9 Things That Make Me Happy

1) Surprising my landlady with bouquets of flowers around her garden

2) Sharing a hammock with a good friend at the beach
(friend not pictured)

3) BEST LATE NIGHT CHICKEN WINGS!

4) Small small dog in a big big truck

5) Pumpkin chucker

6) Getting my picture taken with a famous gecko

7) Entering the home of a few witches



8) Concert T-Shirt ....


9) ....from The New Pornographers!!

Anatomy Vs. Harry Potter Spell

 I knew taking Anatomy was good for something!

  Harry Potter Spell or Part of the Human Anatomy?

 

  Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

Holland

This was read to us by the mother of a child with Down's Syndrome. I thought it was so touching, I wanted to pass it on.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

LOVE THIS!

This is exactly what I want to do when I hear this song!

Thanks again for posting this on the Autumn mix Esther, this is officially my new favorite song :)

NPH vs. Neil Gaiman?

so much love right now :)

How not to collaborate with a biostatistition

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6878253/

Not that any of us are really that interested in research, but I thought this was funny anyway. My bro sent it to me. As you know, he's getting his degree in biostatistics, so this may be his future.

Also, if any of you have time and an idea, try making a fun little movie on that web site :-P Looks pretty easy!

I got a pretty little pumpkin named Georgina who is soon to be carved, so I'll post some pics when that gets done. I want to see your pumpkin friends and Halloween costumes, too! And, since I have a test the day after Halloween, I would love it if those of you who are going out could take pictures of the best costumes you see and post them! If you want to, of course.

Back to the cranial nerves!

Webcomic Fun

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=45829

Good webcomic short story^

Survived test 2 in structure and development somehow. Am 7 lectures behind this weekend because I was recovering all week. Otherwise, all is right in the world.

Woke up to a phone call, and ran to the window to see Anica passing my window in the Baltimore Marathon 5k. Fun times :)
-i

Coolest parent EVER!

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

I want to send a balloon to space!!!!

"My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them" (Mitch Hedberg)

I have a window box of plants that are not only alive, but thriving! It makes me happy they are doing well.

Here is the before (about 2 months ago)...



Here is now!

Autumn Crafts

In keeping with the whole wishing for Autumn (it's freaking 90 degrees outside!) thing I've got gonig, here are the artsy thingies I got and made for my Autumn-themed artist trading card swap.


The ATC I recieved is the card on the far left with the word "Fall" across it. The rest of the stuff is just extras that people sometimes send out of the goodness of their arts and craft-y little hearts! I ended up using some of the papers she sent to make my own ATC's.

Here're the ones I made. The one on the left, "Fall is Here" is cut paper spray painted gold then placed over a red painted background. The one on the right is painted pieces of paper cut into leaf shapes and glued onto a background to create a sort of green man mask. Not very impressive, but done the night before the deadline and mailed off the very next day. :D

Autumn Notes

Hey, kids. Here's the Fall soundtrack I've been blasting the last couple of weeks as I get ready for pumpkin picking, apple cider, leaves falling, and cool winds.

Autumn Notes - Side A

Sara Bareilles - Kaleidoscope Heart
Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over
Feist - Brandy Alexander
Karen O and the Kids - Rumpus Reprise
Nickel Creek - Reasons Why
Joanna Newsom -Autumn
Rosi Golan - C'est L'amour
Ane Bruin -Such a Common Bird
Fiona Apple - Pale September
City and Colour - Waiting
Ingrid Michaelson - Lady in Spain
Iron & Wine - Boy with a Coin
Erik Hassle - Nothing Can Change This Love
Modest Mouse - Autumn Beds
Sea Wolf - Leaves in the River
Gregory and the Hawk - The People Who Raised Me
God Help the Girl - Hiding 'neath My Umbrella


Autumn Notes - Side B

Mirah - The Garden
Emmy the Great - Two Steps Forward
Autumn Defense - You Know Where I Live
Great Lake Myth Society - Days of Apple Pie
Nina Nastasia - You Can Take Your Time
Great Lake Swimmers - This Is Not Like Home
Regina Spektor - A Canon
Page France - Junkyard
Thao Nguyen & the Get Down Stay Down - Feet Asleep
Jenny Wilson - String of Grass
Melissa Laveaux - Crazy in Love
Tori Amos - Devils and Gods
Joni Mitchell - A Case of You
Nina Simone - Wild is the Wind
PJ Harvey - When Under Ether
Paper Route - The Music
Rachel Portman - Ashes to the Wind
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - Our House
The Morning Benders - Excuses
The Jealous Girlfriends - Mother May I


Bonus Tracks

Darren Criss - Human, Don't You, Even Though

For those of you who have seen A Very Potter Musical, Darren Criss is Harry Potter. He's also the one who writes a lot of the songs. These songs are part of his non-Potter repertoire. But here's a video of the musical, anyways, just in case you haven't seen it. :D

Fanaa

Source: Pitaara.in

I was listening to my Bollywood mix, and my favorite soundtrack came up for Fanaa. The movie is about a blind Kashmiri girl who falls in love with someone who she thinks is a Indian tourist guide. He turns out to be a Kashmiri nationalist part of a larger terrorist plan. It gets even more star-crossed when she has one night with him, conceives a child, finds out he mysteriously disappeared, gets a revolutionary vision-gifting surgery, then gets a visit from her lover whom she doesn't know because she never saw his face. O__o

It's the only Bollywood movie I've ever seen in theaters, and while the ending leaves much to be desired, the cinematography and songs totally stole my heart.

Anyways, got me craving Indian food, but I'm stuck at home, and I don't really feel like calling for it (if any place around here delivers). So I made some. Chicken Tikka Masala using this recipe. It turned out uber spicy and really good, even if did I cheat with some subs.



