Things that make me happy...or at the very least amused

1. The fact that in any given day there are 5 or 6 kiosks set up selling or promoting various things...one day there was a guy dressed up in a giant lima bean costume...

2. There is a store called "Jerry's Drive Thru Liquor" across the street from campus (ironically when the Honors dorms are completed, it will be almost directly across the street from them). 

3. The ceiling in the hallways of Hayden South are so short that I can touch them...and my roommate would have to duck if they were too much shorter. 

4. There is a piano in our lounge...but for a long time there wasn't a TV.

5. There are urinals in the girls restroom in Hayden South

5.5 There are condom dispensers in the boys and girls restrooms...which unfortunately don't function...

6. The fact that Razor scooters...while still not super cool, are suddenly relatively widespread.

7. The dome that lets light into the underground portion of our library, fondly known as the "nipple of higher knowledge"

8. There is a secret garden

9. One can actually pick fruit off trees on our campus...dates, lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit etc.

10. I don't live in Manzanita...or Best C (both good things...but for very different reasons)

11. When I walked into the local Safeway for the first time...you know how Safeway tends to do displays grouping items that go together? Like all the ingredients for S'mores? I saw a table with cases of beer and packages of ping-pong balls...do you think they might be near a college? 

My Awesome, Ridiculous Shoes

So I promised you all a picture of my new shoes, TAADAAA! I really like them, partially because of how "I Love Lucy" era they feel, with the polka dots and bows on the toes. They make me happy. Not a pair of shoes to wear every day, but definitely a lot of fun.

I officially feel a little bit like Daisy Duke in this outfit...but the shoes give me nice lines, make my legs look long. Oh goodness, I'm even starting to talk like a ballroom dancer. 

Tomorrow I'll post some random pictures, including a picture of my adventure behind our fridge stack to plug my new roommate Janet's TV in to get cable, and some pictures of the utterly delicious food I've been making (it is possible EVEN in dorm kitchens :)

Victory!

My engineering class had to build a truss as our mechanical design project. We were to be graded on the quality of our bridge by taking the ratio of the ammount of force it would hold up (lbs) divided by the weight of the structure (g). We were only allowed to use the wood and glue they provided for us, and we did a lot of designing beforehand. We worked in groups, and my group decided to use my design. Thursday, we tested the bridges, and guess who got the highest ratio out of all the other groups in my professors sections?!?! (And the highest grade for that portion of the project)

Ours totally won with a ratio of about 15! The structure itself was solid. It eventually failed because the glue was so relatively weak.

I think it won because we named it Layla. (That was one of the songs we listened to while building it.)

CARE PACKAGE AMAZINGNESS

SO... I have gotten three care packages in the last three days....completely awesome....but a slightly ridiculous quantity. 

I'll tell you about them in ascending awesomeness

I got one from Central Lutheran, which had candy, Emergen-C, Microwave popcorn....etc

which was really nice and quite sweet of them to think of me.

I got one from my mom's friend Debi, which had

A bag of Halloween candy

A box of Raspberry Zinger Teabags

A bag of Riesen? or that might have been in the church one, I got them both today

A silicon muffin tin...she knows me well

2 cornbread mixes

2 blueberry muffin mixes

2 banana nut muffin mixes

AND

a package of fall themed muffin liners!

which is a pretty awesome care package in general

but even the muffin box couldn't beat the care package I got from my mom on Monday

which in part (I probably won't remember everything she sent) included

-my blue and my CAMEL coloured cashmere sweaters (yes Justin it IS a real colour)

-a black leaf garland....to decorate for Halloween!

-my nice alaska railroad jacket....cause thats as warm of a jacket as i'll need in Arizona

- a really cool hairtie with a hemp flower

-a polkadotted notebook

-a mini lint roller

-a DVD of When Harry Met Sally

- a pair of Alaska socks

-a copy of the newspaper my bro had a pic in for running

-a box of ginger chews

-a metal canister with a bunch of diff colors of thread and some needles

-a package of orange napkins

-a plastic/felted rat

-a little kit from bath and body works with body butter, lip butter, foot lotion and perfume

-looseleaf tea and teabags

-some spices

-VIETNAMESE CINNAMON

-some of my fave undies

AND

-REALLY CUTE YELLOW POLKADOT HIGH/WEDGE PEEP TOE SHOES WITH BOWS ON THE TOES!!!

...they are awesome...i'll post a pic sometime

Lots of Love,

Sam 

Something that I keep realizing while sitting in classes here.

My US public
high school education was
actually quite good.

An uneventful cave and an eventful fire door

It's Parents' Weekend
I didn't see Hugh Hefner
But his kid goes here.

