mmm... I'm going to write a letter to Sony, a constructive letter detailing the urgent lacking of their customer service. I think every important electronic device my family owns is by Sony, so it is appalling that my money can't buy service. The annoying thing is I can't switch brands! Sony really is amazing... my GRX does't even hiccup on good days.

On an up note, my computer is going strong (knock on wood)... New resolution, NO eating around my computer! Is that possible?

Parting thought from Desiderata -- If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself... Dr. Phil once said that we worry constantly what others think, but have YOU actually seen the "others"? It gets tricky though, when the "others" have faces we adore.

Yes, that's vague... don't read it again. :)

Happy Easter!

Saturday night dinner -- two apples, a bag of baked Lay's original, a cup of yogurt, and several pieces of mints. Saturday night movie (s) -- ten minutes of While You Were Sleeping, almost the entire The American president, ten minutes of a Bollywood film, and ten minutes (or less) of A Gentleman and an Officer... Genetics is killing me!

Near-death experience with my computer! It miraculously revived, how?! Must be Easter! :) Never, ever turn on your computer after wiping it with a damp cloth... but who knew?! After all, it didn't even so much as sneeze when I spilled soy milk all over the keyboard! I can't stand the Sony people I talked to over the phone! Could they BE anymore unconcerned! Please please please let this be the end of my computer crisis. I love my little PCG-GRX-570. :)

Sunday dinner at Ruggle's followed by too much junk food... But it's all, tomorrow I'll do better. :)

Work tonight was interesting. Maria and I talked and giggled about the G-rated things in life -- vacations, medical school, parents, and my crush of the month, etc... The other half of the room talked about all things in college that caused the rapid decline of their purity test score. You can imagine... I would elaborate but I don't have the vocabulary ... :) It was interesting, really.

What else...

Argument with mom. It doesn't happen very often, so I'm quite lost when it does and decided to milk it for all it's worth -- namely, analyze this guilty feeling simmering inside. I could swore she was grouchy first. It was most frustrating arguing with her in the LRC, as I was forced to keep my voice down. One downfall of talking on a cell-phone -- I can't slam it down! I know, I'm such a horrible daughter.

The tedious details in life that I know you don't care... but will make me realize how wonderfully simple life was when I read back ten years from now.

I don't think BeneFit eye cream works! The Clinique lady recommended it to me... but I should have known by her face (wow that's mean!). Wish I had asked for samples instead of dishing out $40 bucks. Why didn't I get Origin? Oh right, the Clinique lady. I still want to take it back to mom... she could like it. Don't be cheap Tian!

11:15 pm... enough enough

Happy News! Houston has no rain till next Friday, according to my most-trusted, but often-mistaken weather.com. I take good news where I can get it, and this makes Sunday work tolerable! Yeah for making money!

I bought nine Fiji apples yesterday (my favorite) and ate one at 10:50 this morning --sitting on my couch, with the lights turned off, staring out my five-story window. It was a mediational moment.

A surprisingly productive Saturday morning- finished paper, almost finished math - is finally starting to dwindle, even though I am still occupying a study room at Fondren. I have unfinalized dinner plans that needs a period at the end... so I can plan out my intervals of working/bumming accordingly for the rest of the day. I have an urge to go to the RMC and rent "The Incredibles". It was so good when I saw it in the theaters, except my need to go to the bathroom distracted me from uninhibited laughter. Must watch again!

A beautiful black print dress from Zora's will stay with me for weeks to come. It had black silk lining and soft outer shell (100% polyester, but it felt silky). There are soft elastics in all the right places, so it's fitting yet light. Maybe it will go on sale...

Okay! The plan is to finish math then lunch!

Take care to enjoy this weekend, and not be pulled into feeling guilty for my idleness, for next weekend will be genetics hell! Must finish my paper, understand my math, and attack some genetics, but all in good spirits, please!

I almost forgot to offer an explanation for the recent dilapidation of my blog. You see, I'm taking an English class that requires weekly papers! That's right, one paper per week. Although it doesn't have to be long, I have to read it out loud in front of the whole class. Therefore, stuttering and blushing are to be minimized and coherence much encouraged. I try to save all my complete sentences for the papers, thus the neglect of my blog.

Anyways, as always, I will do better. :)

Irish coffee -- bad
French coffee -- bad
Jamaican coffee -- so good Maria and I both ordered it on our last night on the Cruise, when I finally made eye contact with Martin Bouska and waved him down. Who says hiring cute waiters doesn't help business. Linda L. and I would never have downed our two sips of coffee liquor otherwise.

Clue -- good
Scrabble -- good until competitive people can't stop! (wink wink)
Trivial pursuit -- good until competitive people can't stop! (wink wink wink)
Uno -- very good because it's hard to get competitive people wired up... or is it?!

