Checkers

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b148/ellysianne/1fb09bea.jpg

Back in Chicago.
Courses look reasonable: stat 226, econometrics, and theory of auctions.
I ran 7 miles yesterday. It wasn't *that* bad.
Indisputable conclusion: this is my bed. the beds from the past 6 months were only temporary deals to hold me over. It's good to be back.

In normal households, accomplishments are posted on the fridge. However, the rent's fridge is camoflaged with cabinet panelling so I have no recourse but to use the lj instead. Despite inordinant sloth, my substitute guru has been keeping me in line (Scott would be pleased)....

-I've hit the 42 mile mark
-I've done the lion's share of my grad app (maybe one more paragraph in the statement, a proofread, and submitting teacher reccs).
-I've got presents for relevant parties in varying shades of awesomeness.

But as cool of a task master as Josh may be, we've decided I have some unearthed issues... mostly food-related...
-so dinners consisting of peppers, mixed nuts, wasabi peas, ants on a log, milk, and an assortment of cheese are balanced, but kind of peculiar... I remain unconcerned.
-only cows take down 6 dove promises on top of two orders of chinese carryout... I am both psychologically and gastronomically disturbed.
-I, like my dog, shed excessively... I am not sure how to rectify this....

THINGS I SHOULD BE DOING BUT I'M NOT
MAPSS application
Christmas shopping
Packing
Running... I stopped at 21 miles

THINGS I'M DOING BUT SHOULDN'T
Sleeping... all day
IMing... bad news boys
Eating... see running
Re-Reading... trashy once through books to verify they are, in fact, trashy once through books.
Dating... people from facebook, even if they're gorgeous.
Speculating... about the sexual prowess of former instructors

The shouldn'ts have it. Coal.

NOTES TO SELF:
Sean is hilarious. Even half a continent away, his wit is as penetrating as it is unPC... the word: If I find a German with chisled features, we'll look like the CHOSEN couple. Intelligence can be ascertained by GRE/SAT scores.
Addenda to the "that's hot" convo with DI: asking if I enjoyed it is definitely not.
Stryker's P1xel release is gonna be late Feb. (21st ish?)
So my rents are playing christmas music nonstop-- does anyone else find the lyric "and find my stocking filled with you" remotely sexual?

So here I am, with a can of Ben & Jerry's in my lap contemplating the easiest way to lose the 5 pounds of souvenirs from Rome and perhaps knock my mileage on the treadmill up to something more respectable than zero...

Someone has requested a play by play of my fun adventures in Rome, which, cool as that might be, are really difficult to dredge up 3 months in retrospect. Answers to the typical questions:

there were no Latin lovers... though I was intrigued with the front desk guy, who ran away from his Albanian home when he was 8, until someone pointed out he was missing a member and had a penchant for asking crass questions (i.e. ''illary, are you from Bologna?' footnote: the Bolognese are famous for fettucine and bj's and when you ask them which they're better at, they'll say "what's fettucine?").

I am not fluent in Italian.... however, the cops were very accomodating.

I went places, e.g. Florence (Christian and Emily), Venice (Christian and Dickee), Paris (Dickee).

Florence was interesting in that it was pouring rain and I had yet to purchase an umbrella. Christian was a doll, as usual, and let me huddle under his. I still had watermarks up to my knees when we checked in to Latini for a purportedly awesome meal that evening. Now, subsisting off granola and pasta the past couple weeks had taken its toll on the size of my stomach. But Dickee, Mark, Adam, et al. had fought the good fight to the bitter/sweet end a week prior, so there was no way I wasn't bowing out. So around the 4th course, with a couple glasses of wine, some champagne, and vin santo in me, I was starting to feel "awesome" as Christian would put it (clarification: "to get awesome" involves projectile puking). Emily relieves me of the need to eat the biscotti by secreting them away in her purse in a somewhat rodent-like fashion. We make it back to the hostel where seedy hosteller informs Emily his "service" comes with the 1 euro she's thrown down for a towel. Fortunately, our room comes with a private bathroom (the joys of checking into a hostel late and getting the expensive rooms), which I promptly commandeer for the duration of the evening. The next day, Christian and I wait in line for the Uffizi gallery... for 4 hours... but it was worth it because this is the end-all-be-all gallery for Renaissance art.

