R is for Romee, Who Wants an Eclair

This morning, I listened to United States of Eurasia [+Collateral Damage] from Muse's album Resistance while trying to open this loaf of healthy bread my mother gave me:

I had difficulties. I did succeed, and ate a bit of it with Nutella. The bottle I purchased at the beginning of the semester is about 33.3% full, now. Also, I have been trying to decide whether or not I would like to purchase that album. Or any of Muse's albums. I know I would definitely like the sheet music for Neutron Star Collision (despite the fact that it was for a Twilight movie ;_;).

After a nice lunch of pizza that was covered in vegetables (which included artichoke hearts, I believe!), slightly sour oranges, and chocolate chip cookies, and a short encounter with Kathryn and chat with Renee along with that, I absorbed math (Green's theorem) and fought to balance hot and cold with my jacket. I realize that my body is very poorly suited to cool weather (or even just warm Hawaii weather). It must be a result of wearing a jacket and long pants CONSTANTLY throughout middle school and high school. That must change, hehe, or else I will be like those poor bacteria you can kill off with a thermostat because they only survive at a known temperature range.

I went to visit the Edward Gorey exhibit in the Art building after class with Alyssa. I admire that art style, and his use of the alphabet, sequentially in words. I was also pretty stunned by the amount of writing and drawing he had done. Alyssa bought baklava on the way back, and I listened to her talk about writing and storylines. It made me think of how I don't really write in my free time anymore, other than these long blog posts, which 1) aren't even done during "free time", and 2) hardly count as structured or well thought out.

In time Grace joined us. I practiced the Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire medley that we're playing in symphony, particularly the Potter Waltz:

Alyssa ended up sorting out her SweetTarts by color after I had remembered to give her her Halloween candy, and Grace watched some sparkly pink anime with cute animals in it, hehe.

At some point in rehearsal last night, Miyamura said something that sounded like "Too many papayas!" I have no clue what he really said. It was premium night this evening at the cafe and I ate stuffed salmon (actually the third time I had that as my premium dish this semester), along with some pesto pasta, mango, and pudding. There was talk of Disneyland and texting.

There were a few crazy moments after dinner, when we were all full and fighting food comas, where Megan, Annie, and I sat in the hallway by Annie's door and just talked, hit a balloon back and forth (a balloon taken from a chemistry lab...) and conversed, leading to misinterpretation. I had followed the sound of a guitar to find a sick individual in a room with little light. We had experimented with the falling ability of paper down stairwells. There were phone using adventures, a trip to the Market to purchase drinkable items, and further shennanigans in the room (with the appearance of Claire who needed to pack for her weekend adventure). Hi-Chew was thrown, sexual jokes made, and overall drama and liveliness.

I'm having problems with grammar right now, hehe. I guess that means I should return to the predicting of reaction products! Yay for alcohols, esters, and epoxides! Goodnight!

History

 

What do these two photos have to do with each other? What do these two photos have to do with my day? Well, first of all, I didn't spend it looking at chins or eating mochi. They did cross my mind today due to Anthropology; we looked at two case studies: the Qin militaristic state of the Qin Dynasty after China's Unification in 221 B.C., and the Moche state in Northern Peru. In the lecture/speaking/presentation portions, the pronunciations ended up really completely sounding like "chin" and "mochi" hehe. Amusing, to a slight extent. That class is nice, and I actually found learning about the Qin state pretty interesting! I'll probably use that as my base state society for the upcoming paper that is due. What was most overwhelming was reading about the First Emperor's terra cotta warriors. I mean, you hear about it in elementary or middle school, but reading the detailed article about the numbers and seeing the pictures, it kind of hits you how much POWER the people of the past had. It made me think, I wish our society could leave behind some treasure like that for the future to uncover (as in, suddenly you dig and WOW there is a life-sized pottery warrior! Frightening, but purely amazing!), but I think we're probably just going to leave behind tons and tons of information shoved into the tiniest metal chips we can.

