The Desperate Things You Made Me Do

2006-03-24T13:51:00.000-06:00

Undergraduates still talk in the library. While listening to iPods and text messaging. Must they do this? I've spent the week trying to figure out if those eating their giant gross lunches in the library is worse than just talking. Hey, I was really enjoying this book before you sat down next to me with your giant bag of chips and two liter of coke.

The current conversation taking place directly in front of me has progressed something like this:

Undergrad One: Dude....did you get the tickets for the game? Dude. I need to go to the bank.
Undergrad Two: Yeah, I need to hit that. Hey, so I got this credit card? Can you like, use those to deposit and take out money at like the ATM?
#1: You mean like to put money in?
#2: Yeah, like, can I take money out of the credit card? Dude, I just got this thing two weeks ago, and I already put $300 on it.
#1: Awesome.

It's like the best dream ever of every credit card executive.

spell check

2006-03-02T02:05:00.000-06:00

I just spent 7 hours reading an essay by Heidegger. About a half hour ago, I feel confident saying that I was feeling a little brain dead, yet I still needed to write the response to send out to my class. So I type it up. Being, time, ek-sistence, metaphysics, blah blah. Just when I had enough, I thought "hey! I'll spellcheck! that's easy!"

Thank you Apple-Mail for your wonderful dictionary which immediately changed MARTIN HEIDEGGER to MARTIN HEADGEAR.

and now I can go to sleep.

en francais, s'il vous plait!

2006-02-05T13:54:00.000-06:00

I'm taking French this semester (just me and 30 undergraduates) and one of the verbs that the textbook wants me to learn this week is: croire aux licornes. For those unfamiliar with the language this means "to believe in unicorns". Other verbs on task for this week: épouser (to get married to), fair fortune (to make a fortune), and tomber amourex (to fall in love with), which leads me to believe that this week in sponsered by 12 year girls who think France is teeming with princes on unicorns waiting to take them away to their gumdrop castles. Quoi?

dental health

2005-12-19T23:24:00.000-06:00

There are very few distractions in my apartment. It's not a very big apartment, one little bedroom, with one decent sized living room. I usually don't spend very much time here, so it's not filled with any items which could take up my time (i.e. a television). I've been here a lot over the past three days, trying to finish (well, start and finish) two papers so I can end my semester and sit down with a stack of movies. Turns out that working for 12 hours straight is not very fun. So, every half hour or so I get up and wander around, looking for a distraction. Yesterday, I read the large majority of the New York Times Sunday edition. The only other distraction I can think of is taking a shower, which I used up by noon. I almost made some cookies, but then realized the next distraction would be eating the cookies, which would make me sick. So that was out. In the end, I really spend my half hour break staring at my teeth in the bathroom and flossing. That's it. That's my big reward for writing for a half hour.

If it wasn't so cold, I would just walk around the block. Really.

I seem to be trying to call it in

2005-12-18T12:09:00.000-06:00

So far this morning I've learned that even though I have a laptop, I cannot write term papers in bed. Just doesn't work. Also, if I don't disable the internet sometime soon, this thing ain't never gonna be done.

Who said graduate school doesn't teach about real life? So many lessons learned.

Next question: just how long can I fool myself into thinking I can write a paper without coffee? (I give myself 15 minutes).

snowballs

2005-12-15T15:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was both the last day of classes for the semester and the first big snowfall of the year. As I was leaving my last class at 8:30pm, checking my voicemail and trying to hurry for the bus without falling on the slippery, slushy snow that was accumulating, I looked over and saw three giggling undergraduates wearing vaguely matching winter hats. I squinted and thought they make look familiar, but kept going on my way. Seconds later, they threw three snowballs in unison, none of which made contact. They started laughing even harder, and which point I realized they were my students. "Hey! I'm still in charge of your grades!", I let them know. They then told me that's why they didn't actually hit me. And then they said "Have a good holiday!" and continued making snowballs. Cute!

At which point I thought: woah, I am totally a TA. I have students who throw things at me. Awesome.

this is why kurt coabin killed himself.

2005-12-11T19:06:00.000-06:00

NEWSFLASH! 'ALTERNATIVE' MUSIC IS OFFICALLY DEAD!

I know this because the Yahoo! home page has a music station called 'Adult Alternative'. Add that to the ranks of Adult Contemporary. Adults certainly wouldn't want to accidently listen to 'Teenage Alternative' or 'Recent College Graduate Alternative' or they may become highly irritated. In case you're wondering, the station features Coldplay, Maroon 5, Green Day and more! (psych to Green Day.)

