I Feel It! I Feel the Cosmos!



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Tuesday, May 27th, 2008



	2008.05.27 02.54 pm Basic Rules My Parents Somehow Missed I don't usually post anymore, but I seriously need to vent right now. I've been in my parents' house for 2 weeks now (I'm leaving on Saturday), and after a recent quest for cheese that turned into throwing out 75% of the contents of the fridge, I feel like I need to write things down. 1) Don't buy more milk products than you can use in a given week (or two, but that's a stretch). Just because sour cream's on sale doesn't mean you should buy 4 pints. You'll end up throwing half of it away (or glaring at me when I throw it away even though it's "only" 2 weeks past its expiration). 2) Fruits and vegetables are not items to buy in bulk, at least not with only 2 people in the house. You like apples and you like pears and you also want some carrots for healthiness. Ok. Buy 2 apples and 2 pears and a small bag of carrots, not 5 pounds of apples, 6 pears and 3 1lb bags of carrots. ESPECIALLY when you forget about all of them and leave them to rot in the fruit drawer for a month. 3) If you're not sure if you have something, don't buy it, or at least call your damn spouse and see if you have some already. If s/he says, "um...I thiiink we have x", don't buy extra chicken legs "just in case". 4) Fresh meat should be used before its expiration date, and within 2 months if frozen. Nuff said. 5) Reduced priced meat should be avoided (you guys are nowhere near qualifying for food stamps, here), and if you must purchase it, use it within 2 days (and that's a stretch). Don't leave it in the fridge for a week, and DO NOT FREEZE IT. It will surely be nearly bad once it thaws again. 6) Check expiration dates on your condiments before you use them. Heck, while you're getting out the ketchup, check the jam and horse radish, too. There's really no excuse for having jelly 4 months passed its expiration date hanging out in the fridge. You're not too busy; that's a load of crap. 7) Expiration dates are not suggestions! If it's passed its expiration date, chuck it. If it's something cheap, you can afford to replace it. If it's expense, you want to enjoy it while it's at its peak. 8) Just because it hasn't reached its expiration date doesn't mean it's not bad! You admit that your fridge's temperature is a bit wonky, and I agree that $.75 is a great deal for half a gallon of milk, but that does make it a little questionable. Even if the expiration date is 2 days away, throw it away if it doesn't taste right! This is another place where I can do without the snide looks because I'd rather not make myself sick over sour milk that still has a couple days left. OK. Phew. Much better. That's just fridge rules, there's a lot else wrong around here, but I think I've grossed you out enough. <3, Sarah Mood: annoyed

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008



	2008.04.03 12.15 am DEAR INTERNETS Dear Internets, I never post to LJ anymore. That's probably going to be Just the Way It Is. </3, Sarah

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007



	2007.05.29 01.21 am LJ Maintenance I'm really amazed with myself for spelling "maintenance" correctly on the first try. I was really just guessing vowels and expecting the ever so glorious Firefox spell-checker to catch it. Woohoos! In any case, instead of getting to sleep at a more reasonable hour, I just spent some time doing little clean-ups (or mess-ups in some cases, I'm sure) of my LJ. I added every single school which I've attended (Sandy Spring CTY campus is pending approval), right down to my preschool (Flower Hill Country Day), and I also cleaned up my friends list. I thought a little bit about who I want reading my random craziness, and people who I am not close to and have not spoken to for several years didn't make the cut, for the most part. If you feel that I accidentally removed you and you want me to still be your LJ friend, by all means, drop me a line and let's catch up. I just don't feel comfortable discussing various points of my instability with persons to whom I have not spoken in several years (if ever) and about whom I now know little. There were, of course, exceptions made, and if you feel like you shouldn't be on my friends list, well...unfriend me, I guess? I also removed most people who had unfriended me or never friended me back. I also changed my default user icon. I was going to make it my xkcd kitty one, but it looked too uncolorful, so I went with the rainbowy-ness. Perhaps at some point I will make a real, probably friends-only, post about things that are going on in "reality." Nightnight. Mood: cheerful

Saturday, March 31st, 2007



	2007.03.31 07.40 pm A (bad?) Joke I just thought of this, though I'm sure someone else has before. The most effective weight loss program yet!! Become an astronaut!

