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Cats, and Scrabble, and the sound of trains.

Why I Love [lɪŋgwɪstɪksmeɪʤɚz]

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Koalagami

Maggie loves koalas, so I made this as part of her Christmas gift. Took a few tries, since the instructions were written in Japanese. Thank goodness for pictures.

Shh! She doesn't know yet!

Today's Headlines

CLASSES END WITH SNOWY AND SATISFYING FINISH

Chinese skits and language logic problems round out the semester.

COED RECEIVES APARTMENT KEYS, CELEBRATES WITH PIZZA

Having officially signed the lease and withstood another two hours of well-meant health advice, Jessica R and friend promptly leave the pistachios in the car in favor of cheesy goodness.

RACE AGAINST TIME: COUNTDOWN STARTS ON FINAL PAPER

The writer calls "finish[ing] the outline, anyway" an "acceptable start," and is confident the paper will make 3,000 words by its Sunday deadline: "Sleep is only for real people."

Word Swapping

There is a rather well-known (courtesy of Slumdog Millionaire) Hindi song called Jai Ho (जय हो). In Hindi, "Jai ho!" means something like "May you have victory!" or even "Hallelujah!"

Unfortunately, this song happened to get stuck in my head today. This was unfortunate not because it's a bad song (I rather like it) but because I spent probably six or seven hours reading, writing, and memorizing Chinese today.

At some point I realized that "jai" and "ho" are both valid sound combinations in Chinese as well as Hindi ("zhai" and "hou"), which gave me the wonderfully procrastinatory (™) idea of finding out what I might be singing, were I singing in Chinese.

Somehow I don't think the dance at the end of Slumdog Millionaire would have been quite as meaningful if Jamal and Latika, finally reunited, had grasped hands and yelled, "Pluck crabs!"

My New Habit:

wearing five layers.

Learn 中文 At CMU!

Fall '09

功课很多

[gong ke hen duo]

There is a lot of homework.

Spring '10

我饿了

[wo e le]

I am hungry.

Fall '10

我累死了

[wo lei si le]

I am tired to death.

... Is anyone else seeing a trend here?

Halloween Highlights

1. Hot chocolate and pumpkin cookies!

2. Going to see Silence of the Lambs in the UC on old, grainy film.

3. Crashing at Anna's again.

4. Skyping with Amanda.

5. Not being a superhero. Freaking everyone is a superhero!

Oh Facebook, How Well You Know Me

Dorm Door :)

Mental Tour Destinations:

Earthquakes

Sexual assault

Gang violence

Peace of mind

Things You Learn In College:

Not to send worry dolls through the wash.

Workspace

9

is the number of people already signed up for the experiment I'm running in lab! I start on Monday.

IJM: 5 Weeks For Freedom Finale And Concert

This summer 15 people from all over the US and Canada took five weeks out of their lives to bicycle 1800 miles, at up to 100 miles per day, along the historic Underground Railroad from Alabama to New York, spreading awareness of and promoting action against modern-day slavery along the way. Their journey, sponsored by the International Justice Mission, ended in Buffalo with a screening of IJM's new documentary At the End of Slavery, as well as performances by two artists, Rwandan-born Enric Sifa and the Top-40, Texas-based band Green River Ordinance. And Jess, Laura, and I got to be there.

Enric Sifa opened the evening. Enric was six when genocide broke out in Rwanda. His mother, who loved to sing and dance, was killed in the violence, along with his father. He ended up on the streets for years, singing to himself the songs his mother used to sing, until finally he was able to go back to school. Now he lives in Portland, Oregon, and sings for audiences, following his calling and trying to spread love to the world. He has a very strong voice.

This is one of the songs he sang, though ours was a guitar version. The title, Vahanze, means something along the lines of "come out and enter in." He taught us how to sing the refrain, as he does to his audience in the video. (Hear the whole song at myspace.com/enricsifa.)

Next Amy Something talked about 5 Weeks For Freedom, and showed episode one of Raw From The Road, a very rough documentary series chronicling the bikers' five-week journey. The rest of the episodes can be found at youtube.com/user/IJM2009. Following the screening, three of the riders went up onstage to share a little about the experience.

After we had clapped for all the bikers, we watched IJM's new 30-minute documentary on modern-day slavery; that is, human trafficking, the sex trade, and forced labor. It's called At the End of Slavery. You can learn more at IJM.com.

