Pub After Dark: Rocky Votolato

After having a great time at the Daphne Loves Derby concert at Porter's Pub earlier this month, my roommates and I were very excited about the last concert of the "Pub After Dark" series for Fall quarter, with Rocky Votolato headlining on November 29th. We had no idea who he, or the two opening bands, were beforehand, but since the concert was FREE, we figured we had nothing to lose by going out to hear them perform at the Pub on a Thursday night.

We got to the stage door at 7:25 pm, about five minutes before the doors were supposed to open, and much to our surprise, there was no line whatsoever and the doors were wide open. After glancing at our IDs, the security guards at the door directed us the patio in the back to wait for the show to begin.

The patio was half-empty when we arrived, so we grabbed a few chairs and parked ourselves within view of the stage area, where the bands were doing a bit of last-minute rehearsing. From what I could hear out on the patio, the band rehearsing sounded pretty good, so I looked forward to hearing their set for the night.

We chatted a bit out on the patio before heading into the staging area and claiming front and center spots for the show. Even though we were in the same building where we had seen Daphne Loves Derby, Josh Damigo, and 5Star Fallout perform just weeks ago, the atmosphere for this show couldn't have been more different; the crowd was much sparser and much more subdued - there was even enough room to sit cross-legged on the floor of the staging area in between sets.

The first openers, The Midwinters, began playing promptly at 8 pm:




The Midwinters was the band I had heard rehearsing out on the patio, and while I thought they sounded pretty good from a distance, their performance on stage was pretty disappointing. Something must have been wrong with the sound system because the drums were extremely loud and drowned out the rest of the band on stage.

All of their songs sounded very similar and the band members were not very engaging, so I found myself spacing out about a minute into each of their songs.

The lead singer wore really baggy jeans and that kind of bothered me; it's a silly personal preference, but I like my rockers in tighter pants. (There were plenty of tight-jeaned guys in my vicinity of the audience though, so it was not a completely disappointing night.)

The guitarist on the left played hunched-over, in a turtle-like position while staring at the chords on his guitar the entire night; he looked just like a turtle that was very hesitant of sticking his head out of the safety and security of his shell. Because he constantly stared at his guitar as he played, it seemed like he was not very comfortable with the instrument in his hands.

The guitarist on the right also stared at the chords on his guitar during a majority of their time on stage, but instead of standing like an shy turtle, he had an expressionless stone-face throughout the entire set. The fact that he was wearing a gray shirt that kind of blended in with the curtains in the background made him all the more stone-like in appearance.

The second opener was a duo called Chris and Thomas:




Thomas is the one of the left and Chris is the one on the right. Creative name, no?

Immediately upon taking their places on stage, they both admitted that they may have had a pint or two too many at the bar in the Pub and that they were a bit tipsy. Throughout their entire set, they lamented the fact that they were not allowed to bring alcohol onto stage with them and that all they had as replacements were "little water bottles" that they scoffed. They were a pretty funny duo. While they were both much better at connecting with the audience than the first opening band was able to, their music just wasn't my cup of tea.

Just as I was thinking to myself that they sounded too "folksy" and "country," for my liking, Chris whipped out his banjo and I burst out laughing:



Thomas ended the set by playing his guitar horizontally, which made for an interesting sound:



A few minutes after Chris and Thomas packed up their many instruments, the concert coordinator introduced Rocky and he made his way slowly onto the stage. By the time Rocky took to the stage, the crowd had grown considerably larger, though it was still nothing compared to the packed-like-sardines madness at the Daphne Loves Derby Concert.




Rocky had a pretty nice voice, but I wasn't digging his sound too much either; it was a little too mellow and folksy for me.



There were quite a few Rocky fans in the audience who sang along with him and shouted requests at him in between songs.




Maybe it was because I hadn't had my full daily requisite of caffeine before the concert that night, but the three overly mellow musical acts left me feeling pretty drowsy by the time Rocky was half-way through his set for the night. Something a little more energetic and upbeat would have been nice.




While Rocky's overall performance did not blow me away, his harmonica-playing was pretty damn impressive. A few songs into his set, he reached down to grab one of the weird metal contraptions sitting at the edge of the stage and put it around his neck; it turned out that a harmonica was attached to the end of it!

Every time he reached down to pick up one of the two metal-and-harmonica-contraptions on the floor of the stage, I would grin with glee and I swear he looked my way and smiled at my grinning face a few times that night.

Basically, Rocky + Harmonica = AWESOME!!

At the Daphne Loves Derby concert, I overheard a guy standing near me in the line at the stage door express his shock at the seemingly never-ending line around the Pub because "there's never a line for these Pub concerts," and after going out for the Rocky concert, I understood exactly what he meant.

Although my experience at this Pub After Dark concert was very different from the two mind-blowingly AMAZING concerts I attended earlier this month, I was glad to have had the opportunity to go out and check out some new musicians whom I may not have known much about otherwise.

Netflix Queue: When Harry Met Sally...

I am a sucker for romantic comedies and I've seen quite a few "classics" from the late 80's/early 90's, but much to the horror of my friends, I did not enjoy any of them very much.

Most romantic comedies fall under the category of "fluffy" movies without much substance that become dated very, very quickly. They may be good for a few good laughs, and if you're lucky, some big-screen eye-candy, but not much more, which was why I was pretty reluctant about taking the time to watch When Harry Met Sally...; I thought it was going to just be another outrageously cheesy and extremely outdated movie, but boy was I wrong.


There's a reason this movie is on several top 100 movies of all time lists!

Besides the hair and the clothes, which were both pretty easy to ignore once the plot really started rolling, this movie did not feel overly dated at all. For a movie that was as old as I was, I was a quite pleasantly surprised that the themes explored could still easily be applied today, and that the characters all felt realistic and relatable.

Can a man and a woman be friends without romantic strings attached? Harry and Sally's fate (though it did take quite a few years to develop) say no, and I agree with that to some extent. There are always those initial attractions and slight crushes, but they are usually short-lived and the friendship progresses immensely immediately after both sides get over it. What happens after a strong friendship develops and whether the relationship might come full-circle is a whole nother story...

I really enjoyed the movie, and while the tale of Harry and Sally was sweet, it wasn't overly sappy either.

When Harry gives that famous exasperated speech declaring his love for Sally as he proposes to her at the end of the movie, I couldn't help but smile because I remembered an episode of Scrubs referencing that exact moment.

It was a pretty cool coincidence that I received When Harry Met Sally... right after I watched Casablanca because the former references the latter in the film!

Netflix Queue: Casablanca

Casablanca is one of those must-see, timeless classics that are constantly referenced in pop culture, even over six decades since its initial release. To have stood such a rough test of time and still retain widespread appeal (i.e. it's not one of those "cult classics" that people either love or hate) is quite the feat, and after finally watching the movie (three times in a row!), I understood why it was so special.


