Finally...autumn hits Las Cruces

...even though it's already well into winter in northern New Mexico. It got cold really fast here. Yesterday I almost froze. It actually snowed (Las Cruces style, meaning a few flurries for about 3 minutes), and scarves, gloves and hats were necessary, although I left to school dressed unprepared because I definitely did not expect it to be suddenly so cold.
I decided not to go home this weekend for Halloween, for a few reasons. First, I have this great big paper I need to be working on, and I know I won't work on it at home even if I tell myself I will. Second, I'll be home in 3 weeks for Thanksgiving anyway, so if I have made it this long, I can surely make it 3 more weeks. Third, I'm rather sick of the drive between here and there. I am getting a bit homesick though, as I haven't been home since August 1st, when I left for Costa Rica. This is the longest I have ever been away from it. So I hope these next three weeks will go by fast, then I will be there for over a week, then only two weeks after that, a whole month or so for Christmas. I love autumn and winter in Los Alamos; these two seasons are, in my opinion, the most feel-good, heart-warming, and romantic times of the year, no doubt. All the coziness and the two best holidays ever, and being with family.
Since I won't be home this weekend, my friend and I are planning a very small Halloween party. It will be pretty laid-back, we're not even dressing up. The past two years dressing up has been a waste because I don't have enough connections to find somewhere to wear my costume, or did not hear of any fun events. It will just be about 5 to 7 people eating and playing games and watching a movie.
I don't think I have anything funny or witty to write about today, so I'll leave you here. Have a great Halloween weekend!

Yummy

Hot drinks for the cold weather. I can't wait to try making some of these!

http://www.delish.com/recipes/cooking-recipes/12-hot-drink-recipes

Stand By Me

Such a great video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

Movies I want to see in the next couple months

Brothers (filmed in Los Alamos!)
Fantastic Mr. Fox
New Moon
Me and Orson Welles
Dear John
The Blind Side
Up In the Air
Everybody's Fine
Leap Year
The Lovely Bones

A while later...

Operation catch-a-glimpse-of-Robert-Downey-Jr so far has not been accomplished, but I did watch part of the movie being shot just now. Jake came by, we walked the literally two blocks to where it was being shot (I can see the set lights from my apartment) and watched in amusement as cars were just stopped on the highway, driving backwards, forwards, positioning themselves perfectly, then got really excited when the cars started actually driving, and a truck with a trailer started driving the other way, swerving all over, police cars chasing and driving around it, as the car with the camera hitched up high above it sped in front of the truck. It was so cool! We watched them shoot this scene a couple times. A security car drove slowly past us a couple times, but did not tell us to leave. Then one of the stunt drivers, while the "traffic" was stopped, got out of his car and talked to us a bit. He asked if we were going to stay, because they were going to be doing a crash scene later! I would have loved to have watched that, but responsibility got the better of me and I remembered that I have class in the mornings (it was already about 11:15 pm at this point).
Maybe I just need a life, but I got really excited by watching this.
Another thing that made my night...as we were spectating, I kept hearing an owl's "who's", and soon it flew right over us and landed on a lamp post. It flew off, but walking back, we saw it on another lamp post, and as we stared at it in wonder, it stared right back and who'd at us. It was so beautiful...a great-horned, I believe.

Anyway, off to dream about movie sets and RDJ :)
Goodnight!

weekend's end

I was busy today, so I decided to treat myself to a Blake's lotaburger for a late dinner. It's like heaven in the form of a hamburger. The joys of New Mexico.
However, it was complicated to get to the Blake's near my apartment, because they are shooting a movie around the area (and very close to where I live) which stars Robert Downey, Jr. So there are a bunch of road closures and detours all over the place here so it took a while to drive to Blake's and back. The current set is really close to where I live, and I drove right by it going to get my food. I was rubber-necking the whole slow time I was going by it, trying to catch a glimpse of Mr. Downey, who has somewhat recently become one of my most-liked actors. I think he's great. I am considering dressing in black and just trying to sneak up to the set on foot. ;-) I saw a pic of RDJ on the set in the newspaper here...I wish I could see him! I've never seen a celeb by chance :(

So I could do more homework now, or I could get myself in trouble trying to sneak onto the set mission-impossible style...now which sounds more fun to you?

Runts

I don't know if anyone else was obsessed with this online game like I was years ago, but everyday in computer class, once I did everything I was supposed to, I'd go to wonka.com and play the Runts collector game. Soon I started playing it at home as well. I eventually forgot about it, but today I was trying to think of old computer games I used to like so I could try to find them, and this game popped into my memory. It appears that it is no longer available online :-( The thought saddened me. If anyone by any chance knows of a way I could still download it, without catching a virus or something, let me know! :-)
Also, remember the game Oregon trail?

Wild Thing...

