p.s. ~ I scanned in my Halloween pics last week, but just can't figure out how to post them. I'm not giving up yet, though, so keep checking!

Well, Thanksgiving break is officially over and hell has begun. Can hell begin? I don't know.

In general, the break was nice. It felt good to be home and see my family for a while. We didn't get to spend a lot of time together because I had a lot of work to do. We certainly didn't get to crack open our brand spanking-new edition of Trivial Pursuit because I was too busy, but I'm sure we'll get to that over winter break. 2 weeks and counting...

Thanksgiving dinner was very good, though...as usual. My mom, after watching 16 non-stop hours of the Food Network last weekend, was inspired to try some new and unusual dishes, so it was an experimental feast. Her chipotle yams and sage butter turkey were both big hits and my "hazlenut-laced chocolate apricot" bread wasn't too shabby either, if I do say so myself -- the recipe book actually said "hazlenut-laced." The only bad thing about Thanksgiving was, once again, my loser "what I'm thankful for" speech. No joke, this happens EVERY year because I'm such a sap. I always have this eloquent, sophisticated, sincere speech thought out about how thankful I am for all of the wonderful blessings and opportunities in my life. However, once the speeches get started, you know I get that lump in my throat and the burning in my eyes. I don't know why I get so sappy and emotional at Thanksgiving, but not ONCE in my life have I been able to squeak out a half-way decent 20 seconds of thankfulness. It doesn't help much either that every year I have to follow my sister's thoughtful and moving speeches about how blessed she is. Damnit. This year, I choked up so badly (for absolutely no reason), she actually had to interject with a "that's nice, Son" just to take the spotlight off of my teary-eyed sorry ass. Pitiful, I tell you. Anyhow, besides that, the food was good and naturally, I have days of left-overs stocked up in my fridge for this week. Gotta love Thanksgiving. The roast beast was exceptionally good this year :) I wouldn't mind having it again for Christmas!

Anyways, I should get back to work. I'm looking forward to a pretty challenging week, but Josh's 22nd birthday is on Thursday, so we'll have some fun. It's gonna be a long two weeks, but I can make it...with some Diet Coke and lots of chocolate. Catch ya on the flip side.

Ahhh, Thanksgiving. The only holiday where it is acceptable to unbutton your pants at the dinner table.

I'm writing from home right now over Thanksgiving "break," which has hardly been a break for me: I've already written my 8 page Shakespeare paper, am working on my CAP set for Tuesday, and will finish a novel by tomorrow night in order to write another 8 page paper for Wednesday :( Additionally, the task of putting up the Christmas tree has lovingly been handed down to me these past few years, so I can look forward to that EARLY tomorrow morning.

Right now, I'm trying to finish up some work and will then head up to Friday's to see of my high school friends, Erin and David. That should be a nice break from all of my work lately. I apologize for the downer post, it's just tiring going to school non-stop for a year and a half straight...reeeehhhh (for those of you who don't recognize that sound, call me and ask me...I'll demo it for you). Later gators.

Romantic exchange of the evening:

Me: Josh, if I died in childbirth, what would you name our child?
Josh: Sonya.
Me: Wouldn't that be creepy?
Josh: Only if she started to look like you.
Me: You can't just change your mind when she's, like, 5.
Josh: I guess I'll just name her "junior" then...and call her J.R.

Hmmmmm.

Gobble, gobble, gobble! It's almost that time...and although I won't be celebrating with a turkey, I'm so looking forward to Thanksgiving! Speaking of Thanksgiving, I must commend my roomates AJ, Sheila, and myself for the pre-Thanksgiving feast we made last night. We had sooo much food, it was a lot of fun to make, and everything turned out better than I could have hoped. I couldn't even think about breakfast this morning because I was still so stuffed when I woke up! We ate: mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, salad, baked macaroni and cheese, rolls, corn, green bean casserole, cornbread, bean dip and tortilla chips (hey, we're a multi-culturally aware group!), brownies, pumpkin pie, and I'm probably forgetting something. Mmmmm...it was delicious and a very good time with friends :)

On a somewhat related note, I'm finding it very, very difficult to get geared up for the end of this semester. Granted last night was a planned and special night off from doing homework, but I literally have done ZERO work since last week Thursday, which is very unlike me. I just feel so lazy all the time these days...hell, I should be writing my Shakespeare paper right now! *sigh* I'm hoping this upcoming winter break and a 13-credit winter semester will be the relaxing end to my undergrad career that I need. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying my senior year more than any other year at UM so far and I really don't want it to end, I just think I'm catching that senioritis bug that's going around!

