First Week In (or Out)

I feel like I haven't written in forever! Maybe the idea of writing this blog into the second (and last) semester was daunting. Or frightening. Or maybe I've just been lazy this past week. In my defense, it's been REALLY cold, and it snowed at least twice in this week, and that makes everyone sleepy.

Well we've got lots of news in just the first week back, some of which will have to wait. I was filming my housemates (gee, what a surprise, huh?) and got a video of a lot of good moments happening in a very brief amount of time. I can't post it, however, for reasons of security (see the next paragraph) and because I really want to edit this video and clean it up a bit. I intended to save it and use clips of it to make a 'Best Of' montage, but as I now understand why my free video editing program is free (thanks for nothing, Avidemux!) that'll have to wait until I get myself into the DMZ (not the Korean one) and edit it properly.


Our next piece of big news: Sloth is a finalist! I won't write all about it until we get confirmation about the final decision, and I certainly won't post the video of us trying to figure out a variation of the "Happy Birthday to You" song that would be appropriate for a nominee. Hoo boy.

This brings us up to yesterday, Saturday, where we did pretty much nothing. Oh, except make Jill drive us all to Adam's in the middle of a blizzard. That was great. Regardless, I have a pretty funny video of Grace, Tian An and Michelle, but I'm not allowed to post that one either. Then Michelle's birthday party in the THs was yesterday evening.

And today, we're now making dumplings, sushi/kimbap, and fried fish for a Lunar New Year dinner! Pictures and video to follow!

The year is new, the food is old, the wine is froze, the fridge has mold. TA37.

It's the Penultimate Countdooooown!!!

I was going to title this post "final countdown," after the rockin' awesome song, but really it's not 'final' for us, is it? The next finals, now those will be the real deal. Eponymously final.

Ah, anyway, we've had a fun past 24 hours preparing for penultimates. Last night, the four of us had Family Time for the first time in a while. We finished chapter 9 of the Book of John and then debated blindness and seeing. But mostly we talked about how we've been doing this semester and touching base with each other again. I tried to think of a pun about 'touching base' but everything that came to mind was too Jo-worthy to publish.

Anyway, today Grace, Jo and I schmucked around the house working on papers while Stuart was at work. About two pages and two episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series into my architecture paper and I had pretty much lost it. Utter madness ensued. Finally Grace and I fled to the library to reestablish our work ethic. Hoo boy. The 5pm deadline was met, but there were casualties.

Anyway, at 5pm was a Taize prayer service that Jo organized. Then at 7 was a DELICIOUS meal cooked for us by Michelle. She baked chicken with five spices: anise seed, turmeric, cloves, ginger, and something. She thinks cinnamon. Then topped with onion, garlic, fish sauce, sugar and salt. And there was rice, roasted butternut squash, and, of course, kimchi. For dessert, because the banana bread was burned, we finished 'poppy chow' that Grace made yesterday. It's 'puppy chow' but with popcorn. And it's fan-friggin-tastic.

Overheard after dinner:

Grace: "Wow, NYU is like a hipster factory!"
Jill: "I can't believe I just ate all that poppy chow..."
Jo: "I kind of wish I was a demigod. You know?

ANYWAY, after dinner Michelle found a Christmas songbook and started singing some carols. When she got to "O Christmas Tree," however, Goseph leaped to his feet, urging her to be quiet lest he, in his words "hurt the bush's feelings." He was referring to our beautiful Christmas Tree, which, if one is wishing to be botanically accurate, is more of a 'bouquet' than a 'tree' but is in no way a 'bush.' Jo tried to compliment the Tree, but all he could come up with was "I like how it's...post-symmetrical." "Three sizes too small..."

Well, the singing continued:



ANYWAY, good luck with finals and penultimates and all sorts of crazy cooking adventures, and happy holidays! Here's to hoping we'll finish Boys Over Flowers one of these days...

ADDENDA:
1) Michelle would like it to be known that she and I are totally gangster. Homey.
2) Grace and I were talking today about starting a "TA37 Dictionary" page, which I just did! I'm compiling words to define first, then I'll get set on defining them. The link is in the upper right hand part of the blog, or you can click here.

