Argentine Rose, revisited

2003-11-19 / 8:30 a.m.

Good morning, kids....and it is a beautiful morning. Beautiful enough that I feel pretty happy for no apparent reason. awesome. Much better than the intense feeling of meh I was operating under yesterday. Soy Jekyll, soy Hyde. Me starting out without bitching? That's different, eh? Delicious.

Had a really excellent surprise last night. My friend from TheCollege, Tania, who is spending this year studying in Argentina, has come home for the holidays. Tania is someone who I have genuinely missed. While I haven't really spent time with a lot of my TheCollege amigas, it was good to see them all again last night, and very very cool to see Tania. As she has spent the last semester in Bueno Aires, I was very interested in listening to her tales of excitement and intrigue from my future home. It seems like she's been having a fantastic time. She says that school hasn't been that hard, she got good grades, and she goes out all the time, and has terrific fun. Perhaps B.A. will bring out the party girl in me. :) hahahaha. She brought us all tasty Argentine goodies, and she brought me a city map with public transportation routes and stuff. Unfortunately, she also spoke of how all the women are thin and hot and perfect...seems like I have my work cut out for me before I go. :(

And, continuing to speak of Argentina, got much official news on the matter yesterday as well. My orientation begins on Feburary the 20th. I've gotta be at the Lancaster Hotel in B.A. by 1:00 pm. I should be back in the country sometime around the 10th of July. As I've said, my orientation is going to be in San Martin de los Andes (forgive the lack of accents, I'm lazy). I also got a letter forwarded from the coordinator from her superior who said, in more explicit terms, that there should be "no problem" with me living with Brian's host mother's sister. Furthermore, ::deepbreath:: Brian visited this woman's home yesterday, and found it most satisfactory. I will reproduce his exact comments here, as they are quite cute:

Dear EN,
I just got back from my first visit to Diana's house. OMG! Like Janet, I am so jealous of you! The house can be best described in these three words: fa-bu-lous! It is so fun! It was built in 1912, and is very crazy. It has a pretty terrace, as well. I'm so excited for you EN.

And, one last piece of good news. (I feel like EK!) It looks like the candidate that I spoke about the other week has plenty of internshippy work I could do, though it'll be a crappy commute. I'll probably only go a couple of days a week. We'll see after I talk to my boss here, my old boss at the day care, and look at a few more local candidates...

Okay, enough slacking. Time to get back to work. Ciao!

Gay gay gay gay

2003-11-18 / 10:35 a.m.

Massachusetts court strikes down ban on same-sex marriage. The growth of this issue is bound to throw some spice into the 2004 elections.

numbers on the scale make me cry.

2003-11-18 / 10:02 a.m.

Did my typical jogging route in record time this morning...right at 32 minutes. I also managed to go an extra half mile (though at a much more modest pace). Unfortunately, I can only be marginally proud of this because today marks another week that I have failed to lose a single pound. Yes, this makes me vain and shallow and terrible, but at least I'm being honest. ::sigh::

I heart Brian!!!

2003-11-17 / 6:02 p.m.

I got a reply e-mail from the study abroad office today. Apparently, my request to live with the sister of Brian's host mother probably won't be a problem--so I'll be spending next semester living close to BT! YAY! And, speaking of, Brian has yet again succeeded in providing a wealth of useful information. Using his incredible powers, Brian has learned that my orientation will be in the town of San Mart�n de los Andes. My impression after googling about it for a few minutes is that it's a very pretty town with good skiing and outdoorsy stuff that gets a lot of tourist action. Its in the mountains, between Lake L�car and the Vega Maip� valley (not that I knew of either of these landforms before...). It looks really beautful...here are some pictures I ripped off from other people's webpages.

::sigh:: I've gotta go keep working now. Adios.

ring ring

2003-11-17 / 10:01 a.m.

For the last week or so, I've been having an occasional ringing in my left ear. It's very annoying. WTF?

"Host mother" sounds like vocabulary for talking about parasites

2003-11-16 / 11:02 a.m.

I�ve been working like a crazy child this morning. I get to take a break and write in my journal. Because I say so. That�s right. yeah. I�m totally empowered. Plus, I�ve had bits of entries I�ve been scratching down, and I want to consolidate them and post. Yeah. Go me.

Interim goal in operation lose-weight-before-birthday: lose some by thanksgiving...My mom's side of the family, while I love them, could elevate gossip to the level of an Olympic sport. Any detectable life change�from trivial to colossal�will be discussed at length. Fortunately, I don�t think anyone from the grandma aged, I-walked-ten-miles-barefoot-in-the-snow-to-get-to-school generation will be there. Their comments are the worst. It�s true though! and with Thanksgiving dinner attended exclusively by baby boomers and under, you�re more likely to avoid comments like �If you keep eating like that, you�re never going to find a husband.� :p

Thinking more about Alfonso Cuar�n...who wants to rent The Little Princess with me?

Not only is Brian helping me try to live near him, he�s giving me valuable information:
Brian IM: I have been told that you Uds. come in second week of February.

