This past weekend I went to Memphis, TN for a conference. A few memorable lines:
"Four weddings, one price!", Megan screamed enthusiastically when it occurred to her we should all take a flight to Las Vegas, get married, and hopefully get a discount because there were eight of us. Megan is my former classmate and friend from Louisiana.
"This is where Jeff Buckley went swimming.", Michael casually told me while driving by the Mississippi river.
marți, ianuarie 30, 2007
luni, ianuarie 29, 2007
my first
After 3 1/2 years in grad school, I got my first publication! It's not in one of the best journals, but it's peer reviewed and recognized by the social psychology community.
me happy!
me happy!
joi, ianuarie 18, 2007
nu se mai poate asa
M-am saturat de oameni care nu pot trece peste faptul ca nu sunt in centrul atentiei, care nu se pot detasa de micile lor victorii, idei, particularitai, etc. Genul de oameni care nu pot tricota in liniste, ci trebuie sa spuna "Uite-te la mine! Tricotez!" M-am saturat sa apreciez inteligenta si frumusetea oamenilor, trasaturi cu care au venit pe lume si pentru care nu sunt responsabili. M-am saturat de sentimentul de mila, atat de superior si arogant. M-am saturat sa vad tot ce-i rau in oameni, m-am saturat sa nu suport pe nimeni, sa critic in sinea mea pe toata lumea. M-am saturat sa "simt enorm si vaz monstruos".
marți, ianuarie 16, 2007
a few days later
I posted this video a few days ago (twice) and it never came up. I was writing about how I would sacrifice one of my pinkies to go to their concert with Cata, I., and Oli;
and dance.
duminică, ianuarie 14, 2007
Movies of which I've had enough
I think they should stop making and awarding the following types of movies:
1. movies about a high-school teacher (usually White) who works at an inner-city school, with a predominant Hispanic and Black student body. The teacher has a hard time at first, but later changes and shapes those teenagers' lives forever.
2. movies about the awakening of a person (usually a White smart male) who has been living a boring, regimented life. There is a little more range here: 20-something to 50-something, after-college jaded to suburban jaded, Hollywood hits to independent movies.
3. road-trip movies.
Instead, I vote for movies in which the inner-city teacher is a crack head (Half Nelson), and, after an awakening affair, the suburbanites choose the suburban life (Little Children).
1. movies about a high-school teacher (usually White) who works at an inner-city school, with a predominant Hispanic and Black student body. The teacher has a hard time at first, but later changes and shapes those teenagers' lives forever.
2. movies about the awakening of a person (usually a White smart male) who has been living a boring, regimented life. There is a little more range here: 20-something to 50-something, after-college jaded to suburban jaded, Hollywood hits to independent movies.
3. road-trip movies.
Instead, I vote for movies in which the inner-city teacher is a crack head (Half Nelson), and, after an awakening affair, the suburbanites choose the suburban life (Little Children).
sâmbătă, ianuarie 06, 2007
Cake owes me
So we went to this British pub tonight and I had three British beers, soo good, and I'm somewhat tipsy. I even sang to Michael. We sat at the bar. And there was this older couple who talked about "how much we love the UK, and Bath especially." And the husband said that he'd always thought of having a single malt scotch and asked the bartender for some, while the wife kept saying "I can't believe he's doing this", as if he climbing rocks or shaving his head or something. They were talking to this Delta airlines pilot who seemed to know a lot of things and definitely wanted to talk about them. His name was Dean but Michael thought it was Bing, so he suggested our next pet's name is Bing. I'm going to hold him to that. Bing, the hamster.
After that, those four couples came literally waltzing in. They had strong southern accents. They were back from a dinner at a fancy ATLanta restaurant. Two of the wives were very drunk. I've never heard drunk loud talk about one's children before. Well, first they got into this mild fight whether Gray Goose of Kettle One votka was better, but once they started drinking, they forgot all about that and talked about their kids as if the kids were adults: "Jack is a really even person, but Stella is a thief and a whore." All four women had a lot of diamonds on, and they were extremely loud.
