BATHROOM DIARIES

This past weekend I was at Live at PJ's, which is supposed to be a place for live music, but a DJ was spinning instead. Perhaps they thought that the drunk people of St. Patrick's day wouldn't be in any condition to appreciate live music. Anyway, as the title suggests, I had to pay a visit to the bathroom, where I found both stalls taken. I'm pretty full (meaning I was at an 8 on a scale of 1-10, where 10 is I can't stand up straight, and if I do, I will pee in my pants) so this situation is kind of dire. These two girls taking both stalls are drunk out of their minds. Conversation is like this:

Stall 1: Billy is worried about you... are you okay?
Stall 2: umm... I'm pRetttty druuuunk, but I'm okay...
Stall 1: Okay.

**Silence for ~30 s**
I'm wondering what the hell they're doing that they can't come out and let a girl do her business in under 45 seconds.

**BIG RELEASE (waterfall type) from Stall 1**
Lasts for ~15 seconds. Really quite impressed, and am thinking that she deserved her lengthy bathroom time.

**Silence for 1 minute**
Wipe and go damnit!! Wipe and go!

Stall 1: WOAH.
Stall 2: What?
Stall 1: I just realized I'm reeeaaally drunk.
Stall 2: Are you okaaay?
Stall 1: Yeah, I'm okaaaay.

Stall 1 door opens. Girl stumbles out, wavering from side to side. She gets to the sink, which is 5 feet away in 10 steps. Oh thank you! I rush over, and hesitate at the stall door. My feet are dancing a little bit, not sure whether or not to take another step. Why? WHY you ask? Because [WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION] there is pee all over the toilet seat cover ALL OVER and a ring of pee around the toilet on the floor. Splatter all over the place. Ah! Ah! Ah! "Eeeew" I say out loud, turn around, and bolt out the door. I'm not worried about embarrassing Stall #1.

Last night was a night out for the Karaoke Club (aka KC). We went to this Irish bar (yeah, the Irish bar does Karoake on Sundays and also plays pop music too), and played this game where we pick songs for each other, and the person doesn't find out what she's singing until she gets up there, and the song title pops up on the screen. Now, this isn't meant to be vicious-- we're nice and don't try to screw each other. We try to pick songs that we think the other person will know. Let me tell you, it was exhilarating! I was so excited to stand up there, and not know what the heck I was about to sing, and excited to see what my friend picked for me! My mystery song ended up being Collide by Howie Day, which my friends know is probably the only song I know on guitar by heart. It was however, a bit challenging because it's out of my range, so I sang an octave up, but I had to go back and forth, and it wasn't always pretty. I also sang Downtown and I Kissed a Girl by Jill Sobule. I was also excited to have my friend sing Blackbird-- it was great b/c I could pick anything and she would be able to sing it. She's a superstar!

I used to be deathly afraid of singing a song that I didn't know very well, much less get up on stage about to sing a mystery song. However, after my first karaoke (on a stage) experience, I realized that it's okay to make things up. I sang RESPECT by Aretha Franklin, and realized after a few verses, that I only really knew the chorus. So I just stood up there, like a fool, like a fool! skipping lines b/c I didn't know how Aretha sang it. Well, now I just sing through it, talk through it, whatever. Of course I prefer to sing a song that I know (it's not always fun to look like a fool), but it's fun to be spontaneous with karoke!

Can this guy say anything intelligent or insightful? There's Scott Hamilton (who's always a hoot), Tracy Wilson, and there's this guy (Hammond?) who is just like Debbie the Downer except for when he's talking about someone "who is just enjoyable to watch". EVERY little detail he picks apart. Scott Hamilton has just talked about how this one skater, who was obviously not doing so well but apparently can be great, placed third in the world championships and how "when you beat Michelle Kwan you're doing something right" and was nice and then 3 sec later, Debbie says "see, even this spin was not her best". blah blah blah shakey leg and edge on that spiral sequence, not good.... blah blah blah. I feel like he's making stuff up. He's so annoying!

Ah, the leg hair of winter. I, being Asian, shave about once a week. And only once a week because I play basketball indoors, meaning that I wear shorts and have to show my legs. Well, I don't care that much because if I did, then I would have to shave twice a week since I play twice a week. And when the time comes during the week when I have to shave my legs, I'm always a little reluctanct. I like the patience of waiting until the hair passes the prickly point, and toward the soft more hair-on-the-head type of existence. They've (and I) have worked so hard to grow (to leave them be), but off they must go less the dark hairs provide even more contrast to my ever-whitening skin. I liked the days of just working out in a gym where I wore long pants and didn't have to shave. I went for months! And when the time finally came, when I felt pathetic for not grooming, it was even sweeter because the legs felt extra soft, and everything felt extra soft on them. Well, I'll enjoy my last day -- tomorrow is Shaving Day.