Venice was expensive, but awesome. Our hostel was a divide and conquer sort of deal, so the first night Christian and I were next door to each other, but across the canal from the check in desk. When Dickee joined we ended up in 3 separate buildings dispersed on either side of the canal. There was an altercation with a hand-held showerhead. I'll spare you the details, as hand-held showerhead altercations seem to be a motif of my travels in Europe. Christian and I had cappucino/hot chocolate at THE Caffe Florian... which was more than 10 times as expensive as its Hyde Park counterpart, but awesome all the same. There's these pigeons in the square, they're so used to being fed they like roost on people... it was kind of disgusting. There was some dining Lonely Planet style and then some bar hopping and then the next day there was this marathon/scav hunt thing through Venice... For those unacquainted with the concept of islands connected by a smattering of bridges, not the most conducive to foot races. I managed to lose the ball on my naval piercing, but Christian and I found a cheap replacement he had to install for me (motif II of life in Europe), man, he must hate me after the puking and the piercing, and the bitching about prices...

Paris. Visiting Emma et al. after their sojourn here where we somehow miraculously found a club that served them free shots between each round they ordered. It will be a Thanksgiving affair. It might involve Dre, but that was less seriousness and more a joke I played to death because there are no prospects on this trip, right. So first fun adventure was finding this remote Rome Ryanair airport by myself. The cops were very helpful. Then, getting on the flight, I meet this cool Aussie version of my Mom. She hooks me up with transit passes and helps me figure out where to go once we disembark. Sad news is she trips on a speed bump getting on the bus that shuttles us to the city limits, so she's bleeding and waxing a little racist about asian tourists on the ride down. I smile and nod and hand over my stash of bandaids (I've lost the ball on my replacement piercing and have taken to bandaiding up my navel to avoid losing the jewlery entirely). Anyrate, find Emma, and she meets me with "Hey, you can stay in if you like, but it would be better if you didn't" I immediately and misguidedly start picturing Dre. As it turns out, I end up wandering down the Champs-Elysee alone and cold Thanksgiving evening. I find an Italian joint and ask if they speak Italian. They don't. I eat there anyway. The Lady calls to inform Emma her friend is here... neglecting to point out this tall asian male friend does not fit Emma's description of me. I relay the message after several misfires, evoking the speaker phone option of her cell phone, and taking a rather fetching picture of the table cloth. Emma provides an awesome tour of the city, her prowess could not be done justice in my hackneyed prose. Thanksgiving involves acquisition of 30 some pounds of potatoes. I take them home and quarter them, though worry not, they didn't appear to be in too much pain. My hands however, totally mauled. So imagine the sting of minced garlic juice oozing into them. Yum. Emma informs me that bathing in garlic will give one garlic breath. So I will wreak indefinitely. Awesome. Nothing happens with Dre. There's an altercation with a showerhead and I am unable to thouroughly rid myself of garlic hands. I catch a plane back to Rome after nearly going to Barcelona (the nice Ryanair stewardess was so kind as to shout Barcelona in my ear and push me out of the line and over/through the cordon). Deplaning a man behind me comments about a ragaz' in front of him (which would be me or 2 very bitchy, slightly overweight specimens) being molta bella. His companion mutters something about she's too young. He disagrees. I don't believe I merit such attention, but it's cool to understand what's being said for the first time this weekend. He lets me exit first with excessive deference, I thank him in Italian to show I understood, slick Chris. So a couple jumps later, I end up on this crowded bus feeling less than fresh, especially in light of the wreak of garlic and the woman next to me is giving her friends a tour in German. Her friends ask her something and she throws in this Italian phrase, "I pazzi Romani," or those crazy Romans. Except in my I woke up at 4.30 am stupor, this harkens to puzzi, which is Italian for stink... anyrate, that was an uncomfortably self-conscious half hour.