Movies aren't made like this anymore; most films released nowadays are so kitschy and trashy that they are not worth the $9+ ticket prices at theaters to see. Fred Claus and Alvin and the Chipmunks...seriously??


Romantic and sentimental as it is, Casablanca is not your average "fluffy" and brainless romance flick; the plot really leaves you thinking long after that famous line, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," is uttered by Bogart; Why the sudden change of plan in the end? Why did she get on the plane? Whom does she truly love? That German asshole totally deserved to die.

While some black and white films may be immediately written off as being "too dated" for today's audiences, that aspect of the film actually contributed to the exotic and romantic appeal of the plot; I honestly forgot that there was no color a few minutes into the movie because I was already so drawn into what was happening and the interaction between the characters.

There aren't many movies out there that can withstand multiple viewings without becoming boring and tiresome, but Casablanca just gets better and better every time I hit "Play."

Walking On Clouds (Part Two)

November 30th, the "day of doom" for all UC applicants, is approaching quickly, so naturally, I cannot help but think back to the "me" of a year ago and compare that person with the person I have become.

I submitted my UC application on November 29th, and it's mind-blowing to think that 364 days have passed since that fateful day.

So much has changed, and I beam with joy to be able to say wholeheartedly and without the slightest bit of exaggeration that the changes have overwhelmingly been for the better.

College is, without a doubt, ten million times better than high school, so hang in there high school seniors - you're almost there!

While I liked my high school's unique environment, respected and admired most of the teachers, and enjoyed most of the classes I took, the "high school experience" itself was pretty hellish for me. For four years, I felt extremely unbalanced as a person, and the slightest bit of pressure or stress would send me on yet another emotional roller coaster ride, each more intense than the last, but all ending the same way - with me curled up in a corner somewhere crying my eyes out for one inarticulate reason or another. Eating disorders, manic cycles of depression, and crippling anxiety attacks all added up to a few very difficult teenage years. It wasn't my high school that I despised per se; I was just in the wrong environment at the wrong time and the combined pressures of the competitive academics and my own teenage-angst proved simply to be too much to handle.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

Looking back at all the mistakes that the high school "me" made and all the traps I inadvertently fell for has definitely made me a smarter and more self-aware person today.

"College," and the new start that came with it, was my light at the end of a very dark tunnel, and I am glad to say that the source of light has not disappointed.



(Can you guess who is singing that?)

Getting the opportunity to pursue subjects that I am truly passionate about is one of the reasons why I am so much happier in college. I love all of the classes I am taking this quarter, and all the extra effort I put into them shows; I have aced every assignment and every exam for every class so far. When you love what you're studying, studying is no longer a chore.

Advice #1: Don't major in "science" or "engineering" just because your parents say you should or simply because you are aiming for that high-paying job after graduation. Do it only if you are truly passionate about those subjects and have enough self-motivation to push yourself through the tough four (or most likely, more) years of schooling. Your prospects won't be good if you end up failing your introductory chemistry class and you are a pharmaceutical chemistry major.

Majoring in "science" doesn't guarantee you a high-salaried job and a wonderful life after college either; Did you know Ms. Keyak majored in biology when she was in college? That's right.

Advice #2: College should be a time of self-exploration, so be adventurous, take classes in subjects you may never have studied before, find something you like and are good at and stick with it!

I've never taken an art history class before, but I took a chance with the class this quarter, and it turned out to be my favorite class, by far. You'll never know unless you give it a try, and what time is better for trying things out than while in college?

Advice #3: Don't choose a college simply for its prestige. Seriously research the college choices you have and weigh the benefits and costs carefully before making your final decision.

Deciding to come to UCSD was a no-brainer for me. Chancellor's Scholarship? Priority Enrollment? Getting accepted into Muir College, located just five minutes from the beach? Sunny southern California weather? What was there to hesitate about?

While I realize that most people's decisions may not be as clear-cut and simple as mine was, it is still important not to judge universities solely on their prestige; the number of opportunities available and the campus environment are also two very significant factors that can make or break your college experience.

***

I am enjoying all of my classes, getting better grades, eating more healthily, sleeping more, and am just feeling more balanced in general since starting college. Of course, things haven't been perfect, but I wouldn't be too upset if where I am now is as good as it will ever get.

Things are going great, and hopefully they stay that way.

Walking On Clouds (Part One)

My most challenging class this quarter is probably Muir 40. The style of paper-writing is very demanding, and I spend hours and hours in front of my computer rereading and rewriting my each of my sentences that make up the progressively-longer-and-more-difficult papers.

I was absolutely elated when I found out that I had gotten an A- on the first paper, but the second paper was so much harder to write and so different from the first one that I had no idea what grade to expect after I turned it in. I even completely gutted my main argument of the paper the night before it was due and basically rewrote the entire thing because I was so insecure about what I had written before.

The instructor told our class he would pass out pieces of papers with our paper grades and the aggregated comments of all the different graders at the end of class today, so we all waited anxiously for over an hour to see them.

At the end of class, he pulled out a stack of paper, and much to my surprise, called my name first and handed me the folded sheet on top.

I anxiously unfolded the paper he had handed me and gasped when I saw my grade - I had gotten a SOLID A on the second paper!

Turns out, burning that midnight oil really did pay off in the end!

I literally felt like I was walking on clouds on my way out of the room.

Our final paper is an eight to nine page monstrosity that will be worth 45% of our grades, so hopefully I can finish the quarter off as strongly as I had started it!

Reading Redefined

For some reason unknown to me, a Newsweek magazine subscription I did not remember ordering or paying for began to arrive at my home address under my name a few weeks after I moved into my dorm room at UCSD. When I went home during the week of the Great San Diego Firestorm, I found a huge pile of magazines waiting for me on my desk. I love reading magazines, so that was definitely a treat for me.

After flipping through a few issues, I immediately logged on to the Newsweek website, found out that my current mysterious subscription will run until December, and changed the mailing address to my campus P.O. Box so I would be guaranteed to receive a bit of mail each week.


This week's cover story was on the new Amazon Kindle. While I've heard about and read short snipets about the new eBook reader, I did not know much about it and did not care enough to click on the link that has been on Amazon's homepage for a while now. My first impression, after hearing about the device while it was still in development, was not an entirely positive one; I couldn't imagine reading books on an electronic screen rather than in bound paper form, and didn't think that my apprehensions about this breed of new technology was too unique in the mainstream.

