I really am.  I'm proud of us.  And I keep grinning.  Hee.  CNN has declared Barack Obama president elect.  And of course I listen to CNN.  That's just... I'm so proud.  and so happy.  There are a seriously huge number of people in Grant Park.  That's just cool.  Also, Virginia has gone Obama, which is awesome. 

This lady on CNN is mentioning the preamble, where we say we're here to form a more perfect union.  Which really I think is the essence of this, of the US, of what we do.  We try to be better than we were last year, 10 years ago, 100 years ago.  We won't ever get to perfect, there's no such thing, but we can keep trying, keep striving to form that more perfect union.  I mean, really, this is... so cool.  the CNN commentators are all emotional.  I'm kind of emotional, which is weird. 

Voted this morning (of course) and ended up in line for an hour and a half.  It was only an hour and a half because apparently there are very few people in my precinct who have last names starting between Q and Z.  So I basically got to jump the line.  Which was awkward, because I got glared at by significant numbers of people.

And now McCain is giving his concession speech.  Wow, they're booing when he says that he called Obama to concede.  This is a pretty good speech, actually.  I mean, for a concession speech, which has to just suck on a fundamental level. 

Going to wait for Obama's speech, then go to bed. 

Still, proud, happy, and thinking... this is pretty cool.

location: obamaland mood: ecstatic music: cnn tags: my one true love

So, my school is hosting the coolest event ever. five secretaries of state. one stage. christian amanpour is moderating, and i really like her. (including HENRY KISSINGER, who, y'know, i know more about than any rational person my age does, after years of research for various projects).

it's at the same time as one of my events. so first, this was not wise, because, uh, we're competing with the COOLEST EVENT EVER (or at least that my school's hosted since i've been here).

secondly... i can't go.  henry kissinger, madeline albright, and colin powell are going to be ON CAMPUS. at Lindner. and i CAN'T GO BECAUSE I HAVE TO WORK. i hate my life right now. i was so pumped, i was totally going to go, kyle just came in to ask if i wanted to go stand in line with him to get tickets and I CAN"T GO. must speak to pubaff about recording?? if cnn is moderating, will it be on cnn or anything?? NOTE TO SELF, TALK TO M&K.

so bitter.

but hey, i start class tonight, so that's cool, events start up on monday, so it's been insane.  was sick over labor day, plus add in stupid metro stuff between reagan and braddock, so i stayed home and nursed my cold.

must work now! ja!

location: office mood: bitchy music: AIR CONDITIONER OMFG tags: that thing where i get paid, whining, yanjiusuo

Best description of neocon FP i've ever seen: Neoconservatism in foreign policy is best described as unilateral bellicosity cloaked in the utopian rhetoric of freedom and democracy.

Go TIME magazine! me, i don't believe in unilateral bellicosity or utopian rhetoric, so we see where i have a problem here, yah?

also, it is ridiculously hot and humid today. oh yeah, 82 degrees, 70% humidity.  it's going to be a disgusting day.

also, eureka last night.  was awesome.  henry with no hair was freaky.  still not sure how i feel about allison saying yes to stark... i think they're going to kill each other, but it'd probably be good for kevin to have two parents, and kevin is adorable so... yeah. poor carter.  the man has no luck. none whatsoever.

am looking forward to going home this weekend.  PETS I MISS YOU!! SAMTHECAT! BLUEY!

am considering noodle soup for lunch. though it would involve walking a ways. but noodle soup! but walking outside.  but noodle soup! thus: my dilemma.

location: foggy bottom (aka the SWAMP) mood: hot music: my air conditioner ::loves:: tags: my one true love, subtropical monsoon climate, tigers

DUDE, IT'S SHARK WEEK.  HOW MUCH DO I LOVE SHARK WEEK???? LOTSNLOTS.

watching the old shark week special for mythbusters... there's a new one that i don't think i've seen coming up next.  i'm pumped.

also, EUREKA! tuesday!! so so excited!!!

location: futon mood: excited music: shark week mythbusters tags: tigers

so i keep being leery about watching doctor who, because bad things are coming, and people are going to die, and if they actually let everyone die, i'm going to be SO MAD.  i hate it when people kill my favorite characters, and this is one of those shows, where i love everyone so much, there's not just one person that they can't kill.  they can't kill ANYONE, or i'll be bitter. well, they can kill the daleks.  we need another deus ex tardis.



