Some Things Never Change

Yes, that is right. It is currently after 3 AM here and I am up, writing a paper on the day it is due. Did I start this one ahead of time? Yes. Which is new. Did I finish in a timely manner? No. Which is not new. Somehow being in Argentina and developing actual study habits has done nothing for the amount I still need to procrastinate while writing a paper. Yes, that is also right-- I said study habits! I actually spend time doing reading instead of watching 30 Rock and cooking elaborate meals. And yet somehow it is still after 3. Oh, well.

For the amount they play, Argentines do a surprising amount of work. I have more reading now than I've ever had to do in my life-- part of this, I'm sure, is that I dropped premed this semester and so am taking all reading-intensive classes, but WOW. This whole reading-all-the-time thing is HARD. And only about half of it is interesting, ugh.

Also, an update and an apology-- sorry to everyone who has been trying to comment and can't. I have no idea what is going on and really wish I could fix it, especially considering that Blogger won't let me comment on my own blog. Damn Google gremlins and their faulty technology.

I am going to whip up a bibliography and hit the sack. Until this weekend, dears, when I have more time to write...!

The Secret to Being Thin: Ride the Subte

Wednesday marked my first month in Buenos Aires. I’ve been having a grand old time down here. The clothing is so cheap! The leather such high quality! And the food, oh the food. It is all so, so good. But I still have a lot of unanswered questions about the city and its people.

Today’s question: why, considering the amount of meat and fried foods I’ve seen people eating, is everyone so damn skinny?? I couldn’t figure it out. I generally think of myself as a healthy person but because I messed up my heel a few weeks ago and haven’t been exercising I’m gaining weight like nobody’s business. But these people who have been surrounded by all this rich food their entire lives? They are like STICKS. Could you imagine growing up with diet staples like dulce de leche and fried chicken or veal cutlets (milanesas) and NOT weigh a thousand pounds? Plus the fact that everyone eats so late here means they’re not even digesting before they go to bed, which certainly doesn’t help in the flub department.

This week, though, I think I discovered the reason why everyone is so thin: it’s because they have to fit on the subway. The subway system here, or subte, is pretty nice. It’s laid out really stupidly– all trains go towards the center of the city and there are only two connecting the city lengthwise– but it travels really quickly and the trains come fairly frequently. The subte during rush hour, though, is NOT somewhere you want to be. The subte during rush hour is the time where anything goes. People push their ways into the cars, mindless of the fact that there is no space left for them. I’ve had people’s elbows in my sides, my arms have been in people’s armpits, and I’ve been wrapped around metal poles. There are so many people in these cars that when the train goes around turns or stops short we all move as a mass, like a gigantic living Jell-o mold. Yesterday morning I was actually IN some old guy’s pot belly. It was like we were grinding in a sardine can but about a million times more uncomfortable.

I love the subte, I really do. Except for the one problem trip I’ve had with it– this past week I got stuck in a subte train stranded between two stops, but that is perhaps a story for another time– it’s been a good travelling companion and it’s cheaper than the buses. But having to deal with the cramming and the pushing during rush hour is less-than-savory, for sure. I honestly couldn’t ever imagining something like this happening in the US. We like our personal space way too much. Plus– and I know this isn’t an accurate representation of my country but it’s still what I think of– the thought of cramming elephants into a subte car during rush hour is both hilarious and horribly inefficient.

As crazy as it is, I’m going to stick with the subte. We’ve become pretty good buddies and it wouldn’t do to abandon it for a few obnoxious people that decide to ride it sometimes.

Lol, or, I love being at home.

I introduced my family yesterday to Willow Smith's new single and just caught my dad singing it. I love my parents.