After that, the tone of the evening lightened considerably with a spectacular performance by Green River Ordinance. The band is made up of five guys from Texas who started playing in high school and are still together ten years later.

They started the website thehopeGROs.com, where you can download their songs for $0.99 each and 100% of the profits go to charity. You can choose which of the five charities listed (IJM is one of them) your money benefits.

They sang Getting Older (below), On Your Own, Goodbye L.A. (a song inspired by their van's run-in with a three-foot yellow pole in said city), Learning, Piece It Together, Everything You Are, and Come On. They're the kind of band that's well enough on the CD, but really amazingly powerful live. Funny, too. And it helped that the audience was into it.

After a few more words from Amy, and a few minutes spent signing advocacy letters the bikers passed out, GRO came back onstage with Enric Sifa and they did a pretty entertaining duet/improv kind of thing, where we got to see Enric's retro-hip-rocker side. That pretty much made the night.

Afterward, Jess, Laura and I enthused about the show while huddled on the street corner in the rain, until we developed common sense and ran for the parking lot. We met back at Jess's apartment and all got into her car to drive to Spot Coffee, where Jess and I got vanilla cappuccinos and Laura got a green tea. Jess and I impressed the guy making our drinks by reading the message written on the counter - 你爱我们的咖啡！- You love our coffee! - and then we grabbed a table and discussed TV shows, until a random (very polite and uncreepy) guy named Phil came up and told Jess she looked like his Russian ex-girlfriend, which made everyone crack up.

We left fifteen minutes before closing time, headed back to Jess's to say goodbye and transfer cars, then Laura and I hit the road. We chatted the whole way back, which was great because we both stayed awake, but bad because we missed the first exit which added 20 minutes to our trip. But no harm done.

We arrived safely home around 2 a.m., well satisfied with the night.

Still Slogging...

Here is another biodoodle I rather like, because you can look at it two different ways:

or

PostSecret

Frank Warren is the Most Trusted Stranger, the creator of PostSecret (the uninitiated should check out the links at the end of this post). Last night he came to speak at CMU, to share stories that were funny and heartbreaking.

People lined up at the microphones to tell their secrets. I have preserved some of these secrets in my copy of Confessions on Life, Death, and God, the new PostSecret book which Corinne bought me as an early birthday present. There was a postcard in my copy. It says I'M PRETENDING. It was sent in December 2006 from Boston.

I saw Cassia there, briefly. And I got to talk to Frank. He signed my book.

Afterwards Corinne and I stole the advertisement posters from the UC bulletin boards to keep as souvenirs.

postsecret.blogspot.com

postsecretcommunity.com

postsecretcommunity.com/lifedeathgod

Things Biology Has Taught Me:

Firstly, never be afraid to acknowledge your own limitations.

Secondly, make sure you are familiar with the various classifications of zombies so that you may address them properly when they take over the world.

And thirdly, all of the masses of scientific knowledge available today may be accredited to the consistent demonstration of one indisputable truth:

Search Stories!

Go to www.youtube.com/searchstories to make one of your own! It takes about a minute. What an awesome idea. Thanks, Google, even though it's a marketing ploy. I'm sold.

CMU I ♥ YOU

Tonight I went to the CMU I ♥ YOU film festival, held under the big tent as part of Carnival. Terri invited me because she co-directed one of the films.

All of the films were made by CMU students in the film club, based somehow on the theme of love, and they were varying degrees of good. Most were well done enough to be appreciated without being so amazing as to be scary. Some were a bit dull, including one about a boy who has a crush on a girl, so he writes her a note and leaves it in her text book but then - gasp! - she comes back with her boyfriend. Sadness.

But my favorite was called Untitled. It was the only one called Untitled. Figures.

Untitled begins with a girl standing against a wall. You can only see her face. The picture is black and white, and her eyes look like two bright white holes. She stares at the camera for a while and then begins to speak, but you don't hear what she's saying, just creepy music. The rest of the video is startling and disconcerting overlays of streets and lights and colors and the profiles of two faces moving in and out of each other, always layered over the girl's face as she talks and talks about something you can't hear. At the end she falls silent.

Chemists was artistic and well done visually, a lot of wide shots of stairs and walls. Tale of Two Majors was a rather amusing sort of Romeo and Juliet story about a drama student dating a CS major. Map Time was a cute and well done animated piece about some book characters fighting over a female tennis player in a magazine. Morning After was a narrated story about an apathetic couple set to artistic shots around campus.

