Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Organizing my room

On Sunday my sister Irene invited some man-friends over to help her move some desks up and down the stairs, because she needs a big surface to draw on now that she studies Design. I came home and hey! Golden opportunity here. But first a little backstory.

When I was about eleven, I really wanted a bunk bed. It was just the coolest thing: Two beds! On top of each other! WOW! So after much nagging, my parents finally conceded to getting me a bunk bed. I was ecstatic, especially considering that up until then I'd been sleeping on my mattress. On the floor.

So we got to the furniture part of a department store, aI picked out a bed, my Mom bought it, and I went home with my new best friend. No, I'm kidding. But I loved my bed. It totally rocked, up until a year ago when I suddenly started to kind of hate it. It takes up so much space! It blocks the light from the window! I have to host people when they sleep over (I mean my cousins here, not my Dad's colleagues)! Also, the design isn't exactly pretty. Actually, it's kind of ugly, although it doesn't stand out much because it's in neutral tones (brown blotted with black).

And here are some great strong guys who we know through the gym, moving stuff around in exchange for pizza. SCORE!

Long story short, I took my bed apart (except for the last four screws, which someone else did, and one part where my Mom helped me lower the top bunk onto the floor) and they moved it to another room. And then they moved in the bed I have now, which is Irene's old bed. It groans, creeks and squawks like a champion, but I don't care. It's nice and small and goes with my room, plus it has a little bookshelf as a headboard, so now I have a place to properly display my Godzilla figurines.

Oh, and I can put books there, too!

The one downside is that the first time I lay down on my bed and looked up, I FREAKED out. The ceiling was soooo far away! For almost half my life, my ceiling has been less than a meter and a half away when I go to sleep. Now it hovers way above me. It's like looking down and realizing that the floor has moved down several meters, and you're hovering in the air about to fall. Except I feel like I'm going to fall up.

One upside to this bed is that it gave me a kick to start organizing my room. I'm taking a good look around and noticing things that had just sort of become part of it, and had never considered getting rid of: I don't need a drawer exclusively for my Harry Potter magazines anymore, for example. Or the french pronouns I taped on my wall three years ago. Or my cheap samurai sword (what do I do with that?). Or my Darth Vader helmet.

PSYCHE! Vader stays. He'll always have a special place in my heart.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Sexy furniture, shoplifter hair


I've been pestering asking my parents nicely for a desk and a new bookshelf for my room. The desk I have is puny (I'd mentioned it before) and my bookshelfwon't really hold heavy books. Which is all fine and dandy for my sisters, since they studied Math and Physics**: relatively small books and lots of thinking. But since I'm in Biology I need MANLY books. A book that can crush your skull if you lob it the right way. So my white bookshelf from Ikea (I love Ikea even though I've never actually been there) isn't well-suited to the task.

On Saturday I walked around some furniture stores near the University (I feel so old saying that). Success vis-à-vis the desk hunt, OR SO I THOUGHT, except I went back today with my Mom and the furniture-selling dude was all, "Oh, yeah, we're out of that desk, you could order it now and get it at the end of November". This was the same guy who was trying really hard to get me to buy it yesterday, although he'd apparently forgotten that wee detail. Um, I need it for this semester. Soon. Pronto. Sheez.

Luckily, the day was not a complete waste. See, yesterday I popped into another furniture store, just to look around. It was real fancy, everything was great quality, bla bla. It was also pretty expensive (the only real desk they had was worth about half a car, no thank you), so I was just wandering around looking at couches when I found the sexiest bookshelf ever.

But Andrea, you say, how can a bookshelf be sexy? Oh, you poor people. You have no idea. This is a beautiful piece of solid furniture. It'll still be around in the year 2567. Also it had a small discount and didn't cost nearly as much as the desk.


This picture doesn't even do it justice, it's just the most amazing bookshelf ever. And while I am aware that blogging excitedly about furniture consolidates my status as a loser, I don't care. Because I now own the bookshelf.

I don't have it physically, but my Mom bought it today because it's just a fucking awesome bookshelf. It even merits curse words, which I'd usually leave off here because... well, because my Mom reads this. And it'll be delivered in less than three weeks, thanks to the two awesome sales ladies that assured us they'd do everything possible to speed up the process.

I don't know exactly what they intend to do (phone calls? whips?). But they seemed determined to make it happen.

