Babbling

-I kind of hate that the time changed today. It's way too early for this daylight savings time nonsense, and there is no such thing as a good time to lose an hour. And I congratulated myself last night for remembering to change my clocks before I went to bed, but then I forgot to set my alarm and was twenty minutes late for work anyway. Brilliant. (And no one noticed that I was twenty minutes late for work...possibly because I am ten minutes late to work as a general rule and so twenty minutes wasn't that big of a difference, but I wonder how late I would have to be before I got the, "Where are you?" phone call.)

-I didn't even notice the effects of the time change because it was dark and rainy all day long here. We're under a flash flood and tornado watch right now. Luckily it's only 9:30 and I plan to be up working on my thesis for most of the night, because I don't like to sleep during tornado watches. I realize that's completely stupid, because what better way to die than to be clunked by flying debris while you're fast asleep and don't even have the chance to see it coming and panic? Surely sleeping through a tornado is better than being awake through one. Still, I'm going to be up well past 1 in the morning, and the tornado threat should be over by then.

-Speaking of the oh-so-fascinating topic of weather, I'm totally stumped on what to pack for my trip to New York (which starts the day after tomorrow!!). It's supposed to be between 30 to 60 degrees the whole time we're there, which is a pretty big range of temperatures, and kind of an annoying one. The day time temperatures are supposed to be in the 50s for the most part, and the 50s are the most annoying temperature range out there because I can never remember until I'm actually experiencing it if 50s is going to feel freezing to me or whether 50s is like, sweater-but-no-jacket weather. Or if it's possibly even long-sleeved-shirt-only-no-jacket-necessary weather. I mean, I'm going to bring a jacket, obviously. I'm going to bring my leather jacket, which combined with scarf, hat, and gloves is currently the warmest cold weather ensemble I own (a fact that's going to have to change very soon if I am in fact moving to the northern U.S. later this year). And Kymberli says I can borrow one of her really warm coats if I need it. But it's the other stuff that has me stumped. I don't have many clothes that are good for layering. I don't have any clothes that make me feel sexy and are also warm (another issue I'll have to remedy if I'm moving to the tundra in a few months), and it's New York City and presumably we're going to go to at least a few places where I'll want to feel attractive. So what's a girl to do? And then there's the fact that I can't carry my damn cosmetic bag on the airplane with me thanks to that stupid no liquids rule and so I either have to pack it in my big suitcase and take up valuable clothing space or I have to just check it by itself and assume it's very likely going to arrive at JFK crushed up and oozing shampoo and toothpaste and reeking of Very Sexy for Her. Or I can pour all of my liquid things into 3 oz. or smaller containers and place all of it in a plastic bag and who the hell has the time or inclination to do that?!

-To change the subject completely-which is I guess why I'm doing bullet points in the first place-one of my co-workers waited on this truly gluttonous couple at work today. First of all, they each had a salad but drowned the salads in so much ranch dressing that really, they should have just eaten bowls of ranch dressing with a spoon and thrown a couple of carrot slices into them. Then they each ordered a steak combo, which is a big enough meal in the first place since it's a sizable steak and comes with veggies and mashed potatoes and spinach artichoke dip. Oh, and a dessert at the end, too. So that's more than enough food for any normal person, right? Especially considering they already had all that ranch dressing. But then they made their potatoes loaded mashed potatoes, which means they get covered in cheese, bacon, and sour cream. Which is an okay indulgence once in a while (you know me, I'm all about everything in moderation), but is it wise to indulge in loaded mashed potatoes when you're already eating the combo meal and a gallon of ranch dressing? And if you DO decide to indulge in loaded mashed potatoes, what makes you think it's necessary to make it a DOUBLE ORDER? They each had an entire soup bowl of loaded mashed potatoes! I mean, that alone right there would be a full meal for me. An unhealthy meal, sure, but a full one. And then. Then! Naomi comes back to the kitchen and fills up a bowl with Saltine crackers and takes them the bowl of crackers and a container of melted butter because along with all that other junk they wanted to DIP CRACKERS INTO A BOWL OF PURE BUTTER AND EAT THEM. Just thinking about it is making my heart hurt. And it probably goes without saying that they each weighed 300 pounds, easily. Why would you do that to yourself? I just...you know what, I'm not even going to say anything else about that because I can't even wrap my mind around it, to be totally honest. There is poor eating habits, and there is lack of exercise, and most of us do that at least sometimes to a certain extent. And there are genetic issues, and there is the way you were raised to make food choices (I do not think it's entirely a coincidence that I crave turkey and mustard on wheat while someone else might crave the triple bacon cheeseburger instead) and those factors come into play, but at some point it just gets disgusting. Sorry to say it that bluntly, but it's true. And this couple had definitely crossed the line from mildly overindulgent to scary.