Flight for Italy in T minus 48 hours. Should probably start packing, huh? Paranoid I'll be "that girl" the priss whose unnecessary junk runneth over, irritating my as yet unidentified roommate. So much for travelling light.

new acquisitions: let's go guide: Italy, french manicure, opal navel ring (Rob had to install, fun adventures), and a raincoat that fits! but better come with a built-in parachute and gps for all of its spendyness.

worked a piece in Reeves Park; processed my weight in $2,000 rings. Moissanite, clear gold, manufactured diamonds, it's the wave of the future yo. Rob's promised cook me something tonight. Awesome timing as Friday nights have degenerated into microwave popcorn for dinner nights.

New topic for master's... something involving price theories. should be kind of cool--grapples with explaining giffen goods, luxury goods, product differentiation, etc from a classical economic then psychological perspective. Arjun has informed me it will also involve Italian wine. che sera, sera.

doctor's gauntlet this week, next stop: dentist. prediction: water pick and bitching about my less than stellar flossing abilities.

busily cramming my life into 2 suitcases, emma's lead on the bags=life saver.

developed a fascination with the Angel series... mmm, vampires.

need to get post card info together. Leave name and addy if you'd like one and haven't already.

Chopped off my hair. dyed it red.

GREs weren't perfect, but respectable enough for MAPSS.
730 verbal (99%)
760 math (86%)

Madly planning for Rome and Recs.

subj line pretty much sums up my weekend. visited the g'rents in DE. pigged out, good pizza, T-bones, boardwalk fries, and lobster. Tried to order a Happy Meal at McD's, dad's response "Chris, don't embarass me." He individually ordered the contents of the Happy Meal, which came with a pedometer, I'm averaging about 1/10 of the amount of walking recommended/day. Glad I didn't sell my stock after Fast Food Nation came out.

Burned my feets. sent Miggy something. Trounced my dad in a "who can read Angels and Demons the fastest" contest... attributing it to the rigors of the freshman HUM sequence.

Came home. buddy Bjorn had smithed me a gorgeous anklet and a couple of rings. very pleased-numbs my burned feets. Good to hear from Miggy, Josh and Ry, I missed them :\ Josh is indisputably the king of leverage... he's hot, but I mean, not bring-me-to-my-knees hot and here he is meeting all these trashy-classy chicks while I'm gone. No fair! :)

Dreamt Stryker was running for prez on the libertarian ticket, that he drove my grandma home (how my grandma ended up at his swank boho hangout in the wee hours is beyond me) she wouldn't shutup about how nice my friends were. IMed him later... he said something about his chick he adores working for an MN lawfirm, I was like "Ruthie?" and he was like "how did you know?" didn't know. made some lame explanation. woke up.

They say workaholics sometimes come down sick when they finally take a vacation-- something about being wracked with guilt about what they should be doing. In my case, it's probably more like I need to readjust to the TV being incessantly on and the reading lighting being sub-par... or maybe I shouldn't've taken 120 mg of gingko, side effect: headaches...

Miggy was a super-double-plus hit with Mom. Heh, I told her the story about how I'd met him and he promptly proposed to me, and she said in a way, mayhap a bit too serious for comfort: d-d'you think you made a mistake? Dad called him Eddie Haskel for the "Your husband has great taste in jewlery" comment. Rock Miggy.

Ride home was decent-- got a flat in Wisconsin. Wisconsin people are midwest-nice. I managed to figure out how to drop the spare tire by the time the Hertz dude showed up. It was fun.

Weekend consisted of: dinner with DI, movie with DI; dinner with emily, emily's mom, and scott, movie with scott (amusingly awful), lifting with GII-- mistake.

Meeting: freaking. I need a "plan of study" for MAPSS ASAP and Chakravarti's still globe trotting and unable to advise me. Plus recommendations from pertinent instructors. Awesome.

Got recalled books back for Rome presentation. Translate 400 pages of Italian into English and turn it into a presentation in the next 3 days whilst cramming for Italian. Awesomer.

So yeah, feel free to send me friendly reminders to eat/sleep/shower between now and Thurs. Hope Dudzik enjoyed his Hyde Parking job, hope he understands I couldn't quite swing joining him. It's go time.