My friend Sunyia always taught me to start with a minced ginger/garlic paste, then add sliced onions to create a fragrant base. So I did that. Plus, I didn't have tomato in a can, so I used V8. :D

For Use With a Book

I've joined this thing called Swapbot. It's an online forum where you can sign up for various crafting swaps where you draw, color, paint, knit, crochet, collect, design, bake, write, embroider or otherwise craft something, send it off to a swapping partner, and get the same type of craft in return.

I've completed a couple so far involving postcards and writing letters, made friends with some peeps in New York and Naples, and gotten some really fun stuff in the mail.

Anyways, here're some pictures of some stuff I made for my latest swap where we trade handmade bookmarks.


Bookmark #1. It was inspired by one of my favorite sites, Let Us Read and Let Us Dance.


Back of Bookmark #1. It reads, "Now is the time to Read/Dance."

Bookmark #2. Yellow lettering reads "Read." :D

Back of Bookmark #2. It says "for use with a Book!"

Bookmark #3. Not finished with this one quite yet. "This is where I fell asleep." Cuz it usually is.

Cupcakes!

Lately I've been on a quest to make the pefect s'mores cupcake...

My first attempt was very pretty, but the cake was heavy and dense, and the marshmallow frosting hardened quickly, which gave it the wrong consistency. My second attempt was way more successful though!

Instead of baking the graham cracker into the cupcake, I made a separate crust!

Milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet made it more s'mores like.

TONS of cocoa powder in the cake batter

Extra graham cracker crumbs on top

The frosting was much lighter and easier to work with this time (cream of tartar based instead of gelatin) and it stayed gooey instead of hardening up!

Toasting the marshmallow tops made a BIG difference! (I couldn't find a torch the first time)

Here they are, all ready to go in my new cupcake carrier :D Next time I'm going to add milk chocolate ganache (either as icing or as a filling), will make the crust on the bottom a little thicker, and I think that will pretty much do it. Hooray for cupcakes!

And speaking of cupcakes, meet my new bike... Cupcake!

Life is good :)

Rodrigo y Gabriela!

Ryan and I went to a Rodrigo y Gabriela concert at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley this past weekend... and it was AMAZING! Gabriela's fingers go so fast that sometimes I can't even see them anymore! And just in case being super talented wasn't enough, they're both gorgeous (SERIOUSLY) and have fantastic accents. Yep, I'm in love :)

Enjoy!

I have three of their albums so far and will definitely be getting their new one soon! Esther, if you can send me some directions for setting up the downloadable file like you did for Summer Notes, I would be happy to share :)

Keep Positive

 

"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior.
Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny."
— Mahatma Gandhi

 

My mother sent me this quote today. With the start of medical school, I want to take it to heart and try to keep as positive as I can. . . . Though I will still be complaining to you guys every now and then. :P

the great prop 8 debate

This is officially my favorite comment thread on facebook right now :) Enjoy!

• 

  Zachary Noyce is pleasantly surprised by how quiet his Facebook news feed has been, re: Prop 8 case ruling.

  22 hours ago · Comment ·

  • 3 people like this.
  • • 

      Tanner Barker LOUD RIDICULOUS STATEMENT (SEVERAL REDUNDANT EXCLAMATION POINTS)

      21 hours ago · · 1 person
    • 

      Robert Kelly Sad attempt to refudiate your cunning attempt at being funny. Bold statement that only makes me sound stupid.

      7 hours ago ·
    • 

      Zachary Noyce Hypothetical flight of fancy attempting to demonstrate the fallacy of someone else's argument but which only makes me appear like an alarmist nutcase.

      7 hours ago ·
    • 

      Tanner Barker Reaffirmation of inconsistent bias

      7 hours ago ·
    • 

      Tanner Barker Reaffirmation of inconsistent bias

      7 hours ago ·
    • 

      Zachary Noyce Prejudicial conclusion expressed in a tone of attempted reconciliation.

      7 hours ago ·
    • 

      Anthony Campisi Heartfelt and personal anecdote without supporting evidence. Ad hominem attack on quality of your parentage!

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Tanner Barker Girafolo or Beck quote with slight relevance to the topic

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Zachary Noyce Internally and externally contradictory anecdote which I almost certainly made up on the spot but that vaguely resembles Anthony's. Conclusion with no logical connection to the content of my story.

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Zachary Noyce Reminder that, hey: This is just Facebook. Can't we all just get along?

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Anthony Campisi Biting retort to your attempt at peacemaking.

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Robert Kelly anecdote to lighten the mood, with a biting undertone to state my side of the argument... add abbreviation simulating a laugh at my own joke.

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Zachary Noyce Misrepresentation of constitution and framer's intent. Founding father quote so divorced from context as to offer no real insight but presented here as an unquestionable endorsement of my opinion. (Implicit assumption of unanimity among early American political thinkers.)

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Tanner Barker Radical interpretation of the constitution, secondary source quote of Thomas Jefferson. Reaffirmation of inconsistent bias.

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Tanner Barker Shock that zach and I posted nearly the same thing simultaneously

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Zachary Noyce Ambiguous emoticon.

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Matthew Barker Attempting a comment without "tion". Ope. Darn. Failed.

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Robert Kelly Pointing out fallacies in spelling instead of in statement, attempting to make one sound stupid. Adding no real value to long string of comments by using too many words to explain my point of view. Ending with "that's all I am trying to say".

      6 hours ago ·
    • 

      Zachary Noyce Assertion of my position's moral superiority along with a bible quotation.

      5 hours ago ·
    • 

      Robert Kelly Misunderstanding your use of the bible and telling you that it has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Insulting your religious views even though they match my moral views.

      5 hours ago ·