pretty pretty pretty (!)

OHMIGOSH. PRETTYANDSHINYANDILOVEIT.

I love finding new blogs to look at.

Pardon me?

I feel a lot less sheepish when I flub up my words when speaking to an ESL student. Cause, like, they might think I'm just saying a word they don't know yet, right?

Yeah.
So when they say "Have a last day" (wha? lice? I know it was "nice" but it did not sound at all like that), it is best to smile and say, "Goo duh..." which is a combination of saying, "you, too!" and, "good!". Because, really, who doesn't respond to someone telling you to have a nice day by saying, "good".
At this point it is best if you lower your head in shame and shove your left-hand index finger underneath your top lip, but wait until the student has walked away, lost in thought over the possible definition of the new English word they just heard.

Greetings from Beijing!

New international graduate students are trickling into my office; bringing with them excitement, newness, and lots of saying, "What? Can you repeat that?"
Today a new student arrived from China and I told him where to go and yada yada, gave him a map and sent him on his way. As our conversation was coming to a close he was fumbling in his pocket and produced a gift for me. He handed me a keychain and said, "Here's a gift for you."



It's an Olympics souvenir representing the stadium where the swimmers compete. Yes, that's a pig next to it to better show you the scale of this keychain.
He was trying to tell me what it was and mentioned people "fighting" in there, and then said swimming, so I figured he meant "competing". But I'm sure there's some fighting, too.
The keychain for the mail-room key recently broke and I've been waiting for just the right one to replace it. Perfect timing.

Good Morning

So by my estimations, I should be able to make clothes like this for my future daughter by the time she is this old. Un-friggin'-believable. Maybe it's because I am easily amazed in the morning or this outfit is just the bomb. Actually... I want it for myself...
Gah! I have too many projects to get done!

(source: SugarCity Journal, look on my blogroll to the right...)

Robot Love

My possible trip to San Francisco this fall has brought an interesting thing into my daily internet fix. After finding a possible room to stay in via AirBedandBreakfast, I decided to check out the website made by Jonathan, one of three roommates in the apartment in San Fran. Rock Cookie Bottom is a blog of sorts where Jonathan posts a daily assignment. If you choose to do the assignment you are told to either email him your homework or post it into the comments.
The first assignment I turned in was to write an 8-line puppet play about a grandma having a birthday. I posted it into the comments and that was that. The next day I was pleasantly surprised to find he had made each play into a short movie production. It was so neat to see my lame script turned into a very, very weird moving picture.
Yesterday's assignment was to send him a picture of a robot. I was too busy actually working yesterday (yay, I finally have things to do now that it's August!), so I did the assignment today. I sent him the painting I did in highschool (Robot Love) and a drawing of a robot I did this morning.





I think this is the most entertaining website I've seen in a long time. And it's fun to think I might actually meet this guy and catch a glimpse of his craziness in person.

So, as much as typing makes it sound like I'm working, I have nothing else to share at the moment.

Bagels!

Today I had lunch at Bruegger's Bagels. When I was standing in line I decided that I wanted an Asiago-Parmesan bagel toasted with plain cream cheese. The woman in front of me ordered what I wanted exactly. In order to not feel/look weird I quickly thought up a new order. I ate an un-toasted cheddar bagel with plain cream cheese. It was delicious.
Sometimes I really dislike the banter that happens between perfect strangers. When something odd happens, like ordering the same lunch, you are usually required to joke with eachother. This is where the cheesy smile and polite laugh come in. There are days when I enjoy it, and days when I actually initiate it, but today was not one of those days. Oh well, I'll get an Asiago-Parmeson bagel another day.

Slow Morning

I woke up at 3:30 am. I heard Wallace get up too so I forced myself out of bed before he found a nice place to go potty. I let him out and when he was done we went back inside and I went to bed. Needless to say, when my alarm went off at 6:10 am I had a hard time waking up. 4 snoozes. I do have to say that this is better than the night before when I woke up at 4am and stayed in bed only to hear Wallace peeing right next to it! I had to get up and show him the right place to pee, and when we got back inside I stepped in poo! Don't know when he did that. All that matters is that it was gross. I don't want him to get the idea that I will let him out at all hours of the night so I might have to go back to having him sleep in the kitchen. I frequently wake up in the middle of the night just for a minute or so. I think it's unfair to him because he doesn't know that I'm not getting up for good.

I started cutting out fabric for a new dress last night. The fabric I bought for the dress turned out to be not wide enough for the skirt so I had to resort to another bedsheet. The original fabric was a nice dark blue with some textured vertical lines, but now the dress will be a bright, all-over floral. Oh well, it's a summer dress for a summer wedding. Oh, and I LOVE my new rotary fabric cutter. It cuts like butter. I'll post pictures once I get my camera back...