Maine, here I come!

I'm turning into a hypochondriac. I think I may have anemia which would explain my fatigue, irritability, headaches, and dizziness. It won't explain the insomnia (a whopping 3 hours of sleep last night!), but I'm getting my blood tested after getting back from my vacation.

Not looking forward to saying goodbye to a co-worker and friend of 1 year. We're going out tonight and dancing to send her off. Probably not the smartest thing for me to do since I only slept 3 hours last night. Oh well, it's almost the weekend.

Looking forward to my vacation in Maine with awesome awesome friends. Leaving early Saturday for our 15+ hour drive. Looking forward to sleeping in, lounging around, hiking, water-skiing, setting off fireworks. Here's our cabin:


Recently got into the TV show Veronica Mars. Appropriate, since last week I threw down some money and purchased this baby:


That's a Nikon D50 6.1 MP Digital SLR with a 18-55 mm lens. So I'll be taking pictures during my hikes.

I also realized I've been neglecting my other "babies." I've been playing more on my keyboard lately and I plan to take my guitar on the trip with me and spend some quality time with it.

Poisonwood Bible

I checked out the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver to read on my way to and from work. This excerpt made me laugh out loud on the bus:

"So determined he is to win or force or drag them over to the Way of the Cross. Feed the belly first, he announced at dinner one night, seized with his brilliant plan. Feed the belly and the soul will come...The whole village feasted all day, ate, ate till we felt bug-eyed and belly-up ourselves. He performed a backward version of the loaves and fishes, trying to stuff ten thousand fish into fifty mouths, did the Reverend Price. Slogging up and down the riverbank in trousers wet to the knees, his Bible in one hand and another stickful of fire-blackened fish in the other, he waved his bounty in a threatening manner. Thousands more fish jerked in the sun and went bad along the riverbanks. Our village was blessed for weeks with the smell of putrefaction. Instead of abundance it was a holiday of waste. No ice. Our Father forgot, for fishing in the style of modern redneck Georgia you need your ice. He was not going to bring up the loaves and fishes in today's sermon, was a good guess."

It's brilliant. =)

At the blink of an eye

Ever had a week when you felt like you were living a slightly different life?

This week has been one of those. Work has been going well, and I'm been getting done all the stuff I need to get done at home. I've been busy with my own research as well as working on my personal statements. I've been working out and going to my yoga classes. I visited the UM Museum of Art's photography exhibit (LOVED it by the way and am going back again), saw a movie at Showcase (with the exception of the Da Vinci Code, it's the first time I paid over $1.50 to see a movie all year), shopped around Whole Foods for the first time today on my lunch break, and am spending time hanging out with friends. I've also been getting enough sleep every night. Tonight I'm going to visit the new Chinese market in Ypsi and buy Chinese snack foods. And it's Wednesday and the first day of summer.

Things are going smoothly this week. It's scary. I'm so used to chaos and feeling days and days behind schedule or feeling dazed and sleep-deprived. Well, I'm a bit tired today because of the rain. I kept waking up this morning to the thunder and I thought my umbrella was going to break under the pressure of the rain on my way to the bus. I'm not a big fan of rainy days unless I get to stay in all day and watch it through the window.

A few nights ago it really hit me that one day I'm going to look back at these two years of my life and treasure them as two of the best years of my life. After grad school I'll probably work in academia or at a research facility, finally settle down, perhaps have a family, and remember the 2 years in my life when I was living by myself as a young professional with little responsibility and the freedom to enjoy life. I love that I've been hopping on a plane and flying somewhere at least every other month this year. I love that I can choose to spend a week in a cabin with college friends drinking beer in hot tubs and playing pool. I love that I have the freedom to make stupid decisions like go out with friends till late on a weeknight and crash early the next night. Although sometimes it gets lonely and quiet living by myself, I have sole control of the remote and the dishes can pile up for a few days without anyone nagging or complaining. I need to learn to enjoy every moment my life and to live it fully. This is my last year in Ann Arbor, and I want to make the most of it. It's scary how fast things can change. In the next few weeks I'm going to have to say goodbye to some dear friends of mine. Some friends are getting married, others are breaking up, while others are adjusting to the reality of being pregnant. Although I feel so detached from all that, it's a reminder that life can change at the blink of an eye.