Finally, I'll have my phone back tomorrow afternoon once I'm back in GR. This past week and a half has been Stone Age-esque without my phone...I was actually considering using smoke signals or morse code to communicate! (okay, not really...but I cracked myself up when I came up with those ones). Call me over break to say hi :)

Okay...now it's time to discuss the use of disguise both literally and figuratively in "Twelfth Night" and "As You Like It", both plays of Shakespeare's that I highly recommend. Have a wonderful afternoon!

Quick note: I promise to post my pictures from Halloween soon. I think I'll have time this week to sit down and figure out this new-fangled device they call a scanner, so check back to see cute pics of me as the Tooth Fairy and Josh as a very convincing Frankenstein (he can't help that he has a square head...it's genetic!) :)

Whew! This weekend was once again packed full of fun and void of productivity. Surprise! With Thursday night being my physics exam, Friday being Shadi's 21st, and Saturday being the 100th anniversary of the UM-OSU rivalry, I had plenty to keep me busy. We had a great time celebrating Shadi's birthday at Rick's on Thursday (holla for ladies night!) and at a packed Charlie's on Friday night. Also, yesterday was WILD on campus as UM clenched the Big Ten title from OSU in a 35-21 victory. Hooray! It was great to see everyone so pumped, but being a volunteer on a crisis line makes me really nervous for nights like last night. Seriously...the drunken and violent actions of a few people reflect poorly on everyone here...not to mention I couldn't fall asleep last night until well past 3 am because of the raucous party next door.

So in other news, I'm getting excited for AJ, Sheila, and my little pre-Thanksgiving feast here tomorrow night. We went grocery shopping today and finalized our menu. I'm making green bean casserole, stuffing, cornbread, and cranberry sauce, and probably helping to test a few other dishes to make sure they're juuuuuuust right (wink, wink). I was considering dressing up nicely, but now that I see all of the food that we bought, I'm trying to decide which expandable pants to wear tomorrow! I told my mom that never in your life do you appreciate Thanksgiving like you do once you go away to college. I seriously start dreaming about pumpkin pie and roast beast...mmmmmm.

Anyhow, the Pistons game is on and I should probably be parked on the couch supporting them right now; tonight they're playing New Orleans and this game could be a big win for them. On a completely unrelated note, I'll leave you with the parting wisdom of my future-doctor roommate Sheila: "You should eat beets, Sonya. They're really healthy for you. My mom told me that they help make your blood red and that's good."

Hail, to the Victors valiant
Hail, to the conqu'ring heroes,
HAIL, HAIL, to MICHIGAN,
The leaders and best...

Hail, to the Victors valiant
Hail, to the conqu'ring heroes,
HAIL, HAIL, to MICHIGAN,
The champions of the WEST!

Way to go BLUE! Taking it to Pasadena for win #41. Yay! :D

I thought I'd quickly share my some of my dad's helpful advice. If you're feeling stressed out about an upcoming exam, just follow these steps:

1.) Sit down in a chair, feet about shoulder width apart.
2.) Close your eyes and take deep breaths, inhaling, counting until 5, then exhaling.
3.) Slowly lower head toward knees, all the while continuing regulated breathing.
4.) Lower head into lap
5.) Kiss your sweet ass goodbye.

Uggh...feeling pretty bad about my more-quickly-than-I-thought approaching physics exam tonight. It ain't gonna be pretty. *sigh* Maybe someone will take me to go see The Cat In the Hat this weekend to cheer me up... ? hehe.

Okay, back to work. Just keep me in your thoughts from 6-7:30 tonight!

*curious* I always feel like posting when I'm in the library. I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the fact that I was just reading about Michael Jackson's arrest warrant just to waste time. Hmmm...

Anyhow, today has been pretty good. The weather was beautiful...well, at least it looked nice from the inside of the Grad :( I'm here studying hard for my physics exam tomorrow (clearly). I don't know about this one because I feel a lot less secure about the material, but I really need to turn it up tomorrow so that I'm not pressured on the final. Blek, I hate this time of the semester. Speaking of this semester, does anyone else feel like this IS the semester-that-will-never-end? I swear I have been reading Shakespeare and Caribben literature for about 7 months now!

So in other news, The Great American Smokeout is tomorrow: this is a national event sponsored by the American Cancer Society urging smokers to quit with the support of their communities. There will be all kinds of fun activities and goodies on the Diag tomorrow from 10-4pm, and since Josh is the coordinator of the event through USAC (University Students Against Cancer), I urge you to check it out. Rumor has it there's going to be a *kissing* booth for anyone who turns in their cigarettes...just don't let me catch YOU kissing my stud! ;)

Okay...I should probably get back to simple harmonic motion. I'm sure I'll post again soon; my exam isn't until 6pm tomorrow and I know I'll need to procrastinate sometime between now and then. See ya later, alligators.

