The tide is high but I'm holding on

Yesterday had to be the worst day ever. Everyone says that now and then, but in all honesty, I think I actually had the definition of a "bad day." I think Mike, Vijay and Katie are a few who can vouch for me. Not to go into detail but let's just say that the day involved death, a long call to Sprint, failed experiments among many other things. I will expand on a few things though.

So after a really bad start in the morning (discovering a serious thesis delay), I kept positive, laughing and maintained a generally positive attitude. No crying, because, well I don't like to cry and not much gets accomplished with crying. That being said, I had to move the car later that day. I had left the keys at home though the car was parked by lab. So I head out to move the car (later than I normally do) and get the keys, hop back on the train downtown, get to my car...and I find that the evil demons changed the parking sign. I parked in front of the sign just because I was so paranoid. It was legal for Monday. At least it WAS. Apparently they are doing work on that street now and as of Monday, Nov. 28, it is a no parking at all times zone. Now I have a $60 parking ticket. How the hell was I suppose to know that. I can even see where the sign was taken down and this one was put up. It was a serious kick to groin.

This is my breaking point. I stand in front of my car and cry. I get in the car and cry. I want to drive this car into the river. I stop crying and drive to find parking. I drive for 35 minutes (interspersed with random crying) and I give up and take it to a lot. At this point, I have to get back to lab for a time point. I run to the subway and it gets stuck on the tracks. I miss my time point.

I get to lab, do my experiments and around 9pm am so tired and sad that all I want to do is go home. So I make a new playlist to pep me up. I get on the train and am listening to some cheesy but great music, and it's making me feel better. "OOOh Baby, I love your way....." I look up, and I had accidently gotten on the dam downtown train. Another breaking point. I start to cry on the train and everyone in the car is looking at me. I think they all think I got dumped. I was that crying girl on the train. I get off at 145th, crying, and transfer to the uptown.

I get home and Mike has bought me a Godiva surprise, which was so nice, but I can't eat it since I had one meal all day and supplemented the rest of the day with Swiss goodness (now belly badness). It was one of those days that all you want to do is hide in bed and never go out.

On a side note, this weekend Mike and I went to the Main St. Pub in Voohees (this Main St. isn't really a street; it's a fake complex town thing like in Disney. It's so bizarre that of course only a suburb would come up with it.). While there, some guy who was obviously buzzed said to me, "Hey, who are you with?" and I point to Mike and he looks at him and his panda shirt and says, "You like pandas?" I say yes. He says, "Are you Chinese? Japanese? What's your name? Is your name Ping Pong?"

That was so great! I almost bust a gut laughing. Is your name Ping Pong? I told him my name was Ling Ling and that was the end of our conversation. How random.

Watch out! Or I'll stab you with my shoes.

I recently decided that I needed a new pair of shoes. A fancy pair that I can wear on a regular basis. I also decided they can't look like the other shoes I own. They have to look different. All my "fancy" shoes look like these.

In fact, these are my favorite in my closet (considering I have about 11 pairs of shoes, 6 of which are sneakers/hiking boots, it isn't a hard competition to win.). So I decided it was time for a change. I thought I would get a pair of pointy shoes. The ones I really wanted were expensive and could never find them in my size and so I headed to DSW in Union Sq in search of an alternative. I picked out a pair of very pointy, low heels. I think they're great and they were on sale! So I buy them, put them on, and walk out to meet Vijay, Mike, Yvonne, and Chris for Indian food on Bleeker street.

I look down at the shoes after walking a bit and notice the buckle is a little off. So I decide to push them a little, just to straighten them out. As I do, wham! I pull the buckle off. So now it's flapping on the shoe. Great. Less than five minutes and I have manhandled my new shoes. I decided to be REALLY careful with the other one. And WHAM! I pull that one off too. Now both buckles are flapping and making this annoying clink clink noise as I walk. Then I had the great fortune of being called a B----h numerous times by a homeless man as he followed me for about three blocks. The buckles on my shoes were essentially acting as a cowbell does for a leper. "Here I come!" CLINK CLINK "I'm getting closer. CLLLLIIIIINNNKK "I'm running now.""

I get home and shoe glued the buckles down, and hooray! they are fixed. I asked Mike if he likes my shoes and he says, "Well, I'm not so sure. They are so...pointy. Like witch shoes. They're a little scary. And I don't know about the toe cleavage. Overall, the shoes get a thumbs down." Toe cleavage. The only sort of cleavage I think a man (or woman) would not prefer to see.