Getting dolled up and taking pictures -- good
Four girls getting dolled up and taking pictures beside a white piano like we are one big happy family -- very good
Must order a huge portrait before we can order four wallet sized copies -- not so good... what are we going to do with the big one? Hang it over the fireplace? :)
Linda L. putting her digital camera to good use -- hehe, good.

Grand gala dinner buffet -- good
Grand gala dinner buffet with a mountain of chocolate at 12:30 a.m. -- good ?!
Grand gala dinner buffet with a hill of grapes -- saved me!
Chocolate buffet the day after the grand gala buffet -- eekk!
Walking through a table of grapes before hitting the chocolate buffet -- saved me! Again!

p.s. Bits of the cruise will sporadically pop into my head without any chronological order.

Maroon5 it is!

The most productive thing I did today was laundry. Even then, I failed to air-dry a couple of shirts and shrank my hot pink $5 Urban shirt. Dinner was gross, really. I don't know what I ate, but I know I'm better off without it. Can I recommend to you an article in the March issue of Vogue? It's about women and alcohol. Read it! Read it now!

Take a break from my self-consumed mode of only-child living --

I hope Michelle is having a good time in Seattle, that it's sunny and warm for her. I hope Krystle isn't mad at me for failing to call her back; I'm so proud of her for getting a full ride to grad school. I hope Joanne is happily talking to her boyfriend, mapping out their future together... in Ireland! :). I hope N. is kicking butt on her test (which she is hopefully breezing through as we speak). I hope Linda N. is getting over her sickness and that Linda L. showed up to eat the yummy egg-rolls. I hope my parents are having another one of those quiet conversations that last for hours.

For me -- I want to sleep through the night and wake up to a better day. Damn, what happened to live in the moment?

Marron5

The rodeo was awesome! The huge turkey leg was chunky, not as chunky as my caramel pecan bignets, which wasn't as good as Linda N's fried Oreo's. Maroon5 was so good I took a roll of film in a dark stadium with the stage a million yards away! In case I forget, Adam is my definition of "foxy". My first yeehaw-experience a success! :)

Hidden tension in our little suite, actually not hidden at all, but spelled out on the dry-erase board for the world to see... I won't be vulgar and say something mean... really, I won't! I prefer it this way. Let's pay our dues and move on... It's time to graduate!

Yeehaw!

Cap and gown ordered! Small step for Tian, big step for Tian's future. :) How cheesy.

Cruise-withdraw continues, as well as the urge to take a sequel vacation. Post cruise, I became convinced that to travel is to travel in comfort. The thought of back-packing across Europe no longer excites me, as the distinct possibility of sweating all day without a shower at night is a discomfort I am too old to afford. But last night, N. Convinced me otherwise. Perhaps the only thing one needs to travel well is good company after all.

Rodeo tonight! What's the point of staying in Texas for four years without experiencing some cowboy action. Maroon-5 will perform... I downloaded "This Love"... I don't think I can sing along just yet.

I miss Ely, my most wonderful waiter for seven days. He made eating a five-course meal at 8:30pm every night a pleasant experience... I miss his accent and his goofy jokes.

I miss my boat so much that I spend at least 30 minutes googling of other cruises I could go on. I'm back on land, and experienced land-sickness for the first time. Seriously, I was dizzy for half a day.

I miss napping on the deck, "mummified" under beach towels, while Linda N. toasts under the sun. I miss wearing sundresses that bellows in the wind, and wrapping myself around in my pseudo-pashmina.

I miss practicing the Austin Powers dance at every semi-empty open space and saying yee-haw sporadically throughout the day after learning the country line dance.

I miss seeing my friends first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

NOTICE how this entry contains nothing about grapes or the Czech Republic! :)

Last-minute blog before I depart for my Spring Break Cruise! Seven whole days of ... I don't what yet, but I can't wait to find out! I'm ashamed to admit how much thought/planning I put into packing. The dresses, the jeans, the pants, the shirts (long-sleeved and short)... I am bringing a half-written paper, but fought the urge to take math notebook along. What am I, a nerd?! :)

The last couple of weeks has been kind of crazy, but when is it not. Between school, going home, stomach problems, and then yesterday's sore throat, I simply wasn't in a blogging kind of mood. Actually, I still am not, but due to the fear of losing my blog-readers for good, I decided to pull my thoughts together and jot down a couple of lines. Rest assured, I will do better. :)

So glad Million Dollar Baby won all that it won. I have such a respect for Hillary Swank and Clint Eastwood now... SOOOO disappointed in Sideways, maybe because I'm not an unemployed forty-year-old loser, but the humor was too sad to be funny and the humanity was too perverse to be touching. Anyways, did it win anything? I was too busy cramming for a Monday morning test to have watched the whole thing.

Twenty more minutes and I'm gone!