And also! New icon!! because i miss eureka and am excited, and nathan stark has a gorgeous, gorgeous smile. yum. 

location: futon mood: satisfied music: psych tags: tigers

so it's been an eventful week. first, on tuesday, i had to spend a FREAKISHLY HIGH amount of money to ship a package really really quickly to korea.  it got there,  but i think i made us poor.  nyar.  extremely frustrating, since it was a mistake from the shipping company that screwed me over and forced me to use the expensive service.  i'm complaining.  it'll be fun.  then, i find out my boss's mom died, and she's staying there another week. then, i come home on wednesday, and my power cord for my computer no longer works.  which freaked me out.  because i adore my computer.  and i worried that this time, a new power cord wouldn't cut it.  but sure enough, it worked, after i hung around the mac store for a while.  it was very shiny :-).  so i finish the week out, and yesterday, on my way home from downtown, i saw a woman kind of... lying on the hill next to our parking lot, like she'd sat down and then laid back... and she wasn't moving.  ended up a lady in the building next door came out to check on her and called 911 and we hung out until the fire truck (plus EMTs) and the cops showed up.  so, so strange. 

now i'm mostly just in the phase of being weirded out by how fast the summer is going.  COME BACK SUMMER!!!

also, cleaning out my office at work.  it's going to take a while.  seriously.  i was going through my first drawer today, and came across a folder of maps.  from, like, at least 5 years ago.  and menus from 5-10 years ago, half of which are for things that are out of business now.  my predecessor was an odd duck. 

also.  new icons.  mmm, iron man.  also, am hunting eureka icons.  and maybe a burn notice one.  and i need a new peter one, where he's got the short hair.  like the short hair much better. 

location: futon mood: content music: intervention tags: that thing where i get paid, tigers, whining

it. is. POURING.  I got soaked shuffling the 50 feet from the grocery store portico to roomie's car.  SOAKED.  and that was just hte first grocery store.  I make it into the second, and i'm even more soaked, so i'm standing in the meat isle shivering (the kindly guy working there is like "do you need any help?" i say, "i need a jacket and a blow-dryer, but i don't think you can help me with that" and he laughed.) so. wet.  anyway, i have high hopes that by the time i get done, maybe it'll have stopped pouring, slackened off, something.  no such luck.  it's still pouring, omg so much, when i get out of safeway.  so i take my (wonderful resusable) grocery bags and i haul ass.  and get wet.  again.  fortunately, i found a parking spot right at the back of our builidng, so i climb the four flights of stairs with my three huge bags of groceries and one random gallon of milk.  i left the paper towels in the car.  I'll get them when i go to move the car... some  time when it stops raining quite so much.  then it's thundering and lightining and the power just went BWIP.  YIKES!! i'm gonna post this before the power goes out! wish me luck!!

location: ONTOP A RIVER mood: soaked music: THE RAIN tags: subtropical monsoon climate, whining

so, i got my note about the stimulus package.  i only get 300 bucks.  i was totally expecting 600.  I'm bitter!! apparently, if your net income tax liability in 2007 is lower than 600 bucks, you only get the amount of your net income tax liability.  so apparently i make so little, i don't warrant 600 bucks from the government.  that seems...... bizarre to me.  counter-intuitive.  stupid, almost.  but seriously, what else was i expecting?

also, got a new book today... because i'm a masochist, i got the robert draper book on bush, dead certain.  so far (25 pages in) it's interesting.  in the prologue he quotes bush as saying "when you're responsible for putting a kid in harm's way, you better understand that if that kid thinks you're making a decision based on polls---or something other than what you think is right, or wrong, based on principles--then you're letting that kid down."  i... fundamentally disagree.  i think you owe it to the kid to be making the decision based on what's right for the country.  this is what bothers me most about bush, where i think we got into trouble there, what i think draper and the other books i've read about his presidency really show: taht bush makes decisions based on a moral calculus.  and i fundamentally believe that you shouldn't, if you're the president.  the president's first priority should always be the benefit of the nation.  his or her first criteria of decision-making should always, always be, is this good for the country?  or bad?  if it's good, figure out a way to do it.  i don't think this means it's a bad idea to go out and do good deeds, to do things we believe are right, but it means i think we should only go out and do things we think are right if they're also in our interests.  so bush may argue that it was a good deed to go out and spread freedom and democracy (or attempt to) in the world... but, and this i truly believe, he didn't think about it in terms of whether it was good for the us.  he had a  moral agenda.  he's pursued it.  i want a president who has a more rational agenda.  who can both promote the interest of the country, at home, and abroad in a way that isn't incredibly damaging.  man, i hope that makes sense. 

