I got a pretty

It's the new LG Invision and I'm hopelessly in love with it. It's super petite and lightweight, the default background image is of Amsterdam (the pretty part, not the prostitute part), and best of all, it was free! Now I just need to name it.

snip snip

Today was an experience in haircutting. I got the longest haircut of my life (2.5 hours) for the least amount I've paid outside of SuperCuts ($15 + tip) and the shortest, shortest my hair has ever been.

Aaand I love it.

the future wants to eat me.

In the last week, I have gone from helpless, sleep-depriving panic about what I wanted to do with my life to helpless, sleep-depriving panic about where I want to go about doing it. I've narrowed it down to a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology, usually a 2-year program that prepares you for getting licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist. But, I can't decide whether to stay in California, or venture over to the East Coast and try a program in Chicago or Boston. There are some pretty cool people out there, I've heard. Decisions, decisions! But I figure I can't lose either way. As long as I can easily become licensed in California after obtaining a degree elsewhere, why not try something new?

Also, my book club has died because all the books I want to read are still on hold by 2597354 other people before me at the library. I read The Memory Keeper's Daughter a few weeks ago, and loved it. I kept it in my purse at all times in case I got a spare couple of minutes, seconds even, pumping gas or waiting in the drive-through. I'm just mad I didn't listen to my mom 2 years ago when she first recommended it to me. Moms always know best.

Time to swing by my new favorite Mexican place (conveniently located ONE BLOCK AWAY from my new house) and pick up some grub for Jon and myself. I haven't seen him since I took him to the airport on Monday for his Univ. of Virginia interview. He had UCLA today, so I'm sure he's got lots to tell me. The future is looking bright for my favorite Dodger fan :)

interpreter of maladies, aidez-moi

I feel a little bit sad every day, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Something is weighing, pressing on my heart, but I don't know what it is.

Reading Interpreter of Maladies has been helping me sleep when this mysterious grief keeps me awake in the forms of terrible half-asleep dreams. Jhumpa Lahiri is so incredibly talented, her writing rich and full of color, even when she writes about sadness and loss. I must finish the last story before my books go back to the library tomorrow.

back to the basics

Last night I cracked open my GRE prep book for the first time (which is good since I'll have to take the test in oh, a month). I read the overview of the Verbal section and felt pretty confident that I would do well. Then I moved on to the Quantitative section, which includes subjects I haven't studied since high school, including Arithmetic (maybe that was grade school), Algebra (8th grade), Geometry (freshman year), and Data Analysis (last year, byah!). I mentally dusted off the cardboard boxes in my brain that hold all this information and tried my hand at a few of the practice problems. One of them was finding the area of an isosceles triangle. I couldn't do it. I also could't remember the Pythagorean Theorem. I panicked for about 10 minutes that I would be a complete failure because I graduated with honors from a UC and couldn't do simple geometry.

Luckily, my boyfriend tutors high schoolers in math. Hopefully he accepts payment in undying love and DiGiorno pizza.

In other news: 5.2 miles today. Right on track for my half marathon in January. Feeling like a champ. I treated myself to some Body Glide as a "reward," but mostly because running is (literally) a pain without it. After I hit the 7 mile mark I might invest in one of those superserious water bottle belts...I will try not to think of it as a fanny pack.

not much I can do about that

So...the manager at the coffee shop I work at suggested that all the workers check out the negative reviews on Yelp to see what customers are complaining about and to find ways to improve the shop. According to my manager, lots of people complained about poor customer service, which upon review of the reviews (har har) I found to be pretty true. But most of the reviews say the same thing: the coffee is bad. Simple as that. Some people were nice and said things like "You don't come here for the coffee, you come here for the ambiance." That's a terrible thing to say about a COFFEE shop.

I work at a coffee shop that sells bad coffee.

I am so ashamed.

home sweet internet/microwaveless home

Just moved into my new place. It took Mabel and I all effing day (with the exception of me having work at both jobs...nice going Jen) to pack and unload the UHaul. But, our apartment is on the second story with a nice little balcony and friendly neighbors. Plus, I get my own bathroom and walk in closet. Not too shabby. Only problem is we don't have a microwave, and my instant gratification complex has taken a blow. No bowl tomato soup with my grilled cheese, and no 1min30 oatmeal. Whine whine whine.

At the moment I am sitting in a coffee shop taking a break from unpacking. We have no internet - not even a network we can steal from a neighbor! - but there is a lovely coffee place a block away with free wifi, bless them (eff you Starbucks and your $4 for 2 hours!) I need to look up a run for tomorrow morning. 5 miles, YAY. Sorry in advance, legs.

Since I'm tired of putting this off but also just plain tired, Julie & Julia gets a super short review. Two words: MUST READ. J & J snuck up on me; I had picked up a few library books and tried to read them, but I found the literature stale and boring (sorry J. Austen, but Emma is lame). I was craving something different, and Julie & Julia was a breath of fresh air. It was funny and spectacularly written. Julie Powell's voice is so evident in her writing - I love that. Her chronicle of her (mis)adventures cooking her way through Julia Child's famous French cookbook, along with surviving marriage and a shitty little apartment in New York, is at times hilarious, at others heart-wrenching. Overall, simply a joy to read. (Side note about the movie: couldn't have cast it better.)

I wish I could do the book more justice, but my bed is calling. Tomorrow's goals: not pass out from a 5 mile run (my first, yikes), find a microwave.