Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Movies
I saw the latest Harry Potter movie on Monday. The previous week I read books 1-4. Ten years later and I'm finally jumping on that bandwagon.
The Simpsons movie is coming out this week. I haven't actually watched the show on Sunday in ages. That doesn't mean I don't watch the Simpsons. I watch them all the time on DVD. Anyways, I've been rather blase about the whole movie, but honestly, when I think about it makes me so excited! I think I'm just trying to keep my expectations in check just in case the movie sucks ass. I must still make a trip to Bladensburg to check out the Kwik-E-Mart. Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? I DO.
I have heard and read about young adults who have grown up along with Harry Potter and have expected a new installment every year or two for their entire adolescence. But now that is gone. I thought that was rather odd to have such a connection to a fictional character, but then I remembered that Bart Simpson and I are the same age. Lucky for me though, the Simpsons isn't ending. Ever, it would seem.
The Simpsons movie is coming out this week. I haven't actually watched the show on Sunday in ages. That doesn't mean I don't watch the Simpsons. I watch them all the time on DVD. Anyways, I've been rather blase about the whole movie, but honestly, when I think about it makes me so excited! I think I'm just trying to keep my expectations in check just in case the movie sucks ass. I must still make a trip to Bladensburg to check out the Kwik-E-Mart. Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? I DO.
I have heard and read about young adults who have grown up along with Harry Potter and have expected a new installment every year or two for their entire adolescence. But now that is gone. I thought that was rather odd to have such a connection to a fictional character, but then I remembered that Bart Simpson and I are the same age. Lucky for me though, the Simpsons isn't ending. Ever, it would seem.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Possibly the best weekend ever pt 2
The next day Grace showed me how to make freezer paper stencil tshirts. She made one with a big black birch tree and I made one with a large white birdcage on the lower right side and a tiny black m-shaped bird on the left shoulder. By the way, freezer paper doesn't seem to stick to shirts with synthetic fibers. Next time I'll either use a 100% cotton shirt or contact paper. But it was really easy and fun with very nice results.
We finally made it to Bev's where Grace and I had lunch. I had the world's perfect sandwich. They call it a grilled cheese but it's really a grilled prosciutto and pesto and cheese sandwich. I also had a cup of she-crab soup that was more like a thick chowder than a soup. I finished my lunch with an ice cream that combined by two favorite flavors: coffee and cookies & cream. Truly a lunch from heaven.
It was blazing hot that day so we stayed out of the A/C-less house. So the best thing on a hot day is of course a movie and a giant Icee. We saw Ratatouille and it was SO FREAKIN GOOD. Animation: unbelievably gorgeous. Story: great. The fact that it is about food and rodents (please consider my background here)? Awesome! If I could, I would shove you all into the theaters right now to see it.
After the movie it was around dinner time but still felt like midday on the surface of the sun. I suppose, midnight on the surface of the sun would feel the same, but... shut up. Even though we were planning on a dinner with just a little cooking, it still involved cooking in a house with no A/C. So we went to Grace's favorite Thai restaurant instead. Grace had an excellent pad thai that wasn't overly flavored one way or the other and had lot of great seafood. I don't eat Thai very often so I'm still always surprised to see so much of it is like Filipino food. For example one of our appetizers was fried tofu. I eat that pretty much every week at home. And dessert was mango (one of the good yellow ones, not the red/green ones) and sweet sticky rice cooked with coconut milk which is Khao Niaow Ma Muang in Thai, but in the Philippines it's called suman and cooked in banana leaf. The foods are basically the same, but I think the flavorings are the biggest difference. Plus I have this feeling that Thai incorporates different flavor sensations ie spicy sweet salty sour more in a single dish so the combinations can be rather startling to the uninitiated Westerner, whereas Filipino tends to be very sweet or very hot or very sour. On the other hand, I could be totally wrong.
So that was my fantastic weekend from two weekends ago.
This weekend I had to work Sunday and so I had Monday and Tuesday off. Wasn't a terrible weekend but I am looking forward to the 29th when I go back to Richmond and cook Filipino food for all of Grace's friends that I met at the brunch.
We finally made it to Bev's where Grace and I had lunch. I had the world's perfect sandwich. They call it a grilled cheese but it's really a grilled prosciutto and pesto and cheese sandwich. I also had a cup of she-crab soup that was more like a thick chowder than a soup. I finished my lunch with an ice cream that combined by two favorite flavors: coffee and cookies & cream. Truly a lunch from heaven.
It was blazing hot that day so we stayed out of the A/C-less house. So the best thing on a hot day is of course a movie and a giant Icee. We saw Ratatouille and it was SO FREAKIN GOOD. Animation: unbelievably gorgeous. Story: great. The fact that it is about food and rodents (please consider my background here)? Awesome! If I could, I would shove you all into the theaters right now to see it.