I had no parents for Parents' Weekend, so some other orphans and I hiked up to Mallory Cave. I had never been to a cave before, but this one didn't really live up to my expectations of what a proper cave should be. It was not very big, at all. No stalactites or stalagmites. No bats (then, but bats do live there) No terrible chasms waiting in the dark to swallow unsuspecting tourists whole. Really, it was a fairly small and subdued cave. The hike was fun, though, and the cave wasn't bad... I just had an overeager imagination.
Another event that culminated this week was the fire door saga.
See, each wing in Hallett is L-shaped, and halfway down one of the branches of the "L" is a fire door. Now, our hall is a friendly and sociable one, with people always hanging out in hallways or going to other people's rooms and talking, etc. Thus, this fire door was left propped open, to promote this feeling of community and friendship, and our RAs didn't care. However, the RAs from other floors take turns going on rounds through the whole building, and they did care. It was a fire hazard, they said (to leave the fire door blocked open- who would have thought?), and so they took our doorstop, and told us we had to leave it closed. (This was about a week and a half ago.) Naturally, our friendly hall resented this, and found another doorstop in the hall, and propped the door open again. The next day, the other RAs took our doorstop again. There were no more doorstops to be found in the hall, so of course people came to the only logical conclusion: take them from the Engineering Center. So they did. This propping and stealing of props continued for several days until, apparently, our floor's RAs got in a bit of trouble, and so we stopped propping the door. However, people were still unhappy about the door being closed all the time. The next logical conclusion was reached: remove the screws from the hydraulic (I think) hinge thing at the top of the door. (Not the actual hinges, but the little arm-thing with two straight parts....do you know what I'm talking about?) At any rate, the screws attaching it to the door were removed by persons unknown. Since our floor's RAs had already been talked to by the hall director about our door, and they had told us not to prop it open anymore, this didn't sit too well with them. So, the third logical conclusion was reached by one of the RAs: duct-tape the door shut until the screws were returned. For my half of the hallway, this wasn't really a problem, because the bathrooms and showers were in our half. The people in the other half, however, had to go downstairs, through the first floor hallway, and then back up the stairs. (Some in towels or bathrobes, because they were coming or going from/to the showers) Needless to say, the screws were anonymously returned in rather short order. (The duct-taping and returning of screws happened in the middle of the night, so I wasn't there, but apparently Greg (RA who taped the door) was ridiculously pissed off, and the duct-taping was a giant scene.
So, today, we had a mandatory floor meeting, where they didn't actually do as much lecturing as we expected them to. They suggested we sit in front of the door if hanging out in the hall, and that as a floor, we could invest in a magnetic-release door (like the ones at South) that would shut automatically in case of a fire (bur would be sort of pricey.) We opted for the former, the person who had taken the screws owned up to it, and everyone was happy and harmonious.

On a side note, Takako and I took the list of 100 foods and surveyed 30ish people in our hall (we did just "Which have you eaten?" rather than the "Which have you eaten, and which would you never ever eat?" of the original list.) Still, I think it's quite interesting. If other people find it interesting, I can try to figure out a way to distribute it. Does anybody know if spreadsheets can be attached to this blog? Or should I just email it to interested parties?

Settled and Sore

So! I've procrastinated long enough. I'm finally making my first and long overdue post, per request and constant reminders of Samantha. Here goes!

For those of you who don't know, the University of Oregon starts about a month later than most other schools, so I was stuck in Anchorage until late September. Waiting those lonely extra weeks for college was sheer agony. I had been out of school for seven months and I became more than a little restless. But now, after a month of living in the dorms and attending classes, I feel like I have a little more purpose in life!

Instead of trying to summarize everything that's happened in the past month, I think I'll just tell you about my busy week instead.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are my busy days. I have all my classes, which include calculus, writing, Medieval Literature, and symphony orhcestra. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I pretty much don't have to do anything but a discussion section and a cello lesson. So my life alternates between frantically running back and forth across campus (dodging the multitude of bicyclists) and using the off-days to prepare for the frantic ones.

On Monday and Wednesday I had tryouts for club tennis, and about fifty people showed up. This was somewhat problematic, as there was limited court space and only two "scouts" to see how everyone played. So the first day, with a pair of arbitrary scissors, the scouts cut half of the prospective team members, of which I was not included! (This was a wonderful turn of fortune.) So I got to come back Wednesday... except that on Tuesday, I started a 5-page analysis of Beowulf and Judith... at around 1 am. Which means I got 2 hours of sleep which means... I didn't make the team. But it's ok, because most of the players there were just below division 1 level, (I'm more on the intermural level) and practices were on aforementioned frantic Mondays and Wednesdays. So I don't think it would have worked out.

