Happy blue year

January is my least favorite month. Try as I might to stay positive with the whole "new beginning" schtick, I just dread the grayness and feeling of loneliness every year. This January is no exception; I've been way down these past 3 weeks and an end doesn't seem to be in sight. I've got more free time than I've had in 2 years, I'm working out regularly, I'm eating well, and I joined the bowling league but all to no ado. I just can't shake my miserable mood. I'm dreading writing my research paper and presenting at Research Day, I shudder every time I think about studying for boards, all I see is a sickly, yellow butternut squash when I look in the mirror, and I haven't been sleeping. I haven't even put up my Valentine's Day decorations yet and that's saying something! *sigh. January ends next Wednesday and will hopefully take my blueness with it. Here's hoping that I can pick myself up out of this soon.

xoxox

1. What did you eat yesterday?
I fell off the wagon in terms of eating well this entire week. Yesterday I had a banana, a Nutri-Grain bar, 3 clementines, 2 slices of free pizza for lunch, a tofurkey sandwich for dinner, 2 mini cookies, a tiny plate of chips n' cheese, and 1 bottle of beer. Yuck.

2. Are you more likely to yell or give the silent treatment?
It's determined on a case-by-case basis. Actually, it's less a "silent treatment" than just being curt and rude.

3. Who did you last grieve?
Last week a fourth year dental student suddenly collapsed at the gym and died. He was very young and months away from realizing the dream toward which he'd been working so hard. I didn't know him but he's been in my thoughts a lot lately.

4. What feels good today?
Sleeping in. I've had trouble sleeping all week and have been sluggish and cranky because of it. It feels good to finally have gotten some rest last night.

5. Friday fill in: Thank you ___ for ___.
Thank you, Holly, for being born 24 years ago (yesterday).

Happy belated birthday, Holly!

xoxox

Life is a highway

And I've been on cruise control since the start of the semester. I honestly don't know what to do with myself with all of this free time of late. I go to school every day, work out, make dinner, read, have fun during the week - frankly it's rather disconcerting. I'm trying very hard to enjoy the weekends of no homework and watching episode after episode of Arrested Development but I must say that it's gettin plain ol' suspicious. I keep checking in with my classmates to make sure that, apart from studying for boards, there isn't anything that I should or could be doing but they just affirm my idleness. Oh well, I'm not going looking for trouble from this point on, let's just say that.

I had a nice long weekend thanks to the MLK Jr. holiday yesterday. Once again I vowed to attend one of the many lectures given in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the University's diversity symposium but ended up leaving all of my "must-do" to-dos until yesterday. *sigh. At any rate, it was a nice weekend and I'm happy for the short week. I ended up going to the auto show on Sunday and thought it was very cool. I know very little about cars but a.) would like to know more and b.) now believe in love at first sight. Behold my future baby:



I nearly salivated all over this 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet's "speed yellow" paint job at the show and think I might be dreaming about it for a while. It's only around $100,000 (an investment, I say!) and when you really start thinking about it, it's almost a better investment than my education. At least I'd feel good every day driving this investment as opposed to the often long, exhausting, and frustrating days of seeing patients and striving for that enigmatic and intangible "helping people" thing. *sigh. Maybe someday.

I guess it's time to call it a night. An by "call it night" I mean that I'll probably pre-pack some lunch snacks for tomorrow, get my backpack organized, take my time with the bedtime routine, and read until I'm sleepy. All of a sudden, I love dental school! :)

p.s. ~ in lieu of a winter "sport," I've joined the graduate student Wednesday night bowling league. Although my Dad is equally as nervous I'll break a finger bowling (?) as he was when I played flag football (thereby possibly ruining my career), I bowled with nothing but gusto at last week's warm-up round. Let's just say I bowled about, oh, 7 strikes. This week's for keeps, homeys.

Musings from the corner of the couch

1.) Heard on The Sopranos: "If your nose runs and your feet smell, you were built upside down."

2.) Josh and I coined a new term: yippy. It's a combination of yuppie and hippy that identifies those individuals who are liberal, open-minded pacifists somehow entangled in the world of young professionals. Yes, I love a good cocktail and tapas at Rush Street but I'm also going to call the electric company and ask about having our energy switched to green power. See? A total yippy.

3.) We saw Children of Men last night with Holly. I thought it was very good and very terrifying. It was quite violent and although some of the best films of all time are very violent, it's never easy for me to watch. In many ways, however, what's even more terrifying than the violence in these dystopian movies is the feasibility of the social nightmare. Some of the most shocking scenes were such because of their echo to real life.

4.) I want a haircut again. I love having long hair but every now and again I need a change. I love Reese Witherspoon's hair evolutions and was thinking something along these lines but maybe not as short:


Any thoughts?

5.) I think we're going to head up to the annual North American International Auto Show in Detroit either tomorrow or next weekend. I've shockingly never been and can't wait to see the ridiculously fancy cars (Astin Martin! Alfa Romeo!) and the new generation of hybrids (see #2 above).

