Someone posted a comment on my blog

And I am so excited about it. I started a blog for my own sake (to kinda keep track of my life), but it's nice to see someone leaving a comment. Thanks, Dave! I guess I should let more poeple know about this blog. I don't think I've told anyone about this blog, except for Dave.

I'm so tired but I can't sleep! I don't know what's going on with me. Maybe too excited because it's almost (or already?) Friday? Like I said in my previous post, this weekend will be super fun. I haven't had a fun weekend for a while and I totally deserve it! I want to eat, drink, sleep, and relax. That's all I want, and I don't think I'm asking too much.I

thought I gained weight in last couple of weeks but I guess I didn't. I went to a clinic for a follow-up visit for the medical study I'm participating. The nurse weighed me as part of the physical check-up, and I only weighed 96 lbs. Well, this can't be possible, and I even told so to the nurse. But she just said, "well, you are skinny so you must only weigh 96 lbs." Nooooooo, this can't be right! I haven't weighed less than 98 lbs for years, and how can I loose weight after eating lots of sugar and fat for the past few months. If I were a muscular guy, I could say "I haven't worked out for a while, so I must have lost tons of muscle." But I have no muscle or whatsoever to begin with. I used to work out quite regularly when I was in Ohio but I wasn't anywhere close to being muscular (thanks to female hormone). Now I'm so tempted to indulge myself with more sugar and fat, namely chocolate and cakes. I'm craving for good strawberry shortcake!!! and some chocolate!!!!!!!

Happy morning

When I got to the lab this morning, my mentor was there. She told me that my Language and Thought professor said that I did well on the exam and that my exam was one of the best! :-) This made me really happy because I think Language and Thought is difficult compare to other ones I'm taking. I guess I'm not a bad student after all! Yay! I feel so motivated to do work now. I'm starting to realize that praise motivates me but punishment and criticism don't. If anybody want me to work hard, I have to be told that I'm the best person to do the job! :-pFinally, the mystery of MIA was solved. I've seen people using "MIA" on e-mails and on-line message board (e.g., "sorry for being MIA") but I could never figure out what it exactly meant. From the context, I could figure out that it meant something like "been busy and not responding" but I didn't know what MIA stands for. Even though I felt like a looser for asking, I asked my friend who said "sorry to be MIA" in his e-mail. According to him, MIA stands for "missing in action" and people use it to refer "too busy to respond." So, my guess was right, and I'm happy to know what MIA actually stands for. As these examples show, little trivial stuff can make me happy. I usually consider myself as rather pessimistic and serious but maybe I'm more optimistic and happy than I think. Or, maybe I have bipolar tendency?

Need to get out of the lab

I realized that it's been three months since I moved to NY but I haven't done that much of fun stuff lately. I've been spending too much time in the lab with no window! I need to get out and do something fun.
Here are some things I want to do...
1. shopping, shopping, shopping
2. check out MOMA (reopens in Manhattan this Saturday)
3. go out and eat good and cheap food
4. meet new people and reconnect with friends I haven't seen for a long timeI also realized that I spend most of the day without talking to people--I really need some human interaction! I will contact some of the people I haven't seen in a while to see if they are interested in meeting up for dinner or drink. I've been a bit desperate in seeking human intereaction lately--is this a holiday-season related symptom?

I think this coming weekend will be great. Yayoi will be in town (from Amsterdam!), and I'm meeting her for lunch on Friday--can't wait! I haven't seen her since last spring, and it will be great to catch up. Then, Dave is coming in town on Saturday. I'm trying to think of some fun stuff to do in the city...maybe we can go to the MET, walk around in East Village, etc. I have to see what he is interested in doing.

Got 2 midterms back last night. I did well on Language and Thought but not so well on Social psych. Well, I did OK on Soc Psy considering the amount of effort I put into preparing for the exam. I basically did not study for the exam--all I did was went to the lectures. I think it's pretty good that I could get B+ on the exam just by sitting in the class. Anyway, I will study very hard for the final to bring my grade up.

shopping!