My fancy shoes did not get the approval I think they deserve. Sure they are a little out there and are pointy, but this spices up my wardrobe. Like the leather skirt I never wear. I think these are awesome though and just to think that if someone messes with me (vampires included), I can stab them, TWO TIMES. And they will go down in style.

Obesity Action Heros

Yesterday I got to the gym only to realize that I forgot my sneakers. So I decided to check out the massive sale at Macy's. As a rule, I avoid everything between 34-50th from late November to mid-February; the crowds are insane. Last night, however, was terrible weather and it was pretty late, close to closing, so I figured Macy's couldn't be that bad. And it wasn't. I tried to try on a pair of shoes I really like but they were no longer available. I did however score an awesome deal on a great Ben Sherman shirt (I love his style, but it's much too expensive).

On the walk to the subway afterwards, I was splashed by an Enormous truck. This huge mobile had the strangest ad on it-so strange it warranted further investigation. The ad was for ObeezCity from Body Mechanics. That's right. Maybe you've heard of it. It had several action figure looking people with interesting names like Gluke (class Glucagon Hormone) and SooLyn (Insulin Hormone). It's a strange and interesting means of addressing the serious obesity problem in the country. Their mission is as follows (taken from their website):

The Vision
To fight this war against childhood obesity, we had to devise a new way of getting kids excited about their own health. Kids are smart - they want to be entertained, not preached to. When you come at them with real entertainment, they love it.
We wanted to give parents a way to role-model health behaviors that would bind the family in a fun event. We all know too well how children can resist doing the right thing if it appears boring.
So we developed The Body Mechanics Toolkit including the action-packed movie and DVD game. It's entertainment that also informs, speaking to kids in a cool, accessible way without ever becoming boring.

They introduce the genetics of obesity, the social impacts as well as awareness and prevention. Overall, it's a good idea. And just to think that for $79.99, you too can buy The Body Mechanics Toolkit and prevent obesity for your child. Or just instill good eating habits and exercise from an early age. Isn't that free?

Oh, I shouldn't be mean. It is a good idea and they are advocating prevention and education which is fantastic. But really, 80 bucks for a kit? But I guess you can fix obesity with the DVD and all, but what about ADD and increasing number of kids addicted to TV and video games, kids who don't read as much anymore? Maybe I'm just overly paranoid....

I don't have a million dollars...

So we didn't win; some lucky duck in Anaheim won. But the day is MINE! For I got to work early, have been productive, and will be buying lunch today. Fancy. Besides, how can the day be bad when you are listening to an awesome playlist including The Bangles, George Michael, Modern English, New Order, Prince (you have to love Kiss), Blondie, and several others groups. I think I may even go to the mouse house for a few hours.

Last night, Mike was out with his Spanish speaking buddy and that left me at home to do Hyunmi Stuff. What does this mean? It means I pumped the 80s music and made tomato-garlic soup and crostini brushed with infused olive oil and topped with Parmesan/asiago cheese. Then I danced for about 30 minutes, made a salad and danced until Mike came home. We ate with a great organic red wine then danced some more. It was great.

Mike pointed out that I shouldn't state that I am poor. Ok, so we're not financially stressed. But having been a student continuously since age 5 (that's 21 YEARS of non-stop fall schedules), I have adapted to living the life of a student, which to most people means cheap eats, long nights, and lots of beer-unless you are Mike and Vijay and go to Rafferty's for 7 continuous nights. I thought I was splurging when I went to Noodle Gourmet or Pooja. But I guess that's what happens when you make 6 bucks an hour (but I did work over 25 hours a week) throughout college (now the break down is like $10/hour) and engineers make like a million. Perhaps even mega millions...

If I had a million dollars...

Much like the BNL's song, this phrase was beginning to a lengthy conversation in lab. We have (along with several other people on the floor) started a pool. 5 bucks each and now we have over 30 people participating all for the Mega Millions 315 million dollar jackpot. So of course this raised the question, "What will you do with your share?"
This is the list that was generated in lab:
1. *Pay off undergrad loans (this would make me so happy)
2. Eat at Jou Jou everyday for lunch (When the prospect of eating a 6-9 dollar lunch everyday is your millionaire's dream, you know you're pretty poor-poor Katie, she really needs a live in to split her costs.)
3. Pay for my own wedding (Good one Alison!)
4. *Hire a personal chef to teach me how to cook all kinds of things.
5. * Send out my laundry.
6. Buy a soccer field.
7. Take care of my parents forever (I think all of us said this).
8. Have private funding for your own lab (yeah right! The post doc said this one.)
9. Hire personal masseuse.
10. Buy my way into politics (oh, poor Katie).
11. *Buy a baby panda.
12. *Donate enough money to Rutgers to start a monorail system (No more buses catching on fire!)
13. *Buy an awesome house some where in the woods or in a vineyard where we would have parties and relaxing weekends (and it would have a horse!)
*Things I particularly wanted to do.