After reading the article and learning more about the device, however, my interest in the Kindle grew and now I would seriously consider buying a cheaper, sleeker, later generation of the device if it still exists after the initial hype dies down. I waited five generations to jump on the iPod bandwagon, so waiting a few years to see how this attempt at popularizing the eBook plays out will be no problem at all. The intentions - to get people to start reading for pleasure (gasp!) again - is definitely a noble one that I support.

While I will be observing the inklings of the portable eBooks trend from the sidelines for now, I will not be missing out on access to eBooks entirely; I noticed a mention of a website called "Daily Lit" in the article, and immediately put the magazine down to Google it.

I am so glad I did because the website turned out to be exactly what I was looking for - and I didn't even know I was looking for it!

Short installments of books emailed directly to my inbox? What an ingenious idea!

I am an absolute email addict, so this is a great way for me to finally get a chance to read all those classics that I have always intended on picking up in my spare time - and all for FREE!

(Did I mention how "FREE" was my favorite word right now?)

Before jumping into the longer, more intellectually challenging classics from authors like Austen and Dickens, I decided to try the site out with a less intimidating choice - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Registration was quick and easy, and I've gone through quite a few installments of the book already.

The site is totally awesome and did I mention that it is (almost - you have to pay a small fee to access newer titles) completely FREE?

Time to get your read on!

Jersey Boys Beggin' at Union Square

As crazy as it may sound, the one thing I was most looking forward to about coming home to San Francisco for Thanksgiving was to going to watch the new Jersey Boys perform at the Union Square Tree Lighting. After watching (and falling in love with) the amazing Jarrod Spector and the rest of the now-in-Chicago cast perform at the Curran twice over the summer (and that one time when he and most of the other cast wasn't there) and catching clips of their performance at Union Square in July that I missed, I had high expectations for this new cast.

Getting priority over a family Thanksgiving dinner, my grandmother's birthday dinner, and having an entire twelve-person back-from-college reunion night out planned around them and their performance inherently raised the stakes, and I am sorry to say that neither my nor my friends' expectations were met that night.




The crowd at Union Square was insane; I arrived at 5:20 pm and still had to squeeze my way to the front (causing a few disgruntled and outraged outbursts from the people I squeezed in between on the way up) to meet my friend. Our spot in the crowd wasn't great and there were quite a few tall dads with young kids on their shoulders in front of us, but we still had a pretty good side-view of the stage.




(By the way, that was not me singing along - it was the people in front of me!)



I definitely prefer Jarrod Spector's sweet, melt-my-heart voice to Rick Faugno's more in-your-face, forceful voice.




The magic just wasn't there with this cast, and my friends all pretty much agreed. There were quite a few people there who have never seen Jersey Boys or the now-in-Chicago cast perform, so they certainly missed out on something truly amazing!




The new Jersey Boys also chose one of the most annoying Christmas carols to perform. Every time I hear "Little Drummer Boy," I see Angela from The Office singing it on the karaoke machine at their Christmas party. I wish they had chosen a more cheery and fun song to sing.




The tree lighting itself was very... anticlimactic.

"Let's go home," said my friend once the lights were flicked on, and apparently, the entire crowd at Union Square that night was thinking the exact same thing because the streets and roads around Union Square were literally flooded with people afterwards.

It was quite the sight, and sadly, attempting to navigate the crowds and the sheer chaos to find my friends was probably the most exciting part of the Tree Lighting experience.

Scrambling that Writer's Block

Thanksgiving break was much too short. Flying home for those four days off felt just like pausing live TV on my TV tuner without pushing the record button first; once I click on the "Play" button, everything suddenly jumps forward and I am scrambling to catch up on the crucial elements of the plot I missed while attempting to juggle comprehension of what is going on at the moment.

That's exactly how I am feeling right now and I am not happy about it. Scrambling, unless it is scrambling eggs for my breakfast (preferably with a side of French toast and two or three veggie sausage patties, please) has no place in my presumably more laid-back life here in La Jolla.

Since I did not get a lick of work done in San Francisco, lugging my untouched books back to campus with me, knowing full and well of all the end-of-quarter deadlines hanging over my head, left me with an extremely guilty conscience.

My biggest deadline was the outline of my worth-45%-of-my-grade, eight to nine page (trimmed down from ten) Muir 40 paper due at my 2:15 pm conference with the instructor. The thing about writing is that it is a fickle facet of academia; no matter how much you may want to focus, once that writer's block hits, there really is not much you can do besides sit at your desk, stare at the little blinking bar on your open word processing document mocking your inability to express coherent ideas in written words, and scream silently while attempting to rip chunks of hair from your scalp out of sheer frustration.

Despite shelling out some big bucks to take a cab back to campus from the airport so I could start hitting those books earlier with the hopes of catching a few winks of sleep before my 9 am class the next morning, I did not get any work done whatsoever. That stupid blinking bar was really getting on my nerves, so I ended up browsing internet deals and mentally adding items to my wish list for THREE hours.

I desperately needed those extra few hours of sleep, but I was convinced that I would be able to come up with something brilliant to write about if I just stared at my notes or the word processing document a little longer.

Unfortunately, that much-needed bout of inspiration did not come and I ended up crashing into bed, feeling completely dejected, at 3 am.

When my alarm went off at 8:30 am, I turned it off and seriously contemplated rolling over and sleeping through my Political Science class. After weighing the pros and cons of cutting class, I figured that the benefits of sleeping in did not outweigh the costs (how's that for theory of rational thought for you, Hobbes?), jumped out of bed groggily, brushed my teeth, and ran out of my room with my notebook, an Odwalla bar, a half-filled Nalgene, and my iPod.

I was glad I did not miss class today because we watched a really moving documentary about Jewish rescuers during the Holocaust. The rescuers' accounts of what happened were so intense that I started tearing up at one point. I am really excited about the "Becoming Evil" seminar I will be taking with my current Political Science professor next quarter that will delve even further into this dark period of history.

At the end of class, our TAs returned our in-class midterm exams. When I opened my bluebook, I was very surprised to see a big "A" circled at the end of my essay with the word "Excellent!" underneath it.

That was just the inspiration I needed.

Once I got back to my room and pulled up the blank word processing document I had opened up the night before, the right words and ideas began to flow out of my head like water out of a kitchen faucet. Two hours later, I was pretty satisfied with my paper layout, so I printed the sucker out and headed to history class.

After class, I grabbed some food before walking over to my instructor's office for my conference. One-on-one conferences with my instructor always make me nervous because he can be pretty intimidating, but things always work out well in the end and I come out of his office with great advice to guide me as I sit in front of my computer writing my papers late into the night.

Today, I sat at his desk and watched him in silence for about ten minutes as he read the outline of my paper before either one of us spoke. When he was finished going over what I had written, he told me that he had no real criticisms of how I intended to write my paper and that he was looking forward to reading it when I was done. After giving me a few reminders to keep in mind as I wrote the paper, I was good to go.

