5:54 PM

HALLOWEEN EMERGENCY!!!

I am having an emergency!  I need a Waloli/Wa-Lolita costume for Halloween!!  But I suck at sewing... and Steve's too busy... and they're SO expensive!!


If anyone can find a cute one that's under $70, let me know, please!!! ^^;  Otherwise I don't know what I'll do ;-;...  I've googled for HOURS!  I bet Adil could find one (this is a *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* kind of moment).

Otherwise I will give up this weekend and butcher my own... =_=

6:28 AM

...Why?

They put a cubs hat on the Picasso statue at Daley Plaza....


....=_=

3:42 PM

Visit with the Surgeon...

Well, I had my meeting with a surgeon today about the 'lymph node'.  He examined it thoroughly (which hurt) and then decided it was a bit high to be lymph node.  He is pretty sure it's a cyst.  My mom then mentioned the lymphoma in my family, and then he proceeded to feel up all the lymph nodes in my body (even the groin!  Exciting!).


He told me the pain is due to the fact that the cyst lies right over a nerve that goes over my head.  He also said it might be slightly due to strain because of all the reading I do.  But, he didn't want to remove it, because he believes it to be benign.  In two months if it doesn't go away he wants me to come back.

But... why would I get a cyst, you ask?  People get cysts all the time, but this one is more related to infection.  He asked me if I had any sores or lacerations on my head... which I said 'no' to, but then remembered all the cuts on my head due to this horrible compulsion I have to pick my head... thus resulting in pretty deep cuts sometimes.

But, it's still all good.  I just don't know what to do about the pain in the mean time because pain killers haven't been helping much.  I've been trying meditation and relaxation techniques.

On the plus side, I did get to come home and play with halloween things.... though, I have an exam tomorrow and lots of things to do, but I'm just so stressed :\...

My mom bought this 3 foot tall zombie butler who's eyes light up and he says weird things.  He also holds a candy dish.  He was quite the steal for $25 at Jewel.  I bought some lights and bloody clings.  I need more stuff.  

Oh, and the zombie butler's name is 'Nigel'. 

Hopefully my bestest friend, Steve will be making me a wa loli costume ^^  Yeah!

11:33 AM

Lindsay and Derek's Cleaning Service

So... apparently I've started a new business.  And apparently it's a not-for-profit!  It's main role is to eliminate the ridiculous messes that our roommates create without any responsibility on their part.  But, the best part is that they are so talented in their mess-making that they are able to undo our work within minutes of their return.  When a confrontation is attempted we are usually told that they are 'too busy' or that our place 'doesn't need cleaning'.  Which really only further attests to their ultimate piggy-ness.

And I'm not really worried about them reading this and whining and/or bitching - because as I mentioned before they are far too busy to clean up after themselves, and therefore far too busy to read my blog.  The only person who really reads it is Troy, and strangely I am not upset at his piggy-ness this time (mostly because he is absent this weekend...and he's been cleaning up his act lately)

So, yesterday afternoon - just like every Saturday afternoon- I cleaned the communal areas of the apartment head to toe.  Derek only vacuumed, but he had back problems that day, so he was excused of duties.  But, after cleaning for about an hour and half, my roommates Paul and Andrew returned from studying at Caribou Coffee.  Now, an hour and a half of cleaning is not so bad, but it's what I was cleaning up that angered me.

I cleaned up wax and burnt paper from Andrew and Paul screwing around with candles.
I cleaned up powdered cherry drink from Paul.
I cleaned up oodles of dust, but that's just because of the opened windows and lack of ventilation.
I cleaned up grease that was splattered all over my rice cooker, presumably from Andrew not noticing or caring where their grease from the Forman Grille splatters.
I cleaned up water all over the counters from careless dish washers.
I cleaned up dishes that were still dirty after they were washed due to poor quality of dish washing.
I didn't clean the microwave, because I rarely touch the effing microwave and it was disgusting.
I didn't clean the stove because I'm sick and fucking tired of constantly cleaning it because no one can clean up after themselves.  I don't ever get anything all over the stove, so it's hard for me to imagine how much my roommates manage to dirty it so.
Last week I cleaned up dry eraser marker dust that was all over my nice coffee table... this took quite a while since it nearly stained the table.  I was then given the response of 'aw... sorry' with a slight chuckle revealing the lack of remorse on the part of the dust maker.

