the end is nigh

almost two am, i'm at school in the shop stripping wires and shaking my empty can of red bull red. i don't think i'd be as tired if we hadn't had to stand for two hours for our last choir rehearsal before the friday's concert. i feel all wobbly

Automaton pathetic

Update: it is just past 6pm and this is my automaton now

pathetic automaton

This is my automaton. It's due as one of my two finals for tomorrow.

ny thievery

It's Rothy's birthday and she had her phone stolen on the subway when we were coming home from school tonight. We chased the guy off the train and confronted him on the platform of the Lorimer stop but there really wasn't anything we could do.

cebiblat

i do believe it's snowing a lot

maybe it's the finals talking but i'm feeling blue - it would be so magical to have snow tomorrow

jupiter bringer of jollity

i feel immense relief that no matter what, this week will go be unstoppably fast

touchdown

getting home time during finals week is anytime between 2 and 4 am

facts from watson

Oral tolerance is believed to be the reason why teenagers who wear metal braces, before they have their ears pierced, are less likely to develop an allergy to nickel. Ear piercing is the major cause of nickel allergy.

finals food blog

On Monday I killed my first clams. I bought a dozen Littlenecks on Fresh Direct and when they came in their two baggies I wasn't sure I could do it because they were a lot bigger than I'd expected. My family always cooked manila clams growing up, which are smaller and less intimidating. I stood and watched the moment when their shells sprung open and their clam souls floated to the skies. They were so delicious that I would do it again.

Today I accidentally dropped my tupperware in the residents' office at school and all my pasta spilled out on the floor. I collected it and everyone awwed and said that's too bad but I left and ate it anyways because there are people in the world with real problems.

skyfall

When I booked a red-eye from LAX to JFK, I figured that I'd sleep on the plane and arrive bright and early for a full day's work. It somehow slipped my mind that most of that sleep time would be lost to the time change at that arriving at 5:30am would be the equivalent of getting rudely kicked out of bed at 2:30am.  On the way to LA my seat had felt like the most comfortable cradle in the world, but on the flight back I felt like I was trying to sleep in the cardboard airplane seat Rothy and I made for our puppet show skit.

so uncomfortable

I at least achieved 2 hours of sleep on the plane, unlike Rothy, who stayed up the entire time watching Black Swan. I didn't watch any movies on the plane though this past week in LA I did have many indelible movie moments: Hunger Games I and Skyfall. Both were so riveting that my heart was racing all the way to the end. Hunger Games was visually striking, silly dramatically dystopian, and delightfully tacky. Ma and I tried to go to see Hunger Games II at the theater but it was actually SOLD OUT. I was shocked and disappointed. In Skyfall, there was a pivotal moment when lines from Tennyson's "Ulysses" were recited, and I had flashbacks to the choral arrangement of that poem which I sang at USC with Mrs. Tuckersman ("Untravelled Worlds") and could pre-hear each next line and my heart almost stopped.  
 
We arrived stupid early at the airport and proceeded to drive in circles with a cab driver who wouldn't listen to our directions. $$$. Promptly went back to bed at earliest possibility, slept until midday brunching at Owl Juice. Very productive! I don't recommend taking anymore red-eyes to myself. Unfortunately, I already have another booked for January.

This late afternoon I realized I had a sore throat. I had shoyu ramen and draft Sapporo for dinner and it felt much better afterwards. Now I have a swollen lymph node. It feels like a cherry in my neck. I think I will just refuse to become sick.

Gate 58

I'm waiting for rothy at the boarding gate for our impending flight. I'm looking at my calendar and feeling astounded by how bad the next two weeks are going to be. I have four final projects and two performances to pull out of thin air.

being sad for everybody

i feel really sad about paul walker's death and i can't decide whether i should or not. i'll think about this more on the plane. back to the east i go

you may call me baby rose, or multiflora rose because these are the English names for 蔷薇, from which the first character of my Chinese name comes.

thanksgiving photos

my thanksgiving domestic chen pie extravaganza. i spent all of wednesday making these while watching a marathon of the saga of The Little Couple's adoption of their Chinese baby Will. they turned out even better than expected and a request for a repeat apple pie for christmas has been filed by mama chen.

some nice thanksgiving pictures taken by my cousin

walking dread

i've had a wonderful thanksgiving this year surrounded by handmade food and beloved family in my favorite city. i'm feeling grateful for that but also endlessly conflicted and troubled by neverending unknowns and variables about school (short-term: finals, long-term: thesis), employment/career/fate, human relationships, geographic situation, etc. and it all feels like a very heavy weight on the heartmind. i'm very much dreading going back to new york, place of dread.