Ellysianne: I don't know.... I like him in the way I like mutual funds.... safe, reliable, respectable... he's not going to sweep me off my feet or pull out all the stops for me.

Kicker is the shitter meets all my criteria... the earnings potential is there, he's liveable, if slightly on the way too clean side, the rents would love him, he's pretty gentlemanly for modern standards (with the exception of thinking covering a check before me begets slight amatory entitlements), he's reasonably attractive, I mean, he's not GorgeousII's bro, but I wouldn't want him to be, in the vein of "If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife, but from my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you." Save the zealous support for W which to me seems unseemly for any self-respecting libertarian (he hasn't avowed such leanings, but he should), devotion to his Jetta, and potential disaster when mr clean meets chris...

For being kind of dense (though I'll let that slide, standard-wise), he hit the nail on the head the other night asking if I'd slept with Z... which I of course lied about... He's Z's opposite in the decisive areas. As much as Will can heckle me for not getting over the dude, it's at least opened my eyes to the possibility, albeit rare, of happiness of a more bohemian bent.

Finished Italian... Bridget did her presentation on Chianti... never a dull moment.

Dinner at the Med. Hate panhandlers.

Read all day. Sick of prep schools.

Had an appointment with the advisor on call. "My, what an impressive record." Like advisors on call.

Made an appointment with the Aussie in MAPSS. Like MAPSS.

Mom will come get me next Thurs.

Breakfast: Miggy. Work: 12-2:30 GorgeousII? who knows.

I don't have 20 friends... so this encompasses acquaintances too.

Say 20 things to different people that you have never told them; they can be 20 different people, or a few. Dont say who each one is for.


1. Imitation's the best form of flattery. ;)
2. You're a cubs fan; you suck at life.
3. I dissed great man theory... until I met you.
4. My AIM profile logs your clicks on my links (keeps me honest and relevant to the readership)
5. ... yes.
6. ... no!
7. mi amo tua lingua.
8. You're so vain.... you probably think this one is about you.
9. Yeah, I could do you.... but, as with everything else pertaining to you, that would involve stooping.
10. You remind me of Don Quixote.
11. You told me so.
12. You need to read the 48 laws of power; the conniving's there, but not the finesse.
13. You're the last thing I think about when I go to sleep.
14. What was I thinking?!
15. You need to lose the flip flops.
16. You need to wipe that silly grin off your face.
17. When I first met you, I could've sworn you were gay.
18. I may say I hate you, but I wouldn't be where I am without you.
19. You've got Class.
20. The ultimate fun adventuress.

more updates from D-tri... he's hitting the major ports of call on the eastern seaboard. he's cool cat, so mature, so jubilant-- I'm grooving on the juxtaposition.

JoyYee's with the Snell crew on Friday. It was fun, we caught collateral afterwards. A little awkward, what with my being the only single chick... they'd perk up whenever I mentioned a guy I'd been hanging out with, "So are you two dating?" Haha. I don't play for keeps.

We got back late, so in a way, I was relieved Miggy couldn't make breakfast Sat morning. Hope he's alright.

DII has decided to "train" me to eat dinner at proper hours, i.e. 10 p.m. having subsisted off a croissant and tea for the previous 14 hours. I've decided to "train" DII to eat by himself.

DI has taken to im'ing me again. exchange du jour:

Ellysianne: what? you think I'd sleep with you again?
DI: no i know theres no chance of that
DI: but a boy can dream i suppose
DI: am i right?

Ill portent. sick of men. Scott will be pleased to know I'm heeding his advice.

So my notation's getting sloppy.

DI= facebookI, "elective shaver," yacht boy, doug, etc.
DII= summer bud, identity classified.
GORGEOUSI= philip, sublet go-to guy of the sig ep apt.
GORGEOUSII= that hot econ 203 dude.
MIGGY=Miguel, he's sweet-- I should know-- I bit him. One of my best friends. Yo.
GOOGLY ELMO= econ 203 instructor. claims Italian lineage, but his command of the language (or pronunciation of his name) lacking fiercely.

T minus 4 days of Italian and counting. Have heard from Katherine, so I'm hoping I won't be left at the lector this eve... 5% of our grades, hon, I know you're sick, but it's game time.