6.) I love this blog I found called Vegan Lunchbox. It's published by a vegan mom and features the fabulous vegan lunches she makes for her son. Not only does it demonstrate how well-rounded and healthy vegan and vegetarian diets can be, it's a great testament to this mom's boundless creativity when it comes to lunch. I'll have to try some of these ideas...and get that kicky, eco-friendly lunchbox! Check it out :)

xoxox

1. When is your birthday?
September 24th. I was born in 1982 so this past birthday was my golden one.

2. How old will you be?
I can't believe I'll be hittin' the quarter-century mark this year. Wah!

3. Do you prefer to throw a party or attend a party?
My family has a strong history of party a-throwin'. My parents are famous (infamous?) within the Grand Rapids Indian community for hosting elaborate, themed parties for which my sister and I were given rented costumes and coat hanging duties. We've even become party throwers in our own right and my parents were nearly moved to tears when I hosted a great cocktail party my junior year of college. It was then, not on my college graduation day or upon my acceptance to dental school, that my Dad exclaimed that his baby was "all grown up."

4. Presents: take'em or leave'em?
I know I should right "leave 'em" but are you kidding me? I love getting birthday presents and am the easiest person in the world to shop for. Both my sister and Katrina, who respectively got me an Oscar Mayer Weinermobile t-shirt and a book entitled The Gilded Tongue: Overly Eloquent Words for Everyday Things , hit the nail on the head.

5. Best birthday so far?
I had great birthday parties every year growing up until I turned 17. I'm talking Chuck E. Cheese, the bowling alley, sleepovers, and capture-the-flag. It's hard to pick a best birthday because I've had so many good ones.

xoxox

3, oh 3, it's the magic number!

3 of my most favorite people have celebrated birthdays in the past 48 hours and I thought I'd send them a little e-love: my Mom, my best high school buddy Christin, and the King himself, Elvis Presley.

Happy belated Birthdays Mom, Chris, and Elvis!

Happy Birthday to my Mom on the 7th. Boy, she looks great for just turning 29...*wink!

Happy 72nd birthday to the King...taken too early but always in my heart. *sigh!

A day late and a dollar short

1. What feels like home?
Feeling at home is watching a movie on my couch (preferably the far right corner) or reading in the chair on the porch of my Grand Rapids house on a summer afternoon. I also (alarmingly) feel at home when I walk into the Starbucks on State street.

2 Do you look at yourself carefully in the mirror before you leave for the day?
I guess you could say that. I wear liquid eye liner which requires my face to be about 3 inches from the mirror for application. It's then that I usually notice anything out-of-whack. Also, I try to be pretty presentable considering I'm working so close to patients' faces.

3. How do you feel right now?
A little stiff from a tough workout last night, smelly from a smoky bar last night, and awake from a grande latte this morning.

4. Are you a star-gazer?
Definitely. I'm also a huge fan of planetariums, observatories, and space in general. There is actually a Student Astronomical Society at U of M that does monthly star gazing and planetarium shows on top of Angell Hall. I dragged Josh with me one time last year and we both loved it.

5. Friday Fill-In:
How much time has passed since you last _____?
3 years have passed since I last went skiing, WAY too long has passed since I last saw my dear friend Shadi, 5 years have passed since I last (intentionally) ate meat, and 2 hours have passed since I last made a to-do list.

xoxox

In the year two thoooooousaaaaannnnd....(seven)....

2006 has been a busy year for me. I finished my first year of dental school, got a kicky new car, was awarded a small research grant, had a golden birthday, got a great apartment with a great roommate, and wrapped up my most challenging semester yet. I'm looking forward to another great year with another set of milestones (national boards! turning 25! reaching the dental school half-way point!) and a few resolutions.

In 2007, I resolve to:

1.) Get exercising again. I got a head start on this resolution by purchasing a two-week membership to my old gym back home while I was in town for the holidays. I worked out almost every day of break and felt great. I'm looking forward to having more time to break a sweat this year.

2.) Make the time to be creative. My artistic right brain lobe is getting a little pudgy around the middle what with all this science and technical training in dentistry. My sewing machine has somehow been relocated to Grand Rapids and my knitting needles are stalled mid-purl one foot into a scarf I started in October. I desperately miss writing, creating, and crafting in my life and even though I do consider my weblog an outlet for creative brilliance (brilliance, I tell you!), I'd like to have fun and challenge myself in a different form as well. I'm thinking about getting better at sewing and then quilting eventually (I'm not sure why I'm writing this seeing as how it provides my sister with virtually endless "Sonya is a grandma" fodder).

3.) Give myself a break. I make this resolution every year and I think it's something upon which I can always improve. I'm way too hard on myself in too many ways which often has the nasty by-product of self-induced stress, worry, and pressure. I'd like to get better at appreciating where I'm at, who I'm with, and what I'm doing at any given moment instead of what I did or might do wrong. For example, it's okay that I just ate a quarter of a bag of chocolate turtle Chex Mix because I'm truly enjoying my last night of vacation. Right? ;)

Cheers!

xoxox

p.s. ~ does any one else always mix up the New Year song Auld Lang Syne with the patriotic favorite You're a Grand Ol' Flag? I mean, I certainly don't know the lyrics to the former but I always want to shout out "keep yer eye on the grand ol' flag!" at the end.