I went skating at the UPenn rink with Kelsey, Amelie, Mer, and Andrea.

I love all of them and we all had an excellent time. It was Mer and Amelie’s first time on the ice so it was fun teaching them!

There’s just something about ice skating that makes me so happy. The sound of metal blade scraping across the ice, the rush of adrenaline and speed, the feel of smooth, slippery ice under your skates. The process of lacing skates, dodging other skaters, and hot chocolate breaks in between sessions. It’s the only time I actually like the cold because I know within ten minutes I’ll be completely warmed up.

Maybe it’s because I’m the clumsiest person you’ll ever have the misfortune of meeting, yet I’m surprisingly competent on the ice.

(“Oh wow, Stacy– that’s the most graceful I’ve seen you– ever,” said Mer.)

We had dinner at The Bubble House which had mediocre food and mediocre service. I was decidedly not impressed when it took them fifteen minutes to bring us our drinks and forty-five minutes for our food. :| And a server had to be reminded twice for water.

Kelsey, Andrea, and I ended up in my room watching Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nu and random Chinese music videos. Then we ended up talking about our love lives (or therefore lack of). ♥

I really really want to go skating again. And soon. Tomorrow, I plan to have brunch with people I like, return a classmate’s textbook I accidentally took, and study my ass off (Chinese and Geology).

Curious, I inquired as such.

…It was the Jonas Brothers.

Excuse me guys, ‘m going to go shoot myself in the face now.

P.S. The song in question is Black Keys, I only heard the chorus.

I’ve been keeping Tiffany company with her Social Studies homework (since it’s about US History). Unfortunately, I am not at my best and articulate when I’m this tired. Thankfully, Tiffany is in the same state as me– so we’re both pretty much drunk on sleep deprivation.

I leave you guys with these gems:

TIFFANY: Do you know the only reason why I even know about D-DAY?
ME: BABYSITTERS CLUB BOOK.
TIFFANY: YES!
ME: STACEY FINDING THE REMAINS OF A DEAD GUY IN HER SUITCASE.

ME: *eating a popsicle* … OOH, WORDS!
TIFFANY: … *is actually on the ground laughing*
ME: … Oh, it’s a really lame joke on the popsicle stick.

TIFFANY: V-J.
ME: …
TIFFANY: Victory over Japan.
ME: … It sounds like Vay-jay-jay.
TIFFANY: …. EW.

TIFFANY: So, kamikaze pilots.
ME: They um, they flew their planes into stuff on purpose. It was suicidal but effective and really scary.
TIFFANY: Oh, I think I know this one!
ME: :D I think I learned this from The Hardy Boys. Man, they were so racist.
TIFFANY: I READ THAT ONE.
ME: Chet Morton was all “I DON’T TRUST THAT SLANTY-EYED ORIENTAL” and I remember reading that and being all “STFU Chet, all you do is eat and be fat”.

TIFFANY: Yeah, tomorrow I’m just going to be like “Heh, I was drunk with my sister last night” and conveniently leave out the ‘drunk on lack of sleep’ thing.
ME: … You do realize that I had most of your teachers. I do not think they would approve of the way we do sisterly bonding with your alleged intoxication stories.
TIFFANY: Oh! I have your copy of The Diary of Anne Frank!
ME: …. :D?

ME: I am so tired, I’m not using contractions. *pause* Oh wait, I just did.

ME: Oh, you know how I moved my coat rack from next to the bookcase to next to my window?
TIFFANY: Yeah?
ME: I woke up at 4 in the morning the other day and I was all ‘OHMYGOD THERE’S A MAN IN MY ROOM’ before I realized what it was. In my defense, I wasn’t wearing my glasses.
TIFFANY: *points and laughs*

Yeah, we’re a riot when we’re both too tired to function.

(Photo Credit: Phil Hawksworth on Flickr)

Happiness is a glass of chocolate soy milk, and two slices of toasted whole wheat bread with pseudo-butter (bread toasted just enough so the faux-butter melts).

Absolute perfection.

It’s my day off and I’ve been so lazy. I almost didn’t make the above deliciousness because it would mean having to hunt down the butter knife (my mom keeps moving things around, it drives my sister and I nuts!).