On Thursdays, which are by far my favorite day of the week, I have cello lessons with a GTF (Graduate Teaching Fellow, a graduate student who also teaches classes) who is also our section leader in the symphony. Her name is Wan-Ting, and I've learned that I basically play cello completely wrong (not surprising) and have much work to do. Hm.

Today, Friday, I played an intense game of chess with Drew, my RA, who is two levels below Grandmaster (which he explains as "just an Expert"). I went into it feeling confident in my chess-playing abilities, but my cowardly royalty and their various defenders were promptly wiped off the board and we ended with a handshake. I have a little studying to do, I think. I guess I'll just have to become a Grandmaster.

And later that night I went to a ballroom dancing session, which was taught by an extremely enthusiastic instructor who loved to tango. A lot of people dressed up, but I did not. I have no fancy clothes to speak of. So, wearing my OREGON sweatshirt, dark jeans, and socks with sandals, I danced my way through three tango steps and some cha-cha moves. Good times.

I'll write about some more specific anecdotes later. Also, I seem to have found a counterpart for just about everyone I know. I will write about them as well. Goodnight!

Sick Season

So, it being fall, EVERYONE is getting sick. My suitemate Hannah was the first one. In mid September she went to the health center with a fever of 102. Needless to say, she didn't go to class for about a week. Next was my roommate Emily, who brought what we think is a cold back from Nevada. She went on a trip with Claremont Students for Obama to register voters in Nevada, and all thirty-something people ended up sleeping on the floor in one room of an abandoned house with broken plumbing. Hygiene was not happening, and she came back a day early because of how sick she was. Next was my other roommate, Annsley, who was (is) rather down for the count with something 'flu-like. Then we got a campus-wide e-mail warning us about a norovirus outbreak at other schools in Southern California.

So far, I've been lucky.

I have a theory as to why.

My roommates, both of whom have been sick, sleep here:



I, on the other hand, sleep here:




My theory is that their proximity means that they are more likely to get each other sick (they also don't clean nearly as much as I do). I sleep on the other side of the room, all by myself. They are also convinced that I have a healthier immune system because I don't go drinking every weekend, but they kinda do that to themselves. I vacuum, I do (my) laundry, I wash (my) dishes, I clean the sink. They don't. Coincidence? I think not.


There is strong evidence to suggest that both my location in the room and my habits have lead to my over-all health. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.


Too bad my theory is completely abolished by the fact that as of Tuesday, I'm sick.

Political haikus.

I'm always amused

at the way people ask me

why I'm in Norway.

The teenagers say

with horrified expressions,

'Why leave the US?'

They have all been there--

to New York City to shop,

to the Grand Canyon.

Their America 

is what they see on TV:

rich, pretty, happy.

Adults are different.

Some understand the bubble

that is our border

and know what I mean

with 'it's good to see outside'--

a new perspective. 

But I find it strange

that Norwegians do not see

their little country--

their Labor party

and classless society

(Lennon's 'Imagine')

works out much better

for most of the citizens

than where I am from.

But now I've lived here

enough to see the difference:

people aren't worried

about food or rent

about money for college--

the government helps!

The small changes made--

free health care more than all else

bring them peace of mind. 

I can't help but think

it could be like this at home.

And maybe it can.

And maybe we can!

Vote Obama! ...and also

take with you a friend!

Symposiums and exploding glass

Some of you may have already heard this story, but I think it's a good one, and merits a retelling!
In my humanities class, we recently finished reading Plato's Symposium, and we had an assignment to prepare speeches of our own on the topic of love. (For those of you unfamiliar with The Symposium, it's basically an account of a symposium where several Greek philosophers made brief speeches on love, the main speech being, of course, Socrates'.) Anyway, for our class, our recitation groups (7-10 people with group leaders that are sophomores or juniors in the Engineering Honors program) each had a mini-symposium of our own, where we cooked and ate food, gave speeches, and hung around and talked.
Our symposium was a Sunday breakfast symposium, and we had all sorts of good food: cinnamon rolls, muffins (apple cinnamon, chocolate chip and blueberry), fruit salad (with watermelon, mango, kiwi, blue-, rasp-, straw-, and black-berries), eggs with peppers and cheese and onions, and milk, hot chocolate, cider, etc...
It was all very tasty food. I was in charge of one of the pans of eggs, and another girl was in charge of the other. We were using the front two burners of the stove, and the back two had things cooling on them- an empty glass baking pan, and another metal pan. As we cooked, I noticed that the other girl's eggs were not cooking nearly as fast as mine. In fact, it seemed as though they weren't cooking at all. Because they weren't - we realized that her burner wasn't actually on. So, we turned it on, and went back to cooking. About 30 seconds later, I realized that the reason her burner wasn't on was that the burner behind hers was (somebody had just turned the wrong knob). On that burner was the empty glass baking pan. I quickly turned the burner off, because that was not a good thing.
We went back to cooking our eggs. About a minute later, the glass pan, with no warning, exploded. REALLY exploded. As in, pieces flew six feet, and there were more pieces of glass than appeared to have been in the volume of the pan before it exploded (you know how it is with glass things). The two of us just stood there, staring, for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing uncontrollably while everyone else came rushing over to see what had happened.
Casualties: my pan of eggs, which had to be garbage-disposaled because it was full of glass.
Neither of us were cut or hurt in any way (even though glass bounced off of us as it exploded), and her pan of eggs was able to be run through a really fine sieve and cooked anyway. I made a new pan of eggs, and they were really delicious.