I hope this is a good sign that I might be able to score that "A" in the class after all!

Frazzled, Thanksgiving Traveling

Did laundry.

Packed pink Kipling bag with four days worth of clothes and other necessities.

Read this New York Times article.

Immediately changed mind about checking small-enough-to-be-a-carry-on bag in at airport.

(What if my bag went missing and I LOST my $40 Maroon 5 t-shirt? Or my new tags-still-attached pea coat? Or my pricey new tinted moisturizer? Or worse, my unavailable-in-stores Petal Pink Kipling bag??)

Repacked bag with carry-on restrictions in mind.

Struggled lifting heavy bag out of way so roommate would not trip.

Realized lugging heavy bag in addition to heavy backpack full of books and laptop would not work in crowded airport and on completely full Southwest flight.

Repacked with goal of lightening load.

Failed.

Abandoned half-packed bag with contents spewed all over floor.

Shopped on internet with money I did not have.

Consumed lots and lots of caffeine.

(And chocolate.)

Changed mind and decided to check bag.

Repacked.

Did more internet "window-shopping".

Watched half a season of Scrubs.

Said good-bye to roommate.

Consumed more caffeine.

Shot anxious glances at still-not-completely-packed bag sitting on floor.

Changed mind again - bag will be carry-on.

Repacked.

Read some more articles in New York Times.

Watched more Scrubs.

Consumed more caffeine.

Looked at clock - almost 4 am?!?.

Set alarm to 8:00 am.

Attempted to sleep.

Turned off alarm at 8:02 am.

Woke up at 8:33 am.

Swore and almost fell out of loft bed.

Brushed teeth and showered in a rush.

Realized needed to bring face wash - bottle was larger than three ounces.

Made up mind to CHECK THE DAMN BAG IN at airport.

Looked at clock - 9:58 am.

Swore.

Repacked in a hurry.

Toppled over while standing on chair to reach something.

Swore.

Landed on right elbow and almost hit back of head against roommate's desk.

Got legs tangled under chair.

Fell over again.

Swore again.

Looked at clock - 10:12 am.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK!!"

Struggled to close zipper on bag because hair straightener made bag too bulky.

Succeeded.

Grabbed pink bag, green and yellow alligator tote bag, and backpack.

Ran out of door.

Realized forgot to bring Love Actually DVD promised to friend.

"FUCK."

Dropped bags and ran back into room.

Tripped on an imaginary speed bump.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK."

Grabbed DVD.

Looked at clock - 10:23 am.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!"

Ran as quickly as possible to Peterson Hall.

Saw door of airport shuttle close as running up hill.

"FUCK."

Ran faster.

Saw that shuttle number two still had door open.

Boarded completely full shuttle.

Panted and sweated a lot.

Got to San Diego airport.

Checked in bag.

Stood in line at Starbucks for ten minutes before realizing beverages not allowed past security check point.

Swore.

Reached into pocket of backpack to retrieve boarding pass.

Realized it was missing.

Freaked out.

Dropped everything.

Emptied bags in frantic search in the middle of check-in area.

Couldn't find boarding pass.

Freaked out.

Calmed down enough to think straight.

Realized reprinting boarding pass was simple.

Felt like dumbass.

Reprinted boarding pass.

Got through security without a hitch.

Paid $9 for a latte and a bottle of water.

Sat on floor of gate area sipping latte and feeling better.

Pounced on first open seat.

Almost cried when passerby knocked over my latte.

(Only about three drops of coffee were lost.)

Struggled with the sports cap of water bottle.

Spilled water on everything in tote bag.

Swore.

Holding in a grande-latte induced full bladder for forty-five minutes because did not want to lose seat.

Ran to closest bathroom - five gates away.

Waited in very long line.

Felt better.

Pounced on another open seat.

Chatted with nice lady sitting next to me about art.

Lent her my favorite orange highlighter.

Continued reading long article on Impressionism for class.

Reveled in complete horror when looked up and saw empty seat where nice lady had sat - SHE STOLE MY FAVORITE HIGHLIGHTER.

Saw her get on flight to Oakland at next gate - HOLDING MY HIGHLIGHTER IN HER HAND.

Tried not to let crazy out because cute guy was sitting next to me.

Finished reading article, still fuming about highlighter.

Got confused by Southwest's new boarding procedure.

Settled into good window seat near front of plane.

Finished Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" on plane, lamenting discontinuity in highlighter colors on pages because THE OAKLAND ART LADY STOLE MY FAVORITE ORANGE HIGHLIGHTER, OMFG!

Tried to take nap and forget about highlighter.

Arrived at SFO twenty-five minutes early.

Let out huge sigh of relief when pink bag fall out into the baggage carousal.

Went to Stonestown to exchange pea coat because of a loose button.

Came home and realized new coat AE guy gave me HAD A MISSING BUTTON NEAR THE COLLAR.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK!"

Watched When Harry Met Sally... three times and half of Breakfast at Tiffany's.

***

Am extremley thankful for making it through day in one piece.

(Mostly.)

Making Ice Waffles

Some time over the weekend, my roommates and I began to detect a funky smell coming from the part of our room where the mini fridge stood. We investigated the contents of our fridge and couldn't find anything that could have been the cause of the mysterious odor, so we were completely stumped.

One of my roommates went home for the weekend and managed to escape the lingering funk, but my other roommate and I were reminded of it every time we walked by our fridge. While we were both procrastinating from writing our papers that were due the next day on Sunday afternoon, we decided that it was the perfect time to do a deep-cleaning of our fridge with a Costco-sized container of Clorox wipes.

When we could still sniff out the faint traces of the odor even after scrubbing the insides of the fridge for about half an hour, we grew desperate and even tried defrosting our ice-packed freezer.

Defrosting the freezer had been on our to-do list for about a month now, and the amount of ice frozen in and around the freezer was growing absolutely ridiculous. About forty-five minutes after we turned off our fridge, I noticed that the layer of ice lining the bottom of our freezer was beginning to loosen. After a little prodding, the entire sheet detached itself from the freezer and fell into the drip tray:


As modeled by my roommate, it looked just like ice waffles!

We ran out and bought a box of baking soda after we finished scraping the ice off of the corners of the freezer and our room is now happily funk-free.

Productive procrastination... who knew such a thing was possible?

Moulin Rouge... Minus Ewan McGregor & Nicole Kidman

Moulin Rouge, starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, is another one of my all-time favorite movies (whenever I hear Christian say,"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return," big, fat tears immediately begin to well up in my eyes), so when my art history professor announced that the movie of the week for our art history film festival was going to be the 1952 version of Moulin Rouge, I knew I had to go see it.