I froze, but I enjoyed the films.

Emergency Repairs

BleachSpot-B-Gone:

我去年去中国旅行

Last Year I Traveled To China:

My (tentative) contribution to the Polyglot Language Journal.

It took a lot of editing by the SA.

Some numbers / dates may be off, I wasn't particular.

我是一年级的学生，从纽约来。去年一月分，一个中国老师从北京来到我的学校，她叫侯老师。她给我们介绍中国。她也教给我们几句中文：“你好” 和 “我爱你”。两日后，她回到北京去。二月分，我们的校长说侯老师想请学生去中国看她的学校。我很想去。我问我的朋友们，有谁想不想跟我去中国。我的好朋友 Mara 说她想去。我们问我们的父母我们可不可以去。他们说我们可以去，我们非常高兴！

I am a Freshman from New York. Last January, a Chinese teacher from Beijing came to my school, Ms. Hou. She talked about China. She also taught us some Chinese phrases: "Hello" and "I love you." After two days, she returned to Beijing. In February, our principal told us Ms. Hou had invited students to go to China and see her school. I really wanted to go. I asked all of my friends if they wanted to go with me. My friend Mara said she did. We asked our parents if we could go. They said we could. We were really happy!

四月十六日，我的家人送我到机场。Mara, 我，还有七个学生和五个老师一起从纽约坐飞机去中国。飞机非常大，旅程很久，总共坐了十四个小时。我们先去咸阳。我们晚上跟咸阳的市长吃晚饭，然后我跟我的接待妈妈见面。她和我一起走到她的公寓。那儿她给我介绍了我的接待爸爸和妹妹。妈妈会说英文，是英文老师。妹妹也会说一点儿英文，在学校学英文。爸爸不会说英文，可是他给了我一杯绿茶，欢迎我来。我在我妹妹的卧室睡觉。明天早上，妹妹去学校，妈妈和我去公园。公园非常漂亮！接待家晚上送了我一些礼物。我妹妹送了我我的名字：牟俊丽。

On April 15th, my family dropped me off at the airport. Mara and I, and seven other students and five teachers took a plane together from New York to China. The plane was very big and the flight very long; it took fourteen hours. We first went to Xianyang. That night we ate dinner with the Xianyang mayor, then I met my host mother. She and I walked to her apartment together. There she introduced me to my host father and sister. My mother could speak English; she is an English teacher. My sister could also speak a little English; she studies it in school. My father could not speak English, but he gave me a cup of green tea to welcome me. I slept in my sister's room. The next morning, my sister went to school and my mother and I went to the park. The park was very beautiful! That night my host family gave me gifts. My sister gave me my name: JunLi Mu.

我们在咸阳住了四天。我们去看了兵马俑，还去了两个学校，山西大学和咸阳师范学院。学生欢迎我们来中国。他们想给我们写电子邮件，我们就给了他们我们的电子邮件地址。我们在咸阳认识了很多新朋友。

We stayed in Xianyang four days. We saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and also visited two schools, Shaanxi University and Xianyang Normal University. The students welcomed us to China. They wanted to send us emails, so we gave them our email addresses. In Xianyang we got to know many new friends.

四月二十日，我们从咸阳坐火车到北京。然后，我们坐公共汽车到侯老师的学校，北京市十一学校。学校很大，有很多教室，也有很多学生。学生们都非常友好。我的接待妹妹会说英文，说得很好。我们谈到了学校，功课，书，电影，和我们的国家。我很喜欢中国，妹妹想来美国上大学。我的接待妈妈开车带我们去金源时代购物中心吃饭， 我们吃了饺子，也喝了汤 。然后，我们去买东西。我在北京去了万里长城， 天安门广场， 紫禁城，颐和园，和天坛。之些地方都非常漂亮。我不想回家。

On April 20th, we took a train from Xianyang to Beijing. Then we took a bus to Ms. Hou's school, Beijing National Day School. The school was really big, with many classrooms and many students. The students were all very friendly. My host sister could speak English very well. We talked about school, homework, books, movies, and our home countries. I really like China, and my sister wants to come to America for college. My host mother drove us to the Golden Resources Shopping Mall to eat. We ate dumplings and soup. Then we went shopping. In Beijing I saw the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven. All of these places were very beautiful. I did not want to return home.

