grossly overestimated
i sat down the other night in another attempt to tackle the GMAT. with no real strategy in mind for a study-structure, i decided to try my hand at the different sections in the book. i went straight for the stuff i knew i could do with a breeze: anything english related. i figured i could boost my ego a bit. back in the day of lots of standardized testing (SAT I and II, ACT, etc), i could run circles around the reading comprehension and grammar sections ... blindfolded. deductive reasoning? no problem! i once scored a 178 on a practice LSAT (out of 180). the bane of my test scores was always math, which i renounced at first jump in college.
test: practice. section: grammar. score: POOR. dang it, i'm so out of practice. maybe the "do what you always do, aka WING IT" strategy is not the one i should be going for.
current mood: duh-mb

i heart the gays. and target.
i don't know why i get so surprised by people sometimes when deep down i should know better. i was talking to someone yesterday, quite casually, when she said something about "do you shop at walmart?" being the biggest non-supporter of the place, i scrunched my face up and diplomatically declared "no, i'm not really a fan, i'm more of a target kinda girl." she answered immediately with "well, it supports gays, so i don't really like shopping at a place that supports something i'm so strongly against."
i managed to conceal the reaction on my face (i think) and simply said "huh." it seems i had momentarily shelved the fact that this lady held strongly in her faith that homosexuality is a sin, and i hadn't realized the extent to which this played out in her life. i suppose it's like those people who boycott dolphin un-friendly tuna. but since i'm not friends with any dolphins, it's not something i think about. i like target even more now, because i like the gays, and conversely dislike walmart even more for the same reasons.
current mood: judgemental

history
a couple times a week, i take a shortcut through the campus, between 2 buildings and off the beaten path. and every time i go by, i search briefly for this:

it's a small piece of masking tape, about 4 inches long, and it says "freshmen". and it has been on that wall for about 3 years, 8 months, 12 days (more or less). and the reason i know this is because i put that piece of masking tape on that wall in september of 2004, during a welcome picnic for new students to ucsd, the only event the alumni association could get me to come out to at the time. and that "freshmen" piece of tape was affixed to my shirt, directly under the "I (heart)".

every time i pass that piece of tape, i smile at the little print i've made on the campus. it has lived through rain and shine and building maintenance, and i fear the day i walk by and it's no longer there.
current mood: historical

deee-lish!
not to brag or anything, but i've been making some tasty dishes lately. i whipped up some homemade hummus and pita chips recently, all which resulted in a fire in my mouth; i put jalapeños in the hummus and cayenne on the pita.
a couple of weekends ago, i tiptoed into the world of lamb chops, roasting them with rosemary and lemon, and serving with brown-buttered polenta with a thyme cream sauce and roasted cauliflower with capers. and a salad, because you know i love my salads (pepper greens, feta, blackberries, garlic sesame sticks, homemade honey-roasted almonds).
seriously, it's getting deliciously ridiculous. or ridiculously delicious.
last night, i baked some halibut with some zucchini and garlic, and topped it with a shallot & lemon butter sauce. i rounded out the meal with a refreshing cucumber and tomato balsamic salad and a handful of fresh cherries. good times, my friends, good times.
current mood: satisfied

the sound of silence
i came home last night, stumbling to the front door laden with groceries and bags, and struggled to turn the key in the door. as i kicked my way in, my ears immediately went in to retreat as they have for the last 2 weeks, protecting themselves from the bass roar of the blowers. except this time, they were met with silence. as my recent pessimistic outlook on the whole situation took over, i assumed that something was broken. but as rounded the corner, i discovered that the blessed silence was a nod to the absence of equipment. HALLELUJAH!
tonight i will sleep for the first and last time in a while. tomorrow they rip up the floorboards.
current mood: dusty.

i'm like the freakin' morton salt girl!
without that cute little yellow dress
on my way home to pack up my boxes of closet stuff in the hopeful nudge to the universe to resolve this whole flood thing, i discover a flat tire. and in that flat tire, i discover a screw. and in my trunk, i discover a can of fix-a-flat, which garners me a stern lecture from the tire-repairer about what a false sense of security that can of foam gives people, and how it's only meant to get people to a single location, to which i politely informed him that his branch didn't appear to be open at 10'o'clock at night, and so it got me home, and straight to his front door first thing this morning, thankyouverymuch.
current mood: when it rains, it pours

sigh
insurance. landlord. blowers. ruined clothes. neighbors. cops. sagging roof. cupped floors. sigh.
i tried to blow this whole thing off and go with the attitude "it's just stuff". but it's not working, i'm actually quite discombobulated, adjusting life around the mechanics of recovery. i tried to escape it all and wait for the noise to settle (especially those blowers that were on all weekend), and poor j had to bear the brunt of my befuddlement. my place is about 95 degrees inside as they try to heat dry the place out, and so sleep has become impossible within those walls (i'm not allowed to open the window and let in the (cool!) damp sea air). i hung out at work for a good while over the weekend too, avoiding my place as much as possible.
sigh. sigh. i'm sleepy. sigh.
current mood: ready to be done with it all

wooosh!
burst pipe upstairs = wet clothes and shoes downstairs.

at least it only really hit my clothes. and my printer, rice cooker, food processor, fan, modem, and all those other electronic devices that my renter's insurance doesn't cover.
current mood: wet. wick-ed awe-some.