After the movie it was around dinner time but still felt like midday on the surface of the sun. I suppose, midnight on the surface of the sun would feel the same, but... shut up. Even though we were planning on a dinner with just a little cooking, it still involved cooking in a house with no A/C. So we went to Grace's favorite Thai restaurant instead. Grace had an excellent pad thai that wasn't overly flavored one way or the other and had lot of great seafood. I don't eat Thai very often so I'm still always surprised to see so much of it is like Filipino food. For example one of our appetizers was fried tofu. I eat that pretty much every week at home. And dessert was mango (one of the good yellow ones, not the red/green ones) and sweet sticky rice cooked with coconut milk which is Khao Niaow Ma Muang in Thai, but in the Philippines it's called suman and cooked in banana leaf. The foods are basically the same, but I think the flavorings are the biggest difference. Plus I have this feeling that Thai incorporates different flavor sensations ie spicy sweet salty sour more in a single dish so the combinations can be rather startling to the uninitiated Westerner, whereas Filipino tends to be very sweet or very hot or very sour. On the other hand, I could be totally wrong.
So that was my fantastic weekend from two weekends ago.
This weekend I had to work Sunday and so I had Monday and Tuesday off. Wasn't a terrible weekend but I am looking forward to the 29th when I go back to Richmond and cook Filipino food for all of Grace's friends that I met at the brunch.
Possibly the best weekend ever pt 1
It's been a while since I've posted anything about what I've been up to.
Two weekends ago I went to Richmond and had a faaaabulous time with Grace. As usual, I suppose, but this time was rather good.
Anyways, we had to get up for church on Sunday where the Unitarian Universalist church was having a special service from their writers group. Instead of a regular service they recited their poems and short stories. I liked many of them; they were charming, funny, and inspiring. One was kind of angry and scared me a little.
After church we went to a "young adults" group brunch held at the house of one of the members. There are quotations on that because they're not really all that young. I think you just have to be older than 18 but not yet retired. They call themselves the Young and the Restless. Anyways they were fun and interesting and the food was delicious. And I got to talk about beading and even got buttons for more projects!
Beading came up, by the way, because Grace was wearing my latest creation of three rather eclectic strands of freshwater pearls. Did I take a picture? Of course I didn't. But the earrings aren't yet made either, so maybe then.
Afterwards we stopped by Target so I could buy a swimsuit (the horror!) and Grace and I went swimming (more like standing around in water) at her parents' house while Andrew and their friend Erin went golfing. Did I mention it was like 90deg? Yeah, swimmin's much better than golfin'. Plus it was nice to chat with Grace's family. But then Grace's dad pulled out a puzzler from Car Talk and we couldn't stop thinking about that darn problem all day. Grace did figure it out some way I don't understand (she's a mathmagician!) but then in the middle of the night I figured out how to solve it like a geneticist would (ratios and such). We're great geeks, I tells ya.
When Andrew and Erin were done baking...er golfing, we all went to a Mexican restaurant. The food was good, especially the complex and aromatic red enchilada sauce. We planned to go to Bev's for homemade ice cream, but it was already closed. Probably a good thing considering I was stuffed.
We finally got home and while Grace and Andrew went to bed, I stayed up and watched the 4th Harry Potter movie which for some reason I had never gotten around to watching. I liked that one very much and now I have officially been sucked in and am now reading the books.
We did more that weekend, but I'll post the rest later.
Two weekends ago I went to Richmond and had a faaaabulous time with Grace. As usual, I suppose, but this time was rather good.
Anyways, we had to get up for church on Sunday where the Unitarian Universalist church was having a special service from their writers group. Instead of a regular service they recited their poems and short stories. I liked many of them; they were charming, funny, and inspiring. One was kind of angry and scared me a little.
After church we went to a "young adults" group brunch held at the house of one of the members. There are quotations on that because they're not really all that young. I think you just have to be older than 18 but not yet retired. They call themselves the Young and the Restless. Anyways they were fun and interesting and the food was delicious. And I got to talk about beading and even got buttons for more projects!
Beading came up, by the way, because Grace was wearing my latest creation of three rather eclectic strands of freshwater pearls. Did I take a picture? Of course I didn't. But the earrings aren't yet made either, so maybe then.
Afterwards we stopped by Target so I could buy a swimsuit (the horror!) and Grace and I went swimming (more like standing around in water) at her parents' house while Andrew and their friend Erin went golfing. Did I mention it was like 90deg? Yeah, swimmin's much better than golfin'. Plus it was nice to chat with Grace's family. But then Grace's dad pulled out a puzzler from Car Talk and we couldn't stop thinking about that darn problem all day. Grace did figure it out some way I don't understand (she's a mathmagician!) but then in the middle of the night I figured out how to solve it like a geneticist would (ratios and such). We're great geeks, I tells ya.
When Andrew and Erin were done baking...er golfing, we all went to a Mexican restaurant. The food was good, especially the complex and aromatic red enchilada sauce. We planned to go to Bev's for homemade ice cream, but it was already closed. Probably a good thing considering I was stuffed.
We finally got home and while Grace and Andrew went to bed, I stayed up and watched the 4th Harry Potter movie which for some reason I had never gotten around to watching. I liked that one very much and now I have officially been sucked in and am now reading the books.
