It's been a long time...shouldn'ta left you....without a dope beat to step to...

Okay-admittedly I've been a bit of a lazy buns when it comes to my blog as of late. Here's the deal: Big Mama has been applying to grad schools. Lots of grad schools. Pain in the butt. I have developed a rather unattractive eye twitch as a result-not cool.
So here's what's happening in my neck of the woods (20 browny points to whomever can tell me who popped into my head as I typed that):
-Apps are done. My future is now out of my hands and into the hands of people who have never met me and have no reason to like me. This means my winning personality and striking good looks no longer gain me any...well anything. Damn. I knew I couldn't coast on those alone forever.
-The Andrew W. K. coverband went off without a hitch...unless you count the fact that Rich is now probably dead as a hitch...
-My boyfriend makes a striking figureskating partner (don't ask).
-The WB's living arrangements have been made for his return to the US (not thanks needed Beave).
-My research is back on track... Cancer...prepare to meet your maker. Well technically in this case I'm your maker and you already met me... I'm going to have to think this one through a little better and get back to you.
TTFN
Big Mama

Woah Big Mama...Woah

Okay-so a LOT has happened in my life since I last posted. Mostly cause I'm a busy little bee with a wealth of interesting and exciting things occurring around me at all times. Okay so nothing really that cool has happened. I'm going to blog about it anyway.

Basically I've only got a couple things. I will blog about them systematically.

1. The fact that Andrew may actually be slipping into insanity.

Andrew called me today and in a very cryptic way informed me he had kicked down a door. Yes... that's right. KICKED DOWN A DOOR. Why you ask? I don't anymore... It's just not worth it. Plus he's going to tell me whether I ask or not... trust me. 

Apparently the young chap was attempting to get into a door that had been locked from the inside. The lock had been deteriorating for quite some time and finally got to the point that a key could not be removed. Instead it just broke off. Leaving the lock useless. It had been locked anyway... leaving all outside unable to enter the home. It just so happened that the "all" that I speak of happened to be all of the inhabitants. He couldn't unlock the door... so he kicked it in. 

He then informed me (in a tone filled with more surprise than I would like to admit) that the trim around the door had come off. What am I doing with my life?

2. After about a week of calling the Willabong finally got ahold of me

I was sitting at home Monday night when I got a most exciting phone call from none other than the South Korea Dwelling Willabong. (This is where I leave out the part about me trying to figure out how to iChat with him for about 20 minutes to no avail). As is customary the Willabong entertained me with several tales of foreigner-based confusion (the state of being not the band). That was cool. I'm pretty sure he's going to marry a 30 year old Korean woman with a son about 5  years younger than him. Way to go WB... Big Mama is swelling with pride. (or maybe it's ice cream that's making me swell... whatever).

3. I have actually managed to procrastinate to a point that not even I am comfortable with the situation. 

I have a lab report due tomorrow that I was trying to start just now. The problem is that I just realized I need things from my lab bench to complete it. And I've already driven over there twice tonight. Looks like it's not getting started until tomorrow morning. It's a good idea...I swear... (maybe?)

That's all Big Mama's got for you.

Big Mama Out

(Big MawMaw Poopy Doopy Big MawMaw <-that's for Will)

chocolate + caffeine = science!

So here I sit in the lab at 7 o'clock on a Friday night-a night that up until noon today was supposed to be date night. Apparently my cells don't care that Andrew and I never get to see each other...

ANYWHO... People have begun noticing my squirrel-like tendencies in lab. To explain what I mean I will say this: Anyone who knows me knows how Big Mama gets when she's hungry... Not pretty.

In order to counter-act this unfortunate inevitability of long and sometimes abnormal hours at work I have a tendency to hide snacks at my lab bench. I currently have: A box of granola bars, an apple, and a 1/4 full container of chocolate covered espresso beans. Squirlly-I get their point. To cut to the chase though the last has become my favorite daytime snack (take note if you are responsible for providing me with gifts on holidays [hidden agenda of this whole blog]).

So here I am...staring down the long, narrow, pasture pippette of a 3 hour evening spent with just me, my spheroids, and my chocolate covered caffeine injectors.
Oh...and the paranoid fear that someone is stalking through the halls of the Biology Building East attempting to kidnap and torture me (an unfortunate but managable side effect of the snacks...)

Peace

"It's amazing what they can do with technology these days."

This was the comment that my boyfriend (AKA grandpa Dahm) made this morning when we discussed the conversation we had with Big Wilkinson on his ibook last night.

These are the facts:
a. The big dog daddy moved to South Korea about a month ago.
b. He has been one of Andrew's best friends since forever and one of my main outlets for eccentricities since Andrew and I started dating.
c. We miss him.
d. We video chatted with the OG gangsta himself last night with our Macs.

Now that you're up to speed you understand how hillarious it was to me when Andrew very emphatically exclaimed how exciting technology has become.
We are getting old.