**** I will shut up about furniture now. ****

Which brings me to another phenomenon I observed yesterday. I have two basic dressing styles:

a) Roll out of bed, put on a metal band T-shirt and whatever jeans happen to be on hand. Put on some shoes, leave house.

b) Roll out of bed, put on a-- HEY! My hair looks gooood today! Put on a nice top, something with straps maybe, some clean pants, some makeup. Slip on shoes, leave house.


Depending on how I'm dressed, there's a significant difference in how I'm treated, most notably in stores. When I'm looking all messy everyone ignores me, but yesterday I was dressed like I care, and I got perfume samples was approached by store attendants. Har.

I mean, it makes sense: when I dress nice it gives the impression that I have money on me, whereas when I show up in a dirty old T-shirt and sporting hair that rivals a tramp's in messiness I can't expect anyone to bother much about me (except to check if I'm shoplifting).

Which reminds me of another thing. I hate how when I'm in a shop with a knapsack, attendants casually float over beside me and pretend like they're supervising the wall next to me, but we all know they're watching to make sure I don't steal anything. It happened to me yesterday (despite my nice hair). But really, why would I break the law to get a fugly silver picture frame incrusted with rhinestones? Or some erasers shaped like milk cartons and scented like fruits? Well actually I did want the erasers and was about to buy them, but I got pissed off that they were watching me so I just left.

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T TRUST PEOPLE? ERASER SALES GO DOWN.

I mean, yeah, obviously I get that they would watch me 'cause I'm young and have a backpack (horror of horrors) and you never know. But I still hate it.

Shoplifter hair. That's right, I'm not paying for these sticky notes shaped like speech bubbles.
No, I'm kidding, I don't steal stuff. It's just the hair talking.
Also I'm covering my face in case someone recognizes me and accuses me of attempting to lift a shop (they're so heavy).


**Studied, indeed, since one has now graduated (and got shipped off to Canada to do her Master's degree), and the other one decided after three years of Physics that she'd rather study Design. SHE CAVED UNDER THE PRESSURE.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Lessons from University

I've been learning all sorts of stuff at university. Some key lessons so far:

1. You can fall asleep anywhere. Anytime. If you're sitting down, you're game for a nap. I'm especially susceptible in the mornings, for two or three hours after waking up. For instance, this morning I nodded off for a moment when I was in the middle of writing a sentence. Then I woke up, finished writing it, and fell back asleep.

2. Group homework is finally worthwhile. Before, team meetings were never very useful, forget trying to get more than a few pages of something done. But everyone is smart and focused now! They all want to work, it's great.

3. Don't leave the reading assignment last. It goes like this:

10:39 pm Ah, finished! Now I just have to read for my Philosophy and History of Biology class. Easy-peasy, it's like 50 pages. Right!

10:43 pm Whoah, I'm getting a bit sleepy. A power nap will help. I'll just set my alarm for three minutes here... Aahhh...

10:46 pm What?? That was so not three minutes. Four more!

10:50 pm Okay, I'll just buckle up and read, or I'll fall asleep for good. Read read read read.

10:54 pm Whoah. I just read a whole paragraph and didn't assimilate anything. If I nap again I'll fall asleep for good, I'll just have to concentrate harder.

11:39 pm MMNUH??!?! When did I fall asleep? And what's this paper doing– oh. My homework. Right. Okay, I think I left off here. Read read read read.

2:24 am Past Me only read another two paragraphs before shutdown. Go, me. Okay, I'll just skim. Skim skim skim skim.

5:02 am Agh, I did it again. I'll just finish skimming this and then get to sleep... for half an hour, before I have to get up. AAAH!!

As you can see, this is neither restful nor productive.

I keep telling my parents that I need a desk, but they ignore me. So I end up working on my bed, and that up there happens.

4. I'm not a dork anymore. I mean, I am, but everyone else is dorky to some degree, too. And so many of them are dorkier than I am!

5. My homework is actually kinda fun. The homework that's related to Biology, at any rate. Since I'm in lowly first semester, I have to take Physics and Math and stuff, which is okay but not very fun.

6. Above all, have fun! No, I'm kidding. All work and no play make Jack graduate.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Crabbies, I'm so proud ;)

Today I checked on my hermit crabs. One of them was sitting on a wall, just chillin', and the other, bigger one was in his little nest under a fallen coconut wall. It looked pretty cosy so I hadn't moved the wall. But now, as I lifted it, I was met with the ugly sight of a hermit crab head, whiskers askew, eyes staring blankly at the sky (ceiling), sitting on top of a jumbled pile of legs and claws.

DEAD!!