Notice that there really was no, "I'm going to quit!" outcry from anyone. This is because we, the noble people we are, do this low paying, backbreaking job for the love and pursuit of science and knowledge. Beautiful, isn't it? In any event, I will be able to buy all organic, free-range, fair trade foods, contribute to certain political/social causes. I will also be able to support artist by buying their wares (esp. clothes and jewelry) that I currently can't do because I only buy things that are dirt cheap which either support corporate buying power or takes advantage of an independent store owner's closeout sale. Sad. So I try not to shop.

But tomorrow when I am a millionaire, things will be different. And if I'm not a millionaire, then I will drink my morning coffee, happy that at least I can afford fair trade coffee beans and an Equinox membership with a great gym partner (getting married was a good idea...for several reasons) What more do you need?

Lofty goals, not enough time

This was a good weekend. Not only had I planned NOT to be in lab, but I had a list of things I reallllly wanted to get done. Here is the truncated version:
1. Mail out thank you cards (yeah yeah...I know it's late.)
2. Run in Central Park
3. Make the menu for the Holiday Dinner at our place
4. Take stuff to Goodwill
5. Dye my hair
6. Make a fancy new dish actually following a recipe

Of all these things only #6 happened, and truth be told, it really didn't. I made a great dinner, but I didn't follow a recipe. I made tofu and chicken stir fried in sesame oil, crushed red pepper, ginger and garlic. I added shitake mushroom and Kung Pao sauce and ladled it over soba noodles with julienne cucumbers on top. It was great, but I wanted to make shrimp with green curry coconut sauce over rice noodles.
All the other things on the list never happened. Instead of running, I went swimming and well, I went to lab and of course being a time warp, I was there for several hours. Still, the weekend was great. Vijay came over on Friday. Mike, Vijay and I went out to get Mexican then came back to the apt where I made drinks. Katie came over, and well, the night turned out to be a loud, crude event. Bena came over on Saturday morning before she and Vijay had to leave for New Paltz. I made breakfast (while the guys watched Like Water for Chocolate), but the highlight of the morning was when Mike knocked my L'Occitane perfume into the toilet right after Vijay told him about his amazing three flusher.
I hear, "OOOOHHHH!" and walk over a minute later to the bathroom to find Mike standing over the toilet, very vigilantly holding a plastic coat hanger. Now, I don't know what he thought he was going to achieve with that. Vijay was no help having sought refuge on the couch. I think Mike and Vijay would have stood there for 30 minutes staring at each other. So I stuck my hand in the toilet (he had flushed it) and retrieved the bottle, washed it off and put it on the bathroom shelf. Mike looked appalled. It was hysterical. That was the highlight of the weekend, but the Italian cookies I got from Bleeker street was a close second.
Off to bed soon since I now have a crazy early gym schedule. The things on the ever growing list WILL get done!

What a morning!

On Wednesday I had my TRAC meeting. Everything went well and my committee was really excited about my project and the progress I've made. That was great news, so of course I felt like partying. I was suppose to meet up with Mike for drinks after his swanky work event, but I was too tired to hop on the train and so I decided to stop into the great wine/liquor store on our street on the way home. I told Alison as we were walking home that I had to buy some stuff, but I don't think anyone thought it would be over 150 bucks worth of stuff. I'm not by any means an alcoholic, but I feel it is important to have a nice stock of alcohol for guests...and the occasional night cap.
Well, for the past two nights I have made a few drinks for myself and a few guests. It's great. I do have to get several more glasses though; I think my martini glasses and plethora of wine glasses aren't enough or fitting for all the types of drinks I plan on consuming.
So being in good spirits this morning, I go to move the car at 7.30 am and what do I find, not one but TWO parking tickets. Now, the spot wasn't exacly legal, but it was clearly NOT in a yellow zone. Apparently this stupid spot is a stupid bus resting zone thing. STUPID. So the parking minions of Satan (I KNOW they are minions; I can smell the sulfur these little beasts leave behind them.) decided that I needed to be punished two times. Once at 10am (yesterday morning) then again at 6.30am this morning each at the kind penalty of $115. Fantastic. I would like to say in defense of my parking skills, that I had driven around for about 45 minutes at this point and decided this spot was worth the risk. Parking tickets are usually 45 bucks. If I knew it was a bus resting (not even a bus stop!) zone, well, I wouldn't have parked there. I would have driven the dam automobile into the river. It's a Hybrid; It can't do much environmental damage if I discarded it, right?
Anyway, Mike consoled me, but was good to point out that though he supersedes me in parking tickets (this is my third one EVER, and #2 and #3 came in one blow!) that I have surpassed him in fees. Hmmm, at least he was nice about it.
So in a fit of disappointment, I decided to not go to the gym and instead clean my apt before leaving for work. I must prepare for Mr. Acharya's visit though no progress has been made as of yet. I think a nice muffin from Frank's and some coffee with...Kahula... might help raise my spirits. Dam you minions and stupid bus resting zones!