Atleast Andrew is.

Anywho that's about the extent of my excitement these past few days. I didn't even have enough going on to blog about nothing until today...I've reached a new low.

Oh yeah-I also became obsessed with the Sims 2 for PS2 this week. Andrew's really excited about that.

K BYE!

Here stands the ancient tortoise guarding the shores of Daejung-eup, where I teach.
Oh wait he's sideways oh well.
Below is a sign indicating the room where the man goes. The picture after that reveals the room itself.

This beach is a popular loitering spot for litter. I rode up to it on my scooter after I dropped by my school today.
As I start teaching from 3:30 to 9:30 on Monday, today marked the last weekday I would get to enjoy the Jeju sunset on this littery beach. As soon as I sat down on the dirty sand facing the dull azure ocean shore, I felt almost as pacified as I do while riding my moped. I immediately decided that for some reason I love this view.

As well as this one.
And this one.

This one too of course.
And now I leave you with the four attempts it took me to photograph myself flashing the west-side symbol palm facing out. Jeff tells me it's the cool thing to do on this island right now.
-Big Wilkinson
Posted by Will Wilkinson at 4:08 AM 2 comments
Thursday, August 28, 2008

Teaching
I realize I didn't get around to talking about the beach last time, so I'll kick this one off with a quick note on that. But first of all, I should finish up my perfunctory living accommodations report by explaining the social life here. I actually kind of live in the country. My immediate neighborhood consists of three houses, red, blue, and yellow, respectively (I'm in the middle), and several surrounding fields of ambiguous crops. During the day, seventy year-old women work the fields by hand, their bodies completely covered by thin cloth and straw hats half a meter in diameter. There are many more houses lining narrow, winding streets just a "block" north of us. My roommate Jeff told me he likes to get lost in that area late at night, where he sometimes meets up with a man who in one way or another identifies himself with Okinawa and sells him monster oranges. Jeff said their conversation is always the same. The man says, "Washington D.C. Good!" Jeff replies, "Yeah!" And the man says, "Verrrrry good!"
I do indeed have a roommate named Jeff, an early 30-something dude from Virginia Beach (not D.C., by the way) who spent a few lucrative years selling mortgage plans until he got sick of it. He is the only other white person I know here, but he's sociable enough to make up for it. Since being hired five months or so ago, Jeff probably hasn't saved as much money from the job as he could because he is too busy buying people treats all the time. He buys his co-teachers ice cream because, as he tells me, "They love that stuff," and then he laughs. I'm lucky to have such a genuinely good-natured guy living with me. Right now we're bonding through Bob Dylan.
OK that's all you get.
-Big Wilkinson

Da Stuffs I Do

I got a text message from Ricco Green today. It simply contained the old adage "It's never too late to party time." I reflected on it a bit and then sent Ricco a response text showing my excitement that he had remembered and thanking him for reminding me. I feel like we should all take a minute and remember that every so often. I'm quite sure Gink could use a helpful hint of that nature every once in a while.

To be honest it couldn't have come at a better time. Ricco always was one for accidentally presenting me with the most appropriate advice. Basically today has been hectic. I signed up for the subject test for the GREs. A wonderful $130 that I'll never see again. During the registration process (one which I thought would take a moment and involve me filling in my name and credit card information) I was expected to name 5 schools I wished my scores to be sent to, the departments I would be applying to in those schools, and probably a dozen other tidbits about my hopes and dreams that I had been putting off solidifying until just then. I grumbled something about being unprepared. Shannin, the grad student who shares some area in the lab with me, laughed that I didn't have things figured out yet. Maybe I should have been more on top of things? I have yet to sign up for the general test more planning and paying-I think I'll save that for another day... Anyway...

I finished up registration just before going to the second of two courses I am taking this semester. Although I am not a graduate student I decided that with my abundance of time I might as well sign up for a graduate level class offered by the professor I am working for. The class is basically presentation of papers (one per week by one student) and then their discussion. We drew numbers to see what order we would go in.

I drew the first date.

I should have popped a few Bayer before leaving the house this morning.

Luckily Shannin offered to switch days with me. Everyone laughed. I accepted. Duh. She's kinda my wingman today.

BlogSpot-meet your new master.

I've come to the shocking realization in the past 2 hours that everyone who is anyone has a blog spot. Up to 2 hours ago I had no blog spot. You can imagine my shock-up until 2 hours ago I was no one. I am now someone. Ha-I can't wait to go to my first high school reunion and shove THIS in their faces.
Anywho-now I'm here blogging my little heart out. I realize in a life that goes: Sleep-*Hopefully run*-eat-work-class-eat-work-eat-clean-sleep there isn't a WHOLE lot that is SUPER interesting to blog about. I also realize it's your problem if you are reading it and not mine. I'm saying I don't care that I'm boring if you aren't following. You can thank Big Dog Daddy, my mom and my cousin Sarah for what you're about to get yourself into.