I shouldn't already be thinking about my birthday

but I am.
Can anyone think of any fun things that I could do considering how I don't have friends?
Maybe I'll get my eyebrows waxed again.

There was this thing the other day that people were calling fog, but it was obviously not fog. It was like fog, but in palpable droplets. You can feel each distinct cluster of water molecules, but they ain't goin anywhere. They just sort of float. Sometimes horizontally, if the wind is moving, sometimes in one place. Like helicopters or something--speaking of which there were two today. Standing perfectly still in the sky, like magic.
What do they use helicopters for? Besides fire-fighting and transporting famous people? Maybe something weather-related?
Anyhow, I've gotta get a start on my compsci reading.
And simultaneously watch the new Gossip Girl.
Send me emails.

Eva

Curly

I am frustrated with how I can't write anymore. I am also frustrated with my hair. I won't cut it just yet, but I'd like to.
I would like straight hair with bangs, but it will never happen.
Although I wonder about chemical relaxers.

What if I was one of those people who straightened their hair EVERY DAY?
I did today--because I had a dream last night in which I had blond, straight hair, and it was the most relaxing, beautiful dream of my life.

I'll be heading down to Hewitt soon. Food is impossible here. I never feel satisfied, I never have real food, and it's catching up. I got sick this morning and missed Econ--which is not the end of the world as we are STILL reviewing algebra...
But.
I've got the day off tomorrow (I need it after the Hindi quiz that I positively massacred, or, more aptly, that positively massacred me today).
I hope my hair doesn't get curly overnight like it did last time I tried straightening it. And I hope my room m. doesn't get sick of me asking to borrow her straightener.

I am sick of texting.
Too bad my minutes are running out.

The theme of this post is: Complaining. But then, what is ever the theme of my posts?

Bernard Malamud wrote this book. It is called The Assistant. Don't read it. You will want to harm yourself.

New York, New York

The boys here are flaky.
The croissants here are not flaky.
But you can get a bagel here for 95 cents and they will pile so much butter on it that it soaks through the layers of wax paper and you have to lick it off your fingers. Or use a napkin, if you are a civilized person.

TGIT

There is an old saying over here at Barnard/Columbia. It is called "TGIT", or "Thank Goodness It's Thursday". People say this because nobody has classes here on Fridays, so Thursday night is party night.
Not for me, though.
I am at our campus cafe drinking steamed milk. Steamed SKIM milk.
You can imagine how upset I am.
Here's the plus, though. I got a bbsitting job, tomorrow, and will have a fresh batch of $50 by the time it's over.

Let me tell you about all of my classes--I rock them.
Except that I was late for Hindi today because it was in a different building and I couldn't find it. Which was embarrassing, but I made up for it--I made hindi vocab flash cards, and I can read practically any word in hindi, and quite a few in sanskrit.

Also, CompSci boy is cuter than ever.

What I think about as I drift off to sleep at 3 am

1. Various positions I could lie in in order to maximize the amount of my flesh that is exposed to the fan.
2. Whether I'm allowed to embed While Loops within other while loops.
3. Buying nail clippers
4. Pan fried pork dumplings.

And Baby I Love You

For once in it's sad old life, the Hewitt Dining Hall was brimming with excellent food. My dinner consisted of (in this order):
Stir fry on rice noodles with broth and lime.
Carrot Cake.
4 fairly large pieces of brisket with gravy (so good.)
"Confetti" rice pilaf (not good.)
Salad with too much blue (bleu?) cheese dressing.
"Rosemary" polenta with tomato sauce.
To be fair, I didn't eat much salad. I did eat way too much of the bad pilaf, though, before I realized there was polenta to be had. But even still, I think Mackenzie would've been proud.
Now my dilemma is what to do next. The theme of this entry is: It Never Rains But It Pours. For the last few days I have been bored senseless. Bored to the point of cursing loudly alone in my room... But to be fair, not to the point of cleaning my room.
My to-do list today is as follows:

(Old things I have been putting off:)
Go to B.Babysitting office and find job.
Fold laundry.
Acquire fridge.
Clean room.
Clip fingernails (**acquire nail clippers)
(New things--assigned today:)
Switch stupid CompSci book for newer, bigger, 160 dollar Textbook entitled "Big Java".
Do first Econ problem set (algebra, mostly).
Read last 200 pages of Ragtime.
Fix painfully long Hindi assignment from last week.
Memorize Hindi vocab--pronouns and corresponding "to be" verbs.
Read first three chapters of OTHER compsci textbook.