Messages in the Night

What Dreams May Come

Well, it's Tuesday morning and quite a few shenanigans went down this past weekend.

Jo and Stuart brought back an enormous bag of bagels and a huge loaf of bread from a prayer service this past Friday night, so this whole weekend we've been rushing to eat as much of it as possible before Thanksgiving. Let me give you an example: This Sunday, I had a toasted peanut butter bagel for breakfast, a bagel with kimchi for lunch, and a pizza bagel for dinner. It bagels the mind, doesn't it?

This weekend was also ice skating, Harvest Ball, and shopping with Kaylene. On Sunday Stuart threatened to buy Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword just to torment me, even though he has a lot of other stuff to do, but thankfully he didn't follow through on the threat.

Also, as Stuart's been rather busy this weekend, Jo's been left alone with Grace and me quite a lot, and we have been, as he says, "team-tormenting" him. I think we broke his brain last night.

On Monday Grace participated in the 33-Hour Famine for LiNK, in honor of the 33% of North Koreans who are malnourished. You can still sponsor her (I think!) Monday evening, Jo and I had bagels (of course) with a bizarre omelet comprised of the leftover onion, tomatoes, cilantro and hummus in our fridge. It actually was pretty good. First I sauteed the onions, then added the tomatoes until they were roasting, then added the cilantro (and by "the cilantro" I mean "about two fistfuls of fresh cilantro") and 5 eggs, with some garlic. Meanwhile, Jo toasted the bagels. We then had the egg dish on bread with hummus. It ended up pretty good, but Jo was giving me flak because I put my laptop on the kitchen table and watched Star Trek while cooking it.

This morning, I thought the Morning Prayer group was coming up for breakfast, so I made french toast out of the rest of the bagels. Turns out they couldn't come though. And we still have more than half that loaf of bread left!

And finally, the quote of the day: Over french toast bagels (eggs, vanilla soymilk, sugar, and lots of cinnamon), Jo told Grace and I about a dream he had last night.

"You know how in dreams, it's like real people? Well this [dream] was [about] a Dan in woman form. And this Dan looked like Emma Watson. We had the most wonderful time on a train. It was so romantic."

...

Well, just two more announcements before I leave you to your emotional scarring! One: the title for this blog post comes from Hamlet, act 3, sc. 1, the "to be or not to be" soliloquy, and it's also the title of a video game I'm designing for my final project in MEDS 250: Virtual Worlds and Utopia! And two: The Roundabout Ramblers will be performing at the Dubliner on the second weekend of December. So stay tuned (ha ha--get it?) for more updates!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

"I guess I tend to like the schmucky ones." -Jo

Morning Report

No, not that apocryphal musical number they added to The Lion King DVD. I mean a Monday morning report of TA37's latest adventures!

First, let's get on record Jo's fantastic quote that now makes up the current banner for the blog:
Me: *fretting about theses*
Jo: Aw, theses are easy. You just start writin' crap.

Excellent.

This weekend, Chelsea's siblings visited and stayed with us! I can't remember the last time it was just the four of us staying at our house over a weekend--and I love it! Jo and S mostly entertained them, because Grace was in the city and I was attending a conference at college.

Sunday night Stuart baked a delicious chocolate cake from scratch! It really was marvelous. Irene has pictures on her camera; I'll try to get them so I can post them here.

Earlier today, Stuart did a 'photo' shoot, first for Irene, then me, because senior profile pictures for the yearbook are due, apparently. Stuart was very into it! With his torn jeans, sweater, knit cap, thick glasses, and southern drawl, he was the perfect hipster photographer. "See, Jill," he said approvingly from behind his camera, "you can look pretty good when you get your shit together." I think we're going to get Grace this evening for her photo shoot when she gets back from the city.

That's all for now!

Princess Womponoke: The First Brainstorm Session

So a bunch of us were sitting in the Retreat this one time when we started talking about Princess Womponoke, Jo's serialized story project for the blog. He started tossing around ideas for an opening sentence, and I started taking down what he said.

Princess Womponoke: the first draft

Stop laughing. Not with him.

No no no, I don't want to start like that. It's too serious too soon. It should start in the heat of the moment--woah! DORITOS!