Christmas

Okay, so I know it's been a while, and I have another catch-up post in the works, but I wanted to post about this before it was no longer timely. Among lots of other wonderful, wonderful gifts, I got a smartphone for christmas. One with an android operating system, actually, and I'm writing this post from it right now. Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I've been using it for two days now (almost) and I can't get over how freakin' cool it is. You know how every birthday people ask you if you feel any different? Well, it's the day after christmas and I really do, for the first time in a long time, feel different. I'm having a really hard time getting used to the fact that wherever I am, I'm connected to the entire world. I literally have a connection to all the information I could ever want in my pocket, or purse, or right in my hand. HOW FREAKING CRAZY IS THAT? I mean yeah, I'm sitting on my living room floor right now writing this, something I can do with my laptop, but I could .be posting this from a playground or an open field or even the tropical rainforest or the polar ice caps. Well. Maybe not actually. But anywhere there's cell phone service, I have a direct link to almost anything in the world. Wow.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas! Catch-up post with some xmas goodies will be coming up soon. :)

Many Things, or Cranberry Madness

Okay, first of all I'd like to thank everyone who voted on my Threadless design! It finished scoring early early this morning and came out with a final score of 2.46 out of 5 total. I hope that's good enough to be printed, and I'll definitely keep you all posted as to what the next stage is!

Also, BLAAARRGGHALISJFLUGAOISHDHGA;LJSJROAIUHGD I LEFT MY CAMERA AT MY BOYFRIEND'S WHEN I WENT TO VISIT THIS PAST WEEKEND!!!!! And he's not coming to visit me until August 3 and there's NO way I'm having him put a Nikon DSLR in the mail, so until he comes to see me I'm camera-less. Meaning I am nice-camera-less and will, for the time being, be using my dad's little Canon point-and-shoot. I have some pictures of a new yarn I bought that I have to download, but not having my camera means that the few pictures I got to shoot of my pies (which were pretty delicious, by the way) won't be up until early August. Which sucks.

And now, to come to the second part of this entry's title. Yes, Cranberry Madness. The lovely yarn that I just bought, mentioned in the paragraph above, is actually really nice. It's Green Mountain Spinnery mohair yarn died in this wonderful deep red color, and the more I work with it the softer it gets. The problem is that the combination of it and the pattern for which I'm using it is driving me absolutely nutso.

I can guess what some of you are thinking. You're not even done with your beret yet; what are you doing taking on other projects??

Well, for your information, I'm done with three point five inches of the lacework on my beret, and I think that it's good to take a bit of a break every once in a while. Don't you? I expect this side project to be a quick knit, and then I can go back to my beret all contented-like.

Well, I expected it to be quick. Since I first cast on yesterday afternoon I have restarted this beast at least fifteen times. Either the stitches are too loose, or the spaces in between them are horridly uneven, or it's just a disgusting excuse for a first row and it's easier to sack it than try to fix it. Uurgh. As a result, I have huge cramps in my left pinky and I'm going a bit cross-eyed. I will complete this project, though. Just you wait and see.

You know it's finals time when...

... you wish you had to go to the bathroom so you could take a break and stretch your legs, while at the same time you wish you never had to eat or sleep or pee again just so you could plow through your work and be done with it.

I know, I shouldn't be updating das blog with two exams and a Spanish paper still looming over my head, no matter how long it's been since I last posted, but I'm resting for a few minutes between essays. Give me a break.

I think this work is making me go a bit crazy.

This finals period we have two weeks to do our self-scheduled exams rather than one, like in the fall semester, and it's definitely killed my productivity streak. Last finals week I was so productive-- yeah, okay, I didn't finish until essentially the minute everything was due, but I still worked all the time and got about eight more hours of sleep a night than I anticipated coming into college. Seriously! Winter finals week was the longest stretch of me consistently getting enough sleep all last semester.

This semester, not so much. The beginning of finals period had me unstressed and feelin' good-- surely I could do in two weeks what I did in one last semester. Granted, I had a significantly higher amount of work, but not enough to fill up a full two-week's worth.

Wrong! Working all last week didn't pay off because I still took the time to watch a movie almost every night. And go to a birthday party. And lay awake at night because I thought the creepers from the horror movies we'd been watching were out to get me. But irrelevant. I'm still not going to be finished anywhere near early, and it will be a Christmas miracle in May if I finish everything fully, thoroughly, and perfectly by Friday at noon when everything is due.

Wish me luck, dear readers! See you on the other side of this week.