I had NO IDEA that the 50's version was completely different from the McGregor and Kidman version that I loved so much.

Maybe running on an extra-large side of greasy tater tots, a not-so-tasty omelette from Canyon Vista, a whole lot of sugar and caffeine, and just a little more than two hours of sleep had something to do with it, but I unconsciously nodded off about halfway through the screening of Moulin Rouge and woke up feeling completely disorientated, but just in time to see Lautrec lose what could have very well been the love of his life, drink himself into a crazy stupor, and die on his deathbed.

I rarely ever fall asleep during movies, and I always walk into a theater with an open mind, but even when I was completely awake and alert during the first half of the movie, I just could not get myself to enjoy this movie. And I usually love old classics!

This version of Moulin Rouge won all sorts of awards back in its day, but I honestly could not see what was so great about it. Maybe it got significantly better during the second half that I slept through? I seriously doubt it though.

The scene where Lautrec walked toward the table in the outdoor cafe where a bunch of his artist friends were sitting and chatting was interesting because I recognized the names of artists we were studying in class being mentioned, but aside from that little tidbit, the scene itself was pretty dull, just like the rest of the movie.

The can-can dancers at the Moulin Rouge also kind of bothered me - the way their legs were spinning and twirling almost independently of the rest of their bodies and their screeching yelps as they danced made me feel very uneasy.

While I felt pretty indifferently about the movie (or what I saw of it) as a whole, the first love interest of Lautrec, the street-bum Marie, really pissed me off; I hated her accent, her whiny attitude, and how she basically ruined Lautrec's life by pretending to accept him for who he was and even feign loving him just for his money.

Damn uncultured gold-digger!

My roommate saw the movie with me and she claimed the plot was actually pretty interesting. Since she didn't fall asleep, I'll take her word for it. Maybe I'll give watching this movie another try one day, preferably a day after I get a good night's sleep.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Because for some nonsensical reason, the MTS buses that run to and from UCSD stop service at about 10 pm (as proof, my roommates got stranded at Fashion Valley Mall for about two hours one Saturday night, until our lovely HA drove out to rescue them at around midnight), my roommate and I had to modify our movie choice last night to find something that would end well before when the buses would call it a night - just in case.

While I really wanted to watch Across the Universe in theaters again, the movie times were unfortunately much too late to work with the bus system. Instead, we decided to watch a surefire feel-good movie, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.


Ever since I saw the previews over the summer, I looked forward to watching this movie in theaters. Dustin Hoffman? Natalie Portman? Jason Bateman? What an amazing cast! I LOVED Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth in Arrested Development (one of the best shows ever!), so I was very excited to see him on the big screen.

Most critics felt pretty neutral about the movie (and EW apparently hated it), but I really enjoyed it. I don't remember the last time I saw a G-rated movie in theaters, but Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium really does have a little something for everybody in the audience, whether young or old. The great diversity in the age of the audience in the theater that night was proof of this. Of course, there were plenty of parents towing not just one or two, but an average of three or four young children each, into the front rows of the theater, but there was also a sizable number of teenagers, young adults, and older couples taking seats in the rear of the theater.

Since I guess you could say this was meant to be a "kids' movie," it wasn't surprising that a good number of the seats taken that night was by little people under forty-eight inches tall and not yet at that double-digit age yet; what was surprising though, was how the fact that I was sitting in a theater full of kids totally slipped my mind during the hour and thirty-three minute movie.

No crying, no whining, no unnecessary interruptions, whatsoever.

Unbelievable, right? I sure thought so.

Usually, I groan whenever I see even one or two younger kids enter my theater with their parents because their presence almost always guaranteed that some kind of tantrum was bound to interrupt the movie about halfway through, but I guess Mr. Magorium's magic kept the children so entranced that even they forgot to be a nuisance that night.

Something about Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium reminded me of one of my all-time favorite movies, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, mind you). While Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was based on the children's book by Roald Dahl, the film had so many snide social criticisms and bits of dark humor that it probably appealed to adults as much as it did to children. Mr. Magorium didn't contain the same kind of 1970's dark humor, but the plot was so full of clever references and was intricate enough to entertain adults on a whole different level as the kids enjoyed all the cool toys on display in the Wonder Emporium.


Shakespearean references, a cameo by Kermit the Frog (!), and one of my favorite Cat Stevens songs playing during one of my favorite scenes? This was definitely more than just your average, mindless children's movie!

Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman did not disappoint, but Zach Mills, the little boy who did an amazing job playing the wise beyond his years and big-hearted Eric, wins the award for the most outstanding performance. I was very impressed by his talent and the sincerity in his portrayal of the slightly eccentric Eric.

All the attention paid to the small details in all the special effects really made this movie stand out. The sad sock monkey broke my heart in all of his appearances throughout the first half of the movie, but he, like the movie itself, had a very sweet and happy ending that put a grin on my face for the rest of the night.

There aren't many movies I would be willing to see in theaters more than once (what with such high ticket prices nowadays), but I wouldn't mind watching Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium again, even if it was just to see all the cool toys in action!

Reese's Whipps

I am an absolute sucker for novelties, and whenever any product sports a lucrative "NEW!" logo on its wrapper, I can never resist trying it.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are on my list of favorite candies of all time, so when I spotted the "NEW!" Reese's Whipps bars sitting in the candy rack of my dining hall, I knew I would not be able to resist grabbing one on my way to the register to pay for my meal.


"What was there to lose?" I thought. According to the dining dollars budget calendar, I had over one hundred more dining dollars than I should currently have in my account, so a little experimentation at the cost of less than one dining dollar was no problem at all.

While the original Reese's Peanut Butter Cups married smooth chocolate and crumbly, sweetened peanut butter together in the world's most perfect union, this "NEW!" Reese's Whipps bar was like the marriage out of desperation and loneliness of two over-forties, destined to fail from its induction because the coupling was just inherently incompatible.

I am a chocolate fiend and will eat just about anything (though I draw the line at gross-out foods like chocolate covered insects) with chocolate in it, but I hate 3 Musketeers bars with a passion; they have this artificial chocolate flavor that just repulses me. I don't care if they are "low-fat" - chocolate shouldn't be a "low-fat" food anyway!

There's something very unnatural about the combination of "chocolate" and the "low-fat" claim; if you have to have chocolate, you might as well indulge in something rich and worthwhile.

Reese's Whipps tasted just like an artificially peanut-butter flavored 3 Musketeers bar with a thin layer of hard, sticky caramel layered near the top, so I guess if you're into 3 Musketeers Bars, you would probably enjoy the artifical taste, "airy" texture, and misleading health claim ("40% Less Fat*," the Whipps wrapper claimed) of Reese's Whipps.

