Migraine = in pain :(

Sonya here. Remember me?

It's been a while since I posted last. I've basically been a house pest...er, guest...to Josh since my lease ended August 21st and nothing interesting has been happening. I guess that's not entirely accurate as I had the most random potpourri of a few days this past weekend. In the span of Friday night to early Monday morning, I read leisurely, shopped at an antique market, helped pull off a surprise party, smoked from a hookah, and played a few hands of blackjack at Greektown Casino with my parents. Weird. Without getting down to the nitty-gritty details, I enjoyed the Farmer's Market on Saturday and attended my sister's *surprise* Bon Voyage party for John (and kind of herself) at the Heidelberg (great local German bar/restaurant). John's leaving this weekend for 10 months in China and Tanya leaves September 17th. *sniff. It was a blast and I've never seen my dad so much in his element as when I went down to the basement of said German bar known as the "Rathskellar" and saw him punishing the dart board while drinking a whiskey and rocking out to The Diamond's Sweet Caroline blasting from the jukebox. Sweet, indeed. Brunch and gambling with my parents to end the weekend right - you know, your typical Sunday routine.

I came home early from work today with a severe migraine. I've never, ever in my life left work early for something health-related. I felt bad because I'll be gone this coming Friday, too (NY!), but I certainly wasn't in any condition to do, well, anything. Nausea, dizziness, the works. I'm glad I came home. Even though my headache is still teasing me a lot tonight, I hope it's gone by tomorrow morning...I'll need all the strength I can get for the move into my new apartment. That's right - tomorrow's the big day and I'm just praying that it doesn't even sprinkle so that Operation Move Queen-Size Mattress goes smoothly. Here's hoping.

I guess that's about it for now. Maybe once my computer, digicam, and internet are all up and running I'll post some new apartment pics. Also, keep those eyes peeled for Labor Day pics from NYC after next Tuesday featuring Shadi, Carrie, and myself.

Have a nice night.

xoxox

I haven't felt too keen on posting lately - it's probably because I'm in this weird transition period between apartments for 10 days during which all of my belongings are locked away in a 5 x 10 foot storage unit near Meijer and I'm literally living out of a bag. The house I'm crashing at is kind of weird (no trash can in the bathroom and unlocked doors 24/7?), so I'm feeling sort of out of my element.

The move went quite smoothly, though. Again, I couldn't have even fathomed doing it without Josh's help. He moved the majority of my stuff for me while I was at work; what a prince. I spoke with Julia (my roommmate for the fall) at length last night and we worked out all of the pre-moving details such as how many forks we'll have collectively and figuring out who will bring the all-too-necessary-these-days George Foreman Grill.

It's weird to think that in the coming week, all of the U of M students will begin to filter into town, dragging behind them oversized plastic storage units and zany dorm room decorations. It hasn't quite hit me yet that I won't be joining their ranks and that I am now an official 9 to 5 real lifer (more like 11:30 to 8...yuck!). *sigh* At least I can still party with the best of them :)

In other news, my allergies have gotten out of control. I've never had allergies in my life before last summer, my first summer in Ann Arbor, and am quite miserable this year. It's the severe itchiness that's killing me and then the subsequent drowsiness that comes with allergy medicine. It's a lose-lose situation. I can't even dream of wearing eye makeup lately and have resorted to every day being a glasses day.

I guess that's it. My posts will probably be few and far between until I get settled into my new apartment next week.

xoxox

Potato salad and veggie burgers

I don't know why, but I just love good ol' American summertime food - I'm talking potato salad, soft drinks, hot dogs and hamburgers (veggie-friendly, please!), chips, ice cream, and more. I'd like to think that I have a pretty refined palate, but I'll take a handful of Lay's and a patty topped with ketchup, mustard, lettuce, and tomato any day...and that's exactly what I got at work today at the Annual Dental School Faculty and Staff Picnic. This summer has been marked by a lack of the traditional seasonal fare for me and I definitely enjoyed the popcorn and large foil trays of food. I was kind of hoping there would be a dunk tank or at least a pie-throwing booth if you catch my drift, but it was fun nonetheless. A cookie for dessert and a brownie for later - can't beat that.