Yay! I spent last weekend in Park City with my sister and friend Emily (see link to alo514). My sister has all the pictures of Park City and the stars *** :) since she had the 8 MPixel camera (still can't get over that), so click on over there if you want to see pictures of the city and theaters and celebs. I, on the other hand, have a small camera that I can stuff into my jacket pocket to take skiing. :) Hurray! It was some of the best skiing I've ever done, and it was so empty on the slopes, though parking was treacherously taken over by filmies and movie goers. We went to The Canyons and Park City, which has a chairlift that takes you directly into town. My sister observed, however, that it might prove difficult to get off a ski lift with out any type of sliding device. You'd pretty much have to get ready to run off the lift, or do a tuck and roll type deal. Dunno, didn't try it.

This is our ride up to the lodge at The Canyons.


Audrey weaving through the tree trunks... it took us what felt like 45 min to get through that. Little did we know that it was a double black. Oops!


Pretty! Different trees than those in Tahoe! Birch-like looking things...

Sigh... so sad to be back. Why can't I just hang out with family, friends, and stars all week long?

My last day! I only have 1 more hour and then I can go!!! I can't wait to get back to CA, where it isn't below freezing every single day. Now, the snow is quite beautiful, but really, I'm a much happier person when I don't feel the cold biting at my face. These last few hours before vacation are always so hard to get through. I wasn't ambitious today, but I did have a list... I'm pretty much done, could do more, don't think I will. Lazy... plus, I'm a bit bloated from the Indian food I had at lunch. Urgh.

Christmas is coming! Living in a house and having a roommate who likes to ham it up really makes it feel like Christmas is coming this year rather than omg, I have finals pending and all I have to do is live through December. Yeah, okay, so not having classes helps too. Look at our tree! You like the big bright celestial reindeer? Its front legs move too. yeah, you thought it couldn't get any better! We had a tree decorating party and potluck this past weekend and got many beautiful additions from our friends. Notice the 5 ft string of popcorn? That's courtesy of Marwa, Kiran, and Mike. Nobody knew how long it would take...

On another note, last thurs we had an Ann Arbor Rec League womens basketball game, and I got into a scuffle, and got scratched by what seems to be a VERY LONG NAIL that should be cut. So, I thought this scratch was pretty cool looking and took a picture. grrrr! don't mess with me!! (or maybe that's the message that I should be receiving...)

Our promotion for Comcast ended recently, and the whole thing makes me hate Comcast. There are promotions all the time, yet they refuse to help out their existing customers. They know that we won't go to anybody else, why? because there really isn't anybody else. High-speed internet itself is $43, and they won't give a package deal for customers who also have digital cable. How stingy is that? So now our bill has increased by $7, and my housemate called to see if we could get any promotions, and they said no, but they'll throw in HBO. What is $7? Nothing. If we downgrade one level, we'll have about 30 channels, which is actually fine for me. As you may know from my previous livejournal entry, I watch a whole lot of non-cable networks. In any case, they don't give a whole lot of options with a wide price range. AND they're a pain in the ass to deal with. My poor housemate has had that job. And you know what else? The employees are not allowed to disclose their location. It's top secret so no customers can go and complain. They're afraid, afraid!!! Hm, sounds like poor business practice to me, but I suppose they don't care.

My goodness. A new home for my infrequently updated blog. But THIS is what's keeping me sane as I am in lab at 5:30pm on Friday. Why why you ask am I still here? Because my laptop keeps crashing that's why. It took me FOREVER to get my experiment set up, and then when I finally decide what data to take, my computer stops working. It's crashed about 3 or 4 times now. Why do things happen like this? It ALWAYS happens. It never runs smoothly. Oh, such is life in research, and well, I only have to get my Ph.D. and then I'll be done with this. So it's 5pm, and I think I've hardly spoken 10 sentences to a single person. How sad. There are 2 other people in my lab, walking in and out, yet I haven't actually talked to them today. Huh. I need to test out my voice. Hold on a sec.... ok, there it is. Sounds like me.