Okay...no links either time. I WILL figure this weblog stuff out!

Two fun things today:

1.) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICKEY MOUSE! Today marks the 75th anniversary of the famous mouse's deput in "Steamboat Willie" in 1928. Read his birthday article here:

href="http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/18/mickeyat75.ap/index.html">

2.) Check out the new teaser for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in theaters June 4, 2004. I'm so excited! :D

What a cruddy day. I feel so down right now. Why? I don't know. I'm suspecting it's a combination of a few things: I'm out of Diet Coke, I didn't do as well on my formal lab report as I should have, the weather is a beautiful shade of Michigan gray, and my cell phone is sitting in my bedroom at home in GR. Not that I have cell-phone dependence at all and being sans cellie will probably be good since I'm studying for physics exam #3 this week; however, since we don't have a landline at my apartment, I feel so out of touch with everyone. I hate talking on Instant Messenger and email isn't immediate enough sometimes, so it's a weird feeling. *sigh* I just need to think about the good things right now to cheer myself up: both of my paper deadlines got pushed back until after Thanksgiving...even though I don't WANT to write over vacation, it's better than cramming two mediocre papers in before break; Shadi's 21st birthday and the UM-OSU game are this weekend...if we win, we're going to the Rose Bowl, baby; and finally, we're having Roast Beast again for Thanksgiving!...because my sister and I are vegan and vegetarian respectively, my mom buys this vegetarian roast from the health food store for Thanksgiving in lieu of turkey. It's sooo good and naturally, Tanya and I had to call it something silly. If you caught the "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" reference, here's a little nod in your direction ;)

Anyhow, I had a nice weekend at home. We went out for Cookie Monsters on Friday night, which is this famous dessert in GR. It's a huge, warm, chocolate-chip cookie in a pan with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry on top. Yum. If you're ever on the west side of Michigan, stop by Cheddar's and split one with your pal. The rest of the weekend, we just relaxed, watched some movies, and ate ate ate. I did a *little* physics, but not enough...hehehe.

So, this week looks okay...it's time again for a physics exam on Thursday and I started studying way early, so we'll see how this one goes. I'll have a fun weekend celebrating Shadi's 21st (finally!) and watching UM win on Saturday...kinda like we mercied NWU this past weekend! Okay, time to clean my room, pack some snacks, and hit the library. Wish me luck!

Everyone and anyone:

In a completely asinine move, I accidentally left my phone at home in GR this weekend and most likely won't be getting it back until Thanksgiving. If you need to get in touch with me, you'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way: by sending me a messenger pigeon. Thank you.

A few things:

1.) I swear the windchill is close to absolute zero today! Not only is it snowing, but I actually had to touch my nose walking back from class this morning to make sure it was still there...brrrr!

2.) Overheard yesterday in Angell Hall, spoken by an older-looking prof to a young student: "I've figured it out...here's the secret to life: find what you love and do it. This life is NOT a dress rehearsal." If only it were that easy!

3.) Next week on the History Channel is JFK Week, November 14th and 16th-22nd. For those of you who don't know, I feel this bizarre closeness to JFK (shut up, it's not funny!) and know I'll be watching next week for sure. For more info and/or a schedule of the shows, visit www.HistoryChannel.com

4.) I love living at Hill and Packard because I can hear the marching band practicing from my room in the afternoons. Yesterday, they were preparing for their show during the OSU-UM game next weekend in which they will be playing the Lord of the Rings score...yay! Speaking of Lord of the Rings (I REFUSE to use the dorky abbreviation), my sister and I are going at midnight on December 16th in GR, if anyone is interested. I think we're buying our tickets soon, so let me know.

5.) We're seeing "Love, Actually" for Friend Marathon tonight. I'll let ya know how it is ;)

I think that's about it. If you're thrown off by my stream-of-consciousness-in-list-form post, get used to it, buddy. Have a great day! :)

Well, I'll be damned...I actually did my reading for my American Novel class tomorrow...not to mention it was Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury! That is not an easy read, let me tell you.