We got grade checks in Hawaiian Studies. I'm determined to do AMAZING on the final and the last paper, so my grade will be more satisfying to me, hehe. We've hit the historical overview/modern issues section of the class, so it's slightly more touchy, but it's interesting. It's a bit awkward having Hawaiians in class along with people who are "haole", and discussing the good and bad of the encounters of the past, as with Captain James Cook, making the "haole" the foreigners.

Regardless, I'm learning a lot from my social studies-like classes. Open minds, new perspectives of the world!

Rehearsal tonight from 7 to 9:40pm. Crossing fingers that Miyamura makes it go quickly! Meaning, hopefully some people practiced. I guess that should also apply to me, hehe.

11.16.10

I am in severe lack of an appropriate song lyric for this post, hehe. So you get the good 'ol date.

This morning was filled with a nice visit from Alyssa (studying for Japanese) and Grace (sleeping as ever, teehee). I remembered I bought a breakfast burrito from The Market a while back, and had dutifully stuck it in the freezer portion of the refrigerator to be eaten as a mean on another day. The package had things like "Organic tomatoes and beans inside." I didn't realize that the whole burrito itself would be.... healthy. It had tofu. It's texture was strange, and all I could do while I put a piece that was still too hot for consumption (after microwaving for 1.5 min on each side in a "loosely wrapped" paper towel) in my mouth was blow out, make funny faces, and wiggle/dance. Alyssa had her mental practice with a conversation in Japanese (and partially Spanish).

Math was relatively easy to understand and follow today (not that I exactly remember what it was about right this moment). Also, the proof of the law of conservation of energy was pretty amazing (and Professor Csordas certainly was excited about show it to us). In chem lab we created solid, saturated fat (see previous post) from the MUFAs in olive oil. Pretty gross, but kind of cool, especially since we made our own filtering apparatus with a cotton ball and a pipette. We also ended over an hour early (compared to usual, and the expected end time), which is why I am now in a good mood and am here happily typing away about food that kind of disgusted me, hehe.

I walked back to the dorms and there was a person in green sitting outside of the building. From a distance I passed it off as someone I wouldn't know, someone I'd have to be wary of because they were probably waiting for someone to come by and open the door so they can get it. I was completely wrong, haha! As I got closer, I realized the green person was making a face at me, and recognition struck. Bronson with short hair AND in green is so completely different. He said he was waiting for Corey, who he was to meet at 4:00 pm to go to the gym, and by that time, it was already 4, so Corey was late.

The text sent under request:
"Bronson says that you're late and he's disappointed."
The reply:
"Lol he was late yesterday but okay I'm going down now."

Oh, friendships are so silly to observe. One thing I really have liked about this semester so far is that the people I've gotten to know are so friendly, quirky, and funny. I guess they're probably the people who are still the most like high-schoolers, but I'm not concerned about that; I'm just relieved that they're familiar in that sense. I also think, overall, chemistry lab has been pretty enjoyable to me, despite the fact that my lab partner is not as helpful or enthusiastic or prepared for chemistry as I am. I'm also just grateful that the TA doesn't get mad, even if at times, like today, our pair ends up asking so many questions, or messes up something, and he ends up standing there doing some part of the lab for us for a while (like fixing that filtration thing I wrote about earlier, and heating our solid for a while to get rid of some of the leftover solvent). He always makes silly faces when he smells things, though. Manga character much. With a nice accent and slightly bad (English) handwriting to go with it.

ALSO, what's up with that? No one follows the lab rule that used to be so emphasized in high school: waft vapors towards you to smell. We're sniffing all these esters, and today, our fats, but it's all okay! I mean, maybe it's not. By the way, that fat smelt disgusting. It was cool having it solidify, but it was definitely disgusting at the same time.

I really need to move all the pictures on my memory card somewhere. There is something I saw on my walk to Hawaiian Studies yesterday that I must post because it was AWESOME, hehe.

Now to read Anthropology before I'm off to another wonderful RAPS meeting! Too bad I don't plan on staying for the movie, though. Just too much homework to do. And chem to love and roll around in, hehe!

Stay away from saturated fat! It really looks disgusting!

