upswing

Whew.

What a week. It's been pretty busy since I've been back and I was feeling fairly blah about it but in the last week it's been even busier and yet I feel great; like I'm finally getting into the swing of things. Feeling more social, being more social.

Pole is coming along well. I'm gaining back the strength that I lost over the summer and learning some rad moves. I'm also learning how to teach the lower levels. Excited about that for sure!

I like the new anthro cohort that have just come in. They are definitely an upbeat bunch and combining that with the outgoing fellas from last year's cohort, I finally feel like there's an academic community that I can rely on. It is an awesome feeling to be able to talk to other people in my situation who are right here.

The Hawaii Vintage Rugby festival, a week long event, has also just started and is kinda pulling me back into rugby. It's fun to watch because there are 45 teams from 16 different countries. I have never see so many old dudes drink and play rugby in one place. I tried playing last year with a local team but pulled out after the first game when our scrumhalf broke her ankle. I'm uninsured. If that had been me, I would have been screwed. I'm still uninsured right now but the team has been awesome to hang out with these last few days and I think I might drop in on practices and training/fitness sessions; no contact though. And what better way to rejoin rugby than having a training session at Kapiolani park with guest coaches Greg Somerville (a former All Black) and Stephan Larkham (a former Wallaby) who are here for the vintage tournament. The double rainbows and moon over Diamond head plus the gorgeous sunset over Waikiki as we practiced were pretty awesome too :)   

The roomie situations are evening out. It's not 100% fantastic but it's not as sucky as it used to be. I still have to plunge the tub occasionally but it doesn't happen every single time I have to take a shower so the angry part of the plunging is becoming a thing of the past. This in turn is helping with my zen "eh, fuck it all" attitude. I could do without the weird insinuations regarding the lack of testosterone in my life from the one chick who finally has some stable testosterone in hers though. Yes, all three of the housemates now have boyfriends. What is your point? Whatever. I'm taking it in stride. I find it completely ironic that someone who comes off as a feminist is telling me that my life is lacking without a man in it. As it is, I could definitely do with seeing less of her man in my house at all times of the day and night. 

The thesis stuff has barely been started but I'm feeling better about it. I should be able to (finally) focus on it once I get the work from this summer out of the way tonight. I am so glad I'm done with the postprocessing stuff. I didn't realize how annoying it could be to deal with inconsistent information. lol.

All in all, things are looking up :D   

Now all that is left is to chase UH for my money. It's the end of Sept and they haven't issued my Aug/Sept stipend. UH, y u no give me my moneh?!??

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Here's another random update :)

Hello friends! Life has been hectic as usual. Spring break was well intentioned but fell short of my expectations of getting ahead in my schoolwork. It might be the fact that I ended up sleeping and lazing around for three days straight...hmmm. The fact that I can't remember what happened the rest of the week means it was prolly just as unproductive. lol. Actually, I lie. I do remember Thursday well. Only because I ended up spending about 5 hours or so counting teeny tiny landsnail shells at Bishop. Random fact: Oahu has more than 300 types of landsnails which is more landsnail diversity than all of mainland America. Titillating, I know. Look forward to more random snail facts cos apparently I'm on loan to the malacology dept indefinitely. And while I wasn't there, the anthro dept decided to put my face on a recruiting flyer.....because I looked so happy counting stone flakes. lol. Check it out.

Don't I look super happy to be counting rocks? lol. And can you believe I've graduated to counting snails? It's surprisingly soothing, even if it's tedious.

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V

 Yeah, totally spent a couple of hours doing that. Worked out a sophisticated way of counting too. The anal retentive side of me totally enjoyed filling up all those squares. Don't deny it, you would have done it too.

I think there might have been a picnic/bbq or two ...or three...thrown in there somewhere. However I wasted Spring break, it is obvious that I didn't get much done. Not homework or cleaning or decorating. I did however, go on a bit of a shopping spree. Ohh, yeah, I also spent about 4 hours in a baking frenzy where I made sour cream coffee cake (and experimented with making coffee cake cookies. Lemme tell ya, the cookies rocked!), banana bread, whole wheat crackers, artisan bread, coconut macaroons, and strawberry jam. My housemates either think I'm crazy or I'm evil for contributing to the American conspiracy of making them fat. I won't lie about the conspiracy but I'm pretty sure my baked goods have not been that large a contributing factor. That pretty much sums up my spring break.....which is pretty sad actually....oh well.