So...it's been almost a week since I really posted last. I guess I'll drop the cliff about what's been going on with me lately (for any of you non-Palit lingo speakers, the "cliff" is short for Cliff's notes, a term my sister and I use to denote the "skinny" or the "goings on;" tell all of your friends) This will probably be a *long* post:

So, last week was pretty relaxing for me. Thursday night I did a little grocery shopping (never let me go to Meijer alone again...I spent so much $) and my daddy surprised me in A-squared and took me out to dinner at the new Zingerman's Roadhouse restaurant. The food was good but overpriced, in typical Zingerman's fashion. Thursday night was also Friend Marathon continued, just like every Thursday. Because Carrie had to study for her exam on Friday, Shadi, Allie and myself all just sat around and talked. It was nice to take it easy with them and do some serious chatting, not to mention having coffee and Breyer's coffee ice cream. I love Thursdays :)

Friday was exciting because after class, AJ and I went shopping for Sheila's birthday gift and ended up finding it right away and then shopping for ourselves...hehe. That night, we had a big quadruple date to the new South Indian restaurant, Madras Masala, that everyone has been RAVING about. AJ, David, Sheila, John, Josh, AJ's friend Hal and his girlfriend Carly, and I all went out and had a great dinner. Afterward, we crossed the street to the new store in Nickel's Arcade called FCB, an acronym for "Frozen Carbonated Beverage." It's a store just opened by 5 college buddies that got together and had an idea to have a huge store full of about 20 slurpee flavors, 15 coffee machine flavors, and numerous smoothies. It's do-it-yourself, and only $1.50 for a cup, in which you can mix and match anything. It's a great idea and a lot of fun, so go check it out and support small business! After dinner and FCB, AJ, David, Josh, and I watched Toy Story, since AJ had never seen it. That was about it for Friday...I probably should have worked on my lab report, but oh well.
Saturday, we wished that MSU had beat OSU, I gave Josh and haircut, and we saw a production of The Merchant of Venice, which was interesting. Later, we all celebrated Sheila's 21st birthday at The Brown Jug where we saw John Navarre and dared her to get his autograph. He's a lot bigger in real life than he looks on TV. Sunday was about time for me to serious about homework (after I baked a cake in the morning for Sheila, which turned out pretty good, if I may say so myself), so I worked hardcore on my formal lab report all day.

Anyways, besides that...things are starting to pick up. From now until the end of the semester, school will be pretty intense. I'm trying to catch up this week and get a leg up on studying for my next physics exam next week. Also next week, I register for winter term Thursday...I'm so excited because I've never had a good registration date before!

In other news, I'm making an early New Year's resolution to get my general health back on track, which means weening myself (slowly!) off of Diet Coke more or less, trying very hard to get more sleep if I can help it, and (dun, dun, duuuuun) running again. I'll definitely need some help to stick with these resolutions, but I know I can do it. Also, I'm excited to be going home this weekend...I haven't been back in a while and I'm looking forward to getting some good food and seeing my doggy...and my family, of course :) Well, that's about it. I'm about to finish up some reading and get a head start on my resolutions by going to bed on time tonight...yay! Payce.

Wow...it's been forever since I've posted anything! I had a PACKED weekend-o-fun, so I'll post about it tomorrow. For now, I have to brush the teeth, wash the face, and hit the hay... *yawn* Maybe tomorrow I'll even try to (dun, dun, duuuun) scan in some pictures! Sweet dreams :)

Hey! I just realized that this week marks the 2 year anniversary of my vegetarianism! Yay! :D

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" ~ Mahatma Gandhi
(For more info about animal rights, visit: www.peta.org)

Holy Moly. This CAP set is probably the hardest one yet this semester. 14 down, 4 to go. I can't believe that it's taken me so long...I officially hate rotational motion and torque now (okay, I kinda like torque, but angular velocity and stuff sucks). Anyways, I just needed to take a quick break and vent for a second. Also, if I can figure the scanner out and how to upload pictures (read: not likely), I'll scan in some pics from Halloween. I'm still a softy for old-fashioned printed pictures :)

Okay, back to work...I have to wrap this up soon because Carrie and I are sneaking into Abby's dorm to do laundry later tonight...hey, they give discounted rates to the dorm kiddos! I'm just being resourceful ;) See ya later, alligators!

Howdy howdy. I'm sitting here in the Ugli (Undergrad Library, for any non-UM folks) just now starting my CAP homework (online physics problem set) that's due every week on Thursday at midnight...I swear, it's become later and later every week that I start this blasted homework. Oh well...at least it's the only big thing I have to do this week, so I'm not feeling too stressed right now. Last night, all I did was putz around at Angell Hall instead of reading my physics and talk to my sister for a while on the phone. I also got to talk with two of my close friends from high school last night, Erin and Christin, both of whom I haven't spoken with in a long time. Sheesh...I've forgotten how funny my EK friends are and I'm starting to miss them a lot. I can't wait to see them at Thanksgiving, Christmas Break, or even before then?