in other news, the semester is officially over!  i only have a few events on the schedule in the next two months, which i'm thrilled about.  graduation is next weekend, parentals in on thursday night, my school graduation is friday, then university grad is on sunday.  weekend after that, is my cousin's wedding!  before that, however, i start my new class.  i'm both glad and disappointed... i already own one of the books.  on one hand, i'm pumped, because it means i'll learn new stuff, read new authors, always good.  on the other... it's cheaper if i own more than one already :-P but yeah, gotta buy books this week! 

am working on rewatching the first season of psych via netflix... i seriously love love love that show.  so awesome.  ::hugs::

location: futon mood: happy tags: my one true love, that thing where i get paid, tigers

ok, so i watched eddie izzard last night.  and finally learned the meaning of "cake or death!" as well as "thank you for flying church of england".  also... i learned what an executive transvestite was.  and he said that the american dream was to rise up from the gutters, make a ton of money, then stick it in your ears and go "BPPPPT" with it.  sticking it in your ears.  but that the eu has no european dream.  he thinks it should involve a moped.  yup.  the european dream is... a moped.  somehow, that works for me.

did gender analysis tonight in chinese history, and it was really really interesting.  prof made an excellent point, which is right now, china's going to have a huge problem when they've got something like 50 million bachelors with no hope of getting married, and no hope of achieving what's defined as success in China... a wife and a son.  which would leave china with a lot of angry young men with no hope.  and if there's one thing i firmly believe, it's that angry young men with no hope is a recipe for disaster.  if China's economy starts to go down, if they don't have enough jobs.... there's ogoing to be angry young unemployed men with no hope.  and then they really will have a recipe for revolution.  or terrorism. 

yup. 

location: futon mood: contemplative music: dirty jobs tags: kong zi's descendents, my one true love

jintian de tianqi bu hao... xia yu!  wo hen gaoxing wo you hen hao de yusan.  keshi wo de yusan you xiao de wenti, suoyi wo dei xiang mai xin de.  wo xihuan xia yu.... tebie yin wei xianzai women you kongtiao. 

it's raining!  i'm so glad i remembered to bring my umbrella home from the office.  but... i should probably think about getting a new one, as one side of the umbrella has pulled off (one prong has come undone from the cloth) so it's a little wonky.  but it's such a nice umbrella. 

location: under the wet wet sky mood: tired music: the rain! the thunder! tags: subtropical monsoon climate

has absolutely nothing to do with equinoxes.  rather....

1) apt has turned off the heat (and will be turning on the a/c shortly)

2) i have painted my toenails in preparation for sandal wearing

3) people are sneezing and looking like they've been crying

and that's how i know it's spring.  mostly, it's all about the toenails.  plus, gotta get my cute brown sandal heels to the shoe repair place to put new caps on the heels so i don't destroy them utterly.  they're adorable shoes, and i'd love to wear them more.  gotta figure out if i can wear sandals to work... mostly you can in dc cuz it's so freaking hot here all the time.  also, must fix the dress i'm wearing to my friend's wedding next weekend.  wow, is it seriously next weekend already?? sheesh.  must ask mum if i need a present by my lonesome.

am enjoying night doing nothing.  april is book launch month at work.  may will be korea month.  june, i'm hoping, will be month in which i do very very little.  heh.  one can only hope.

note to self: get new nail polish.  my collection is aging and looks a little sketchy in parts.  ::le sigh::

location: in front of my wide open windows mood: summery music: straight no chaser, bush tags: gibberish

there are a surprising number of people who email me who are convinced my name is robin.  this is probably a function of the way my email address is arranged, but i'm blaming that on my alma mater.  damn you dennydoo! it's all your fault! with your backwards email formulation!