Everyone should now go listen to something loud enough to encourage a headache. My job is done here.

cold season

2005-12-02T11:33:00.000-06:00

I'm doing some research in the Bio-Medical Library, and everyone here has a cold. Sniffing, coughing, looking generally miserable. I spent last night at Wilson, the run of the mill everything library, and everyone seemed to be relatively healthy. I know it's cold and the end of the semester so everyone is stressed out and getting sick, but shouldn't the health science people know how to prevent these things? I guess in this case, ignorance is health.

I'm sure I'm going to contract a virus for saying that.

In case anyone is wondering, the paper I'm researching is on the concept of extinction in evolutionary biology. Speaking of which, I highly recommend the article on the ID trials in Dover, PA in this week's New Yorker. The best part is when the school board accuses Penn State of being a brainwashing factory. Or maybe the best part is when the president of the school board, who had been pushing ID on the biology classes, suddenly moved to North Carolina and admitted he was in rehab due to an addiction to oxycoton. Really good role models, these people.

blog SPAM

2005-10-12T11:18:00.000-05:00

Okay, they've gone to far. The following "comment" was posted to my post from JUNE about needing to find an apartment.

Anonymous said...
Reading your blog and I figured you'd be interested in advancing your life a bit, call us at 1-206-339-5106. No tests, books or exams, easiest way to get a Bachelors, Masters, MBA, Doctorate or Ph.D in almost any field.

Totally confidential, open 24 hours a day.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Can I say, WTF? First of all, I'm in a PhD program. A real one, which has exams and test and most importantly, books. Are there people out there calling this number and getting PhDs without reading a book? Are there?

Scary.

90 Degrees, But Not For Long

2005-08-02T14:48:00.000-05:00

90 Degrees, But Not For Long

2005-08-01T11:39:00.000-05:00

One month until school starts. I am in a constant state of attempting to "prepare" which, in theory, consists of making lists of the books I need to find at used bookstores (or more likely, on the internet), finding an apartment (signed the lease last week!), and slowly working my way through The Birth of a New Physics (loaned to me by Eli, in consideration of the fact that my knowledge of ye olde physics is pretty limited.) I even bought a notebook (Mead Five Star, of course) and have taken some notes in it. I went to lecture last month at the U entitled: Where Have All the Babies Gone? Clearly, I am totally prepared to be a graduate student.

The problem is this: I love biking to the coffee shop in the morning, taking out my computer, checking my e-mail, reading the New York Times on-line, sending e-mails to friends at their jobs -- all while drinking coffee and listening to coffee shop music (today at Blue Moon: Bright Eyes followed by the Shins). Meanwhile, my brain is nagging me, reminding "Jecca, maybe you should do something SCHOLARLY now". I hope that when I have to read the books, I will be able to convert some of my blog-reading time into a close reading of Episodes from the Early History of Mathematics or Greek Science after Aristotle.

It's been so hot this summer. It was over 90 degrees for almost two weeks straight. With no air conditioning and a road trip to Intonation Fest in Chicago, there was no relief in sight. I know that today I am sitting in a sweltering coffee shop in my child sized wife beater, but in a mere six weeks I'll be digging out sweaters and longing for the days it was too hot and I could read leisurely all day long.

searching

2005-06-28T15:53:00.000-05:00

So, I'm looking for an apartment. For some reason, this has begun to take over my life. I keep telling myself to chill out - it's not like I'm homeless or am about to get kicked out of another place. I really have as much time as I need, but I've become obsessive over Craig's List. I'm in a semi-constant state of thinking "must look at Craig's - what if someone is renting my dream apartment right now." Maybe it's because I'm only working part-time, and thus have plenty of time to obsess over listings and imagine future living spaces. It feels really transitional to not have a place where all my things are. My belongings are scattered all over the Twin Cities, which makes for equal parts variety and confusion. My displaced life should only last through the summer, my last chance at a transient life before I transition into academia.

Back in Los Angeles

2005-06-13T03:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, Los Angeles is not as bad as I always claim it is. Really. I know I give it a hard time constantly -- that those years of commuting traffic are constantly embedded in my brain. But it is nice to be amongst the palm trees, next to the sea, and driving up and down all those weird streets lined with people, cars, houses, restaurants, and of course, celebrities. The Dodgers took two out of three from the Twins this weekend, but I guess I can find a way to forgive LA this time around. It's really nice to see all my friends -- good people are always worth the bad traffic. Case solved.

Friday Notes

2005-06-03T18:38:00.000-05:00

1. Seems like I only choose to dress up on casual Friday.

2. When Friday afternoon traffic is so bad I am about to park the car on the side of the road and start walking, the only thing that can make me not start crying is when the radio randomly plays Weezer's Say it Ain't So.