All this time, this lovely 80's gay CD was on. Boy George and stuff. We left when a a dear song of mine was playing: The Pretenders, the one which says "I'm thinking about the fireworks that go off when you smile."
My point is... come to College Park. We'll have beers in a quirky bar and we'll listen to songs. And we'll have chocolate cake. As the waiter told me: "Chocolate cake ows you!"
After that, those four couples came literally waltzing in. They had strong southern accents. They were back from a dinner at a fancy ATLanta restaurant. Two of the wives were very drunk. I've never heard drunk loud talk about one's children before. Well, first they got into this mild fight whether Gray Goose of Kettle One votka was better, but once they started drinking, they forgot all about that and talked about their kids as if the kids were adults: "Jack is a really even person, but Stella is a thief and a whore." All four women had a lot of diamonds on, and they were extremely loud.
All this time, this lovely 80's gay CD was on. Boy George and stuff. We left when a a dear song of mine was playing: The Pretenders, the one which says "I'm thinking about the fireworks that go off when you smile."
My point is... come to College Park. We'll have beers in a quirky bar and we'll listen to songs. And we'll have chocolate cake. As the waiter told me: "Chocolate cake ows you!"
vineri, ianuarie 05, 2007
I know nothing
I am so dumb, I don't deserve a PhD, MA, or BA. I don't even deserve a kindergarten graduation certificate. Because even a kindergartner would know not to leave the house when it's so dark outside it looks like dawn, despite the fact that it's 11:30 am. Because even a kindergartner would know very dark = rain coming.
By the time I reached the corner of the street, I was completely soaked. My jeans started to feel like cowboy leather pants. My shoes were so wet that avoiding rain puddles became pointless. So, from puddle to puddle, I hopped back home, where I put my clothes in the dryer and salvaged my book, my agenda, and my fee payment check from the soaked bag. I am also making use of our bathroom heated tiles to dry my shoes.
Now I am thinking about leaving again. As far as I know, very bright= rain not coming.
By the time I reached the corner of the street, I was completely soaked. My jeans started to feel like cowboy leather pants. My shoes were so wet that avoiding rain puddles became pointless. So, from puddle to puddle, I hopped back home, where I put my clothes in the dryer and salvaged my book, my agenda, and my fee payment check from the soaked bag. I am also making use of our bathroom heated tiles to dry my shoes.
Now I am thinking about leaving again. As far as I know, very bright= rain not coming.
miercuri, ianuarie 03, 2007
In the name of nostalgia (that bitch)
As many of you probably know by now, I am overly nostalgic. As a character from a Noah Baumbach movie very well said, "I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now." (more here).
One of the recurring nostalgias in my current life is about Louisiana, the place where Michael and I lived for two years. So between Christmas and the devilish New Year's Eve, we decided to go back.
What follows is a list of the things we did there in the name of nostalgia. I now realize this may be of little interest for most of you, except maybe for Raluca who lives there and my sister, who's usually interested in everything I do (like a good sister that she is). In any case, here it is:
In New Orleans:
- we ate muffaletta from Central Grocery
- we drank beer from Angeli's on Decatur
- we ate beignets and drank cafe au lait from Cafe Beignet.
- we walked and walked and walked
We also drove to Baton Rouge, the city where lived and complained about for two years. That's how nostalgia is so wicked.
In Baton Rouge:
- we drove to our former apartment building , where nothing has changed, including our neighbor's wrecked Toyota Corolla with an expired inspection sticker (expired in 1999).
- we went to Ambrosia Bakery to get King Cake, the traditional Mardi Gras oval shaped cake with a plastic baby Jesus inside. I was excited to get the amazing Zulu Cake, but they did not have it, so I had to resign myself to a plain cinnamon one.
- we drove on beautiful Highland road towards the LSU campus. It's beautiful because of the many oak trees with moss.