(By the way, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is the fourth ingredient on the list for both 3 Musketeers Bars and Reese's Whipps bars - how's that for "healthier than real chocolate," for ya?)

Olympus, Inc.

Even though World Literature 2, the second half of a year-long freshman English class at my high school, was supposed to focus on ancient mythology, my misfortune of being near the very end of the alpha-rotation for Arena Day that year left me with an incompetent student teacher as my instructor for the course. While I enjoyed the books we read in the class (Animal Farm and The Diary of Anne Frank), it would have been nice to get that background in mythology we were supposed to have by the end of our first year in high school.

As a result, I know close to nothing about Greek and Roman mythology and anything dealing with those two topics is inexplicably intimidating to me.

That missing foundation in mythology sure would have been helpful to me when we were studying LeBrun and history painting in my Art History class earlier this quarter, and I probably would have gotten into the brilliantly written plot of "Olympus Inc.," Company 157's final production for Fall Quarter, much more quickly at today's performance with that knowledge in mind.


While I took the time to skim the "Brief Lesson in (Some) Greek Mythology" printed in the program as I waited for the performance to begin in the semicircular theater in Galbraith Hall, the condensed overviews of each god and goddess did not sink in quickly enough for me to catch many of the snide quirks and nuances in each reincarnated character's personalities during most of the first act of the play.

It wasn't until I really studied the information on the page more carefully during intermission that I began to truly appreciate the excellent writing and extremely talented performances by the cast.

Even though there were a few very funny moments scattered throughout the first act, I thought some parts moved a little too slowly, though not knowing the history behind each character's inspiration probably affected my understanding of the characters and the plot when they were first introduced.

When I finally started to become more acquainted with each character and the plot near the end of the first act, things really started to pick up speed, and the entire second act was absolutely hilarious.

The final scene, featuring Jesus (pronounced "HEY-SEUS"), Mary and Joseph, a Star War-esque revelation, and a nod of the hat to classic Scooby Doo, was probably the most brilliantly written scene in the entire play; every single tidbit (no matter how small or insignificant it seemed in the first act) mentioned earlier somehow found its way back into the final scene and the culmination of all those familiar elements put into the outrageous new situation was side-splittingly hilarious. I was laughing so hard that I was gasping for air at one point.

At the beginning of the quarter, my history professor used the "law of storytelling," where everything mentioned must hold some kind significance and coherently lead to the plot's development, to contrast the randomness of real life events recorded in history. Michael Swaim, who wrote and performed spectacularly as "Mr. Zusu" (Zeus) in Olympus Inc., executed that law perfectly and weaved together a very smartly written comedy that audiences with prior knowledge of mythology would appreciate immensely and audiences who knew absolutely nothing about the world of the immortals could still laugh at and enjoy.

I guess the guys at the San Diego Asian Film Festival who claimed that UCSD had an awesome theater program (and were subsequently laughed at by the entire theater full of people) weren't kidding after all!

Netflix Queue: Chicago

After spending hours in front of my computer with two Pages documents open, trying to rewrite three pages (i.e. "the meat") of my five to six page paper for Muir 40 that was due in less than eleven hours and occasionally banging my forehead in frustration against my reader for the class lying open on my desk late last night, I seriously needed a break when I finished rereading the essay and doing final grammatical edits.

Even though it was nearly one in the morning when I finally uploaded the paper to Turnitin.com and emailed a copy to my instructor, I reached for the Netflix envelope that had been sitting untouched on my desk for about a day and the box of Junior Mints I had bought at the dining hall earlier that night, inserted the DVD into my computer, and curled up with the perfect mix of mint and chocolate to enjoy a great movie.


Chicago has been on the top of my list of "MUST-SEE MOVIES" for the longest time, and since I recently signed up for another Netflix account to take advantage of the free two week trial (though I might have to cancel my membership when the trial is up due to the lack of funds in my bank account at the moment), it was the perfect time to finally watch it. How could someone claim to love musicals when she hasn't even seen Chicago, right?

While the Junior Mints could have been better if they had spent a few hours sitting in the freezer (the awesome independent theater in Westwood where I saw Across the Universe actually kept their movie-sized boxes of Junior Mints in the freezer!), Chicago did not disappoint, even after having my expectations raised significantly by my friends' rave reviews of the movie.

The casting was perfect, and I was constantly amazed by Catherine Zeta-Jones' amazing performance. Watching the spectacular singing and dancing in the vaudeville acts on the screen almost made me wish I could go back in time to watch those kinds of performances live on stage.

Since I am going to be in New York over winter break this year, I get to choose one Broadway musical to watch as a Christmas present from my parents - I would LOVE to see more than just one, but tickets in December around Christmas-time are especially expensive. While I am still undecided about which show to see, after watching Chicago, the movie, Chicago, the Broadway musical, just moved a couple of spots up on my list of possible choices!

New SF Jersey Boys to Perform at Tree Lighting

Ever since I saw (and subsequently fell madly in love with) Jersey Boys and discovered the awesome Jersey Boys Blog soon afterwards, the blog has been given a permanent spot on the short list of must-reads in my RSS feed. They are always up to date with all the newest Jersey Boys happenings, and while most of the events and news they mention are about the Broadway cast of Jersey Boys and therefore take place in New York, every now and then, there would be a gem of information about something cool going on over here on the other coast of the country.

When I read on the blog that the new San Francisco cast of Jersey Boys will be performing at Union Square for the Macy's Tree Lighting a few nights ago, I was heartbroken to find out that it was going to take place on November 16th - less than week before I would be back in San Francisco for Thanksgiving break.

I immediately told my friends who were still in the Bay Area about the AWESOME opportunity to watch the new cast perform live and hoped that one of them would be considerate enough to record a bit of their performance to show me.

Then I checked my feed last night and saw a correction:

"SF Jersey Boys to Perform at Macy’s Tree Lighting on Friday 11/23!"

Not 11/16!

Upon reading that news, I was absolutely ecstatic!

I've never been to a Tree Lighting ceremony at Union Square before, but with the Jersey Boys performing, this is the perfect year to go out and join in on the festivities.


After reading the spiel about the history of the Tree Lighting, I was a little surprised to learn that this year would only be the 18th Annual Tree Lighting; I have always assumed that the GIANT tree in the middle of Union Square was a much older tradition because I did not know of the time before the giant tree existed and could not imagine Union Square without the tree displayed during the holiday season. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without it, you know? I couldn't believe the tradition was just as old as I was!

I am already making plans with friends coming home from various colleges for Thanksgiving to go watch the new cast of Jersey Boys perform and to bask in the start of the jolly holiday spirit bound to sweep the city (or at the very least, the city's department stores' speaker systems) as the magnificent tree lights up Union Square and twinkles into the night for the very first time. I couldn't be more excited!

