So, one night, last week, my sister set off the alarm at around midnight. I went up to see what happened and, on my way back down the stairs, I felt a pain that, quite literally, stopped me in my tracks. I didn't get to job #1 the next morning, as I was laying, motionless and with a heating pad and lots of pain relievers, in my bed all day, but got up for job #2 in the evening, which proved silly, as I was walking at about the same pace as the seniors. Have you ever felt the sensation of which your spine sort of feels like tapioca so it's not pain but it takes a ridiculous amount of effort just to stay in any kind of upward position? When it wasn't painful, it was that.
So, my boss at the nursing home gave me 6 more hours of work every week! And it's tax season so I have a lot more work at the accounting firm! For those of you who think otherwise, I assure you that it's good news... especially for m bank account.
So, I decided a little while back to take a break from school (please don't ask why... if I wanted to tell you, I'd have already told you) and told my parents about it last week. It went surprisingly well, probably because I was so set about it, but things have been a little eesh in the house since then.
So, I took the GRE. I signed up for it about six months ago so... ya. I didn't prepare for it at all, purely out of laziness and apathy, but woke up two days before it, panicking that I'd done such a (seemingly) stupid thing... I still did nothing, but this time, because I didn't have the time. The day of the test was the day of North Jersey snow storm #2. I walked in, wanting simply to walk back out, and nervously sat down at the computer. The writing part went very well... I actually enjoyed it! The verbal part went pretty well... I had to guess at quite a few things, which is ok. The quantitative part went abysmally... I've never been very mathematically minded, so I took the "close your eyes and point" approach to about 90% of the questions. Never fear, though! Because it's on the computer and because the two sections are multiple choice, you get your verbal and quantitative scores immediately! And guess what! I did really REALLY well! I got well above the average of all students and the average of philosophy students (that's my major) AND the average of education students (that's what I intend to attend grad school for)! So, my advice? Don't worry so much about these sorts of tests. In fifth through eighth grade we had a test prep class twice or three times a week, preparing us for the entry exam into high school (this is only in private schools), and in high school we had another test prep class, preparing us for the SAT. On top of that, both times, my mother purchased additional lessons for me and made me take them. This time, I did exponentially better than both of those times. If you want to prepare, get one of the prep books and take your own pace. It doesn't even have to be the most updated version... I had gotten a book (that was practically untouched) and compared it to the updated version and there was practically no difference, so save your money. Chill.
So, a while back, I tested positive for PPD, which means that I've come in contact with someone with tuberculosis and now I need to get those germs out of my body (picture mono... it can sit in your body without you actually having the disease for about a decade... this is the same thing except it's your entire life). I have to take two pills per day for four months. They knocked me out for a day, but everything is cool now. Also, they make you cry orange because of a pigment in the pill. So someone make me cry. Seriously. I think I'll look like a Gatorade commercial, but I won't know until it happens.
So... back to business!
I've only been practicing the uke sporadically, mainly because I haven't been able to hold it right because of my back, but I'm going to get back in fully today. Because I'm sort of teaching myself, I get to do what I want, so I'm still working on fluidity before moving on, so I'm not looking down and stopping between every chord change.
I went to the gym last night and knocked myself out... it made me sad because I used to have a very good routine at the gym, and last night it took a ridiculous amount of effort to do half of that in the same amount of time. Then again, it has been a year since I've done any real exercise.
I also made another goal for myself... a long-term goal. I mentioned my friend Belinda and her blog, www.bellabonviveur.blogspot.com before and, if you haven't read it, I'll give a short summary: she's never cooked before because her parents always did it for her, and, now that she's moved out, she has to learn how to cook for herself... very Julie/Julia, but very much her own (funny too). I had decided, over the summer, to do more cooking, and I've done so, though not as much as I should like to. One thing that I never liked (or tried) was eggs... I always thought that they look disgusting, but I've decided to dedicate some time to eggs. I have quite a few cook books, one being The American Woman's Cook Book...
http://www.amazon.com/American-Womans-Cook-Book/dp/B000EHW6DS/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294768227&sr=1-2
It was written in 1939 by Ruth Berolzheimer, and I happen to have the 1939 version. Yay me. In it are over 50 different recipes for eggs! One is called "Robin Hood," which I'm very excited to try, if only for the name (I haven't actually looked at the recipe yet). I am going to SUCCESSFULLY cook every version of eggs in this book. I am also going to try every one. There's bound to be one that I like. I started last night with the poached egg. Boil water, carefully pour the innerds of the egg into the water (without breaking the yolk), keep in the water for about a minute and a half, scoop off the fluff, and carefully scoop onto a plate (again without breaking the yolk). Toast some bread, butter it. Salt and pepper... voila. I didn't like it, but I didn't not like it. I'll eat it again because eggs are good for you, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. And yes, I made it correctly... dad supervised.
Tonight, I'm going to try scrambled.