Product Reviews

The other week I was in Kroger and Yoplait's whipped yogurt was on sale. I'm usually a Dannon girl myself but I thought what the hey, I'll give them a try. Well, flavor-wise they weren't so bad except it was more like eating dessert than a healthy snack. I'm not a big fan of the whipped texture though. It was like eating airy pudding - gross! If I were an infant, I'd definitely have to be burped after consumption. Needless to say, I'm sticking with Dannon yogurt.

I also bought beauty products from Avon for the first time. My supervisor brought an Avon catalog to work and I flipped through it. I never even looked at the catalog before because my brain immediate processes: Avon: brand-name: expensive, no buy. I was surprised by how inexpensive their products were when on sale - I bought some makeup for cheaper than I would have gotten them at the drugstore. Surprisingly, the quality wasn't as great as I thought. Anyway, I may buy Avon again if it was really cheap, but not otherwise.

Work has been a lot more fun now that I have work to do. I started attending the Yoga classes at Bally's and I love love love the class. I was surprised by how much of a workout it was! I was also shocked by how flexible and strong my lower-body was (from running), and how inflexible and weak my upper-body was in contrast!

My sleep has improved this week although Tuesday night I decided to go out to the Jug with my friend Lena at 10 PM. I didn't get home till 1 AM and the lack of sleep that night put me out of commission for Wednesday. In college, 4 hours of sleep one night wouldn't have affected me at all. Now, it messes my entire sleep schedule up and I can't think straight for days afterward.

Let's Get Physical

I'm so sore. I went to my first Pilates class yesterday and I'm happy to say I think it's actually effective. I'm going to try Yoga out as well next week and we'll see how toned I get in a few months.

I also added to my home decor. My living room now has a few Picasso prints and I got some black and white photos of Europe for my bedroom. Hmm...that reminds me, I have to check out the photography exhibit at the UM Museum of Art.

I finally visited the Mallett's Creek branch of the Ann Arbor Public Library near my apartment. I had a delightful time finding books I've been meaning to reread and exploring the youth fiction section. It really brings back memories of library trips when I was in Elementary School. I checked out a few fairytales (Ella Enchanted type books) just for old time's sake.

I slept better last night than I have for awhile. I finally went to the pharmacy and bought Melatonex, a sleeping aid that's supposedly non-addictive. My insomnia got to be ridiculous this week to the point of impairing my productivity at work. I think I'm going to try it again tonight.

Yay it's the weekend. I'm looking forward to an evening at home, popping in a DVD I got from the library, knitting, calling it an early night so I can go out and play in the sun tomorrow =).

Dreamer

I haven't been sleeping terribly well this week and I'm blaming it on the Pistons and Dan Brown.

Monday I watched the game and read Angels and Demons. Tuesday I saw the Da Vinci Code. I've also been having the most vivid nightmares about the most mundane and ridiculous things. Like 2 nights ago, I woke up in a huge sweat because I dreamed that I ruined my pouf somehow and had to go to Target and buy another one for $1.99. Ah, the horror of that!

My Myers Briggs personality is ESTP although I'm starting to suspect that living alone was converting me to an "I" (introvert). Now that the red-headed girl and Jessi moved into my apartment complex, I've been hanging out with them as well as my Polish girls almost everyday. Although it's been awesome, it's taking me a bit to get used to first of all going out every evening, and second of all seeing the same people everyday. I said to Ian yesterday "Man, I just am not used to seeing the same person more than 2 days in a row. Do you think they're going to get tired of me?" To which he scoffed and reminded me that I used to hang out with the same people everyday 7 days a week while I was in college. I find myself craving time to process alone (the new "I" side of me), but then the "E" side of me trumps that and I go out anyway. It shouldn't take me too long to adjust.

One thing I've been sad about is not having time everyday to do my Chinese lessons at home. I've been listening to Rainie Yang's (Yang Cheng Ling) album Ai Mei nonstop though. I don't know why, but her song Li Xiang Qing Ren makes me really really happy.