Priority Enrollment Rocks

When you to go a big, public university like mine (or any other UC campus), one of the biggest headaches you have to deal with is course enrollment; there are never enough spots in the most desirable courses at the most desirable times.

My high school touted its unique "modular" schedule and the freedom and responsibility of students to determine their own class schedules (teachers, classes, and times) at the beginning of each semester in "the Arena" as college preparatory measures, but the one and only truly "college preparatory" insight I gained from my experiences in high school was that any kind of priority enrollment was a very, very good thing.

Keeping that in mind, choosing UCSD, who offered me priority enrollment as one of the perks of the Chancellor's Scholarship, over all the other colleges last March was a no brainer.

Enrollment for Winter Quarter began on Wednesday, and the most stressful part of the registration process for me was having to take the extra step of contacting the political science department for clearance before enrolling in the freshman seminar I was interested in taking because I would have sophomore standing by the end of this quarter. After taking the five minutes to look up the department email address and to compose a message, I had clearance to enroll in the seminar less than twenty-four hours later.

No muss, no fuss - just how I like it!

EVNR 130: Environmental Issues - Social Sciences
POLI 30: Political Inquiry (A fancy way of saying "STATISTICS," ugh)
SIO 20: The Atmosphere
MCWP 50: Critical Writing - The Graphic Novel
POLI 87: Becoming Evil (Freshman Seminar)

With due dates for papers, midterms, and finals always "just around the corner" in the fast-paced quarter system, any removal of unnecessary stress is always more than welcome.

There are more important things to worry about in life, and learning to let go of the smaller things that could easily become overwhelming in the heat of the moment definitely helps me maintain a more balanced perspective on things!

My point? Priority enrollment is awesome, and definitely something high school seniors should keep in mind when making up their minds about which university to attend; what good is a university with extremely highly regarded faculty members and top programs if you have trouble getting into those classes in the first place? Of course, I am not saying the quality of a school's programs should be disregarded, but sometimes the differences between undergraduate programs at prestigious universities and some equally as good, but perhaps less well-known colleges are negligible. Finding a good balance is always key, and noteworthy advantages like priority enrollment could easily shift the scales in your favor.

Pub After Dark: Daphne Loves Derby

I don't remember exactly how, but some time over the summer, I found out that Daphne Loves Derby, one of my favorite bands of all time, was going to be playing at UCSD, for free on November 14th.

FREE? Daphne Loves Derby?? Seriously?!?

It definitely sounded way too good to be true.

The anticipation for the night was a long time coming, and there could not have been a better way to de-stress after a spectacularly crap-tastic day.

My roommates didn't know much about Daphne Loves Derby before the concert (one of them had never even heard of the band!), but after hearing me rant and rave about how great they were for weeks on end, they agreed to come with me to the concert. The "FREE" admission didn't hurt their decision to come either.

Since we anticipated a huge crowd to show up at Porter's Pub (which is a good-sized venue, but not too spacious by any measures), we headed out of our dorm at about 6:15 pm to line up at the door. We were about the tenth people to show up in line, and less than a hour later, the end of the line was no longer visible; it had already stretched all the way around the front entrance of the Pub and up to who knows where.

The doors opened at a little before eight, and we all ran right up to the edge of the stage to claim our spots for the night.

As we stood by the stage and stared, completely awestruck, at the instruments and lights on the raised platform that was a little less than four feet in front of us (if I had reached my arm out, I probably could have touched the closest microphone stand with my fingers, but then again, I do have freakishly long arms...) and danced to the mix of oldies playing over the speakers, the empty stage area behind us quickly filled to the brim with anxious students eager to see Daphne Loves Derby perform live.

Before we knew it, the house lights dimmed and the stage lights went on - the first opening act was up!

I had no idea who the opening acts for Daphne Loves Derby were going to be before the night of the concert, but I was pleasantly surprised by both acts - they were both GREAT.

By the end of the night, I had two new artists ready to be added to my list of favorites.

The first act was Josh Damigo, an extremely nice guy who has an amazing voice and stage presence.




We met him after the show and he gladly signed our EPs and posters; he even cheerfully posed for a picture with us! I loved how he really seemed to appreciate every new fan who approached him and personalized his autographs on each of our posters with a different message.




Even though I was a little put off by the Christian undertones in one of the songs he performed, I still thought he was great overall.




The last song he performed, Sugar, was my favorite out of the set. He performed it with his "best friend," and their banter on stage was too cute!

While Josh Damigo was a pretty mellow opener (perfect for the Daphne Loves Derby sound), the second act, 5star Fallout, was literally an energy bomb ready to go off and their performance drove the crowd crazy.

The lead singer was bouncing all over the stage (and even into the audience at one point!) and was so passionate about his music that his boundless energy infected the entire audience.




(The video quality does NOT do the band justice - I guess bopping along with the music with the camera in my hand does not make for the best audio quality when I am standing less than six feet away from the speakers!)

I would definitely not hesitate to go to another one of their concerts again because they really know how to show an audience a good time.




Unfortunately, catching another one of their concerts might be kind of difficult because they are natives of NEW ZEALAND!!

Whenever any band member spoke to the audience in between songs, I could sense all the hearts of the girls in the audience melting because of their charming and unbelievably cute accents. When the lead singer joked that in order for them to stay in America, they would have to get married because their Visas expired, a sea of hands from screaming girls shot up in the air, volunteering to be their brides.




They even did a cover of Eleanor Rigby - how could anybody not love them after that?

We met both the lead singer and the blond guitarist (whom my roommate and I both had a huge crush on while he was performing on stage) after the show and they were the nicest people ever.

After a short delay following the end of 5star Fallout's performance, it was finally time for what we were all waiting so anxiously for... kind of.




"... the rest of the guys are stuck in Texas right now because their van broke down."

Honestly, I did not mind at all - Daphne Loves Derby sounds better acoustic anyway.







While the rest of Daphne Loves Derby was on the crapper in a Texas hotel room from overdosing on meals at the $5 buffet across the street, the show went on as scheduled here in San Diego. Kenny and David did an amazing job putting on the entire show by themselves!

I've been listening to Daphne Loves Derby for years now, but in all that time, I have never been able to put a face to the music; I knew that they were a band from Washington and that the lead singer was Asian, but that was about it. Their meaningful lyrics and mellow sound was enough to make me love the band without really knowing who they were.







Let's just say that I was very pleasantly surprised by how cute Kenny and David were when they came out on stage that night! All the more reason to love the band even more.

