Friday, May 27, 2011

Wolverine

I happened to meet Theron the first week he came to work at our dear apartments. He said he had just gotten out of a long-term relationships, then followed his brother from California to North Carolina. He once owned his own construction company, but because of the change of events, he was now the head maintenance man of our complex.

But I know the real story. He's Wolverine. Everything about him looks like Wolverine. He has the sidechops (that's really the best way to describe them), the swagger walk, the brown hair/eyes, the grizzled look, he's the perfect age, etc. Plus, his name is Theron.

I don't have a picture of Wolverine because I'm scared to sneak a picture. But I've decided to make that my mission before moving in mid-July. In the meantime, I'll show you a picture of the first hibiscus bloom of 2011 (which happened way back in early March).

I'm blogging a lot lately. That's what being done with school and unemployed/part-time-working-from-home does to you.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Another reason I like Tim

All of my favorite friends have obsessive personalities. Right now Tim is on a River Monsters kick. Not only is it cute to watch him scare himself (and me) with all of the nasty dudes out there, but it also makes me feel better about the weird things I get stuck on.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

A turning moment

also known as: The Day The Beach Was Too Cold, part II.

Anna had told the car tune-up place she didn't need her car for the day (because we were going to the beach), so after our trip to the beach Antarctica, we still had hours to kill. We watched Dogs: Decoded (Nova), How Smart Are Animals (Nova again), and Oceans (Disney, and far less satisfying than Nova or Planet Earth). Because that is how exciting our friendship is once school is over and we are both unemployed.

But seriously, you guys, How Smart Are Animals changed my life. I am pretty sure I will think back in twenty years and remember the moment I found out dolphins are going to take over the world. You'll have to watch it for yourself (its on Netflix instant watch), but it basically went something like this:

To test to see if dolphins were truly intelligent or just following orders dumbly, two dolphin trainers taught their dolphins sign language, two of which were "create a trick" and "together." So at the same time, side-by-side, the trainers told two dolphins to create a trick together.

The dolphins went underwater, talked their little dolphin talk, then rose to the surface on their backs, and lifted their tails AT THE SAME TIME.

Did you get that? Dolphins have their own language, and are just humoring humans. The time is short before they say, "So long and thanks for all the fish."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojydNb3Lrrs

(This post is partly inspired by Towel Day.)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Saga of the Pea Green Bookshelves

In college, Kari bought a black entertainment center, so my roommate contribution was to buy two black media shelves to store things for the entertainment center. They were cheap, bought more for the functionality of a few years of moving around rather than permanence. And they've served us well, but at Christmas we bought a brown entertainment center, which doesn't match black shelves. I thought about selling them, then ended up just moving them.

But then I started thinking, since I'm not so very attached to them, maybe I could paint them my favorite color and love them. (My favorite color is the shade of green of this flower vase.)


So I painted them. First with a spray paint, which turned a perfect shade of green. But after barely making a dent with two cans of spray paint, and upon discovering that all paint stores were out of that shade of spray paint, I decided to match the color with normal paint.

 Except, of course, I didn't pick the exact same color.  I'm not such a fan of how they turned out. The green is a little too yellowish green for me, and reminds me this much of baby food.
I haven't put the shelves back, so you'll have to use your imagination.

But that's okay! Because its not like its a completely heinous color, and the shelves were never expensive to begin with, so they are what they are.

And because I had to unload all of my photo albums to paint the shelves, I figured I would go ahead and pick them up, since photo albums are not anything of daily use. So, SADNESS, here are our first packed boxes:

Monday, May 23, 2011

Monday, May 16, 2011

We aren't undergraduates

Anna and I went to the beach today while her car was getting work done. It was a beautiful day, sunshine and a high of 80, but Wrightsville Beach is windy. Always. I know days are Very Windy when my plants ten miles inland get knocked down, and today they tumped over multiple times.