Another thing, before I move on... I saw Black Swan. If you haven't seen it, do so, but beware... I had to sleep with the lights on... a quarter of the people in the theater walked out... the "no talking" rule was not abided by because everyone was freaking out for one reason or another. It's an amazing movie and everyone should see it... once. And then pack it away into the recesses of your mind and never think about it ever again.
The next parts of this blog are to be dedicated to three shows... Doctor Who, Primeval, and Lost. I'll put "SPOILERS!" before every spoiler so it'll be your own fault if anything is ruined, but if your not into the shows, then end your reading here, because... abandon all sense of coolness and reality, ye who enters here.
Doctor Who: Did everyone see the Christmas special??? Friggin awesome! With the sharks and the Christmas Carol!!! Dude! And when he came up with the Christmas Carol, I was grinning like a madman! "What's that in the background?" "A Christmas carol." "What?" "A Christmas carol!" "WHAT?" "A CHRISTMAS CAROL!" *insert eureka face here* And then Rory and Amy in the Roman/copper outfits the whole time... oh... my god. The singing, I think, was the classic Doctor Who roll-your-eyes-and-just-ignore-the-ridiculousness bit, but yunno... take a deep breath and pretend that you know nothing about reality and it could make sense. The girl actual is an opera singer, though so... coolio.
Primeval: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! It's back!!! We've waited so long and it's finally back!!! It looks awesome and I can't wait to watch the second episode and I miss Danny Quinn and I'm still dancing about how Helen got eaten so yunno... am hating that I have to watch it online because I have to wait a day. And YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! (SPOILERS!) They got together! They really did! I mean, obviously, it's been just them for so long so I guess it was bound to happen. And I was afraid for a minute that Conner had gotten all tough and no nerd on me, but it all worked out for the best and the geek in him showed up. I am pleased.Lost: I never watched it. Never felt the need to. Dom Monaghan was in it and that was my only incentive, but I never got around to it. Until now. I watch a vlog on youtube by Charlie McDonnel (http://www.youtube.com/charlieissocoollike) who is in a band/sharing a flat with Alex Day (http://www.youtube.com/alexday). I started watching the latter more recently and one video was called "Lost in 3 Minutes," in which he explained the basic plot of Lost, in three minutes, via post-its. I showed it to my Lost-obsessed friend Jill, and, subsequently, decided to start watching the show. Originally, I had thought it was people crashing on an island, then doing nothing but screwing and killing each other until they got saved. It's more than that and I hereby apologize to the world for thinking so blasphemously. Of course, as I predicted, Dom's character, Charlie, is my favorite character. I'm right in the middle of season 2, so I'm going to attempt to explain what's happened so far... SPOILERS! are riddled within the following. A bunch of people crash on a seemingly deserted island. The main characters, in the first season, are Jack (a doctor), Kate (a criminal), Sawyer (a good-bad guy), Hurley (who's net worth is $150 million, but isn't so far revealed to anybody, or at least believed by anybody), Charlie (a base player for a dead band/heroin addict), Claire (who is pregnant), Locke (who was in a wheelchair, but was magically saved when the plane crashed and now he's more like a MacGyver/Crocodile Dundee hybrid), Sayid (a former "interrogator" for Iraq, who falls for Shannon), Shannon (a brat who changes and falls for Sayid), Boone (her brother who helps out Locke), Michael (who only just met his son), Walt (Michael's son), Rose (who's husband was on the plane, but we don't know where he is and she thinks he's still alive), Sun (a Korean woman who hides that she speaks English because she was going to leave her husband but decided against it and she doesn't want him to know), Jin (Sun's husband), and Vincent (a dog). Yes, they're all main characters. Basically, they find out that they're not alone on the island... that there're bad people and possibly a monster on the island who's trying to pick them off. Jack becomes the leader of the gang pretty immediately. Charlie and Claire are kidnapped by a man who pretends to be part of the group, but who is actually one of the bad guys who were on the island before. Sayid finds a French woman named Danielle (also called Rousseau) who was stranded on the island sixteen years ago. Charlie is almost killed and, eventually, Claire finds her way back. Claire has her baby, but Danielle takes him (as it turns out, the bad guys took her baby way back when and she thinks that if she gives them Claire's baby-who's name is Aaron-then they'll give her back her daughter, Alex), but Charlie get's him back. Boone and Locke find a buried hatch and try to get it open (it doesn't have a handle) and Boone dies along that "path". Eventually, they get the hatch open.
That's season 1. I'll explain season 2 when I finish with it. A few things that you should know that I didn't really know where to put in... Kate (the criminal) is a good guy, Hurley has some sort of connection to bad numbers that keep showing up everywhere, and there's a polar bear on the island (the island is in the tropics) that I'm assuming has something to do with Walt, as they emphasize that Michael gave his a toy polar bear when he was little, and that a polar bear is a big thing in the comic book that he's reading.
Sorry if I missed anything. Sorry if it ruined anything for you. I told you there'd be spoilers.
See you next time!
