prom!

prom!
Originally uploaded by swandive00.

So my school is having the GSIS Semi-Formal. We're HAVING PROM??? In grad school? This is SO weird...

(how could I NOT go to the GSIS prom? besides, crazy mara said she'd buy my ticket and be my date as long as we didn't do corsages.)

treatise on dog poo

dog poo is indeedy gross. no one likes to pick it up. however, it's so much worse to not pick it up. and SO much worse to step in it...

the people who live upstairs from me got a puppy about a month ago. she's cute, she's spastic, and she reminds me all the reasons i'm glad ernie's not a puppy anymore. sometimes, the people upstairs leave her outside in the yard. because of the crappy condition of our fence, they leave her on the lead that i leave ernie on occasionally.

and she, being a dog, poops when outside. granted, i don't pick up the yard after each poo (i don't have enough baggies, usually i pick up the previous 3 with the current one in a single bag). but my front door to my apartment is in the back yard of the house. so sometimes when she poops in the backyard, not being conscientious like my puppy that only poops on grass, dirt, or other yard materials, she poops on the sidewalk leading to my door.

and on my front doorstep. and it takes them a week to pick it up. one week the dog poo would sit o n my front step waiting for me to step in it on one of my midnight doggy trip to the facilities.

that is if i didn't pick it up for them.

BUT HOW WILL THEY LEARN?!

whining ahead

Today is Friday.

• It's going to be a long, boring day at work.
• I have a bit of a headache.
• I wish I were asleep.
• Tonight is a birthday party for a friend. (In theory, it's a surprise, but he's known about it for ages. We all still call it his surprise party.)
• I really hope I want to go to it because I've been an antisocial monkey lately.
• It's going to be a long night, I'm sure filled with drama (the reason I've been an antisocial monkey lately)
• It's starting at Crazy Mara's house and then going to Park Tavern (where it always seems to be 2 for 1) at 11th and Ogden.
• We made him an apron and a visor last night with puffy paint. But decided not to go too over the top, because if they were tacky, "he might not wear them."
• Then fell down with the ridiculousness of that statement.
• But I need some excedrin and a sodapop... oooh, cherry pepsi sounds amazing....

What should I do, Mommy?

What should I do if there's a terrorist attack?
Where should I go?
Should I call someone if we don't all meet up?
What if I can't find someone to help me?

This reactionary TV commercial brought to you by our Department of Homeland Security. To find out more, go to http://www.ready.gov!

starving...

will someone please bring me some brunch since i missed breakfast and by now won't want to eat lunch?

thanks. if i'm not there, just leave it at my desk.

wow...

Thanks to semaphoria, particleman and moocow for giving me some of the most surreal thesis topic ideas ever!

Now, all I have to do is figure out the thesis topic that involves sea monkeys, borscht addiction, and Dr. Seuss...

(by the way, my biggest problem with Eastern European Small Arms topics is I have the most unfortunate visual image of Eastern Europeans with teeny arms, much like those found on tyrannosaurus rex)

(I think I finally have my thesis topic narrowed down slightly but not enough to post yet)

ask the internet: I NEED A THESIS TOPIC!

I've been googling search strings for weeks and weeks and still not happy with my choices... So here are my areas of interest:

Post-Soviet bloc
arms control
non-proliferation
weapons of mass destruction
chemical and biological warfare

I'm not terribly interested in small arms and light weapons, but that's a significant problem in Central and Eastern Europe...

I also can't get over how I am interested in WMD, CBW, and arms control...

mid-quarter crisis

the dinner party is done. and suddenly, the blinders i've been wearing to the schoolwork i have to to just fell off... and oh boy is there a lot of it...

in the security program, security classes are heavy on the group projects and powerpoint presentations... and i have 3 powerpoints, 3 group presentations, 3 major research project all due within a week of each other, and i have to come up with and declare a thesis topic by next tuesday. i kinda sorta know what i want to theoretically do for a thesis topic (i'm undecided as to whether i'll actually write a thesis; it's optional in my program) but i don't really know the security related issues or know if i have the resources to pull it together in a week (and a teeny 5-slide powperpoint for thesis topic presentation).

so if the words "suicide bombing," "multinational terrorist organization," "small arms smuggling," "russian-irish technological espionage," "chinese economic security threats," "cross-strait relations," or any other phrases that seem like nonsequitors in the middle of a seemingly non-international security conversation, it's because i'm subconsciously writing papers in the back of my head while i'm talking to you.

in other news, since cutting back the dairy to almost nil (i haven't really been involved with cheese lately either!) last week with the sinus infection, i've shockingly become fond of hazelnut soy lattes... the soy milk is so sweet and nutty in of itself, however, that i usually ask for 1/2 of the amount of hazelnut just to give the impression that the sweet and nutty is from that and not the soy milk, because i still think soy milk is nowhere near as tasty as milk or rice milk...