My allergies have been making my life a merry hell these past few days. I’m pretty sure I’m allergic to dandelion seeds + pollen (I’m not sure if dandelion seeds are included in the latter category). It’s dandelion season, guys. Anyway–TMI ALERT, I’m sort of impressed (in a morbid, grossed-out way) by how my nose contains a never-ending supply of mucus. :| My nose has been rubbed raw by tissues and no amount of Neosporin or Aquaphor has been able to remedy my most unfortunate aliment.

Naturally, my mom has forbid me to go outside today since dandelion seeds are EVERYWHERE. (I cheated a little, I picked up the mail.) This means tonight, I plan on watching TV shows and practicing Chinese characters.
I finished Toshokan Sensou the other day and I was so proud of myself since I have such a short attention span when it comes to TV shows/films. I really liked Toshokan Sensou (even though I have a hard time remembering how to spell it, I don’t know why I find it so difficult!)–it was cute and sweet. I find Kashara and Doujou adorable– I really wish there was more of this couple.

I mean, it happens… and that’s it, really.

I’m usually way more excited about the semi-annual Friends of the Library Booksale (which I’ve missed this year because I had to work weekends).

1. Other ways I fail as an Ithacan– I don’t own a pair of Birkenstocks or an ‘Ithaca is Gorges’/'Ithaca is Cold’ T-shirt

MOTHER to DAUGHTER: *after I pass out glasses ice-water, side-whisper* This is why going to college is important.
ME: … Would you ladies also like tea or soda?
MOTHER: *slightly taken back by me being, you know, fluent in English and me being able to hear her snide comment* Oh! Uh, we’ll just have water.

For the rest of their lunch, I made the mother incredibly uncomfortable while asking about her daughter’s choices for college and giving her advice from when I applied to schools. What I loved was that the girl was thinking of applying to Mt. Holyoke so when I mentioned I went to Bryn Mawr– the effect was fantastic. For once, there was school name recognition! >:D

Seriously though? Suck it, lady. I hope that taught you something about assuming.

If I were in charge of The World, I’d make it mandatory for everyone to work in customer services for two years at the very least. People can be so incredibly rude and downright mean to others sometimes… I kind of want to punch them in the mouth.

Today, I got a fantastic tip (+$10 for one table) from a cultural anthropologist who got really excited when he learned that I was an anthro major with an interest in minoring in Chinese. He advised me to look into medical anthropology or anthropology with a focus on race/ethnic groups because that’s what people will be looking for in the near future. And by “people” he pretty much meant “the government”. He more or less suggested that I’d work for the government which is what my parents and half the people at our restaurant has also been telling me.

In case you’re curious, it was fantastic. I highly recommend it in book or audio form. :) The audiobook I was listening to was also voiced by Cheno which added a special element to it. Not-so-secret confession: I wish I could be one of her close friends. She’s one of my heroes.

Oh, before I forget– I also got a haircut. :D

My mom and I were adventurous and we went to a new hair salon this time: Beauty & Styling House on Pell St.

The service was fantastic. I had a lot of damaged ends so they chopped off about three-four inches after dyeing it a warm copper-brown and gave me a lot of layers. It’s hard to tell in the picture, but it’s a lot more choppy in person. James, the stylist I had, thinned out my hair a ton. I have very very fine but thick hair so it’s hard to tell how thick my hair is until you see it on the floor. It was rather impressive in a scary way.

James  did something amazing with my bangs… however, I was unable to emulate the same look after taking a shower today which is why they look funny (and they will continue to look funny for the next couple of weeks). That’s life.

Delia and I had a great time catching up. It’s hard to imagine that we’ve been friends since elementary school even with our age gap. She tried to be the onee-chan in our relationship by trying to pay for everything. :P At least we didn’t duke it out over paying the bill like our parents.

It’s late but I’ve had a sudden urge to blog. (And I finally figured out that if I steal Jennifer’s ethernet cable, I can has teh interwebs! … Unfortunately, her cable is woefully short so I’m stuck in the computer room–sitting on the floor, using Tiffany’s wooden chair as a makeshift desk. My life is hard.)

I’m going to NYC tomorrow with my uncle. … It will be an awkward car ride as my Mandarin is definitely not good enough to make any interesting small talk. I think I’m going to stay up late so I’ll have an excuse to sleep through the four hour trip there.

In any case, I’m looking forward to getting my hair trimmed and having delicious Almond Cookie and Lychee at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. … Andrea was right. We really do plan our lives around food. I feel like I should be ashamed but I’ve already lost five-seven pounds since coming home due to working at the restaurant (which says a lot about how inactive I am during the school year!).