And, last but not least, watch House season premiere at 8.
And also... buy Hindi books.
Crap.

Things

1. The cafeteria people are beginning to recognize my face. I'm the girl who always asks to try a little bit of every single entree and also has the shamelessness and time to return for seconds on almost every single meal.
I try to make up for it by stacking all of the extra plates onto my tray when I send it into the kitchen (there's a conveyor belt that is too big to send a plate down, but some people don't bother with trays and so they just leave their dishes next to the conveyor belt), but they probably just assume they are all my dishes.
I also eat alone. With a book and headphones.
2. My internet doesn't really work. I have this system whereby I reboot it (quit out of all of my windows and turn the airport off and on), but I'm not sure whether it actually helps.
3. I don't have a hamper yet, so I use my desk. I don't think my room mate approves, so I'm going to start using my bottom drawer.
4. I've eaten dinner 3 times so far tonight.
5. Gossip Girl last night. So good.
"I think she saw herself in me. Or rather, I recognized someone in her."

P.S.

a $50 iTunes gift certificate would be greatly appreciated.

A note about the wildlife here

So I keep seeing these large, funny-looking nocturnal squirrels with naked tails. It turns out they are rats. You here stories about rats here swimming through sewage pipes and popping out of people's toilets and heating vents, and you think--There's no way. Well there is.
These rats can run faster than I can. They can jump from tree to tree with the greatest of ease. For that matter, they can climb trees.
I have never been so impressed with any species as I am with NYC rats. They truly are a species to be revered and emulated by rats and rodents everywhere.

I think my RM friends have ditched me.
But I have the Spice Girls on my iTunes now, so I'm over it already.

Not enough people have blogs.

Taylor, Liza, Mikele. This means you. Stop wasting your writerly talents.

Rainy day in New York. It's beautiful. Girls are running around with garbage bags held over their heads like coats and little kids are splashing around in ponchos.
It's a good thing I bought two pairs of boots yesterday (for 13 each) because I at least am anticipating quite a few more days like this. I left my window open this morning (and by morning, I mean 2 pm) not anticipating that the sky could possibly have anything left to offer after the storm we had last night (the quad lawn was completely flooded. The Utah in me is very concerned about the quad lawn grass. It has not been treated well these last few weeks.) But it did.
Rian and I were at Nussbaum and Wu's, a deli with amazing bagels, fresh-squeezed oj, and not-so-amazing croissants (I don't think people here understand croissants. I keep buying them expecting something amazing, but they aren't even buttery. They're just sort of like rolls.) I made Rian sit outside with me, and our pants and the outside half of our clothes got soaked, which was ok because then we had to walk back to school, and all of our clothes got soaked.
I finally made a donation to the Barack Obama campaign. A bunch of DNC people were canvassing on Broadway, probably making use of the poor-little-me-stuck-in-the-rain factor, which worked. I donated 28.50-- 1/1,000 of the national limit for individual donations.
I may or may not get around to renting a fridge today. My Hindi homework is calling out to me (everyone pray for me to get into a PE class so that I can drop that mother like a hot potato). Milo is coming to town today, so I guess I'll probably be occupied tonight. Last night was a hanging-out-in-the-lounge-eating-chinese-take-out-and-watching-Failure-to-launch/whatever-was-on-TV night. I made a friend named Aleah (Who knew there were two people in the world named Aleah?). She had colorful puma's and helped me eat my Moo Shu Pork. I am hoping to someday return the favor. Food here is so good.
I'm excited to wear my new skirt and boots to church tomorrow. I will have to not eat today, though, because the skirt, as it turns out, is about 2 sizes too small for me, and, after the chinese last night, is probably now more like 5 sizes too small. I have completely given up on eating well balanced anythings anymore--although I did buy a box of tomatoes at the farmers market yesterday and ate them raw--but I still think the walking is going to balance it out. And the fact that they only feed us twice a day here.
I've run out of things to do.
I shall have to retire to my Hindi homework now.
Email/Call/Comment me!
Love,
eba

I realized why nobody reads my blog. It is because I keep calling everyone and telling them everything so that their interest is no longer piqued by my exciting New York life.
I will stop doing that now.