HIGHLIGHTS!!!!!

Salsa dancing in 5 hours.
Cookie dough in the fridge.
Memory chip in my phone.
Gorgeous weather.
RECORDS!!!

Lows:
Pimple.
Homework.
Hair.
Hungry.

She's fine and she's pretty.

My hair is black now.
I feel like a new person.

All of my body parts are sore.

It happened again. With the polenta and the cod and the brisket and the japanese noodle soup thingy. Unfortunately, the japanese noodle soup thing was closed by the time I got there, but I got lentils and couscous instead.
Would you say cream of Broccoli soup is a salad course?

Anyhow, I am also having white bread toast with this excellent butter they have here.
It is a rare treat to be able to use all three utensils at one meal. It is no wonder I am getting fat.

Ugh, also. CompSci boy has my sweater in his room. It is my favorite and only cardigan.
I'm always liking people one minute, and then the next minute they make me pissed off every time they speak. I think it is because when I was very young and vulnerable the family of goldfish living in my room died unexpectedly. And now I am afraid to get close to people.
I need to do art or something.
Maybe rake leaves for old people.

Also, I forgot to mention there is squash involved in this meal.

OH, and ALSO, everyone go out to your local videostore/netflix and get Straight Talk. You will thank me after you have watched it. But press mute when Dolly Parton starts to do her fake laugh. It is only going to get higher and squealier.

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.

I am updating too often.

I missed church today and was depressed. Which is an odd feeling.
Usually sleeping through church is always exactly what I want to do.
Sleeping here is impossible, though. I'm going to need to buy a fan soon or else start sleeping outside.
I went to Riverside Park, though (it is definitely Riverside and not Central--I saw a sign. Apparently there is more than one large park in Manhattan.) It was meditative-ish. I spoke to Taylor and sat on a nice bench. I hadn't realized how much I missed grass and trees and plants and dirt until I got there. There was a lovely breeze and people jogging and families picnicking (apparently that is a real word). Very Sunday.
I met a couple of RMs in the dining hall tonight, as well, so I feel as though I've had enough spiritual experience today to practically have gone to church. One of them had gone on his mission to the Ukraine and the other to Hong Kong. They were both very friendly and not in the least creeped out when I asked them if they would show me the best way to get to church next week.
I might want to walk a few times though--from what I could gather from Mapquest, the walking route goes through Central Park.
Sorry this has been dull. I'll try and come up with something a little more entertaining next time.

Some uncommon facts about NYC:

1. There are dudebros a-plenty.
2. Shampoo costs approx. 1/3 more, which is fine when you're buying shampoo which, in Utah, costs 79 cents.
3. People, at least college people, will look you in the eye.
4. Everyone here has an innate sense of which direction to walk when you are about to run into another person. I do not, unfortunately, which makes for some embarrassing run-ins.
5. Most people here have good hair.
6. Everyone here has good clothes.
7. Most Barnard people own horses. Either horses or two houses.
8. Citibank is cute, but when people here want STRENGTH they go to JP Morgan.
9. People here are on first-name basis with JP Morgan Chase bank.
10. Walking barefoot here is never, EVER an option.

College Post numero dos

I become more and more anti-social as the hours go by. Am looking forward to figuring out how to do my laundry and going to my "RA Night Out" which will hopefully include free ice cream or something similar.
I explored the neighborhood a little bit today--checked out the menus posted at nearby restaurants, sampled a few cheeses at the Westside Market, looked through a couple of used books at a nearby bookstore, and just generally embraced New York.
It really is an amazing place--not to sound trite or anything. I'm blown away every day by the variety of people I see. Charline taught me a game that she plays here called "Hip or Scary." That pretty much sums things up pretty well. There are also beautiful people everywhere. I don't know if it's the nice clothes or the moisture in the air, but I am constantly blown away by how attractive everyone is. Of course, no one so far is as beautiful as all of the people I left behind, but the average here is very high.
Anyhow, I am literally shaking right now because I haven't eaten anything except for salad today--there was some sort of Hillel meal going on in the dining hall today, which I didn't realize, and I felt too guilty to eat any of their food besides the salad. (Obviously I've never felt guilty enough to turn down food all together.)
So I'm going to go find something to eat. I have been frequenting the cheapie soft serve place a block down, but I figure the amount of meals that I miss and the amount that I've been walking will balance that out.
I actually have lost a little weight since getting here.
I love you all and miss you.
Keep me posted, and give me links to your blogssss!!!!!!!!!
Eva