(at this point Chelsea comes up to the table with a big bag of doritos. Jo makes sniveling groans and pleas. We remind Jo that he is a vegan.)

Well, I think it should start with some epic poetry. Actually more like a rap. So it's like... (he chews pensively on Doritos) Womp-womp...womp-womp...my heart was beating in its furry chest...I'm glad she has one too.

A debate ensues over whether Jo himself is a womp-womp. We decide that he may or may not be a womp-womp, but either way he has a furry chest. "If you're a womp-womp," asks Liz, "Where's your tail?

It's on the wrong side.

ERUPTIONS OF GIGGLING AND BLUSHING

Give me some cola. I need some refreshment!

Liz interpolates: "Yeah, for some reason drinking breaks tensions. Other things do too, like Twix bars. 'Need a moment? Grab a Twix.' Maybe that's why Stuart eats so many!"

Grace had this to say about our very productive brainstorming session: "That is life. This is your life. You're just sitting there, totally innocent, and you see these babes passing you by, passing in, passing out, they just come in and out of your life. It's true, isn't it?"

Where did half of September go??

I love Sunday mornings at college. It feels like I have the entire campus to myself :)

In any case, we had a fantabulous weekend at TA37! T.A. arrived Thursday night to spend the weekend, and Friday night was spent telling embarrassing stories about past romantic encounters, with special voices and sound effects from Jo ("Ahhah--he's blushing! Waaah....").
We then watched another episode of "Boys over Flowers" (no, JanDi, JunPyo really does love you! Give him another chance!!!) and Chelsea slept over (I don't have a funny quote for this one, but it was still awesome!).

Saturday night, my parents and brother came over for dinner! They brought us lasagna and carrot cake and apple pie for the week, but we made them 청국장 (Cheonggukjang --fermented soybean paste soup) with rice and sauteed kimchi. It was really good! Jo did most of the cooking. He's quite excellent!

But then this was the best part--after dinner we played Just Dance on the Wii. Four on four: Team S-- (my family) versus Team V-- (Grace, Jo, Stuart and T.A.). The game assigns you automatic player names to keep track of the shuffle, so I was 'Sunny,' my mom was 'Jumpy,' my dad was (forced to be) 'Baby' and my brother called dibs on 'Funky.'

The first round was my brother versus Stuart. Now, my brother'd been rather quiet throughout the whole evening and I thought he might make a manly protestation to dancing in front of a bunch of strangers. But he took the wiimote and started playing and he beat Stuart! It was nuts. And when the song ended, my brother turned around and said "That's why they call me 'Funky.'"

Then it was me versus Grace, to the best song in the entire world:



Grace won, despite my best efforts to 'disadvantage' her ("Whatever it takes to win, Jill!" my mother shouted over the others' outraged protests).

Then it was my mom vs Tian An. My mother won, though to be fair it wasn't for T.A.'s lack of trying.

And finally it was time for the Battle of the Jo(e)s: my dad versus Jo. And you know what song they ended up being stuck with?



It was amazing. And although Jo won, my dad was actually really good!

"Can I give you some tips?" Stuart asked him after the song had ended. "Use your hips!"

There's a video on my cell phone of this particular dance, but I'd better get some signed contracts giving me permission to put them on the internet, otherwise heads will roll.

Probably the highlight, though, was my mom vs Stuart for the last round:



Now, this was only the third time my mother had ever played Just Dance. And she got every single Gold Move on this song, utterly destroying Stuart with almost twice as many points!

In the end, Team V-- defeated Team S-- but there were valiant performances all around and quite a lot of hysterical laughter. It was a fantastic evening. And to top it off, after my family left, Irene brought over some Karaoke! What a night! There's nothing quite like hearing Stuart sing in a falsetto "'cause I'm your laaaady...and you are my maa--aaan..."

And on that mental image, I'd better get back to my homework! Happy Sunday, everyone!

Weekend Update!

We had a great weekend at TA37!  On Friday night was the Vassar Christian Fellowship Men's and Women's night--the only time in the year that the VXF goes heteronormative to bond with the new freshmen!