Pumping up With Hans & Franz

I had a fairly busy weekend, though I did not work on my TRAC as much as I should have. The best part of the weekend our new fancy gym. That's right. Now that Mike is a fancy money maker (well, most anyone is compared to grad students), we joined Equinox together. This fancy Columbus Circle location (the best location for both our work places) boasts a pool! We lifted weights and went for a nice run Central Park on Saturday and took a vinyassa yoga class on Sunday (it really kicked our asses). It was also great to feel the New York Marathon energy in the city (Man! The men's elite race was amazing!).
So we decided to start a new routine where we go to the gym every morning. This means we have to get up at 6.30 or so. Considering I am not an early riser (well, not late, but certainly not that early.), this is a difficult task to embark on. It started this morning, and as I told Mike, just making it on the subway at 6.50am is an accomplishment. At this point, I don't even need to workout to feel good about myself. Of course I did and I felt great. The super nice locker room definitely helps, but the reward of breakfast at Whole Foods is even better. Tomorrow we go to a 7am CardioStregnth class. This means we have to get up earlier than today...we shall see about that.
I hope cheese danishes are involved. That or Nathan's Hotdogs. Oh yeah, and I get to reward myself with a little nap on the subway as I go uptown to work.

You may say to yourself, "My God! What have I done?"

Yesterday morning was a very bad morning. It was as though I entered another dimension and became another person. To clarify, Mike woke up really early to get to work for a 8am meeting (which was CANCELLED! ha!). This was the first time he had to get up before I did and boy did I savor that moment. Maybe a little too much. I had to be home since our super was coming to fix the sink at 10am, so I woke up around 8am and had the lazy debate of whether or not I should go running. The obvious answer is yes, but in my sleepiness, ok, not so sleepy at that point, I decided it was better to "walk to work really fast." Right. Ingenious. So I sleep in until 8.30 at which I am disgusted with myself. As I walk to the kitchen to make coffee, I have the battle again. I should go running. Jose wont be here until 10. No, I can really go in the middle of the day (lies!) and I'll walk to work really fast. REALLY FAST. Right. Good plan. So I make 6 cups of coffee, thinking Jose might want some later. Dressed only in my robe, I sit at the computer, check my email and proceed to plant my very little butt on the couch and breathe a heavy sigh as I pick up my TRAC write up. I need to make corrections. But I am still sleepy. I need more coffee. OK. So cup #3 in hand, I flip through the write up while flipping through channels. So I watch Entertainment tonight, followed by Dawson's Creek (I didn't know the show continued as they were in college...I have to say, I enjoyed it). During this time I had two more cups of coffee. Now I am starving and starting to get loopier. A mixture of sleepiness (most probably from not exercising), anxiety, and hunger were leading to poor decision making. I opened the fridge, got some strawberries...and a beer. Yes, a beer. For some reason, this seemed like a good idea. I sat on the couch and as I realized the sad state of affairs; I immediate feel sad and guilty.
Beer is discarded and I realize I haven't even washed my face and its almost 10am. Jose comes, and I am still dressed in a bathrobe. He eyes me suspiciously, then he eyes the beer I left on the counter VERY suspiciously. I think I got the bad tenant award. I excuse myself after I have shown him the sink problem, and get ready for work. As I leave, I realize I have drank all the coffee. And so I offer him juice or soda, to which he replies in a joking manner, "and you have beer!" Yes, I do.
To top it all off, I dressed like a moron today. I wore my "I heart Nerds" shirt with linen pants that are too short and a heavy leather jacket. A women stops me on the street and says, "Honey! You got two seasons going on!" Thanks lady. At least I didn't watch Oprah AND the Tyra Banks show like SOME people have been known to do in the past.