girlfriend sweatshop

spmonster
Originally uploaded by gimchi.

so, mostly a few random musings pre-thanksgiving.

1. apparently, i make an awesome pumpkin flan (with martha's help, of course). that baby was totally gone at the work pot-luck. i effing ♥ flan. (recipe follows)

2. have started 'girlfriend sweatshop' with a few other friends. we're of the crafty sort, or like to pretend we are, so we're getting together every wednesday to make craft, art, drink wine, absorb healthy amounts of sanity-inducing estrogen, and eat desserts and hummus and other such good foods. we're so excited. this started partly to keep our sanity and to balance out the boys' band practices that they will sometimes have twice a week.

3. the picture here is of a knitted spaghetti monster dildo cozy.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

1 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin
1 can (14 oz) sweeetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups whole milk
4 lg eggs + 1 lg egg yolk
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp chipotle chile powder (so very optional)
1/8 tsp ground cloves
pinch o' cayenne pepper (again, very optional)

oven to 325F.
boil sugar and 1/4 cup water - stir to dissolve & then w/o stirring, cook until dark amber (about 7 minutes). be careful not to burn it! once it's reached the desired color - quickly pour into 9 inch cake pan.
in blender (or mixer) blend pumpkin and milks.
add egg stuff and the rest. blend.
pour into cake pan.
put cake pan into larger pan (roasting pan if available) and fill the larger pan w/ hot water about 1 inch up the side of the cake pan.
cook for 1 - 1 1/2 hrs until golden brown and set.
cool on wire rack. chill 6 hours or overnight.

run a knife along the sides of the flan to release the edges. a really big plate with raised edges works well for serving. put the plate on top of the cake pan and then flip quickly. it's ok if the sugar cracks all over. mine did. it just adds... texture. yea, texture to the dish.

purging

listening to the smiths and aloha. some in flames. trying to block out the news and crappy music. sitting in the computer lab in the social sciences building. should be working on chemistry, but EFF chemistry. EFF the 76 i got on that last test.

ouch!

all i remember thinking is, "this is such bullshit..." and then walking out. hahahaha! if i get a 95 on this next test, i won't have to take the final and will still have an A - here's to hope and studying! (just... later. study later.)

so, here's my life in 5000 words or less.

"this is your life, get used to it"
- liars academy (serendipidous ipod moment)

born 3.14.79 (einstein's birthday! eli whitney patented the cotton gin!)
5 lbs 14 oz. @ 9:14 am
china trip 1
first memory: watching my mom get her palm read in china
grew up in fort myers, florida - summer home of edison & ford
china trip 2
humongous glasses
butt-length hair
total band nerd
total school nerd
spent most of the time at parent's chinese restaurant playing video games in the back and making tents out of tables and linens with my younger brother
barnes & noble was THE hangout (and still is)
lots and lots of movies
played trumpet, french horn, flugelhorn
boyfriend 1
first kiss at 18
costa rica trip
australia trip
europe trip 1
college 3 yrs in atlanta
all-woman's college
got to see leaves change! ice storm! sushi every week!
studied abroad in firenze (omg - gelato)
china trip 3
finished at fsu
boyfriend 2
major: studio art
job at borders ($6/hr?!)
met anthony - boyfriend 3
china trip 4 - mantis shrimp
job in healthcare
girlfriend sweatshop

hm. and that's it. i might add to this later. i feel like it's so short! i'm glad that travel was such a big part of my life. even though jet fuel smell makes me gag like no one's business.

i guess i just feel like evaluating my life. overall, my life is +7 happy (that's for you, mr. vilorio). the -3 comes from my career and job.

how does one figure out what to do in life? for a while, i wanted to be a librarian. but the gre scared me off. i pushed it from my mind. i got this job in healthcare. then i wanted to do phamacy. but now... seriously, chemistry sucks. chemistry kills. chemistry kills my fun & sanity dead.

also, there's the fact that i think the pharmaceutical industry isn't really good - we're overmedicated as a country. and i don't think i even spelled "pharmaceutical" correctly....

and then *the sound of angels singing & pure white light* star and madge learn me that usf doesn't require the gre for aspiring librarians with a gpa of 3.0 in undergraduate studies. i see a hint of happiness. we'll see where this plot takes me. i feel like a choose your own adventure book - i've backtracked and tried another storyline and only lost a little bit of reading time.

so, fb, that's where i've been, and hopefully, where i'm going.

home again home again

i hate mondays.

doesn't everyone?

even when skipping work from stress, mondays still suck total ass.

*sigh*

slept in, had the singularly crappiest test in the world, rushed to finish a lab, did lab (in which we have no chairs, so my back was killing me), then got the "why don't you believe in a higher intelligent existence?" conversation from my professor when all i wanted to do was go home and eat (i ate at 12 pm, it was then 8:30 pm) and nurse my aching uterus.

again *le sigh*

it's late now and i must be getting sleep.

things on my mind:

• need sleep
• desire sleep
• want sleep
• chemistry is my personal hell
• also, stairs
• pharmacy - good?
  
• craft - better?
• dad doing better
• home soon?

some pics to keep me happy and somewhat sane:


lee & tiffany










tiffany took this photo of her dad : )


anthony showing tiffany the trauma center game on ds. tiffany loves surgeries. she was addicted to the discovery channel when she lived here. i bet she'll be a surgeon when she grows up. ...maybe she can give me an allowance in my old age...