Miggy is convinced that the oven pilot light is on and we're slowly gassing ourselves towards extinction. Not really sure how one checks a pilot light, but methinks his heightened concern should shift his "check on Chrissy" curve rightwards, resulting in more interaction with Miggy, resulting in higher utility for Chrissy, rock. on.

Econ was amusing, if not increasingly irritating today. Googly Elmo decides to get defensive at some of Gorgeous II's warranted, though a teeny bit untactfully delivered criticisms. Bad PR all around. Googly goes on to end things 15 minutes late. double grr. my heart went out to the II, though, that's one helluvan oven to have to sit through, and we all know how I avoid the heat. Minn-I-sota baby.

After nearly 17 years in academia, I want to overhaul the system. It shouldn't be like this. This isn't efficient. Arjun needs to come back and help me come up with a framework to interpret this through.

D's not mad at me.... but some of the qualities of his house guest have rubbed off on him... I'm not to bend at his every beck and call... we went through this with the first D and came to the conclusion that it's utter nonsense to keep guys on retainer, there's really not much of a scarcity issue... so the MC of being his bitch far outweighs the MR on his company. But maybe he'll snap out of it and be chill like before.

Dad started interrogating me about travel plans- At which point it occured to me that I'm only here for another 3 weeks... Which means-- I'm toeing the 8-week marker and still relatively unscathed. rock on...

and with every move they "help" me with, I realize how quickly the rents are sliding into seniority... watching Mom balk like one of my skittish mounts in front of a water obstacle before negotiating the ladder decent from the UHaul joint a two months ago was probably more strain on me than on her aching joints.

I'm wondering if I've done something to irritate D... haven't seen/heard from him since like last Thurs... maybe he found himself a *real* gf. (questioning my conquest mentality-- yeah, I know it's a gloss to create emotional unavailability and prevent loss (or gain), but I'd refrained from making normative judgments 'til now)

Increasingly intrigued with this econ dude. never encountered anyone at U of C that's so concientious about themself... and here he is, chugging water out of an exotic fruit juice bottle (thought only girls went for that stuff), taking down whole raw peppers (and I only do that in private), as he ditches me for the gym... whatever, I was impressed with his pecs from day 1-- I suppose it comes with the territory. Not sure of his call on the football players-- to me, that's overkill... guys are way sexier when they have necks... maybe that's why I was into the lighter jocks-- soccer, track, er... Frisbee (shutup, Will).

I figure I can keep this under control by surmising a. he takes me too seriously to succumb to my "fun adventures" b. has a shelf life of about 3 weeks c. I've thoroughly alienated him with elitist claptrap and random bitching. Crisis averted, study group still intact, I hope.

So I can't deny this was totally unprovoked... I'm not usually one to take a hard line, but if I foresee potentially monumental negative externalities to myself and those I consider friends, I figure I should start speaking my mind and letting the chips fall as they may.... then again, maybe I "just don't know what I'm talking about. No big deal."

Responsorial hymn:

singleserving: and Chrissy, don't start playing the "delusional" card with me. I'm talking to a girl who's depressed, and who's pining after a guy who's 12,000 miles away, and hasn't spoken to her, or, for all I know, of her, since the night he ran out of her room after bringing over a bottle of wine, and accomplishing exactly what he hoped to do.
singleserving: sleep tight.

I need not say dragging the discussion down to the personal level was probably an ill-advised move for Snell's prodigal undergrad. Either way, a couple of sweeping keystrokes have wiped out any common ground betwixt us. They've made their bed, they can sleep in it: sleep tight.

not much to report.
-stand-upper called at 2 am to apologize... not sure if that hindered or furthered his case.
-first encounter with mussels at Joy Yee's... I could use some practice.
-party at northe's sat night, have decided Brooks is a pretty cool dude.
-saw farenheit 911-- overdone.
-there's sushi in hyde park... maybe not awesome sushi... but there is a god, yo.
-*uneventful week* developed crushes on a. Argentinian in Italian b. smahtie in econ... too bad I'm nominally a gentile, eh?
-sick off my arse most of today. blegh. Discussion section tomorrow at 9.