But we didn't know it was that windy until we got to the beach. Slowly we added layers until we were sitting with all of our clothes on and towels wrapped around the other exposed parts. I looked around the crowded beach and saw ten zillion shirtless guys and girls in bikinis just lying there without a care in the world. No one looked cold. Not even a little bit. And Anna and I were contemplating going home, since we just weren't prepared mentally or physically for being cold in the beginning of summer.

"Can't anyone acknowledge that it's just the least bit cold out here?" I asked, mostly to myself, secretly wanting an answer.

Of course no one did. There were too many rays to soak, wind and cold or not. We went home anyway, because we live at the beach and can take it for granted every now and then.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Tapas

Two days ago, my friend Rachel organized a tapas excursion. According to wikipedia, the serving of tapas is to encourage conversation because people aren't so focused on the meal in front of them. The restaurant said that tapas were actually salty food items served on top of wine glasses that would increase patron's thirst and want to make them buy more wine.

With that said, I LOVE IT. When I rule the world, all meals will either be tapas or fondue. Or else it will be mandated that meals will be abolished and people will just snack throughout the day. I just love sharing food, only eating a few bites of this and that, venturing to try things I wouldn't have normally, rich foods, etc.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Signs of the End Time

In case you missed it, the world might be ending soon (May 21st, to be precise). With this in mind, our atomic clock has been going crazy. About a week ago, we noticed that it was off by a few hours, although the minute hand was still correct. This means it was still pretty functional in my mind, because I am rather anal about knowing what time it is, and the minute hand is what I look at most often, since I am generally aware of the hour.

Then yesterday, I heard what I thought was was either the stove clicking or a phone vibrating, but what turned out to be our atomic clock speeding through time. The minute hand was going around about twice as fast as the second hand normally would. Then it stopped very definitively at 8:04, although it was 4:30 in the afternoon. After this episode, it keep accurate but incorrect time (as in, a minute was a minute, an hour was an hour, etc.).

So that night, Tim changed it back to the correct time.But no avail. It was incorrect about 4 hours later.

Has anybody else seen signs of the end time?

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Weekend Visitors

The past weekend we enjoyed a lovely trip from Karen and Mema. I think you could sum the trip up as we ate a lot, we shopped a lot, and we played a lot of cards. What more could a person want to do? It was delightful.

And Wilmington is really the best place to eat. I know everyone talks about the food in Italy and France, but I  think Wilmington could give them a run for their money. Someone told me that Wilmington was in the top 20 cities of restaurants to people ratio, and most of these restaurants are local. So if you haven't been yet, come to Wilmington this summer for a free beach vacation and delicious food. No really! Come on! It's your last chance!

Hello free time

This week is a holiday in South Korea (HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!) and all of my classes, parties, and thesis responsibilities cease to exist, and we no longer have company, thus yesterday I had a whole day to do nothing but what I wanted to do for the first time in what felt like 10 years.

So last night I watched a random show for the heck of it, and I happened to land on Extreme Couponing. Talk about a stressful experience. For one, these people spend hours planning their shopping experience. I am pretty neutral about grocery shopping (unless going to the Wilmington Wal-Mart, in which case, I hate it, although I recognize it as a necessary evil). I occasionally make a list, but usually only if Tim has requested certain things, which makes it mandatory I'd forget something otherwise. I mean, I don't even make lists for things I want to cook. I usually just bring in the whole cookbook. I admire these people for spending hours planning their purchases, but I think I felt a fraction more anxiety than respect.

Anyway, for two, these people have to stockpile a zillion things in their houses. I wanted to clean out my cabinets just thinking about it. For three, now I feel like I'm spending way too much on groceries. These people could get $1,000 tabs down below 50 dollars.

There was one guy who couponed to send supplies to the troops, and that I could get behind, because there really would be a reason to buy 23 tubes of toothpaste. And like I said, I admire these people on some level, but I don't think I'll be watching the show again (unless it happens to be on and I won't be able to look away).

Hey you guys!

I am completely done with my MFA degree.