the hilarious and frustrating thing for me, though, is no matter how many times i sign each email with my first name, or make sure to include my signature (complete with first AND last name, in proper order), they just keep calling me robin.  apparently no one else pays quite the attention i do to other peoples names.  maybe that's why i pay attention, since i get called by something not my name so often. 

in other news, i apparently forgot to lock the door after i came home tonight.  i think i may be going senile.  which is sad, because i'm very young.  ::mourns:: 

in other other news, i made sukiyaki, and it involved a half cup of sake and a half cup of mirin, which is sweetened sake.  it was very alcoholic sauce.  but tasty, even if i was lacking the cellophane noodles.  i'm still leery of cellophane noodles after my mom had a disastrous experience with them.  very very gross whne done wrong ::Shudder::

location: futon mood: ditzy music: dirty jobs tags: rampant stupidity, that thing where i get paid

So BSG is finally, finally FINALLY starting up again.  see comments below.  in other news, my family is finally all gone, i am over the awful awful food poisoning experience that seriously, i would give my meagre life savings to prevent from happening again.  yech.  but hey.  have seen the sakura twice, it's so beautiful.  ate a lot of good food with my parents before the illness.  next week is crazy crazy at work, but it should finally start to calm down after that.  and i'm trying to figure out what i have to do to sign up for a class over the summer.  us-south asia relations.  should be interesting! 

location: futon mood: busy music: my nearly-silent tv tags: tigers, whining, yanjiusuo

oh my god.  so anyway, my school is officially even insaner.  i am auditing a class, but of course, they don't tell you what you need to do to be officially auditing a class.  so i find out the end of the week before the last chance to turn in the formy thing.  monday, i get my prof to sign it.  tuesday, i head to the office where non-degree students turn stuff in.  the office is empty.  i go, "huh, ok" and return to my office.  send them an email saying "when's a good time for me to come and turn stuff in?"  no response.  wedesnday,  i head back.  this time, there's someone there, but she works for another department.  i end up leaving my form of the girly's chair for her to see when she comes  back.  send some more emails, saying "UHH".  thursday, no response.  friday, i contact the registrar and explain my situaution.  they're very nice about it, yadda yadda yadda.  finally, monday, i hear back from the guy in the office.  he's like "yeah, well, i'd sign it, but you're not listed as a non-degree student".  I'm like UHHH.  because i understand why, since i didn't graduate until january, i would have signed up for the class still listed as a full-time student. so i tell him that i really really am a non-degree student, and can he fix it for me?  and sure enough, talks to the registrar and gets my status changed.  finally.  so a week or more after i first tried to turn the stupid form in, it's finally in. HA! 

second, little brother is here, and we're having a good time.  went to the supreme court today, which was fun and cold and a little nuts because, it was history in the making.  the supreme court was basically ruling, as i understand it, abouto the meaning of the second amendement, the right to bear arms, and whether its the right to bear arms to support/organize an effective militia, or if it's a personal, individual right.  it's apparently the first time the court's ruled on the second amendment in decades.  it was pretty awesome.  we'd hoped to see the whole thing, but the line was massive, so we were lucky to get into the three minute rotating dealie they do for people.  but get in we did.  it was interesting.  there was a ton of press too, it was kinda nuts. 

other than that, we've been hanging out, watching sports night, going to museums.  lots of museums.  and now my feet hurt and i'm exhausted, and we still have tomorrow to do mutual birthday present buying! wee!!  more later, but right now... i'm SO TIRED.

location: futon mood: tired music: basketball (beh) tags: yanjiusuo

so i finished my requirements for graduation in november, and then expected to, y'know, to receive my masters in, like... december?  at the end of the semester?  so i was wondering why nothing had happened.  found a website from the school and it was like "oh, the graduation date is actually january 31".  i'm like ..... why?? so today... i received exciting news!! i have officially (in writing! on letterhead!) completed the requirements for graduation! I AM DONE.  i will receive my diploma sometime in ... the next 3 months O_O.  it's... february... so... sometime between now and the beginning of may, i'll get my diploma.  i shake my head.  oh, school, why are you so weird?