In other news, I'm smack-dab in the middle of moving out, a process that always takes a lot longer than I anticipate. I had to rent a storage locker for a month so I can store my stuff until September 1st without having to shuttle it back and forth between GR and A2. What a hassle.

At any rate, all of this moving has got me thinking: am I a materialistic, spoiled brat? Okay, don't answer that, but every time I move, I start thinking about how excessive and consumeristic our society is. Granted some of them were gifts, but I definitely felt a little guilty packing up my hot-air popcorn popper, s'mores maker, and fondue set. *sigh* I could certainly do without all of the clothes and bags that I have, and to be honest, one less pair of shoes will go unnoticed by me but could really help someone else. I'm going to make it a point to donate as much a possible to the Salvation Army and the DP clothing drive this fall.

I think that's it. I can't believe it's August 19th already - where did this summer go? I guess I'll just have to party hardy in NYC in two weeks to end the season with a bang. I can't wait to see Harrie and my hottie Shadi! :D

Have a great evening!

xoxox

1935-1977

Elvis Presley is practically the fifth member of my family. My sister and I were raised on his music and the sounds of Motown that inspired him and because of this, I have come into my own right as a true Elvis fan.

Amidst controversy, The King died 27 years ago today. It's weird how I can feel so nostalgic about something and someone I never experienced first-hand but I have always been fascinated by his complexity as a person and the cultural phenomenon he became. In a way, he also reminds me of my dad and my parents in their young, newly-married days.

Here's to Elvis: an incredibly talented musician, the best looking soldier the Army has ever seen, and a symbol of American Rock 'n Roll at it's finest.

p.s ~

Two quick things I forgot:

1.) GOOD LUCK to those of you taking the MCAT tomorrow! The handful of my friends who are taking it are all hard-working and incredibly intelligent people so I have no doubt it will go well. Call me and let me know how it went!

2.) I'm recently way into Propel water by Gatorade. It's refreshing, practically sugar-free, uncarbonated, and clear - a far stretch from my standard Diet Coke fare. It's an enamel-friendly alternative, I guess. My favorite is Black Cherry but I like Berry and Peach too. Try one sometime!

Okay, buh-bye.

AADSAS = done!

Ahhhh, Friday. FINALLY. This week has been so long, - if it weren't for the thought of the KitKat I bought this morning in my bag, I don't know how I would've gotten through the day.

Well, this week has certainly been a doosie. Because Tim's last day was last Friday, I'm basically on my own in the lab now and this entire week was spent trying to get my own rhythm and feel for the lab. It's weird to think that about 5 feet of lab bench is now mine for my research, but I kinda like it :) Don't get me wrong - I'm no pro yet and I definitely goofed up two separate experiments this week involving electric currents because I forgot to turn ON my power source - but I'm feeling thismuch more confident than I was on Sunday night.

In other good news, AADSAS is dizzone. I polished my personal statement, shelled out an obscene amount of money, and took a cheesy picture and I am now happy to say that phase 1 of Operation Get-Into-Dental-School is complete. What a relief - I was seriously considering aborting said operation a few months ago. Okay, not really, but this summer has been a tough one for sure. Now that I'm on this side of these hectic and stressful past few months, I have to pat myself on the back for everything that I endured this summer: a full-time job, a tougher-than-I-expected work schedule, studying for and taking the DAT, apartment hunting, my grandmother passing away, and dental school applications. Whew. I guess that's not too much considering I have the unconditional love and support of my family, Josh, and good friends, but it's been a challenge nonetheless. I'm *really* looking forward to this next year off :)

Finally, I'll be heading back to GR this weekend. I recently figured out that there are only four weekends until my sister leaves for Bangladesh and I certainly haven't been able to spend as much time with her as I would have liked to this summer. It'll be nice to hang out for a few days. Also, I'm going to try to take some of my stuff home from my apartment since I've only got about 7 days left. Blek - moving is such a pain. If you feel so inclined to come over and help me sometime next week, I'll buy the pizza.

