W, GRE, WoW, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP
I like this newish layout I've been using, except that when you scroll below the header, it's basically just black text on a white background. Tres boring.
That was an inspired opening, I know.
So I think I'll just hit all the highlights in life since it's been really a good two months since I did a real update.
That was an inspired opening, I know.
So I think I'll just hit all the highlights in life since it's been really a good two months since I did a real update.
- school: I was having a hell of a time trying to get in touch w/ my Spanish linguistics prof to go over my grad school situation. I finally met up w/ him and another student a few weeks ago and told him basically what I wanted to do, and he's all on board to help me, it's just that he takes ages to answer his e-mails so this has been a very slow process. On Friday we're finalizing my grad school app list (finally), and then I get to go hunt down other profs for recommendations.
Also, I retook the GRE last Thursday. I jumped 100 points in math (590 to 690), but fell 40 in verbal (720 to 680). That's right, I did better on math than verbal. What. The. Fuck. The only difference, I think, was that last time I did as many math problems as I could, leaving a lot unanswered. This time, I had been informed that the GRE score is tabulated in part by how many questions you answer, not to mention that guessing can sometimes deliver the correct answer, so the second time around, when I was running out of time, I whizzed through the last questions, guessing blindly on most of them.
See what I mean about knowing how to take the test?
The only difference on verbal that I can see is that I must have just guessed better on words I didn't know the first time around. I didn't study either time.
I'm hoping to also do better on the writing. Mind you, I thought I wrote damn good essays the first time, but they must have not followed their gay-ass formula 'cos I only got a 4.5 out of 6 or something. So this time, I made sure I knew it and followed it, and made my essays as long as possible.
This test is a joke, I swear. - job: I iz Starbucks barista nao. I just started training today, and I'm actually kind of excited. And intimidated. There are so many gadgets behind that counter you have no idea.
- computer: I am typing this from my mom's decrepit Compaq desktop b/c my Macbook, Ethelbert, is ill. =( I think it's just that the battery's dead, and while replacing it is expensive, that's an expense I would've incurred eventually so I'll just suck it up and pay it once I can afford it. If something's broken though, well, my warranty's up and I'd have to pay for repairs as well. =( Why do big expenses come at the most inopportune times? "Lich King" is out Nov 13, and besides that, I need to long on to WoW before Halloween's over to turn in a couple of quests I've been saving since last year.
Really, WoW's the important thing here... - misc: I've been gradually wading back into the anime/manga... thing. My brother wanted to re-watch Utena, so we've been doing that over the past several weekends. So since we've been watching the show again, I've been checking to see if there's still an active Utena community online (there is!), and found the source of my next big purchase: they've re-released the entire soundtracks collection (in commemoration of the series' 10th anniversary, which was last year actually), remastered and all that good stuff, plus new songs. Which will be great, since most of the old discs are out of print and impossible to find. This will set me back about $107 at yesasia w/ all my discounts, which is not bad for 10 Japanese CDs.
They're also re-releasing the series and movie, but at $600-some-odd and w/o subtitles, I just can't justify that. D= Or afford it, anyway.
Aside from that, I've been flipping through a free Shoujo Beat I got a few months ago, trying to see what all the new stuff is. I don't think I could really ever get back into it, though. The whole anime/manga subculture in this country has maybe irreparably alienated me from anything but my most beloved 90s series.
Pretty good, maybe a little long, but ultimately very sympathetic to Bush. I never thought Bush was a bad guy, just a simpleton who should never have been in office. All the actors were pretty spot-on in their portrayals of Bush admin officials and Bush's family, the weird exception being Thandie Newton as Condi Rice. Yeah, that was weird. Rice has definitely been incompetent, perhaps because she was trying too hard to please, but I still think she's pretty smart and not just the yes-man sycophant they portrayed her as. Also, the actress seemed to be trying so hard to imitate her voice that it was just very bizarre, very SNL, except not as good.
Overall though v good movie.