回来后，我想念我中国家人。我在大学，我学中文为了以后能和他们说中文。我常常给他们写电子邮件。我想很快回中国。

After I got back, I really missed my Chinese family. In college, I'm studying Chinese so I can speak Chinese with them. I often send them emails. I want to go back to China soon.

Four,

as it should be :)

Vitosynthesis

N. [vē-tō-sin(t)-thə-səs]

The gradual process of interweaving dynamic life elements into a single, complex, self-defining existence.

Synonyms.

living

The Great Snow Adventure of Twenty Ten (IV)

Chapter 4

Driving out of the parking lot was all right. Driving from the parking lot to the road was slow but all right. Driving on the road... that was another matter.

Steph and Jess spent the first few minutes chatting with Lucas and his wife, Heather, about Avatar, but after that, the couple's concentration was entirely on the traffic.

Traffic? Hardly. The travelers were faced with a mess of spinning wheels kicking up snow, sideways cars across lanes, people waving at other people to back up, turn around, get out of the way. The road, of course, went up a hill; the cars, for the most part, did not.

After backing up and weaving around and crawling diagonally forward, Lucas (colorfully) gave up. Heather called the other car to tell them the plan. The convoy pulled slowly around, and lumbered off in the opposite direction.

It worked, for a while. If a road got too backed up, they simply changed their route. One-way street? Too bad. No one could go more than five mph anyway, and the traffic in the other direction certainly wasn't going anywhere.

But alas, it was still too much. They knew it was only a matter of time before they got stuck, so between them, a plan was hatched to squish everyone into one car for better traction. They would leave the other car in the parking lot where some of them worked, a place called UPMC Sports Medicine or something similar.

As they drove toward the parking lot, Lucas grumbled,

"This is a dumb idea. This is such a bad idea. The parking lot won't even be plowed. We should turn around. This is such a stupid idea."

They didn't turn around.

It was a bad idea.

Of course, both the cars got stuck. Lucas and Heather and their friends got out of their separate cars to convene in the snow-covered parking lot (and help push out the car of a woman on the cleaning staff, who was just leaving. She promptly went not in the direction of the road but rather deeper into the parking lot. "Man, we're gonna have to push her out again," said Lucas).

In the car, Jess and Steph were texting furiously before their phones died, trying to tell everyone (except their parents, of course - they weren't that dense) what had happened and where they were, since by this time it was midnight.

Heather got back in the car to try and start it while the others pushed - no luck.

"I think at this point, we'd better just walk it," she said. Steph and Jess nodded, not particularly surprised.

They prepared, stowing phones, zipping coats, and the like. Heather got an extra vest out of the trunk and rummaged around for socks - still no luck.

Steph was suddenly very grateful for the hooded sweater under her hoodless coat.

And so again the party set off, on foot this time, giddy and making jokes, since there are only two ways to deal in these types of situations and the other is much less pleasant.

As they left the parking lot, the cleaning woman drove out behind them, to their amazement. They were even more amazed when she quite impossibly drove out behind them again two minutes later. (Perhaps the weather was making our travelers somewhat delusional, and they were having a mass hallucination; or perhaps there was a blip in the Matrix.)

They then proceeded to stumble valiantly through feet - plural - of snow, down roads, over bridges, under bridges, dodging the occasional car. At one point an idiot came sliding sideways down the street, swung out into the middle of the intersection, did an impressive series of donuts, and spun off in another direction. Our travelers jumped out of the way and then watched, eyebrows raised and mouths open.

They continued on. The snow fell in small wet flakes that hit the skin like needles and refused to melt, so that snow piled on their heads and shoulders and bags. Eventually Lucas's friends broke off in another direction, heading for home. The rest struggled through a buried Shenley Park to reach campus, where Lucas and Heather pointed the way and then also headed for home. One of the other students went with them, since she lived on that side of campus. The other student and the mother continued past campus toward Craig, where they apparently lived.

And so we have Jess and Steph making the final leg of the journey across campus, from the very farthest corner of Scaife Hall to the warmth and safety of Morewood Gardens. As in all great journeys, these last steps are the most difficult, as the girls struggle up the hill through snow past their knees, fighting to keep their footing on stairs made into ice mountains and trying not to fall over when they make a wrong step. The snow comes down harder and the wind picks up, and Steph, who was supposed to have taken a pill cocktail over an hour ago but of course wasn't able to, begins to curse her ability to bear children.