We did more that weekend, but I'll post the rest later.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Nerd YouTube
If you have the stomach for it, check out the Dissection of a E12.5* mouse and removal of embryos; it's what I used to do. Although, I would have done things a little differently- you don't need scissors to get embryos out of a uterus. Also, watching him plate the neural precursors has me yelling at the screen, "I can't believe you just dropped that lid! Why are you crossing your arm over your open plate??!?!"
Yeah...nerd = me.
*12.5 day old embryo, roughly corresponds to a 46 day old human embryo
Yeah...nerd = me.
*12.5 day old embryo, roughly corresponds to a 46 day old human embryo
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Sleepy cat
Butters, my cat, used to live with me in Houston. She'd sleep in my bed with me, especially on chilly nights. I sent her to live with my parents before I moved back because I didn't want her to have to travel in a car for three days when she can't even stand being in a car for three minutes.
When I came back home, Butters' usual sleeping place was a chair in the living room. But in the past couple of weeks, she has come back to my bed every night. Whilst I stay up, fearing insomnia has come back, the cat sleeps. Back when I took classes and had homework to do in the wee hours of the morning, I'd nudge her awake because if I had to be up, so did she. Now I just let her sleep because she looks so cute!
I'd like to think she likes me a lot again like she did when I was the only person in her life. But I also think it has something to do with the recently relocated fish tank with the noisy water pump.
When I came back home, Butters' usual sleeping place was a chair in the living room. But in the past couple of weeks, she has come back to my bed every night. Whilst I stay up, fearing insomnia has come back, the cat sleeps. Back when I took classes and had homework to do in the wee hours of the morning, I'd nudge her awake because if I had to be up, so did she. Now I just let her sleep because she looks so cute!
I'd like to think she likes me a lot again like she did when I was the only person in her life. But I also think it has something to do with the recently relocated fish tank with the noisy water pump.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Science museums aren't just for kids and James Watson sure is a prick
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Blah Blah Blah
Today is the end of my three day weekend. I have to work tomorrow on the 4th of July, but that is ok because getting paid more is nice.
This weekend we grilled zucchini that was grown in the backyard. It was very good and I didn't die, so the whole growing stuff thing is going very well. Of course after the plants were in the ground, I did very little to help them out because my parents have much greener thumbs than I. But I have also eaten some of the squash blossoms in quesadillas and in omelets. They don't have much of a taste but they are very pretty and are a nice alternative to spinach, I suppose. Unfortunately, the blossoms have to be cooked the same day they're picked because they wilt really quickly. But, there are plenty more blossoms on these gigantic plants, so hopefully soon I'll manage to fill them with cheese and fry them up like chile rellenos.
On Sunday, I also met up with Danyel who has started work in Rockville, yay! We had plans to catch a movie today, but my whole weekend was delayed by the random power outage Monday from 2-10pm. So today I had to do a bunch of laundry and just about everything else that requires electricity.
Monday morning I went to the YMCA Potomac Outlook in Ft. Washington for a yoga class using a free pass I printed out from their website. The teacher turned out to be the same woman who taught at the free yoga demo at Harmony Yoga, also in Ft. Washington. The class was pretty good, though I still have issues with revolving triangle poses and the alignment of my feet and falling down. My leg is sore now and applied some of what my mom calls 'hot and spicy'. The rest of the world calls it Icy Hot. I guess that is what I get for not exercising for eons. Good thing I did actually join the Y. LOL, yes I do actually pay for stuff and not just try to get stuff for free. But it was nice that they waived the joining fee because they didn't know what it was supposed to be for this month.
Once again there are no pics because I kinda suck like that. Have a great Independence Day!
This weekend we grilled zucchini that was grown in the backyard. It was very good and I didn't die, so the whole growing stuff thing is going very well. Of course after the plants were in the ground, I did very little to help them out because my parents have much greener thumbs than I. But I have also eaten some of the squash blossoms in quesadillas and in omelets. They don't have much of a taste but they are very pretty and are a nice alternative to spinach, I suppose. Unfortunately, the blossoms have to be cooked the same day they're picked because they wilt really quickly. But, there are plenty more blossoms on these gigantic plants, so hopefully soon I'll manage to fill them with cheese and fry them up like chile rellenos.
On Sunday, I also met up with Danyel who has started work in Rockville, yay! We had plans to catch a movie today, but my whole weekend was delayed by the random power outage Monday from 2-10pm. So today I had to do a bunch of laundry and just about everything else that requires electricity.
Monday morning I went to the YMCA Potomac Outlook in Ft. Washington for a yoga class using a free pass I printed out from their website. The teacher turned out to be the same woman who taught at the free yoga demo at Harmony Yoga, also in Ft. Washington. The class was pretty good, though I still have issues with revolving triangle poses and the alignment of my feet and falling down. My leg is sore now and applied some of what my mom calls 'hot and spicy'. The rest of the world calls it Icy Hot. I guess that is what I get for not exercising for eons. Good thing I did actually join the Y. LOL, yes I do actually pay for stuff and not just try to get stuff for free. But it was nice that they waived the joining fee because they didn't know what it was supposed to be for this month.
Once again there are no pics because I kinda suck like that. Have a great Independence Day!
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