Sunday Picnic!

So it was an absolutely beautiful day here, high of 81 or something like that, and my friend Brittani and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather by having a quasi-picnic. We got food from the MU, but that still counts right? :p I had even gotten a cute basket for my halloween costume the day before, so I used that to carry my stuff! I was so cute! 

I thought my white skirt contrasted rather nicely with the black sheet we were using as a blanket...and you can see my adorable little basket!

...we were in the middle of Hayden Lawn, so we got some funny looks, but it was still fairly early so the campus really wasn't awake yet...and since when have I ever let strange looks stop me

Lots of Love, 

Samantha

The Omnivore's Hundred

Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Place an "O" next to all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Place an "X" next to any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison 0
2. Nettle tea 0
3. Huevos rancheros 0
4. Steak tartare 0
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding 0
7. Cheese fondue 0
8. Carp 0
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari  0
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich x
14. Aloo gobi 0
15. Hot dog from a street cart 0
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns 0
20. Pistachio ice cream x
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries 0
23. Foie gras 0
24. Rice and beans 0
25. Brawn, or head cheese 0
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche 0
28. Oysters 0
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl 0(yay The Bake Shop!)
33. Salted lassi 0
34. Sauerkraut 0
35. Root beer float 0
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea 0

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo 0
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat 0

42. Whole insects 0
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk 0
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala 0
48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut  0
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer  0
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal x
56. Spaetzle 0
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV 0
59. Poutine 0
60. Carob chips 0
61. S’mores 0
62. Sweetbreads 0
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake 0
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain  0
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette 0
71. Gazpacho  0
72. Caviar and blini 0
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost  0
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie 0
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum 0
82. Eggs Benedict 0
83. Pocky 0
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare 0
87. Goulash 0
88. Flowers 0
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam  0
92. Soft shell crab 0
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish  0
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox  0
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta  0
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Another note: honestly, I don't think this list is complete or optimal...what should be on here that isn't? Anyone?

I'm thinking moose, bear, raw tuna sushi with wasabi, a kebab from a street vendor, homemade chocolate-chip cookie dough furitively eaten, fish and chips with vinegar, pickled daikon, snow, papaya with lime, and a perfectly ripe mango. 

Tuition Giveaway

So, pretty much my favorite website in the world (mentalfloss.com), Borders, and Merriam Webster are sponsoring a contest for five 10,000 dollar scholarships. You have to write an essay of 750 or fewer words on why "you (as the most deserving person on the planet) should win a 10,000 dollar prize for tuition/books in the fall of 2009." I thought that since at least most of us are poor college students, you guys might be interested! 

here's the link

http://www.mentalfloss/tuitiongiveaway/

your entry is due by January 31st.

The First Snow!!!

Way too much fun dancing in the snow. The flakes were so big they almost didn't fit in my mouth and I could snatch them out of the air with my hand.

10 things not to eat at Malott Commons

So, as per Samantha's suggestion, I have compiled a list of things that you really, really don't want to eat at the dining hall...

1. Rice pudding (if you can't tell what it is at first glance, don't eat it)
2. anything involving the word "casserole" (I promise, you'll regret it)
3. beer-battered cod (more batter than cod, and greasier than John Trivolta's hair)
4. jello (just don't go there)
5. BLT pizza (lettuce on pizza really doesn't work. It gets all dry and crispy)
6. The really strange soft serve flavors (mango espresso swirl, anyone?)
7. Fruit danish (I promise that that isn't apple filling)
8. Grilled cheese (ridiculously greasy, with un-melted american cheese)
9. Pinapple upside-down cake (there's a reason that it's there for a week)
10. anything involving ricotta cheese and spinach (as good as it sounds, it never tastes good)

And there you have it.

Now if you excuse me, I'll just enjoy my scharffen berger dark chocolate icecream and cappuccino while sitting next to the fountain...

The Truth:

Home is where your guitar is.

(Finally Baylor has become my home. I just got my guitar today!! *sniff sniff* I'm so happy!)

Only 16 credits. Only.

Do people really
Have three minutes to wait for
Cup Noodles to cook?