And then it is over. One a.m. The girls stand in the Morewood entryway, blinking in the dim light at the closed door to the Underground. Eventually they make their way up the stairs, swipe their ID cards, cross the breezeway, ride the elevator - and collapse in their rooms, soaked, frozen, exhausted.

They have conquered. They have won.

They want food.

After saying goodnight to Jess and changing into dry clothes, Steph called her mother to reassure her that they were alive (she had just found a text message on her phone with a worried '?' at the end). Then she warmed up some (canned) green beans to munch on while her noodles cooked. After a bowl of mac and cheese and a trip upstairs (the latter to check on Jess, whose fingers had gone red and numb), Steph fell snuggly into her snug bed, and dreamt snug dreams, and stayed there until three in the afternoon.

"Isn't Avatar such an awesome movie?" asked Jess the next day.

"Totally awesome," said Steph.

Fin.

[Inaccurate route; but you get the idea]

The Great Snow Adventure of Twenty Ten (III)

Chapter 3

"I was just kidding," said Jess in disbelief. "Earlier, about the busses. I was just kidding!"

"Crap," said Steph.

They stood around and wondered what to do. Next to them a Target employee began to talk quietly to the couple with the child. The man explained that they had called a cab, but had already been waiting for an hour. Last they'd checked the cab was still coming, but...

Meanwhile three more people walked out of Target, one wearing a Carnegie Mellon sweatshirt, and asked about the buses. Steph and Jess told the two students (and the one parent) what had happened. They were dismayed. Now what?

Jess called the CMU non-emergency number, but was told that they were only dealing with emergencies given the circumstances.

"We'll try to arrange something eventually," said the person on the other end helpfully.

Next they talked to the police officer to see if he had any ideas. He volunteered to call CMU for them, and they thanked him while they exchanged frustrated looks, since that's what they had just tried. They hoped, however, a police officer would have more clout. Sure enough, the assurances given him were slightly less vague - that is, "we'll try to figure something out" became "we will figure something out," with which the girls had to be content.

While the police officer was on the phone, a nice family with a large truck asked if anyone needed a ride home. The family waiting for the cab gratefully accepted.

With the night wearing on, the girls moved into the sitting area, though to their disappointment, the counter (and therefore the fried chicken and hot chocolate) was closed. They decided to take turns calling home on Jess's cell, since they were hoping for a call from CMU on Steph's. Having apprised their families of the situation, they nobly settled in to wait. Unfortunately, and unepically, boredom also settled in.

"Okay," said Steph, "How about this. One person says the name of a character in movie or TV show, and the other says another character played by the same actor."

Jess suppressed the urge to roll her eyes (probably) and agreed with only slight protestation. Thus Selene and Gwen and Jesus and the Joker helped make time pass minimally faster.

And then - Steph's phone buzzed. Steph answered eagerly. Lo and behold, it was Lucas, their dorm's house fellow. He said that he was watching Avatar (naturally) at Loews, but that it would be over in half an hour and then he would gallantly come get them.

Elated, Steph went to tell the other CMU students. They now had only half an hour to wait.

An hour later, Lucas and his wife pulled up in their car. It was a four-seater. All six of the people standing around the car looked at each other in dismay.

"They said there were two of you," said Lucas.

"No, I told them five," said Jess.

They regarded the car in silence.

Luckily, Lucas and Mrs. Lucas had been seeing the movie with some friends who had their own car. Their friends volunteered to take the other three CMUers, and further crisis was averted.

Thus the travelers set out for home, hoping their journey might soon be over, yet knowing better, by this point, than to be certain of anything.

And they were right to fear...

[To Be Continued Once More]

The Great Snow Adventure of Twenty Ten (II)

Chapter 2

With some time to kill before the expected 8:41 arrival of the 59U, Jess and Steph decided to take a quick stroll around the interior of Target, to dry off and warm up. Racks of bathing suits and aisles of lingerie added a nice touch of both irony and unreality to the atmosphere. The place was almost empty, and the girls strode briskly and spoke loudly, still energized by their recent escape from the snow.

Near the end of their circuit, both girls halted in their tracks when Jess suddenly unleashed a joyful cry: "Gummies!"

They stood before an end shelf stocked with all manner of gummy snacks. Their eyes in their upturned faces reflected rows of boxes decorated with countless colors and designs. They stood a moment in awe.