Have a fun and restful weekend.

xoxox

Hump Day

*Here's a little something I wrote yesterday but didn't get a chance to post*

Holy longest-day-ever, Batman!

Today seriously seemed to drag on and on and on. That's more like the theme of this week. Oy.

Here are a few thoughts in list form again because I'm just too darn lazy to form coherent sentences:

1.) Me, Carrie, Shadi. Labor Day weekend. NYC. I'm looking into ticket prices.

2.) I am the least photogenic person...in the world! My schnoz (yes, that is the correct spelling - I looked it up) is enormous. I feel like Gonzo, except I'm not blue and I know which species I am. At any rate, I took the ID photo for my applications today and let me tell you that the final picture was about 45% nose...and that was after I told the guy to please, please zoom out.

3.) High of 65 degrees in the middle of August? This winter ain't gonna be pretty, folks. I think I just might join my friend Erin at her new Florida pad.

4.) AJ and Sheila are both in the process of moving out of our apartment since neither of them will be around next week closer to the move-out deadline. Because our schedules are so flip-flopped, they both come early in the morning to pick up items from the apartment while I'm still sleeping. No kidding, the last three days in a row I've woken up and thought we'd been robbed. Then again, what kind of burglar would take the dry erase board?

Those are my thoughts. Take them or leave them.

xoxox

Exchange of the Evening

Tanya: ...well, once you get them involved, the situation will become kind of hairy...
Me: God, Tanya, you are such a 33 year-old soccer mom. That's the second time you've said 'hairy' in 45 seconds.
Tanya: Excuse me? This coming from the person who wrote 'yay for penguins' in her weblog? I may be a 33 year-old soccer mom, but at least I'm not a kindergarten teacher.

Do you zoo?

Well, this past weekend marked my first weekend in Ann Arbor without studying involved since as far back as I can remember. I think I did a pretty good job of sticking to my self-imposed, fun-only stipulation for the weekend.

Thursday night AJ, David (back from London!), Josh, and I went out to Scorekeeper's with a few other people. It was fun to go to Skeeps again since it's been such a long time since I've been out. Even though it wasn't too crazy of a night, we got to hear a little about David's trip abroad and AJ's camp couselor experiences from this summer. Friday evening Josh picked me up from work and since I was craving some delicious vegetarian lettuce wraps, we drove to Novi to have dinner at P.F. Chang's. If you haven't been there, go tonight and get the veggie lettuce wraps. Mmmm.

Saturday morning I ran a few errands and Josh and I headed to the Toledo Zoo. For my birthday last fall, my sister gave me the best gift ever of a year-long membership to Toledo Zoo. She figured that I wouldn't want to go alone and made Josh a member, too. I guess that works best considering that Josh is the only one of my friends that doesn't make fun of me for crying because of how much I love animals (I'm not kidding). Anyways, we couldn't have asked for more perfect weather and all of the animals were so fun and active. The hippopotami put on a show! And fortunately, my favorite flightless birds (yay for penguins!) weren't just standing around staring at the cave wall this time. Here are some Zoo pictures:




This poor wallaby looked so down-trodden, I had to restrain myself from snatching him up and putting him in my bag. All he needs is a good home!




Gorilla mama nursing her baby. *tear




All dressed up and no where to go




Two more zoo animals

After a full day of walking in the sun, we were pooped. We ate dinner and rented Master and Commander, which was good. I was basically in a bad mood all day Sunday because my bleach spilled in my laundry basket en route to the laundromat. 2 brand new shirts that I haven't even worn yet, my 2 favorite, irreplaceable pairs of pants, and my entire sheet set got bleached hardcore. I was thisclose to crying - instead, I got angry and bought new sheets. Rar. The situation was somewhat redeemed in that I found a $5 bill in one of my loads and got to bask in the sun a little while my clothes dried. I guess I should just take my mom's advice: "Don't cry over spilled bleach." Hehe.

