Spinster

1. If I had any sort of scientific leaning, I would get the hell out of library school and study epidemiology. I discovered last year that I LOVE reading about epidemics and diseases, and I feel that epidemiology is actually this really fascinating mixture of science, anthropology, and history. Last night, Heather came over and she, Lorien, and I were talking about Things We Do Other Than Go To School and we discovered that Heather and I share a love of books about epidemics. Weird, huh?

2. I love Death Cab for Cutie. I know, with all of the OC exposure that they’ve gotten, they’re no longer quite as cool as they used to be, but seriously, you guys, they’re fucking awesome. Ben Gibbard has such a nice voice and I think that the songs’ lyrics are pretty good. (P.S.–I love The Postal Service, too.)

WARNING (FOR AUNDRA): OC SPOILER AHEAD
3. I think I care too much about the characters on The OC. We watched the new episode last night, and I found myself getting upset with Seth for being a stupid bastard about Summer (Seth, baby, even though I’m upset with the things you do sometimes, that doesn’t mean that I no longer love you. But really, man, stop being a douche bag.), and I have never been prouder of Marissa than when she a) stopped that girl from getting gang raped and b) finally went home to her mom. Ryan needs to learn that sometimes it doesn’t matter what other people think, and if attending your high school graduation in a trashy dress will make your mom happy, then you need to fucking suck it up.

Dad, you might not want to read this next one.
4. I am the (not so) proud owner of some really weird porn, through no fault of my own. I was trying to get last week’s episode of The OC that I missed (do you see what I go through for you, Lorien?) and ended up getting this very strange movie featuring people having sex in some kind of graveyard, or maybe it features dead people having sex. I’m not really sure, as I haven’t watched it, but the scenery seemed very gothic and dark, and I thought I saw a coffin. Note: Even though I didn’t mean to acquire this porn, I’m pretty sure I’ll end up watching it before I delete it.

5. I got a blender yesterday and I’m a bit too excited about it. I am just ecstatic about being able to make smoothies, margaritas, and hummus (not to be consumed together, I suppose). It’s part of my Summer Plan, which consists of: fixing up the deck so that we have some shade on one side and pretty flowers and veggie plants on the other side, getting a CD player for the kitchen/deck and rigging it up so that we can attach our iPods to it, and drinking copious amounts of blended alcoholic beverages including, but not limited to, margaritas and pina coladas. I’m such a sucker for artificial pineapple flavor. Now all I need to do is find a way for Lorien to stay here this summer and I’ll be set. Party’s at my house!

This one’s the basil

Flowers:

Look at those bitches grow! I also planted African daisies, California poppies, bush beans, chives, and lobelias. They’ve started to sprout but alas, no pictures.

I’m pretty sure that being done with school is the best thing ever. This week was hell: I had a 20-page paper due on Monday, a take-home final that included a 10-page paper due on Wednesday, and another 20-page paper due yesterday. Of course, due to my own procrastinatory nature, work, and other assignments due for school, I had to play catch up in a major way. I stayed up until 5 on Wednesday night (Thursday morning?) to finish my most heinous assignment, a research proposal. Keep in mind that I have never wanted, nor do I now want, to conduct research. The only kind of experiments I enjoy are the ones where I try to see how much I can drink before passing out, or how much knitting I can do before my fingers hurt. So basically, writing a research proposal was an exercise in two things: one, torture and two, futility. Not to mention that the subject, satisfaction of graduates with their education in archives, does not interest me in the least.

When I finally finished and returned home from work yesterday, the sun was shining, the air was cool, and all was well in the world, and I decided to put my plants on the deck and commune with them. (Whatever. I think that watching plants grow is one of the coolest things ever and if that brands me as some kind of dork, so be it.) This is what Tasha communing with plants in the sun looks like:

Yeah, it’s pretty much as enjoyable as it looks.