Thursday, March 1st, 2007



	2007.03.01 05.41 pm Thoughts Upon Exiting the Elevator at Work Why did I think that guy I almost ran into was Steve Carell? Why - in the split second between thinking I recognized him and thinking he was Steve Carell - was my first instinct to smile and say "hi!" like I knew him? I don't know Steve Carell! I wonder if celebrities routinely have people who don't quite recognize them but know them from some place just randomly say hi like old friends. Did that make any sense?

Tuesday, February 27th, 2007



	2007.02.27 05.33 pm A Comment I sent to the MBTA RE their website "Just for the fun of it, I ran a search to see what the Trip Planner thinks is the best way to get from my work place (at 1 Memorial Drive in Kendall Square, Cambridge) to the Harvard Square T stop. First, it told me that the walk to the Kendall Square T station would take 17 minutes. I've walked this in a full out blizzard and it still only took around 7 minutes, so I think the walking estimates are off. The really big problem showed up when I told it to plan using "rail only"...The directions say to go to the Kendall T stop and head inbound to the UMass station, and then turn around and go outbound to Harvard. As someone who knows the area pretty well, I would of course never do that. However, a visitor to the city making use of your website could end up sorely disappointed. (PS the text size in the comment entry textbox is abysmally small)"

Monday, February 12th, 2007



	2007.02.12 05.06 pm Nifty Computer User Interface Stuff It's things like this that have me thinking more and more about UI design and usability as a prospective career path.

Tuesday, November 28th, 2006



	2006.11.28 01.43 am Birthday Cheesecake! Mood: happy

Wednesday, November 15th, 2006



	2006.11.15 08.35 am Learning Japanese Ok, so, now that I'm officially applying to study abroad in Japan next fall, I figure it's time to look into, you know, learning some Japanese (other than honorifics and the 5 words that I've learned from anime; something tells me that being able to call people stupid or death-gods isn't going to be toooo useful...). In addition to being costly, it wouldn't be very practical to take Northeastern's Japanese I class whilst on co-op (Jan - June '07). Furthermore, my guess is I can go faster in a more individualized program. Right now I'm looking at Boston Language Institute (wow -- their T posters really do work!) and Rosetta Stone software. Do any of you have experience with either, or some other non-university language programs? Any input will be greatly appreciated! Oh, and immersion doesn't really work so great for me -- at least not in my Wellesley French class. I can't hear well enough to catch everything, and the class was too large (~20) to have everything repeated. Perhaps a smaller class would work better? I dunno.

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006



	2006.10.10 09.02 pm DVD Burner, Hearing, Etc I think I want to buy a DVD burner for my PC: preferably external; I don't currently have a firewire port, but that shouldn't be too expensive to get if I can find a good price on a firewire burner. Internal is not out of the question, but it'd take some fooling around (I'm not a hardware person, and I still can't figure out how to tell my computer to stop searching for the floppy drive I removed a year ago). Does any one know a good website to look for hardware? I think I remember someone telling me about one a few years ago, but I've forgotten. As some of you may know, I had surgery on my left ear in late August, in hopes of returning some of the hearing I lost due to chronic childhood ear infections. The doctor used a laser to remove some scar tissue and replaced by stapes (stirrup, the last of the 3 little ear bones) with a prosthesis. I went back to the doctor today, and, as I suspected, my hearing is actually worse in that ear now than it was before the surgery. The doctor said the prosthesis looks good and he doesn't know why it didn't work, but we need to wait a year or so before trying the surgery again. We also discussed getting a hearing aid for that ear. I haven't decided anything yet, but I got copies of my hearing screens and I'm thinking about seeing another doctor for a second opinion. It's not that the doctor seemed incompetent by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm just a bit more disappointed about this than I expected to be. Blah. I went to Six Flags yesterday and it was awesome. My friend Tim is in a wheelchair until his leg heals, so we got to go to the front of all the lines. Oh yes.

Thursday, August 3rd, 2006



	2006.08.03 11.24 pm Car Wreck ...My best friend at school, Tim, apparently got in a car wreck in Anthony(my boyfriend)'s car... Tim broke his leg really badly, Joe (another good friend who was also in the car) cracked some ribs. Mark was also in the car...we're not sure what happened to him. Tim was only able to talk to Anthony for a little while. Anthony's car is totaled, but that's ok. It's a POS, and he's supposed to get a new one, anyway. I'm a bit dazed. Mood: shaken

Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006



	2006.08.02 10.49 pm Library Dorkage I just thought of something that seemed incredibly funny to me, but I know it's really just bad. And not even groan bad, just stupid. My boss said "it's late." And then I went to check to reserve item slips (the computer system is down right now, so we just write up a slip when we give out a reserve item and tear it up when we get it back). "All the reserve items are back, good." "It's 11 o'clock. Do you know where your reserve items are?" -giggle-

Monday, July 31st, 2006



	2006.07.31 09.44 pm Study Abroad options Ok, I'm thinking Ireland or Japan. What do you think? (Same base cost including accommodations and flight). EDIT: Ok, here's a page that has a map of the different places I can go to through NU: http://www.casdn.neu.edu/sap/countries.html

Sunday, July 30th, 2006



	2006.07.30 01.31 am ME WANT!!! O. M. G. I WANT A BUNNY SOOOOOOO BAD!!!! That is all. Mood: hopeful

Friday, July 28th, 2006



	2006.07.28 02.14 pm Boston-area Doctors Hihi...do any of you know of a decent optometrist and/or dentist in the Boston area? Most of my doctors were in Georgia, and I'm not likely to go back there any time soon. I had a physical on Wednesday, and the doctor asked me if I was getting regular eye and tooth check-ups...I haven't been to the dentist in a year and a half or so, and I haven't had my eyes checked since I was 10 years old...so, yeah, it's probably a good idea to get those done.

Thursday, May 4th, 2006



	2006.05.04 02.40 pm Mental Health Awareness Organization? Disclaimer: The following is partially taken from a conversation I had with the lovely Suzanne (bleach_the_sky) wherein I discussed an idea that I've had brewing for about 18 hours now, since my last therapy session yesterday evening. As most of you know, I'm mildly "crazy", meaning I suffer from depression and anxiety. I'm on medication and in therapy, and that's all awesome and what not. When I meet new people, I try to be very frank and open about my illness(es) in an effort to educate people about mental health. There's a stigma around mental health issues that upsets me: it keeps people from getting the help they need and being able to deal with people who need help, in turn. Most people don't know how to deal with mental health stuff and are kind of afraid of it. My therapist told me yesterday that even in some really awesome hospitals he's worked in, the non-psychiatric staff get really freaked out by psychiatric patients, and that really sucks. My friend Marissa (hotpocketsyeah) - who just so happens to have birthday today! - is part of this group at Wellesley called the Organization for Mental Health Awareness...there's no really national group, but what they do is try to tell people "look, this is what depression looks like. woohoo! it doesn't bite!" I actually did a little thing with them while I was at Wellesley...basically told a bunch of people about my experiences with depression and whatnot. I don't know what I can do on a big time level, but I feel like running around and throwing up posters and whatnot around Northeastern and emulating the Wellesley group could help a little tiny bit. So now I just have to get 11 other people and a student adviser and get this ball rolling...woohoo! I think this is something that could be really good. I feel passionate enough about it that I think I would actually put effort into it, and I've been wanting for a volunteer/awareness activity for awhile.

Tuesday, April 25th, 2006



	2006.04.25 03.41 pm Fireworks, not Lung Cancer I had an idea just now. What if, instead of going outside to smoke, people went out to light fireworks? It'd be awesome, and have the same fun, stress-relieving effect, I think.

Monday, April 17th, 2006



	2006.04.17 09.14 pm I Stick My Tongue Out in Tracy's General Direction Ok, so, yes. It's been 12 weeks since I've updated. I do occasionally think about updating, but I spend 11 hours either at work or commuting to and from, then 8 hours asleep, an hour in the morning being not asleep but not awake, an between showering and eating dinnery things...that's already 21 hours! Then I spend 3 hours playing World of Warcraft...um, yes. Work and WoW are eating my LJ writing time. I know. It's sad. In any case... Um.. Well, I was sick yesterday and today. Yesterday I was feverish and looooopy, and today I just slept. A lot. Like the whole day. Until now, obviously. I'm feeling better, though still stuffed up. Joel took care of me. He is very good to me. I'll be living with him in Hyde Park over the summer, then back here at school in the fall. My roommate just put a record on (yes, an actual vinyl record) and it is very loud. It must be especially very loud because my ears are kind of clogged up with mucus right now and I can't hear very well. I think I will go take a shower then ask her to go back to using her computer and speakers back out in the common room so that I can actually think. Maybe I'll say something real. Someday. Oh, I think I really wanna be in the Peace Corps when I grow up. Though, I don't know. Maybe...something. Possibly with robots.