As you can see, this weekend was jam-packed with fun and Josh and I got to spend a lot of non-studying time together for a change. It was tough to come back to the real world and hence work today. Oh well - these next few weeks should be busy and exciting. I'm planning on having my AADSAS (universal, primary dental school application) finished by Wednesday and out of my hands, the next big hump in the application process. My coworker Tim, who has been teaching me basically everything, left last Friday. I'm now officially on my own...yikes! Hopefully all of my experiments go smoothly during these next few transition weeks. Thursday evening I have a dinner date with Tony and the plans for this weekend are up in the air. A week from this coming Saturday marks the end of my current lease. I'll be packing and moving a lot in the days to come - to where, I'm not quite sure at this point - but start phasing out the 607 Hill, apt. 3 address from your planners, memory, or what have you. Also, I finally got a chance to talk with Carrie in person this weekend (gasp!) instead of to her voicemail and we're eyeing Labor Day weekend as a possibility for our trip to the Big Apple to see Shadi. Of course I haven't checked with Shads yet, but I'll keep you posted on any developments.

Whew! I guess that's it for now. That might be the longest post in the history of my weblog - enjoy!

xoxox

Here are some fun pictures for your viewing pleasure:


Adrienne and I before Sara's wedding


EK bachelorettes...well, 3 out of 5 isn't bad!


L to R: Michelle, Me, Sara, Paige


Josh and I before the wedding

Cry baby

What a crumby day. I feel horrible. I'm stupid, bad at my job, and out of shape. I'm seriously developing lactose intolerance, my cell phone is kinda broken, and I won't get into dental school. I have to somehow figure out how to update my computer, my new shoes hurt, and my sister is leaving the country soon for a calendar year.

*tear

Tuesday evening ponderings

No news yet on those pictures. It's starting to look like a Windows upgrade might be in the near future for my beloved Dell laptop, in which case I might not be posting for a little while.

Oh, who am I kidding? Where there's a will, there's a way.

Speaking of "in the near future," I've been surrounded by a lot of wedding speculation lately. Not only have two of my good friends from high school gotten married this summer, but I'm beginning to sense a little anticipation on the parts of those friends and some family who know me/us. Maybe it's just me being paranoid, but my coworkers nearly mauled me the other day when they found out that Josh and I have been together for over 4 1/2 years now with no wedding plans in sight. Is that unusual? Neither of us have any desire to be married right now and we are simply enjoying our wonderful friendship and relationship as-is. Frankly, I don't even know anyone from college that's engaged or considering marriage anytime soon. Not that there's anything wrong with getting married now and I must admit that both of my newly-married friends were utterly in love and ready for marriage and I'm so happy for them. It's just weird to feel so far away from something that everyone else seems to expect is in the near future for me. I guess I just can't see myself being married when just 4 days ago, my parents and my uncle pulled the car over returning from my grandmother's memorial service to get me an emergency scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Oh well. I'm truly looking forward to seeing how our relationship grows over the years, but we're in no big hurry. For now, I'll take the ice cream.

xoxox

How frustrating. I have a ton of great pictures to share but for some reason the "upload file" icon doesn't show up on my Blogger screen on my home computer. Unfortunately, I can only download pics from my (Josh's) digicam onto my personal computer and thus a predicament arises. I will figure this out.

At least there's a thunderstorm tonight. I sleep so deeply during storms. I'll post more tomorrow.

Sweet dreams.

xoxox

On-the-go

Here's a quick update: I've been home in GR now since Wednesday night and have had a very fun, relaxing, and eventful extended weekend. My family partook in a memorial service for my grandmother on Thursday and I joined in on the festivities of Sara's bachelorette party on Thursday night. I shopped and goofed around with my sister on Friday, saw some of my EK friends downtown, and attended Sara's wedding last night. Whew!

Now I'm on my way out with Tanto and M & D (read: my sister and parents) for lunch and then off to a matinee showing of the Manchurian Candidate. Nothing like a movie about governmental brainwashing for a fun afternoon with the fam! I'll post pictures later when I get back to A-squared.

xoxox