My plan for the day was to shop for the stuff I need (gloves, pants, shoes, etc) and study in the evening. Well, I ended up buying all the stuff that I didn't need to buy (e.g., sheet set) and didn't get anything I needed to buy (except for a bra). also, I was shopping until 6pm and had to do laundry tonight, so I didn't get any work done today. Shame on me!!!!!!!!!
Some stuff I need to buy:
1. gloves
2. pants or jeans (I have only one pair of jeans!)
3. nice looking yet comfortable shoes

I got a haircut at this Chinese place in Elmhurst yesterday and I will never go there again! I wanted to get my hair trimed so I told the hairdresser to cut only 1-inch. But apparently, we didn't communicate very well. She chopped off at least 3-inches, and I'm not even exaggerating. Now my hair is much shorter. I know my hair will grow back again but I just can't understand how it happened. When I told her "1-inch", she confirmed it with me by extending her fingers to show how long she thinks 1-inch is. (she first had 2-inches with her fingers but I corrected her) maybe she didn't like me because I am Japanese??? She asked me if I speak Chinese, and when I told her that I don't and that I'm Japanese, she looked little disappointed. Anyway, I will never go back to the hair cut place again.

Ok, just wanted to update my blog. so tired from shopping all day. going to bed now.

Haven't updated my blog for a while

and my long entry disappeared when I hit "publish post" I'm not going to write the whole thing again! This is the summary of what I wrote: I've been in a bad mood lately so don't mess with me! anxiety over midterms, financial problems, "that time of the month", cold temperature, getting dark at 5pm, etc, etc...they all make me an unhappy person.

eating makes me sleepy

When I'm hungry, I can't study. But when I eat something, I get sleepy and can't study. So, what should I do when I'm hungry? Just eat and let myself fall asleep? I had a quick lunch about an hour ago and I can't be productive because I'm sooooooooooo sleepy! Maybe I should go get a cup of coffee.

Just like many other New Yorkers, I'm not happy with the presidential election result. Maybe I shouldn't get too emotional over politics of this country. After all, I'm not a citizen and can't even vote. (Irony is, this country still makes me pay federal taxes, social security, and Medicare even though I can get any benefits by paying for all these stuff) Yet, I think it's still important to care about this election. Because of the globalization, one country's politics affects international issues. Anyways, I feel that I shouldn't get into this right now...S

o, it's raining again in NYC. I hope the same kind of disaster doesn't happen to me again (see post on "Story about a grad student"). I'm tempted to skip this class because it's just one of those "get to know your prof's research" seminar. Every week, one or two professors give a talk about their research. Some are interesting but others can be really boring. A few weeks ago, this prof came in and went on and on about his personal philosophy. I think he was either too lazy to prepare a presentation or have nothing to say about his research.

stress-induced illness

I believe that stress affects general health. Right after the midterms, I started to feel sick. I thought I was just tired because of the sleep deprivation but I was still feeling sick after 8+ hours of sleep. So, I decided to stay home/Queesn area on Friday to take it easy. Plus, I had to run some errands before flying to Columbus on Saturday morning. I'm glad that I didn't go to school on Friday; I was feeling pretty crappy by the end of the day on Friday.

On Saturday early morning (6am to be precise), I left my apartment to LaGuardia airport. My apartment is only 2.5 miles from the airport but it takes about 1 hour to get there when I take public transportations. It's really messed up. Anyways, I flew out to Columbus to spend the weekend there. The flight was very smooth and comfortable.

Let's see...what did I do in Columbus? I slept, ate, slept, then ate again. and I indulged myself with lots of alcohol, sugar, and dairy products. Chocolate and cheese from the Netherlands, ice cream from Graeter's, wine from the Thousand Islands, sushi at Haiku...yum!!! Food always makes me happy :-) Overall, I had a relaxing weekend. After the weekend filled with laziness, it was pretty hard to come back to school this morning.