I mean, really all people need to do is clean up after themselves, a task I have never found even slightly difficult in all my twenty years of living.  Yes, it was a bit hard up until the age of six, but I managed this skill eventually.

And the excuse of not having enough time is incredibly insulting.  If you don't have enough time to clean up your breakfast mess in the morning, wake up the extra two minutes it requires to clean said mess up.  Also, I manage to clean up my own mess, and everyone else's while working, going to class, doing my homework, and tutoring - and I still have a little time for this blog, video games and pleasure reading.

I think it must really come down to selfishness.

So, back to my roommates' return yesterday.  Derek and I told them how we cleaned and we were met with the response 'it didn't need to be cleaned' and an utter confusedness as to why we could possibly be angry with them.  So, as usual I just bottled the anger and tried to distract myself with playing video games (I haven't really played any in three weeks).

But, that's not the point.

Derek and I wake up this morning (well... afternoon for me, I didn't quite feel like getting up due to a combination of pain and depression), and what are we greeted with this morning?  Crumbs all over the table and cereal clogging the sink.  How incredibly nice.  There are already crumbs on every surface I cleaned.  So, obviously Derek and I are fuming mad.  It's difficult to imagine that these people we live with are supposed to be our friends, since they obviously care little about us and do not respect us.  This has led Derek and I to want to find our own apartment - maybe with Adil if he wouldn't mind the commute.

So, that's all pretty stressful, right?  Besides my work, school, tests, tutoring and Nihongo Club (that I really have little time for now, all of a sudden) I have yet another stressor.  I have had an enlarged lymph node on the back of my upper, left neck for 8 weeks now.  I have an appointment with a surgeon for a consultation tomorrow.  It has shrunk a bit in the last two days, which worries me (because it shrunk before and then became huge).  This worries me, because I am having horrible migraines on that side of my head, including the lymph node, accompanied with horrible nausea.   I've grown accustomed slightly to the pain, but the pain killers available to me are ineffective, leaving me to just try and sleep it off.  

I'm worried about being told tomorrow that it's not too enlarged.  Last week it was huge, but the week before that it was about this size, and two weeks before that it was huge.  It seems to change - maybe it's stress related.  However, if that was the case it would be huge right now due to my highly stressful roommates.

Right now, as I type, Andrew is cooking on the Forman Grille.  What are the chances he will notice grease splattering all over my rice cooker?

At this point I'm pretty sure it's Paul's cereal clogging the drain, since Andrew just looked at it and said 'sick'.  Chances are we'll tell Paul about it and he'll never get around to cleaning it.  Just like last week within hours of my cleaning the apartment he came back and asked to use my rice and rice cooker.  I let him, but when I walked through the kitchen an hour later there was rice everywhere.  Once confronted Paul said he would clean it up, which he never did, and I eventually just gave up.

That really has become my attitude lately with them.  I just kind of say 'fuck it, I give up'.   They are slobs and probably will always be slobs.  I don't care if their feelings are hurt by this, because they obviously don't care about my feelings.

I'm just so incredibly pissed right now!  It's hard to think of anything else... :\  I guess I'll just go do some homework and slowly explode in anger.

I secretly hope something is wrong with this whole lymph node thing because I could use the vacation.

I just noticed this whole post was a bit of a bitch-a-thon.  I sort of feel bad, but not.  I actually feel more bad for those of you reading this, because it's probably not as interesting as my usual post - I had a whole other post planned for this weekend but I am just so frustrated.

I need another walk on the beach with Adil :P

7:09 PM

Bollywood etc...

Today in Buddhist Art and Architecture we started watching Asoka which is a fantastic Bollywood film.  Needless to say, I am thoroughly enjoying it.  I also learned that Urdu and Hindi are basically the same language, because I recognized and understood a few words here and there thanks to my brown friend Adil.


I have also decided that I need to be watching more Bollywood films, as I believe they portray the ideal life.

I'm super busy this week with work and a lot of Art History work, but hopefully this weekend I'll have time to elaborate on my crazy week...

I did watch Project Runway and was a little bit  disappointed in the lack of innovation.

For some reason I'm watching a weird show called 'Ace of Cakes' right now on the food network.... and it's freaking amazing.  I love cake... I love making cakes!

