see most of it since I was trying to make sure I got it all on video but after reviewing the vid, I think it's hilarious :) There was stripping, boobies, feather boas, tassels, overeager co-performers, great hair and a close call when she nearly tipped over taking the panties off. haha. it was brilliant! I can't wait for the solo. Seriously, burlesque was made for this girl. As for me, the classes sound tempting but I don't think I'd have the balls for it; I'll stick with bellydancing, thank you very much.

I also managed to track down a professor of mine for reccomendation letters and advice. I was super worried about it since one of my applications is due in about a month and I hadn't heard back from her. To my relief, it wasn't because she hates me (which scares me since she may look like a sweet little old grannie but I know that she is/can be a fierce alpha female with slightly evil tendencies if crossed). As it turns out, it was all a misunderstanding - she put it in her 'recs to write' folder but forgot to reply to my email and set up an appointment. I ended up waiting a reeeaaaaallly long time to see her but it was worth it since I managed to get her undivided attention for an hour and a half and almost everything is squared away now. Man, I have never ever met with a professor for that long. And to my utter surprise, I was super comfortable talking to her the entire time. Which is a good thing since I am pretty much terrified of her and am always surprised by the fact that she even recognizes me. Haha.

My sis left for NY today to spend the week with some friends before they graduate and go home. Not fair. *looks wistful* I wanna see the east coast too! I made her cookies to take on the flight (yes, I am an auntie) and even though I know she'll give me sad, disappointed looks for making yummy things when she's not here, I'm itching to bake something, anything! Especially with thanksgiving approaching soon. We'll see what happens.

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The longest commute ever!

It takes me 45 mins to get to work if I have the car. Today, with the help of the great public transport system the bay area boasts, it took me 4 HOURS!!!!!!! I can't believe it took me 4 hours! 2 buses, the bart, another bus and then the drive home. Gah! I usually like the public transportation system here (I sometimes like to extol it's virtues) since the one back home is total rubbish but now, it has failed meeeee. *pouts* That and I froze at work today. Digging in a trench when winter is coming sucks (even with 5 layers on).

So now I'm gonna go console myself with some pineapple tarts we made during the weekend.

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oh halloween weekend. so uneventful.

Basically, the GREs were kinda crap. My amazing procrastination skills meant that I ended up with 2 days worth of studying and last minute cramming. Urm. Lo and behold, I find out that it actually takes more than that to do extremely well on them. Can't say that the results were what I wanted (when I slept for part of the cramming, I dreamt of scores well into the high 700's) but I ended up doing fairly well. I guess. Apparently the essay results come 10-15 days after the test. If I score high enough on them, I'ma gonna keep the scores. If not, I might be tempted to try it again only because I'm freaking out about what a couple of professors told me about admissions. Gah. It'll pass but right now, I'm a little distracted by visions of my applications being rejected because my score wasn't high enough especially since so many more ppl are applying for grad school these days. That and my professors have gone MIA online. I may have to go up to campus and hunt them down like a creepy, desperate stalker in order to get my recommendations written in a timely manner.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. I purposely took the GREs on Friday because I thought I would be playing in a rugby 10's tournament the next day. I figured I might as well take it before in case of a concussion or some other injury that would most probably produce even crappier scores. To my dismay, I find out the week of that I need proof of health insurance. It makes sense and all but I don't have health insurance right now since America is messed up and refuses to make it possible for most people to get insurance without paying an arm and a leg (and possibly my first born child) for the most limited service they can provide. Seriously. I worked in a medical clinic for a couple of years. I know first hand how much joy they take in rejecting claims and procedures. So, I didn't end up playing and instead sat at home in my suburban neighbourhood waiting to give out candy to kids who never showed up. yeah. So now I also have lots of candy I do not want to eat. Meh. My brother thinks it's because we didn't decorate the yard with coffins and pumpkins and have lights leading up to our door. Well, someone should have told us! But then again, after watching CSI, Criminal Minds, Law and Order, etc, I wouldn't really want my kids getting candy from strangers either. So, the only solution I can think of is to slowly feed the 5-10 pounds (I think it was 5 lbs) of candy to my sister :) That or do the old ppl thing and just give it out next year....which is pretty gross if you think about it. We might be better off with the first option. Unfortunately, feeding my sister candy will lead to conversations about fatness and muffin topping like this one:

my sis: ......fat ler ...need to go jogging soon. Wanna go with me tomorrow?
me: ...errrr.... (*huffs* she should totally be aware of my aversion to running of any kind unless it is to chase after a ball or food)
my sis: Look, I've got a permanent muffin top.
me...huh?? No such thing la! Since when are muffin tops permanent? It's cause your jeans are too tight, dumbo.
My sis: *pulls open her jeans top* No. See. I muffin top even without jeans.
me: that means your underwear is too tight. Do you muffin top when you're not wearing anything?
my sis: huh??? *looks at me like i'm mentally deficient*
me: look, if you go in the bathroom and you're not wearing anything, and you don't muffin top, then it's not permanent. *is pleased with self for (what seems like) logical explanation*
my sis: *stares harder at me* .....

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