Yesterday Jake brought me a dozen roses :)
Then we had dinner at my apartment.
Then we walked to the park and looked at stars for a while.
Then we went to a late showing of Where the Wild Things Are.
Maybe this was all cliche and cheesy, but I don't care, it was a good evening :) We hadn't spent time together, just the two of us, in a while.

I loved the movie. It was very random with not much of a plot, but it fit with the whole idea of the movie (the monsters were adults but had souls of children, throwing tantrums, coming up with very random ideas, and saying things that often seemed very off-topic). I would recommend the movie, I felt good the whole time watching it.

I have tons of homework this weekend; hopefully I can climb out of this slacker-phase that I've been going through since the semester started. Ha.

Feliz Sabado!

More recipes

I'm stealing some more recipes from MSN. Sound delicious. Particularly the apricot-basil shortbread tart and the vanilla zabaglione.

Apricot-basil shortbread tart:
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/apricot-basil-shortbread-tart-recipe

Vanilla Zabaglione w/ Raspberries:
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/vanilla-zabaglione-raspberries-recipe

Poppy Seed Cake:
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/poppy-seed-cake-recipe

Lemon Ice Box Pie:
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/lemon-ice-box-pie-recipe

African Dynamo

This is a great story from MSN today. I may want to read the book now. Read! It's worth your time :)



http://www.good.is/post/african-dynamo/?GT1=48001

Ramen nightmare

As I sit here eating my lime chile and shrimp Marachun instant lunch noodles, I am taken back to a time in elementary school when I brought one of these styrofoam-container-fill-with-hot-water-voila-you-have-sodium-in-the-form-of-lunch soups to school one day. I was sitting there with my friends at the crowded cafeteria table, eating forkfuls of this delicious stuff, when I looked down and saw a spout of liquid pouring out all over the table. It took me a couple seconds, but I realized that it was coming out of my styrofoam soup container; I had stabbed through the side of it with my fork. There was nothing I could do.
I stared at the never-ending, perfect stream of water, humiliated as everyone around me grabbed as much as they could of their lunches that were spread out on the table in hopes of rescuing them from saturation. I felt like a little boy who couldn't hold it any longer, and is therefore peeing in front of the class while all the other kids gasp in horror and shriek "EEEWWW". Not that I was a boy, and nor did I ever pee in front of my class, but I assume the feeling was similar, unable to control this plumbing mishap; all I could do was wait til it was over. Somehow this was worse than merely spilling a drink at a restaurant, because the spilleth-over continued for what seemed like an eternity. If I tried to move it, it would make a mess everywhere else and probably shower other kids, so I just let it go until it ran out of broth to embarrass me with. Lesson learned, I now pour it into a bowl before indulging.

Aside from my sad childhood (totally kidding), I got my car back today! It's funny how one can form a bond with their vehicle. My car's name is Yota (it's small and green, so it's like Yoda, but spelled like Toyota...get it?...). When the body shop came into view as the Enterprise driver gave me a ride, and I saw my car waiting there, a wide grin actually spread across my face. I felt like such a weirdo. Then I wiped the grin off, fearing my driver would see it and think I'm a freak. My rental car had been so heavy but I'd gotten used to it, so when I started driving my Yota back home, it felt like I was on bicycle, it felt so light. Like I was riding a feather. Like I was driving nothing. Like I was a bird......ok I'm done.

PS. Thanks to anyone for reading my blog; and I actually really appreciate comments to know if I'm being funny, or understood, or just appreciated :)

Today I had an argument with my bird...

It's true. I had just done a very thorough job of cleaning his water dish and filling it with fresh, cold water from my fridge (not just the sink!) and I started putting it back in his cage when he came up to me and tried to bite my finger. I flicked a little water at him (usually that makes him stop), but he charged my finger again with his beak open. So I dumped the whole thing of water on him and left.

Now, before you go reporting me to PETA or something, I love my feather brain of an animal and no, the water doesn't hurt. Sheesh. In fact, conures like water (although I'm sure not the way I gave it to him). And I wouldn't have normally dumped the water on him, but I was already in a really bad mood and his ingratitude pushed me over the edge. He already forgives me already, and I him; he's sitting on my shoulder as we speak.

And no, you don't get to know why I was in such a sour mood already.

But I will tell you that I chatted with both my brother and sister on facebook chat a while after the Bird VS. Human incident, and they brightened my day. I told my brother I was thinking of writing about the argument with my bird for one of my conflict journals for my class, and when I told him the story, he laughed really hard (well, he wrote out his laughter in all capital letters, like this HAHAHAHAHAHAHA). I was also talking to my sister and she told me how she was trying to hem her pants the other day, and she is not good at sewing, therefore she was cussing at her pants the whole time. So I nearly died of laughing, picturing her hemming her pants, saying (apologies if the censored foul language offends you), "You f****** pants, what the f*** do you want from me?!?!" So I had to tell her the story of my bird also, and the three of us cracked up about our arguments with inhuman objects.

Getting some really good laughs out of the other two people bound to me by blood made me feel much better and less of an Eeyore.