Modern

2005-05-28T15:12:00.000-05:00

The best perk of getting into grad school so far has been the justification to buy a computer. My very own functioning-modern-not-10-years-old computer. I've had it less than 24 hours and my only interactions with it so far has been to upload music into iTunes, but I have come to several conclusions:

1. Wireless internet may be the best invention ever
2. I can never live without a laptop again
3. Apple wins.

Now I can finally get a handle on all my CDs floating around and become part of the digital picture age. Also, more updates more often! OMG! So Exciting! Is my heart beating rapidly because of the excise of soy lattes I've drank this morning or my utter joy of being an iBook owner? I can assure anyone who is interested in my whereabouts come the next few months, it will probably be in a coffee shop that has free WiFi. Nice.

B-I-N-G-O

2005-05-08T19:12:00.000-05:00

Can I just say that my mom is awesome? For mother's day today we went out to Roseville to play bingo at the Roseville Bingo Parlor. I had made a t-shirt in an homage de ma mere, which I have officially declared my new favorite t-shirt. It features this picture of my mom from the mid-70s, which I found in a box.

My mom, apx. 1976, looking way hot

I thought I was pretty cool, until I saw the guy sitting behind us. He was your average Minnesotan, out enjoying a Sunday of Bingo, who was also wearing a picture of his mom t-shirt. The woman pictured was at least in her late 60s, and wearing a semi-formal black gown. She literally looked like the real version of Mike Meyer's old Jewish woman character on SNL. This once again proved that my style can only mimic, not out fashion, those who attend Bingo on a regular basis.

Although Sheela, Ben, Mom and I were all very excited about the Bingo (and the candy we snuck in from Candyland), none of us left triumphant Bingo winners. Mom, however, was the lucky winner of a mother's day door prize, her very own Toastmaster toaster.

what month is it?

2005-05-02T11:38:00.000-05:00

I should have internalized all that information on karma while I was India, because all my gloating about skipping winter had offically caught up with me. Today, May 2, it is 31 degreees (yes, farhenheit). 21 degrees with the windchill! It's snowing off and on, which has been going on since Friday, and I'm thinking about digging out some mittens. I would like to formally apologize to the Upper Midwest for bringing this wrath down upon us. My Bad.

Ode to a Mango Duet

2005-04-13T15:21:00.000-05:00

Mango Duet is
both orange and white, with stick
bought from man on bike!

As of last week, I have left Nick in the traveling companionship of one Mr. Louis-Philippe, our very capable neighbor from the North. Ever since we met Louis over a month ago in Sikkim, our lives have been one long experimental haircut. As I left them to their exploration of greater Rajasthan, Amritsar, and the infamous rat temple, I dubbed them the Mango Duet, a delicious mango-flavored dreamsicle concoction sold by Kwality Walls all throughout India. Cool, refreshing, and always on the verge of melting, they are two great tastes that go together.

This is Louis-Philippe: Quebecois, Greek, New Wave

The first of many haircuts performed in guest houses.
Confidential to Nick: Do you have any hair left?

Team Minnesota would like to wish you both the safest of travels throughout Punjab: may you always have an upper-berth and may all your samosas stay above the floor.

bizzaro birthday

2005-04-05T00:42:00.000-05:00

I've managed to miss most of the major holidays over the past four months. Christmas day was spent recovering from Nikhil's wedding party in Mumbai, New Years Eve listening to fireworks from a guest house in Hyderabad, Valentine's Day watching Titanic at a restaurant in Kerala, and my 26th birthday on a beach in Diu. We had champagne for breakfast (or Champion, as the menu called it) and real cheese at the 3-star resort across the street from our (no star) hotel. Of course, I have witnessed some Indian holidays that I was not previously acquainted with; namely, Holi, the celebration of spring, when everyone walks around throwing (smearing) colored powder on everyone else. Very messy.

Skipping holidays has reset my internal calendar. Combined with the fact that it is so hot in Mumbai right now that I am being forced with the task of redefining what hot means, for all practical reasons, I have no idea what time of the year it is. This means I have succeeded in one very important task: I have managed to skip winter. The night before leaving Minnesota in December was spent running from my car to my house with Nellie and Sarah, moving all my belongings in garbage bags and trying not to get frost bite. Now they report that it's 72 degrees and everyone is emerging from hibernation. It seems I am about to treat myself to a second summer. Boca burgers, Twins games, nachos, G&T's and karoke.

Count me in.

India is very large

2005-03-21T00:06:00.000-06:00

Let the rapid fire tourism begin: last week Varanasi and Delhi, then Agra and the Taj Mahal, now camels in Rajasthan.

Varanasi

the holy city on the ganges

Sunrise on the Ganges

Bathing Ghat

morning soul purification

Sinking Temple

everytime they rebuild it, it starts to sink again

Nick and Cow

very sacred

and now we are three

2005-03-16T08:02:00.000-06:00

I am happy to report that we have found Dina, fresh off a Virgin Atlantic flight from London. That means that I have told two people to show up in India, and have then successfully retrieved them from an airport. Two for two! Everyone should try.

