Entropy

So Excited!

2008-07-03T18:38:48Z

I just got an email from my college's housing department that my friend Cindy and I got the GLORIOUS apartment we applied for. It is two bed/two bath, with a full kitchen, dining room, living room, patio, and in-unit washer and dryer. *does happy dance* I am already looking through the Ikea catalog, lol. Josh is really excited, too, because he was really hoping I'd get the place. He told me he wouldn't be able to fit in the single dorm room I would be living in if I hadn't gotten the apartment, lol. (He's 6'4")

Far too many things

2008-07-02T21:14:29Z

It has been a great, if not exciting, several days. I saw Wall-E with my friend Yan on Friday, and it was a really wonderful film. I've always loved Pixar and Disney movies, simply because they remind me of my childhood and they're so happy and full of ridiculous songs (although watching Disney movies now as an educated, liberally minded, feminist adult doesn't leave me with such a happy feeling anymore...but I digress), but Wall-E was actually a high quality, entertaining, insightful movie that can be appreciated across all ages. I especially enjoyed the first half of the movie, during which there was no dialogue save for little robot chirps :) It's especially great for all of those environmentalists out there!

Then on Saturday I left to go to San Francisco for the night. I did some shopping (got a few summer dresses and a scarf for when it gets chillier) and had some wonderful Mediterranean food. I had totally forgotten that it was Gay Pride weekend in SF, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I woke up and heard the parade starting outside my hotel. I promptly jumped out of bed, threw some clothes on, and joined the fun for a few hours. I have lots of pictures on another camera that I will post later. This Pride weekend was especially wonderful/historical because gay marriage was very recently legalized in California, so there were a lot of happy newlyweds.

I also bought some new sheets. I still had my winter sheets on my bed, and they were just so warm and dark and well...wintery. My new ones are great! Robins egg blue sheets and floral pillowcases/duvet cover. Much brighter and very happy!

I also got my Yurtcraft pad in the mail. It is soooo gorgeous. I got a free face scrubbie, too! I told myself I wouldn't buy anymore pads but I saw the geisha print and had to have it. Then I ordered a Honeybee Hill pad and two Punky's...oops.

Also made some pads myself. I didn't feeling like messing with the machine this time, so I did them all by hand. It was actually very calming. Didn't take that long either. Hopefully they hold up okay. All quilters cotton tops with hemp fleece cores.

To complement all these new things, I got a new haircut yesterday. I love it! The last time my hair was cut, my roommate did it last minute for a dance show I was in. It worked, but lets just say after it growing out a bit it wasn't exactly nice looking. I called my regular salon to make an appointment, only to be shocked to learn that my stylist had decided not to come back to town after her trip to Europe! I booked an appointment with a new girl, who it turns out graduated from my high school two years before me. Small world! I was a little nervous, but so sick of my ridiculous hair that I told her to do whatever she wanted (my hair is pretty short anyway so cutting shorter doesn't scare me). It turned out as a lovely graduated bob, similar to Victoria Beckham's. The only (MAJOR) downside is that I actually have to style it now, lol. Normally I just wash and go, but now I have to straighten it every day...oy. But it's a great cut so I think I'll be able to put up with the hassle. The experience also reminded me why I've strayed away from commercial cosmetic products. I've used some form of SLS free shampoo for about three years now, and only occasionally gotten it professionally cut in this time (maybe twice). After my cut my scalp was dying from the shampoo and products!!! I used my normal shampoo this morning to make sure I could style my hair myself, and everything was back to normal. Boo SLS!!

On a similar note, OCM has been going decently for me. I've been getting several small whiteheads on my chin and cheeks (apparently this is normal and expected, part of "detoxing" if you will) but my skin is significantly softer and less oily. I'm not happy about the whiteheads, as I never really got pimples before. This morning I wasn't feeling too well, and therefore too lazy to do the whole procedure, so I just used some new lemongrass EO cold-process soap on my face and it felt great. Some of the whiteheads are already going away. I think I'll do soap in the morning and the oil at night for a while and see how that goes.

norskjente @ 2008-06-27T15:15:00

2008-06-27T22:29:20Z

Interning has been getting progressively more interesting. I've answered questions and talked with students more, graded tests, learned how to used a Scantron reader (I had totally forgotten about scantron forms...I haven't taken a multiple choice test in two years), presented information to the class, and done some general errands. It's still not terribly exciting, but it is much better than what I did the first day!