So yeah, like I said before, this week is pretty laid back...for a HUGE change. All I have to do is finish my CAP, do some reading, and sail on into a fun weekend starting Thursday night with some special me-and-Shadi time. This weekend, I'm hoping to see the production of Merchant of Venice that's going on, but also Carrie's Symphony Pops concert on Monday (the theme is "Pops in Space..." I'm so geeked!), have dinner with AJ and David at Madras Masala, and also celebrate Sheila's legality on Saturday at midnight. Hooray for turning 21! So, that's the plan...somewhere in there I should definitely grocery shop and do my laundry...I wasn't going to say anything, but I'm totally rocking the tie-dyed last-resort underwear set this week...yikes!

Well, I should probably do more CAP. 3 down, 15 to go. Oy vey. Have a good night!

p.s. ~ I definitely think that Nickelodeon should strongly consider releasing DVD sets of both "Salute Your Shorts" and "Clarissa Explains It All." These two shows were both of such quality that they simply could not be appreciated for their artistic integrity by their target audience of 9-13 year olds. If they were released now, I would buy BOTH of them, even though I don't have a DVD player. Just a thought.

Well, that last post didn't work out exactly as planned, but I'm still figuring out this crazy weblog stuff. Hehe...call me and I'll tell you my answers to the other survey questions!

I stole this from Emily :)

1. What time is it? 1:23 pm
2. Name: Sonya Ronjona Palit
3. Nickname: Sone, Sony Baloney, Sonya Bonya, Sonester
4. Number of candles on your last birthday cake? 21!
5. Number of Tattoos? 1
6. Pets: Raja, our spoiled brat doggy at home
7. Natural Hair color: Black
8. Body Piercing? Two in each ear, one cartilage in my left ear, and a bad scar from my old belly button ring :(
9. Eye Color: Dark brown
10. How much do you love your job on a Scale of 1 to 10? If job means being a student, then 7
11. Birth Place: Muskegon, MI...what my mom refers to as the "shithole of the world." Thanks, Mom.
12. Current Residence: Ann Arbor
13. Been to Africa? No, but maybe to visit Carrie?
14. Been toilet papering? Of course.
15. Love someone so much it made you cry? Yes.
16. Been in a car accident? Once, which wasn't my fault, but I got to ride home in the sheriff car with two cute officers.
17. Favorite day of the week? Saturday.
18. Favorite word or phrase? "Definitely"
19. Favorite flower? Daisy
20. Favorite sport to play? Football and frisbee
21. Favorite drink? Diet Cok

Gooooooood evening...I'm sitting here in the fishbowl trying so hard to write-up my lab report. It ain't going too hot. I swear, I literally got one day off from physics, and that's only because it was Halloween...my next exam is in less than 3 weeks in that class. For the love!

Speaking of Halloween, I had a really good time last night. Josh and I, dressed as the Tooth Fairy and Frankenstein respectively, met up with Stephanie, Adina, and Jenny (my old roommates) at Stephanie's friends' house. They were having a little grad-school-student-only get together, but luckily for us, we were escorted in by Stephanie-the-grad-student (dressed as Mr. Peanut) herself. We definitely had a good time and I got to wear silver high heels. It was nice to see those girls again because living so far away from each other, we don't get a chance to hang out very often. Although the excess of jungle juice caused me to sleep in until 11:30 this morning, I'm really glad we all went out last night.

Also, I went to Adrienne's last home field hockey game of the season today in which they clinched the Big Ten Championship. Congrats Adrienne and GO BLUE! I'm always so impressed when I go to see her play because field hockey is such a hardcore sport...the women on the team are all in tip-top shape and I can see why Michigan is the BEST, not to mention watching female collegiate athletes makes me officially feel like a sack-o-shit for not working out anymore. I was actually going to start running again today, November 1st, because the first of the month is always convenient to start something. However, I slept in late, watched other people doing something athletic, ate some Halloween candy, and am now wasting time by posting in my weblog. It's the same thing, right? Eh, I'll start running tomorrow. Hehe :)

Okay, now the guilt has started to set in, so I'd better do some work. I'll be visiting Detroit Mercy's Dental School tomorrow, so hopefully I can chat it up with some of the members of the Admissions Board. I'd better floss really well tonight...in addition to my gracious charm and dazzling personality, they just might notice my teeth . Have a good night!