Sweat

I am putting off a shower right now. It is very unpleasant, but unfortunately necessary, to take showers here. There are only two on our floor, and they are both very low pressure. There is no shelf on which to place your soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc. and negotiating the temperature of the water is time-consuming and confusing. It is much too hot these days to take a hot shower, but then cold showers are always unpleasant. Our showers don't really do the in-between thing, so... I usually just switch off.
I just had my adviser meeting this morning. Neither of us had much to say--I'm pretty happy with my schedule this semester--but he seems pleasant and advising isn't required, so I assume that he's pretty willing to help out if I ever need it.
It's been challenging to make friends here. I guess we're all just in the 100-words-or-fewer conversation mode right now and moving from that to doing-activities/exchanging-phone-numbers level is nigh-on impossible, for me at least.
I'm really just biding my time until classes start. I feel like having a topic of conversation aside from a/c or lack thereof in our dorm rooms and the hypothetical awesome-ness of working as a "Barnard Bartender" will be helpful in making real friends.
I've seen Rian a few times since I got here--it's been comforting to know someone here, even if they are across the street and much busier/more talented at making friends than I am. I've met a few interesting people, but like I said, it's hard to really gage how interested I am in a person who I've only spoken to about air conditioning.
CC, SEAS, and Barnard first-years are all going to Victoria Gardens tonight, so maybe I'll meet some people there. I'd better getting around to showering about now, though, because I have to go to a health forum (again) in a few hours and I have to stop by the bank before I do.
Wish me luck!

plagiarism

I graduated last night--Read a poem to ab. 100 people I didn't know and a few people I did know, received a diploma and tossed my cap.
My Senior Portfolio Presentation is this Friday--I will be presenting what there is of my cookbook so far (Mackenzie and I got an offer from an upstarting independent publisher, and are composing a query letter to send out to several other potential publishers) and several paper cuts that I've done in the past couple of months. We also had a service portion that I completed by scrubbing floors, organizing libraries, cleaning, and moving with the school, and an internship requirement that I fulfilled by prepping and teaching for over 25 hours--English lessons to the youngin's and a few hours of teaching test prep to the underclassmen.
I will try to post photos of both fairly soon.
In other news, my job at Lon's is going fair but not well. He is being a little stingier with my raise than he had implied, and there have been a few odd conflicts between managers and my coworkers. But it looks like everything is going to work out anyhow with funding tuition next year, and I just spent the night sketching out a tentative class schedule for next year (Mathematic methods for Econ or Intro to Comparative Politics; Intro to Computer Programming in either C or Java; Hindi/Urdu or Arabic; and for my required First Year Foundation course, either "Philosophy of Love"--which I'm not that into, but which my mom is rooting for, and which might be redeemed by readings by Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Chekhov (I've always been fascinated by Russian literature) and by Sophocles, Plato, Euripides, Confucius, Freud, and readings from the Bible--or "Ethnicity and Social Transformation, with readings by Malamud, Philip Roth, Cristina Garcia, Julia Alvarez, Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, Toni Morrison (my favorite author), and others.)
If you made it through that tentative class schedule, I am very proud of you. I'm pretty intimidated by it myself, and I just spent hours reading through advice from professors and students at Barnard, explanations of graduation requirements, and course descriptions. More than intimidated, though, I am ecstatic. The professors and course offerings at Barnard all seem so fascinating that I was tempted to try a full--18 credit--schedule next semester. It is strongly discouraged, though, for incoming freshmen, so I managed to cut it down.
There is also a program for incoming freshmen the week before Orientation that I am planning on applying for--Columbia Urban Experience--that is only $300 for a week of accommodations and activities in the city--including social activities such as Latin Dancing and a walking tour on the Brooklyn Bridge, and community service activities such as teaching classes at the Harlem YMCA and hand delivering meals from the "God's Love We Deliver" program to disadvantaged New York residents with HIV, AIDS, and other chronic illnesses.