Brian IM: And you have orientation in Patagonia, making me jealous of you like Janet.
Ack, so scared, but also getting more excited...I can�t imagine it, every day for at least the first month is going to be like a fucking adventure. And yay, Patagonia. Though I wonder where in Patagonia...hope not somewhere freezing cold.

Went to Joe�s Dad�s house yesterday. We went out for Mexican goodness with his Dad and Stepmom, then returned to their casa and watched Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ::groan:: :) His family has recently taken up a little stray kitten, and he�s painfully cute. I wish I had my own apartment so I could have a kitty!

Okay. Time for more homework...then perhaps a nap if I can make myself sleep. >:( Ciao.

Love Actually

2003-11-16 / 9:19 a.m.

Friday night, Joe and I went to see Love Actually. It was....cute. Pretty good...but definitely not as fantastic as I was hoping for after all the talk about how great it was. So I won�t get too much guff about how I always criticize romantic comedies, I�ll start with the things I enjoyed about the film:
*I liked the structure of the movie itself. I�m a sucker for story lines heavy with character development, and lots of semi-related characters. It�s just a convention I enjoy sometimes in movies and books.
*I thought that the acting was, on the whole, really really good.
*The humor was well done. A good balance of silliness and wit.

Okay....this next section will probably have some spoilers. Divert thine eyes, pure ones!

***********************************************

Okay. So the bottom line about Love Actually was that people were touting it as somehow special and unique vis-�-vis your average romantic comedy, but it really wasn�t. I was told that it was "more realistic" than your average romantic comedy. Umm, no. It clung to the same clich�s that other such movies always do....in fact, because of the nature of the film, it clung to a whole lot of them. :) Okay, now, on the face, this isn�t that bad. I think that sometimes cheesy clich�s are okay in fluff romantic comedies, but to say that Love Actually was a more true to life portrayal of romance is just silly.

Also, some of the story lines were very unsatisfying:
The plot with Colin Firth and the Portuguese maid was absolutely adorable�probably my favorite storyline�until the end. WTF was with proposing to her? Retarded. Absolutely retarded. He should have just said he loved her, or asked her to live with him or something, but get married!?

The thing where the guy�s best friend was in love with his wife? Also retarded. It would have been so much better if they went with the original implication that the friend was in love with the man...the resolution would have been more interesting. As it was, I was very unsatisfied with how they resolved that plot line. Why on earth wouldn�t he drop it after she saw the video?! Why would she kiss him?! Also, I�m sorry, it�s one of my pet peeves with movies like this....you can�t be totally in love with someone, find them "perfect", if you�ve rarely spoken, and pretend like you hate them. I don�t think that�s even close to how Love is Actually.

Storyline about the kid? I thought that was dumb.

To be fair, I found some of the plotlines good...The young British guy that goes to America to look for women was funny�that scene where the slutty Americans are making him say words, then mimicking his pronunciation was quite amusing. The part about Hugh Grant and the assistant they kept talking about being fat was kinda� cute�though that was the most unoriginal and trite relationship in the movie. It more closely followed the cookie-cutter romantic comedy template than the other plots. The porn stars were funny.

I left the theater amused (though kinda� sore, that was a fucking long movie!), but I didn�t find the movie worthy of all the lofty praise.

Friday Five

2003-11-14 / 6:10 p.m.

I don't usually do Friday Five, but this week's appealed to me, and was quick to answer.

1. Using one adjective, describe your current living space.
Warm.

2. Using two adjectives, describe your current employer.
Witty, spirited.

3. Using three adjectives, describe your favorite hobby/pasttime.
Quiet, Contemplative, Absorbing.

4. Using four adjectives, describe your typical day.
Zealous, Ambitious, Busy, Thoughtful.

5. Using five adjectives, describe your ideal life.
Successful, Comfortable, Confident, Loving, Meaningful.

ramblebramble

2003-11-14 / 9:04 a.m.

Duuuuude. The teaser trailers for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban are out. Harrypotter.com. The trailer is really well done...I'm excited about the movie (though I've got awhile to wait). My guess is that I'll be really pleased with Cuar�n's vision of the book. While the first movie didn't impress me much, I liked the second one much more, and I'm yet more optimistic about the quality of this one. Too bad I'll be abroad when it comes out. :( I don't know how fast American movies get to Argentina...though I'm guessing it won't be there until I'm back in the states (which should be sometime in July)...so perhaps it'll be a good welcome-home event, even though I'm sure all interested parties will have seen it at least once by then. :)

the weather report lied to me...told me yesterday that it was supposed to be 30 degrees this morning, and it was not nearly that cold. I'm not complaining though...all you people who keep complaining that it isn't cold enough are insane! Anyway, it does seem like typical Atlanta winter is probably going to begin soon. Last night, it was pretty chilly, and the air had that still, winter feeling. The seasonal change from fall to winter is a strange one...it always makes me feel sort of nostalgic right at the beginning--probably because I, like many, have lots of memories associated with this time of the year because of all the holidays and events that are jammed into the next three months. I also seem to enjoy looking at the night sky in winter, though I'm not sure why. It certainly isn't the most sensible season to be standing outside gaping at the stars, but there's something that seems particularly, I dunno, clear about the sky in winter. I'll stop rambling now.