Imbalanced

It's been a while since I've really had to balance an equation, and this is what we've got for the ochem lab we're doing tomorrow; Balance the equation that turns the top vegetable oil into the bottom vegetable oil (by hydrogenation):

Save me, hehe. Wait, what am I talking about! I love you chemistry!

EDIT: I didn't even balance it myself. I was going crazy, going unsuccessfully into the hundreds (maybe I just have  such a poor concept of this), so I ended up using this. Thank goodness for the internet!

Our Lives Are Made In These Small Hours

These little wonders, these twists and turns of fate.
Time falls away, but these small hours, 
These small hours still remain. (Rob Thomas)

Presenting a few photos from this past month or so without adequate memory SD memory card space and the time/urge to blog thoroughly:

Grace splat. Computer productivity. Blackness in a well-lit room.

Annie shared us some starfruit. First time I've eaten some. Crispier than I imagined.

On occasion, I eat fruity pebbles for breakfast. Something I can't eat with my chopsticks, for once.

I was walking back one day from I'm not so sure where (perhaps it was the day I went to training for Kids Fest; either way, I was coming back from walking from the bus stop, and decided to take the back road to the dorm because it was hot and sunny. I passed by the portable classrooms and saw these chickens, teehee. Running wild. So many of them.

Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino has given me the occasional burst of energy. It definitely tastes good in those late hours. I swear off of cigarettes, drinking, riding motorcycles, committing suicide, intentionally harming myself or another being, greater-than-4-inch high heels, unnecessary makeup, reading manga, and energy drinks. The sillier things in that list, until a later time in my life (meaning, I don't think I can completely live without manga, haha).

Shoved under the door from Annie & Megan: Claire's is orange. They sparkle and glow in the dark!

Dino IV by Alyssa

On Friday Becca came over in between class (after chemistry), and we had stopped by Pizza Hut to get personal pan pizzas. The pizzas from The Market don't compare to the lightness and balance of their pizzas. Becca loves cheese. She says I live in a slice of cream cheese pizza, hehe.

Thursday was Veteran's Day, and I spent it at Ala Moana with Grace, wandering through many, many, MANY stores, resisting purchase of not so necessary items, and just enjoying being able to relax. Whatever money I spent, was spent on food, like the squishy wheat roll cake above. I love Shirokiya, hehe. All the food in there is so tempting, though. I did buy vegetable tempura (they had BROCCOLI, I was so shocked), vegetable croquettes (two of which I saved and ate for breakfast the following morning), and what were essentially Spam musubis. Yum.

I lied. I also bought Sixpence None the Richer's self-titled album for $5 from Book-Off (good condition). The only song I know and really like from that album so far is the well known song Kiss Me. I will work on memorizing the lyrics to that song. I've been doing that a lot recently; I made myself memorize Dashboard Confessional's Hands Down and Vindicated, mostly because I love how varied and full the verses are, and singing the bridges, especially. I still haven't memorized much of My Love is a Stapler. Japanese is just not my language, hehe.

As for other adventures over these past few weeks: "Dirty Minds" board game (the day before Kids Fest, HPH'S Cancer Care conference, Toys & Joys, Collectors Maniacs, Menchies, Ward Warehouse, Ala Moana Post Office (filling boxes, taping them shut, and mailing them was fun and gave me a good feeling). I want to go to Barnes & Nobles Kahala Mall so I can buy Richard Yates by Tao Lin. They have that book. I also want to go to the state library because there are now so many books I want to read, especially the rest of the Hunger Games trilogy. I was pleasantly surprised by that first book. No, Rue! -cries-

Long day.

I really practiced violin for the first time in the long time today after spending a long lunch period after chem with Casey, and the Becca in Campus Center dining hall. I waved at Richmond, Susan, and Bryson. It was good to see people, and just to talk. I ate a chicken patty sandwich with delicious curly fries, drank apple juice (as usual), and ate one of their yummy cookies. Next time I must purchase a brownie. I have a little over $100 left in points on my card. I wonder if they'll carry into next semester, or if I should start blowing points on food to stock up. (: Anyway, violin. Claire was really tired today, so even though I was practicing, she fell asleep, hehe. It felt so good to really play. I didn't touch orchestra music at all. Instead, I played through most of the Suzuki Violin School Book 7, and through part of Book 8. It definitely showed me how rusty I've become. My wrists are no longer very flexible, and I think I need to change some strings.