Today was the first meeting of the Japanese club at UIC.  It seems like it will be fun, except I gave up on the whole president thing, because the one incredibly obnoxious freshman (of whom I have mentioned before) would not let up... and I thought Anna deserved it more... and I did not want to have to work with that kid.  So, I settled for Vice President.  I hope it will still be fun.

Well... I'm having problems with my attention span right now because the TV is on and I should probably be doing work...

...ugh...expect a post sometime this weekend with something slightly more substantial.... I hope.

7:31 PM

Busy Weekend...

So, I went home last night to celebrate my mom's birthday and it was pretty fun.  Except, my mom decided to insult my religious beliefs/lack there of.  But I forgave her, because that's what Jesus would do.


Today I did some shopping, a little studying, and I just finished making dinner for me and my friends.  I ran to Dominick's with Andrew and Derek earlier to get ingredients... there was a great incident on the bus ride back:  Andrew got on the bus and saw a guy move in his seat and then said "Are you getting off soon".  He didn't realize how douche-baggy that sounded until after he said it.  The guy then replied "yes", got up and moved towards the door... except he wasn't getting off until two stops later.  Andrew then sat down and realized that he was a dick.  Then he brought it up every hour this evening and we laughed.

My food was pretty good....  we made a fancy-ish evening of it.  Enjoy the pictures.



This is the delicious meal I made with the help of my Sous Chef, Derek.  It's Basil Chicken Pasta.  It's composed of chicken, mushrooms, red peppers, and farfalle pasta... there's also a delicious sauce with parmesan cheese, cream, pepper, basil, and garlic...


This is Andrew.  He is enjoying the food I made with a funny face.  Laugh at him, it will make him feel uncomfortable... then remind him of that incident on the bus.



We drank out of slightly fancy glasses.  I had organic pomegranate soda!  It was delicious and interestingly colored (hot pink...)



We also had candles going.  It was romantic.

8:13 PM

I like to take photos...

I like to take photographs sometimes, who doesn't?  Here are some I stumbled on that I took at the Brookfield zoo last summer... these were my favorites from all of them.  I love Peacocks... probably contributes to my interest in Eastern Asian art...










Any comments?  I think I'm an okay photographer...  I still have the remnants of an artist in me I think.

5:16 PM

Free time...?

I have a strange amount of free time today...  I should have known I would have time today because I really don't have any class work due tomorrow... I just had sooo much due today!  I was working on a summary of Plato/Aristotle/Medieval philosopher mumbo-jumbo for my Art Theory class.


Even though I obviously don't like the subject matter right now of the class, I think eventually there will be a subject I'll get into.  I still love the class though - the discussion is entertaining and lively.  I'm also beginning to feel like I fit in more with the rest of the Art History children/adults...  It's really nice.  I felt like so much of a wallflower/outcast up until now.

I've also been thinking about my focus in Art History... I think I want to also do some popular culture research in comic books, video games, and Japanese Anime and Manga.  There isn't too much research in it... but there's more and more everyday on comic books and anime.  I haven't seen any Art Historical research on video games, yet, though.  Plenty of psychology research, though.  If anyone stumbles on anything, let me know.

I haven't watched the new Project Runway yet... but I'm going to at 8:00 tonight.  I think I might type live commentary as I watch... because I have nothing to do.

12:41 PM

Tattoos....

I'm very much considering getting a tattoo this February for my birthday...  I know, I know... it's permanent, unprofessional, and sometimes tacky, but I have an incredibly strong desire to ornament my body and most piercing look silly on me because i have a small face.  Thought about the nose ring thing for a while... But, I don't know.


As far as tattoos go I'm thinking either foot, or side of neck.  I want a sakura (cherry blossom) branch.  If on my foot, I'd want it to come down from my ankle and go across my foot, kind of like this person's:


However, I'd want the cherry blossoms in red... and maybe a darker brown for the branch... and slightly more stylized.  I really want to go all out and get my whole back or side done... but I thought it might be smarter to start smaller...

If on the side of my neck, I'd have the branch creep up my ear.  I thought it might be more subtle...  Both tattoo locations seem pretty painful, though, due to the lack of fat.

I really like this one... I would love to have something this big!


That's pretty.  I bet it's really expensive, though... :\  I don't know... I'm going to wait until February anyways, so I guess I have time to think about it...  But I want it nooow >-<