The women's night was at your dear old TA37, so Grace, Irene and I spent most of the afternoon cooking.  We made four boxes (!!!) of pasta, then sauteed garlic and onions in olive oil, added red pepper flakes and basil, then green peppers and eggplant, then tossed that with the salad. We also had two salads (including a spinach-and-berry salad that Chelsea threw together), and Grace made the most delicious banana bread!  We also pre-prepared cookie dough, and baked it after dinner, so we had fresh cookies while playing Taboo. Great evening!

On Saturday, Sarah and Sarina came to visit! We spent the evening watching Korean dramas (Yes, there are more Korean dramas than just Boys Over Flowers! Sarah oh-so-kindly introduced us to Playful Kiss!) and drinking wine.  Incidentally, this stuff is amazing:

Sarah and Sarina slept over on Saturday night, then left for the Renaissance Faire on Saturday morning. Sunday was spent going to church and frantically catching up on video games!

Sunday night, last night, we had Family Time with special guest star Chelsea, and then we all agreed we were tired and wanted to go to bed early. So at 11:30 we all said good-night and went into our own rooms. But, as it turns out, all of us stayed up for at least two more hours, alone in our rooms with the doors closed, thinking everyone else was asleep! Jo was reading Blindsight by Peter Watts, I was playing Bastion on Steam, Grace was talking to Tian An, and Stuart was websurfing.

Today, Jo woke up at 12:30 and had a beer with his lunch.  "I'm just trying to get through this stuff so we can get to the hard cider," he said sanctimoniously.  With his board shorts, wifebeater, silver chain necklace, and five o'clock shadow, beer in hand, you've never seen a schmuckier Jo.

"Sometimes I feel like I live in a sitcom," Grace mused at lunch today. "I guess that was the point, huh?"

Grandma Stuart's Home-Cooked Southern-Style Dinner!

 What's up, friends of TA37! It's going to be an exciting evening in our neck of the campus--Stuart's making dinner! He spoke to his grandma on the phone last night, discussing recipes and cooking styles and ingredients, and just now he walked into the TA with a just-bought so-called 'fry-daddy.'

Well, anyway, before beginning this post I kindly asked Stuart if he minded me blogging about his dinner.

"I'll find out if you do anyway," he said airily. "You don't have to tell me. Celebrities don't get asked if they want to get written about."
"You're not a celebrity!" pointed out Grace.
"I act like them! Let me have my hopes and dreams!  Jill's like my Perez Hilton."

Well, while I digest this disturbing comparison (and prepare to digest Stuart's cooking) I'll be posting pictures, videos and recipes of Grandma Stuart's Home-Cooked Southern-Style Dinner.  Stay tuned!

A Post in the Meantime

TA37 had our first party last night!  In honor of Christie and Sarah's birthdays, we had cookie pie that I baked (which turned out hard and crunchy, though our dear friends were too nice to criticize it) and lots of soymilk and Bailey's Irish Cream in our shot-goblets. It was marvelous. Michelle said that this was the first party she had ever been to that served milk. I am very proud of holding this honor.

Pictures of the party are coming later. Now I'm writing to record some snippets of conversation that have occurred today between myself, Jo and Grace (Stuart's at work all day).

When Grace and I left for class at 10:15 this morning, we left Jo a few chores to do: dishes, garbage, setting up the kimchi fridge...nothing too much!

“Wait,” he called pitifully as we walked out. “When are you coming back?”

“We’ll be back for lunch,” I said. “Want to make us something?”

“Yeah,” said Grace, “Make me a sandwich, honey.”

And she closed the door on Jo’s womp-womp face.

When Grace got back at noon, she greeted Jo in the kitchen with a "What's up, honey bun?"
"Who're you talking to?" said Jo indignantly.
"Yo' mama," Grace replied.

Now, Grace and I are in our respective rooms, and Jo is reading in the living room. Grace was singing the theme song from Khot Poda Namja (Boys Over Flowers). You can here it hear:

"Stop!" Jo cried; "You're torturing me, reminding me that we haven't watched Khot Boda Namja in over twenty-four hours!"
But Grace didn't stop singing.
"You know, Grace," called Jo, "I'm getting the feeling that you enjoy torturing me."
"You're very perceptive, Jo!" Grace called back.

Words of Wisdom

Stuart waxes philosophic about the transitory nature of life at a four-year university.