Then Steph broke the moment by turning irreverently away and dancing forward impatiently. "We gotta go."

"One minute!" protested Jess, and carefully selected a box with Disney fairies on it.

"You know those are in entropy," said Steph, inscrutably.

"This kind isn't," Jess replied, apparently knowing what she was talking about.

The girls proceeded to the registers, where Jess purchased her box of gummies, and then went out to the main entrance to wait for their ride back to campus. Waiting along with them were a tall dark-skinned twenty-something couple with a few small bags, and a Hispanic couple with a large cart full of appliances and a small adorable daughter.

While they waited, Jess opened her prize and handed Steph a tiny white packet. Steph ripped it open, extracted its squishy, brightly colored contents and popped a purple fairy into her mouth.

"Okay, so this was a good idea," she admitted, chewing.

"See?" said Jess, tearing into her own packet.

A bus went by the doors, and the girls straightened, but then Jess shook her head. Wrong one.

More time passed. Impatient, Steph ventured outside, still under the shelter of Target's roof, and peered into the white haze. She waited, watching, until another bus pulled into the lot. Steph squinted at it, trying to make out its moniker. "59 -" She read, and beckoned excitedly to Jess, who came forward to look too.

"A," said Jess. "It's the 59A."

"But - !"

"A," repeated Jess.

Steph sighed.

Discouraged, they went back inside and leaned against the wall to wait. To see better, they stood close to the exit doors and stared through the glass, or more likely the plastic, with the unfortunate result that any time either of them turned her head or shifted her stance the automatic doors swung open and let in a blast of cold air, which would send them scurrying backward a few inches, as if that made a difference.

People still came and went, but only in a trickle, and all with their own cars. The exception, was two other girls, obviously students, who also came to stand in the entrance.

"Are you waiting for the 59U?" asked one.

Jess replied that they were, and all four of them briefly made small talk. The other girls went to a place by the dubious name of Pitt, and not Carnegie Mellon, but it was the same bus either way: the magical and currently missing 59U.

More time passed. Jess was starving. Steph was getting a headache. They were ready to get back to the dorms.

They were just debating whether the addition of more sugar (via gummy fairies) would help or further irritate Steph's head when the police officer walked in and said,

"Sorry, everybody, but I just got a call from Port Authority, and they're only doing main routes because of the snow. Anyone waiting for a bus is going to have to walk over to Eighth."

Jess and Steph stared. Eighth was all the way back in the other direction, past Loews, where they had come from.

"Seriously?" said Steph.

"Is Target still open?" asked Jess.

"Uh... I guess technically," replied Steph, nonplussed.

"Good," said Jess, "I'm going to buy a hat."

But just then the police man returned. "Sorry, folks, I guess they decided the snow was too dangerous. They shut down all buses. Port Authority is closed."

[dun dun DUN... To Be Continued]

The Great Snow Adventure of Twenty Ten (I)

Chapter One

Once upon a time, the time being February 2010, a young and untried university student (let's call her Steph) acquired the unfortunate distinction of being the only mortal being in the world not to have seen a particular marvel of that time called Avatar. Eager to shed this unhappy distinction, she bravely set out one Friday after Biology class with her best friend, a fellow university student whom we shall call Jess, on a quest to a place called Loews, where Avatar could be found. Jess, or course, had already seen this marvel, but wished to witness it in 3D this time.

Almost immediately they ran into trouble. They arrived just on time at the bus stop, and shivered in the softly falling snow as they waited for the arrival of the magical 59U. Though the snow came readily, the bus did not; and even when it did, it passed right on by without even slowing. Freezing, the girls boarded the next bus to arrive, and were told by the driver that 61C's would be arriving shortly. Encouraged, the girls sacrificed the warmth of the bus to other passengers and returned to their snowy wait. And wait they did.

"His idea of soon is not my idea of soon," complained Steph.

"Yeah," replied Jess, "mine either."

Just when Steph was thinking that she was doomed to be eternally the One Who Never Saw Avatar, the promised line of 61C's pulled up - stuffed full. The girls squeezed their way into the belly of the second bus, or rather its mouth, as Jess was practically leaning against the door. The bus started up, Steph did a little dance to avoid treading on some inconveniently placed feet, and the girls clung to their tiny portions of metal pole as they were transported, finally, towards their destination.