*le happy sigh*

damnit mom, where's my phone call?!

update: dad's doing ok. might be released sometime monday or tuesday. had a good cathartic cry when i talked to my brother. i'm the type of person who, when they hear bad news, completely shuts down. mostly because if i let an inkling of it out - that's it. hello floodwaters. so i've been in shut-down mode since 3 am on wednesday. it's almost 11 on thursday. it was a-comin'.

also, even though i rant about the 90% and the dash/em dash issue, my anatomy teacher is still rockin'. he's really the best teacher out of the 4 i have this semester. i think i did super on the test today.

this is my life, rated
life:	7.2
mind:	6.9
body:	7.7
spirit:	6.8
friends/family:	5.3
love:	7.7
finance:	8.4
take the rate my life quiz

worry

i almost deleted that previous post. but madge was so cute in her comment.

mostly because i hate being petty in the face of real upset. my mom called me at 3 am informing me that my dad had a heart attack, but was stable in the hospital in china.

: (

while i'm not christian, keep him in your thoughts with hope. i do believe the power of the human mind is quite strong.

an 'effing 90%???!

ok, no lie, WTF.

i have to admit that i'm a total nerd about writing. i love to write. not fiction so much, but i really don't mind writing papers. yes, my writing style can be informal (and i'm talking more about papers than the blog - sometimes my blog is highly disjointed due to its stream of consciousness nature).

but i was in the ib program. all we did was write. write and write and write and write. i can fucking write a paper in my sleep.

i'm a pretty good writer.

so when i get a 90% because my "sentences are too long" and that my "use of dashes - is not correct," i get irritated.

if any of my dear readers are grammar nerds/snobs/literate, please enlighten me and put me in my place. sometimes i need it.

and blah-blah-blah, yes, a 90% is an "a."
i think it's still just a gut reaction.
it's a *low* a.
also, in high school, my grading scale was 94-100 was an "a."
a 90 was a "b."

what follows here are the sentences wherein have i have used the dash.

***********************************************************************

To actually learn about the skeleton - of how bone is formed and how it functions - is a completely different story, one of strength and fragility, of dynamic growth and decline.

Each osteon has a central canal along which run veins, arteries and nerves; occassionally there are perforating canals which run perpendicular to the central canals - they allow blood vessels to connect to each other inside this matrix of bone and permit the flow of nutrients and waste.
(hm, possibly my use of the semi-colon was not correct. this i admit.)

As one ages, however, much of the red bone marrow will change to yellow bone marrow - a fatty tissue. Further on, by old age, much of this yellow bone marrow will become a reddish jelly - gelatinous bone marrow.

The hard network of this spongy bone is called trabeculae - its structure bequeaths an incredible amount of strength to the ends of long bone and enables the ends to absorb stress from any angle, a very important feature to have at the joints.
(maybe i could have gone into *why* it was an important feature here.)

Between these two areas is the epiphyseal plate - this is the area where growth will occur in length in growing humans.

It basically keeps bones from grinding against each other - creating a well-oiled joint.
(ok, maybe this could have been a comma.)

The makeup of bone is approximately one third proteins and two thirds mineral; the protein component is mainly an organic material - collagen - which gives bone its flexibility, while the mineral component is a combination of mostly calcium and phosphorus which gives bone its hardness.

A delicate balance between these two materials must be maintained - not enough protein and the bone will become brittle and break easily, not enough minerals and it will end up too flexible and soft.

As the osteoblasts create bone, they mature into osteoclasts - cells that have built themselves into a little cell surrounded by hard matrix.

Their job is to break down bone - they secrete hydrogen ions to make hydrochloric acid (to dissolve minerals) and an acid enzyme ( to braek down the protein fibers).

There are two main types of fractures - open reduction and closed reduction.

Next, this tissue is formed into a soft callus made primarily of cartilage - a hard mineral callus will then replace the soft callus.

Lastly is the remodeling - there will be a larger lump at the breakage site - in a healthly and normal person, this lump will eventually disappear over a few months. (i admit, this is awkward.)

*********************************************************************

i guess you get the point.

here's what st. martin's handbook has to say about dashes:

pairs of dashes allow a writer to interrupt a sentence to insert a comment or highlight particular marterial. in contrast to parentheses, dashes give more rather than less emphasis to the material they enclose.
a single dash sets off a comment or emphasizes material at the end of a sentence. it also marks a sudden shift in tone, introduces a summary or explanation of what has come before, and indicates hesitation in speech.

i guess my point is that i don't understand why i didn't at least give a 95%. maybe i used a few too many (?), but that hardly constitutes 10 points off. in my must humble (ha!) opinion. he said that he would grade easy! cakewalk! as long as there weren't super bad grammatical mistakes and that there were paragraphs and an intro and a conclusion... no problem!

*sigh*

please, berate me if i'm wrong. erikina? mich?

teaser trailer

well, here are a few more. so much for going to bed before 11. argh! computer... sucking... me... .. in...


i was trying to go for "zombie." i think i ended up "really dirty girl." kina, of course, is flaunting her halloween skills.
btw - that bracelet never leaves my arm. mostly because it's too small to take off!
my dad bought it from china and asked me if i wanted it. i replied that it was too small, but luckily (?) his friend jane knew just what to do. a little soap, a little water, a fast and quick shove and a huge hand bruise later, viola! instant permanent bracelet. irritating when writing or taking notes or typing. but good for bondag... i mean. fashion. good for fashion.


here's rachel, a marilyn monroe zombie. work those fishnets!! big zombie theme, this year, not so big on the zombie makeup. rachel bought a big thing of zombie makeup, but after reading the back, not much was actually used. do not use black, green or blue near the eyes. do not use red, yellow or orange near the lips. uck - hello scary chemical paste.


virginia! guess who, guess who!


more pictures of kina... oh, the pictures don't stop there! more to come!


later in the evening i added blood dribbling down my chin. here it just looks like dried bbq sauce. alas. but really, i was born a blonde.