On a completely different note, in an effort to combat the insane amount of money I've spend on handmade soap recently (I literally have 13 bars just sitting around waiting to be used. I think I replaced my paddiction with soap addiction) and to further limit the chemicals I put on my body, I've decided to try out OCM (oil cleansing method) for my face. I started yesterday so I can't say much about it yet, but hopefully it will work out well for me and I'll have happy skin and save money down the line.

I'm very excited for the weekend. Tonight I am finally seeing my good friend of eight years, Yan. I haven't seen him since last year, so I'm very excited. I think we're going to see Wall-e. I'm seriously a sucker for animated children's films, lol. Then tomorrow I'm going into San Francisco with my mom and staying overnight. She got a free hotel night through some points/rewards thing. Hopefully the weather is nice and the air will be much less smoky than it is here...damn fires... I'm also really looking forward to sleeping in. I am not a morning person and waking up early to get to work at 8 just isn't my cup of tea.

First day!

2008-06-23T20:50:17Z

I had my first day as an "intern" today at the high school. No one (including my very absent employer) actually knows what my title is, but that's okay. It made it all the more interesting when I was being introduced. I was hired as a tutor, but was later informed that I would actually be a TA/intern. So it goes! I'm helping out with a World History class (mostly high school sophomores) that is six weeks long. I just want to say that I am so glad I am not in high school anymore. I forgot how rigid public school curricula were. All the kids do is read out of a textbook (a textbook, which, mind you, states that the US was victorious in the Iraq war...*coughcough*) and answer questions at the end of each chapter by copying exactly out of the book. There is little to no room for individual thought development or creativity. It makes me really sad. I guess that's what happens when you teach towards a standardized test instead of teaching for knowledge.

My first class was incredibly boring, but I was assured it would get more interesting as the class goes on. Today I literally sat in a chair and did absolutely nothing for 5 hours. Not even handing out papers or getting copies or taking roll. The teacher I'm helping out told me he'd be having me help teach/lead discussion soon, because one of the topics on the syllabus is Judeo/Christian tradition and its influence on the modern world and governments (I'm a religious studies major), so I look forward to that! Hopefully I'll be able to continue waking up early for the rest of the summer. It was pretty difficult today. The only downside is that I usually talk to Josh pretty late at night (I swear he's nocturnal) so I only got to talk to him for about 20 minutes last night since I went to bed at 10:30.

norskjente @ 2008-06-19T16:25:00

2008-06-19T23:38:17Z

I had to drive into the city today (a total of four hours there and back) to visit the Norwegian Consulate. I am securing my permanent Norwegian citizenship and dual citizen status. Yay! While I was there, this Nowegian girl I used to do ballet with showed up with her mom. Small world! It was really unfortunate to have to spend four hours driving for something that only took about 10 minutes. I also managed to lose my US passport, probably while moving out of my dorm, so I had to apply for a new one today as well. I'm glad I noticed it was gone now, or else I probably would not have been able to get a new one in time for our trip to Japan.

I also shipped out the last of the pads I had up for sale, as well as a letter and a shirt with my perfume on it for Josh. He told me that after I last visited, his bed smelled like me and he really missed it, so I figured it would be a nice surprise. I wish time would move faster. Only six weeks (only...haha) until I get to see him again.

I also think I am getting sick. Either that, or my allergies are going haywire (which would make sense because I couldn't resist buying some apple-cinnamon scented candles for my room, even though I'm pretty sensitive to fragrances...damn candle companies and their irresistible products!!). I guess I'll just do my usual overload of zinc/vitamin c and hope it goes away!

Interesting personality thing...

2008-06-14T04:58:25Z

Happy Friday!