- we had coffee at Highland Coffee on the LSU campus. I don't love their coffee, but the place is nice. It was the place I used to go specifically to hear people speak in other languages than English (Baton Rouge is otherwise not a very ethnically diverse city).
- we visited an older couple who lives near LSU and used to work with Michael. They are hippies, their door is always open, and they have many cats and parrots in their house (which always smells like incense, "to cover the smell of pot", Michael would tell you). We arrived unannounced, but they welcomed us and, in the true spirit of Louisiana hospitality, said: "Would you like some gumbo? We've just made some!"
- we visited the shopping center on Jefferson highway, which was opened after we left Baton Rouge. It features a Whole Foods, which makes it the yuppie central of the city.
- throughout the day, we listened to the LSU radio station, my favorite radio station ever (because of the music they play).
- we had Nepali-Indian food at the Himalayas. We used to have Friday dinner there almost every week: meat momos for Michael, chicken tikka masala for me. We did it again.
The other wicked side of nostalgia is that it paints the past in colors that are too bright compared to the real thing. Going back, I could not help realizing that New Orleans is a sad, deserted city, or that Baton Rouge, with the exception of a few nice areas around LSU, is suburban and very poor around the edges. But the beautiful, vast Louisiana sky was as beautiful as I remembered it:
For now, I'll go pretend I'm watching LSU play American football in the Sugar Bowl. Go Tigers!
One of the recurring nostalgias in my current life is about Louisiana, the place where Michael and I lived for two years. So between Christmas and the devilish New Year's Eve, we decided to go back.
What follows is a list of the things we did there in the name of nostalgia. I now realize this may be of little interest for most of you, except maybe for Raluca who lives there and my sister, who's usually interested in everything I do (like a good sister that she is). In any case, here it is:
In New Orleans:
- we ate muffaletta from Central Grocery
- we drank beer from Angeli's on Decatur
- we ate beignets and drank cafe au lait from Cafe Beignet.
- we walked and walked and walked
We also drove to Baton Rouge, the city where lived and complained about for two years. That's how nostalgia is so wicked.
In Baton Rouge:
- we drove to our former apartment building , where nothing has changed, including our neighbor's wrecked Toyota Corolla with an expired inspection sticker (expired in 1999).
- we went to Ambrosia Bakery to get King Cake, the traditional Mardi Gras oval shaped cake with a plastic baby Jesus inside. I was excited to get the amazing Zulu Cake, but they did not have it, so I had to resign myself to a plain cinnamon one.
- we drove on beautiful Highland road towards the LSU campus. It's beautiful because of the many oak trees with moss.
- we had coffee at Highland Coffee on the LSU campus. I don't love their coffee, but the place is nice. It was the place I used to go specifically to hear people speak in other languages than English (Baton Rouge is otherwise not a very ethnically diverse city).
- we visited an older couple who lives near LSU and used to work with Michael. They are hippies, their door is always open, and they have many cats and parrots in their house (which always smells like incense, "to cover the smell of pot", Michael would tell you). We arrived unannounced, but they welcomed us and, in the true spirit of Louisiana hospitality, said: "Would you like some gumbo? We've just made some!"
- we visited the shopping center on Jefferson highway, which was opened after we left Baton Rouge. It features a Whole Foods, which makes it the yuppie central of the city.
- throughout the day, we listened to the LSU radio station, my favorite radio station ever (because of the music they play).
- we had Nepali-Indian food at the Himalayas. We used to have Friday dinner there almost every week: meat momos for Michael, chicken tikka masala for me. We did it again.
The other wicked side of nostalgia is that it paints the past in colors that are too bright compared to the real thing. Going back, I could not help realizing that New Orleans is a sad, deserted city, or that Baton Rouge, with the exception of a few nice areas around LSU, is suburban and very poor around the edges. But the beautiful, vast Louisiana sky was as beautiful as I remembered it:
For now, I'll go pretend I'm watching LSU play American football in the Sugar Bowl. Go Tigers!
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