As useless as spring break was, I think I might have hit my grad student stride (if that actually exists) this week because I've suddenly kinda lost interest in surfing the internet aimlessly in favor of catching up on work. I'm not sure what happened. Or if its related to me feeling exhausted at like 10pm and going to bed like the little old cat lady I am at heart. I'll never know but for now, with all my deadlines, I'll take it.

In other news, summer plans are looking up and hopefully, I'll head to KL and Siem Reap for free :) Yay!

Oh, and pole is awesome. The girls are great and we had an event where we demo'd some moves and pretty much just played on the pole for hours to get people interested :) (and I just realized how bad that sounds in a "that's what she said" kinda way. lol. but whatev) I'm moving up the levels and can't wait to get to the advanced stuff. Here's where I'm at now.....I guess it's intermediate? I dunno. But it's fun!

 Laterz!!

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It's funny, the difference a few months can make.

Was supposed to complete that half finished draft about summer that is just sitting there but then I got caught up in reading all the drafts that I never posted (there are a surprising number of them) and most probably will not post, ever. Reading through them, they're probably my best writing pieces. As disjointed as some of them can be, they're highly personal, emotional and entirely un-PC. lol. It seems like I didn't blog all that much over summer but looking back, I've actually been very productive; especially since I think this past summer has been a tremendous growing experience for me and I'm more comfortable just being me. I know that sounds a little funny, particularly since I'm pretty damn old to be having epiphanies of self-awareness and all that mumbo jumbo but that's the best explanation I can come up with. I'm definitely a lot happier to be in Hawaii and more than a few people have noticed it. Which means.....lots of happy posts coming your way! yay!

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halfway there :)

Almost done. There past few days have seriously sucked. All because I procrastinated like mad. I need to learn how to be on top of things because writing papers at 4 am the day they are due is not as fun as it would seem.

Anyway, totally random but I totally found and picked up and am now eating TWO green mangoes that I found on the road by my neighbour's house. I've been eyeing his mango tree even since I discovered it was a mango tree a few weeks ago. And now, SUCCESS!!!! Green mango rojak!! (cos really, who needs the other fruit to enjoy rojak?) lol

Which brings me to my habit of trying to eat stuff off of trees. Have I mentioned how it makes me totally happy to find something edible on a tree or plant and eat it?? lol. I guess Queena was right in calling me a monkey. I'm gonna have to redouble my efforts in staking out edible things in my neighbourhood/on campus. because I can. and it'll make me happy without resorting to drugs or alcohol. Anyway, this week has sucked so far but finding free green mangoes is awesome so it's all good. :D It really is the little things in life....

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AAAHHHHH!!!! I GOT IT!!!

OMG!

I got both the summer 2011 AND the 2011-2012 academic FLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAHAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

This is AWESOME!!

I'm FULLY FUNDED for the next year starting this summer!

OMG. I totally need background music for how awesome life is right now! Seriously. Coincidentally, I've got Parisan fruit tarts and cheeseballs in the works right now. Gimme 20 mins and I'll be stuffing my face in JUBILATION! :D

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee *runs around squealing in joy and flapping arms*

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Life is awesome when real peopleand activities are involved :D

School's been going well and Spring Break was a glorious week of doing absolutely nothing. Kinda like a normal week except I got to sleep in until  9am or 10am! I'm not sure what it is but there's something about Hawaii (or my schedule) where sleeping in until 8am is as good as it gets. Meh.

Anyway, I'm enjoying this semester (as packed as it is) a lot. I think it might have to do with my extracurriculars and finally socializing. This human interaction thing is great!

