oooh pretty

New look: Yay or Nay? Vote in the comments, por favor.

EDIT: changed it again. i think i like the blue better. and yes, this is obviously more important than studying for the gre.

look how you've grown

When I was little, I did gymnastics. I was totally convinced I was a future Olympian despite my obvious lack of talent, and I thought about gymnastics all the time. When I'd walk into a public restroom at a restaurant or wherever, if it was especially big, my first thought would be "wow, I could do a cartwheel in here." (I was totally awesome at cartwheels.)

Today, the nice people at my internship invited me to the farewell lunch for one of the other interns. It was at this nice Mexican place in the Bronx, and when I walked into the gigantic bathroom--possibly larger than my bedroom--my first thought was "wow, I could easily have sex in here."

point-counterpoint

I think the universe is punishing me for bitching about everyone else's work ethic (the universe does care that much about me, obviously) because I have been completely lazy and useless since writing it (okay, I've been lazy all week, but it's just getting worse).

(What the fuck is with all the parentheses?)

Go read this. It's an interview with my nerdy celebrity (celebrity?) crush #37 which both confirmed my crush on a 66 year old (...it's his intellect, okay?) and made me rethink this whole "Barack Obama" thing a little. There may be more to him than "at least he isn't that crazy bitch Hillary."

Okay, off to work!

kids these days

Look, I don't want to be an asshole or anything (I guess), but why are people so lazy? Am I the only one with a work ethic anymore. I have one paid job and like thirty unpaid jobs (WHICH MAKES ME A BETTER PERSON THAN YOU), and, yes, lately I've been doing a half-assed job at all of them instead of a full-assed (???) job at any of them, and yes, probably I should not say yes to everyone and everything (i.e. stop being such a dirty whore, or at least start getting paid for whoring myself. [hi mom! proud of me yet?]), but why am I the only one who errs on the side of working too hard? FUCK.

[Note to self: in the future, do not schedule an important test for the same week you're supposed to launch a website.]

In conclusion, listen to The Shins' new album. I forget the title (something with "night" and/or "away"), but it is lovely.

the bright side

(a) Tonight, after I missed a D [express] train AND an A [local] train, the next A train ran express from 59th to 125th street.

(b) It's looking 90% certain that I'm going to have an awesome job volunteering at an archive this summer.

(c) My cats didn't puke on anything while I was gone [that I know of].

(d) I read the awesomest [I'm totes going to rock the GRE!!!] books ever--Nightwatch and Daywatch, the first two in a four-part (tetralogy? Firefox spell check says no.) series by this Russian science fiction writer. Part of it is set in Praha! I recognize the street names and districts and stuff! Mám radá Prahu.

(e) I don't know, the weather? Posts about happy things are boring. No more of this blogging crap until I can think of something funny.

i am a terrible daughter

actual [abridged] phone conversation from earlier tonight:

marinatina: happy birthday mom!
[blah blah blah "how's san francisco?" etc]
marinatina: so mom, for your birthday, i was thinking i could pay for half your ticket when you visit me? you know, if you wanted to visit me... and if not, maybe i could get you something else? but maybe the plane ticket? that's a good present... right?


i am terrible at the whole "presents" thing, especially the presentation part. i gave my sister an amazon gift certificate, but i sent it to her two days late, and when i called her on her birthday, i was like "so, i was thinking i could get you an amazon card? so you could buy the cds? or maybe something else? or whatever, let me know." because i am all class. SOMEONE HELP ME.

whatever. happy birthday to my mom, the coolest mom in the whole damn world. someday i will learn how to properly celebrate her birthday, but until then, she'll love me even though i'm a total spaz.

math math gre math study study

Exciting news! I think I'm starting to understand percentages! I did sooo well on the percent practice test. Only a hundred or so more pages of my GRE Exam Math Workbook, and I'll be ready to not fail the math section like I have on every other standardized test I've taken!

OMG! This is boring! I promise I will do interesting things, or at least write interesting things, as soon as I've taken the GRE. Check back May 7th!

(Not really, check back earlier, I promise I'll make it worth your while.)

wooooooooo

This is kind of late, since it's April 20 in New York, but it's still the 19th in Wisconsin, although it's been April 20 for hours and hours where she was actually born, and she doesn't read this anyway so really this is all academic, and anyway, the point is that today is my sister's birthday, just so you know. She is lovely and amazing and I am so very happy that she was born on (basically) this day, oh so many years ago.

math is hard

If I do a practice test based on one mathematical concept and get 12/15 right, but that one concept will only be tested in 2-3 of the 28 (28?) math questions on the GRE, and I'm 75% likely to answer a word problem correctly but 30% likely to answer a quantitative comparison question correctly and -100000% likely to answer a data interpretation question correctly, what is the probability that I'm going to write something whiny about studying for the GREs instead of something obvious about how scary it is that more than thirty college students were murdered yesterday? Or something probably selfish about how I had this moment of panic when I realized it was in Virginia, but my cousin is okay and so are all her friends, so somehow that makes it easier for me to deal with? Or something about how lame it is that I only heard about the shooting today, because apparently I live under a rock?

buried

For the next three weeks, I will either be working, studying for this, or finishing phase one of the redesign of this. Possibly I will also sleep. Someday soon I will post pictures of the shelves that Kira put up in my room (I helped!) and perhaps I will tell of our epic struggles with the bizarre walls in our apartment and maybe even my epic struggle with our clogged bathroom sink. The moral of both stories is that I am handy with a screwdriver.

once again I am three years behind

Guess what's awesome? House, M.D. and also? The Libertines. Too bad that crazy Pete Doherty is a crackhead or whatevs. Anyway though, Hugh Laurie is super cool. I love the Brits!!

Everyone called in to work tonight, so I got to work alone alll night. Why am I the only one with a work ethic?

OMFGWTF

Go see Grindhouse RIGHT NOW.

give it a rest

Tonight, I learned that there is a tiny sketchy deli open 24 hours, right across the street from my subway entrance. I had beer and potatoes when I got home; I've never felt classier.

Pozor! UPDATES COMING SOON. Check back early and often.

holy crapola

Last weekend, I started a new website, redesigned my own website, designed another website, did my taxes, and filled out my fafsa, just in case. Yesterday and today? I watched like 10 episodes of House, MD. (Season 1! I'm so behind the times.)

Funny funny clever! Also, the Associated by campus is selling 5lb bags of potatoes for $.99. Related: I will be eating potatoes for breakfast lunch and dinner for the next week or two (how long does a five pound bag of potatoes last if it's your only source of sustenance?). Also related! I am apparently much poorer and Irisher than I ever realized.