Boo-urns.

I showed up for my photography class tonight to find a note on the door explaining our instructor is no longer able to teach at the scheduled days and time.  If we want to continue with the course we need to start coming to the daytime class.  Since I don’t want to take time off work each week to do this, I guess I’m dropping the class.  I’m disappointed; even though I wasn’t learning as much as I had hoped, it was generally a positive experience.  At least now I’ll have more time to devote to taking pictures again, so I guess this might not be entirely bad.

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Have you ever accidentally cut a fingernail too short and it ruins your life?  I’m thinking of staying in bed until my thumbnail grows out.

Impromptu lunch portrait

Alright, alright…because I was asked nicely, I will post a picture of my new hair.

The closest I will ever get to a compliment from Diane: “Oh wow, people are going to want to have sex with you now!”

Good things about this week

- Wendy told me that upon attending a Big Lebowski-themed party last weekend, she felt she now truly understands me. I’m taking this as a good thing; I would have dressed her up as the Dude a long time ago if I knew it would have such an effect!

- I went to Beggar’s Banquet for wine night on Wednesday, then to the planetarium to see the eclipse. It was COLD (like 1°F, no joke) but totally worth it. They set up a bunch of telescopes on the lawn for us and I saw Saturn and the moon up close for the first time. I was apparently unduly impressed, but I just could not get over the fact that Saturn looked JUST LIKE the glow-in-the-dark version I had stuck to my ceiling as a kid. It was the most excited I’ve been in a long time…the Syrah might have helped a tiny bit.

- Had a phone interview today that went well. Gonna have to start thinking hard about what it is I will be doing with myself come May.

- Got my hair cut today as well. I love haircuts. They are relaxing, and I can’t get enough of someone fiddling with my hair. I’ve got bangs now.

- My camera is not dead as I feared it would be. It’s not back to 100%, but it’s doing way better than it was a couple days ago.

- This weekend is the neuroscience recruitment weekend, which means lots of delicious food and parties and things. It makes me think of all my grad school interviews and how it was basically forever ago. I would be more than halfway through my 3rd year if I was still at Emory.

- I am now eating chocolate frosting with a spoon.

Do not buy this book.

This pisses me off:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/109614?g=1

Fail.

I got my car righteously stuck in the snow today.  It was my own damn fault; I was out driving around aimlessly, looking for things to photograph and I was taking my poor little car some places it shouldn’t have gone.  Out in the middle of nowhere, I drove onto what appeared to be fairly packed-down snow, except it wasn’t and I sank right in.  Tried to wiggle out of it but ended up just digging myself in deeper.  I hadn’t been this stuck since high school when Mark Cichosz (mmm) helped pull me out of a snow bank.  It was getting pretty dark and I was ready to call AAA for help, but unfortunately I didn’t even really know where I was.  Driving aimlessly, right?  While I was pondering my options, this woman from down the street came out and asked if I needed some help.   I sheepishly said yes please, and she went to get a shovel and then helped me for the next half hour.  Finally got free and thanked her profusely, then went on my way.

Kindness from strangers always catches me off guard.  I guess I automatically assume that I will always need to solve my problems on my own.  I appreciated this woman’s help so much…would it be weird for me to write her a note or bake her some cookies or something?  I feel like that sort of behavior should be rewarded, but I don’t want to overdo it and look like a nutcase.

Am I drunk?

Pretty sure I’m not drunk, but it kind of feels that way.  Since I got back from lunch I have been super goofy and I have no idea why.  KenOki even asked me if I might be manic-depressive.

This is not helping:
Turdle.

Is this what being happy feels like?  Did I forget?

Question.

Have you ever heard of a paczki (pronounced poonch-key)?  It’s basically a jelly-filled donut the size of a large fist, fried to hell and then glazed.  They have roughly 3,000 calories each, no joke.  It’s traditionally Polish, and traditionally served on Fat Tuesday.  In fact, when I was growing up, some people only knew Fat Tuesday as “Paczki Day” and had no idea that the day had any relevance to Lent or Jesus or anything.   Anyway, the point is, some of my coworkers from out of state (TN, CA) have never heard of paczkis and I realized for the first time this is probably a regional thing.  Michigan is pretty heavily (har har) Polish, so I guess it makes sense.  Lemme know if you are familiar with this fatty delight.

And yes, the caption in the picture does say “prune.”  That is the other fun thing about paczkis, they can come in somewhat unusual flavors.  I am partial to any of the red-filled ones and custard, but prune is actually pretty good.   I’ve also had poppyseed, rose custard, apricot and plum.