I really like my sewing class. Lol. I feel like an old grandma for saying that but it's pretty awesome to make something :) I'm almost done with the skirt I'm making. I might put up a pic if it turns out alright. The funny thing is, I was skyping Charl (first time in 3 yrs!) and when I showed her the material she totally called me out on the fact that my almost finished skirt....... is remarkably similar to my sheet set from Ikea that's on her bed. Urm. Coincidence? Lol. I swear it is! The fabric just happened to be the best looking one on sale so I got it. But it's a little depressing that my skirt could have had a separate life as a set of drapes or sheets. But hey, that's the fashion trend these days :)

The real saving grace, however, is the dance class I'm taking. Actually, I'm taking two. Lindy Hop is great and I'm impressed by how many guys can dance decently at the mixer after class (although partner dancing is, for me, a fairly awkward/uncomfortable thing to do and I'm slowly learning to get comfortable with it) but my true passion apparently lies with Pole Dancing.....for fitness.

Yup. That's right. Who would have thought that I'd find my calling in Pole Dance? Not me, for sure. The dancing thing takes a little effort but I totally rock the pole stuff though. =D I love the girls in my classes, the workout (esp core) is kickass AND fun, and I have to fight the urge to swing around every pole I see nowadays. Stop sign poles and the poles on buses/trains are especially tempting since they're about the right size. Lol. Seriously, if that's not love/passion, I don't know what is.

Most of my friends here who know are amused (or I guess bemused? if they don't know me so well) but whatever. So far, the common reaction is to ask if I'm preparing for an alternative career if this grad school thing doesn't work out. Personally, I think it's hilarious. And it's probably the best back up plan I could have in the case of a tanking academic career. Seriously. Those girls in Vegas totally have like two houses, a fleet of cars and all their loans paid off in a few years. I'm totally set if I have to do this school thing sans scholarship! (although, the scholarship would prolly be the better option than dancing in Sin City so y'all betta keep those fingers and toes crossed for me to get the academic FLAS). Hmm, on second thought, those girls have to strip too (we don't...if we don't want too. it is a fitness class after all)......I dunno....my dignity vs. being set for life......sigh, I suppose dignity wins hands down since I can always  fall back on the time honored tradition of marrying rich. lol.

So yeah, dancing with a pole :D and I guess my new (belated) addiction to Glee have gotten me into a rather upbeat mood these last few weeks. Life is awesome!

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:)

I had a chat today with the prof i've been in contact with from UH and she was very lovely, but ultimately not very much help. I've actually had more help from the grad students I've emailed (makes more sense since they're more likely to have been in my situation recently). I really do like her though and since she's the one in charge of SEA archaeology grad students, she'd probably be my main adviser if I go. IF IF IF. I really want to say WHEN instead. I'm pretty much 85% there at saying yes.... BUT the deal breaker is the money. People are telling me yes, take it, but none of them are conscious of the high costs. And high costs they are indeed. They like to say that the cost of living in Honolulu is comparable to living in SF however, I don't think that's true. Housing is ridiculous and food apparently costs twice as much as it does anywhere else. So, it's about $25,000 in tuition and another $20,000-$25,000 to cover living costs and what not. That's a minimum total of $50,000a year!! What's a girl to do??? My options are: I wait for my financial aid package and pray to everything out there that they give me money or I live in humongous debt for the rest of my life (the kind that doctors and lawyers have but with no chance of ever making lotsa money) if the answer is yes and if i say no, then I'll be poor but not in debt and I'll prolly regret it...like forever. lol. So, still debating and will probably still be debating up to the deadline.....which is in about 10 days.

The great pick me up about this situation and the chat today is that I (accidentally) found out that the prof didn't pull any strings for me - fact is, she had already accepted two vietnamese students and was surprised when the admissions committee unanimously voted for me. uhh..... :D ?? I was wondering about how I got in, especially since she didn't make it sound very likely that I would when I last exchanged emails with her before they made the decision (hence the utter surprise of the acceptance letter).