I've been so busy lately, it hurts. I finally got my Middle East presentation out of the way yesterday. This weekend, the main thrust will be finishing my two less-than-huge papers for Globalization and doing my Spanish presentation. I'll turn these things in on Monday, and spend the rest of the week, the next weekend, and Monday and Tuesday of thanksgiving week researching like a fiend for my big big big projects. I'm aiming to have drafts done by the end of Thanksgiving break, but I don't know if that's reasonable or not. If I do get good drafts finished over the break, my Birthday will be MUCH MUCH MUCH lower stress, and I'll be able to get a ton of hours at work. We'll see, we'll see

Had some crazy dream last night that Antonio Gramsci was still alive, my age, and someone was trying to set me up with him.

Ack. That's all I've got time to write. I didn't have as much time as usual this morning before class...because I chose to go to the actual gym rather than jogging outdoors (because weather.com told me it was too cold to do so), I got up a half hour later...the gym isn't open when I usually exercise.

Actually? Really? You?

2003-11-10 / 9:52 p.m.

Wow...I'd never expect myself to say this (and I know it's only a matter of time before Michelle gives me shit for it--lol) but I kinda' wanna see Love Actually. Generally, I've had bad experiences with romantic comedies, but this one looks better than average. I guess I'm just in the mood to see some kind of gooey, feel-good movie. ::sigh:: I surrender...I want to see it. Who will go see it with me, without bringing up all the previous romantic comedies that I've bitched about the quality of.

ready, set...

2003-11-10 / 5:40 p.m.

Operation lose-ten-pounds-before-I-turn-21 is going very poorly. I've still got almost 4 weeks though, there is hope...hopefully. ::sigh::

I worry that 21 is going to be a depressing birthday. It sounds so old. And, as we all know from my numerous entries about it, I've got this thing with aging...

The guy who was suposed to put me in contact with the other guy about an internship has still not contacted me. I'm thinking of e-mailing the candidate directly.

The temperature lately is very Jekyll and Hyde.

I'm working walk in hours tonight, and that sucks.

Bravenet went and made my forum buttons all cute.

Angry riddle!

2003-11-10 / 4:38 p.m.

Question: What kind of textbook doesn't have an index?!!!

Answer: One of my fucking stupid philosophy textbooks, and my spanish textbook!

WTF?

Junkfood Detox

2003-11-10 / 7:02 a.m.

Wow. Wow wow wow. Busy busy busy. I look out on the final weeks of the semester, and I want to cry. Crap.

Feeling fat and gross and tired this morning--though it has to be one of the most beautiful mornings I've seen in recent months. Yeah, it's a bit chilly, but the sky is incredibly clear. When I first got outside this morning, the moon was shining very brightly; it was still high in the sky and very bright as the sun started to come up, so the sky was really bright even before the sun was visible. Whiteish light from the moon on my right, and yellowish light from the sun on my left. Very pretty indeed. I would have liked to sit outside this morning, were it not so cold. :( I hate cold weather--I don't understand people who like it, but perhaps I'll learn. I am looking forward to having some of the public fireplaces lit, though that generally happens more at the beginning of Spring semester. Insanity. Uggg, and speaking of cold....We took a vote a week or so ago about heat v. air in my building (we've got to vote for one or the other, and they won't switch it back until the spring once its changed). We voted for heat, but there was a problem with it so it was delayed....until last night apparently, when it was on in the building (though not the individual rooms) full blast without warning. I just woke up at about 2:00 and was totally confounded as to why it was so incredibly hot in my room. It was so warm in there that it woke me up. :( but anyway, glad it's on now.

it was a long, fun, weekend. Friday night, I went to casa Joe. We went to daabha for dinner. The atmosphere was very Zyka-esque--with the plastic dinnerware and the quasi-fast food style serving--and the food was quite tasty. I got Palak Paneer, and it was really good, but I didn't like it as much as Udipi's. J got some kind of chicken stuff that didn't look as good--but that's probably just me, as I tend to only like the vegetarian indian stuff I've had, and not so much the meat. I'd go back there again. The important part of the story is that the boy tried Indian food for the first time, and liked it. Yay for trying new foods, that's so hot. After dinner, we went back to his apartment and ended up just vegging out for several hours--he wrote code and I played a lot of SSX3, which is terribly fun and addictive.

Saturday-day was full of school work. I'm not going to write about it, because it's boring.

Saturday night, Joe, Beckham, and I went to Joe's friend Lee's house for a Guy Fawkes Day party. It was an amusing evening, even though I didn't really know any of the party guests, I had a really good time just hanging out with JoeBeckham. I also tried Beckham's beer, and liked it a lot--which was surprising for someone who has never been a huge fan of beer.

Sunday, I did more school work, then went to hang out with HVB. We took a spontaneous trip to cobb pkwy., because we both actually needed stuff from Wal Mart...it was almost strange to go for a purpose, but now I've got toothpaste, and I'm happy. I also bought a very affordable case for my laptop.

That's about the size of it. I'm in the mood to write more, but I really can't. I've got homework due in a few hours that I've really got to do! Ciao!