Sunday, October 30, 2011

Travel Tip #32

Beauty of small airports. After I arrived there way too early (d'oh car rental not matching up with plane ticket) I've ended up camped outside. Quieter here than inside. (The Welcome Home party for the Army Chaplin had me in tears.) No muzak. Still get the free wi-fi. And sunshiney dose of vitamin D. (Gotta get the blonde highlighted in my hair while I can.)

Plus I get to say hi to the pilots walking to their cars.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Undies Q

So one of my favorite "math teacher friends who I've never met" is opening a lingerie store. I'm taking this as an opportunity to ask someone all those sizing of underwear questions I never quite understand.

Already learned that the thing about a cup size being the same if you increase a band and decrease a cup size is actually true. Something to do with cups being proportional and not a size.

I'm fielding other questions to ask in the comments. (Mostly so I have a place to remember where they are when I get around to asking my friend.)

Monday, October 24, 2011

Weekend Snapshots:Bday Reunion

One of the things I miss about my time in TFA is the way weekends were times for roadtrips and social breaks. So when my roommate invited me to her party, I superwanted to go.

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Actually managed to make progress on my essay midterm on my trip out there. Successful work!

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At the liquor store. Oh, there's a free wine tasting? Nice timing.

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Long wait for dinner. Go to boutique next door to wait. In the ~25 minutes I managed to buy 2 dresses and 1 shirt. Color Me Red has a superfun line of knit dresses, but I can't find much info about 'em online.

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Pumpkin curry served in a pumpkin. I think all pumpkin should be prepared this way.


Dessert that included sweet sticky rice and a hot custard. No idea how to make it, but loved it!

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Hot pumpkin cocktail. I guess I'll allow some pumpkin to be prepared this way.

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One beauty of our particular TFA experience is that it doesn't take many people coming to have a decent reunion. Two other people roadtripping out. Some local friends joining up. Ended up having about a third of a corps year together. Including people I hadn't seen since I left. Reunions are happy.

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Working at fun coffeeshop while sipping an amazing Chai Tea. And catching up with my classmate who moved away.

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Pedal pub party!


I loved seeing other people's reactions.

Please note the driver is taking our photo.

We rode past a wedding party 3 times while they were taking photos. The last time, their photographer started photographing us. I hope we wind up in their wedding album.

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Bars and music and late night breakfast at the 24-hour diner. I got in trouble for trying to close the refrigerator door. Just want to help them lower their electric bill.

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Breakfast with college friend. Complete with another college person walking into our cafe. He'd never been in there before. I'm never in town. And yet, there you have it.

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Adorable kids in the row in front of me on my way back home. Singing my song from Thursday. Practicing math problems. Taking naps. Clapping when the baby across the aisle stopped crying. Pointing out every farm they noticed.

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Getting my midterm complete (if blah) and turned in!

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Chatting with my seatmate. Getting her on Ravelry. Showing off ALL my pictures from the weekend. And getting a ride home from her parents at the end of the ride.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Sorting of Days

There are days where I sit at the computer frustrated. Willing words onto the screen. (Or formulas from my fingers. Or understanding through my brain. But mostly they’re the writing days.) Those are the days where I question this life path.

But then there are the days where I feel like I’ve made some progress (no matter how small, you celebrate the progress). Days where I experience success as a teacher (well, as a TA for now, but when I hold session it feels the same).

And then there are the magic days where everything seems to fall in place. Or at least I feel like I’m making headway on research and I get to teach some. And I hear about someone else’s research that sounds amazing. And those are the days that make me remember how lucky I am.

Let it be known that I wrote this on one of the first days.
As a way to remind myself that the words can come.
Somewhere. Somehow.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

In the streets our heads are lifting

Driving home. Stopped at the traffic light. I'm playing one of my mixes on the stereo. It's on a favorite song (because they're all favorite songs) that I associate with a friend who I don't get to see often enough. We had quality time last week though, so I'm riding that high. And, of course, dancing along.

Waving my hands in the air, I raise my head. There's a guy coming down the middle of the street with a sign. He's looking at me and smiling.

I keep dancing and smile back at him.

I didn't share my money. But somehow we shared a moment.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Sick Day Finds

Halfway to school this morning, I realized that if I was packing the thermometer to monitor myself during the day, I probably wasn't healthy enough to be at school. So I picked up the stats homework and came back home for a sick day*.

Taking aspirin and drinking lots of liquids and resting and not listening to lectures has made me feel better. Also, lots of the perusing the internet instead of doing the reading that I told myself I'd do. My favorites:

The Bell Bajao campaign against domestic violence. Found through @zephoria's Tweet. Especially like the inspired by real life videos.








Also, falling in love with this blog. I found Dr. Isis after another person I follow on Twitter congratulated her on her baby girl. And I discovered that the woman had LIVE-TWEETED HER LABOR. Her blog is more sciencey than my research, but awesome feminist, academia, work-life balance, and cute shoes piece of work.

With that, my dears, I'm going to eat my dessert and, really, truly, do some school reading.