-Speaking of indulgences, although not disgusting ones, I spent eighty dollars in Austin on Friday night. I hardly ever spend that much money on a night out, mostly because I don't have the sort of cash flow to regularly spend eighty bucks on a night out. Although if I did I'd be regularly having nights like Friday night because Friday night was awesome. It's nights like Friday that make me realize how easily I could become a very high maintenance woman, if given the opportunity. I went out with Mandi, Richie, and John, and we started out at Kenichi because Mandi got addicted to their calamari on our last trip there and wanted to get some for dinner. So I was all happy to be at Kenichi, where I can watch beautiful and trendy people and pretend to be hip which I really like doing sometimes, and between two cocktails and edamame and a sushi roll and some sashimi and dessert, it wasn't hard to blow fifty dollars on dinner. It was fifty dollars damn well spent, though. And then we went to an entire spectrum of bars. We started out at Apple Bar, which is kind of a lounge of sorts with an older-twenties crowd...uh, my crowd, I guess, since if I'm not there already I'm rapidly approaching an age that no longer counts as "college age". Then we went to Canvas, a sort of arty bar in a warehouse where an artist hangs out in the corner and paints all evening (hence the name). Then we went to Latitude 30 where I was the only white girl and Richie was the only gay guy and I was really out of my league, frankly. I mean, I was a bit out of my league at Kenichi, too, but with the right jeans or dress I can pass as a scenester with a trust fund if need be. But I'll never be the sort of girl who can convincingly shake my ass to Ludacris or drink Henessey, no matter how hard I try. I'm not even sure I know how to spell Henessey (is that it?). Anyway, we finished the night up dancing at Spill, where Mandi and I got hit on by some really funny Puerto Rican guys and John had this conversation with a guy who spent five minutes trying to sell him a cell phone plan at 2 a.m., for whatever reason:

John: Look, buddy, we're artists. We're concerned with our art. We don't care about phones.
[Incidentally, I almost died when he said that, first from embarrassment when I thought he was being serious, and then with laughter when I realized he was joking but Mr. Cell Phone remained oblivious]
Random Phone Guy: No, man, just check this out! A phone can help you with your art!
Richie: No, seriously, you're trying to convince the wrong people. I don't have a cell phone. I don't WANT a cell phone. And none of us have money.
Random Phone Guy: I can get you a good deal, though! This isn't for the guy in the Benz.
John: We're just not interested, really. You're wasting your time.
Random Phone Guy: No, listen, I can hook you up with something really good, something that can help you with your career.
John: Tell you what. If your phone can explain Hegel's dialectic and Nietzsche's Apollonian and Dionysian principles, I'll think about it.
Random Phone Guy: This phone can do Hegel! It has a touch screen! Look! Touch screen! Touch screen!

And finally at that point we had to just walk away from him because he wouldn't shut up. Crazy. Wonder if he now thinks Hegel is some sort of technical phone term he should be learning about. Anyway, Friday night was awesome.

-I saw this ad on TV today for some sort of ab workout that is supposed to be four hundred and eight percent more productive than your average work out. I know absolutely nothing about math, and I acknowledge this. I will tell you, for example, that according to GRE I am better at math than only 42% of the other GRE takers. And I realize that GRE takers are a reasonably book smart pool of people to begin with and so therefore I'm probably better at math than more than 42% of the entire population of this country, but still, math is by no means my strong suit. So I'm okay with admitting that I have absolutely no idea how something can be more than one hundred percent effective. More than one hundred times effective I understand, but more than one hundred percent baffles me. And also, why would you advertise a random number like four hundred and eight? Maybe I misunderstood since I was in my bedroom and just overheard the ad playing in the living room, but isn't that really odd?

-The thesis still isn't finished. Why is the end of a project always the hardest part?