Friday, January 20th, 2006



	2006.01.20 09.02 pm State of the Sarah Report Well, hmm...it's been a long time since I read LJ's, let alone updated my own... So, I went "home" for Christmas. Kansas was...weird. I got really homesick (for Boston, I think) the first few nights, but once I convinced myself to forget that I was 1,000+ miles away, it got a bit better. I met my sister's adorable kitten, and had a horrible episode with my mom ignoring me despite being in hysterics. I've been back in MA for awhile, but I've been basically living with Joel until I can afford to pay for parking at school ($640 a semester). I just got my first paycheck, so I should be able to do that now. W00t. Staying with Joel has been fun. I cook dinner for the two of us and I play with the cat. We've been looking at houses and condos for when his lease runs out in June, and that's lots of fun. The job is ok...I haven't had a lot to do, though my co-intern and I finally got somewhat of a big project today, so I'll probably be busy for the next few weeks or so. No more days spent reading archived Sluggy Freelance and hoping for something to do anymore! I'm back in my dorm room right now whilst Joel is out at a bar on Lansdown Street (nearby), and it is rather empty. It feels strange to be here despite all the time I spent here last semester. My new roommate (also named Sarah) is not here, nor do I think anyone else is in the other bedroom. I might try to see if I can find Tim or something. We'll see.

Tuesday, December 20th, 2005



	2005.12.20 11.42 pm GRADES ...Straight B+s. All 4 classes. Meh. This drops my GPA to 3.6...I gotta do better next semester.

Friday, November 25th, 2005



	2005.11.25 09.22 pm Job Decision, etc Well, despite my original excitement with IBM and their offer, I've decided to go with EMC, so I'll be commuting to Hopkinton starting in January. Woohoo! I found a good-seeming car at the Saturn dealership in Natick: a 1997 SL1 sedan with around 38,000 miles...my first thought was "ok, what's wrong with it that it's 9 years old and doesn't even have 40,000 miles on it?" Then we saw it for a test drive -- they hadn't completely finished fixing it up, and it still had a senior citizen's parking sticker on it. :D It's a little more expensive than I wanted, but it should last longer so...trade-offs! I may call the dealer tomorrow to see if they've finished working on it yet. I got my license transferred to MA today: I knew an MA license was going to be more expensive than the GA one I paid $10 for (after discount for being an organ donor!) but I still think $90 is a bit steep, especially since they didn't even have to test me. Oh well. I had Thanksgiving with Joel's family yesterday and that was nice if...over-whelming. They're very talkative people. :) Hmm...I think I will make myself some chocolate-chip pancakes for dinner; yum! PS: LJ's spell-checker suggests "Paginating" as the correct spelling for "Hopkinton". o_0

Monday, November 21st, 2005



	2005.11.21 12.53 pm A Story Here is a story I wrote for my Psychology of Language class: The Ring of Light Once upon a time, two little boys lived in a castle with 3 towers, 2 drawbridges, 6 servants and a moat. There was a city called Malna and some people who lived there decided to go swimming. They hiked for many days and came to an ocean filled with fish and seaweed. There was a man selling sandwiches on the side of the road. "Where is the water?", they asked. "I'm going to the barber on Tuesday." So they went home and ate their spoils. The mission was accomplished. I probably should've mentioned that the assignment was to write a story that violates discourse principals (and thus cannot be easily comprehended.) :D

Tuesday, November 15th, 2005



	2005.11.15 11.23 pm Busy Bumblebee Me! As of this morning, I have two offers for co-op jobs; here is an excerpt from an email I sent to my co-op coordinator: ( job stuff ) I of course appreciate any input you lovely readers might have on this decision. :) ( car stuff ) Fun times!

Thursday, November 10th, 2005



	2005.11.10 01.17 am Minor Hmm...it appears that I am only 2 courses short of fulfilling the requirements to be a Linguistics minor. Huh. I guess I'll do that, then. :) I just have to get around to moseying on down to the Ling office (or would it be the English office?) and declaring. Now, I have to take 2 of these courses, which 2 should I take?: Linguistic Analysis(LIN/ENG350) Phonetics & Phonology(LIN/LNL422) Syntax (LIN/ENG450)

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005



	2005.11.02 08.48 am WooHoo! Joooob! YAY!! IBM Lotus just offered me a co-op job. I don't have any of the details yet, but I'll prooobbbably take it. W00t! Now to go have another interview....

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