spring break part I

been on a break since thursday. feels weird to not have to do anything. as an added bonus, we had lovely weather the last couple of days. i was actually able to walk out yesterday in just a t-shirt and jeans and without thermals! so cool. or warm. whatever. hehe. my arms have not seen the light of day in a while. didn't notice i was getting so pale.

funny story: i have been craving for a margarita for a couple of weeks now and my friends here humored me and we went on a "liquor run" thursday night. fyi, thursday was st patrick's day so people were commemorating it by doing what the irish do, which apparently, is getting drunk. so we went out at around 930 at night i guess looking for jose cuervo tequila, margarita mix and ice. the first place we went to was a kroger (a supermarket) but strangely enough they didn't carry jose cuervo. stranger still was that they carried some other jose cuervo products like mixes and stuff but no tequila. we tried another grocery and same thing. only available tequila was carlos tequila which comes from no one knows where. we then went to a liquor store which happens to be closed (at before 10pm?! on st. patrick's day?!?) a convenience store (carries carlos too but no joe) and lastly to another kroger. it was then that we figured out that they didn't sell undiluted tequila. everything was diluted. even the vodka. geez. so weird. . . when you could get a bottle of tequila at a gas station back home. so we settled for a prepared margarita which was not very good. . . didn't even give me allergies:) i guess that's the trouble with hanging out with other grad students. they never know where the good booze is. . . hehe.

we also went frisbee golfing (?) yesterday. the course was near hoover dam (this confused the heck out of me. . . the hoover dam is in ohio?. . . apparently this is the other hoover dam). this was, of course, the first time i've played. frisbee golf is, well, like golf, instead you play it with a frisbee that you try to shoot through different metallic baskets in the course. there also 18 "holes" in the course. interesting and a bit tiring since you do have to fetch your frisbee. and my frisbee of course went in all directions, except for the one towards the basket. so i was pretty much running all over the place:) was fun though since the weather was so nice and it would have been a waste to spend it indoors.

i've also seen three movies in three days. wooohoooo. saw garden state wednesday night. pretty good. but i think guys would enjoy it more (girls get zach braff and guys get natalie portman? not very well balanced.). but it is worth seeing. thursday night was napoleon dynamite. weird, weird movie. was funny sometimes but didn't get some of it. or maybe it was because of the margarita. . . most disturbing scene for me though was the girls in blue sequined dresses doing hand movements to backstreet boys' "larger than life". . . *shudder*. last night was the incredibles. still thought it was funny even if i've seen it before. . . plus the dvd has the animated short "jack-jack attack". sooooo funny. actually saw it twice. i highly recommend getting (or netflix-ing) that dvd.

i've one more week of vacation left! yey!

freaky window display 

gigantic cat in bookstore 

first spring flower 

IT IS DONE!

wooooohoooooo! winter quarter is done! finally! finished my last final this afternoon. was the worst exam i've had since i got here. pero kebs. basta tapos na. then went out to lunch with my indian classmates at short north. did some window shopping too. interesting place. lots of antique shops and art galleries. regrettably, we didn't get to go into any of the vintage clothing shops. there's time for that i hope. . .

i have another ddr party to go to tonight. weird activity for grad students i know but it's a good way to unwind after finals. . . i'm starting my unwinding now with a movie starring a certain JR and KH that involves a lot of mangoes. . . let's see if i could make it through this one without puking. . .

Bookworm finds

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (paperback) - $0.75
Byron Selected Poetry and Letters (paperback) - $0.75
Still Life by A.S. Byatt (paperback) - $0.75
The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank (paperback) - $0.50
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (Hardbound!!!) - $1.00
Tax - $0.26
Total - $4.01


I kid you not. . . . Finals? . . . what finals?

jeff on violin, alisha on clarinet and ian on cello (playing canon in D, i believe) in my messy apartment 

surreal saturday

just wanted to share how weird this last saturday was. it really is not every weekend that you get an impromptu concerto in your very own living room. but it happened. really. i even got pictures to prove it. . . these are my friends from church. how they got to my living room is kind of a long story. suffice it to say that it was their dream to be able to play in the park, but since it's still wintry here in columbus, it just was not feasible (although they did try to do it which nearly damaged their precious instruments). So they had to make do with my cramped, but warm apartment. . . it was very pleasant to hear strains of brahms (or mozart or bach, as if i could tell which is which) while i was going around doing household chores. parang may soundtrack buhay mo. aliw. maulit kaya uli? but i think their next attempt for the park is likely to be successful since it should be spring soon. in any case, they have enlisted my help to be either a a) fake bystander who'll laud their skills and give them money, to get the ball rolling supposedly or b) fake blind singing person. anyway i get a cut of the profits. hehe.

woohooooooooo!

I'm done with my presentation! so happy! it went ok i guess. . . i really have a difficult time answering questions though. good thing my PI was there and he actually answered both questions that were asked. It was pretty embarassing really since i should've known the answer to these questions but he was nice about it afterwards. And my classmates were sort of surprised at me because when somebody asked me a question and i didn't know the answer i said "i don't know". I was just too tired and nervous to pretend that i at least had an idea what the answer was which i of course didn't. I did that once when my boss asked me something that i didn't know the answer to and after much senseless muttering from me he finally said "you don't know the answer". so i decided to just not do that anymore.

anyway, i went to see "hitch" with shu after my presentation. my way of celebrating. it was pretty cute. very entertaining. and will smith sure looks good:) it got really sappy near the end but it was really entertaining. and guys could sure learn a thing or two from this movie. . . like "listen and respond". apparently guys have to be told that. . .

anyway, my head's throbbing right now. wonder where i could get a head massage. . .