Monday afternoons are nice. I should use them more effectively, but eh, I will work hard all night! These small wonders fill me with happiness and remind me that everything will be okay in the end as long as I give it all and keep my head focused and don't panic.

Lastly, thank you so much, Grace, for this sticker-laden lovely silliness and ferocious origami dragon. :3

You Said We Were an Accident

With accidents you'll never know what could have been. (Motion City Soundtrack)

So it's early morning and I have to head to class in a few, but that song worked its way into my head when I was getting ready, and I felt it would help be get back into the swing of this blog, so here I am. The chilled, glass-bottled Starbucks mocha frappe I've taken to using as an "energy drink" doesn't taste as yummy when the sun is out and I'm facing a full day ahead of me; perhaps that is a good sign that I won't start drinking coffee like a caffeine addict every morning.

I finally re-opened my box of fruity pebbles and am now eating them from a small Dixie paper cup with a recycled plastic spoon taken from Hale Aloha Cafe when take-out time means take-out-utensils freely.

Speaking of take-out and going back to accidents, last night I successfully spilled pineapple orange Crystal Light all over the building lobby, right by the CDC desk. My cup was sitting on its box of beef chow mein, salad with ranch dressing, and honeydew melon, and I had successfully opened the door with one hand, and passed the welcome mat.... when.... I felt the weight of my box shift and felt the dread the cup tumbled to the floor, hit it with a force, popped off its own lid, and sent the orange liquid everywhere. Hehe.

It's funny because a few weeks ago, our RA was at the front desk as Annie, Megan and I went to get take-out and come back. On our return trip, he recommended that we hold the box on top of the cup because at least if the box fell, the mess would not be as huge or hard to clean up if the box did happen to open when it fell (I find this conclusion slightly debatable). Matt told us that, noting that "Yesterday, someone spilled Pepsi EVERYWHERE." Here I am, weeks later, thinking about exactly that on my walk back to the building, and it happens. I guess I should listen to the RA. However, I was definitely more glad to have cleaned up a liquid than slimy noodles and sticky ranch sauce. I was also more glad that I was only missing a drink and not my entire meal for the evening. (:

I think I handled the situation pretty well, calmly asking the guy at the desk for cleaning supplies (I got a roll of toilet paper, and went to the bathroom to steal some paper towels), and got to work cleaning up that mess. I guess I could have essentially left it there, 'cause the desk guy didn't even see when it happened, but what kind of person would I have been then? It was okay that I had to face people walking in through the door our out of the building seeing me clean the floor like a maid, hehe. It was no one I knew, anyway! There was this girl that came through, asking, "That's not from a leak, right? We don't need things broken already." And when she came back down, she had a cardboard box, and the desk guy asked, "Where are you going with that?" and she so matter-of-factly said "I'm going to recycle, of course!" And the guy gave her props, and she commented on how she's always trying to help out in efforts as such, and whatnot, and she just seemed to have such a strange personality, I couldn't put my finger on what kind of person she'd be as a friend.

Anyway, there's my story. Moral? Hold on to your drink. And maybe listen more to your RA, hehe.
A nice 10 minutes of slight humiliation on my part, but it matters not! All part of the experience.

I'm back, Blogger. With a text count of over 3500 sent/received since we got unlimited, a larger pack of Air Optix contacts, a diminishing supply of chocolate and satisfactory snack food, and a lack of Tumblr/Facebook/AIM access, I am ready to tackle this final month of college. It's been a great, yet stressful adventure so far. Plus all those trips on the bus to malls and food places. Yup yup.

Happy Monday.
Don't ponder what could have been too much, now.
Just keep moving on.

Dancing Queen

ABBA teehee. I am so relaxed after listening to this cover.