In other news, Delhi is hot.

photoblog, part II

2005-03-11T08:54:00.000-06:00

Unfortunatly, my life moves much quicker than my ability to transfer pictures from my camera to the internet. Luckily, I believe the current quality of picture to be better than usual. You be the judge.

Kodaikannal
a hill station in Tamil Nadu

Kolkata
cycle rickshaw

Darjeeling
great tea, very hazy

Tsongu Lake, Sikkim
elevation 10, 300 feet

Tibetan Prayer Flags
tsongu lake

My New Hat
because Darjeeling was very cold

Airtel would like to welcome you back to Bangladesh

2005-02-28T05:06:00.000-06:00

To all of you who have been enduring winter weather for the months that I have been absent from the great midwest, take comfort in the fact that I am no longer basking in the hot sun of Varkala Beach. Five hundred km above Kolkata, nesetled between Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, 7001 ft up the Himalayas: I am pleased to report that I am offically cold. Two sweaters, a knitted headband, and a pair of wool socks later, I keep forgetting that I'm in India. Luckily for me, the cellphone has been sending a text message, every hour on the hour, welcoming me back to Bangladesh. I wasn't aware that I had crossed that International Border, but Airtel Cellular seems to be much wiser than I. In addition to it catching on to my diabolical running back and forth to Bangladesh plan, every now and again when making a call a disembodied British voices waxes philosophical by informing me that the number you are calling does not exist. This is my punishment for buying the cell phone that came with a picture of Shah Rukh Khan on the package.

Shah Rukh Khan explaining "cellular technology"

Not only is it cold in Darjeeling, it is also unbelievably beautiful. The twenty-four hours we have spent here so far have been literally clouded with fog and, well, clouds. The manager of the guest house we are staying at said that they weather had just turned gloomy, and then pointed out into the white nothingness and said "the mountains are in that corner". It's a little strange to be in the Himalayas without being able to see the width of the mountain range, but hopefully the sun will come back soon. Still, it's exciting to be here. Today we went to the highest altitude zoo in the world. We saw two Siberian tigers, snow leopards, and my new favorite animal: the red panda.

The extremely cute red panada

Connected to the zoo is the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, formerly persided over by Sherpa Tenzig Norgay, one of the first people to climb Mount Everest. The Mount Everest museum included the shoes, mittens, and hat Tenzig wore on the historical climb, in addition to a dead eagle they found at the top. This is not a joke.

Tenzig is very popular in Darjeeling.

And in case you were wondering: yes, Darjeeling tea tastes better in Darjeeling. So fragrant! So good! I'm going to drink some now, equally for the taste and because my fingers are frozen.

monday morning: chennai train station

2005-02-21T07:10:00.000-06:00

The bus pulled into Chennai exactly when they told us it would - 6am, and the autorickshaws are zipping around the city before the morning traffic starts. We have a few hours to waste in between the overnight bus we just took from Kodaikanal until our train to Kolkata departs. The sun has only been up for an hour and I've already bought bananas (note: I eat bananas now - really!), eaten masala dosai, and lost one of my blue Roos (sad!)

farewell blue roo

I'm beginning to get used to living like this: constantly moving, sleeping on buses, roaming around totally foreign places I had never even heard of until recently, telling cab drivers I don't want to go anywhere, and no, I don't need a room, even if it is 'cheap price!'. While walking to our new friend's (Sir James of Skipper and Ellen) rented cottage in Vatakanal on Saturday night, to eat dinner in their 'dining room', I had the feeling that I really had no idea where I was: I knew which direction I was walking in, I knew how to find their cottage, but in essence, I was on a mountain path in a remote area of south India, with a Nick and a flashlight, which we were eagerly using to scan for monkeys. This is a little different than spending my Saturday night deciding if I should take my bike or get a ride to the bar. Dinner was fantastic, dal and eggplant curry prepared by the woman who rents the cottage to them. Although we were still hanging out with Westerners (the British), it felt like we were peeling away at least one level of the tourist scene.

And here we go, in one hour we will board the two day train to the north, traveling up the eastern coast. I really don't know what to expect from Kolkata - probably everything that a big city usually has (pollution, crowds, slums, traffic). Kolkata is described as the 'intellectual capital' of India, and I am looking forward to its many bookstores. We'll walk around, eat north Indian food (farewell abundance of 'Pure Veg' restaurants), pick up some major city supplies, and book a ticket to Darjeeling, where we will tackle the Himalayas.

jesus, etc. (with apologies to Wilco)

2005-02-16T02:42:00.000-06:00

When I'm in America, I am very interested in Hindu gods. When I am India, I can't stop taking pictures of various Jesus. Go figure.