2008-06-14T03:13:35Z

Happy Friday the 13th everyone ; ) Mine has been a rather lovely, lazy one. I took Dad to get his temporary disabled parking placard this morning. I actually had an extremely pleasant experience at the DMV (sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?). Everyone there was smiling and friendly. We only had to wait about 5 minutes to get helped, and the woman who assisted us was one of the most charming people I've had the pleasure of coming in contact with in a long time. She was super sweet to my dad (offering to get him a stool to sit on to rest his broken leg while still being able to be at the counter and look at the paperwork) and told us her own broken leg story from a few years back. I found out that one can do much more than just park in disabled parking spaces with a placard. My dad can now park at a meter and not have to pay, park in a timed space for however long he wishes, and park in restricted areas (like employee only spaces) if need be. I never knew that!

Shipped out the couple of liners from my stash thinning sale today. Even though I will miss those pads (though I never used them, they were so pretty!), it feels really good to clear out unneeded things. I sold about 15 items of clothing to Crossroads Trading Co. for a decent amount of money and have 3 more bags of really nice stuff that I just don't wear anymore. I think I'll pick out the more stylish items and sell those to the consignment shop for a little extra gas money and donate the rest to the SPCA thrift store. It's amazing that after packing up all these extra clothes I still have an entirely full closet. When did I get so much stuff? I know a lot of it has accumulated over the years because I honestly haven't grown much since I was about 14, so I can still wear my really old clothes, but still. I can't help but look into my closet and just feel bad for having so many material things that I don't really even use that much. My goal by the end of the summer is to have given away or sold all the stuff I don't use/can't recycle into other uses and have a basically empty room/closet at home when I pack and leave back for college.

I decided to bake a cheesecake today with the boysenberries and marionberries that I picked from the local you-pick farm. That place is wonderful. You can eat as much as you want while picking and only pay for the fruit you take away. They have a really large variety of berries, cherries, apricots, peaches, and veggies. Very cheap, too. I got 3 baskets of berries and a basket of cherries for a little over $4.

I made it half plain, half swirled with the berries so that my mom could eat it (she has very delicate enamel and any kind of berry stains her teeth!)

Then I took a nap : ) Wonderful day, I think!

Decisions and goodies!

2008-06-13T06:12:35Z

I met with my future boss today about tutoring at my old high school. Turns out she actually wants me to be more of a teacher's aide than a tutor, which I am very excited about. I will be assigned one class and will help out every day of summer school. Unfortunately that means I have to break my habit of staying up until 2 am in order to be functional at 8 am! I also have to drop my summer Statistics class because the timing overlaps. Even if it is freakishly early, this should be a fantastic experience. It will definitely look good on my resume and should help give me an idea if I really want to do Teach For America or not after graduation.

In other words, I got my Etsy orders today. One was from Anderson Soap Co. (seller dennisanderson) and the other was from Gudonya Too. They are both amazing! I got 5 bars of soap from Dennis, and he included a HUGE sample bar (3 oz!) of apricot scented soap and a free lip balm. I'm not fond of the lip balm scent, but the actual texture and quality of it is amazing. Here's a little peek and some of the amazingness I got from Dennis:

These bars are like works of art. Seriously. My favorite scent is Fresh Cut Grass. Yum!
I got shampoo and conditioner in Tahitian Vanilla from GudonyaToo. I have been searching for good, simply made shampoo for my rather fickle hair and I think I found it. I used it today (I took an extra shower because I just couldn't resist) and my hair is super happy thus far. Smells fantastic, too. I'm going to give it a few days to make a final decision.

norskjente @ 2007-12-25T00:59:00

2007-12-25T09:11:45Z

Happy Christmas! Woke up late today, then did some laundry, wrapped gifts, and started season 4 of Scrubs. At around two I had to go help my dad get food at the market, and then help him cook for the Christmas Eve dinner. We made spinach salad, rice pudding, veggie patties, tofu strips, fried mushrooms, mashed potatoes with cheese baked on top, steamed broccoli, carrots, peas, wheat bread rolls, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce. So much food! The cat was very pleased to have leftovers :)

We opened gifts this evening, and I got an excellent haul. I got an iPhone (!), new umbrella, bottle of very nice perfume, chocolates, sbux gift card, and lots and lots of socks. I've been playing with my iPhone all night. This thing is crazy!