But not to their destination, because only the 59U could have born them so far. The 61C spewed them out on a sidewalk near an area referred to as the Waterfront, and they began the last stretch of their journey: the fifteen minute trek through the Waterfront to Loews. The snow was chilly but not unbearable; after all, they were eagerly anticipating their reward.

And what a reward it was. Armed with large plastic glasses and a small bag of popcorn, they entered the theatre and became entranced. Three hours later they left the theatre in a haze of glorious victory.

Which was quickly (and quite literally) dampened by the increasingly thick snow. Shrieking in the cold wetness, still giddy from their feat, the girls turned to their next quest: dinner. Agonizingly, everywhere they tried (including places with such odd appellations as 'Panera', 'Starbucks', and even 'Barnes and Noble') was closed and dark.

"It's only a little snow," said Jess. "This is crazy. Watch even the buses shut down."

"Seriously," said Steph. Then she laughed.

Disappointed and mellowing in the cold, the girls yet refused to relinquish their dreams of warm food. Their one goal now was to retreat home, and seek sustenance there. Retreat, however, required the 59U. The 59U picked up at a place a ten-minute walk way, aptly called Target, for which they now headed.

It proved to be a very long ten minutes. The wind blew directly in their faces, as it must on all epic quests, and attempted to suffocate them in deadly silent snowflakes. Drown them, more appropriately, because this was the wettest snow Steph had ever encountered. By the time the girls reached Target they couldn't feel their fingers, and their faces and necks streamed with freezing water. Still game, they stamped up and down and laughed in relief, and celebrated the end of their struggles. They had only to wait for the bus now, safely inside the shelter of Target, and then they'd be home.

If they only knew...

[To Be Continued]

After The Storm

The Best Part

is the leaves that were frozen to the ground. In the sudden heat, they have pulled away or been kicked free, leaving behind only faint, icy outlines.

City Night (Illustrated)

It's a pretty bad picture, since it's through a reflective window, but you get the idea:

City Night

I wanted to take a walk but it was pouring outside. I was going crazy with restlessness. I felt like pacing madly around the room, but Lizzie was deep in cyberworld and I didn't want to distract her.

Finally the rain let up a bit. Jess remembered she had a Starbucks card, so we decided to walk down to Craig Street for coffee. With sweatshirts and boots it turned out to be perfect temperature outside, with the rain a nice refresher.

Did I say walk down? We ran, we skipped, we jumped. We did stop at Starbucks for a while to share a frappe, but the caffeine only geared us up more. So instead of heading back we kept going, passing the library in a flash, ending up all the way down at the Pitt campus before we knew it. U-turn and heading back through the garden, city all around. Dark, wet streets and dark, deep sky, but the air illuminated by city lights. Massive multi-leveled buildings towering and close, and cars rushing past, but still trees and open streets, people here and there but not crushing. Brisk, but not chilly; sprinkled but not soaked; alternating speed and motion.

Cities soothe and exhilarate me.

Can Opener is Crap

(Or lesson in persistence.)

Headshot

correlational experimental multifactoral zzzzz 红茶还是绿茶 zzzzz section M media message bagel 去中国饭馆 - 什么?? french bread cereal KATLA THE THRALL rice zzzzzzzzzzz box WATER BOAT WATER George points if then map map export cut map zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz !!! pasta roll cinnamon SLAVE Irish gangster mother Katie 我要三十饺子和两双筷子，谢谢 blogging FUTHARK blogging shower 学，学，WHO KNOWS, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

[Free online translation!

Psych (but really stat), drowsy Chinese study, odd texting and breakfast, confusing Chinese swim, snack (lunch), viking book and nap, long tedious I&A, dinner, viking book, Castle, satisfying Chinese homework, blogging [unable to translate], rune search, blogging [unable to translate], predictions for the future. Order a professional version for only $29.99 a month! You'll never have to slog through a messy brain again!]

Dear Who?

So yesterday I got a reply to my application to be a peer tutor - very prompt of him, really. In his email, the peer tutoring coordinator asked me to choose one of the listed time slots to set up an interview. Hence I needed to reply.

The two rules I have learned about replying to official letters are the following:

1, Address your correspondent the way he addressed you, and

2, Refer to your correspondent by the name with which he signed the letter.

Well, great. Easy as pie. Until I looked at the letter again.

Dear Stephanie,

Thank you for your application, etc., etc.

John