in other crazy school news, i got an email from financial aid peoples at the school, and they're like "you need to complete your graduate exit couseling for the loans" i'm like "uhh, i swear i finished that in november.  it was a pain in the butt."  so i email them back and say "are you sure?" and they're like "yeah, we got no record of you taking it".  i read that on saturday, so i say to myself, there's got to be some record!  so i look to see if i received email confirmation... couldn't find anything.  and then i was like "hmm, maybe they did a you are done! screen" so i looked in my loan folder... nothing.  then i was like "all my receipts are in my random folder! and sure enough, there it was, logically labeled "exit counseling receipt".  I'm so smart!  so i attach it to an email (and copy in the text in case they're too lazy to open attachments) and the guy at finaid says "thanks... but you have to fax it to us, with your id number" so i roll my eyes... but i did it.  because i don't want to take this stupid test again.  HAHA I WIN.

location: futon mood: amused music: intervetion tags: rampant stupidity

I think one of the things that has bothered me the most about the Religious Right, about the attitude of some Republicans, about the attitude of our President, Fox News talking heads, etc., is the concept that for some reason, people who aren't Christian don't have the same rights, aren't equal to the Christian majority.  They seem to have lost sight of hte idea of equal rights for all individuals.  In fact, they seem somehow to have lost sight of the  concept of individual rights.  the Religious Right likes to focus on group rights, on the rights they perceive the Christian majority possesses through its very majority.  because there are more of them, therefore htey have more rights.  They should dictate the moral tone of the country, dictate the rights possessed (second-hand) by minorities like Jews, Muslims, and those people who don't believe that Christians should have more rights.  It's not that, to them, every individual, regardless of sex, race, religion, lack of, sexuality, marital status, etc, has the same rights.  This goes back to something I've commented on before, that example of the discussion on Paula Zahn, which bothered me on a number of levels.  First, they didn't bother to bring in an aethist to defend their position, they just had a bunch of Christian activists who seemed to believe that the aetheists should just "Shut up", their opinion didn't matter, even if they were being persecuted, it was unimportant, because they were an unpopular minority.  This was underlied by an impression that the aethisists deserved to be kicked out of their homes, because of course, people who don't believe in god are evil, you know. 

Personally, I'm fond of the bill of rights.  It's a lovely thing.  It protects everyone, from me, to my friends, family, and the guy next door.  even the religious right guys are protected by it, despite the fact that they would love to strip me of my first amendment rights.  well... that's it for now.  I'll be back to this topic, because i'm reading an awesome book by Rev. Barry Lynn who is the head of americans united for separation of church and state.  He presents the reasons why churches, why he as a reverend, believes profoundly in the separation of church and state, why close ties to the state is poison for churches, religions and true spirituality.  but he does not look down on people whose opinions different.  he doesn't try to preach, and will work with anyone who supports separation.  and you have to respect that.

location: futon mood: contemplative music: the daily show tags: my one true love

oh my god, so glad to have the daily show back.  seriously, what's an election without jon stewart mocking it all?? 

location: futon mood: relieved tags: my one true love

The announcer guy for the flight leaving behind me (not mine) is a comedian (the flight is going to New York)

"you do not need to show picture ID, unless it's a particularly good picture, then I'd love to see it."

"World Champion Red Soxs Fans are asked to board last."

I love this airport.  dude.

location: O'Hare International Airport mood: amused music: the announcer dude

My iPod is gone.  I am mourning.  I have five scenarios as to what happened to it...
1) It's someplace in my room and or office and I just can't find it.  This is the scenario i hope for the most, and also consider the least likely.
2) I somehow dropped it or it fell out of my bag.
3) Someone stole it out of my bag while I was on the metro/in the mall/ etc.
4) I left it in my office, and it was stolen from their, either by a random passerby or by the maintenence people
5) it got stuck in something and accidentally thrown out by the maintenance people. 


But basically, I miss my iPod and I am sad.  Jin! Come back to me!!!

On the upside, I am done!! which is exciting, I love being done for the semester.  I'm all set to take 21st Century Chinese History next semester, whcih should be very fun.  And I'm going back to CO on Saturday.  Which is yay.

location: the land of ipodlessness mood: sad music: clean house tags: whining