It's immensely gratifying that they thought so much of my application and recommendations despite all the shortcomings that were glaringly obvious when you look at me on paper. I admit that I usually overlook my own skills and downplay everything else (although once in a while, I do take pride in my surprising achievements.....believe me, they come as surprises to me too). My philosophy in life (based on past experiences) is not to expect too much of anything - if you expect nothing, then you are pleasantly surprised when something does happen. I know it's not the best way of viewing life, but it's worked very well for me so far. It's interesting how much of an impact it has had on my subconscious mind; so much so that I have developed a tendency to cruise through life and not put much effort in a lot of what I do - I have never been very competitive and i am definitely not an alpha female, but I am glad that there are people who are willing to look past that and claim that I have potential. Whether or not they're right remains to be seen but I'm alot older now and hopefully wiser and more mature too; if the funding comes through, I really would like to take the opportunity to prove them right.

Wow...that was rather sappy and "deep".........it scares me sometimes that I have nothing else to do with my time but write entries like this one.

So, anyway, thanks Dr. S! You made my day : D oh, and so did the homemade creme caramel :)

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Summer is looking much brighter :)

AAAAaaahhhhhhhh! Awesome news!

So, I've been in discussions with a prof at UH and she invited me to be part of her team on a dig in Cambodia! Just got back the details and really, how could I say no? I'm so totally there! That means I'm gonna be going home for summer, doing the Indiana Jones thing in Cambodia for a month and hopefully traveling in SEA for a bit after!!! Wooohoo!! Best part? She's partially subsidizing it :) And the rest is coming from my sister...no, it's not sugah mama money, it's her student loan money (which she is not using and only took 'just in case'....we think this qualifies as a 'just in case' moment so I will not entertain accusations of stealing her lunch money) and I'll have to pay her back but at least I don't have to worry about funding it for now!!!

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Ahhh, memories. I'm so glad to have them...

was cleaning out the old blog and found many, many priceless gems from my college escapades. I crack myself up sometimes :D will have to post some here for old time's sake.

I was also watching my bellydance videos from my stint as an exotic dancer in the small retirement town of Novato, California and felt bad for myself...gosh, it was pretty darn bad in a cheesy sort of way. I mean, some of us have always been kinda iffy about the choreography that our troupe leader puts together but I never really realized how absolutely ridiculous some of the moves are. I do have to say that her veil work (what she's known for) is pretty kick ass but everything else made me want to meep and hide while watching it. And the costumes......oh gawd....in a troupe with mostly middle aged, overweight, white women....they were planned to hide stuff/blind ppl with reflective materials rather than reveal ...things...and it shows. I don't think I would try wearing the stuff for halloween which means that I have two fairly unusable costumes for home use.... hmmm.... perhaps, cleaning the house and rocking out to middle eastern songs might be combined? haha
embarrassing
I do have to say that I've got better control of my hips, isolations and butt now than I ever did back then :) maybe i'll return to the world of exotic dancing when I start earning enough money to pay for troupe rehearsals....I do kinda miss it alot.

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random thoughts on thursday

Hmm. Disney songs are an awesome way to brighten up a day :)

Also, I remembered the happy cow ad they had on tv a few months back and was wondering what had happened. So, google came to the rescue and clued me in.

It was basically an ad featuring "talking" cows from all over the world who were auditioning for a spot as the next real California happy cow (the catch phrase is that 'great cheese comes from happy [Californian] cows') in their search for greener pastures, love and the American dream. Utterly ridiculous but pretty entertaining. Well, apparently thousands of people voted (obviously because with the economy being what it is, loads of Californians have the spare time to vote for the importation of a cow) and while the South Korean cow, Soo, received more than 60, 000 votes, the Canadian cow, Kirsten won. Yay.

Go here to see Kirsten :)

But aside from the udder (haha, sorry that was lame) cow mania (interviews, wallpapers of your fav cow and even the option of buying a painting from California's premier cow painter), they have some pretty good info about buying local milk and cheese. Random but interesting.

Gonna start the cny cooking medley but the list is still pretty tentative. The thing that I'm really excited about making is kuih kapit since I wanna try out my moulds. The only glitch in that plan is that to make em the traditional way, I need charcoal and a grill but it's been raining and whatnot :( Hopefully it stops soon and I can see if making them is really worth the trouble.

Here's to another rainy Thursday.

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