Since only two members of the band managed to escape car trouble (and the temptation of dirt-cheap all-you-can-eat meals) and make it to San Diego for the concert, their set for the night drew heavily on their older songs that could be performed acoustically without sounding empty. I haven't been listening to Daphne Loves Derby's new material as much as their older albums, so hearing many of my familiar favorites made me a very happy girl.







Watching (part of) Daphne Loves Derby perform some of my favorite songs live, with me standing less than five feet away from them on stage, was a pretty surreal experience; their music played such an important role in helping to keep me sane during overwhelming times in high school that seeing the people responsible for the music I held so dear to my heart and hearing the songs come alive in a whole new way on stage that night meant so much more to me than words could convey.




Whenever I needed a quiet moment to think, a few minutes in between classes to crash in a corner of the library for a quick nap, or a little alone time to curl up underneath the awning in the art wing to shed a few tears, Daphne Loves Derby's music was right there at my fingertips. There were a few artists and albums in particular that I would not have been able to get through all the tough times in high school without, and Daphne Loves Derby's Acoustic EP was one of them.







The line to meet Kenny and David and to buy Daphne Loves Derby merchandise after the show was insanely long; by the time my roommates and I got kicked out of the staging area after some confusion, we were at the very end of an extremely long line that twisted around the entire open patio area of the Pub.

After chatting with the people next to us in line about how amazing the concert was for a few minutes, the concert coordinator came out and told us that Daphne Loves Derby could only stay until 11 pm and that he was sorry if we could not make it inside to meet them. The entire end of the line stared at him in a kind of shocked silence; it was already past 10:40 pm and the line of people in front of us seemed to grow three times longer the moment the coordinator made his announcement.




Instead of leaving (which was probably what the coordinator intended his message to inspire us to do), we held on to the glimmer of hope that we would make it in time to meet Daphne Loves Derby.

By the time the twenty minutes passed by, we were almost at the door to reenter the staging area. The security guards monitoring the flow of people in and out of the area let us in, and we were extremely thankful that Kenny and David did not leave at eleven, on the dot, as the coordinator had implied.

It may have been because we were at the end of a very long line of people who all swarmed around them after they had a stressful night performing a set without half of their band members, but compared to the other guys we met after the show that night, Daphne Loves Derby seemed very distant and cold.

I was pretty disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm on their part for interaction with their fans, but I did walk away with a signed copy of their Acoustic EP.







I was dying to buy a Daphne Loves Derby t-shirt, but I didn't have any cash on me; I was relying soley on my roommate's fat wallet to pay for band merchandise that night, and she did not have an extra $15 for me to borrow (on top of god knows how much I owe her now) for the shirt I was eying so longingly.

Altogether, I had an unbelievably amazing night at the Pub After Dark concert and I still can't believe that it was all FREE.

UCSD may not have a football team, but amazing FREE concerts, musicals, and other artsy events throughout the year? Way better than investing in any old football team (which would only bring happiness and excitement to the campus if it were Division I and actually good enough to win games anyway), in my opinion.

Here Comes the Sun

After more than a week of gray, gloomy weather here in La Jolla, the enviable, perfect "southern California sunshine" is finally back, and I couldn't be happier.

On the first foggy day since Fall Quarter began, my Muir 40 instructor, who was from Louisiana, noticed our more-lethargic-than-usual attitudes and commented, "It's like you Californians are solar powered or something! Once the sun goes away, nobody wants to do any work."

I grinned because his statement couldn't have been more true - we Californians are solar powered, and it takes a while for the power in our battery reserves to kick in when the sunshine suddenly disappears without warning like that.

We're just like solar powered calculators - economical, resilient, and more environmentally friendly than conventional alternatives!



There's something magical about the warm sunshine that can turn just about any frown upside down in an instant.

Even though a loud noise outside my window woke me up at a little past eight this morning, after I had just gotten about six hours of sleep, and my one and only Tuesday class (an art history class called "Formations of Modern Art") didn't start for another four and a half hours, I wasn't annoyed or upset at all. After tossing and turning for about thirteen minutes, trying to fall asleep again with no success (it was way too stuffy in our room), I got out of bed and decided to do something productive with my Tuesday morning for once - I started studying for my political science midterm.

With a good amount of studying done and a hearty breakfast of Cherrios, Silk soy milk, and a (rather large) handful of Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips sitting in my stomach, I was out the door and on my way to my art history class with a smile on my face.

While all of my classes this quarter are pretty enjoyable (history, political science, art history, and writing - what's not to like for a math and science phobic person like me?), my art history class is by far my favorite class. The professor is brilliant (and has an amazing British accent, to boot!) and my TA is very knowledgeable and charming, in an admittedly awkward but very cute way. I always look forward to my Tuesdays and Thursdays because of this class.

As my professor set up the slides on his computer for today's lecture, he announced to the class that my TA had finished grading all of our midterms and that all students in his Thursday section should come up to the front of the room to claim the booklets after class. I was very anxious to see my grade, but today's lecture on more complicated Impressionist artists and works of art soon drove all thoughts of the midterm out of my mind; even though I was trying very hard to concentrate and focus on what my professor was saying about the works of Degas and Manet, I just didn't see the representations or connections in the works as easily as I did for the earlier French paintings we studied. Maybe the smaller-than-usual slides and the fact that I didn't do the week's readings yet had something to do with it.

By the time class was over, my mind was still working hard trying to process all the tidbits of information I had just heard in lecture and if I hadn't seen my TA walk up to the front of the room with a stack of bluebooks, I probably would have forgotten to pick up my graded midterm.

After he thumbed through his pile and pulled out my bluebook (which was the only one without the UCSD logo on it because I had purchased my recycled-from-waste bluebook from the Co-op instead of the bookstore like everyone else), he flashed his toothy grin at me and handed me the exam. As I walked up the stairs out of the lecture hall, I flipped through the pages of my bluebook, skimming my TA's comments ("Excellent," "Anxiety in Gericault not mentioned..." "FYI: This is a 20th century word applied retrospectively," etc) and looking for my grade.

When I reached the last page of my essay and didn't see a letter grade anywhere, I started to panic - did my TA forget to give me a grade?

Just as I was walking out of the darkened lecture hall and into the warm sunshine, I noticed the outline of a letter on the inside cover of my bluebook and excitedly opened my exam booklet once again and saw this:

A/A+ 19.5 (out of a possible 20)

Nothing could have wiped the ear-to-ear grin off of my face then; I felt like I was walking on clouds (though there were none in the clear, blue sky)!

The sun is just starting to set, my load of laundry will be done in about twenty-three minutes, I have orange juice (with calcium!) and chocolate soy milk in my fridge, and I finally got my "5 for $10" theater season subscription card earlier this afternoon - could the day get any better?