Thought process: Great, now I have to pick out more bits of hermit crab. And you, you... crab, sitting on the wall, looking all innocent!! Crabs are supposed to be social creatures! Why did you kill your last tankmate? You guys were buddies, too. Anyway, you're so much smaller than he was. Freak.

I put on my latex dead-crab-removal gloves which I keep next to the tank at all times (you just never know) and set to work. At least this time all the body parts were in a neat little pile, instead of being scattered around the entire tank.

Which should have been my first clue.

The legs and stuff felt really light, so I peered inside them, and would you believe it? The little crab somehow sucked all the meat out of the big crab after killing them. Wow, maybe I should give them more food.

Nope, that was the second clue.

Then I noticed– wait, there's anther crab taking a nap in the corner of the tank. Hold on. There's two live crabs in the tank, and a dead crab in parts on a kleenex. WTF? Last crab census, there were only two crabs left. Did someone sneak a crab into the tank and think I wouldn't notice or something? Wow, I am pissed.

Clue #3.

It took me another two minutes of inspecting the hollow corpse to realize what should have been obvious to me all along.

My crab had been burrowing for days. The body didn't look like it had been attacked. There was only an exoskeleton. I still had two crabs.

My crab molted!!

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD, I'm sorry I got mad at you, Little Crab!!

Wheeeeeee! I'm not a failure!! My crab molted!!

To celebrate they got a fancy guava & carrot salad and I tossed their substrate around and got it extra moist and lovely, plus I rearranged the rocks and filled a corner with substrate so that they could frolic around in it.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Conversation w/mosquito

About an hour ago I found myself forced to go mosquito-hunting after a oneo flew right past me while I was lying on my bed. Bastard! I grabbed my pillow and spent like ten minutes trying to find her. Finally I looked at the wall right next to me, and found her sitting there laughing her ass off at me.

I swung my pillow at her, but she must have felt the air current before the pillow could hit her and she sped off. Ten more minutes passed, and I saw her lying on the ceiling. PILLOW ATTACK! I thought I'd gotten her, although I didn't see her actually get hit nor did I find a corpse. Still, I definitely didn't see her fly away either, so I assumed the best, closed my door, and went to visit my sister.

Just now I was lying on my bed again and when I looked up she was sitting on the wall right in front of me. When she saw me looking at her (I swear I didn't move anything but my head) she made a speedy getaway. The following conversation ensued (well, Moz wasn't speaking, but her body language said it all):

Me: No! Wait, come back!**
Moz: HA! You idiot. I'm just going to land on your bedpost here and taunt you. You suck.
Me: fetches T-shirt to swat Moz
Moz: Pfft. You're slow. BUZZ AWAY!

Dammit. I had two more goes just now with a rolled-up towel, and although it looked like I got her both times the posterior searches for a body begged to differ.

I have to go to sleep now (or two hours ago), and that little bug better not bite me.

**I actually did say it out loud. And expected her to obey.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

University

I'm officially a Biology student. Today was my second day of classes. I say say "classes", but really I haven't done that much yet. Mostly it's "Hi, I'm your teacher, here's my e-mail address, I'll be grading you like this... um, we'll start next class, see you then". A bit disappointing, but by Friday I hope I'll be working really hard to keep up. And cursing myself for wishing it so.

One big perk to having a dad that works at the Uni is that he has an office there, where I can hang out after classes and do my homework/nap/chew on coffee beans that never made it into the coffee grinder but instead fell on the table (yum). While reading about Epistemology (as I am wont to do) I saw the reflection in the computer screen of one of my Dad's students discreetly asking another student who I was, and heard the whispered response: "daughter". I felt a wee bit guilty, because it's like I was eavesdropping. Oh well. They could have stood at a different angle to me and I wouldn't have known a thing.

So anyway, this Epistemology stuff is pretty interesting. I've almost finished the Wikipedia article so soon I can look for a book or podcast or something about it. I know it's kind of pathetic that it took me more than an hour to read the article, but I'm not too great with Philosophy, and my mind kept drifting off in the middle of paragraphs. Actually that happened to me all day.

I took a multivitamin, so let's see if that helps.

Changing the subject slightly, the buildings of the Faculty are still kind of confusing to me. I mean, there's this one building that has four floors: basement, groung floor, first floor, second floor. EXCEPT of course it's not that simple, because the "basement" is actually the ground floor, so the "ground floor" is actually one story up and so on. So I spent twenty minutes walking around like a noob before I figured out that I was on the wrong floor.

But some people never actually found their classrooms, so I guess I'm not so bad. HA!

Well, off I hop to bed.

...

Now that I've written that, I feel obligated to actually hop. Drat.